Celebrate Freedom Blog Hop

Hello and Welcome to the Celebrate Freedom Blog Hop!!

Today we are celebrating Freedom.  I am grateful for my freedom thanks to the many military personnel who fight tirelessly for it!!!  

In this blog hop today, you will find a variety of projects all about Freedom.  You should have arrived from HERE, but if you found me first - no worries - just hop over to the BEGINNING so you don't miss a thing!!!

Here is a complete list of stops along the way in case you get lost!

1. Lisa Pontious ~ http://honeybearzdesigns2011.blogspot.com/

2. Ashley - http://thebloghopprincess.blogspot.com

3. Sandy- http://scrapbookblessings.blogspot.com

4. Pam - http://lovebugcreations3.blogspot.com/

5. Haidee-http://created2bunique.blogspot.com/

6. Melisa ~ http://melisascraftycreations.blogspot.com/

7.  Angela - http://angelascraftyspot.blogspot.com

8. Kathy - http://kathyand3kids.blogpot.com

9. Tabetha - http://tabethascreations.blogspot.com/

10. Sarah - www.sarahbiswabic.blogspot.com

11. Lori - http://scrappinmystressaway.blogspot.com/****HERE

12. Carolyn - http://grandmacarol46580.blogspot.com/****NEXT

http://grandmacarol46580.blogspot.com/

I love celebrating the 4th of July and honoring our freedom.  I created a layout that will feature a picture of my son this coming 4th.  I started with my Gypsy:

I used:

 Birthday Bash for the 4 sized to 2.76 inches.

George for the star sized to 9 inches.

Billionaire for the "th" sized to 1.12 inches and welded.

Lyrical Letters for "of" and "July" sized to 1 and 1.47 inches.

I originally cut all of these out of white cardstock, but the letters and number were getting lost on my page, so I re-cut them in blue cardstock.

I did cut the regular layer of the 4 and ended up only using the regular (not the shadow layer) of it.  

I found the Freedom from Independence Day and sized it to 1 and 1.24 inches.  Used the bigger one on the layout.

These cuts were made with blue cardstock.

I needed some smaller stars.  I went back to George and sized them 1 and 1.12 inches.  I cut both sizes out of red and blue cardstock.

I use the negative cuts as my template when placing my letters and titles on a page.

I tied some twine around the 4 and pop-dotted it to the page.

I used a circle punch to hold the "th" and pop-dotted it to the page.

I added Freedom on the bottom with some ribbon and stars.

I will slide in a photo from the 4th of my son in all his firework glory!!!  I tied twine and pop-dotted a star on the photo mat.

We have several sponsors for this hop:

Royal Prize Pack from Theresa TheScrapbooking Queen

http://www.thescrapbookingqueen.com/

$15.00 Gift Certificate from KaDoodle Bug Designs

http://www.kadoodlebugdesigns.com/

$10.00 Gift Certificate from Treasure Box Designs

http://treasureboxdesigns.com/

$20.00 Gift Certificate from Little Scraps of Heaven

http://www.littlescrapsofheavendesigns.com/

$20.00 Gift Certificate from MB's Treasurista

http://mbtreasurista.com/

$10.00 Gift Certificate from Designs on Cloud 9

http://designsoncloud9.com/

Stamp Set of winners choice from Paper Sweeties

http://www.papersweeties.com/

Large custom handmade keychain the winners choice 

of style and color from Chelle's Custom Designs

https://www.facebook.com/ChellesCustomDesigns

$15.00 Gift Certificate from The Paper Parade

http://www.thepaperparade.com/

$20.00 Gift Certificate from Scrappy Dew

http://www.scrappydew.com/

$15.00 Gift Certificate from Too Cute by Jessica

http://www.toocutebyjessica.com/

A gift valued at $10.00 from Lettering Delights

http://www.letteringdelights.com/

I hope you have a safe and Happy 4th of July!!!

Your next stop in the hop is HERE.

Under the Lights Baseball LO

This week the challenge at Frosted Designs is Sports.  As a mom of three boys who all play (or have played) baseball, it is no surprise that I chose to create a baseball layout.

Tanner made the All-Star Team at the end of his coach pitch season last summer and got to play Under the Lights.

I used the lights from Baseball Cartridge sized to 12.37 inches to frame the 2 page layout.  I opened up a 12x24 mat on my Gypsy to set it up.

I used the All Star and Swish sized to 1.46 and 3.31 inches.  I used Lyrical Letters for UNDER THE sized to 1 inch and GAME sized to .88 inches.  I used Varsity Letter for LIGHTS sized to 1.77 inches.

I cut out the letters in white and red cardstock.

I cut out the lights in brown cardstock.

I used my cut page as a template to adhere my letters.

I pop-dotted the center photo to the page to give it a little dimension.

I tucked in some cardstock stickers.

I used yellow stickles to light up the lights.

Tanner had so much fun playing under the lights!!

All About Mom Flower Pot (Sweet Sassy Diva)

Happy Mother's Day Week!!!  This is a fun week for me ~ it is my Birthday Week and Mother's Day!!  Lori here from ScrappinMyStressAway with a fun project that my daycare kiddos made for their moms.

I got this awesome painting idea from Teach Preschool which is an awesome blog I get many ideas from for my daycare kids as well as my son.  I bought these clear plastic squeeze bottles from Wal-Mart in the Wilton section and filled them with paint.  Yes I took the kids shirts off since I used acrylic paint.

Even the little ones had fun.  Only one tried to eat the paint!!!

We turned the 4 inch clay pots upside down and dripped the paint on.  This was easy and not nearly as messy as I feared.

While the kids were at nap, I got out my Gypsy and some vinyl.  I used Lyrical Letters and sized the "m" to 2.92 inches and the heart to 3.92 inches (1.17 inches if you use Real Size).  I copied enough to fill the mat.

Because we used such bright colors, I thought black would show the best.  I cut out the vinyl using the vinyl setting on my E2, but if you are using a regular Cricut you set your machine to 3-3-3 (blade depth, speed & pressure).  When I weeded away the extra vinyl, one of my "m"s tore ~ good thing I cut out extra!!

I used my scraper and clear contact (after I de-sticked it a little on my jeans) to transfer the image from the paper backing to the flower pot.

Once the pot is dry you can adhere the vinyl.

It is cute, but hard to see all of the letters at once.

I also put the letters and heart on one at a time since the pot is curved.  I did not want the design to appear wonky!

This is the one Tanner painted for me :)  The other kids will be planting their flowers on Friday so they have a better chance of staying alive for Mother's Day!!!

Have a wonderful Mother's Day to all of the mommies, mother-in-laws, step-mothers, and surrogate mommies out there!!

Bowling Raffle Items

 It's that time of year again ~ my son's team is hosting a Bowling Tournament for High School Bowling.  I usually make an item or two for the raffle.   This year, I made these bowling projects.  The bowling mini album is paired up with the scrapbook page (in a 12x12 frame).  I used a rectangle chipboard mini album found at Michaels in the dollar bin.

I used George for the rectangles and circles, Varsity Letter for the font, and Paper Doll for the juggling pin (aka bowling pin).  I save a file on my gypsy with the rectangles so I can easily add a title and some images.  This is set for two horizontal 4x6 photos.

I also created this tile with images from:
Base Camp ~ Strike at 2.06 inches rotated at 90 degrees
Sports Mania ~ Discipline Strength Honor at 2.88 inches.  I hid the inner cuts on the "o" and added three circles to mimic the bowling ball
Hello Kitty Greetings ~ suitcase (aka bowling bag) at 4.06 inches
Nifty Fifties ~ Bowling pin and ball at 7.24 inches and "bowl" at 3 inches and welded together
Create A Critter ~ turkey shadow layer at 2.18 inches (I hid the beak)
Cherry Limeaid ~ gutter ball at 1 inch welded together
Cuttin' Up ~ spare at 1.47 inches and welded together
Nifty Fifties ~ Split at 2.18 inches
George ~ bowling ball (4 circles grouped)
Lyrical Letters ~ it's all about the shoes .76 and 1.38 inches
Graphically Speaking ~ Trophy 2.25 inches

I cut it out of black vinyl and put it on a 12x12 tile.
You can see a link to one of my vinyl tutorials HERE!

Zombie Crossing

I saw a Zombie X-ing sign in a Halloween Costume flyer and thought "how fun" and decided to make one.  I wanted mine to be in the shape of the School Crossing signs.  I have the Street Sign cartridge, but the sign shape I wanted is not on the cart.  As a baseball  mom, I found a solution.

I put 2 home plates from Baseball on my Gypsy mat and welded them together.

I opened a new layer and copied my welded image onto it.  I enlarged it to create a shadow layer.

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I opened a new layer and put the characters and words on my mat to fit inside the sign shape.  The Frankenstein and his bride are sized to 3.70 inches.  The words are sized to 1 inch.

In order to place my images where I want them, I copied and pasted the sign base onto my layer.  NOTE ~ I did not weld the sign I just grouped it with the characters.  Welding images inside a solid shape (the sign) will hide all of the inner cuts.

I cut out the smaller sign in yellow cardstock.  Notice I have the signs upside down so they look like home plate ~ oops!

I cut out the larger sign in black cardstock.

I cut out the characters and letters in black cardstock.  I adhered the yellow sign onto the black sign.  Then I placed the template cut over the sign.

I adhered the characters and words on the sign using the template as a guide.  I peeled the template off.

I hung this sign on the door to my home daycare for fun!