Paper flowers to bring in spring...

I joined the May challenge on the Cricut Community message board again this month. The theme is Cricut cut flowers and we have taken on the name Bloomin Bugs. Amy a fellow team member came up with a wonderful signature for this month. Flowers and sparkles, what could be better to head into the spring months. I was getting so weary of winter this year. Bring on the flowers even if they are just made of pretty paper. Well when I sat down to start this project two weeks ago I really couldn't decide what I wanted to do. When you think of Cricut cartridges and flowers it really brings up a vast amount of choices to choose from. For mothers day my daughters brought me over baskets of flowers so I thought that just may be a good base idea to build on. The flowers were cut using the Wedding and Walk in my garden carts. I chalked the edges, ran them through the Cuddlebug and layered them using bronze brads and pop dots. All the green foliage was cut with Storybook. My pot was done making two cuts using WIMG then cross cutting them, chalking the edges and weaving the pieces into a basket. Lattice was from the cart with the endless possibilities, Wildcard. I find that cart has so much on it that can be used for details in layouts. Of course my favorite butterfly comes from Indie (the small ones are from Pooh). I was in the dollar store this week and found a great deal on chipboard journaling pieces, 36 in each box. Most of the time the colors they offer are to bright but a little distressing and they are perfect. So the chipboard journaling piece completes my project. I haven't found the picture I want to use for this project yet but I'm sure before the summer is over it will be filled.

Pretty in pink...

This past Sunday I spent some quality crafting time with my youngest grand daughter Zoe. Our chosen project was a tee shirt and matching ball cap, in pink of course! I keep a stash of iron on rhinestones and fabric paints on hand so we can decorate shirts, jeans, hats or purses when the mood strikes. It's a joy to craft with the kids and find I am always amazed at how much I love them and what great little people they are becoming as they get older. Some of my fondest memories from when I was a child were of doing things with my "gram". I want to leave my grand kids the same memory legacy that my beloved grandmother left me. Family is the most important part of our lives, to love and be loved by them is the ultimate gift.

Saving scraps, to toss or not to toss that is the question...

Do you ever save too many bits and pieces of scrap paper or elements you save? I find if it has an interesting shape, texture or color I tend to save it. Sometimes the piece looks totally useless and I still tuck it in the drawer for future possibilities, ah the curse of a pack rat. But then again whenever someone needs something, a bit of this or a piece of that who do they ask? Why the pack rat of course, and I produce the needed item from a drawer or shelf with a bit of a smug smile on my face. Mind you never saying aloud "see I told you it would come in handy" but just handing it over with a renewed conviction that being a pack rat is not always a bad thing. This is a layout of my daughter when she was about three. I started with a piece of pink polka-dot paper and than proceeded to dig through my scrap leftovers drawers. The green in the corner is a left over piece of cardstock I used to punch out my flower leaves for various flowers I have made in the past. I had punched every usable inch of it and was going to toss it out but changed my mind and stashed it back in the drawer. Looking at it reminded me of a quilt pattern so I used my Zig pen and applied stitch line around all the cutout areas. I added a few flowers to give the piece a splash of color it needed. All the remaining pieces in this layout are scraps from my stash, the only new cut item was the title (I used Cursive 101 & Home Decor). I finished "stitching" everything to tie it all together. Moral of this story is "Waste not, want not" (or never throw away something you may use sometime, somewhere in someones lifetime, LOL).

The Graphics Fairy...

I want to extend a gigantic thank you to the The Graphics Fairy. Every morning I make my coffee and sit down for ten minutes or so at my computer. I check some of my favorite web sites, the The Graphics Fairy being the first one I open. It’s like opening a treasure chest of vintage graphics. Each day there is a new post added. Karen’s collection includes something for everyone even if you are not a vintage enthusiast as I am. That brings me to my post today. Karen's post for April 26th was this adorable little girl all dressed in pink and it made me think of my daughters baby pictures when she was about three. Needless to say it became the starting point for my layout. The paper I used is from the Prima Nursery Tales collection I had shown in an earlier post. It really is beautiful quality weight paper. The harlequin print almost looks like glittery patent leather. The pink is pearlized and I love the bunny and little girl print, it almost reminds me of Alice in Wonderland. The photo I scanned and converted to a light septa tones then colorized with the paint brush tool. I choose to just color the gingham on her dress, her pink cheeks and blue eyes. I gave it just enough color to tie in with my pink theme. The flowers are from the same Nursery Tales collection. The title is done with a stamp set from Creative Imaginations called Sonnets. I used Cats eye chalk covered with Diamond dust on vellum. Adding a bit of ribbon and lace, rhinestones and sparkle here and there and my ‘Baby Girl’ was complete. Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.