Best Wishes

Here's a quick little wedding card I made up for my mom to give. The cake turned out scrumptious!

I used stickles on the icing and a viva decor pearl pen for the flower centers. It really blinged it up. I used a glitter pen to go over the sentiment I stamped as well.

I used the wedding cake from Sweethearts and it is altogether on two feature keys which means you would have to cut it multiple times out of different colors of paper. I decided to use my gypsy pasting the image 5 times and hide the parts I didn't want to cut. by placing it further apart on the mat I could use my scraps of paper and cut only what I wanted on one mat. I also saved the file so I could use it again if I ever what to cut this cake again. What a timesaver!

Hope you enjoyed my quick little card today.

Hugz

Tina Gale

Keep on Truckin

Hello everyone! I wanted to give a quick update for everyone that's been following my husbands and I journey with lymphoma. June was particularly rough and July started that way. Hubby developed a blood clot in his jugular vein and arm. His blood pressure was dropping dangerously low and he even fell a couple of times bloodying his nose pretty good from lightheadedness. They have him on blood thinners. It's actually quite comical because dh passes out at the site of needles and I'm as queazy as they get around blood. But guess who gets to do his shots everyday in his belly? You guessed it! ME!! We have a pact and so far it's working well. He doesn't look at me or the needle and I don't look at him, only the needle and his belly. We are quite the pair! His blood counts are better so we're praying to only have to do one more week of the shots. Then he will only have to take the pills.

One of the nurses told us that they use cancer patients in movies to portray holocaust victims. After watching him go through all this I believe it. He lost down to 140 pounds. This last week he's made a huge improvement and is  gaining a little weight and his strength back. He has done great with chemo and feels great during and right after them. No side effects at all other than tired. We praise God for this. He gets his next CT scan Friday to see the effect chemo and prayers have had on the cancer. We are believing for great results. He's already the talk of the office for how much he has improved just in the last two weeks.

So that brings me to the card I have to share today. A very special friend knew how important it was for hubby to be drinking Ensure at least twice a day to get his strength back and gain some weight. She also knew how expensive it was so blessed us with a shipment of two cases! It was a true blessing and very appreciated. This little or should I say big guy caught my eye the minute I bought Campin Critters and I've wanted to make him ever since. I decided this was perfect to show my appreciation at helping me get my guy back to his go gettum self. He loves to go to Colorado and 4 wheel along with hike the mountains so this is to him getting back to all of that really soon.

I cut and chalked him up like I always do. The trees were run through my cuttlebug with the dvine swirl folder. I couldn't resist using some twine to lace up his boots. I think they're too cute!! Um handsome I mean. LOL

Details

Hiker - Campin Critters 3 1/2"

Trees - Campin Critters 2" Real Dial size

Cuttlebug Swirl Embossing Folder

Cuttlebug

Twine

Ink - Cat Eye Chalk Inks

I hope you enjoyed my card today and thank you again to all the ones that have sent your thoughts and prayers to us during this time.

Hugz

Tina Gale

Summer Blooms

This week at Sweet Sassy Diva the design team was asked to use a Christmas cart and put a summer spin on it. I was so excited about this challenge but for some reason it just wouldn't pull together for me. I think I just had brain overload the last couple of weeks and couldn't focus. In the end I did use the flowers that was part of the original idea but the whole layout to a life of it's own and is nothing like what I set out to do. LOL I hope you enjoy my Summer Blooms layout!

 My original idea was to do a card with these flowers made from the snowflake cut on Christmas Cheer. I loved the little flowers but the card cut just wouldn't happen. I started with snowflakes cut from 1/2" to 1 1/4" in two different colors of blue. I stacked them on top of each other and then curled up the edges with a button in the middle to create a flower.

 Here's a side view so you can see the dimension. Aren't they the cutest?

 For the bottom I used a Martha Stewart punch to trim a couple of borders then added a piece of ribbon.

 For the birdhouse I used a great little birdhouse from Winter Frolic. I added a piece of black card stock behind the opening and cut a blue piece for the roof to create different layers. Of course I inked it all up with my cat eye inks. You know I love them! I added more of my snowflake flowers over the branches and a couple more dew drops to create some buds on the branch help balance the whole design out.

I hope you enjoyed my layout this week and all of the other Sweet Sassy Diva designers.
Hugz

Tina Gale

Details:

Winter Frolic - Birdhouse cut at 4 1/2"  Pg 63

Christmas Cheer - Flowers cut at 1/2" - 1 1/2" Pg. 106

Ribbon - Karen Foster

Martha Stewart punch

DCWV paper stacks

Buttons

Dew Drops

So Fun Circus Layout

Hello! This is Tina Gale again with Sweet Sassy Design Team challenge of the week of a circus theme. I decided to work with photos from the Cricut Stampede in March. Our first night we had a wonderful dinner of fair food and carnival games. It was a great way to start a very fun weekend.

Remember you can always click on the photos to see them up closer.

I chose some fun paper from Imaginisce and let it set the tone for my layout.  

I cut the tent several times out of different paper to paper piece it since it didn't have layers. This is really easy to do when a certain cut doesn't have the layer button.
I cut the clouds twice with one being 1/4" bigger to layer them as well. This is another trick to add layers to your cuts.

The clown is popdotted up for dimension along with a couple of cute tiny buttons to add texture.

A tag for a secondary title or extra journaling. You can also see a little detail I added to the tent up close. I used my Sew Easy and a marker to add faux stitching to the tent. A couple of swirl clips give the illusion of holding the sides back and a couple of brads for the tent tie downs all adds dimension and that extra little bit to make the layout extra special.

The second page I kept pretty simple with just a few great cuts to tie it all together.

The sun is a favorite cut of mine and a couple of smaller tickets for extra journaling and notes finish the layout. I may also use the clouds for more journaling space if I need it.

Details:

Cartridges:

Paper Doll Dress Up - tent pg 58 Accessory 3 cut fit to page out of several different papers

  I used Daisy D paper for the blue strip and some Coredinations card stock

PDDU - Clown pg 58  5 1/4"

Create a Critter - Clouds pg 55 from 2" - 2 3/4"

Doodlecharms - Sun 2"

Paper:

Imaginisce - Animal Crackers, Come One Come All, background bottom

Colorbok - Red Rick Rac Border, mat and scalloped border

Die Cuts with a View - background

Misc:

Sew Easy

Swirl clips

Buttons

Cat eye inks

Creative Memories Black pen

Thanks for taking the time to check out my layout and be sure to visit me at my blog for more great layouts.

Hugz

Tina Gale

Fourth of July

Hello everyone! Tina Gale here back with another layout for sweet sassy diva design team. This time our challenge was a Fourth of July stars theme. I usually don't like to make my layouts before I have the pictures but because of how busy I've been lately with my husbands chemo treatments I decided to get a quick page together for photos that I'm hoping to receive of my son doing the fireworks for the kids camp that he and my daughter work at. I know I'm not the only one that gets things thrown at them that can put a halt on their creative time so I decided to share how you can put together a really quick layout that still has a wow factor.

I decided I'd try and walk you through my thought process when I design a layout and hopefully it will help some of you. Like I said before I never scrap before I have photos because it never works out for me. My photos are never the right size or their the wrong direction for my mats. I also get inspired by my photos so that is where I usually begin. Obviously that's not the case this time but I did start with what I know I want my photo to be of. My children work at a kids summer camp and my son works the activities. One of his biggest thrills of the summer is getting to set off the big fireworks for them on the 4th so I immediately thought of the great silhouettes on A Child's Year. This little boy riding the rocket was perfect! It reminded me of my son and the thrill he gets doing the firework show so that was where I started.

Next I went in search of paper. I had several different patriotic looking papers but this star background was perfect for my quick layout. Sometimes it's very difficult working with patterned paper that has a finished layout look to it. It can look very flat and uninteresting as well as scare some people to cover certain elements on the background up. The key  is not to be afraid of it but use it to it's full advantage. This paper with the glittery stars and fireworks at the bottom left corner was a perfect backdrop for my layout. It brought a lot of interest to the layout without doing anything else but to really give it the 'wow' factor you don't want to stop there and with your cricut it's easy to step it up a notch.

The next element is always a great title and you don't want to forget to leave a place to journal. I chose a great title from Graphically Speaking cut with red and gray for an extra punch.

For the journalling I decided to use some white cardstock cut in 1/2" widths at various lengths to jot down some quick thoughts. It adds some great design interest to a quick layout.

The next element are your photo mats. I chose this wonderful red with silver star paper cut at 4x6 for my photos and then tied some red, white, and blue bakers twine around it for added dimension and design.

Then to tie everything together and help pull the design in I cut stars out in various sizes from 3/4" - 1 1/4" from Graphically speaking and scattered them around the layout.

I also used my bakers twine again to tie around a couple of the stars for some extra 'wow'.

Recipe for Stars for the Fourth

Paper - American collection from the $1 spot at Target

Airmail Bakers Twine - available here

Cricut Cuts:

Fourth of July 1 1/2" - Graphically Speaking - p. 43 

Stars 3/4" - 1 1/4" - Graphically Speaking - p. 43

Boy on rocket 3 1/2" - A Child's Year p. 46

I hope you enjoyed my layout and find my tips helpful the next time you want to create a quick layout. Be sure to visit me at my blog for more great projects! 

Hugz

Tina Gale

Find the Cure

I'm back with a project for the Cricut Circle Blog and the monthly challenge.

JUNE MONTHLY CHALLENGE: On the Road Again Challenge!

For a lot of us summertime means ROAD TRIP! For this challenge, we want you to create something . . . ANYTHING for your car! It can be a travel game, travel activity, organizer, whatever! Let your imagination run wild.

This summer we've had lots of road trips but not the fun kind where you get to go to a luxurious hotel or see the sights. Instead our summer road trips are my husband and I traveling an hour each way going to chemotherapy so I decided to make an awareness ribbon for my car.


Pink ribbons are well known for breast cancer but I had to look up the colors for lymphoma which to my surprise turned out to be cricut (lime) green. The colors don't show well in the photo because of the time of day I took the picture. Hopefully my little ribbon will grow awareness for this cancer that affects so many but yet is so unknown.

I used the ribbon from Pink Journey and cut it from cricut green vinyl. Then I took the phrase 'for the cure' from the same cart and cut from black vinyl. I used my gypsy to weld the word 'find' together from the Designer Calendar cart so I could switch it out for the word for. You gotta love the gypsy!!

I hope you enjoy my little project for our summer road trips and don't forget to click on the LLS link to find out more about lymphoma and how you can help find a cure.

Hugz

tina gale

You & Me

Hello all,  I'm thrilled to be back again with a layout for the sweet sassy diva design team. This week my challenge was to work with the Graphically Speaking cart. I love this cartridge and have used it a lot for my sons photos. It has some great phrases and cuts for teenage boys! I decided to challenge myself and use it for something other than guy stuff and I'm so happy with what I came up with. I bet most would never guess I used GS for this layout at first glance. 

These photos were taken at our church on Valentines Day weekend by friends. We had a fabulous service about marriage and then everyone renewed their wedding vows and had wedding cake after the service. It was such a great time.

I have to tell you about the huge cakes in the background as well. I've donated a cricut to our church's decorating department and all the flowers on the cake was made with it. Remember you can always click on the photos to enlarge them and get a better look. I think they did a fabulous job with their cricut and the George cart!!

A close up of the title. Together did not have a shadow but I needed it to pop off the page so I glued it to a piece of cardstock and then just trimmed around it real quick. I also pop dotted it off the page.

 The border is made from 2 1/2" squares of patterned paper matted with cardstock. I had these fabulous embellishments in my stash that I used to add some bling to the page.

I added yellow rhinestones to the antenna to help make the butterfly pop and pop dotted it off the page. I also added a tiny pink heart to the end of the swirl.
This is the first time I can remember that I did not pen and ink up my cuts but I think it works for this layout.

The sizes of all the cuts are as follows.
me & you - 2"
Together - 3/4"
flower border - pg. 33   1 3/4"
butterfly - pg. 57    2 3/4"

I hope you enjoyed my layout today and stop by my blog to see more wonderful projects.
Hugz
Tina Gale

H2O

Well I'm back with the final two beach layouts. I hope you've enjoyed my quick layouts here lately and are inspired to scrap even when life gets in the way.

This is still yet another kit from TLC. I love their papers! It's such a shame they didn't make it as a business. I cut the little mermaid from LAB and blinged her up with a green jewel for her hair. The flower is really a starfish but I cut two of them out of burgandy paper and layered them for a flower.

I cut some various seaweed from LAB and used around the photos to tie the layout together.

The second page I really didn't do much to. I added some coral, shove, and seaweed along with some more word stickers. The journalling block is an embellishment from the paper kit.

Recipe:

Mermaid 3 1/2" - Life's a Beach

Seaweed 3" - Life's a Beach

Coral 2" - Life's a Beach

Shovel 2" - Life's a Beach

Page Kit from TLC

Various word stickers from Hobby Lobby

Thanks for joining me again today!

Hugz

Tina Gale

Gettin Wet and a little personal update

Hello all! I know I promised these layouts a few weeks back but it just seems like life always gets in the way. I usually don't share a lot of personal stuff on my blog because originally I only blogged for me so I could go back and see I was accomplishing something. I never dreamed I would make so many friends or have people that wanted to follow me and my work. My blog has grown into a great network of women that inspire me and hopefully I can do the same sometimes.  I appreciate all of you that come to my blog and share your comments and friendship with me. So just a little update as to where I've been. My hubby has been ill for a couple of months and no one could diagnose what was wrong. We have spent a lot of days at various Dr's appts and two stays at the hospital. On May 25th we finally got the diagnosis that he has lymphoma. It was a great shock to both of us because he is so incredibly healthy and active. He has started chemotherapy and we still spend a lot of time at the Dr's but it's getting better and more of a routine so life is becoming a little more predictable. I have already received so much support and prayers from many of you that I chat with on the cricut message board and it means the world to me. We continue to ask you to keep us in your prayers and thoughts as we continue through treatment. One of the great shocks was to learn there is no cure for lymphoma but it can be managed very well through chemo. As I learn more about this journey we are taking I will be talking about it more on my blog to raise awareness of lymphoma and the many people that live with it. It is unthinkable in the world of science and technology we live in today that there are so many unknowns for this disease. I hope you'll join me in raising awareness of this disease and supporting the Leukemia & Lymphoma Association for finding a cure.

Now onto a brighter note. Here's another layout to go with the California Dreamin one I posted a couple of weeks ago. It's really a simple one and not a lot of cricut but enough to give the page that something extra.

The title gettin wet and papers are more from my TLC days of selling their product. They're no longer in business but they had fabulous paper and kits.
I added some cuts from cricut and Life's a Beach and had a really quick layout that's cute even if I do say so myself.

Recipe:

Fish 1 3/4 - Life's a Beach

Umbrella 3 1/2" - Life's a Beach

Various word stickers from Hobby Lobby

Paper Kit from TLC

I hope you enjoyed seeing another of my quick beach layouts. I have a couple more I'll be posting soon.

Hugz

tina gale

Senior Photo Shoot

Hi everyone!   I have a great layout to share today of my sons senior pics and a video showing how to use the  Imagine when you don't have just the right paper for a project. It's really hard to video the small screen so I apologize it's a little blurry but hopefully it will help you learn a great feature of the Imagine. I can't wait to share with you how easy it is!

 Here's a close up of the banner I made with my Imagine.  It's cut from the Imagine More cartridge pg. 27 at 1.7 inches. I changed to the patterned paper found on pg. 44. Be sure to check out the video to learn how to do this. It's super simple and fabulous way to save money on patterned paper!

I used bakers twine and buttons to hang it on my page. Their school colors are burgandy, gold, and black so I chose the black and yellow twine and burgandy buttons to tie in their colors.

 The font is from the Old West cart cut at 3/4 inch. I used an extra pennant to put the year on.

 I decided upon argyle paper and the diamond border to complement the banner.
The border is cut at 2 inches from the Creative Memories Reminisce Accents cart pg. 65. This cart has some fabulous borders on it! I cut two of them and pieced together on my layout. You could also weld them on your gypsy or in the cricut craft room before cutting.

I used the negative pieces from the border to put across the middle of the page to help carry through the design. Don't be too quick to throw your trash away! You never know when it can be a great addition to your project.

I hope you enjoyed my layout and video and that it helps you try this great feature if you haven't already.

If you're reading this from sweetsassydiva be sure to come visit me at my blog for more great projects and if you're reading this at my blog be sure to visit sweetsassydiva for more great graduation projects from the rest of the design team.

Have a blessed Day
Tina Gale