Hi, I am back again for the Bitten by the Bug 2 challenge – Back to School.  Here are a couple of cards celebrating that in whatever form it takes this year.

These were made for my granddaughter as she starts 6th grade and my daughter-in-law as she starts her second year of teaching.  She certainly had an different start to her teaching career last year with COVID.  I used Recess , Autumn Celebrations, Back to School and Just Because Cards to create these cards.  The paper was cardstock I had on hand along with a 6 x 6 paper pad called Hall Pass from We R Memory Keepers.

Use your Cricut to create your own back to school project and link it up for the next two weeks at Bitten by the Bug 2.  Our designers have lots of great projects there to inspire you. – Denise

Who doesn’t like watermelon (besides my husband, lol)?  The challenge at Bitten by the Bug 2 is to craft something on the Cricut with a watermelon.

I love watermelon and have a cat that also loves it, so he gets part of the rind to lick when I cut one up.  I searched Design Space for watermelon and found this image and sentiment as part of the Just Because Cards cartridge (melon #M472AF).  I adjusted the size of the watermelon a bit and used some perfect paper in a paper stack by The Paper Studio called Fruit Art. Since there was some paper with the seeds already in it, I used that and didn’t use the top red cut of the file. The file also contains an envelope, so I cut one using the same paper as the background.  It is hard to tell, but the dark green rind and border are a shimmery cardstock.

See what great projects the design team came up with for this challenge and link your own project using the Cricut in the next two weeks at Bitten by the Bug 2.

We are in the heat of the summer and Bitten by the Bug 2 has a challenge to show your Summer Fun.  Here is the layout I came up with.

I don’t do a lot of scrapbook layouts and I have never scrapped something this quickly, since this was just a week and a half ago.  We have a cabin in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and spent a week there with our daughter-in-law and granddaughter. Our son couldn’t come due to COVID restrictions and others couldn’t come for the same reasons.  While we didn’t have nearly the number of family and friends this year, it allowed my granddaughter and I to have some special time together.  We have a black lab and the lake is like heaven to him along with kids.  Elena would run and jump off the dock and our dog would be right behind her.  She also has a black lab who would do the same thing and sometimes both dogs would jump in.  I captured these pictures from a video I took and it represents the center of our summers.  I tend to do simple layouts and let the pictures take center stage.   A cut from Campin’ Critters with the Jump in the Lake was perfect for the title in the corner and splashes from Noah’s ABC Animals added a nice flourish.  The circle is basic shapes and I let the Cricut do the writing using Market Street Fonts (Eloise).

Join in the Summer Fun and link your own project using your Cricut on the Bitten by the Bug 2 challenge. Get lots of inspiration from all the wonderful projects done by the design team.  – Denise

Our challenge over at Bitten by the Bug 2 is Cute Critters and here is my project (actually two of them).

A closeup of the materials.

I am not a cutesy kind of crafter, but I do have a soft spot for the bears in the Cricut cartridge called Teddy Bear Parade.  They all have this expression that makes you want to hug them and there are a ton of different outfits for all kinds of occasions.  I decided that I wanted to do a shaped card and so I searched through the images and picked these two because the hats made a nice top to hinge together.  To make the card base, I sized the bear to be 5 inches tall and duplicated it.  I then removed the fishing pole (and pitchfork from the farmer).  Welding the copy made a perfect shape.  I then duplicated that and flipped it vertically.  I lined the two shapes up head to head and overlapped those heads enough to make sure I would have enough to make a decent size fold and used the centering tool to make sure they matched.  The welding tool was once again used to make one shape.  Adding a scoring line was done using the line from basic shapes and turning it 90 degrees.  If you put it with the welded shape and use the alignment tool (the horizontal center) it places it perfectly to fold the card at the top of the head.  You could also do that manually.  The original image was cut using some fun materials and lines up perfectly on the base shape. I used a faux suede material for the bears and a Tim Holtz textile paper for the overalls.  These were fun to do and I will probably try others.

Make sure to use your Cricut and link your own Cute Critter creation on Bitten by the Bug 2.

A new challenge starts today at Bitten By the Bug 2 called In the Stars.

I searched Design Space for stars, then went to my second favorite place SVGcuts.com to search for stars.  This box card      came up as part of the kit called Happy 4th.  Since I needed to make a card for a friend who celebrated their 90th birthday on July 2, I decided I could modify the card into a birthday card.  I took the first insert and using a square shape, sliced off the top which said “4th” on a banner with a star.  I searched Design Space and found a birthday sentiment that was curved in Create a Critter.  I used a banner from Close to My Heart “Artiste” and a star shape from the basic shapes.  After sizing all of them to fit, I made a copy of the sentiment and then arranged the original, the base, the banner and the star together and welded them.  I replaced the dot on the “i” with a star.  Since it was her 90th, I also hid the star contour on the front flap and replaced it with a 90.  Everything else remained as the original design.  The paper was from Authentique and called Anchored.  It makes for a fun birthday card.  Don’t be afraid to alter some of the fun designs you find to make them your own.  Join in the fun with your own project with star shapes on your Circut and link it to the challenge on Bitten By the Bug 2.  – Denise

My mother was born on June 21 (the first full day of Summer) so this time of year has always been celebrated in our family.  Bitten by the Bug 2 has chosen this as the challenge for the next two weeks.  My daughter was also to be married on June 21 this year, but due to COVID 19, it has been postponed until next year.  I am still going to see her, so I did a super quick card for our challenge.

I searched for sun in Design Space and this image from Folk Art Festival came up and I thought it looked like one of those suns they show on the CBS show Sunday Morning.  The sentiment is from Small Talk Frames & Tags.  Using some scraps from my stash in yellow, orange and peach I cut it out and mounted it on blue cardstock.  Just a simple card, but very cheery looking. Have a wonderful start to Summer and enter your own project with the sun using your Cricut on the challenge here.  Be sure to check out all of the great designs from the other members while you are there. – Denise

June is the month for weddings and that is the current challenge on Bitten by the Bug 2.

Like everything else this year, weddings are being effected by COVID 19 restrictions.  My niece was to be married in April and my daughter in June.  Both have postponed their weddings until next year.  Since I didn’t have an actual wedding to make a card for, I decided to make a general one and have in my stash.  This cut is from Summer Celebrations and is currently free on Design Space.  I cut it with gray and white cardstock from my stash.  The original cut is open to the inside, but I didn’t like the look, plus the sides were pretty thin.  I cut a piece of cardstock from the DCWV stack called Le Blanc and put it behind the front.  It was a quick card to make and is pretty classic looking.

Check out all the great projects the design team did for the challenge and link up your own project using your Cricut on Bitten by the Bug 2 here.

Today is Memorial Day and the challenge at Bitten By The Bug 2 is Military. My son graduated from the Air Force Academy in 2014 and currently serves flying C130s.  I am finally finishing an album of his time there and made this page of his graduation.

The whole graduation week was filled with lots of ceremony and the graduation was no exception.  One of the highlights was then Vice President Biden saluting and shaking the hand of every single graduate (and there were just under 1,000).  The larger picture captures that moment when my son shook his hand.  Last year I watched a live stream of President Trump doing the same thing.  Unfortunately this year the cadets had a very abbreviated ceremony without any friends or family present and of course, no shaking of hands by the Vice President.  At least they did get a graduation, unlike most all other colleges.  I used an Authentique collection called Pride for the papers.  The stars are just the Cricut basic shapes and the title is a font called Plantin Schoolbook.  I also cut one of the pictures in the star shape.  You can do this if you are very careful to place the cut on the mat in an exact location and position your picture to be centered in that location.

I certainly have a new appreciation of those who serve after having a son in the Air Force.

Be sure to add your military project using your Circut machine and link it on the challenge at Bitten by the Bug 2 here.  – Denise

Today we start a new challenge on Bittten by the Bug 2 using graduation as the theme.  Graduations are certainly going to be a lot different in 2020 so my card is a little different too.

   View of the back.

My great-nephew is graduating from high school and a vocational school this year after taking construction.  He has been accepted into an apprenticeship at the carpenter’s union, so this tool box card from SVG cuts seemed appropriate.  It is from the Father’s Day Box Card collection found here.  I added a mortar board in his school colors to the note pad on the front from Decorate, Celebrate. The writing is Modern Calligraphy.  I love writing with my Cricut because it always looks good and I can size it just right to fit.  I used basic cardstock in my stash along with metallic cardstock from DCWV.  I also used a couple of different brads that look like metal fasteners and screws.

Don’t forget to make something for that special graduate because they will need it more than ever this year.  Link up your project made with your Cricut to our challenge at Bitten by the Bug 2 here.

Starting today through May 10 Bitten by the Bug 2 the challenge is flowers.  What a perfect start for May.

My project is a tissue box cover.  I know this doesn’t sound glamorous, but since I have allergies, these are all around my house and dressing them up has been fun.  SVG Cuts has these cut files that go together quickly.  I decided to use some of my beautiful Graphic 45 paper so that I could look at it every day.  The kit I used is called French Country.  I decided to dress it up even more by adding a dimensional Sunflower to match the paper. This also came from svgcuts.com in a set called Harvest Sunset and can be found here.  The Sunflower on the bag is the one I used, but I downsized it to fit on the side of the box.  This meant that the pieces for the center were fairly small and I wouldn’t try it any smaller.  I inked the petals and leaves with a blending brush and Distress Oxide Inks.  I shaped them The center was covered in glue and then rolled in glass micro beads.  I picked those up at Hobby Lobby sometime and have used them for some fun things.   They really made the center look great.  I made another with plain cardstock and added the decorative panels from another Graphic 45 kit and will probably fill my house with them.

Have fun making any kind of project with flowers using your Cricut machine, then add your link to the challenge at Bitten by the Bug 2 here.  – Denise