Good afternoon! We are already at the last day of February. How did that happen?? I'm happy, in a way that February was behind us. My household got sick, one by one, with me getting sick last. Thankfully, all is well on the homefront at the moment. :)

Well, March begins tomorrow which means Spring is hopefully near. I'm waiting for my Cricut Explore to arrive. I'm anxious to see how well it cuts SVGs! Speaking of Spring, I participated in a Spring Flower Swap with some of my fellow Cricut Circlets. 

The object was to make a Spring flower using our Cricut machines about 3"-5" in size. It had to have layers and some embellishments. Each participant needed to make 20 items, either all different or all the same. Below are some photos of the process as I made my items. I wanted to do something a bit out-of the-box than just a flower. I shipped my swap items yesterday. I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone else did!

I have extra supplies after making my 20 fans, so I can make a video on how I assemble them. I'll have the video posted on YouTube early next week! Next week, if not this weekend I'll have some SVG designs that I'll have up on YT and the blog!

I used the "Pagoda" Cricut cartridge for this project. This is the back layer of the fan, cut and ready to be lifted off the mat. 

To help speed up the cutting process, I use a 12" x 24" Cricut mat to load a couple 12" x 12" pages of glitter cardstock.

Here is my Cricut Expression 2 in action. It's cutting out the front layer of the fan out of the blue, glitter cardstock. The fans measure at 5 1/2" across.

This is after everything was cut, by my Cricut. I cut the top layer in two different shades of blue, glitter cardstock. All the cardstock I used was from DCWV. The 3M/Scotch Quick-Dry glue works well for this project. I absolutely LOVE this glue!

With the layers of the fan glued together, it was time to start adding the flowers. I wanted to layer the purple flower with yellow. I used my Xyron sticker maker to turn the yellow flower into stickers.

I just love using glitter cardstock! I think for the fans, it adds a nice, elegant touch.

This is the purple & yellow flower layers together. I love using my Xyron! :)

My fans are nearly complete! I decided to do a little more layering with the pink and orange flowers. I glued on flat-back gems to the center of each flower as a final. :)

Here they are, all done! This is just two of them; there were ten in each fan color. I hope you enjoyed. I had so much fun making these fans. 

I'll be organizing my craft room this weekend. My ScrapRack storage supplies arrived today. Yay! I wish everyone a blessed and crafty day!

Welcome to our 2014 Valentine's Day Blog Hop!  

You should have reached here from TiffysMom's blog. If you are just joining us, please start at RockinRenee's blog. There are so many great projects, I don't want you to miss a single one! Today we're highlighting Valentine's Day inspired projects. 

This is my first blog hop. It's been quite a few months since I've done any real paper crafting. I decided to explore the last cartridge I bought using my Cricut Expression 2 and Cricut Craft Room. I came across this cute owl and chose to make a few elements that my kids could use for their teacher's Valentine's Day cards. :)

This is my Expression 2: Anniversary Edition w/pink end caps. :) I used the Create-A-Critter 2, Cricut cartridge. I began by cutting the first and 2nd layers of the owls first. 

The dark and light pink cardstock is standard weight from Stampin's Up! I cut the owl layers and hearts using the new (green) standard tacky Cricut mat.

The phrase I cut with a standard weight cardstock from the "Holiday Collection - The Christmas Cardstock Stack" from DCWV. Also, I used the green standard Cricut mat. I cut the phrase at about 3.5" tall. 

(I used the green Cricut mat for the majority of the cutting.)

All the pieces have been cut with the Cricut Expression 2. I used the Create-A-Critter 2 cartridge and Cricut Craft Room. The owl and tree layers were cut at 4" tall.

The tree is cut out of a heavy weight glitter cardstock from the DCWV Christmas stack. I used the dusty lavendar heavily tacky Cricut mat for cutting the glitter cardstock. I also had the Cricut cut twice to make sure of a clear cut.

This is the trunk of the tree in 2 layers. The black is some light cardstock I had on hand. The polka dotted brown lightweight cardstock is from the DCWV paper stack "The Chateau Lavendar Stack". 

I cut the layers of the tree trunk using the blue lightly tacky Cricut mat. The tree trunk layers are 2" tall. I also cut the black layer for the owl on the light (blue) Cricut mat. 

The "be" was too small for me to want to use the glue, so I ran made them permanent stickers by using my Xyron sticker maker.

The layers of the owl. I really love the newest Cricut cutting mats!

Everything has been cut out and layers glued together using Scotch (3M) Quick-Dry Adhesive. I love using this glue for paper crafting, including when I make 3D items. It's a glue I always have on hand and highly recommend!

"Owl Be Yours"

The tree is just adorable!

 The owl is so cute!

 

Thank you for joining me. Your next stop on the hop is with cricutaddicted!

I wish you a lovely, blessed and crafty day!

Here is the entire blog list:

1. RockinRenee - I came, I saw, I created.
2. HappyScrapper64 - Random Thoughts of a Scrapbooker
3. gonescrappin - Col's Creative Corner
4. Hrvatica  - Croation Crafter
5. Scootingranny - Scootingranny's World
6. MamaC - Carolyn's Creative Corner

7. Greenie8705 - Gina Beana's Crafts
8. MariaJ - Stamp, Cut, Create!
9. Di&Co - Creating Is Like Breathing
10. Dragonfly50 - Designs by Dragonfly
11. TiffysMom - Angie's Paper Passion
12. *Violette* - Whimsical Treasures >>> YOU ARE HERE
13. cricutaddicted - ScrappingForMoreFun <<< GO HERE NEXT!!
14. LoriSjogren - The Singing Shell
15. Scrapalette - Around the Block with Scrapalette

Good day all! I'm starting a new blog. I've decided to post about all my artistic and crafty adventures here. I'm participating in my first ever blog hop. That post will go live tomorrow!  

Here's a sneak peak....