Cooking With Cricut Surprise "Thank You" Blog Hop

Welcome to Cooking With Cricut’s very special SURPRISE “Thank You” Blog Hop. Why is it so special? There are a couple of reasons! The first reason -- it is our 100th Cooking With Cricut challenge and the second (and most important) is to thank our wonderful leader and “Executive Chef” Melinda Beltran.

Melin started the Cooking With Cricut challenges in October 2010 to encourage crafters to find new and different ways to use their Cricut cartridges. And she has accomplished that and so much more! She has given scores of crafters a place on her Design Teams which quickly turned into a sisterhood of women, who care for each other; who encourage each other; who lift each other and their families up in prayer; and who have shared their hearts and their art through many outreach projects.
So this is our SURPRISE “Thank You” tribute to our beloved Melin! If you came from Larelyn's Blog, you’re in the right place! If you’ve joined us in mid-hop and would like to start at the beginning, please head back to Cooking With Cricut – you won’t want to miss any of these awesome cards!!

The challenge this week is to do a Thank You card using Black, White, and Kraft.  My card has a black base with a kraft mat. And then it is topped with a white mat that has been embossed with the Swiss Dots folder and inked in gold.  

The black and white labels are cut and embossed from Spellbinders dies.  I then inked them with the same gold ink.  The striped paper is from Recollections.  The chair was cut from the Cricut Sentimentals cartridge.  I embossed the back and seat of the chair with a Cuttlebug folder.  I then inked it with black ink.The edges of the chair were inked with gold.  I added three gems from Prima and a sheer ribbon and bow from my stash. 

I am so excited for Melin and the success she has had in the paper crafting world.  She has truly been an inspiration to so many people in so many ways.  

A big Congratulations and Thank You Melin.  You are the best!!  

Thanks so much for hopping with us. We hope you’ll join us and leave your own “thank you” in the comment section for Melin at CWC! Now it’s time to head on over to Jamie's Blog – she’s the next stop on this party train! 

Taste of Summer Blog Hop

Hello, and welcome to Day 2 of the Cooking With Cricut Taste of Summer Blog Hop!  If you arrived here from sweet Melin's blog, then you are in the right place.  If you just happened by, please go back to the beginning of our hop at Cooking With Cricut.  Also, if you missed the hop yesterday, you will want to check it out as feel.  There are so many yummy projects.

My very favorite thing about summer, (other than school being out), is the food.  I just love all of the fresh fruit and vegetables.  I could eat a tomato sandwich every day in the summer and not get tired of it.  Silver Queen corn is to die for and it just would not be summer without fried okra.

But when it comes to summer fruit, it is the peaches that excite me the most.  I just love eating fresh peaches and anything made with them.  Peach pie, peach cobbler, and peach ice-cream are oh so yummy.  So, today I am sharing my peach project with you.

This is an A-2 card.  The base of the card is Kraft and the mat is a yellow checked paper from Recollections.  The pie is cut from the Cricut cartridge SMILEY CARDS.  After cutting out the pie ,I did a little inking to the crust.  I embossed the peached filling with the Divine Swirls Cuttlebug folder and then gave it a little inking as well.

The peaches are cut from the JUST BECAUSE cartridge.  They got a little inking to them to bring out the beautiful colors of the papers.  I added a few flourishes to the card that came from the dollar bin at JoAnn's. The sentiment is from Scrappy Mom's Stamps.  And the card is finished with a little circle ribbon bow.  I think this card could be used for any number of occasions.

I am so glad you chose to drop by today and visit the Cooking With Cricut Taste of Summer blog hop.  Now it is time for you to hop on over to Hattie's Blog and see what she has cooked up for you.  Thank you so much for dropping by.  I hope you will visit again soon.

Back to School We Go

Well, as of late, I have been living in a kindergarten classroom.  Well, not really, but I feel like I have.  I have been going to school VERY early in the morning and working there until I can do it no more.  then the cycle starts all overt the next day.  I have been doing this for over 30 years.  The beginning of school starts with lots of work before the beginning.

One of my projects yesterday was to get the bulletin board in the hall, outside of my classroom done.  And I am so glad to have this opportunity to also share it with all my friends over at My Sheri Crafts.  The challenge this week is BACK TO SCHOOL.  So my project is a literal Back to School project.  It is my hall bulletin board.

I just love decorating bulletin boards.  This one was so much fun to make.  I cut the tree out of colored butcher paper and created the coconuts by stuffing paper lunch sacks with newspaper.  I just shaped them to look like coconuts.  Then I added a pretty tropical bird to the tree.

The sentiment, Boom Chicka Boom was cut using the Plantim Schoolhouse cartridge.  I also cut a bunch of circles from the George and Basic Shapes cartridge.  I glued the polka dots to the letters.  The bulletin board fort a lot of embellishment.  I added Tiki lights and trim to the top pf the board. Some big orange summer flowers were added next.  And a few felt flowers were added around the sentiment.  

And then I completed the board with a couple of pretty pink polka dot bows in the top corners.

Now, I hope you will hope on over to My Sheri Crafts to see the beautiful projects done by our Design Team.  They are so amazing, that you will want to go back to school!!  LOL!!

Thank you for dropping by as I get ready for a year school year.  I will meet the children and their parents Monday morning.  It will be so much fun!  

I Feel The Love A Project for Sweet Olivia

Hello and welcome!  It is a month and that means it is time for a new I Feel The Love project.  This project was started and the brain child of one of the Design Team members of Cooking With Cricut.  Our very own Madison of Funky Cards, works so hard to help others through this wonderful project.  And we at Cooking With Cricut join in the project each month with a challenge.

The challenge is to make a project of encouragement for one of the sweetest little girls ever.  Her name is Olivia.

I used papers from the Just Dreamy stack from My Mind's Eye for this card.  I love these papers because they are so happy and full of glitter!  I cut the two labels from the Cricut STORYBOOK cartridge.  I used Colorbox chalk ink around the edges of the labels.  Olivia's name was cut from the ELEGANT CAKES cartridge.  Using my Gypsy, I selected the letters of her name and then welded them together before cutting.  I thought the strip of paper with all the words describing a little girl was just so appropriate for the front of this card.  I want Olivia to know just how special everyone thinks she is.  And to embellish the card, I added three little chipboard glittered flowers to it.

I continued the same theme throughout the inside of the card using the same papers as I used on the front.  The sentiment "You're The Best was cut from the MARTHA STEWART ELEGANT CAKE  cartridge.  And I added another little chipboard glitter flower.  These chipboard flowers are from the $1.00 bin at JoAnn's and are by Studio 112.

Here is a little information about Olivia.

 Olivia lost her mother to cancer a year ago.  She was only 8 years old at the time.  And even though she had suffered such a tremendous loss at such an early age, she founded the Kids Involved In Colon Cancer Research.  This group works to raise awareness and money for the colon and lung cancer research.   

You can read more about Olivia and the I Feel The Love Project HERE

Please join in the challenge this week at  Cooking With Cricut.  While you are there, take a look at all the wonderful projects from our design team.  Remember to also link your project up over at Madison's I Feel The Love Project. 

Encouragement For a Friend

A sweet friend and fellow teacher at my school has not had her best summer vacation this year.  She found out shortly after school was out that she had cancer.  She had surgery to remove the tumor and this week will finish up her treatment.  Thank goodness it was small and caught early.

Next week our faculty reports back to school for the new school year.  I know that my sweet friend has other things on her mind.  And though she will join us to begin the new year, her heart and mind are torn.  So I wanted to send her a little card of encouragement.  We are a close faculty and staff and all look out for one another.  She knows this, but it is always nice to get a little reminder that someone is thinking of you.  Here is my card.

This is an A2 card.  The papers I used are from Recollections and a little Botanical 6 x 6 stack I got at Hobby Lobby this past spring.  The flower I cut from the Cricut cartridge Flower Shoppe.  I just love this cartridge.  It has so many possibilities.  I used a Recollections brad to attach the flower to the card.  

I added a little green braid trim that I have had in my stash.  I just thought it would add some needed texture.  I used a stamp from K Andrew Designs for the sentiment and then tied a pretty sheer green bow to the card.  Inking was done with ColorBox  chalk in shades of brown and tan. 

I added this little encouragement verse to the inside of the card.  It too is from K Andrew Design.

Thank you so much for dropping by.  I hope you will be back to visit soon.

Challenges

Mojo Monday   sketch

Back and Forth

Hello everyone!  I hope you have all had a great week!  It is time for another challenge at My Sheri Crafts. The challenge is called "Back and Forth" because we want to see an accordion fold somewhere on your project.   It can be a strip, fan rosette, etc.  Just surprise us with your creativity and talent.  I made a card that includes two rosettes.  But first, I must confess that I am terrible making rosettes.  When I start to put them together, I seem to get in a fight with the paper and it often wins!  I need to take a class on making them.

The base of the card is made with Kraft paper.  All other paper used is from My Mind's Eye.  The two rosettes are topped with red buttons that have been threaded with red and white twine.  The sentiment is a stamp from the Just Rite Birthday Sentiments Set 1 &  5/8" diameter.  I stamped the sentiment on white card stock and then cut it with a Spellbinders Classic Scalloped Circle Small die.  I used a little tan ink around the edges of the scallops/   It sits on top of red scalloped circle that has been inked with gold. and that is sitting on a beautiful label that is from the Spellbinder Fancy Tag Three Set.  This tag is one of my favorite cuts because it can be used in so many ways and always looks great!

I finished the card with a few little gold ball gems and a pretty crinkle ribbon and bow.   I know just the person who will be receiving this card!!

Please came and join the challenge at  My Sheri Crafts.  There you will see all the beautiful projects by our Design Team.  And they have some wonderful inspiration for you!  

I'm so glad you dropped by for a visit.  I hope to see you back real soon!

BFF Bingo

These week the challenge at Cooking With Cricut is all about out Best Friends Forever.  The challenge is going to be so fun for everyone because it involves using the following BINGO CARD to create the project.

I made a card for my dear friend who has been my friend since before either of us even remember.  We met in the nursery at church many many years ago.  I went to her house for dinner last week.  We had so much fun because another friend from college was in town. so we spent the night talking away!  I 'm sending this card to my dear friend as a thank you for a wonderful  evening and delicious dinner.

While I used several of the items on the Bingo card, my Bingo consist of the items on the bottom of the card.  The stamp I used on the card is from Pink By Design.  I used Memento "rich cocoa" for the stamp.   The stamp is also framed with a cut and embossed label from the Spellbinders Lacey Doily Accent Set. Is this not just the perfect sentiment for this card! 

 I used a lighter shade of tan ink on the cup of coffee and a bronze ink on the hearts.  The cup of coffee is a cut from the Cricut cartridge LOVE YOU A LATTE.  The coffee cup tops a rectangle mat that has a border created with a MS border punch.  

The little hears I hand cut.  I wanted them to be of different sizes and shapes.  They are cut from a scrap of paper from a K&Company stack.  The ecru paper is Recollections and all other papers are from the My Mind's Eye stack, Where The Heart Is.  It is a little hard to tell from the photos, but the blue papers on the card are all glittered papers and just beautiful.  My dear friend's favorite color is blue, so I know that she will love this card.  

I hope that you will join us this week in our BFF BINGO challenge.  Just link your project up over at Cooking With Cricut.  And while you are there, check out all the wonderful inspiration from the design team.

Challenges

Mojo Monday   Sketch