Wednesday Thanks

Hello and Happy Wednesday!

Today I'm sharing a card of 'Thanks' that I made.  Last week we vacationed in Virginia Beach. A friend I went to college with lives down there now, so I connected with her on Facebook and arranged to meet up with her.  She graciously offered to watch my kids one night so hubby and I could go out for an early anniversary dinner.  It was such a blessing to us!

 

The glasses were cut from Cricut's "Stretch Your Imagination" cartridge, and the THANKS was from Paper Lace.  Sometimes you just don't have a good stamp or mat for your sentiment, so I try to remember that I can cut them out sometimes :)

Have a great day everyone!

Wednesday Word Project

Happy mid-week everyone - Thanks for stopping by!

Today I'm sharing a project with you that I made for my son's bedroom door.  I love how popular burlap is these days, and I love mounting paper crafts on it - I think it looks so nice!  My son's nursery has a jungle theme, so I used some 'wild' print papers to spell out his name:

 

I used the Varsity Font cartridge for the letters, and the patterned paper is from The Paper Studio (Hobby Lobby).  I mounted the letters on some burlap, that is covering the back of this frame.  Hopefully this is something that he will like to have in his room for many years to come :)

Have a great day!

Father's Day Challenge

Happy Monday Everyone!

Today over at Exploring Cricut & More, we are creating projects celebrating Father's Day!  Let's not forget the special men in our lives who either were awesome Dads to us, or were wonderful fathers to our kids :)  Father's Day is only 2 Sundays away, to time to get crafty!  Here's the card I will be giving my husband on behalf of our young kids:

 

This card was cut from a Cricut Craft Room file that I downloaded last year with a free credit.  Let's see how awesome Dads have inspired you this week!  Create a special card for the special Dad in your life, and upload it over at Exploring Cricut & More - we'd love to see what you make.

Have a great day!

Mid-Week Monogram

Good Morning!  Today I'm sharing an embellished Post-It holder that I made for my Secret Sister at church (her name is Beverly... shhh, don't tell her...)

 

I had ordered these 4"x4" plain white coasters off of Amazon months ago, and am just now figuring out what to do with them :)  I covered this one with some cardstock from the DCWV Mango Frost stack, I distressed the edges with Victorian Velvet Distress Ink by Tim Holtz, and added the 'B' cut from the Winter Woodland Cricut cartridge.  I evened out the corner with my 1/2" Corner Chomper.  Finally, I covered the clip in Washi Tape and tied small pieces of toule  around the clip to make it fun.

I have 40 of these coasters... Looks like everyone I know is getting a Post-It holder from me for the next couple of months!  I hope Beverly doesn't figure out who I am before it's time!

Have a great Memorial Day Weekend - God Bless America!

Wednesday in May

Hi Everyone!

Today I'm sharing the birthday card I made for my daughter - she turned 5 last week:

 

There is a back story here... I tell my daughter a story every night before bed, and then we make up silly ways to tell each other how much we love each other.  She knows I love birds, especially peacocks, so one night she told me she loved me like a million peacocks - not just any peacocks, but a million 'fire colored' peacocks.  I couldn't resist making her a birthday card with a fire colored peacock on it.  Silly, I know... but we have so much fun with it :)

I used the Ole Cricut Cartridge for the peacock.  This was the first time I ever used that cartridge... I need to use it more often - the images are so colorful and fun!

Thanks for stopping by - Have a great day!

Mother's Day Challenge

Happy Monday Everyone!

Today's post is inspiration for Exploring Cricut & More's Mother's Day Challenge - Create something celebrating Mother's Day, and include a ribbon:

 

I need to have cards to give to my Mom and my Mother-In-Law, so this challenge helped me to get a head start on those.  For this card, I tried overlapping the ribbon to give it a folded look - I'm not thrilled with how it turned out... at least I know how I don't want to do it next time :)

I used the Cindy Loo Cricut cartridge to cut out the flower, and the patterned paper is from American Crafts.  I added some stickles and liquid pearls for dimension.

Let's see your creations for Moms this year - head on over to Exploring Cricut and More, and upload pictures of your projects so we can be inspired by you!

Have a great day!

Spring is Here!

Good morning!  Is it safe to say that the nasty winter is behind us yet?  One thing that I look forward to once the weather starts to warm up is the FRESH PRODUCE that pops up around here.  I live in 'Amish Country', so farm stands are common and the fruit and veggies sold at them are divine!  Ok, ok... make a card already... :)

 

We will go pick our own blueberries probably sometime in June, but in the meantime I'll have to dream about them by cutting some out of paper :)  I used Cricut's Preserves cartridge for the blueberry cut, and the patterned paper is by Fancy Pants.

Hope you are all enjoying your Spring!

Happy Wednesday!

Oh the middle of the week hump... let's hurry up and get it over already, right?  Today I want to share a card with you that I made for my sister's birthday:

 

My sister loves horses, and I wanted the card to be a little bit playful, so I thought using a carousel cut would be the way to go.  I used Cricut's Artiste cartridge for the carousel, and 'blinged' it up with some stickles.

Best wishes for a great rest-of-the-week!

Thanks for stopping by!

Easter Challenge - Frame & Embellishment

Hey Everyone!  Today our challenge over at Exploring Cricut & More is to create an Easter project that includes a frame and an embellishment.  I created the following card for inspiration:

My frame came from the Elegant Edges Cricut cartridge, and the egg is from the Sophie cartridge.  I embellished the egg with rhinestones.  My Mom makes a fabulous Easter dinner for our family every year, so I plan on giving this card to her as a Thank You for the meal.

Hop on over to our challenge page at Exploring Cricut & More, and enter your Easter creation - we'd love to be inspired by you!

Wet 'N Wild Wednesday!

Hi Everyone!

Julie here, with my spotlight project for our Exploring Cricut & More inspiration blog project for the day.  Recently I went to a crop where we did a shoebox swap of cards - I designed the following card and put together kits for everyone else to make one too:

 

I am just itching for some nice weather after the winter we just had.  I wanted to start some warm thoughts flowing, and I wanted to really use this cute little fish from Cricut's Splish Splash cartridge.  The background paper is embossed with Darice's Clouds embossing folder.   If you ever have a chance to use this cartridge, please do - the cuts are easy and so much fun!

Thanks for stopping by - have a splish splash day!

Recipe Challenge Monday

Good Morning!

There is a new recipe challenge over at Exploring Cricut & More today - we are to create a card, layout, or paper craft of your choice, any theme, any colors, and include at least 1 cardstock and 1 pattern.  Easy Peasy, right?  My co-worker is having a baby any day now, so I created this card for her shower:

 

The pattern paper is from a The Paper Studio stack that I got at Hobby Lobby, and my cardstock is the base and the mat from Papertrey Ink (Blueberry Sky & Enchanted Evening).  I used the Baby Steps Cricut cartridge for the baby/moon cut out, and a Creative Memories star punch for the stars.  The Sweet Baby sentiment is from Gypsy Wanderings, a preloaded cartridge on my Gypsy.

PLEASE join us this week for our fun challenge - you don't need a Cricut - any die-cutting machine will do!  Upload your project over on our challenge page at Exploring Cricut & More.

Thanks for stopping by - Have a crafty week!

Get Well Wednesday

Happy Wednesday Everyone!

Today at Exploring Cricut and More and here, I am sharing a Get Well card that I made using my Cricut and some other new goodies that I just got:

 

I used the Martha Stewart Elegant Cakes cartridge to cut the doily - I used my Gypsy to hide some of the cuts in the center of the doily.  I recently bought the Stampin' Up Pansy Punch and Flower Shop stamp set, and I was so excited to use them here as well.  2 Out of the 4 people in my house are down with a stomach bug right now, so I have a feeling this Get Well card won't sit around too long before I need to send it out!

Thanks for stopping by - have a great day!

"The Luck of the Irish" Challenge

Happy Monday Everyone!

Today at Exploring Cricut & More, we're hosting a challenge celebrating the Luck of the Irish - Create something celebrating St. Patrick's Day, and include a shamrock.  Here is what I created to inspire you:

 

I am 0% Irish, and my current diet doesn't include corned beef, cabbage or potatoes... so there won't be much 'celebrating' going on in our house for St. Patrick's day, but there's always a need for a good old "Good Luck" card :)

I used Cricut's "Create a Critter" cartridge for the heart, cut it 6 times at 1", folded them in half and glued them in the shamrock arrangement.  I cut the bag from the "Freshly Picked" cartridge and distressed the edges with Tea Dye distress ink.

So, give your luck a shot and create your shamrock-celebration and enter our challenge over at Exploring Cricut and More - Thanks for looking!

Sympathy Card

Hello Everyone!  We have had a couple of occasions this past week where we needed to send sympathy cards.  These are always so hard to design - the colors can't be too bright... pictures and patterns can't be overly joyful... the wording has to be perfect... clean lines, not too much going on... you catch my drift.  Being the bird lover that I am, I found a classy bird on my "Sophie" Cricut cartridge, and came up with this design:

 

The pattern paper is from My Mind's Eye - Fine & Dandy collection, and the sentiment is a Pink by Design stamp.  I made this card a 4x4 to switch things up, and to also give me a reason to use my envelope punch board :)

Thanks for stopping by - Have a great day!

Bag, Box or Tag Challenge!

Hey there!  This week over at Exploring Cricut, we are having a challenge - Bag, Box or Tag - Create one, and use a ribbon!  Well, ever since I made that Valentine's Bag a couple of weeks ago, I am on a bag kick, so here's one I altered for this challenge:

 

I took a store bought blue bag and altered it into a "Winter Wonderland" bag.  Where I live, all you see in snow for miles and miles.  It'll be May before this is all melted!

Here's my bag with the matching tag I made:

And here is the back of the bag:

 

As you can see, my ribbon/lace is around the top of both sides.  I used the 'Snow Day' and the 'Winter Frolic' Cricut cartridges for this bag.

Now, let's see what you can create for this challenge!  Show us your best Box, Bag or Tag, add a ribbon, and enter in into our challenge over at Exploring Cricut!

Thanks for looking!

What's Up Wednesday!

Hi, and Happy Hump Day! Today on here and over at Exploring Cricut I am sharing a quick, basic birthday card:

 

I'm not going to lie - TIME has been eluding me lately.  My work has been very demanding, my kids are stuck inside due to the TONS of snow we've been getting... A quick card was in order!

I used Cricut's "Celebrate With Flourish" cartridge for the sentiment, and a Darice embossing folder for the background.  I used stickles to highlight the dots in the background and a couple of the letters in the cut.

I hope I've inspired you today - don't forget that when time is tight, a little embossing can go a long way!

There's still time to enter our Valentine's Day Challenge over at Exploring Cricut, and hop along our Blog Hop - Some candy is still up for grabs as well!

Have a great day!

Valentine's Day Blog Hop & Challenge!

Hello Hoppers, and Happy Monday!

Today at Exploring Cricut we have new challenge for you, and a BLOG HOP!  Our full lineup for the day is at the bottom of this post.

If you've been hopping with us already, then you're here from Jen's blog - Wasn't her project so inspiring? Our challenge this round is to create a card, layout or papercraft for Valentine's Day, and include at least one jewel.  I was in a swap recently where I had to decorate a gift bag.  The lady I made mine for wanted a bag that captured her love of chocolate for Valentine's Day.  Here's what I sent to her:

 Front

 

Back

I used Cricut cartridges Sweet Shop, Sweet Treats and From My Kitchen for all of the chocolate goodies.  I embellished each cut to make every 'bite' extra special... here are a few close ups:

 

I used glossy accents on most of the chocolate to give is a 'syrup-y' look and used lots of stickles for some pop.  My gem is on the slice of cake - did you catch them?  4 little pearls on the icing :)

I also added a tag to match the bag:

Speaking of candy...

Who wants some?

Blog Candy that is!

I am offering this 6x6 "Be Mine" paper pad from Echo Park to one lucky person!  All you have to do is 1.) Become a follower of my blog (if you're not already), and 2.) Tell me in a comment what your favorite candy is.  Please also leave your email address so I can contact you if you're the winner. I will use random.org to pick a winning comment on Sunday Night (2/16).  Personally, I can't imagine life without Junior Mints!!!

Don't forget to head on over to Exploring Cricut and submit your Valentine's Day paper craft - We'd love to see how you inspire us!

Ok, on with the hop.  Following is our full lineup - if you're joining mid-hop, please go back and visit all of the other blogs for inspiration today.  Next up is Michelle S. - Just wait and see how she inspires you today!

Happy Valentine's Day to all!

Sharon http://meemeescreations.blogspot.com

Donna  http://wwwkindredkreations.blogspot.com

Faith   http://scrapbookerphd.blogspot.com

Rae Ann   http://joyinart.blogspot.com

Emily  http://emilyqueenofallthingscrafty.blogspot.com

Annette  http://mymindsdustbunnies.blogspot.com

Michelle N  http://justanutterpapercrafter.blogspot.com

Jen   www.javajencreations.blogspot.com

You are here ----> Julie      http://mylittlecorner-julie518.blogspot.com <--- You are here

Michelle S  http://cricutcrazyscrapper.blogspot.com

Liz  http://unikbyyes.blogspot.com

Rosa  http://enjoyingthebug.blogspot.com

Diane  http://happyscrapperdiane.blogspot.com

Out of This World Boy Birthday Card

Good Morning!

Today is my turn to share a project for inspiration over at Exploring Cricut.  I always need to have birthday cards on hand for kids, and always seem to be short on cards for boys.  With no one specific in mind, I created this one for my stash:

 

Thank goodness for Cricut's 'Boys Will Be Boys' cartridge!  I love how the cuts on this cartridge have a mat behind them.

I took the liberty to dress up this cut a bit by embossing the black mat, popping the rocket cut out on foam dots, and adding pearls/stickles/glossy accents to the rocket ship to give it some pizzazz! These cuts come together really quickly, and allow for lots of customizing.  It's my go-to cartridge for BOY cards.

I hope everyone has a great day - Thanks for stopping by!

About This Card:
Card Base - Papertrey Ink's "Enchanted Evening" cardstock
Rocket & Black Mat - Cricut's 'Boys will be Boys' cartridge
Star Embossing Folder - Cuttlebug 'skyward' set
Fiskars eyelet border punch
Black Pearls, 3-D Foam Dots, Stickles, Glossy Accents (Rocket Window)
Sentiment - Fiskars
Memento - White "Wedding Dress" Ink

Monday "Recipe" Challenge

Good Morning!

This week over at Exploring Cricut we are hosting what I like to call a "recipe challenge" - you're given the 'ingredients' to use, and you put it together :)  Our recipe for this challenge is "Cricut Choice - Blue, 2 Cuts and Pattern Paper."  Here is what my mind 'cooked up' for that recipe:

 

I wanted to do something other than a card this go-around, so I made a little paper purse for my daughter.  She has so many little pieces to her dolls, My Little Ponies, Littlest Pet Shops, etc. - I told her she could have this if she kept all the little things in it, and she agreed :)  My blue is my bird, my 2 cuts are the purse (from the Forever Young cricut cartridge) and the bird (from the Cherry Limeaide cricut cartridge), and obviously my pattern paper is the whole project :)

So get your mind cooking, and come join our challenge over at Exploring Cricut - We'd love to see how you've been inspired!

 About this card:

Pattern Paper - DCWV Ultimate Stack

Cricut Cuts - Purse (Forever Young) and Bird (Cherry Limeaide)

Rhinestone Flourishes, Pearls, Rhinestones, Stickles

Welcome to Wednesday

Hey There!

Julie here, with another inspiration project for Exploring Cricut.

I don't know about you, but the winter weather always makes me want to create using bright colors.  I grabbed the Recollections 'Citrus' cardstock pack from Michael's, and made this card for an upcoming birthday:

For this card, I used Cricut's "Edge to Edge" cartridge for the lattice mat in lime green.  I was just tickled to find that my spellbinders 'Labels 1' dies fit the center mat JUST PERFECTLY! I used those dies for all of the smaller mats.  At first, I wasn't sure about 'needing' the Edge to Edge cartridge, because I don't make large layouts, but with my gypsy I am able to shrink and alter the sizes of the cuts, and make awesome backgrounds for my cards!  I like to set layers apart by adding different features, and on this card I used my Ice Pearl Pen to 'dot' every other corner.

About this Card:
All paper - Recollections Citrus cardstock pack
Lattice mat - Cricut cut from Edge to Edge cartridge
Cuttlebug Stitched embossing folder
Sentiment - Scrappy Mom's Sweet Somethings
Spellbinders Labels 1 dies
Ice Pearl Pen, Lime Green Glitter Ribbon, 3D pop dots

A Winter Celebration Challenge!

Happy Monday Everyone!

This week our challenge over at Exploring Cricut is "Winter Wonderland" - A celebration of winter and snow.  I happened to have the PERFECT cause for this project:

 

My sister got engaged last week!  During a beautiful, heavy snow, her boyfriend took her to an awesome place around here called Longwood Gardens.  As they were walking around looking at the beautifully decorated Christmas trees, he dropped down on one knee and proposed... How romantic!  I used the Winter Woodland Cricut cartridge for the tree cut.  I added Polar White Flower Soft to all of the white cuts, to give them a "real snow" look.  I'll be sending this card out to them tomorrow :)

Please join our challenge this week by sharing your own creation celebrating winter and snow, and share it with us on our challenge page over at Exploring Cricut - We'd love for you to inspire us as well!  Happy Winter!

About this card:

Card Base - Enchanted Evening cardstock by Papertrey Ink

White Mat - Luxury White cardstock by Gina K

Tree - Cricut cut from Winter Woodland cartridge cut out of Bazzill Bling cardstock

Swiss Dots embossing folder

Congratulations stamp - Fiskars

Pom pom ribbon, stickles, Polar White Flowersoft

Blog Candy Winner!

Ugh - The weekend is over.  Sunday nights are so depressing for me!  Thinking about the long week ahead always brings me down... Hopefully this news will 'brighten' someone else's Sunday night.

We have a winner for the blog candy from my previous post!

I had 5 comments on my last post, and random.org chose the following comment:

Comment #5 was...

Congrats to Donna and Sara - Please email your mailing address to:

jclawser518 at gmail dot com

And I'll get your candy out to you.

Thanks to everyone who stopped by and/or left a comment.

Have a great week!

Happy New Year! Blog Candy!

Happy New Year to my fellow crafters and friends!  May 2014 be your best year yet!

Over at Exploring Cricut, we're celebrating the New Year with a fun challenge - please go check it out!

Along with the New Year, comes the new list of resolutions, right? {{sigh...}}

I think we can all relate to the following list of resolutions:
- I will not buy new paper this year - I'll use the huge stash I already have (Mmm Hmm...)
- I will organize my craft space and de-stash unused items (absolutely!)
- I will use all of the Cricut Cartridges I already own, and won't buy new ones (yeah, right...)
- I will use new techniques (if they're not too hard...)
- I will use all of the scraps I've been hoarding (...)

Wait... Those last 2 are resolutions I can actually see myself working on!  And I present to you, today's featured project over on Exploring Cricut, a card made almost completely from scraps, using a new-to-me technique:

  

I have been so anxious to use the 'starburst' technique on a card.  It is embarrassing to look at some of the attempts I've made at this before.  I finally found a bunch of tutorials that made it much easier for me to conquer - Thank you Pinterest!  The only element of this card that was not a scrap is the base - I can live with that!

Now I Need Your Help With Another Resolution!

I'm going to start my 2014 destashing effort by giving the following goodies away to a good, crafty home:

 

 Everything pictured above is brand new, never used and in perfect condition - I just haven't used it and so now it needs to go somewhere where it will be used!  You will also receive the card that I made for my inspiration project this week :)  To enter for the give away, please make sure that you're a follower, and leave me a comment about your New Year's resolutions - Leave me tips on how to conquer mine, or tell me about yours :)  Please leave your email address in your comment (to avoid spam, spell it out like - address at domain dot com) so I can reach you if you are the winner.  (I can only ship to US and Canada - Sorry for any inconvenience)

I will use random.org to draw a winner on Sunday night (1/5/14), so please make sure to comment/follow before then.

Again, Happy New Year everyone!  I'm looking forward to a year full of inspiration from all of you!

About this card:

Base - Summer Sunrise cardstock from Papertrey Ink

Scraps - Echo Park's Playground line of paper

Sun - Cut from Cricut's "Small Talk Frames & Tags" cartridge

Sentiment - Pink by Design

Memento Babmoo Leaves

Stickles, Purple Mat