Congrats Julia and Diecutlady!! (update 7/27)

FYI for everyone checking - both Julia and diecutlady have given me their contact info - so the prizes are doled out. Hope to have more RAKs in the future - thanks again for playing!
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You are the new winners of the Cosmo Cricket prize giveaways - and so sorry to the gals first chosen who did not leave me contact information, or respond to my e-mail notifications after more than a week.

Julia- hope you come back to see this as I am unable to contact you as well. I'd like to give everyone a bit of advice - if you are planning to sign up for blog contests and giveaways, I highly recommend you fill out your blogger profile. At the very least provide a contact email in it so you can be notified of a win.

If I do not hear from Julia (I know of one I can ask) within a week - looks like I will be drawing yet another winner for the Early Bird Crafting Kit! (LOL)

Diecutlady will receive the chipboard alpha and Mr.Campy rub-ons. Congrats!

Shari -Where Are You???

Ok...the clock is ticking for Shari. If I do not hear from her by noon on Saturday (central time) a new winner will be chosen for the Early Bird crafting kit. Shari even included her email and it has not bounced back. Being that it is summer, I suspect she is on vacation or such. Won't she be bummed if she misses her prize!

I sent another priority e-mail - and if I don't hear from her by Sat. night a new winner will be posted. Good luck to you all if that happens!

Granted, I said by the weekend - but I really want Shari to have one more shot at her "grand prize".

However, as stated, a new winner was drawn for the chipboard alpha/Mr. Campy Rub-on combo (SORRY Angie from Ohio)........diecutlady who posted in the "cards" thread. Congrats!

Prize Winners Please Come Forward!

I have been waiting to hear from the prize winners for my giveaway, and it turns out I am still waiting. However, I don't want to keep everyone in suspense. I will post the current winners here, however, for several I have no way to contact or send them their prize.

If I don't hear from the winners by the weekend I will redraw and the prize packages will be awarded to others.

Winner of the Early Bird Crafting Kit is Shari - congrats Shari! I am waiting to find out where Shari lives, and if she is out of U.S. or Canada a new winner will be chosen.

Winner of the Cosmo Cricket chipboard, and Mr. Campy rub-ons is Angie from Ohio - I have no way to contact her a well.

Winner of the ribbon pack is Parker & Emma's Mom - Jennifer will be receiving her ribbon this week.

On the Colorfully Creating blog Sylgise from Pennsylvania won the mini album.

Congratulations everyone! I really want to thank you all for stopping in for a visit. Please come back again!

Winner will be posted Saturday

Hi all - I really want to thank so many for stopping by to check out my new blog. I really appreciate it. I am actually thrilled to see I have followers- to be honest, I almost did not put that blogger feature on my page as I feared no one would follow, and how would that look? (LOL)

I haven't gone through all the comments yet. I am going to beg my hubby to let me sit at the computer Saturday morning, while he makes breakfast, to finish up going through comments and have the drawing.

I do have a winner for the mini album posted on Colorfully Creating - my other blog, however. It is sylgise - congratulations! I clicked on her link and I cannot find a way to email her, BUT I did notice she has this blog listed in her profile as "blogs I follow" - how sweet! Of course I am hoping she will see a feed for an update and read this to learn that she won. Click on my profile and send me an email so I can mail out your album!

Be sure to keep an eye on Colorfully Creating for projects created using products for another mfr. on my Dream Team list. I just finished 2 cards and 2 layouts that I will be sharing soon, and as always, offering tips and technique ideas.

"Scraps" A Card

Recently I have gotten into a routine...scrap a layout, USE the SCRAPS and make a card. So here is a simple card made with leftovers from Halfway Cafe. I spritzed the top half of the patterned paper with a mixture of Ranger "Stream" Alcohol Ink mixed with Perfect Pearls in white and water. It was just the right shade of blue to add shimmer to this card, which of course you won't see too well on the web.

I had actually cut out three large stars for the previous layout, and ended up using one. So I figured I may as well make cards, mounting the star on chipboard, cutting it out and faux stitching around the edge. I placed an "Army" gromlet by Karen Foster in the center of the star. The ribbon is from the Cogsmo collection, and stapled for added interest.

I intended to send this card to a young lady I know of in Iraq - but do cards pass through metal detectors? I am wondering if I should make a third (afterall, I have one more star remaining) and leave off the metal embellishments. If anyone knows if metal embellishments hinder a card getting to our troops please let me know!

Be sure to comment anywhere on this entire blog - preferably on your favorite project so I can learn what people want to see - and you will be entered in a drawing for one of several prizes. The deadline is midnight, July 15. Visit this thread for details and prizes.

July 4th Memories with Halfway Cafe

There is not a whole lot of Halfway Cafe remaining in my stash, but I love this particular Cosmo Cricket line for patriotic themed layouts. To round out "Here Comes Trouble" I used four lines of Cosmo Cricket - can you pick out the collections used?

I took a trip down memory lane with these old photos of Kyle celebrating his first Independence Day. He was 9 months old at the time, and had just learned to walk. This boy never crawled - he was simply "up and at it" from the get go. I love the mischievious look in his eyes - he was quite proud of toddling over to the cooler on the deck to see what was inside.


The cardstock sticker from Lil' Man made for a perfect title. I mounted it on chipboard, cut around it and outlined with a red marker for a little pop. As is usual - I used foam 3D adhesive on the backside to lift it off the page.

Do you recognize the circle shaped pattern paper? It is also from Lil Man, but I dry brushed strokes of twill and Stoneware blue paint on it. Although the color match was great for Halfway Cafe, I could not use such a clean design with a distressed look paper without "messing it up" a bit. Because the Stoneware blue was close, but not a perfect match to Halfway Cafe, I drybrushed a bit on the vertical piece as well - the color really makes everything pull together with the background Bazzill blue cardstock used.


The large star is cut out from Halfway Cafe patterned paper, mounted on chipboard pretty much like the title. I punched holes in the center and brought ribbon through to tie off.
I used a Magistical Memories star frame, and added little kraft star stickers by Jillibean for the ACOT trend challenge of using kraft this month. I simply outlined the frame with red marker as well. I also journaled on this frame - first time I have done that- I have used the Starlicious frame often.

You may or may not recognize the ribbons used in this layout as being from the Cogsmo line - I love how Cosmo Cricket collections often coordinate with one another. I swiped a little brown ink on the ribbons to tie in with the distressed look of Halfway Cafe.

Last, and least... a couple of strips from Jitterbug. I admit, these pieces are there simply because they were on my table from pulling out my Cosmo stash. I saw them, realized the colors worked, distressed the edges and stapled it down. It just adds a little more fun to the otherwise rather plain area of this layout.

DON'T FORGETS...
-To go rummaging through your Cosmo collections to see which older papers may go with your new ones. You may be pleasantly surprised!

-To participate in the July Contest at Magistical Memories. All you need to do is create a layout with the colors red, white and blue, but not limited to, have a patriotic theme, and use some chipboard - like the example I have shown here today.

-To leave a comment on your favorite project in this entire blog by midnight July 15 for a chance at Cosmo Cricket products - see thread below.

- Stop by Colorfully Creating - sharing photos from our holiday here.

Happy scrapping your Independence Day photos!

Celebrating this blog with a giveaway!

It's all put together - pretty much. There is always some fine tuning to be done, but in the past 10 days or so I have added a lot of content to this new blog in order to showcase my Cosmo Cricket creations. Now, how does anyone find this, unless they frequented my other blog?

I began this post on June 23 with this thread, explaining why I decided to make a Cosmo Cricket dedicated blog.

Yesterday I patted myself on the back for learning how to create widgets with clickable images for MBs, to direct people here and to Colorfully Creating. I know one good way to introduce a site is to have a giveaway.

This morning I went to the LSS and picked up an Early Bird crafting kit to giveaway. I also have a package of Get Happy ribbons, and a third prize pack containing Buck-Naked Alpha Buttons with Mr. Campy rub-ons.
Package #1 (U.S. and Canada only)

Package #2


Package #3


Because of the large package postage, the Early Bird Crafting kit is eligible for residents of the U.S. and Canada. However, everyone is eligible to play along for the ribbon package, as well as the chipboard alpha with rub-ons.

All I am asking you to do, is scroll through the many projects I have posted here and leave a comment on the thread sharing the project you like most. No need to post back here! I will be going through all the threads to add comments to the random drawing. Be sure to check the bottom and click on "older posts" for all posts created in June. For the card thread, just tell me which card is your favorite.

Posts up to midnight on July 15 are eligible for the drawing. I know by then the Cosmo Cricket Design Team will have long been announced - sounds like they are flying through those entries! Whatever the outcome, and I am certainly not expecting this blog to put me there, I plan to continue creating with one of my favorite manufacturing lines and sharing projects with you. I hope you will subscribe to the feed that allows you to receive updates of when I share a new project. Good luck to you if you tried out for the team as well, and good luck in the giveaway, and thanks for finding Cosmo Cricket Creations!

Be sure to tell me who you are, with contact info (it's difficult to track down anonymous participants!) - if you have a blogger account and are logged in it automatically links me to you.

Now I need to stock up on dark chocolate to deal with the butterflies, knowing Julie and the CC gang are so close to narrowing down the field.

Conversation Starter - Cosmo Spinner Card

It was time to get this project out of my mind and into the real world - "What's On Your Mind?" is one of about 12 mini album ideas that I have posted on the fuse box with a magnet. (yep, a big ol' attractive fuse box is on the wall smack dab in front of the chair I sit in while creating - I tried to make it pretty with extra photos, and useful as well - with my creative TO DO list as well as my "dream team" list.)

The idea began with Magistical Memories "Gears" chipboard album. As soon as it arrived I knew the Cogsmo papers in my stash were perfect! THEN Cosmo Cricket introduced spinner cards!! This product took my mini album up a level, from "oh, that's a cute album" to "oh, can we sit down and play with the album?!"

If you have a child nearing the teen-age years, you may have noticed a lapse in one-on-one conversation between parent and child. I remember age 3, where Kyle talked non-stop, asked the question "Why..." and "What..." over and over again. Then there were the early years of elementary, he would come home from school and eagerly share his day. Now that he is going into 6th grade, we are more likely to get an "uh uhh" or "a huh".



Kyle already thinks this album is cool, and we haven't played it yet. Because I wanted the spinner card to be functional for actual interaction, I didn't add any patterned papers to the front as I wanted the arrow to spin freely. The idea is to use the questions on the inside pages as starters, spin for an answer, and get a good laugh. It will help reduce the stress acquired through the day, and make having a real conversation with your teen more approachable.

I loved adding additional gears with Cogsmo die-cut shapes, smaller Magisitcal gears, and of course Tim Holtz Idea-ology.

Here are the inside pages with ideas of the questions you might include in your album.


I looked through photos and was thrilled to find ones that worked for the questions we might ask our son about after a day at school.

These two photos were from a photo shot - Kyle being melodramatic - I promised him I would use them some day!

The last question will give me a chance to learn if anything is bothering our son. Because we have been spinning for answers and lightened the mood, I think the "What's On Your Mind?" album will be a valuable "tool" for our parent/child relationship, go beyond the typical answers and get to "what's really on your mind."

Granted, I create a lot more layouts than mini albums. I can whip out layouts in no time, but I must admit, when I finish a mini album it becomes a little treasure, and I have checked one more off my to do list. I hope you like the concept shared here, and perhaps consider making one of your own if you have a child who is a bit on the quiet side.

Sneak Peek

Thought I would share a teaser tonight, of what I hope is a project completed tomorrow! It is totally fun, using a spinner card, Cogsmo, Magistical Memories "Gears" album; and it is functional - it could save a relationship between parents and teen-agers!

Hello Julie and the rest of the Cosmo gang (whomever clilcks to check out my submission link). Seeing as I was probably one of the last to email my application, I am hoping that you are all busy hopping on other blogs while I finish this project. (LOL)

If not...well, you will miss out on a fun mini album, but I hope you will find plenty of other eye candy here, and a reason to come for a second look.