Off to CHA!!!!

Good Early morning to you friends! It's my birthday and I'm off to the CHA Supershow (I can't think of a better way to spend it.... ok I'd love to spend it with the hubs but this isn't really his sort of thing so we'll just pretend my birthday is tomorrow when I get home and I can celebrate it with him then... so I kind of get TWO birthdays) Yeah, I'm game for that! Anyway, I hope to take lots of pictures of lots of fun products and all kinds of inspiration to bring back here to share. AND I can't wait to meet the others from the Cricut board for dinner tonight! Here's to a great day!

Dandelion Card - Jitterbuggin Challenge

This card was made for the Jitterbuggin Challenge this week. The sketch is pictured below- Rules were to use Black & White and one other color & to use a punch (and a Cricut cut of course!).  I used the Dandelion from the Storybook Cricut Cartridge, and the little twigs are from Wild Card. The patterned paper is from Stampin' Ups Pattern Pack 2 which was given to me as blog candy from the lovely Chelsea at A Chelsea Morning. I attached a little green Prima Flower, with a brad made by Autumn Leaves. The Circles were cut with my go-to-guy George.  The sentiment is a rub-on from Karen Foster's Rub-bits. I used a corner punch on the bottom corners, and a Martha Stewart Edge punch in the middle just to give it a little somethin extra. I really like the way this one turned out!
Now for the sketch-

Jitterbuggin Challenge- Hula Girl Card

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As the title says, this card was made for the "Jitterbuggin Challenge" this week. I chose to make a 5 1/2 x 5 1/2" square card just to get away from my normal A2 trend. Both the red, orange, and yellow cardstock are from American Crafts- yellow is embossed with the "Textured Stripe" cuttlebug folder and the red is embossed with the "Tiny Mosaic" cuttlebug folder. The Orange oval was cut on shadow at 3 1/4" on the Cricut using George and Basic Shapes with the white cut with no features on at 3 1/4".  The hula girl was cut from Life is a Beach at 3 1/4" as well. All of the cardstock I used on her was cut using scraps I had. She turned out pretty cute... it took a lot of cuts and a lot of little pieces.  I need to try to use my gypsy more to conserve paper- must learn that hide contour feature! Anyway... she makes me wish I was on a beach somewhere drinking something fruity! P.S. my second attempt at sewing... LOL, I still need some work!  

Cupcake Birthday Card - CPS Card Sketches Challenge #174

Super simple card! I based this card off of the  sketch challenge of the week at Card Positioning System. I flipped the idea and added a little extra rub-on of presents from Heidi Grace. The party hat was cut with The Pooh and Friends Cricut cartridge at 1 3/4" I didn't have a cute little pom pom or anything I liked to put on the top so I took a few pieces of ribbon and sewed them together to make my hat topper- I frayed the edges just a little and there you have it! The cupcake is from Stampin' Up! the "Out of the Box" set.  I colored the cupcake with Stampin' Up! Markers- Pink Passion and Green Galore. Then inked the edge with "Tempting Turquoise."The paper I used is Bazzill Bling- the green, pink, and blue are all "Bling" papers. Thanks for looking!

"Gus" Papercraft Star Sketch Challenge Layout

This layout was created for the sketch challenge this week at Papercraft Star. I altered their idea a little to add another picture and some journaling. Sorry for the poor quality of picture- I tried to sneak outside between rain showers to get some decent light- that was a bad idea (see a few of the rain drops that snuck onto my paper? grrr) Anyway, this was my first project using my Gypsy. I welded the title using Don Juan "Gus" is the original font and "Fetch" is the "Under Pressure" feature. The dragonflies were cut using Gypsy Wanderings and the Cattails and weeds were cut from Life's a Beach at 2.25" I shaded an oval from George (again at 2.25") to create the water underneath.  The paw print is cut from Mickey & Friends (but I can't recall the size). The ribbon is American Crafts and the paper behind the title is one I've had for a while (sorry)

Cherry On Top Award

Miss Angi at Cokie Pop Paper was so sweet to think of me when she was giving out the Cherry on Top blog award. Thank you Angi! She's got a lot of neat things on her blog (and she's a Stampin' Up rep too) Go check out her blog for some great inspiration!

The rules for this award are:
1. Thank the person who gave this award to you
2. Copy the award and put it on your blog.
3. List three things which you love about yourself.
4. Post a picture you love.
5. Tag five people you wish to pass this award on to. 

On to the 3 things I love about myself...

• I love how far my scrapbooking has come from where I started- I've learned lots of new techniques and have the "I'll try anything once attitude" I like my style right now :-)
• I love that I'm a giver- RAKs, at Christmas, to charity, what have you- I love giving to people and I like that about myself
• I love where I'm at in my life... I haven't done everything I want to do but I'm well on my way and I love who I've become as a result of the trials and tribulations I've faced.

 Post a picture you love-
This picture was taken with auto timer in my bedroom at my parents' house. I had just gotten home from a great first date (with the man who now happens to be my husband) It's not so much about the picture itself, but more about what I was experiencing and the time in my life... looking back now, I had no idea what that night was going to lead too... it led to my happily ever after (and I'm so glad I have a picture to remind me).

And now for who I'm giving the award to... I'll pick some of my new favorites.

1. Sammye Jo
2. Tiffany 
3. Tuki 
4. Beebee 
5. Titine 

There you have it :-) Thanks again Angi! 

Flip Flops and Flowers card

This card was made for a challenge at StampTV. (I can't find the link right now though, sorry!)  It was a sketch challenge. The stamp set is from Stampin' Up! - The Island Blossoms set. I inked the flower and leaf, then outlined them in stickles because they needed a little somethin' somethin'. The flip flops are buttons that I cut the loop off the back of and then used glue dots to adhere. The plaid paper (which I think would make the perfect pattern for flip-flop material by the way) is from the DCWV summer stack. Hope you enjoy!

Thanks a Melon Card- My Pink Stamper Color Challenge

Well it's been a few days but I have lots of things to upload. I plan to take some pictures tomorrow in some better light. For now though, I had to share this card that I just made tonight for My Pink Stamper's Color Challenge. I really liked the colors she picked so I decided to go with it! See others' creations using the Pink/Green/Orange/Brown color combination here. 
For this card, I used the watermelon from Stretch Your Imagination.  This was cut at 3 1/2" The paper I used were scraps from the last card I posted- the pink polka dot is Abbey Road and the Green is Die Cuts With a View from one of their paper stacks.  The Orange is cardstock from American Crafts. The brown polka dot ribbon is made by American Crafts. I didn't have any wide ribbon so I just put 2 thin ones side by side and covered it with the green ribbon so you don't see the seam. The green ribbon is made by RibbonFX (I got it at Hobby Lobby in the Fabric Dept). The sentiment is the "Simply Sweet" font from Doodlebug Designs in Bubblegum mini.  I cut the Scallop Square Frame from Mini Monograms to put the sentiment on.  This was cut at 2 1/2". I then cut the inside square again at 3" so I had something to mount the scallop and border to.