The Babies are Here!

Hi everyone!  It has been a literal Baby Shower around me lately... in the last 3 weeks, 4 babies have been born to close acquaintances - 3 girls, and one boy.  As I prepare to make my rounds and visit these little bundles of joy, I have some cards to make.  I only got one done tonight, and here it is:

This is for my boss who had a baby girl.  My boss isn't the real cute/babyish type, so I wanted to make her a card that was a little more elegant.  I've been itching to make another shaped card, so I got that out of my system with this one.  I used the Florals Embellished Cricut cartridge and welded2 of the shadow features together to make this card.  I hope she likes it!


About this card:
All Cardstock - Bazzill Bling
Florals Embellished Cricut Cartridge - Cut at 4"
Burgundy Stickles
Bling/Pearls, Ribbon & Sentiment - Stash

Challenge Time!

Hi Everyone!  I have some good news :)  I was accepted into the Focus Group for Crop Chocolate, the one I told you about in my previous post!  I am very excited to be a part of this group!  We were already given a challenge to participate in, so I wanted to share my entry with you, and wanted to show you how YOU can play too!  We were given this photo:

We were asked to design a project using this photo collage for inspiration, that contained 75% of materials purchased from Crop Chocolate (see sidebar).  Here's what I came up with:

As you can see, I focused on layout and basic elements for this card I entered.  Here's what I used:

All of the cardstock came from a Crop Chocolate (CC) grab bag (with the exception of the white base & the white tag I stamped/colored).  Here's what I used:

1.) Upper left corner - Bo Bunny a gift of Love/Coral Dot mounted on Basic Grey Indian Summer plum wine.  I used Gina K luxury white for the tag/stamp base - the stamps (inkadinkado & KI & Co.) and copics I used to color were mine. I cut the tag from Spellbinders Labels 4.

2.) Upper right corner - American Crafts City Park/Hyde Park mounted on Echo Park Be Mine/Lipgloss Stone. I ran the top layer through my cuttlebug using my swiss dots folder.  I mounted on them a Sassafras Paper Whimsy/Flower Child and put glossy accents on all of the petals & stem.  The button in the center is a Making Memories paperie button from the poolside collection. - All CC :)

3.) Lower left corner American Crafts City Park/Lakeside park mounted on the reverse side of itself.  The twine was from my stash, and the brad is from Making Memories Paper Reverie Noir collection.

4.) Lower right corner - American Crafts City Park Fairmont Gardens mounted on the reverse side of itself.  I ran the top layer through my cuttlebug using the d'vine swirls folder, then mounted Making Memories Metal Butterflies to it. - All CC again :)

NOW - Here's how you can play along... My friend Paula at Scrap Addict's Attic is using the same photo collage as inspiration for a challenge on her blog - please click through to her blog and play along... you'll be amazed what you come up with!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Focus Group Entry

Hello everyone!  This week I decided to enter to become a member of a focus group for Crop Chocolate (CC).  CC is a website that offers 1 deal at a time, multiple times throughout the day.  What makes them extra special, is that you can hold numerous items in your cart and have them shipped all together to save on shipping.  I stumbled upon them 2 months ago, and it has become my favorite site for deals - click the link in my sidebar to check them out - tell them 'Crazy4Cocoa' sent you (yep... that's me)!

Back to the topic here - CC is forming a focus group and asked people to enter by creating a project using 4 elements from crop chocolate.  Here's my entry:

The 4 elements I used from CC were the patterned paper (Echo Park Splash), the whale's eye is a Basic Grey brad from Oliver, the aqua trim is from the Fine and Dandy line and the Blue button is from Making Memories.  I'll let you know if I make the cut!  If I don't, there will be a new focus group forming in 6 months, so there's always next time :)

Additionally about this card:
Navy Cardstock Base - Papertrey Ink Enchanted Evening
Whale - Cricut Cut from Splish Splash Lite Cartridge cut at 3" using Bazzill Bling Cardstock
Sentiment - My Pink Stamper Punny-licious Set
Stickles - Turquoise & Waterfall
Twine & White CS - Stash

Thanks for looking!

Happy Nesting!

So this is the first time I ever entered something I made into a challenge.  It was actually a challenge that I hosted on the Cricut Message Board, so I HAD to enter, right?  The challenge was to make something that had a Bird, a Button and Blue on it, and here's what I came up with:

I'm going to send this card to a friend of mine who just got married and moved into her new house - Hope she likes it!

About this card:

Kraft Cardstock 5x5 base
Patterned Cardstock - My Minds Eye Laundry Line Collection
Cricut Cuts - Straight from the Nest Cut at 2"
Solid Cardstock Chocolate Brown & Ocean Tides - Papertrey Inc.
Spellbinders - Lacey Ovals
Crystal Flourish - Recollections
Sentiment - Hampton Ink
Stickles - Turquoise & Cinnamon
Border Punch - Martha Stewart
Buttons - Stash

Pool Party!

As I mentioned in my last post, my Mom watched my daughter, my niece and my nephew one day last week. Being the WONDERFUL Grandma that she is, she threw a little pool party (for a 4-yr. old & 2 2-yr. olds) complete with baby pool, sprinkler and popsicles!  I made this card to send to her to thank her for her wonderful hospitality last week:

I recently cleaned and organized my craft room, and it has made it so much easier to throw together these little cards.  Now, can I keep it that way...?

About this card:
Card Base - Papertrey Ink Cardstock in Hawaiian Shores (5x5)
Patterned Paper - Echo Park's Splash Collection
Spellbinders - Labels One
Cricut Cut from Pack Your Bags at 2.5"
Sentiment - Pink by Design Summer Vacation
Ribbon - American Crafts
Stickles - Orange, Lime Green, Black Diamond, Magenta, Pink & Turquoise
Stash - White Cardstock, Bling & Googlie Eyes

Positive Reinforcement

So, my Mom watched my 2 year old daughter for me today while I was at work.  She also watched my 4 year old niece - and they both got a VERY GOOD report card from Grandma for sharing and playing so nicely together all day!  My niece, Danielle, is really into Littlest Pet Shop and Zoobles, and I guess that's what they played with all day.  I want Danielle to know that my Daughter, Jocelyn, really appreciated her sharing her toys today, so I threw together this quick card for her:

Danielle will be so excited to get mail from her cousin!  I hope it encourages her to continue to share her toys in the future as well.  Can't hurt, right?

About this card:
Patterned Paper: My Minds Eye - Laundry Line
Elephant - Cricut cut from Create a Critter cut at 2" on Bazzill Bling
Ribbon, Twine & Bling - Stash
Tag - Hand cut from Bazzill Bling
Stickles - Pink
Sentiment - Pink by Design Jungle Fever clear stamp set
Rounded corners using Corner Chomper 1/4"

Playing With Some of My New Things

I hope everyone is having a great week!  In the not too distant past, I've received various summer-themed elements, and I've been so anxious to put some of them together into cards.  Here's one that I came up with tonight using a new cartridge, new paper and a new stamp set:

 So sorry my pictures aren't good... Maybe I'll get a nice digital for Christmas - I just use my cell phone right now.  Anyway... I scraplifted the layered background idea from a friend (If you recognize it, Thanks!) I like that I can use this card for a pick-me-up or a birthday... but for now, into my stash it goes!  Have a sunshiney day everyone!

About this card:
5x5 Card Base - Kraft Cardstock (stash)
Patterned Paper - My Mind's Eye "Fine & Dandy"
Sun - Cricut Cut from "Pack Your Bags" cut at 3" using Bazzill Bling cardstock
Sentiment - Pink By Design stamp set "Summer Vacation" on Bazzill Bling
Spellbinders - Label 4
Stickles - Yellow & Orange Peel
Stash Bling

Thanks for looking!