Sept. Teacher Birthday Cards

So I joined the birthday card committee at my son's middle school and I split the September birthdays with another lady. These two cards are for my son's science teacher and his math teacher. The science card uses 2 There She Goes sets called Chemistry and Chem 101. I CASE'd this card from one of my favorite stampers, Holly, aka Toy on SCS. You can see her card HERE. I also used the bubbles from PTI's Pond Life. On the inside it says "Have a scientastic day". Most of the products used on this card are retired SU.

Unfortunately I don't have a "math set", so I used a retired SU Simply Scrappin' kit for this one. Again with a bunch of retired SU colors. Each card will have a candy bar wrapped in coordinating DP.

INspired Crafter Saturday Scrapbook Sketch #20

This is my layout for Chris' scrapbooking sketch challenge, which you can find HERE. These pix are from this summer. Emily played softball in the YMCA kids' league. Her team was called The Butterflies. Someone observed that that wasn't a very intimidating name, and I said their motto could be "float like a butterfly, sting like a bee". I used 12 x 12 Kraft from Mike's, Night of Navy, Yo Yo Yellow and Real Red from SU, and PTI white. I used Just the Ticket and Journaling Lines stamp sets from PTI, plus their ticket die. Title is a free SVG I got off the internet and cut with SCAL and my Cricut. This is not the greatest page I've ever done, but I LOVE these pix of Ems, and I had a ton of fun making it. Thanks for stopping by!

Learning New Skills

So, okay, who'd ever have guessed that my crafting addiction would drag me kicking and screaming into the world of computer semi-literacy? It all started with Splitcoaststampers--learning to post my pix in the gallery and chat on message boards--then I had to have Cricut with Sure-Cuts-A-Lot, and now two talented ladies have forced me to go even further, into the world of Photoshop and Inkscape! Kay, whose amazing blog is Clever Someday (I love that title!) and Jin, who caught my eye with her gorgeous blog, Under A Cherry Tree, make beautiful projects using their computers and Cricuts, and are kind enough to share awesome video tutorials on just how to do it! I almost bought a Cricut Imagine, but with their tutorials, who needs it? LOL! Anyway, these are some things I've made using their ideas, tips and methods. And honestly, I'm just a little bit proud of myself for figuring it out! Both Kay and Jin use a lot of Lettering Delights Doodlebats and graphic sets. I had some LD stuff, but never used it because I don't really like to cut stuff out--but now all that's changed.

The first pic shows images from Around the World and Around the World Sites. I printed them on CS and used Kay's hinge method to cut them out. I'm not going to go into how I did it, as Kay and Jin do that so much better than I ever could. The second pic of the little alligator is from the Doodlebat Party Animals. Doodlebats are easier because you can use them right in SCAL without having to convert anything. Here I used Kay's method of drawing with a gel pen first using the cricut, then cutting with the cricut. So cute! This font will make so many cute kids' birthday cards!

Lastly, I found this cool doodlebat, Journaling Flourishes I think it's called. Again, I just opened it right in SCAL, but it was a little more complicated. I printed with brown on Kraft (Gina K), then I had to make a file for the cut, which involved getting rid of all the interior lines and just cutting the outline. But I did it! This was inspired by my friend Chris, who is a scrapbooker extraordinaire, and if she likes this sort of journaling tag, I will make some and send them to her. Just let me know Chris!

Depending on how things go tomorrow, I hope to have at least one card made using these images. I hope I've inspired you to try something new today. And Jin and Kay, if you ever happen to see this post, thanks a million!

Shapely Christmas Card

I was playing around with my new cartridge, Christmas Cards, last night. It makes several standard cards, but the reason I got it is for the shaped card bases and layering options. This reminds me of Dickens' A Christmas Carol, for some reason. Personally, I don't think a lamppost is especially Christmassy, but I guess since it has a bow on it...LOL! Anyway, I sponged my Gina K stamp with Shimmerz and stamped the music BG on the red layer. It looks pretty IRL. Colors are Old Olive, PTI's Pure Poppy, and some retired DP by SU. I think this card would look nice as a landscape version with a pretty script word across the front. I'll keep playing with it. Thanks for looking!

Peace

I think this card turned out pretty well. I have had this in my head for a long while and finally got around to actually making it. I used Cricut cartridge Joys of the season. Cardstock colors are Wild Wasabi (base) and Garden Green, Certainly Celery and PTI's Pure Poppy on the branch. Then I put Crystal Effects on the berries. I embossed and sponged with Shimmerz paint the Very Vanilla panel behind "peace". I also sponged Shimmerz on the card itself and the branch. This is a regular A2 sized card. I would prefer it to be a 3 x 6, but this is how Cricut envisions it. It looks a little plain at the top too. I may make another one and see what I can do with it. But all in all I'm pleased. Thanks for looking!

Just the Ticket

Here is a masculine birthday card. I used my new Just the Ticket set and die from PTI. They were so fun to play with! I cased Heather Nichol's card LO which can be seen HERE. I used all PTI CS and ink: Enchanted Evening, Pure Poppy, and Vintage Cream. For the sentiment I used Mega Mixed Messages and Borders and Corners: Circles. I decorated the inside with Around and About Sentiments. Star Eyelets are long retired SU. This is for the husband of a friend of mine who is turning 60 on Friday! I hope he uses these tickets to have a good time. Thanks for looking, have a great day!

Enchanted Frog

This is a Halloween card I made for my church lady friend's little granddaughter. She has recently started saying "Boo!" and thinking that's very funny! I used the frog from Create a Critter, "Boo!" and the witch's hat from Happy Hauntings, and a sentiment from a long retired SU set, embossed in black. I used a CB folder to make the frog "warty". Those are googly eyes of course; I photographed the card lying down so I could aim the eyes up at the spider--too funny! I hope she likes this card. Thanks for dropping by today!

Autumn Birthday

I love how the new Mat Stack Die 3 from PTI fits so many of their images perfectly! Here I have used it with Round and Round, last year's anniversary set.I took my color inspiration from their autumn DP, though I wound up not using it. I have also discovered that, while it doesn't look as good as when you stamp with an ink pad, you can use markers on clear stamps; you just have to huff and puff like you're blowing down that little pig's brick house. Frame image is stamped with Cajun Craze, one of SU's new colors. I was going to use it for the card base too, but wound up with Pumpkin Pie instead for some reason. Marker colors are Chocolate Chip, Ruby Red, Really Rust, More Mustard, and Pumpkin Pie. Again, I punched out the image and popped it up. Ribbon is PTI Summer Sunrise, buckle is SU Hodgepodge Hardware. I Cuttlebugged the Dark Chocolate layer with the Branches folder. Again, the sent. from Round and Round fit perfectly in the little window of the frame image. I hope you've enjoyed looking at the card and that you get some craft time in today. See ya later!

September 11th

I would like everyone to pause a moment and remember the events of 9 years ago. The families and friends who lost loved ones that day will always be in our thoughts and prayers. And let us pray that the actions of some fanatics in FL will not cause our servicemen and women to be more in harm's way than they already are. As of right now I think they have at least postponed their plans to incite more violence and give the terrorists exactly what they want.

The card at left is done using my new PTI set, All Booked Up, and the Mat Stack Die 3. I also tried one of Dawn McVey's Color Couture combinations: Raspberry Fizz, Aqua Mist, Dark Chocolate, and Kraft. Somehow it just doesn't look as good when I do it! Go figure. My card base is Kraft, with a Dark Chocolate layer , followed by some Rasp. Fizz Mix patterned paper. I stamped my frame image in RF, cut it out by hand, then die cut the AM layer with the die. I stamped the reader under the tree and the sent. in Palette Burnt Umber. I punched out the reader image and popped it up. Next I made a RF layer by partially die cutting a rectangle with a circle Nestie. I Cuttlebugged it with Swiss Dots and added some retired Soft Sky ribbon, the closest thing I had to AM. I think maybe this card would look better with more Aqua Mist. But it's okay I guess. I had fun making it anyway! Thanks for dropping by--have a great day.

Another fun Halloween card

Again here I've used my Happy Hauntings cartridge. There are so many fun and spooky images to play around with! For the BG I inked up the raised part of my CB folder with White Craft ink, ran the black CS through and used the de-bossed side. I LOVE how it turned out! I cut the witch's hat at 2". CS colors are Tangerine Tango, Basic Black, Kiwi Kiss, and Eggplant Envy. Thanks for looking!

Halloween Card

Halloween is my 2nd favorite holiday after Christmas. I just got my Happy Hauntings Cricut cartridge in the mail th other day and had to play. I LOVE this image of a spooky graveyard and knew it would be perfect for a gate-fold card. BUT, because the image is longer than it is tall, I had to make a "landscape" type of gate-fold. I used the "fit to length" feature on my Cricut, and set the length to 5.5". Gate is cut from Basic Black, gravestones from Basic Gray, and grass from Mellow Moss. Moon is Summer Sun, just a circle punch with a partial circle out of that. Sign is Only Orange. This cut comes with a "Beware" to fit on the sign, but at that size it was just too small for me to punch out successfully, so I used "Rebuffed", a free font. On the inside I used several other cuts, printed "M. T. Tomb" on the headstone for the same reason as above. It is a little too high, but, oh, well. I think I'll send this to my old college roommate; I think she'd get a kick out of it! All CS is SU, purple is the old Eggplant Envy, which I love because it is a good Halloweeny purple. Thanks for looking!

Our Daily Bread Designs Sunflowers

Since moving to Kansas, sunflowers have become my favorite flower. Right now all the lovely little wild ones are in bloom everywhere, and we passed a huge field of the domesticated ones as we were leaving KS for TX the other day. They were just stunning. So I was thrilled when one of my favorite stamp companies, Our Daily Bread Designs, came out with Harvest Blessings. It also has a die to match, so there is no cutting! I stamped the sunflowers twice on water color paper, colored them with inkpads and an Aquapainter, die cut one set and popped it up over the main image. Colors used are Garden Green, Summer Sun, More Mustard, and Early Espresso. Card base is Gina K Luxury Kraft. Yellow hemp and a "wooden" button from PTI finished this card off. Layers are cut with Cricut Cartridge Accent Essentials.

PTI Swap Christmas Card

This is my Christmas card for this round of the PTI swap. Ccard base is Ripe Avocado. Focal image is from Christmas Tags 2008. I colored it with markers (Old Olive, Real Red, and Chocolate Chip), stamped it on SU Whisper White, and stamped the mouse again so I could cut him out and pop him up. I'm happy to see PTI is offering a BG stamp with "Twas the Night Before Christmas" on it this next release. That will be a must-have for me. I punched it out with my 1.75" circle punch and used a nestie for the scallop circle in Pure Poppy. I stamped the script BG from Background Basics Text Style in Ripe Avo on Whisper White and sponged with Chocolate Chip Ink, then layered onto PTI Dark Chocolate CS. Over that is PTI DP. I then zig-zag stitched these layers together, layered the ribbon and tag over that and mounted it to the base. Sent. is from Signature Christmas in Ripe Avo with red button and olive DMC. Thanks for looking!

ICC Christmas Card Sept. 10 Challenge

This is the September Inspired Crafters' Christmas card sketch, done by the fabulous Tracie (a fellow Kansan)! If you would like to play along you may do so HERE. Again, this is a simple sketch, just the kind I like. I love Mojo Monday, but sometimes I freeze up when I see those complicated sketches. Anyway, this card base is Pure Poppy and the layer is Ripe Avocado, both by PTI, as is the DP I used for my ornaments which were punched out with the SU ornament punch. gold cord and red embossing powder are also SU! Sentiment is Signature Christmas--I just love that set. In hindsight I wish I'd embosed it in gold, to echo the gold cord. If I do another one I'll def. do that. Thanks for looking!

Two Cards for ICC 9!

Well, as many of you all know, I'm lucky if I get ONE example made for a sketch, let alone two. However, I liked this sketch so much I used it for 3 cards, but forgot to take a pic of the first one. The sketch may be seen in the post below. I used a book theme for both of these. The first card uses Books a'Flutter by Ippity, sent to me by my friend Banu--thanks Banu I love it! I stamped the image on Very Vanilla in Palette Burnt Umber and colored with blender pens and ink pads in the following SU! colors: Cameo Coral, Apricot Appeal, and Early Espresso. Card Base is Early Espresso, my new favorite color (I will be ordering a whole pack of it this Sun). Other CS is Cameo Coral. DP is retired SU. I used Nesties and CB folder on the CC layer, added Choc Chip 1/4 grosgrain and done! This sketch is simple and versatile, and you can add as many or os few layers as you want/need.

This card uses All Booked Up by PTI. Image is again stamped on Very Vanilla with Palette Burnt Umber and colored with blender pens and Cherry Cobbler (my OTHER new favorite color LOL) and Bravo Burgundy, which has been out for a while but I have never liked. But it matches this DP (from the Once Upon a Time stack) perfectly. I stamped the writing from PTI's Background Basics Text Style in Bravo Burg on VV and sponged the edges with Early Espresso, mounted on BB. Card base is Cherry Cobbler, and it's finished off with one of SU's mini library clips.Border and corner punches both SU. I had a BLAST making these--thanks for looking!

Inspired Crafter Sketch #9

Good morning all! Be sure to head over to Inspired Crafters this weekend. Banu has come up with a great sketch and has some awesome blog candy. You can see the sketch at left, but Banu has a cool example on IC. Check it out!

Bookmark Swap

My friend Tracie, who I met through our PTI swaps, is having a bookmark swap. I love to read, though I don't have much time for it these days, so I joined in. This bookmark is 6 inches by 2 inches. I used several SU retired colors: Orchid Opulence, Green Galore, and Yo-Yo Yellow, plus Tempting Turquoise which is still current. I cut the flower out with the Cricut Lite Bloom cartridge. I printed "bloom" in LD Buttercream font on some GG and punched with the MS grass punch. Center of flower is cuttlebugged with Swiss Dots. Top of bookmark is punched with the old SU Deco corner punch and slit punch for the ribbon. I had so much fun making these; I hope Tracie will do it again sometime. Thanks for looking!

Stamp Club Swap Card

This is the swap card I made for my SU stamp club. It's not for more than a week--for once I didn't procrastinate! I used all new In Colors: Pear Pizazz, Peach Parfait, and Poppy Parade. Poppy Parade is a stunning color that is not quite red, orange, or pink but some lovely combination of all three. The patterned paper is mostly from the pack called Sunny Garden. I love every print in this pack--usually I only like a few and they're on opposite sides of each other! The green is from the In Color 6 x 6 print pack that I got as a hostess gift. The sentiment is from an old mini catalog set called whimsical words. I used my IC markers to color the words and punched the white layer out with my curly label punch. The layer piece was cut out with my movers and shapers curly label die--the piece that is punched out is just right for a layer for the CL punch. I totally and completely CASE'd this card from Dawn McVey--you can see hers HERE. This card was pretty fast and simple--I hope my fellow swappers like it!