Fantabulous Cricut: Harvest Blessings Cricut Crawl

Welcome to Cricut After Dark and the Fantabulous Cricut Harvest Blessings Crawl -- Fantabulous Cricut's version of a blog hop!

It's fall and everyone at Fantabulous Cricut has decided to create projects to give thanks for our Harvest Blessings!   Each Design Team member will be featuring an original fall project that includes brown, orange and red – along with at least one Cricut cut.

If you've come from visiting Jennie at EarthyScrap, you're in the right place! If you've just happened across my blog and would like to play along with our Fantabulous Cricut Crawl, start HERE .

Make sure to check out each DT member's blog for some awesome inspiration. There will be prizes along the way at some of our DT members' blogs, and there will be a Grand Prize up for grabs for a participant who submits a Harvest Blessings project at FCCB!

My project is a turkey place card/decor, inspired by this winner from Michaels' 24-hour Gypsy Challenge in 2009.  I don't have a Gypsy or the cartridges used, so I improvised with my own -- and I really like the result:

Project Details:

• Papers - stripes by Me & My Big Ideas - Autumn; cardstock by Recollections
• Cricut Cuts - feathers are <trap1> (Upright) from Opposites Attract, page 62, cut at 3 inches; body is same, cut at 5 inches, rolled and taped; head is <round> (Upright) from Opposites Attract, page 63, cut at 1.75 inches; beak is <yourday1> (Italic) from Cricut Classic Font, page 71, cut at 0.75 inches folded; waddle is <turkey1> (Layer 4) from Simply Charmed, page 61, cut at 1.75 inches (real dial size); tag is <cute> from Playtime, cut at 2.5 inches; "grateful" sentiment is <pilgrim> (Phrase) from 3 Birds on Parade, page 41, cut at 1 inch.
• Embossing - feathers with The Paper Studio's Doodle Borders; tag with Cuttlebug's Swiss Dots
• Other - inking with brown Stampabilities ink pad; hand-drawn eyes

Because one of my harvest blessings are you, my crafty friends, I have a little giveaway, too.  It's one of my super bargain finds -- a QuicKutz embossing folder!

To qualify for the giveaway, please leave a comment on this entry.  I'll select a winner with random.org on Monday, November 21, around 7am (Central).  Please note I can only ship to US residents at this time.

Now it's your turn! Let's see your Harvest Blessings projects!  Make sure to include a Cricut cut somewhere on your project and be sure to use the colors Brown, Orange and Red as well.

Next stop is Jewel's blog, My Beautiful, Crazy...Scrappy Life.  Go and see what she has in store for you today.  And when you're done, make sure to link up your project to FCCB's Fantabulous Cricut Crawl post to be entered into the contest!

Happy Crawling!

I'm also submitting this project to the following challenges:

My Sheri Crafts:  Challenge #73 - Be Thankful
Whimsical Designs:  Challenge - Happy Turkey Day

Game Day Football Layout

My husband loves football and the Houston Texans -- and "loves" may not even be a strong enough word!  His love for football is so great, he leaves church in an absolute rush on Sundays to get to the car and turn the radio to the Texans game.  He then jumps out of the car before we pull into the garage to get to the TV as quickly as possible.  Yes, my husband has issues for the sixteen weeks of football season.

For the past three years, hubby has also been working to instill his love of football in the next generation.  Our little guy is finally old enough to understand more about the game this year.  He knows a few key words/phrases like football, touchdown, and Go, Texans -- which is about as much as his mommy knows too!

I made this game day layout this week to show what a typical Sunday afternoon looks like at our house.  The photos are from last season when the little man first began paying attention to Daddy's obsession:

Here's a closer look at the embossed football and handmade "field" I made with numbers from the Cricut Classic Font cartridge:

Project Details:

• Papers - patterns from DCWV - All About Boys; cardstock by Recollections
• Cricut Cuts - football from Boys Will Be Boys, page 31; banner and "GAMEDAY" font from Birthday Bash; yard line numbers from Cricut Classic Font
• Embossing - football with Cuttlebug's Swiss Dots
• Other - ribbon by American Crafts; inking with brown Stampabilities ink pad; football on pop dots

I'm submitting this project to the following challenge:

BBTB2:  My Pink Stamper Challenge - Boy Crazy
My Sheri Crafts:  Challenge #72 - All About Sports

Retro Housewarming Card

Another cut I love from the Nifty Fifties cartridge is the ranch house -- it's just so cute!  We live in a neighborhood built in the late '50s/early '60s with houses just like this cut; in fact, our home is pretty similiar -- just add another garage door and subtract the decorative cinder blocks.

This card is for a couple who just moved into their first home.  We weren't able to attend the housewarming party, so I'm sending this greeting instead.

Card Details:

• Card Base - DCWV Brights (A2)
• Papers - patterned paper from American Crafts - Play paperpack; cardstock from scraps
• Cricut Cuts - house from Nifty Fifties, page 47; "Congrats!" sentiment from Cricut Classic Font, page 66
• Cuttlebug Embossing - blue background with Spots & Dots
• Other - doodling with white Gelly Roll pen and yellow-green Le Plume II marker

The house has another layer for the white cinder block and window frame accents.  But with the house cut at 2.25 inches, this layer was just too small and delicate.  Instead, I doodled the accents with a white Gelly Roll pen and added shadow with a yellow-green Le Plume II marker.

Okay, no more cards until I do some chores around the house... :)

Mothers Day Card for Gran

Mothers Day is fast approaching, so I needed to make progress on cards for the mothers in my life.  I made the card below for my husband's grandmother:

Cartridges Used:
Cricut Classic Font
Lovely Floral
Wrap It Up

The body of the card is from Wrap It Up, and I like the result of putting cardstock with a little glitter behind the cut.  When I tried to cut the tag on glitter cardstock, I discovered the thickly-glittered areas don't play well with the regular Cricut blade.  I had to snip a bit with scissors by hand, but it's not terribly noticeable.  Oh well...lesson learned.  Inking makes the "Gran" title tag stand out nicely.

I'm entering this card in Cricut Cardz Challenge #72 - Mothers Day Card using a Card Feature.

Simple Easter Card

Is it really April already?  Easter is only a few weeks away, so I pulled out some pastel papers and played with a bunny cut tonight.

Cartridges Used:
Cricut Classic Font
Doodlecharms

I'm entering this card in my first challenge -- Die Cuttin' Divas - Hippity Hoppity Challenge #8.

I'm no where near as talented as these ladies, but ya gotta start somewhere, right? :)  For three weeks' experience, I like the results of this simple Easter card.

And before I call it a night (gotta get to Michaels for a fabulous sale tomorrow after church!), welcome to all the gracious and supportive ladies who've found my blog through Mrs. Glenda.  I'm in awe of all your talent and so inspired by your creations!

Cupcake Birthday Card

I tried my hand at marking a birthday card this past week.  It's my first card to actually put through the mail!

Cartridges Used:
Cricut Classic Font
Doodlecharms

The papers are what really make this card look nice.  It's the "Birthday Extravaganza" stack by Paper Studio.  (I got it half-off at Hobby Lobby during their most recent cardstock sale.)  The "cupcake icing" paper is glittered and made me think of yummy sprinkles.