Dear Santa!

The heat wave here in Atlanta this summer has been brutal and for the past several weeks all I could think about was the oncoming fall and cooler weather.  So I made this layout with an eye toward the winter and the Christmas season (which will probably be here before I know it).  Once again I used a sketch I found over at Lauren's Creations. Have a great week!

Happy Birthday

For most people September marks the end of summer and the beginning of the school year.  However, for me September is a month full of birthdays, including mine last week.  I've been working on several projects lately and over the weekend I pulled together this card for my co-worker's son.  For a Cricut-lite card, it turned out great.  The poloroid and the sentiment are from Lawn Fawn's Say Cheese stamp set.  The "six" is from the Sweet Treats cartridge.  The remaining stickers were pulled from my stasa

Baby Book - First Steps

Recently, I have been struggling to come up with design ideas for layouts in this baby book so I turned to my stack of Creative Memories magazines for some help. I don't have a picture of the original design, but what I loved about it was the simplicity of layout. I cut the images of the feet from New Arrival and wanted to give the illusion that a baby is walking around the edges of the pictures. 

Recipe
Kraft Cardstock from Recollections sized at 12x12"
All patterned paper from Echo Park's Walk in the Park collection
 (2) Patterned Strips sized at 11 1/2 x 3 1/2"
 (1) Pattered Block sized at 9 x 8 1/2"
Photo Mats
  Black Cardstock from Recollections: 4 1/4 x 4 1/4"
  Patterned Paper: 4 x 4"
Feet from New Arrival sized at 2" and 3"
American Crafts chipboard stickers
Sakura Gelly Pen - White
Colorbox Chalk Ink - Chestnut Roam

Baby Book - First Tooth

As I continue to create pages for my friend's baby book, I have been relying on the Baby Steps cartridge fairly heavily for my designs.  I was inspired to create this First Tooth page after seeing a scrapbook layout that Lauren over at Lauren's Creative designed.  Lauren is fantastic and if you ever need some crafting inspiration, I would recommend that you head over there pronto.  I love all of the bright colors and the very cute tag that is slotted behind the 4x4 picture mat.

Recipe
Kraft Cardstock from Recollections sized at 12x12"
All patterned paper from American Crafts Dear Lizzy Collection
  Teal Polka Dotted Paper: 11 1/2 x 6"
  Pink Polka Dotted Paper: 11 1/2 x 5 "
Border
  Kraft Cardstock: 12 x 3 3/4"
  Pattern Paper: 12 x 2 1/4"
Photo Mats
  Kraft Cardstock: 4 1/4 x 4 1/4" and 3 1/4 x 5 1/4"
  Patterned Paper: 4 x 4 and 3 x 5
Title from Baby Steps sized at 4 1/2"
Tooth from Baby Steps sized at 1 1/2"
Tag from Sweet Treats sized at 3 3/4"
Flowers from Sweet Treats sized at 1 1/2"
Sakura Gelly Pen - White
Colorbox Chalk Ink - Chestnut Roam

Flyboys Mini Album

Happy Thursday everyone. I have been working on several projects over the past couple of weeks and I finally got around to taking pictures and uploading them to my computer. My first project is a mini album that I made for my friend's two sons. Last month I went to the Scrapbook Expo here in Atlanta. One of the booths was selling a variety of papers from the Bo Bunny Blast Off collection. I don't know if any of you are fans of "Creations with Christina," but she is an amazing crafter who made a chipboard mini album for her son in April with the same paper. I loved her album, but more importantly I fell in love with the paper collection and picked up a ton of pages to make my own project. 
You all know that I love my Cricut and use it on just about every project that I make. Since the book is 6x6, there was not a ton a room for die cut images, so I really pushed myself to design pages without relying on my trusty expression. I love how the finished project turned out!

My Pink Stamper Design Team Call

Hi everyone, I hope you all are doing well. I've been taking a bit of a break from the blog lately to focus on some other things going on in my life, but I'm easing my way back.  I'm willing to bet that many of you either have visited or are followers of Robyn's blog over at My Pink Stamper; she was one of the first blogs I discovered when I first got my Cricut and began looking for how-to online videos.  Robyn is currently holding a design team call for her blog and I decided to throw my hat into ring.  For this call, participants may submit a card, layout or other project; however, everyone is limited to using the following colors: turquoise, orange, brown, green and one other color of our choice.
As you all know, I'm making a baby book for a friend.  I decided to create layout for the book and use the colors in Robyn's challenge.  My friend lives in southern Louisiana and is surrounded by bayous.  So I created a "Down by the Bayou" layout. I hope you all like it.

Recipe:
Kraft cardstock from Recollections sized at 12x12".
Patterned paper from Echo Park's Walk in the Park Collection sized at 11 3/4" x 11 3/4".
Grass from Everyday Paper Dolls sized at 2 1/2".
Trees from Simply Charmed (from left to right) sized at 3 1/2", 3 1/4" and 4 1/4".
Sun from Doodlecharms sized at 1 1/2".
Clouds from Graphically Speaking sized at 1".
Beaver from Create-A-Critter sized at 2 1/2".
Photo Mats
   Kraft cardstock sized at 4" x 5".
   Light Turquoise paper from American Crafts sized at 3 3/4" x 4 3/4".
Baker's Twine (Mandarin Orange) from The Twinery
Sakura Gelly Pen - White
American Crafts Chipboard Stickers - Black
Green ink from Studio G (Michael's)
Colorbox Chalk Ink - Chestnut Roam
Inkadinkadoo Chalk - Turquoise

Baby Layout - Beach Baby!

Hello everyone, I hope you are enjoying this Memorial Day weekend.  With the extra time off, I've been able to get back to working on the baby book that I have been making.  My girlfriend and her family love to go to the beach at least once a year, so I made a layout designed for her to capture those moments when they are able to take the new baby.  I relied on Life's A Beach for the majority of the images on the layout.  The sand dunes came from Paper Doll Dress Up.  I really love how the layout turned out and it may be my new favorite layout of all time.

Flaunt it Fridays - Robotz

Happy Memorial Day weekend!  Welcome back to another Friday challenge from all of us at FIF.  This week's challenge is to "flaunt" any image you would like from Robotz.  I don't have that cartridge, so I decided to use the robot image from B is for Boy.  From the moment I started this project, I couldn't get the television show Lost in Space out of my mind and the robot who always said "Danger, Will Robinson, Danger! So I figured, what the heck why not and I used the phrase as the sentiment.  I love how this little card turned out.  I keep laughing every time I look at it.

I hope you all will play along with us this week. Just remember that even if you don't have Robotz you can (and should!) still participate and choose a similar cut from another cartridge for your project.  For this month's Grand Prize FIF is giving away a $20 gift certificate to SCRAP BUCK sponsored by SCRAP BUCK. They are an awesome company they have great deals and free shipping when you spend $20!

Flaunt It Fridays - Pooh Font

Hi everyone!  I've been on a longer hiatus than I planned due to work.  I've been traveling most of May, but my travel schedule will be coming to a halt by the end of the month.  I really have not had much time to craft, but I pulled this quick layout together for this week's FIF challenge.  Today we are using the Tigger and Duck image on page 61 of Pooh Font.  This is a great little cartridge with some super cute images.  As always you can create anything you want for this challenge and for an extra challenge try to push yourself to create something different from your last submission. If you do not own this cart feel free to use any similar cut from any cartridge, you have one week to enter the challenge.

Flaunt It Fridays Challenge - Cindy Loo

Welcome to another challenge at Flaunt it Fridays.  This week's challenge is to "flaunt" any image on the Cindy Loo cartridge.  In what's becoming a typical refrain, I don't have this cartridge; however, I did peruse the handbook and found an image that looked like one of those cute Russian nesting dolls.  There are similar images on the Paisley cartridge so I whipped up a quick card that featured one of those dolls as the main image. 

I hope you all will play along with us this week. Just remember that even if you don't have Cindy Loo you can (and should!) still participate and choose a similar cut from another cartridge for your project. For this month's Grand Prize, FIF is giving away aJoy's Life "Lots of Pun" stamp set sponsored by the wonderful SHEREE of Cravin Scrappin thank you Sheree!

I look forward to seeing all of your creations!

Recipe
Card base: kraft card stock cut at 5 x 5."
First layer: patterned paper from the American Crafts Adorn collection cut at 4 3/4 x 4 3/4."
Second layer: pattered paper from the American Crafts Adorn collection cut at 4 1/2 x 4 1/2."
Doll image from Paisley cut at 4".
Sentiment: My Pink Stamper stamps
Sakura Gelly Roll Pen - White
Colorbox Chalk Ink - Chestnut Roam
Peapod twine from The Twinery
Button from stash
Stickles

Baby Album - Hoppy Easter

Hi everyone, a very quick post today.  I'm still working on my baby book and here is the layout that I made for Easter.  It's rather simple, as I wanted the focus to be on the pictures which I'm sure will ultimately be filled with family photos.  The bunny on the left page is from Kate's ABC and the Easter basket is from doodlecharms.

Posting will be rather light over the next week or so.  I will have a Flaunt it Friday's challenge post going up on Friday, but since I'm leaving for Paris tonight, I won't be making any projects over the weekend.  I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and a blessed Easter. 

Flaunt It Fridays Challenge - Simply Charmed

It's Friday and that means its time for another Flaunt it Fridays Challenge.  This week's challenge is to "flaunt" the fishing pole cut (fish 2) on the Simply Charmed cartridge. I tried to switch things up this week and went with an easel card.  I also tried wet embossing for the first time (with mixed results.  Since I used white embossing powder, my stamped sentiment did not show up very well, but the card reads "ruff day?" In any event, I had fun trying to come up with a card idea and I hope it brings you a chuckle.  In addition to Simply Charmed, I used Create-A-Critter for the water, Doodlecharms for the sun and Everyday Paper Dolls for the clouds.  Have a great weekend everyone!

Baby Album - Hush Hush

And the baby album pages just keep on coming!  I'm on roll so far with my album so you all are going to be seeing baby layouts for a while.  I'm going to do my best to mix the posts up with some other projects, just so you all don't get bored, but bear with me.  Today's project is a very simple layout featuring the Baby Steps and Doodlecharms cartridges. I've recently found that pulling together layouts is a lot faster if I just keep with one or two cartridges at a time and make the most of the images provided. Here, I was able to pull the sleeping boy and the binkie from Baby Steps and the bear from Doodlecharms.  The title was welded together using the font on Baby Steps.

Recipe
Black cardstock from Recollections sized at 12 x 12".
Light Blue cardstock from American Crafts Spring Collection sized at 11 3/4 x 11 3/4".
Patterned paper from American Crafts Adorn Collection sized at 11 3/4 x 6".
Sleeping Boy from Baby Steps sized at 1.71".
Binkie from Baby Steps sized at 2.24".
Bear from Doodlecharms sized at 3".
"Hush Hush" using Baby Steps font sized at 2.45"
Photo Mats
    Black cardstock sized at 4 1/4 x 4 1/4".
    Patterned paper from DCWV Citrus stack sized at 4 x 4".
Baker's twine (Peapod) from The Twinery
Sakura Gelly Pen - White

Baby Album Layout - Hungry!

So I have a confession to make, earlier this year I resoved that I was not going to purchase any more cartridges for a while.  Instead, I wanted to focus on using my current set of cartridges more often. I've been holding to my resolution fairly well. Last weekend,however, I was in JoAnn's to refresh my adhesive supply.  At the checkout counter, I spied the new Baby Steps and Kate's ABC cartridges.  I immedately swooped up Baby Steps because I'm making a baby album and of course, a new cartridge there could only help.  Admittedly, I didn't have a rationale for picking up Kate's ABC, aside from seeing it and wanting it. So I'm the proud owner of two new cartridges and I promise not to buy anymore for a while (or at least the next 60 days).

I have to say that Baby Steps is very cute and the images are not too duplicative of those found on New Arrival or some of the other cartridges that have "baby" images.  I've now made two new pages for my baby album using just this cartridge, and they have turned out great. Today's project is all about chowing down.  When I saw the image of a high chair, I knew the type of page I wanted to make and the title really brought it all home.  I was able to use the negative image of the scalloped square from my "So Sweet" layout as a frame; I love when I get to use my scraps. 

Recipe
Except where indicated all paper is from American Crafts.
Black cardstock from Recollections sized at 12" x 12"
Teal scalloped square (negative image) from Storybook sized at 11"
High chair from Baby Steps sized at 6.94".
Bowl and spoon from Baby Steps sized at 1.71".
"Hungry" from Baby Steps sized at 2.25".
Photo Mats
    Kraft cardstock from Recollections sized at 4.25 x 4.25.
    Patterned paper fromAmerican Crafts Adorn collection sized at 4 x 4.
Buttons
Caribbean Twine from The Twinnery
Inkadinkadoo Chalk - Bold Brights
Sakura Gel Pen - White