Best of Pixar cricut challenge

I was so surprised looking through the Best of Pixar cartridge to see this seascape elements. I have several friends that go on vacations to pretty places like this so I thought I could send this card the next time they're  heading off.
I will admit trying to cut the trees on the explore was tricky and ended up using my distress markers to get the colors back to what I was expecting. I ended up using texture paste for my cloud because I couldn't find my snow puffy pen. Still it was fun to use this cart in a way you wouldn't expect.
Now Mr. Incredible is a funny story, well funny to me.
A little back story for you. I usually design on my big computer in the living room, and that is where I do my printing. Then I take my tablet, open design space and go into my craft room to cut.
I had originally cut Mr. Incredible smaller and with the Incredible logo. After printing I set it aside and later changed my mind and deleted the logo and made Mr. Incredible bigger. A few days later, I took my original print and went to cut him out and when I opened my project in Design space, realized that my first print was now useless because I had changed the file. Back to the living room to print the new file and then I went right back to the craft room to cut.
Once I had gotten my Mr. cut out I went through a bunch of different backdrops trying to find the right fit. I finally gave up and made my own. I took a 4x6 project life grid card and then used my Dylusion sprays in London blue and Post box red. I dried it with my heat gun and called it good. Wyatt likes it, so I'm assuming another boy will like it for a birthday or get well card.
Of course there are other characters I could have used but when I originally cut Mr. Incredible I was going to use him on a Disney character page. When I found the picture I had planned on using, it wasn't as I had remembered it and wouldn't work for my page.

My next challenge will be...

*Carrie*

Cousins Easter egg hunt 2015

When these 6 get together, laughter and craziness ensues. They're all 6 months to about a year apart in age and get along really well.
Mom, aka Nina usually has a egg hunt in her back yard for my three, this year we invited the cousins to join us.
Mom's backyard is a plethora of plants and garden decor, which makes hiding eggs fun.
The kids get ex amount of eggs apiece and one egg that has their initials on it. That egg has moolah. Mom is generous and gives each kid $5.

 My sister in law, Amanda and I lined the kids up, told them that they needed to find five eggs apiece and then the one egg with their initial. Mom made it more interesting by giving the girls one set of colors and the boys another.
Sadly, Mom had to work so I tried to snap pictures as the kids furiously snatched up eggs.
Boy, they were quick.
Once all the eggs were found, the gang went into the spare bedroom, opened the eggs and saw all the chocolate loot.

 When us mom's walked in to the bedroom, opened eggs and chocolate were in piles in front of each kid.
 A definite sugar high was had by most.
The best part is hearing the giggling coming from the room.

*Carrie*

Reid Park Zoo 2015

 We are pretty lucky to have a zoo and I don't go as often as I might like. During spring break last week the kids and I went one cloudy morning.
Our Malaysian tigers, heck any big cat for that matter is a favorite. This guy was just chillin in the corner licking his paw. I sometimes wonder what they are thinking as they watch us.

A new attraction to our zoo has been these camel rides. The zoo has two camels and for $7 a person you get one lap around the enclosure. They have two photo op stops but otherwise its

 just a lap around. I told the kids to enjoy because it was probably the only time they were going to ride a camel.
The zoo offers to take a photo but they want $10. Thankfully I can do my own.
Poor Kelly said she felt like she was going to slide off and Wyatt was almost too afraid to climb on. Once on, they laughed most of the way around. So overall I think it was a good experience.

One of the cool sights was seeing all the peacocks around the enclosure, they were on the top of most of the log fence and walking around. I really have no idea how many peacocks our zoo actually has, but man are they gorgeous.
To try from getting bored I've taken to keeping an eye out for actions or behavior that bring boring animal shots alive.
I think the giraffes fit the bill easily, with their chewing and long tongues. This guy was looking

 me like he was saying, hey, or he was about to

 stick out his tongue at me, not sure which. The giraffes are one of the biggest, no pun intended, attractions. I love the ability to feed these guys and the line can get crazy long to do so, so usually I hang out before the feeding frenzy starts.
As we walked around I was bummed that the elephants decided to play in their other area away from the crowds. I was really hoping to get some fun shots of the baby elephant Nandi but she hightailed it with the rest of her family.

 The semi new grizzlies bears were chillin in the habitat so I couldn't get any photos of them. I really miss our old polar bear.
 As we continued along the trail we came upon the tortoise exhibit. This little dude was awesome and just seemed so interested in Wyatt, he wouldn't look away.

Usually of my least favorite trails is the South American one. I'm not totally sure why and maybe that's starting to change. Lately the sun bear, seen here is actually awake and moving

 

 around and this time he actually looked at me!
Another reason why my feelings toward the trail are changing is because the last couple of times the jaguars have actually been playful. The zoo has two sisters and they're beautiful, but for years when I would visit they just laid around. My last two or three visits the girls have been playing around and talking to each other, which makes it fun for me. That weekend the girls had a birthday and turned 19.
Sadly my pictures didn't come out well this time.
 A new attraction is the pair of lemurs. King Julian here was pretty cool. I got shots of him scratching his armpits and sniffing butts but finally, and thankfully he came toward the fence.
Gosh, I love those eyes.
This visit we went into the bird sanctuary and poor Wyatt was chased by a crazy blue bird, this guy followed him almost all the way around the path, it was hilarious.
There are some very beautiful, freaky and creative looking birds that were flying around in there

 This yellow looking guy was just too pretty not to photograph.
Who knows, maybe I will add text to the picture and put a quote on it.
I was really hoping to get some good shots of the flamingos but the whole exhibit was off limits for cleaning.
Can't wait to go back for the flamingos, they're so cool.
Overall the kids had a good time, until Chelsea walked away from me and got lost, for like 30 seconds.

 I tried to get photos of the kids and when I had them sit down on this bench, I laughed because the giraffe turned and showed us his butt.
I love each kids expression. Trying to get one good photo of these wild, crazy kids is getting harder.
But, each one is starting to understand my desire to document as they grow and change. They in turn also like to see how much they have grown and changed.

Just as we were leaving, I went over one last time to our tiger. Yup, he's sticking his tongue out at me. Not much, can't be too cheeky but I definitely got the neener neener vibe.
Well played Mr. Tiger
*Carrie*

Cricut Cartridge Summer celebrations

The Summer Celebrations cart has tons to offer and I chose to use the 4th of July themed images.
I love night photography and taking pictures of lightning and fireworks is actually easy and fun. This last year we went to a parking garage at the U of A and could see fireworks from at least 3 directions. The best light show is probably from A mountain but the one from Davis-Monthan Air Force Base was no slouch either. The top left photo was from the base, everything else was from A mountain.

I used stickles to bring out some pop and sparkle to my cuts and added some pop dots for dimension.
Now, like most card makers I need plenty of birthday cards and I thought that this cake one would be sophisticated for either guy or girl. I put it into design space and planned the sizing around what I thought I needed. The cut was planned for about 8x11. My thinking being that I would score this in half and have an 4x5.5 card. THIS is how it came out and I just giggled. Way bigger than needed BUT still perfectly usable, as long as I don't need an evelope, lol
The Handy Man card next to it is a 4.25x5.5 a big difference. It's a learning experience for sure. When I was in Design space I used the card canvas for sizing and thought that the card looked way to small. I'm sure I will go looking for a cricut card cheater guide to help me in future sizing.
I believe I am now officially "caught" up on my challenges. I have picked my next cartridge and it's....

*Carrie*

Handy Man Cricut cartridge challenge complete

 

 This Handy Man challenge took way longer than I planned because I kept changing my mind over where to place everything.
I'm super happy with how the tools card came out. I based all the tools on the Stanley brand and used my cuttlebug with the diamond plate folder and silver foil paper. A perfect card for my very handy husband.

Now, I've mentioned before that I haven't scrapbooked in about 3 years. I really want to but I have consistently made excuses or have found other things to occupy my creative time. So, if I tend to have lots of scrapbook pages, I'm really trying to get life documented. I am by no means a pro scrapper, I would even classify myself as a baby scrapper. My goal is to become more comfortable with using die cuts and getting bolder as I go.
This page was something that I wanted documented because, my hope is for the bed to become a family heirloom.
My Cricut Explore did an amazing job cutting out the everything but the stripes for the drill. No matter though because I just drew them in.
Overall I'm happy with how everything came together and I hope this will encourage someone to try out this cart.
My next challenge is to use...

*Carrie*