Cricut Circle Blog July 2011 Pop-Up Neighborhood Contest

JULY POP-UP NEIGHBORHOOD CONTEST!Use your exclusive Pop Up Neighborhood cartridge for this new contest! We love the fun versatility of this fabulous cartridge and want you to create any kind of project for this challenge. Design a home décor project, Layout, Card or mixed media project. Keep reading… you will have a wonderful time spending your prize!

Boy, have I ever used this cartridge!  I must say that it is my favorite Cricut Circle exclusive cartridge thus far!  It has SO many accessories and offers so many creative possibilities!  This project is cut completely from Pop-Up Neighborhood with the exception of the box which is cut from the Cricut Project cartridge Sweet Tooth Boxes.  It's labeled as a tool box, but also looks like an old fashioned lunch box and in this case..a barn! 

What would you expect to see in a barn?  Why, animals of course!  I filled the barn with packages of animal crackers topped with a tag cut featuring one of the many animals on this cartridge.  This treat box would be perfect to send your little one off to his/her first day of school with, take to a play date, or simply to give a special someone a special little something. 

Gypsy File: 

http://www.box.net/shared/hfnki618cusznoy9elvo

Enjoy!

Linked up at:

Patches of Pink

Halloween Treat Boxes

My husband just loves the fall season...the changing of the color of the leaves, the aroma of burning firewood in the air and most importantly, halloween fun!  Here are some treat holders you can make for your most favorite trickers this spooky season:

Both treat holders are created from the Cricut cartridge Happy Hauntings.   This cart is a must have for halloween lovers!  It has lots of iconic halloween images and plenty of 3D projects to create.  Don't forget to buy My Pink Stamper's new Spook-alicious stamp set to help create your projects.  It pairs PERFECTLY with this cart:

Visit daily to view new projects from My Pink Stamper's latest stamp release.  There are 7 all new stamp sets!  And don't forget to join us this Friday for our Pink-alicious Blog Hop.  You can meet all the designers and get a chance to win some blog candy along the way!

Magic Reindeer Food

Can you believe stores are already putting merchandise out for Christmas???  I think they know how crazy we crafters can be and that we like to generate our ideas early.  =)  Here is an idea for a small winter giveaway that would make a great stocking stuffer or even a Secret Santa gift:

It is "Magic Reindeer Food".  What is Magic Reindeer Food you may ask? 

"Be sure to take this magic food and sprinkle on the lawn.
On Christmas, Santa's reindeer travel miles before the dawn.
The smell of oats and glitter path will guide them on their way
And you'll wake up to Santa's gifts next morn on Christmas Day!"

In a small baby food jar, cellophane bag, or zipper food storage bag, mix:
1/2 cup uncooked oatmeal
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup red or green sugar crystals (as used for cake decorating)

*** Many recipes call for glitter in place of the sugar crystals but sugar crystals won't harm the birds and wildlife if ingested

Other items used to create the treat jar include the Doodlecharms Cricut cartridge, felt, ribbon, dimensionals, various cardstock, SU punches and a white gel pen. 

The stamp used is from My Pink Stamper's newest stamp release Winter Treats & Sayings.  Be sure to click on the link to view the stamp set and more great samples made from this stamp set.  The design team came up with so many cute projects to share with you.  Enjoy!  

WOW! A holiday greeting card...already!

Although the season is not quite here, it's not too early to start making your holiday greeting cards.  If you start now, you might save yourself a grey hair or two!  ;)

Both the cuts and designer series paper used to create this card are from the Imagine cartridge Snow Angel.  The houses on this cartridge have several layers so that you can really pop them out and give them some dimension.  The sentiment is from My Pink Stamper's newest stamp release, Winter Treats & Sayings.  Other materials used are Chocolate Chip SU cardstock, stickles for the snow and bulbs, and a Cuttlebug Cut & Emboss tag set.

Be sure to visit all week to see new creations made from Robyn's new stamps and to follow along the My Pinkalicious Blog Hop this Friday.

Cricut Circle Blog Weekly Challenge #37: Technique

Weekly Challenge #37: Technique Challenge!

The Challenge: All week long the Cricut Circle Design Team has been showing you new and different techniques to use with your Cricut Cuts (check back tomorrow, there is still one more!). . . now it’s your turn! Create a project of your choice (Scrapbook page, mini album, card, home decor . . . it’s up to you!) including one of the techniques we have showcased this week. Let me recap for you! Monday, Kristen used letter stickers to create her own textured patterned paper of sorts to cut shapes from. Tuesday, Suzanne cut her shapes from vellum and used her Cuttlebug machine to emboss them. On Thursday, Jennifer used beads and glitter to dress up her Cricut cuts to create a Keepsake Photo Thank You card. Today, Deanna shows you a crayon resist technique with spray mists. Finally, tomorrow Michele Kovack will be back to show you how to add shading and dimension to your Cricut cuts using Copic markers! Choose one of these techniques and then apply it to your own project! We can’t wait to see what you do!

This cute tag was made using the Imagine.  I  selected the boy tag image from the Imagine cartridge Nursery Tails (pg.23).  You can print it as a combined image or print and cut the layers separately. 

One of the layers makes a terrific journaling box if you just want to print and cut that image (great for those baby albums).

To complete the look, I combined the image and selected cut only to cut the same tag shape in vellum.  I then embossed the vellum with the Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folder and layered them together held by a matching ribbon (Stampin Up Bashful Blue 1" grossgrain double stitched ribbon).

Super easy, but super designer looking!

Other great uses for this tag:

• Laminate several of the tags for your baby's luggage, bags, car seats and stroller for use when traveling (how cute...they would all match...great gift idea!). 
• Journaling boxes
• A mini-brag book...just cut the tag out several times with the layers separated so that there is room for a picture on some pages and journaling on the others.

NOTE:  Cricut.com  has a FANTASTIC deal this week on their Imagine ink cartridges - Bundle includes:

Cricut Imagine™ Tri-Color Print Cartridge
Cricut Imagine™ Black Print Cartridge
FREE! American Craft White Cardstock Pack - 60 sheets            

All this for $33.99!!!  Hurry up and stock up now before they are all gone!  =)

Playing in the Cricut Craft Room

I have been playing in the Cricut Craft Room and creating a few things.  It's still in beta and has some kinks to work through, but  I believe it's going to be an amazing tool once everything is ironed out and is rolled out to the general public. 

I made this invitation for my stepdaughter's upcoming bridal shower:

She is having a fall wedding and her colors are Eggplant, Harvest Orange and Brown.  I used the Imagine cart Imagine More Cards for the card (pg 14) and patterns from the Imagine cart Mystical Garden to fill it in.  The great thing about the Imagine is that you can fill in the card (or any other image) with any pattern from another cartridge or achieve any desired color by just filling in the RGB.  How cool is that?  I  wanted to add some 3-D flowers as well, but ran out of time and had to get them in the mail. 

As a side note:  DON'T add thick embellishments unless you plan on paying a lot in postage.  Even though the card was not very heavy, the knot in the ribbon was too thick.  The invitations were posted as small parcels and not as a regular envelope.

My Pink Stamper Giveaways!!!!

Robyn at My Pink Stamper has some awesome stamp and cartridge giveaways AND she will soon be unveiling projects from the latest cartridge release! Be sure to visit and leave a comment to win!

Circle Blog Monthly Challenge: Let's Eat!

JULY MONTHLY CHALLENGE: Let’s Eat Challenge!

One of the best things about the summertime is the opportunity to have meals and family gatherings outside! This month, we want you to create something with a BBQ, Picnic, or Patio theme, AND a gingham or check pattern.



All the cuts for this layout came from the Cricut Lite cartridge "Block Party".  The gingham background paper (both blue and red) were printed from the Imagine Best Friends cartridge.  And of course, the stamped sentiment is from the My Pink Stamper "More Punny-licious" set.  This set has so many cute puns that go really well with so many of the Cricut animal cartridges like "County Fair" and "Create a Critter".  I plan on putting a picture of my daughter acting silly where the "hot dog" sentiment is.  I hope you enjoy and come back to visit.

SO EXCITED!

I am SO excited to be added to the My Pink Stamper design team!  I know that Robyn, Karlee and Maria had such a tough decision to make with all the great entries!  I am truly thankful that they selected my card.  Daily, I am inspired by my fellow crafters and know that you all have had an influence on my work!  I hope to continue my love for paper crafting on the design team and maybe along the way, inspire you! 

This is the layout I created to scrap the occasion:

All the cuts and paper are from the Imagine cartridge "Better Together".  This layout would also work for an engagement, pregnancy announcement, or award ceremony. 

Thank you once more to the My Pink Designer team!  I look forward to creating with you!

My Pink Stamper Design Team Call

My Pink Stamper is having a Design Team Call and wouldn't you know it...I am on vacation in the mountains without any access to my craft stuff! Well, I recently did a week long card series featuring the new cartridge "County Fair" and My Pink Stamper stamp sets. One of my cards follows the color requirements and so I am going to submit with the hope that Robyn will understand and accept my entry.

Design Team Guidelines:
Create a scrapbook page, card or cricut project using the color combo of green, turquoise, orange, brown and a color of your choice.

Supplies:

* County Fair cartridge
* Page 49: Chick, Chick-s, Layer 1, Layer1-s, Layer 2 ~ all cut at 4.0"
* Page 51: Gate-s, Layer 1, Layer 1-s ~ all cut at 4.0"
* Page 54: Layer 1, Layer 1-s, Layer 2 ~ all cut at 2.0"
* Imagine cartridge JT
* My Pink Stamper "Even More Punny-licious"
* Stampin Up cardstock
* Stampin Up ticket punch
* Stampin Up Early Espresso ink and Apricot Appeal craft ink
* Stampin Up brads
* Cuttlebug Embossing Folders, Plum Blossom Set

Don't you just love how My Pink Stamper stamp sets match Cricut cuts? Good luck to everyone that enters Robyn's design team call!