Take Time to Smell the Flowers

 Just living is not enough. One must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower. - Hans Christian Andersen

While perusing Pinterest, I came across this picture.

 Here is the journey of my interpretation of the above picture.

Originally, I purchased Quilled Creations Blooming Roses because I'm really loving the rolled rose thing and  thought I could do this on my Cricut so I bought the Flower Shoppe cartridge. I think I need more practice on sizes for the Cricut cuts because I was not happy with my practice results.

I ended up back with the Quilled Creations roses which are simple and easy to make.

 Then I cut out the wheelbarrow from Walk in My Garden Cricut cartridge. I wasn't quite happy with the plain brown so I added black on the wheel and blue for the base (next picture.) I also inked it up a bit with some Tim Holtz Distress inks.

 I wanted it to stay simple and keep the main focus on the wheelbarrow and roses.

 Here's a close up of the flowers.

 I did add a little bit of bling on the top and tried to mimic the white gel pen markings on the wheelbarrow.

I am entering my creation in:

- Die Cutting Divas - Challenge #112

- Wags 'n Whiskers - Challenge 102

- Forever Friends Challenge - Challenge #60

Veni, vidi, vici

Daughter Dear had another Latin project. Make a bumper sticker with a familiar brand/slogan. After much discussion, we went with eBay. Their slogan is "Buy it, sell it, love it" 

This is what we made. It's 4"X11" (bumper sticker size, according to the teacher.)

Here's a close-up of the slogan.

 Daughter Dear was in charge of gluing the letters together.

All in all, it was a cute little project. I used patterned paper from a $5.00 Michael's Hot Buy paper pack, and the letters were cut from Cricut Craft Room Basics cartridge that was free through their Craft Room.

Let's Hear It for the Boy

My card exchange group theme for the month of May is either a male birthday card or a Father's Day card. Either I'm going through a crafty slump or it's hard to make a "guy card." Maybe it's a little of both...

This was my first thought for the manly themed element for my card. It didn't really pan out well because I lost my mojo right after I made it. Maybe it's the colors, I don't know.

 It's from the Father's Day Cricut cartridge and I really like how it looks. I just don't know where to go from here. Reading other crafty blogs, I never see the oops we all make. Now this isn't really an oops, it's just dead in the water right now. It's going in my box of unfinished cuts.

My next idea hit a snag too. I decided to make the controller from the same cartridge and turn it into a card. This is the oops...

 I was going for a shiny jewel type thing on the buttons. My markers bled a little into the Glossy Accents and it didn't come out the way I envisioned. Back to the drawing board... maybe some acetate...

I think we have a winner with this one. I like how the acetate made the buttons shine. I used vellum on the left directional button and a little silver Uni-ball Signo Broad silver gel pen for some accents.

Baby, You're a Star

It's been a thing for me to make birthday buttons for my friends on their birthdays.

The friend I had in mind for this is a little bit country so I made her a sheriff badge birthday button. I used the Once Upon a Princess Cricut cartridge for the crown and saying. The star came from Quickutz Nesting Stars (I think I used the second to largest.) I blinged out the crown with large rhinestones and used some skittles I dyed to match the crown. I also used Stickles to outline the entire star. I picked up the wand brad in my travels a while ago.


Entered in Challenge #111 ~ A Star for Astronomy Day 

I'm very excited to be showcased in my very first challenge. Thank you ladies at Die Cutting Divas for making me smile!

Drink Up!

Short post today.

I had some free time to play with one of my new purchases. I finally bought Pack Your Bags Cricut cartridge and couldn't wait to make myself a drink.

I was trying to make a Cricut rum runner. I think I did a pretty good job.

♪♫•*¨*•.¸¸♥ ¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪...Happy Birthday To You...♪♫•*¨*•.¸¸♥ ¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪

My monthly card exchange theme for April was Mothers Day or Birthday. I chose birthday and went with an older Cricut cartridge that I haven't used in a while. I had a lot of fun making this card and learned not to emboss vellum with an intricate design again.

Cricut cart: the word birthday came from page 73 of Simply Sweet
Embossing folder: vellum - Darice Sheet Music
Paper: 8 1/2 X 11 Recollections Cupcake Cuties stack and coordinating solids from Recollections
Manual die: vellum - Spellbinders Nestabilities Reverse Wonky Rectangle Die
Extra: Uni-Ball Signo Broad in silver to emphasize the music notes from the embossing folder
            Rhinestones were used in the dots for the i and !

Horse of a Different Color

DD (Daughter Dear) asked me to make a card for her friend's birthday. After asking questions, this is what I designed. The horse is from Paper Doll Dress Up, cut multiple times to get the dimension I wanted. I added flocking to the "hair" and glitter to the hooves.

Gender neutral baby card

 

March's theme for my card exchange group is Easter or Baby Card, new baby, baby shower, etc. I decided to make a baby card. I used Cricut's Wild Card cartridge for the argyle lattice background with paper I bought at Joann's years ago. I know I'm not the only one that buys a paper pack for a couple pages and then the paper sits in my craft area.

This is the same card in girl colors I made for a friend who's expecting at the end of May.

Altered Composition Book

I'm part of a card exchange group on FB that tests my craftiness every month. February's theme was altered mini composition books. I racked my brain for a while deciding what to do. I finally found the composition books at Walmart, about $2 for 3 of them in a package and went from there. The pretty lady is from Forever Young Cricut cartridge and so is the word. I had to measure the book so "details" would almost reach end to end and added some green ribbon as my border. All in all it was extremely fun to make and I've had ladies in my crop group ask me directions.

Monkey Card

I made this cute little monkey card for a coworker. His favorite colors are black and white and his friends call him monkey. I used Create a Critter Cricut cartridge for the adorable monkey and added googly eyes for movement.