More info. on Fred the Frog...

Someone requested the dimensions for the ovals used when creating the frog paper piecing. Since the coluzzle is not marked with exact dimensions, these are about as close as I could get. Hope this helps:

Smaller oval for head: approx. 2 3/8 x 1 6/8
Larger oval for body: approx. 2 7/8 x 2 1/8

Also, just a reminder of our first Sesame Street class featuring Oscar the Grouch! The class is scheduled for this coming Saturday, August 1st. If you would like to sign up, please call (706) 321-0202. Hope to see you there!

Going green! (hee hee!)

Okay, so this is not a Cricut project, but it is a fun one that I think you might like. I taught how to make this paper piecing awhile back in our "Toadally Loveable" class. For this project you will need the following:

(1) 5 1/4 x 4 " piece of gray cardstock

(1) 5 x 3 3/4 piece of yellow

green cardstock for frog

small scraps of white and black cardstock for the eyes

6 small red flower punches (I used the EK Sucess paper shaper daisy)

1 small red heart punch (Again, I used an EK Success paper shaper)

2 red dot punches for cheeks (EK Success punch)

6 green rhinestones

Please note: All pieces were inked prior to assembling (Colorbox chalk ink in black for gray mat; yellow citrus for yellow mat; and green for frog pieces).

Directions:

1. With your sheet of green cardstock make 2 ovals, one slightly larger than the other. I used my oval coluzzle for this (Item # 44-4000). With your coluzzle template, count outward from the center of the template. To make the head of your frog, use the oval that is third from the center. For the body, use the oval that is fourth from the center. Adhere the head to the body.

2. For the legs, I used one 1 1/2 " heart cut in half. Adhere each half to either side of the body as shown:

3. For the feet, you will need two 1 1/4 " hearts. Place them as follows:

4. For the eyes, you will need two 1" circles in white, two 3/4" circles in black, and one 1" circle in green (cut once in half for the eyelids).

Now your frog should look like this:

Layer your frog's eyelids on top. Draw in mouth using a black pen. Add red dots for cheeks and also his little heart.

5. Adhere your yellow mat to your gray. Add your frog diecut. Place flowers on mat and emellish each with rhinestones.

You're done! And voila...the finished project!!

Hope you're all having a great day!! Until next time...

P.S. In honor of my Mom's request (in the comments section), I have decided to name him "Fred".

Cricut Creation #1

Our project today would be perfect for that friend of yours who has a favorite pooch...or maybe as a sweet journaling card on a scrapbook page of your special pet.

Awhile back, I bought this fun Rusty Pickle paper with the "I love dirt. It is delicious sentiment." I loved it and thought it would be perfect for me since I'm always making dog pages. Well, as it turns out, there is a stamp set that also has that same sentiment (along with many other adorable images). The set looks like this:

It took some looking but with the help of an online friend (thanks Jill in Texas!) finally it was located at http://www.beachaudio.com/ . I can't recommend this company enough. I placed my order two days ago and it was in my mailbox this morning. Excellent customer service and very reasonable shipping!

As soon as I received my stamps, I couldn't wait to start playing. I choose the dog diecut on the Animal Kingdom cartridge (page 128). I used a dark chocolate as the base for my dog, and a lighter sand color for the layers (size: 3" for both). Once I layered the pieces, I adhered the dog to a white piece of cardstock. Then, using my scissors, I trimmed it so as to leave a slight white border all the way around. I used EK success paper shapers for the black nose as well as the heart on the collar. Then I made accents on my dog using both brown and white pens.

The topper/card base itself looks like this:

Dimensions:

Red: 5 1/4 x 4

White: 5 x 3 3/4

Black: 4 3/4 x 3 1/2

Next, we're going to add a mat on which to put our dog diecut. It will be placed more towards the top:

Dimensions:

White: 3 1/4 x 2 3/4

Red: 3 x 2 1/2

Next, I layered my dog on top of the red mat. I also added a little black circle (same punch I used for doggie's nose), one in each of three corners.

My sentiment was placed on a diecut made using the Storybook cartridge. It's the scalloped square on page 47. In order to make this shape, here is what you do:

First, load your cartridge, and place your overlay over the keyboard.

Turn your machine on. Place your mat (with the white cardstock on it) up to the rollers on your machine. Hit "load paper".

Push your Accent Blackout button until it lights up.

Push the shift then "T" button.

On the right hand side, is your dial for the size, turn it to 1 3/4 ".

Then hit "cut".

Now, remove your white cardstock from your mat, and replace it with some red. Load your paper in the same way you did before.

This time, turn your dial size on the right to 2 ". Push the "repeat last" button. Then cut.

Stamp your sentiment on your white scalloped square. I like to use the Versafine Onyx Black as it gives a nice clean, crisp image. Now you should have two pieces that look like this:

Adhere your sentiment onto your red scalloped paper. Before placing that on your topper, cut a small strip of white cardstock measuring 1/4 x 3 1/2 ". Adhere this toward the bottom portion of your card (see picture below). Then place your sentiment on top of it. Because I am not crazy about using ribbon, I added some little black circles to my white strip using a black pen. This gives the illusion of polka dot ribbon.

Here is a look at the finished project:

Hope you enjoyed today's project! Please feel free to leave a comment! I'd love to hear your feedback! Thanks!

Good Tuesday morning everyone!

Hope you're having a great day so far! I have some fun ideas for my blog and wanted to share with you so you can be on the lookout for them.

First, a regular feature called "Cricut Creations" is going to be added to my blog. I'll be giving you a list of supplies I used as well as dimensions so that we can do some fun projects together. How does that sound? The projects could be anything from homemade greeting cards to actual layouts. Subject matter will change from one project to another so I can't give you specifics at this time. What I CAN tell you, is these projects will be cute so I hope you'll stop by often to check them out (and maybe even particpate)! I've heard many of you say you have a Cricut machine but have not used it much. I hope this new addition to my blog will inspire you to dust off your "bug" and show it the love it deserves! LOL

Also, in the coming weeks, there will be a change (maybe several) to the appearance to my blog. It may be subtle, so you'll have to pay careful attention. At some point I'm going to ask you what that change or changes were...and someone with the correct answer will win a prize!! So, keep a watchful eye now that I've given you a heads up! :o)

A different look...

I decided to update my blog with a new look. The Sesame Street characters you see are in honor of our new class series at the Shoppe. You can expect the characters featured here to be included in our classes (as well as some other favorites). It's going to be lots of fun! There is still time to sign up for the first in our series: Oscar the Grouch!

Our "Bug-a-Boo" class is now completely sold out. A big thanks to all who signed up!! :o)

Wishing you all a great day!!

A quick update

Just a quick update to let you know that there is only one spot left for next Saturday's Lil' Bug-a-Boo class. You can also order a class kit if you're not able to make it to class. Also, sign ups have already begun for the Oscar the Grouch pages. Please call (706) 321-0202 or drop by if you'd like to sign up.

Hope to see you there!

Sunny days, sweeping the clouds away...

Our first class in our Sesame Street series will feature that grumpy ol' grouch that we all can't help but love. That's right...Oscar! Here is a peek at what we'll be making in class:

First, a close a close up of Oscar:

And of course, we couldn't have a layout about Oscar without including his special friend Slimey:


Look at those adorable googly eyes! How fun is that??

Finally, here is a picture of the entire layout.

We hope you'll stop by to check it out. It's MUCH cuter in person!

Also, just a reminder about the Sesame Street album I was telling you about. The album comes with ten page protectors. By the time we are finished with our series, we will have completed enough class layouts to fill them all. A few favorites characters you can look for will be: Elmo, Cookie Monster, Bert & Ernie, Big Bird & Snuffleupagus, The Count and maybe even some extra surprises. Don't miss out! Sign up early to ensure your space. Hope to see you there! :o)

New Poll

I'm setting up a new poll in an effort to gain some support for my "cause". You see, it's like this:

Every time I go shopping I see these neat scooters at the front of the store. Walmart has them, Winn Dixie, Target...you get the idea. They're pretty much everywhere tempting me with their little bells and lots of fun buttons.

Hubby is not feeling the necessity of my trying out one of these. In fact, he thinks it's a bad idea. Now I ask you...just because there was a little incident years ago involving a ride on lawn mower and some flowers...does that mean I should be banned forever from all motorized vehicles? Of course not...these things happen, right?

So, I'm taking a poll. I'm sure someone out there in blogger land needs a review of these scooters. And if that were the case...how could I possibly refuse? After all, it would be for the greater good. ;o)

Attention Sesame Street Fans!

Who here loves Elmo? How about Cookie Monster or Oscar the Grouch? Well, if you do, we have a treat for you!!!!

Over the next while, you will be seeing a new class series coming to the Shoppe. The theme: Sesame Street!!! We'll let you know when the first class is completed and open for registration. We've also found something that we thought would be the perfect addition to this series...an adorable album to hold your class layouts!

If you would like one, the price is $24.99. Just stop by or give Cheryl a call to place your order (706) 321-0202.

Looking for a fun t-shirt?

Rejean loves t-shirts so I'm always on the lookout for some funny ones. Awhile back, I found this great website called Cafe Press. In fact, I liked their shirts so much, I ended up getting a couple for myself. I guess before I continue on I should tell you two things: First, I consider myself very blessed and am thankful for who God created me to be. And that includes my disability. Second, I have a wacky sense of humor.

Anyway, on with my story:

I found two t-shirts that I considered "must haves". One read: "The only disability in life is a bad attitude." Love that! The other is probably my favorite. It has a wheelchair symbol and reads "In it for the parking".

I wanted to get one other, but alas, it was not to be... it only came in children's sizes. It said "I walk when no one is looking". Too funny!

So, if you're interested in a new t-shirt, I highly recommend them. They have a wide variety of other products as well. Their shipping is fast and they provide excellent customer service. A search engine is provided if you're looking for a particular topic. Here is their website:

http://www.cafepress.com/

Happy Shopping!

Just sharing...

Since the Make a Wish class kits are now all put together and ready for pick up, I was able to bring home my demo pages! Yay! So, upon arriving home, I decided to do some extra embellishing and quickly got to work.

As colorful as the layout was, I still felt that the photo mats could use a little something more. Now, I know that the photos will be going on the white mats. But for my own personal albums, I find myself doing alot of double mats for my photos. So, I decided to add a bit of extra color before adding it to my own album. And I have to say, I LOVE the result!!

I thought I'd share the before and after:

Before:


After:

And a few close ups:


Page 1 before:

Page 1 after:


Page 2 before:



And Page 2 after:

If any of you would like to add these extra mats to your layout, all I did was measure each block and make the inner one approximately 1/4" smaller. I say approximately, because I wasn't real exact about dimensions (those who know me will find this quite shocking. LOL!). Then, I chalked the outside of each mat before adhering to my pages.

I hope this post has inspired you to dig out your scraps and see what ways you can embellish your pages further. And if anyone would like to do this but would like the exact colors that I used in the class kit, I know Cheryl still has some in stock.

Prayer request

I found this prayer request on one of my favorite blogs. Ever since hearing this story, it has weighed on my heart. Because God has seen me through illness and countless hospital visits as a child, I feel like the least I can do is ask you to keep this family in your prayers. The little girl's name is Kate and here is her story:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ese3zYZ-NA4&feature=player_embedded

You can also find updates here:

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/mcraekate/journal/3

Thank you so much!

Enabling!

Michael's now has some new Cricut cartridges in stock: Simply Sweet, Stand & Salute (perfect for military or 4th of July photos!), Home Decor and Jubilee. But, the best part is... they're on sale!! The price listed on the display is $89.99, but they ring up at $44.99!! And if that weren't enough, 20 lucky people will find a gold ticket inside their cartridges~ with the prize being a trip for two to the Carribean!! How cool is THAT??

Also, all Disney catridges are $39.99 this week! Have fun shopping!! :o)