You Had Me at Bacon

Bet that title sparked your interest! A few months ago Simon Says Stamp released a stamp set called Sizzle On designed by Kelly Purkey.  I don't know why, but I felt the need to own it, and this weekend I actually used it.
The past week on the Circle board we've been having a  "debate" over which image on the new Charmed cartridge is cuter, the pig or the bear. It has turned into a fun contest and challenge.  So far, despite some claims to the contrary, I believe the pigs are winning! Here is my contribution:

The printed papers are from October Afternoon and DCWV. The heart border is a Martha Stewart punch. Piggy is from the Charmed cartridge and the stamped sentiment from Simon Says Stamp. If you want to check out the stamp set, you can find it HERE.
Thanks for Stopping by!

Christmas in July Blog Hop - Anything Goes!

 

 Welcome to the Christmas in July Blog Hop, hosted by Scrapalette. This has been a month of  hops, with a different theme every Saturday. Today is the fourth and final Saturday of this hop, and the theme is anything goes.  If you're following the hop then you should have arrived here from the super talented Sis's blog. If you just happened upon my blog today and would like to start at the beginning, just go to the wonderful Scrapalette's blog. Also, Scrapalette is offering a prize for the hop. . .a Christmas Village cart and a she'll be doing a drawing from all the entries from all the weeks for a Christmas {Noel} solutions cart!

For my project today I made an Advent calendar that is also a banner. To do this I needed a small box that could be hung from the garland I use to decorate my mantle. I found the perfect box on the Tags, Bags, Boxes and More 2 cartridge. It's the cone box that is found on page 63 of the handbook. I love the triangular shape of it and it already had the little ring at the top for hanging. I cut 25 of the boxes at 5" using a variety of printed paper from the K & Co. Yuletide paper pad.

This is the cut image before folding. I used 1/4" Scor-tape on the flap to glue it together. The great thing about the TBB&M cartridge is that it makes the score marks for you. Simply cut your image first, hit the load mat button again, change to the Cricut Scoring blade, then use the shift feature of the image you cut. Perfect score marks every time. You can also use your regular blade, just adjust it down to 1 and adjust your pressure setting down. It may take some trial and error to get the right settings though.

I used Mini Monograms for the scallop portion of the number tag. They were cut at 1 1/4". The number part of the tag was made on my Silhouette using their sketch pens. I placed them on the boxes with pop dots. Lastly, I added some small bows to the tops of the boxes. 

I think this will be a fun addition to my usual Christmas decor!  I'll be sure to post pictures of them in December when the decorating is done. In the mean time, they store flat so I won't have to worry about them taking up a lot of space.

I hope you enjoy my project and that you will continue on the hop with us. The next stop is the fabulous Laura at Cool Beans by LB.

Ooh, I almost forgot, I have candy! For a chance to win this cute My Mind's Eye Winter Wonderland collection, just leave a comment on this post. I'll announce the winner on Th, August 1st!

 Thanks for stopping by!

Hello Summer!

Hi all! I hope you are all having a wonderful Summer so far. Mine has been good, not too crazy yet. Although I don't have kids at home anymore, I do keep my grand kids, (I have four now, ages 10 months to 5 years!) so they have me pretty busy. Next week we are heading back home to Florida for a week and I am really looking forward to getting away for a bit and to just sitting on the beach!
Lately I have rediscovered my stamps and have been playing around a lot with coloring. Today I'm sharing a couple of cards I've made.

This one is an stamp set from My Favorite Things. I did stamp the image twice, once on Copic X-Press for coloring then again on polka dot paper so I could fussy cut her bathing suit. The Hello Summer sentiment and tab are from the Silhouette Studio and cut with the Cameo.

This is one of my favorite new stamps! It's from Bug a Boo designs and I think is just really fun! I finally used some of the spool of Airmail twine I bought a few years ago, still don't know why I thought I needed a whole spool of that, but oh well!  The twine was had a white thread in it, which I didn't think looked right with the darker paper, so I darkened it up a bit by dying it with Antique Linen Distress ink. You can do this simply, and with any ink refill, by adding a few drops of ink to a little water then placing the twine in the mixture. I like to use a small zip lock type plastic bag for this. Mix it around until you have the coverage you want, then take the twine and wring the excess liquid out and let it dry. This same method works for the bias tape ribbon as well.
Hope you enjoyed today's post and enjoy the rest of your day.
Thanks for stopping by!

Tin is In! Altered Tin with Notecards

 

 Happy National Scrapbooking day. Some of my crafty friends and I are participating in two days of creativity and challenges. I hope you can join along with us as there are lots of great ideas and some prizes to be won, including one from me. Please read to the end of my post for more info on that!

My project today is a different way to use a "nugget" tin. Nugget tins are 5 1/2" X 3 1/2" tins with a clear insert in the lid, which is hinged. A lot of crafty people use them to place Hershey Nugget candies, wrapped in pretty paper, as gifts. I thought it would be fun to alter one and make a matching set of gift cards to fit in it.

To begin, I place 1/2" Washi tape around the top edge of the lid, using the lip on the bottom of the  lid as a guide. I like using Washi tape for this, because it is very forgiving and easy to take off and replace if it gets crooked.

Then, to cover the top, I cut a piece of card stock 5 1/4" by 3 3/8" and use a large corner rounder punch to create the rounded corners. It perfectly covers the edges of the Washi tape. I use red tape or Scor Tape for this, but any heavy duty tape will work.This is the top with the cover piece on.

Along the bottom edge of the tin, with the lid closed, I add a 1/2" piece of trim. You can use paper or ribbon. In this case I used a piece of lace trim.

I finish off the outside by adding a die cut and other embellishments to match the cards I made.

I then added a piece of card stock, cut the same size as the top piece, to the inside bottom of the tin.

For the cards, I used the Gypsy and selected one I thought would work well with the shape of the tin. Using real dial size, and sizing height and width seperately, I cut it at 6" X 5" so when folded the finished card would be 3" X 5". ***After I posted this I realized that I made a boo-boo! I made the cards to fit in the tin and forgot that the envelopes would be bigger. So guess what? The envelopes don't fit! If you plan to do this and include envelopes, size them to fit the tin, then size the cards to fit the envelope!***

I hope you enjoyed my project for NSD and get a chance to play along with some of the challenges being offered. For a chance to win this project, two blank tins and a $15 Michael's gift card, please leave a comment on this post. You don't have to be a follower to participate, but please leave me a way to get in touch with you. I will be drawing a winner next Sunday, May 12th.
Here's a list of my crafty friends who are also participating in this fun occasion:

•  Around the Block with Scrapalette - 11AM EDT Saturday, May 4, 2013 "Tic Tac Toe Challenge and Blog Prize!
• Col's Creative Corner - 1PM EDT Saturday, May 4, 2013  "Ease on Down the Road" Blog Prize- $15 Michael's Crafts Gift Card!
• Paper, Craft and Scissors - 3PM Saturday, May 4, 2013 "On Pins" theme and Blog Prize - $25 Simon Say Stamp Gift Card!
• Stamp, Cut, Create! blog - 4PM EDT Saturday, May 4, 2013. "Tin Is In" theme and Blog Prize!  
• All Scrapped Out - 6PM EDT Saturday, May 4, 2013  "What's It Owl About" theme and Blog Prize! 
• The Non-Crafty Crafter - 8PM EDT Saturday, May 4, 2013 "Let's Split- CCR Tutorial" (Learn to create a split letter monogram) and Blog Prize!
• Scrappin With The Bug blog - 10PM EDT Saturday, May 4, 2013 "The Crazy Bs Challenge"  and Blog Prize!
• Sara W. Andrews blog - 9AM EDT Sunday, May 5, 2013 "Go Big or Go Home Challenge" and Blog Prize - $20 Hobby Lobby Gift Card!
• Scrappin With the Bug blog - 11AM EDT Sunday, May 5, 2013 "Tropical Sunset Color Challenge" and Blog Prize!
• I Came, I Saw, I Created blog - 6:30PM EDT Sunday, May 5, 2013 "Did-I-MENSION???" Challenge and Blog Prize!

Supplies used: Printed paper from October Afternoon;  Cards, Labels, flower and leaf cuts from Cricut CTMH Artiste cartridge; Smile sentiment from Gypsy Wanderings; Lace, pearls, butterfly embellishment from Recollections; Stamps from Hero Arts

Quick and Easy Card

 

Hi all! For today's card I went back to the basics, not using any die cut machines. It went together so fast, the longest part of the process was choosing the papers! The design of the card was inspired by the post I saw HERE.  Maybe if I start doing more cards like this I will actually get more done!
Thanks for stopping by!
Items used:
Printed Paper: Doodlebug Designs, Flower Box and Take Note
Corner Punch: Marvy
Stamps: Paper Trey Ink, Just the Ticket
Ink: Stampin Up, Tempting Turquoise
Butterfly: Recollections
Ribbon: Offray, 1/4" grosgrain

Teddy Bear's in Oz Blog Hop

Welcome to the Teddy Bears in Oz Blog Hop.We are featuring teddy bears created from the Cricut Lite cartridge Teddy Bear Parade dressed as characters from The Wizard of Oz.

You should have arrived here from: Melody Lane Designs
 If you are just joining us, start your journey down the yellow brick road at RockinRenee's blog: I Came, I Saw, I Created

The character I am sharing with you today is the Tin Man. 

The bear is cut at 4" from gray Coordinations textured card stock. The robot on the Teddy Bears cartridge was used for his suit and it was cut from a metallic paper by Martha Stewart. The robot's wrench hands were cut off, and a  rectangle strip was added to the center of his body.Teeny tiny brands from Recollections were placed down the center of the rectangle. They were white, but I filed off the paint then colored them with Dew Drop ink in Red Brick. His collar and bow tie were hand cut and adhered with small pieces of foam tape.  A small drop of Silver Chrome Pearl Pen was added to the center of his tie. His nose was also hand cut. His cute funnel hat was created with George and Basic Shapes by welding a triangle, rectangle and letter "C" together.

 

All the cuts were distressed a bit and inked with both Stampin Up Going Gray and Dew Drop Red Brick to make  him look a bit weathered and rusty. His heart (from TBOP) was cut twice and layered together with foam tape. The edges were lightly inked with Dew Drop Brilliance Platinum Planet ink. After being glued on his chest, the heart was coated with Glossy Accents. The axe is from Paper Doll Dress Up.
Thank you for joining us today. I hope you enjoyed seeing my take on a Teddy Bear Tin Man and all the other characters as well. The complete file to recreate The Wizard of Oz character bears can be found at the starting blog. Your next visit down the yellow brick road is at A Day in the Life of a Horse Bunny 
And here is the complete blog list in case you get lost:

1. I came, I saw, I created

2. Melody Lane Designs

3. Stamp, Cut, Create!

4. A Day in the Life of a Horse Bunny

5. Random Thoughts of a Scrapbooker

6. Sara W. Andrews

7. Around the Block with Scrapalette

8. The Cricut lover's guide to Design Studio

9. paper, craft & scissors