Anything Goes at Go Fish!

This week's challenge at Go Fish Challenge Blog is anything goes! Create any project you'd like and submit it for a chance to win a Darice embossing folder!

For today's anything goes challenge I created an exploding box using my good ol' Peachy Keen Stamps.

The snowmen are cut from the Stretch Your Imagination at 3" and the snowflakes are cut at 2" from the Winter Lace cartridge. The actual exploding box is cut from the Artiste cartridge to fit a 12 x 12 piece of scrapbook paper. I embellished the snowflakes with Stickles and also added some ribbon, pearls, and bling to give their bases some flair.

Hope to see you join us in this week's challenge!

Oh Christmas Tree Blog Hop

Welcome to the Oh Christmas Tree Blog Hop, brought to you by the design teams of Made Especially For You and Red Carpet Studio!

Today the design teams of Made Especially For You and Red Carpet Studio have teamed up to share with you all sorts of Christmas tree projects to help you get ready for the Christmas season!

 If you're looking to start at the beginning of the hop,
 you're in the right place! 

For today's hop, I made a Christmas tree with rosettes! I saw this idea on the Cricut website about a month or so ago and thought it would be really cool to try. I'm really happy with the way it turned out!

The tree is about 6 inches tall and a perfect accent to my crafting table! The rosettes were made using the Artiste cartridge and Recollections paper from the Jolly Jamboree paper pack. The star topper is a star-shaped wood piece that I painted red and sealed with red glitter. :) In between each of the rosettes are wood circles that I hot glued together to make mini stands. The directions originally said to use empty ribbon spools, but I didn't have enough of those so I decided to make my own bases with wood pieces. The bottom of the tree is an empty ribbon spool, though. 

You can find the directions for this project: HERE.

We have some wonderful sponsors giving away prizes to those who comment on every stop of the hop!

Paper Piecings by Nikki
$15 Gift Certificate

SK Digis

$6 worth of digital stamps

Participants have through Sunday evening to hop. The winners of the blog candy will be announced on Made Especially For You on Tuesday December 18th. Please make sure to leave your contact information when commenting to be eligible to win!

Your next stop is Tonya's blog. Here's the complete lineup in case you get lost along the way:

Ashley - http://especiallymade.blogspot.com
Tonya - http://scrappingfunwithtonya.blogspot.com/
Cyndy - http://arcyscraps.blogspot.com
Tara - http://craftindesertdivas.blogspot.com/
Kristy - http://scraptasticalkreations.blogspot.com
Beverly - http://creationsofmykind.blogspot.com/
Robin - http://www.thecricutscrapper.blogspot.com
Candice - http://stampinpearls.blogspot.com/
Pam - http://scrappinfabpam.blogspot.com
Sandra - http://crea-sandra.blogspot.com/
Eileen - http://scrappingactuary.blogspot.com
Dawn - http://dawnsworldnz.blogspot.com/
Anneliese - http://queen-of-the-crop.blogspot.com/

Laura - http://scrappinaroundtheclock.blogspot.ca

Jessica - http://craftinandstampin.blogspot.com

Happy Hopping!

600 Follower Giveaway WINNER!

Before I announce the winner of my 600 Follower Giveaway I'd like to sent out a HUGE thanks to all of those who have found interest in my blog and became a follower from the very beginning, and to all those who became followers to support my blog and giveaway. Made Especially For You wouldn't exist without you!

Drum roll, please.....

The winner of all these crafty goodies is....

#19 - CraftyGirl!

She said "Just became a follower good luck you are almost there."

Congratulations! I will be emailing you so you can claim your prize! If I don't hear back from you within one week, another winner will be chosen.

Thanks again to all that participated! Now it's time to start planning a bigger and better giveaway for when I reach 700 followers! Yikes!

Birthday Cake Shaped Card!

Before I get to the project I created today... I'd like to announce that this is my 300th post! How crazy is that?! I can't believe I've done this 300 times already... that's just so surreal. To celebrate my 300th post, I made a birthday cake shaped card (hitting a monumental amount of posts is sort of like having a birthday... right? :) for this week's Peachy Keen Stamps Challenge! The challenge this week is called "Shape It Up!" and is to create a shaped card. My favorite!

I won a spot in the top three in the last Peachy challenge I entered, so I'm super excited to enter this one! Here's what I made:

This cute little cake was cut using the Simply Charmed cartridge at 4.75" and of course I used my Peachy Keen Stamps! Here's a complete list of the supplies used to make the card:

- Cricut Expression w/Simply Charmed cartridge
- PK-493 Every Day Face Parts Stamp Set
- PK-573 Paper Doll Faces Stamp Set
- Pink, yellow, blue, green, and white colored cardstock from Recollections
- Polka dot paper from the DCWV Dots, Stripes, & Plaids stack
- Cuttlebug w/Divine Swirl and Polka Dot embossing folders
- Glam Pink Stickles
- Star Dust Stickles

Thanks so much for stopping by! Make sure to check out the PKS Challenge Blog for more inspiration for this week's challenge, the design team has some gorgeous cards!

Go Fish Christmas Challenge!

As much as I know I'll regret saying this give or take a few weeks... I just love making Christmas cards! This is my favorite time of year and I love having the opportunity to use all my fun Christmas-themed embellishments and cartridges that I anxiously wait to use all year. I've been making Christmas cards like crazy lately and know that it will burn off soon and I'll be anxious to create other projects... but until then I'm enjoying it while it lasts!

I didn't own the Create a Critter cartridge last Christmas, but when I got it this past spring I knew I just had to make a card using the adorable reindeer! I thought this week's anything goes Christmas challenge at the Go Fish Challenge Blog was the perfect opportunity. :)

The card is 4.5" by 6" and created with Kraft card stock, patterned and solid colored paper from Recollections, pop dots, and Stickles (Christmas Red, Green, and Frosted Lace). The 'Happy Holidays' sentiment is one I picked up last year at Hobby Lobby and the accent its on is cut from the Elegant Edges cartridge. I love the added sparkle from the Stickles!

I've also entered this card in this week's Inspired By Stamping Inspiration Challenge. The challenge is to create a project using red/green/white as the main colors, inspired by this gorgeous photo: 

Time for me to go finish up some more Christmas cards!

Don't forget to join us in this week's challenge! :)

Christmas Cards 2012: Part One

The Christmas card factory in my craft room has opened for the season! LOL, I've been cranking out Christmas cards like crazy lately, and can't wait to share them all with you! I've decided to create a series of posts showcasing the different sets of cards I've been working on, rather than making a giant post filled with everything I've made. 

Today I'd like to share with you a set of 30 Christmas cards I made for my mom to send out to her friends and our family. I didn't want to make 30 of the exact same card, so I made 3 different cards in sets of 10. They're all the same size and shape, they just have different designs on the front. I tried to keep it simple, but I have such a hard time keeping things clean and simple! It truly is a challenge for me. 

Anyways... I'm not as pleased with the cards as I'd like to be, but overall I think they came out nice and are definitely very cheerful. The cards measure about 5" by 6.25" and all papers are from the "Bright Christmas" paper stack by Recollections.

Card #1

The stocking on this card is cut from Art Philosophy at 3" and the green and blue accents were cut from Elegant Edges. The 'Joy!' stamp is from the $1 bin at Michael's and is super cute!

Card #2

The tree is cut from Stretch Your Imagination at 4" and hand decorated using hole punches and ribbon from my stash. The 'Merry Christmas' stamp is from a Studio G pack and the accent pieces were cut from Art Philosophy.

Card #3

The ornament was cut from Art Philosophy at 3.5" and the background accent was cut from Elegant Edges. The 'Happy Holidays' sentiment is also from the $1 bin at Michael's and the background is from Art Philosophy as well.

Inside of each of the cards

The stamp on the inside of the cards is from the same clear stamp set from Studio G as the 'Merry Christmas' sentiment used on Card #2. I left plenty of room for writing and my personal stamp is on the back of every card. :)

How are your Christmas cards coming along? I'd love to see them! 

Leave a link and I'll make sure to stop by. :)

Sunshine Blogger Award

I'm very excited to announce that I am a proud recipient of the Sunshine Blogger Award! Thanks so much, Sandra, for passing it on to me - you're so sweet! :)

Here are the rules for the Sunshine Award:

1. Include the award logo in your post (check!)

2. Thank the blogger who gave it to you and link back to them (done!)

3.) Answer 10 questions about yourself that you have come up with (see below!)

4. Nominate up to 10 bloggers and let them know (on my way!)

1. When did you start crafting?
I started "seriously" crafting about a year and a half ago... but I have always been a crafter in some way, shape, or form. When I was kid my favorite thing to make was giant cards made out of poster boards for my friends' birthdays!

2. What's your favorite color?
Maroon :)

3. What's one fun fact about yourself?
I can't wink my right eye... only my left one. Oh, and I can't whistle.

4. What is your occupation?
I currently work two part-time library jobs but am studying to become an elementary school teacher.

5. What's your favorite food?
That's a tough one... anything salty/sweet!

6. Do you have any pets?
I have one dog named Cody, he's a soft-coated wheaten terrier and such a sweetheart.

7. What's your favorite part about blogging?
Being able to share the projects I've made with other crafters and being inspired by all the gorgeous work I see. :)

8. What are your favorite items to craft with?
Oooh! Anything sparkly... and my Cricut of course! 

9. What do you like to do when you're not crafting?
I love to read, and baking is fun, too!

10. Have any obsessions?
Paper, paper, and more paper!

Now to pass this award on to 10 fabulous bloggers....

Stacy from Vampire Craftin - For designing my awesome blog layout!

Tonya from Scrapping Fun with Tonya - For always being so helpful! 

Beckie from Just B Creative Crazy - For helping kick off the Made Especially For You challenges!

And as a whole... I would like to pass this award on to all of my design team members... Even though I'm so sad our challenges are coming to an end, I am so, so, grateful to have had the opportunity to work with and get to know everyone! They are such a fabulous team and their creations each week leave me in awe because of how gorgeous they always are! Not to toot my own horn or anything - but they're one of the most talented design teams I've ever seen!

Cyndy from Arcy Scraps

Eileen from The Scrapping Actuary

Jessica from Craftin' and Stampin'

Kristy from Scraptastical Kreations

Laura from Scrappin' Around the Clock

Pam from Scrappin' Fab Pam

Robin from The Cricut Scrapper

A big thanks to each and every one of you!