Guest Designer

Hi Everybody! 
I will be having a guest designer on Tuesday!  Here's what happened.  A few weeks ago I ran a one hour crafting challenge on Facebook. I challenged people to make a project with something they had not used in a while, or had never used.  I actually had about 10 crazy people joining me!  It was a totally last minute, random idea that I did in the evening so I was ecstatic that I had others that were as crazy as I was!   The prize was to be a guest designer on my blog.  The winner was...............

Alma's Pink Life!!  Congrats Alma!  So please come back on Tuesday to see the uh-ma-zing project she made to share with you guys!!  AND, she is giving away the Wrap it Up cartridge when she reaches 500 followers!!  I hope to do more of these fun challenges.  Thanks, and hope everyone has a chance to craft today :o)

Flaunt It Friday Time!!!

Hi Everybody!

I love when it's my teams turn for Flaunt It Friday!!  The FIF teams are the best at showing different ways to flaunt Cricut cuts!  This time the challenge to make something with the TAGS,BAGS, BOXES & MORE cartridge and the cut choice this week is Match2 (Box), page 65.  I had never tried this cut before, I had heard it was complicated, but Joy over at Everyday Cricut did a great tutorial on this cut.  I made mine in MINUTES.  And using this beautiful Graphic45 paper I didn't have to embellish hardly at all!  So here are the details:

• TBBM = matchbox cut @ 6"
• Graphic45 paper
• Stampin Up! ribbon
• various Pink By Design sentiment stamps
• plastic is from the Cricut cartridge packaging!

Super quick and simple, but pretty.  I'm gonna finish making some cards to go in it, and will be giving this to my mom for her birthday today!!!!  Happy Birthday Mom!!!!!!!  TFL, and don't forget to head over to Flaunt It Friday to show us the way you flaunt this cut!

Thankful Thursday Family Activity

Hi Everybody!
I just wanted to give you a little inspiration for some family activity choices.  I will be choosing the challenge grand prize winner for the month of February next Thursday.  You still have time to enter the second challenge of the month.  Click here for challenge info.  So my suggestion for a family activity is to go to a park!  This can be a playground park, or an amusement park!  Here's the park I went to with my family:

We were lucky enough to be able to stay at the hotel in California Adventure.  This was the view from our room!!  It was awwwwwwwwwsome!  (Thanks Mom and Dad!!)  I took this during the World Of Color water show.  They actually create a wall of water and then display scenes from different movies.  It is breathtaking!

Check out my gorgeous family!!  I am so happy, and grateful that we were able to do this.  I know my kids will have these memories forever :o) 

Ok, so I know not all of you are fortunate enough to be able to go to a park (I've seen a lot of you posting snowy pictures on Facebook!), so Thankful Thursday DT member Erika has her suggestion:

"I play rock band with my kiddos n hubby at least 2 times a week we got a guitar base 3 mics and a keyboard we really rock out LOL"

Another DT member Cheryl shared this idea:

Here's our boredom buster jar (or "Mom, I'm bored" jar). It's filled with little slips of paper... half are chores and half are fun activities... really the luck of the draw!! :)

We re-fill the boredom buster jar as needed... it's super helpful on the long summer days, but rainy days need some helps sometimes too!! :)

I hope this gives at least some of you an idea of some things to do with your family.  Time goes by so fast!  Make sure you do your best to spend it wisely :o)

Yo Gabba Gabba Cake!!

**CLICK HERE FOR THE COOKING WITH CRICUT DESIGN TEAM PROJECT/CHALLENGE**

Hi Everybody!

So my daughter turned 3 on Monday (boo-hoo) :(  She LOOOVES Yo Gabba Gabba!  Since there is no Yo Gabba Gabba cartridge (I sure wish we could custom order carts that we needed!), I ordered some stuff online.  After looking at the logo, and the characters closely I saw that the logo was made out of shapes I had on the Cricut, and the characters were put together mainly from basic shapes.  Unfortunately I didn't figure this out until 2 days before her birthday which just wasn't enough time for me to cut out what I needed.  I was able to create the logo and letters for her cake though.  So now I present (enter drumroll here.............)

 YOOOOOOOOOO GABBA GABBA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

• Mickey Font cart = Happy Birthday, and #3's
• Plaintain Schoolbook = pow shape
• Mini Monograms = cloud and cloud shadow (altered on my Gypsy)
• For the pictures, I took some stickers and sandwiched a toothpick in between them. This way they were all double sided :o)

*I think I came pretty close, what do you guys think?  (Sorry for the fuzzy picure!)

I did wish I had one of the "funky" fonts, but this one did the job!

What'dya think??  My mom made the cake and all the frosting (it was dee-lisc-ious!!!!!!), so this was definitely a budget friendly cake :o) 

I had also ordered some reusable wall stickers, so we will be putting them up in her room.  These were only the main characters.  We have a ton of extra little characters and things to create a whole scene!

*And you can't forget the treat boxes!!!  DJ Lance rocks!!!

My daughter had a blast and is still talking about her Yo Gabba Gabba birthday party!!  (And I will still prob try cutting out the characters I created on my Gypsy.  I'll post those pictures on my FB wall soon!)  TFL!!!!

Cooking With Cricut Design Team Day!

Hi Everybody!!

Whooo hooo, today is another Cooking With Cricut DT day!!  So this time the challenge is to any type of swirl, twirl or flourish.  This was easy and hard at the same time.  There are SO MANY different swirls, and twirls to choose from that it was hard!  And it even ended up being a manly card!  Here's what I finally decided on:

• Gypsy Wanderings = buck, swirl border
• Pink By Design Woodland Critters set = sentiment
• kraft cardstock = Joanns
• patterned cardstock = Stampin' Up!

*Instead of adding stitching with my white gel pen, I poked some stitching all the way around for kinda a different look

I still felt like it was missing something, but couldn't decide on what, so I just left it!  TFL, and don't forget to head over to Cooking With Cricut to enter your swirls and twirls project!!

Creative Cutter Room Talk Time Tuesday: G45 Playtimes Past Projects

Hi Everybody!

I'm so excited for todays Creative Cutter Room design team project!  We were so honored to be sponsored by Graphic45 and have an opportunity to create with their amazing paper.  Their style is vintage, and not having any vintage paper made me especially excited for this opportunity!  We used the Playtimes Past Collection.  When I was looking through this gorgeous paper pack, and I saw this checkered pattern I immediately thought of racing!  I wanted an older style race car, and found what I was looking for on the Boys Will Be Boys cartridge.  Here's what I came up with:

• Graphic45 Playtimes Past patterned paper
• Life's a Party cartridge
• Boys Will be Boys cartidge
• wobbles
• Robots companion Cuttlebug embossing folder
• Pink By Design "Oh Boy " set

 *The sentiment says Birthday Boy.

Thanks for visiting!  And thank you so much to our sponsor Graphic45!!  Don't forget to go visit the Design Team's other creations at Creative Cutter Room!!  Graphic45 has very generously donated a paper pack of 20 beautiful double sided papers from their Playtimes Past Collection to be given to to this weeks Challenge Winner; and to make sure you can begin creating right away Cathie will add A Child's Year Cricut Cartridge to the giveaway!!!  TFL, and hope you can join us in the challenge :o)

My Design Team Sisters:

 Carri          Gaby          Melin



It's Pink Cricut Design Team Day!!

**CLICK HERE FOR THE THANKFUL THURSDAY CHALLENGE**

Hi Everybody!
I love Fridays! 1-THE WEEKEND IS HERE!!!!, and 2-It's Pink By Design Day!!!!  Sarah has come out with a bunch of super cool stamps lately, and this latest release included some background stamps.  I love the look backgrounds add to a project whether it's embossed, distressed or stamped.  So the DT was asked to show some stuff you all can do with these backgrounds.  My daughter's birthday is on Monday, and I make her a hat every year.  So here's what I came up with for this year:

• Pink By Design Take the Cake set
• Large Polka background stamp
• Elmo Party cartridge
• red Stickles
• Real Red, and Rose Romance ink by Stampin' Up!
• white gel pen

*I took the background stamp, and while my cut was still flat on the mat, I stamped all over.

*Then I took took the number 3 from the Take the Cake set, and stamped in the middle of each dot.

*I also took my gel pen and stitched around each dot.  I did this while I was watching TV, so it didn't seem to take any time at all!  But I really liked the way it turned out :o)

*I also stamped the Birthday Girl border using the same set.

*I didn't have any pom poms or feathers or anything, but I had some roses from Valentines Day, so I popped that in the top!

My daughter is so cute the way she gets so attached to the hats I make her, so I can't wait to give her this one!  Don't forget to head on over to Pink Cricut to check out all the other awsome-ness the rest of the DT has for ya!!

Winner and New Thankful Thursday Challenge!!

Hi Everybody!

It's Thursday!!!!!!!  That's a good thing for a couple of reasons, 1-the weeks almost over, and 2-it's Thankful Thursday Challenge time!!!!!!!!!  First, let me announce the first winner of the first TT challenge.  The crafter who wins the first chance for the Grand Prize drawing for the month of February is...............

Jean Knox from Jean's Crafty Corner!

Check out her SUPER cute Valentine treat project HERE.

Congrats Jean!  You are now entered into the drawing for the gift card!!
Thank you SO MUCH to everyone who entered!!!

AND NOW FOR THE NEXT CHALLENGE:

• For this challenge write a story (or have the kids in your life write it) about someone you or the kids in your life love. This can be journaling on a layout, or the kids can write a little story on some paper and draw a picture to go with it. 

I'm sorry my project is missing, my little 1 year old decided he didn't like his sister's projects and decided to "remodel" it!  So we will make another one and have to add pictures later on.  But my fabulous design team member Cheryl has an A-DORA-BLE project so inspire you all.  Please click on her name to go to her blog for all the details: **Kassidy's gorgeous project just added!!**

Cheryl

"My boys and I made this "Book of Love" project up in an afternoon. Their favorite part was decorating them!! Make them together and help you child fill them with reasons they love each other, a parent, grandparent etc. Hop over to my blog for all the details on how to make this project with your kiddo today! :)"

Thank you Cheryl!

Kassidy

"I made this to fit inside a 12x12 frame and set out with all my other Valentine decor. I can't wait to use it next year. This was so fun to make that I will be making one for St. Pattys Day."

So just a reminder, here are the challenge details:

• The project must not be made more than a week before the challenge.
• Please link directly to your project, not just to your blog.
• E-mail your project to me at crazyaboutcricut at hotmail dot com if you don't have a blog and I will be happy to enter it for you :o)
• I will post a challenge every other Thursday and at the end of the month I will choose a winner.
• So if people join in on both challenges for that month they will get 2 chances to win.
• People will have 2 weeks to enter. 
• Everyone will have until 8 p.m. PST on March 2nd to enter the challenge.
• For the Thursdays in between challenges I will be posting simple ideas for family activities, or ideas of things to do together.

ANYONE/EVERYONE CAN JOIN IN THIS CHALLENGE. YOU DON'T HAVE TO HAVE KIDS. IT JUST NEEDS TO FIT THE CHALLENGE, AND WILL HOPEFULLY HELP YOU SPEND TIME WITH FAMILY/LOVED ONES :O)

So go grab your family and get crafting!! And thank you for joining us for Thankful Thursday :o)

Cricut Cardz Challenge #62

Hi Everybody!
It's time for Cricut Cardz Challenge!!  This time the challenge is to make a card using a cup image from any cartridge using any colors.  I wanted to see all the cup images there are, so I headed over to CricutSearch.com, and entered the word cup.  There were a ton of images to choose from!!  Here is the one I ended up choosing:

• Disney Dreams Come True = Chip cut at 7 1/2"
• Storybook = scalloped cut @ 4 1/2" and regular rectangle cut @ 3 1/2"
• Pink By Design Simply Everything stamp set
• Post It craft paper
• kraft colored paper = Joann's
• black Zig pen = stitching
• white gel pen = doodling

So what did you guys think?  The Disney carts can sometimes be hard to put together, but this one was pretty simple.   I always use Post It Craft paper when making these, because it makes putting on the smaller pieces SO MUCH EASIER!  Ok, so now it's your turn!  Head on over to Cricut Cardz Challenge, and enter!!

Happy Valentine's Day!!! And Last Minute Treats!

Hi Everybody!!
Haaaaaaaappy Valentine's Day!!  I just wanted to share some last minute treats I made for my two older daughters.  The first is a treat box my middle daughter handed out for her Daisy girl scout troop:

• Tie the Knot  = heart box
• Smiley cart = xo
• Peachy Keen = Happy lashes set

These treats are the ones my oldest daughter will be handing out in her class:

• Elmo Party = straw topper
• Zoo Balloo = fox
• Pink By Design = your foxy (Be Mine set), always my friend (I left off the always-from the All in the Family set), Happy Valentine's Day (Love Always set) 

I hand wrote the To and From.  My daughter will sign her name :o)

Quick, simple, and cute!  TFL, and I hope everyone has a love filled day :o) 

Sweet Shop Blog Hop Day 2

Welcome to Crazy About Cricut and the CookingWithCricut.com Sweetshop Blog Hop Day 2! If you’ve never enjoyed a blog hop before, it’s where you ‘hop’ between blogs following a chain of links, with each blog in the chain posting something exciting for the event! There will even be some great blog candy (giveaways) to win along the way! More on that in a moment!


If you've come from visiting Jennifer at http://www.gator-4-life.blogspot.com/, you're in the right place! If you've just happened across my blog and would like to play along with our fun hop, you can go to CookingWithCricut.com and start at the beginning. Go HERE.


With Valentine’s Day just a few days away we are sharing some wonderful ideas and inspiration for your viewing and crafting pleasure! Each Design Team member will be featuring an original project each day (Saturday & Sunday) made especially for this hop. Make sure to check out each DT member's blog and collect the special letter there. There will be prizes along the way at our DT members' blogs, AND there will be some nice PRIZES with a few different ways to win at CookingWithCricut.com!

Here is what you can win on my blog for this hop! This GORGEOUS digi stamp created by our favorite Melin herself :o)  To enter:

1. Leave a comment
2. For an extra entry, become a follower and leave me a comment letting me know :o)
   
   
   
   

   
   

   
   
   

   Here is the project I came up with for today:

   • Tie the Knot cartridge (box)
   • Twinkle Toes cart (heart)
   • lacy paper from my stash
   • pink, and red Stickles
   • Peachy Keen Stamps

   

   
   
   

   

   
   
   

   

   
   
   

   
   

   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   Here is the “secret” letter you need to collect to be eligible for a prize package at CookingWithCricut.com. __A__
   
   
   
   
   
   Now it's your turn! Let’s see your sweet Valentine projects. Be sure to include a Cricut or other die cut machine cut on your project and link it up at CookingWithCricut.com. The Design Team will pick their three favorites and one lucky sweetheart will be chosen randomly to win one of the six prize packages being offered in this hop.
   
   
   Next stop... Karla at http://www.kalittlescrapcorner.blogspot.com/. Go see what she has in store for you today!!
   
   
   
   
   And don’t forget, when you're done, make sure to head back to CookingWithCricut.com and get entered to win one of SIX prize packages! Here’s how:
   
   
   
   
   1. Link your sweet Valentine project and be one of the top three chosen by our Chefs.
   2. Link your project and be the randomly drawn winner.
   3. Collect all the letters and unscramble our “secret” phrase correctly and leave it in the special comment section on CookingWithCricut.com.
   4. Or just leave a comment at CookingWithCricut.com and let us know how you liked our Sweetshop Blog Hop.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

   Here is our Hop line-up:

   
   

   1. CWC-Melin http://www.cookingwithcricut.blogspot.com/

   2. Abby http://www.scrapbookaholicbyabby.com/

   3. Anita http://www.scrappingwithglitter.blogspot.com/

   4. Becky http://www.bouncyflouncyfunfunfun.blogspot.com/

   5. Cathie http://www.creativecutter.org/

   6. Christel http://www.onescrappinsista.blogspot.com/

   7. Dalis http://www.stampergirl.com/

   8. Deb http://www.bugjuiced.blogspot.com/

   9. Erika http://www.cricutlove1.blogspot.com/

   10. Gaby http://www.gabycreates.com/

   11. Jean http://www.jeanscraftycorner.blogspot.com/

   12. Jenna http://www.jennasfavoritethings.blogspot.com/

   13. Jennifer http://www.gator-4-life.blogspot.com/

   14. Jenny http://www.crazyaboutcricut.blogspot.com/

   15. Karla http://www.kalittlescrapcorner.blogspot.com/

   16. Madison http://www.funkycards.blogspot.com/

   17. Maria Elena http://www.mariaelenaworld.blogspot.com/

   18. Melissa http://www.melissascrappenplace.blogspot.com/

   19. Michelle http://www.mumoftwoblog.blogspot.com/

   20. Nicole http://www.croppinmommadesigns.blogspot.com/

   21. Raven http://www.love4stamps.blogspot.com/

   22. Roberta http://www.txscrappermom.blogspot.com/

   23. Ronnie http://www.inkyantics.blogspot.com/