Some layouts...

...not chosen for Canadian Scrapbooker magazine. I'll keep trying though. At least I can share them now on my blog.

My village

A neighbour asked if I could make cards for her to give real estate clients to celebrate their anniversary of a home purchase. I really wanted to make a card in the shape of a house and did design one with the Gypsy but when I searched "house card" one came up on the Wild Card cartridge. I racked my brain to remember if I knew anyone who had this cartridge and thankfully a friend lent it to me. I purposely made this card in the RE/MAX colors and ran the die cut through the printer with all the necessary contact info. This was a fun project and I hope the first of many.



My daughter walked by the cards and told me she liked my happy little village.

Summer layout

I wanted to enter a challenge for She's a Sassy Lady Her challenge was to create a summer project - showing something you enjoy in the summer. There are already many beautiful entries. I thought I would do a layout showing something I would like to do this summer - take a Family Road Trip!



This is my first "Gypsy layout"! So happy about that! It took some trial and error to get everything figured out but I'm happy with the results. All the cuts are from Going Places other than the letters GPS.

Walking with Dinosaurs Show

Just in the nick of time, I have finished another layout for the Fantabulous Cricut Blog



Stop #1 on their blog hop this week was to include a die cut flower on your layout or create an accordion flower. I really tried to fold an accordion flower but they did not turn out. Yes, I tried multiple times and even took pictures of the crumpled bits of paper. With the midnight deadline approaching, I cut out flowers from Gypsy Wanderings.


Blog # 2 asked for journaling on a die cut to be included. I printed on my leaf.

Blog #3 requested embossing on your project which I did on the trunk of my palm tree. Okay, confession here, I used my scoring blade to emboss this. I actually love the result!

Stop #4 asked to include a negative image. This was an easy one because I knew I wanted to use the Mickey Font bones which use the negative image to write the words.


Blog # 5 asked to use a Gypsy to design part of your project. I welded the flowers using the Gypsy. This was my first time welding shapes. I am looking forward to using my Gypsy more!

Stop # 6 was to use your shadow button which I used for the bones. (Mickey Font is such a fun cartridge.)

Number 8 on the tour asked for the die cuts to be inked/doodled etc. My dinosaurs are all inked around the edges.

Blog number 10 suggested paper piecing which my dinosaurs are but remember Create a Critter has the easiest layers ever!

Finally the last element to be included was a food item. My food item is the coconut.

Visiting Tinker Bell

Visiting Tinker Bell in Disney World was one of my daughter's favorite things about our trip. This is the first page of our "fairy pictures".



I am entering this layout for the SOUS challenge this week. I cut out my title for this layout and accidentally scraped all the dots to my letter "i"s off my mat. Oops! In a pinch, I grabbed the purple buttons that were near me on my scrap table and tada - completed their challenge. I'm happy to have used 5 buttons from my pound of buttons bag. Only 995 left to use up!

This layout will also be entered in the Fantabulous Cricut hopping/crawling challenge this week. For their challenge I incorporated design elements from some of the blogs on the "tour".

Stop # 2 was to journal on your die cut. My journaling tag is a shape from the Just Because Cards cartridge. I typed up my journaling thoughts and ran the die cut through the computer printer.

I am so happy that I was able to complete the fifth design element which was to use a Gypsy. I have just purchased my Gypsy and am still figuring it all out. I haven't updated it yet or even linked my cartridges. I'm really looking forward to updating my computer so I can use the Gypsy to its full potential. I used Gypsy Font for the title and welded all the letters.

Stop # 10 is to include some paper piecing. I'm not sure if putting together Tinker Bell is considered paper piecing ( I even googled the words "paper piecing") but I can tell you she has a lot of tiny bits! So I definitely did some paper piecing.

I had a fantabulous time creating this layout!

Fantabulous Cricut Entry

The Fantabulous Cricut blog is featuring a blog hopping/crawling challenge. Well, I have hopped and here is my layout. Each designer on their team requested one element on your project entry.

Stop # 2 on the hop (Brenda's Blog) requested journaling on a die cut. I ran my Cricut cut through the printer to do this (very quickly so my glue didn't dry onto my printer paper). She suggests using repositional adhesive.

Blog # 3 (Candace) was to emboss on your project. I do not own any type of embossing machine but the cookie box on the layout is beautifully embossed (kind of a damask pattern). That is why my sister purchased those particular ones.

The fourth stop was to use a negative image. (Lori's Blog) This was far out of the box for me as I usually toss the negative images. The word love is from "love you a latte" on the Just Because Cards cartridge.

The sixth stop (Nana's Blog) was to use the shadow feature for your cut. I shadowed the top note/cartouche shape. I tend to use this feature alot already.


Stop # 8 (Sammy Jo's Blog) was to ink/color/embellish a die cut. My cuts are lightly inked and I added some adhesive pearls as well.

Stop # 10 was to use paper piecing (Tammy's Blog). I had to re-piece together my word "love" with the middles of the letters.

Finally my last design element was to use a food item. (Valerie's Blog) I literally did this. I cut up a cookie favor box from my sister's wedding.



This was fun! Be sure to check out their blog and go for a "crawl"!

Critter Creation

When my sister and I both lived at home, she had a pet hedgehog. He has since passed on but to this day, she loves everything "hedgehog". Whenever I see anything "hedgehog", I think of her. I initially bought Create a Critter to make her cards but obviously have since used this cartridge many times.

With this card, I tried to recreate her pet in his aquarium standing on a bed of pine chips.


This card will be entered in the Pink Stamper challenge # 12. This challenge was to create an animal project.

This card will also be entered in the Scrap Beach challenge #1 "I must have that tool". I used my heart-shaped punch on this card. I bought that punch many, many years ago to scrap my wedding album. At the time, I HAD to have it! I had to rummage in my children's art supplies today to find it. lol

Kids craft, too challenge

My daughter is seven and she loves to craft. She loves my Expression and she keeps trying to figure out what this "Gypsy" thing actually is for. In February, she decided she wanted Cricut valentines but once Valentine's Day got closer she decided that she no longer wanted to give out any Winnie the Pooh or Sesame Street characters to her male classmates because they were too babyish. I won't mention how much time or paper it took us to make the "babyish" cards... Not to mention I had to borrow both cartridges from a friend. (Yes, my friend laughed her head off when I told her that my daughter had changed her mind) I put aside the characters and told her that she could cut Sports Mania die cuts instead. Well, these characters work great for the new baby on our cul-de-sac and his big sister.



I am entering our work here. To be entered in challenge #6.

Teacher Appreciation Challenge

On my to-do list were thank you cards for my daughter's school division choir director/music teacher, pianist, music director and choir coordinator.



These cards are for the My Pink Stamper Teacher Appreciation challenge. This is her challenge #5 for National Scrapbooking Day.

These cards needed to be large enough for 37 children to sign. I loved making these cards because I used my Gypsy for the very first time for the music notes! I used my friend's Cuttlebug to emboss the music and then I sanded the Core'dinations paper.

I got these done in the nick of time as we need them for Tuesday. Thank you Pink Stamper for issuing this challenge and forcing me to get down to business (card-making business)...

More cards for challenges

These Hello Kitty shape cards will do double challenge duty. They will also make great Mother's Day cards for both of my grandmothers! The cupcake card is for my friend Julie who celebrates Mother's Day and her birthday on the same day this year.

The Scrap Beach has a challenge called Think outside the box! It is challenge #5. It requires no right angles!

My Pink Stamper challenge #9 was to make a shaped card or project

I didn't pack a lot of printed paper to bring along with me yesterday so the polka dots are from a DCWV Grade School pack.

MPS challenge #7 - Hey Dad

Shhh.. This card is for my husband. He loves hockey ( I am a hockey playoff widow right now) so Sports Mania was the cartridge to pull out.



You can find more info about this challenge here.

I used DCWV Metallic and Shimmer papers to glitz this card up.

First Challenge for NSD-Mother's Day Card

I have seen so many beautiful Mother's Day projects posted online. Most have flowers or butterflies or flourishes. Well, my Mother loves dogs (really loves dogs). Therefore, I pulled out my trusty Create a Critter to make a card especially for her.




I am entering this card for My Pink Stamper #1 challenge to create a Mother's Day project.

I am also entering this card in the Fantabulous Cricut Mom's Day challenge.

I Cuttlebugged the grass, therefore this card also works for the Cuttlebug blog Mom's month challenge. (I like the idea of a month celebrating Moms.)

Lastly, I have discovered a new website with challenges called The Scrap Beach. I am entering their 6th challenge posted yesterday.

National Scrapbooking Day 2010

Is it possible to have a paper hangover?

On Friday. I received my Gypsy in the mail! Yeah! On Friday. I realized that I needed to upgrade my computer to run my Gypsy! Boo! Here is Gypsy that I cannot connect. So now I'm waiting for my Mac upgrade package...



In the meantime, I participated in National Scapbooking Day completing many challenges. It seemed to work well because I need many cards and projects completed anyways with Mother's Day, birthdays and the end of the school year approaching. This is how my one 12X12 mat looked at the end of the day.

Vintage flower project

No one has entered this challenge yet at Lilgreenbugville blogspot so I felt I needed to give it a try even if I didn't have a crafting heat gun.




I borrowed my husband's heat gun (I think it's for removing paint) to heat up some circles of satin ribbon to create this lollipop flower ( I also didn't have any fabric). The heat gun melts synthetic fabric creating this neat effect.