Am I late?

Hi everyone! Today is my turn at Pam's blog The Bug Bytes. My project is a CASE from a card I saw at a paper specialty store. When I saw that they wanted $6 for it I laughed out loud! The card was a printed skeleton with a birthday hat and horn and the caption read "Am I late?" The inside said "happy belated birthday". Here is my version of the $6 card. Lookie:






I used PPDU for the skeleton, FF for the label (I trimmed off the loops after I broke one with my twine) and Simply Charmed for the party hat. Cuttlebugged the background, stickled and glossy accented a few places and this card was done. Here's hoping I don't have to use this card too soon. That would mean that I forgot a birthday!

~Angji

In memory

Hi everyone! Long time no post, I know. Let me tell you, life has been crazy for me. To say that I needed to craft for some therapy is understated. You will find out why shortly.

Pam has been kind enough to let me post today on her blog after I missed my DT project date on Wednesday.

My project for you today is a piece of a bigger project. My great Aunt Marie passed away on Mother's Day. She was very much a grandmother figure to me and I will miss her greatly. To honor her memory I'm going to make a shadow box. Aunt Marie always loved whatever I made for her, so I feel that making a project to honor her legacy is something that she would approve of.

Aunt Marie was a teacher for 41 years and touched a lot of lives. She stayed active in the community as long as she could. She always had a kind word for everyone. Her generosity knew no bounds.

My post today is showcasing a part of the shadow box project. I made a custom monogrammed accent piece. Here is what I came up with:







My Aunt had a lot of monogrammed items and I knew that having an "M" would be fitting. Her favorite color was red and her favorite flowers were red roses. As she was the epitome of classy, I chose a simple cream and black theme with red as an accent. The background paper of text was chosen to because she loved to read and it made me think of her legacy as a teacher.

This is but a piece of my project. Please check back soon for the finished project. I intend to make it a labor of love and honor for my dear Aunt Marie.

Thank you and have a lovely day.

~Angji

Cartridges: Accent Essentials, Gypsy Font, Indie Art
Misc: Red flocking

Quick and Easy with the Gypsy

Hi everyone! Today I am going share with you a secret to my success as a card mass producer. Quick and Easy are the key words here. I start with a 12x12 piece of pattern paper and cut it into nine 4x4 squares. I decide on what my images are going to be and go from there. Using my trusty Gypsy and multiple cuts I am able to whip out 9 cards in a relatively short time. Here are two examples of the same system but orientated differently.






See how cute and easy this easy? This is a great way to use up some of you pattern paper and get lots of cards made. I make Cards for Soldiers with the ladies on the Cricut messageboard and this is what I do to get lots of cards made quickly. So take my idea and make it your own. If you want to share your take on this idea please post a comment. I would love to see what you ladies come up with. Thanks Pam for letting me be a guest on your blog today!

Happy Cricutting!

~Angji

Surprise! Blog Candy time!

Hi everyone! As I sit here and try to catch up on my life now that I'm working like crazy. And completely thankful for the fact that I do have a job and do get to work like crazy. I decided to "Share the Love" and give out a bit of surprise blog candy to one lucky person who commented on my FCCB Share the Love project.

That lucky person is.....

Jamie said...what a cute card.. great job. thanks for sharing!
-jamie

Jamie! You have a brand new Christmas cartridge with your name on it. Just email me or leave me a comment to claim your surprise gift. You have 4 days to contact me Jamie.

Thanks to everyone who took the time to leave me a comment. They are so inspiring to me!

~A

Hi everyone! We were asked to make a project featuring our favorite season. Mine has always been Spring. I just love the flowers and leaves coming to life. It's also the season when my favorite flowers bloom, tulips! As a mail carrier, I work outside in every season and every kind of weather. So when Spring comes I'm very ready for it as it means nicer weather and no more ice and snow for a while. :)

Here is my project dedicated to my favorite season, Spring. Lookie:





I know, totally cute right? I used just one cartridge for this project, April Showers. This is an adorable little cartridge that I can see getting a lot of use out of in the future. Do you like how I used the umbrella top as the sun? I thought that was pretty clever, myself. :) Another detail I'm proud of, there are 10 different pattern papers on this 8x8 panel. Go me!

Have a great day!

~A

FCCB Share the Love Crawl!

Welcome to Sweet Pineapple Scrapping and the fourth Fantabulous Cricut Crawl...Fantabulous Cricut's version of a blog hop!

Valentine's Day is next week and everyone at Fantabulous Cricut has decided to Share the Love! Each Design Team member will be featuring an original Valentine-themed project that includes the word LOVE somewhere on it.

If you've come from visiting the creative Angela at Simple Creations Paper Crafts you're in the right place! If you've just happened across my blog and would like to play along with our Fantabulous Cricut Crawl, start HERE.

Make sure to check out each DT member's blog for some awesome inspiration! There will be PRIZES along the way at some of our DT members' blogs, AND there will be a Grand Prize up for grabs at FCCB for one participant that submits a "Share the Love" project at FCCB!

How fun is that?

Here is my Love project. Lookie:



My Valentine this year will be one of my best friends. She is one of the most awesome women I've ever known and I'm proud to call her a friend.

For my card I, of course, used my Gypsy to cut out my Hello Kitty and layers. I then used a fine tipped glue pen and wrote "love" on the heart and sprinkled a very fine grain red glitter on the glue. I then covered the whole image with dimensional glue. I don't know that this card can be any cuter. :)

Now it's your turn! Let's see your Share the Love projects! Make sure to include a Cricut cut somewhere on your project and the word Love!

Next stop is the lovely Brenda's blog, Brenda's Scrappy Blog. Go see what she has in store for you today. When you're done, make sure to link up your project to FCCB's Fantabulous Cricut Crawl post to be entered into the contest!

Happy Crawling!

~Angji

Fantabulous Cricut-For a Cause

Hi everyone! This week at Fantabulous Cricut we were asked to make a project for a cause that we support. One that has always been near and dear to me is Cards For Soldiers. On the Cricut messageboard is a group of crafters who make greeting cards and send them over seas to different military units. We handmake the front of the cards and leave the inside blank. Pop them into envelopes and you are finished. Now a soldier in Iraq or Afghanistan has a beautiful piece of art to send home to their loved ones.

There are challenges and themes posted all of the time on the CFS messageboard to keep you motivated and give you a place to start. Everyone is welcome join. You can make 10 cards or 100, it's really up to you. The point is to have fun and not stress over how many you can get done in two or three weeks. The soldiers love our work and we get lots of thank you letters telling us how the soldiers fight over our cards and really look forward to our boxes.

As a card contributor you are not required to send your cards overseas, you mail your cards to your designated shipper, which is determined by time zone. Of course you are welcome to send your shipper a donation to help with the cost of postage but that is an expense that they have taken on. All you are needed to do is make beautiful cards. There a are a few rules to follow and there is a FAQ thread on the CFS forum.

One trick to making lots of cards is to mass produce them. Today's card is just one of the 18 that I whipped up in one afternoon. All I did was cut a 12x12 piece of pattern paper into 4x4 squares (you get 9 pieces out of one piece of paper), matted the paper with another piece of cardstock and made my focal image. Pretty darn easy. Lookie:







As always I used my trusty Gypsy to help cut the images using my new Martha Stewart Elegant Cakes cartridge and not waste any paper. After that it was time to assemble. I think they came out pretty darn cute! I'm sure our troops will like them. Until next time, Craft On!

~Angji

FCCB Challenge-Sweet Shop

Hi everyone!!! I just loved this week's challenge at Fantabulous Cricut - being challenged to use a "sweet" image was not one that I had to struggle with. In fact, I had too many choices! But once I remembered all of the sweet and cute images on Smiley Cards, I knew that was the way I was going to go. Here is my final card. Lookie:


This card was just so much fun to put together. In fact, it took me longer to apply all of the stickles and decorations than it did to cut out and assemble the card. That's what I love about crafting. It's as easy or as detailed as you want it to be. Don't you just love it?

I hope I inspired you just a little bit to try a "sweet" project. Have a Frabjous week!

~A

FCCB Challenge-Snowy Delight

Good morning everyone! This week at Fantabulous Cricut we were asked to make a project featuring snowflakes or snow. Since it's been so cold lately, well, this wasn't too hard of a project to whip up. Lookie:




Since I just received my xmas presents that I bought for myself (several cartridges that I got on sale for crazy cheap) I decided to use one of my newest cartridges, Simply Charmed.

I love those penguins! They cut out easily and were a snap to piece together. For the igloo I used Create a Critter and the snowflakes were cut with Gypsy Wanderings.

I hope I gave you some inspiration for a Snowy Delight. Until next time, keep on crafting!

~Angji

FCCB Deck the Hall Crawl!

Hi everyone! Angji here.

Welcome to Sweet Pineapple Scrapping and the third Fantabulous Cricut Crawl...Fantabulous Cricut's version of a blog hop!

In honor of the approaching holidays, we're having a "Deck The Halls" Crawl. Each Design Team member will be featuring an original holiday-themed project that could be used to decorate and spruce up their homes for the holiday season.

If you've come from visiting Angela's blog at Simple Creations Paper Crafts, you're in the right place. If you've just happened across my blog and would like to play along with our Fantabulous Cricut Crawl, start HERE .

Make sure to check out each DT member's blog for some awesome holiday inspiration. There will be a Grand Prize up for grabs at FCCB for one participant that submits a "Deck The Halls" project at FCCB!

For my project I made a wall hanging. With my trusty Gypsy and a 12x24 mat I was able to make the project fairly quickly. Lookie:

First I chose a banner and horn from Happily Ever After. Next, I welded together the phrase using Ashlyn's Alphabet for ease of cutting and placement. I wanted the banner to look almost like a crest so I added a layered snowflake from Joys of the Season.

I wanted this piece to be stable and long lasting so I cut the base piece out of chipboard and cardstock. I used two colors of cardstock for this project, white and green. Everything that was cut in white I heat embossed with sparkly gold embossing powder, except for the second snowflake layer I embossed with sparkly silver. Two coats for every piece. This really shines in real life let me tell you!

Some curling ribbon in holiday colors and silver Glimmer Mist finished off my project and it was ready for the door.

Now it's your turn! Let's see your holiday themed decor projects! Make sure to include a Cricut cut somewhere on your project.

Next stop is Brenda's blog at Brenda's Scrappy Blog. Go see what she has in store for you today. When you're done, make sure to link up your project to FCCB's Fantabulous Cricut Crawl post to be entered into the contest!

Good luck and thank you for visiting today!

~Angji

Fantabulous Cricut-Gifts Galore!

Hi everyone! Our challenge this week at Fantabulous Cricut was to create a handmade gift or gift package. Again, my mojo has gone into hiding and I struggled for a bit to come up with an idea. But, I finally had a brainwave used the open circle card cut from Smiley Cards as a photo magnet! Brilliant if I do say so myself! Lookie:








Since I used my Gypsy I don't remember what size I cut these out at but I can look it up and post that information later. By sheer good luck, I sized these cards perfectly to fit slightly larger than my Giga (purple) circle punch. Add some glue and lots of glitter, plunk magnets on the back and you're finished! I'm toying with the idea of adding a dimensional glaze on top of the whole thing. What do you all think? Would it be too much?

Thanks for stopping by!

~A

Fantabulous Cricut Challenge-Green and a Circle

Hi friends! Thanks for stopping by to visit me! Today at Fantabulous Cricut the challenge was to use the color green and a circle on your project. I hope you like my interpretation of the challenge. The DT really rocked this out, don't you think? Lookie:




Cute! What's even better is that I created this whole card with just one cartridge, Sentimentals. How's that for efficient? With my trusty Gypsy and Expression, this card came to life pretty darn quick. This will make a nice addition to my stash of cards. Until next time, flex your creativity!

~Angji

Kiss Kiss, Hug Hug

Hi everyone! It seems I've misplaced my mojo, what with life being so crazy these past months. I just never seem to have enough time to do what I really want. As we all know, creativity is a muscle that needs to be used. If you let it go dormant, it's really hard to get into shape again. So I took a bit of a shortcut and made an easy card. So easy that all I had to do was pick out the paper and cardstock. I made the sample project in Base Camp. It doesn't get much easier than that! What do you think? Lookie:




Cute right? This quick card gave me a creative jump start on my next Design Team assignment. But you will have to come back tomorrow to see what it is! ;)

~Angji

Fantabulous Halloween

Hi everyone! This week's challenge for Fantabulous Cricut is Halloween. Which is one of my favorite holidays! So, I have a quick and cute Halloween card for you today. I made this card in about 20 minutes. Including designing it on my Gypsy and searching for a "Happy Halloween" cut in my cartridges. So when I say it's quick, I mean it. :) Lookie:



Cute, cute right? I acquired Pumpkin Carving a couple of weeks ago at the scrapbook convention and have been itching to get my Cricut and Gypsy fired up! I can see lots of cute Halloween decorations in my future with this cartridge. I think I'm in love. Lol. Anywhoo, here are a few details for those whom are interested. I first chose the witch cut and sized it to 4.65. I then added 3 circles, sized one to be the background layer and then welded the other two to make a circle card. After that it was a snap to turn this in to an easel card. See what I mean? Easy peasy lemon squeezey. Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Cartridge: Pumpkin Carving, Designer's Calendar, George
Cardstock: SU Basic Black and Dusty Durango

~Angji

Joy Wall Hanging

Hi everyone! Just got back from my FAB weekend at the Creating Keepsakes Convention in Kansas City and boy am I inspired! I took lots of classes and met new and old friends. What more can a girl ask for?

For this weeks Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Me Monday, our assignment was to create something that goes on the wall. Since I was so inspired from the convention, I went through my stash and found this wall plaque that I've had for at least a year. Covered it with cardstock, stamped some snowflakes and then glittered it to within an inch of it's life! What do you think? Lookie:


Pretty no? I really enjoyed making the faux icicles out of glue and loose glitter. That was fun! The font from Storybook really worked well and the felt snowflakes pull it all together. Now for Halloween and Thanksgiving to pass so I can hang up my sweet project!

Supplies:

Cartridge: Storybook
Cardstock: SU Baja Breeze, Riding Hood Red, Night of Navy
Misc: Stickles, Crystal Effects, SU felt snowflakes, snowflake stamps, Night of Navy ink, rhinstone brads, loose glitter

Thanks for visiting!

~A

National Sewing Day with Fantabulous Cricut

Hi friends! Long time no blog, I know I know. I'm getting used to working multiple post offices and hopefully am going to find more time to craft. Pinkie swear! It's been killing me to be away from my Gypsy for so long! I did have time to make a Fantabulous Cricut project for you though! Our challenge was to use stitching in some form on a project. That is a fairly easy assignment since I love to faux stitch on my cards and projects. I don't have a sewing machine but I probably don't need one because I'm sure I would love to use on my projects. I like to use a piece of magic mesh to make stitches quite a bit. For this project I just freehanded it. Lookie:



This is a very easy card to make. I used the place setting feature on Christmas Cheer for the JOY panel and then used a layer from Just Because Cards for the base. I sized the Joy panel to fit the base and voila! Easy peasy holiday card! This is such a simply card that you can easily mass produce them yourself. Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Cartridges: Christmas Cheer, Just Because Cards
Cardstock: SU Riding Hood Red, Not Quite Navy
Misc: Sakura Stardust pen, felt snowflakes from SU, ribbon, gem brad


Angji


ETA: It would help to schedule my post to have been posted at 6am not 6pm! Sheesh! Sorry to everyone who came from Fantabulous Cricut and couldn't find my project.

Fantabulous Cricut-Back to School!

Hello everyone! Nope, I haven't fallen off the of the planet. Just working insane hours and trying to stay on top of my mail van's mechanical problems. Which keep growing every day. Le Sigh. But, I have a card for you. I haven't crafted in almost a month and I was RUSTY! This card was my attempt to get my mojo back after I spent the morning/afternoon fixing my mail van. Please gentle with me. ;) This weeks theme at Fantabulous Cricut was Back to School-Numbers and Letters. Lookie what I made:


What an adorable elephant! This card could be adapted for boy or girl, just change the colors. Sweet, simple and to the point. Sometimes that's all you need. :) I'm off to dreamland as I should have been in bed an hour and 45 minutes ago! Ack!

Bye lovelies!
Angji

FCCB Challenge-The Great Outdoors

Hi friends! This week at Fantabulous Cricut the challenge is "the great outdoors". Well, to be honest, I wasn't very inspired by this theme at first. I kept racking my brain for something that I could do and a cut I could use. I was going through some old cards the other day and ran across my Beginner and Advanced Brayering cards from my Michelle Zindorf class that I took last August. Ah hah! Inspiration struck and I had an idea! Lookie:



I'm just so tickled with my project. Even more so since it was my first and only brayered background I made. I usually have to try 3 or 4 times before I get the effect I want. I did have one hiccup in this project. I mis-measured the card base and wasn't able to have a mat around the whole panel. Instead of cutting a new card base I just went with the flow and used what I had. My mom said it kind of looks like you are looking through a window. Yeah, I meant to do that! ;)

Supplies:

Cartridge: A Child's Year
Cardstock: Stampin Up-Whisper White, Basic Black, Sahara Sand
Ink: Stampin Up-Basic Black, Apricot Appeal, Crushed Curry, More Mustard, Dusty Durango, Bordering Blue, Brocade Blue
Stamps: Innovative Stamp Creations-Birch Tree Paintings
Misc: Brayer, sponge, Post-it notes, ATG 714

Thanks for visiting!

~Angji

MIA

Hi everyone! Sorry to be MIA for a bit there. For those of you that do not know what I do for a living, I'm a mail carrier for the post office. I'm actually a substitute mail carrier. As a sub, I'm only guaranteed one a day week to work. Well, a few weeks ago I started loaning myself out to another office in another city and have been working like a mad dog ever since! I mean working 5 or 6 days a week! Which is a lot when you are used to having a lot of time on your hands to craft and play.

Not only have I been working in a new office but I have been learning a lot of routes. I know 4 of 8 routes in the new office and 5 of 6 in my old office. So I know 9 of 14 routes! Which is a lot when you consider that each route has 400 to 700 boxes/residences each and are at least 30 miles long or more. It's a lot to assimilate and with this heat I've been wiped out at the end of the day. That and my personally owned mail van has been acting up a lot I've had other things to worry about and not been feeling very crafty. I did learn something new last week, I learned how to do a tune up on my mail van (thanks bro!). See, here's the proof:





So there's my excuse. I hope that as I learn my new routes and become comfortable on them that I will have more time and energy to craft. Here's to waiting for fall and some relief from the heat!

~Angji

Ahh, pink lemonade

Hi all! This week at Fantabulous Cricut we were asked to make a summer/bbq/food or cooking project. What's better to have with bbq then a tall glass of pink lemonade? Lookie:




Supplies:
Cartridges: Graphically Speaking: background cut with holes. Just Because Cards: lemonade cup
Cuttlebug: Divine Swirls folder
Cardstock: American Crafts, Colorblok Glittered, Wassau
Pattern Paper: K & Co. Berry Sweet
Ribbon: pink-Stampin' Up, yellow-unknown
Misc: Wild Honey Distress Ink, Pearl Glimmer Mist, Diamond Stickles, Judikins Diamond Glaze, light yellow pearls. corner rounder

Thanks for visiting! Have a great day!

~Angji