Hello! Welcome to this stop of the Picnic Blog Hop. You should have started at Erica's Blog . If you didn't please click on the link and start there. If you came here from Tracy  you are in the right spot. If you are just visiting my blog, I hope you will make your way through this weekend's projects. I know that Erica has some fabulous blog candy at the end of the hop and you never know who else might have candy along the way...you might even find some at the end of this post.

When I sat down and started thinking about what I wanted to make for this hop I was overwhelmed with memories of my childhood and couldn't think of many picnics. There were a few from when I was very young, but I kept coming back to Aunt Lily. Let me start off by saying all of my Aunts have influenced me in different ways and given me legacies to carry with me, but the legacy Aunt Lily left me and my sister was to make everyday occurrences remarkable. When I would go to Aunt Lily's as a young child she would make me wonderful snacks of tea and cookies. She had a fancy little teapot (we didn't have anything like that at my house). She would make me tea in that teapot and serve tea and cookies on a tray. It was all in the presentation and I was made to feel like a princess.

My sister still does this for the little kids. One time when we went to visit, she decorated and had a luau for my kids at breakfast just so they could have fresh pineapple. We celebrated a year's worth of holidays in one week once. We had a bbq, Christmas party, Easter party, Valentine party, Halloween Party, and New Year's Eve Party all within a week. It was a blast. Anyway... I didn't take my kids on a lot of picnics either. Most of them were in our backyard and one of the things that made them special was wrapping the silverware. I know it is silly, but if we are eating outside my kids love for the silverware to be wrapped. I decided to make a quick little napkin wrapper for a picnic. 

I simply took a scrap of white paper and cut it 2 1/2 inches by about 6 inches. I cut a strip of patterned paper and cut a strip 1 x 6 and glued it on top of the white cardstock. For the little personalized monogram, I used A Child's Year Monogram key and cut the C at 1 1/2 inches. I then cut the monogram that is blank out of black at 1 3/4. I glued them together and then glued it to the center of the strip. I wrapped it around the silverware and glued where it overlaps with my ATG.

Look at the cute little ant on this paper. I don't remember where I got this paper. I have had it around for years. I think it may be out of one of the DCWV Summer Stacks.

The other side says Picnic Time. I love it. This took all of three minutes to make, but it sure to bring a smile to my kids' faces when we use them this weekend. They are so quick and easy I can do it at the last minute even if they invite a friend over.

I thought more about the picnic and thought what better place to have a picnic than at the beach or at least at a park with a big sand box. I grabbed a pail and threw some vinyl on it. I cut the Oh Happy Day from Don Juan. Quick easy and lots of fun. When cutting vinyl, you want to use a medium setting on pressure, speed, and blade depth. It will "Kiss" cut where it cuts through the vinyl, but not the paper backing. You then peel away the excess vinyl before transferring it to the item.

I had planned to do more elaborate projects, but my boss surprised us this week by announcing her retirement. That threw lots into my week that wasn't planned. Then everyone in the house had ten different things going on, so it has been a busy week. I didn't get near what I wanted to get done finished. Of course, you know me and I could add another project or two before morning. In the meantime, how bout a little blog candy to make up for the simple projects?

What do you need to do to win this blog candy?... Leave me a comment telling me what cartridges or themes you would like to see featured on my blog. Are you really looking for school layouts? Do you need birthday ideas? Home decor projects? What do you want to see? You never know, I might even be able to talk Erica into getting the whole design team working on the theme or featuring the cartridge. You don't have to follow to win, but if you would like to follow I would be honored to have you as a follower.

Okay it is morning and I have a layout for you. The colors aren't showing up well, because it was barely light outside as I was taking these. I used Echo Park's "A Walk in the Park" Collection. It is not one of their newer collections. It is an old collection, but all of the Echo Park Collections are wonderful. They just go together so well and are easy to work with. Check out the other Echo Park Collections Erica offers here.  The 12x12 collections are my favorites. They come with papers, three sets of alphabet stickers, shaped cardstock stickers, and border strips.

This was a fun layout to make. I pulled out one of my favorite go to cartridges Designer's Calendar. It is an often overlooked cart. I bought it to make calendars for my classroom. I have made one calendar with it for my husbands classroom, but I use it all the time. It has words and images for every holiday and most events. From playdates to sleepovers to Chinese New Year to Mardi Gras to a dentist visit.... it is all on this cart. Plus go to shapes like butterflies, flowers, Christmas trees, and pumpkins. I am telling you I use this cartridge all the time. Erica has this caret for only $23 right now. It is a steal. This is a direct link to this cart on her store.

 The title is cut from Designer's Calendar. I cut both the letter and the shadows at 2". It is a very versatile font. It is skinny, so you can still make the letters relatively large without taking up all the space.

You can see I added some of the cardstock stickers to enhance the layout.

I you enjoyed and that you will check out Echo Park's line and Designer's Calendar.

Now head on over to Haidee's Blog to see what she has created for the hop. I know it will wow you, as her projects always blow me away. Don't forget to leave some comment love along the way to be eligible for the blog candy Erica is giving away.

Here is the entire line up just  in case you get lost along the way.

Start http://mycricutcraftroom.blogspot.com/
Suzy's Crafts http://suzyssimplecrafts.blogspot.com/
Tracy http://Lovesbuggin.blogspot.com/
Kathy Jo http://skrappindiva.blogspot.com/
Haidee http://created2bunique.blogspot.com/
Cicily http://pinkdalmationscrapper.blogspot.com/
Erica's Project http://ericasprojects.blogspot.com/
Lori http://www.scrappinmystressaway.blogspot.com/.
April http://curlsandgrins.blogspot.com/
Blog Candy http://ericasblogcandy.blogspot.com/

I am 99% sure that as soon as I have natural light in the morning, there will be a fun picnic layout for you to see with Echo Park Papers.
Happy Crafting!
KathyJo

Theme Thrusday at My Cricut Craft Room

It is Theme Day Thursday over at My Cricut Craft Room. This week's theme is teacher appreciation.I had to pick today. I am a teacher. Actually I had two fun teacher appreciation projects to share with you. The first uses Word Collage. You can find it here in Erica's store and it is on sale for $20. This is a great price for this cart and I keep finding uses for it. Our high school mascot is the Buccaneers. Our band is known as the Big Red Buccaneer Band. I used the layer option and took Buccaneer off of the layer I was cutting in black vinyl.I added the letters to the layer I was cutting in red vinyl. I cut each layer separate and used transfer tape. The base is a scrap piece of 1/4 plywood that I painted white. The easel to hold it was from the Dollar Tree. The band director loved it and it is proudly displayed in his office. He told me, :This is so much better than a tie with music notes on it". It made me laugh. I have also made these for the art teacher using the collage with artist and two English teachers using the Shakespeare one and the Jane Austin Collage. It you don't have scrap plywood, you can buy 12x12 ceramic tiles at your local home improvement store for under $1.

The kids refer to the band director as "The Williams." We made this bouquet using Don Juan letters and the music notes from Hannah Montana. The die cuts were hot glued to kebob sticks and stuck in floral foam. I tucked red tissue paper between them. The basket is a paper treat holder that came in a six pack at Dollar Tree. These were fun easy goodies that will be enjoyed for a long time.

Hope you enjoyed these goodies. Now head on over to My Cricut Craft Room and see what my design team sisters have created for you.
Happy Crafting!
KathyJo

Card Tuesday

Well it is Card Tuesday at My Cricut Craft Room. Today we had the choice of following the sketch or making a card featuring a certain flower. I chose the flower thinking finding a carnation would be easy. Well, the only carnation I found was on 50 States and someone else from school has the cart right now. So, since I didn't have access to that cartridge and the red carnation cut, I decided to make my own. I went online and looked at several pictures of carnations. I pulled out Mother's Day Bouquet and chose a bloom with jaggedy edges. I used the next to the last key on the first row.

I cut them at 1", 1 1/2" and 2". I knew I was using copper on the card and didn't have any small copper brads. I held a small gold brad with tweezers, got the head good an hot with the heat tool, dipped it in vintage copper embossing enamel, and then heat set until smooth. I then poked the brad through the center of the layered cuts. Once they were secure, I spritzed them with a mini mister filled with water. Once the water soaked in and the fibers of the paper were loosened, I scrunched them up by hand and shaped into a flower. Needless to say it didn't come out looking like the carnation I was aiming for, but I liked the result anyway.

I used a premade card base and inked the edges with Spiced Marmalade Distress ink. I honestly believe the most versatile products I own are my Tim Holtz distress inks. If you are looking for a good value for your money, invest in some of these inks. A little goes a long way and you will find so may uses for them.

The papers I used for the flower and the torn piece are from the Bo Bunny 6x6 Country Garden Pad . They are beautiful. If you have never played with Bo Bunny before, they are an excellent quality paper. They cut well on the cricut, they tear beautifully by hand, and they ink exquisitely. Erica has the whole line. The trinkets are really nice and add a gorgeous accent. I didn't add one to this card because I was going for a more simple look and the trinkets are very elegant looking.

The thanks was cut from Don Juan at 3/4''. It was cut out of basic brown cardstock. I then covered it in embossing enamel adhesive and quickly covered the wet adhesive with Vintage Copper embossing enamel. Talk about a different effect. It looks like aged patina mixed with the copper. The green and white mottled look you get on old copper is there. I tried to get a good shot of this. It really is raised and metallic like metal, but I have never seen paper with this old metal look.

I hope you enjoyed my card. Now head over to My Cricut Craft Room to see what my design team sisters have created.
Happy Crafting!
KathyJo

Scrapbook Friday at My Cricut Craft Room

It is Friday and that means Scrapbook Friday at My Cricut Craft Room. This Friday's theme is coffee. I made a layout with no pictures, because I wanted my children to understand "My Sweet Addiction". They have grown up watching me drink coffee, so I am sure they think of me as a coffee drinker, but it hasn't always been that way. After all, isn't that what many of us scrapbook for? To share our memories, our lives, with future generations?

Sorry about the crummy picture, but since my camera is broken I was stuck with an iPhone pic. I used Lyrical Letter Jumbo cut at 2" for the title. The coffee cup is from Don Juan cut at 3". The papers are by Fancy pants designs. Now head on over to My Cricut Craft Room to see what my design team sisters have come up with.
Happy Crafting!
KathyJo

Scrapbook Challenge

Every two weeks there is a new scrapbook challenge over at Erica's Craft Room. I have to say I procrastinated and am down to the wire. Only three hours left and I am just now getting mine posted. Here is the sketch that had to be used and the colors were pastel yellow, pastel green, and another color of your choice. I chose pink.

I was actually looking for some other photos this morning and came across these from Easter 2005. Nick was so cute, I had to use this sketch and get them scrapped. Here is my take on the sketch. The lighting is awful as it is raining here, but I wanted to get this posted in time for the challenge.

I can't give you all the details, as I used CCR to lay it out. The bunny and grass are from everyday paper dolls, the letters are Don Juan, and the eggs are A Child's Year.

I journaled on an egg and decorated the other eggs with stickles. You can see I added a little peeled paint distress ink to the grass.

I also added a bit of distress ink to the letters and edges of the paper. Over all I like it. It was a quick easy layout. There are still a few hours to get in on this challenge, so head on over to Erica's Blog and enter. The winner of the challenge will win a Cricut Cartridge. Feel free to leave me comments.