Bitten By the Bug challenge

I just love Regina's work on the Cricut site...my personal fav is the Mickey's house-new home card. She had a great challenge...something for baby using primarily brown and has a heart. Okay, I missed fitting the heart in this pic, but I went back and added a heart on the pink bear. Matt is a toddler now, so I used "big boy" instead of "baby" in the title. I love the Brown Bear story so it just seemed natural to use it. The bears are actually bunnies from the Doodlecharms cartridge and they have their ears trimmed down. I drew their faces and used a gel pen to accent their eyes. I cut inner pieces for their ears freehand. The paper is from Mike's, stamped with one of Mike's dollar section stamps, using Brocade Blue from SU!. All blue pieces are chalked and the bears and brown mat are inked with brown chalk ink. Title was printed and matted. Ribbon is from Walmart's craft department. Looking back there are definitely things I would change to make it better, but it still turned out pretty cute. Thanks for looking!

April

Matt's Meltdown

Now, in his defense, Matt has some developmental and motor delays so once his limit is reached...well, you get the idea. It is hard to watch him try to deal with his surroundings and tiring listening to the screaming. I can't help but put it in his album as a record of all of the struggles he has had. Every new milestone means so much for us and I love watching him try so hard. I still have several of his pages to do, but I needed something fun. Be sure to click on the pic and read the poem...it is very appropriate!

I didn't follow any pattern, but did find the poem on a website - I can't remember which now, but I couldn't help but CASE it. The poem is printed on vellum and backed with white paper. The background paper was from a grab bag from Memories on Fifth, but it was too cute to pass up. I think it showcases the move from baby prints to the young boy he has become. Simple brads embellish and I like how the different sizes complement the square and it is a nice contrast, as well. Title is done is Base Camp font...my personal fav, right next to Mickey font.

Thanks for looking!....

April

Cricut Vinyl

Okay, I have been searching for a fixture for my toddler's room since he was born, but just haven't found anything that matched Mickey. I finally broke down and bought some of the cricut vinyl and cut Mickey icons from it. What do you think? It looks cute, but the vinyl is pricey at $9.99 (Hobby Lobby) for 2 12x24 sheets. I can get a total of 8 6x12 sheets out of it for the little bug.

I have to say I think I like the Wall Pops (Lowes) strips better. You get 15 ft x 6.5 inches for $9.99. So I get fifteen sheets for the same cost as 8. It is a little stiffer to work with as it is actually wall paper. It is completely repositionable and is low tack. I have been making name plates for the kids bedroom doors. I am working on the last one now...Alex has asked for a transformer icon on his so it will take a couple of days. I'll post those later.

Here are directions to cutting with Wall Pops and Cricut Vinyl. Set your cricut blade on 6 and the pressure on 2. It is called a "kiss cut" and will only cut the top layer and not the backing. Adhere your material to the cutting mat and load as usual. Select desired design and size. Depending on how detailed your piece is, you may want to set the speed to slow. When you are finished cutting, unload the sheet and simply peel away the cut material. If you are mounting on a wall, you can use transfer tape to make lining up and mounting easier.

Overall, I love the fact that you can continually move the material until you get it right. It is slightly tacky so you won't damage the item you are mounting the material to. I can't wait to try it on more projects! Thanks for looking.... April

Birthday Butterflies

This is a gift I made for my daughter to take to a birthday party. As luck would have it, this week's Stamp Something challenge is "something wild." I guess butterflies should fit in nicely. DD picked out a Target gift card with butterflies in pinks and purples with a yellow background. She also wanted to give her friend a sweet treat, so we filled the bottle with M&M's. The large butterfly is an acrylic from the $1 at a local scrap store. The little butterflies are from SU's Cause for a Celebration set. The colors are from SU's Bold Brights. The card base and ribbon is from Michaels. I stamped the black from Staz-On and used my kids Crayola watercolors. The paperclip is from Walmart's office supply section. Thanks for looking!

Update: I have had several people ask wht the bottle is...well, it is an Olive Garden Italian Salad Dressing bottle. My DH went to a lunch catered by OG and his boss sent some of the leftovers home with him. I LOVE their dressing and was only too happy to help finish it off and how cute is that bottle? And now you know!

April

"Tied" LO challenge for Scrapbook Bingo

I am a member of Yahoo! Groups Scrapbook Bingo. Amanda and the girls ROCK! We have all kinds of games, virtual crops and a weekly challenge. This week's challenge is to tie things in your LO. Okay, it is only one thing, but it is cute. This is another pagemap.com LO, just tweeked a bit.

I was going to go with pink as my base color, but these are not ultra-girly girls...they are Girl Scouts. I used bright colors to feature the girls and finally got brave enough to try out the felt ribbon I got in a group buy. I really like the effect. To keep it from looking too bulky, I cut the felt ribbon in half with my cutter. I think it makes it seem more balanced.

I have another LO to share, but it will have to wait...it is entered into a contest for pagemaps.com. Here's hoping...

Thanks for looking!

April