Crave The Wave!

     Happy Friday everyone! Boy is this summer going by fast isn't it? Fridays @ My Cricut Craft Room is the place to showcase our scrapbook lay outs. This week's theme is either Dance or Sports and mine is sport related, ie, surf boarding.... sort of.
     We spent the 4th of July week in Colonial Williamsburg, VA with our entire family, 24 of us in all! We stayed at the Great Wolf Lodge and had a blast. One of the draws to this place was that they have an indoor waterpark which also included a simulated surfing area. Both of our sons and one of our grand daughter"s decided to give it a try. Luckily I got some great pictures. Here's how I scrapped them:

     My favorite go to cart for the summer and anything water related is Provo Crafts Life's A Beach.The waves are from the border feature. I cut 4 to make a border on the top and bottom of my 2 page LO.I just love the chevron look of this background paper. It comes from DCWV "the Tradewinds" stack. It really give the feel of the waves don't you think?

     I found the perfect sentiment on this cart. Under the Title words also on page 45, you find this great phrase which I cut @ 2.75" out of silver and mounted on a piece of dark blue card stock from my stash.

The pictures were all triple mounted: Silver, shimmer blue and white card stock. The beautiful shimmer card stock is from DCWV Shimmer Stack.

     I wanted a tag that would go with the sport so I used the surf board on page 74 and used the hide option to conceal the detail cuts then cut them at 2.75". Now they were ready for some stamping. I used K Andrews Splash-tastic Summer set and Stazon Black ink. Wow is this ever a great stamp set! You can purchase them over at Erica's Store. Just a brief note about Erica's Store. She is having a moving sale so now is a fabulous time to check out her deals.

     I hope you have enjoyed my project for today and encourage you to head back over to My Cricut Craft Room and see what the rest of the Design Team has to share with you. Yeah for the weekend!!!!!

Charlie's Elmo Party

     Happy Monday everyone! Saturday we had a wonderful time celebrating our youngest grand child, Charlie's 2nd birthday. I love the fact we have a summer birthday since our big months are October and December. We also have a couple in the spring but the winter ones are the toughest.

     I used the Elmos party cartridge to make a few things. The banner was cut using 8.5" x 11" card stock fit to length. The only problem with this is that the letters for Happy Birthday are placed on the mat at about 4" high so I had to use the 12"x24" mat and my expression in order for the length of the phrase to fit. I love when I was hanging the banner Charlie squealed "Elmo".

     Of course you need goodie bags! I decided to try as many different Elmo's as there are on the cart. 

There are 18 bags in all.

These were all cut @ 3.5". I didn't want him to just be suspended in air so I did a little green doodling.

I thought this  running Elmo was a little big so for this image I cut the rest of this shape @ 2.5".

     I didn't do the cake this time since Joelle wanted to do it this time. She thought she should at least make one of her boys cakes, lol. She did a great job.

It was so yummy!!!!

     Now for a fun treat that I thought of. It's my take on the frozen chocolate covered bananas-Elmo style!

     I actually bought the red chocolate wafers from a cake supply shop I know of. She even had the candy eyes (I was going to make my own). Be sure to use ripe bananas when dipping.

     Needless to say, big brother Ben sure loved them as well as the other kids.

     What would a party be if I didn't make a card? Hmm could it be Elmo?

     I loved hearing Charlie giggle. That makes it so worth while when you make your own cards, just seeing the sheer joy on their a face.

Here is the Birthday Boy himself. Happy Birthday Charlie!!!

     

Erica's Gigantic Giveaway!

     As most of you know I am on  Erica's Design Team over @ My Cricut Class Room. You also know that I often use products that Erica is generous enough to add to my orders. (More than generous, lol).Well you won't believe it, she is having a give away of over $500.00 in product, how's that for being generous!!!! How do you get in on this you ask? Well here are the details:

Giveaway time again!!!

So now it is time for the HUGE HUGE HUGE HUGE giveaway.....

This is sponsored by Erica's Craft Room

Here is how to win....

Over the next week July 20- July 29 you will have many chances to win.

Each 'thing you do' gives you an extra entry.

********You HAVE to be a follower here**********

All of the other things give you an extra entry.

IF YOU FOLLOW THIS BLOG YOU ARE ENTERED.....
these following things can get you extra entries.....
You do NOT have to do all 10 things.... the only thing you have to do to be entered is to follow me here. I am also giving extra entries for supporting my family and Design Team's hard work.

1. Be a follower here (you have to be a follower to win)****

2. Post this giveaway on your blog (optional )

3. Sign up for the email newsletter here (optional) (Below #3)

4. One entry for each purchase from Erica's Craft Room (optional)

5. Purchase from this CTMH consultant- (http://jackiepinter.ctmh.com/) (optional)
THIS CONSULTANT IS MY MOM.... I have no way of knowing if you order from another consultant so I can't give an extra entry when I have no way of knowing.... AND I am trying to help my mom meet her quota.

6. Post this giveaway on your facebook (optional)

7. For every person who comments on facebook that

"your name" sent them gives you an extra entry. They have to post on their facebook wall also, then comment on mine that "YOU" sent them http://www.facebook.com/EricasCraftRoom

8. Sign up for Email updates from Erica's Craft Room (below #8)

9. Comment on each blog post until July 28, 2012

10. Attend Ustream Saturday night...

9:00pm EST--- 8:00pm CST ---7:00pm MST ---6:00pm PST

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/ericascraftroom

Happy Together Anniversary Card

     It's time for Theme Day Thursday for Erica's Design Team over at My Cricut Craft Room. As a member of the team, we were asked to create a project using the cart A Childs' Year. I needed to make an anniversary card for one of my daughters and her husband so I figured I would look at some of the silhouettes on this cart. I was so surprised to find the perfect shaped card on this cartridge and no, I did not use a silhouette but went in a completely different direction! Here's what I did instead:

     I love how this came out. Clean and simple but to the point. I usually spend hours looking for the right image, choosing the perfect papers, agonizing over just the right sentiment and then trying to find the right embellishments. Be honest, I know I am not the only one who does this! Let's get to the details:
     This card base and heart can be found on page 30 of your hand book. I used the card feature and cut the base out of a shiny white card stock (Recollections pearl collection). I cut it @ 8.25" x 5.5". Next I chose some glittered cardstock and used the shift key on the card feature to cut the heart @ 8.25" 5.278". Oh my, it looks good already, lol.

     I pulled out some twine I received from Erica (love her extra goodies!) and added a lace bow from Jolee's Boutique. I had considered making some flowers for this but decided that sometimes, less is more. (That's what my husband tells me anyway.)

     The sentiment is from the stamp set All In The Family by Pink By Design. I just love this set. Remember our last blog hop? Well, I used random number generator and the winner is #18 from all the comments so congrats to: Miranda Enclade. Please email me your address so I can get this out to you. Can I just say this was totally random so I guess it is a Pay It Forward, lol. Be sure to check out Erica's Store where you can find these stamps if you don't have them already!
     I hope you will try my quick and simple card yourself. Now head back over to Erica's Blog and see what inspiration my Design Team Sisters have created for you.

Red Hat Babe!

     Here we go guys! This is my first post as a Certified Standard and Intermediate Designer in Copic Markers. Yeah me. The class I took was in June with Marianne Walker and Carol Lawrence and I have so much knowledge from those 2 days that I think my head is going to explode! I love working with this medium and find it so relaxing. I am going to attempt to periodically post some of my creation and I hope to give you some tips along the way. Are you ready to see one of my own projects?

     This is a digi image from Pixie Dust Studios called Let's Play Dress Up. I bought this a while ago and it was one of the images that made me want to learn more about Copics. When I first saw this image all I could think of was The Red Hat, Purple Dress ladies. I also had some red hat stamps from My Sentiments Exactly so it all made sense that this is where I should start.
     First let me start by tell you that the type of paper you use is crucual to good results. The paper that seems to work best is X-Press-It. It is very smooth and a wonderful weight. There are many on line stores that sell this. If you use a softer paper it absorbs too much ink and may bleed through you image lines. Plus it is difficult to move layers of ink around.
     If you use mounted stamps you must use Memento Ink. I can not stress this enough. Stazon is an absolute no no. I learned this from experience before I took the certification classes. Not only can or will it smudge, but I ruined several tips because it was stained so badly. This image was printed on my HP photosmart copier. Once I printed the image out I dried the image with a heat blower. You can also use a hair dryer.
So this will give you a few important tips to start with. Now back to the colors I used.

     Here are the markers I used:

     skin tones: E000, E00, E01, and E13

     Brown hair: E31, E35, E37

     Hat and Boa: R22, R24, R27 and R29

     Dress: V12, V15, V17

     Shoes: C1, C3, C5, C7

     

     I used some stickles for the lace edging on her dress, also for the star on her hat. I added some liquid pearls in silver for her "pearl"necklace.

     The image was cut out using Spellbinders Nestabilities Scalloped Oval Large. I also embossed this oval and shaded the edge with Pebbles Pastel Chalks. I thought this stamp by My Sentiments Exactly! was a perfect match for this card.

     If you are looking for some adorable stamps, please visit Pixie Dust Studio and check out all her great images.

     I hope you like my first project with the Copics. Be sure to leave a comment if you need any help or just want to say Hi!