Rainy Day Friends with Paisley and Hello Kitty

Happy Monday!  It is a fun Bitten by the Bug 2 Monday where the featured cut of the week is this fun little wiener (Dachshund) dog from the Paisley cartridge.   Our sweet design team sister, Melissa, chose this cut and I am soooo pleased that she did.  What a great cut! 

I combined my wiener dog with a kitty, Hello Kitty actually, so that it could be “raining cats and dogs”.   I remembered this great April showers Hello Kitty and decided that Kitty would want to share her umbrella with this sweet pup.

The phrase Rain, Rain Go Away is from the Nursery Rhymes cartridge.  The NR cartridge is a truly sweet cartridge and one that I do not use nearly enough.  I used a Copic marker and colored in the raindrops on the words.

I used the shadow cuts on the Dachshund, Hello Kitty, and the Rain phrase, welded together, as the front of the card.  I welded the shadow cuts to a rounded corner rectangle from George and Basic shapes to create the card.   To add a bit of dimension I used pop dots on the dog parts.

If you have not already done so, please do go by the Bitten by the Bug 2 blog and check out the design team projects.  I was completely WOW’ed by some of the DT projects!!!

I am so happy to be home again!!

Traveling is always fun and seeing family is especially wonderful during the holiday season, but I must admit that I am sooo happy to be home again.  I truly can't decide who was happier to be back in our bed, Doug, me or Duncan the pomeranian!  Duncan went to bed when we arrived home and did not move for fourteen hours.  And then he just moved to his bed after a brief stop outside!!

The laundry has been caught up, the gifts are put away, and I have actually spent a few hours in my scraproom.  But, I cannot share THAT project yet.   So, I am sharing last of my 2010 family calendar, created with Cricut's Hello Kitty and Designer's Calendar cartridges.  The photos above and below are, of course, November.  Special dates in November include Nov. 6, Aaron's birthday, Nov. 23 and my 29ty anniversary.  And like the other eleven months, I used extra family photos to fill in the blank spaces at the beginning and end of the calendar.

And finally the month of December.  December had two special dates:  Dec. 6th, Ian's birthday and Dec. 25th.  I used a small Christmas tree cut out between December 24th and 25th to accent Christmas.

The full page view includes photos of my children on Christmas morning 2009. 

This calendar used up so many leftover photos from throughout the years - I had such fun making it.  I think if I do another I will probably use the circle grid only.  I alternated circles and squares on this calendar, but over all I liked the look of the circles better.

Hello Kitty BBTB2

Happy Bitten by the Bug 2 Monday!  Such a fun week is in store for all of us!  Of course with Thursday being Thanksgiving Day here in the U.S. this is already a special week!  But on top of that, today is BBTB2 with HELLO KITTY (you KNOW I ADORE Kitty!), tomorrow is the first day of the Kickin' Off Christmas Blog Hop as well as my 29th wedding anniversary(!), Wednesday is day 2 of the KOC Blog Hop, Thursday is Thanksgiving and I will share the details of my North Pole house, and Friday is BLACK FRIDAY!   I think MFK (my friend Kathy) and I are planning a Walmart run!!! And of course in the midst of our crafting fun I will be preparing the traditional big meal as well as a finger food buffet for Wednesday night.  Whew! Busy week.

The challenge cut this week at BBTB2 is Hello Kitty in her elf/Santa outfit (HK19).  This cut was selected by my sweet Design Team sister and team leader Heather, who probably doesn't even know about my love for Hello Kitty. I decided to take the HK project a bit further, because I always find inspiration when Kitty is involved.

I started with a basic box from the Tags, Bags, Boxes and More and Cricut Design Studio.  I chose the 12 x 24 inch virtual cutting mat and placed the box onto the mat at 9-1/4 inches tall by 17-1/3 inches wide.  I decided that I wanted to place the Christmas tree next to Kitty, so placed the outline on the mat at 5-1/4 inches tall by 4 inches wide.  I then placed the tree center cut into the front section of the box.  I did NOT select weld.  This way when I cut the page the shape of the inside of the tree and tree stand only cut out.  I glued a square of acetate over the inside of the opening.  The tree outline, star and package pieces were cut on the same mat.

A word about the cardstock I used to create this box:  The cardstack was purchased through Darcie's when I attended a stamping expo.  However, you can order their large printed cardstock on-line.  ( I would have added the link but as of Sunday evening as I type this post their site is down).  The cardstock measures 18 x 12 inches and is a wonderful weight for boxes and cards cut on the Cricut.  Also their printed cardstock comes in a variety of prints - seasonals, birthday prints, manly prints, fun prints, plaids, etc.

Page two of the cut file uses a regular 12 x 12 cutting mat.  On this mat I placed the HK19 Hello Kitty card cut at 3.5 inches tall.  All of my Hello Kitty pieces were cut with the Cricut set at 3.5 inches. I cut Kitty in white smooth cardstock, her outline in black and her clothing in metallic green and red.  After assembling the card front, I applied glue to the white portions of Kitty's body and covered them with white papersoft, creating the illusion of "fur".  I then attached Kitty to the base card and affixed them to the front of the box.  This assures that the TO/FROM tag will stay on the box.

The last piece of the box ensemble is the Merry Christmas to You tag hanging from the bow.  I used my set of JustRite Christmas stamps and scalloped punches to create the tag.  I then attached it to the ribbon and bow at the top of the package.

My daughter saw the box on my scrapping desk and told me that she hopes to see the box under our tree with her name in the "TO:" area.  I think there is a very good chance that she will get her request!!!

I will see you back here tomorrow for the Kickin' Off Christmas blog hop!  The goal of the blog hop is to use Amy Chomas products and SP and Company products.

One last note, please remember that you can vote for Capadia's (Diane) entry in the Creative Memories contest once every 24 four hours.  Please click HERE to go vote today and go back and vote again tomorrow!!!  Diane is a true delight and has done so much for sooo many in the paper crafting community.  I would love to see her win this contest and the cruise.

Hello Kitty Thanksgiving Layout Revisit

It's time for a look back at my favorite Thanksgiving project from 2009.  I really loved this Hello Kitty Happy Thanksgiving layout!  Kitty as a Pilgrim - Kitty as a Native American... Kitty's Thanksgiving feast!  How fun!

 I created this project for Custom Crops and it is still available for free through their on-line store.  There is an article that contains complete cutting and assembly instructions, materials needed and the CUT FILE (!!) - again all for free.

You will need four Cricut cartridges to create this layout - Hello Kitty Greetings, Paper Doll Dress Up, Plantin Schoolbook, and Opposite Attract.  Follow this link to Custom Crops for all of the details.

2010 Calendar - September and October

This is a quick post to bring you up to date on my 2010 12 x 24 inch calendar.  I was lax in the last month and forgot to share the September pages (gasp).  September featured Hello Kitty in her cheerleader uniform as she too must be a football fan.  Kitty was so happy to see college football again!  Though in deference to my husband I did not put her in Michigan State Green and White.  Though had I known back in January when I made this calendar that my MSU Spartans would currently be sitting a 6 - 0 I would have changed the color scheme and she would SO be wearing a MSU outfit!! So much for my psychic abilities.....

Oh in my school spirit excitement I forgot to mention the photos (oops!).  The photos were taken four years ago and are my daughter with my husband and I each separately.  Note the matching jackets.  Thank you Coldwater Creek for designing clothes that we will both wear.

I have to tell you that October turned out to be one of my favorite of the calendar months.  I love the papers and I LOVE Hello Kitty in her Halloween costume.  She is so darned cute as a ... Kitty!  Oh what a sense of humor she has.  Though you know, I am not sure that Kitty has noticed that spider sneaking down off of the 31 to frighten her!

The background paper on the upper page is from a Basic Grey Halloween line.  The photos are old leftover photos.  One of the best parts of this calendar is that I was able to use a plethora of photos that were in storage drawers.  I had scrapped the events depicted in these photos, but as with most scrapping projects, I had leftovers.  I place the leftover photos in storage drawers and this project helped me empty some space in the drawers.

Here are some re-cap photos for those who may have miss the calendar pages thus far this year:

 

I will be back tomorrow with a new project to share.  See you then.......

What is the date?

I just realized that I have forgotten to share the last two months of my 12 x 24 wall calendar.  For those who may not know what I am referring to, I created a large Hello Kitty themed wall calendar for my kitchen using Hello Kitty Greetings and Create a Calendar cartridges.  I have enjoyed this calendar so much this year that I truly feel it was worth the 25 hours I have in creating it.

The top photo is, obviously, the month of July.  It features photo of my husband and his siblings at a family picnic last year.  Doug is the on the far left in the photos.

The page below is August.  It features our family at Disney World and has a water theme.  Note the Nemo photo in front.  I love the little floating Kitties at the bottom of the page.

So that is July and August.  But I would like for you to notice MFK's b-day is August 22!  My friend Peggy's bday is also in August, the 14th.  Lots of cake and ice cream opportunities for August!

As I get back into the swing of scrapping I will have to begin working on Christmas cards.  I know that sounds crazy in August, but last year I was on a schedule where I made six Christmas cards each month.  It was so nice to have all of my cards all made by December.  This year is going to be a bit more rushed, but perhaps if I begin soon I can manage to spread out the work.

Twin Graduation Cards Using Cindy Loo and Hello Kitty

I had to make graduation cards for a set of twins this week.  That was a challenge.  I used Cindy Loo, Hello Kitty (though the cards are Kittyless - GASP!), Hello Kitty Font, and Just Because Cards.  Have you seen the frame feature on Cindy Loo.  Oh my goodness, they are adorable.  I went with a simple flower trimmed frame as I need to pop the cards into the mail.  But WOW - such choices.

I really like that the cartridge has the layer cuts for the frames.  That made me very happy because normally I have to use Design Studio and McGyver the extra pieces. 

I used the diploma cut from Hello Kitty Greetings to fill the frame on the front of the card.  After I photographed the cards I added each of the girls' first initials to the teal seal on her card.  I thought that might personalize the cards a bit.

Inside the cards I added a yellow matting and the word Congrats, cut from the Hello Kitty Font cartridge.  I also added a little flower to the lower right corner of each card. 

I am a few days late making the cards so I had to rush them into the mail.  The twins are fabulous girls and both are so excited to be off to college this fall.  And yes, they are going to the same college!! 

Hello Kitty Travel Mug with Video

I found this travel mug at my local Hobby Lobby and just knew that I had to have it.  Wanting to use it for work TOMORROW, I decided to use my Cricut and Hello Kitty cartridge and create an insert.  I made a video of the process - and that was the good news.  The bad news was the video was twice as long as it was allowed to be. So yes, I did A LOT of cutting. I hope it still makes sense.

One other note before you view the video, please forgive Duncan the Wonder Dog... He is barking in the first minute of the video because he can see the children across the street and he LOVES to play with them.

My Hello Kitty 2010 Wall Calendar

I am embarrassed that it is Thursday and I have not posted a single thing all week!  For shame!  I did add a two part cake post to Busy with the Cricky Cake on Tuesday and Wednesday but I have neglected my paper crafting entirely.  That being said, I realized that I never shared my 2010 calendar that I made (in other words, I looked through the "not yet posted projects" and picked one)!!!

I made this 12 x 24 inch wall calendar back in January for a Cricut contest.  Need I add that I did not win?  Well, I did not win the contest prize; I did win by having a lovely, personalized calendar for my kitchen!  Nice, huh?  The calendar was designed in Design Studio using two cartridges, Designer's Calendar and Hello Kitty.  Each month features a cute Hello Kitty scene that for the most part coordinates with the month.  The May calendar (above) features Kitty with flowers, because of "May flowers".

Above you can see the January, February and March pages.  And the April page is below - April Showers.  I liked both the square and circle monthly templates on Designer Calendar, so instead of picking one, I alternated the design.  Also, I made the boxes/cirlces 1.5 inches each so that I could use paper punches to cut the photos I planned to insert into the calendar. 

One of the big advantages of the calendar, other than being stinkin' cute(!) is I was able to use about 80 of the photos I had leftover from scrapping projects (whether due to repeats, or lack of space, or whatever).  We all have a stash of unused photos (don't we?) and this allowed me to use a great many of those.  I placed photos into the empty spaces at the beginning and end of each month, and also used photos to designate birthdays, Mother's Day, Father's Day, anniversaries, etc.  I probably will do another calendar next year so that I can use more of the leftover photos!

April Showers for Hello Kitty

Happy Monday!  It is a BBTB2 Monday and we have seven new Design Team members!!  Have you already been by the BBTB2 blog and checked out all of the amazing cards and layouts???  WOW, WOW, WOW!

This week's challenge cut is the little three flower card on the From My Kitchen cartridge.  I used the flower card and added two folds to each side, inserting it through the foundation card (a recipe card from FMK) so that it creates a panoramic card. 

I used HELLO KITTY to create the center section of my card, matted on a label from Sentimentals.   Kitty has her umbrella out because we are still having April Showers. The tag at the top of the card says April Showers, as if we had any doubts.  But what happens when we get April showers?  Yes!  May flowers!  See the three cute little button flowers growing in the rain?

 

And because I might want to actually add a note and sign this card, I made Kitty into a card.  The Hello Kitty section is the only part of this card that opens.  Cute, huh?

 Please do click the BBTB2 link in my left column if you have not already been by there today.  Also please leave a comment so that our new DT members will feel welcome and loved (they are ALL awesome designers). 

And finally, if you have not already visited my new sister blog, Busy with the Cricky Cake, please click the link in right column.  I am having so much fun with the Cricut Cake machine and I am enjoying sharing my adventures.

I will be back tomorrow with a new project for you.

Hello Kitty Cupcake Wraps with Cut File and Instructions

Have you been by Custom Crops this week?  They are having a sale, which started today AND, as they do every week, they released the designers' new projects last Monday.  I have new a Hello Kitty Cupcake Wrappers project, complete with the cut file and instructions.

The wrappers are much easier to make than you would imagine and they look adorable on the Wilton cupcake tower rack.  I also shared a great recipe for "from scratch" chocolate cupcakes.  And Kitty looks awesome holding pink frosted chocolate cupcakes! 

Click the Custom Crops blinkie in the upper left column of my blog to go directly to my page at Custom Crops.

New Projects/Free Cut Files Posted at Custom Crops

Have you been by Custom Crops yet today? I had four new designs, complete with cut files and instructions post this morning. Just follow the blinkie to the left and you see the full projects for yourself.

I will admit that my favorite of today's four projects is my Hello Kitty Halloween card. Kitty is so adorable in her black cat costume!

Also new today are a cute Pooh Bear Christmas card, the layout Play Time - made completely with A Child's Year cartridge, and Home of the Free layout - made completely with the Stand and Salute cartridge.

Doll Dress Up, A Child's Year, Pooh, Stand and Salute,

When you visit the projects please be sure to leave a comment!!!

Thanks!