Santa Is Watching

Hello friends! Welcome to my Christmas project for The Merry Christmas Challenge Blog, where every challenge, every week, is an Anything Goes Christmas challenge.  I am on the tinsel team - we like to sparkle and shine(!) - and will be posting every-other Wednesday.

I recently tried something new on my Christmas cards - I tried adding Cricut cuts to embellish vintage images on a card.  I have to say that I am enjoying this change!  In fact, I have printed and cut three of my vintage image cards in mass quantities in order to assemble them this weekend at a card making get away.  I plan to finish assembling the majority of the cards I will be mailing out.

Today's vintage image, and any other vintage images I may use, was found on Pinterest.  I have actually created a board of vintage Christmas images and Christmas cards.   

In addition to my sweet vintage image, I used the following Cricut cartridges to create the elements used on this card:

Close To My Heart Art Philosophy for the ornament card shape

Anna's Elegant Embellishments for the pink doily mat

Anna's Holiday Home Decor for the poinsettia (currently favorite poinsettia)

Wrap it up for the red paper ribbon

I used a light gray ink on the edges of the card, flowers, and ribbon.  I used White Opal Liquid Pearls on the doily.  I finished the card with pink seam binding ribbon.

If you have not already done so, you should definitely drop by The Merry Christmas Challenge Blog and check out the Christmas cards created by the rest of the design team.  And please feel free to link your Christmas card creation to the blog!

Dashing Through the Snow

Hello friends! Welcome to this week's Bitten By the Bug 2 Cricut Challenge.  This week's Cricut challenge theme is ROAD TRIP.  I chose an imaginary road trip to feature on my project, Mickey Mouse's Christmas Road Trip!  

I have been working furiously on Christmas cards, trying to get them all finished early this year.  The Road Trip challenge seemed like a nice opportunity to get yet one more card completed.  

I chose the car from Mickey Mouse and Friends for my road trip transportation.  I then stuffed the car full of festive trimmings to make Mickey's Christmas as merry as can be, with cuts from Anna's Christmas Cards and Embellishments 2 and Paper Trimmings. I finished the card with the wreath and dots cuts and the phrase, Dashing Through the Snow.

I cannot wait to see YOUR Road Trip projects.  Link up with us at Bitten By the Bug 2 this week for your chance to win our Project of the Week blog button.  

CLOSE MY HEART

October has one of my favorite Stamp of the Month stamp set every single year, and this October Stamp of the Month does not disappoint. 

O

Get This Stamp for Only $5

October: Christmas Tunes

only available Oct. 1–31, 2017

Get the Stamp of the Month for only $5 when you order $50 in Close To My Heart products.

October is also a great month for this fabulous fall Workshop Your Way card making kit,  Happy Day Cardmaking Kit. The kit contains all of the materials to create 12 complete cards, including embellishments.  There is also a complimentary downloadable Workshop guide.

BIRTHDAY CHEERS!

Hello friends! Welcome to this week's Bitten By the Bug 2 Cricut Challenge.  Each week a theme or specific cut is selected by a Design Team member and the BBTB2 team creates inspirational projects to inspire you to use your Cricut.  You are also invited to join our weekly challenge, with rules posted on the BBTB2 blog.

This week's Bitten By the Bug 2 Challenge theme was selected by our very talented Design Team member, Laurie.  Laurie selected the theme, It's Beer and Pizza Day!  And as we have several birthday men in my family during the fall, I created this Beer Stein birthday card!

I used five Cricut cartridges on this card:  Close To My Heart Artiste, Germany, European Tour, Wild Card, and Basic Shapes.  The basic card shape came from the Artiste cartridge, though I did use the cut and weld features to modify the card shape to suit my project.  The word Birthday also came from the Artist cartridge.

The Beer Stein came from the Germany cartridge.  I did add the castle, Neuschwanstein, to the front of the stein - from the European Tour cartridge.  I also added strips of gold glitter cardstock to enhance the stein.  In addition to using Cricut Basic shapes, the word Cheers! came from the Wild Card cartridge.

Have you already been by the Bitten By the Bug 2 blog this week?  The design created some really fun Beer and Pizza Day projects.  I do hope that you go take a look and that you too will join us in this week's creative and fun challenge.

CLOSE MY HEART

October has one of my favorite Stamp of the Month stamp set every single year, and this October Stamp of the Month does not disappoint. 

O

Get This Stamp for Only $5

October: Christmas Tunes

only available Oct. 1–31, 2017

Get the Stamp of the Month for only $5 when you order $50 in Close To My Heart products.

October is also a great month for this fabulous fall Workshop Your Way card making kit,  Happy Day Cardmaking Kit. The kit contains all of the materials to create 12 complete cards, including embellishments.  There is also a complimentary downloadable Workshop guide.

Baby Shower Projects

Hello friends! Two Saturdays ago I had a baby shower for my son and wonderful daughter-in-law.  Their son is due in about a month (that will be my third grandchild, second grandson for those who are keeping count), and we thought a month out was good shower timing.

Knowing they are having a boy, I went with a baby nautical theme.  I purchased some of our party decor and serving accessories, but I also used my trusty Cricut (with Design Space) and crafted several of the decorations, as well as the invitations.

The small sailboats above were the party favors.  They were made using a hexagon cut, sliced in half, and the sail section of a sailboat.  Add a bit of Design Space welding and a bit of Design Space slicing, and voila!  

I filled the boats with custom covered (yes, I made the chocolate wraps) Hershey nuggets which read, "Ahoy! It's a boy!"

I made two paper banners to use at the shower.  The first was this cute baby boy sailor banner.  It was Avaleigh's favorite because it had "babies."

The second was a sailboat and anchor banner that I placed over the drink station on our antique cabinet.  Crissie and Aaron took this banner to use in the baby's beach themed nursery.

I used disposable paper products for the party (though it pained me to do so as I am a "use real plates and glasses" kind of woman).  The main reason I went with disposable plates, napkins, and solo cups, was to match my color scheme.  I added a bit of decoration to the red solo cups by adding vinyl cut anchors to the tumblers.  My paper crafting friends who attended the shower did note the detail!

I used these mini popcorn boxes (via Amazon) to add a bit of pop to the serving plates.  I added the chips to the popcorn boxes, with dip on the side.  In the right rear is the nautical cupcake tower - also purchased.

I downloaded some free nautical printables and used them in several places.  All of the food and drink labels were personalized and printed.

Another of the printables is visible behind Crissie in the photo below. It was a simple printed banner.  In this photo, taken after ALL of the gifts had been opened, Crissie is opening her "diaper cake", which isn't a cake at all.

The diaper cake is actually a diaper ship!  Very in keeping with our nautical theme!

Because I forgot to take photos until the very end (duh), I missed a lot of the guests.  

But someone did snap a couple of photos of me with two of my girlfriends!  I love these women!

This a photo of the dining room BEFORE all of the food was placed.  We served sliders, chips, veggies, chocolates, cupcakes, drinks and at the end, banana split "boats" for an ice cream sundae bar.

I will be back on Monday morning with this week's Bitten by the Bug 2 challenge!

Winter Wonderland Snow Friends Card

Hello friends! Welcome to my Christmas project for The Merry Christmas Challenge Blog, where every challenge, every week, is an Anything Goes Christmas challenge.

This week I crafted a feminine Christmas Card which features a cut out vintage image layered in Cricut cuts.  The background matting is pink blush on a medium pink cardstock.  A triple layer lace cut from the Edge to Edge 2 cartridge spans the card background. A Christmas Tree of sorts, from the CTMH Flower Market cartridge, adds height and contrast to the card layout.  The vintage image is matted on Champagne cardstock. Greenery from Flower Market and a poinsettia from Anna's Holiday Home Decor cartridge embellish the left side of the card.  The top layer cuts are both from the Flower Market cartridge, still one of my favorite cartridges, the star pennant and the fabulous Winter Wonderland banner.

I used white or light gray ink on the cut images.  I added gel pen snow dots  to some cuts and finished the entire card with a fan brush dipped in white ink to simulate snow fall. The finishing touch was the pearl in the poinsettia.

I should not blow my own horn, but I love this card!!

If you have not be introduced to The Merry Christmas Challenge Blog, this is your chance to embrace the "all Christmas, all of the time" blog. Create your Christmas project then link up with us at TMCCB.  

Pumpkin Patch Shenanigans

Hello friends! Welcome to this week's Bitten By the Bug 2 Cricut Challenge.  Each week a theme or specific cut is selected by a Design Team member and the BBTB2 team creates inspirational projects to inspire you to use your Cricut.  You are also invited to join our weekly challenge, with rules posted on the BBTB2 blog.

My sweet DT sister, Laura, has challenged us this week to create projects using a Pumpkin cut. I made a fun fall layout for my grandchildren's trip to a pumpkin farm later this month.  I used both Cricut cartridges and an SVG file set to create this layout. The ball edged decorative backgrounds were cut using the Edge to Edge cartridge. The buttons were cut using the Home Organization cartridge. I also used a lot of Cricut Basic Shapes.

The paper used on this layout is a new Close To My Heart patterned paper with coordinating cartstock, Falling For You Paper Pack and Falling For You Coordinating Cardstock Set.  I love this paper set; it may be one of my most favorite things in the new holidays catalog!

I hope that you take time this week to join our Bitten By The Bug 2 Pumpkin challenge.  I would love to see what you do with PUMPKIN cut. In the meantime, head over to Bitten By the Bug 2 and checkout the fabulous creative inspiration projects made by my design team sisters.

CLOSE MY HEART

October has one of my favorite Stamp of the Month stamp set every single year, and this October Stamp of the Month does not disappoint. 

O

Get This Stamp for Only $5

October: Christmas Tunes

only available Oct. 1–31, 2017

Get the Stamp of the Month for only $5 when you order $50 in Close To My Heart products.

October is also a great month for this fabulous fall Workshop Your Way card making kit,  Happy Day Cardmaking Kit. The kit contains all of the materials to create 12 complete cards, including embellishments.  There is also a complimentary downloadable Workshop guide.

Feeling Like Fall

Hello friends! Welcome to this week's Bitten By the Bug 2 challenge.  My talented Design Team sister, Janis, selected this week's challenge - Autumn. I love autumn, but I have not experienced it in "many o' year."  South Carolina does not offer an autumn season with the same brisk changes as Michigan or New York.  I miss the cooler temperatures, and chilly rain showers, the amazing colorful leaves, and the fruit trees.  

For my Autumn project I chose to use primarily the new Close To My Heart You Are Here cartridge.  I really am enjoying this cartridge!  The fall fruits group and the feathers were cut from You Are Here.  The green leaves are from CTMH's Flower Market cartridge - a cartridge the I still LOVE very much!  The card shape, mats, and circle are Cricut Basic Shapes.  The word Grateful was stamped onto the "moon" circle using September's Stamp of the Month.  

Have you been by the Bitten By the Bug 2 blog this week?  The Design Team has done a great job of crafting fabulous Autumn themed projects.  I hope you take time to view their work, perhaps leave a comment or two, then join us in this week's challenge!!  Basically it is anything Autumn goes!

Stamp of the Month - Feel So Blessed

This is your last week to be able to obtain the September Stamp of the Month, Feel So Blessed!  This is a super fun and super versatile stamp set, perfect for fall cards, layouts, and projects!

Christmas Special Delivery

Hello friends! Welcome to my first week as a Design Team member at The Merry Christmas Challenge Blog! I am very excited to have joined the team and I am really looking forward to our year around Christmas project posts. The blog posts weekly, but has two separate teams that post ever other week. That may sound complicated, but I think it is a fun idea.  I will be posting every other Wednesday, starting today!

For my first project with the Merry Christmas Challenge blog I created a 3-D mailbox with Christmas tag stuffers.  I confess that I saw a photo of a thin die on Pinterest that was being used to make a similar mailbox.  Being me, I did not buy the thin die, but instead opened Cricut Design Space and used basic Cricut Shapes and Anna Griffin's Elegant Embellishment cartridge to design my own version of the mailbox, even creating my own candy cane trim.

My mailbox is embellished with pretty cuts from two of Anna Griffin's other cartridges, Winter Wonderland and Christmas Kitsch. I added ribbons to the Christmas tags, and finished the box with gold stars popping out of the mail slot.

I hope you will join us at the Merry Christmas Challenge blog where every week is all about Christmas!!

National Stamping Month 

It is National Stamping Month and CTMH could not let National Stamping Month pass without a stamping special!  

The exclusive From the Heart card kit gives you all the materials you need for creating 12 interactive cards, including an E-size stamp set with heartfelt sentiments and stamps you can layer together for exquisitely artistic cards. Available only during September, this card kit is a must have that will help you create elevated artwork from the heart.

The From the Heart card kit can be yours for FREE when you become a Consultant in September or when you host a qualifying party.

Stamp of the Month - Feel So Blessed

The September Stamp of the Month is called Feel So Blessed!  This is a super fun and super versatile stamp set, perfect for fall cards, layouts, and projects!

SHOP NOW 

Bobbing for Apples

Hello friends! Welcome to this week's Bitten By the Bug 2 Cricut Challenge. My dear Design Team sister, Emily, is hosting this week's challenge. In a seasonally appropriate challenge, Emily has asked us to use APPLES in this our projects this week.  

I loved going to the apple orchards as a child, eating fresh picked apples and drinking fresh cider with donuts!  Michigan's orchards were a star on the list of must do fall activities when I was growing up.  And every fall festival had a bobbing for apples station!  

My layout for this week, Bobbing For Apples, is all about those fun apple picking and fall festival photos.  I only used two Cricut cartridges on this layout, Art Philosophy for the the scalloped border, and basic shapes for the designer paper cuts and the photo mat layers.  I used an SVG file for the tile, apples, and apple bobbing mice.  I must say that the little mouse on the lower right corner looks like he may have eaten too many apples.  His expression tells me he may have a tummy ache!

My Design Team sisters have created some fabulous Apple projects to inspire your fall crafting.  We would really like for you to join in our challenges at Bitten By the Bug 2.  Just click on Bitten By the Bug 2 and you can see all of the team projects, as well as follow the link and add your own new apple project!

National Stamping Month 

It is National Stamping Month and CTMH could not let National Stamping Month pass without a stamping special!  

The exclusive From the Heart card kit gives you all the materials you need for creating 12 interactive cards, including an E-size stamp set with heartfelt sentiments and stamps you can layer together for exquisitely artistic cards. Available only during September, this card kit is a must have that will help you create elevated artwork from the heart.

The From the Heart card kit can be yours for FREE when you become a Consultant in September or when you host a qualifying party.

Stamp of the Month - Feel So Blessed

The September Stamp of the Month is called Feel So Blessed!  This is a super fun and super versatile stamp set, perfect for fall cards, layouts, and projects!

SHOP NOW