Congratulations Squared

Today I have the daily project for Exploring Cricut. Since this is the month for babies I decided to make a card for a couple from my church that just had twin boys.
I truly believe all babies are gifts from God, but these two sweet boys are true blessings. Both boys were healthy, but a month early. One of the twins was extremely small so he had to stay in the hospital a little longer. I can't imagine a mother having to leave one child behind while taking one child home.
Here's my project for today.
Recipe:
CTMH: cardstock and pattern papern (Dotty)
Stampin' Up: By Ones and By Twos
Stickles by Ranger: Baby Blue and Eucalyptis
rhinestones
New Arrival: 2 at 2.53

Daily Project: Let the Good Times Roll

Today for my daily project for Exploring Cricut I decided to create this 2 page layout. As chairman of the Christian Ed committee at my church I helped to create a group called TNT which stands for toddlers to teens. Its our take on a youth group. We couldn't get our middle schoolers and high schoolers to commit to youth group so we decided to start working with a group of younger children where we could build those relationships at a young age so it would be a natural progression to youth group as they get older. We plan an activity once a month and a different parent is in charge of the activity. This layout was March's activity and we took the kids bowling. Most of the kids that participate are younger, but we do have one that will come occassionally and bring a friend or two.

For my Cricut cuts I used Nifty Fifties and Alphalicious.
Nifty Fifties:
Bowling pins cut at 1.15 and 3.30
Title cut using Alphalicious at 2"
Other supplies used are stickles by Ranger and pearls

Daily Project: Sympathy

This summer has been a rough one for my family and several families I'm close to, and once again I proved my own saying "You never have a sympathy or birthday card made when you need one."

My daily project for this week over at Exploring Cricut is a sympathy card that I created for my friend and boss who lost her step-mother a week after I lost my dad. Both her step-mother and my dad had cancer and through her family I saw how blessed we truly were that Dad passed quickly.

I'm writing this post one month after my Dad passed, and this weekend has been extremely difficult eventhough I thought I was doing great. I do want to send a special S/O to the other design team members that sent cards, that was so unbelievably sweet and unexpected.

I try not to get preachy on my blog, so I'll make this real short so we can get to the card.

I've always believed that God always answers prayers, after all he's God and He's capable of all things and if he wanted to He could have spared my dad from dying. If we are to believe that God answers all prayers we have to be willing to accept that sometimes the answer is going to be "No", after all, as children we didn't get everything we asked our parents for, if we had we'd all be riding ponies! Through this though I learned that God can also answer prayers with a "but". It wasn't in His plan to save my dad from passing, but he saved him from suffering through a long and drawn out disease, He saved him from having to withstand chemotherapy, and He saved his family from having to watch a loved one suffer. This is truly a loving a merciful God. It is through this knowledge that I've been able to hold it together this month and help my mom move forward and find a "new normal". If I didn't have the belief that my dad was in a better place (we like to think he has a daily tee time with God) then this would be unbearable.

Now that my sermon is over; back to crafting. My card for today was created using the cartridge Indie Art. This is a cartridge I've had for years, but just never use. When I pulled it out I found it had some really cool designs on it. I especially loved the butterfly since to me butterflies are very peaceful.


I cut all pieces at 2.18 using my Gypsy. I used the butterfly - shadow, butterfly, and butterfly - shift. Once all pieces were cut I adhered them and then used diamond stickles on the wings and Close to My Heart sparkles on the antenea. I used a saying from the "4 my friend" stamp set also from Close to My Heart.

Pattern paper and cardstock are from my stash.

Recipe:

Indie Art: butterfly

diamond stickles

sparkles: CTMH

4 My Friend stamp set: CTMH

Christmas In July Challenge

Welcome to my blog For the Love of All Things Crafty for Christmas in July, the blog hop from Exploring Cricut. If you've arrived here from Jessica's blog (http://craftinandstampin.blogspot.com/) then you're in the right place.
This week our challenge at Exploring Cricut is to create a card, layout, or other paper craft with a Christmas theme.

I saw this gingerbread house used on a layout several months back and fell in love with it. I've always loved gingerbread houses, they're so whimsical. I decided then that I had to do at least one Christmas Card with a gingerbread house. I found this gingerbread house on My Community cartridge and I cut it as well as all layers at 4.41.
My first step was to spray the card base with vanilla smootch to give the frosty snow effect. I then added the gingerbread house and all the different layers.

I then added diamond stickles to the roof for the snow and Xmas red stickles for the candy cane and peppermint sticks.
I hope my project inspires you to creativity this week. Don't forget to post your project at Exploring Cricut.
I'm also giving away a prize for this challenge. A winner will be chosen at random (using randon.org)from all who leave a comment on my blog so don't forget to post a comment !

Thanks for visiting, your next hop will be to Michelle (http://mumoftwoblog.blogspot.com/)
If you get lost along the way the order of blogs:
Sharon
Annette
Jessica
Emily
Michelle
Lori
Kim
Ian
Diana
Georgiana
Diane

4th of July Challenge

Today's challenge over at Exploring Cricut is to create a card, layout, or papercraft using red, white, and blue. My project for this challenge is a 5x7 card.
I decided to stay pretty simple with the design of my card. I started with a blue base which was the only blue I planned for on the card. I used Art Philosophy cartridge to cut 2 cupcakes (1 set in white, then the liner in cranberry). I then used the coordinating stamp set to stamp the detail on the cupcakes' frosting. For the final touch to the cupcakes I added diamond stickles by Ranger (cause who doesn't love "sprinkles" on their cupcakes!
My favorite part of the card are the firework burst that were cut using the Stand & Salute cartridge. Two burst were cut out in silver and two in cranberry. After running all four burst through the Xyron I layered them on the card to resemble a fireworks display.
I then cut the "title" for the card from the Independence Day cartridge.

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Cuts:
Independence Day: 4th of July (2.65)
Art Philosophy: 2 cupcakes (2.5)
Stand & Salute: 4 firework burst (2.18)
Recipe:
cardstock: Pacifica, Cranberry, White Daisy
ink: cranberry
stickles: Diamond

Exploring Cricut: Movie challenge

Welcome to the last challenge of February! This was a very tricky challenge for me and I flip-floped many times before settling on the project I submitted.

The challenge for this week was to create a layout, card, or other paper craft on the theme of show business. Wow! Diane is really making us think out of the box on this one. Considering everyone I've shown the project to has needed an explanation I guess I either went too far out of the box, or I wasn't successful in making a connection to the theme. I like to think I just went too far out of the box, but I'll let you decide. Explanation will be at the bottom. Now to the project. Once again I decided to do a card (I know you all are surprised).

Base is white daisy 5x7 (CTMH)
Cardstock: Twilight 5x7 (CTMH)
Arch: desert sand, white daisy, new england ivy (CTMH)Bloom Arch:4.65x4.53, flowers 3.48x4.53
You're Invited:White Daisy, Alphalicious 1"
Ranger Stickles: Pink

Sparkles (CTMH)

OK: Now for my explanation. I am a big Twilight fan so I decided to do my "show business" with that movie series. The inspiration for the card of course came from Edward and Bella's wedding from Breaking Dawn, the quote is from Edward's toast to Bella at their reception, and of course the color of cardstock for the background: Twilight. The last part was an afterthought after I determined the rest of the card. The only thing I can say in my defense is I couldn't help myself, I'm addicted to these characters! Go Team Edward!!!

Breaking Dawn: Twilight, Gypsy font 1"

Movie Night: Twilight, Gypsy font 1"

Turquois Stickles: Ranger

Tree Challenge

Today's challenge at Exploring Cricut was to create a card, layout, or paper craft using a tree from any cartridge. I decided to create a Christmas layout (single page for a frame). My tree came from the Art Philosophy cartridge as well as the font.

For this project I used the Believe paper, and the Holiday Wishes stamp set.

The upper portion of the layout has 6 strips of paper alternating between the plaid and the stripe. These are cut at 1.5x3. I then cut out "Merry Christmas" using the font on Art Philosophy. The size was 2".

The bottom portion of this layout has a plaid piece that is cut at 5.5x11; the stripe piece is cut at 6x11.5. The photo is 5x7. After cutting the tree using the Art Philosophy cartridge I stamped it using the Holiday Wishes stamp set with topiary ink. I used Diamond stickles for the green leaves and Candy Cane stickles for the red birds.

This was a very simply stated layout and very easy to complete.