Spotlight Sunday

Welcome to Spotlight Sunday!

Today we will be spotlighting one of Fantabulous Cricut’s newest designers.

Let me introduce to you to Suzanne from Cricut Craftin Grammy.

Before we show you some of Suzanne’s incredible creations we thought you would like to get to know her a little better. We asked her a few crafty questions.

1. When did you start scrapbooking/paper crafting? Why?

I started scrapbooking over 25 years ago when my daughters were born. At that time I used a lot of stickers, tracing stencils, and fancy scissors. When the girls went away to college I really didn't scrap anymore until 3 years ago when I bought my first Cricut Expression. Now I scrapbook for my three granddaughters.

2. What is your favorite type of project to make (i.e. cards, LO, mini-albums, etc.)?

I love making everything but scrapbooking is probably my favorite. I like the larger space to work with.

3. What is your favorite product to use on your projects?

Besides paper Stickles, ink and chalk.

4. What is your favorite Cricut cartridge?

That is a tough one. Probably A Child's Year and Lacey Labels. Favorite font cartridge is Storybook.

5. What do you do in your spare time, when you are not paper crafting?

Spend time with my 3 amazing granddaughters 18 months, 9 months and 2 weeks. I also love to read. To be honest when I am not paper crafting I spend a lot of time on blogs, the Cricut message board and looking at scrap and Cricut magazines. Then there is always craft shopping too.

Any other info you would like us to know about you:

I retired from teaching school after 33 years just over a year ago. Now, besides crafting, I take care of my middle grandchild full time during the week. I am thrilled to be a new member of the FCCB Design Team and to be working with so many wonderful creative ladies.

Here are a few things that you will find on Suzanne’s blog:

We are so excited that Suzanne is now part of the FCCB team! Make sure you visit Suzanne’s blog to discover all the wonderful things she has to share with you.

Thank you for stopping by today. Come back tomorrow for a new Challenge Me Monday challenge. It’s going to be a fun one!

Happy Crafting!

Saundra

FCCB Spotlight Sunday Hostess

Scrappin' Saturday- Watermelon theme!

Welcome to another Scrappin' Saturday!! Challenge Me Monday challenged you this week to use a watermelon or another fruit on a project. I bet we all have some cute photos of someone in our family enjoying some summer watermelon!! This is the first summer my son has like watermelon, I am looking forward to scrapping some fun photos!! So for some inspiration for us all I have found some great pages for you!!

The first is from Mel at Doxie Mel Designs-

Mel has used Simple Charmed and Plantin SchoolBook for the border and welded seeds from Preserves-How clever!!

The next page is by Carrie Ann from Carrie Ann's Creation-

Carrie Ann has used Doodlecharms to add some embellishments to this cute page!!

Have fun creating some cute fruit themed pages this week!!

Evanna x

Fantabulous Friday -- Preserves

Happy Friday Everyone!! I am so glad it's Friday, but of course, I always am :) This weekend I actually have lunch plans with some friends. We've been talking about getting together all summer and we finally are. We have been friends since our first-born kids were 1 year old--now they are starting high school in 3 weeks--Unbelievable!!    I hope you all have some fun plans too.

Today, I thought I would highlight the Preserves Cartridge since our them this week is Melon Time. I just love this cartridge and have made quite a few things with it! And another thing I love is that it has matching Cuttlebug Companion Folders! So much fun :)

The creative features on this cartridge are:

Layer, Word, Card, Label, Lid and Tag

Here's a card I made using one of the Cuttlebug folders. I really love how well the embossing shows! And the layering is so easy to do with this cartridge.

Even this grape cut was not hard to layer. It is very clear how to assemble the cuts.

Here's a cut with the lid button.  If you can/jar things, this is the button to make a cute lid.  I don't do that, but this could also work on a scrap page or card even!

This cut is the label feature.  I love this one, I left the top curve without adhesive and I think I could fit a gift card in there!  (the stickles were still a bit wet when I took this picture)

Now this is my favorite!  It's the tag feature and I used this cute red dotted paper for the flower and tag topper.  All these were cut from the Peach button.  I think I'll need to use this cartridge for tags this year!

I just had to show you two more cards I had made.  This first one I embossed and used an Action Wobble on it.  And I just love this Imaginisce paper too.

This cherry card was the very 1st one I made with Preserves.  I love the color combo on this one!

Notice that I did not show you a watermelon.  I think we, as a design team, covered that pretty well on Monday--LOL!  My card on Monday was from Preserves already :)

Now that you've seen all these fruit/melon ideas, make your own project (use a Cricut cut!) and enter it before the end of the day Sunday for your chance to win this week!

Have a Fantabulous weekend :)

Thursday's Tutorial: Melon Cards

Good Morning Fantabulous Friends! Happy Thursday to you. I hope this week has been a fun one for you. It's been one crazy thing after another for me. Doctor's appointment, eye doctor's appointment, fell down at doctor's appointment and threw myself into a horrible flare. My knees are bruised, twisted one of 'em and cut and bled through my favorite leggings. :p Now, doc insists I have carpal tunnel syndrome (hmm... wonder why that would be? Did I mention I was online til around 2 last night? :p) and I have to go back for testing and X-Rays on my shoulder! Eesh! I would so much have rather stayed home in bed yesterday and worked on all my crafting, but NO... had to venture out in the world and see what happens? LOL That's why my craft room is my haven!

Now I know this all had absolutely nothing to do with today's tutorials, but I figured I'd share a little about my week with you anyways. I hope you all don't mind. In the future, if you want to skip my ramblings and go straight to the tutorial, feel free to do so. :0)

For today I decided to stick with our theme of the week "Melons"! Well not only did I find one cute tutorial on making a melon card, I found two that I want to share with you today. I just couldn't choose so without further ado here they are!

The first one comes to us from the amazingly talented Momo - Made by Momo. She has a ton of great video tutorials on her blog so be sure to check them out! This is just one of many, but I thought it was perfect for this week's theme.

The next video is another adorable melon card brought to us by Sarah - Pink Cricut. I'm sure you all know who both of these ladies are, but please stop by their blogs and tell them we sent you. You'll find some great things while you're there!

Well there you have it folks! Another fun Thursday's Tutorial session. I hope you enjoyed these videos and picked up some inspiration. You still have time to enter our challenge! Don't forget, we love to hear from you so please leave your comments and suggestions.

XO ~ Amy JoFCCB Coordinator

Wednesday Winners #69

Hi Fantabulous Cricut followers, I hope you are enjoying your summer and if you're anything like me (recently) you have been enjoying all the sweets that come with summer! I never liked sweet things until my Fibromyalgia hit.  Suddenly I developed a very annoying sweet tooth, but I actually used to hate chocolate!  Can you believe it?  Now I love chocolate and sweet treats, especially ice cream!  After checking out all of the "I Scream for Ice Cream" projects from last week's challenge, I'm really craving some ice cream tonight! (Not to mention, I took a peek at the new Schwan's catalog.) ;0)  Not the greatest idea when you're trying not to gain a ton! To see all of last week's awesome entries click HERE.

~This Weeks Winner - Also One of the Top 5~

(Randomly Picked)

Quirky Quotes Stamp Set from  Scrappy Moms Stamps

#68 Karen - Kaleidoscopic Sparkles

Congratulations Karen!!!

To claim your prize please contact Marlene at...
hearts0314 @ msn . com (remove spaces)

You have two weeks to claim your prize. 

Remember to grab your "FCCB Winner" blinky to display on your blog! You can find the blinky code in the right-hand sidebar.  Also, Karen was chosen by our DT as one of the top 5 so Karen, be sure to pick up both blinkies!!!

~Design Team Top 5 (4 below)~

#39 Charlotte - A Little Bit of Detail

#22 Karen - Crafted With Love

#15 Heather - House Built of Cards

#56 Lisa - Beyond Beauty

Congratulations Ladies!!!

Remember to grab your "FCCB Top 5" blinky to display on your blog! You can find the blinky code on our right-hand sidebar.

Thank you to all those who participated in our challenge!

Come join us for this weeks "Melon Time" challenge - Here.

Create a project with a melon or another sort of fruit.

XO ~ Amy Jo

Quick Tip Tuesday: Cutting Cardstock on Your Cricut

Hello Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Friends! My name is Sabrina Goldberg and I am hosting this week's Quick Tip Tuesday. I am also one of the new FCCB Design Team members and I am thrilled to be a part of this fantabulous blog!

I am very excited to be contributing to Quick Tip Tuesday, because I love learning tips and tricks from fellow crafty friends, and I also love passing on what I have learned.

Recently, while at my local scrapbook store, I learned a new tip from the owner of the store, Helene. Helene shared that through her Cricut contacts, she was told that one of the better cardstocks to use on your Cricut is American Crafts cardstock. I have some American Crafts cardstock, so I tried it out to see what I thought about it, since I typically use my AC cardstock for the base of my scrapbook pages. My first observation is that the AC cardstock is a solid color all the way through. I do like having a solid color sometimes (instead of the white core) because for certain cuts that are more complex and have a lot of pieces, the white showing through doesn't look as clean.

I went ahead and cut the same image with three kinds of cardstock, one being AC and the other two miscellaneous white core cardstocks. I did a regular cut and then a shadow cut. The cartridge is Joys of the Season. Here are the images of both:

AC cardstock:

Here is an upclose picture:

The AC cardstock looks very clean. There are no white pieces showing through since it's the solid color all the way through the thickness of the paper.



Other white core cardstock:

Here is an upclose picture:

The other white core cardstocks show bits of the white against the color.

In observing the machine as it was cutting, I did not see any differences between the AC cardstock and the other white core cardstocks. I do like the clean look of the solid color cardstock.

I tend to use whatever cardstock I have on hand that will work for my color scheme. When using white core cardstock, I sometimes ink the edges of the entire cut image or parts of the image if too much white shows through, or if a bit of the paper has torn.

I have been successful in using lots of different types of cardstock, but maybe next time you have a chance, try the AC cardstock, or any other solid color cardstock, and see what you think. I would love to hear your thoughts!

And one more little tip on cutting cardstock I found on http://www.obsessedwithscrapbooking.com/, came from a post back in 2008, that Joy found on the Cricut message board from Angie Duran. Angie describes the best speed, blade depth, and pressure for different papers.

Paper & speeds:

Thin paper speed - 1
blade depth - 3
pressure - 3

Cardstock speed - 1
blade depth - 3
pressure - 3 or 4

Thick Cardstock speed - 1
blade depth - 3 or 4
pressure - 4 or 5

I hope you enjoyed my first Quick Tip Tuesday! Thank you for stopping by!

Happy Crafting!

Sabrina :-)

Challenge Me Monday #70

Melon always seems to be such a hit at summer picnics and gatherings. It's always such a delight to stop at roadside vendors to get the freshest of summer fruits and vegetables.

#70 - Melon Time
Create a project with a melon (or another sort of fruit)

~ Design Team Inspiration ~

(Do you see lots of new names? Welcome to our new design team members!)

This Week's Guest Designer (and a new FCCB designer!)

Carissa

(To see Carissa's Spotlight Sunday post, click HERE.)

A Child's Year, Cindy Loo, Gypsy Wanderings, Cuttin' Up cartridges

Barb
CM Cheerful Seasons cartridge

Dana
Stretch Your Imagination cartridge

Helen
Preserves cartridge

Jenae
Life's a Beach, Gypsy Wanderings, Pooh and Friends cartridges

Jessica
Nifty Fifties cartridge

Lisa
Simply Charmed cartridge

Maquel
Just Because Cards cartridge

Robin
Doodlecharms, Everyday Paper Dolls cartridges

Sabrina
Gypsy Wanderings

Sarah
Block Party cartridge

~This Week's Sponsor~

(Click the Blinkie to go to the Pink By Design website.)

This week, Candace from Scrappin' 2 Little Princesses has generously donated a $10 gift certificate to Pink By Design. Also, Candace will be offering another giveaway on her own blog this week!

To link your project for this week's "Melon Time" challenge, click on the blue "add your link" button below!

This challenge ends at Midnight, July 31st (mountain time).

Spotlight Sunday

Welcome to Spotlight Sunday!Today we have a “fantabulously” talented lady from and tomorrow’s Challenge Me Monday Guest Designer! (and now a new design team member :)Let me introduce to you to Carissa from Happily Ever Paper Crafter.

You may recognize this project from Challenge Me Monday challenge #67 Pool Time.

Carissa was one of our Top 5 picks for this challenge.

Before we show you some of Carissa’s other incredible creations we thought you would like to get to know her a little better. We asked her a few crafty questions.

1. When did you start scrapbooking/paper crafting? Why?

I have been a crafter all my life in some form or another. I started “paper” crafting in 2004 when I went to my first Stampin Up party. I was soo hooked on those stamps and ink. After that I couldn’t stop buying stuff. I live 5 minutes from Hobby Lobby and all that paper and embellishments just found their way home! I got my Cricut Expression this past Christmas from my mom. I got hooked all over again and haven’t stopped cutting since!

2. What is your favorite type of project to make?

I love making cards, mini-albums and altered home décor projects the most. I am always trying to keep up with cards to send out and gifts to give.

3. What is your favorite product to use on your projects?

I have learned that good quality paper can really make a project shine. And to make it sparkle, well you have to add bling. I love rhinestone bling and use it in almost all my projects!

4. What is your favorite Cricut cartridge?

Hardest question ever! My top 3 are A Child’s Year, Paper Lace, and Create a Critter. Ask me tomorrow and it might be different!

5. What do you do in your spare time, when you are not paper crafting?

I have two great jobs when I’m not crafting. I am a mother of two adorable kiddos, a boy and girl. They keep me very busy! I also work as a medical nurse at a big hospital downtown. I have worked there for over 8 years and I still love it! I work with the best nurses ever!

6. Any other info you would like us to know about you.

I love using my Gypsy to alter cuts and images to fit just what I need. I don’t know what I would ever do without it!

I would like to thank my family; my mother, my husband, my kiddos, and my siblings, who are all very supportive of my crafting OBSESSION! They support my blog and are always asking “Whatcha working on now?” Love you guys!

Here are a few things that you will find on Carissa’s blog:

Make sure you visit Carissa’s blog to discover all the wonderful things she has to share with you.

Guest designers are chosen from our Winners and Top 5 picks. If you would like to be a guest designer all you have to do is play along in our Challenge Me Monday challenges! You never know when you could be asked.

We also use “Spotlight Sunday” to feature sponsors from time to time. If you are interested in being a Sponsor for Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog and being featured on “Spotlight Sunday,” please contact us via the Contact Me tab.

Now come back tomorrow to see what our Fantabulous Design Team along with Carissa, our guest designer and new design team member, has designed for you for Challenge Me Monday. I can tell you now, you will not be disappointed!

Happy Crafting!

Saundra

FCCB Spotlight Sunday Hostess