Summer Layout for Everyday Cricut

Happy Saturday everyone.  Today is the third Saturday of the month so that means it is my week as the Saturday Designer  Everyday Cricut.   This month I am sharing a sweet summer layout featuring photos of my daughter Bethany and cuts from two Cricut cartridges, Art Philosophy and George and Basic Shapes. 

For more information on how I created this sweet layout, please visit the Everyday Cricut blog.

I will be back on Monday with another new project to share.  Have a wonderful weekend!

Greetings from the Seashore

Happy July 4th - American Independence Day!  And, a bit late, happy Canada day to our neighbors to the north!  I am back with another Bitten by the Bug 2 weekly challenge.  Our design team leader, Heather, chose the cut of the week, the STARFISH from the Life's a Beach cartridge. 

Before I discuss today's BBTB2 layout I want to share my "vacation" week with you.  As I previously shared, Doug, Ian and I were planning a few days in Chattanooga to visit with Doug's family.  His sister  and brother-in-law were in from NM and we were excited to see them.  Well, the day before we planned to leave I woke up early in the morning ill.  I had a yucky tummy, headache, fever, body aches, etc.  At first I thought that I had one of those 24 hour viral deals that we have all had.  But no.... My virus turned out to be a three day ordeal...  In the meantime I had sent Doug and Ian on their way, promising to go the doctor is I did not feel better by the third day.  Thankfully the afternoon of the third day I realized that I was on the road to wellness!

I missed seeing everyone, and as heavenly as being home alone can be, this was not one of those times.  I was bored and was missing my family!  So I had a bit of pity party and then I got over it!!  Oh, and I did read three books last week so that was good!

As I stated above, today's BBTB2  challenge cut is the starfish from Life's a Beach.  I decided to create a girlie beach layout because I have TONS of photos from Bethany's years at the College of Charleston - I think she spent a lot of time on the beach!!!  I normally use blues and sand colors for the beach, but this time I went with topical pinks, salmon, etc.

I used five cartridges to create this layout - Life's a Beach for the sea life, Kate's ABC's for the title cut - Seashore, Billionaire for the cursive phrase, George for the rectangles and French Manor for the stamp shaped cuts.

I used Cricut Design Studio to design my layered title and multi-layered bottom edge border. 

Please stop by Bitten by the Bug 2 and check out all of the great Starfish projects.  Also, please consider playing along with us this week - you could be our weekly winner!!!

I have a three day project to share with you Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday - a Patriotic picnic enhanced with Cricut!!!

Sunny Days with Celebrate with Flourish and BBTB2

Happy Monday and happy (HOT) summer!  This is my week to host the challenge cut at Bitten by the Bug 2.  In honor of the Summer Solstice, I selected a fun, summery cut - the phrase "Sunny Days" from the Celebrate with Floursh Lite cartridge! 

I designed this layout a month ago when I first selected my challenge cut.  The timing was perfect as my husband and I had just booked out first cruise!  Our 30th anniversary is in November so we decided to take a 6 night cruise to the Bahamas and Key West to celebrate.  We thought this cruise sounded like a perfect opportunity to introduce us to cruising - to get our feet wet, so to speak!

So, with "cruising on the brain" I combined cuts from Celebrate with Flourish and Life's a Beach cartridges to create this fun layout.  I used Celebrate with Flourish (CWF) to cut the Sunny Days phrase and the sun with clouds layered cut.  I love the layered look of the word phrases on CWF.  I confess that I have been utilizing a similar layering technique long before CWF was released. But using CWF makes the layering of letters MUCH easier.   I also really like the swirl cutouts - or flourishes - that are part of every CWF cut.  Such a fun cartridge.

I uses Life's a Beach (LIB) to cut the elements on the lower half of the page.  I cut the ship in multiple layers and had cut an additional bottom piece to make the ship taller.  I trimmed the ship out with ribbon, dashes and a cute little anchor. 

The double layer waves and the dolphines were also cut from LIB.  I had never cut the dolphines so I was a bit nervous about the tiny outline pieces.  But as you can see it all went very well.   The waves were cut in two layers - after welding two of each of the wave cuts together.  I thought the dolphins looked cut jumping out of the water between the waves.

I used this great beach photo on the layout, though truthfully I will probably make a matching page and save the layout for our fall cruice.  The photo mats will hold up to a 5 x7.  Sadly I was out of 5 x7 photo paper and had to print this photo at 4 x 6. 

If you have not already done so, please go by Bitten by the Bug 2 and check out the design team projects. I had a sneak peek and was WOWed by some of the great projects.  Also, please consider playing along with us on the weekly challenge.  Complete a new project this week using the "Sunny Days" phrase cut and post your project in the link area at BBTB2.  We provide a blog blinkie to the best project of the week, selected from those who chose to join us in the challenge.

Graduation Layout for Shelby's Scrapbook

Today I have a quick layout to share with you.  These are the final two pages in Shelby's scrapbook, which will be filled in later with photos from her graduation.  Shelby's school colors are royal blue and white, but as anyone who tries to purchase graduation cardstock knows, most of the scrapping products are black and white, gray and white, or silver and white.  I had a few pieces of graduation paper and cardstock leftover from Ian's senior year scrapbook so I shared with Michelle. 

To the basic gray, black and white graduation colors we added royal blue and white embellishments.  We used two cartridges to cut the Cricut elements on these two pages - Calligraphy for the phrase "Graduation 2011" and Everyday Paper Dolls for the graduation cap.  Both Happy Graduation and grad caps appear on a number of other cartridges, I simply chose these two because I like them.  But if you do not have either of these cartridges do not worry, similar cuts can be found on several other cartridges.

I added floral swirl die cuts to each page - cutting in half a large flower to use half on each page.  The die cut is one that I have had for a while - the last of a series of die cut flowers I purchased a few years ago at Convention.

I added a few rub-ons to the pages - See the "So happy" embellishment above and the phrase "Celebrate You" on the last photo.  I also created a layered blue and white flower to add a bit of girliness to the page!!

Here is a final look a the two pages.  Click on the photos to see them larger.

I will be back tomorrow with one more graduation project to share.  I hope you have a great Friday!

Piano Recital Layout with Quarter Note

I had such a nice time yesterday.  Michelle came over and we worked on her daughter Shelby's scrapbook.  Michelle was very close to being finished with the scrapbook, just six pages to go, which is great since she has to present the book to Shelby on Thursday night (as in - TOMORROW)!  Shelby attends a private school and the parents were asked to present their students a scrap/memory book at graduation.  I was able to help Michelle a great deal, as she was not really a scrapper.  The good news?  Well other than Shelby's book is finished - Michelle is a scrapper convert!!  She is purchasing a Cricut Expression, wants a Gypsy, and is planning to attend the CK Scrapbooking convention that Kathy, Suzanne, Pat and I attend each August!!  Whoo-hoo!!

I wanted to share this layout of Shelby's first piano recital (which also includes a photo of Shelby at her last piano recital!).  This was the first time I had used the Quarter Note cartridge.  I asked for this cartridge for a couple of years before it became a reality.  Ironically, I no longer needed it as much as I had when I was scrapping years of Marching Band photos!  But as I had begged for the music/band cartridge, I HAD to purchase the cartridge.

Quarter Note does NOT disappoint. In addition to a music note alphabet (see the welded letters below) there are a lot of music words, instruments, and symbols.  I am very happy with the cartridge, I only wish I had more opportunity to use the music cuts!

I will try to remember to photograph the other two layouts we made yesterday when I see Michelle to put the finishing touches on the book.  I am very proud of the work she has done on Shelby's book and very excited that she has embraced my favorite hobby!!!

Celebrating with Woody and Bullseye

Sheriff Woody is having a "rip-roaring howdy" kind-of day as he and his trusty horse, Bullseye adorn this cute layout for my adorable nephew, Carter.  Carter will be three in a little over two weeks and his Aunt Susan is working away on his scrapbook.  Carter adores Toy Story so of course I must include a few TS related layouts!

I am worried that Carter will notice that Aunt Susan dressed Woody in the wrong colors.  I did not look at a photo of Woody, but instead just selected papers that I liked.  I am hoping that IF Carter notices, someone will tell him that his is Woody's OTHER outfit!  Or perhaps they could say Woody's regular clothes are in the wash???  :-)  Maybe Woody had to change clothes because "there's a snake in [his] boot."

Not to be out done by Woody, Bullseye is looking pretty cute too.  And again, I did not look at Bullseye's photo - let's hope that I got him somewhat correct.  I am betting that the hooves are the right color!!!  I added dots to represent the stitching which holds Bullseye together.

In addition to the Toy Story cuts, I also used the cowboy hat and boots from Paper Doll Dress Up.  I also used George and Basic Shapes to cut the photo mats.  I added silk flowers over the cricut cut flowers on the rope and on the right hand page.  

The cardstock that I used is actually from a fall themed line, but I thought the colors worked wonderfully with the western theme. The colors are so warm looking - and they match the colors I used on Woody and Bullseye.

I hope you enjoyed this layout - and forgive the smudge on my camera lens (the blur in every photo is a smudge).  I have since cleaned the camera lens, but not before photographing tomorrow's project!  Oops.

Cricut Birthday Bash - Third and Final Layout

Wow, was yesterday a fun day, or what?  Are all of you as tired as I am?  I am going to confess to taking a late afternoon half hour nap to get through the evening! 

I was super exited to have won an Expression II first thing yesterday morning!  I could not believe that I went to bed after 2:00 am and got up at 6:00 am to watch more HSN and interact with Provo Craft on FB.  Imagine my shock when they posted the 6:20 am winner and it was me?  I was on the phone with MFK (my friend Kathy), who I had just awakened.  She had been up until 3:00 am watching HSN!  I felt horrid for waking her - she is almost always up very early - but she says it was okay since she was talking to me when I won.  What a good sport and GREAT friend!!

Today's layout is the third of the three I entered into the Birthday Contest.  This design took a design from my data disc DVD set and incorporated a few changes to come up with the Cricut Birthday layout.  (So is anyone like me and wondering WHAT PC plans to do with almost 500 birthday layouts?).   I used Imaginesce Birthday Bash cardstock along with Bazzill and glitter cardstock to create this layout. 

The decorative background piece was created in Design Studio using a cut from Cindy Loo, welded together multiple times to form a square.  I used medium weight glitter cardstock and multi-cut the page two times.

Similar to my Cricut birthday layout, I had fun with a birthday hat.  I thought the number 5 needed a birthday hat topper.

I finished the layout with a few gemstones, doodles, ribbons, and Imaginesce birthday candles and chipboard circle.  I cut a flower and mounted the circle on top.  I used a thick line of zip-dry glue to hold the candles on the corners. 

Thanks for stopping by today and thank you for all of the kind wishes from yesterday!!  I will be back tomorrow with a new - NON-birthday project! 

I read yesterday now that the Expression II release is over we all have to move on to the Royal Wedding (both being historic events and all!!).  Well, more on this later in the week but.... MFK is having the girls over on Friday morning (arriving at her home between 4-6 am) for a royal wedding bash!  I'll keep you posted......

Happy 5th Birthday Cricut Day 2

Happy Birthday, Cricut!  It's day two of the Cricut's birthday celebration and I have another birthday layout to share.  This was the second of the three layouts that I submitted to the Cricut Birthday Celebration.  I love the large background doily from the Basic Cake cartridge, especially in Cricut Green!

**** UP DATE **** This layout won!!! At 6:37 am this morning Cricut announced that this layout won for best Cricut theme!!!!  Woo-hoo!!  I am so excited that I am having trouble typing!!!

Using my lastest Cricut Circle cartridge, Cricut Everyday, I cut the large logo cricut circle, then used scissor to cut away part of the top circle to create the letter "C" in the work Cricut.  I used bright colors - Cricut green, pink (for the Pink Cricuts) and blue because I have a blue expression. 

I have always loved this party horn cut from Celebrations.  I cut the top layer twice and used scissors to cut away the mouth piece on the pink cut and to keep only the mouth piece on the blue cut.  The shadow cut is in dark blue.

I put a fun party hat on the "C" cricut head - It is Cricut's birthday after all.  I added a flower behind the top of the hat and I added a gem to the middle of the hat top.

I have one other thing to share today.  I ordered a glass tile backsplash tile kit from DIY Network last week and it arrived this afternoon.  The box claimed that the entire project could be done in two hours, which I did not believe, but I decided to install my tile last night anyway.  Over all, including cleaning up, the tile took me about three hours to cover 15 square feet.  I hope you don't mind, but I am going to share photos of my first tile project.

I went with Almond colored tile, which has a touch of metallic copper and gold as well some tans and light browns.  I thought that the almond would work with our white cabinets and multi colored earth tone counter tops. 

The almond tile also blends well with the 4x4 ceramic tile over the sink and cook top.  I just need to do a few finishing touches, but the work is really finished. 

I will be back tomorrow to share my final Cricut birthday layout.

 

Happy 5th Birday, Cricut

Let the Celebrations begin!!!  It's a happy birthday party for Cricut and we are all invited! I cannot wait until tonight's release of the Cricut Expression II machine - the limited anniversary (birthday) edition!  Like so many of us, I will be tuned into HSN tonight at midnight to see Jinger start get the release going! 

I am taking a break from making Cricut birthday hats to complete this post.  I have invited MFK (my friend Kathy) and Kimberly over for the 9:00 pm Everyday Cricut livestream.  And then they are going to stay for the midnight show!!

This is the first of my three Cricut contest birthday layouts that I am sharing.  To be honest, it is my least favorite and I almost did not even send it.  I truly like my other two and I will share those over the next two days.  What I do like about this layout are the cardstock choices.  I think the papers are fun and bright without screaming "child-like".

So now that I have shared my so-so layout, you can look forward to two better layouts tomorrow and Wednesday.  I promise they will be more impressive.  Also, I will share photos of Kathy, Kimberly and I enjoying the Cricut festivities tonight!!!

Disney Blog Hop & Blog Candy

Hey there scrappers. Guess what? It is a Bitten by the Bug 2 blog hopping, blog candy, Disney Monday! If you are following the BBTB2 blog hop you arrived here from the beautiful Krista’s blog. If you are just stopping by my blog, don’t worry, the links for the blog hop are at the bottom of the post.

My design team sister Maria chose the challenge cut at BBTB2 this week and in honor of Spring Break she selected not a specific cut, but a theme – Disney, and more specifically, modern Disney. In keeping with her parameters, I chose Toy Story’s Buzz Lightyear.

My two year old nephew, Carter, is a quite the fan of Toy Story. For Christmas Carter received both Buzz Lightyear and Woody. His impish little grin was beaming!

I am going to say that Buzz is quite the assembly puzzle – so many little pieces in the Buzz images! It is helpful to have a photo of Buzz for reference during assembly. I cut Buzz at 5.5 inches and used the traditional grey, lime, purple, black and white colors for the pieces.

I used metallic cardstock to cut the Buzz Lightyear title. I cut the title a bit on the small side, but I wanted for Buzz, the title and the photo of Carter to fit inside the frame.

The trapezoid shaped frame is also in the Toy Story cartridge. I loved the fun shape of the frame as well as the planets, ships, nebulas, etc. cut outs. I did spend a great deal of time working on the frame. I decided that I wanted for my planets, ships, etc. to be multi colored. Sadly there are not individual cuts files for the frame parts. I hand cut metallic cardstock and glued it to the back of the top layer of the trapezoid frame. It was a lengthy process but well worth the effort.

I finished the layout with white doodles and a red trapezoid frame and photo of Carter. 

I did mention blog candy didn’t I? I have WONDERFUL blog candy – a $20 gift voucher sponsored by Custom Crops, your on-line Cricut and paper crafting super store! In fact, the Toy Story cartridge is currently in-stock, ON SALE, and ready to ship out to you so that you too can create this fun Buzz Lightyear layout. Be sure to stop by Custom Crops and check out all of the new products.
To be eligible for the gift voucher, leave a comment below.

If you have been following the blog hop, I am the last stop. If you came in mid way, you can go back to the beginning of the blog hop by going to Maria‘s blog. Or you can go by BBTB2 and check out the design team projects all at once. And remember, we would love it if you played along and post your Disney themed project in the linky at BBTB2.