Our Daily Bread Challenge--the Blues/Fantabulous Cricut--Dusty

The challenge this week at Our Daily Bread Designs Blog is to use blue...I love this blog, and their stamps are really cute.  The other challenge I have entered this project in is Fantabulous Cricut Challenge.  The task there is to "dust off" a cartridge you haven't used in over six months.  My Campout Solutions cartridge definitely is the least used in my repertoire.  My project is a wall hanging for my house.  This is one of my favorite Bible verses.  I think, if every person in the world read this verse first thing every day, and made a commitment to it, the world would be a much better place to live in...my two cents.  The mountains are from Paper Doll Dress Up, welded and cut with Gypsy.  The trees and moose are from Campout Solutions.  The Verse is cut from Blackletter, which I got free with my Gypsy.  Each word is welded, then colored with dark blue chalk, and outlined with SU not quite navy marker.  The frame is a front loader I picked up at Wal Mart for $4.00.  I love how it turned out, and it is a daily reminder to my family and I that each day is a choice.

Thanks for looking, and have a great day!

Jen

Birthday Card for a Friend

Hi, everyone...sorry I have been MIA.  Have had some family related things to take care of.  This card is my first ever project with my Gypsy.  I made it for a FIF DT sister's daughter.

The Card is from Wild Card, the shoe and layers from Indie Art, the Happy Birthday from Indie Art, and the inside sentiment is Plantin Schoolbook, welded on the Gypsy.  I used dimensional tape to "pop" the outer circle and the shoe, Stickles for sparkle on the outside sentiment, and MS glitter paint pens on the inside.

Happy Crafting to All of You,

Jen

Practical Scrappers One Hour Layout

Here is my entry for Practical Scrappers One Hour Layout Challenge!

Fun times!

*****oh, dang!  I missed the posting by ONE minute!  Grrrrrr!  Could have been because I was yelling at my kids to quit having a nerf gun fight with one on top of the dresser and one jumping on the bed!  Gotta love being a mom! LOL

Jen

FIF Blog Hop on Feb. 11

Flaunt It Friday's is hosting another blog hop on Feb. 11--We will be designing two projects each.  The link to the FIF blog is all over my sidebars, and you can grab the button for the FIF blog hop on the top right of my page.  If you can help us advertise, that would be great!  Thanks, and have a great Saturday night!

Jen

Tacky Tuesdays Challenge--CAC Whale

Hooray!  I actually got a project done this week!  It has been mad craziness at work and at home, and life is busy.  However, I just had to get this card done for Tacky Tuesdays.  This is a Facebook group, and you have to request to join, but it is totally fun.  The challenge is only every third Tuesday, so it's doable, too.  Last time, the challenge was to use the lettuce cut from one of the carts--From My Kitchen, maybe?

This month's challenge is the whale from Create a Critter.  My first idea was for the card to say, "I'm so happy, I could just squirt!"--but I didn't think that message would come across exactly as I had intended it...might seem a little crude...I don't know.  So then I had another, more brilliant idea--

I love, love, love Dana Carvey, and his Church Lady character from SNL is one of my all-time favorites, so this is my take on the challenge and my "fun" interpretation of the Church Lady's signature line...the card will go to one of my friends who has something to celebrate--one who gets my twisted sense of humor!

I'm still trying to figure out how to "dress up" the inside.  Before I send it, I'll figure that out.  I really like the front of the card, which is 6x6, DCWV Nana's Kids Stack.  Then I took a scrap piece of DCWV White Core, ran it through the Textured Impressions using a Cuttlebug folder.  I have no idea what the name of the folder is, though.  Then I sanded it and adhered it.  I'm out of ATG tape, and I live 150 miles from the nearest Michael's (yeah, I know, it's tragic)...so I picked up some Elmer's tape runner at my nearest Wal-mart (only 25 miles away).  I gotta say, I like that Elmer's.  The ribbon is some leftover I had from making my BFF Jen's wedding invites.  The whale is cut from Coredinations cardstock scrap I had in the scrap pile.  The Green panel is just cut with my Creative Memories scissors.  I used MS glitter paint markers for the sentiment,  Staples gel pen (that fits in my gel pen Cricut adapter) for the faux stitching, Gelly roll and G2 gel pens for the eyes (I think they look kinda sinister, but hey...).  The glitter glue is actually Crayola--pretty sure it isn't acid free, but I love the colors and it's cheap--plus my paper is acid buffering, so I'm really not too worried about it.

Anyway, that's my take on the challenge this week.  Probably won't post again this weekend because Sunday needs to be a "clean-my-house-and-grade-papers-like-crazy day."  Boooooooo!  Hope everyone has a FABULOUS week, and I'll see you back here next Friday for another great day at Flaunt It Friday's, which I didn't do a project for this week because, like I said, my week was nuts!

I promise to read all of your comments, if you want to comment.  I love this whole blogging thing--I have met the neatest people!  

Thanks for reading this rambling post!

Jen

For My Love!!

Well, I had intended to enter several challenges this week.  It started with Emma's Throwback Thursday, always one of my favorites, in which the challenge was to use a heart from any older cartridge.  So the wheels started turning.  Then I saw that 365 Cards was having a "Romance" themed challenge.  Hmmmmmmmm..... And then I saw that the Crafty Ho's were having a monochromatic color challenge.  The Cuttlebug Spot was having a book inspiration challenge, and Stuck On You Sketches was having a sketch challenge.  My mind was spinning, and I had what I thought was a great idea--which I didn't get finished for the Cuttlebug Spot challenge, but I did enter it into the others.  I really liked the difficulty of making one project work for many challenges.  This did not completely meet my expectations, but it does express the sentiment I wanted it to.

You see, my husband is amazing.  He is 18 years older than me, and he has two sons from a prior marriage.  About 11 years into our marriage, I decided that I wanted to have children, and he, bless his heart, agreed, and we now have our beautiful Phillip and Nina.  Not only did he agree, at age 48, to have two more children, but he also left his job to stay home and care for them while I work.  He is an awesome dad and an incredible husband, and I feel so blessed.

My "book" inspiration is actually a poem--Elizabeth Barret Browning's "How Do I Love Thee?"  The explosion box is filled with different things that I love about my hubby.  I used several Cricut cartridges, including Everyday Paper Dolls, Create a Critter, Accent Essentials, and Doodlecharms.

I used my Sizzix Textured Impressions and a Cuttlebug folder, though I am not sure which one it is.  I also made my own red "shimmer" mist from water, food coloring, and perfect pearls.  I used this to spray the outside of the box and some of the interior labels.  I used K and Company Stickers.  The inner square is blank because I will fill the box with candy before giving it to my honey!

This is only my second attempt at an explosion box, and it is rectangular rather than square.  I feel "ok" about the result, but I would love ANY suggestions about how I could make it better!

Jen

Flaunt It Fridays DT --Mini Monsters Skull

Well, it's time for another FIF DT Friday!  I love Friday!  Friday rocks!  Friday is awesome!  You know why I love Friday?  Because I don't work on Fridays!!!!  So I can flaunt it!

Anyway...

For this week, we were supposed to use the Mini Monsters Skull, but since I have a whopping total of 8 cartridges, and a very limited crafting budget, I do not have Mini Monsters...so I used the skull from Paper Doll Dress Up--the one on the pirate page.

I'm trying to get creative with my crafting, and stay out of the "card" rut, so I decided to do an altered tin.  I am curriculum director in my school district, and I always get sample cd's of different curricula.  I almost never purchase the curriculum, but I get lots of fun stuff to alter.  This tin held a cd.  I covered it with red and patterned DCWV paper.  I used Accent Essentials to cut the star, then adhered rhinestones and colored on some swirlies with Martha Stewart glitter paint markers.

I cut the skull from white paper, used a fine tip black marker to trace the cut lines, then coated it with Stampin Up Crystal Effects to make it shine.  Then I cut out the guitar from PPDU on DCWV patterned paper recut on silver and layered just the neck on the top.  Added some silver and black marker, then coated it with Crystal Effects.

On the inside, I decided to add some Rocker Fun...I cut out skulls and guitars from Shrinky Dink Plastic...this works great--just use the Multicut Feature on the Expression, set on 4.  Then I colored them with Sharpie Markers, baked to shrink, and added some magnets to the back.  I bought a roll of self-adhesive magnet strip at my local supply store for $1.49.  

I will be using this as a positive behavior prize for one of my students at the end of the year.  Middle schoolers (both boys and girls) are really big on guitars and skulls, so I think it will be a hit!  Thanks for looking, and have lots of fun creating your projects for this week's challenge!  Can't wait to see how you flaunt that skull!  

Please feel free to leave me a comment and show some blog love!  I read every one, and I have enjoyed visiting and following so many other blogs as well!

Jen

Very Cool Candy!

Karen at Karens-Kakes-Krafts is giving away two PILES of awesome blog candy!  Check it out!  But hurry, the chance ends tomorrow!

Jen

WINNER!!!

Hi, everyone...I have chosen the winner of my Flaunt It Fridays Blog Candy!!!!

65 

Becky said...

Awe, I love your projects! Great job. Thanks for sharing them with us and for being in this FUN blog hop!

Great blog candy too!

becky.mayhewlear@gmail.com

I've emailed you, Becky!  Get back to me with your address by Friday, so I can mail your candy to you!  Congratulations!

Thanks to everyone who played along and became my new friend!  I'm so appreciative of all of you.  This has been a very busy week with school improvement plans for three schools due on Friday, but I will be back later with more fun creations!

Have a great day!

Jen

Wow! I got another award!

My Blog has Attitude!!

What an AWESOME weekend blog hop this was for me!  I made 58 NEW crafting friends!!!  How amazing is that?!


One of them, ELSA @ CricutLvr sent me this award!

Thank You, Elsa!  I am honored!  I have read EVERY comment by EVERY person who visited my blog for this hop, and I will continue to do so!  The neatest part of this whole blogging thing is getting to know new people who share my love of all things paper.

Anyway, Digi's with Attitude is the originator of this award, and they are having a cool prize (a $5.00 gift certificate) for this particular award.  I am not sure if it is a drawing, or each awardee gets the prize; I will check and let you know in a later post.  Regardless, I think it's cool to recognize other bloggers whose work you really admire, and I am sad that I can only pick five!

To qualify, all winners of this award, need to:
1) Nominate five bloggers and let them know (pass it on, etc.)
2) List in a post the three things that give your blog attitude
3) Display the blog award in your sidebar and link it back to Digi's with Attitude.

Three things that give my blog attitude:
1. I only create things that I can actually use or give away to others.
2. I teach middle school, and some of my creations are used as prizes for our positive behavior support system
3. I am on a journey of learning how to take care of my body, which I will also be chronicling in a few ways on my blog.

The 5 blogs that I nominate are:

Beth (my cousin!)  Scrappy Java Girl

Sandra  365 Days of Cricut

Janis Pause, Dream, Enjoy

Gigi Cricut Bug

Michelle  Purple Monkey Moments

Sandra and Janis gave me my first design team opportunity, which has opened the door to so many new friends!  And Beth, though she is my cousin (LOL), creates the coolest projects and bakes the yummiest looking goodies--then shares on her blog.  And Gigi and Michelle are so creative and fun!

Thank you to all who commented on my blog this weekend.  What an honor to know that so many people are willing to take time to make someone else's day!

Jen

Flaunt It Friday's Hello Kitty Blog Hop!!! TODAY!! Plus my first ever BLOG CANDY!!!

Hi!  I'm so excited to be part of my first ever blog hop, and also to be part of the Flaunt It Friday's Design team.  If you hopped here from Amanda's Blog, then you are on the right track!  The hop begins on the Flaunt It Friday's blog, where you can see the showcase pieces by all 30 design team members.  You can also upload your own project there.

Project #1:

For our first project, design team members were asked to create a project from the airplane cut on p. 65 of Hello Kitty Greetings.  My  "Bag-o-lope" project is below:

Front 

Back

For this project, begin with a plain 5" x 7" envelope, sealed.

Next, cut off the top with a decorative scissor.

Then score at 1" on sides and bottom.  Use a bone folder to make creases.

Open envelope, use forefinger and thumb to reinforce creases on sides and bottom, bringing bottom sides to points.

Crease bottom points into triangles, pull back toward center, and adhere to bottom

Cut all layers of airplane cut at 3 1/2" and adhere together.  Add Stickles and Slick Paint.  Adhere to piece of cardstock cut at 2 7/8" x 4 3/4".   Cut strawberry shape using blackout feature.  Color with Martha Stewart Glitter Paint Pens.  Adhere to white cardstock cut to above dimensions using "Action Wobble" or other spring.  Hand write sentiment with MS Pastel Paint Pens.

Adhere to bag, one on each side.  Punch holes 1/2" from top of bag, fill with goodies (mine has tea bags in it), and tie with pink ribbon.  This is a gift for our school psychologist, an angel sent from heaven if ever there was one.

Project #2

For our second project, we were asked to use any other cut from HKG and make another project.  Since my sister, Lena, is one of my favorite people--and the world's greatest Hello Kitty fan--I decided to create something to give to her.  She lives far 1200 miles away from me, and I don't get to see her much. She is an acting and music coach, plus full-time college student, amazing mom, fabulous daughter, and lover of Christ.  I admire her so much because she left a very successful career in finance to follow her dream of being a performer and coach.  She is awesome!

Beautiful, right?

The project is below.

I started with an 11"x14" canvas painted pale pink.  Then I cut 20 squares of various black, white, and pink patterned papers and cardstock in 2 1/2"x 2 1/2" squares and adhered these to the canvas with mod podge, spacing as evenly as possible.  Kitty and all of her layers are cut at 7" from p. 30, then adhered together and to the board using ATG adhesive. Flower is accented with rhinestones.  Chipboard letters cut at 3" with Plantin Schoolbook using the multicut function on expression, blade depth max, speed medium.  (A bit of advice--use blades that are a bit too dull to cut paper--don't use your new blades on chipboard--it dulls them QUICK!  I also use one mat for chipboard only.)  Then spread Easy-Tac glue over letters, cover in glitter, and adhere to board with Elmer's glue dots.  Be liberal with the glue, as it is easy to get it too thin, then you have some spots with "thin" coverage glitter coverage.  

BLOG CANDY!!!!

This is my first time giving away blog candy, and I live in a very rural area where it is hard to find good scrapbooking supplies.  I usually order online, but I didn't have time to get something in...so I did my best locally, and this is what I came up with.  Four packages of heirloom scrapbook stickers.  I think they are really pretty and would look fabulous in one of those fancy and old fashioned heirloom books.

In order to win this blog candy, become a follower of my blog and leave a comment below.  I will draw a random winner on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. MST.  Please make sure you leave me a way to notify you.  I will post an update with the winner on Tuesday evening.  The winner will have till Friday, Jan. 14 to confirm a shipping address.  

In order to qualify for the Flaunt It Friday's Grand Prize Blog Candy, the Love Always Stamp Set by Pink by Design, you need to leave a comment on EACH DT member's post.  You will have all weekend to complete the hop.  The winner will be selected on Monday or Tuesday.  

*Thank you soooooo much for looking at my FIRST EVER design team work!  I appreciate all my blog and crafting friends so very much--this hobby keeps me sane!*

Your next stop is Celeste.  Check out her amazing project here.

Jen

Fantabulous Cricut Challenge--Snowy Delights

I love Fantabulous Cricut Challenge--such a talented team of designers, and such neat projects posted each time!  This week's challenge is Snowy Delights.  Living in Colorado, we generally get LOTS of snow.  This scrapbook pages is from June 14, 2008, when we took our kids on a ride to the mountains about 10 miles from our house.  At the top, there was still a TON of snow!

Recipe:  Blue Paper, DCWV Textured White Core
              Peach Patterned Paper--Stampin' Up
              Yellow Patterned Paper--Stampin' Up
              Snowflakes--Accent Essentials Cartridge
              Tree--Create A Critter Cartridge
              Layout Idea:  PageMaps

Thanks for looking!

Also, don't forget to check out the Flaunt It Fridays Blog Hop!  This is a mega-hop, with 30 designers over three days!  Can't wait to see all the other designers' Hello Kitty Greetings Projects!  I will be giving away my FIRST EVER blog candy also!  Details will follow in Friday's post!

MPS DT Challenge--A Tribute to Dick and Helen

Robyn, who really needs no introduction, is having a challenge this week on her blog, My Pink Stamper.  She has two design team openings right now, and the challenge is to help her decide on the new members. Who wouldn't LOVE to be a designer on Robyn's design team, right?

For the challenge, the instructions were to create a project using your favorite cartridge and Robyn's three favorite colors, pink (my fave too), green, and brown (my favorite combined with pink).  Sweet!

I decided to make a card for a very special couple in my life.  My grandfather's brother, Richard (Dick) has been courting his sweetheart (Helen), for 32 years!  On New Year's Eve, they finally married!!!!  Yay!! Yes!  Yes!  Yes!

When I was a kid, I lived with my grandparents, and nearly every weekend was spend with Dick and Helen, playing guitars and banjoes, and singing till the wee hours of the morning.  We also spent much time fishing for sturgeon on the Columbia River.  Many fond memories of my childhood center on these two.  They now live in the mountains of Washington state, and they have many little animal "friends" who visit them every day.

This card is my tribute and gift to them.

Front of card

Top Flap Opened

Both Flaps Opened

This card took a while to make, but I am so happy with the result!  I had been contemplating their card for quite some time, and I was stuck on a design idea--knew I wanted to use Create a Critter, though, because it is the current favorite in my house!  Robyn's color scheme worked perfectly.

Recipe:

2 pieces plain white cardstock, cut 7"x 10" (folded then front half of piece two adhered to back half of piece one)

Sentiment printed on my Kodak Easyshare Printer from Mac font BEFORE adhering pieces together.

Stampin' Pastels (SU)--used sponge to color grass and sky on all surfaces of the card.

Deer (all layers) cut at 3" from DCWV Neutrals Textured White Core  (Create a Critter)

Butterfly (all layers) cut at 1 1/4" from Coredinations Cardstock (Create a Critter)

Flowers (both layers) cut at 1 1/4" from DCWV Textured White Core and SU patterned paper (Create a Critter)

Squirrel, Rabbit, Hedgehog, Owl, Turtle, grass, and Fox all cut at 1 1/2" frome DCWV Textured White Core and Various SU and DCWV patterned papers.  Fox was cut using the Flip feature on Expression. (Create a Critter)

Tree (all layers) cut at 5 1/2" from DCWV White Core.  Trunk was sanded using SU sanding block. (Create a Critter)

Bride and Groom bodies cut at 4 1/2" from DCWV White Core, using Blackout feature. (Paper Doll Dress Up)

Groom's Tux, Shoes,  and Hat cut at 4 1/2" from DCWV Textured Brown CS; Hair cut from Grey Coredinations, Shirt from Plain White CS.  Tux accented with white gelly roll pen.  Shirt accented with Chocolate Chip SU marker.  (All cuts from Paper Doll Dress Up)

Bride's Dress cut at 4 1/2" from Paper Studio Pink Toile Patterned Paper, accented with Pink Passion SU marker.  Bouquet cut from pink shimmer paper purchased at Wal Mart, accented with Pink Passion SU marker.  Veil cut from plain white CS and accented with Pink Passion marker.  Hair cut from grey Core'dinations--trimmed to resemble "bun" behind veil.  Shoes cut from grey Core'dinations.  Hair and Shoes accented with Black G2 gel pen.

I drew the faces with SU pink passion and tan markers, white gelly roll, and black G2 gel pen.  

**Thank you for looking!  I know this post is forever long, but I wanted to give the complete recipe and process for the card!**

Jen

My Babies!

Sorry I haven't posted anything lately...I have been busy crafting, but mostly Flaunt It Fridays DT stuff for January, so I can't post just yet!  I decided I would share a picture of my two cuties!  They are the best kids ever, and so loved!

I wish all of you a happy new year, and a blessed 2011!!

Jen