Trick or Treat!

Halloween is all about treats right? Well, what better treat than some blog candy? Check out this awesome blog candy being given away at Tiddly Inks!

Visit Tiddly Inks to find out how to make this wonderful treat yours! I hope you all have a terrific Halloween! See you in November!

Want to Win $250.00 in Blog Candy? Me Too!

The Stamping Boutique is having an AWESOME giveaway! $250.00 worth of blog candy including 36 Copics! I have been lusting after Copics for the longest time but I just can't bring myself to buy them. However, if I were to win them . . . that's a different story! If you too would like a chance at winning some amazing blog candy just visit The Stamping Boutique by clicking HERE!

A Card for Madison

A few days ago I posted about a little 6 year old girl named Madison who is battling cancer for a 2nd time (read the post HERE). This is the card I made for her. The paper is from my stash, some DCWV cardstock for the base and letters and the printed cardstock is DCWV Nana's Nursery. The font is from the Storybook Cricut cartridge. I hope she likes it and I am wishing her the very best in her battle - I know she will be victorious!

3 Drawer Organizer

I feel like I have been working on this project for forever! I'd start the design then get busy with something else, then start then stop. Finally, I think I have it designed in a way that I like. Several weeks ago I saw an organizer just like this at Wally World (that's Walmart for those not in the know). It was made out of cardboard and wrapped in some type of faux leather. It was really cute and made me wonder if I could make one and so my 3 drawer organizer was born. I think it would make a great gift for a teacher or a co-worker. I see so many possibilities with it. It's really easy to put together and only requires 5 pieces of 12x12 paper to make. In fact, everything you see in the pictures was made using just 6 pieces of 12x12 paper with several scraps left over for more cards or candies (which I need to do more of because just one drawer can hold 15+ of these Hershey's Nuggets!). I'm thinking about teaching this as a class and then, of course, offering the tutorial here. So, what do you think? Would you like to see this offered as a tutorial? Let me know!

This is the box shown with one of the three 3x3 cards, 3 Hershey's Nuggets candies and a mini notebook I made to go with it. I think this would be cute with a cube of Post-It Notes too! Maybe some mini gel pens? So many possibilities!

A look at the 3x3 card.

I might be a little obsessed with these little flowers - I seem to be using them a lot lately. It's a great way to use my scraps though! I free hand cut the leaves and then used a black pen to add a little detail. The pearls are from my stash - they are self adhesive but I also used hot glue just to be sure they would stay.

This is the mini notebook I did. I just used 4x6 unlined index cards, cut them down to 3x4, created a front and back from my scraps and then used the Big Bite to punch holes. I used wire cutters to cut the O-Wires and just squeezed them closed by hand (I'm too cheap to buy a Bind-it-All. I'll be happy to accept one as a gift though! LOL)

Sorry for the poor picture - photography is obviously not my strong suit! Anyway, these are Hershey's Nuggets that I wrapped with scrap paper and then added a little pearl accent. Just one of the drawers in the organizer will hold 15 (or more) nuggets! 

And finally, a look at the organizer with the drawers open. I can't wait to hear your thoughts on this project!

ScrapNspire/MemoryWorks Sketch Challenge

I've only recently gotten into "challenges" but I have to say, I LOVE THEM! They are so inspiring and really get my creative juices flowing! So recently a sketch challenge was posted on the MemoryWorks consultant forum by my good buddy Wendy Morris at ScrapNspire and I just had to jump in to the fun and you can too!

Here is a picture of the sketch we were challenged to use:

and here is what I did with it:

For the layout I used some DCWV aqua colored cardstock I had in my stash and the paper and the circle embellishment on the journaling bar are both from the My Mind's Eye - Alphabet Soup Theme Set ($5.75). If you would like to purchase one of these theme sets for yourself, just send me an email or leave a comment with a way for me to contact you.

So would you like to get in on this challenge? Think you have a great idea for this sketch? Well, head over to Wendy's Blog ScrapNspire and find out how you can be part of the fun and have a chance to when an awesome prize! I can't wait to see what you create!

Halloween Treat Bags

So I am a total slacker! I'm sure you have all realized this by now so this shouldn't be news to you. I should have been creating Halloween themed projects like they were going out of style. I mean, it's like 2 weeks away and it's my favorite holiday! I haven't gotten half of my decorations out! I know, I know - SLACKER! Well, I did get one Halloween project done. I made little treat bags to give to my niece and nephews. We will be trick or treating with them this year so I wanted to give them a little something to say "Thanks for letting us tag along".  The paper is from My Mind's Eye - BlackBird as are the stamps (except for the uber creepy bat stamp - that's from Stampin' Up). I cut the bags are 7" on the Cricut Expression using the Tags, Bags, Boxes and More cartridge (I love this cartridge - if you don't have it you definitely need it).

 So here are all three bags together. They have some candy and little Halloween trinkets (spiders, Halloween rings, stickers etc.)

 This is for my 5 year old nephew. I just love that little Frankie! The frame was a punch out and I put the paper behind it as a mat. I stamped, colored and cut Frankie then used Pop Dots to attach him. The "Spooky Night" sentiment is from the Blackbird stamp set and the "Trick or Treat" sentiment is also from the Blackbird stamp set. I just used scraps and Pop Dots to put it all together.

 This bag is for my 2 year old niece. The Witch and "Spooky" night are both Blackbird stamps and the Star and Frame are both punch outs.

Last, but not least, this bag is for my 12 year old nephew. He's too cool for the other stamps so I used this Stampin' Up stamp for a super creepy bag for him. His bag has a deck of Halloween playing cards in it - it's hard to buy for a 12 year old!

So there you have it! I hope you like them. If you would like to buy the materials I used to create these bags you can send me an email. The Theme Set comes with 6 double sided 12x12 papers and the punch out page that I mentioned above for $7.50 and the Stamp Set is $6.00. Place your order before October 31st and enjoy a 10% discount! Just my way of saying "Happy Halloween"!

Would You Make a Card?

I saw this today on Obsessed with Scrapbooking and wanted to pass it along. A little 6 year old girl named Madison is fighting cancer for a second time and there is currently a card drive on to help cheer her up. You can view all of the details about the card drive by clicking HERE and visiting Joy over at Obsessed with Scrapbooking. I think I'll put one together just as soon as I get Little Bit down for her nap.

Autumn Mini Album, Blog Candy and a Winner!

My project this week for Cricut Mini Albums was to create a Fall Themed Mini. So without further ado, my Autumn Mini!

A while back a friend of mine and fellow Scrap Yard Diva gave me the most adorable chipboard album that she picked up at Michael's for 1¢! Yes, you read that right, 1¢! 

I had been sitting on this darling album for awhile trying to decide what to do with it. Then this Design Team challenge came along and I thought "Ah Ha!" (really, that's the conversation I had in my head). So I went to my current favorite paper, the Crate Paper Lemon Grass set (remember this project: Card Box and Cards). I think it is supposed to be "summer" paper but it reminds me so much of fall because these are the exact colors I see when our lovely Smoky Mountains start to change.

So I covered the pages and got my handy dandy Expression out. I used Stretch Your Imagination and Storybook for this album.

To create the cover I cut the "Autumn" title from Stretch Your Imagination at 4.5" and the "Acorn" is also from Stretch Your Imagination (cut at 3"). Then I free hand cut the green circle and created the little accordion flower. I also put some sparkles on the green circle but you can't seem them very well. 

These are the first two pages of the album.

I cut all of the mats in this album at 3"x4" and then used a corner rounder to soften the edges to match the shape of the album. The little pumpkin fellow is cut from Stretch Your Imagination at 3.5" (shadow cut and regular cut). The "Fall Days" piece is from my Simple Stories - Life Documented kit (if you haven't checked out Simple Stories you just have too! It's AMAZING! Send me an email if you have questions about it or would like to order a kit for yourself).

The "Acorn" is cut from Stretch Your Imagination and the "Leaf" and "Scallop" are both cut from Storybook. The layer on top of the scallop is also from my Simple Stories - Life Documented kit. You can't see it very well but it has the months of the year in the first circle, the numbers of the month (1-31) in the second circle and the days of the month in the inner circle. Then I stuck some bling on there just for good measure!

I totally had my daughter in mind when I created this page. She is almost 2 and very leaf and "Pumkin" crazy right now! We have a pumpkin in the kitchen that we need to decorate and she reminds me about it every day!

The "Leaves" and the "Acorn" this page are actually the layer cut on Stretch Your Imagination for the "Autumn" cut that I used on the cover. In an effort to be efficient I cut some extra to use throughout.

No Cricut on this page. The letters are stickers that came with my Crate Paper Lemon Grass set and the abstract flower and flower border at the bottom of the mat are both punch outs from the Lemon Grass set. I made it so that when I put my picture on the mat, the picture will slip behind the flower border.

I'm in love with this Squirrel - don't tell my husband!

The big leaf on this page is cut from Storybook and the little leaves and acorn are the layer cut from the "Autumn" cut (seen on the cover) cut on Stretch Your Imagination.

I just love this Squirrel! I think I did him a dis-service when I tried to highlight his face but he's still super cute! He is cut from Stretch Your Imagination.

These are the last 2 pages.

No Cricut here either. The bird and the circle are both punch outs from the Lemon Grass set. You can't see it very well but they are both sparkly - love me some sparkle!

The piece in the top left corner (I have no idea what it is but it's cool looking) is a punch out from the Lemon Grass set and the tree is cut from Stretch Your Imagination - I this this tree is great - I wish I had cut more leaves to sprinkle around it but I think it turned out great any way.

So that is the end of my mini. I hope you liked it, it was really fun to make. Be sure to check out Cricut Mini Albums to see all of the other Design Team albums and to win some AWESOME blog candy! I just love free stuff, don't you?

And speaking of free stuff! Remember that mini album I was giving away (see it here)? Well, we have a winner! I went to Random Number Generator and told it to pick a random number between 1 and 1 - it laughed at me hysterically and then I think I heard it make some snide comment about my intelligence and gave me the number 1! So, congratulations Tanya! The mini is all yours! Please send me an email with your address and I'll send your mini right out!

Happy Scrapping Everyone!

A Giveaway!

I originally planned to give this mini away in conjunction with it being on Cricut Mini Albums but the challenge this mini was for got cancelled but I still want to give it to some lucky winner. So here is the mini. It was created from a Cosmo Cricket set I purchased a while back at Tuesday Morning (did you know that Tuesday Morning had scrapbook stuff?). I used the Storybook Cricut Cartridge for all of the cuts. I just purchased this cartridge and I was dying to use it.

 I love this "A Wish Came True" cut! I think it is so versatile because it could be used for a romance album, or a new baby or so many other things!

 So what do you think? Would you like to make this mini album yours? Here is all you have to do, leave a comment (if you don't see the comment box just click on the title of this post and then scroll all the way down) because I'd love to know what you think and signup to follow my blog. That's it! I will choose a winner using Random Number Generator on Saturday October 16th. Good luck and thanks for looking!

P.S. I have more give aways coming soon so that's just another good reason to become a follower!