Mother's Day card and Badge Pin

Can you believe Mother's Day is coming up?  If my baby girl is born on time, this will be my very first Mother's Day, which I am very excited about! Although she will be only a few weeks old and will probably have to stay in the house, I am just over the moon happy that I will have a baby girl in my arms and my awesome husband by my side.

This week A Jillian Vance Design is releasing a new stamp set. And for today's post, I am sneaking this new set!  I created two of the same cards with slight modifications to give to my mom and mother-in-law, so you will get to see two stamps....lucky you! I used one of my favourite AJVD Spellbinder Dies, {die}namic Duo to stamp my sentiments inside.

I also created an adorable Mother's Day badge by using the Ribbons and Rosette's cartridge and adhering a pin to the back!

Supplies:
A Jillian Vance Design stamp set "Celebrate Mom" - Special Sneak Peek!
A Jillian Vance Design Spellbinder Die {die}namic Duo Die Set
Cricut Christmas Cards cartridge
Cricut Mother's Day cartridge
Cricut Ribbons and Rosettes
Recollections Shimmer Paper
Recollections Pearl Embellishments
American Crafts Pearl Brads (Hello Sunshine Assortment)
Tsukineko Versa Magic Dew Drop Chalk Ink in Sea Breeze

Cricut Circle Blog Christmas Card

Last year on the Cricut Circle Blog, Jana Eubank posted three super-cute Christmas cards as well as printable PDF instructions and downloadable gypsy files. I couldn't resist. I just had to make one of these cards. I didn't have all the materials that she used, but I was still able to pull it off with my stash at home and this card turned out just darling!

Supplies:
Cricut Christmas Cards cartridge
Kraft, Aqua, Brown and White cardstock
Martha Stewart Holidays Woodland Paper Stack
Martha Stewart Tinsel Glitter
Prima Calypso Flowers
Aqua Ribbon
Aqua Button
Ranger Stickles - X-mas Red
ATD - Christmas Party Chipboard Stickers Collection
Xyron
Adhesive
Gypsy file from the Cricut Circle Blog

- For the snowflake hills, my 2.5 Xyron came in handy. In fact any time I glitter, it's the easiest and fastest thing ever if I use my Xyron. I <3 my Xyrons :)  I always use Martha Stewart glitter. Her glitter is simply the best there is on the market.  For this card, I used her Tinsel glitter from the Holidays collection.

- For the poinsettia, I used the Prima Calypso collection.  To me, there wasn't enough glitter on this flower so I used Ranger's stickles in Christmas Red, dabbed some on the flower and spread it with my finger. It dries in a couple of hours.

- For the stitching, I brought the card over to my mom's to stitch for me. As you can see, we both need some serious help with stitching. But the point is that she tried really hard.

{Maria's Recovery} Breast Cancer Thank You Cards

On January 20, 2011, my mother Maria was diagnosed with Breast Cancer.  Two weeks after, a mastectomy was performed and she healed quite well (besides an infection, which she was treated for).  We have since found out that she is triple negative, meaning that her cancer is not hormonal, and further treatment is not available (besides chemo).  Since her cancer was detected early and because she opted for a mastectomy as opposed to a lumpectomy, she does not require chemotherapy.  Besides close monitoring through MRI's and Mammograms, all we can do is keep our faith and continue praying to God, who has been so good to our family!

From a crafting perspective, I was determined to try and find ways to craft my way through my mom's cancer.  I needed to find the much sought after Cricut "Pink Journey" cartridge.  After no such luck, and much research, I found many alternatives!

Below is the Thank You card that I created for my mom back in the winter. If you are desperately searching for a ribbon cut, you do not need to have Pink Journey!!! I redeemed 800 Cricut reward points and got Cricut "Stand and Salute" which has a beautiful ribbon cut!

Supplies:
Cricut "Stand and Salute" cartridge, Ribbon @ Page 30
Cricut "Christmas Cards" cartridge (for the card base and layers)
Rose, Baby Pink and White cardstock
Scrappy Mom Stamps
Pink By Design Stamps "Faithful Sayings"
Martha Stewart Border Punch
Martha Stewart Glitter in Kunzite

My mom chose the stamps sentiments!