Two Projects, One Post -- Lots of Flowers and A Princess Layout!! (M.A.G. Challenge, Paper Cutz Challenge, Cooking With Cricut, Made By Momo Challenge, My Creative Time Challenge)

This weekend I got to hang out with my BFF, Christi...  We spent all day Saturday and Sunday doing what we love to do best...  Watching all the Twilight movies, cheering for the Pittsburgh Steelers (Stairway to Seven!!), and SCRAPBOOKING!!  I was able to finish these two very fun projects for a few challenges...

I'll start with the Flower Topiary...  I completed this project for the M.A.G Challenge By The Page, Challenge #11 AND the Paper Cutz Challenge #75...

Over at M.A.G. Challenge By The Page, they have a weekly challenge that features ONE specific page from ONE specific cartridge -- The twist is that you cannot use ANY cuts from ANY other page or cartridge to complete your project -- This twist makes it SO MUCH FUN (even if it does get a little difficult).  You can use any other embellishments as long as you don't cut anything else with your Cricut.  Well, as soon as I saw that we were using page 130 from Tags, Bags, Boxes and More, I just KNEW that I wanted to create a Flower Topiary with that little nut cup!!

At Paper Cutz Challenge, it was a Viewer's Choice challenge this week...  Any project, any theme, any colors...  And I'm always tickled when I can make one project for two challenges. :)

I had planned to punch ALL of the flowers with my little tiny flower punches from Creative Memories (see those two tiny little flowers in the center of all the other ones???)...  Well, thank goodness for BFFs, cuz Christi insisted that I'd have bruised fingers if I tried to punch one million flowers that way...  And she loaned me her VERY COOL new Stampin Up! Blossom Petals XL Punch which allowed me to piece ALL of the flowers for my topiary!!

I used a Styrofoam ball for the topiary top and pinned all of the flowers randomly to the ball...  I think the pins might have been too thin (they are regular straight pins from the sewing department -- they just have pretty colors on the pinheads!), so I went back and hot glued all of the flowers down...  So the pins are mostly decorative, but I like 'em!!

I also used a Styrofoam square in the base of the topiary...  I then cut some 1/4" strips of paper and ran them through my paper crimper to fill the base...  I added some of those little mini flower punches -- I pinned them into the Styrofoam to help 'control' the paper strips.  The final touch was the ribbon (also from Stampin Up!)...  If you would like any more details on how to create a topiary like this one, please leave me a message and I will do my best to help!!

Now onto the Princess layout...  This is a two-page 12x12 page layout that I created for THREE more challenges:  My Creative Time's Throwback Thursday Challenge ~ Episode 157 , Cooking With Cricut - Challenge #13- 3 Flowers,  AND Made By Momo Tuesday Challenge (on Wednesday!)...

At My Creative Time, Emma asked participants to create a project using either the Paper Doll Dress Up Cartridge or the Everyday Paper Dolls Cartridge (I actually used both) AND some form of embossing...  Momo asked participants to create a project with a Princess theme...  and Cooking With Cricut asked participants to use at least 3 flowers cut with the Cricut (mine are from Daisy Chain)...

My original intention was to follow the sketch at Cooking With Cricut, but I wanted to use this layout for some of The-Girl-Child's pictures from when she was little, and I just couldn't make the sketch work for it -- Instead, I settled for frames for two 4x6 photos on the left page and one 5x7 photo on the right page...

The entire paper doll as well as the castle can be found in Paper Doll Dress Up...  (I'll be featuring a Cartridge Exploration Class for this cartridge at my upcoming Winter Scrapbooking Retreat in Western Pennsylvania, so if you're in the area, you can find all the details HERE...).

 I used my Gypsy to create a blackout cut (hide contour) for the castle and used black ink and a sponge to distress the coloring...  I also hand cut the columns from the castle so I could emboss them (with Cuttlebug's Checkerboard and Bricks)...  Some silver and dark pink Stickles added some glitz to the tiara and scepter for my little princess. :)

These simple flowers can be found on the Daisy Chain Cartridge...  I used my Gypsy to cut the yellow flowers by using the 'hide contour' feature -- This allowed me to create a blackout for the flower too.  Curling the edges of the flowers and embossing them with my Cuttlebug Swiss Dots folder adds dimension (and I L-O-V-E dimensional flowers!).

I used Sizzix's Floral Flourishes embossing folder for the raspberry/dark pink photo mats to add balance to the layout... 

I hope you enjoy my Princess layout!!  Please be sure to leave a comment and let me know you were here...  I'd also love for you to become a follower, if you're not already...  Let me know if you sign up to follow -- I'd love to see what you're creating too!!

To see all of my current creations, please CLICK HERE!