My Favorite Cartridge Blog Hop

Please Note: Most other sites on the hop will be live tonight at 7:00pm. I am early as I have cub scout outing!

Welcome to the "My Favorite Cartridge Blog Hop!" Thank you to Erica for putting this hop together! So, are you wondering what my favorite is? I actually wrote Erica that I would take Storybook and if that was taken, Straight from the Nest. So, she let me have both! Well, it is too hard to chose one favorite! And I think some of the newer carts I don't even have yet could be my new favorites (say Damask Decor).

I am sharing a layout I made for my Grandmother-In-Law's 90th birthday. The center medallion is cut from Straight From the Nest at 10". I love cartridges that had shadows of the images so I can pull all my colors together! The brown card stock had a pearl finish and was quite heavy. I had to cut it with my heavy duty blade at a 6 on the blade housing. You may find this true of glitter card stock too!

I used Storybook to cut my journaling block and stretched it in my Design Studio to fit my Lil Davis Designs stamps by Fiskars. I am loving these stamp sets for journaling! Seems a small spot stamped helps me to get my journaling done, and I got the whole set for $3.00 on Scrapbucks.

Flowers are Prima, paper and pearls are Close to My Heart.

Now, how about some blog candy? I am offering a $15.00 gift certificate to either of my Etsy stores: Scrapingcovers and Scrapguild.etsy.com, and FREE shipping of your item to the US or Canada. I welcome entries and winners outside the US and Canada and ask that you pay any difference in shipping. So, here is how to enter my blog candy drawing:

Visit my stores above or my video at YouTube about my scrapbag and tell me what you like best in a comment on this post. You can find my video here. Be sure to leave a method to contact you in your comments and in a safe manner! For instance, jsmith at hotmail dot com is safer than typing in your actual address.

You do NOT need to follow my blog. If like what you see, please follow but I don't believe in requiring this for an entry! I am attaching a picture below of one of my scrap bags and one of my Cricut dust covers. I do make covers for other cutters such as Pazzles, and Silhouette. Custom orders are welcome! Winner will be drawn on Monday, May 2, 2011.

Your next stop on the hop is: Jamie Blast off http://myamusinglife.blogspot.com/

And in case you get lost here is the entire line up below.

1.Erica’s Room- http://mycricutcraftroom.blogspot.com/

2. Erica and Erin Preserves http://ericaanderin.blogspot.com/

3.Bee Scrappy Walk in My Garden http://medinabeescrappy.blogspot.com/

4.Justina French Manor http://www.justmycrafts.blogspot.com/

5.Margarita simply charmed, new arrival http://magalycreates.blogspot.com/

6.Terry M. http://cricutcraftinterry.blogspot.com/

7. Tammy Country Life. http://crazycardcreator.blogspot.com/

8 Heather Buccaneer http://www.papercrafteranonymous.com/

9. Amanda Locker Talk. http://craftsbyamanda.blogspot.com/

10. Terry F 50 states http://justcallmegrammy.blogspot.com/

11.Lucinda Paper dolls http://www.thegrowinggibson.blogspot.com/

12.Patricia nifty 50s ME http://mycricutcraftroom.blogspot.com/2011/04/patricias-nifty-fifty-cartridge.html 13.Clare Storybook, Straight from the Nest http://www.cricutcraftyclare.blogspot.com/ (you are here)

14. Jamie Blast off http://myamusinglife.blogspot.com/

15. Esther Carosel http://esthrmend.blogspot.com/

16. Misty From my kitchen http://www.abusyplace.blogspot.com/

17. Bella- Kate’s ABCs http://mycricutcraftroom.blogspot.com/2011/04/bellas-kates-abcs-cartridge.html

18. Serafina Birthday Bash http://myquserasera.blogspot.com/

19. Charlotte Nate's ABC http://charlottes-creations.blogspot.com/

20. Kassidy sweet treats http://www.inkingitupcrazy.blogspot.com/

21.Nina Stand and salute ME http://mycricutcraftroom.blogspot.com/2011/04/ninas-stand-and-salute-cartridge.html

22. Bella and Erica- Sesame Street Seasons ME http://mycricutcraftroom.blogspot.com/2011/04/erica-bellas-sesame-street-seasons.html

23. Blog Candy http://mycricutcraftroom.blogspot.com/2011/04/end-of-my-favorite-cartridge-blog-hop.html

I am the Guest Designer at Art Glitter Again!

I am the guest designer at Art Glitter's Blog again. Check out these pretty sandals and find instructions at the Art Glitter Blog! You can use a charm filled with pretty paper, glitter and liquid glass, or a pretty flower with Gala Glitz, even a toe ring!

What's Your Project Runway Paper Crafting Site?

One of my sisters loves Project Runway and encouraged me to apply. She knows I have a fashion design background and has great faith in my talent. But, this in not my dream. It got me thinking though, what would be my "Project Runway" dream? What business would I like to break into, and where would I want to try and get my foot in the door?

Have you guessed where I'm going with this yet? I have a dream, and my "Project Runway" would be winning a challenge at Moxie Fab World. If they had a competition on a reality tv show that involved paper crafting, I would so be applying! And since they don't have a show, I am happy to be inspired by their challenges and enter. Having a Moxie Fab World badge, would be like making it to "Fashion Week" for me! Being a Moxie Faber of the Week would be like being a winner of the season!

So, this week I am in again on the Tuesday Trigger at Moxie Fab. The inspiration photo (top photo above). And I pulled out my "My Favorite Things" products this week. I used the MFT Wednesday Stamp Sketch last photo above. And my card is in the middle. I love these rolled roses! I love how teeny tiny the MFT Die Namics die Mini Rolled Roses lets me cut these! Just the perfect thing for the Crepe Bouquet interpretation!

Wondering about my green lace? Yes, it is my cut file! See the post from April 9th HERE, for the download. To get the shadow, just select the lace and click on the Style drop down arrow in the Appearance Dialog Window and chose shadow rounded. Oh, I love this feature in SCAL2!

It is probably, much to busy for Moxie Fab. You know I am a chronic space filler! But that is one of the things I enjoy about Project Runway, the over the top designer! Some day, I may even have the simplistic beauty that will win me a Moxie Fab World Badge, in the meantime, I continue to love their inspiration and creating! Now what's your "Project Runway" Paper Crafting dream?

Supplies used:

Stickers (MOM) My Little Shoebox

Stamps Flower Girl Pure Innocence My Favorite Things

Rose Die My Favorite Things Die-Namics Mini Rolled Roses

High Tea Doily Die Die-Namics My Favorite Things

Trying my 1st Video Promotion

My best selling item at crops is my scrap bag, but in my Etsy stores it does not get much notice. An Etsy friend suggested I make a video high lighting the features of my scrap bags and post it to Youtube.
So, here I am going to try and share it with you today. No pictures of me as I am convinced I don't take good photos! And I am not very fond of my voice either!

Easter Card with Lace Card Stock

Just sharing a card I made today, to submit for the Fiskars Design Team. I used some Basic Grey lace card stock and some Close to My Heart Stamps to make this. I love this simple card and it was so quick! Wish me luck!

Also, I would like to mention that Blogger is now allowing me to use a larger photo for my posts, but I cannot adjust the height and width in an even proportion. So, if you would like a clearer picture, please click on the image! I hope you can see the pretty detail of the stickles in the middle of the lace paper!

Supplies used: Close to My Heart stamp sets Easter Eggs, and Speckled Eggs, Stickles in Candy, Lime Green and Yellow, Basic Grey Lace paper, Fiskars Round n' Round Large Punch.

Ric Rac Roses You Have to Try

Yesterday, I stumbed upon an Etsy Store with roses made from ric rac. I knew I could make them, so I googled Ric Rac Roses Tutorial. Apparently, there are several methods. My first attempt was with some Jumbo Ric Rac so, I decided to try the fold in half method. I can't find the blog that had the tutorial this morning, so I apologize for not giving the credit here to the author. Here are the steps I used: 1) Finish the inside edge of your ric rac with frey check and once dry trim to a neat edge. 2) Fold your ric rac in half and press. 3) Begin rolling your rose tightly and whip stitch the base together matching up the folded edge, so that it can lie flat. 4) Do NOT fuss with your petals until finished! 5) Once your rose if the size you like, tie a knot and finish the final edge with frey check. Allow to dry and trim. 6) Fold back your outer petals as desired, leaving a rose bud center. The second method is to entertwine the ric rac, but I have no small ric rac in the house, so I will have to attempt that on my next run to the store.

Library Memories

This month the Etsy Blogger's Carnival theme is libraries. We are supossed to write of our fond memories of the library. So, I'm taking a break from a crafty post and sharing some of my fond memories of my libraries! Oh, where do I start? I think I will start with our weekly trip! Visiting the library was as regular as going to church for my family. I think it saved my parents sanity! I loved this as a first place to have some independance making my own choices and venturing out of my parents line of vision. Somehow it seemed welcoming from the begining. As a teenager, we loved to spend cooler summer days reading books while listening to albums there. We lived in Arlington Heights IL and the library there was fortunate to have a good tax base from a local race track. We had lot of things to check out others did not: albums, art work, computers and more. We even had a book mobile! I can remember visiting that when it came to the park across the street. I even worked on the book mobile in highschool. The picture above is the Arlington Heights Memorial Library.

College memories of the library include one of the largest libraries in the nation, at the University of Illinois. Of course there are actually libraries all over the campus and they consider them one. The picture above is the Grainger Engineering Library, which I only visited once. The story of the under ground library to save the test fields. The stacks there, stick out in my memory. Getting a pass to go back into the stacks as a graduate student and seeing how large the collection was. The movable bookshelves, to house all the books. And now as a parent myself, I love the library still! We had play groups for toddlers during the winter. Books on tape for family vacations and just every night bedtimes. Books on inter-library loan means we can almost always get what we want! Videos, classes, CD's and more even if you don't read the library is a wonderful place to visit! In this difficult economy, I am even more thankful for my library! Even my scrap booking and paper crafting guild meets at my library! I love that I can paper craft and get books on the same night!