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

Kricut Krazy-Graphically Speaking

Hi everyone! I have been lucky enough to be a guest designer for Kricut Krazy. Tangee features the projects in the cricut handbooks. I have volunteered to do a few for her and this is my first one. I chose Graphically Speaking as I love this cart but don't pull it out that often. This was a quick project and I only altered the card just a bit from the directions. Lookie:



For some reason this card was hard to photograph. It's really not that light/washed out in person. I didn't even know this frame was on GS until I read the directions! Thank you Tangee for letting me be a little Krazy! :)

~Angji

Fantabulous Butterfly Gatefold

Hi all! This week at Fantabulous Cricut we were asked to make projects that were zoo/animal themed. At first I was deciding between a unicorn and dinosaur shaped card and how to make a "different" shaped card, then inspiration hit and I came up with this shaped butterfly gatefold card! Don't worry, I filmed my very first tutorial if you have any questions as to how I did it. ;) Lookie:






Tutorial: If I leave out a detail or you have a question please feel free to contact me. This is my first tutorial so please be a gentle with me. :)

First you will need to cut your pieces. I used two shadow cuts as my base layers for the card and then all of the regular cuts and layers. This butterfly was cut at 5.14 but could just as easily be cut at 5.25.



Next you will adhere a shadow and base cut together.


Then cut the two layers in half.


I freehand trimmed the inner part. If you look at the finished piece you will see that I trimmed the inner part quite a bit.


Score the second shadow piece approximately 1/2 inch in. I just lined up the cut to where the outer two scallops on the wings were going to be scored. I then folded the crease *backwards* so that my gatefold will open properly.


Adhere the two pieces together. Put glue only on the small part of the wings that are folded back.

Layer the body in the middle and trim the wings more if needed. Add the rest of the layers and decorate as desired. Easy peasy! :)





I hope I was clear in my instructions. I really enjoyed thinking outside of the box and am looking at cuts a little differently now. :)

Supplies:

Cartridge: Once Upon a Princess-Butterfly
Cardstock: Stampin' Up-Pretty in Pink, Green Galore, Gable Green, Whisper White
Pattern Paper: Unknown-purchased at J's by the single sheet.
Misc: Stickles-Stardust, Judikins Diamond Glaze, flower stamen? from Hobby Lobby, Scrappy Glue


Have a great day!

~Angji

Scraps Only Challenge #44

This weeks challenge was to use polka dots. Which is great for me because I love love love polka dots! I ended up making 32 of these cute cards. Go me!




Thanks for stopping by! Enjoy the Journey ;)

~Angji

Christmas In July

Hola friends! This week's Challenge Me Monday at Fantabulous Cricut is Christmas In July. This is officially the earliest I've ever made a Christmas card! I decided to combine two different fancy folds, the folded paper frame and easel card. I really love how it turned out! Lookie:




Beautiful is it not? ;-) This card was easy and time consuming at the same time. The easy part was cutting all of the pieces. The hard part was inking everything and waiting for the stickles and pearl pen to dry. Yes, I'm crazy and apply my pearl pen directly to my projects! It's not hard to do and I really don't like doing them ahead of time and trying to put them on later. They are just too small to mess with. You can remove them before they are completely dry if you change your mind. The little scoop tool that comes in the cricut tool kit works wonderfully for this.

Supplies:
Gypsy for planning and cutting
Cartridges:
Mini Monograms: scallop square
Christmas: ice skate
Joys of the Season: joy and bookplate layer with loops trimmed off
Ink: Antique Linen & Frayed Burlap Distress Ink
Paper: Basic Grey-Wassail?
Cardstock: Stampin' Up!-Always Artichoke, White Mica paper from Michaels on clearance a couple of years ago
Stickles: Antique Linen & Rock Candy Distress Stickles
Other: Viva Decor Pearl Pen-Ice White, foam tape, red tacky tape, ink blending tool, atg 714

Thank you for visiting! I hope you are inspired to make your own Christmas in July project and will share it with us on Fantabulous Cricut!

~Angji

French Manor Exploration

Hello! On the Cricut Circle messageboard we had a weekend challenge to use our first Circle exclusive cartridge, French Manor. This is the first time I've gotten to play with this cart as I had to wait until it was added to our gypsy libraries. I'm just too spoiled to use my Expression with out it. I used two cuts that caught my eye as I flipped through the handbook, the peacock and lattice/top note label. I'm not sure if I'm loving the combination of the two cuts but I think it's growing on me. What do you think?






I can't decide what card I like better. Green or white? What I do know is that I love my Black Viva Decor Pearl Pen! Thanks for visiting!

~Angji

Cards For Soldiers

Hi everyone! I finally got some envelopes (only 3000 of them!) and am ready to mail off a box of cards for our troops. So after putting cards in envelopes, the finally tally is 377 cards. Well, that isn't anything to be ashamed of, but I must satisfy my OCD leaning and make it an even 400. Because that's how I roll yo! Now we know what I will be working on tomorrow or tonight. On top of my next mini album for Cricut Mini Albums and my next project for Fantabulous Cricut. It's good to be busy. ;) Here is a picture of my 377 cards on my craft table. They are in stacks of 20 and the bottom left corner stack is my short one. Have a great day everyone!

Blog Awards

Hi everyone! A quick post today to add a couple of blog awards from Melissa at MelissaMade2.
She kindly gave me two sweet awards with directions to pass them on to 10 blogs. So here goes in no particular order:

1. Pam at The Bug Bytes-for always being a wonderful resource on her blog and on the Cricut MB. She also was the first person to accept me on to a design team. Thanks for the wonderful opportunity Pam!

2. Elizabeth at 217 Creations-I love her distressed and inked style. Even if I don't emulate it much, I do like to see what she's up to.

3. Mylene at Simply Mylene-I just discovered her through my design team work at Fantabulous Cricut. I love her clean and simple lines and use of color. It calls to my clean and simple style. Besides, she has BAZINGA on the bottom of her blog. How could I not include a fellow TBBT fan?

4. Rhonda at Scrap Happens-We are DT members on Cricut Mini Albums and her minis are just great!

5. Leinad at Scrap Stickle Pop- I really enjoy her layouts and the way she incorporates Cricut cuts on them.

6. Linda K at My Quilling Nest- Her talent and patience are just amazing! Seriously, Wow!

7. Emma at Cricut In Kansas - She is just getting started out in crafting but I love her creative style and use of everyday items.

8. Saundra and Julia at Luv Scrapping Together -Both of these ladies do fantastic work. All the inking and lovely papers make me smile.

9. Steph at Loves To Create Cards- I am always blown away by the detail in her cards. The fact that she cuts everything in white and inks it impresses me every time.

10. Last but not least is Kate at Small Bits of Paper- She is another lady that I work with on the Fantabulous Cricut DT and her work is just FAB. Seriously, check out her lemonade stand card this week!

I could list many many more blogs that I love and deserve awards. Please check out these blogs and if you like, show them some love. Thank you Melissa!