Christmas Banners for Special Needs Kids BLOG HOP

Christmas Banners for Special Needs Kids 
BLOG HOP
November 10-12, 2012

"In the eyes of children, we find the joy of Christmas. In their hearts, we find its meaning."

As joyous as Christmas is for most families, for some, their holidays are filled with worry, medical treatments and tests, and pain -- for their child must be hospitalized or she or he needs long-term care rather than being home with their families.

For these kids, Santa doesn't slip down a chimney but rather, often comes in the guise of community volunteers who help make the season bright.
 
This is the second Christmas season that our own band of dedicated and loving paper crafters have come together to make Holiday banners for children who are too sick to be home for the holidays.   
Welcome to the Christmas Banners for Special Needs Kids blog hop!

I am especially pleased that this year, not only have our numbers of generous crafters swelled so our Hop is over three full days, but also, that we have partnered with another great cause and recipient of our banners!


By teaming up with Madison Womack's I FEEL THE LOVE PROJECT, the banners our crafters have handmade will be going to the hospitalized children at Children's Hospital Central California!

I'll be sending this to Madison and the children at CHCC who are benefiting from the
I Feel the Love project in December:


The pennants were cut from
Pretty Pennants Cartridge at 3"
using cream card stock (base) and a Royal Green and Red
card stock for the top layers.

The font I used for JOLLY is from
Elmo's Party cut at 1.5" using the same cream and red paper.

The cute little reindeer is cut from Create-A-Critter
at 3" from textured card stock (tan, brown, red, & black)

I also added a few eyelashes and a cute

bow made of Twinery Twine to "cutesy" her up a bit!

  Now, if you feel inspired to make and donate your own banner or a Christmas card or two to the I Feel the Love Project, 
you'll be entered into a drawing to win
the wonderful HOSTESS Prize:

CARDMONKEY's SPIRIT OF CHRISTMAS
Super-Fantastic Gift Basket
Throughout the month of December, Ellen will be adding crafty goodness to this basket so that it will be over-flowing and ripe and ready for under your tree. She'll be picking the winner on Christmas Eve, announcing the winner on Christmas Day, and if you win, you'll have the basket in your hands by New Year's Day!!

Stay tuned to the CardMonkey blog over the next few weeks leading up to the drawing, because she will be posting the contents of the basket as they mount.
 OK, so to win the GRAND PRIZE
(all continents are welcome!),
here's what you must do:
1.  Be a follower of the CardMonkey blog and tell Ellen in your comments how she can contact you.
2.  Leave a comment telling Ellen what you plan to make and send to the IFTL project by their deadline, December 10.  Then do it!  
Go to www.ifeeltheloveproject.blogspot.com for mailing 
information for your card or banner.  
Your card or banner MUST be received 
by Madison by the deadline 
to be eligible to win the GRAND prize!  
 

NOT READY FOR PRIME TIME??  
You can still win great blog candy just by being here and commenting on as many banner makers' blogs over the course of the next three days.
Since we have more than 50 banner makers today, tomorrow and Monday, I'll be picking 5 blogs at random, and then one random comment from that Blog site, for that commenter to win one of five great prizes, which are:

1. Susan Bermudez, Independent Consultant for Creative Memories, donating a $20 gift certificate for Creative Memories products from her catalog (http://www.mycmsite.com/sites/susanbermudez/).
   
2. Scrappin' Madge: $25 Gift Certificate to The Scrappin Lounge Shoppe (http://madgesscrappinlounge.storenvy.com/)
3. Fresh Brewed Designs: Two prizes - One prize is a rubber stamp, Item #497 "Cutie Pie Ice Skating" (http://www.freshbreweddesigns.com/item_497/Cutie-Pie-Ice-Skating.htm), and the other is a $15 Digital Stamp gift card.
4. The Paper Temptress (www.papertemptress.com) - Owner Patricia Dunbar will donate a $25 Gift Certificate to her online store, the Paper Temptress.
5. The Pinque Peacock (www.pinquepeacock.com) - Owner Jessica Shelton will donate a gift certificate to her NEW store (products are being added daily -- watch as she grows!)
6. In addition, Close to My Heart Independent Consultant Lucy Kelleher will award a $20 gift certificate to a randomly-selected hopper who visits her blog (http://love2createitall.com) and/or Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/LucyK.CTMH) and posts a comment about the banner blog hop!

P.S. -- Be sure to check out as many blogs as you can, as several will be providing their own blog candy with their own requirements.  If I catch them along the way, I'll add them to this list, as a shout out of gratitude, and also so you don't miss out on some sweet candy(canes!)...

Here is the Hop line up for Sunday, November 11:

1. Ellen ♥ CardMonkey - http://cardmonkey-business.blogspot.com
2. Jessica - http://jessicascraftshaque.blogspot.com/
3. Lezlye -  http://lezlyes.blogspot.com/
4. Lori - http://www.scrappinmystressaway.blogspot.com/
5. Jenny D - http://www.yogimemories.blogspot.com/
6. Lissa Marie - http://somanycrafts.com/
7. Robin - http://scrapandchat.blogspot.com/
8. Jenny - http://crazyaboutcricut.blogspot.com/
9. Scrappin Madge - http://thescrappinlounge.com/
10. Jeannie - http://polkacabana.wordpress.com/
11. Rebecca T. - http://craftingwithrebecca.blogspot.com/
12. Lisa T. - http://bitbythecricutbug.blogspot.com
13. Kimi ~ http://lovebugcreations3.blogspot.com
14. Beth~ http://motherandaughterdesigns.blogspot.com
15. Patricia ~ http://blogs.papertemptress.com/
16. Robin L - http://create-a-latte.blogspot.com/

  YOUR NEXT STOP is:  LEZLYE

Thank you again for visiting us here for a beautiful and worthwhile endeavor.  God bless all the little children wherever they spend their holidays!!

Remember to Keep Crafting, 

Because 

♫ CRAFTING ♫ 

♫ ROCKS ♫ 

\m/-_-\m/

:O) 

Jessica

Christmas Banners for Special Needs Kids BLOG HOP

Christmas Banners for Special Needs Kids 
BLOG HOP
November 10-12, 2012

"In the eyes of children, we find the joy of Christmas. In their hearts, we find its meaning."

As joyous as Christmas is for most families, for some, their holidays are filled with worry, medical treatments and tests, and pain -- for their child must be hospitalized or she or he needs long-term care rather than being home with their families.

For these kids, Santa doesn't slip down a chimney but rather, often comes in the guise of community volunteers who help make the season bright.
 
This is the second Christmas season that our own band of dedicated and loving paper crafters have come together to make Holiday banners for children who are too sick to be home for the holidays.   
Welcome to the Christmas Banners for Special Needs Kids blog hop!

I am especially pleased that this year, not only have our numbers of generous crafters swelled so our Hop is over three full days, but also, that we have partnered with another great cause and recipient of our banners!


By teaming up with Madison Womack's I FEEL THE LOVE PROJECT, the banners our crafters have handmade will be going to the hospitalized children at Children's Hospital Central California!

I'll be sending this to Madison and the children at CHCC who are benefiting from the
I Feel the Love project in December:

The pennants were cut from
Pretty Pennants Cartridge at 3"
using cream card stock (base) and a Royal Green and Red
card stock for the top layers.

The font I used for JOLLY is from
Elmo's Party cut at 1.5" using the same cream and red paper.

The cute little reindeer is cut from Create-A-Critter
at 3" from textured card stock (tan, brown, red, & black).
I used a bit of Red Stickles on his nose....of course!

  Now, if you feel inspired to make and donate your own banner or a Christmas card or two to the I Feel the Love Project, 
you'll be entered into a drawing to win
the wonderful HOSTESS Prize:

CARDMONKEY's SPIRIT OF CHRISTMAS
Super-Fantastic Gift Basket
Throughout the month of December, Ellen will be adding crafty goodness to this basket so that it will be over-flowing and ripe and ready for under your tree. She'll be picking the winner on Christmas Eve, announcing the winner on Christmas Day, and if you win, you'll have the basket in your hands by New Year's Day!!

Stay tuned to the CardMonkey blog over the next few weeks leading up to the drawing, because she will be posting the contents of the basket as they mount.
 OK, so to win the GRAND PRIZE
(all continents are welcome!),
here's what you must do:
1.  Be a follower of the CardMonkey blog and tell Ellen in your comments how she can contact you.
2.  Leave a comment telling Ellen what you plan to make and send to the IFTL project by their deadline, December 10.  Then do it!  
Go to www.ifeeltheloveproject.blogspot.com for mailing 
information for your card or banner.  
Your card or banner MUST be received 
by Madison by the deadline 
to be eligible to win the GRAND prize!  
 

NOT READY FOR PRIME TIME??  
You can still win great blog candy just by being here and commenting on as many banner makers' blogs over the course of the next three days.
Since we have more than 50 banner makers today, tomorrow and Monday, I'll be picking 5 blogs at random, and then one random comment from that Blog site, for that commenter to win one of five great prizes, which are:

1. Susan Bermudez, Independent Consultant for Creative Memories, donating a $20 gift certificate for Creative Memories products from her catalog (http://www.mycmsite.com/sites/susanbermudez/).
   
2. Scrappin' Madge: $25 Gift Certificate to The Scrappin Lounge Shoppe (http://madgesscrappinlounge.storenvy.com/)
3. Fresh Brewed Designs: Two prizes - One prize is a rubber stamp, Item #497 "Cutie Pie Ice Skating" (http://www.freshbreweddesigns.com/item_497/Cutie-Pie-Ice-Skating.htm), and the other is a $15 Digital Stamp gift card.
4. The Paper Temptress (www.papertemptress.com) - Owner Patricia Dunbar will donate a $25 Gift Certificate to her online store, the Paper Temptress.
5. The Pinque Peacock (www.pinquepeacock.com) - Owner Jessica Shelton will donate a gift certificate to her NEW store (products are being added daily -- watch as she grows!)
6. In addition, Close to My Heart Independent Consultant Lucy Kelleher will award a $20 gift certificate to a randomly-selected hopper who visits her blog (http://love2createitall.com) and/or Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/LucyK.CTMH) and posts a comment about the banner blog hop!

P.S. -- Be sure to check out as many blogs as you can, as several will be providing their own blog candy with their own requirements.  If I catch them along the way, I'll add them to this list, as a shout out of gratitude, and also so you don't miss out on some sweet candy(canes!)...

Here is the Hop line up for Saturday, November 10:

1. Ellen ♥ CardMonkey - http://cardmonkey-business.blogspot.com
2. Jessica - http://jessicascraftshaque.blogspot.com/
3. Lezlye -  http://lezlyes.blogspot.com/
4. Edwina -  http://edwinascreations.blogspot.com/
5. Shawnee - http://quiverofangels.blogspot.com/
6. Scrappin Madge - http://thescrappinlounge.com/
7. Jessica E.~ http://chick-n-scrap.blogspot.com
8. Kimi ~ http://lovebugcreations3.blogspot.com 
9. Janet ~  http://www.ladyluvbug.blogspot.com/
10. Theresa Neubaum ~ http://www.scrappyartcrafters.blogspot.com/
11. Khrista -  http://creativeandcraftyteacher.blogspot.com/
12. An'Jenic - http://anjenicgibson.blogspot.com/
13. Jennifer R - http://craftycardgallery.blogspot.com/
14. Gloria W. http://gloriawest.blogspot.com/

  YOUR NEXT STOP is:  LEZLYE

Thank you again for visiting us here for a beautiful and worthwhile endeavor.  God bless all the little children wherever they spend their holidays!!

Remember to Keep Crafting, 

Because 

♫ CRAFTING ♫ 

♫ ROCKS ♫ 

\m/-_-\m/

:O) 

Jessica

Letter of the Day - R

Welcome To

Hello Crafty Blends.

Today is my day to share

a DT project with you

from My Cricut Craft Room

I have a short post for you today!

I created this Christmas Card

using the
REINDEER from Create-A-Critter.

Kraft Base

Bo Bunny Mistletoe (white with blue polka dots)

Spellbinders Impressabilities - Snowflake die.

Forest Green Distress Ink

 
RED Stickles on the nose

RED Twine from the Twinery for the bow in her hair

and to use to hold the stocking charm on top.

 
ROSES from I am Roses

Now head back over to My Cricut Craft Room 

to see more wonderful creations 

by the Design Team Members!

Remember to 

Keep Crafting, 

Because

♫ CRAFTING ♫ 

♫ ROCKS ♫ 

\m/-_-\m/ 

:O) 

Jessica

Scrapbook Friday - Beautiful Sunshine

Scrapbook Friday - August 10, 2012 ~Outdoor Layouts~

Hello Crafty Blends.

I am exited to share my
fun Layout with you today.

For our DT projects today at
 My Cricut Craft Room,
 we were to create
a Scrapbook Layout with the theme
Dance or Outdoor.

I have a few pictures of my kids frolicking about the yard

around Memorial Day that I wanted

to get into a layout.   So I chose

do create the Outdoor Theme.

I couldn't find the pics in the short time I had looked, 

but I do have one last place in mind to check.

I will add them in as soon 

as they are found and then the layout 

will be 100% complete.

I initially had gotten out my Create-A-Critter cart
thinking I was going to do a
campy/woodsy/outdoor layout.
That was, until I thought about the pics I would be using.

 I started be creating three photo mats for the layout.
The background paper is a deep navy blue cs and the yellow is
Core'dinations Sunflower Yellow hues.


The pics of the kids frolicking about, includes a few where
they are smelling the flowers as well as
peeking through some patches of flowers, too.

The Echo Park - Playground papers and stickers
gave me a grand idea to create a "Yard Scene".
I used the fun aqua cs as my background, then cut the green cs
using my CM blade trimmer to create the grassy hill.
I adhered the green and the flower strip using 3D foam squares.
The border of flowers was cut from a sheet of cs (borders) in the same EP stack.
I inked the green cs lightly for added dimension to the hills.

I first cut layers of my sun from CAC cart at 2.75"
using Core'dinations Sunflower Yellow cs and a deep blue
cs from from left over from my photo mattes.
The top layer of the sun is Core Couture-Glitter (Yello).

For the sun,  I used a fun "shadow" technique
that I learned from watching
one of Erica's Craft Room
U-stream Episodes last month.
Here is the her channel for you to
consider stopping
over and subscribing.
You can learns tons of techniques
that make crafting more practical and fun.

The small medallion phrase in the bottom corner
was cut from Graphically Speaking
at 2.5" in two layers.

The aqua color matched the background fairly close
and I wanted to shadow the phrase
so that it would stand out more.
I used the same Core'dinations Glitter cs (Aqua)
again with the deep blue cs from my stash.
I then used a dauber with some Darice Deep Aqua ink
and daubed around the medallion for more contrast.


I used another fun technique I learned from
one of Erica's Ustream tutorials for the grass cuts.
When placing my Core'dinations CS (Produce Greens) scraps
on my Cricut mat, I flipped them over (with the backside exposed).
I then used the Flip feature on my Cricut when setting up all my grass cuts.

The grass cuts were created using the CAC cart again.  I cut
them from scraps of green cs in my stash at different sizes
between .75" and 1.25".
Before pulling my grass up from my Cricut mat, I used my Xyron
Cheetah 2 adhesive runner across the back sides of my cuts.
Wa-Lah...easy adhesive idea for small cuts.
Thanks Erica!!!


I then randomly
placed them about the page until I felt there were enough.

OTHER SUPPLIES:

Flowers from stash

Ticket stamp from Unity Itty Bitty

"You're the Ticket"

Now, if you want to see more fantastic

layouts, be sure to stop over

at 

My Cricut Craft Room

to check out

what all the other talented DT Members 

have in store for you!!!

 THANKS
FOR
STOPPING
BY

&

Remember,

Keep Crafting 

:O) 

Jessica

WYEGW - Would You Ever Guess Wednesday

Hello Crafty Blends

Today is the Fabulous

This is my first WYEGW project and post 

since joining the Design Team
at My Cricut Craft Room.  

I really enjoyed the challenge of
thinking about what to do with your  Cricut Cartridges
that you may not have ever tried before. 

The idea behind WYEGW, is to use any features
WITHOUT using the Main Feature Cut key!
Interesting, HUH?

I grabbed my Create-A-Critter
cartridge because I knew it had a lot of
fun accessories
and
started looking through the handbook.

I found the fun Palm Tree
under the Dino Main Cut.
I cut the tree at 4".

I used Brown CS by Recollections for the first layer and
I used a neon green paper from my BG lauderdale 6x6 stack
for the palm leaves

I then came across the sentiment, just chillin',
under the Penguin Main Cut.
I cut the sentiment at 2"

 I used a fun tropical flower paper  for the first layer and
the same neon green (from the tree), from my BG lauderdale 6x6 stack
for the top layer.

I also grabbed some fun adhesive backed
textured border strips (taupe in color) and tore them
so it appeared as sand.
I didn't much care for the white inner layer
so I spritzed it with some brown Shimmerz
to darken the torn edge.


I then spritzed my leaves and the chillin' with some
of my handmade green glimmer mist.

After letting it dry, I then started to piece all my elements together.

I felt the tree needed a little more 'pizazz'

so I grabbed my embossing folders.

I used my TH Sizzix Burlap on the Tree Trunk

and I used the Darice Bark/Tree on the Palm Leaves.

I inked up the edges of my green papers using my
Quick Quotes Powder Puff Chalk Ink (green)
and a finger dauber.

I wanted the sentiment to stand out and not match

the palm leaves exactly, so I added more

pigments to my glimmer mist

and sprayed one more time.

 

Now, it needed one...more...element . . .TWINE!

I grabbed up all my twine and chose to

use some Cappucino  Twinery Twine

to roll and make coconuts for my Palm Tree.

Other supplies:

Aqua Recollections CS (base)

BG lauderdale (blue dots background dp)

Tim Holtz Distress Tool
Zig Pens
Scissors
Glu Glider Pro Adhesive Gun
3D Foam Adhesive (roll)
Zots (small)

I needed to distress the edges of my
backdrop dp . . so I grabbed my TH distress tool.

 

When it comes to foam adhesive,
can you ever really have too much...LOL

For more fun WYEGW Craft Inspiration,

be sure to stop back at 
My Cricut Craft Room

and visit 

all of the 

Design Team Members!

Keep Crafting 

:O) 

Jessica