I Miss Ewe!

Hi everyone!  It's been a little while since my last post, I apologize but things have been a little crazy around here for me.  I had a great weekend and was actually able to attend the Cricut Circle Road Trip event held at Kings Island and met some of the wonderful ladies I met on Erica's Cricut Craft Room.  We had such a good time meeting each other in person, we learned so much from each other, and of course played with all kinds of fun products and the machines.  I was also fortunate enough to win an Imagine machine!  YAY me!  SO....you will be seeing some projects from me soon that will be done by the Imagine!

Now, down to business...it is time for my post for Erica at Cricut Craft Room for Theme Day Thursdays!  I chose to make pets my theme for this week and decided to choose a pet that was not so common.  

I used: Storybook, Country Life, and Gypsy Font Cricut Cartridges

Papers: DCWV stacks in Citrus Stack, Jewel Stack, and Taylor for daisyd's 

Bling: Stickles in Fruit Punch

Chalks: Inkadinkado in Soft Tones

I used my Gypsy to cut the sheep from Country Life at 3.15, the Circle and Scallop edge round are both from Storybook and they are cut at 5 and 4.75 respectively.  I used the Gypsy Font at 1.39 for the phrase and chalked around the edges of the scallop with deep turquoise and also used the shimmery white on the sheep's wool.  It's not really visible in this pic, sorry...a new camera is my next big purchase I think!  I hope you liked this, as always I LOVE comments and I am also going to share a pic from the Circle event before I say goodbye.  How did I forget to tell you I got to meet Cricut?!?  He was SUCH a showoff!

Have a great day everyone....and thanks for looking!  

Til next time!

Would you Guess Wednesdays!

Hello all, it's time for Would you Guess Wednesdays at Cricut Craft Room!  That means I create something for you using our Cricut products that you wouldn't expect to see.  This week I created a little wall hanging for my niece Kylie using the Cindy Loo cartridge, some fabric paper, and ribbon...

I haven't decided what picture I want to put in the little frame, so it isn't permanently attached just yet. 
The tan layer that is holding the images is actually a piece of fabric paper that I created using a technique I learned from Linda Matthews.  She is a textile artist I absolutely LOVE!  You can check out her tutorial on how to make it here.  I simply followed her guidelines, but added my own Angelina fibers in Enchanted Forest Flash and Gold Iris Mix.  You can Google Angelina fibers if you aren't familiar with them, and find more info and retailers all over.  These particular ones I purchased from Textura Trading Co.  The fibers that I used are also heat bondable, even though I only used the glue mixture to attach them.  There are SO many things you can do with these wonderful fibers!  I also sprinkled some Martha Stewart glitter in Smoky Quartz on top while it was still wet.  
I cut the letter K out at size 7 and the frame was cut in size 3.50 & 3.75 and layered.  I offset them a little bit to show more of the orange layer underneath.  The flowers were randomly cut from larger to smaller and attached using glue dots and buttons, or some little brads my mother in law picked up for me.  I'm not positive what brand they were, sorry!  I inked the edges of everything with Staz On Timber Brown ink pad.  All papers were DCWV stacks that I had in my stash from the Citrus Stack and Garden Party. 
I hope you like my project for this week, I look forward to sharing with you again soon. As always, you can email me with any questions you may have at manicexpressionsdesigns@gmail.com and come back soon! 
Have a great day! 

Congratulations!!!

Hi everyone, I'm so glad you joined us today for this super special blog hop.  You should have come here from Patricia's blog, is she a creative one or what?!?  I hope you left her a nice comment to brighten her day!  ;)  I would first like to say Congratulations to Erica and Mike, and the lovely little Miss Bella.  I wish them all the love a lifetime can hold, and I'm sending lots of love and happy thoughts to them on their big day today.  In celebration of love, weddings, and babies I have a very simple card I created especially for my friend who just brought a new little one into her family, and a picture I'd like to share from my own wedding.

  Welcome to the world, Wyatt!  I don't think she's following my blog, so hopefully it will still be a surprise when I give it to her!

 I used:

Best Images of 2006 Cricut Cartridge

Core-dinations papers in Weathered Tin and Klondike Blue

Heidi Grace papers in Bboy Decor/Stripe, Bboy New Arrival, and Bboy Dots

Prima paper in Breathe Collection

Colorbok Sticker Accents

Rubber Stampede Inks

Glossy Accents in Clear

Sakura Glaze Pens 

 We were married outdoors on June 19th, 2004 under an old maple tree at my husband's grandparents, and we had our reception in the barn on the family farm.  This is one of my favorites someone snapped when we didn't know they were looking.  ♥

I know everyone has lots of very special projects to share with you today, so I will not get long winded and let you move on to Rosa's blog next.  Please visit again soon and I hope everyone has a wonderful day, especially Erica and her family! 

Here is also a list of the entire blog hop lineup, so if you lose your way it will be easy to get back on track.  You certainly don't want to miss anything today!  As always, I LOVE your comments and please subscribe or follow me here and/or on Facebook.  Until next time!  Ricki  

My Cricut Craft Room http://mycricutcraftroom.blogspot.com/
2. Alishia Gaff http://alishia-myscrapping.blogspot.com/
3 Amanda Haynes http://craftsbyamanda.blogspot.com/
4. Amanda Hernandez http://mandyscandywrappers.blogspot.com/
5 Autumn ...Johnson Willis http://autumnsbuggycreations.blogspot.com/
6 Charlotte Simpson Cornett http://charlottes-creations.blogspot.com/
7 Connie Benford Layman http://conniescraftycloset.blogspot.com/
8. Courtney Larson http://craftingwithcourtney.blogspot.com/
9. Gayle Shrader http://gscraptime.blogspot.com/
10. Heather Flaherty http://www.papercrafteranonymous.com/
11 Heather Hammen Sipes http://operationcricutdesign.blogspot.com/
12 Jamie Lindstrom (Scrapbookingprincess Jamie) http://myamusinglife.blogspot.com/
13. Jen Roseman http://memorieswithjen.blogspot.com/
14 Jennifer Rethorn Lundy http://mybusycraftylife.blogspot.com/
15 Julie Davis-Perez http://designs-by-julie.blogspot.com/
16. Justina Almanza http://justmycrafts.blogspot.com/
17. Kathleen Schriber http://katscrapfever.blogspot.com/
18 Lezlye Lauterbach-Hardwick http://lezlyes.blogspot.com/ 

19 Mayra Alonso http://gettingcraftywithma.blogspot.com/
20 Linda Kuniyoshi http://simpleandsassycreations.blogspot.com/
21 Lucinda Gibson http://thegrowinggibson.blogspot.com/
22 Michelle Hull http://craftychelle.blogspot.com/
23 Nina Wilson http://nina-hotpinkscrapper.blogspot.com/
24. Patricia Holloway http://micraftygal.blogspot.com/
25. Ricki Sholler Tidd http://manicexpressionsdesigns.blogspot.com/
26 Rosa Kleyman http://kleymanr.blogspot.com/
27. Scrappin Dhilly http://scrappindhilly.blogspot.com/
28 Sue-Ann Lovell http://suzyssimplecrafts.blogspot.com/

29 Tammy Androsky http://crazycardcreator.blogspot.com/
30. Terry Meyers http://cricutcraftinterry.blogspot.com/
31. Tina Ondrus Keller http://craftyandgreen.blogspot.com/
32 BLOG CANDY

My 1st Ever Blog Award! Yay Me!

I would like to start by saying thank you to my Mom & Dad, my fans, my producer....Oh wait, I don't have a producer!  Okay, daydream over...my wonderful friend Amanda gave me this award and I really appreciate her thinking of me!  You can see all her cute crafty things by clicking here Crafts By Amanda. 

There are a couple rules you must follow upon receiving this award.
1. Send a thank you to the person who nominated you and include their link.
2. To accept this award, tell 7 random facts about yourself.
3. Pass the award on to at least 8 other awesome blog buddies.

 

7 RANDOM FACTS ABOUT ME :

1.  I did the hair and makeup on the set of The Hair Club for Men commercial that starts out "I've always looked up to my Dad, I just never wanted to look like him."  Yep, that was me...I also used to do pageant hair and makeup til some crazy lady wanted me to apply a full face (including mascara) on her 8 month old little girl.  I left and never did another pageant.  

2.  I LOVE black.  I always have and always will.  It always looks classy, makes you appear slimmer, and you never appear over or under-dressed.  The only drawback is that some of my four dogs go with me EVERYWHERE...like it or not.  I should own stock in lint rollers.  

3.  Up until the Christmas before last, I actually thought Cricut was pronounced "Cry-cut".  That's how little I knew about scrapbooking or papercrafting.  I had no interest whatsoever.  Odd huh?

4.  I absolutely love music and almost always have something playing at all times.  My tastes wildly varied from Conway Twitty and Hank III to Eddie Vedder and Sublime...there is no rhyme or reason <---like what I did there?  ;)...if I like it, I like it.  

5.  I made the move from working in Aveda salons to opening a pet spa three years ago.  I still have clients that ask me to do their hair even though I am standing amongst piles of dog hair as they pick up their pets.  I suppose that is a compliment.  LoL

6.  I always have at least one Blow Pop in my purse at all times.  It helps when I get a sweet tooth, and then the gum will distract me from whatever I want to eat that is even more unhealthy...at least for a bit!  =D 

7.  I am allergic to dairy.  No big deal for a lot of people, but I would rather have died than give up my queso blanco when the Dr told me.  Now it's okay as long as I have a substitute when I get a craving for pizza or something that just isn't the same without cheese.             

Okay, enough rambling about me.  AHEM...wakey wakey folks! 

 This award is going to the 8 following people.

Nikki Jones

http://scrapbookingdiva1.blogspot.com/ 

 Kimbo West

http://kimboscrafts.blogspot.com/

 Sue-Ann Lovell 

http://suzyssimplecrafts.blogspot.com/

 

Charlotte Simpson Cornett 

http://charlottes-creations.blogspot.com/ 

Micia @

http://yellowbirdcreation.blogspot.com 

  

Linda Kuniyoshi 

http://simpleandsassycreations.blogspot.com/ 

Lezlye Lauterbach-Hardwick

http://lezlyes.blogspot.com/ 

Heather Flaherty 

http://www.papercrafteranonymous.com

 

Thanks again to Amanda, you are awesomely sweet yourself!

Erica's 100+ Cricut Cartridge Blog Hop!

Welcome everyone!  You should have made your way here after visiting Nina's blog, if not please go back to Erica's page at http://mycricutcraftroom.blogspot.com and get back on track. I guarantee you do NOT want to miss anything these ladies have put together for you!  We have all learned so much from each other over the last couple months, I am so grateful to have found Erica's page and met such wonderful ladies.  

Without further ado, I present my "Iced and Chilled" card I created especially for this June Blog Hop.

I used:

Cricut Cartridges: Winter Woodland & Storybook

Silver base and snowflakes: DCWV Stack

Frame: American Crafts Paper A LA Carte in Pumpernickel 

Borders: Bo Bunny glittery paper I had in my stash (not sure of the name, sorry)

Ribbon: Offray Metallic Silver

Bling: Swarovski Crystals

I cut a 5x7 card using my paper trimmer.  I then used my Gypsy to cut the frame from the Storybook cartridge on page 68 using the frame feature and cutting at 4.35.  I simply turned the center of the frame over to show the blue side when gluing to the card.  The snowflakes were cut from page 32 and 35 on the Winter Woodland cartridge using the main keys and shift and layer functions.  I cut them using my Gypsy also at 1.80, 1.56, and 1.33 respectively.  I used pop dots to give dimension between each layer and when adding them on the card as well.  I ran my ribbon through the Xyron Create a Sticker http://www.xyron.com (which is an AWESOME tool by the way!)  If you do not have one, then I suggest you run...(don't walk) to get one now!  I also added some Swarovski crystals to the snowflakes using mini glue dots to add a bit more "ice" to the look.  I chose to leave this particular card blank and will add a sentiment when I decide exactly what occasion I will be giving it away for.  I hope you like my creation, please feel free to leave me a comment and let me know if you have any other questions.

As you can tell...my blog is very new, and I would love to reach 300 followers before the end of June.  If you would like to help me by following before you move on and suggest me to your friends I would be so grateful.  If I reach my goal of 100 followers by June 30th I will give away a FREE Cricut cartridge!  In order to qualify all you have to do is click the follow button on your right, and share our link with your friends on Facebook.  The winner will be chosen at random.  

Your next stop is off to http://www.scrappyemt.blogspot.com and I'm sure she has some special treats for you as well!  Happy Hopping, and I hope you remember to visit me often to see what new things I have to share with you!  

Thanks SO much!

Ricki  

 

Operation Write Home!

Good day to all, I hope you have all had some time to enjoy the gorgeous weather we've had today! I do not have a special card to share right this second, but I wanted to take a minute to ask if you could please check out Erica's blog at Cricut Craft Room.  She is trying to gather 1000 cards for Operation Write Home.  She's got all the details, so recruit your friends to help, share on your Facebook page, Twitter, etc.  The more, the merrier!  Any way to show appreciation for the folks risking their lives and sacrificing so much for us is always a great gesture, and I'm sure they will appreciate it beyond words.  Oh, and while you're there...follow her blog and let her know Ricki sent you!  I hope you all have a wonderful Memorial Day!  Be safe and enjoy the long weekend!

Summer's almost here! Yay!!!

Hello all, I am very proud to share my card I created for this week's challenge for Erica at Cricut Craft Room and announce that it was chosen as one of Mayra's favorites!  It was a summer theme and everyone knows how I LOVE summer so I felt this was a perfectly natural choice for me.

 I used:

Simply Charmed cartridge

Card paper: Bo Bunny

All other paper: DCWV stacks

Pop up dots under flower

Flower face was freehand using Marvy Le Plume markers

 Thanks so much to Erica for all the work that she does, and all the wonderful challenges that actually challenge me to better myself and continue to spark my creativity!  She is about 350 friends away from randomly gifting a Cricut Cake Mini, so get over there and add her asap and be sure to let her know Ricki sent you!  Have a great day and I hope there's lots of sunshine where ever you are!  

Til next time, Ricki