Sneak Peek!!

SNEAK PEEK!! Just wanted to share a snippet of a cut that I made with my Cricut for a monthly exchange with a group I belong to, called CricutCut Monthly-Exchange. 

I can't reveal the entire cut just yet...it needs to be a surprise for the rest of my group waiting to get them (I'll give you a hint...it's love-related). But I wanted to share! So happy with how they turned out. I'll post the entire cut after my group has received theirs. I'll also share what I received in exchange. 


Great group, awesome gals...go check it out and Wanna join in the fun!! A great monthly exchange of Cricut Cuts?? You mail out cuts once a month, and you receive cuts once a month! How great is that?? Great friends, good times, and Cricut cuts to your door! Go visit their page, join the group, and be sure to tell them I sent you!! If you join the group because of me, I could win a set of great Peachy Keen stamps!

What are YOU crafting today??

Happy Buggin'!

ScrapbookPal.com Design Team Entry!! :)

Sleighride Mickey Mouse

This is a custom birthday invitation I recently made for a 2-year old little boy who just adores Mickey Mouse. They are going winter sleigh-riding for his birthday, so I tried to keep it wintery and cute, but yet not too "Christmassy". The card is a standard A2 card, measuring 4.25” x 5.5”.

1. I cut my base cardstock from white Bazzill, measuring 8.5” x 5.5”. It was scored at 4.25” and folded in half, making the card base.

2. I cut an accent base from blue Bazzill, measuring 3.75” x 5.5”. Centred it over the front of the card and glued in place.

3. A second “base” was cut from the white cardstock, measuring 3.5” x 5.25”. I ran it through my Cuttlebug, using the Snow Flake embossing folder. Using some blue ink (I like the Tim Holtz distressed ink, and used Chipped Sapphire for this project), I inked the edges of the cardstock and a few of the snowflakes, then used the Champagne Stickles, to accent a few of the embossed snowflakes. (Let the ink and stickles dry before adhering).

4. Mickey Mouse (cut at 2”) and the sign post (cut at 3.75”) are cut from the Disney Mickey and Friends Cricut cartridge, the sleigh (cut at 2.25”) is from the Christmas Cheer cartridge, which was sadly retired in May of 2010. :(

5. Before assembling the layers of the sleigh, I embossed it with my Cuttlebug using the Swiss Dots embossing folder and pop-dotted it to add a little dimension and “stickled” the runners of the sleigh.

6. As an added touch, I cut the Mickey Ears and shadow at 1” to embellish the envelope a bit.

The wording of the inside of the invitation was printed on the computer with MS Word, using the Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse fonts.

It turned out sooooo cute, and was the perfect invitation for his party!

This post also happens to be my entry into the Design Team call for ScrapbookPal.com! Wish me luck!!

What are YOU crafting today??

Happy Buggin’!

Creative Memories - 'Tis the Season Joy Jar

Simple, simple craft. I stuffed mine with crimped paper strips to take the photo, but imagine how adorable they'd look filled with yummy Christmas candies, mints, chocolates, or jellybeans?!? Fun and easy way to show your appreciation to teachers, neighbours, co-workers...the possibilities are endless.

I recycled an empty candle jar (after enjoying the candle...gift for me, gift for others). I used the "Joy" cut from the Creative Memories 'Tis the Season Cricut cartridge (pg. 41) and cut it from red vinyl. I applied it to the jar using my painter's tape technique (check out the tutorial here on my blog at http://lilbuggerblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/vinyl-application-with-painters-tape_07.html ) and tied a matching red grossgrain ribbon around the top. Easy peasy!!

Need a Creative Memories consultant?? Check out my gal, Denyse! Tell her I sent you...she'll look after you :) You can link to her from my left side bar or by clicking on the logo below.

What are YOU crafting today??
Happy buggin'!

Diaper Cake & Matching Monogram Card

Well, after a (too) long hiatus from posting, I have returned, and made it my mission to *try* to catch you up on everything that's been going on!  Basically, in a nutshell, I went and got myself a full-time job, and it's really REALLY been cutting into my "me time" and my "crafting time", LOL!  Things are going well, I love my new job.  I just needed some time to get adjusted, get used to the schedule demands and to figure out how to fit all my crafting in.  I think (knock on wood, tap tap) I may have figured it out.  Wish me luck!!

Now, back to the nitty-gritty and the fun stuff!!

This is a diaper cake and matching monogram card that I made for my dear girlfriend who just had a beautiful baby boy!!  Welcome to the world, Mason :)

To make the cake, I made three tiers.  The diapers of the bottom tier are folded in half, the ones of the middle tier are folded into thirds, and the ones of the top are rolled.  Double-sided tape was my saviour to this project, as it was used to secure the wine bottle and bottom tier to the base (which I used a round cake board), and it was also used to secure each tier of diapers to the one below it.  

When making my tiers, I held all the diapers temporarily in place around the wine bottle with an elastic band until I could secure them with ribbon.  Then I just lifted off the elastic.  I added a few sample packs of diaper rash cream in the middle around the wine, and on the second tier of diapers, I snuck a snack size chocolate bar in between every other diaper.  All new moms need wine and chocolate, right?!?! :)

Now for the embellishments!!  The bunny on top is a super soft, fuzzy blanket.  I tucked it all together, secured with an elastic band and stuffed it into the centre of the top tier of diapers.

I used the Reminisce Accents cartridge from Creative Memories to make the "M".  For the cake, I cut the "M" at 3.5", and I cut the plain circle monogram at 4" to use as a back.  For the matching monogram card, I cut the monogram at 1.5" and the circle at 1.75".  I glued it to the ribbon on the middle tier, and as well on the card.  You can link to my awesome CM Consultant, Denyse, here and as well on my sidebar.  I am LOVING this cartridge for the monograms!

The three little dinosaurs on the bottom tier were cut from the Birthday Cakes cartridge.  I used the base, the shift, as well as the blackout shadow features, and I cut them at 2.5" on my Expression. I secured them to the ribbon with a little glue.

For the background of the card, I embossed my blue paper with my Cuttlebug and the "Our Baby" embossing folder.  The inside just says "Welcome, Little One", which I printed in Word, using the Angelina font.

What are YOU crafting today??

Happy buggin'!

Smiley Face Treats

We've undergone a huge transformation where I work.  People are moving and shuffling, departments are merging and moving, frustrations are high, and stress is everywhere.  Today we had a staff meeting of where things stood so far.  It was a great forum for expressing our concerns, and venting our frustrations with others.  I thought these little smiley face Smartie sleeves would be a perfect way to bring a bit of sunshine to our meeting.  

I used a smiley face that I googled and imported it into my SCAL software.  I added a little circle to the top and welded it to the smiley face to give me a place to hole-punch it for the ribbon to go through. The cardstock is Bazzill Basics and the ribbon is grossgrain from my local dollar store.

Who wouldn't smile seeing these?!?

What are YOU crafting today?

Happy Buggin'!

Let's Go, Pittsburgh!!

This is a Pittsburgh Penguins card that we made for a friend's birthday. He is a huge Penguins fan!  I created the image from a .jpg of their logo that I found online.  I separated the layers in Photoshop:

Then I imported the image into Inkscape and converted it to an .svg file.  After the file is saved, I am then able to import into my SCAL and cut on my Lil' Bugger.  I did print a sentiment on the inside using Word, my printer, and the varsity font.  (Check here for my Coach cards, where I printed the inside of that card using the same font).

If you're interested in the .svg or the .scut file that I created and used for this project, feel free to email me.  I'm still having a hard time sharing those type of files online.

It was a huge hit!  He loved it :)

What are YOU crafting today?
Happy buggin'!

Easter Goodies!!

These were quick, easy, and extremely festive treats that we pulled together this week.  A big bag of the Easter-coloured M&Ms from our local bulk store made enough of these yummy treats to supply the classes of two of my children, my office, and two huge family get-togethers...with some left over.  

The toppers were cut on my Big Bugger, using the Easter 2010 Limited Edition Seasonal Mini cartridge for the egg shapes, which were cut at 1.75".  I used those same egg shapes and my Bitty Bugger (Gypsy) to position crosses and bunny heads into the eggs to cut those shapes out of the egg.  The bunny head came from the Spring Holiday Cards Limited Edition Seasonal Mini cartridge and the cross also came from Easter 2010.  The blue ribbon is SU Brocade Blue grossgrain, and the pink is from my local dollar store.  I just tied some matching ribbon around a storage container to serve them.

These are so easy, and versatile!  The bulk store is nice enough to supply Smarties and M&Ms in different seasonal colours, as holidays near.  They would be great as birthday party favours, fundraisers, classroom treats, gift toppers, weddings, showers, etc.  The list really is endless.  Just change the topper to suit your theme!

What are YOU crafting today?

Happy buggin'!

5x7 Stained-Glass Look Easter Card

This is my first attempt at a stained-glass type card (my apologies for such a poor quality photo, I didn't realize it was out of focus until after I uploaded it).  I saw this image online at Share Faith and used it as my base image.

This is the .jpg that I worked from.

As converted and saved in Inkscape.

I converted the image in Photoshop, to separate the layers and lay out all the pieces (there are 49 total!).  I then converted it from a .jpg to an .svg in Inkscape and imported it into SCAL to cut the images and save as an .scut file.

I will be honest with you, it was a bit tedious to put together.  I'm hoping that it was just because it was my first attempt.  In the future, I will be sure to lay out the pieces before gluing them onto my cardstock base.  And as well, I will be sure to leave the pieces attached to my mat until they're ready to be used, instead of taking off all of the pieces and working from a big pile of cuts. 

I printed a nice little sentiment on the bottom of the front piece.  It says "For I remember it is Easter morn, and life and love and peace are all new born." ~Alice Freeman Palmer.  I also printed "Happy Easter" on the inside, just using Word and my regular HP printer and glued it to the inside.  I think it might need some shading or some sort of an embellishment, but I'm not great at doing shading and was afraid of ruining it.  What are your thoughts?

If you're interested in the .svg or the .scut file that I created and used for this project, feel free to email me.  I'm having a hard time sharing those type of files online.

What are YOU crafting today?

Happy buggin'!

Religious Easter (Or Other Occasion) Cards

I used this great .svg image from Nicholas Gomez and thought it would make an awesome Easter card... something different from the usual Bunnies, carrots and chocolate.  A religious Easter card was my intent, however, it occurred to me that it could also be used for other occasions where a faith-based idea is needed.  

 

I simply cut the image using my SCAL software, hiding the word 'Saved' so it didn't cut.  The image was cut at 4" wide.  I glued it onto a card base, leaving a space on the right to run some black grossgrain ribbon and a simple bow.  I varied the sentiments on the inside, they were also cut using the SCAL software and the Brisk Extended font at 1".  The background paper is from the Karen Foster Textures line; Plum, Moss, and Sand.

What are YOU crafting today?

Happy buggin'!

Mixin' Monday - TACO PIE

I like to try new recipes now and then, and for the most part it always seems to be on a Monday, go figure. Maybe that's because I'm fresh off new groceries from shopping on the weekend, or because I have the energy to try something new earlier in the week?  For the most part it's a nice start to the week.  I have had a few disasters in my day that just add to the Monday blahs, but when they work out and my boys dub it a "keeper", I like to share.  So I've started a section called Mixin' Mondays where I'd like to share with you all our keepers. 

Today, I took a little break from using my bugs, and tried a new recipe from Kraft Hockeyville, the Easy Baked Taco Pie.  I tweaked it slightly to better suit our family's tastes and needs, but it was a huge hit and thought it would be perfect to share with you on my first Mixin' Monday!

Photo from the Kraft Hockeyville recipe.  Doesn't it look yummy??

Taco Night is a staple in our home, so it was a no-brainer that we would try this one.  I like it because it's not only easy, but it's easily adaptable for larger families by simply increasing the amount of meat and cheese, and by adding extra veggies and tortilla layers.  I made ours in a 2-litre casserole dish, and used two tortillas between each layer instead of the three that it called for.  I also sprinkled a bit of cheese between the tortillas, because you can never have enough cheese!  This fed four large servings with one left over and was super yummy!!

This is ours, just prior to baking.  It was DE-LISH!

prep time: 20 min

total time: 55 min

1 lb. (450 g) extra-lean ground beef

1 onion, chopped  (I used fresh green onions)

1 Tbsp. chili powder  (I used low-sodium taco spice, the flavour is more familiar to my children)

2 cups frozen corn, thawed, drained (I stirred it right in frozen, heating it through before baking)

1-2/3 cups (1/2 of 28-fl oz/796-mL can) no-salt-added diced tomatoes, undrained

6 small whole wheat tortillas

1 cup Kraft Tex Mex Light Shredded Cheese

sour cream (we just put a dollop on top of each piece)

HEAT oven to 375ºF.
BROWN meat with onions and chili powder (or taco spice) in large skillet on medium-high heat. Add corn and tomatoes; cook 5 min. or until heated through, stirring occasionally.
SPOON Lay a tortilla in the bottom of an ungreased 1.5-L round casserole dish.  Spoon 1 cup meat mixture onto tortilla; cover with 3 tortillas (we used two, sprinkling cheese in between the layers), overlapping if necessary to fit dish. Top with 2 cups of the remaining meat mixture, 1/2 cup cheese. Cover with remaining tortillas and remaining meat mixture; cover.  (We managed three layers of tortilla/meat)
BAKE 25 to 30 min. or until heated through. Top with remaining cheese; bake, uncovered, 5 min. or until melted. Cut into wedges. Serve topped with sour cream.  Enjoy!

You can find a link to this, and all my Mixin' Monday recipes here or on our Recipes page.  You will also be able to find the nutritional information in most of the links.

Happy buggin' (and cookin')!