Challenges, Challenges, Challenges

Practical Scrappers is having a Blog Hop involving lots of challenges. I answered their call for Glitter & Bling on the post below, and also have completed a few more. The first layout "Easter Flower" is based on a Practical Scrappers sketch. The paper scraps behind the photo reminded me right away of the LCMS cross. I incorporated the poem inspiration from the Scrap That Poetry challenge. It also meets the Cuddle Bug Spot "bling" challenge and the Pile It On "no stamped image" challenge.

When I went over to Sketchy Thursdays for the blog hop, I was inspired right away by their sketch. I really like banners, lately, so it was another excuse to create one on a layout.

The final destination on the blog hop is 365 cards. So, guess what I'm doing next? Yep! It's off to make some cards for their weekly challenge.

Glitter & Bling

Practical Scrappers is having a "Glitter & Bling" challenge over on their blog, so I went all out. The glitter paper is from the Songbird DCWV stack (see post below for more on this stack). I also just got my Once Upon a Princess Cricut cartridge and was excited to play with it. I thought the Sugar & Spice title was perfect for my messy little cutie eating her St. Pat's day cupcake. I cut the shamrocks from Designer's Calendar - the green glitter used for those was actually from a sheet I had in my stash (originally meant for rub-ons - but worked even better here!). I also found some "stuff" in my odds & ends box to add bling - gems and shiny plastic flowers/shamrocks. This layout was a lot of fun to put together.

New Baby Book

Friends of ours are expecting their second baby and I made them a baby book to record all those miraculous first-year milestones. I was excited to find the album at ACMoore on deep clearance, so I brought it home and promptly took it apart to recover it. I used spray adhesive to adhere the new papers and sanded the edges for a better fit. Almost all the papers are from the new Songbird stack from DCWV - very cute. It's feminine, but not too girly. I think it turned out very cute and hope they enjoy it a lot. On the inside pages, the only real Cricut cut I used was for the names of the months (Designer's Calendar cartridge).

I had lots of little pieces left over after the album was completed, so I made some cute cards and gave them to our church card ministry to use. What a great stack of paper!

Fun with Cosmo Cricket

Cosmo Cricket has introduced several fun new lines. The colors are bright and the themes and patterns are just plain FUN! I picked up some double sided papers and the chipboard sheet (self-adhesive!) last week at Scrapdoodles in Fredericksburg and have had a blast playing with combining the patterns and oh-so-cute chipboard pieces. Here are 3 layouts I completed.
For the scalloped edge, I used my small circle punch to punch out starbursts from the "Sunday Picnic" paper and adhered them behind the border sheet.

Don't you love the e-i-e-i-0 border?

I had to use the chipboard chickies on a layout and figured our Easter egg hunt was an appropriate topic. I just cut skinny strips of paper and wove them in one corner to carry out the basket theme.

Check out the Cosmo Cricket blog for more great ideas with this line!

Templates from Crafter's Workshop

Thanks Scrapdoodles for giving me the opportunity to play around with some new 12x12 templates from The Crafter's Workshop . Here are some of the layouts I designed using the "Flower Shower" template. I used my stamping ink for each, but in different ways. I think the "Oh So Pretty" layout is my favorite - I used a makeup sponge with the inks. I put the template on white cardstock when I wiped it off using a baby wipe to see what kind of water-color type effect I could get, and that resulted in the background for the "Friends" layout. The winter layout was made with my white opaque ink and a dauber. The templates are fun to experiment with - see lots more ideas on The Crafter's Workshop website.

Spring Has Sprung!

I picked up some beautiful new papers at my LSS, Scrapdoodles, this past week with these photos of Hannah enjoying a beautiful spring day in mind. Scrapdoodles also happens to have a blog challenge going - to use a banner on a layout. I think banners are so fun! I've actually used them on 3 layouts since I saw the challenge last week, but this one is by far my favorite. I can't show the others yet because they are for a "super secret" project I'm working on - let's just say that project is 44 pages and counting! The papers I used here are from BasicGrey - the line is called "green at heart." I love the purple/green combination. The new Cricut cart "Tie the Knot" has this layered, scallop banner. Too Cute~

Scrapdoodles Layouts

I am excited to be a new Design Team member at Scrapdoodles in Fredericksburg! I went in to the store on Friday to pick out some of their new papers to play with. I chose the Dear Lizzy "Spring" line and some fun SEI "Happy" papers. I was also able to pick up a keychain chipboard album from Maya Road. I used the chipboard separately on a couple of the pages below. It was lots of fun to play with these new lines. Be sure to stop by Scrapdoodles if you live locally and see all the new products coming in.