Cricut Circle's July monthly challenge entry

First, a personal note: Pam and Dawn, don't read this post yet or you'll spoil your surprise! Stop it right now.

This month's challenge is titled "Let's Eat!"

I'm going to a pajama crop tomorrow with my besties and I'm going to surprise them with the BEST THING I HAVE EVER EATEN - pig candy. I found out about this treat of treats from a series of books written by HRH Jill Conner Browne (http://sweetpotatoqueens.com).

The challenge requirements are: Create a project of your choice with a BBQ, Picnic, or Patio theme AND use a gingham or check pattern somewhere on your projects. Your project must include atleast 2 different Cricut Image Cuts.

I made labels for individual bags. My cuts were made from these cartridges: Mickey and Friends Font, Elegant Edges for the white base, Animal Kingdom (piggy face), and Everyday Paper Dolls (piggy's bib is a bandana.)

I know technically we're not eating this outside but it is h-o-t here. 100+ degrees hot. I would hate for us to melt before we get to eat our pig candy! So we're going to have an indoor picnic like smart girls.

Now that this project is done I have to go sew the sequins on our capes :)

My First Place Win

I am very proud to say that I won the June Sketch Contest at my local scrapbooking store!! The usual end to the contest fell during the July 4th rush and I didn't hear from them so, I assumed for the longest time that I had lost but, to my happy surprise, they had just not contacted the winners yet. Here's my entry:

I worked off of this sketch:

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150198295004523&set=a.212634019522.128306.134485994522&type=1&theater

I used the Cricut Old West and Yee Haw cartridges (that I got FOR FREE at the Texas Stampede - gotta love that!) I spent more time layering the cowgirl images from the Yee Haw cartridge than I wanted to but I really wanted a specific look to them. It meant cutting the layers several times and then cutting them up & using bits of each to create the right look.

My favorite part of this layout is the matching bling I added to the hat in my daughter's shadow in this photo. I also really like the colors of the photos. I used an editing effect in iPhoto on my Mac called, 'Antique,' to make them look more vintage, which muted the reds and softened the-too bright sunlight.

I used my trusty iRock for the bling and even used it on some iron-on bling intended for use on clothes. I used silver metal squares as nail studs on the wagon wheel. They're about 1/4 inch tall so they took a few extra seconds for the iRock to heat up the glue but it worked! You can see one in the upper left of the above photo. I can't remember what brand they are; they're meant to be ironed onto jeans. I got them on clearance at JoAnn's last year. The only caution I have is to not press down hard, (I flattened a few studs,) but just let the iRock do its job. I'm going to pull a few other types out of my stash and try them out on scrap paper. Nice to have an avenue for a wider variety of bling and not be stuck with just round ones found in the scrapbooking aisle.