Cooking With Cricut Challenge: Bling It On!

Happy Wednesday!  First things first . . . thank you all for hopping with me this weekend during Cooking With Cricut's Two Day Home Decor Blog Hop.  I am so appreciative of all the wonderful comments that were left about my two projects.  (Stay tuned for blog candy winners later in this post.)

Today is challenge day at Cooking With Cricut and our theme for this week is "Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend!"  If it sparkles you'll find it in today's post!  It was a chilly and rainy weekend here in North Central Florida -- perfect crafting weather!  I made a bunch of cards and three of them are in today's post. 

The first card I made was for one of my 8 year old daughter's best friends, Emma.  She is celebrating her 6th birthday and she loves Hello Kitty.  So this shaped card was perfect for Miss Emma.

Here's the recipe:

• Cricut Hello Kitty Greetings cartridge - Shaped card cut at 7" tall by 4 3/4" wide.
• Yellow and Red Stickles
• Self-adhesive rhinestones
• White card stock; all other papers from my scraps stash.
• Inside greeting was rubber stamped - Stamp Craft "Happy Birthday." 

The next card is for a beautiful 6 year old named Emily who is battling leukemia.  Emily is this month's "I Feel the Love" recipient.  My fellow Design Team member, Madison at Funky Cards, created this awesome outreach program to bring a little bit of joy to people of all ages who are going through a rough time.  Each month she chooses a different person and crafters from all over the world make cards and send them to Madison.  Madison collects them all and either delivers them personally or assembles the package of "love" to be mailed.  This is the 5" x 7" card I made for Miss Emily . . .

And here is the recipe:

• Cricut Cindy Loo cartridge - "Hello" cut from white card stock at 4 1/2" wide
• Cricut Cake Basics cartridge - Frame 2 (pg. 33) cut at 4 1/2" wide by 6 1/2" tall.  I cut this twice - once from Bazzill's Classic Purple card stock and then again from a lime green in the DCWV Cherry Limeade stack.
• Cricut Create-A-Critter cartridge - Hippo cut at 4 3/4" high (all papers from my scraps stash).
• The card base is also from the DCWV Cherry Limeade stack.
• The inside says:  "Hip, Hippo, Hooray!  I hope you're feeling better today!"
• My bling is the Hippo's glittery purple and the self-adhesive rhinestones.

My last card is for 13 year old Patty who is battling neurobastoma cancer.  Patty's mother is the friend of my CWC Design Team member, Kemma Allen.  I found this wonderful poem by Emily Dickinson and knew that I wanted to use the first stanza in Patty's card along with this beautiful cutting file by Melin at PaperCraftingWorld.com.   The first stanza of the poem reads:  ""Hope" is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul and sings the tune without the words and never stops -- at all . . ."

Here's the recipe:

• PaperCraftingWorld.com cutting file -- Birdcage Swirls and Flowers.  The small swirl was cut at 4 3/4" wide and the large was cut at 6" wide, both from Bazzill's Iced Coffee card stock.  The flowers range in size from 1" to 2 3/8" and were cut from scraps.  The cage was cut from white card stock at 4" high -- I cut two of them and pop-dotted one on top of the other with the bird sandwiched inside.  The bird was also cut from scraps at 2 1/4" high.
• Cricut Cindy Loo cartridge - "Peace" cut at 2 3/4" wide from paper scraps.
• Cricut Cake Basics cartridge - leaves cut at 3/4" wide from paper scraps.
• I inked the edges of the flowers and the bird with rubber stamp inks and the leaves were edged with chalk.
• The card base is white card stock and the mat a piece of paper from a K & Co. kit.  The card measures 8 1/2" by 5 1/2".
• The flower centers are rhinestone brads and the other bling is self-adhesive rhinestones -- both purchased at Michael's.

Now it's your turn!  Link up your "blinged-up" project at Cooking With Cricut and you could be our next Top Chef!

And now it's time for blog candy!  In the midst of moving and all that goes with it, I totally forgot to choose my winner from our last blog hop -- so the winner of the February 11th "Love Song" Blog Hop is lucky number . . .

Who said . . .

Congratulations, Patty!  I'll be e-mailing you for your snail mail address!

And the winner from this weekend's Home Decor Blog Hop is lucky number . . .

Who said . . .

Congrats!  I will also be e-mailing you for your snail mail address!

Thanks so much for stopping by today and checking out my blinged up cards.  Pop on over to Cooking With Cricut and check out all the sparkly goodness the Design Team whipped up!

~ Jen

Cooking With Cricut Home Decor Blog Hop: Day 2

Welcome to Day TWO of Paper Crafting World and Cooking With Cricut’s Home Decor Blog Hop! Our Design Teams are so excited to bring you a two-day hop that focuses on projects for your home – that’s right no cards or scrapbook layouts in this hop! 

You should have arrived here from visiting the very talented Kimmi at Impressively Yours Gifts. I'm the caboose on this Blog Hop train . . . so if you just dropped in and would like to start at the beginning, head on over to Melinda’s Paper Crafting World; then click thru and check out the beautiful things our two Design Teams have created.

My project for today is not something you would find in your indoor living room . . . but out in your garden -- or as my Mom calls it "her fresh air living room."  My Mom is an avid gardener; she is her happiest with her gardening grubbies on and dirt underneath her fingernails.  Both of her thumbs are green.  Not something I inherited (it must have skipped my generation) or that I am really even interested in (much to my Mother's chagrin).   So imagine my surprise when Mom calls and tells me she needs me to help her with a gardening project for her garden club group!  After assuring me that I wouldn't be planting or weeding and that it involved my beloved Cricut I said "yes."

Mom is a member of the Jasmine Circle of the Gainesville Garden Club.  Every year they have a fundraiser to raise money for several local organizations they sponsor.  This year the ladies decided to raffle off a wheelbarrow loaded with gardening supplies.  My task was to decorate the wheelbarrow!

Welcome to extreme Cricuting! LOL!  I cut all of the stencils for the flowers and leaves out using Cricut's Walk in My Garden cartridge and contact paper.  Yep, good old contact paper!

Here's the recipe:

Leaves - cut at 3 3/4" wide and 4" wide.

Sunflowers - cut at 7 1/4" wide.

Daisies - cut at 4" wide.

Other flowers - cut at  3" wide, 4" wide and 5" wide.

Dragonflies, butterflies and lady bugs were free-handed; as were the vines and all other embellishing.

Mom and two other circle members used acrylic craft paint to stencil in all of the basic shapes.  After they were dry, I went back and did all of the free handing and finishing details and then we sealed it all with a glossy sealer.

It turned out really cute!  But the best thing was that Mom's Garden Circle raised over $1,900 for their outreach programs!

We hope you’ll link up your Home Decor project for a chance at winning one of our giveaways. One winner will be chosen by random draw and three others will be selected by the Design Team. Head on over to Cooking With Cricut for the guidelines and the link up. 

Now it wouldn't be a hop without some blog candy, now would it!  To be eligible for my blog candy you must (1) be a follower of my blog and (2) leave a comment with your e-mail address.  One lucky person will be chosen from the comments left on both days and will be announced in my post on Wednesday, April 25th.  You have until 8:00 p.m. on Tuesday to leave your comment(s).  Up for grabs are three sets of clear mini stamps -- a graduation set by studio gand two fun sets by inkadinkadoo.

Thanks for stopping by and hopping with us!  Make sure to join us tomorrow for our Monday Cartridge Showcase featuring Chef Jamie L. and the Cricut Lite 9 Months cartridge; check out what the Paper Crafting World Design Team is up to on Tuesday; our weekly Cooking With Cricut Challenge is Wednesday; and on Thursday, Chef Jill will be featuring the Cricut Sweet Tooth Boxes cartridge in the Thursday Cartridge Showcase.  Tons of fun all week long!  I hope you'll join us!

~ Jen

Cooking With Cricut Home Decor Blog Hop: Day 1

Welcome to Day One of Paper Crafting World and Cooking With Cricut’s Home Decor Blog Hop! Our Design Teams are so excited to bring you a two-day hop that focuses on projects for your home – that’s right no cards or scrapbook layouts in this hop! 

You should have arrived here from visiting the very talented Becky at Scrap Circus. I'm the caboose on this Blog Hop train . . . so if you just dropped in and would like to start at the beginning, head on over to Melinda’s Paper Crafting World; then click thru and check out the beautiful things our two Design Teams have created.  

I chose to create some artwork for my home decor project ~ this was a gift for my nephew's wife, Jessica.  She and Jeffrey were married last year and are creating their own home, like all newlyweds do.  I thought she might appreciate a gift featuring her favorites -- butterflies, purples, and pale yellows.

The frame is a shadow box that I picked up on clearance from my local Michael's.  It was raw wood and had a few nicks and scrapes that sanded right out.  I painted it with a glossy white spray paint and while it dried I went to work on the insides.

I used the Cricut Cake Basics cartridge for the butterflies.  All of the butterflies were cut at 1 1/2" wide by 1" tall.  (The papers are from my scrap stash.)  The background paper is a white embossed card stock I've had in my paper cabinet for quite a while.  

The hardest part of this project was figuring out how many butterflies I could line up across and down and then sticking them on straight!  I adhered them with therm-o-web Zots (small clear adhesive dots) and then lifted the wings up to give them some dimension.  Once everything was where I wanted it, I went to work embellishing.  I added rhinestones and pearls to a number of the butterflies.

The mat was plain white so I decided to cover it with a deep purple mulberry paper.  It still needed something . . . so I added a little rhinestone detailing to the corners.  All in all, I'm happy with the way it turned out -- and Jessica LOVED it!

We hope you’ll link up your Home Decor project for a chance at winning one of our giveaways. One winner will be chosen by random draw and three others will be selected by the Design Team. Head on over to Cooking With Cricut for the guidelines and the link up. 

Now it wouldn't be a hop without some blog candy, now would it!  To be eligible for my blog candy you must (1) be a follower of my blog and (2) leave a comment with your e-mail address.  One lucky person will be chosen from the comments left on both days (so double your chances and stop by tomorrow and leave a comment, too!) and will be announced in my post on Wednesday, April 25th.  You have until 8:00 p.m. on Tuesday to leave your comment(s).  Up for grabs are three sets of clear mini stamps -- a graduation set by studio g and two fun sets by inkadinkadoo.

Thanks for stopping by!  Make sure to join us tomorrow for another wonderful day filled with tons of new projects.  We kick off at 8:00 AM (Eastern Standard Time) at Melinda's Paper Crafting World . . . so grab your favorite morning beverage and come hop with us!

~ Jen

Cooking With Cricut Challenge: National Card & Letter Writing Month

Happy Wednesday!  Our challenge this week at Cooking With Cricut was to make a card to send or create a scrapbook layout featuring a letter in honor of "National Card and Letter Writing Month."  I decided to make a layout for my youngest daughter.  Demi just turned eight and I wanted to capture some memories, good and sad, for her to look back on later in life.  

Here's the recipe:

Cricut Cake Basics cartridge -

•  "Happy Birthday" cut at 5 1/2" wide from a scrap piece of Bazzill's Chablis card stock.
• Cupcake cut at 2 1/2"  wide from the Bazzill Chablis and a scrap of lime green and white polka dot card stock from DCWV Cherry Limeade stack.

The 12" x 12" base piece is also from the DCWV Cherry Limeade stack.  The photos were printed using my Kodak  ESP 7250 printer.  I used an x-acto knife and cut around part of the pale pink flower and a leaf to slide the roller blading photo under them.  The writing is my own.

Now it's your turn!  I hope you'll link up your card or scrapbook layout featuring a letter over at Cooking With Cricut -- you could be this week's Top Chef.  Make sure to stop in and see what the rest of the Design Team whipped up.

Hugs!

~ Jen

Cooking With Cricut Challenge: Card Outreach

Happy Wednesday!  Today is challenge day at Cooking With Cricut and our wonderful assignment was to create "Thinking of You" cards for two beautiful young girls who are battling cancer.  Six year old Emily is fighting leukemia and 13 year old Patty is waging her own war with neurobastoma.  Patty's mom is the friend of one of my Design Team members, Kim Allen; and Emily is this month's "I Feel the Love" Project recipient.

My 8 year old daughter saw me reading about the girls and their individual battles with cancer and wanted to know who they were.  I told her about Emily and Patty and she decided she wanted to help me make the cards for them because "they're kids like me, Mom!  And its not fair that they got such a crummy disease like cancer."  So Miss Demi and I went to work designing the cards for the girls.  She remembered me telling her that they both like cats and that Emily loves pink and purple.  So here is what we came up with . . .

Demi chose this shaped card from the Hello Kitty Greetings cartridge for Patty.  She thought that since Patty was older and in middle school she'd probably like a cheerleader card.  The inside of the cards says "We're cheering for you!"

The card measure 6 1/2" tall.  The base is plain white cards stock; all of the other paper is from my paper stash.  We used Stickles to give it some sparkle!

Emily's card is also from the Hello Kitty Greetings cartridge.  Demi thought the little bunny with Hello Kitty was very cute and of course we had to use pink and purple!

This shaped card measures 6 3/4" tall and is from plain white card stock and scraps from my paper stash.  A little bit of Stickles on her nose and some hot pink rhinestones on the flower centers for some sparkle.

We will be mailing these out very soon to Patty and Emily -- Demi can't wait to put them in the mail and has already decided that we need to make some more to send soon.  I hope that you will join us in our challenge this week and make a card to link up and mail to the girls (the addresses are on the challenge post at CWC).  Mailing it is optional -- maybe you have someone in your life that needs a special "Thinking of You" card that you can share it with.  

Thanks for stopping by -- I hope you'll head on over to Cooking With Cricut and see what the rest of the Design Team cooked up for these beautiful and brave young ladies.

~ Jen

For the Love of Scrapbooking . . .

Another victim crafter has joined the ranks of scrapbookers everywhere!  That's right!  My 8 year old daughter has caught the bug!  Demi celebrated her birthday last night with her best friends, Anna and Emma, who gifted her with her very own scrapbook, papers, adhesive, gelly roll pens, stickers and more!  Notice the emphasis on "her."  I have already been told by the new scrapper that I'm not allowed to touch her stuff without asking!  Hmm . . . now if I could just get her to keep her paws off of my stuff!

Demi was ready to make her first page this morning, before I even had my eyes open good.  She had it all planned out and only required a bit of assistance from Mom with the journaling block and with the paper trimmer.  She is so proud of her first page and so am I.   Demi did a great job and we had tons of fun scrapping together.

The 12" x 12" paper is by Paper Pizzazz and is called "Soft Tints Pink Swirls."  The stickers are by K & Co. from their line called "Life's Little Occasions" - Best Friends Sticker Medley.  The journaling block is printed on white card stock and then matted on a scrap piece of Bazzill Chablis card stock.  The handwriting under the pictures was done with a hot pink Gelly Roll pen.

~ Jen

Note:  Demi was not thrilled with her handwriting on this finished page.  I told her that it was very important to write on her pages, because when she's my age she will appreciate seeing how much she has changed through the years.  I told her that I love to go back and look at the scrapbook I created when I was her age and to see how different I scrap now.  

Cooking With Cricut Challenge: Easter

Happy Wednesday!  I am finally up and running after our recent move -- the computer and the Cricut are connected; and the adhesive, cutting mats, cartridges, misc. tools, and paper have been located and kind of unpacked.  There are still boxes everywhere and I don't know where most things are . . . the most frequent conversation at our house is:  "Do you know where _______ is?"  "Yep.  In a box . . . somewhere."  We are getting a little better at actually managing to tell each other which room the needed box is in -- progress!

Anyway, I really needed to participate in this week's Design Team challenge at Cooking With Cricut.  Yes, NEEDED!  My poor Cricut was feeling quite neglected and I don't know about you . .  but when I don't create on a regular basis it makes me quite grumpy.  My 8 year old daughter told me the other day that I needed to go play with my paper and get happy!  So I did and this is what I came up with . . .

The inspiration for this little basket came from a blog I stumbled across the other day.  I loved the look of it and decided to see if I could adapt it for my Cricut.  

The basket base is cut from a single piece of 12" x 12" paper.   I scored the paper at 4" and 8" (both vertically and horizontally) BEFORE I cut it.   Here's the recipe:

Cindy Loo cartridge:

• Doily 2, page 69 - cut from Bazzill's Chablis #T1-130 at 11 1/4" x 11 1/4".  I hid all of the interior cuts using my Cricut Design Studio.

Easter 2010 cartridge:

• Jagged edge circle - cut from white card stock at 2 3/4" x 2 3/4".
• Jagged edge circle - cut from scraps (DCWV Cherry Limeade Stack) at 2 1/2" x 2 1/2".
• Chick - cut from scraps at 1 3/4" x 1 3/4".
• Lamb - cut from scraps at 2" wide x 1 1/2" high.
• Bunny - cut from scraps at 1 1/2" wide x 1 3/4" high.
• Egg - cut from scraps (DCWV Cherry Limeade Stack) at 1 1/2" wide x 1 3/4" high.
• Rick-Rack - cut from white card stock at 10 1/2" wide x 1/2" high.  (I welded six individual pieces together.)

I also used a 1" wide by 12" long piece of Bazzill's Chablis for the handle.

After I cut the scored paper out for the basket base, I folded the sides up to see where I needed to score a diagonal line for the corners.  After scoring the corners, I held the box together at each corner and punched a hole through all of the pieces and threaded some pale pink polka-dotted sheer ribbon and tied it in a bow to hold the box together.

I pop-dotted the critters and the egg after I embellished them with chalk, pens and bling and added them to my layered jagged-edge circles.  The handle is adhered to the inside of the box using some terrifically tacky tape (red line).  I added a little Easter grass and some plastic eggs for a super cute table decoration.  

My daughter has already chastised me for not putting anything in the eggs (candy) and has declared that this little basket is "Way too cute, Momma!  It's mine!  Right?"  

Hop on over to Cooking With Cricut and check out what all of the other Design Team members have created -- some really cute stuff going on over there!  I hope that you'll link up your Easter-themed project this week -- you could be our next Top Chef!

May you each have a wonderful Easter with the ones you love!  And if Easter isn't your thing, then have a wonderful Sunday spending time with the people you cherish and that cherish you!

~ Jen