Retro baby card

I found out this week that a friend is expecting and I am so excited for her! In congratulations I made her this baby card. The elephant is cut from birthday bash (I didn't put on all of his parts, sometimes I think there are too many parts on cricut cuts when you are making them small). The stars are actually from Mini Monsters. I have yet to find a go-to star that I love on any of my cricut cartridges, sometimes I just want a basic star! I tried to use some retro colors since I have so many in my stash (and I happen to think retro baby things are the cutest).

The inspiration for this card came from a few different challenge blogs.

Celebrate the Occassion: Use at least three stars

Scrappy Mom's Stamps: Retro

Dorcerela Creations (sketch challenge...so helpful in determining my layout!!)

Adorable Christmas Tags

A long while back I saw some tags on Etsy that I A-DORED. I searched and searched to find out where the stamp had come from and felt like I had won the Christmas Jackpot when I finally found them.  The stamp makes a tag from Santa Claus and I love it. It is one of my favorite scrap supplies I have, lol.

I use the stamp to create these precious gift tags:

The tag is cut from Cricut Classic Font. I then embossed "Merry Christmas" onto it. I stamp the messaged onto a rectangle and glue dot it to the reverse side of the tag.

It's cute, right? 

It was sort of serendipitous that the embossing folder I wanted to use was the same size as the stamp!

I sold these at a craft fair and they sold out (well, I only made 4 packs, but it was a small craft fair, lol). This Christmas in July assignment has me getting ready for next year (so maybe I'll have more than 4 packs available!)

In case you like the stamp it is Inkadinkadoo Christmas Tag Wishes (Find it here on Amazon)

The embossing folder is a part of a Sizzix Christmas pack (found here on Amazon)

It Christmas in July at Cooking with Cricut!

It is no secret that I love Christmas more than anything else in this entire world. I might love Christmas more than I love my husband, LOL. I'm not *quite* as crazy as Jamie Lee Curtis in Christmas With the Kranks (I don't have any holiday sweaters or vests, I promise!) but I due tend to be a little over the top.
Plus, Christmas is the best time for crafts! I remember being at Girl Scout camp over July 25th for a couple of years. We would all hang socks in the dining hall and the would be filled with fun things when we went to breakfast the next day. Who doesn't love an extra reason to celebrate Christmas in the middle of the summer?!?

Here is a set of four  Christmas cards I made using Create a Critter. I figure I'll put them away and give them out with teacher's gifts or things like that.

I have to say that it is sort of great to make sets of similar cards (pretty time efficient).

One of the criteria this week is to use some sort of scraps on your card. I love saving even the tiniest of scraps, because a  lot of my create a critter animals need just small pieces of certain colors to complete. I was able to use the scrap of black and orange to make the penguins.

The snowflake in the top corner is the cutout from the O in the word JOY. I didn't see the sense it tossing it away when it was perfectly cute! I just added a mini button to the center.

I would love to see what you come up with for Christmas in July. I have lots of other Christmas crafts made and ready to post to my blog so I'll add some more this week!

Head over to Cooking with Cricut and link up your projects!

I am also submitting this to a few other Christmas in July challenges:
Cutie Pie Challenge
My Craft Spot 
Bitten by the Bug

Cooking with Cricut "Red White and Blue"

This week at Cooking With Cricut we're getting in the 4th of July spirit and making Red, White and Blue projects. I was surprised to find that in all of my cartridges I didn't have a single one with an American Flag, "USA" or something patriotic on it! So, I used Kate's ABCs for the font and Toy Story for the stars (and Cricut Classic Font for the tag).

I made a special 4th of July snack for my kids to have on the 4th. We are away camping so I thought this might be a fun treat to pull out on the campsite. It's blue tortilla chips and an individual pack of salsa. The bottle is Hawaiian punch.

I'm sure lots of people are creating other fun projects and we would really love to see what you have come up with! Head over to Cooking with Cricut and link up your project.

Cooking with Cricut: It's HOT Outside!

This week at Cooking with Cricut we're celebrating all the fun things there are to do in and around water, and it's the perfect challenge to showcase my most favorite idea of all time, lol!

I was thinking about how too often summer vacation comes and goes and we never get all the stuff done we had hoped to do: we would forget things we wanted or just not make time to do them. So this year I came up with...

A Sandbucket List!

It's a list of all the things we want to do this summer. There are some little ideas (go out to ice cream) and some bigger ideas. We sat as  family one night and everyone contributed something to the list. Then I got to make it pretty :)

I used "Life's a Beach" for all the cuts.

Supplies:

• Bulletin Board
• Royal blue paper to staple to the background
• 5 Tacks (one at each corner of the bulletin board and one on the bottom center)
• Twine (to wrap around the perimeter of the board  - wrap it around each tack to secure it)
• Mini Clothespins (found mine at Micheal's)
• Everything else is just paper/glue and my Cricut to make the shapes

Here is what is on our list:

1. Teach Ryan to read
2. Make homemade bread and homemade butter to put it on
3. Wash the cars in our bathing suits (just the kids will be doing this one, lol!)
4. Go to a baseball game
5. Take swim lessons
6. Make a homemade birthday cake for Daddy's birthday
7. Go on a picnic
8. Camp out in the backyard
9. Ride our scooters down the big hill (again...kids only!)
10. Make homemade lemonade from lemons
11. Learn to do a handstand (our daughter's goal)
12. Explore lots of different playgrounds
13. Go to the beach
14. Teach Annie to ride her bike without training wheels
15. Go to Minnesota
16. Make banana boats (a yummy campfire treat)
17. Fence in the backyard
18. Ride and airplane
19. Ride on a train
20. Make and ice cream cake from scratch
21. Go to North Conway
22. Walk to the farmer's market and buy flowers
23. Have our cousins over for a sleepover (no parents allowed!)
24. Eat outside on the patio at the Olive Garden
25. Learn to ide a scooter with both feet on it (our son's goal)
26. Go to Ericksons (the local ice cream shop)
27. Go camping with Papa in his backyard
28. Go on a kids vacation to Grammie and Grampa's house without our parents 
29. Go to a drive-in movie
30. Go camping
31. Sit out on the porch at night and look at the stars
32. Read Make Way for Ducklings at the park in Boston
33. Fly a kite
34. See as many different license plates as we can and keep a list
35. Watch an entire Red Sox game on TV (our kids...my husband is already proficient at this, lol)
36. Go the the Children's Discovery Museum (a local place)
37. Climb a tree (kids)
38. Go strawberry picking
39. Go to The New England Aquarium with our neighbors
40. Sleep over at Great Grammie's house
41. Swim in the ocean
42. Build a giant sand castle
43. Read Harry Potter (our daughter's goal)

We are super excited for this summer and to do everything on our list!

I'm entering this project at My Craft Spot in their Summer Colors Challenge!

I'd love to see what kind of crafts you are coming up with to celebrate summer and all the fun stuff to do in/around water. Head over to Cooking with Cricut to link up your project.

I would love any feedback you have and always appreciate new blog followers. Leave me a comment and I'll head over and check out your blog as well!

Happy Birthday, Jen! Cooking with Cricut Blog Hop

Welcome to the CookingWithCricut.com and PaperCraftingWorld.com Designers June Blog Hop.Today is day two of great projects with each day showcasing different designers and projects. If you have come from Melin at Cooking with Cricut then you are moving along. If you would like to start from the beginning, please head over to CookingWithCricut.com.

This month our hop theme is all about Birthdays and one special one in mind. Our wonderful DT Coordinator Jen Hudson’s birthday just happened to fall on Saturday so we decided to make birthday inspired projects with a “Jen” theme in mind. Our go to gal is a die-hard Florida Gator Fan. So we decided to use elements on our projects that reflected Our GATOR FOR LIFE Gal’s FANCY;  Florida, The Florida Gators and anything that would make you think of the Sunshine State. Jen is the last on our blog line up so be sure to hop through and leave her some extra special love at the end!

Happy Birthday to Jen! She puts in so much "behind the scenes" work for Cooking With Cricut, and she has been dealing with a lot personally so I really hope seeing all of these projects inspired by the things she loves to be uplifting. First of all, how can I say no to a blog hop that is centered around alligators?? Jen and I like alligators for two very different reasons. She is a Florida Gators fan while I actually just like alligators.

When I was about 10 years old my family went to Disney. As I remember my grandfather gave me $10 to spend. We were at Sea World, which was like Heaven on Earth to me. We stopped at the gift shop and the only stuffed animal I could afford was an alligator with a Hawaiian shirt on. He's lost his Hawaiian shirt since then, but I still have him - he sits on top of my dresser.

My grandfather passed away about 2 1/2 years ago, so this little guy hold an extra special place in my heart now. My grandfather always bought me alligator stuff: cups, paper, toys, games. You name it, I got it. Once when I was pregnant with my daughter we had a scare where I hadn't felt her move in a while so we had to go the hospital to check on her. They saw a heart beat but weren't detecting any movement. He called me and told me to turn on the news: some alligator had gotten into a commercial parking lot in Florida and they were trying to catch it. He told me to watch it and to relax and that the baby would move. So I did, and she did move. He was right. He had a way of giving me the straight forward, no-nonsense advice I always needed to hear.


But anyway...I digress!


Here is the birthday card I came up with using the alligator, birthday, blue and orange inspiration!

The alligator is from Create a Critter ( as is the circle shape).

the card is another great fold I found on Split Coast Stamper. You can find the direct link to the "Joy Fold Card" here.

Thanks for stopping by to see my project. And again, the very happiest of birthdays to Jen!

 Be sure to head over to Cooking with Cricut and leave a comment for a chance to win some great blog candy! Now on to your next stop: xochitl at Cricut Critter Scrapping Heaven.

Cooking with Cricut: Father's Day (no cards!)

Let me start this post by saying: I love Pinterest. I know a lot of people say they don't get it, and I can totally see how people may view it as time wasted idly looking at pictures. However, for me it is a huge source of ideas and inspiration! The project I am showcasing today came from Pinterest; I would link the original source but it was one of those "dead links" that didn't go anywhere so I don't actually have the original.

This week at Cooking with Cricut the challenge is Father's Day - and NO cards!! I think making projects for men is a challenge because they tend not to appreciate our pretty papers and cute buttons, so I really wanted a project my husband would enjoy and appreciate.

This photo will be printed and framed for my husband's desk at work.

The font is from Cuttin' Up and the heart is from Cricut Classic Font. I used my Gypsy to line them up so i would print right where I wanted it to on the papers.

Here is the sign they are holding:

I used two 12x12 papers and taped them together. Because my kids are different heights getting the photo was a bit tough, so I taped a ribbon along the back for my son, who is significantly shorter) to hold.

It took me an embarassingly long time (and multiple failed cuts) printing it backwards etc; until I realized you can cut it reading the normal way left to right and then have you kids hold it upside down over their heads.

You will want the centers of the letters. I used dental floss to suspend the centers in the middle of the letters. It doens't need to be pretty, it won't show up on the shadow!

I hope you enjoy this project today. We would love to see what you have come up with for Father's Day as well.  Head over to Cooking with Cricut and link up your projects!

I would love some new blog followers and any feedback you might have about this or any of my other crafts. Leave me a comment and I'll head over to your blog as well!