More Fun With Jane...Austen, That Is!

The two "head" die cuts from PTI's Simply Jane set just beg to be used for cameos. I also just got a cool new embossing folder set from SU--the oval frame around the girl's head is one of them. I used the Mojo Monday Sketch #220 for this. There's not much actual stamping here--I masked off the rest of the HB sentiment from the set and stamped just "Happy Birthday" on the textured Baja Breeze CS. Then I reversed that process on the inside of the card.

I think this turned out kind of cool. It would also make a good Mother's Day card. Thanks for dropping by!

Birthday Invites

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!

Armadillo Valentine

This card is for 2 Cricut challenges, Jitterbuggin', where you had to use brown, plus one accent color, and a bow; and Bitten by the Bug 2, where you had to use either the armadillo or bird from Birthday Bash. My sister loves all things Western, including armadillos (cute ones anyway, not the real thing LOL). So I will send her this Valentine. I also used Skipping Stones Designs sketch #60; you can see it HERE. I used Creamy Caramel, Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa, and Regal Rose (cheek) for the armadillo. Heart is cut from Pretty in Pink using Wild Card. I cuttlebugged the shell and background.

The pink patterned strip at the bottom is from a set of stickers that SU put out a long time ago, at the same time as the DP actually. I really like this card, and I think my sis will too. I'm going to make her another one with the armadillo wearing a cowboy hat that says Howdy Partner, or some such. Thanks for dropping by today!

Some Cricut Valentines

Christmas is over--here comes Valentine's Day! I made this card with Wild Card and Plantin Schoolbook. Colors used are SU Taken With Teal, Cool Caribbean, and Regal Rose. DP and ribbon are retired SU. I glittered the small hearts and used a Cuttlebug embossing folder (I think it's called Floral Fantasy) on the CC layer. This is a case of the star card in the book Card Making With the Cricut.

This one uses the same color scheme, plus Chocolate Chip. The owl is from Create-a-Critter, the stamps are from the new SU Occasions mini, Valentine Defined. I totally cased this off of SCS, but they used the owl punch that SU sells.

I had a lot of fun making these! Hope you've enjoyed looking!

Warm Winter Wishes

I have been having so much fun creating little scenes with my Cricut. This skater girl is from Winter Frolic, isn't she just the cutest? The BG paper is ancient SU, but I thought it made a great snowy backdrop. I cut an oval from Bashful Blue with my SCAL software, smeared glue on it and added Dazzling Diamonds glitter. The flourish I used for her skate tracks is from Wild Card. It was VERY hard to get it to stick to the glittered pond! I popped the girl up on foam tape. I used Liquid Applique for the trim on her outfit, and I colored her cheeks and lips with markers rather than cut a whole bunch of pieces that I didn't need out of those colors.

Cardstock colors are Marina Mist, Wild Wasabi, Purely Pomegranate, Blush Blossom, and So Saffron. Card Base and embossed hill are PTI white. I stamped Warm Winter Wishes from PTI's Merry and Bright set inside. Thanks for looking!

Halloween Cards

I found these cool blingy spiders at Mike's. I inked up my Cuttlebug folder with SU Basic Black Craft ink and debossed the spider web. Two of the spiders had purple bling, and two just had black and orange. I had just enough Concord Crush CS left to make 2 cards--this is one of them. The other two had Tangerine Tango card bases--spider web is on Kiwi Kiss. I used my Happy Hauntings cartridge to cut "creepy" in black and layered on TT. Inside I stamped and embossed "Have a wicked Halloween" from the SU set Wicked Cool (I think that's the name of it). Super simple cards and I had so much fun making them! Thanks for looking! Have a Happy Halloween!

A thank you card

Hi, I used the Cricut Lite Bloom cartridge for the pitcher with flowers. I embossed the pitcher with a Cuttlebug folder and sponged the flowers to add a little interest. All products are SU, most retired. I thought this DP, called Cutie Pie, went well with the image. Thanks for looking!

Sympathy card, IC sketch and color challenge

The wife of a coworker of mine lost her grandmother, so I made them a sympathy card. I use Inspired Crafter's Sketch #7 and the color combo by cupojafa. Oops, I just realized I was supposed to make a Christmas card for this challenge. I've never tried the cream and white color combo before--very pretty. I just hope this card is not too wedding-y. It's hard to tell, but I embossed the sent with Hologram Highlights mixed with white EP. The little doily is Martha Stewart (I found out about them from Vickie Y over on SCS), butterflies are SU/Sizzix Embosslits, BG is Cuttlebug, sentiment and border punch are SU, and CS and ribbon are PTI. This card was totally inspired by THIS one and THIS one. Thanks for stopping by!

Enchanted Frog

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

Autumn Birthday

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

September 11th

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

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

Cricut Scene Swap # 2

Here are the elements of my "Under the Sea" scene for THIS swap on SCS. This was more complicated than the Western scene (last post) because there were a lot more layers involved. I Cuttlebugged the shark and octopus and added googly eyes. There are plastic gems on the treasure chest, and I stamped paisley on the pirate skull's bandana. This was super fun to do! I really like this cartridge, and I wasn't even planning to get it. Mikes had a 2 for 1 special and I told Emily she could pick one out. I wanted Walk in my Garden, but this is the one she picked. Now I'm glad she did! Thanks for looking.

Hang in There Card

I recently got the new Cricut Lite cartridge called Meow. This is part of a new line of cartridges available only at Wal-mart for $39.99 each. I love kitties, so I had to have this one. I cut this out at 3 1/2" out of Sahara Sand, More Mustard, Whisper White, Cajun Craze, and Night of Navy. I colored this little kitty's nose and eyes with markers. N of N layer is Cuttlebugged with the distressed stripes folder. The inside says Hang in there, also cut out with Cricut. Card Base is Gina K heavy base weight Luxury kraft. This is for another animal-loving friend of mine--hope she likes it! Happy stamping!

Birthday Fishes

This is a card I made with the ZooBalloo Cricut Cartridge. I cut the card feature at 4.25" followed by various layers. The base layer is Cuttlebugged with the Tiny Bubbles folder. Colors are Only Orange, Cool Caribbean, and Tempting Turquoise. Sentiment inside reads "birthday fishes" from PTI's Pond Life Additions. This was so much fun to make! Thanks for looking!

Wedding Card

One of the women I work with is getting married so I got to make a wedding card. It's not something I do a lot of and don't really have any "just wedding" type stamp sets or anything. One of my cricut cartridges, Stretch Your Imagination, had some wedding images on it. I liked this one. I cut the blackout in Blush Blossom, then the layers in black, white and vellum. I Cuttlebugged the vellum with Swiss Dots and layered it over the white. I had to trim under the bride's arms on the Blush layer. Then I layered that over some retired SU swirl vellum, over PTI Plum Pudding, card base is Lavender Moon. I am down to my last few sheets of those colors and I won't reorder them; they are my least favorite PTI colors. But they're pretty for a wedding card. I used MTME stamp set So Sentimental plus the matching cut file for the sentiment, and the inside sent is from the same set. Border punch and rhinestone brads are SU. I just got back from the shower. She really liked the card---was fascinated by the texture. I had made 2 sets, one with the swirl vellum overlay for the dress, but I'm glad I went with the dots. I took Emily with me; she was so excited. After we'd been there for a while she whispered to me, "I thought there would be a lot more people here, and that we'd have it in a big white tent outside." I told her she'd been watching too much TV and that bridal and baby showers were usually more like this one than like that! She is so funny.

Card # 3 for my church lady friend

I just got this cool Cuttlebug Embossing folder. I absolutely love it, only trouble is, I don't want to cover it up! So I just added the sentiment (a very tiny one!) in some Pewter Hodgepodge Hardware. Before I embossed the CS, I stamped it with the Linen BG stamp (ret. SU) in Sahara Sand ink. What a great neutral color that is--it goes with literally everything, but looks esp. good (to me) with cool colors. Embossed, then distressed with SS. Layered onto Taken With Teal. It looks pretty cool IRL. Thanks for stopping by today!

PTI Regular Card Swap

Hi, here is my contribution to this round of the PTI card swap over on SCS, found HERE. Since it's due Feb 1 I went with a Valentine theme. Card base is Raspberry Fizz. Stamp set is Borders and Corners Hearts, ink is RF and Sweet Blush. White layer is Cuttlebug'ed with Swiss Dots, DP is old SU, ribbon is from my stash, I think it originally came from Mike's. Punches are Marvy and SU scallop border punch. Tiny buttons are from my stash. Thanks for looking!

Angel card--double embossing

This card uses the double embossing technique, found HERE. I used SU Shimmer White, Allegro Cuttlebug embossing folder, and oval Nesties. I embossed the angel from SU's Holy Triptych in gold and again used the floating reinker technique to color her dress. I used Cranberry Crisp and Bravo Burgundy. I watercolored her hair with Soft Suede and her hands and face with Blush Blossom. I sponged the edges with Champagne Shimmer Paint and matted on Bravo Burgundy. I used retired SU organdy ribbon and Prima poinsettias and a gold brad. Card Base is SU Brushed Gold.

This is a fun technique and very elegant looking. Check it out! Have a great day!

Bundle of Joy with Buttons

This last release, PTI came out with a set where you use buttons as part of your stamped image. Very cute! But money is tight and I can't buy a new set every time I turn around. So I thought I'd try this instead! I thought it would be cute to have the elephant from Bitty Baby Blessings holding some balloons. My friend Banu (check out her blog here) sent me some buttons a few weeks ago so I am putting them to good use. I especially love the striped button at the top of the balloon bunch. I used a ruler and black marker to draw the strings. CS is Lemon Tart, Aqua Mist, and Ocean Tides (for the ear). Used Borders and Corners Oval and the smallest oval Marvy scallop punch for the little tag at the bottom. Card front is embossed with CB Swiss Dots, and of course my favorite toy, Nesties, are used for the focal point. Elephant is stamped on Bitty Dots DP and cut out. Ribbon is PTI. I really am happy with how this card turned out--now I just need someone to have a baby so I can give it away. Have a great day, thanks for stopping by!

Card and present for a little princess

Hi everyone quick post today--I need to make a salad for our choir's end of the year party! This is a card I made for a friend of Emily's birthday party. The stamp is Elzybells (watercolored with SU inks), the stamp company I am currently in love with LOL! Card base is PTI white, layers are Pink Pirouette and Certainly Celery from SU. Celery layer is embossed with Cuttlebug Birds and Swirls, and I outlined the embossed part with a sparkly metallic gell pen. DP is Imaginisce die cut with SU's Top Note die, and crocheted lace was sent to me by Latisha.

I made this gift bag to go with the card, it is Imaginisce layered with Pink Pir. and Cert. Cel. CS. The party was at a place called Pump It Up, they have huge inflatable slides, bouncing things, and obstacle courses. The kids love it, and Emily had a blast.

Thanks for stopping by today!