The Stamping Tree

Sweet!

2012-01-18T05:00:00.004-06:00

Still playing with my new DSP from SU--Sweet Shop. It has a lot of fun patterns like ice cream, cupcakes, and cakes and pies, so I thought a "sweet" card was in order. The "u" and the "R" are from Opposites Attract, and "sweet" is from Create a Critter. The scalloped frame is from Elegant Edges. Colors are Calypso Coral, Lucky Limeade, Pool Party, Poppy Parade, and Whisper White. Brad is from the new Jelly Bean brads.

I'm pleased with the way this turned out. Thanks for dropping by!

Sweet Valentine

2012-01-17T12:17:00.005-06:00

I got my new SU goodies yesterday and made this card in about 30 minutes because I already knew what I wanted to do. This cute little girl is from Greeting Card Kids, a set I've been meaning to get for a long time and kept putting off. But when I saw the new Sweet Shop designer paper and Jelly Bean brads, I just knew she would look so cute with them! I paper pieced her dress, something my talented friend Angela does a lot. I colored the rest of her with ink pads and a blender pen (Wisteria Wonder, Pool Party, So Saffron, Pretty in Pink, and Blush Blossom) and I think she looks adorable!

The sentiment is from a hostess set from last year, Something to Celebrate. Scalloped layer is Lucky Limeade, base is Pool Party. Thanks for looking--have a wonderful day!

All You Need Is Love Part 2

2012-01-14T11:33:00.003-06:00

Here is the flip side of my Valentine's table decor. I'm very proud of myself because I got everything right-side-up and in the appropriate order! Now some of you may be thinking, big deal! Well, for me it is LOL.

I used Sweethearts for the cupid and the lock and key. I used Indie Art for the lips and the font on Robotz for the "swak", which I welded together with my Gypsy. The little hearts on the pink panel are the cut-outs from the key. The pink panel is embossed--that's the way the paper came.

Again, bling from my stash.

Well, that's it for now. Thanks for stopping by today!

All You Need Is Love

2012-01-14T11:19:00.004-06:00

Last week in my SU stamp club we made cute little calendars out of chipboard coasters. And then I saw THIS cute little item on the Cricut forum. And since, several years ago when chipboard coasters were all the rage, I just had to have 100 of them, I thought I'd make a table top decor sort of thing for Valentine's Day. I used Gypsy Wanderings for the scalloped heart frame and Plantin Schoolbook for the letters and welded the font shadow layer and frame together on my Gypsy for the L and the V. I just used the shadow and font layers for the O and the E. I added red Stickles to the scallops and bling from my stash to the letters. Coasters are covered with last year's Valentine's paper from SU.

Here are close-ups.

I punched holes with my Crop-o-Dile and tied the coasters together with SU ribbon.

Believe it or not, this has a decorated back side too! But blogger will only let me upload 5 pix at a time, and I had six, so the other side is in the next post. TFL!

Sealed with a Kiss

2012-01-13T13:16:00.003-06:00

While working on a Valentine's Day project, I cut these items out too big so I decided to make a card out of them. SU's last year's valentine paper was my inspiration. I used my Gypsy to weld the shadow font from the Robotz cartridge and cut it out of SU's brushed silver (which I like much better than Basic Gray, the color this paper is supposed to coordinate with). I cut the regular font out of Real Red. The lips came from the Indie Art cartridge.

Card base is brushed silver, layer is Real Red. I plan to emboss "Happy Valentine's Day" in red on the inside. I thought this would be a good masculine card. I'll show you the original project tomorrow, if it turns out LOL!

Thanks for looking; have a great day!

Party Like a Rock Star

2012-01-11T05:00:00.002-06:00

Here I used some old Basic Grey, perfect for masculine cards, and embossed the guitar from Inkadinkado with a mixture of black and iridescent ice EP. It looks very cool IRL. The rhinestone brad is from SU.

Card base is River Rock and I computer-generated "party like a" and embossed the "rock star" from the same Inkadinkado set.

If I were a young male I think I'd like to get this card (esp. if it had money in it LOL)! Thanks for dropping by today.

Happy Birthday Sister

2012-01-10T05:00:00.001-06:00

My customer needed a birthday card for her sister and wanted it to say "sister" on the front. I finally remembered this set, PTI's Women of Life, an oldie but a goodie I haven't used for a long time, but I plan on pulling it out a lot more from now on. Colors are Bashful Blue, Certainly Celery, and Marina Mist (sentiment). This is very simple but pretty I think.

See you tomorrow!

Another Cricut Little Boy Card

2012-01-09T05:00:00.004-06:00

This one is for the brother of yesterday's card recipient who is turning 6. The robot is cut using the Robotz cartridge at 3". Patterned paper is old Scenic Route. All CS is SU: Soft Sky, Blue Bayou, and Pumpkin Pie. Gear is Tim Holtz. On the inside I computer-generated "Happy Birthday, Human", which I stole from a discontinued SU set that I didn't get. Next time maybe I'll add a balloon or cupcake to his hand, but I think it's pretty cute as is.

Have a creative day!

Cricut Card For a Little Boy

2012-01-08T05:00:00.001-06:00

This is for a little boy who is turning 4, and what 4-year-old boy doesn't love dinosaurs, right? I used the Cricut Create a Critter cartridge and cut the dinosaur at 3" out of Old Olive and Night of Navy to match my (extremely old) SU paper. I embossed the olive layer, and popped him up with foam tape. The sentiment is printed out on the computer. All paper and accessories from SU.

Thanks for looking!

Spoil Yourself

2012-01-07T05:00:00.004-06:00

Here is another Pink Cat Studio/Copic card. This is for a customer who has a shoppy/girly friend. I thought this image was perfect but after I had colored it with the ONLY two purple Copics I own, I realized I had no purples that matched very well. So I high-tailed it to my LSS, where I searched the aisles high and low for some "shoppy" paper. NO luck. I got the glitter paper and went up to the counter to pay. I was showing the worker the image and telling her what I'd wanted and she said "Oh, you mean like that?" Lo and behold, sitting right there by the cash register, was a sheet of the perfect paper that someone else had put up there! Luckily there was another sheet for me. I think this looks adorable! I used white Liquid Applique sprinkled with lavender glitter for her feather boa and a little rhinestone for her ring and Liquid Pearls for her necklace and earrings. The green in the paper matched Kiwi Kiss perfectly, so I made that the card base. My customer said, "It's like you know her" so I guess it was a hit. Since I bought a 12 x 12 sheet of this stuff I will be making more, but coloring the bird green instead of yellow.

What happy accidents have you had lately?

Warm Winter Wishes

2012-01-06T05:00:00.002-06:00

This is a card I made for the winner of my "Year of Cards" scholarship auction offering. I made it as a winter birthday card. The image is Pink Cat Studios, colored with Copics. I got a bunch from my DH for Christmas and have been practicing with them. Need a lot more practice, but I like how she turned out! I used white Liquid Applique for the ear muffs, trim on her clothes and the bird's hat, and snow (I added Dazzling Diamonds glitter to the snow). The tag is from PTI's first Christmas tag set (2008 I think?) with the coffee cup masked out. All other is SU, except for base (PTI) and main image (Gina K layering weight white). I put sent. from PTI's Birthday Basics on the inside.

Thanks for dropping by today! Have a good one!

A few more Christmas cards

2012-01-05T05:00:00.002-06:00

Good morning! I made this card for a customer, and I just LOVE how it turned out! It was pretty simple too, except for the coloring. Looking at it now I wish I'd sponged the torn edge of the white with Bashful Blue. Something to remember for next time. Set is SU's Loads of Love. That little vertical line behind the truck is not a mistake--that's where the guy cut down the tree! I'm so dang smart I can't stand myself! I added a strip of black for the road.

This one is cuter IRL. I used PTI's Love Lives Here Holidays and For the Graduate (for the mat). Everything is PTI except the eyelets. Christmas tree is die cut and stamped in 3 pieces and popped up with foam tape.

Okay, that's it for Christmas cards for a while! Back tomorrow for something new (-ish!).

Ooops, I Lied! Another Cricut Christmas Card

2012-01-04T13:02:00.004-06:00

Sorry folks, but I wanted to show you how the card for our church's shut-ins turned out. I used Joys of the Season for the poinsettia. I cut out the base layer once (Old Olive) and the second layer twice, once out of Cherry Cobbler and once out of Real Red. I sponged the edges of the base and top layers and rotated the top layer and popped it up on foam tape for a mor full look. I added gold Stickles to the center. The sentiment is from Our Daily Bread Designs. I made 20 of these and they were a lot of work! And they did turn out just gorgeous, so I'm glad I did it. I started out with a simple plan in mind but I kept thinking of things like the extra layer cut from a different color and sponged that would just add so much! Our church had also given each shut-in a poinsettia plant for Christmas, which I didn't know about when I made these cards. A happy accident!

This card measures 8.5 x 5.5 to accomodate lots of the congregation members' signatures. Base is PTI. Thanks for looking!

Some Cricut Christmas Cards

2012-01-04T11:47:00.003-06:00

Hey, all! Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and a happy New Year! I made these cards before Christmas but haven't had time for blogging what with everything else going on. I made so many cards for other people this year I didn't get my own made--how's that for screwed up priorities? LOL! I made 20 cards for our shut-ins at church, 15 for our staff appreciation gifts, plus a bunch for paying customers (woo-hoo!). So one of my New Year's resolutions this year is to make 1 Christmas card a week this year so that I will have a large stash and I can be ahead of the game next year. I wrote it down and stuck it on the fridge, so we will see what happens!

This first card is made using the Winter Frolic cartridge. I think I cut this cute little mouse at 3". I embossed the body and the scarf and covered the bow with Stickles and stamped on the package. The tag and sent. are from PTI's Tiny Tags. Paper is SU, except for base (Gina K Heavy Base Weight cream). I used a little black rhinestone for the eye.

This one was basically a CASE of a card that was on the front of the Nov issue of PaperCrafts. I absolutely love this stamp by Flourishes--one of the best Santa's ever! I used the Elegant Edges cart to cut out the layers and stamped Santa in Cherry Cobbler. Papers are SU except for GK HBW cream for base again.

Here again I have used the Elegant Edges cart--I just love it! I embossed the frame. The stamp set is long retired by SU--Solemn Stillness, embossed in Silver. Colors are Not Quite Navy and Baja Breeze. Base is PTI white.

Thanks for stopping by, even though I know everyone's probably sick of the holidays! One more Christmas card post tomorrow and then it's back to our regularly scheduled programming.

Some Christmas Cards

2011-12-03T20:55:00.003-06:00

First let me just apologize for the sorrier-than-usual photos. We went to a Christmas party and by the time I got to photograph these it was dark. It rained all day today anyway, and tomorrow I have to go to work. My DH is going to take these to this year's card lady at church tomorrow morning, so tonight was the only time I could take pix.

This first card I cased--you can see the original HERE. I used last year's SU Christmas DP. The stamp set is SU's Holy Triptych. I stamed in in Soft Suede and used a blender pen and Champagne Shimmer paint to color the bottles. I sponged the edges of the main panel and the DP with the shimmer paint also. I stamped a scripture from ODBD inside. Card base on the first two cards is Gina K Heavy Base Weight Cream.

On the second card I decided to let the DP do the work for me LOL! It's really hard for me to cover up beautiful paper. The label is from Spellbinders, the sentiment is ODBD, stamped in Cherry Cobbler ink. I sponged the raised areas on the tag ends with CC ink also.

For the last card I embossed an angel from Holy Triptych in silver on vellum CS. Die is from Spellbinders. I embossed the Marina Mist layer with the Textile CB folder. Card base is PTI white.

I made two of each of these designs for her--I sure hope she likes them. Thanks for looking!

Christmas Cards for Girl Scouts

2011-12-02T08:57:00.004-06:00

Every year the Girl Scouts do a Festival of Giving. Each service unit is assigned a charity to donate gifts to. This year ours was Mirror, Inc, an addiction rehab outfit. The usual things were on the list, toiletries mostly, but we decided to make Christmas cards as well, so the inpatients can send someone a Christmas card if they want to. I designed these 4 cards to be fairly simple and easy to mail, hence the abundance of baker's twine (from Divine Twine), which I've always resisted buying before. All the CS is SU, as is the DP (retired years ago, it was called Dashing. I loved it so much I bought two packs and hoarded it. Finally I used it!) All the components were pre-cut.

The first card uses PTI's Stocking Prints set. I die cut enough stockings for 12 cards (that's 36 times through the big shot, if anyone wants to know, plus a few extras). I also embossed the pieces so I wouldn't have to lug my big shot along. Of course the girls had never worked with clear stamps before so that was a challenge.

This next card I thought would be fun for them, since it uses Holiday Sampler, a long-retired stamp set that has LOTS of cute little stamps and lets you do some 2-step stamping. I figured they would get a kick out of choosing their own images and they did. There were lots of interesting variations on my design!

This card very nearly turned into a fiasco as I had them use Tombow Mono Multi, a liquid glue. I only had 3 tape runner-type Mono's, and they went to the other three tables. Plus I found it easy to glue the strings down with just a drop of glue. 9-11 year old girls don't get the concept of "less is more" when it comes to glue! The set is Delightful Decorations, and is still in the SU catty (I know, what a surprise!).

This last card uses City of David, an oldie but a goodie. One of the other leaders had been to an estate sale where she picked up a whole box of rice paper, which she gave to me. So I decided to use it on this card. Card base is PTI's white as it is very sturdy. Blue layer is Ballet Blue and the images are stamped with Night of Navy. I decided not to mess with eyelets on the girls' cards, so we just punched holes and tied the silver cord through. These turned out the best of the four designs for the most part.

Well, I hope these cards bring some holiday joy to the inpatients at Mirror Inc. Thanks for looking!

PTI Swap--Sympathy

2011-11-19T08:08:00.002-06:00

This card is for Jen's SCS swap, the sympathy category. I often find myself needing sympathy cards, but I rarely make them for some reason. I sold my PTI sympathy set to KJ, who has done some wonderful thing with it, but I still have Out on a Limb, one of my all time fave stamp sets. This card is very basic, but I think it's pretty, calm and soothing. Hopefully it would make someone grieving feel a little better.

Card base is SU's Perfect Plum, DP is PTI. Ink is SU Crumb Cake, PTI's hybrid Plum Pudding and Lavender Moon. I used my Bow Easy from Gina K to make my bow. It turned out very well, I think. Dies are from Spellbinders. Thanks for looking!

Homespun Angel

2011-11-15T05:00:00.004-06:00

I have been having so much fun with this angel! To me she looks very folk art-y, and I got the idea to use her with my Quilter's Sampler set (also by PTI). Lining up those quilt blocks is a bear! I finally cut a 3/4" strip and scored it at 3/4" intervals. It's still not completely straight, but it looks okay. I stamped the blocks and angel in Palette Burnt Umber on SU's Crumb Cake. I colored the blocks with a blender pen and reinkers, Old Olive and Real Red (markers were too intense).

Ribbon tag is Spellbinders, felt ribbon is Martha Stewart. I used the original Love Lives Here dies to cut a little red felt heart and punched some pine boughs out of Ripe Avocado with the MS punch. Looking at this now I wish I had embossed the avocado layer--next time! This was really my idea for my PTI swap, but it took me forever to figure out how to line up those blocks decently and I got fed up. After I got the swap done I thought of my MS scoring board--love that thing! Anyway, I like how this turned out---hope you do too!

Warm Winter Wishes

2011-11-14T05:00:00.003-06:00

I am ecstatic over the way this card turned out! I used the mitten die from PTI's Love Lives Here: Holidays for the mittens. The doilies are MFT's Dizzy Doilies. Sentiment is from PTI's Stocking Prints. CS, DP, buttons, and ink are PTI. Felt ribbon is last year's (or maybe the year before?) Martha Stewart. Jingle bell is SU and twine (yes, I finally broke down and bought some which means the trend is over!) is from Divine Twine. I needed a huge roll of it to make cards with the Girl Scouts for a charity we are supporting and that was the biggest one--I saw it in PaperCrafts. The sketch was Mojo Monday 199.

The hole in the bell is VERY tiny! I wound up using a single strand of DMC to tie it onto the twine knot, as I could not get the twine itself through the hole. Sheesh! The things I will go through to make a card. Anyway, I LOVE this card. Hope you do too--thanks for looking!

Christmas Angel

2011-11-13T05:00:00.000-06:00

A couple of PTI releases ago, I ordered this stamp set, called Love Lives Here: Holidays. Along with the Christmas Labels set, and matching dies. I have the original LLH, and I love it, so had to have this one too! I love this angel image. I die cut her and embossed her in gold on Very Vanilla CS. The card base is Always Artichoke, the layer is Cherry Cobbler. DP is (let's all say it together now!) last year's SU. I pleated a strip of DP and glued the ends together to make the pleated rosette. This is a very bulky card!

Sentiment is from LLH: Holidays, label is from Christmas Labels. Lace is SU. I wasn't sure I liked this card at first but it has grown on me. Hope you like it too! TFL!

Another Christmas Angel

2011-11-12T05:00:00.000-06:00

Can you tell I just love this angel? Here I've used last year's Christmas DP from SU, cut with Spellbinders. Card base is Sahara Sand, layers are Always Artichoke and Cherry Cobbler. I used a Cuttlebug embossing folder to emboss the green layer and sponged it with SU champagne shimmer paint. Angel is stamped on Very Vanilla with SS ink. Doily is an MFT die which I just got--love it! Very easy to use. I sponged it with the shimmer paint too.

The ribbon is SU. Stamp set and angel die are from PTI (Love Lives Here: Holidays). Stop by for another one tomorrow!

Recipe Card Swap

2011-11-11T05:00:00.001-06:00

I joined a Weight Watchers recipe card swap over on SCS. For those of you that don't know, I did weight watchers for about 3 months and lost about 16 pounds! The last month or so I haven't been sticking to it like I should--I need to get back to it before the holidays undo all the good I did!

I signed up for 2 slots, and my recipes are both vegetarian. This first one is for gazpacho, which I love. It is from my Cuisinart instruction book cookbook. I used this SU DP (current! I know!) called Domestic Goddess--the opposite of what I am LOL! I used the Cricut Cartridges Elegant Edges (recipe and mat) and Country Life (utensil jug--cut at 2"). The ribbon is PTI Berry Sorbet.

The next one is for vegetable lasagna and it is to die for! The recipe was too long to get on one card ( and still be in a point size you can read) so I made it double sided and put it in a pocket. This was suggested by one of my fellow swappers. Again, CS and DP are SU, Cricut cart is Country Life. I used a SU embossing folder and some eyelets on the pocket.

I am looking forward to getting these back. I think I am going to make a cookbook for our youth leader at church who is also doing WW. We'll see if I get it done!

Thanks for looking!

PTI Christmas Card Swap

2011-11-10T05:00:00.002-06:00

My friend Jen is hosting a swap over on SCS for all the usual PTI addicts. I joined the Christmas card and sympathy card categories. I'm still toying with the stocking stuffer category, but I'm going to have to make a decision soon, and it doesn't lok like it's going to happen. I still have to do the sympathy card. Anyway, here is my entry for the Christmas slot.

I used the new Love Lives Here: Holidays stamp set and dies, and also the Christmas Label set and die. I found THIS neat sketch over on the CAS blog and it was just what I wanted for this card. All CS, ink, and DP are PTI (Ripe Avocado and Pure Poppy). Gold brads and cord are SU. I embossed the angel in gold. That turned out to be a bit of a pain--I don't recommend it. Too many pieces parts to deal with. Angel and label are popped up on foam tape. Sent is also embossed. I'm fairly pleased with how this turned out. I hope the other swappers like it--they are such a talented bunch that the bar is pretty high.

Thanks for dropping in today. Have a good one!

The Last Halloween Hurrah

2011-11-09T13:15:00.003-06:00

These are some of the treats I made for Emily's class. Sorry for the crappy pic, it was late when I finished them (?!? LOL) and so no natural light. These were made using my Gypsy and the Mini Monster cartridge. The narrow cello bags, CS, and DP are all SU. I made 23 of these guys!!!

When I saw those narrow cello bags in the SU mini, I thought they would be so cool. They're not. They're TOO narrow--1" x 8". I thought they'd be big enough for mellow creme pumpkins and Hershey kisses, but no. They are big enough for Tootsie rolls though, as I found out on Sun. I will post that project later--it's adorable. But I think in future I will just go with regular small cello bags. Tags are 2.5" square.

Thanks for stopping by and taking a peek!

Eagle Scout Ceremony

2011-11-04T05:00:00.000-05:00

My nephew Tommy had his Eagle Scout Court of Honor on October 9 in Milford KS. He will be graduating this year and aging out of Boy Scouts very shortly. He has been accepted at The Citadel, a military college in Charleston, SC, where his father and two of his uncles went to school. I don't know if non-Scouters know what a huge deal becoming an Eagle Scout is. You have to complete many specific merit badges and plan and execute a service project before your 18th birthday in order to get it. It is a very high honor and a great responsibility, and I'm very proud of Tommy for achieving it. Here he is with his mom and dad (my brother Richard and his wife Lori). It's almost as much work (or more) for the parents of an Eagle Scout, and the ceremony is about honoring them as well.

Here are the cousins with Grandma and Grandpa: Bobby, Tommy's brother, Matt, Emily, Dad, Mom, and Tommy.

And here I am with Richard and Thomas, one of my other brothers. Thomas just retired from the army, hence the handlebar mustache and beard!

Here is the card I made for Tommy. I used the double Z-fold technique which may be found HERE.

The patterned paper I used is some Boy Scout paper with all the ranks listed on it. On the inside I printed the Boy Scout Oath on my computer and stamped congratulations (retired SU). The eagle on the front is from Our Daily Bread Designs.

I tied it closed with ribbon and used star brads on the corners.

I wish Tommy all the best in the next several years--he's got a lot of new experiences ahead of him! Thanks for looking!

Birthday Kitten

2011-11-03T05:00:00.003-05:00

This was a card for my card lady's daughter who loves Siamese cats. The card base is cut from the DCWV glitter stack using Cricut cartridge Elegant Edges. The kitten is from Four-Legged Friends. She is cut from Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla, and Soft Suede and sponged with SS.

Greeting is PTI Birthday Basics, punch is SU's Modern Label. I added bling to the kitty's collar, corners of the main panel, and ends of the punch. I colored in the eyes and nose with markers.

Thanks for looking--have a creative day!

Baby Banner

2011-11-02T05:00:00.004-05:00

A woman I work with had a baby a while back and so I made name banners for her new daughter Kennedy and big sis Zoie. I used Cricut cartridges Birthday Bash for the pennants, Create a Critter for the butterflies, and MS Holiday Cakes for the letters. I just love that font.

Circles and scalloped circles are cut with Nesties.

The dark pink CS is PTI's Raspberry Fizz (that is the last of it except for scraps). Other CS is SU's Pumpkin Pie and Pretty in Pink. DP is also SU. Orange grosgrain is PTI.

Here is my darling son who grudgingly agreed to hold up my project!

And in the background you can see my messy refrigerator and the best dog in the whole world, Lyle!

I used some retired SU felt flowers to jazz it up a bit, with rhinestone brad centers. And of course I had to add some glitter to the butterfly wings!

Thanks for dropping by today!

Teacher Treats

2011-11-01T05:00:00.002-05:00

I am on the committee to help provide birthday treats for my son's middle school's PTO. I drew 3 birthdays in October. I bought 3 of those big Symphony bars and dressed them up. All the supplies are SU, and believe it or not, all the DP is in the current SU catty!

I used the lacy trim punch for the female teachers and tore the edge of the layer for the male.

The tag is made by cutting a 3/8" strip and sticking one end in the top of the jewelry tag punch, stamping it, and then sticking the other end in the bottom of the punch. That way you can have a tag as long as you like.

The fronts are a little plain, but I think they get the point across!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Halloween-a-thon: More Home Decor

2011-10-16T05:00:00.000-05:00

My house is going to look like the Aadams family lives there, with all the Halloween stuff I'm going to have in it! This is my fourth and final canvas. I hate to cover up any of this wonderful paper from SU so just draped a skeleton over it.

This may be my last Halloween-a-thon post, Since I messed up and didn't get a post up on Thursday, I am probably going to throw in the towel. But you never know....BWAHAHAH!

Halloween-a-thon: Continued

2011-10-15T05:00:00.000-05:00

This project is the third in my series of wall canvases. You can see the first two HERE and HERE. This one uses some more of last year's awesome Halloween paper. The BG is a sheet with Edgar Allan Poe's poem The Raven on it. I remember we had to memorize that poem in the ninth grade and it is long! Luckily it has such a steady rhythm that it is fairly easy to memorize. The top part is cut from another sheet of the paper. This is a very literary piece!

The spider web is cut from the October 31 Cricut cartridge, and the spider trim on the bottom edge is from JoAnn's. Thanks for looking!

Halloween-a-thon: Interrupted part 2

2011-10-14T12:02:00.003-05:00

Okay, here are the two pix that wouldn't fit in the last post.

To see the rest of the ornaments and the finished Halloween tree, scroll down. Thanks for looking!

Halloween-a-thon: Interrupted

2011-10-14T11:46:00.005-05:00

So, I actually had this project finished and photographed by Wednesday evening, but I had to work late yesterday and didn't feel like blogging it. Still, I can't believe I actually posted 12 days in a row--I think that's a record for me!

Today's post is a project I actually planned since I saw THIS blogger's post last year. Unfortunately, by the time I realized I had to do it, all the MS Glow-in-the-Dark glitter had been snapped up. Luckily they offered it again this year.

What you do is take those glass balls that you can get from Mike's or Hobby Lobby. Take the top off and pour in a little Future Floor Wax (I think it's actually called Pledge with Future now). Swirl it all around the inside of the ball and use a paper funnel to dump in some of the awesome glowing glitter (it really does glow in the dark--my son had to take it into the closet to make sure LOL) and shake it all around until the inside of your ball is coated with glitter.

Then I used my Cricut to cut some Halloween images out of black vinyl.

I painted a cool stick from my back yard black, stuck it in some florist's foam in a black plastic cauldron that I got from the Halloween store. I got some purple LED lights from Wal-mart and wound them around the tree,

The scary critters were all cut from the October 31 cartridge, and the spooky words are cut from Happy Hauntings.

Here is the finished product! Blogger wouldn't let me put all my pix in one post, so the last two are in the next post. I love how this turned out! Thanks for dropping by.

Halloween-a-thon Day 12: Wish shoe a Happy Halloween

2011-10-12T05:00:00.004-05:00

So, another Cricut card to show you today! This is from Happy Hauntings, cut at 4". All the DP is last year's SU. The ribbon is from Mike's--it matches much better IRL, I promise you!

I plan to do a computer-generated greeting--"Wish shoe a Happy Halloween!" Have a great day! Thanks for looking!

Halloween-a-thon Day 11: Jack-o-lantern Card

2011-10-11T14:49:00.002-05:00

Ha! Bet you thought I gave up on my self-challenge to post every day in October! Truth is, I almost did LOL! But that would be silly when the Cricut makes it sooo easy to create stuff. So here is today's entry--quick-n-easy!

I used the Wrap It Up cartridge, the card feature, cut at 4.25" high. I used my Gypsy to make sure my layers fit. CS is Pumpkin Pie, Daffodil Delight, and Old Olive. And I had fun with embossing folders, as you can see!

Here is the inside. Stamp is retired SU. I love how this turned out! Well, off to make some more cards with my Cricut--have a great day!

Halloween-a-thon Day 10: Halloween Cupcakes

2011-10-10T05:00:00.004-05:00

Emily had her bestie, Sunnie, over for a sleepover on Friday night, and she had wanted to make Halloween cupcakes.

Here they are mixing the cake batter.

Sunnie getting ready to put her cupcakes in the oven.

I put orange food coloring in the frosting. Unfortunately I bought the "fun-fetti" type, so our jack-o-lantern cupcakes look all pimply and warty!

They used cut-up green gumdrops for the stems and mini chocolate chips for the features. Isn't Emily the cutest little ham ever?

And here is the finished product! Awesome!

Halloween-a-thon Day 9: If Mummy ain't happy, ain't NObody happy

2011-10-09T05:00:00.002-05:00

Here is a picture of my DH wearing a Halloween T-shirt I made for him. He, better than anyone, knows the truth of the title of this post! I used my Cricut to cut out the mummy image from freezer paper. Then I ironed the negative image onto the T-shirt as a stencil and used a foam brush to apply glow-in-the-dark fabric paint. I used criss-cross brush strokes to mimic a mummy's bandages.

Freezer paper is great for this sort of thing, and it's cheap!

I think this project turned out pretty cute, and the model's not bad either! Thanks for stopping by today!

Halloween-a-thon Day 8: Candy Bar Pull Up Treats

2011-10-08T05:00:00.005-05:00

I made these treats for my co-workers. It's a Hershey bar in a cute little wrap. You can find the tutorial for this HERE. These are very easy to make with SU's Jumbo Wheels. I used Haunting and Spooky Skyline, both retired. The tag frame is from a retired set that goes with the curly label punch--the stamp has a 'thank you " in it, but I just used a marker to get the frame only. The sentiment is from the current set, Wicked Cool. CS colors are So Saffron, Tangerine Tango, Wisteria Wonder, and Elegant Eggplant.

I actually made two of each one.

I added highlights to each of these with a Spica pen, but of course you can't tell it in the photo.

I love SU's wheels. They are great for doing stuff in bulk because they are very fast. I'll probably be showing you more projects using wheels this month. Hope you're having a great October so far!

Halloween-a-thon Day 7: More M & M's!

2011-10-07T05:00:00.004-05:00

Here is a treat card I made using the SCS weekly tutorial from a couple of weeks ago. You can access it HERE. Believe it or not, all products used on this card are current SU except for the cat tab stamp at the top, and the pom pom trim which is from Mike's. The main stamp set is Sweet Centers, embossed with a mixture of black and iridescent ice EP. This is a very easy card to create with a big WOW factor, and who doesn't like getting M & M's, right? These are the autumn colored ones, which went very well with my DP.

The only change I made from the original tutorial is that I used the Sizzix window card die so I could put my treat cup in the center of the card. In the tutorial they only used the 1 3/4" hole punch, so the cup has to be to one side. The circle I punched out of the main image so the treat cup could go through I adhered to the tab holding the candy inside, so that even after they've eaten the candy, there is still a greeting showing. It says "EEK! You're sweet!"

I had a lot of fun making this card! You should give it a try. Thanks for stopping by!

Halloween -a-thon Day 6--Time for Treats!

2011-10-06T05:00:00.003-05:00

Some people would say the whole point of Halloween is to dress up. But SOME of us might say the whole point is the TREATS! I know for my kids the treats would (probably) win out. Anyway, I've done a few cards done a few decorations--now it's time for some treats. These are super easy to make. I used PTI's glassine bags--you can find them HERE. I used a (yes, retired, of course!) SU set called Halloween Backgrounds. I stamped on the bags and LET THEM DRY! This will take a few minutes! Be patient or you will smear them. Then fill with treats, fold over the top, punch a couple of holes and tie a "cheater bow". Voila! You are done.

I used Elegant Eggplant for the bats, Green Galore for the spiders, Only Orange for the candy corn, and Summer Sun for the moons and stars.

I went to buy candy corn and M & M's to fill the bags and what do you suppose I found? Candy Corn M & M's! They are oversized white chocolate M & M's that are yellow, orange, and white. Cute, but too sweet. I like regular ones better.

Here's a pic of several together. I may just finish up my supply of glassine bags and give these out to Emily's GS troop and Sunday School. I already have other plans for her classmates.

Hope you've enjoyed this post and maybe gotten a little inspiration! Have a great day.

Halloween-a-thon Day 5: a la Zindorf

2011-10-05T05:00:00.006-05:00

This card is a CASE of a Michelle Zindorf card--you can see her vastly superior one HERE. I actually think this turned out well except for the white gel pen accents--I can't do mine as well as she does, and the white accents really make her card. But it's still cute! This is the Haunting Jumbo Wheel, stamped in Basic Black Craft. I mounted my panel on Cajun Craze and Basic Black, on this year's (I know, right? Something current!) SU Halloween DP with some black grosgrain and mounted on a CC card measuring 4 x 7.25".

As long as I'm posting my Zindorf CASE's, here is one I made a couple of days ago. I was very pleased with how it turned out. You can see Michelle's original HERE. I needed a sympathy card for a dear friend from NC who lost his son recently. I knew I wanted to use this stamp and in the process of doing a search on SCS, I ran across Michelle's creation. The stamp is Sail Away, from this past summer mini. She mounted hers on Marina Mist, but I didn't have any so used Perfect Plum. It makes it rather dark but oh, well, I still like it. The other panel is River Rock. measures 7.5 x 4 I think.

Please take the time to investigate Michelle's blog or SCS gallery. She is an amazing artist and also teaches workshops all over the country--I went to one several months ago and it was awesome! You should definitely try to go if she comes to a town near you.

Halloween-a-thon Day 4--Happy Fright Night!

2011-10-04T05:00:00.003-05:00

Here is another long-retired SU set, Happy Fright Night, colored with Copics and chalk/blender pen for the cauldron and bats. I had originally colored the witch green, but she was too dark, so I did another one and made her flesh-toned. I used a white gel pen for the bats' fangs and Liquid Applique/green Doodlebug Designs glitter for the "brew".

I love this image and had fun coloring it. Thanks for looking!

Halloween-a-thon Day 3--More Home Decor

2011-10-03T13:12:00.004-05:00

More fun with SU's awesome Halloween DP from last year! I really feel like no stamp company does Halloween better than SU. It's all I can do every year not to order their entire Halloween line. In the Sept/Oct issue of PaperCrafts they had an amazing card featuring the cameo in this picture. I looked it up online and found it in an Etsy store called SnapCrafty. You can find these cameos HERE, but she has all kinds of cool stuff.

I think this needs something else, not sure what it is yet though. Let me know if YOU think of anything! Thanks for dropping by.

Halloween-a-thon Day 2--Home Decor

2011-10-02T16:57:00.002-05:00

Good afternoon all! Sorry to be posting so late but I've had a bad headache all day. It's finally calmed down enough that I felt like sitting in front of the computer. This is a piece of 12 x 12 wall decor that I made using last year's SU Halloween paper. It was such awesome paper! I mounted it on chipboard and plan to mount it on a cheap 12 x 12 canvas I got at Mike's. You can't tell in the pic but the bats are flocked. I used my Cri-kit gel pens to outline the Cricut shapes. The witch and moon are from October 31, Bewitching is from Happy Hauntings. I popped the witch and the title up on foam tape. I was going to put some ribbon or something on it, and I may still add it later.

I have another 3 of these planned so you'll probably seeing more of these in the next few days. Thanks for looking!

Halloween-a-thon Day 1!

2011-10-01T12:32:00.003-05:00

So I've challenged myself to post a Halloween project EVERY SINGLE DAY in October!!! Now for those of you who follow this blog and are used to LOOOOONNNNGGG dry spells without a post, you know what a big challenge that will be for me. But I have so many cute Halloween stamps and Cricut cartridges that it would be a shame NOT to. So here we are at Day 1:

This stamp set was one of the very first SU sets I ever bought when I became a demo. It retired that same year, 2001. I also made my 2nd swap ever with this set. I love it and will never sell it. I also realized that I have yet to show off my "skills" with CO-pic markers that I paid a lot of money to learn. I have been practicing a bit, and I think this image turned out pretty well. I don't have any dark grey copics, so their shoes are colored with chalks and a blender pen. I colored another of this image that I liked but colored outside the lines a bit and was unable to fix it to my satisfaction. I plan to cut it out later and use it for something else. If anyone is interested in which copics I used, exactly, I will let you know. I don't have very many! I've been buying them one at a time with HL 40% off coupons, so it takes a while LOL. CS is SU Pumpkin Pie and Gina K Pure Luxury layering weight white. Ink is Brilliance Tuxedo Black. These were some of the recommended paper and ink for coloring with copics. Thanks for stopping by!

Thanksgiving cards

2011-09-30T08:47:00.003-05:00

These are a couple of cards I made for my card lady. She wanted some Thanksgiving cards. The first one uses two of my all-time favorite SU sets (both retired of course), Lovely Leaves and French Script. I used More Mustard, Elegant Eggplant, and Ruby Red ink, Confetti Cream and Elegant Eggplant CS. Ribbon is Cherry Cobbler seam binding, and the brad is SU. Sent. is from PTI's Fall Elegance set.

This next card I just decided to let the DP do the talking. It's old SU. The sent. is from PTI's Fall Elegance set and is embossed in copper. The label is PTI's new Christmas Label die. I really like it.

I don't usually make Thanksgiving cards, although I do like the idea. How about you? For the month of October I am challenging myself to post a Halloween project every day! And that will be quite a challenge for ME! Wish me luck!

Baby cards for the shelter

2011-09-29T13:12:00.003-05:00

Some of y'all may know my friend Chris (you can visit her awesome blog HERE). She sells cards that she makes and donates the money to her local animal shelter. Recently she was in need of some baby cards, so I decided to make a few. Here they are: Stamps (Bitty Baby Blessings), buttons and ribbon are by PTI; CS, ink, and DP are Stampin' Up!

This second card uses a Mojo Monday sketch.

I forget where this sketch is from--it may be Mojo Monday. Oh, and the DP and CS on this one are PTI. Three measly cards--sorry Chris, the kids' schedules are kicking my behind this year! Anyway, I hope they help a wee bit. Thanks for stopping by today!

3 D Chandelier

2011-08-25T14:18:00.002-05:00

Emily has a locker this year for the first time. You cannot imagine the excitement this has caused among all the 4th grade girls! Everyone wants to "decorate" their locker, and surprisingly there is a lot of expensive stuff out there to do it with. I flatly refused to spend $25 on locker decorations. Emily wanted (of all things) a chandelier! I just got a secondhand Summer in Paris Cricut cart from a friend who doesn't like her Cricut (?!?). And it has a 3 D chandelier on it! It has two pieces of it, but since I was cutting it out of DCWV glitter CS instead of double-sided DP, I cut each piece twice (at 8"), flipping one piece of each set. I glued the matching pieces back to back and fit them together (there's a slit in the bottom of one and the top of the other). I used some glue dots at the joints to add a little stability, and added a little bling.

I think it turned out pretty cute, and I hope Ems likes it. She will see it when she gets home from school. Now that I've made one I have a few ideas of how it could be better. Next time I think I'll cut it out of thin chipboard, then cover with CS or DP, for more stability. Another thing I want to try is to cut 4 pieces of the 2D chandelier (on the same cart), score each down the middle, and glue them together like that, instead of having the slit. So many ideas, so little time...

Another thing Emily wanted for her locker (insert me rolling eyes here) was a green fur rug for the bottom. Where in the world does she get this stuff? While I was measuring her locker for the chandelier, her 3rd grade teacher overheard us discussing all this and volunteered both a lime green fake fur rug and a hot pink one! So I cut an 11" square out of the green one and voila! she has what her little heart desires. I hope.

Soon I'm off to go to a Copic class with my sis! We've got other fun things planned too. Hope you get to do something fun and crafty this weekend!

Butterfly Friend

2011-08-23T05:00:00.000-05:00

We made a card similar to this in my stamp club a couple of Sundays ago. Well, I completely goofed mine up, so I made this one when I got home. I found the DP at Mikes--it's gorgeous, it's embossed. And I knew it would go really well with Purely Pomegranate and Groovy Guava.

Stamp sets are Bliss and Simple Friendship. I also used Define Your Life on the inside right edge of the card, but you can barely see it because I used Versamark instead of Groovy Guava.

I think it turned out pretty, even though it may be a trifle bright for some people. I like this sketch and will definitely be using it again. Thanks for looking!

Old-Time Train

2011-08-22T05:00:00.000-05:00

I borrowed this retired SU set from my friend Karen. It's called Happiness is a Journey. I adore this image and can't imagine why I didn't get it when I had the chance. I stamped the image on black with Vanilla Craft ink and embossed with clear EP. Card Base is Confetti Cream. DP and metal fastener are SU. You can't tell in the pic but I pierced the upper left hand corner of the Basic Black layer.

I'm going to make several more cards with this set before I give it back to Karen. I've seen lots of great examples using this set and the soot stamping technique, which I've never tried. Thanks for dropping by--have a wonderful Monday!

CASE'd Birthday Card Idea

2011-08-21T05:00:00.001-05:00

I saw and loved THIS IDEA from Jen del Muro. She always has great sketches on her blog. Then I combined it with one of the sketches in the Sept/Oct issue of Paper Crafts, which is basically a diagonal sort of panel on a vertical card. It didn't turn out as cute as I'd hoped--needs more tweaking, but I thought I'd show it here.

All supplies are SU except the rhinestones and the Stickles on the cupcake. DP on the tag is Just Add Cake. Sentiment is from Bring on the Cake. I'm going to keep going with this idea--hopefully it will improve. Thanks for dropping by today!

Shop Till You Drop!

2011-08-20T05:00:00.003-05:00

Here is another card for my friend (it's so nice to be appreciated--LOL!). It's for a friend of hers who loves shoes and animal prints. My idea of shoes to love is comfortable flip-flops, but I think most women feel differently, and I know I used to as well. Getting old is not for sissies!

Shoes are from the Wrap It Up cart. I got the black glitter paper from Target, I think, and the animal print came from a scrapbook kit from HL that I've had for quite a while and never used. Card base is SU confetti cream, scalloped layer is Basic Black, and the other color is Really Rust (ret.). I couldn't find a really good match to the DP, so RR is what I went with. Punch is SU and sent. is from SU's Bring on the Cake set. I think this turned out kind of cool. Hope you like it too--have a great day!

Flowers for Your Birthday!

2011-08-19T10:44:00.002-05:00

I made this card for my friend at church to send to a friend of hers. I used the Elegant Edges Cricut cart. for the frame and Country Life for the pitcher of flowers. Card base is PTI white, all else is SU. I cut the pitcher at 3" and the frame at 5". I used brads for the flower centers for a little extra dimension. Colors are Brocade Blue (ret.), Certainly Celery, and Daffodil Delight. I just love blue and yellow together, such a happy color combo.

Sentiment on the inside is from SU's Bring on the Cake. Thanks for dropping by today--have a wonderful Friday!

Beachy Card

2011-08-17T05:00:00.001-05:00

This birthday card is for someone who likes to sunbathe. I used the Life is a Beach Cricut cart. I outlined the chair with my Cri-kits gel pen, then cut it out. All CS is SU except for the card base (PTI white). Cloud paper is Reminisce from my LSS. The water was a scrap leftover from a scallop cut--love how it made waves! The flip flops were so small I couldn't get the layers to work so I just colored the straps with my white gel pen. Sand is Sahara Sand, torn and wheeled with the Texture jumbo wheel and Sahara Sand ink. Umbrella is Pumpkin Pie and Melon Mambo. The little fishies are from PTI's Pond Life, stamped in and on Tempting Turquoise.

Thanks for looking! As always, all comments are appreciated.

You Rock!

2011-08-16T05:00:00.001-05:00

I made this card for a friend who is actually paying me to make her some cards! I'm so excited. Quite honestly it's not about the money--it's more about the appreciation. She wanted hot pink and animal prints and I was lucky enough to find some hot pink, glittery zebra stripe at Mike's. It is very heavy--chipboard weight. I cut it twice on the Cricut using my deep blade at the highest settings--and it worked!

Cartridge is Rock Princess--you'd think they'd have the phrase "you rock" somewhere in a cart with that title, wouldn't you? But no. Luckily they have this cute heart font, and I had some cute black heart rhinestones to embellish with. Card base is SU Basic Black. The inside has a white CS star. I used my Cri-kits pens to outline the star and stamped Happy Birthday with PTI's Birthday Basics. Hope she and the recipient like it. Thanks for looking!

Old West Tri-fold Card

2011-08-15T16:57:00.005-05:00

Hi, all! I decided to play along with a couple of challenges today--Cricut 360 (Old West) and She's a Sassy Lady (scene). I used my Gypsy and She's a Sassy Lady's trifold card tutorial to create this card. I welded some rectangles (Plantin Schoolbook) and the arched shape (Gypsy Wanderings maybe? Not sure.) with my G. I then welded the coyote and saguaro shapes to the rectangles. Card base is Night of Navy textured CS.

I made front and back layers for the welded icons (coyote 2.5" in Basic Gray, saguaro 3" in Wild Wasabi) by flipping them. I also used my Cricut markers for added definition. I love those things--they are so fun!

I used my OLD Creative Memories curvy cutter to make some sand dunes, then traced over my rectangles and trimmed. I wheeled the sand dunes (Sahara Sand) with my SU Texture Jumbo wheel and Sahara Sand ink and sponged the edges. I also stamped a paisley pattern on the bandana. I punched a 1 3/4 " circle out of yellow glitter CS (DCWV) for the moon.

I was originally going to use the phrase "missing Youuuu... but then I remembered my sister's birthday is in a few days and she LOVES all things western, so I went with a howling birthday sentiment. I used the Jandles font (Lettering Delights).

I had an absolute blast making this card! Hope you like it too!

Stamp Club Swap Using NEW In Colors

2011-08-15T05:00:00.004-05:00

Good morning! This is the swap card I made for my stamp club meeting. I totally cased the card on p. 178 of the current Idea Book and Catalog--it was too pretty to resist. Card Base is Pool Party, main image is stamped on Whisper White, and the "lace" trim is Wisteria Wonder. Large flower outline and sentiment (from Pocket Silhouettes) is stamped in Island Indigo, interior is Pool Party. Calypso Coral was used for the two flowers on the ends--I stamped off for the solid part. The purple flower outline is Elegant Eggplant and the interior is Wisteria Wonder. Stems and leaves are stamped in Lucky Limeade. I pierced the edge rather than sewing it (too lazy to get out the machine!). For the "lace" I used my eyelet border punch and ran it through the crimper. Then I flipped the image over, added some sticky strip to the edge, and pressed the trim into place. I popped the main image up, since it wouldn't lie flat anyway! The ribbon is some retired SU narrow organdy ribbon that is a perfect match for the WW.

I like all the new IC's except for WW. The only purple they have right now that I like is Elegant Eggplant. I really liked Lavender Lace and Lovely Lilac that they got rid of a couple of years ago. Oh, well, maybe it will grow on me. The rest of the IC's are not THAT different from some other SU colors--Pool Party is quite close to Cool Caribbean, Lucky Limeade is close to Kiwi Kiss for example.

That's it for me today--hope you get some stamping time in today. Thanks for stopping by!

PTI Swap over on SCS

2011-08-14T10:32:00.004-05:00

Hey, all, my fave group of swapping stampers is up to their usual tricks! You can read all about it HERE. This first card is for the Autumn Splendor category. I used my Elegant Edges Cricut Cartridge to cut out the card base and patterned layer. Nesties were used for the focal image. Stamp set is PTI's Fall Elegance from last year. I decided to use masking on this card--an old technique, but a goodie. I built up my little fall flourish and cut it out (arrghh! see how much I love these gals?!) and popped it up over the top of the focal point. Card base is PTI cream. Scalloped oval layer is SU Really Rust. I embellished with a couple of Dew Drops. This patterned paper by PTI is pretty much my fave paper ever--love the rich glowing colors and the lovely patterns.

This card is for the regular cards category. Card base is SU Crumb Cake, stamp set is Love Lives Here. I die cut the little house from PTI cream, then stamped it with Crumb Cake and PTI Pure Poppy ink. I die cut the Mat Stack 1 die and embossed it with PTI's wood grain impression plate. Scalloped layer is done with Nesties out of Pure Poppy CS. Patterned paper is PTI; border punch, eyelets (ret.), and gingham ribbon (ret.) are all SU. I'm so please with how this turned out! I hope whoever gets them is pleased as well.

There were some other categories that I didn't join. I did join the die cut swap and did Tiny Tags and Love Lives Here dies for my spots. So excited to see what I get back--it's just like Christmas when I get this swap back! Thanks for stopping by--have a great day.

Baby Card

2011-08-06T05:00:00.001-05:00

This card is a total CASE of the one on p. 79 of the new Cricut Cards magazine. I didn't have the cart they used, but I do have Baby Steps, which has some adorable cuts on it! I also made mine girlier, since it is for a little girl, and left off the machine stitching, as I hate to drag out my sewing machine! All the cuts are done at 2", card measures 5.25" square. CS is Pink Pirouette, Pretty in Pink, Regal Rose, Apricot Appeal, Pumpkin Pie, and Certainly Celery. DP's are various SU. I did add some "stitching" with my white gel pen around the bottom of the little dress.

I just LOVE how this turned out! I should def. CASE cards more often! Thanks for stopping by today!

Birthday Card for a Friend

2011-08-05T05:00:00.000-05:00

This is a card I made for one of my college roomies. She is a wine aficionado so I thought this cut from the Celebrate with Flourish cart would be pretty cool. The DP is Once Upon A Time. CS is Rich Razzleberry and Pear Pizzazz and vellum CS, all SU. Used some SU stamps on the inside.

This is a note my DD wrote to go inside. I think it's hilarious, and so representative of Ems' personality! Click on the pic for a larger view.

I had fun making this card. Hope you've enjoyed it too--thanks for stopping by today!

He's Got the Whole World in His Hands

2011-08-04T10:00:00.004-05:00

This is the card I made for our church members to sign for our Christian Ed coordinator who is leaving. A while back, I discovered how you can use SCAL and Lettering Delights images together to do a kind of "print and cut" a la the Cricut Imagine. It is a trifle labor intensive, but I did make a few images this way and this image of the kids around the world holding hands really appealed to me. I have saved it all this time with the intention of making this very card, which I finally did. I printed the words to the song in various colors for my BG. I edged around the main image with a marker, which didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped, but it looks okay I guess. I stamped a couple of sentiments from ODBD on the inside.

Thanks for looking! Have a fabulous day!

Front cover of Star Book

2011-08-02T20:44:00.002-05:00

This is the front cover of a star book I made for our Christian Education Coordinator, who is leaving us. I've been wanting to try one of these and thought this was a good occasion. All CS, ink, and DP is SU. Main colors are Baja Breeze, Chocolate Chip, Crumb Cake, Not Quite Navy, and Whisper White. Almost all the stamps are from ODBD--I love their stamps so much! Some are SU and I have noted those.

I used my Cricut and the Elegant Edges cart and my gypsy to weld the shapes together to get the bracket shape. The title is cut using the Inspired Heart Cricut Lite cart. The bird is from ODBD's Sing to the Lord set, embossed in gold and colored with inks and blender pens.

The pix of the other pages are in the previous post--just scroll down to see them. I couldn't fit all the pix in one blog post LOL! Thanks for looking!

Interior pages of star book

2011-08-02T16:53:00.006-05:00

For the first page I made a tag with a stamp from Scripture Collection 2 and SU's Lovely as a Tree. The bird is from Flourished Christian Symbols and is stamped in Not Quite Navy Craft ink, embossed with clear EP. "Faith" is cut from the Home Accents Cricut cartridge.

Here are some more scripture stamps from ODBD scripture collections 2 and 5. The dragonfly tag looks gold in the pic but is actually copper. It's made out of a metal rimmed vellum tag that SU used to sell, dragonfly is MM. Flowers are from Mike's, and of course I can't seem to make anything without using my butterfly sizzlit! It is also stamped with Ecclesiastes from ODBD Randi's song. The little flourishes above and below the scripture are from retired SU set Noteworthy.

This page I die cut with my nesties and stamped the cross from Flourished Christian Symbols in versamark and embossed with clear EP. Butterfly and flowers are from Don't Worry! and scriptures are from the collections (I think 5).

Shells here are from retired SU set Stipple Shells. This set is very fun to use masking on. Swirly clip and ribbon are SU

This page uses Our Daily Bread and The Living Bread stamp sets. The little pocket contains a nestie shape with Ecc. 3:1 stamped on it. Flourishes are from Home Accents Cricut cart.

Thanks for looking! Hope you've enjoyed this project!

Some Cards...

2011-07-05T08:34:00.003-05:00

Good morning! I hope everyone had a fabulous Fourth! I took the kids down to TX to visit my parents. We had a wonderful time.

These are some cards I made for the lady who won my cards in the scholarship auction. The first is a CASE of a Michelle Zindorf card. The neat thing about Michelle is she does a whole tutorial for every card she does. I have done a similar card before, but I'm better at it now and I'm really pleased with how this turned out. Colors are Tempting Turquoise and Pacific Point. Flourishes are made using Cricut. Bottom edge is pierced.

In this card I was going for a paint chip effect; as usual I am a couple of years behind the trend, but it seemed like a good technique for a masculine card. CS colors are Bordering Blue, Brocade Blue, and Ballet Blue (all retired), and Night of Navy. Ink is N of N. Stamp is SU.

This last card uses PTI Plum Pudding CS, ink and ribbon. Flowers are ret. SU set, sent. is PTI. Vellum is PTI (I think it's called basket weave or something like that--it has a texture to it--very pretty, but almost opaque).

Well, thanks for stopping by today. As always, comments are greatly appreciated!

More Masculine Cards

2011-06-21T05:00:00.002-05:00

I made these cars a while back but never got them blogged. This was my brother's birthday card. I cased the design from p. 58 of the May/June issued of Papercrafts. That was a pretty good issue, I have to say. All products are SU. Set is Bring on the Cake.

The next card was a birthday card for a friend of my son's. Sets are PTI's Grunge Me and Boy Basics: Game On. CS is Soft Sky and Pumpkin Pie, DP is Scenic Route. Ribbon is PTI, embellie is SU's Build-a-Brad.

This last card was for my son's birthday (he is 13! GAAA! How did this happen?!?!) I used SU's Extreme Elements and PTI"S Game On. Colors are Crumb Cake, Soft Suede, Baja Breeze, Cajun Craze, and Night of Navy. This card is a total case of one in the SU 2010-2011 IBC. My sewing on this one sucked, but I used it anyway. Matt said he liked it.

I really like making masculine cards. I get tired of girly floral cards sometimes. What's your favorite kind of card to make? Thanks for stopping by today!

PTI Swaps

2011-06-20T08:47:00.010-05:00

Hello! I know it's been a long time since I posted. I just haven't been in the mood to blog.

I finally finished the last two spots in my regular PTI swap over on SCS. You can see the other two spots HERE and HERE. This card is for the masculine card portion of the swap. The only things PTI here are the stamp sets: Grunge Me and Boy Basics: Game On. All CS, inks, and accessories are SU, except for the Cuttlebug embossing folder. Colors are Baja Breeze, Blue Bayou, Kiwi Kiss, and Pumpkin Pie. Sketch is from p. 66 of the May/June issue of Papercrafts.

The next card is for the regular card category. All products here are PTI except for the border punch and the ink used to stamp the sentiment (SU), and the DMC floss threaded through the buttons. Stamp sets are For the Graduate and Love Lives here. Ink used is Sweet Blush Hybrid. DP is Bitty Boxes. CS is Sweet Blush and Lemon Tart.

Well, thanks for stopping by today! I had a great time making these cards. Hope you get some creative time today.

Eagle Scout Cards

2011-05-18T05:00:00.003-05:00

Our Scout troop is very active and has a lot of boys to make Eagle, the highest achievement in Boy Scouts. For a Scout to make Eagle is a HUGE deal, because of the level of work, commitment, and leadership involved. Two Scouts who are brothers had their Eagle Court of Honor on Sunday. The older one has been Eagle for a while, but I guess they waited till the younger made Eagle so they could have their Courts of Honor together. In any event, I frequently find myself making cards for Eagle Scouts. Here are the two I made for last Sunday.

The first one is made using ODBD stamps (God Bless America and In God We Trust). I absolutely adore this flag image and use it every chance I get. I stamped it in Palette Burnt Umber on Confetti White CS and colored it with my SU markers (Pacific Point and Real Red). Satmped the eagle the same way, colored his beak with Daffodil Delight and his eye black, and added Crystal Effects to his eye. Card base is confetti white with Pacific Point mat. On the inside I stamped congratulations and computer generated a portion of Isaiah 40:31--"they will soar on wings as eagles". I love that Scripture, and it seemed appropriate.

Brad thought the second card ought to be different, so I used the brayered sky technique that I learned in Michelle Zindorf's workshop that I took in March. If you ever get a chance to take a workshop from her--DO IT! Worth every penny! Ink colors are Baja Breeze, Not Quite Navy, Old Olive, and Early Espresso. Stamp set is SU's Plant Hope, which we received as part of Michelle's workshop. Eagle is cut at 4" wide from the Wildlife Cricut Lite cart. Card base is confetti white with Old Olive mat. I also used a white gel pen. Both cards are 5.25" square.

I didn't get to go to the Court of Honor, because Ems didn't want to go. Matt had a reading to do, so he and Brad went. The Order of the Arrow performed, and the boys' mom had made shadow boxes of their old uniforms. I'd have liked to see those.

My nephew is in the process of completing his service project for Eagle, so I guess I will be making one for his Court of Honor soon. Thanks for stopping by today--hope you have a good one!

Anniversary Card for my Husband

2011-05-17T05:00:00.006-05:00

I got some new SU goodies from their Summer Mini catalog last Thursday, and I got a chance to play this weekend. In fact I made a bunch of cards--grad cards, Eagle Scout cards, and birthday invitations. I had a GREAT weekend LOL!

I love all things nautical and the summer mini has plenty of nautical stuff in it. The stamp set is The Open Sea and I used the matching paper. I cased the focal image from this card and used one of my favorite sketches, Mojo Monday 164, seen here. Colors are Not Quite Navy and Cherry Cobbler. Inside I stamped the sentiment "you mean the world 2 me" from Word Play. I love how this card turned out, and Brad loved it too. Thanks for looking! Have a great day.

Birthday Invites

2011-05-16T11:18:00.005-05:00

So Emily wants a sleepover for her birthday party. Great idea, right? Certainly cheaper than some of the other things she's come up with over the years. But six squealing, shrieking little girls, plus squealing, shrieking Emily? The HORROR! So we're actually having TWO birthday sleepovers, 3 guests each time. I asked Brad and he agreed that that was probably the way to go.

She wanted me to make her invitations (fine by me! Do I ever turn down an opportunity to play in the craft room?) and told me what she wanted and even drew me a pic. I think this kid is going places, card making-wise. It was perfect!

I cut the balloon from Create-a-Critter in Gable Green and white. Title is cut from ZooBalloo in Pumpkin Pie and PTI's Raspberry Fizz (thank goodness I am almost out of it! Then I can get on with my life!). I ran the green part through my Big Shot with the Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folder.

Here is the inside. Fearful of being one of those dreaded "flat circle" card types (see hilarious post by my friend Sara HERE), I scored the top of the white balloon and used Sticky Strip to attach the front. Then Emily stamped the words and wrote out the info, and we attached curling ribbon to the "nub" of the balloon.

Pretty cute, I think! She has planned the entire schedule for the party. Now all I have to do is buy the stuff LOL!

Well, thanks for stopping by today. Hope you've enjoyed this project--happy crafting!

MPS NSD challenge # 5

2011-05-09T20:47:00.002-05:00

This challenge was to either make a 3D item or use a 3D item on your project. I chose to use my Everyday Pop Up Cards cart for the very first time! And in fact I don't think I got the pop up portion quite right, but it's pretty cute anyway. For the front of the card I used the Celebrate with a Flourish Lite cart. I ran my More Mustard layer through my Big Shot with the Cuttlebug Tiny Bubbles embossing folder. I sponged white craft ink around the edges and sprinkled on white/iridescent ice EP and heat embossed. You'll see why in a sec.

And here it is--a mug of beer for Dad! The layers are cut from vellum CS to look like frosty glass. I added Liquid Applique and Dazzling Diamonds glitter to the foam. Looks pretty cool IRL. But I think the mug is supposed to be rounder--I just couldn't get it quite right. More practice! Still, I'm pleased with how it turned out. Other CS colors are Night of Navy and Cajun Craze, always good man colors.

Thanks for stopping by!

MPS NSD Challenge # 11

2011-05-09T20:42:00.003-05:00

This was a color challenge--to use pink, green, and black on a project. All CS and DP are SU. Butterfly kisses is cut from Straight from the Nest. I glittered the pink butterflies with Doodlebug sugar glitter. Large butterflies are SU dies. The pink one is cut from DP with an Embosslit and I sanded the raised area. Black rhinestones are from Mikes.

Thanks for looking!

My Pink Stamper NSD Challenge #12--Kid LO

2011-05-09T20:33:00.004-05:00

My Pink Stamper had an NSD challenge series on Sat. I just found out about it today--I missed it because I was at work, but I have until midnight tonight, and each entry is a chance to win a Cricut Imagine! Wish me luck.

I am embarrassed to say I have had this LO sitting around incomplete for a VERY long time! Just how long I decline to say LOL!

CS and DP are SU. Colors are Ballet Blue and Glorious Green (ret.), Real Red, and Daffodil Delight. Playtime is from the Baby Steps cart, and Have a Ball is from Birthday Bash. These photos were taken at Jungle Rapids in Wilmington, NC, Sept 1, 2003. Thanks for looking!

Teacher Appreciation Day!

2011-05-03T07:30:00.003-05:00

My hat is really off to teachers. What an amazing thing it must be to give someone the ability to read, and the love of learning! I didn't appreciate it (enough) when I was in school, but as a parent, I realize the enormity of this gift.

I made three of these for Ems' teachers. On the inside I stamped Thanks a Million from SU's Word Play. Card Base is Riding Hood Red textured, inside layer is Pink Pirouette textured. Cartridges used are Gypsy Wanderings, Wild Card, and Wrap It Up. Card measures about 5.25" square. Glitter is Doodlebug, button is old U. I made this card using She's a Sassy Lady's tutorial, HERE. I will also be entering it into her challenge.

Thanks for stopping by today! What did you do to thank a teacher?

Happy Dog Birthday!

2011-05-01T05:00:00.003-05:00

I love this happy little dog kicking up his heels! He is from the Birthday Bash cartridge. That cart. is chock full of great images--I use it a lot. The DP is some I've had for a VERY long time, from Junkitz (are they even still in business?!?) But I love it, and it seemed made for this little doggie. The card measures 5.25" square. The dog is cut at 4". Except for the pink, turquoise, and black CS, everything else on this card is retired LOL! I'm trying to use up some of my ridiculously large stash.

I popped him up on foam tape. Scallop square is from Gypsy Wanderings cart. What's your fave Cricut cart? Mine changes from day to day, but this one is always near the top. Have a great day!

Have a ball!

2011-04-30T05:00:00.005-05:00

Emily also had a sleepover birthday party to go to Fri. night (Brad and I went on a DATE! woo-hoo!). I made 2 cards for her to choose from, before remembering she had already made one for her friend weeks ago! I should have photographed it, but I forgot. It turned out really cute. Anyway, this is the first card I made. The second copy actually--I had a LOT of trouble with it for some reason. Either I or my machine kept messing up cuts. When I finally got all the layers cut, I put them together and managed to get glue all over everything. So, I started all over. But I'm very pleased with how it turned out. The seal and sentiment are from Birthday Bash.

I created a frame card in my Gypsy, using THIS TUTORIAL from She's a Sassy Lady's blog. I welded the seal and sentiment in Gypsy too. Then I cut the layers. I glittered the layers on the ball and his hatband with Doodlebug sugar glitter. I drew his nose and eyes with a marker. Anyway, I think this is adorable and will def. be making more, now that I'm aware of the pitfalls LOL! Happy Crafting!

Quick boy card

2011-04-29T17:29:00.002-05:00

Matt has had two birthday sleepovers this week! The first one was kind of spur of the moment (the kids had a day off school on Wed), so I made an all black version of this card, with colored "buttons". So this time I got the idea to make a light gray layer and cuttlebug it with the diamond plate folder. I used the Wrap It Up cartridge and cut the card feature at 5.5" in length, which makes it shorter than 4.25, but I wanted it to fit in a regular A2 envie. The inside is stamped and embossed in red with Dude--you rock! from Verve. Matt signed it with my white gel pen. The buttons in the middle I made by punching a 1" circle from white and coloring with markers, then gluing it behind the holes. This is a pretty fast card to make, and I think it's really cute! Hope you've enjoyed it as well.

Thanks for stopping by today! Have a great weekend!

Mixology Crafts is having a giveaway of the E2

2011-04-25T17:02:00.002-05:00

The Cricut Expression 2 Anniversary edition is launching pretty soon and there are several giveaways going on. I wanted to share one that is on Mixology Crafts. Go over and enter for a chance to win!

Wedding Card

2011-04-22T13:41:00.004-05:00

My nephew is getting married this weekend, so I made this card. His fiancee's colors are Certainly Celery and brown (I picked Soft Suede). I used the Paper Lace cartridge to cut the brown and green layers at 4.8". The card itself measures 5.25" square and is made of Gina K Pure Luxury Ivory. I put a few drops of champagne shimmer paint (SU) in a mini mister and added rubbing alcohol to make my own shimmer spray--it's very sparkly IRL.

I stamped this image from the new SU set Four Frames in Soft Suede and colored the leaves with a Certainly Celery marker, and used a blender pen dipped in the shimmer paint to color the roses. The sent. is from PTI's Mixed Messages (the original, not the Mega). I sponged shimmer paint on the brown rose (Mike's) and attached it to the SU crocheted lace.

I also made the envelope using the MS scoring board I bought with a 50% off coupon at Mike's last Sunday. It worked like a charm! I hope they like this card. I got them some of their china for their wedding present. Can't wait to see everyone. Have a great weekend and a Happy Easter everyone. Thanks for stopping by!

Making my own embellies

2011-04-18T05:00:00.003-05:00

So I tried lots of different things the other day, and one of them was rolled ribbon or fabric flowers. I have this cool fabric from SU, plus coordinating fabric covered brads, so I thought I'd give it a try, and this is the result.

There are lots of tutorials on this, just google rolled ribbon or fabric flowers. I don't remember exactly which tutorial I used. I'm not thrilled with how it turned out; I think I need a lot more practice! Maybe I should also try it with ribbon.

This next one is a simple yo-yo. I die cut some of the fabric with my circle nesties and ran a running stitch around the outside of the circle and drew it up like a little drawstring bag. I added a brad. I think it's very cute! You can make them just about any size; this one used my next to largest Nestie and is about 1.25" in diameter.

Well, I had fun trying something new! Hope you've enjoyed this post--thanks for stopping by!

Card Candy

2011-04-17T14:08:00.005-05:00

Here is my submission for the card candy category of the current PTI Swap. We are to make 2 pieces for each set, six sets. The pieces can either be matching or coordinating. I am not a big floral person. My embellies tend to be fairly simple and plain, a ribbon or a couple of brads. But lately it seems that everyone has been adding large flowers to their projects. So I looked around online to find a tutorial on how to do some of these things. This first flower is a spiral flower. To make it I followed THIS tutorial. I used a 5" square of Raspberry Fizz Mix patterned paper. I cut a spiral and rolled, securing with glue dots and adding Crystal Effects at the end to hold it all together.

This next flower is from a Nicole Heady blog post, seen HERE. It is super quick and easy--the part that took the longest was die cutting all the felt flowers. I used the Beautiful Blooms II die, the large one and cut five flowers for each one. Fold 4 in half and half again, and stitch down to a flat flower. Add a button and some ribbon "leaves" and you're all set. I love how fluffy this flower is! It is from Rasp. Fizz felt. Buttons and ribbon are also PTI.

Here they are together. These are both fairly large. I'd guess the felt flower is about 2" in diameter, not counting the leaves, and the spiral rose is about 1.5". I only had enough felt to make 7 flowers, so that is why there is only one per set. But I think the spiral rose is cute too.

I'm pleased with how these turned out. Hope you like them too and learned something today. While I was fooling around with making my own embellies, I did a couple of others; I will post them tomorrow.

PTI 2011 Color Combo Swap

2011-04-14T09:13:00.004-05:00

The PTI swap I often participate in has a new round up--you can read about it HERE. One of the categories is to use one of the 2011 color combos from PTI, seen HERE. The only combo I had all the colors for was this one: Ripe Avocado, Ocean Tides, Dark Chocolate, and Vintage Cream--I don't have a lot of PTI's newer colors due to the lack of ink to match. I really like this combo though, so it's okay.

I also knew I wanted to ink up one of my latest acquisitions, Little Bitty Bird, with matching die. I die cut the birds from OT, stamped the birds on them in Dark Chocolate hybrid ink, and colored their wings with a Versamarker. The leaves on the branch are colored with a SU Old Olive Marker, which is pretty close to RA. I wanted a sort of Romeo and Juliet theme, so I have the male bird offering the female a flower. I expect she'd rather have a worm, but the set didn't come with one of those! The DP is PTI's Green Tea Leaves, how I love that paper. It's mounted on RA CS. Scallops are punched with SU punch as is the sent. (Modern Label punch). I inked the edges of the sent with Dark Chocolate ink. The jute and coconut shell button are PTI, although I don't think they sell those buttons anymore, and the card base is Vintage Cream CS. I'm pleased with how this turned out--not too fancy, but I think it would be suitable for lots of occasions. Hope you've enjoyed this card as much as I enjoyed making it! It's been a while since I played with PTI, I had a good time with it!

My Other Brother's Birthday Card

2011-04-12T05:00:00.001-05:00

Yes, I have twin brothers! Their birthday is the same as my SIL's and HER brother's (who was born the same day she was, 1 year later). I don't send Lori's brother a card, but everyone else gets one, so April is a busy month. This brother is getting ready to retire from the Army! Yay! At least one I won't have to worry about getting blown up. Probably. Anyway, I used the Cricut Nifty Fifties cart. He and his wife recently attended a 50's costume party and posted pix on FB. They looked so cute, so I decided to use this. The inside says "Get your kicks". Colors are Soft Sky, Real Red, Basic Black, and Whisper White. DP is retired SU Western Sky.

Hope he likes it--Thanks for looking!

My Brother's Birthday Card

2011-04-11T05:00:00.001-05:00

This is the card I made for my brother who is currently in Iraq. At first I was going to do a military-type card, and then I thought, maybe he'd like something that reminded him of something OTHER THAN the Army. This stamp set is called Set Sail, and retired long ago. I used Soft Sky, Blue Bayou, and the DP is called Western Sky. All of it is retired, as are the eyelets. I think the only thing on this card that is not retired is the River Rock CS, the hemp, and the white gel pen I used to accent the seagulls. The bottom ships are stamped in Ruby Red (retired!).

I distressed the edges of some of the layers. I hope he likes this card. Thanks for stopping by today!

Stamping Club Swap

2011-04-10T14:32:00.004-05:00

Hi everyone, today is my SU stamp club, and the members make swaps for each other. This is mine for this month. CS is Very Vanilla, Basic Black, and Daffodil Delight, SU's new yellow. I like it pretty well. I wanted to die cut some butterflies out of the First Edition DP and stamp the damask design from the SAB set Bliss on it in black. But I needed another color, so I went to my trusty color coach, which suggested DD. I wouldn't have thought of it myself, but I absolutely love it! I added pearls to the butterfly and stamped the damask element on the BG as well. Another new thing for me--I used the black craft ink. Normally I am not a big pigment ink user, but my hybrid ink was not opaque enough on the DP, so I went to the craft ink. I really like it. You just have to be SUPER careful not to smudge! Either dry it with your heat tool (or emboss it) or let it sit overnight.

The sentiment is from a retired SU set. I just went and looked up the name and now I can't remember it--getting old is not for sissies! (ETA: It's called Warmest Regards.) I used the square lattice embossing folder on the DD strip. I'm very pleased with how this card turned out! Thanks for stopping by today. Hope you get some crafting time!

Umbrella Card

2011-04-09T16:25:00.003-05:00

I made this card for my SIL's birthday, and also for the Fantabulous Cricut challenge this week, which was to use an umbrella cut on your card. The umbrella is from Wild Card, the scalloped layer is from Just Because, and the flowers are from Freshly Picked. I cut the flowers out 3 times (they are in a pot) and fit them into the umbrella. In retrospect I should have put the middle flowers in front of the umbrella handle--it looks a bit odd with the flowers behind it. Patterned paper and ribbon is retired SU, sentiment is from SU's Something to Celebrate, and it is stamped on a Nestie double ended tag. CS colors are Pretty in Pink, Pink Pirouette, Certainly Celery, and Old Olive.

I sponged the edges of the scalloped layer and the flowers and the ribbon tag. Thanks for stopping today!

More Gypsy Cards

2011-04-04T08:21:00.002-05:00

Good morning! I really had fun making this shaped card with my Gypsy. All cuts are from Create a Critter. In my last post I said the Gypsy would keep me from wasting so much CS. That proved not to be the case here: I goofed up the card base TWICE before I got it right. Then I goofed up the sand and water layers too! BUT I learned from my mistakes, so it's all good. The card base and water are Tempting Turquoise, bowl is Cool Caribbean, sand is Crumb Cake speckled with Soft Suede, plant is Old Olive (I drew veins on with a marker and sponged edges). Fish is Lemon Tart (PTI), Pretty in Pink, and Pumpkin Pie, all layers covered with the appropriate color of Doodlebug glitter. I just love that little glittery fish! Another think I discovered about the Gypsy is that you can't really use the markers with it, because using the markers involves hitting the load mat button after you have drawn with the markers, and you can't do that with the G. I kind of got around it by unloading the mat but not moving it and hitting the load mat button again. It worked--kind of--THIS time. I won't count on that again. I'm going to shoot an email to PC and tell them to fix that for the next update. The inside has the sent. "birthday fishes" from PTI's Pond Life Sentiments.

This card I made using Stretch your imagination. It made doing the layers easier, and I could size my card to a 3 x 6 (which I probably could have done with the cartridge alone). I used the retired SU BG stamp Stipple Plaid and Chocolate Chip ink. Let's just pretend the incomplete pattern on the right side is "distressing", shall we? And let's also say that the reason I lined the inside with more Crumb Cake layered on Choc Chip is NOT because I forgot to mask the inside when I stamped the plaid BG LOL! I have been gaining a lot of wisdom lately! Layers are Summer Sun and Old Olive. I sponged the leaves (of course) and colored the center of the sunflower with a Choc Chip marker. Ribbon is PTI, button is SU.

That's it for today--thanks for taking a look!

Baby Cards!

2011-04-03T13:48:00.006-05:00

A friend of mine at work is having twins! So I made him a baby card with my Cricut. Unfortunately it's not pictured here because it's at work waiting to be signed by people. But I had so much fun making it that I made several other baby cards (just so I'd have some on hand--not that I need them very often!). The first one I got the idea for somewhere--she had used punch art to make the rubber duck. I used Wild Card for the duck and Life's a Beach for the waves. The stamp is from the SU Sale-a-Bration set Punch Bunch. I colored it with markers: Pumpkin Pie, Ballet Blue, and Summer Sun. The duck is cut out of SS CS and his bill is colored with the PP marker. Card base is PTI white.

Then I made this one! I just love giraffes, and I had this retired SU paper called Cutie Pie, still one of my all time favorites! It's almost gone, boo-hoo! The giraffe is cut from Create-a-Critter, the sent is from Wild Card (I think). I used Nesties for the Bashful Blue panel. I wish I had embossed the panel but oh, well. I plan to make a girl version of this card--I'll do it then. This is a 3 x 6 card; I really like that size for a change of pace from A2's. Card base is PTI white.

I saved the best (IMO) for last. I have a confession to make--I bought a Gypsy! I am embarrased at spending the money but it was on sale for a really good price and I couldn't pass it up! The Cricut users community has lately been rocked by the news that Provo Craft has won its lawsuit against Make the Cut and is currently suing SCAL (which I use). If I don't update my SCAL, I can still use it with my Cricut. BUT I do like a lot of the images on Cricut cartridges, and of course I can't use them with SCAL. So I got the Gypsy, and I must say, I love it! I can sit in front of the TV and design a project without wasting a scrap of CS (in theory anyway--more on that later LOL!) But at first I couldn't figure out quite what to do with it. So I started sniffing around for some tutorials, and THIS is what I found. And I was hooked. This is so much fun! Frame and saying are from Gypsy Wanderings, which comes preloaded on the Gypsy, and the bottle and block are from Wrap it Up. Here I've used Bitty Baby Blessings DP from PTI. Lavender and yellow CS are also PTI, Certainly Celery and Pumpkin Pie are SU. I inked the edges of the sent with Perfect Plum ink (SU).

Thanks for stopping by today. I hope everyone has a great day!

Spring is HERE!

2011-04-01T20:11:00.003-05:00

I made this card for the Fantabulous Cricut challenge this week. The theme is--you guessed it--spring! This card measures 5.25" square. Card base is Gina K Pure Luxury Heavy Base Weight white. I used the Cricut Lite cartridge Bloom for the fence and tree, and Give a Hoot for the bird (it's the one on top of the evergreen tree). I sponged the edges of the fence with Bashful Blue ink, popped it up on foam tape, and used pink stickles for the flower centers on the tree. Sent. is from SU Something to Celebrate and is stamped in Marina Mist. Tree and flower leaves are also sponged. It's truly amazing how much sponging can add to a Cricut cut! I love how this card turned out! Hope you like it too--thanks for stopping by today!

Round and Round

2011-03-31T05:00:00.001-05:00

I made this card using PTI's anniversary set from last year, Round and Round and the Mat Stack 3 collection. All other supplies are SU. I added pink stickles to the branch image, and cut out and popped up the bird. Thanks for stopping by!

Anniversary Card

2011-03-30T05:00:00.003-05:00

I made this card for my church lady--her parents will be celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary soon. CS is Shimmer White and Sahara Sand. The 60 is cut out using the Winter Wonderland Cricut cartridge. I first drew the numbers with a Cri-Kit silver metallic gel pen, then cut out. Sahara Sand layer is Cuttlebugged with the Brocade folder. I used a SS marker to edge my nestie shape. Ribbon is PTI, pearls are from Hobby Lobby. Flowers are from retired set Gentler Times, and I used the SU hostess set Something to Celebrate to stamp Happy Anniversary on the inside.

Baby Card

2011-03-29T05:00:00.001-05:00

I made this for the lady who won my year of stamped cards at the church scholarship auction last fall. Her daughter is having a baby boy. I used the single stamp Baby Steps. I colored it with markers and used my stamp-a-ma-jig to add the daddy elephant. CS is Bashful Blue and Certainly Celery, DP is SU Cutie Pie (retired). Ribbon and buttons in upper right corner are SU, bottom left button is PTI. Thanks for looking!

Masculine Birthday

2011-03-28T05:00:00.001-05:00

I cased this LO from the SU catty. I think it turned out pretty well. You can't tell from the pic, but I used my Just Jeans background stamp to add some texture to the card base. The gear is by Tim Holtz. CS is Blue Bayou and River Rock, and the DP is some retired Western paper that SU had. Ink is Ruby Red, Blue Bayou, and River Rock. I used blender pens and ink pads to color the image. Stamp set is Loads of Love and LoL Accessories. Hope you've enjoyed this card!

Nature Walk

2011-03-27T04:50:00.000-05:00

This card uses SU sets Nature Walk and Word Play. I cased THIS card. CS is Crumb Cake and Pear Pizzazz, Ink is Pear Pizzazz and Elegant Eggplant. I love how this card turned out and will be making more of these! Thanks for looking!

Sunflower Card

2011-03-26T04:50:00.001-05:00

This is a card I made for a challenge several weeks ago and never got it uploaded. I used the Stretch Your Imagination Cricut Cartridge. All the CS, DP, and embellies are Stampin' Up! I'm not crazy about this. It's a little too busy, and I don't like the ribbon/button combo, but it's okay I guess. Thanks for stopping by!

Long Time No See

2011-03-25T16:35:00.002-05:00

Hi, everyone! I know it's been a long time since I've posted. I haven't stopped crafting, but I just haven't felt like blogging. And a lot of my free time was taken up coaching my son's Lego Mindstorms team. They called themselves the Crash Test Dummies. Every year, the Wichita State University Engineering and Education depts team up to host a huge competition for 4th through 8th graders. This was the first year Matt did it. The kids have to build and program Lego Mindstorm robots to complete different courses. They also have to show team spirit and sportsmanship, and make a team notebook and display. They are judged on all of these things. Matt's team was a beginner team. They had three courses: Table Runner, Line Follower, and Ramp It. Line Follower was the one that gave us serious difficulties.

The kids AND parents learned alot from this competition! The number one thing I learned? Engineering is HARD! It's really difficult to get something to work the same way every single time--darn near impossible IMHO! Makes me appreciate all the devices, big and small, that we depend on every day. Unbelievable!

These kids absolutely stunned me with their smarts and can-do attitude. We didn't place, but they are all winners in my book!

More Cards With Sew Suite

2011-03-01T13:43:00.006-06:00

Here are some more cards from the new Sew Suite set from the SU Occasions Mini catalog. The designer paper is called Sweet Stitches, and the sentiment is from Something to Celebrate, which is one of the hostess sets in the Occasions mini. I paper pieced the dress forms. Don't you just love that pom-pom trim? So cute! And that little pin cushion image is to die for--I think it's my favorite! This is just a very generic sketch, but sometimes that's all you need. I am very pleased with the way this card turned out.

This one, on the other hand...I used a Mojo Monday sketch from a few weeks ago that I thought would be perfect for these images. The row of pins is a rub-on, BTW. This card is just so blah to me, in spite of the bright colors. I'm not sure what to do about it. I think I'm going to try it again in a vintage color scheme and see if I like that better. The sent. is computer generated (get it? Missing you--and there's one button gone?).

PTI recently came out with a button card set, which I really like, but I like the fact that SU's set also has other sewing images in it. Still, I'll probably get PTI's set at some point. Until then, I'll be having fun with Sew Suite! Thanks for stopping by today!

Clean and Simple Sketch # 129

2011-02-25T10:07:00.005-06:00

I wanted to try some masking with this sewing set. I played around with the layout of the images until I finally got one I was happy with. I thought it would look pretty good with this sketch from the CAS blog. This card also has scallops on it, so it qualifies for the PPA challenge this week as well.

Again, I stamped the pattern pieces on the card base. I used nesties and watercolored the image. Blue button is retired SU, pink and green buttons are PTI. The CAS sketch doesn't call for buttons, but I thought it needed something! Thanks for stopping by!

CPS Sketch # 206

2011-02-25T09:49:00.005-06:00

I really liked this week's sketch from CPS, and I knew immediately what I wanted to do. I had an SU party on Feb 15 and was able to get lots of new goodies, including many things from the Sew Suite line from the Occasions mini.

This cute little girl is actually a rub-on. I applied it to watercolor paper and watercolored. Unfortunately, some of the color ran outside the lines, so I wound up cutting her out and adhering her to another rectangle of WC paper. I don't think it looks too bad. I also wanted to have a lacy trim around the circle. I tried pinch-pleating my border-punched strip, but I'm lousy at it, so I ran it through my crimper instead. I think it looks much better. I inked the edges. Pink circle is stamped with Pattern Pieces. The sent. is from a retired SU set. Punches, DP, and brad are all SU. CS is Regal Rose, Wild Wasabi, Very Vanilla, and Chocolate Chip.

Pet Friends Valentines

2011-02-16T08:50:00.003-06:00

Okay, so here's the last of 'em. I had so much fun making these. Lettering Delights really put a lot of thought into the layers so that there's not too much cutting on most of them. I just love the little kitty's whiskers here, don't you? Embossing Folder is Cuttlebug.

Now there WAS a fair amount of layering on the dog. Ems wanted a brown and white dog, but of course I had to add a few other colors and some sponging. The dog is the only one that got sponged, and I don't know but that he may be the cutest one of all because of it. And don't you just love that tongue hanging out? Too funny!

And here they are together, the best of friends! I hope you all and your kids had a great Valentine's Day! I'll be so sad when I don't get to make kiddie valentines anymore.

Thanks for looking!

Jungle Love

2011-02-16T08:42:00.003-06:00

Here are a couple more Lettering Delights Animal Boxes and Bags SVG valentines. LD has since fixed this problem, but when I went to make the lion, the front panel with the tail wasn't there. So I used the front panel for the cat (in the next post) and used the tuft from the lion file on the end. I think it looks fine. I used the SU Square Lattice embossing folder on the lion.

I think the embossing folder on the elephant is called Mesh, by Cuttlebug. As usual, all CS by SU. I find that the Tombow Mono Multi is excellent glue for putting any of these things together. It has a very fine tip and dries fast and strong. If you haven't tried it, I highly recommend it.

The purples I used on the elephant are both retired, as is the pink I used for the hearts.

I think the lion is my favorite of the animal valentines--I love lions. Born Free was my favorite movie when I was a little girl. Thanks for stopping by today!

Forest Friends Valentines

2011-02-16T08:31:00.004-06:00

In the previous post I showed you the valentines I made for the boys in Emily's class and some of her friends around the neighborhood. For the girls we made various animals, two or three of each of 6 designs. Emily chose which animals and the colors to use. Here is the owl. I know many of you know that I don't get the current owl craze, but I think this one turned out just darling. Who knows? I could grow to love owls.

Here is the bunny. Now I have to say, this is the only design I don't like in this set. Do you remember that old Bugs Bunny cartoon, where he drinks some Jekyll and Hyde potion or something and turns into Neanderthal bunny? That's what this reminds me of. This gives me the creeps! But Emily liked it. I wish I'd have had some large pompoms to use on the tail, but I only had tiny ones, so it's just a cardstock tail.

All CS is SU, embossing folders are Cuttlebug. I used little squares of Velcro to hold the bags shut. We stamped a t0/from on the back and Ems wrote everyone's names on them.

They look kind of cute together, don't they? I don't know, maybe the bunny isn't SO bad. More valentines to come!