I finally did it.....

I bought a Yudu with my Mother's day money.  Michael's was selling the Yudu for $99 one day only so, I decided I wanted to give it a try.  Here are the first shirts I made with it...

My oldest daughter, Olivia, is leaving for Disney World today.  She is going with her cousin, Faith.  I made these shirts for them to wear one day while they are there.  I made the grown ups one also but, with just Tinkerbell on it.  Here is what the back looks like....

There is definitely a learning curve to the Yudu.  It is not a five or ten minute project, especially the first time you try it.  I plan to try some more things and will post what I come up with.  Thank you for looking!! 

May Monthly Challenge: Tic Tac Toe Challenge....

The Challenge: Create a project of your choice using the Tic Tac Toe board above to choose THREE challenge prompts in a row. Project must include atleast 2 different Cricut Image Cuts.


Rules and Guidelines: Circle Blog Challenges are open to Cricut Circle Members only. You can create any type of project you would like (tag, altered project, mini album, etc.) but your project must be newly created for this challenge and include atleast 2 Cricut Image Cuts. You must submit a project to be entered into the Challenge Prize Drawing. One entry per person, please.

How to Enter: Submit your entry using the InLinkz tool found at the bottom of this post. Please post your full name along with your entry. Entries are due by 9:00 pm MST on Monday, May 30th, 2011.

Prize: This month FIVE winners will be selected from the entries to win a Brand NEW Cricut Expression 2: 5th Anniversary Edition. Yep! FIVE WINNERS!!!! Please allow 4 to 6 weeks for delivery from winner announcement.

Winner: The winner will be selected randomly from qualifying entries using www.random.org and will be announced on the Cricut Circle Blog on Wednesday, June 1st, 2011.


Ok, I am OCD about separating laundry.  I have a hamper for different types of clothes, ie...darks, whites, lights, jeans, towels...etc.  Yes, go ahead and say it...OCD!!!!

With this in mind, I re-purposed some plastic auto tags (yes, I got them from the thrift store) into signs for each hamper.  I am still working on them but wanted to enter at least one of them in the tic tac toe challenge so here is the one I made for the "whites" hamper....

I used the bottom row of the Tic Tac Toe Challenge board to create my project.  I used the Cricut Imagin Best friends cartridge for the laundry paper.  I used the Mickey font cartridge for the word "whites".  I used the Cuttlebug embossing folder Polka Dots to emboss the word white.  I used the Tinkerbell cartridge to add some "sun"flowers.  I love those sunflowers so had to use them in this project as well as my previous project. 

Here is a close up of the word so that you can see the embossing...

It's kinda hard to see but it is embossed with polka dots.  Here is a picture of the sign attached to the "whites" hamper....

My husband and kids think I am crazy but, I think this will help as long as they READ the signs and put the proper clothes in the proper hampers.  I hate sorting laundry so, hopefully this will make it easier for all of us.
Thanks for looking and good luck to all those fantastic entries!!  I would sooo love to win an E2. 

Weekly Challenge #32: Sketch Challenge!

This is the weekly challenge for the Circle Blog.... See my entry below....
The Challenge: Use the provided sketch to create a project. Feel free to turn it on it’s side, simplify or combine a few of the elements together for a card or home decor project, etc. You are welcome to create anything as long as we can see that you used the sketch as your inspiration. Have fun!


Rules and Guidelines: Circle Blog Challenges are open to Cricut Circle Members only. Your project must be newly created for this challenge and include atleast 2 Cricut Image Cuts. You must submit a project to be entered into the Challenge Prize Drawing. One entry per person, please.



For my entry I used Alexis' Spring 2011 preschool pictures.  Here is what I came up with....

Supplies:

Cricut Expression Machine
Gypsy
Tinkerbell Cartridge
Pooh and Friends Cartridge
Storybook Cartridge
Calligraphy Collection
Gypsy Font
Plantin Schoolbook


Paper:

Bazzil Basics Card Stock
Heidi Grace Patterned Paper Tall Flower
Vellum

Other Supplies:
Doodle Bug flocking, brown and black
Liquid Pearls, White opal
Pop dots

If you have any questions about the size of the cuts or which items were cut with each cartridge, feel free to contact me and I will provide that information for you.  Thank you for looking.  Don't forget to leave me some feedback.

My Scrapbook Room

Hello, everyone.  I spent my day cleaning my scrapook room because it was a total mess.  It's not exactly the way I would like a scrapbook room but, it is a work in progress.  On the circle blog, there is a giveaway for National Scrapbook Week.  I decided to enter since I finally got my room a bit clean. 

Here it is...

Most of my cartridges are stored in the white cabinet above my cricut expression.

Sewing machine and baby cricut.

Futon in front of the closet doors.  In the closet I have a small refridgerator to keep diet coke and snacks.

Here I am in my scrapbook room....

I look a bit tired in this pic, lol.  Well, hopefully in the future I will be able to show you pictures of my scrapbook room after I actually get it the way I want it.  I will be doing a little at a time.  I need to buy more jetmax cubes.  I hope you enjoyed seeing my space. 

Teacher Appreciation Gifts

I made tootsie pop bouquets for Alexis' pre-school teachers.  I made two different size flowers for each bouquet.  I cut the flowers from the George Cricut cartridge in size 2 1/2 and 3 1/2 inches. 

I found these buckets after Easter at Walmart for 50 cents.  The tootsie pops were half price.  There is a foam piece inside the bucket that I bought at Dollar tree.  A pack of two was $1.  I put green Easter grass over the foam.  I bought the Easter grass for 69 cents at Walmart.  I used green ribbon that I already had to make leaves on each flower.  The paper is cardstock that I already had.  I cut the 2 1/2 inch flowers out of white paper and inked the edges with pink ink for the pink bouquet and purple ink for the purple bouquet.  For the 3 1/2 inch flowers I used pink and purple cardstock and inked the edges with pink and purple to accent the edges.  I cut the bees from the Disney Pooh Cricut cartridge.  I cut the wings off of the original bee cut out and put wings cut from vellum on the bees.  I made the bees double sided to look like real bees.  I put liquid pearls on the wings to make them look a little shimmery and real.  I rolled craft wire around a pencil to make it into a spiral.  I attached the bees to the wire with hot glue.  I cut the scallop tag with the Celebrations cartridge at 3 inches.  My husband helped me with the next part.  He printed the phrase "Thank you for helping me bloom!" on a 2 1/2 inch circle.  I attached that to the center of the scalloped circle.  I inked the edges of the scalloped circle.  On the back I put "Teacher Appreciation Day May 3, 2011".  Then I put to and from with the teacher's name and my daughter's name.  Here is a picture of the bees and the tag...

These made very inexpensive but, cute gifts that any child would be proud to give.  Alexis was very proud to give them to her teacher this morning.  She was telling them how mom made the flowers and the bees.  I was very happy that she was proud to tell them that her mom made these for her to give as gifts.  Thank you for looking and don't forget to leave me some feedback!!

Brenda

April Monthly Challenge: Reuse, Repurpose, Recycle...

The Challenge: Create a project of your choice and reuse, recycle or repurpose 3 items on your creation. Project must include atleast 2 different Cricut Image Cuts.



Rules and Guidelines: Circle Blog Challenges are open to Cricut Circle Members only. You can create any type of project you would like (tag, altered project, mini album, etc.) but your project must be newly created for this challenge and include atleast 2 Cricut Image Cuts. You must submit a project to be entered into the Challenge Prize Drawing.


How to Enter: Submit your entry using the InLinkz tool found at the bottom of this post. Please post your full name along with your entry. Entries are due by 9:00 pm MST on Saturday, April 30th, 2011.


Prize: This month the winner will win a Cricut Mini Cake Machine, Martha Stewart Crafts Birthday Cake Art Cartridge, and $50 credit to their Cricut.com account. Please allow 4 to 6 weeks for delivery from winner announcement.


Winner: The winner will be selected randomly from qualifying entries using www.random.org and will be announced on the Cricut Circle Blog on Monday, May 2nd, 2011

The items I reused are an acrylic picture album from the thrift store, Mother Goose paper from the Debbie Mum Nursery Rhyme stack, some paper stars left over from another project, and some clear picture pockets from another album that I was not using.  My cricut cuts are from Nursery Rhymes cartridge.  I used the Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and the little girl with a star.  I cut the the title, My Star, from Gypsy Wonderings and from Nursery Rhymes.  I don't remember which cartridge the Encore Bow is from, I think it is from the Cricut Font cartridge.  I will have to check. 

I found this acrylic picture "album" at the thrift store.  I paid 59 cents for it!!  I am not sure what it is actually called but the front page is acrylic and is perfect for an album that I wanted to make for Alexis....

Alexis had a school play that they actually call a "circus".  They do acts describing several different nursery rhymes.  Alexis was in the Twinkle Twinkle Little Star act.  That is exactly what was on the front acrylic cover of this album.  I covered the base with scrap paper from the Nursery Rhyme stack by Debbie Mumm.  The paper I used was Mother Goose...

Then, I covered the middle section of the acrylic cover with black metallic type paper and added a picture of Alexis with the title "My Star"....

I did the same for the back of the cover.  I used the star Cuttlebug folder with the metalic paper.  I used some sand paper and sanded across the stars to bring out the silver under the black paper. 

Here are some more pictures of Alexis as a Twinkle Star...

Here is a picture of her with her friend who was playing Mother Goose...

I plan to add pictures of all of the other kids perfoming the other nursery rhymes as soon as I can get them.  They did several, like Jack and Jill and Mary had a little lamb.  I hope you enjoy my project.  Thank you for looking and don't forget to leave me a comment.

Easter Bunny Treat Bag Inspired by Scrapalette

Alexis' Easter party for her preschool class was Friday, April 15.  I made treat bags for the class.  I got the inspiration from a Cricut Circle member, Scrapalette, who just recently started a blog.  She is amazingly creative.  Check her blog out at http://scrapalette.blogspot.com/. 
Here is my version of the Easter Bunny treat bags....

I had fun doing these. Thank you, Scrapalette for this great idea.  The kids loved them!