Back to school layouts!

Finally I am ahead for once on a set of layouts. I ordered a "back to school" kit from scrapbook.com and decided to make all my layouts early this year. I made 4 layouts, 1 for each of my children that are students this year.  I have a sophomore, 5th grader, 3rd grader and a preschooler (she's on a waiting list for time being).  I only used items I got in my kit, no extra embellishments.  I haven't added the pictures yet, but plan to take them tomorrow morning. I guess I will see how this works when I don't already have a picture ready for the layout LOL. My kids are very ready to get back to school and see their friends. 

The first layout is for my preschooler. (I had to cover the "August" with a star sticker)

 This is the layout for my son, my 3rd grader. I plan to put the picture on the largest banner. The title is the name of his school.

 This is the layout for my 5th grader.

 This is for my sophomore (notice I forgot the second "O" but an easy fix) oooops! lol

I hope you enjoyed. Thanks for stopping by. Please let me know what you think.

my best friends wedding

I had an amazing but busy couple of weeks. My best friend of 22 yrs. got married this last Saturday and I was the Matron of Honor! I made gift boxes with some kisses in them and made the bouquets and boutonnieres and also found time to make her a card which I am VERY happy with. I somehow forgot to take pictures of the gift boxes but they were pretty basic anyway. I almost forgot to take a picture of the card I made so in the picture please ignore that I had already signed it (at least I did remember to do that). I just love how the sentiment went so perfectly with the card. Please let me know what you think. I entered this card in the FCCB challenge ( fantabulouscricut.blogspot.com ) The challenge was to make a wedding or anniversary card which was convenient for me that my friend had gotten married recently. I used the "Victorian Romance" cricut cartridge for this card. Thanks for stopping by  

DIY (or I should say "did it myself") Embellishments

I have been MIA in the crafting world. I have been creating just not anything I have felt was worth sharing. I decided I am probably my own worst critic and I need to just post EVERYTHING. I regret not posting the Fathers day card I had made and a going away card that I had made for some close friends/co-workers and I don't want anymore regrets.  SOOOOO, here goes.

I realized that when it comes to scrap booking I have a lot of stickers and can make lots of die-cuts, but I really wanted to try a different style. I wanted to paper layer and embellish. I love the look of the layouts created by "two peas in a bucket" and really would love to make some of those types of layouts. I lack embellishments though and thought I should try to create a few of my own.  
Here are a few of the things I thought would be easy to make and I already had all the supplies.  I made some rosettes with my scrap paper and paper clips with ribbon. I love the red clips, I think I will use them on a layout with strawberries!     I would love to hear what you think.  Thanks for stopping in.

Top 3!

I am so excited. The challenge that I had entered over at Stuck on u sketches, I was chosen as TOP 3! (I posted it a few weeks ago) The challenge was to make something with fruit on it. I am so proud not only was this my first challenge but I also a new technique which was the distress inks. This was definitely the boost I needed to get going again.
I know it has been a few weeks since I posted anything new but I got into kind of a funk. Totally snapped out of it now and wanting to CRAFT! I made a few layouts with my daughters Briana (15) and Jayden (10) they were fun. I think I will post those also when they are all finished.
Expect some posts soon. I haven't forgotten about the Disney albums either... I just haven't even started them yet, YIKES.

Retirement card for co-worker

I just got a few new Cricut cartridges last week. I get SO excited to use my new cartridges, especially when it is Flower shop.  I was a little scared that my flowers wouldn't turn out very flower like, BUT to my amazement (lots of reserch) they turned out just fine.

A co-worker of mine is getting ready to retire at the end of this month and I decided to make a card that everyone could sign for her. She loves butterflies. What goes great with butterflies?...... flowers! SOOOOO, a good excuse to use my new cartridge and make something.
This card was a challenge to me because I am normally making "kiddie" cards.  I used my Tim Holtz distress ink again and am in love with that worn look.
This is a 6x6 card. I used Flower shop cartridge, tim holtz ink and just matted everything together!

On the front I popped up a banner that says "enjoy your new journey" and on the inside I added a matt that says "congratulations on your retirement".
I would love to hear what you think! Thanks for stopping by.

My first challenge

I am really excited about this project. It turned out exatly the way I wanted it to.
I decided to challenge myself.  I went through a few blogs and found a challenge "Stuck on u sketches" http://stuckonusketches.blogspot.com/ .  The challenge is:
May 18 -  Fruit Die Cut Challenge   
The challenge is to just make a paper craft using a fruit cut. I had a lot of different ideas at first. THEN  I remembered I had gotten the most adorable ribbon from Michael's  $1 bin, it had pears on it. I knew I wanted to use a pear cut.
I recieved my first set of Tim Hotlz distress inks and was VERY excited to try them out. This is what I came up with.

I am so proud of how this project turned out. I would love to hear what you think.

Create a critter layout. Dalmation

I'm really not happy with this. I'm not sure what it is missing, but I am going to post it anyway. I want feedback if you could for me. Not really what is nice about it but what I could do to make it better, what it is missing? I follow blogs and watch youtube videos and tutorials. For some reason when it comes to making my own things, I sometimes just get lost and can't figure out what I need to do to make it the way I want.

So, this is a layout... but probably NOT finished. I really want to add to it. HELP!!!

Preschool layout

I just love how this turned out. I laid it out in my gypsy, but then I changed it up a bit. I liked the layout of the pictures better than my original idea. I'm happy with it.

I DID remember to keep the file so I could post the sizes of my cuts.

I used "The Playtime stack" from DCWV  for my pattern paper and recollections for my die cuts.

My cuts are very large. I thought they were so cute I wanted the apple and worm to be big.

recipe:

The title is cut form Cricut Craft Room Basics. The apples and worm are from Create A Critter. I did use the hide feature for the face on the apples. I just thought for this layout it was cutter without the face.

Worm- 7.65 height

Large apple-7.41 height

Small apple w/ title-2.59 height

Title - 1.24 height

Photo mats are cut at 4x5, I just cropped my pictures to fit.

Here is a picture of the small apple at the end of the title.

Her is a picture of the title. I alternated lower and upper case letters to make it cute for preschool but I'm not happy how it doesn't stand out like I wanted. I wish I would have shadowed it. I tried to make it a litte better my adding the random dots.

oops...
I thought I had published this last post last week... come to find out I had it saved in my drafts.
So update. I am actually back from Disney. 
We had such a good time. My favorite day was the last day when we lounged by the pool for 5 hrs watching the kids play. My oldest daughter had packed up the sunscreen and we had already checked our bags, so we did get nice burns. The cutest memory was when we were coming home and my 8yr old son (he is autistic) was asking what all the machines were when we went through airport security. I was explaining to him that it was all to keep us safe from crazy people, guns and other bad things. He scoots in close and says, "What about my Starwars guys? they have weapons." He was worried that security wouldn't let his toys through. I love that boy.  
I do plan on sharing the layouts and albums that we are going to be making to remember our vacation. It will probably be a few weeks.                       

My first layout

Here are some of the pictures of the first layout I made. I don't have the sizes of the cuts that I used. If I had known that I was going to start blogging then I would have written them down. Now I know and will remember to write things down as I go.
***This is a 12x12 scrapbook layout. ALL cuts are from "create a critter" cricut cartridge.***
I have layout ideas in my Gypsy for all the "create a critter" animals so be ready to see those as I create those layouts.


I will be leaving for Disneyland with my 3 oldest children this weekend and plan on taking many pictures. I have already created layouts for those pictures LOL. So excited to go... then get home and scrap!

Frist Blog - my introduction

Hello,  my name is Sarah. I am a wife, mother of 5 (4 girls 1 boy) and work full time (my husband is a stay at home dad). I needed an outlet and always loved making different things but was never obsessed, untill November 2011. I bought my cricut expression. Now its not ALL about my cricut but now mostly paper crafts. 


I am new to paper crafting and scrapbooking. I must say I have a surprised myself with my FIRST scrapbook layout, it's cute... REALLY cute. Of course it doesn't hurt that it has my beautiful 18 month olds pictures in it.  I am looking forward to improving and would like to share my journey.


I am going to be posting my first layout as soon as I find my camera (LOL) and all other crafts that I make. I would love to hear feedback and ideas from everyone. This is going to be fun.