Challenge Me Monday #102

Hello everyone and welcome to another Challenge Me Monday! It's March and as the saying goes it comes in like a lion and out like a lamb. To celebrate the beginning of March, we are making projects with a cat, lion, tiger, or any other type of cat.

#102 - In Like A Lion

Make a project with a cat, tiger, lion, etc.

When linking your project please remember to list on your blog what cricut cartidge you used.

Guest Designer

Lori

Create a Critter, Elegant Edges, and Doodlecharms cartridges

Design Team Inspiration

Amy

Mini Monsters cartridge

Beckie

Create a Critter cartridge

Cyndy

Life's A Party and Celebrations cartridges

Jamie

Animal Kingdom cartridge

Judy

Kate's ABC's cartridge

Karen

Create a Critter, Simply Charmed, and Winter Woodland cartridges

Kate

Zooballo cartridge

Megan

Kate's ABC's and Elegant Edges cartridges

Sheila

Nifty Fifties cartridge

Sherrie

Nate's ABC's cartridge

Sonya

Art Philosophy and A Child's First Year cartridges

Suzanne

Life's A Party cartridge

Tanya

Noah's ABC Animals and Life's a Beach cartridges

This Weeks Sponsor
My Creative Classroom

My Creative Classroom is an online arts and crafts learning center. Our interactive and in-depth courses are instructor led and filled with wonderful projects and techniques to help you get the most out of your supplies. This Spring MCC will be offering over 100 courses. From the Cricut to Primas, to mixed media and rubber stamping, to scrapbooking, sewing and more; we have something for everyone. Don't miss out on some wonderful classes starting now:

• Cricut: Wild Card
• NEW! All Abouts Pets
• The Ins and Outs of ATC's
• Art Journal, Hand Bound
• NEW! Cards that Pop
• NEW! Crazy for Acrylics
• NEW! Copics and Calligraphy
  

We are excited to be sponsoring the Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog. You can view our entire class list on our website at My Creative Classroom. You can also view classes on our Facebook Page too!
One lucky winner will receive a FREE SEAT to a class of their choice.....Good Luck!

To link your project for this week's "FCCB In LIke A Lion" challenge,
click on the blue "add your link" button below!

This challenge ends at Midnight, March 18th (Mountain Time).

As a courtesy to our design team, please consider turning off the word verification on your blog. With the new system, it has become quite difficult to leave comments for our FANTABULOUS followers.

I hope you are feeling inspired to join us and I can't wait to see what you create!

When linking your project please remember to list on your blog what cricut cartidge you used.

Spotlight Sunday

Welcome to Spotlight Sunday here at the FCCB! Thank you for coming, we always love seeing ya ;0)

This week's spotlight is on Lori of Got 2 B Crafting . She grabbed a DT top 5 pick with this cutie pie...

If you go hop around Lori's blog, you will find super craftiness like these...

Besides being so very talented, Lori is a great gal. Let's get to know her a lil better.

When did you start scrapbooking/paper crafting and why? 

My true obsession with papercrafting began about 2 years ago when I got my first Cricut Expression. I started looking on YouTube for some tutorials and it was then that I discovered the blogging world....and it has been a LOVE AFFAIR ever since! :) Crafting has been such a tremendous outlet for me, plus I love to be able to share my creations with my family and friends.

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

Although I originally purchased all my papercrafting supplies to scrapbook, I quickly fell in LOVE with cardmaking! I hate to admit it, but I still have not scrapbbooked one single picure of my girls. :( The thought of it is so overwhelming at this point, I don't even know where to start! (I will make those albums tho one day.) I also enjoy making home decor and party decorations.

What is your favorite product to use on your projects? 

Oh my goodness... there are so many fun things I like to use. I almost always use ink on my Cricut cuts; I think it adds a lot of dimension. Cuttlebug embossing folders are also fabulous... I love texure. And of course, a girls has got to have bling right??? I will usually use either stickles, I-Rock gems, and/or glitter. Plus I love twine!!

What is your favorite Cricut cartridge? 

Well, since I have used Create a Critter on my last 3 projects, I think I will have to say that one is my favorite. I also love Elegant Edges and Art Philosophy.

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

I love to spend time with my family! Our 2 youngest girls just joined softball teams this year, so it has been fun watching them practice. Their first games are this weekend!! We also enjoy riding our bikes, camping, swimming and just hanging out together.

Any other information you would like us to know about you? 

I am married to a very wonderful and supportive husband. We have 3 beautiful girls, a dog, a cat, and a fish. I am currently on the Joy's Life Design Team and I am enjoying every minute of it. I am so honored to be a part of this amazing team, it really is a dream come true. I love that I am able to share my creations with others who have the same passion as I do. Thank you so much FCCB for having me here today...and I can't wait to be guest designer on tomorrow's challenge.

Isn't Lori so much fun? Now be sure to hop over and see Got 2 B Crafting . Then be sure to come back tomorrow for Challenge Me Monday when Lori and the DT team-up and show you some stellar inspiration!

Be blessed, Beckie

Spotlight Sunday Hostess

Scrappin' Saturday - Celebrating the Irish

Happy Scrappin’ Saturday Everyone!!  I wanted to say ‘Thank You’ to everyone who came by last week for my first Scrappin’ Saturday post & a special 'Thank You' for those who left comments…it means a lot to me!!  I enjoyed reading the comments as well as visiting everyone’s blogs!!  I have to say that all of you ladies are talented individuals!!  I seriously spent my Saturday reading your posts & watching tutorials on your blogs!  :)

This week at Fantabulous Cricut we have been 'Celebrating the Irish'. We asked to see your projects using shamrocks or the color green….. 

#101 -Luck of the Irish

Make a project using a shamrock or the color green.

WOW!!!  Have you seen the projects already submitted?  They are awesome!!  If you haven’t submitted your project yet…you still have time!!  

There are so many great Irish & St Patrick’s Day projects out there.  While looking at several different blogs, I came across some Fantabulous projects!! Keeping with the Challenge theme, I wanted to take a couple minutes to showcase 2 awesome Irish & St. Patrick's Day themed projects....

Yvonne 

over at Ink-spirations made this fantastic project!  I love how she made the foam on the beer look so real!! Can you believe that is puffy paint & using a heating tool?!?! Such a great idea Yvonne!!  All the details are incredible; from the pot of gold, to the rhinestone on the shamrock, the shading on the beer glass to the vellum behind the holes in the beer glass.... Cheers!!

Nicole

over at Canadian Nickel Scrap'n made this incredible project!  All the details that she put into this card; from the colouring (which is so beautiful!!), to the shading, the punches, the stamps, the jewels, the great shapes & different colored paper adding so much texture....makes this easel card amazing!! 

Thanks to the talented Yvonne & Nicole for such great projects & allowing Fantabulous Cricut to showcase their projects!  Please stop by their blogs & see more of their great works of art!!

Hope you have a great weekend & are able to find some time to do some Scrappin’ this Saturday!   Thanks for stopping by!

Melissa

Fantabulous Friday - Saint Patrick's Day

Hi, everyone! My name is Faith Abigail; I have been a member of the Fantabulous Cricut Design Team for three months and I will now be the resident Fantabulous Friday girl!

Have you entered our Luck of the Irish Challenge, yet? The challenge is to create any project with a shamrock or the color green. If not, I have found some wonderful inspiration for you!

On the Paper Doll Dress Up cartridge, there is an adorable Leprecon and several accessories...including a shamrock and a cute little pot of gold.

On the same cartridge, you can also find a great shamrock border. Wouldn't this make a cute addition to a card or scrapbook layout?

The A Child's Year cartridge features several elegant silhouette cuts and a wonderful card feature.

Finally, the Celebrate with Flourish card offers a great pair of shamrocks and a cute title feature.

Now, on to some projects!

Anita from Scrapping with Glitter created this adorable card! I love the argyle pattern and the festive Mickey Mouse cut.

Jennifer from Creative Cricut Designs and More created this sweet and simple card. The cute expression adds so much to an otherwise simple shamrock.

Thank you for stopping by Fantabulous Friday! I hope you're feeling inspired!

Thursday Tutorial for FCCB-A Jar Full of Buttons

Hi Everyone! It's Holly here taking over our Thursday's Tutorials from the Fantabulous Suzanne. After reviewing Suzanne's previous Thursday Tutorial post's she written, I think I've got some big shoes to fill!

I'm excited to fill Suzanne's shoes and looking forward to searching through blog land to find some inspiring tutorial's for you weekly. I've been scrapbooking and paper crafting for over 8 years now but I'm always learning new things. There are so many amazing blogs and talented designers out there..... Love it!

So the other day, I saw this 3D Mason Jar tutorial posted at The Kraft Journal, the designer is Debbie from Simple Treasures.

You can check out Debbie's tutorial HERE.

When I saw this card, I swear I let out an "Oh My Gosh!"! I soooo loved it!

Lately, I've become a button hoarder. Really, I'm always picking up packs or jars of buttons. The next time your shopping through Ross, Tuesday Morning's or Marshall's go check out there stationary areas and you'll see what I mean by jars of buttons and other fun scrapping stuff. A crazy thing is though, I don't even know how to sew, I can barely sew on a button....Ack!

Did I mention I loved this card idea? LOL... I just had to give this tutorial a go and maybe use up a handful of buttons.

I used the Doodlecharms cartridge to cut my mason jar and stamped a sentiment from Pink By Design.

Please check out Debbie's tutorial so you can make a jar full of buttons yourself.

Hope you enjoyed my first Thursday Tutorial and don't forget to link up with FCCB, Luck of the Irish Challenge.

Holly

Wednesday Winners #100

Good Morning Fantabulous Friends,

First off I just wanted to say a quick "Thank You" to all of our wonderful friends here at FCCB for leaving such nice comments on our blog.  I just wanted to let you know that we truly do read and appreciate them very much!

I hope everyone had a chance to check out last week's Challenge Me Monday post because we said "goodbye" to some of our Design Team (DT) members (sadly).  I will personally miss the girls that I have been working with, some of them for multiple terms!  This group of women are truly fantabulous and I feel so incredibly blessed to have gotten to know them personally and am lucky to call them my friends.  Ladies, you will be greatly missed! :(

The flip side of all that, of course, is the addition of some truly amazing new DT members.  Some of these ladies you might have seen in our Top 5 picks.  They are brilliantly talented and I can't wait to start the new term with them and become not only teammates, but new friends as well.  Welcome, new DT members!  If you missed that post, I would highly suggest checking it out so you can meet our new members and say farewell to some of our amazingly talented, previous designers.  Of course there are several DT members that were able to stay on (including myself) and if you're not following their (our) personal blogs, please go back and click on their names to follow their blogs.  We'd hate for you to miss out on any of the brilliant talent here at FCCB!!! :0)  To check out all the awesome projects from the DT and of course, the challenge entries for our "FCCB Color Challenge" please click HERE.  This challenge was a milestone for FCCB.  It was our 100th challenge!!!  We are honored to have so many wonderful followers and participants!  Thanks for keeping us going and growing every day! :0)

We have a very generous sponsor this week, Simon Says Stamp!  They offered to sponsor a $25.00 gift certificate to our lucky winner today!  Shall we find out who won? ;)  And what about the Design Team's Top 5 Picks?  Should we check that out too?  Hmmm....well I guess that is the reason we are here today right?  LOL - Alright then!  On with the show!

~This Weeks Winner~
(chosen by random.org)
$25 gift certificate from Simon Says Stamp!

#6 Karen - Little Scrap Pieces

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 side bar.

~Design Team Top 5~

#1 Gwen - This and That by Gwen



#18 Jen L. - A Country Twinkle



#35 Shelly - My Paper Love


#48 Brenda - Brenda's Joy


#48 Naomi - Creative Bug

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 week's "Luck of the Irish" challenge - Here.

Use a shamrock (clover leaf) or the color green on your project.

(Be sure to use at least ONE Cricut cut on your project.)

XO ~ Amy Jo

Quick Tip Tuesday - Recondition Your Cricut Mat

Hello Fantabulous people, my name is Jamie and I am taking over as your Quick Tip Tuesday Inspiration gal. I am so excited to be doing this job and can't wait to start dishing out some great tips! This will be my second term on the FCCB Design Team and my first with the Tuesday tips! Thank you Melanie for all the great tips you provided, you gave me some big shoes to fill!

Now, on  with todays Quick Tip Tuesday! I don't know how you gals are with your cricut mats, but mine get's used and worn out pretty quickly. It was starting to cost me quite a bit just stay in business with the mats. Fortunately, I have an aquaintance that used to work for Provo Craft and she told me that she has only used two mats for four years. So, I asked her what her secret was - I figure if she worked for the company and used this tip than it must work pretty good.

Disclaimer: Using the following to recondition your mats may void the warranty.

With that said, I have been doing this to my mats for quite awhile now, and personally I think my mats work better than when I originially bought them. Ok, details now :)

What you need:
Mr. Clean Magic Eraser
Zigs Two Way Glue - wide tip
Water

Step 1: Get your magic eraser wet and begin to wash your matt. I usually swipe one 6x6 square at a time until the matt is clean, using the other side of the eraser to finish cleaning. Sometimes, if you have trouble with getting all the bits of paper off the mat with the eraser you can use a baby wipe after your done with the eraser.

Let the mat dry completely.

Step 2: Take your Zigs two way glue and begin to cover the entire matt. The great thing about this glue is that when you first put it down it comes out blue so you can see where you have glued and where you haven't.

Once the glue has dried completely your matt will be as good as new!

I hope this tip was helpful and I will be back next Tuesday for another quick tip!

Please be sure to come back tomorrow to check out our Wednesday Winners.