Our bookworm layout

Hello! Thanks for popping by! This is a layout of my daughter. I took a picture of her reading and wanted to scrap it. I also wanted to journal some of her current favourite books.

I started out my trying to find a book pocket on my Cricut cartridges. I didn't have one, so I created one in the Craft Room. Easy Peasy!

Next, I found a library card printable.

Here is the link.

So This is Julie

The books are just various little rectangles cut out from the George Cricut Cartridge.

Birthday cards inspired by Monster High and Pokémon

I have been playing with my Gypsy again trying to make some characters for kids' birthday cards. I love making a special card based on the recipient's interests! In this case, Monster High's Clawdeen and Pokémon's Pikachu. For the record, next time I will make a simple pokeball instead of attempting a Pikachu... I think I am disappointed in Pikachu only because I think he still looks like the cat from Create a Critter even with all of the modifications I made.

Thanks for looking! Have a great day!

Penguin Party

Warning - party post not a very scrappy post.

My daughter is still very much into penguins, for her birthday party all she wanted was a penguin theme! I decided to turn to Pinterest to help me figure this one out. Here are some pictures from her party. I found ALL of these ideas on Pinterest.

I was so happy to make these puffs. I found a Youtube video and was shocked at how easy they are to make. They are such an inexpensive party decor item! I also decorated our mantel with all the penguin stuffies.

I may have found this idea but it was my MIL who made this bean bag toss game.

My daughter loves to eat olives and hard-boiled eggs so I knew I needed to include some "penguins" in the menu.

This was the craft that the guests created. The clear ornaments were purchased at Michaels. We put glitter inside with hairspray and then painted the outside with acrylic paint.

I was so happy when I saw a penguin gift bag creation on Pinterest. I bought the black lunch bags at Michaels. I cut the face from the Create A Critter Cricut cartridge but I had to thin him out a bit with my Gypsy.
I am fairly new to pinning online and am so happy with how easy it was to collect ideas and make an inspiration board.
Have a great day!

Teacher Appreciation Week

It is staff appreciation week at my daughter's school. I love making these bulletin boards for the staff to show how much we appreciate their hard work!

I am entering this project at Cooking with Cricut. Their challenge this week is to make a teacher appreciation project with your Cricut.
I had trouble this year thinking of ideas but I did find this title and jungle idea online at Artsy Fartsy Mama.

Most of these wild animals are from The Create A Critter Cricut cartridge. The toucan is from Life is a Beach. The font is Birthday Bash. I picked up large google eyes and tried to make this board fun and bright. (This school is Kindergarten to Grade Four.) I braided jute as my "vines". The paw prints are from Mickey and Friends and they have the name of each school staff member. While I had a desk covered in this paper, I whipped up a matching card for the staff with scraps. Yay!

I hope they like it!

Happy Valentines Day!

My children were very predictable for their valentines this year. My daughter is still into penguins, therefore we designed this little guy together.

My son is still a huge hockey nut and our entire city is still quite enamoured with having an NHL team. His valentines are a little more masculine but fun.

These were great to make with my kids although I wish I had started sooner than yesterday afternoon...

Have a wonderful day!

Two layouts today

We spent a wonderful afternoon getting lost at a local corn maze on Thanksgiving day this year.



I know this layout is very simple but I just wanted to show how using metallic paper can add so much. I bought a pack of metallic cardstock from the Dollar Store.



My son will be thrilled, he can't wait to have this trophy layout completed.

Packs of penguins and gangs of gingerbreadmen

've now lost track of how many cards I have made this holiday season. These ones were mailed last week and should be almost at their destinations.

It's almost time for Brownies...

and I have no gift or card... So I quickly used the Create A Critter cartridge to make cocoa sliders for the troop leaders "Brown Owl" and "Snowy Owl".



These were super quick to make using all scraps. My daughter loves how they turned out!

Action Wobbles - in action

Think of action wobbles as a pop dot that gives the die cut motion.



Sticking it on...



Moving from side...




To side.




I thought it would make a fun children's holiday card!

Cricut Train Engine #2

The Cricut cut train has come to my house. I have chosen some beautiful cuts and am off to the post office with some added in exchange. Here are my add ins. The penguins scarves are something called Sticky Stitches. The penguin background is sanded Core'dinations.

I hid the tongue on the gingerbread man. It looked like he was eating himself to me. I wanted to cut him just because he is from the new Gypsy download of Smiley Cards.



Here is the original train. This one is thinner than the last but I still found some lovely cuts! Thank you Carina and Sharla.

Cross-country layout

This is my son's second year of fall cross-country meets. His school walks to a nearby beautiful, tree-filled park. The students run races against other community schools. I enjoy watching the meets and feel so proud of my son.

Last year, my layout for these races was all done with the Sports Mania cartridge. So this year, I wanted something different. A layout that shows the lovely fall we are having as well as the awesome meets.




I am entering this layout for the following challenges:

1. Falling Leaves at Fantabulous Cricut

2. Anything but a card at Made by Momo

3. Sports theme at My Creative Time

Think Pink Friday challenge

Abbie at Cricut Me That issued a challenge to create a card with a breast cancer message of encouragement. Well, this is very close to home for me. My grandmother has just completed her radiation treatments and is recovering at home, in fact these cards were given to some wonderful ladies who helped my grandmother. My grandmother loved the cow-shaped cards so I knew I had to make her a shape card also with a pun of some sort.

Udderly amazing

I made some quick thank you cards for some special people yesterday with the Gypsy.

Bridal Shower projects

I have been busy! I am helping out my MIL to decorate a family bridal shower. Thankfully, the Fantabulous Cricut blog issued a "For the Bride" challenge. I tried to keep these projects simple to do with few steps because this is a large shower. I needed to make 50 invitations, 50 favor bags and 8 centerpieces.

The words Bridal Shower are cut from Sweethearts and the butterfly is from the Pink Journey cartridge. I ended up using this butterfly and the colors navy blue and white as my theme.



The centerpieces were fun to make. The twigs are from my MIL's yard and the pots are from the dollar store. The butterflies are embellished with gems from the dollar store.





The banner was a last minute idea after seeing so many nice grad banners. The triangle and scallop edges are cut from Straight from the Nest.




The only cartridge I have with bags on it is Plantin Schoolbook so that's what I used for the favor bags. The Thank You stamp is from the Michael's dollar bin and the tag shape is cut from Just Because Cards. (There are many pretty shapes on this cartridge.)


I need to give credit where credit is due. My MIL helped a lot!

With a Cricut machine you can decorate a function with a stack of paper and some adhesive. In this case, the stack of paper was one of the ones Costco used to carry.

Thanks for looking.

Mission to Create challenge

I made this birthday card for a challenge at the Mission to Create blog.

The challenge was to make a card using 3 circles, an owl, a cupcake, white space and a stamped image using anything but a stamp.




To make this card I used the Create a Critter cartridge for the owl and cupcake. I deleted the smiley face from the cupcake using my gypsy. I stamped the branch using leftover foam sheets from my children's crafting. I thought the foam would stick to my acrylic block but it didn't. I decided to glue it on with glue that is repositional at first and then remove it as soon as I could. It worked and I love how clear the "stamp" appeared. I think the most difficult element was the white space. I was dying to fill up all the empty space on the card and had to stop myself!

Another new challenge site - Sketches in Thyme

I found yet another challenge site yesterday and LOVED the sketch. They can be found here.The sketch is beautiful.

Here is my version. I turned the sketch sideways.

I am also entering this layout for Canadian Nickel Scrapn's summer vacation challenge. The prize for this challenge is the Summer Vacation Seasonal cartridge!!!!



The pictures I have for this layout are from a camping trip last summer. I tried to add all of my children's favorite things including the roasted marshmallows, the Jiffy Pop (Can you tell that's what that is?) and of course the friendly squirrel.

Most cuts are from Create a Critter. The font is from Life is a Beach. The marshmallow stick is from Gypsy Wanderings and the "Jiffy Pop" is a pan and a pie welded together from From my Kitchen.

Everything is inked in brown. This was a lot of inking for me!

Such a fun camping trip and such a fun layout!

Hang in there

I found a new challenge site this week. The blog is called Jitterbuggin' challenge This was the sketch to follow. It is their 3rd sketch called Just Monkeyin' Around. You had to have a monkey as well as 3 patterned papers.



Here is my take on the sketch.



I used jute for the rope and used lots of distressing and pop dots for dimension. All my cuts are from the Create A Critter cartridge and all the patterned paper is from the DCWV Mi Casa pack.

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.

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.