Welcome to another installment of your monthly Getting Cricky blog hop!  Hold onto your party hats boys and girls because this month we are pleased to introduce you to 10 of our new Junior Design Team Members PLUS the Senior Design Team and of course Kristal (gotta save the best for last).  Our super special guest designer this month is none other than the fabulously talented Ellen from “A Little Bit of This“.  Thank you Ellen for joining us, we’re honored to have you!

This month we are focused on Christmas Wishes and our NEW Junior Design Team has created some fabulous things for your viewing pleasure.  As you know, if you’ve been a good little hopper you should have arrived here from Janis’ blog.  If not, please go back to the beginning and start with my good friend Kristal Andrews at Getting Cricky.    You won’t want to miss a single bit of this hop.  I’ve seen the preview posts for days and there is some amazing talent on the team!  These projects are sure to please!

The theme Christmas Wishes means so many things to each of us…for me it is hugely spiritual.  Since becoming a single parent, my children and I have had the opportunity to start some new traditions.  One of them is that they now receive three gifts in similitude of the three Christ received on his birthday.  It was actually the kids’ idea and I of course loved it!  Additionally, before my children and I open our tree, we sing Happy Birthday to our Lord Jesus Christ.  We always bake Him a birthday cake every year and talk about the gifts we are going to give Him (while eating His cake for him).  I try very hard to keep Christ in Christmas so for me, my Christmas wish is always that the world will remember the real reason we celebrate this festive occasion.   This concept, celebrating the birth of my Lord, is the inspiration behind my project for today’s hop.

The papers in my project are entirely from my scraps.  I used sheer wired ribbon for the bow, Spellbinders lattice rectangles I think, and of course K Andrew Designs Stamps.  The sets I have featured are Winter Wishes (for the word Happy), Coffee and Tea for You and Me (for the word birthday), and Scripture Sayings (for the word Lord) are shown below.  I used “Lord” from the sentiment “I have set the Lord before me. I shall not be moved.”

Aren’t these some amazing sets?  Can you see all the options available to you because Kristal has designed them to mix and match?  You could do “You’re Just Blessed” and “You’re Just my heart” and so much more!  We will soon offer a document you can download with countless mix and match options for you to try!  YAY!  Why not get started on the ones I’ve mentioned and my “Happy Birthday Lord” by getting 20% off ALL your K Andrew Designs purchases this weekend.  Yes…that’s right, save 20% off your total order this weekend only!  Use code  cricky20 at checkout and don’t miss out on this awesome deal!

Your next stop along the way though is my wicked talented and crazy beautiful friend Craftin’ Mama Ildi.  Remember her to-die-for washer necklaces from the last hop?  Definitely be sure to check out what she has in store for you!!!!  And….if you get lost along the way, here’s the entire line-up:

 2. Ellen

 3. Shawn

 4. Lisa

 5. Janis

 6. Faith

 7. Ildi

 8. Amy

 9. Amanda

 10. Charlotte

 11. Christel

 12. Heather

 13. Jana

 14. Jessie

 15. Linda

 16. Miranda

 17. Patti

 18. Sherry

this will just have to do I guess.  I am wallowing in rotten right now.  I look rotten, I feel rotten, I probably even smell rotten right now.  TMI I know but you know me and honesty…today I even feel like a rotten Auntie.  I take care of the world’s cutest little boy while his Mommy works.  He and I spend an insane amount of time together.  It is so fun being 3 with him…we play hard and laugh harder.  Except for this week because laughing and playing hurts.  I think he misses me…today he’s been really needy.  Every 5 minutes it’s been “so Auntie guess what”…I have wanted him to go back to sleep since he got here.  I feel rotten for not having the energy to laugh and play with him like I normally do.  Hopefully I can feel better soon.

Usually when I’m feeling rotten about something, I decompress with paper, glue, ink, ribbon, stamps, die cutting machines, paper trimmers, corner rounders, my crop-a-dile…you know all the usual crafty things.  It’s my drug I suppose and right now I’m jonesing for all things crafty severe.  I don’t see that happening today though…sitting up is a challenge right now.  Before I resume my prone position, let me share something I made a while ago…yes, from scraps again.

Once I’m feeling better I’ll make a video showing how I tie bows.  If you can’t wait that long though, go to http://amazingpapergrace.com and look under Becca Bits and watch her bow videos.  I learned to tie mine from watching her tie hers.  The stamps used come from the Owly Hoo Sentiments and Hoot Owl Accessories by K Andrew Designs.  You can check them out below:

 Here’s to hoping I can get my fix in later today or tomorrow.  I may just have to suck it up and go in my freezing cold craft space regardless of how I’m feeling because I have to get a project made for the Getting Cricky Hop this Friday.  I hope you’ll join us!

My family puts “alicious” on a lot of words just because we can.  One of our favorites is yum-alicious.  When I saw K Andrew Designs Crafty Friends set with this mix and match phrase I knew I would have tons of fun with it.  There are so many fabulicious options in this set.  Check out my first combination:

With this set you could also do stamp-alicious, craft-alicious, crop-alicious, friend-alicious, craft-alicious…you get the idea.  This card features papers from my scraps, lacey circles from Spellbinders, and Winter Wishes, Owly Hoo and Crafty friends stamps from K Andrew Designs.  Even the bow is from my scrap ribbon pile.  Are you a blog-alicious friend?  If you’re reading this post, most definitely!