No Training Wheels!

May has been a big month of accomplishments for 2 of my boys. Alex kicked it off mid-May by learning how to ride his bicycle without training wheels! Aiden mastered coming back down the stairs (he'd been flying up them for two months, and then yelling until someone went to get him) and started walking unassisted last week! 

We had been talking to Alex since the end of April about learning how to ride his bike without the training wheels and we knew he was ready because of the way he flew on his scooter, but he's our cautious one and wasn't ready. We took off the training wheels and my husband attempted to get him on, but Alex wasn't having any of it. We just kept talking it up and told him to let us know when he was ready to try, and on a Tuesday mid-morning, out of the blue, he came tearing into the house, shouting and cheering! He had picked up his bike, got on, and started riding it all by himself. I grabbed the baby and the camera and we went out to record him and take some pictures. Then, of course, we had to call dad and grandma and grandpa to let them know! He was grinning from ear to ear and was so proud of himself!

Alex's amazing accomplishments is perfect for the Cricut Circle Monthly Challenge, which was: Milestones & Memories. 

The Challenge: Create a layout about a recent milestone in your family. Whether it is graduation, a birthday, moving into a new house, losing a tooth, or whatever it may be. Be sure to include at least 2 Cricut cuts and use 2 Cricut fonts in your page title.

Rules and Guidelines: Circle Blog Challenges are open to Cricut Circle Members only. Your project must be newly created for this challenge and include atleast 2 Cricut Image Cuts. You must submit a project to be entered into the Challenge Prize Drawing.

Paper: Fancy Pants, American Crafts, and scraps. Brads and Twine: Doodlebug. Buttons: Craft supply. Ink: CTMH. Cartridges: Everyday Paper Dolls, Create a Critter, Baby Steps and Art Philosophy. Cuttlebug and Distressed Stripes folder. CCR and E2.

Thank you for looking!

Wedding Coin

What a week! I had been playing around with the Cricut Circle Weekly Challenge in my mind all week, but we've been so busy that just got the chance to work on it today. The challenge was:

Weekly Challenge #58: Family Mementos Challenge!

The Challenge: Scrapbook a page with a photograph of a special family memento. In your journaling, tell the story behind your special object.

Here is my take: my mother's family has a tradition of putting an old coin in the bride's shoe before she walks down the aisle. My father is putting the coin in my shoe. The coin is from Europe and was passed down from my Great-Grandmother to my Grandmother to my Mother and then to me. I only hope that I will have a girl someday to pass this onto.

Paper: Bazzill and scraps. Doily flowers: CTMH. Brad: Doodlebug. Cartridges: Hey Diddle Diddle, Imagine More, Jasmine and Mother's Day Bouquet. CCR, Imagine and E2.
I am also entering this in the Creative Color Challenge at I Came, I Saw, I Created.

Very Vanilla RGB: 255, 250, 226

More Mustard RGB:  212, 161, 80

Basic Grey:  118, 122, 121

Thanks for looking!

Flowers for Teachers

My middle son's last day of school was on Friday and I didn't know what to do for the teacher, aide and parent educator. I gave the teachers crayon wreaths for Christmas, and that, at least right now, was too hard for me to top. It doesn't help that I was in a funk this week - or burned out from NSD and all of the challenges.

Anyway, I was planting my flowers and decided to get each of the teachers a plant: the boys picked out Dahlia's. I also let them each pick out the three pots they both needed (the oldest is done June 7th, so we need to get more plants, but we got the pots.)

After I got the vinyl on and took a picture of the pots themselves, we put the dahlia's in and brought outside to the bench for another picture. The flowers looked much happier before the boys got a hold of them with the hose. They were all asking questions about how I did it and surprised that the vinyl was so versatile.

Pots: Menards. Dahlia's: Home Depot. Vinyl: Oh My Crafts!. Cartridges: Letter Envy and Cuttin' Up. CCR and E2.

Float My Boat

I have had a really hard time this week getting myself into any crafting. I have to make two separate postings today because, while I finished DS#2's teacher presents, I didn't get the pictures posted on Friday.
I made this card for the Creative Color Challenge at I came, I saw, I created. This week's colors are:

Baja Breeze RGB: 141, 189, 193

Not Quite Navy RGB: 52, 103, 120

Calypso Coral: 245, 116, 97

Last week was crazy and this week hasn't been much better, so I did this quickly last night. I am not sure if I will just put it aside for something later, keep for DH and our anniversary or give it to one of the boys. Nothing fancy, but I got to use my new Wild Card 2 cartridge!

Paper: Bazzill. White gel pen. Gems and ink: CTMH. Cartridge: Wild Card 2. CCR and Imagine.

Color Challenge #2

It was not my intention to submit this but I figured I might as well finish since I had all the pieces cut and the flowers rolled. It turned out okay, I just shy away from orange.

Paper: American Crafts and CTMH. Ribbon: American Crafts. Brads: craft supply. Cuttlebug machine and Simply Charmed companion folder. Cartridges: Flower Shoppe and Art Philosophy. CCR and E2.

Scraps Only - #2

I was playing on the CCR and decided to try for a second scraps only layout - its not like I don't have plenty of scraps - too bad I need to get up super early tomorrow for a class, or I'd stay up and continue creating.

Cartidges used: Mothers Day Bouquet, Pretty Pennants and Art Philosophy. I'm not sure about the paper, since its scraps and even the full sheet was in my color bins and I'm not sure whose it is. Brads; crafty supply. Adhesives: Scotch double sided strips and Terrifically Tacky Tape. Cuttlebug machine and Devine Swirls and Simply Charmed folders. CCR and E2.

Something Old / Something New Challenge

I made a "Thank You" card for my middle son's teacher. He is done next week and I need to run to Home Depot or Fleet Farm and buy flowers, pots and get decorating! Luckily, this time I only have the teacher, the aide and the parent educator to do (last semester, I also had 3 sibling care aides to buy/create for). More on the present later, for now I made the card.

I used Pretty Pennants, Simply Charmed and All Mixed Up, so technically I used two older cartridges and one new cartridge. Paper is Fancy Pants. Sakura Gelly Roll pen, white. CCR (I got it working) and E2.

Me and My Scrap Space

I was trying to use the CCR. My E2 and Imagine are behind me.

NSD CROP: Color Challenge!

I used the color challenge to create a Mother's Day card for my mother-in-law. I had a hard time with this challenge - I started two different projects but wasn't thrilled with any of them. I think a big part of my problem is my aversion to orange and I couldn't get the green to work with the two shades of teal. This is what I came up with . . .

Very disappointed in the CCR - I had this already to cut and then the CCR couldn't find a device. I restarted the computer, tried switching to my Imagine, reset the white cord; nothing worked. Hoping it will come back up so I can get my last submission in tonight.
Paper: CTMH. Brads: craft supply.Cartridges: Accent Essentials, Mother's Day 2010, and Sophie. Gypsy and E2.

Scraps Only Challenge

I started with something completely different for this and then started paging through the pictures of the boys on the camera (I am waiting for Walgreens to have a great deal before I go into print the 600+ pictures on the camera) and saw the cutest picture of the older two splashing in the puddles in the rain.

I would show you my box of scraps, but DH is sleeping in the craftroom tonight because he needs to be in the office at 4:30am (glad I'm not him). Sad thing is, there are a lot of "scraps" that only have an inch or two cut out.

Full sheet: Bazzill. Scraps, not sure on all, but includes CTMH, Piggy Tales, American Crafts. Cuttlebug and Swiss Dots and Distressed Stripes folders. Sakura gelly roll white pen. Cartridges: H2O, A Child's Year and Nate's ABC's. CCR and E2. 

Art Inspiration Challenge - Cricut Circle for NSD

Here is my submission for the Art Inspiration Challenge on the Circle Blog. Using the inspiration I made a mother's day card for my mom. This was my first attempt at the twisted easel card, and I really like the look.

Paper: Bazzill, CTMH, and scraps. Stamp sentiment: My Pink Stamper. Ink: CTMH. Decorative pin: Maya Road. Cartridges: Art Philosophy and Giant Flowers. CCR and E2.

Aiden's Banner

I finally made up my mind and got Aiden's banner completed. I cut everything out last night and put some of it together and then finished up today. The other two looked similar to me (probably because they were both red and blue) that I wanted something different.

Cartridges used: Don Juan, Art Philosophy, Life's a Party and Create a Critter. Paper: Bazzill and Fancy Pants. Stickles: Ranger. Twine and brads: Doodlebug. Spots and Dots folder and Cuttlebug. CCR and E2.

Jungle out there!

Cricut Craft Room Challenge:


For this challenge, I used the CCR Basics and Finger Puppets - Safari. We are members at one of the local zoo's (honestly, by the time we pay for everyone and the parking fee to go twice a year, we've spent more than the cost of the membership). This picture was taken at a member's only exclusive event to showcase the new penguin exhibit. While we were at the zoo, we let the older two boys run around the play area and someone came up to us, with her camera, and asked if we would allow her to take a couple pictures of the baby. I'm thinking, "crazy lady with a camera wants to photograph other peoples' kids, why?" but she pulled out her photography studio information and offered to send us the pics via email for free, so we let her take a couple pics.
I know I just made another zoo layout the other day for the timed sketch challenge, but I found the DCVW Animal Crackers paper and we have so many pictures of our adventures at the zoo.

Thanks for looking!

Circle Crop: Recipe Challenge

Here is my submission for the Recipe Challenge. I am working on DS#3's baby month-by-month book and this  challenge worked out perfectly. It is hard to see, but the stitching is on the birds' wings.

Paper: Bazzill, and craft supply (I have some paper separated by event or color). Brads: Doodlebug. Opaques: CTMH. Markers: American Crafts. Ink: Versa Magic. Cartridges: 3 Birds on Parade and Paper Dolls for Everyday Day. Gypsy and E2.

Cricut Circle Weekly Challenge

Weekly Challenge #57: Sketch Challenge!

The Challenge: Create a project of your choice using the sketch provided to inspire your design.

Rules and Guidelines: Circle Blog Challenges are open to Cricut Circle Members only. Your project must be newly created for this challenge and include atleast 2 Cricut Image Cuts. You must submit a project to be entered into the Challenge Prize Drawing. One entry per person, please.

So, I am a little behind on my scrapbooking. Oops! My husband and I brought Alex (our oldest) to Arizona for my brother-in-law's wedding in October 2007. Alex was about 10 months old, and we had never been to AZ so we decided to hit up some of the tourist areas. One of them was Goldfield Ghost Town and Mine.  Here is my interpretation of the sketch:

Paper: DCWV, Bazzill and CTMH. Brads: Doodlebug. Markers: American Crafts. Inks: Versa Magic. Cartridge: Old West. Gypsy and E2.

A Pinch of Love

This week's Creative Color Challenge at I Came I Saw I Created is :

Pumpkin Pie RGB: 255, 130, 1

Pacific Point RGB:  1, 128, 181

Real Red RGB: 198, 44, 58

I had a number of different ideas for this challenge running thru my head, and finally settled on this. I really have no one in particular in mind, but it was cold and rainy here today, so the beach sounded good - even if there are little crabs running around the beach. Sorry about the lighting.

Paper: Fancy Pants and Bazzil. Stickers: Echo Park. Stamp: CTMH Under the Sea. Ink: Versa Magic and Ranger. Google eyes and brad: craft supply. Markers: American Crafts. Cuttlebug, Spots and Dots and Simply Charmed folders. Gypsy and E2.

Spinner Happy Birthday

A fellow Circlet asked anyone who was willing, to make a birthday card for her sister-in-law and brother-in-law's grandson. Their grandson has leukemia and will be resuming treatment this coming Monday May 7th, and will be celebrating his 9th birthday will undergoing treatment. My heart breaks for this little boy and his family, and I thank God that my boys are healthy.
This is my first attempt at a spinner card, and it turned out great! All of the ladies at Archivers today for NSD were asking how I did it and what I used. My question is, how do you slow the spin down. I'll have to play with it - maybe for my mom's mother's day card.

I cut the slit out of the piece of space paper using my gypsy and adjusting a tag from Art Philosophy. Then, following other directions that I found when I googled spinner card, I used double-sided foam tape (two layers)  around the space paper and then attached two pennies using two circular pop-dots in the center and assembled. I love this!!
Paper: I think is DCWV, however it was in my color-coded bins, Fancy Pants, CTMH and Bazzill. Stamp is CTMH. Embossing powder and gun, American Crafts. Cartridges, Life's a Party and Art Philosophy. Gypsy and E2. Two pennies. Pop-Dots and Scotch foam tape.

Thanks for looking and I hope Austin enjoys the spinner!

Mother's Day Card

I made a bunch of butterflies a couple days ago that were too large for what I was doing - they worked great here :)
I also did another of Jana's technique's by heat embossing the butterflies!

Imagine

I was going to use the imagine on my craftroom banner and changed my mind :)

E2 tag

I was going to use the e2 tag on my craftroom banner and changed my mind :

Gypsy Tag

I was going to use the gypsy on my craftroom banner and changed my mind :)

Driving on Thru

This is my 3rd entry for the scrap cuts game . . . and I incorporated Jana's wire technique!

I have a bunch of left over cars from DS#1's banner - I made and decorated them and let him pick which ones he wanted for his banner.

Thanks a bunch

Here is another entry for the challenge, with complete rules:

It is a miracle DS#1 didn't use this for himself - guess I hid it well :)

Doggone Good Day

The game on the Circle Blog is to use our scrap cuts to create a card or tag. Here is one of the leftover scrap cuts I had on my desk.

Timed challenge sketch

I got home from Archivers an hour into the challenge but thought "what the heck, if I don't make it, at least I tried" So I did and I made it right in the nick of time!

Paper: DCWV, Animal Crackers and Bazzill cardstock. Opaques, licorice gems from CTMH. Animal Kingdom and Life's A Beach cartridges, Gypsy and E2.

Letter Envy Timed Challenge #4

I tried cutting shrinky dink film out to make charm bracelets for our moms for Mothers Day. The shrinky dink didn't cut well so I had to cut along the outline and then colored them in and heated 'em up!

Letter Envy Timed Challenge #3

I am making charms with the boys names on them, but since my E2 wouldn't cut the names out, I had to recut them and ran out of time. I will post Adam's and Aiden's as soon as possible.

Letter Envy Time Challenge #2

Letter Envy Timed Challenge #1

Alex's Banner

I finally finished it! Alex picked out the trucks and the colors, so I am not as happy with this one as I was with Adam's but the important thing is that Alex loves it!
I might have finished Alex's earlier, however, my husband has been sleeping in the spare bedroom / craftroom because he's in the middle of a huge project at work and leaves before the crack of dawn and doesn't want to disturb me. So because he has to leave so early, he goes to bed early and I don't get to craft (insert sad face). I cut all my pieces out yesterday and finished putting it together today. So, here it is . . .

Here are the close ups:

Here is the first attempt and the literal flop. Flop because I didn't think about how to connect (at the bottom right? Wrong) all of the cars flopped over. Oops! The boys did pull the twine off and play with all of the cars. I also didn't feel like this was very banner-like, but it was what Alex initially wanted.

Materials used (for the new one): Paper, Bazzill and American Crafts. Twine, Doodlebug. Buttons and white gel pen, craft supply. Markers, American Crafts. Stickles, Ranger. Cartridges, Art Philosophy, Everyday Paper Dolls and CCR Basics. CCR and E2.