Wednesday's Winners #16

WOW! Thank you to everyone who participated in Challenge #16: Independence Day! Your projects were truly uinque, inspiring and just beautiful! What a way to honor such a great holiday! We had such a difficult time choosing from all the many wonderful creations...

Remember to click on each winner's name to read more about their project.

The winner of the Indepence Day challenge is........#5 "GiGi"!Congratulations GiGi! You've won a Cricut Independence Day cartridge from Memory Miser!!!
Please contact us HERE to claim your cartridge!
You have two weeks to claim your prize. If anyone knows the winner(s) of our challenge this week, please let them know they won at FCCB!

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

And now, for the Design Team Top 3: #13 "Lillie"

#1 "flowerdisco"

#2 "Kim"

Congratulations ladies! Don't forget to grab your "FCCB Top 3" blinky to display on your blog! You can find the blinky code in our right-hand sidebar.

Thank you again to all who participated! We really enjoyed all of your fabulous creations! :)

Quick Tip Tuesday: Ink Sponge Storage

Welcome to Quick Tip Tuesday here at FCCB!

If you like inking/distressing your Cricut cuts, you're going to love this tip! I have been using this method of storing/organizing the sponges I use to apply ink for about a year now, and I love it!!!

I found the tip HERE, and she found the tip somewhere else...not sure who to give credit to, but whoever you are, THANK YOU!

Here's how to use this organization/storage method:

1. Keep a separate sponge for each ink color you own. I use the round CTMH sponges, and cut each one into eight wedges. You could also use those foam make-up applicator sponges.

2. Clip a small binder clip onto each sponge/wedge. The clip not only helps keep your fingers clean(er), but this is where you add the name of the ink.

3. Use a label maker and print the name of each color in the smallest size font available. Abbreviate if necessary. Trim off excess label around the printed name and apply to top of binder clip.

Ta-da! How easy is that? I never confuse sponges anymore and I don't have to continuously wash them out to re-use them!

Hope you enjoyed this Quick Tip!
Happy Cricuting! :)

Challenge Me Monday #17

Hello Fantabulous followers! Before we get to this weeks challenge, I'd like to introduce you to our FCCB design team...many you already know, and some are brand NEW Design Team members here at FCCB!

Click on their names and check out their blogs!

NEW Design Team Members:
Angji P
Jamie
Kate
Leigh
Melinda
Michelle
Sherri

Returning DT members:
Angi B (Sr. DT)
Brenda
Candace (Sr. DT)
Joyce
Lori (Sr. DT)
Penny (Sr. DT)
Robin (FCCB Creator)
Sharon
Valerie (Sr. DT)

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And now for this week's challenge:
*NOTE: Due to "technical difficulties", any project for this week's challenge entered prior to Monday (July 5th) at midnight may have been accidentally deleted. Please re-enter your project. So sorry for the inconvenience!!!

Challenge #17: "Creepy Crawlers" w/ Orange!

Make a project using any type of bug AND use the color orange somewhere on your project.

*As always, there does need to be a Cricut cut somewhere on your project. It does not have to be the item listed in the theme, though the theme does need to be incorporated as well.

Here are this week's Design Team projects:

Angi B
Cricut Lite-Live Simply


Angji P
Everyday Paper Dolls


Brenda
Create a Critter, Cursive 101, Tags Bags Boxes & More


Candace
Tie The Knot, Mini Monsters, Winnie The Pooh Font


Joyce
Tags, Bags Boxes & More


Kate
Walk In My Garden


Leigh
Create a Critter, Disney Pooh and Friends


Lori
Create a Critter


Melinda
New Arrival


Michelle
Tags Bags Boxes & More, Mini Monsters, Spiderweb Cuttlebug Folder


Penny
Create a Critter, Disney Winnie The Pooh Font


Robin
Create a Critter


Sharon
Create a Critter


Sherri
Walk In My Garden, Create a Critter


Valerie
Create a Critter

WOW! Awesome inspiration!

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We have THREE prizes for three winners this week!!!

Our amazing sponsors are:

Memory Miser

Summer In Paris Cricut Cartridge

Cooking With Cricut

$20 gift certificate

In A Scrap Creations

gift from In A Scrap Creations

Join us for this weeks challenge!

Scrappin' Saturday: Character Faces Instructional With Melinda Beltran & "Cooking With Cricut"!

Welcome to Scrappin' Saturday here at FCCB!

If you haven't already had the pleasure of seeing the FANTABULOUS pages made by Melinda over at "Cooking With Cricut" and "Page-Kits.com", then I am soooooooo very excited to introduce her to you today!  Check out her awesome pages and the amazing detail on the character faces:Melinda graciously offered to do a photo instructional on how she creates these faces and I am so excited to share it with you!!!

Click HERE to see the entire tutorial. Here are just a few highlights:

How super-cute is that face???
I also had the opportunity to ask Melinda a few questions and want to share her thoughts and ideas with you all today:

Q. Do you have any tips for paper piecing?
A. Patience, Patience, Patience.  It takes patience to put all the pieces together. But afterwards, the results are very satisfying. Also, I try to remind people that everyone sees and interprets what they see differently, so while you may have all the same pieces as ten others, it will inevitably take on that own personal handmade look. It is really amazing when I teach classes to see this unfold as the students create their piecings.

Q. Where did you learn how to do your character faces?
A. My faces have developed over time. They are a culmination of years of paper piecing.

Q. What is your favorite topic to scrapbook?
A. Anything girly! I love to create very girly projects. When I first started scrapbooking……MANY years ago, I scrapbooked my two boys, then along came my daughter (who is now 14) and then the girly faze hit! Anything with pink in it…lol!

Q. What is your most popluar type of page kit?
A. Christmas themed pages still seem to be the most popular. A close second would be summer and or beach/vacation themed kits. I think Christmas is always that most special, blessed time of year. That time when family and friends come together. I think scrappers want those memories to be on extra special pages, because they are extra special moments. Of course vacations/summer fun run a close second. People want to remember their “down” time in an extra special way as well!

Q. What do you want others to know about you and your hobby/work?
A. I feel extremely blessed to be able to have the opportunity to release my creative energy and produce kits and teach classes that inspire people to save their precious memories. I love to see students leave with a deep sense of accomplishment. By the time they finish one of my kits, they don’t feel like they put together a “store bought” kit, they feel like they completed and created their own work of art. And that is truly so rewarding to see. My motto is “Creativity is God’s gift to you, what you do with it, is your gift to Him.” I truly believe that we ALL have a level of creativity and inspiring others to release their creativity is truly a humbling and rewarding opportunity.

Thank you SO much to Melinda for sharing her amazing talent with us today...please hop over to her blog "Cooking With Cricut" and her online store, "Page-Kits.com" and let her know how wonderfully inspiring her work is!

Happy Scrappin'!!!

Fantabulous Friday #16

July has come so quickly, I cannot believe it! This Friday I wanted to share some embossing inspiration. Embossing wasn't really a technique that I had thought about using until I saw Kate's creations over at Small Bits of Paper.


Kate has also given us some really great tips when working with the Cuttlebug:
Don't be afraid to mix and match different designs within a project. Also, try embossing patterned paper for added texture and design. If using a lighter paper, find a scrap piece of cardstock and emboss the two together to prevent the paper from ripping. If a folder has a repeating pattern (such as Swiss Dots), a longer strip of paper can be embossed by running the first portion of the paper through the Cuttlebug and then lining up the last two or three rows of the embossed part with the un-embossed portion then in the embossing folder. Repeat as required! I also like to emboss smaller papers in larger patterned folders by selecting an area (i.e. a flower) and placing my smaller paper in that section of the folder. Finally, just before I run the folder through the machine, I always look through the top Cuttlebug mat to make sure my paper has not moved. I've learned that lesson the hard way!

Thank you, Kate for sharing with us.
Have a great weekend!-Valerie

Thursday's Tutorials #16

Happy Thursday Everyone!

Today's Tutorial is featuring the talented Christina.

You can see her wonderful projects on her website at

"Creations With Christina"

Christina has great tutorial videos on her blog.
Two of her videos caught my eye because they
feature the Cri-Kits gel pens that can be used with your Cricut machine.

To view her Cri-Kits Embossing tutorial video click here

To view her Cri-Kits Single Line Fonts and Scal2 tutorial click here

For more info on Cri-Kits for your Cricut machine click here

She has other amazing projects as well on her blog
so be sure to check her out.
Let her know that you found her here at Fantabulous Cricut.

I hope you enjoyed today's Thursday's Tutorial.

If you have an idea that you would like to share for
future Thursday's Tutorial features please email me at:
cokiepop@yahoo.com

Have a Creative Day!
Angi