The other card my partner wanted was a girl's night out card, so of course my mind went straight to alcohol.  After I finished this card, I realized I should have made it a lime instead of a lemon, but maybe her friend REALLY likes iced tea LOL!

This card measures about 4 x 6".  I welded the two base shapes after hiding the interior cuts.  This produced a kind of weird effect on the umbrella points, so I just trimmed the extra ones with my scissors.  I knew it would be covered by the layer.  I used a lot of DCWV glitter CS here.  The pineapple cup is some cheap Kraft I got from HL for some project or other.  I used my Cricut marker to draw the outline before cutting to add some definition and ran it through an embossing folder.  After I got all the layers on there was an AWFUL LOT of empty kraft space at the bottom.  So I added the hibiscus flower with some hemp.  It really improved the card.  The straw is sponged with a little blue ink.  I don't have any sort of "girls' night out" stamps so I put a friend quote on the inside--an old SU one with that John Lennon lyric "I get by with a little help from my friends".  I love that song.

Anyway, hope you've enjoyed this post and have a great day!

Shaped Card Swap on the Cricut MB

I am doing another swap over at the Cricut MB.  This time it was to make 2 shaped cards for your partner--her choice.   This is the baby girl card I made for her.  It's 6" tall and about 3.75" wide.  This shape is from Baby Steps.  I wanted something a little different from a onesie or baby bottle so I chose this stacking toy shape.  Sadly it doesn't stand up on its own--I hope that's not a problem for her.  Colors are Pink Pirouette and Pumpkin Pie.  DSP is retired SU.  Buttons are PTI, as is the card base.  I used the Swiss Dots embossing folder on the antennae, and all the layers are popped up.  The inside is stamped "Welcome Little One" from PTI's Bitty Baby Blessings.

I think it's pretty cute.  I hope she likes it!  Have a happy stamping day everyone.

"Quilted" Butterflies

At my stamp club, one of the other stampers often uses this technique on her cards, and I always ooh and aah and say I'm going to try it and then I never do.  So..I finally did!

It's very simple.  I just punched out a bunch of butterflies from the Tea for Two DP using my new small butterfly punch.  I carefully spaced and adhered them on Very Vanilla and then ran the whole thing through an embossing folder.  It gives the coolest effect, like the butterflies are embedded in the paper.  Then I tied a bow and added a little tag with a sentiment from the original PTI Mixed Messages set which has like these microscopic sentiments on it.  The scalloped edge is cut with an SU Edgelits die.  The green is Lucky Limeade.

I love this method--it geves elegant results very quickly and easily--what more could you ask for?

Have a great day!

Cricut Gift Bag and Tag Swap, part II

So this bag and tag set is for my partner's son, who is a fisherman.  I used some paper from my stash, the new Outdoor Man cartridge, and the Camping Solutions cartridge (for the fish).  The man in the boat is cut at 4".  I embossed the boat, "Born to", and tags with PTI's wood grain plate.  I sponged the boat and water.  

I used red hemp and green buttons to accent the bag and cards.  Hemp is so great for men--not girly like ribbon.  The sentiment on the tag is from Pond Life Sentiments and says "birthday fishes".  

Well, that's it for today!  Hope you enjoyed this project.  I'd forgotten how much I enjoy making gift bags--I should really do more of it!  

Have a fabulous day!

Cricut Gift Bag and Tag Swap

I joined another Cricut partner swap.  This time it was for gift bags/tags.  My partner wanted one for her son and one for her grandson.  Her GS is a Florida Gator fan, so I downloaded the Team Spirit 34 image from cricut.com and cut it from Cricut Craft Room.  Turns out, those single images work differently in CCR than regular Cricut images--I wound up having to call Customer Service not once but twice but learned a lot in the process.  The trick?  Use on the settings set it to Imagine, and then when you go to cut, select cut only, not print and cut.  My DH also bought me a laptop so now I can use CCR down in my craft room--anyone want to buy a Cricut Mini that has been used exactly once?!?  LMK!

I used some of my all-time fave retired SU paper--Jersey Shore.  I hope she appreciates that I used my hoard for her LOL!  The Gator is cut at 4"  I think and most of the layers are popped up.  I used some orange and green baker's twine that I bought around last Halloween from Mike's.

I had to look on line to see what slogans Florida uses.  One was "If you're not a gator, you're gator bait" and the other had something to do with being in "The Swamp".  I liked that one (plus it was shorter!) so I went with it.  Shadow is Pumpkin Pie, letters are Garden Green.  Other colors on the gator are Bashful Blue, Brilliant Blue, Wild Wasabi, and Whisper White.

Here is the tag.  The requirement was a # 8 shipping tag.  I cut two just a bit larger than 3 x 6, ran them through my new Cuttlebug folder--that I got on sale, woo-hoo, and glued them back to back to make it sturdier.  I used Sticky Strip to attach some beads.  The reverse side is identical but with a blank space for writing.  

I'm really pleased with the way this turned out!  I hope you like it too--if so, please leave a comment!  Thanks for dropping by!

Snail Mail

Okay, here's another darling wooden shape card.  Guess what, you're probably going to be seeing a lot of these LOL!  Card base is Calypso Coral, layer is So Saffron.  The color coach said to use Daffodil Delight, but that just seemed too bright.  The DP is some from Imaginisce that I have been hoarding.  I just love mushrooms--they are so cute and also delicious!

I punched through the DP/So Saffron layer and placed my snail, which I embellished with a button tied with yellow hemp.  The shell is not detailed and needed something--a stamped or punched flower would be cute too.

The sentiment is from PTI's Pond Life Sentiments and is one I love to use with turtles and snails for belated birthday cards.  It says "Happy Belated Birthday" on the inside, from the same set.  Little flower punch is from SU.  

And FYI, I just got a big haul from SU, which I'll be playing with today, including two new butterfly punches and a butterfly set to match, so expect to be smothered in butterflies!

Thinking of You

Okay, everyone, RUN, do not walk, to Michael's and buy some of these AMAZING laser cut wooden shapes from their Recollections brand.  They are SO sweet!  On these I inked the edges with Old Olive and then sprayed them with shimmer mist, though you can't see the shimmer in the pic.  The BG is long-retired Stipple Plaid, and I embossed the sentiment.  I think this would be a perfect thinking of you card for a guy, and not bad for a woman either.

They have several styles of shapes.  I got the leaves, some garden critters, like bees and snails, and some butterflies in all different sizes.  You can stamp on them, ink them, etc.  One caveat:  if you are going to spray them, do that first and let it dry.  I stamped some script on a large butterfly and then sprayed it and the ink smudged, even though I used STAZ ON.  But my shimmer mist was alcohol based, so there you go.  My bad.

Thanks for dropping by today!  I plan to craft today until it warms up a bit and then the hubs and I are going to work in the yard.  Hope you have a great day!