Hot Cocoa Blog Hop

Hot cocoa on a cold winter's night will warm us through and through and fill us with delight. That is what we hope this hop will do for you so grab a cup of cocoa and start hopping along.

Jearise from http://lorbysworld.blogspot.com is our hostess and she has a special give away on her blog so make sure you start there to see what she has and how to qualify for the drawing.

Let's get warmed up here...

I decided to make a little "pocket" gift for a cocoa packet. I don't have any cocoa on hand (that should be a crime) so mine has a hot apple cider packet. Since packets will vary, you will want to measure the width and height of your packet, and then double the height. I added a quarter of an inch allowance for the packet to fit inside, plus an inch on top for it to fold over and add a bow.

My pocket is scored at 1, 5.5, 5 and 3 quarters, and then another 4.5 inches to allow for the back side of the "pocket." I hope that makes sense, I'm not sure how else to explain it.

I used Fiskars' threading waters border punch on the part that folds over, and punched a hole for the ribbon to go through.

I made my project as if there was a cocoa packet inside instead of apple cider, so please use your imagination. :)

I then stamped the snowman image on a leftover circle cutout from another project I used the Cricut for, colored a few parts of the snowman, and added a sentiment.

This project comes together quickly and would make great teacher or co-worker gifts.

Thank you for hopping and please continue on to Lluvia's blog.

1. Jearise - http://lorbysworld.blogspot.com
2. L. Miriam - http://miriamscreations.blogspot.com
3. Ashley - http://thebloghopprincess.blogspot.com
4. Lucy - http://love2createitall.com
5. CallyAnn - http://callyanncraftycreations.blogspot.com
6. Robin - http://scrapandchat.blogspot.com/
7. Melissa - http://papershenaniganz.blogspot.com/
8. Lluvia aka misses crafty- http://sweetbirdmemories.blogspot.com
9. Cicily - http://pinkdalmationscrapper.blogspot.com/
10. Amanda - http://cricktncrafts.blogspot.com
11. Lynne - http://slasewcraftiness.blogspot.com/
12. Sandra- http://365daysofcricut.blogspot.com/
13. Lisa - http://handmadewithlove-lisa.blogspot.com/
14. Katie ~ http://ktsangels.blogspot.com/
15. Anita ~ http://www.anitaandbugs.blogspot.com 

Craft Your Passion (CYP) Challenge 139

Hello, everyone! I have the great honor of being a guest designer for the month of December with Craft Your Passion! I am so excited about this, and I hope you join me each Monday  this month so I can share all my ideas with you using great digi stamps! :)

Today I've made an ornament for my Christmas tree using the "In The Cold" digi from Robyn's Fetish. This is SUCH a cute digi. At first I thought I might make a card with it for the challenge, but then I got the bright idea to use it on an ornament. I think it turned out super cute, and it looks great on the tree with the lights shining behind it.

Can't wait to make some more projects with this image in the future.

First, I colored the image using colored pencils. I did my best to shade, but I am VERY beginner at that aspect. Then, I took a circle shape I've had for years and painted it a steel blue color. All you would need for this shape is some sort of heavy cardboard form, like an oatmeal cylinder. Just cut a piece off that is about an inch in width,and it would essentially be the same thing I used.

I then cut a piece of vellum cardstock that is roughly the same size as the circle. Dabbed some white paint on it to resemble heavy snow, then attached punched out snowflakes.

After that, I cut around the image, and adhered it the the vellum piece, leaving some space for a "shadow" behind it. I then stamped the sentiment, added some more snowflakes behind it, and a ribbon to hang it from the tree. Pretty simple, but so cute!

Please let me know if you have any questions, and be sure to check out all the other great projects over at Craft Your Passion!

Custom Order: Baby Shower Thank You's

I was asked to make thank you cards for guests who attended a baby shower. They were to be in the Jemima Puddle Duck theme. I think they turned out super cute! :)

I used my Stamp-A-Ma-Jig to help me do the background collage, and used two cuts from Lacy Labels for the white and green pieces behind the duck.

October 100 Cart Hop

For my first project, I made an antique-ish (or MY idea of antique, anyway) looking bookmark using Word Collage and Flower Shoppe. I used a cut from the Arts section of Word Collage for the background words on the bookmark. I apologize, I don't remember what size the words were cut at, as I forgot to write it down. I just did trial and error to find the size I thought was appropriate for the bookmark. Then, I took my Xyron create a sticker and ran all of the little pieces through to be able to adhere them easily to the bookmark. I should probably mention, that the size of my bookmark is 2 inches by 6 inches. I then used Flower Shoppe to cut a few leaves as an accent on the bottom of the bookmark. I did not use any dimensionals on this project. Since it's going in a book, you want it to be as flat as possible so you don't ruin the spine. I then inked over everything lightly (heavier around the edges) using Memento rich cocoa ink. I would probably laminate the entire bookmark if it's going to be used a lot.

Next is my project I did in honor of breast cancer awareness month. For this card, I used Stand and Salute, and Spring Holiday Cards. I got the ribbon and the camo shapes from Stand and Salute, and the card shape is actually an envelope cut from Spring Holiday cards. The ribbon shape is cut at 4 inches, and the camo shapes are cut at 3. I added pink rhinestones to bling up the ribbon a bit more, to make it special. To make the envelope shape into a card, I just cut off the tabs you would use to adhere it together to make an envelope, if that makes sense. This could be a very easy card to mass produce if you cut all the pieces out at once, and you get a nice "wow" factor when it's all done.

I hope you enjoyed the projects I had to share with you today. Maybe you even got an idea to use in your own crafting.

Veteran's Day Hop Blog Candy Winner!

Using random.org to pick a winner from the 14 comments I received, the winner is lucky number 12:

Family Blog Hop

Family is a special word that means more then those that are actually related to us. It is a word that means those that are close to us. Those that are there for us when we cry or laugh and just want to talk. Families are special and this is a special time to be thankful for our family be it big or small, near or far. Please join our crafters as they celebrate families through their creativeness and love.

Our hostess is Jearise from http://lorbysworld.blogspot.com and she will be having a special give away on her blog so make sure you start with her blog to see the prize and how to enter the drawing.

Here is my idea of FAMILY.

I have been slowly working on this family themed paper bag mini album for a long time. It's one of those half finished projects that we all have and ignore in our craft rooms. I decided to pull it out and start working on it again. It's not done yet, and I'll probably change some things by the time it's done, but here's the progress so far. :)

Essentially for a paper bag album you fold the flap up, then glue them all together. Here is a video I found on Youtube that can describe the construction better than I can. Then, all you have to do is decorate it how you want to. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntQGLQdqY48

I love having this album dedicated to family.

Thank you for stopping by today and now please continue on to Lluvia's blog.

LINE UP:

Jearise - http://lorbysworld.blogspot.com

Cicily - http://pinkdalmationscrapper.blogspot.com/

Maria - http://joyfulstamper.blogspot.com

Melissa - http://papershenaniganz.blogspot.com/

Lluvia aka misses crafty- http://sweetbirdmemories.blogspot.com

CallyAnn-http://callyanncraftycreations.blogspot.com

Amy E. - http://www.scrapthissavethat.blogspot.com/

Lucy-http://www.love2createitall.com

Lissa Marie -www.somanycrafts.com

Lynne - http://slasewcraftiness.blogspot.com/

Anita - http://www.anitaandbugs.blogspot.com

Veteran's Day Blog Hop

Good morning, and welcome to the start of the Veteran's Day Blog Hop! Thank you so much for hopping along with us. There are a total of 11 (including myself) wonderfully creative ladies waiting to share a project with you today. I hope you enjoy what you see. If you have a Veteran's Day themed project, please feel free to post it on my Facebook page. I would love to see them!

Veterans Day originated as “Armistice Day” on Nov. 11, 1919, the first anniversary of the end of World War I. Congress passed a resolution in 1926 for an annual observance, and Nov. 11 became a national holiday beginning in 1938. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed legislation in 1954 to change the name to Veterans Day as a way to honor those who served in all American wars. The day honors military veterans with parades and speeches across the nation. A national ceremony takes place at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.

America is the Land of the Free, because of the brave. Veteran’s Day celebrates and acknowledges the service of all United States Military Veterans. Today we honor the brave men and women who have served in the American Military. With great respect, and a heart full of pride, we say a great big THANK YOU to those who have served. Please hop with us as we pay homage to the people who help keep America the Land of the Free.

Today I have created an 8.5 by 11 layout with my husband's picture from the Army.

Red layer - 8.5 by 11

Cream layer - 8.25 by 10.75

Blue layer - 8 by 10.5

American Pride was cut using the Stand and Salute Cricut Cart at 3.5 inches.

The flag was cut from the same cart at 3.472. I adhered it with foam tape and bent it to make it look like it was waving in the wind. Not sure I achieved that look, but I tried. 

I then simply matted the picture, and adhered it to the layout using foam tape.

Pretty simple project, but I'm happy with how it turned out.

**Now, for some blog candy:**

Blog candy includes one handmade card, a handmade gratitude journal, and a petite perks "Nature's Delight" stamp set from Close To My Heart.

To win the blog candy, please become a follower of my blog, leave a comment on this post with a way for me to contact you, AND please leave each of the ladies some love on their blogs. I will choose a winner using random.org on Friday, November 16, 2012.

 Next, you should go to Robin's blog. Happy hopping!

In case you get lost along the way, here is the entire lineup:

1 . Melissa Lipcsey - http://papershenaniganz.blogspot.com/ 

2. Robin Carroll - http://cutonedesignsbyrobin.blogspot.com/

3. Marji Franklin- http://www.fstampaholic.blogspot.com/

4. Sharon Littrell-http://simplysweetbysharon.blogspot.com/

5. Robin Lane - http://create-a-latte.blogspot.com/

6. Susie Gerdes - http://scrappyrandomness.blogspot.com/

7. Jenn Jackson - http://scraphappensembellishit.blogspot.com/

8. Charity Thebookinroom - http://thebookinroom.blogspot.com

9. Camille Short - http://shortonideasaz.blogspot.com/

10. Suzanne - http://www.zannieberry.blogspot.com

11. Jearise - http://lorbysworld.blogspot.com

Lorby's World of Hops - Circles

Circles are everywhere, everyday in our life. The earth is a circle itself. Okay, a sphere but close enough. Circles are in our drawings, paintings and all art and this blog hop celebrates the beauty of 360 degrees. Please join our crafters as they show the art of circles.

Our hostess is Jearise of Lorby's World. Please be sure you start at her blog because she has a special giveaway going on.

Please leave comments along the way to show your support for these wonderful crafters, and all the hard work they have done putting this hop of circles together.

For my project, I decided to make some Christmas gift tags. I used Kraft cardstock for my base which is cut at 2.5 by 4.25. I then punched a hole for the ribbon in each tag, then ran them all through the "Seeing Spots" embossing folder using my Cuttlebug.

Next, I punched 5 big circles that measure 1 11/16 using a punch in red cardstock, and then another 5 in green cardstock. I then repeated the process using a 1 inch circle punch. Fold each of the circles in half, and then applied glue to ONE half. Adhere the circle halves together one by one. Do NOT adhere the last two pieces together to form a full circle. You will adhere the last two sides to the tag, or whatever else you're making. I hope that makes sense. Voila, you have a little 3d ornament shape! :)

Once I was done with that, I made little ornament "hooks" using some gold cording, and I finished the tags off by highlighting some of the embossed circles with "liquid glass" from Close To My Heart. If you're interested in the Liquid Glass, you can order it using my website, here.

Tie some ribbon through the holes, and you're all set to go.

The sentiment is from a Christmas stamp set that I simply stamped, colored in some of the details, matted it, then adhered using foam tape.

Hope you enjoyed my project, and please become a follower if you aren't already!

Thank you for hopping today and please continue on to Lynne's blog.

Jearise - http://lorbysworld.blogspot.com/
L. Miriam - http://miriamscreations.blogspot.com/
Lissa Marie -www.somanycrafts.com
Amanda - http://cricktncrafts.blogspot.com/

Robin - http://scrapandchat.blogspot.com/
Melissa - http://papershenaniganz.blogspot.com/

Lynne - http://slasewcraftiness.blogspot.com/

CallyAnn- http://callyanncraftycreations.blogspot.com/

Election Day

Election Day is finally here! Many men and women have fought and paid the ultimate sacrifice to help protect your rights and freedoms. One of those being the right to vote. So get your booties to the polls and vote! :)

Project Details -

Supplies used:

* Stand and Salute Cricut Cartridge

* Font is from Birthday Cakes Cricut Cartridge

* Chore Chart Lite Cricut Cartridge

* Cricut Craft Room Basics

* Card stock - red, white, dark blue, light blue

* ATG adhesive

* Red marker

* Foam tape

Cuts and sizing:

* "USA flag" welded together to make shaped card base - roughly 6.5 inches

* "vote" welded together using letters from Birthday Cakes - roughly 1 inch

* "square" is from Chore Chart Lite - roughly 1 inch

* "Romney" and "Obama" both welded using font from Cricut Cakes - roughly 1 inch

* "USA flag-s" one in red and one in blue - 3.319 inches

* "star" from CCR Basics - .417 inches

Assembly:

1. Fold and crease card base

2. Adhere red layer.

3. Cut blue layer apart so you only have a piece as a background for the stars, like a real flag.

4. Adhere the stars.

5. Cut a "banner" by hand, or use one from a cartridge.

6. Adhere letters, and square. 

7. Make a "check mark" in each box.

8. Cut a "banner end" (V shape) on one side of banner.

9. Using foam tape, adhere banner to card. You can do this flat, or choose to make it look "waved" like I did.

All done! :) Thank you for visiting my blog. Be sure to become a follower to stay up to date with all my latest projects!

Scrapbook Friday: Fall

It's Scrapbook Friday again at My Cricut Craft Room. Thank you so much for taking the time to come and see what I've made to share today. The theme is Fall. Anything to do with Fall. I don't know about you guys, but Fall is my absolute FAVORITE time of year. As a matter of fact, it's my husband's favorite time of year too, which we why we had an outdoor Fall wedding. Pure bliss. Anyways, let's get down to the nitty gritty. :)

For my layout, I used the Cricut Craft Room Exclusive, "Thanksgiving" which happened to be free the week I made this project. BUT, it has such cute cuts, it's worth the reasonable price it costs. :)

The "count your blessings" phrase was cut at three inches out of burgundy card stock. The pumpkin and it's layer was cut at four inches. I adhered them to a cream colored piece of card stock that is roughly eight by ten or so inches. I just kept cutting slivers off of it until I got it to where I liked it. I then layered that onto a piece of gray/blue and burgundy polka dot paper, which got layered again onto a twelve by twelve piece of paper. All the paper edges I roughed up with the edge of a pair of scissors. I wanted it to have a rustic feel, much like Fall. I even crumpled up the cream card stock layer a bit to add some texture.

The photo mat will hold a 4 x 6 photo. I added a piece of ribbon to the right hand side, and made some sort of crumply "flower" type embellishment. I originally wanted the strip of ribbon to be pleated, but that went horribly wrong, so I just sort of turned it into the flower "thing." A happy accident, after all. I added a few buttons, and called the layout done! :)

I hope this gives you some inspiration to create your own fall layout. I would love to see the projects you create on my Paper Shenaniganz Facebook Page. Just post your projects to my wall.

As always, if you like what you see, be sure to follow my blog.

If you'd like to see more Fall Layouts, please visit My Cricut Craft Room, to see what my Design Team sisters have made to share!

Happy Owl-A-Ween Blog Hop

Welcome to the: Happy "Owl-A-Ween" Blog Hop!

We have some of the very best crafters showcasing their projects using an owl with a Halloween theme! You will see cards, layouts, and altered art projects! We hope that our projects will inspire you to get crafty!

A grand prize will be sponsored by: Zannie Berry http://www.zannieberry.blogspot.

com

We know this is a rather long list of crafters, so we're giving you TWO days to hop through all the great projects (Oct. 28-29, 2012.) The grand prize winner will be announced on November 1. Yahoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Some crafters will also be giving away blog candy at their blog hop stops!

To be eligible to win the grand prize, you must visit all of the stops in the blog hop, become a follower of each blog hop (if you are not already), and leave a happy comment on each site! (Some crafters may have their own criteria for the blog candy they are giving away at their blog hop stop.)

Good luck! Happy scrapping! Have fun! Happy Halloween!

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Hello, and welcome to my stop on the hop! You should have started at Zannie Berry's blog. If you did not, please go back and start from the beginning. You surely don't want to miss out on any of the wonderful owl projects!

In case you get lost along the way, here is the entire line up:

Blog Hop Line Up:

1 Suzanne http://www.zannieberry.blogspot.com/   

2 Cathie http://cathiescafe-scraphappy.blogspot.com/   

3 Sheila http://2pawprints.blogspot.com  

4 Charity http://www.thebookinroom.blogspot.com/  

5 Christine http://hotberrydesigns.blogspot.com/   

6 Jenn http://scraphappensembellishit.blogspot.com/    

7 LLuvia aka misses crafty http://sweetbirdmemories.blogspot.com   

8 Elecia http://creationsby-kahaulani.blogspot.com/

9 Nancy http://alwaysastorycreationsbynancy.blogspot.com/

10 Vanessa http://wwwpaperkraftsunlimiteddesings.blogspot.com/

11 Tara http://www.craftindesertdivas.blogspot.com/

12. Shawnee http://quiverofangels.blogspot.com

13. Robin C - http://cutonedesignsbyrobin.blogspot.com

14 Beth ~ http://motherandaughterdesigns.blogspot.com 

15 Diana ~ http://daisylovecreations.blogspot.com

16 ClaireR http://threewaterscreations.blogspot.com/

17 Anita http://scrappyhappymommy.blogspot.com

 18 Sarah http://craftingwithsarah.blogspot.com/

19. Melissa http://papershenaniganz.blogspot.com/ - *YOU ARE HERE*

20. Jearise - http://lorbysworld.blogspot.com - *GO HERE NEXT!*

Now that we have all the "business" out of the way, let me show you what I've made.

The square base for this home decor wreath is an old canvas. I just cut off the canvas part. For the fabric, I recycled old tshirts in orange, green, and purple (or some combo thereof) that no longer fit, etc. I even cut up a pair of jeans that I no longer wear. I cut them in varying widths and just double knotted them around the wooden frame. Super simple. Couldn't get much easier than that. I didn't worry about edges fraying, as I think that just adds to the character. I then cut out the owl using the Nate's ABC's Cricut Cart. This owl is cut at 6 inches. I then took different sheets of paper and punched one edge using the threading waters border punch from Fiskars. Then, I layered the different pieces on the owl for his "feathers" and added two bottle caps for his eyes. All in all, this project was really simple, but the outcome is just too cute. Hope you enjoyed my project, and I hope you make your very own version!

Next stop on the hop is Jearise.

First Annual Disney Blog Hop for Rett Syndrome Awareness

Welcome to the First Annual Blog Hop for...

Rett Syndrome Awareness

Your first stop should have been at Robin Lane's Blog, if you did not start there please go back to the beginning.

What is Rett Syndrome? Rett Syndrome is a devastating neurological developmental disorder that occurs almost exclusively in girls. It is usually caused by a mutation of the MECP2 gene on the X chromosome. Rett Syndrome is found in all racial and ethnic groups throughout the world, and in every socioeconomic class. Rett Syndrome affects 1 in 15,000 female births. 

Early developmental milestones appear normal, but between 6-18 months of age, there is a delay or regression in development, particularly affecting speech, hand skills and coordination. A hallmark of Rett Syndrome is the repetitive hand movements that may include seizures, irregular breathing, swallowing difficulties, and curvature of the spine. Many individuals with Rett Syndrome live well into adulthood.

There is currently no cure.

This hop will take place today (Saturay, Oct. 27, 2012) and Sunday (Oct. 28.) There are 25 of us who have some sort of Disney project to share with you all, so make sure you hop both days. You don't want to miss any of these amazing projects!

You should have come from Jamie's blog. If you didn't, please go back and start from the beginning.

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Before I got involved in this Blog Hop, I had no clue what Rett Syndrome was. Never even heard of it before. One of the many reasons I wanted to be involved was to hopefully bring more awareness to others who also may never have heard of it before. This is something that could effect any girl (or possibly boy) you know. Please consider passing the information along.

Today, I chose to make Mickey and Minnie Mouse cupcake toppers. My God-Daughter just had her 2nd birthday in which she had a Minnie Mouse theme. You don't have to use these for a birthday though, you could really use them for almost anything, or even "just because."

I don't have any specific Disney cartridges, so I had to make my own Disney character. I just simply welded three scalloped circle shapes together to make Mickey and Minnie heads. I cut twelve out total. Six are Mickey, and six are Minnie, but you could obviously do any combination that you wanted.

The hardest part of this whole project for me was tying the bows. I used two shades of pink embroidery thread, but ribbon or twine would be adorable, too. I'm horrible with bows, but I'm happy with  how everything turned out.

After I cut everything out, I attached the mice heads with foam tape.

I also used glow in the dark puffy paint for the white dots. They don't dry stark white, but you can still tell they're polka dots, plus, they glow in the dark. What kid wouldn't love that?

Supplies:

Some kind of stick to attach your image to

Red and black card stock

Glow in the dark puffy paint

Foam tape/dimensionals

All the shapes I used are from CCR Basics. I used CCR to weld three scalloped circles together to make the heads. The heads are approx. 1.5 inches, and the cupcake shape is a little larger than 2 inches. Hope you enjoyed my Disney project, and it stirs some of your own creative mojo.

Next, please head on over to Melanie's blog.

Saturday's Line Up:

1. Robin L. - http://create-a-latte.blogspot.com/ 
2. Jenn Drowns Jackson - http://scraphappensembellishit.blogspot.com/ 
3. Jamie Larsen - http://babyjaydensmommy.blogspot.com/ 
4. Melissa Lipcsey - http://papershenaniganz.blogspot.com/
5. Melanie Rozwood -  http://afternoonscrapper.blogspot.com/
6. Ginger K. Morriello -  http://www.createwithginger.com
7. An'Jenic Gibson - http://anjenicgibson.blogspot.com/
8. Angela Tondini Chamness - http://angelascraftyspot.blogspot.com/
9. Julie McElhinney - http://www.thecricutchirp.com/
10. Jennie Dewar - http://jenscrapstoo.blogspot.com/
11. Angie Makein-Ashuk - http://crazyscraplady-angelpie.blogspot.ca/ 
12. Anita Thibodeau - http://scrappyhappymommy.blogspot.com/
13. Tess Lisiak Hilton - www.sassycricutcrafting.com
14. Blog Candy - http://create-a-latte.blogspot.com/2012/10/disney-blog-hop-blog-candy.html