SweetSassyDiva Birthday Blog Hop!

Welcome to the SweetSassyDiva Birthday Blog Hop!
We are celebrating Bobbi Jo's (SweetSassyDiva) birthday this weekend March 10th and 11th. Each day will feature new projects and also some yummy blog candy giveaways! I am so happy that you could join us for this super fun blog Hop showcasing Birthday Themed fun. This is a TWO-Day hop so, be sure to catch both days for maximum celebration and ideas.
If you've hopped over from Dana then you are in the right place. If you've just popped in to visit my blog and would like to join our SweetSassyDiva Birthday Blog hop from the beginning , please go to Bobbi Jo's blog. Bobbi Jo has a  WONDERFUL Grand Prize for one lucky hopper, the Cricut Circle cartridge, Sophie! To be eligible, please visit each blog in the hop and leave a comment. Also, become a follower at http://sweetsassydiva.com/ and be sure to leave a comment there as well. One random winner will be chosen on Wednesday, March 14th, giving you plenty of time to finish the hop.

My project today is a side step birthday card. Directions for these cards can be found all over the web, simply search  side step card. They are super easy and fun to create! The bear image and Best Wishes tag are both from Birthday Bash.  The cupcakes are from Birthday Cakes. The presents are from Storks Delivery. The white border is punched with the Wavy Dotted Scallop punch from EK Success and I added a piece of green ric rac to finish it off. I used Crystal color lacquer on the balloons to make them shiny and various colored Stickles on the bows and cupcakes.

This is the blog candy I'll be giving away today. To be eligible, please leave a comment on today's post. I will randomly choose a winner from each day's comments.
Thanks so much for stopping by today. For more fun and great projects, please be sure to hop on over to Cori's blog. 

In case you got lost along the way, here's a complete list of all the participants:
Bobbi Jo http://sweetsassydiva.com/
Lucy http://www.love2createitall.blogspot.com/
Michele http://www.michelegreen.com/
Gaby http://www.gabycreates.com/
Mindy http://grammiescraftroom.blogspot.com/
 Lori http://www.scrappinmystressaway.blogspot.com/
Missie http://createdbymissie.blogspot.com/
Jennifer http://scrapaholicjen.blogspot.com/
Paulette http://scrapalette.blogspot.com/
Anita http://www.anitaandbugs.blogspot.com/
Brenda http://happyscrapper64.blogspot.com/
Dana http://papermemories4u.blogspot.com/
Maria http://stampcutcreate.blogspot.com/ 
Cori http://createdbycori.blogspot.com/
Michele http://chelescrafts.blogspot.com/
Sandy http://thecraftycreationspot.blogspot.com/
Jenny http://crazyaboutcricut.blogspot.com/
Suzanne http://cricutcraftingrammy.blogspot.com/
Brenda http://www.friendscraftinwithfriends.blogspot.com/
Shawnee http://quiverofangels.blogspot.com/
Sylvia www.bellascrapbookdesigns.blogspot.com/

Texas Pennant

Recently PC did a contest for Circle members for the Road Trip to CHA. We were to use one of the pennant cuts on Birthday Bash and create a pennant to represent our state or region. Last weekend at the meetup they announced the winners and I'm happy to say mine won 4th place! This was only the second time I've entered a judged contest so I'm pretty excited to have placed.

I decided to create a montage of images that most people think of when they think of Texas. So I came up with the Alamo, a Texas Longhorn, an oil derrick and of course, blue bonnets. The background is the Texas flag. The Alamo was created on the Gypsy in two layers, one with all the details and one with just the outline. The detail layer was first drawn using Cricut markers, then the image was cut using the outline layer. I sanded the ink afterward with an emory board, crumpled it up a little then inked with Antique Linen distress ink. Several carts were used for this:George for the basic rectangles, PDDU for the arches on top, My World for the columns, Christmas for the door and windows and Home Accents for the dome on top. Want to guess what cut it is? It's a pear, well actually two. One was flipped horizontally then the two round ends were overlapped and welded.

The oil derrick is actually a windmill from Country Life. A black strip was added to the center then the top was hand cut. The oil is a splash from 3 Birds on Parade, cut several times, covered with glossy accents then accented with a white pen.

No Texas themed anything would be complete without a Longhorn! This cut is from Old West. It was cut in white then some spots were added with a SU Cajun Craze marker. The outlines were done with a black thin marker and the hooves were colored with a Copic T5 marker.The hooves and horns were covered with Glossy Accents. Then the whole cut was run through the Xyron to cover it with adhesive. After removing the adhesive from the hooves and horns, the cow was covered with off white flocking. I used a large sewing needle to remove the flocking from the black outlines.

The last thing to add were the blue bonnets. These are from the 50 States cartridge. I cut them in several sizes then colored them with a Copic B16 marker. White gel pen was used for the highlights.
All the elements were placed on the banner with foam adhesives in varying heights.  I kept the word Texas simple, figuring the images would speak for themselves. The letters are from Cricut Classic Font. The pennant was finished by adding a border of hemp twine around the edge which was tied in a lasso shape.
This was a fun, challenging project for me and I was really happy with how it turned out. Placing in the contest was just an added bonus! Congrats to everyone who entered and to the other winners!
Thanks for stopping by!
Maria