Spotlight Sunday

Hello Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog friends! It's time for another wonderful Spotlight Sunday post. I so enjoy doing these posts and getting to know our fantabulous friends.

Today we are spotlighting Judy-Ann who was one of our Wednesday Winners. This was her adorable project that made the Design Team Top 5! You can visit Judy-Ann over at her blog, Crafty Jar Creative Designs.

Let's get to know Judy-Ann a little better!



1. When did you start scrapbooking/paper crafting and why?
I received a scrapbook kit at my baby shower for my first child in 2005. I did not know anything about scrapbooking at that time and the kit just sat in the box. When my daughter turned 1 1/2 months we moved. Luckily I met one someone who had done some scrapbooking before and that was when I remembered my baby shower gift. She showed me where to start, she lent me books and took me to her favorite scrapbook store. I was hooked! We are still very good friends now.

2. What is your favorite type of project to make (i.e., cards, layouts, mini-albums, etc....)?
My first love is scrapbooking. I love that bit of history I will leave my kids in the years to come. Its a nice way to preserve the memories. I try to stay up to date with my pages because I remember more clearly what happened and can put it in the journaling. I love that my kids are already enjoying the books and they love to share their books with anyone who visits. I have been producing more cards than pages recently though. I enjoy the finished products of my crafting and cards are a really fast way to achieve that. Although I have been know to take a few days to complete a card because I wasn't happy with the first few drafts.

3. What is your favorite product to use on your projects?
I love DCWV paper! I have so many of their packs, but my favorite product has to be my Cricut Machine with my Gypsy. I love the diecuts and I love that I always have the perfect titles without leftover letters. The Gypsy helps to maximize the potential of the cartridges and I love that I can more easily mix and match images from different cartridges.

4. What is your favorite Cricut cartridge?
I would usually say Create a Critter and in many ways it still is, maybe its because my kids are still young and the images are so perfect for cards for their friends' birthday. Now I am torn between A Child's Year, Nate's ABCs and Kate's ABC's. I love the images on all these cartridges. Another favorite is Forever Young for more grown-up images perfect for making cards for my girlfriends and my five sisters. For titles my favorite cart is Lyrical Letters. That one cartridge has 6 different fonts on it, and there are so many possibilities for great titles especially when used with the Gypsy.

5. What do you do in your spare time, when you are not paper crafting?
I am usually spending time with my kids and husband. My daughter, who will be starting Kindergarten this year, is very lively and very smart and she keeps me on my toes. She is always willing to test the boundaries. My son will be going back to his second year in Pre-School. He especially keeps me very busy, since he was diagnosed on the Autism scale about 1 1/2 years ago. He is developmentally delayed and with help from his Special Ed Teachers, Speech and Occupational therapists he has grown so much. Everyday I realize how much he is learning and I can actually have little conversations with him. I do love to cook so I try to make my family a home cooked meal everyday.

6. Any other information you would like us to know about you?
I try to keep myself busy by serving on a few Design Teams. I love that they force me to be productive. When I have a project due there is no time to have a creative slump.
I would love to thank FCCB for choosing me for this Sunday Spotlight. I am always touched when my fellow crafters take the time to show me some love.

Here are just a few of Judy-Ann's projects that you will find on her blog:

I love this card! Judy-Ann won the FCCB Design Team Top 5 for this project too. The cupcake and flowers are adorable on this easel card.

Here is a vintage type card that I also just love! The paper, lace, and flowers are so pretty.

And here is a layout Judy-Ann did of her daughter's pre-school. I love how Judy-Ann combined the pictures and patterned paper in a cluster layout. The DCWV Grade School stack is one of my favorites.


Make sure to visit Judy-Ann's blog, Crafty Jar Creative Designs, and see all of her great projects. Thank you Judy-Ann for playing along with us at FCCB!

Since today is 9-11-11, I want to just say that my thoughts and prayers go out to all the thousands upon thousands of people that have been affected by 9-11 throughout these past ten years. I cannot believe that ten years have gone by already. I can clearly remember exactly what I was doing when I heard the unbelievable news about the tragedy.

Make sure to come back and visit us tomorrow for another fun Challenge Me Monday!

Happy Crafting!

Sabrina

FCCB Spotlight Sunday Hostess

Scrappin' Saturday- Back to School!

Welcome to another Scrappin' Saturday! I love September-I love buying new school supplies and feeling excited about all the promise of the new school year!!

Here is great Back to School Layout from Paper and Imagination

The elements on this page have been cut from Create A Critter, Locker Talk and Kate's Kitchen. How CUTE!!


Another Layout I wanted to share is from Beth at Creative Keepsakes Custom Scrapbooks

She has used Doodlecharms and Stretch Your Imagination cartridges. I think it is a FAB layout!


My daughter had her first day at nursery this week, so I have some cute photos to scrap this weekend of her!!


Evanna x

Fantabulous Friday -- Back to School!

Hi everyone! Since the challenge this week is School Time--use letters or numbers on your project, I thought I would show you one of my favorite font cartridges, Alphalicious.

I love this font and it was one of my very 1st cartridges.

This cartridge includes: Short Stack, Crown Tag, Matchbook, Crest Card, Shadow, and Short Stack Shadow creative features.

Here's a sample of the fun font. I made these for my dishwaher in the hopes that someone will empty it when it's clean :)

And here's a page I made with the font. I used my Gypsy to weld the word fun with letters from Alphalicious in a leaf from Paper Doll Dress Up. I think it added a fun touch to the page to have the letters cut out in the leaf.

There are some cute phrases and some shapes on here too. Just a fun font to use on all those scrap pages!

There's still plenty of time to join in the challenge yourself. Stop by the Challenge Me Monday post to see all the designer's great projects and then enter your own!

Have a great weekend!

Thursday's Tutorial- Back to School Notepad and Wreath

Hello everyone it is time for the Thursday Tutorial and this week the Monday challenge at FCCB is Back to School. By now all schools have started again. I have two great school related projects for you today. The first is by my friend Kim at Rickett's Cricuts, She had a tutorial recently on her blog that I just love. Not only is it a great back to school project but can be adapted for any season or holiday. I also think these would make great little gifts for anyone. The thing I really like too is that since you use magnets and not glue you can reuse them. Here is Kim's project:

We are making projects in honor of National Apple Week! I love apples! Apples are a popular kitchen or classroom theme and are just plain cute! I am always making lists and decided to decorate a notepad for the fridge with apples. I chose red because they are my favorite! Here is my project:

I placed my apple layers by colors in the corners of my Gyspy. Apple is from Doodlecharms cartridge.

I placed scrap paper in the corners for each layer.

I cut the top for the notepad at 4.5 inches by 5 inches and ran it through my paper crimper.

I glued the pattern paper on the top of the notepad.

I placed three strips of magnet on the back of the notepad to ensure it stays put!

Last, I placed the notepad on my fridge ready for lists!

I hope you liked my Apple Notepad! They are quick and fun gift to make for friends or family.

The second school related project is by Amber at My 3 E Scrapbooking . Isn't this just the cutest back to school wreath. I taught for 33 years before retiring and I think this wreath would make a wonderful gift for any teacher. It is made from embroidery hoops, crayons and die cuts.
Click here for directions

Hope you enjoyed these two projects, Don't forget to join in on the "Back to School" Challenge this week.
Happy Craftin

Wednesday Winners #75

Hello Fantabulous Followers!
Did you see sll the wonderful things creations using the color "YELLOW" from last weeks challenge?... a flower, a bird, a bee, a pencil, a car, a monster.... wow... and much much more. You ladies are so inspiring with your creations! We've had a great challenge with the "Splash of Color" theme and using the color yellow on your project. If you missed all the amazing DT and participants project, click -HERE.

~This Weeks Winner~
#31 Abby -Midwest Memoriesgift from Scrap Circle

Congratulations Abby!!!
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~
always so hard to choose
#6 Jayne -Jayne Designs
#17 Cathy -Crafting Cathy
#38 Amanda -Amanda's Crafts and More
#49 Maribel -I Love Scrapping
#85 Karen -Crafted With Love by Karen

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 "Back to School" challenge - Here.

Create a project use ABC's (any letters) and/or 1,2,3's (any numbers).

Quick Tip Tuesday: Ink Booklet

Good Morning and welcome to another Quick Tip Tuesday.

How many times have you gone to a stamp or scrapbook store and found stamp pads on sale. Of course, you can't remember what colors you already have.  This happens to me all the time.  I know you could just carry a list, but taking the idea from my Copic Colors wallet, I made a ink-color mini book.  Not only do I have the brands and color names, but also color samples which I find very useful.  I was in a stamp store on Saturday and pulled out my booklet to check colors I already had.  The owner came over to see it and thought it was pretty darn clever.

As you can see, it's not fancy, but it sure comes in handy.  I have sections for dye inks, distress inks, chalk inks, and pigment inks. I added extra pages to each section for new colors.  I use a Q-tip to dab on the color.  The pages are 4 x 6  bound together with my Your Story.

Until next time-

Hugs and Happy Crafting,

Larelyn