Beware escaped Monkey's

Well it was a rough weekend. I worked Friday, Saturday and Sunday so I just had to treat myself. Yep I couldn't resist. The price was right and they were in stock. So Friday night after work I took myself to Micheal's and bought the new Every Day Paper Dolls cartridge for my Cricut. Took it out to show Katie when we got to work on Saturday and then we just had to play with it.

So we started with some Reminisce jungle print paper, added some cardstock, cut it all up and then.....


Added a herd of Elephants, a few Giraffes, we let the monkeys escape but the Zoo Keepers rounded them up again. We embellished all the pieces: some with Stickles, some with metallic creme chalks, and some with ink and markers. Let the fun begin.


We created this really cute Zoo layout. Pop dotted a few elements for added depth and took a good look to see if it was done. It was missing something. Now I see it. The figures look like they are floating. So we added grass to ground them. Yes much better.


We built 6 of these layouts. Every customer that passed through the store on Sunday commented on them. I probably could have sold all 6 if I'd had them done and priced. Told them all they'd have to wait till Tuesday. Sorry. We might end up making more of these little cuties.

New Cartridge Anyone?

I just had to have this one. And we got a couple copies in at the store. So guess what I used my 40% off coupon on? Yet the new Stamping Cartridge for my Cricut. Love it! It's just a solution cartridge which means not as many features but still one with some great images and phrases. The best, it was only $30 with my coupon.

So today I created this cute layout.



And my favorite image on this cartridge is?



Yep this cute little OWL! Isn't he just adorable? I made this guy about 5 inches tall and then ran him thru my Cuddlebug with the Flourish folder for a little texture. He's got some orange Bazzill bling as his shadow and some of the biggest "Gogglie" eyes I've ever seen. For some reason my boss bought eyes for the store in three sizes. She was going to send these back to Notions but now I think we'll sell them all.

So many options so little time to create.

Pelicans anyone?

Sheri asked for a page layout for next weeks Art bar and this is what I came up with. I wanted to teach everyone how to dress up a simple cricut title cut and personalize it and make it pop.


For the title I cut out the word beach and it had a Pelican attached to it. If you use the layers function and cut the Pelican parts in the same size you can add the details in with markers and cream metallic chalks. I simple black brad becomes the eye and adds definition. I cut all the layers out of the same "pebble" colored Bazzill cardstock but after chalking they look very different.


I needed to flip this shape to have him look into the layout and then flip the layers too. Same principles to add the details. The wing definition is a cut I used a black marker on to make dark. If I had been smart I would have used the Cricut markers before I made my cuts but I didn't, so I did it after, freehand.


I think it turned out cute and so simple. If you've enjoyed this post and would like to make this project for free, visit the Scrapbook Zone on Tuesday June 23. The Art Bar is open from 2-4 and 6-8.

Walk in My Garden

We have been playing with the Walk in My Garden cartridge at the Scrapbook Zone. What a fun cartridge! I showed you the chip board book a couple weeks age and now I can show you 2 layouts. This is the first one:


It was totally created with the cartridge. The details are so important and they were added in with ink and a black pen. This LO will be used as one of our projects in the new "Explore the Bug Zone" class.

The next one is a 2 page spread for our weekly "Pages 2 Go" kit. I had a lot of fun with this one. I just started cutting the flowers out and inking them. Laid them out on the page, looked at Katie and said now what? She smiled and found this wonderful pattern paper by Senic Route. Yep we needed this and now the photo mats. Two 4x6 and 4 3x3's.


The left side of this layout holds one vertical 4x6 and 2 3x3 photos. The little wheelbarrow was inked and detailed with a black pen. The flowers filling the wheelbarrow make the layout stand out.


On the right side we again have a 4x6 photo and 2 3x3's. The title looked really flat until we inked it. Katie had the brilliant idea of the extra big & sign. The Walk in my Garden cartridge does not have a font so we used Alphalicious and design studio to create the title.



I am so pleased with how these Layouts turned out. I can't wait to show people all the fun things this cartridge will do. Do you want to come Exploring with us in the Bug Zone?

A little Cuteness

I used the cutest Sizzix die to create this bunny and I just adore him. He's going to get a better flower and then he'll adorn this weeks "Pages 2 Go" kit. I'm doing an Easter layout with 2 layers of grass, a tree with dimensional leaves, eggs hidden in the grass and this little Bunny. It's going to be fantastic. Hoping to have the sample done later tonight and I'll post it tomorrow.

Happy April Fools day Everyone.