French Manor Blog Hop winner!

Hello everyone!  Thank you all for visiting my blog during the French Manor blog hop!  I had over 300 visits to my blog - how amazing is that?!  Circlets rock! 

I used Random.org to choose a comment number and the winner is #47, Mandy:

Mandy said... That is so cute! I'm thinking of lifting this idea for my kids rooms! TFS!!!

Mandy, check your email!  :)  

Thanks everyone!  I hope you check back with me again soon!

French Manor Blog Hop!

Hello everyone!  Welcome to my blog, #4 in the French Manor Blog Hop!  I hope you enjoy what you see!  It's great to explore this cartridge a little bit more.  I'll admit it has spent a good amount of time on my shelf since I got it!  I don't usually do home decor projects but I was in the Target dollar spot when inspiration struck!  I found a cute magnetic dry erase board and decided to alter it.   I have a niece who is starting junior high and was shopping for a dry erase board for her locker but couldn't find "the perfect one".  I've used her favorite colors so maybe this will be the one!  Here is a picture of the final product: 

These are the supplies I used: 

French Manor Cricut Cartridge of course! 

Lavendar, pink, and yellow card stock 

Magnetic dry erase board from Target dollar spot

Cricut Expression

Cricut Gypsy

First I used the border cut from the Amore cut on French Manor, p. 74 in the booklet.  I welded 10 pieces together - 4 corners and 6 sides.  I made this measure 6x9, the size of my dry erase board.  Here is a picture of my Gypsy screen: 

I cut this using my Expression, at the 3 speed and the 4 pressure.  Here is the cut, before I put it on the board:

As a side note, look how cool the negative is from this cut!  Imagine this in black or orange... in a Halloween layout... it's like a skeleton matte for a photo... oh yeah!

I used my ATG gun to apply adhesive to the edge of the dry erase board and then placed my border cut on top of it.  I did not glue the inside edge of the border, which I will explain in a minute...  Next, I cut out four flowers from the Tag 2 feature of the couch button on page 32 of the French Manor handbook.  Here is the flower detail: 

And here is the final product again: 

In the photo above, you can see why I did not glue the inside edge.  This allows people who stop by to see you to leave a note tucked in to the board.  (Or for you to leave yourself notes so you don't forget something!)  Here is a closer view of the border with a note in it: 

I hope you have enjoyed looking at my exploration of the French Manor Cricut Circle Exclusive cartridge!  For your time spent exploring our blog hop, I'd love to giveaway my first blog candy ever!! 

Included in this pack: 

8x8 clear carrying pack for your project pieces

Martha Stewart dual-tip black marker

Cuttlebug Spots & Dots embossing folder

Black Stickles

Yellow Stickles 

To enter, just leave a comment on this post with your thoughts about my project and a way for me to get a hold of you if you win!  (I would also really love it if you became a follower!)  I love constructive criticism!!!  I will choose a winner on Monday afternoon and post it here, as well as contact the winner.  Thanks again for viewing!

Please visit the other blogs in our blog hop! 

Jana - http://imneverbored.blogspot.com 

Bobbi Jo - http://sweetsassydiva-gspot.blogspot.com 

Sauni-Rae - http://www.quiltfrog.blogspot.com 

Michele - http://greengirlscraps.blogspot.com  <-- You are HERE!  :)

Kristen - http://fantabulouslypink.blogspot.com 

Sherrie - http://impressionableart.blogspot.com

Lori - http://scrappinmystressaway.blogspot.com 

Gaby - http://Scrapabookaholic.blogspot.com 

Kick Off a good year of reading

Here is another bulletin board I finished for a different school I work in.  I got the idea from Barbra Hesson's website. 

I made the letters from my new Hannah Montana cart, which is more of a font cart than anything.  It has a really nice, clear font for any of you elementary teachers out there!  

This is a bigger picture of the whole board.  I cut the books in a wide variety sizes from lots of different Cricut carts, anything I could easily find with a book on it!  On the spines or covers I wrote different book titles that we have in the library.

Here is a close up view of the net in the middle.  This was a car trunk cargo net I found at a rummage sale for a buck.  I cut it apart and just used the net portion in the middle to re-purpose it for this board. 

Cricut Carts used: 

- Hannah Montana

- Locker Talk 

- Everyday Paper Dolls

- Wall Decor & More

- Cursive 101

Rockstar Bulletin Board

This is a bulletin board for one of the libraries I work in.  I had fun making this board and am looking forward to what the kids might say about it.  When I got to school, there wasn't any yellow bulletin board paper left so I had to scrounge up a piece and make it work.  The silver stuff is actually the material they use to line potato chip bags.  Isn't that incredible?!  There is a company in town that manufactures this stuff and a roll was donated to our school for last year's book fair decorations.  It's a real pain to work with, as it is so thin and tears easily but it looks great in the end.  

The bottom section says "The Library Rocks!"  In the photos, it's hard to see because the silver shimmers so much but it looks great in real life. 

This last picture is the rocker girl and phrase.  The girl is cut at 17" from Rock Princess and the word 'reading' is welded to the rock star saying with my Gypsy.  Reading is out of Storybook - that font matches really well! 

Recipe: 

- Rock Princess Cricut cart

- Storybook Cricut Cart

My Scrap Space

Over the weekend, I finally decided to deal with the mess my scrap space was becoming!  I love to buy stuff, as all crafters do, but I would often just toss the bag down there and leave it.  Well, the bags started to pile up *sheepish grin* so I finally HAD to fix it!  Here's the biggest view of my space in our basement: 

Oh, yes, don't be alarmed by my scrapbooking buddy.  He keeps me company down there!  In some weird way, I actually like him but I keep threatening my husband I'm going to use his antlers as ribbon storage some day!  Haha!

And here it is looking from the other direction: 

One thing I love about this desk is that my daughter can sit on the other side and work with me at the same time.  That green tote has all of her stuff in it. (And that apparently was her Barbie car garage that day as well!) 

Here's a better view of my actual work space and the shelving above it: 

And here are three of my newest additions to my craft space (remember those bags I just kept throwing down there?): 

The Pink ATG gun from Michael's, a cute pink tote that actually keeps all of my most used tools close to me and not stuck in a drawer, and a stand that holds my Cricut Circle certificate and my charm bracelet. 

Thanks for taking a peek at my space!  I'd love to hear any comments or suggestions you have for me!

Sadie's card

Hello all! My daughter, who is 7, made a birthday card for one of her friends.  She got to open my Create A Critter and be the first to use it!  (Thank you JoAnn's for having a grreat sale!)  If you can't tell from the picture, Robyn of My Pink Stamper is one of Sadie's favorite designers!  She completely captured Robyn's style, minus a little ribbon! 

Recipe: 

-Create A Critter Cricut cart, bird at 4"

-My Pink Stamper Punny-licious stamp

-Cuttlebug to emboss the circles

Wisconsin Cricut Circle Meet Up!

Well, my morning started off not so great, as I couldn't find the envelope of all my calling cards I made!  Even my husband was helping me look and we couldn't find it!  Oh well, I made a quick one that would suffice and out the door I went!  My day ended MUCH better though... keep reading! 

I attended the Cricut Circle meet up in Waukesha, WI.  It was a lot of fun!  When we first got there, we got to make hats that Cindy (a fellow Circlet who I hope I got her name right) made everyone! They were really fun! 

Shannon was running the meeting.  She is in charge of the Circle and what a fabulous job she is doing!  Can you imagine what it would be like to run a club for 3000+ picky but creative people?!  :)  Anyway, she talked about the Circle and what things we are hoping to see in the future.  There were are about 30 of us there, which made it really comfortable and an open atmosphere.  She answered any questions people had and told us a lot about herself.  I love her because she talks in whatever direction her mind takes her, which is exactly what I do!!  I thought this moment of her was so great:

After we talked, Shannon demo'd the Yudu machine and how it works.  She was very knowledgeable and was able to answer questions people had about the machine. And then she did the giveaways!  All you see in the above photo was given away!  Since it was such a small group, every person who went got a prize - isn't that awesome?!  I was one of the last people to get drawn and the prizes were dwindling when Shannon pulled someone's name and said, "You win an Imagine!" out of the blue!  Everyone was like "Whoa!"  That person said she already won one at CHA and passed on the prize so Shannon pulled another name.  That woman also passed, as she had won at CHA too.  Then Shannon pulled MY NAME!  I screamed!  :)  I am sooooo excited!!!  Omigosh, thank you Shannon and PC!!!!!  I am really pumped!  And also, so much thanks to the two women before me who passed (you can only have one per household, it says on the claim ticket).  I am really grateful!

Then we got to Yudu our shirts.  Here's a picture of mine and two in different colors that others did as well.  The machines worked really well. 

While we were Yudu-ing our shirts and things, we milled about and talked to other Circlets there.  It was a great time to talk to people and put faces to message board names.  It really was a great event and I think we all wanted to stay longer but they were kicking us out of the room for already being there almost an hour longer than we had planned!  Oops!  :)

It really was a great event and I encourage everyone to drive however far you have to to get to a meet up near you!  It is so great to meet other Circlets and learn about the inside workings of PC.  WELL worth it!!! 

Here is a picture of our entire group that was there today:

(Click to make it larger!)

Had a great time with CustomCrops.com at the 2010 Summer CHA Super Show!

The Custom Crops booth was fabulous at CHA!  They had tons of Cricut carts for sale at really good prices and I picked up sme My Pink Stamper stamps that I've been wanting for awhile.  They also had a space for Robyn from MPS and her best friend, Karlee.  It was great talking to everyone there! Here's my picture in their photo booth: 

The banner says, "Having a blast at Summer CHA 2010!"

And here is me and Laura (my new friend described in my last post =]) in the booth:

The banner says, "Friends and fun at CHA 2010!" which we thought was perfect for us!