Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Cooking With Cricut Challenge: Scarecrow/Hay/Crow & Sketches

Happy Wednesday!  First things first . . . thank you all for joining our "Adopt A Shelter Pet" Blog Hop last Saturday at Cooking With Cricut!  It was so much fun to see all of the CWC Design Team's projects and read the wonderful comments you all left me.  As promised here are the two blog candy winners from the hop.  The first person chosen by random.org was . . .

#8 Patti Ross said . . . "This is adorable!"  (pattilyncreations.blogspot.com)

and the second person chosen was . . .

# 23 Anna said . . . "Just too cute!!!  So adorable!!!"  (mamawann.blogspot.com)

Congratulations, ladies!  I will be sending you an e-mail shortly requesting your snail mail addresses so that I may get your Fall stamp sets in the mail ASAP.

And now for this week's challenge!  Melin challenged the Cooking With Cricut Design Team to use a scarecrow, hay and/or crow, as well as one of three sketches for this week's challenge.  After much searching I discovered that I do not own a cartridge that has a scarecrow, a bale of hay or a crow that looks like a crow.  There is a pile of hay on Everyday Paper Dolls and there is a crow that looks more like a vulture on Paper Doll Dress Up -- neither one fit what I wanted to do.  Hmmmm . . . . what to do?

Then it hit me -- I remembered that I had an old K & Co. Fall paper pack.  Maybe, just maybe there would be something in there that would work.  B-I-N-G-O!

Here's the double layout sketch Melin gave us to work from:



And here is what I came up with:

 

Here's the recipe:

Plantin SchoolBook --
  • Text cut at 1" h (Our Little Punkin') and 3/4" h (2004).
  • Large photo mat cut at 6 3/4" h by 4  3/4" w.
  • Small photo mats cut at 4" by 4".
Doodlecharms --
  • Pumpkins cut using the border feature at 6" w.
Cake Basics --
  • Flourishes cut at 3 1/2" w.
The two 12" x 12" patterned paper sheets are from K & Co. Fall Paper Pack.  All of the other card stock is from my scrap stash.  I inked the edges of my pumpkins and my journaling mat using a honey brown ink pad by Studio G.  A little pen doodling with a white gelly roll gives it the finishing touches.


My journaling block reads:

 
October 2004 ~ Six months old.

On a crisp October day we drove up to Alachua to the Pumpkin Patch run by the Youth Group of First UMC.  They had some huge pumpkins and several hay bales set up for photos — and you know me, I can’t pass up a good photo op!    You weren’t too sure about sitting on the hay though!  You finally decided it was okay to touch it and before we knew it you had a handful and it was headed to your mouth!


That cutie-patootie is now a big girl of 7 1/2 years.  Demi saw these pictures and said "Mom, I hope you didn't brush my hair like THAT!!!"  I had to laugh!  We used to get asked all the time who styled her hair -- which of course cracked us up -- and we always responded, "No one.  That's just the way it grows!"

In a rare moment today, Demi asked me to take some pictures of her -- we're at that stage where she runs when she sees me with the camera.  So here is a current picture of my beautiful girl!  I look at those photos of her at 6 months old and at her now at 7 1/2 and I wonder where time has gone! 


Now it's your turn! Link up your project at CookingWithCricut.com. Here are a few guidelines:
  • Must follow the challenge topic.
  • Must be a NEW project for this challenge.  No back dated posts, please.
  • Must have a link back to this post on your blog.
  • Must link your project post through Inlinkz and not just your blog.
  • Must use your Cricut in some capacity.
  • Must HAVE FUN! 
  • You may gladly combine challenges . . . we love to pile it on TOO!
Thanks so much for stopping by and checking out my challenge project.  Now . . . head on over to Cooking With Cricut and see what the rest of this amazing Design Team has whipped up!

~ Jen

Saturday, October 22, 2011

Cooking With Cricut's "Adopt A Shelter Pet" Blog Hop

Welcome to Musings of a Crafty Mom and the CookingWithCricut.com “Adopt A Shelter Pet” Hop!  October is National Adopt a Shelter Dog Month, but we wanted to honor and celebrate all of our furry friends and to helping bring awareness to the plight of millions of abused and abandoned animals in community shelters nationwide.  If you've come from visiting Dalis at Stamper Girl, you're in the right place! If you've just happened across my blog and would like to hop along with us, you can go to CookingWithCricut.com and start at the beginning. 
I have a dear friend who is a kindergarten teacher.  She loves animals just as much as she does music, her students and SEC football (although I think she roots for the wrong team)!  Her classroom is decorated with all kinds of furry friends and I wanted to make her something special.   I finally decided upon a door hanging that would welcome visitors and students to her room.

Using my favorite Cricut cartridge -- Create-A-Critter!! -- and the Accent Essentials cartridge here is what I came up with.

This door hanging measures approximately 42"long.  I used a 2" metal ring for the hanger.  My ribbon is a brown grosgrain with turquoise stitching and is 1 1/2" wide.  All of the solid colored mats are Recollections brand card stock.  The patterned papers are from The Paper Studio Basics Paper Pad, except for the top piece and it is from my paper stash.  All other papers are from my stash as well.

Here is the recipe:

Create-A-Critter
Terrier -- cut at 5" tall.  (pg. 35)
Cat -- cut at 5" tall.  (pg. 29)
Dalmation -- cut at 4 1/4" tall.  (pg. 36)
Cat2 -- cut at 4 3/4" tall.  (pg. 38)

Accent Essentials
Accent47 -- cut at 6" x 6" for the base and at 5 1/2" x 5 1/2" for the mat.  (pg. 78)  I hid the inside cut on this frame using the Cricut Design Studio.

I created the center panel using Microsoft Publisher and MS Office clip art for the puppy paws.  It is printed on white card stock and cut to 4 3/4" x 4 3/4".

A little bit of doodling and stitching with a white gelly pen and my Zig Writers gave this cute project its finishing touches!


 





Now it's your turn!  Link up your purr-fectly wonderful pet-themed project at CookingWithCricut.com.  Here are a few guidelines:

·         Must follow the challenge topic.
·         Must be a NEW project for this challenge.  No back dated posts please.
·         Must have a link back to this post on your blog.
·         Must link your project post through Inlinkz and not just your blog.
·         Must use your Cricut in some capacity.
·         Must HAVE FUN!
·         You may gladly combine challenges . . . we love to pile it on TOO!
And there are prizes!! The Design Team will pick their three favorite entries -- each will receive a $5.00 gift voucher-download from PaperCraftingWorld.com.   One lucky entry will be chosen randomly to receive a $20 gift voucher-download from PaperCraftingWorld.com. There is also a prize for just leaving us some love (a comment) on the CWC blog. One catch, those leaving comments MUST be a CWC follower -- the winning commenter will also receive a $20 gift voucher-download from PaperCraftingWorld.com.

You have until midnight on Wednesday, October 26 to link up your pet-themed project at Cooking With Cricut.  Winners will be announced during our normal post on Friday, October 28. 

I have blog candy to give away, too!  Up for grabs are two clear stamps sets -- each set has five stamps and both sets are Fall-themed.  All you have to do to be eligible to win is be a follower of my blog and leave a comment on this post.  Two lucky winners will be drawn on Wednesday, October 26 and announced during my Cooking With Cricut Challenge post.

Good luck and have fun!  And thanks so much for hopping with us today!
~ Jen

“Adopt A Pet” Blog Hop Participants:

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Cooking With Cricut Challenge: Purple, Green & Sketches

It's another wonderful Wednesday!!  Our Cooking With Cricut challenge this week was to use the colors purple and/or green and to use one of Melin's amazing sketches (if you felt so inclined).  She also asked us to do something pretty for Mother-in-Law's Day, which is this Sunday; or if we decided to do something for Halloween, to make it cute and not spooky or scary. 

I chose to do a Halloween layout using the double 12" x 12" sketch and used both purple and green.  I have been working on my youngest daughter's albums sporadically, very sporadically!  So this cute LO will be a nice addition.







Here is the recipe:

Paper Doll Dress Up --
  • Pumpkins - both were cut at 2 1/2" tall.
  • Scaredy Cat - cut at 3" tall.

"Just Because" Cards --
  • Decorative Envelope -- cut at 9 7/8" tall (I just used the flap for my "Halloween 2006" title.)

Create-A-Critter --
  • Postage Stamp -- cut at 10 1/2" square. (I used Design Studio to hide the inner cuts.)

George & Basic Shapes --
  • Photo and Journaling Mats - cut at 5" x 7" and 4 1/2" x 6 1/2" respectively.

The patterned card stock (accents and mats) is from DCWV Nana's Nursery:  Baby Boy paper pack. 

The base paper is 12" x 12" black card stock by Recollections

The orange polka dot is by The Paper Studio and all of the other paper is from my scrap stash.

I used various pens for the doodling and yellow stickles for the cat's eyes and the pumpkins' faces. 

The chipboard "BOO" is also by Recollections.


My journaling block reads:
This is the first Halloween that you really understood what Halloween was all about . . . CANDY!  You were 2½ and totally enthralled with “The Wizard of Oz.”  When you told us you wanted to dress up as a witch, we asked you what kind of witch you wanted to be.  You replied, quite matter-of-factly, “A good witch, ‘cause I don’t want to scare any pretties or their little dogs, too!”

You learned this song at Pre-School and sang it ALL the time! 

Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate.
The first one said, "Oh, my, it's getting late!"
The second one said, "There are witches in the air!"
The third one said, "Good folk, beware!"
The fourth one said, "We'll run and run and run!"
The fifth one said, "Let's have some fun!"
OOOOOOOH, went the wind and OUT went the light.
And the five little pumpkins rolled out of sight.

Pictures:  top left ~ Demi & Miss Samantha during the Halloween Parade at school; bottom left ~ Trying to look like a good witch; top right ~ Inspecting our scared pumpkin; bottom right ~ Trick-or-Treating at Dr. & Mrs. Ford’s home.

She was such a CUTE little witch!  And her sweet little voice saying "Trick or Treat!" earned her way more than her fair share of candy -- we only took her to about five houses, all family and friends, but her candy bucket was brimming when we got home!

Thanks for stopping by!  Make sure you head on over to Cooking With Cricut and check out the AMAZING projects the Design Team created!  Then whip out your purple and green and get busy creating and link up to our challenge this week.  You could be our next "Top Chef!"

~ Jen

P.S.  Our "Adopt a Pet" Blog Hop is this Saturday, October 22nd.  Start at Cooking With Cricut and hop along as we celebrate our favorite furry and feathered friend.