Today over at Heart2Heart we are doing a Favorite Tool challenge. Do you have a favorite? I seem to always have my Cricut on hand whenever I craft.  Would you believe there was a time that I didn't use it? I just couldn't figure out what to do with it. I had seen what it could do on TV and knew I had to have one, I eventually got it and it sat and sat and sat for almost a year. One day a neighbor came over to sell come Girl Scout Cookies and I invited her in so I could see what everyone wanted and she saw me stamping...the joke goes I got her addicted to stamping and she got me addicted to my Cricut.

Now I rarely craft without involving my Cricut I love the versatility and options with all of the images. Close to my Heart has several cartridges with exclusive images on each one. The best part is many of them coordinate with our stamps.

I decided to make a birthday card for my older brother who recently turned 50! I pulled some supplies together and got busy. 

Here is what I came up with. 

I always love to add a few banners to the inside of the card to tie it together with the front.

Supplies:

Card stock - White Daisy, Black
Paper - Something Fierce

Ink - Black, Poppy

Stamps - Just a Number (Retired), This Happened - March Stamp of the Month

Other - Cricut Artfully Sent (Retired), Black Dots

SNS Layout Sketch #173 - 1 Awesome Dinosaur Adventure

More grand-kids and dinosaurs this week for this fun sketch. Our son and daughter-n-law recently went to Jurassic Quest and our grandson just had the time of his life. I thought these Something Fierce papers would be adorable to document these photos.

Here is a close up of the journaling block. 

Here is the title I layered several elements to create it. I thought it was fun.

Here is the sketch, we would love to see what you come up with over at the Sketch N Scrap blog.

SNS Card Sketch #140

I am trying to use up my paper pack - Something Fierce I love this paper but my goal is to always use it up before I move onto the next pack. 

Here is a quick card I came up with for the hubby, love leaving him notes in his lunch. 

Here is the sketch, I hope you can join us at Sketch n Scrap.

H2H Invitation Only

Invitation Only!!

Over at Heart 2 Heart this week we are extending some invitations. At first you might just think about a wedding invitation or a birthday invitation however there are so many other fun things that you can use invitations for.

Weddings
Showers
Birthdays
BBQs
Dinner Party
Girls Night
Card Night
A Weekend Getaway
Book Club (that is what I did :))
Spa Party
Tea Party

The list is just endless. Decide what you want to get together and do and have fun making some cute invitations.

I used some more of my Something Fierce Kit to make up a bookmark, with hand lettering, and a matching card. I just cannot get enough of that paper pack.

I used the fun torn paper file from the Artbooking cartridge but you could also use the Thin Cut Borders for this. I found the book club cut in Design Space.

I used some gems and popped up my book-club invite to give it a little something extra.

Here is a simple matching book mark that everyone will receive when they come to book club. 

I hope you will join us this month at H2H and make sure you take a look at what the other designers came up with.

H2H Creative Cards

Today over at Heart 2 Heart challenges we are featuring creative cards...so any card in any shape except your standard A2 card (4 1/4" x 5 1/2").

I personally love making little 3 x 3 cards. My hubby drives a semi over the road so he is gone for several days each week. I like having these on hand to I can toss them in his bag here and there. These are also fun to toss in a child's lunch or to attach to a gift bag.

3 x 3 cards are also a perfect way to use up your scraps. I have been having lots of fun with the new paper pack Something Fierce and with this card I added in the must have January Stamp of the Month Card Captions

Come and show us your cards we would love to see them over at H2H and make sure you check out the other designers too.

SNS Layout Sketch #169 - Rawr means FUN

Here is what I came up with this week for this fun sketch. My daughter sends me photos of the grand-kids all the time and I have to say it is the highlight of my day! When I saw these pics of my youngest granddaughter I knew I had to use this adorable new Something Fierce paper from CTMH.

Here is a close up of the journaling block. 

I really enjoyed the details of this sketch, I just love stitching. One of my favorite new toys is the Decorative Border thin cuts. They add the extra little something here and there.

Here is the sketch, we would love to see what you come up with over at the Sketch N Scrap blog.

H2H - The Important Things...the Grandparent Version

Over at the Heart 2 Heart blog we decided to kick off the New Year with the Important Things. We could go any direction we wanted with this one and I decided to make a fun little mini album using a little tin that I got probably 15 years ago way back when Scrapbook Stores were on every corner.  So for 15+ years I have been waiting for just the perfect time to use this and what better use than featuring the sweet little grandbabies?

I used the fun new Something Fierce kit along with the puffy stickers {swoon-I had the best puffy sticker collection when I was in elementary school}

Here is the inside of the tin. This is the size of an Altoids tin so if you have any laying around you can re-purpose them into fun little mini albums.

The album is all connected in an accordion style and zig-zags back and forth.  I did every other "page" a photo of one of our grandbabies and the other "page" some hand written fun important things to remember as a grandparent..like eating desert first.

On the flip side I have the rest of our grandkids (we currently have 5) I also printed out a sibling photo of each of the families to include as well.

Here you can see the folds. I also just left the bottom empty since the album will sit in there.

Here is one final look at my little mini album featuring The Important Grandparent Things.

We would love to see what is important to you this month over at the Heart 2 Heart Blog.