Decorate to Celebrate Challenge #15 - Winter Wedding!

Happy Wednesday, everyone!! I hope you had a wonderful Christmas!! I still have family visiting, so I haven't had a chance to stop by and see all of your wonderful projects and I apologize. I hope to catch up with everyone this weekend :)

The challenge this week at Decorate To Celebrate is a Winter Wedding!  Let's celebrate EVERYTHING WONDERFUL ABOUT TYING THE KNOT (during the winter months) with your table decorations, party banners, pennants, yard signs, cupcakes, party favors and more!!

For my winter wedding decorations, I created a lighted branch centerpiece! I gathered some branches from the yard and then spray painted them white. Once they dried, I bound them together with wire. The snowflakes are a Martha Stewart punch using Core'dinations Core Couture paper. I punched a hole in the center with my Crop-a-dile and then attached them with thread. I strung some lights on the branches and stuffed the rest in the canister to hold the branches and provide ambient light :)

 

The background tag is a Spellbinders Nestabilities die, embossed with the Spellbinders Flowers Impressability plate. The bride and groom are from Sweethearts at 3" and I added pearls for her bouquet. The bottom tag is also a Spellbinders die and I attached it with crinkle ribbon from my sweet friend Karen of Little Scrap Pieces! "Today is Your Day" is a K Andrew Designs stamp from Positive Thoughts stamp set! Click HERE to purchase your own set!

I am also linking this up at Robin's Creative Cottage's Link Up Party! You are supposed to link up your favorite project in the last month!

Now it's your turn! Head over to Decorate to Celebrate and link up your Winter Wedding project! I can't wait to see what you create :)

Blog Candy Winner and So Much More!

Happy Thursday, everyone! I hope you are all ready for the holidays!! I'm not quite but I have family coming into town tomorrow so I am hustling trying to get everything done! I apologize in advance...this is a looooong post but I have a lot to post and I don't know that I will be able to get online before Christmas. So, here goes... :)

1) First of all, I made this tag in honor of all of my wonderful followers!! I hope you all have a very happy holiday season!! I cut the tag from Tags, Bags, Boxes and More in paper from the Tim Holtz Idea-ology Craft Resist Paper that my sweet friend Sabrina of Sabriolet Designs sent to me!! Thank you again, Sabrina - I absolutely love it!! The snowman is a technique from the Tim Holtz 12 Tags of Christmas, Day 4. I cut the snowman from Gypsy Wanderings and used the hide feature to hide the swirls. I inserted the "25" from Base Camp and added a hat from Create a Critter. I then covered the entire snowman in crackle paint and when it dried, I inked the cracks with Weathered Wood distress ink. I filled the numbers in with Glossy Accents. The icicles are from Martha Stewart Seasonal Cake Art and then used a snow pen to add dimension. In case you missed my Quick Tip on the Fantabulous Cricut Craft Blog on making your own craft snow, click HERE. I like the look of the homemade snow so much better but I figured I should use the snow pen since I purchased it and hate to waste money :)

The fabulous ribbon is from my fabulous friend Karen of Little Scrap Pieces! I love this ribbon so much...she makes it herself!! Thank you again, Karen!! I added a little bit of tulle to the scarf. The sentiment is from K Andrew Designs Winter Wishes stamp set:

I love that there are so many possibilities for awesome sentiments on this mix and match set!! Click HERE to purchase your own set!!

2) The New Years glasses that I made for Decorate to Celebrate's New Year's Party Challenge have been featured on AllFreeHolidayCrafts.com!! I am so excited!! This is such a cool website filled with tons of crafty ideas!! If you have not visited AllFreeHolidayCrafts.com before, you definitely should...you won't be disappointed!! Please click HERE to see my feature!! :)

3) Diana of DL.ART is having a Thankful Party! You are supposed to take a picture of something (not someone) you are thankful for and link up. I have so many things I am thankful for, it was hard to come up with one thing. I narrowed it down to my craft room or my office and since I've posted pics of my craft room before, and I love, love books, I decided on my office! As you can see from the pics above...I definitely love, and am thankful for books!!

4) Docerela Creations is having a Christmas Tree link up party!! I didn't have time for a real tree this year so mine is a small one...but I added a couple of lighted trees in pots so I have a small Christmas forest :)

5) Still with me??!! Now for the winner of the K Andrew Designs Sympathetic Sayings stamp set from the Getting Cricky Snow Much Fun Blog Hop!! I used Random.org to choose the winner......and the winner is......

Congratulations, Georgiana!! I will send you an email or you can email me at indymermaid(at)gmail(dot)com and I will get your stamps in the mail to you!!

Thank you all so much for stopping by today and for being such amazing followers!! I am so thankful for each and every one of you!! I hope you have a very safe, happy holiday season filled with love and happiness!! :)

FCCB #91 - Trimming It With A Tag

Happy Monday, everyone!! I hope you had a great weekend!! The challenge this week at Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog is: "Trimming It With A Tag"...use a tag somewhere on your project. I was so excited for this challenge since I avidly followed the 12 Tags of Christmas by Tim Holtz! I am always so inspired when I see the incredible techniques he uses, and I want to recreate them but don't have the materials he has at my disposal ;) For my project, I used techniques from his 2010 12 Tags of Christmas.

I cut a tag at 6" from Tags, Bags, Boxes and More from Core'dinatons canvas paper. I ran the tag through the Tim Holtz Sizzez Tall Pines embossing folder and I using the technique of stamping swirls directly on the folder before I embossed (I LOVE this technique!!). I then used distress ink in Broken China and Weathered Wood for the background. For the trees, I used Forest Moss and Vintage Photo distress inks. I distressed the edges and then inked with Walnut distress Ink. I cut the deer from the Christmas Solutions cart and inked the edges with Walnut ink. I cut floral leaves from the Tim Holtz Regal Crest Bigz Dies to wrap around the neck and then tied it off with a red bow. I used Tim Holtz music tape to create the banner along the bottom. "Believe" are chipboard letters I had in my stash. I inked them first with Fired Brick distress ink and then when the ink dried, I stamped with a Tim Holtz letters stamp in black Archival Ink. The ribbon is from Michaels and I added a crystal Tim Holtz ornament.

The tag is a Spellbinders Nestabilities Scalloped Rectangles Die and I cut it from a Tim Holtz journal tag. I inked the edges with Fired Brick Distress ink and used stamps from K Andrew Designs' Winter Wishes Set:

Click HERE to purchase your own set of these stamps! All of the techniques I used for this tag can be found on the Tim Holtz website. If you have never visited his website, I strongly encourage you to do so...his projects are simply fabulous and you will be amazed!! Here is the Tim tag from 2010 that I used for my main inspiration:

Don't forget to enter into my K Andrew Designs Sympathic Saying stamp set giveaway HERE! I will pick a winner on Thursday! Thanks so much for stopping by today!! I hope you have a wonderful week!! :)

Getting Cricky Snow Much Fun Blog Hop!

Welcome to the "Snow Much Fun" Getting Cricky Blog Hop!!

We're so happy you could join us for this month's Getting Cricky Design Team Blog Hop!! In addition to Kristal and the Senior Design Team, we look forward to introducing you to the rest of our NEW Junior Design Team (be sure to visit Kristal's Blog to see ALL of our "new additions"!!)... Each of us, along with our Special Guest - Patty from "Creative Diva", are so pleased to have you here with us!! Throughout the hop, you'll see NEW ideas for creating cards and projects with Kristal's stamps sets!!

If you've hopped along from our special guest Patty, then you are in the right place!! If you are just joining me from your dashboard, or reading this via email, please be sure to CLICK HERE to start at the beginning with Kristal's blog (you'll want to catch up on all the FUN!!)...

Each of Kristal's stamp sets benefit charity. At least $1 per stamp set goes to benefit the charity noted on the stamp set package. Kristal is donating to the following charities: Cancer Angels, Storefront Shelter for Homeless Children, Intrepid & Fallen Heroes, E. Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, Doorways Shelter for Women & Children (Domestic Violence), Wayside House for Women, Camp Good Days & Special Times, Adopt a Classroom, and Autism Research Institute. Kristal will donate $1 for every stamp set sold, retail or wholesale to the charity noted; and over time believes this will add up to some wonderful miracles for these special people. So you can feel good that each time you purchase a K Andrew Designs art stamp set, someone around the country is receiving some good help!

K Andrew's stamps are all made and assembled here in the USA, which is very important to Kristal. This ensures all product materials are safe and that jobs are being provided and maintained here in America. You can learn even more about Kristal's stamps (and pick some up for yourself) by visiting her online store: K Andrew Designs:

Kristal's stamp sets are perfect for cards, layouts, and so much more...

For my project, I'm featuring the fun and versatile Winter Wishes Stamp set:

Ever since I saw the Cricut commercial featuring hanging lanterns, I have wanted to make one. So my project today is a winter-themed lantern!

This was a little tough to figure out. The instructions on the Cricut blog are not detailed at all. I had to wing it. First, I used my Gypsy to weld together a sheet of snowflakes from the Christmas Solutions cart. I adhered the snowflakes onto a piece of vellum. It was hard to tell that they were snowflakes, so I cut a few out on white Core'dinations Core Couture paper and attached them to the outside.

Using wire, I made hangers for battery-operated tea lights. My camera did not want to take a shot of it in the dark, so this is the best I could do.

I used a Spellbinders Nestabilities die for the tags along the top, and stamped let it snow, let it snow, let it snow from Winter Wishes!

I am linking this up with the Little Scrap Pieces Copy Cat Friday Challenge.

I have blog candy!! I will be giving away a set of K Andrew Designs Sympathetic Sayings stamps:

All you have to do to be eligible to win this stamp set is:

1. Be a follower of my blog
2. Leave a comment telling me your favorite holiday song and a way to contact you if you win

That's it!! I will choose a winner on Thursday, December 22nd via Random.org.

Now you can hop on over to your next stop:
Ildi of The Craftin Mama!

........................................

Decorate To Celebrate Challenge #14 - New Year's Eve Party

Happy Wednesday everyone! It's time for another super-fun challenge at Decorate To Celebrate! This week, we are asking you to create any project to be used as a party decoration (or party supply) for a New Years Eve Party!!  Let's celebrate EVERYTHING WONDERFUL ABOUT NEW YEAR'S EVE with your table decorations, party banners, pennants, yard signs, cupcakes, party favors and more!!

For my party, I've created some funky New Year's glasses! They remind me of the glasses you see people wearing around New York City when the ball drops :)

For the base, I used glasses from Life's A Party and with my Gypsy, I added a layer over the glasses so I could copy the design using circles and rectangles from George and Basic Shapes. I wanted to match the glasses as closely as possible so that I could use the side pieces without trying to recreate them. Once I had the frames done, I welded on "2012" from Base Camp:

And "Happy New Year" from Martha Stewart Seasonal Cake Art and the sparklers from Stand and Salute:

I cut everything with Tim Holtz Grunge Paper first so they would be sturdy. Then I added the papers from DCWV's Dots, Stripes and Plaids, and Core'dinations Core Couture. The number stamps are from K Andrew Designs Owly Hoo stamp set:

To order your own set of these awesome stamps, click HERE!

Now it's your turn! Head over to Decorate to Celebrate and link up your New Year's Party project! I can't wait to see what you create :)

Christmas Star Ornaments

Happy Sunday, everyone! I hope you are having a great day!! I managed to get a bit of shopping done this weekend but not all. So I will be hustling all week to finish! I have a quick and easy project to share today: Christmas star ornaments.

I cut the stars from George and Basic Shapes, two from each paper. I used my Gypsy to attach rectangles to the edges of one side so that I could affix two back to back with glue and make them 3 dimensional. Before I attached the two sides together, I used my Scoreboard to score the edges in the paper and attached fishing line to the inside so they can hang from the tree.

The circles are a Spellbinders Nestabilities die and I inked the edges with Tim Holtz Fired Brick Distress Ink. The sentiments are from K Andrew Designs Winter Wishes set:

To purchase your own set or to see the entire line of stamps, click HERE.

I am entering these in the Little Scrap Pieces Winter Holiday challenge.

Thank you so much for stopping by and for being loyal followers even when I haven't been able to post much lately! I will be having a blog candy giveaway soon, so stay tuned :)

12 Days of Christmas Giveaway at Created by Cori!!

Hello everyone and Merry Christmas!  I am Cori from Created By Cori and I am so glad to be here at A Mermaids Crafts today!  I am a SAHM of a one year old who just learned to climb on everything we own!  So when I am not busy chasing him, I am busy cutting with my Cricut and crafting my day away.

Today I want to share with you my 12 Days of Cricut Handmade Christmas going on now over at my blog!  We are on day 8 so there is plenty of time for you to head on over and enter for the giveaways.

Here are a few of my favorite giveaways so far!  Click on the picture to enter the giveaway!

 

I hope you will hop on over and check out all my blog has to offer!  I love sharing the projects I make and I also have a section where I share my Cricut Craft Room cut files with you for free!  There is a weekly link party called Handmade on Hump Day that you can join, it's still happening now!

Thank you for checking me out and once again thank you to Lisa for having me today!

Little Drummer Boy and Design Team Announcement

Happy Wednesday, everyone! Wow, I can't believe how fast this year is flying by! How can we be a week into December already?!

Is anyone else as hooked as I am on Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of Christmas?? I look forward to them every year and I am so inspired by the ideas and techniques he uses! I always have a huge list of must-have items by the end of the 12 days! I've been so busy I haven't had a chance to copy his tags this year, but I did squeeze in a bit of time in my craft room today to make a tag for a couple of challenges with favorite Christmas songs themes.

The Little Drummer Boy is one of my very favorite Christmas songs :) I cut a tag at 6" from Tags, Bags, Boxes and More, and cut the little drummer boy from A Child's Year at 4". I cut him several times to get the different colors and attached him with foam tape. The background star is from George and Basic Shapes and I cut "pa rum pum pum pum" from Kate's ABC's at .5" and the music notes from Gypsy Font at .5". I used an EK Success punch for the top and bottom of the tag and added silver studs. I distressed the edges of the tag and inked it with Fired Brick and Walnut Distress Ink. The stamp is from K Andrew Designs Winter Wishes stamp set, and I embossed it with very fine black embossing powder. Look at all the awesome sentiments on this stamp set:

And they are mix and match so you can create your own holiday greeting! To purchase your own set of these fabulous stamps or to see all of the K Andrew Designs stamp sets available, click HERE!

I am entering the Little Drummer Boy tag in the following challenges:

1. Cooking With Cricut Challenge #73 - Sounds of the Season
2. Cardz TV Challenge #97 - A Caroling We'll Go

I am so proud to announce that I have been asked by my dear friends Amy and Rhonda to be a Design Team member for Decorate To Celebrate!!

 

Decorate To Celebrate is one of my very favorite challenge blogs! I seem to get to a rut making cards only, so this challenge forces me to get creative and think outside the card box :) I am so super-excited to be designing with Amy and Rhonda and the rest of the design team: Brenda, Norma and Jean! Please stop by Decorate To Celebrate, follow the blog if you don't already and join in the fun challenges!! :)

FCCB Challenge #89 - Present Time

Happy Monday, everyone! I hope you had a wonderful weekend! I'd planned on getting some of my Christmas shopping done the last couple of days but I procrastinated :( Now we are another week closer and I still have lots of shopping to do and I'm running out of time!

The challenge this week at the Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog is Present Time....make a gift, gift packaging or use a gift cut. For my project, I made a gift box for a Christmas tree ornament (one gift down, several to go ;)

The snowflake box is from Wrap it up, and I used the fit to page feature, which cut at 11 1/2".  The paper is from The Paper Studio. I inked the edges with Tim Holtz fired brick distress ink.

The tags are Spellbinders Nestabilities dies and I used the Tim Holtz Sizzex sheet music embossing folder and inked the edges with fired brick. The "No Peeking" and "A Gift For You" stamps are from K Andrew Designs Winter Wishes set. To purchase your own set of stamps, click HERE!

I just love this box cut. The top is a snowflake and I added pearls to the edges and ribbon. I cut a snowflake also from the Wrap it Up cart and attached all the layers with foam tape for dimension. I added fishing line to the snowflake so it can hang from a Christmas tree.

I am also entering this in the Little Scrap Pieces Copy Cat Friday Challenge :)

Now it's your turn! Stop by the FCCB blog to see all of the projects the amazing Design Team has come up with for this challenge! Don't forget to link your "Present Time" projects up as well!! I can't wait to see what you create!!

Christmas Wishes

Happy Friday everyone! Wow, I can't believe it is Friday already! Christmas will be here before I know it and I still have lots of shopping and card-making to finish! I need to get busy! I did manage to get one card done today :)

For this card I used the Martha Stewart Seasonal Cake Art cartridge to cut the wreath. I cut it twice so I could attach each layer with foam tape for dimension. I used George and Basic Shapes to cut the window and plastic from a Cricut clamshell to cover the opening. The music paper and tree paper on the inside of the card are from The Paper Studio, the rest is from My Mind's Eye. I went a little bling crazy and attached red gems with my iRock, used crystals for the birds eyes and pearls for the ribbon. The tag is a Spellbinders Nestabilities die and I inked it with Tim Holtz Fired Brick distress Ink. The sentiment is from K Andrew Designs Winter Wishes stamp set.

Click HERE to purchase your own set of these fabulous stamps or to see the entire K Andrew Designs line of stamps!

I am entering the card in the following challenges:

1. Cooking With Cricut Challenge #62 - Candles, Wreaths, Pine Cones
2. My Craft Spot Challenge #35 - Christmas Through the Window
3. Little Srap Pieces - Winter, Holiday
4. Hiding In My Craft Room #22 - Mix It Up! Holiday
5. Creative Cutter Room - Design Time Thursday! Animal Time
6. Craft Your Passion #86 - Tis The Season
7. A Muse Studio Challenge Blog - Winter Holiday Card
8. Whimsical Designs Challenge - Layer It

I want to say a special thanks to Melissa for always looking out for me and keeping me informed - I appreciate you so much! Don't forget to stop by Getting Cricky this Sunday for another fun Simply Sunday challenge! Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Hoot Hoot Whoo-Ray!

Gahh...I haven't posted in so long!! Almost a week! I don't think I've gone that long since I started my blog in March. I am really trying to get to my craft room and not having much luck. And I am soo sorry I haven't been around to comment...my real job is keeping me super-busy and then the holidays and family. I apologize and I am going to get caught up with everyone this week, I promise!

 

I had to make time to visit my craft room so I could use my new Twinkle Toes cartridge that I won from my dear friend Melanie of In Love With A Bug!! Thanks again, Melanie!! I LOVE it!! I used the adorable owl cut. I embossed her with the Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folder and Spellbinders Flowers plate. I attached each layer with foam tape for dimension and I attached her with a wobble so she really dances! For the background, I used a Spellbinders Nestabilities lacy squared die and embossed it with the Flowers plate. The background paper is from My Mind's Eye.

And I used the K Andrew Designs Owly Hoo stamp set. Aren't these awesome??!!

To purchase your own set of these fabulous stamps, or to see all of the K Andrew Design stamp sets available, click HERE!

I am entering this card in Pat of Pat Scraps blogaversary giveaway! Happy one year blogaversary, Pat!!

Here is a view from my deck today. Yep, snow. Big, fat white flakes. It's too early for snow :(

To Everything There is a Season and WINNER!

Happy Wednesday, everyone! I hope you are having a great day! I just have not been able to find time to enter challenges lately, or to visit everyone and see what amazing projects you have made. So today, I spent a little time in my craft room so I could enter two of my favorites, and I hope to visit your blogs tonight before the family arrives for Thanksgiving!

For this card, I used paper from My Mind's Eye. The bird in the tree was cut at 5 1/2" from Winter Frolic and I attached all the layers with foam tape to give some dimension. Isn't this image awesome? I just love it! I used a Fiskars punch for the leaf border. The label is a Spellbinders tag punch. I inked all the edges with Tim Holtz Fired Brick Distress Ink. I added some crystals to the top right corner with my iRock and a black gem for the bird's eye.

I absolutely love this bible quote. The stamp is from K Andrew Design's Scripture Sayings set. Look at all the beautiful and moving quotes on this set:

Aren't they just incredible??!! To order your own set or to see the entire line of K Andrew Designs stamps, click HERE.

I am entering the card in the following challenges:

• Paper Playtime #61 - Say It With Sentiments
• Cooking With Cricut #61 - National Bible Week

And now to the winner of the K Andrew Designs Winged Things stamp set from the Holiday Wishes Getting Cricky Blog Hop! Thank you all so much for hopping along with us and helping to welcome the new design team members! I offered an extra entry into the drawing for anyone who RSVP'd to the hop invite, so adding those entries with the comments left during the hop, there were 87 entries. I used Random.org to select the winner, and the winner is:

................................................(drum roll please).................................................

 

And #50 is...................................................................................................................

Yay, congratulations, Pam!! You are such a wonderful friend and I hope you enjoy the stamps!! I will email you :)

I want to wish all of my US followers a very safe, happy and blessed Thanksgiving with your family and friends!! Bring on the turkey... :D