Christmas in July Blog Hop

Hi! Guess what? I'm going to be a part of a great blog hop. Every Saturday in July, we will be celebrating Christmas in July. There will be between 6-15 blogs each week to hop to and check out great ideas for Christmas projects.


So here is the run down...

July 6 ~ Cricut Christmas Gift Card Holders
July 13 ~ Cricut Christmas Cards
July 20 ~ Cricut Christmas Ornaments
July 27 ~ Cricut Christmas Anything Goes {a gift, home decor, LO, etc}



And just in case you would like to stop by the blogs early and show a little love to the bloggers...

http://scrapalette.blogspot.com/

http://papercraftscissors.com/

http://stampcutcreate.blogspot.com/

http://carolinascreativecropper.blogspot.com/

http://dianesdribble.blogspot.com/

http://www.coolbeansbylb.blogspot.com/

http://happyscrapper64.blogspot.com/

http://addictedtothecricut.blogspot.com/

http://ladybuglair.blogspot.com/

http://www.inlovewithpaper.blogspot.com/

http://angiespaperpassion.blogspot.com/

http://lovebugtimme.blogspot.com/

http://www.withglitteringeyes.blogspot.com/

http://seaswancreations.blogspot.com/

http://betsymcreates.blogspot.com/

Not all bloggers are participating each week, so be sure to stop back by my blog for a complete list. There will be some great giveaways too. So be sure to stop by each blog on the list each week.
Can't wait to see you on the 6th!

Happy Scrapping,
Donna

Happy first day of summer and Anniversary to my darling husband!

It's been a busy few weeks, it started out when we were rearranging my craft space and my sweet husband built me a new craft table and then we had my mother in law visiting with us last week, so I haven't been as consistent as I had hoped to be about  posting on my blog.    Here is a card that I made for my husband as we are celebrating our 33rd wedding anniversary today.    I hope that you will enjoy it as much as I enjoyed making it for him.

This originally started out from a card that I saw on Splitcoast Stampers and it kind of evolved into an easel card.  Over all I am very pleased with how it came out.     I used the CTMH Artiste Cricut cartridge for the die cuts and the Cuttlebug for the embossing, not sure where I got the embossing folder, but I love the timepieces!!  The stamping was from various sources as well.

Thanks so much for stopping by to look.

Have a great day!

Donna

Just saw this product and wanted to share it with you!

Good Morning!  Really should be cleaning in my craft room or outside working in my garden before it gets too hot, but I wanted to share this interesting new product that I just saw on Blitzy.

KellyCraft - Laser Square Link to YouTube video

Have you ever been working on a card or scrapbook page and just can't get stuff lined up?  Well, I have more times than I care to admit and then end up having to pull them up and try to realign and have even at times ruined good paper in the process. 

If you are a member of Blitzy  you may already know about it, but if not and you'd like to check it out here is a link to sign up for a free account.   A friend from the Cricut Message board invited me and I am very thankful.

Have a great day!

Donna

Happy Mother's Day!

Today is Mother's Day.....  a day I often dread.....   I love my children and know that we will have a great time celebrating today.  But, my heart is also sad as I miss my own Mom so much.  I think about how the time has flown by and how much I would have loved to make my Mom a very special Mother's Day card!  Since she is spending her day in Heaven this will have to do!

                                                  Happy Mother's Day!
                                                     Mom,  I love you!


Yesterday I put the finishing touches on a Mother's Day card for my Mother-in-law and hope that she will like it.  On Splitcoast Stampers I found a tutorial for a lever card a few weeks ago and thought that it would make a beautiful card for so many occasions. 

I used Creative Memories card stock and embellished some of the sections with my Cuttlebug  I absolutely love how it adds dimension to projects.   The flower on the front was hand made a couple of months ago and I wish that I could remember where I got the directions so that I could share that with you. 

Anyways I hope that you enjoy this card and hope that you have a wonderful Mother's Day either as a Mom or as a child loving your Mom!

Have a wonderful day and thanks for stopping by!

Donna

Challenge for Circleville NSD 2013 - Did-I-MENSION?

As you know this last weekend we celebrated National Scrapbook Day on the Cricut Message board and have turned it into a week long celebration.

This is the dimensional piece that I made for the challenge that RockinRenee had on the board and her blog.  I used the Sweet Tooth Boxes cartridge to make this cake slice and then embossed it with my cuttlebug.

My MIL loves chocolate so since she lives in Utah and we live in NC it would be a challenge to get her an actual piece of cake to celebrate her birthday.  So I made this chocolate slice of cake and filled the box with Hershey's chocolate as a substitute.  Hope that she will like it.

It looks almost good enough to eat!!!

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Donna

Welcome to my National Scrapbooking Day Post!!

Wow, this has been fun preparing for this post.  I have often seen these exploding scrapbook boxes and wanted to do one.  Signing up to be a presenter for NSD made me get off the sidelines and do it!

I wish that I was talented enough to have come up with this idea all on my own, but alas I am great at scraplifting :-)  This was a very unique pattern that I found on the internet that was done by a crafter from Brazil.  Just goes to show that crafters bridge the gap world wide as we all speak the same language at heart.  I have actually translated her directions into English and will include a link to her blog and YouTube video.

Here are a few more pictures of my project going through the steps.  I used all Creative Memories card stock for this project and used there tape ribbon and flowers as well.

The idea of leaving the corner blocks was part of what really attracted me to this project.  I used the CM heart shape from the cutting system as my base.  I then added a slightly smaller heart on top and added dimension to that with the new Anna Griffin cuttlebug folders that just arrived in my mailbox this week.  See the pictures below.

The next pictures will show the exploding levels of this project.  I selected two double sided patterns.  This version of the exploding box also incorporated little slide out tags.  Since I am using this project as a present for my Mother-in-Law for her birthday.  I am going to have my husband and children each write a note to her on one of the tags.  The ones that are left I will add some pretty stamped messages.

Using the multiple colored paper was stepping a bit outside my normal comfort zone, but I am pleased with how it came out.

This view gives you an idea of what it looks like almost finished.  In the middle of this I am planning to add a popup.  Unfortunately I wasn't able to get that done (couldn't get on CCR last night or this morning :-( )  I will post that on the message board when I get it done.

The last step was to make the lid and again I really liked how she interlocked the pieces and after a bit I was able to get it to work just right.  I actually used a little bit of adhesive to make sure it stayed in place.

To finish off the lid I decorated the inside of the lid with a flower and the top I used a lace ribbon to give it a finished look.

As promised, here is the link to this wonderful crafter's blog and I'm going to try to add the video here for you.
YouTube Video

Here is the link to her blog.  Paloma's Blog  She has other great ideas.  I little hard to read unless you speak Portuguese, but beautiful none the less.

If you would like me to email a pdf with the directions translated into English please either email me at cme2crop@bellsouth.net or send a pm on the board with your email address and I will send them to you.

Now for the prize drawing (May 12, 2013)  .......  I will have a drawing for a $25 Creative Memories Gift Certificate that you can pick out any Creative Memories product and I will send it to you(you must use it with me in order to receive the credit) 


Please do the following. 
1. Post a comment on my blog
2. Use one of the techniques that I used on this project and post a project on the mb.

For an extra chance make an exploding scrapbook box of your own and post on the message board.

Thanks for coming along with me today for this tutorial of the "SURPRISE" exploding scrapbook box.  I hope that you enjoyed it as much as I did.

Have a great day and I hope that you will be celebrating National Scrapbooking Day with us!!

Happy Scrapping!

 

There are several of us who are participating in the Circleville NSD Weekend who are also posting our tutorials and/or challenges and/or prizes on our personal blogs. Even if you are not part of the Circle Message Board, they have invited you to visit them and join in the fun! Here is a list of participants and the times you will find their posts on their blogs (all times are Eastern Daylight Time):

http://www.withglitteringeyes.blogspot.com/ - 8AM EDT Saturday, May 4, 2013 "It's All About Perspective" Tutorial and Blog Prize - $20 Hobby Lobby Gift Card! 

 

http://carolinascreativecropper.blogspot.com/ - 10AM EDT Saturday, May 4, 20013 "It's A Surprise" tutorial and blog prize - $25 Creative Memories Gift certificate (must be redeemed with me)(you are here!)

http://scrapalette.blogspot.com/ - 11AM EDT Saturday, May 4, 2013 "Tic Tac Toe Challenge and Blog Prize!

http://scrappycol.blogspot.com/- 1PM EDT Saturday, May 4, 2013 "Ease on Down the Road" Blog Prize- $15 Michael's Crafts Gift Card!

http://papercraftscissors.com/- 3PM Saturday, May 4, 2013 "On Pins" theme and Blog Prize - $25 Simon Say Stamp Gift Card!

http://stampcutcreate.blogspot.com/ - 4PM EDT Saturday, May 4, 2013. "Tin Is In" theme and Blog Prize!

http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fallscrappedout.com%2F&h=1AQGQJOFj&s=1 - 6PM EDT Saturday, May 4, 2013 "What's It Owl About" theme and Blog Prize!

http://thenon-craftycrafter.blogspot.com.au/ - 8PM EDT Saturday, May 4, 2013 "Let's Split- CCR Tutorial" (Learn to create a split letter monogram) and Blog Prize!

http://www.scrappinwiththebug.blogspot.com/ - 10PM EDT Saturday, May 4, 2013 "The Crazy Bs Challenge" and Blog Prize!

http://sarawandrews.com/ - 9AM EDT Sunday, May 5, 2013 "Go Big or Go Home Challenge" and Blog Prize - $20 Hobby Lobby Gift Card!

http://www.scrappinwiththebug.blogspot.com/ - 11AM EDT Sunday, May 5, 2013 "Tropical Sunset Color Challenge" and Blog Prize!

http://icameisawicreated.blogspot.com/ - 6:30PM EDT Sunday, May 5, 2013 "Did-I-MENSION???" Challenge and Blog Prize!

If you have some time this weekend, you should ease on down the road to everyone's blogs! They are quite the talented group. Thanks for stopping by my blog today!

Encourging those effected by Hurricane Sandy!!

Good afternoon!   It is a beautiful fall day here in the Carolina's, but I can't help but think that it isn't as pretty for those still dealing with the effects of Hurricane Sandy last week.  I made this card for a member of the Circle Message board and we are hoping that she will be encouraged as she receives cards in the mail this week.

The card itself is a pale yellow cardstock (6 x 5) that I added a frame of blue that was embossed with the Cricut Cuttlebug and a Tim Holtz folder. I really like the added interest that the embossing gives. The design was made by cutting circles from 4 coordinating papers that were 1 1/2 inches in diameter with my Creative Memories circle maker. I then cut a 1 inch square of chip board to help make the shape uniform.

 

x

 

As you can see from the pictures above the chipboard square really does a great job of keeping your shapes uniform so that they fit together on the card very cleanly.

 

The inside of the card I used a coordinating base, that was one of the circles on the front and used a stamp that is a little difficult to read in the picture that says, "Life is a Daring Adventure or Nothing" by Helen Keller and one of my favorite verses in Psalms 121:1-2....I lift up my eyes to the hills--where does my help come from?  My help comes from the LORD.

 

Praying that all those that have been effected by this storm will find the help that they are seeking.

 

Have a blessed Sunday!

 

All my best,

Donna