Birthday Cake Card for BBTB2

Happy Monday and happy Memorial Day to those in the USA.  You may have arrived here from fabulous Theresa's blog if you are following the monthly Bitten by the Bug 2 blog hop.  If you are just dropping by, continue on the blog hop when you leave my blog - after you enter the BLOG CANDY giveaway.  This week's challenge cut at Bitten by the Bug 2 is  the birthday cake from the Celebrations cartridge.  I love this birthday cake - it is one of my favorite cake cuts.  And even though there are newer birthday cartridges, I still love this "go to" original Cricut birthday cartridge!

I designed my card in Cricut Design Studio, welding two of the cake shadow cuts to create the base card and cut the card in aqua Bazzill cardstock.  I used the Hide Select Contour feature and removed the cut space inside the tray legs on the the shadow, creating a solid, one piece shadow cut.  Using Imaginisce B-day Bash line I cut a base layer in chocolate birthday candle cardstock.  I build the rest of the cake on the chocoate birthday candle layer.

The top layers of the cake was created in three layers: back layer in lime green Core'dination cardstock, main cake layer in Imaginisce B-day Bash cardstock, and gold tray layer cut in metallic cardstock.  After affixing the three laters together I tied a length of red Imaginisce ribbon around the cake and added the Happy Birthday phase (cut from the Batman cartridge) to the front of the cake.  I then used pop dots and attached the cake to the base card.

I cut the background cake layer in smooth white cardstock and affixed it inside the card and added another Happy Birthday cut.  This is the perfect surface the shape on which to write a personal birthday message.
To finish the front of the card I added two of the three candles from the cake cut.  I also added an Imaginisce cardstock embellishment birthday cake to the top of the cricut cake - turning my cake into a four tiered cake!!  The cake was then blinged out with various sizes of gems.

Did I mention BLOG CANDY and blog hop???  Thanks to the AMAZING CUSTOM CROPS I have wonderful blog candy to offer you!  How about a $20 gift voucher for shopping at Custom Crops???  I would love that so I bet you would too!  All you have to do to be entered into the random drawing for the blog candy is

1. Be a follower of this blog, and

2. Leave a comment under this post.  

I will be posting the winner on Thursday.

When you finish the blog hop you may want to hop by Custom Crops and check out all of their new in stock items.  You may also be interested in their DVD, Cricut for Beginners, a wonderful DVD which teaches you to use all of the features on your Cricut.

Now that you have enjoyed (??) my blog post, you have become a blog follower, left your comment below and taken note of the Custom Crops it is time to continue on to the next stop on the blog hop.  You are off to see the lovely Penny of PenniAnnie's. Enjoy the rest of the blog hop and if you have not already done so, please drop by Bitten by the Bug 2 look at all of the design team projects.

Disney Blog Hop & Blog Candy

Hey there scrappers. Guess what? It is a Bitten by the Bug 2 blog hopping, blog candy, Disney Monday! If you are following the BBTB2 blog hop you arrived here from the beautiful Krista’s blog. If you are just stopping by my blog, don’t worry, the links for the blog hop are at the bottom of the post.

My design team sister Maria chose the challenge cut at BBTB2 this week and in honor of Spring Break she selected not a specific cut, but a theme – Disney, and more specifically, modern Disney. In keeping with her parameters, I chose Toy Story’s Buzz Lightyear.

My two year old nephew, Carter, is a quite the fan of Toy Story. For Christmas Carter received both Buzz Lightyear and Woody. His impish little grin was beaming!

I am going to say that Buzz is quite the assembly puzzle – so many little pieces in the Buzz images! It is helpful to have a photo of Buzz for reference during assembly. I cut Buzz at 5.5 inches and used the traditional grey, lime, purple, black and white colors for the pieces.

I used metallic cardstock to cut the Buzz Lightyear title. I cut the title a bit on the small side, but I wanted for Buzz, the title and the photo of Carter to fit inside the frame.

The trapezoid shaped frame is also in the Toy Story cartridge. I loved the fun shape of the frame as well as the planets, ships, nebulas, etc. cut outs. I did spend a great deal of time working on the frame. I decided that I wanted for my planets, ships, etc. to be multi colored. Sadly there are not individual cuts files for the frame parts. I hand cut metallic cardstock and glued it to the back of the top layer of the trapezoid frame. It was a lengthy process but well worth the effort.

I finished the layout with white doodles and a red trapezoid frame and photo of Carter. 

I did mention blog candy didn’t I? I have WONDERFUL blog candy – a $20 gift voucher sponsored by Custom Crops, your on-line Cricut and paper crafting super store! In fact, the Toy Story cartridge is currently in-stock, ON SALE, and ready to ship out to you so that you too can create this fun Buzz Lightyear layout. Be sure to stop by Custom Crops and check out all of the new products.
To be eligible for the gift voucher, leave a comment below.

If you have been following the blog hop, I am the last stop. If you came in mid way, you can go back to the beginning of the blog hop by going to Maria‘s blog. Or you can go by BBTB2 and check out the design team projects all at once. And remember, we would love it if you played along and post your Disney themed project in the linky at BBTB2.

Red Velvet Merry Christmas with the Cricut Cake - and Blog Candy

Are you looking for a special cake to serve family and friends during Christmas week?  Let me suggest this Happy Christmas Red Velvet cake.

This cake was soooo good and looked so pretty when cut.  I thought the recipe sounded odd so I took a sample to our friend Bill.  Bill is a connoisseur of red velvet cake and he loved it.  Soooo, all of that oil and sugar baked up wonderfully.  This is NOT a weight watchers friendly cake.  It IS a special holiday treat for you, your family, and guests.


Red Velvet Cake 

Unsalted butter, softened, for pans
4 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
powder, plus more for dusting
5 cups cake flour, not self-rising
2 teaspoon salt
3 cups sugar
3 cups canola oil
4 large eggs
4 tablespoons red food coloring
4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cup low-fat buttermilk
3 teaspoons baking soda
4 teaspoons white vinegar

DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter 3 nine inch pans; line with parchment paper. Butter lining; dust with cocoa, tapping out excess. Set aside.

2.Whisk together flour, salt, and cocoa in a medium bowl; set aside.

3. Mix sugar and oil on medium speed in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk until combined. Add eggs one at a time; mix well after each addition. Mix in food coloring and vanilla. Add flour mixture in 3 batches, alternating with the buttermilk and beginning and ending with flour, mixing well after each addition. Scrape down sides of bowl as needed.

4. Stir together baking soda and vinegar in a small bowl. Add baking-soda mixture to batter, and mix on medium speed 10 seconds.

5. Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake until a cake tester inserted into centers comes out clean, 30
to 35 minutes. Let cool completely in pans on wire racks.  You may split the layers in half vertically for a taller cake, though I did not split the layers on this cake.

Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting:

2 (8 ounce) package cream cheese,
softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
4 tablespoons sour cream
4 teaspoons McCormick® Pure Vanilla
Extract
2 (16 ounce) box confectioners' sugar

Beat cream cheese, softened butter, sour cream and vanilla in large bowl until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in confectioners' sugar until smooth.  Cool cake completely.  Add frosting between all layers, on top and on the sides.  We like this frosting so I make a large batch.

 The frosted cake was covered with red Fondarific fondant.

In all cases I chilled the 1/8th inch thick rolled gum paste before cutting.  Immediately after cutting, before removing the cut from the mat, I return the mat to the 'frig for another 20 minutes.  I then remover the cut and added it to the cake.  During the chill time, cut the next mat.

Using Cake Basics I cut the large doily for the top of the cake in white Cricut gum paste.  I added Wilton blue food paste to Cricut white gum paste to create the blue gum paste.  I used Holiday Cakes and cut out the Happy Christmas phrase. 

I added Wilton evergreen food paste to the white Cricut gum past to create the green gum paste.  I used the Stretch Your Imagination cartridge to cut the holly leaves.

Using the left over red fondant, I made the holly berries by hand. I added a touch of white gum paste to each berry as a highlight.

Decorating this cake was truly pretty easy, just remember to chill all fondant/gum paste before cutting and after cutting before you remove them for the mats. 

Because I have not shared a cake in soooo long (darned weight watchers!), I am offering a special Christmas blog candy. ...A chance to win a $50 Merry Christmas Gift Voucher from Custom Crops!!!  Just become a blog follower and leave a comment telling me about your favorite flavor of cake and you will be entered. 

I will draw one winner (combining comments from both blogs) this Friday so that you may have time to get yourself a great holiday gift.  This will be open to both of my blogs!

One more thing - My friend Terri over at Stamps Alive - see the link in the right hand column - is having a sale on Copic Markers!!!  Go Terri!


Here is the deal: 
Copic Sketch Sale! Buy 10 @ $5.15 Pick 4 FREE!! Do the Math!
Must Order by Friday the 17th at Midnight (pacific time)
email Terri @ stampsalive@cox.net to order!

BBTB2 Banner & Blog Hop

Hello everyone, welcome to the monthly Bitten By the Bug 2 blog hop. You may have arrived here from our sweet Carole's blog, or you may have just dropped in to check out my monthly project. If you did not start at the beginning after you finish here you may want to go to BBTB2 and check out the fabulous banners made by my fantastic design team sisters!

This week's challenge cut was selected by our design team sister, the lovely Beth (Runs with Scraps). Beth asked the design team to use any of the banners on the banner feature from the Country Life cartridge. I do not have this particular cartridge but there are other several other banners on several other cartridges. I used two different banners from two different cartridges to create my HAPPY FALL banner.


The scalloped base banner was cut using Tie the Knot. The floral print banner with the rectangular topper is from Straight from the Nest. I added an additional triangle from George and Basic Shapes to create more interest. The maple leaf flourish decoration across the top of each section is from the seasonal Thanksgiving cartridge, as are the images on the first, last, and middle banners. I used the cornucopia, the turkey, and the corn for the image banners. I finished each section of the banner with the I-Rock and assorted gems.

Orange sheer ribbon was laced through the holes on each section of the banner. I then tied the ends of the ribbon to the iron sconces on my mantel. The orange was a perfect color in that it blends well with the cardstock colors and the leave garland on the mantel. I love decorating for fall and this fun banner added to the overall effect.

So did I mention a blog hop??? Did I tell you that with the blog hop comes BLOG CANDY? What? I forgot to mention that??? I have great blog candy for one lucky reader!!! I am giving away a $25 gift voucher from CUSTOM CROPS so one lucky person will get to do a bit of FREE shopping!!! All you have to do is leave a comment under this post. A random winner will be selected on Thursday of this week.

After you post your comment you will be continuing along on the blog hop. Your next stop is at our amazing Donna's fabulous blog. I cannot wait to see her awesome project; she inspires me every single week!!!

Thanks for coming by today. I will be back tomorrow with another new project.

And the winner of the Custom Crops Gift Voucher is.....

Ian is hanging out with me as I prepare this blog post so instead of using the random drawing tool I asked Ian to select a number between 1 and 73, the number of comments on the blog candy as of 12:15 am Thursday morning. 


The winner of this month's blog candy is lucky number 17:

Jessica Wekenman said...
I can't believe you built that sewing machine! That is absolutely fantastic! I love your card and all the colors and papers are so pretty!
 
Congratulations Jessica, you will be hearing from Custom Crops!   And THANK YOU to Custom Crops for sponsoring my blogs.

Sew Fine Blog Hop - Blog Candy - BBTB2

Hello everyone, welcome to the monthly BBTB2 blog hop. You may have arrived here from Heather's blog - wasn't her project lovely?  Or you may have just popped in to check out my Monday project.  If you did not start at the BBTB2 blog, you may want to click the link in the left column and start the blog hop at the beginning - after you finish here, of course!!


The challenge cut this week is the sewing machine from the Cricut's Heritage cartridge.  I actually do not own Heritage so I used shapes in George and built my sewing machine in design studio.  I did this by placing the sewing machine on the mat and then filling it in with the geometric shapes on the George cartridge.

I also used this cute little sewing girl from Nursery Rhymes.  I layered her with four different papers and topped her off Glimmer Glaze, Pink Lady for the dress and Icicle for the apron and the sewing machine. I finished the girl and her quilt with cute chip board buttons - which I think are from Basic Grey.   

I also used glimmer mist on the card.  I sprayed the vertical white paper lace trim (from Basic Grey) with Pomegranate Glimmer Mist and allowed it to dry before attaching the lace pieces to the matting. I added a larger chip board button over the lace.

The photo shows some of the dimensional effect on the card front.

I did mention blog candy didn't I?  I am offering a $25.00 gift voucher to Custom Crops.  You know you want to go shopping for free!!!  Leave a comment below and you will be in the drawing for the blog candy gift voucher.  I will draw a winner on Thursday.

Sadly it is now time for you to leave me.  But no worries though, you are off to Krista's blog.  I love Krista!  She is so nice and so talented and soooo pretty. It's a good thing I love her or I might be jealous!!!  Enjoy the rest of the blog hop!!!  And do remember to leave a comment before you hop away....

Blog milestone and blog candy

Sixteen and a half months ago I added a counter to this blog.  It has been a nice tool to monitor what type of projects area best received and for tracking visitor trends on my blog.  In the next day or two I will reach a new counter milestone:  200,000 blog visits!  

In honor of the 200,000th visit, I am offer BLOG CANDY:  a new, unopened HOLIDAY CAKES cartridge!!!

To be eligible to win this great cartridge you will need to do two thinks: 

1. If you are not already a follower, please become a follower; and
2. You should leave a comment under this post telling me the first project you will create with this cartridge.

The winner will be posted on SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 19th.

And the winner of the Amy Chomas cool tools is....

We have a blog candy winner!!!  It is Jennifer who wrote:

"Jennifer said...
I love your recipe card (and I want to try making the pasta dish, too-yummy!)!!! :)

I would love to win Amy Chomas' gel pens!

Thank you so much for sharing and for the chance to win."

Jennifer if you will please email me your full name and mailing address I will send that to Amy Chomas who will be sending you your sweet, sweet blog candy!   Congratulations!!!!

Blog Hopping, Blog Candy, and a BBTB2 card... WOW

Happy blog hopping BBTB2 Monday!  I have a lot of information to share so I should get typing.  Welcome to the monthly BBTB2 Blog hop.  You probably arrived here from Karen's blog.  If not, think about jumping over to BBTB2 and starting the blog hop at the beginning (after you finish reading my post, of course!).  The challenge cut this week was selected by my wonderful design team sister, Penny Shuberg.  Penny chose the apron cut on the FROM MY KITCHEN cartridge. 

I decided to use a recipe card cut from the same cartridge as my base card.  I welded a rectangle to the recipe card and scored down the middle of the weld to create the card.  I used Basic Grey's kitchen line of paper.  Ironic, huh?  The base card was cut using the cupcake print.  This worked well because the back side of the paper is a nice solid medium pink - perfect for the inside of the card.  The base card was topped with two matting cuts and wrapped with a ribbon before the apron was attached with pop dots.  I printed a recipe for Pasta with Shrimp and Crabmeat that I am going to mail to my son's girlfriend.  Crissie is learning to cook and Aaron loves seafood!

 

In addition to the bow near the bottom of the card,  I also added a scalloped tag to the upper right corner of the card.  I used one of my favorite products to create the top layer of the tag - the Amy Chomas mini gel pen holder and glitter pen set!!  I love Amy's products, the gel pens and holder as well as her embossing kit.  Awesome products!!!  With the gel pens you simply remove the blade housing from your Cricut and replace it with Amy's gel pen holder loaded with a mini pen.  The Cricut will then write your image instead of cutting.  Cool, huh?

In addition to a new BBTB2 project here, I also have a new cake recipe to share on my sister blog, Busy with the Cricky Cake.  Be sure to check the cake blog today for the recipe and again tomorrow to see the completed decorated cake.

Did I mention BLOG CANDY?  Yes, indeed there will be blog candy this week!!!  Amy Chomas is sponsoring my blog hop this month and is providing  FABULOUS blog candy: an Amy Chomas Mini Gel Pen Holder and Pen set!!!  Seriously!  This is a great product and I love it.  Anything with Amy's name attached is sure to be fabulous!!

Leave a comment below to register for the blog candy.  You should go by Amy's site and see her fabulous projects using her products.

Now that you have left a comment (you did leave a comment didn't you?), your next stop on the blog hop is at the blog of the AMAZING Lori Warner.  Lori is a very gifted designer and a wonderfully nice woman - have fun at her blog!!!  Have a great day and remember to visit Amy's site!!

Blog Hop Winner

We have a winner of the Custom Crops Gift Voucher:

KimCreate will be doing a bit of shopping in the near future!!!

Congratulation Kim and thank you to everyone who left such kind comments!!!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Tea & Sweet Shoppe Card AND BBTB2 Blog Hop

Hello and happy Monday.  Welcome to my Tea and Sweet Shoppe!  This week's challenge cut at BBTB2 is the Genie Lamp from the Paper Doll Dress Up cartridge.  I ALMOST went with a cute oasis scene on my card but then I decided to take the road less traveled and add my lamp to a line of assorted teapots.

I have to tell you that I do not think I have ever used this many cartridges on a single card.  I used Paper Doll Dress Up, Just Because Cards, Sweet Treats, Tie the Knot, George, A Child's Year, Dreams Come True, Once Upon A Princess, and Cindy Loo.  Each of the teapots is from a different cartridge, as are the cakes. 

I like the store window effect I created by welding two shapes from George in Design Studio and then adding layers.  And of course I had to add pearls and gems to my sweets and shelving.  I used copic markers and my Ranger white gel pen to embellish the teapots, cups, and sweets.

I kept trying to find a way to add large flowers and ribbon, but the additions distracted from my main store window effect so I did not use them.    Instead, I finished the card by adding a swiss dot cardstock mat inside the card and cutting a "sweet" phrase with the Cindy Loo font.

I believe I mentioned a BBTB2 BLOG HOP!!  Yes it is our blog hop week.  I have some sweet blog candy up for grabs - just leave a message below and you will be in the drawing for a CUSTOM CROPS GIFT VOUCHER!!!  That's right!  Free shopping!!

After you leave your comment below and become a follower if you'd like, you should hope on over to the blog of the VERY TALENTED THERESA!  I cannot wait to see what Theresa made this week; she is such an amazing artist- quickly - go!!

Happy hopping!

We Have A Winner - And Life

Thank you to everyone who posted a comment and entered to win the Mother's Day Cartridge Blog Candy.  The winner is:

Gloria Westerman said...
"This does make me happy.....so adorable and creative.....I love it....would also love to win your need a home cartridge....I promise to give it a good home too.....lol thank for the chance...became a follower too..."

I am so happy that Gloria plans to give the cartridge a good home. LOLs

So onto LIFE - I must apologize for the Mother's Day card post that went half of the day with only photos.  I have been on vacation for the last week.  I had pre-scheduled all of the posts for both of my blogs during the time that I was away, but I obviously forgot to do more than add photos to that post.  Oops!

"My friend Kathy" and her wonderful husband and my wonderful husband and I have spent the last week in Las Vegas!  We did make a 16 hour day excursion to see the Grand Canyon - and it was indeed GRAND!!!  I am sure you will see some of the photos in up-coming scrap pages. 

Oh and while in Vegas Kathy and I each got married again - to George!!

I may be a bit slow getting back into my regular schedule, but I will try to complete the BBTB2 project this week.

Bee Happy with the BBTB2 BLOG HOP and BLOG CANDY

Don't worry, Bee happy - it's a Bitten By the Bug 2 Monday with the April Blog Hop!!  How great is that?   The Monday Blog Hop is enough to chase away all of your Monday blues.  If you are following the blog hop you probably arrived here from Margie's blog, if not, you may want to start the at the beginning of the Blog Hop at BBTB2 (after you read my post and register for my great blog candy, of course!). 

This week's challenge cut is the Bee from the Sentimentals cartridge.  I made a sweet little yellow and black bee, with a yellow and green shadow cut.  I matted the bee with pop dots onto a label cut also from Sentimentals.  I trimmed the label with flowers because the bee must have been searching for pollen.  Silly Bee.

I added more ribbon and flowers to the bottom of portion of the card and topped the ribbon with the phrase Bee happy.  There is also a sneaky little bee hiding behind the ribbon. 

Did I mention that there would be blog candy??? Oh indeed there IS blog candy.  I have a new, unopened Mother's Day mini cartridge in need of a home!  I will be drawing a winner on Saturday from the comments on this blog post.  So before you hop along, be sure to leave a comment!!!!

So, you have read the post? Yes.  You have left a comment below? Yes.  Okay then, that means it is time for you to hop along to the next stop on the blog hop.  Your next stop is at the blog of the FABULOUS Heather.  I love Heather!  She is super person as well as a super wonderful paper crafter!!  Have a great visit at Heather's blog!!!  Thanks for stopping by!

Blog Candy/Give Away at My Sister Blog

I have a blog candy give away going on over at my sister blog, Busy with the Cricky Cake.  I created the cake blog for the release for the Cricut Cake machine.  I am loving my Cricut Cake and wanted to document my cake journey with interferring with my paper crafting.  

The give away is a drawing for two $25.00 gift vouchers from Custom Crops.  You must do two things to be eligible for the drawing:

1. Become a follower of Busy With The Cricky Cake; and
2. Leave a comment in the Give Away post at the Cake blog.

The drawing will be on Saturday and two lucky winners will can have mini shopping spree at Custom Crops, the first sponsor of the new blog. 

And The Winner IS:

The winner of the $20.00 Gift Certificate to SCRAP YOUR TRIP is Pat G who said:

patg said...

OK - that's beautiful...thoug well above my skill level, which I'd rather not go into :-(

March 29, 2010 6:14 PM

Congratulations Pat.  I will email your gift code to you so that you can play with your skill level (silly girl).

And thank you again to Julie Swatek at SCRAP YOUR TRIP for sponsoring my blog hop this week!!!