Diaper Cake Tutorial

Hey Crafty Friends!
I have a question for you.  Have you ever wanted to know how to make a diaper cake?  Sometimes they look a little complicated so I have avoided trying them out until now.  Heather, one of my Getting Cricky design team sisters has created an Oh so simple way to make a diaper cake.  You can dress it up how ever you want but her "base formula" if you will, is really easy peasy.  Check out the tutorial at Getting Cricky.

I also wanted to mention that I will have a fun home decor project posted tomorrow.  So check back again and I will show you what I have created!
Blessings and have a GREAT day!
Jana

Small Business Saturday

Well, better late than never is what I say!  I have been so busy cleaning, relaxing and spending time with family that I haven't posted this week.  I just want to encourage my faithful followers to support small businesses, not just today but throughout the Christmas season.  One that I highly recommend to all you crafters is K. Andrew Designs stamps. Kristal is a great designer but she is also kind and generous.  For every stamp set purchased, she donates to a variety very worthy charities.  So give a gift of K. Andrew stamps and you will be giving to a charity too!  Below are a few of my favorite sets!
             
Either one of these sets would make great Christmas cards!  So click the link below and go shop!

Continued blessings to each and every one of you!
Jana

Simply Sunday Challenge

Happy Son-day everyone!
I hope you are at home relaxing and hopping around the blogosphere on this wonderful day the Lord has made.  Today my post is a Simply Sunday Challenge with Getting Cricky and K. Andrew.  The theme is Give Thanks. The design team and I created projects that reflect something we are thankful for:  friends, family, salvation, crafting :) Here is what I made:

 It looks like a card, and it certainly could be, but it's actually more than a card...I'll show you further on down.  Everything you see came from my stash.  Papers from Leaving Prints and Daisy D's and cardstock from who knows where??? :0)  Of course the stamps are from K. Andrew Designs.  It is the Scripture Sayings set.  I'll also show it to you on down the post.  Even the cute little flourish in the top corners are from that set. This design inspiration came from a great card in the Cricut Holiday idea book created by Jennifer Gallacher at jengallacher.blogspot.com. I don't know her but she did a great job.

 I love this scripture, "In everything give thanks" Thes. 5:18.  That is hard to do sometimes.  I often forget that God deserves credit for all I am able to accomplish and that I should be thankful to Him. You know we pray when things need to be fixed, but do we pray a prayer of thankfulness because things are going well?  We should.

 The leaves were cut at 1 1/2" from the Flower Shoppe Cricut cartridge. Love this one! I used a circle scissor for the circles and an EK punch for the edges.  And I had to show you this awesome button up close.  It was perfect for this project and was in a bunch of green buttons in my stash of embellishments.  Serendipity!!!

 Now to the cool part.  It's not a card...it's a booklet.  A thankful booklet!  I made one for each of my family members that are coming to our house for Thanksgiving.  It is a place for everyone to write down the things that they are thankful for.  They can take it home and add to it as the year goes along.  It's kind of like a mini gratitude journal of sorts.  I hand stitched the binding using bakers twine.

                                  

Here is the whole group that I made for everyone.  Thank goodness everyone is not coming, I would still be making them.  Oh wait!  That is not something that I should be thankful for...hhhmmmm....gotta work on that!

So this is the stamp set that I used to create the booklets:

Just click on the image to take you to the store.  Today only all K. Andrew stamps are 20% off when you use the discount code of: cricky20.  Thanks Kristal for the sale!

Here's how the challenge works:

1. Post any Give Thanks project that you would like & link it up at Getting Cricky on the Simply Sunday Challenge post by midnight December 3.

2.  Post as many projects as you want that fit the theme.

3.  Make sure the Getting Cricky blinkie is posted on your side bar and your post is linked back to the Getting Cricky blog.  You can find the post and the blinkie HERE.

4.  Leave a comment here and at Getting Cricky.

5.  HAVE FUN and spread the word.

6. A random winner will be chosen to win a surprize Cricut Cartridge!!!

I wanted to show you the other decoration I made for my Thanksgiving guests.  Here is a picture of it and HERE is a link to the original post where I detailed it for you.

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you will make a project and link it up.  I pray you and your family are blessed with a wonderful Thanksgiving Day!

Blessings,

Jana

Holiday Wishes Blog Hop with Getting Cricky!

Welcome to the "Holiday Wishes" Getting Cricky Blog Hop!!

We're so happy you could join us for this month's Getting Cricky Design Team Blog Hop!!  In addition to Kristal and the Senior Design Team, we look forward to introducing you to TEN member of our NEW Junior Design Team (be sure to visit Kristal's Blog to see ALL of our "new additions"!!)...  Each of us, along with our Special Guest - Ellen from "a little bit of this...", are so pleased to have you here with us!!  Throughout the hop, you'll see NEW ideas for creating cards and projects with Kristal's stamps sets!!

If you've hopped along from Heather then you are in the right place!! If you are just joining me from your dashboard, or reading this via email, please be sure to CLICK HERE to start at the beginning with Kristal's blog (you'll want to catch up on all the FUN!!)...

Each of Kristal's stamp sets benefit charity. At least $1 per stamp set goes to benefit the charity noted on the stamp set package. Kristal is donating to the following charities: Cancer Angels, Storefront Shelter for Homeless Children, Intrepid & Fallen Heroes, E. Glaser Pediatric AIDS  Foundation, Doorways Shelter for Women & Children (Domestic Violence), Wayside House for Women, Camp Good Days & Special Times, Adopt a Classroom, and Autism Research Institute. Kristal will donate $1 for every stamp set sold, retail or wholesale to the charity noted; and over time believes this will add up to some wonderful miracles for these special people. So you can feel good that each time you purchase a K Andrew Designs art stamp set, someone around the country is receiving some good help!

K Andrew's stamps are all made and assembled here in the USA, which is very important to Kristal. This ensures all product materials are safe and that jobs are being provided and maintained here in America.  You can learn even more about Kristal's stamps (and pick some up for yourself) by visiting her online store: K Andrew Designs: Oh and this weekend (and this weekend ONLY - thru SUNDAY), our Getting Cricky Fans can get 20% off their ENTIRE PURCHASE of K. Andrew Design Stamps when they enter the discount code: cricky20 Thanks Kristal!!!  :)

Kristal's stamp sets are perfect for cards, layouts, and so much more...
For my project, I'm featuring the Winter Wishes Mix & Match Sentiments set.  For more details or to make this set YOURS, please click on the preview:

Winter Wishes

Now, I have to admit.  I took the easy road on this project but I am glad I thought of it.  I bought these cute little frame ornaments almost 5 years ago on clearance at Hancock Fabrics for only 25 cents each!  They have been in the packages collecting dust until now!  They are the PERFECT little frames for K. Andrew Stamps.  I still have 5 more yet to make to hang on our tree but seriously they took like two minutes for each one!  I almost, ALMOST feel guilty for how easy they were to make and I think they turned out really cute.  It was way easier then trying to size photographs to fit in them. :)

Here is a little sampling of what they look like up close.

I know my photography leaves a lot to be desired but I am learning.  Shooting shiny things is hard!  I hope you are inspired by my project.  Thanks so much for stopping by and enjoy the rest of the hop!
Blessings,
Jana

Now you can hop on over to your next stop: Jesse at Sugar Lips Sassy Surprises! 

........................................

Friday Freebie at Jen's

Hello Blogger Buds!
Today is another Freebie Friday at Jen's Digi Stamps Blog.  It's a cutie from the new release of Sugar N Snap.  If you want this adorable free image head on over to Jen's blog and download it.

This card was made with paper from my stash and a little ricrac and then an adorable stamp from the Winter Wishes Mix & Match set from K. Andrew Stamps.

I kept this simple because I am working on another post for later today!  It's blog hop time at Getting Cricky!  Join us tonight at 8pm Central for the Holiday Wishes Blog Hop.  It is going to be fun, inspirational and there will be prizes!!  Who doesn't like a little blog candy, right???

Oh and by the way, you might go check her blog out now because she is having a give away for surpassing 2800 followers.  Amazing girl that K. Andrew!  You can enter for a chance to win a prize.  That girl is gen. er. ous.

Well, enough about all of that, I hope you all have a blessed day and don't forget to check back later for blog hoppin' fun!

Jana

Link Up the Love Party at Getting Cricky with K. Andrew!

Link Up Love Party: How it Works
I am a little slow on posting this.  It took me a bit to figure it out :)
*Link Up Party runs from Tuesday 11/15 to Tuesday 11/22. Winners announced 12/20 at next Link Up Love party.
*Grab the K. Andrew Blinkie here and post on your blog's sidebar
*Be a follower of the Getting Cricky blog and hopefully mine too :)
*Create a new blog post that is titled Link Up Love Party with K Andrew. In your post, you must mention that the link up love party is a way to get to know each other and find new blog inspiration, mention the Getting Cricky blog, with a link back to it. 
*Post your favorite project that you've done in your blog post THAT HAS TO DO WITH THANKS/BLESSINGS!! That could be a card, layout, treat holder or decoration.
*Copy and paste the link up code into your blog post so the Inlinkz will show up on your blog
*Spread the word so everyone can join in!
*You must visit, follow, and comment on the 5 people before you AND the 5 people after you in the Inlinkz. It would be fantastic if you would visit as many as you can--maybe everyone? If you are one of the first 5 then you will need to blog the ones before you and a few more after--as long as it's a minimum of 10 near you in the link up tool/gadget)
If you do not do the above your link will be deleted, because it's just not fair to those who work so hard linking up and showing love to the ones on the list. I have two moderators who will be checking this out to keep it awesome and fun!

Link Up Party: Giveaway! A FULL year subscription to the best scrappy magazine out there: Creating Keepsakes for TWO lucky followers who Link up and play correctly. Winner will be announced December 20th at next Link Up the Love Party so make sure you come back to see if you won!!!! Remember, if you don't claim your prize within ONE week, it goes back in to the pot!
Here is the code for the link up party:
get the InLinkz code

http://www.gettingcricky.com/2011/11/link-up-love-party-thanks-blessings.html
So go forth and link up!
Have a great day!
Blessings to you,
Jana

New Release from Jen

Sugar N Snap!  That's what the new digi stamps are called from Jen's Digi Stamps.  They are just the cutest critters and VERY wintery.  I was excited to see these because I have a new awesome set of clear stamps from K. Andrew Designs that I was dying to use!  It is a mix and match set so the possibilities are endless when creating sentiments from this set.  Oh and by the way, the set is called Winter Wishes and the Coffee and Tea set will be featured in a Getting Cricky Blog Hop this Friday!  So stop back by Friday night at 8pm central time to hop with us!

 So here is my card I made with the digi.  He is darling!  I used my snowflake embossing folder in my Cuttlebug for the background then gently wiped over it with a white ink pad.  I tore the bottom off the blue paper to make it look like snow and added some crystal Stickles to the snow.

 The tree is made up of 24 one inch Christmas trees cut from the built in shapes on the Cricut Imagine and filled with a pattern from the Mr. Frosty cartridge.  I just turned them upside down and layered them, used a little bling from my stash and voila!

I used one of my new nestabilities to cut and emboss the tag for the sentiment and then used three different stamps from the Winter Wishes set for the sentiment.  A little bakers twine and a cute little sparkly pom pom and there you have it!

So head on over to Jen's Digi Stamps to buy this cutie pie and then to Jen's blog to see what the other designers have created!
Blessings,
Jana

Holiday Wishes Blog Hop Coming this Friday!

This will be my first hop with Kristal at Getting Cricky! I am so excited!  The theme is Holiday Wishes so anything holiday goes. There will be plenty of projects featuring the K. Andrew sentiment stamps.  This is a pretty big hop with all Senior Design Team members, half of the Junior Design Team (me:) and a couple of guest designers.  I think there will be about 21 blogs to hop through.  It will be great fun and VERY inspirational.  Kristal's design team is amazing!  i'm not bragging, I just joined and I am so blessed to be a part of this wonderful team!  SOOOOO...stop by this Friday and hop with us!

Blessings,

Jana

Bountiful Blessings Blog Hop

 

Welcome to the Bountiful Blessings Blog Hop!

We Are Thankful for so Many Things & Wanted to Share our Many Blessings With You!

Thanks for joining us for this Bountiful Blessings Blog Hop Hosted by Jens Digi Stamps.  If you've hopped along from The Fantastic Sue, then you are in the right place!! If you are just joining me from your dashboard, or reading this via email, please be sure to start at the beginning with Jens Digi Stamps (We wouldn't want you to miss a THING!!)


Here is the project I made for the hop.  Kind of literal when it comes to the blessings theme but I have been wanting to make a banner for a really long time.
I hung it in our dining room.

 This is also the first time I have made these types of rosettes and they are super fun and easy.  But I do want to make a suggestion.  USE HOT GLUE!!!  I sat there and held each rosette to the circle backing until my craft glue dried!!!  Duh!!!  No wonder this took all stinkin' day!  I could have finished it in half the time, but might not have been nearly as proud of the hard work I put into it.  Naaa!  I would have had more time for other projects!  OK, anyway. (Calming down now :0)

 The banners are cut at 5.3 inches from Elegant Edges and filled with a pattern from Enjoy the Seasons. And the letters are cut from Plantin SchoolBook at 2.8 inches.  I made the rosettes by cutting two strips 1 1/2" x 12" scored them every half inch on my Martha Stewart Scoreboard, accordion folded the strips and then glued them end to end and then mounted them on a 1" circle punched from black cardstock. (All this in case you never made one, like me)

 Here is my digi stamp from Jen's Digi Stamps.  I really liked this one with the basket overflowing.  We are super blessed here at our house and are thankful daily for all God has given us.  I thought this digi was very appropriate for this blog hop.  I colored it with my Copics of course.

 This and the next few pictures are of the leaves that hang down from each banner.  I had each person in the family write on 3 or 4 leaves what they were thankful for or what they considered a blessing in their life.  I LOVE that my 14 year old daughter put "school"!  That really makes me smile even if she and my 10 year old daughter wrote them all upside down :)

Of course with out Jesus giving His life on the cross, we would not have all the blessings we have today and more over, we would not have our place in Heaven.  I agree with what my husband wrote on this leaf.  I am thankful for the salvation I have through Christ Jesus!


I also want to say that I feel blessed by all the friends that I have met here in the blogsophere.  Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Now Head on Over to See What Cristelle Has Made for Your Viewing Pleasure Today!! 

Blog Candy:

The Blog Candy for this Blog Hop is An Extra Special Grab Bag & 

A Gift Certificate to Jens Digi Stamps Store

We will Announce the Winners on Wednesday, November 16th

Rules to be eligible for The Blog Candy:

1.)  You MUST visit each blog and leave a comment on every blog in the hop 

2.) Leave a comment on Jens Digi Stamps Blog

3.) Become a follower at Jens Digi Stamps

4.) For an Extra Entry for the Blog Candy, Please Friend us at Jens Digi Stamps on Facebook

Thanks for Joining us Today!! We Feel Blessed to Have you Here!!

Here is the Line Up in Case you get Lost along the Way

Start http://jensdigistamps.blogspot.com

Jacki http://papermoments.blogspot.com

Arielle http://soccermom5982.blogspot.com/

Tina http://craftyandgreen.blogspot.com

Gabby: http://thecraftydream.blogspot.com/

Janet http://janetscreativeworld.blogspot.com/

Meg http://www.ladybugcrafting.blogspot.com/

Michelle- http://peanutbutterandjellydesigns.blogspot.com/

Sue: http://susanascorner.blogspot.com/

Jana : http://janabailey.blogspot.com/ <----You Are Here!

Christelle http://www.cricriscrap.com/

Have fun and blessings to you!

Jana

Friday Freebie at Jen's

Hey everyone!
Hope you had a great week.  Here is a little treat for working so hard all week.  A free digi download over at Jen's Digi Stamps blog.  It will look great on your Thanksgiving cards and projects.

I kept this one really simple because I have had an incredibly busy week but I am quite please with the way it turned out.  It always surprises me that when I just succumb to simple, I am happy with the end result, where as when I really try hard to make a detailed project with a "wow" factor, I'm not always please with the result.

This card base is made with Basic Grey papers, Doodlebug ribbon and a flower brad from my stash.  The pretty stamp is again from K. Andrew Designs "Fall-O-Ween" set.  I have used this set over and over.  It really is nice how you can mix and match the stamps into different sayings.  Check the set out HERE.

Keepin' it short today but be sure and check back on Sunday for our Bountiful Blessings Blog Hop!  It will be  inspiring, I promise!

Blessings,

Jana

Monday Challenge at Jen's Digi Stamps

Hi Everyone!
It's Challenge Monday #8 at Jen's Digi Stamps Blog and it's FALL in full swing.  Jen has come up with some fall cuties that I have enjoyed coloring with my Copics.  One of the things I have had a hard time with since joining Jen's Design team has been how to use my Cricut with the digi stamps.  I had never used them before and to be honest it kind of "threw me off my game" a bit.  Not to mention that I did an update on my Imagine that almost killed it and made more than half of my cartridges useless.  Enough whining....I finally got the new update on my Imagine (it fixed all the problems, yay!!!) and just couldn't wait to use it so this is what I came up with to go along with Jen's fall stamps.

It's the world's largest card!!!  Not really but it is big.  Lesson learned...cut out the card first, then decide how big you need to print your digi image.  I printed and colored my digi first and wasn't about to do another one when I realized how big my card was going to be.  So truthfully, it's probably more like a center piece!  hahaha!! Lol!!!!  Now with that said, I think it turned out pretty cute.  I was so happy to combine my digi with my Cricut Imagine cut, it made me smile.  Girl is gettin' her groove back :)

The leaf is cut from the Gypsy Wanderings cartridge built into the Gypsy and it is filled with colors and patterns from Enjoy the Seasons Imagine Cartridge.  Love that one!  I cut the leaf once filled with orange and then cut the shadow out two times filled with the leaves pattern and just glued them together at the stem.  Talk about an easy shape card!
I usually don't like leaving white around my digi when cutting it out but I had used a nice blue and brown fanned out from the image and I didn't want to cut it off.  So to keep it from looking too much like a sticker I inked around the edges with brown ink and I ended up liking it.  I cut the tag from the built in images from the Imagine and used my favorite stamps from K. Andrew Designs on it.  The sentiment is from her "Fall-O-Ween set that is mix-n-match.  Love how versatile it is.  Of course being from Texas, I loved that it had "ya'll" in it!  Hehe!  The ribbon is from Doodlebug Designs.
I love how my sentiment stamps from K. Andrew are playing so nicely with my digi stamps from Jen's Digi Stamps and then of course, my Imagine had fun jumping in to make them all "fall" together :)

Be sure to go to Jen's Blog to check out the challenge details, link up your project and have a chance to win some goodies!
I have also entered this project in the following cahllenges:
http://www.craftyourpassionchallenges.blogspot.com/ - anything goes + brown
http://papermakeupstamps.blogspot.com/ - digi makeover plus blog hop
http://exploringcricut.blogspot.com - Cricut cuts using leaves an acorns, my acorns are on the ribbon :)
http://kaboodledoodles.blogspot.com - fall colors, yellow, orange, red, brown

Anyone else notice I have 99 followers???  Come on people, help me out...it's my birthday!!!  :)
blessings,
Jana

Oh My Goodness! It's Raining Grace again!

I am so excited to tell you that I received an email from Krystal Andrew of K. Andrew Designs asking me to be on her design team!  I am SOOOO excited.  I had sent her an email quite a while back applying for the team and hadn't heard from her so I assumed I wasn't chosen.  But low and behold she asked me!  As you may have read in a few of my past posts, I really like K. Andrew Designs because she donates money to several charities with every stamp set she sells.  He tag line or motto is "Stamp Good, Do Good" and I think that is awesome.  Now I feel privilege to be able to help her sell more to do more good :)  A big thanks to Krystal!  Not sure when I will be getting started so stay tuned!
Have a terrific Sonday!
Jana

Freebie Friday at Jen's

Hey everyone!  TGIF!!!
I know it has been a really long week for me, how about you?  Lots going on in my life but life is still really good and filled with God's blessings, how can I complain!  My mom always says, "If you think you have it bad, just look over your shoulder, there is always someone less fortunate than you."  It's true.

So... onto something to cheer you up!  It's freebie time at Jen's Digi Stamps Blog and today's image is great!  Although this darling cupcake is topped with a pumpkin it really is a versatile image.  I made a fun little 4 1/2 x 4 1/2 card with it.  Click on the link and see what the other design team members have used it for.

I used a scrap of paper from my stash which is Basic Grey if I remember right then stitched it right onto some textured cardstock.  I also used buttons and embroidery thread from my stash, nothing fancy. 

 The sentiment "Sweet Treats" is from K. Andrew Designs, it is her "Fall-O-Ween set that is mix and match.  I love it.  I have used it for so many things already and have only had it a few weeks.  I have to admit that after working so hard to color the image the best I could, I was a bit nervous to stamp directly on it, but I held my breath and went for it!  I have yet to mess up a stamp with K. Andrew Stamps.  They are a great quality stamp. (And I don't work for her or design for her, I just like a good product! :) Oh and don't forget, she donates money to many different charities for every stamp set purchased.  Her tag line is "Stamp Good, Do Good."  I LIKE it!

Now this is the fun part.  I saw somewhere on the web that people were popping up images and cuts with something called "action wobbles." (I think that is what they are called anyway)  I really thought they were cute.  When you use them and give the card to someone, they pull it out of the envelope and the image wobbles, it is really fun.  So I wanted to buy some but there's a few problems. 1. I can't buy them locally, 2. I am too impatient to order them from the internet and 3. I am CHEAP!  So I made mine and it works like a charm.  I just used some thin craft wire, twisted it around a pencil, attached it to the card with a foam pop dot but didn't peel the paper off the other side and then attached it the same way to the image.  Voila!  Action Wobble!
I hope you find this little idea helpful and the image uplifting.  Thanks for stopping by!
Blessings,
Jana

Bountiful Blessings Blog Hop

I am so excited!!!!!!  I love blog hops and Jen's Digi Stamps is having one soon!  It will be my first blog hop as a design team member and only my second one ever to be a stop on.  Oooh, I can't wait!  The best part about blog hops is all the INSPIRATION!!!!  not to mention that sometimes along the way there are prizes!  So I hope you will join us in 12 days, not that I am counting! :0)  hehe!!!  (That was a lot of exclamation marks.....!!!!!)
Blessings,
Jana

COMING SOON!!!