Peachy Keen Stamps Challenge #33 and Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Me Monday #20

Here we go....two challenges in one!!  When I saw the sketch at the Peachy Keen Stamps Challenge blog, I immediately thought of a photograph of my children from Easter that I had wanted to scrap.  Then I saw that this week's Challenge Me Monday at the Fantabulous Cricut Challenge blog  simply requested that the submitted projects include a Cricut cut animal.  So...what's a girl to do??  I created a scrapbook page that satisfies the requirements for both challenges...whoo hoo!!  Here's the PKS challenge sketch:

And here's my scrapbook page.  What do you think?  The picture was taken on Easter at my parent's home in New Hampshire.  My kids had eaten so much sugar (think jellybeans, chocolate eggs, malted milk balls and more jellybeans!!) that I didn't think they'd all stand still long enough for me to take the picture!  And my boys had removed their shoes!!

Recipe

Bunny & Chick - Create A Critter

'Easter' - Alphalicious, welded with my Gypsy

Frame for photograph -  Gypsy Wanderings, sized with my Gypsy

Paper flowers, ribbon - American Crafts

Skittles - handmade gift from a friend   :-)

Rhinestone - Recollections

Striped paper - ATD "All Through the Year" Yearbook stack 

Textured cardstock - DCWV Brights Textured Cardstock stack

Cardstock - Recollections

White Gelly Roll pen, brown Creative Memories marker for doodling

Fantabulous Cricut: Challenge #19 - Christmas in July

Christmas in July?  Sounds great!  Especially if it comes with some cooler weather!  Temperatures here in the Boston area have been HHH - hazy, hot and humid - for what seems like weeks.  I can't remember a summer that has been so hot...or one where I've run the air conditioning continuously.  So in an attempt to cool down a bit, I decided to take Fantabulous Cricut's  "Christmas in July" challenge. 

The challenge is to make a Christmas-themed project that incorporates a Cricut cut.  Well, since I use my Cricut on just about every project I make, this seemed easy peasy.  I knew right away that I wanted to make a scrapbook page of my 8 yr-old son and my father using a couple of pictures I took last Christmas Eve.  My dad is wearing a pair of holiday-themed socks for the occasion...as he and my husband do every year.  I thought I'd focus on the socks...and the tradition...and scrapping a picture of my dad with one of his grandsons (the one who I understand is very much like my dad was at his age...more about that later!!) is icing on the cake...or presents under the tree in this case!  Here's my page and the details:

Recipe

Socks - Paper Doll Dress Up (clipped the top off of the stockings/tights)
Reindeer - Doodlecharms

'Papa's Socks' - A Child's Year, welded with my Gypsy

Scalloped squares - tag (hid hole with my Gypsy) from A Child's Year

Patterned paper - DCWV Holiday stack

Cardstock - Recollections
White Gelly Roll pen for doodling
Cat's Eye chalk ink

Peachy Keen Stamps - Challenge #32

The latest Peachy Keen Stamp challenge (http://peachykeenstampschallenge.blogspot.com/) is to create a card or layout based on our favorite summer vacation destination. The only other requirement is to use buttons, brads or bling. Sounds easy enough for even me to do!!! :-)

Well, our family has a few favorite summer spots - the beach, the ice cream stand, the baseball field, Cape Cod, my parents' camp in Maine - but the one that my kids would never miss is our town's annual agricultural fair. Huge prize pumpkins, pig races, fried dough (my personal favorite!), a bounty of fresh vegetables, balloon darts, kids squealing on spinning rides, motorcross, 4-H competitions...the fair has it all and every August we soak it all in. I just checked the calendar...it's only 5 weeks away...this is the fair's 143rd year!

Here's the layout I created for the challenge. This picture of my Mom and kids sitting next to the HUGE bull just makes me laugh.  :-)

Recipe

Pig, dirt mound, pumpkin, straw/hay - Everyday Paper Dolls

Cow - Create A Critter

Grass - Plantin Schoolbook

Ribbons - Locker Talk, Plantin Schoolbook

'fun at the FAIR', ticket - Mickey Font

Cardstock - Recollections; Patterned papers, ribbon - from stash

Buttons/brads - Making Memories

White Gelly Roll pen, brown Creative Memories marker for doodling, journaling

Cat's Eye chalk ink

Throwback Thursday, Episode 60

Emma at My Creative Time http://www.creativetimeforme.com/ sponsors a challenge every Thursday which involves using an "older" Cricut cartridge. I was super glad to find her website (be sure to check it out if you haven't...she's incredibly talented) because her challenges should also help keep me focused on creating more pages for my kids' scrapbooks....yay! The inspiration there is overwhelming!

This week's challenge is to create a project using an animal from the cartridge "Zooballoo" or any other older cartridge if you don't have Zooballoo. Well, since I don't own that particular cartridge, I asked my daughter which cartridge I should use to scrap another picture of her I took last year at Cape Cod. This page is for her scrapbook, not mine. She, of course, chose Create A Critter...and a ladybug (is it an 'animal'?)...can you imagine??...so that's what we used...despite the fact that we're bending Emma's rules for this challenge. Sorry Emma, but I was overruled by a 6 year-old!! :-)

Recipe

'cute as a bug' - Plantin Schoolbook, welded with my Gypsy

ladybug - Create A Critter

patterned paper - from a friend :-)

cardstock and bling from Recollections

paper flowers from American Crafts

white Gelly Roll pen, black Creative Memories pen for doodling

Peachy Keen Stamps - Challenge #31

I recently discovered the Peachy Keen Stamps Challenge blog http://www.peachykeenstampschallenge.blogspot.com/ and found lots of fun, cute projects. Their stamps are adorable...and I think I need to buy some for my Cricut Paper Dolls and Critters - since I can't draw faces, these are perfect for me!

Anyway, every other Tuesday they post a challenge. This week's challenge is to follow the sketch shown above. I decided to continue scrapping summer pictures and found this one of my daughter from our vacation to Cape Cod last year. My kids love vacationing on the Cape...can't you tell by her smilin' face??

Recipe

Crab, flip-flops and shovel & pail charms (cut off the tags) - Life's A Beach

Waves -Life's A Beach; welded with my Gypsy

'beach babe' - Mickey Font, welded with my Gypsy

picture - used circle shape from George and centerpoint function on Expression

Sun - Create A Critter, cuttlebugged with divine swirls folder

Patterned paper - from stash, cardstock from Recollections

Markers, Gelly Roll pens, black CM marker for doodling & journaling

Thanks Tracy!!! I won!

I'm still finding it hard to believe, but I was chosen as a winner in Craft Junkie Too's "1st Week of Summer" challenge. Whoo hoo! Tracy picked two random post numbers and one had been assigned to me. Thanks to Tracy's generosity, I will soon be the proud owner of a Cricut Summer Vacation cartridge. A great way to kick off my blog!! To see Tracy's projects, check out her website at http://www.craftjunkietoo.com .

And be sure to check out the fun button that Tracy designed for the occasion....it's on the left....so cute!

Craft Junkie Too's Summer Challenge

OK, I've decided to try to actually keep up a blog...you know, update mine once in a while. So I'm going to post projects here that I enter in challenges. I find that challenges keep me moving forward...and that's a good thing! I have sooo many pictures to scrap and I need to just get going on those layouts! So, thanks to Tracy at craftjunkietoo.com for posting a "summer" challenge...any project that's summer-related...for example a vacation, party, bbq, road trip or pool time, for example.

I chose to scrap pictures I took last month at a fishing derby my kids entered. They've become quite fond of fishing and this derby kicked off the summer fishing season for us. It may have been late Spring here in New England, but it was HOT and HUMID and certainly felt like summer!

I used A Child's Year for the image of the child fishing, Everyday Paper Dolls for the fish and fishing pole, Camp Out for the wooden sign, and welded 'fishing derby' from Alphalicious with my Gypsy. The cardstock is from Recollections and the printed paper from my stash.

Enjoy!