Thanksgiving card and entry at Fantabulous Cricut Challenge #187 Animal Crackers

The Fantabulous Cricut Challenge for this week is to use an animal from any Cricut cartridge  http://fantabulouscricut.blogspot.com/2013/11/fccb-challenge-187-animal-crackers.html so I am again going to use that cute, cute, cute turkey from Cricut Create a Critter cartridge.  For the inside I also used the CAC cartridge for the sentiment.   I cut it out the "gobble" in several different colors to add some highlights to it and paper-pieced them.  I then cut a "W" from another cartridge to complete the saying for the inside.  The "Until ya' " was computer generated.

Entry for Fantabulous Cricut Challenge

Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog has a current challenge to use a button and a ribbon on your creation http://fantabulouscricut.blogspot.com/2013/11/challenge-186-ribbons-and-buttons.html .  I decided to take one of the gingerbread invitations I recently did and put two teeny tiny buttons on the pockets for holly berries.  Turns out really cute...wish I'd done this for the invitations I've already sent out!  I used the apron from the Cricut From My Kitchen cartridge.  To get it big enough for the little insert with the party info I had to  make the cut at 6".  However, that made it too big for a 5 x 7 envelope so I hand cut off the top and middle apron strings and replaced them with ribbon and did just a "waistband" ribbon strip, no actual apron strings that hang down.

Gingerbread Party Invitations

These are my gingerbread party invitations for this year.  I used the apron from the Cricut From My Kitchen cartridge but cut off the apron strings on the waist and top.  I had to cut the aprons at 6" to get them big enough to put in the inserts that I obtained off the internet (have tried in vain to find the link so that I can give credit for this cute little insert but can't!!) but yet small enough to go in a 5x7 envelope.  The aprons are done with various ribbons and different pieces of scrapbook paper from my stash and some were done using the Imagine and papers from the Cricut Imagine Santa's Village cartridge.  I hand cut little items for the pockets on the aprons.

I cut the aprons at the waist line and didn't glue the top cut part of the bottom of the apron so that the inserts could go into the waistband.  I printed the inserts, then re-ran them through the printer to get the party information.  I also had to trim the sides a bit to get them to fit.

The Inserts:

The invitations:

Thanksgiving gift - for Cardz TV Go-To Galz Linky Party Challenge #8 “Happy Harvest"

I am submitting this small project for Mary's challenge at http://cardztv.blogspot.com/2013/11/cardz-tv-go-to-galz-linky-party.html where the challenge is to CREATE A CARD, LAYOUT, OR CRAFT FOR FALL OR THANKSGIVING.

I think everybody knows how much I like to make the little cocoa boxes ( see http://www.scootingrannysworld.blogspot.com/2011/11/easy-inexpesive-christmas-idea.html and the original creator's post at http://www.paperscissorsinc.com/2008/11/hot-cocoa-challenge.html ).  This one is for Thanksgiving and it contains a packet of apple cider, caramels and an apple flavored stick from Cracker Barrel.  I used that stinkin' cute little Cricut turkey from the Cricut Create a Critter and a gel pen to jazz up his feathers and some dark brown inking on the edges.  The background paper is from my stash.  I'm thinking I should have cut out a "Happy Thanksgiving" or "Gobble" or some saying from one of the Cricut cartridges for the blank spot but it's already been given away.  Maybe on the next one because I'll be making these for the grankids' teachers.

Happy Birthday card to Friends - My Entry at Fantabulous Cricut Challenge

The Fantabulous Cricut blog is having a challenge- "Anything Goes" with the challenge to do any project and use at least one Cricut Cut.  This is my entry into that challenge.  While we were in Cozumel, two of the friends with us had birthdays.  They happen to be a married couple and have the exact same birthdate.  So I made this card for them using the digital image set called "Mixed Drinks".  The inside sentiment is from the Cricut cartridge Ole but the "x" was from Don Juan.  I embossed the rim of the margarita glass with embossing powder and lime Kool-aid to make it scratch and sniff ( using this technique http://nicholeheady.typepad.com/capture_the_moment/2013/08/stamp-a-faire-2013-whipping-up-scent-sational-cards.html ) and it really worked!!

Updates for my world

Well, I have been so busy lately.  First an 8 day trip to Cozumel with our motorcycle group where we swam and ate and snorkeled and ate and toured the island in jeeps and ate and parasailed and ate.  So, you get the idea.

Then I was home for a week and then off for 10 days to Israel with my beloved sister and a wonderful, trip of a lifetime with other members of  Bible Study Fellowship, an inter-denominational group.  I cannot begin to tell you of all the inspiring and thought-provoking, emotional places we went, how much I learned about current events and situations of life in Israel and how many sweet people we met.  We had an absolutely fantastic guide, Olga ( http://www.holyland-christian-tours.com/ ) who was very versed in the New and Old Testament and knew the country inside out.  And we had a bus driver, Amir, who could turn that bus on a dime and maneuvered us wonderfully through city and countryside in some very tight quarters.  Here's a picture that a friend took of me and my sister (won't make you guys sit through a slide presentation of the entire 2,452 pictures I took).   I have always wanted to know more about the land, the history and the country as well as the Bible as I personally feel that despite the differences, our religions and culture are all connected and related.  I can tell you for sure, I left a part of my heart in Israel.  This entire trip was very meaningful to me....

Brief History from the Internet:  This is the holiest shrine of the Jewish world. The Western Wall is part of the retaining wall supporting the temple mount built by Herod in 20 B.C. After the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 A.D., Jews were not allowed to come to Jerusalem until the Byzantine period, when they could visit once a year on the anniversary of the destruction of the Temple and weep over the ruins of the Holy Temple. Because of this, the wall became known as the “Wailing Wall.”  Jews were again not allowed to visit the wall from 1948-1967 when it was in the Jordanian section of the city. After the Six Day War, the Western Wall became a place for national rejoicing and prayer, as the last accessible relic of the last Temple