Scrappin' 2 Little Princesses: Celebrate Summer Link-Up Party!!

Candace is hosting a link-up party on her blog! Come check it out and try to win a $10 Pink by Design gift certificate!

Scrappin' 2 Little Princesses: Celebrate Summer Link-Up Party!!: "*** For my OTHER great GIVEAWAY click HERE !! *** Hello Everyone!!! So I don't know about anyone else, but I am SO happy it's summer!!! We..."

Scrappin' 2 Little Princesses: Thank You! :)

Candace of "Scrappin' 2 Little Princesses" is having a follower giveaway once she reaches 350 fans! The girl is UBER TALENTED, a member of the Pink by Design design team, and SUPER NICE to boot. PLEASE go visit her site, leave her a message, and let her know that I sent you! :)

Scrappin' 2 Little Princesses: Thank You! :): "Hi everyone! I don't have a project for you today... The reason I am posting is just to say a BIG THANK YOU!!!! to all of my loyal followe..."

Scrap-a-rama: CHA Show blog candy! New Cricut Cart!

Freda of "Scrap-a-rama" is giving away the new "Fancy Frames" Cricut cartridge! Go check her blog out and let he know I sent you! Ends 7/25! :)

Scrap-a-rama: CHA Show blog candy! New Cricut Cart!: "I'm having LOTS of fun here in Chicago - my old stomping grounds - at the CHA show! I've met so many wonderful people and hopefully they wi..."

Happy Anniversary Hubby! :)

Hello all!

[I have scheduled this post to go up on the 18th, so we will all hope it has :) (I may or may not have had issues with Blogger and scheduling in the past, lol...)]

Since it is the 18th...I would like to say HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO MY HUSBAND!

We've been married two years now...together for a little over 3 (we got engaged after 2 1/2 months of dating, so our courtship was not that long)...and I've loved every minute of it :)

So...to celebrate my hubby...here is the anniversary card I made him!

Card:  Crane & Co. White Notecard

Cardstock: White Cardstock (for my Imagine)

Cartridge(s): Cricut Imagine "Better Together"

Stamp(s): Pink by Design's "Be Mine" (sentiments)

Very simple card, but it gets the feeling across :)

Hope you all have a wonderful day!

Ashley "Scrappin' Pink Piglet"
>:@

CAS-ual Fridays Challenge #11: Featuring My Mother-In-Law's Birthday Card! :)

For my final posting of the evening, I would like to share my entry for CAS-ual Fridays Challenge #11: Sweets and Treats.  I decided to enter the card I created for my mother-in-law's birthday.  I am absolutely IN LOVE with this card.  I have to give credit to the PSA Essentials' Stamp Camp blog and guest designer Stephanie Jones for inspiring my card.  Stephanie did a similar background using alligators, and it inspired me to break out my "Whimsy Cakes" stamps from PSA and create my own version for my mother-in-law:

Supplies Used:

Card:  Crane & Co. White Notecards (I bought them cheaply when a local stationary store went out of business.)

Cardstock: White Cardstock (for my Imagine)

Cartridge(s): Cricut Imagine "Better Together"

Stamp(s): PSA Essentials' "Whimsy Cakes" (background - I stamped the single image multiple times to create the background effect), Pink by Design's "Take the Cake" (sentiments)

Glitter Glue:  Stickles in "Baby Blue" and "Cotton Candy", studio G Glitter Glue in Black

And I colored the background cupcakes using regular ol' colored pencils :)

I love the effect of using a single stamp to create a cool background that fits perfectly with the rest of the card.  Now I can only hope my mother-in-law loves it as much as I do!

Thank you for visiting my site!  Happy Crafting!

Ashley "Scrappin' Pink Piglet"

>:@

Happy Birthday Leo! :)

Good evening again :)


Yes, here is post number TWO!  I'll try to keep this brief, seeing as though my last post was a little long...lol :)  I wanted to share a few pictures of the cake my husband created for his brother Leo's 30th birthday last weekend.  As I had stated in an earlier post, my husband was fortunate enough to receive a Cricut Cake Mini through a giveaway that Erica at My Cricut Craft Room had a month or so ago.  He was pretty excited to be able to use it because he has gotten into cake decorating this past year.  Needless to say, we claimed Leo's birthday as George's official cake-making debut with the Cake Mini.  And here is the final result...

So...why "Free Parking"?

Without getting into too much detail (and embarassing my poor brother-in-law beyond all the good-natured grief we have given him the past few years), Leo had never had a job in his 30 years on this earth.  When my husband had first conceived the cake, it looked like Leo would never have a job.  FORTUNATELY (but unfortunately for the cake, lol) my brother-in-law started an amazing job this past week.  We are extremely happy for him, but, as I said, it kind of changed the meaning of the cake, lol.

For the construction of the cake...my husband did all the fondant work.  We ended up using the Cake Mini for the letters on the cake because the cartridge we had bought for the car (Cricut Lite "Billionaire") had images similar to the game, but not exact enough for my husband (lol).  We cut the letters out of the Wilton Sugar Sheets, which work pretty well IF you're cutting letters bigger than 2 inches.  We tried it on 1-inch and they ripped apart; 2 inches, and they stayed pretty well on the sheet:

My husband hand-cut the car using a tempage he had created:

All in all, the cake turned out pretty awesome!  My husband already has a request in from his youngest sister's boyfriend, who likes anything "Boston" (Celtics, Patriots, etcetera).  It is the day after the middle sister's wedding, so no guarantees there will be another cake right away (especially since we're all in the wedding) but if he does take the plunge to create another, I will share it here!

One more post to go...woohoo!

Ashley "Scrappin' Pink Piglet"
>:@

Birthdays, Birthdays Everywhere!

Good evening all!

Welcome to one of THREE postings I will have for tonight!  Yes, you read that right, THREE!  As I have said over on the Pink by Design Community Forum, July is a busy month for birthdays with my husband's family.  His brother turned 30 last Saturay, his sister will turn 34 this upcoming Sunday, his future brother-in-law's birthday is sometime next week (lol, I honestly can't remember - he and hubby's middle sister are getting married August 7th, so I do know the really important date!), and his mom's birthday is on the 24th.  So, needless to say, it has been a bit busy around here.  In this post I am going to share the cards I created for the first 3 birthdays (brother, sister, and future brother-in-law) but I am saving his mom's card for a separate post because it is honestly, by far, one of my favorite cards EVER.  I will also post hubby's first project with the Cricut Cake Mini (yay!) on the post following this one since it turned out pretty cool.

Without further ado....but with a little background on a few of the cards :)

Leo is my brother-in-law who just turned 30 on the 9th.  Ill explain a little bit more about Leo on the posting about his cake, because his story is a bit of an interesting one.  What I will say here is this:  Leo LOVES Monopoly.  He owns a ridiculous number of the games (I've lost track of which ones, so he could very well have them all, lol) and memorabilia galore.  And if you play with him, it is TOURNAMENT rules ALL THE WAY.  (Hence, why I've never agreed to play with him, ha!)  Anyways, I wanted to create a special card for his birthday that was Monopoly-themed.  I pulled out my Cricut Lite "Billionaire" cartridge and a few of my Sizzix and Spellbinders dies and embossing plates and got to work.  Here is the finished product:

Supplies Used:

Cardstock: DCWV "The Natural Stack", DCWV "The Guy Stack", standard white and black cardstock

Cartridge(s): Cricut Lite "Billionaire"

Stamp(s): Pink by Design's "Take the Cake" (front sentiment), Xyron Design Runner's "Occasions" (inside sentiment)

Die(s):  Sizzix Originals' "Circle Scallop Frame", Spellbinder's "Scalloped Frames"

Embossing Plate(s):  Sizzix "Diagonals"

As you can guess by the list of supplies, I didn't use my Cricut much for this card.  It was namely used to create the "Monopoly man" (or at least someone who looked close enough to him!).  Leo liked the card, although he saw my "signature" (courtesy of my PSA Essentials stamp) on the back and proceeded to spend five minutes trying to figure out a logo for "Scrappin' Pink Piglet" :)

I ended up using the leftover supplies from my earlier cake-themed birthday cards to create my future brother-in-law's card (see this post if you want the details on the materials I used).  I'll post the picture here because it is a little bit different with the glitter glue, but if you've checked out my earlier post, you already know the deal :)

Last, but not least (for this post, at least), I have my sister-in-law Tiffany's birthday card.  She is the only in-law that doesn't live close, so we have not gotten to see her recently, but I wanted her to have a special birthday card like everyone else!

Supplies Used:

Cardstock: Cricut Paper "Celebrations", standard orange, yellow, pink, and purple cardstock

Cartridge(s): Cricut Lite "Birthday Bash"

Stamp(s): Pink by Design's "Take the Cake" (all sentiments)

Ribbon: Leftover from my stash :)

Glitter Glue:  studio G Glitter Glue in Black

I like my sister-in-law's card, but if there is one thing I would change would be the silver ink - it didn't show up as well on the card as I would have liked.  And the ribbon was added to cover up a few errors (i.e. an attempt at stickers and another sentiment stamp) that I had made :)

Hope you enjoyed this post!  Only 3 more to go, lol! :)

Thanks for following me and my crafting journey!

Ashley "Scrappin' Pink Piglet"

>:@

Just in case you wanted another chance to win Pink by Design stamps...

Miss Paula over at More than Favors is giving away not one, but TWO Pink by Design $10 gift certificates! WOW!!  Click here to enter!  And please let her know that I sent you :)

Happy Crafting!
Ashley "Scrappin' Pink Piglet"
>:@

Scrappin' 2 Little Princesses: My very first GIVEAWAY!!!!!

Candace of Scrappin' 2 Little Princesses is giving away a $10 gift certificate to Pink by Design stamps! Crossing my fingers that I win since I love Sarah's stamps!

Scrappin' 2 Little Princesses: My very first GIVEAWAY!!!!!: "I'm so excited to be having my very first giveaway on my blog!! In honor of their 1st anniversary, Pink By Design has given me a $10 gift c..."

She's BAAAAAAACK! :)

Greetings everyone!


Yes, I am *finally* back to posting on my blog!  I know in many of my earlier posts I talked about being busy with work, family, and whatnot but I don't think I realized HOW busy I'd been til the end of the school year.  And this summer/next year won't be any quieter!  I am writing curriculum this summer while also starting to work on my portfolio for National Board Certification.  For those not familiar with NBCT, it is a certification program in which you submit a portfolio demonstrating and reflecting on your teaching practices as well as complete a 6-essay assessment.  It is an intense program that usually is completed over a two-year period, but because my state will stop offering grants to pay for part of the application fees after this summer, this year's cohort - my cohort - will complete our portfolios by March 31st.  Eeek!  I am looking forward to taking part in the process, but it feels like there is so much to do and not enough time.  Add to that the possibility of starting our family this year and it is looking to be a busy year! 


Anyways, I don't want you to think I am complaining - I'm not, not by a longshot, lol - but if I seem like I am not posting often enough, please bear with me!  I think I am going to set a goal for myself of posting at least once a week and hope that I will be able to do so more often than that :)


The point of this post was to share some pictures of the projects I have been working on over the last few weeks.  Without further ado:

MY FIRST PROJECT WITH THE IMAGINE!

A sympathy card for my in-laws, who sadly had to put their dog, Velvet, to sleep.  RIP Velvet :(

"Imagine More" Cartridge

Stamp:  Pink by Design "Sympathy"

Adhesive: Mini Glue Dots (Thank you Erica at "My Cricut Craft Room"!)

BIRTHDAY CARDS FOR TWO OF MY JULY BIRTHDAY FRIENDS :)

"Celebrations" and "Wild Card" Cartridges
Stamps: Pink by Design "Take the Cake" and Peachy Keen Stamps "Everyday Faces 1 1/8"
Adhesive:  3-D Zots

NOTE:  These two cards were adapted from a card I had created previously.  Instead of using the cake as the base of the card, I made it the focal point :) 

In addition to these projects, I am working on some cards for a project led by the lovely Erica at My Cricut Craft Room.  For those of you who do not know Erica, she has a huge heart and an amazing drive to help others.  Last month she collected cards from her followers and friends to send to "Operation Write Home" and doubled the goal she had set for the number of cards she wanted to send.  For this month through August she is collecting cards for her local St. Jude's Hospital.  She and her family will travel to the hospital in September to hand out these cards to the children.  Her goal is 5,000 cards!  If you are not already participating, please consider helping to create cards for this wonderful cause!

Expect another posting this week featuring some of my creations for the St. Jude's card drive as well as...drum roll please...my husband's FIRST CAKE USING THE CRICUT CAKE MINI!  (Thank you again to Erica!).

Take care everyone!  Thanks for reading! :)

Ashley "Scrappin' Pink Piglet"
>:@