Welcome to the Winter/Christmas Themed Blog Hop celebrating our favorite time of the year. This Blog Hop is hosted by Paulette, from Around the Bock with Scrapalette. You can start at the beginning of the hop at http://scrapalette.blogspot.com/. 

 

My project for the hop are these super cute “Fancy Country Glasses”. My friend Stefani (Stylesbystefani.blogspot.com) and I saw these at a craft fair a couple of months ago and of course I thought – “Hey I could make that!”. They are really easy to make and are a perfect hostess gift. I included a little packet of Homemade Gourmet Spiced Cider mix in mine. So let’s get to it!

 

The first thing I did was gather my supplies:

Mason Jar

Glass Candle Stick

Glass/Multi purpose Glue

Ribbon/Trim of your choice

Sentiment/Ink

Punch

Red Line Tape

Hole Punch

 

I started by adding trim to the top of my jar using Red Line Tape:

 

Next I stamped then punched my sentiment. For this project I used the Pink by Design “Tags and Treats” stamp set.

 

After stamping my sentiment, I punched it out using a Stampin Up! punch and then punched a hole to feed a ribbon through. I tied the ribbon/sentiment around the bottom of the candle stick. Now it is time for glue! I used the 527 Glue from Beacon and it has worked great for me.

 

Finally I placed the Mason Jar on top of the Candle stick to get my finished product!

 

 

NOW – for Blog Candy!!

 

One lucky winner will receive their very own set of these super cute fancy glasses! J Please follow my blog and leave a comment and I will draw the winner on Wednesday, November 9! Good Luck!

 

Your next stop on this hop is: Brandi at http://scubascrapperbrandi.blogspot.com/

 

Here is the entire Blog Hop list

1. Paulette at  http://scrapalette.blogspot.com/

2. Debbie at  http://bugginattheseams.blogspot.com/

3. Carolyn at  http://cccscraproom.blogspot.com/

4. Brenda at  http://happyscrapper64.blogspot.com/

5. Maria at http://stampcutcreate.blogspot.com/

6. Chris at http://scrappin-nanapuddin.blogspot.com/

7. Cindy at  http://www.inlovewithpaper.blogspot.com/  

8. Michele at  http://www.michelegreen.com/ 

9. Lisa at  http://addictedtothecricut.blogspot.com

10. Dana at http://papermemories4u.blogspot.com/

11. Nancy at  http://lanancyworkshop.blogspot.com/

12. Madylyn at   http://inspiredbycolor.blogspot.com/

13. Wini at  http://www.looneybugdesigns.com/

14. Renee at    http://icameisawicreated.blogspot.com/

15. Tammy at http://www.scrapcavecreations.com/

16. Debbie at  http://debbieduddles.blogspot.com/

17. Kim at  http://blingdazzler.com/

18. Brandi at http://scubascrapperbrandi.blogspot.com/

19. Sharon at  http://designsbysharon.blogspot.com/

20. Liz at  http://liz-lavendarandroses.blogspot.com/

And the winner is…….

Joy White!!!!

“Your box is so cute, I am a new follower of your blog”

Congratulations Joy!! I hope you have as much fun with this cartridge as I do!!!

I am so excited to announce the winner of my first ever Blog Candy!!! Using the random number generator from Random.org, the winner of the Christmas Cards Cartridge is…

Trish B!!!

Trish said:

“You are sweet to offer such great blog candy~! ”

Congratulations Trish!! 

Don’t forget that I still have the Sweet Tooth Boxes giveaway going on – All you have to do is comment on any of my posts this week and a winner will be picked on October 17th!!

 

Welcome back for Day 2 of the So…What’s New Blog Hop! If you came here from Lisa’s blog, craftytupperstamper.blogspot.com, then you are in the right place! I am so excited about my project for today and may be even more excited about the Blog LOOT that I am giving away! Let’s just jump into it, shall we? For today’s project I used the Sweet Tooth Boxes cartridge to create this cute little treasure box!

I was surprised at how easy it was to put this box together. Now that I have done one I would say that it should take no more than 10 minutes to cut, fold and assemble this box again. I used the tool box cut and omitted the handle and lock piece. The nice thing about this cartridge is that the boxes are so versatile.

The first thing I did was use the Cricut to cut out the three pieces that you need to form the actual box.

I ended up using about 2 and half sheets of 12×12 cardstock but you could make this smaller and fit it onto one sheet – especially if you use the Gypsy to turn the images.

The Cricut makes small cuts wherever you are supposed to score and fold so after I cut the images I scored along the “tick” lines.

I used red line tape to adhere the box together – it is strong enough to hold it and you don’t have to worry about spending the time to wait for it to dry!

Once I had the box put together I realized how bare it looked….I mean at this point it was just a blah brown box so I used a wood grain stamp from Stampabilites and Stampin Up! Early Espresso ink to add some dimension. I also used a sponge dauber along the crease lines to distress it some. To make it look like an actual treasure box I needed to add some accessories. I used the sign and lock from the October 31^st Seasonal cartridge. I hid the words, “Pumpkin Patch”, that were originally on the sign and used the font from Happy Hauntings to create and weld together the word “Loot”.

I distressed the sign using the same wood grain stamp and Stampin Up! Soft Suede ink and then I distressed the lock using a sponge dauber and Early Espresso ink.

The final step was adding some actual “Loot”! I had some Ring Pops that I thought would be perfect and this box is big enough that you could probably fit 3 or 4 in there!

I hope you all have enjoyed this project and maybe it has given you inspiration to use the Cricut cuts in different ways than they were originally intended!

NOW for the Blog Loot!!! I am sooo excited about today’s loot because it has the potential to be something so much more than what it actually is! Today’s loot is The Sweet Tooth Boxes cartridge! AND if you have been following my blog then you would know that this cartridge is included in the big Cricut 5^th Anniversary promotion. When the lucky winner receives this cartridge you need to make sure you go to Cricut5th.com and enter the rewards number to see if you won one of the fabulous prizes….if you win the cruise I just KNOW that you will be taking me along with you!!

To Win you must:

• Be follower of my blog
  
• Leave a comment on any post this week
  
• LOVE Cricut!
  

Good Luck! I will draw the lucky winner on October 17^th!

I know that Ocotber 17^th may seem FOREVER away, but don’t forget about the Blog candy from yesterday’s post I will be drawing a lucky winner for that blog candy TOMORROW so make sure you comment on yesterday’s post to be entered to win!

 

Your next stop on the hop is Pat at micraftygal.blogspot.com. If you have found yourself lost along the way, here is a list of all of the wonderful bloggers that are participating in the hop today!

 

Roberta from: txscrappermom.blogspot.com

Lisa from: craftytupperstamper.blogspot.com
Kim from: blingdazzler.com ßYou Are Here!!
Pat from: micraftygal.blogspot.com ß Go Here Next!!
Lori from: blogginthecrafts.blogspot.com
Trenise from: scrappin-neesie.blogspot.com
Karen from: karenscraftyspot.blogspot.com
Maria from: msjhun.blogspot.com
Mara from: msmarascraftystuff.blogspot.com
Laura M. from: worldtick.com/scrapaholic.php
L.B. from:  coolbeansbylb.blogspot.com
Adele from: adelescricutcreations.blogspot.com

Laura from: Laura-talkinscrap.blogspot.com

Susan G. from: makelifeacreation.blogspot.com
Jennifer from: simplysassyscrapper.blogspot.com
Becky from:  BecciRay.blogspot.com
Melody from: melodylanedesigns.blogspot.com
Annette from:  mymindsdustbunnies.blogspot.com
Susan from:  croatiancrafter.blogspot.com
Leah from: mycraftandchatcafe.blogspot

I am so excited to be participating in my first ever blog hop!! If you came here from Pat’s blog,micraftygal.blogspot.com, you are in the right spot.

Ok – so now onto my project!! It is FINALLY starting to cool down here in Texas and so I decided to do an autumn themed card. For this card I used a “spiraling” technique – I am not sure if that is what it is really called but I may just coin the phrase!

The first thing I did was use my Gypsy and the Pumpkin Carvings cartridge to create a card by welding two pumpkins together. I also added a rectangle at the top for extra support.

Next, cut a sheet of orange 12×12 card stock into ¼” strips. I cut some of the strips in half so that I would have a variety of spiral types. You may even want to try using three different shades of the same color to give your project some extra dimension.

After I cut the strips I wrapped them around different size paint brushes.

Once you have it spiral around let it “go” until it finds its comfortable size and then glue the end of strip to the spiral to hold that size. I did about 10 at a time and then place them on the front of my card. Once I found a spot where they fit nicely I glued the sides together with a mono adhesive.

Once I had the pumpkin full of spirals I cut off the original stalk and made a new stalk out a ¼” thick strip of brown cardstock. I also added some vines using green card stock. I just “snugged” these in between two spirals.

To hold everything in place I lifted the spirals off the card (remember they are glued together so they should hold their shape) and used Zip-Dry glue on the card before placing the spirals back on.

 

Finally it was time to add a sentiment. This card could be used with so many different sentiments –it could be a Halloween card, Thanksgiving card, or just a autumn card. I used a Stampin’ Up! Punch to punch a label out of kraft cardstock and used the Pink by Design “Bountiful Blessings” stamp set.

 

Here is the finished card!!

NOW for the candy!! As I said I am finally getting into an “autumn” mood which means it is time to start on my Christmas cards! To help get one of you started I have a Christmas Cards Cricut Cartridge! I would love for you to follow my blog and if you leave a comment on this post you will be entered to win! I will draw the winner on Monday so please check back here to find out if you won!

 

I hope you all enjoyed my project and are enjoying the blog hop! Don’t forget to come back tomorrow for another fun project!  Your next stop is Lisa at craftytupperstamper.blogspot.com. If you have found yourself lost along the way, don’t fret – here is a list of all of the blogs participating!

Leah from: mycraftandchatcafe.blogspot.com
Susan from:  croatiancrafter.blogspot.com
Annette from:  mymindsdustbunnies.blogspot.com
Melody from: melodylanedesigns.blogspot.com
Becky from:  BecciRay.blogspot.com
Jennifer from: simplysassyscrapper.blogspot.com

LaShavia from: thecraftypinkbutterfly.blogspot.com
Laura from: Laura-talkinscrap.blogspot.com

Adele from: adelescricutcreations.blogspot.com
L.B. from:  coolbeansbylb.blogspot.com
Laura M. from: worldtick.com/scrapaholic.php
Mara from: msmarascraftystuff.blogspot.com
Maria from: msjhun.blogspot.com
Karen from: karenscraftyspot.blogspot.com 
Trenise from: scrappin-neesie.blogspot.com
Lori from: blogginthecrafts.blogspot.com
Pat from: micraftygal.blogspot.com
Kim from: blingdazzler.com  <———You are here!

Lisa from: craftytupperstamper.blogspot.com

Roberta from: txscrappermom.blogspot.com

 

 

 

YEP! Those are the words that I saw when I entered my rewards points number from flower shoppe! Ok, so it wasn’t a CRUISE but it was 200 rewards points! Not too bad for a 50 point cartridge! It’s not like I bought the cartridge just so I could enter the contest, right…?? Right? Ok, well the contest may have pushed me over the edge slightly!! Plus, each time you play you get an entry an entry into the Grand Prize drawing! Oh man…I really am a marketer’s dream!!

This SOMEHOW ended up in my JUNK Mail folder…Talk about a tragedy!!!

Celebrate Cricut and Win!  You can enter to win a Cricut®Crafting Cruise, a One Hundred Cricut Cartridge Pack or a Craft Room Makeover, plus thousands of other prizes instantly! Just go to Cricut5th to enter!  Anyone can win and the rules are straight forward- purchase any of the eligible cartridges during the month of September and enter the number that is on the Rewards Points certificate or if you purchase the Cricut E2 you enter the serial number.  Here is a list of the eligible products-see you in the winner’s circle!!

• 2001094 Flower Shoppe
• 2001095 Fancy Frames
• 2001096 Word Collage
• 2001097 Sweet Tooth Boxes
• 2001073 Princess Party
• 2001074 Space Party
• 2001075 Robot Party
• 2001092 Girl’s Makeup Party
• 2001154 Something to Celebrate
• 2001155 Art Nouveau
• 2001120 Sophisticated
• 2001050 9 Months
• 2001003 Love You a Latte
• 2000163 Botanicals
• 2000928 Crocs Rule
• 2000926 Bump in the Night
• 2000165 Wildlife
• 2001125 Creative Memories – Traveler
• 2001053 Cricut Expression 2: 5th Anniversary Edition

Thanks for stopping by!

My husband and I were married one month ago today and I am so blessed to have inherited a handful of nieces and nephews (the absolute most awesome and cutest kids on the planet…I’m not biased or anything).  Little Stella and Henry are the children of my husband’s youngest brother and live up in Minnesota.  My husband’s older brother has three children and they live about 4 hours away from us so we get to see them a little more often.

While my husband and I were at Ikea about a week ago we picked up a few presents for Stella and Henry to send to them in a care package.  I spent some time over the long weekend teaching myself how to use the Everday Pop-Up card and Pop-Up Neighborhood cartridges and I made each of them a special card to send along in the care package.  I will admit that the Pop-Up cartridges are a little intimidating but they really aren’t that difficult to figure out-the main thing to remember is “Don’t Over Think It!”……well either that or I just happen to choose really simple pop-ups!  Either way, I think they turned out pretty darn cute!  The design for the airplane card was inspired by Joy at Obsessed with Scrapbooking… she just amazing!!  She also has directions for each of the pop-ups on her blog.

Elements of Design: Pink By Design Sentiment Stamps, Once Upon a Princess Cartridge, Peach Keen Face Stamp, STICKLES (of course!)        

Elements of Design: Pop Up Neighborhood Cartridge, Pink Be Design Sentiment Stamp, Paper Trey Ink Stamps (inside), Hopscotch Imagine Cartridge (Front background), Twine by The Twinery, Stampin Up! Carstock (RIver Rock) for card base.

    

Thanks for stopping by!!

 

 

I am TRYING to teach myself how to put together layouts that actually good so I bought a few kits back in March while I was at the Cricut Stampede.  This kit was put together by the fabulously talented Monique Griffith and the instructions were super easy to follow.  I think I will continue to use her kits until I have a handle on putting together layouts on my own.  The left page was supposed to have the title “Cricut Stampede 2011″ but I didn’t take any pictures while I was there so I am going to hold on to the pages until I have a use for them…living in Texas I am hoping that it won’t take me too long to find an activity to scrap!

 

As you may already know, one of my crafting HEROs is the goddess, Teresa Collins! I love her crafting style and all of her product lines “speak” to me! I cannot tell you how totally stoked I was when it was announced that Teresa was going to be designing images for a few Cricut cartridges. As soon as the cartridges were available I made sure to add them to my personal vault! With my wedding only a couple of months after the release I haven’t had any time to play with my toys but now that I am all married and such I finally have free time again!

This past weekend was my first weekend with no wedding activities so I decided to bust out the Sophisticated cartridge and get to work on a thank you card for the lovely Ms. Barbara Saner. I am so blessed to be surrounded by awesome crafters, and she is one of the BEST! She is a paper crafter extraordinaire and I was lucky enough to be able to commission her to make my wedding thank you cards (pictured below)! I know – a lot of you are wondering “why wouldn’t you just make them yourself??”…well did I mention that I have a full time job, have been planning a wedding and working on getting my husband all moved in….PLUS Barbara is THE EXPERT! Sooo, my first free weekend I decided to work on this THANK YOU card for her using the Sophisticated Cricut Cartridge.

Have I told you yet that this cartridge ROCKS MY WORLD! It has a ton of borders, beautiful font, elegant frames that can be used as journaling tags, and images that are true to Teresa Collins’ typical design work. LOVE IT!!

Elements of Design:
Sophisticated Cricut Cartridge
Stampin Up! Cardstock
Silver Stickles

Thank you card designed by Barbara:

Thank You Card to Barbara using Sophisticated: