Would You Ever Guess Wednesday

Hi everyone! It's been awhile since I've signed up for a Would You Ever Guess Wednesday challenge over at My Cricut Craft Room - even though it's probably only been a month, it feels like forever! These are one of my favorite "challenges" because they allow you to think creatively about different ways to use a cartridge WITHOUT using the main die cuts that are shown on the back of the cartridge box. This WYEGW project has got to be one of my favorites so far... you'll see why in a second. :)

The most recent addition to my cartridge collection is Elegant Edges, and I absolutely love it! I don't have many cartridges because I'm on a tight crafting budget and only purchase cartridges I know will spend more time in the machine than on my shelf. :) Just by looking at this card I would never guess that Elegant Edges was the only cartridge used to make it!

I love this card because it's simple yet elegant at the same time. It's also a smaller card (4" by 4") and normally I stick with making larger cards cause I like to have room to rearrange and to not have to work with super tiny die cuts to make them fit on the card. I bet you're wondering what Elegant Edges was used for though, right? :) 

The butterflies were cut from the Elegant Edges cartridge using one of the butterfly frames. Rather than using the frame (that would be too obvious) I decided to use the punched out butterflies from the frame instead! I cut out 3 of them and then embossed them with polka dots and distressed the edges a bit before applying them to the card with a pop dot. 

Thanks so much for stopping by! Make sure to check out My Cricut Craft Room to see what other inspiring WYEGW projects the design team has created for you. :)

Ashley 

Fun In The Sun Beach Blog Hop Winners!

Thanks so much to all those who participated in our Fun In The Sun Beach Blog Hop this past weekend! 

Here are the winners from the hop:

As Cute As A Button

$25 Gift Certificate

WINNER: VALERIE 

Paper Piecings by Nikki

$15 Gift Certificate

WINNER: PAPER RIBBONS

Scraptastical Kreations

$20 Gift Certificate

WINNER: SYLVIA

The Stamping Boutique

3 images of the winner's choice

WINNER: SUSAN MARTIN

Please email Ashley at especiallymadeblog@gmail.com no later than Saturday July 21st to claim your prize.

Thanks again to all our hoppers! See you during next month's hop! :)

Three Color Challenge

This week's "especially three" challenge here at Made Especially For You is all about using three colors. All you have to do is create a card using three colors (white or black may be used as an accent color) for a chance to win a stamp set of your choice from our sponsor, Verve Stamps! 

I decided to keep it simple for this week's challenge and only use three colors without using white or black as an accent color. The colors I chose to use were red, black, and white, and what better image to go with this color combo than a lady bug?! Or in my case.. a love bug. :)

The adorable little love bug is cut from the Create a Critter cartridge at 2.75" I believe - I can never seem to remember what sizes my images are cut at since I always cut so many, I should really start making note! I used basic red, black, and white cardstock along with a bit of patterned paper from a Recollections paper pad. The ribbon is from my stash and I stamped the 'Love' sentiment in black ink and distressed the border a bit in red, although it's hard to tell in the picture but adds a nice touch when it can be seen properly. Not sure where the brads and the flower came from but they were in my stash as well. :)

If you like Made Especially For You's challenges you may also like the challenges of my new challenge blog, Red Carpet Studio. We're looking for creative and enthusiastic cardmakers and scrapbookers to join our team!

Sorry to keep it short and sweet today, I've had to draft a LOT of posts these past few days and I think my fingers are about to fall off. Have a wonderful week!

Ashley

V's Sweet Ideas 'Celebrate' Challenge

It's a special week at V's Sweet Ideas! It's Vanessa's birthday week! In honor of her birthday, we're having a special "let's celebrate" challenge starting this week. 

I made a fun, celebratory birthday card for this week's special challenge. I used some fun patterned paper from Recollections along with my Cricut and Cuttlebug to make the card.

The cake is cut from the Stretch Your Imagination cartridge and I embossed the middle with the D'vine Swirl embossing folder using my cuttlebug. For an extra touch I added glitter to the candle flames and also the cake plate. 

Come help us celebrate V's birthday! :)

Ashley

GoFish! Christmas in July Challenge

Looking for the Fun In The Sun Beach Blog Hop? 

Please click here.

It's Christmas over at the GoFish Challenge Blog! This week's challenge is all about creating a Christmas in July project. I chose to make a card for this challenge - what a surprise :) - seeing as cards are my specialty and even though the year is going by super fast, I still felt it was a little early to be making Christmas decorations. A card on the other hand.. that, I can handle. :)

My favorite part about this card is most definitely the Christmas tree. The tree and it's shadow were cut from the Stretch Your Imagination cartridge, but rather than using the layers from the cartridge to embellish the tree... I decorated it myself! Using scraps from the background paper (which is from the All Seasons Recollections paper pad) I used a hole punch to cut the ornaments cut little pieces of ribbon to use as garland. I added some gold glitter to the star and before I knew it my tree was decorated! I actually really love the way it turned out and am considering doing something similar for the holiday cards I'm going to be making for my coworkers later this year. :) The sentiment is sort of hard to read in the picture but it's actually fairly clear in person. It was my first time stamping the sentiment directly onto the card and I had to give it a try.

Stop by the GoFish Challenge Blog to see what other Christmasy creations the design team has made for you to help you get inspired to enter the challenge!

Ashley

Do You Speak Cricut Saturday Hoot 'n' Holler

Looking for the Fun In The Sun Beach Blog Hop? 
Please click here.

Happy Saturday everyone, Karen from Simply Frenzied here for our weekly 

"Do You Speak Cricut Saturday".

My feature cartridge selection is the Cricut Lite "Hoot 'n' Holler."

I honestly have to say that I have not used this cartridge until preparing for this post on Thursday.
I found it to be a fun cartridge to use, with lots of adorable owls to use on your projects.

Lets take a closer look at all the images included.

I was pleasantly surprised to see many different owls and phrases to use.

Birthday, Valentines, Easter, Party and Christmas.

Many possibilities with this cartridge.

Retails for approximately $39.99

Works with all Cricut Machines

Includes Layer feature

Like all Cricut Lite Cartridges - Quick and Easy!

Just use the Tri-booklet and follow the row across, left to right.

I love the quirkiness of this cartridge

and

I really enjoyed creating two projects to share with you.

PROJECT ONE

used <GuessHoo> with all layers - 4 papers

used <Owl18> with all layers - 3 papers

I added some doodle lines, layered all pieces together.
Finish with bakers twine, tiny tag and adhesive jewels.

PROJECT TWO

used <FowlLaLa> with all layers - 4 papers

used <Owl4 with all layers - 3 papers

I added some doodle lines, layer all pieces together.
Finished with green ribbon, circle punches and red adhesive jewels.

Thank you for stopping by today and joining me for "Do You Speak Cricut Saturday".

Catch the Frenzy! - Karen

Fun In The Sun Beach Blog Hop!

Welcome to the Fun In The Sun Beach Blog Hop, brought to you by the fabulous design teams of Made Especially For You and Digi Haven! 

These two design teams have joined together to create some fun in the sun beach-themed projects! Inspired by the concept of the Digi Haven challenge blog, all of our creations we have for you today were made using free digis! 

If you just came across the hop and would like to start at the beginning, you're in the right place! :)

For my fun in the sun card, I found this adorable swimmer girl here from ScrapHappy Paper Crafter. They've got some awesome free digis!

I used some fun, summer-themed paper from an Echo Park paper pad (I can't remember the name of it off the top of my head - sorry!) and added a seashell die cut from the Create a Critter cartridge as a fun accent on the card. The 'Splash' sentiment is also from the Create a Critter cartridge - I love using cartridge phrases as sentiments when I can! I added some white rhinestones to the shell and green rhinestones on the digi and there you have it! :)

This card is also serving as my design team creation for this week's Fun In The Sun Digi Haven challenge! All you have to do is find a free summer-themed digi to use on your card and you can enter the challenge. :)

We have some wonderful sponsors giving away prizes for those who comment on each stop of the hop! Let's see what they have to offer...

As Cute As A Button

$25 Gift Certificate

Paper Piecings by Nikki

$15 Gift Certificate

Scraptastical Kreations

$20 Gift Certificate

The Stamping Boutique

3 images of the winner's choice

You must comment on every stop of the hop to be eligible to win a prize. Hoppers have through Sunday July 15th to comment. Winners will be randomly chosen and announced on Made Especially For You on Tuesday July 17th. 

Your next stop is Denise's blog.

Here's the entire lineup in case you get lost along the way:

Ashley - http://especiallymade.blogspot.com

Denise - http://www.scrappycardsbyd.blogspot.com/

Karen - http://simplyfrenzied-karen.blogspot.com/

Eileen - http://www.scrappingactuary.blogspot.com/

Krista - http://kristadesign.nl/

Cyndy - http://arcyscraps.blogspot.com/

Tammy - http://tampatha.wordpress.com/

Robin - http://www.thecricutscrapper.blogspot.com/

Candice - http://stampinpearls.blogspot.com/

Kristy - http://scraptasticalkreations.blogspot.com/

Dana - http://iwycd.blogspot.com/

Susie - http://www.susiecrafthappy.com/

Sandy - http://sandyscraftycreations.blogspot.com/

Pam - http://scrappinfabpam.blogspot.com/

Sandra - http://crea-sandra.blogspot.com/

Laura - http://scrappinaroundtheclock.blogspot.ca/

Jeannie - http://dragonflyjourneys.blogspot.com/

And don't forget about Made Especially For You's 7 Days of Facebook Giveaways happening now through July 16th! Each day of this week (July 9 - July 16) one randomly chosen Facebook fan per day will win a prize IF they post on our wall telling us their favorite part about Made Especially For You. Click here for more information.

Happy Hopping! :)