Hot cocoa sliders

I love making these slider cards! I find them fun to make and they make a perfect little gift for anyone on your list. I usually make some with my children and they give them out to various staff at their schools. To get the cocoa, you just pull the ribbon and it slides out.

My stamped sentiments are both from Scrappy Moms. My rosette and pine tree are from the Ribbons and Rosettes Cricut cartridge.

My Second Christmas Card - 2011

That's for popping in. Thank you everyone for posting so many amazing Christmas projects! I have so much inspiration every time I log in to Blogger!

I try and make my Christmas cards in groups of 12. So up to now, I have made a dozen "Winnipeg Jets cards" and a dozen of these.

I love this sentiment from Scrappy Moms stamps. My Santa is from the Jolly Holidays cartridge. The moon is just a circle from George and Basic Shapes. I used a hole punch on some white felt for Santa's pompom and some twine purchased at my LSS for his reins.

One tip with this cut. I de-embossed my Santa beard so that I wouldn't lose any glue space to adhere Santa's tiny face.

My first Christmas card 2011 - Winnipeg Jets

This first card kind of started out as a joke. I thought my husband would get a kick of this hockey card but... now he wants more of them to give out to friends and co-workers.

Card-making round robin

A card-making round robin is where you get a group of card-makers together with a ton (technical term) of paper scraps and supplies. Each person works on a card for five minutes. (I'd suggest using a timer because the five minutes will fly by.) Once the buzzer sounds, you pass your unfinished card to the next person at the table. It works well if each crafter uses a mat to keep all their supplies together when passing them off. Each crafter passes their work until everyone has a new card to work on. You set the timer again for five minutes and continue on the next card. You keep setting the timer and passing the unfinished card until you get your original card back (or as many times as you want).
It's so much fun!

These are the cards we made last Saturday while doing round robins. One of the card-makers is only nine years old, she had a blast and has since done one with a group of her friends. Each one of the children made a birthday card.

30 Days of Handmade Gift-Giving Blog Hop - Day 18

Welcome to my blog!
Today is my day to have a handmade gift featured at Jill's blog. Please click on her button to see more awesome gifts.



Today my gift is soo quick and easy to make. It's so easy that I am making these with children at my scrapbooking classes so they can give these mini-albums to their Moms'for Christmas!

What is this album made of you ask? Well, toilet paper rolls. I thought this would be a fun project for the girls to make and to show them that you can make a beautiful mini-album out of things you have at home.

These tags slide into the toilet paper rolls. I'm going to use them for journaling.

The back of the album.

*I realized in collecting the many rolls I needed, that different brands of toilet paper have different sized rolls.*

The paper pack we used was a 6X6 pack (perfect size for this) by Prima.

To start this album I flattened the rolls using a bone folder to help keep the edges crisp. I then painted the edges of the rolls inside and out with an acrylic paint. Once the paint was dry, I used a distress ink on all of the edges of the rolls as well as my journaling tags to give it a vintage look.
Choosing, trimming down and inking the paper was my next step. Once the rolls and tags were covered in beautiful Printery paper, I cut up some little embellishments from the same pack (too easy!). I cut out the year as well as a monogram stamp for our family. Of course, you could bind an album like this or use a binder ring. I used ribbon to bind it and to add to my tags because I thought that is something the girls would have at home if they wanted to keep making these.
The next step is to bling up your album. I used alphas and flowers but you could use so many different things pearls, gems, Stickles, embossing powder, Glossy Accents etc...
Thank you so much for stopping by and thank you to Jill for allowing me to be a part of this!

Movember card

My LSS issued a Movember challenge this month.I have made this card for the challenge.

My project must include the following elements : a mustache, the colour purple, a feminine type paper and a word/sentiment.

This mustache is actually Santa's beard trimmed down from the Paper Doll Dress Up Cricut cartridge. If you are looking for a mustache for your own Movember project, Cricut Craft Room also has a brand-new downloadable mini-cartridge with six different mustache styles. You can find it HERE, look for Mustaches and Glasses. I believe the price is $4.99.

Echo Park Paper also has issued some fabulous 'stache paper. The paper line is called Times and Seasons.

Have a wonderful Movember day!

More Halloween cards = more fun!

I have been making cards with my children.

I am entering this second card at Die Cuttin Divas for their challenge this week.
We've been having so much fun, I hope they will help with Christmas cards as well!

Speedy Recovery with Mickey

A friend (who is a big Mickey fan) has just had surgery. I love how this card turned out for her.

I used the Mickey and Friends cartridge and the sentiment is from the Everyday Pop Up Cards cartridge.

Cards made with Plantin Schoolbook

...only Plantin Schoolbook. I wanted to try and design a class at my LSS to help those own Cricuts (and most likely the Plantin cartridge) but who are not completely comfortable using their machines. I would love it if the students rushed home to use all the cool creative features the cartridges have!

I did find it difficult to use only one cartridge. I also wanted the cards to focus on using the machines rather than other techniques.

Using up my Halloween scraps

I confess, I love Halloween paper! I just bought a brand new stack and soooo I thought I would try and make some things with all my little bits of scraps from previous Halloween projects. Here are two of my attempts ...

This is a quick centrepiece to make. Just cut your scraps in strips, ink the edges and use a brad to attach them. I added a bit of ribbon and hand cut some stems.

This is a little thank you gift for my neighbour. Even the embossed paper was a scrap!

Halloween ghouls 2010

For this layout, I used a few different Cricut cartridges. The haunted house and pumpkin are from Holiday Cakes. The bats are from Wild Card, the ghoul is from Mini Monsters but I only cut out two of the layers. The trick or treat bag is from Mickey and Friends.I used Glossy accents on the scary eyes and the scythe. I also used many pop dots and ink for dimension.

This is actually a double layout. I loved using the Mini Monsters Cricut cartridge to recreate my children's costumes.

Winnipeg Jets hockey party projects

Yesterday, we celebrated my son's 11th birthday with his friends. Here are some of the party things my husband and I made. For the party, my son had his friends over to watch the very first Winnipeg Jets (former Atlanta) game on tv.

The banner was super quick to make with leftover invitation pieces and the Birthday Bash Cricut cartridge.

The cake by my husband. This was his first experience with royal icing. I think he did a great job!

These are the invitations that I already posted.

The mantel all ready for the puck drop!

I made the lootbags with the Sports Mania Cricut cartridge. The skates are laced with floss and the blades are cut with metallic paper. These things were all fun to make!

World Card Making Day Winner

Thank you everyone who hopped by. I loved being part of the celebration and enjoyed reading all of the sweet comments. Without further adieu, my twine winner is...

Lynn, please email me at thecroppingcanuck@yahoo.com so I can get your mailing information. Thanks again.

World Card Making Day Canadian Blog Hop + candy

Welcome! Thanks so much for hopping by! For this first card, I wanted to showcase Canadian papercrafting supplies.

This paper is by Harmonie. Isn't it beautiful? I used the design of the birch trees to shape my card, literally hee hee. I have been trying to make some "with sympathy" cards to put in a drawer so I always have at least one on hand. I searched for a birch leaf shape and decided to use this one from the Wild Card Cricut cartridge. I welded two of them together and then layered it again with the birch bark printed paper. I inked all of the edges with Tim Holtz ink. The stamped sentiment is by Anna Griffin. The jute is from the dollar store.

For my second card, I wanted to showcase Canadian content.

These are the invitations to my son's 11th birthday party. My son is a hockey fanatic! You can only imagine his excitement that our city now has an NHL team. This is my version of the logo of the Winnipeg Jets. To create this card, I sat down in front of the tv with my Gypsy... I then welded eight triangles and three rectangles to create the jet. There is a similar jet on the Stand and Salute Cricut cartridge but I don't own that one. I also used my Gypsy to create the other layers and THEN I borrowed a friend's Gypsy to make the maple leaf layer (she has the Destinations cartridge). There are other cartridges with a maple leaf on them though. My son is thrilled with the result and has asked for me to make more for party decorations...

This is my little bit of candy for this hop. Please leave a comment to win some baker's twine. If you are a follower please leave a SECOND comment for a second entry. I will announce the winner on Tuesday morning. CONTEST CLOSED.

If you would like to start at the beginning of this hop please begin here with Nicole.

The next stop on the hop is Chelle.

Happy World Card Making Day!

My first altered item

For my very first design team assignment for Scrapbooking by Design, I had to alter an item chosen by the owner Nicole.

For me, she chose this clock purchased at a thrift store.

Don't worry this clock was not an antique, in fact it is plastic and non-working.

I couldn't help myself but make a Halloween creation! I just thought the shape of the clock reminded me of an old scary haunted house.

The first thing I did was spray paint the clock black with a matte decor paint. I didn't worry about doing a perfect job knowing it would be covered in paper. I mostly used the Happy Hauntings and October 31st Cricut cartridges for this project. The door is from the Wild Card Cricut cartridge. Some things I just cut out on my own, like for instance the chimney. Everything is inked and chalked to look spooky and old. I embossed the brown paper around the house to look like wood just using my scoring blade every half inch. The tree is a fabulous cut from the Happy Hauntings cartridge. I cut out the two layers twice to stiffen up the cardstock and keep it standing.

I love these two papers on the back. One is by Authentique and the other (the orange background one) is by Echo Park. I added some extras Cricut cuts to the scene and also some Glossy Accents to them as well.

I think I can create a cool display with this "clock" on my mantel for Halloween!

Music challenge

Isn't it funny how challenges can be issued right when you need them? This week at Fantabulous Cricut, the challenge is a music one. Well, on Thursday, my MIL generously gave us (as in her grandchildren) her piano.

This is my card for her. I'm sorry the photo is a bit dark but the piano is slathered in shiny Glossy Accents and not very camera flash friendly.

All cuts on this card are from the Twinkle Toes Cricut cartridge. The sentiment is a rub on and there are many layers of pop dots. The embossing is done with the Tim Holtz Sheet Music folder and Core'dinations paper.

Two cards

Just playing with my Cuttlebug and Core'dinations paper.

Previously posted Back to School layouts

I'm posting these to give me some mojo to scrap "Back to School 2011"!

Smurf house shape card

Our daughter is still crazy about the Smurfs. So when I saw a Smurf house invitation last month I knew I should try to make one for her.

The door opens on this card so my daughter can write a message. The mushroom is from the Simply Charmed Cricut cartridge and everything thing else was created by me on my Gypsy. I made the window, window frame, door, chimney and spots all with the George cartridge!
Have a smurfy day!

Cuttlebug All-In-One

I have been playing lately with this new Cuttlebug system called the All-In-One Folders. With this system, you can arrange the placement of the embossing folders by clicking them into a main base. I borrowed a set from Scrapbooking by Design so I could do a free make and take with them.



This is the main base that you must purchase so you can click in the "customizable" folders. (Think Battleship) When using this system you do not need your A plate just your two Bs.



This is the set I played with and made this:



I loved this little folder. They call the pieces you click in coins.



I liked it so much that for the make in take we made monogrammed post it note covers.

At first I had some trouble with these folders. The paper seemed to be creasing. I practiced some more and did some online research.

These are Tracey's Tips for the Cuttlebug All-In-One.

1. There are less creases if you trim your paper to the size of your folder design.
2. Use paper that is a bit thicker, such as Core'dinations or Bazzill.
3. If you are still getting wrinkled projects, place a Kleenex on top of the paper. The embossing will not be as deep but the paper will not be cut either. Just make sure to keep the Kleenex fold out of the way.

Design team canvas

Yay! I am on a design team for my LSS! I am thrilled to be working in the store, teaching classes and creating! This is my canvas which is displayed in Scrapbooking by Design. I felt I should make a canvas that describes me but also highlights my scrapbooking and my addiction to all things Cricut. I included some Cuttlebug, some Gypsy design, some Cri-Kits pens and some vinyl, hoping that I can teach classes on these topics. Now I just need to fill up my "class clipboard".

1 tag, 1 bag, 1 box and more...

I must confess that I don't have much experience making bags or boxes. This is the first time I have used the cartridge Tags, Bags, Boxes and More.



We celebrated my daughter's birthday on Saturday by bringing her friends to the new Smurfs movie. For the lootbags, I cut out the popcorn bag from T,B,B & M. I jazzed them up a bit by adding white stripes, a film strip from Mickey and Friends and a ticket from the Locker Talk cartridge.

I am entering these lootbags at Celebrate the Occasion their challenge this week is Kid's Birthday.



This tag is cut from two scraps of Core'dinations paper. All cuts are from Gypsy Wanderings.



We have new neighbours on our cul-de-sac. My son and husband baked cookies as I cut out this house from the Handy Man cartridge.