BBTB Thanks,SatChallenge,SS&D,Pink Elephant

I couldn't even begin to list all the blessings I have to be thankful for. Most importantly to be alive. Today is the one year mark of my journey through breast cancer. I'm very grateful that my prognosis is good--I'm a SURVIVOR. This year we also have the blessing of our 8th grandchild, beautiful little Paige, to be thankful for. It doesn't get better than granchildren. That's where I got the idea to use little people on my Thanksgiving card. The challenges for my card this week are:

Bitten By the Bug (http://regina-bittenbythebug.blogspot.com/2009/11/contest-time.html) is having a thanks challenge.

The Pink Elephant (http://thepinkelephantchallenge.blogspot.com/2009/11/pink-elephant-challenge-40.html) is also having a thanks challenge.

Saturday Challenge is looking for an easel card. (http://thesecretcraftersaturdaychallenge.blogspot.com/2009/11/challenge-57.html)

Stamp, Scrap and Doodle is looking for special folds. (http://ssdschallenge.blogspot.com/2009/11/ssds-week-14special-folds.html)

This is the first easel card I have made. It was super simple, nothing to it. My base card is a 5" square of kraft cardstock. I scored the front at 2 1/2" then added a 5" square of kraft paper and attached it to the bottom 2 1/2" section on the card front. It folds at that score line to make the "easel" effect. You have to add something on the inside of the card for the front to stop at when it's folded. I just used two yellow brads at the corners of the design paper (DCWV) I attached to a piece of 5" square white cardstock on the inside.

For the front of the card I used Cricut's Paper Doll Dress Up cartridge for my pilgrim children. My little people are cut at 2 1/2". Then I just layered all their clothes and accessories from the cartridge. I haven't had this cartridge very long. It's been out for quite some time but I just didn't think it was one I would use very much. Boy, was I wrong. There is so much stuff on this cartridge besides the dolls. I just realized when I was making this card that you can add tabs to all the doll clothes then you would have paper dolls. My 3 year old granddaughter is a little young for paper dolls but it won't be long before she'll think they're a lot of fun. My sentiment for this card is part of the Autumn Days digital stamp set from The Cutting Cafe (http://thecuttingcafe.typepad.com/). I printed it on the kraft paper at 100%. Then I printed it again at 90% on white paper. I cut the white to fit on top of the kraft paper for an instant border. The border at the top of the card is a Fiskars punch topped with a self-adhesive strip of brown ribbon. I added two gold leaves at each corner.

Cricut Cardz 1st Challenge

I am so incredibly excited to have been chosen for the Design Team that gets to launch the Cricut Cardz Challenge Blog. Thanks so much to Mary for letting me be a part of this great adventure. I know we're all going to have so much fun. The design team was given free reign for this first card. I recently got A Child's Year and it has so many incredible cuts I just couldn't wait to use it. This is the Tea Party cut on this card, cut at 4" from dark brown cardstock. I wanted to give the tablecloth a real tablecloth look. I looked for something from a Cricut cartridge but couldn't quite find anything that I liked. So for my tablecloth I used just a corner of a square paper doily. I distressed it a little with some Colorbox Chalk Ink in Creamy Brown. My base card is a 5 1/4" square of red cardstock. I topped it with this beautiful Christmas Toile by Paper Studio. To add a little interest to the front of the card I cut a circle of red cardstock at 4" from the Mini Monograms cartridge. Then I cut another circle at 3 1/2" from the toile paper and attached them. Then I trimmed them to go into the corner of the card. I used my computer for the sentiment, printed it in red then punched it out with a 1 1/4" circle punch. I placed it on a scalloped circle cut at 1 1/2" from the Mini Monograms cartridge. Since I was going for an old fashioned look with this card I made my bow from cotton lace. To fancy it up I put a red ribbon rose on top and then added a stick pin with a few beads.

Creative Cuts & More Recipe Blog Hop

If you haven't had the chance to get over to this blog hop, better hurry. This hop highlights Creative Cuts & More new recipe album kits. The eye candy is amazing and you get some great recipes from members of the design team. To be eligible for the prizes you must visit each dt blog then at the end on Diecut Diva's blog you share one of your own recipes. Here is the recipe I shared. These bar cookies are my family's favorite for Christmas.

Toffee Bars

1 c. butter

1 c. brown sugar (packed)

1 egg yolk

1 tsp. vanilla

2 c. flour

1/4 tsp. salt

6 Hershey Bars

Heat oven to 350 degrees and grease 9 x 13" pan. Mix butter, sugar, egg yolk and vanilla thoroughly. Blend in flour and salt. Press evenly in bottom of pan. Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until very light brown. Remove from oven; immediately place Hershey bars on top. As soon as chocolate is soft, spread evenly. While warm, cut into bars.

Project Tuesday Triangle Box

This cute little triangle box is perfect for miniature candy canes or peppermints. This week's challenge at Project Tuesday provided the directions. I used this cute candy cane print from Me & My Big Ideas Christmas stack. Then I cut a stocking with my Cricut Christmas Cheer cartridge at 4". I used Fun Flock for the "fur" trim at the top of the stocking. The candy cane sticking out of the top is something I found at the day after Christmas sale last year at Target. Yes, I'm one of those people out bright and early the day after Christmas just so I can get goodies like this. The ribbon was another goody I found at Walmart. How perfect that I had candy cane ribbon to go with my candy cane paper. Couldn't have planned it better if I tried.

This was a really fun and easy project. It took me about twenty minutes to put it together. So it wouldn't be a bad project to do for a classroom of kids. Of course, I'm not in the classroom anymore because I retired. But I'm sure some teacher or mom is going to find this a great idea.

FridaySketchers,CCC,StampSomething,Allsort

This, oh so cute, image was a freebie from Peggy Loves Vintage. I just fell in love with it when I saw it. I followed the Friday Sketchers sketch for this 5" square card. I added bling and lots of sparkle for the Allsorts challenge. I have the recipe from Stamp Something--one ribbon, two papers, and three embellishments (rhinestones, ribbon, sparkle button). And last, my sparkly ribbon and gems for the Creative Card Crew challenge. My background paper is Winter Blue Words from The Paper Studio and my sparkly scalloped circle is DCWV. The background snowflake is cut from Cricut's Joys of the Season at 4". I added lots of Martha Stewart clear coarse glitter for sparkle.

On the image itself I added some MS Fine crystal glitter, used a MS glitter pen in red to highlight the red stripes of the candy cane and the bow around the dogs neck, added 5 small clear rhinestones, and some dimensional glaze 3-D ink on a few of the snowflakes. My sentiment is from The Cutting Cafe.

BBTB Penguin/Sketch Saturday

This little penguin from the Cricut Joys of the Season cartridge is soooo adorable. I was really glad when I saw the Bitten By The Bug challenge this week was to use it. When I saw the sketch this week from Sketch Saturday I knew I wanted to put these two challenges together. The cute little penguins that I made inchies with are from last year's Debbie Mumm holiday stack. The printed background paper is from that same stack. I sure am making headway on my Christmas cards this year by incorporating challenges into the process. Yes, I admit, I'm hooked on them. My penguin is cut at 3" and I cut him twice. Once out of white and once out of black so I could layer. I shadowed the penguin with brown craft paper. I chalked the white layer a little to give some definition. I used a punch to cut the inchie penguins and put them on scalloped square cut from Cricut's Mini Monogram cartridge.

Can you guess what cartridge the Santa hat came from? If you guessed Paper Doll Dress Up you're right. I just broke down and bought this cartridge a couple weeks ago. I can't believe how versatile it is. There are so many other things on this cartridge besides dolls, though they are the main attraction. I cut the hat twice, from red and white then layered them. I apologize for the poor lighting on this photo. I waited too late in the day to take the pics so my room is dark. As a result, the fun flock I added on the hat doesn't show up very well. But it's really cute in real life. My sentiment on this card is a stamp from Hampton Art. A little ribbon and rick rack for embellishment. The penguin eyes are black pearl dots and I added a little bow with a black button center.

BBTB Halloween Tag challenge/Sat Challenge

I made this little decorated paint can for my granddaughter, Payton's, Halloween present. Since she is only 3 years old I didn't want it to look too scary. The Bitten By The Bug challenge this week called for using the tag cut from the Stretch Your Imagination cartridge. I turned the tag into a little black and orange house with a picket fence around it. Instead of making the usual white picket fence I made it black to be a little more Halloweenish. Is that a word? I cut the fence from the My Community cartridge. After I cut the tag on blackout, I placed it on top of the rust paper that I border punched with a Fiskars scallop and traced around the roof line. I cut two squares and a rectangle from the Plantin' Schoolbook cartridge for the windows and door. I added a couple bats on the roof that I cut from Paper Doll Dress-up. You can't see them very well in the picture, but on each side of the house there are black trees.

For the backside of the can I cut a couple more bats and added a couple gravestones. I outlined the picket fence and the gravestones with a white marker to make them a little easier to see. I took a piece of orange cardstock and cut it into 1/2" strips then folded them accordian style to put inside the can. Then I added lots of ribbons to the handle of the can. The trick or treat sentiment on the top of the can came from a stamp that my aunt had. Since it isn't mine I can't really say who it's made by. I added a little spider cut from the Paper Doll Dress-up cartridge because there was a little bare spot that needed a little something.

I will fill the can with Payton's favorite treat. Sour Gummy Worms. Why a 3 year old would like such sour things I'll never know. This looks like it took awhile to make but it was really a pretty quick project. I think it took me about an hour to put it all together. It took longer to cut all the little pieces of ribbon and tie them on than to do everything else on the can. I just love these little paint cans. I bought a dozen of them about a year ago from a place called Tallmouse. They sell craft supplies online. I think I paid somewhere around $30 for the dozen including shipping. I will also use this project for the Saturday Challenge of Halloween and Stamp, scrap and Doodle's anything but a card challenge.