Welcome To The Fall Blog Hop With The Circle Sisters!

Happy Saturday Everyone!

Welcome to the Fall Blog Hop with Circle Sisters!

Hi Friends and fellow Crafters!
Thanks for stopping by my blog today! I am so excited to be hopping with you today! This is my first hop along with my Cricut Circle friends. My sweet hubby surprised me last year with a membership to the Circle, and while I was not sure at first, I have had so much fun that I renewed this year! If you are hopping along with us, you should be coming from the very creative Gamma's blog. If you've just happened to come across my blog, please check out each of these talented ladies participating in today's blog hop. Kristen's blog is the beginning of the hop, so jump on over to see her fabulous blog, then follow along to enjoy the amazing creativity of the Circle sisters! A big thanks to Kristen for hosting this hop! Here's the line up for today's hop!

1. Kristen http://fantabulouslypink.blogspot.com/
2. Michele www.michelegreen.com
3. Roberta http://www.txscrappermom.blogspot.com/
4. Mary http://www.marebearscraps.blogspot.com/
5. Renee http://icameisawicreated.blogspot.com/
6. Carolyn http://cccscraproom.blogspot.com/
7. Gamma http://gammascreativecorner.blogspot.com/
8. Colleen http://www.scrappycol.blogspot.com (You are here!)
9. DoodleDiva www.doodledivadesigns.com
10. Kimberli http://kimberliscreations.blogspot.com/
11. Lisa http://addictedtothecricut.blogspot.com
12. Gonecampn http://www.scrapcavecreations.com/
13.  Momto2cuties http://www.inlovewithpaper.blogspot.com/
14.  Scrapalette http://scrapalette.blogspot.com/
15. Dana  http://papermemories4u.blogspot.com/ 
16. Darcy http://dlmbscrapping-time2create.blogspot.com/
17. Lavendergal http://ibecircled.blogspot.com

18. Withdrawn
19. Brenda  http://happyscrapper64.blogspot.com/
20. Madylyn http://inspiredbycolor.blogspot.com/
21. Nancy http://lanancyworkshop.blogspot.com/
22. Debbie http://bugginattheseams.blogspot.com/
23. Tracy http://www.scrappininthewoods.blogspot.com/
24. Sharon http://designsbysharon.blogspot.com/

My project for today's Fall Blog Hop was inspired by the September issue of Cricut Magazine. The entire magazine is fabulous this month! The first project I tagged as I read through it was on page 12 by Janet Wilkins. She created a beautiful flower cone. I was in the process of planning a scrapbook layout for the hop, but quickly changed gears! To make this cone, I used:

Cricut Machine

Gypsy

Flower Shoppe Cartridge

Celebrate With A Flourish Cartridge

Floral Moss

Glimmer Mist

Ranger Alcohol Ink

Ribbon

Twine

Brads

Stickles (Black and Diamond)

Distress Inks

Paint ( I used a Ranger Dauber)

Bamboo Skewers

Hot Glue Gun

The cone in the magazine started with an 8x8 square. I fiddled with the 8x8 paper for about 10 minutes before I gave up and rolled a 12x12 piece of paper into a cone in less than 2 minutes! LOL! I am not sure why I couldn't master the 8x8 cone, it just wasn't happening! The paper I used was from K&Company, Susan Winget: Nature. It's a beautiful collection of paper that I had in my stash and was thrilled to find a great project to use it with.

I used my Crop-A-Dile Big Bite and punched a hole on each side.  Well, I thought it was on both sides. Turned out, one of the holes was almost in the center of the cone...I decided to work with that, so I punched a third hole where it should have been the 1st time around, (Don't laugh, it can happen to anyone! Ha-ha!) and added eyelets to all three holes. I took a leaf brad and this little metal leaf I had for I can't remember how long, and colored it with Alcohol inks.

I wanted to use some fringe ribbon, but didn't want to use the cream color, so I dyed it with Oregano Alcohol ink. I applied it directly to the ribbon.

I cut two strips of paper to wrap around the bottom and tied some twine around it. I also added a piece of K&Company Adhesive ribbon to the bottom. For the top, I added the fringe ribbon, but it needed something extra, so I added a piece of rust chenille ribbon. I put the leaf brad through the metal leaf and attached it to the spare hole. (I'm calling it a happy accident!) I tied bakers twine twisted with natural twine through the eyelets to make the handle.

I cut my flowers at different sizes ranging between 2.5 and 3.5 inches. Flower Shoppe is a wonderful cartridge and if you don't already own it, I would recommend it to anyone who uses flowers in their projects. I have a ton of Prima flowers, but since Mother's Day Bouquet and now Flower Shoppe, I am thinking it's time to donate the primas as I barely even look at them when I working on a project. I used a mixture of papers on the flowers. I used assorted distress inks on the petals and pieced the flowers together with Scotch quick Dry Glue and brads. I sprayed Glimmer mist on the flowers and shaped them when they were wet.

Using Celebrate With A Flourish, I cut 2 scarecrows at 3.75 and 2 apples at 2.75. For the flourished layers, I used Dark Green SEI Velvet paper on the Scarecrows and SEI Red Velvet Paper on the apples. I layered them and used some stickles to add some sparkle.

I painted the Bamboo Skewers and hot glued them to the backs of the flowers, scarecrows and apples.

I arranged the flowers and used Floral Moss to fill in the blank spots. Here is a close up.

I originally planned on making a pair, but due to some gal named Irene, I got stuck doing Hurricane preparation today. I have everything I need for the matching cone, so I hope to put the other one together this weekend. I loved this project so much, I was planning a Halloween themed cone on my Gypsy while I was waiting at the Doctor's with my Mom this morning.

Speaking of Halloween, how about some blog candy?

As soon as school begins and the weather turns cooler, I start thinking of Halloween. I've been like this since I was a child. For my blog candy, I have  four fun Halloween punches from MS to give away. Leave me a comment to be entered. I will draw a number using random.org on Monday, provided we have Internet service....

Your next stop on the blog is DoodleDiva www.doodledivadesigns.com You are going to love her blog! I know she has a wonderful creation to share with you!

My crafting assistant, Ozzy, and I thank you for hopping with the Cricut Circle Sisters and Friends today! I hope you have a wonderful day and if you are in Hurricane Irene's path, please be careful and stay safe!

Happy Crafting!

Colleen