Masculine Birthday Card & Day 16 of Cooking With Cricut's Every Day in May Blog-Aversary!

Welcome to day 16 of Cooking With Cricut's "Every Day in May Blog-Aversary!"  Cooking With Cricut is having a month long Blog-Aversary Cele"bear"ation with postings and giveaways every day during the month of May - and each and every day there will be some kind of celebration posted! So make sure you hop on over and check out the fun!

I am honored to be the guest designer today and today I am celebrating my baby brother's birthday.   Anybody else out there have a tough time creating a masculine birthday card for an adult?  I know I do.  My little brother turned 29 this past Saturday.  He is forever giving me a hard time about being sooooo old -- I'm 17 years older than he -- so I decided it was time for a little sisterly "pay back."  Most of the cartridges I own are a bit "girly" or geared towards little kids, not big kids like my brother.  So coming up with something appropriate for a guy wasn't easy.  Here is what I came up with!

It probably comes as no surprise to my regular visitors that Create-A-Critter is the cartridge I used.  The card measures 4 1/4" wide by 5 1/2" tall and is plain red card stock by Recollections.  The gold image is a rubber stamp I purchased from Judi Kins in the mid-90's.  I stamped it using a VersaMark ink pad and then embossed with a detail gold embossing powder.

The Panda measures 3 1/2" tall and was cut using scraps from my stash.  The bamboo is 5 1/2" tall and is also from scrap paper.  I used a bit of brown chalk on the edges.  The saying on the front of the card was created in Microsoft Publisher and reads:  "Your birthday reminds me of the old Chinese scholar . . ."

The inside reads:  ". . .  Yung No Mo!" (young no more).  The "Happy Birthday" was cut using the Paper Pups cartridge and measures 3 1/2" wide.  Again, the paper came from my scrap stash.
 

Thanks so much for stopping by and checking out my project today! Make sure to leave me a comment with your blog address ~ I'd love to come visit and see what you're creating. And don't forget to pop over to Cooking With Cricut and see what amazing freebie Melin is giving away today!!

~ Jen

P.S.  Make sure you come back Wednesday for Cooking With Cricut's weekly challenge!

Card Carnival Blog Hop

Welcome to the Card Carnival Blog Hop!  You should have arrived here from visiting Rexann at i be circled.  If you just happened to stumble upon this hop, please be sure to go back to Sherry's blog so you don't miss any of the wonderful projects we have to share.  This hop is all about shaped cards . . . 

I have a friend who's daughter will be one next month ~ and she is madly in love with ELMO!  So an Elmo birthday card is a must!  He was my daughter's favorite from 8 months until about 4 1/2 yrs. old, so I am well versed in all things Elmo.   

Elmo and Dorothy were cut using the Sesame Street Friends Cricut cartridge.  Elmo measures 7 1/4" tall and is cut from black, red, orange and white scraps of card stock.  This particular Elmo is holding a book -- but I wanted him to hold Dorothy's fish bowl.  So, using Cricut Design Studio (CDS) I hid all of the book cuts that I could.  After I cut all of the layers and assembled our furry red monster, I trimmed away the rest of the book.

Dorothy's gold fish bowl is approximately 3 1/2" tall.  Using CDS, I welded two fish bowls together to form my card.  And then cut the remaining layers and assembled.  I cut an additional white layer for the inside of my card as well as an extra set of fingers for Elmo's left hand.  All of the paper for Dorothy and the bowl came from my scrap stash.  I wanted the card to stand up after it was opened, so I constructed a little easel stand that I attached to the back.

And what would a blog hop be without a giveaway!  To quality for my giveaway, please do the following:  be a follower and leave me a comment and your e-mail address.  That's all!  One lucky winner, chosen by random. org, will receive the following three (3) clear stamps . . .

Thank you for stopping by my blog, your next stop is Mollie at Cricket's Cricut Creations.

~ Jen

P.S.  Here's the line up, just in case you get lost!

Sher -  www.patternsbysher.blogspot.com

Kathie -  www.kathleessnippitsncricuts.blogspot.com/

 Amy -  www.lovetocrop.com/

Anita - www.anitaandbugs.blogspot.com/

Jen -  www.memorieswithjen.blogspot.com/  

Vicki - www.vickiscreativecraftingcorner.blogspot.com/    

 Cindy -  www.creativepointe.blogspot.com

Melin -  www.PaperCraftingWorld.blogspot.com

Susan -   www.sueinct.blogspot.com/

Gill - www.creationsbygillm.blogspot.com/

 Rexann -  www.ibecircled.blogspot.com

Jen -  www.gator-4-life.blogspot.com   <--- You are here!

Mollie -  www.cricketscricut.blogspot.com/   <----- Next stop!

Gaby -  www.gabycreates.com

Gina -  www.californiascrappin-gcinderella21.blogspot.com/

Misty -  www.deliteful-gifts.blogspot.com

Cooking With Cricut Challenge: Two Shades of Pink & a Cupcake or Cake Slice

Today is challenge day at Cooking With Cricut!  Melin is having a month-long blogaversary celebration and today our challenge features one of the most important components of any celebration . . .  CAKE!  The goal of today's project was to use two shades of pink and a cupcake or cake slice. There are tons of cupcakes, cakes and cake slices on variety of different cartridges.  I looked through a bunch of  different options using the search engine at MyCutSearch.com -- a fantastic tool for any Cricut lover -- and finally decided on the cupcake from Create-A-Critter (no surprise there, right!).

My daughter, Demi, is friends with the granddaughter of one of my Mom's friends.  (They are about a month apart in age.)  Caroline's birthday is this weekend and we are sending a present for her along with the cupcake card with her Grandma.  Caroline is every bit as much a girly-girl as Demi is; so I made her some hair clips and a Gator korker bow with a headband.

This cute little cupcake is a shaped card I created using Cricut Design Studio and CAC. I welded the cupcakes together at the top and then cut another solid cupcake. The closed card measures 5" tall.

All of the papers came from my scrap stash.  The card base is made with  Bazzill's Pinkini card stock.  I used some stickles on the cupcake and the cherry for some dimension and sparkle!

The sentiment on the inside of the card was stamped using a Hero Arts rubber stamp.

The gift bag flower and butterfly were "fussy cut" from some K & Co. scraps I had left over from my daughter's star book project.  The "happy birthday" is cut at 4" wide and is also from Create-A-Critter (CAC).

I hope you'll join our sweet challenge and link up your own pink confection at Cooking With Cricut! 

Remember . . . your project must follow the theme; it must be a new one created for this challenge -- please, no back dated posts; you must use your Cricut in some capacity; and you must HAVE FUN!

Don't forget to check in at Cooking With Cricut for Melin's "Every Day in May Blog-Aversary Celebration" -- each and every day a new project is showcased and a wonderful freebie!

Now head on over to CWC and check out the yummy pink treats my fellow Chefs have whipped up!!