Scubascrapper Brandi

Happy Thanksgiving! We fired the cook!!!

2011-11-24T18:26:00.000-05:00

Cricut Mini Launches on HSN Tonight

2011-11-14T20:13:00.003-05:00

Christmas/Winter Blog Hop

2011-11-05T06:00:00.069-04:00

Hello!!! Welcome to the Winter/Christmas Themed Blog Hop celebrating our favorite time of the year. This Blog Hop is hosted by Paulette, from Around the Bock with Scrapalette. If you are following along with the Hop you should have arrived from Blingdazzler’s blog. If not, you can start at the beginning of the hop at http://scrapalette.blogspot.com

Paulette and I will be following along with the blog hop from the Cricut Circle event in Greenville SC!! My projects for today are serving dual purpose! For those of you in the Circle you may know that these events for the Circlets typically include a theme, a swap and a contest. Luckily for me the theme of today’s blog hop is also the theme for the Circle event (love killing two birds with one stone– YIPEE!!). For information about joining the Cricut Circle please visit www.Cricut.com. Now that all that stuff is out of the way…let’s get to the real reason you are here J!!

My first project for the hop is a simple card that will fit not only Christmas but Winter too. It is the card I am entering into the contest at the Circle event. I love the way it turned out. I think this is going to be my stock Christmas card this year. It was soooooo easy to put together, but yet I think it is simply stunning (maybe I am biased heeheehee). I may decide to change it up a bit too…maybe a nativity scene, or a silhouette of an ice skater??? Who knows!!

Materials Used for this project:

Stampin’ Up Cardstock & Ink – Basic Gray

Georgia Pacific Cardstock (Walmart) – White

PK Glitz Glitter – Crystal

Zig Two Way Glue Pen

EK Success 3D-Dots - 1/16” thick

EK Success 3D-Dots – 1/8” thick

Stampin’ Up Stamp Sets – Heard from the Heart and God’s Blessings

ATG gun

Gypsy (DS or CCR will probably work)

Cricut Cartridges:

Campin’ Critters – Bare Trees (layer 2 – button 42)

Celebrate with Flourish –Rabbit (layer - button 12)

Christmas – Snowy hill (shift – button 43)

Don Juan – (Christmas) Pine (shift – button 33)

George and Basic Shapes – (shift – button 14; resized to a horizontal rectangle to weld to the snowy hill to provide a flat edge for the bottom of the card)

Live Simply – Squirrel (base – button 9; flipped right to left)

Wildlife – Deer family (base – button 39)

I designed this with my Gypsy. First I opened a template I had created for a 4.25” x 5.50” landscape card. This gives me a base to work from in making sure I have everything sized the way I want it. There are three layers to the scene to give it the depth. I started with the snowy hill from the Christmas cartridge. I then welded a base using the square (resized) from George and Basic Shapes. Then I added the Pine from Don Juan as well as several sets of the bare trees from Campin’ Critters, using the hide contour feature to space/organize the trees the way I wanted. Next I began to add the animals; I wanted the deer family from Wildlife to be the main focus, then I placed the rabbit from Celebrate with Flourish and the squirrel from Live Simply (again using hide contour on both to avoid cutting the extras). After I had my scene the way I thought I wanted it I copied it two times and then began to delete the items I didn’t want for each specific layer. I welded and grouped the items on each layer and would occasionally place the layers back on top of one another to make sure I was getting everything I wanted in the right place. Once I was satisfied I made my cuts. Oh, in efforts to avoid wasting so much paper I flipped one of the layers down and moved the layers around so they would cut on one 8 ½ x 11 piece of cardstock (save the paper from the mat to use later on in the project).

I used my zig two way glue pen to strategically place glue in the tree bends and on the ground where snow would lay and sprinkled with PK Glitz glitter. I scored my card base and began by adhering the base layer directly to the cardstock with my ATG gun. I then added 1/16” 3D-Dots and attached the next layer carefully lining everything up and repeated with the top layer. Then I used the leftovers from the Cricut cuts, and cut a piece to 5.5” by whatever I had to stamp my sentiment using Stampin’ Up’s Heard from the Heart “welcome Christmas into your heart” in basic gray. I then carefully tore the paper to add another layer element, added a line of glue and sprinkled with PK Glitz glitter. I attached directly to the top layer with my ATG gun.

On the inside (not shown-sorry!) I cut down a piece of white cardstock and stamped my sentiment using Stampin’ Up’s God’s Blessings “May the miracle of Christmas find you Safe in the Peace of God, warm in the Light of Christ.” I find this sentiment just beautiful! While I respect the beliefs of others, I am a Christian and believe that there is no Christmas without Christ. That is it. The hardest thing about this card is the design. Now that I have that out of the way I am excited about getting these made so I can mail them out after Thanksgiving.

I will be happy to share the gypsy file with you (leave a comment including your email), all I ask is for creative courtesy in that you do not share without my consent and please give credit where credit is due J! If you do not have the cartridges required to make the cuts, I am sure you can find substitutions with cartridges you do have. Just have fun with it! I may be posting some additional versions in the future.

For my next project I am showing you the tags I made for the Circle event tag swap. These were soooo simple to make!! You tend to want simple when you are making 50+ of the same thing LOL!!

Materials Used for this Project:

Stampin’ Up Cardstock & Ink – Baja Breeze, Certainly Celery, and Cherry Cobbler

Staz-on Ink – Cotton White

(Unknown Brand) Cardstock - Vanilla

Caron Simply Soft Yarn (Walmart) – Off White #9702

Close To My Heart Stamp Set from the Art Philosophy Bundle – To: and From:

Studio G Clear Stamp Set ($1 Winter set) - Snowflake

Crop-a-dile

ATG gun

Gypsy

Cricut Cartridge:

Jolly Holidays – Mittens @ 2.75 (base & shift – button 29)

Again, designed with my Gypsy, I added as many sets of mittens I could to fit the paper I had; using 8 ½ x 11 paper I was able to cut 6 sets per sheet of cardstock. On another layer I was able to add more of the shift layers, which was ok because I wanted all of the mitten “cuffs” to be vanilla for visibility on who the gift is to and from (I despise those sticker tags that are so dark sometimes you can’t find a pen that shows up or you can’t read when you are handing out presents!). I cut the mittens in various colors, then cut the cuffs in vanilla. I was careful to keep the cuffs for the left mittens together and the cuffs for the right mittens together…this way I knew which stamp should be used on them (to: stamped on the left cuff and from: stamped on the right cuff). Using the ink color coordinating with the mittens, I stamped the to: and from: onto the cuffs and attached them to the mitten using the ATG gun. I then stamped the snowflakes on the mittens; on the Cherry Cobbler mittens I used the Staz-on ink; on the Baja Breeze and Certainly Celery I used the coordinating ink. Next I used my Crop-a-dile to punch holes for my yarn. I used the smaller hole punch and placed the mitten set together by putting them face to face and lining up the thumb then punching the hole as close to the bottom and edge under the thumb as I could. I simply inserted the yarn, tied a simple knot and cut the excess off! That’s it!! Easy, peasy, lemon squeezy!!

I love simple things. Sometimes I want to get to elaborate and I realize that just isn’t my thing! I have always liked clean lines, bright colors and cutesy images. I do try to challenge myself every now and then to go outside of my comfort zone, but when mass producing I just don’t have the patience…nope, not me hahaha!

Well I hope you have enjoyed my projects. Please leave me a comment…all us bloggers just love comments. If you like my projects please browse some of my other posts and become a follower. You never know, I may just randomly choose someone for a prize J….hmmmmmmmm…..???

Off to the next blog you shall go…that would be Sharon at Designs by Sharon

Here are the other participants:
1. Paulette at http://scrapalette.blogspot.com/
2. Debbie at http://bugginattheseams.blogspot.com/
3. Carolyn at http://cccscraproom.blogspot.com/
4. Brenda at http://happyscrapper64.blogspot.com/
5. Maria at http://stampcutcreate.blogspot.com/
6. Chris at http://scrappin-nanapuddin.blogspot.com/
7. Cindy at http://www.inlovewithpaper.blogspot.com/
8. Michele at http://www.michelegreen.com/
9. Lisa at http://addictedtothecricut.blogspot.com/
10. Dana at http://papermemories4u.blogspot.com/
11. Nancy at http://lanancyworkshop.blogspot.com/
12. Madylyn at http://inspiredbycolor.blogspot.com/
13. Wini at http://www.looneybugdesigns.com/
14. Renee at http://icameisawicreated.blogspot.com/
15. Tammy at http://www.scrapcavecreations.com/
16. Debbie at http://debbieduddles.blogspot.com/
17. Kim at http://blingdazzler.com/
18. Brandi at http://scubascrapperbrandi.blogspot.com/
19. Sharon at http://designsbysharon.blogspot.com/
20. Liz at http://liz-lavendarandroses.blogspot.com/

A Simple Thank You

2011-11-04T06:00:00.001-04:00

So quick, so easy…

Materials Used:

Stampin Up Cardstock – Crumb Cake, Early Espresso

Unknown Brand Cardstock – Vanilla

Stampin Up Ink – Early Espresso

Stampin’ Up Stamp Set – Heard from the Heart

Cuttlebug – Swiss Dots embossing folder

Aleene’s Tacky Glue Fast Drying Glue Pen

EK Success 3D-Dots 1/16” thickness & 1/8” thickness

Cricut Cartridge:

Art Philosophy

Cut info:

button 14 - base @ 3.50” & basic/icon layer @ 3” in Vanilla

button 16 - shift base @ 1.75 in Crumb Cake

button 16 - shift basic/icon layer @ 1.75 in Early Espresso

Cut card base at 4 ¼ x 5 ½ using SU’s Crumb Cake. Make Cricut cuts. Lightly ink acorn base with Early Espresso ink. Emboss acorn layer with cuttlebug; glue to base layer. Glue frame layers together and attach to card base using 1/8” 3D Dots. Attach acorn to frame layers using 1/16” 3D Dots. Stamp Sentiment to card base. Add a layer of cardstock and a sentiment to the inside and that’s it, you’re done. No fuss, no muss!!

First Christmas Project of the Year!!

2011-11-03T06:00:00.001-04:00

So as most of you know when you have a lot of people that you are trying to give a gift to, it is REALLY hard to find something affordable! I really like to make stuff to give away to co-workers and to my church family. Once I ran across these beautiful handmade ornaments (tutorial can be found HERE) and realized how VERY affordable they were I jumped right on it. Of course Stampin’ Up no longer sells the kit that is mentioned in the tutorial, so I had to improvise.

Materials Used:

Cardstock (various)

3” eye pins (found in jewelry section)

Pearls

Crystal Gems

Clear Earring Backings

1/16” hole puncher

Ribbon

For all the materials listed above (excluding the hole puncher, which I already had) I spent less than $25.00; the paper was on sale for 40% off and I used one 40% off coupon for the rest of the stuff! I can make at least 100 of these ornaments with this stuff! The 3” eye pins come in packages of 50, I bought 2. I found a package of 750 pearls and a package of 175 crystal gems. The earring backs contained 325. I am going to have plenty of supplies to make even more than 100, I would just need to buy more eye pins.

I decided to change mine up a bit; some are double balls, some single, some have pearls and gems at the top and the bottom. I don’t want them all to be exactly alike. I will be switching up the papers too; the Christmas package I has so many cute pages and it looks like I should be able to make about 5-6 ornaments for every two sheets of cardstock.

I am going to the Cricut Circle event in Greenville SC this weekend. From what I hear you really don’t get any work done at these events, it is more about learning, socializing/meeting your fellow circle sisters than actually cropping. However, I think I will take the stuff with me to make these ornaments…not a lot to pack and something I can start and stop if need be!! Hoping to get a head start on making these :o}!!

I just love this time of the year! Things start to get busy for me though. I have several birthdays in my family in Nov and Dec, Husby and I go to Myrtle Beach in Nov every year (he attends a convention for work), then holidays with cooking and baking and shopping and wrapping and lots of activities at church…you all know what I am talking about!! Love it, love it, love it!! Some of my friends think I am a freak LOL!

What is your favorite thrifty handmade Christmas gift? Have you already started making or planning stuff for Christmas? I am always looking for ideas, so please share!!

Totally Scraplifted!!

2011-11-02T06:00:00.000-04:00

Ever see a project that you just ooh and aah over? Well, this was one for me. Sometimes I don’t want to have to be creative, I just want to get it done! I wanted to make something for some of my co-workers. I filled them with Tootsie Rolls.

I must give credit where credit is due…Renee at I came I saw I created is the original designer

Here is my version…

Backpack Birthday Card

2011-11-01T06:00:00.000-04:00

My nephew turned 11 a few weeks ago and he always likes my creations (so sweet ♥). I have really been wanting to make the backpack from Campin Critters; its boyish, so I thought why not give it a shot! He loved it (and especially the money I stuffed inside it, hehehehe). I also noticed when I visited him a few weeks prior to his birthday that he had drawn his name on some cardstock and cut them out and had them posted on his door. So, I cut his name out of the Varsity Letters cart and give them to him. He thought they were really cool and now I have to make some for my niece's birthday (to be 7 year old) that is just around the corner. Guess I'd better get to work LOL!

Materials Used:

SU! Cardstock - Early Espresso, Pacific Point, Tempting Turquoise

Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel – Bronze

Cricut Cartridges:

Campin' Critters

Varsity Letters

p.s. I guess you can see I made the backpack without the sleeping bag :)

Congratulations!

2011-10-31T06:00:00.000-04:00

I made this for a friend who is having a new baby boy. He is absolutely excited and I am excited for him. I did not take a picture of the inside sentiment, but it reads “Of all the blessings God sends from above, the one most precious is a boy to love.”

Materials Used:

SU! Cardstock (Bashful Blue, Blush Blossom, Marina Mist)

Bazzill Textured Cardstock

Paper Loft Patterned Paper

SU! Ink Early Espresso

Studio G Stamp – Congratulations Sentiment

Cloud 9 Stamp – Simple Thoughts – Boy (inside sentiment)

Peachy Keen Stamps – Funshine Face Parts & Basic Paper Doll Faces

Martha Stewart Flocking Powder – Swan

Cuttlebug Folder – Spots and Dots

Stickles - Stardust

Cricut Cartridges:

Elegant Edges

George and Basic Shapes

Simply Charmed

Anniversary Card

2011-10-20T22:00:00.000-04:00

YIKES! I discovered that I am still in possession of my parents anniversary card. Their anniversary was August 31^st – ooooops!! We live 3 hours apart, and we have seen each other several times since then, but I keep forgetting to give it to them!! I am a terrible daughter – UGH!!

Materials used for making this card:

SU Cardstock (crumb cake, so saffron, old olive, espresso, pumpkin pie)

Off White Cardstock

SU Ink (espresso, crumb cake)

SU Markers (pumpkin pie, so saffron, old olive

Cuttlebug folders (script, paisley)

SU Pearls

Stamps:

SU Sweet Summer (backgrounds, flower stem)

$1 Stamp (Happy Anniversary)

Cricut cartridges:

Independence Day

Elegant Edges

CTMH Art Philosophy

I actually made this card with a different flower and then I went to the CKC (Creating Keepsakes Convention) in Charlotte and was able to purchase the Art Philosophy Cartridge bundle. I was so excited about getting the cartridge that I whipped it out the next day and cut these flowers just for fun and then decided to rip off the flowers I had on the card and replace them with these. I <3 <3 <3 this cartridge!! I am not even a flower person, but I just ADORE these flowers. It is now making me want the Flower Shoppe cart (of course Cricut.com is out of stock right now L). I also love the Elegant Edges cart; this was my first opportunity to use it as well. I hope you like it, but more importantly I hope my parents like it!!

Halloween Mini Album

2011-10-16T06:00:00.004-04:00

I have never posted this because I was never impressed with it. I have this clear storage tote that I keep either test projects or projects I have made but don’t really know what to do with. This was my first attempt at a mini album and it is actually from a couple of years ago. Some of you may remember Bugjunkie; well, she inspired the idea and had a tutorial on her blog on how to create these mini albums in Design Studio. At the time I didn’t have a binding machine (I now have two that I have STILL never used – probably need to work on that huh?) so I had it bound at a local printing shop so I didn’t really have much of a say in the binding. Anyway, a month or so ago a good friend of mine was over trying to convince me to participate in a holiday sale. I pulled the box down to see what I had that I could sell and when I pulled the book out she went nuts for it and wanted to buy it. I hadn’t even taken pictures, so I told her that I needed to take pictures and she could have it. She asked me to teach her how to make one, so I told her to save some cereal boxes and then we could spend a day making mini albums. Every time I have seen her since she tells me she won’t let her husby throw away any cereal boxes LOL! I can’t wait to do this with her…I love spending time with her!!

If you are interested in the details of how I made it or would like the cut file let me know and I will email it to you.

Cricut Circle - Feeling Gifty Challenge

2011-10-15T13:50:00.001-04:00

As I have said in a couple of my past posts, I participated in a holiday sale not too long ago. While there I had some spa sock cupcakes left over from last Christmas to sell. They were the socks that didn’t really go with the Christmas colors so I figured they would be useful to give as birthday gifts. Then, of course I forgot about them until I pulled them out of my project tote. Although we didn’t have a great turnout, I was able to sell all but one of the spa sock cupcakes. BUT, I had a request for a special order!! She paid me in advance and asked if I could find a set of purple socks and a set of green socks and make them for her granddaughters. One of the granddaughters loves purple, and the other loves frogs. Well I couldn’t find green socks, but I thought, hey, I can buy any color and then make the cupcake wrapper green and add a frog! So I did. Here is what I came up with.

It just so happens that my projects fit with the Cricut Circle’s current challenge “Feeling Gifty” – create a new item that includes at least two Cricut cuts (both of the cupcake wrappers have at least two cuts).

Enjoying the Fall Colors

2011-10-15T12:45:00.000-04:00

I spent my morning enjoying the clean, crisp air (not to be confused with cold air) of the fall morning from my front porch. Here was my view…

I listened to the birds chirp and watched the sun glisten off of the dew on the pumpkins, gourds and petals of the mums in my fall outdoor decorations…

What a way to start the morning!! Here is are a few additional shots of my fall decorations…

Ooooooh, I just love these colors. I think I may have been inspired to go use them now :)!!

Cricut Circle Blogiversary Entry

2011-10-13T21:04:00.002-04:00

The Cricut Circle Blog is celebrating their one year anniversary. The challenge is to create a card using this sketch:

Here is my entry:

Materials need for this project were:

Halloween themed paper (DCWV stack from two years ago)

SU! Paper

PK Glitz Glitter

Xyron

Studio G Stamp

Peachy Keen Monster Mash Face Assortment

Staz-on Ink

MS Drippy Goo Punch (inside of card)

Cricut Cartridges:

Happy Hauntings (bats)

Holiday Cakes (moon)

Paper Doll Dress Up (monsters, pumpkin and tombstone)

Glass Etched Lantern

2011-10-13T20:33:00.002-04:00

I think this is one of my favorite projects so far. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE how this turned out. I just wish pictures did it justice. I tried so many different ways to take them and it is just so hard to capture the beauty of it. I hope you can get the idea. I bought this lantern on clearance well over a year ago and with the intention of etching the glass sides, but I just never seemed to find the time. I was finally “forced” into getting it done when a fellow crafter asked me to come to a holiday sale she was holding for the local Senior Community Center. I told her I didn’t really make things to sell, I just do it as a hobby, but she told me I better get busy whipping some stuff up. So I said to myself, “Self, get off your butt and get these projects done that you have been wanting to get done!” and so I did. I will post some pics of the other stuff I made too, but this was my favorite. All of the images (not the sentiment) on the lantern were cut from the Pagoda cartridge, and they just worked so well. The sentiment “walk where your heart leads you” came from a picture I found on the web and I used MTC to cut the stencil. Materials needed for this project were:

Lantern

Pagoda Cricut Cartridge

Vinyl

Transfer Tape (clear contact paper)

Armor Etch

Stiff, Flat Head Brush

Sentiment of Your Choice

Cricut Expression

Make the Cut Software

Oh, and a side note…as I was cleaning the etching cream off of the last panel (in the sink) I dropped it and busted the panel I was cleaning!!! I was sooooooo sick about it. I actually went and had a piece of glass cut so I could re-do it. It didn’t sell at the holiday sale (sadly we didn’t have a good turnout) but I was kind of relieved LOL. I don’t have anywhere to put it, but I think it would make a really good gift for someone at Christmas; what do you think? Would it be something you would like to get?

I Don't Believe It!!!

2011-09-09T21:18:00.000-04:00

Well, Cricaholic, it is definitely your lucky day!! papermemories4u did not claim her prize :(, soooooooo tonight I drew another name from the bag and God as my witness your name was pulled. I won't lie, I was rooting for you (as hard as you were lobbying LOL), but it was an honest draw. Please email or PM me on the boards with your mailing address so I can send you your cartridge!!

Brandi

We have a WINNER!!

2011-09-07T17:56:00.000-04:00

Papermemories4u (Dana T) is the lucky winner!! Dana, I sent you an email on Monday. Please reply with your mailing address before midnight, September 8th to claim your prize.

Cricaholic is gunning hard for your prize...she has left a comment on each post and has the most entries, so she has a real good shot of winning!

Brandi

Step Card for my Husby's 45th

2011-09-02T06:59:00.002-04:00

My DH turned 45 this year...whew he is getting old (I love teasing him LOL). Anyway, I saw a card style in the Creating Keepsakes magazine that I wanted to try, so I gave it a whirl. I really like the way it turned out. He loves sweets so what better to put on it than a bunch of sweet treats? When I gave him the card he said, "next time you could at least sign it" (I will explain the significance in a minute), so I had to show him the pocket sentiment. I really thought I made it obvious with the tag pertruding out of the side and the bright ribbons, but you know men LOL. Of course I loved glittering this bad boy up and I also glossy accented the sundae glass and cherries. I also heat embossed some clear sparkle to one of the presents.

The DH has a TERRIBLE track record for card/gift giving. His family just doesn't do much of anything for birthdays, so I guess old habits are hard to break. Well there have been several times where I have had to sit in the car while he ran into a store to buy me a birthday card. There was also once where he gave me one that he hadn't signed and I handed it back at him and asked "who's this from?" he replied, "me" and I said "well, are you planning on returning it?" he said "no, why" and I replied "then if you can't sign the da*# thing, then don't bother". Of course we laugh about it now, but I was not amused at the time!!

I love how it turned out. I just love bright colors…they are so fun! Have ever tried a step card?

A Quick Thank You Card!

2011-08-31T22:34:00.000-04:00

Here was a simple thank you card that I made during a card workshop I attend monthly. No Cricut here (YIKES!!!); all the materials and stamps are from Stampin' Up! (except the Stickles). This could very easily be made with the Cricut though. I know Elegant Edges has a border that is similar to the punch (how do I know? Check back in a couple of days ;)) used for the top border and of course there are plenty of carts with scallops that would work for the sentiment. Instead of stamping the image, you could always cut flowers out and hand doodle the little 'stems'. I think the Cricut is so versatile for stuff like that...who needs stamps?! (wait, what am I talking about?! I do! LOL!). Actually, I prefer sentiment stamps. I feel like I can make almost any image with my Cricut but it seems harder to cut sentiments (even just a simple thank you) small enough to work for some cards. Now don't get me wrong, I still do it, but I just think sentiment stamps are wonderful.

So, what are your favorite types of stamps? You know I said I like sentiment stamps, but I also prefer clear acrylic stamps. Stampin Up! stamps are very nice, but I hate that I can't see where I am stamping (and they're thinking a rubber clear mount stamp is comparable to the acrylic clear stamps...just ludicrous).

HAPPY 85TH!!!

2011-08-30T19:00:00.002-04:00

This is one of those duh moments…you know when you forget to take good pictures of a project you have made. Oh well! At least I happened to take some pics that it in them.

My Aunt’s father (no, not my Grandfather, Aunt by marriage…hehehe, that is the first question I am asked) turned 85 on Father’s Day this year. She and my Uncle threw him a big birthday bash at their farm. So, I made a….take a guess….AN EXPLODING BOX, LOL!! I know, I have been on an exploding box kick. I just love them, they are sooooo versatile. Man, woman, birthday, wedding, you name it, it works!! I changed it up a bit though, this time instead of making it for pictures, I made it so everyone attending the party could sign. This would serve as a momento for the guest of honor. I mean, really, what can you give an 85 year young MAN for his birthday, other than a big bash of a party? The theme was a patriotic theme. He served in the Navy and is very patriotic; so I thought why not make the box patriotic? Here is what I came up with (and the sorry excuse for pictures that I made of it)…

After he figured out what it was he really liked it LOL. In one of the pics you can see me (well, my arm) showing him what it was and how it worked. He was afraid to touch it because when he started to open it he was a little rough with it and all the ladies started hollering at him…it was quite comical J. I thought it matched the theme very well! The last pic is to show the theme so you can see for yourself (that is my Aunt, who I love very much, in the picture...she is one special lady).

Thanks for looking! Don't forget to leave a comment for an additional chance to win the Blog Candy! Good luck!

June Wedding - UPDATED w/ pics!!

2011-08-29T21:23:00.001-04:00

May was a very busy month! I had a good friend ask me to make some items for her daughter’s June 4^th wedding. I was honored that they would trust me with such a task and so of course I obliged. I jumped right in and made the menus, programs and table numbers. Her wedding was a beautiful and simple outdoor wedding with a rustic theme. We started planning well in advance, but it came down to the wire with the final design and count. I was scrambling to get everything done, but I did it and she loved everything; which is all that mattered!! We opted to go with the Stampin’ Up! colors of Wild Wasabi and Perfect Plum because they were a perfect match to her color choices, we added Chocolate Chip, Crumb Cake and Very Vanilla as the neutral colors to accentuate the rustic theme. Here is a pic of the beautiful couple and their wedding party…

As I said in my blog candy post...I can't believe I didn't take pictures!!! I was so behind on getting them ready and when we got to the wedding I saw there was a need for someone to pitch in and help set up, so I went straight to it and didn't think about getting pictures. However, the phtographer got some great shots of my creations. I have emailed him asking if I could get digital copies, but until then here are links to the images if you are interested. YAY! He was kind enough to share pics - you rock Jeff Scott (owner of J Darren Photography)!!

I was very pleased with the way all of the items turned out. The fans were a HUGE hit...it was sooooooo hot that day! There didn't seem to be a cloud in the sky and it was 95 degrees (in the mountains no less!)

For her wedding card, I made an exploding box with a cake inside using the colors from the wedding. She absolutely adored it!! I did get some pics of it LOL...

I made the cake from a cut file that was based on the Sizzix Pop up Die. Unfortunately, the original maker of this file had to take it down per request of Sizzix. If you are interested in the file let me know in your comment and I will email it to you (shhhh!).

I hope you like my creations!!

BLOG CANDY!!!

2011-08-28T18:35:00.001-04:00

This is my first ever blog candy! Once again, I have been MIA. Life just really gets in the way so much lately. But not to worry, I still find time to craft…I just don’t find time to always update my blog. Since my last post I have made several projects, and sad to say, I did not make pictures of all of them *kicking the dirt and screaming…”I can’t believe I didn’t get pics!*. Throughout the week I will be posting details of those projects as part of this blog candy. So, onto the candy!! I am giving away a brand new Martha Stewart Crafts Seasonal Cake Art Cricut Cartridge

To be eligible for my blog candy, you must:

1 – Be a follower of my blog that lives in the US

2 – Leave a comment on this post telling me what your favorite time of the year is and what you would do with this cartridge if you won. If you don’t have an email address attached to your posting profile, please make sure to include an email address in the comment so I can contact you if you win.

**For additional chances to win, leave a comment on each of my project posts and I will enter your name for each comment.

Winner will be drawn on Monday, September 5^thand will be posted by Wednesday September 7^th.

GOOD LUCK!!

New Cricut Blog!!!

2011-05-18T01:05:00.000-04:00

I have added a blinkie over to the right that will take you to the new Cricut Blog. According to PC: "This blog will be full of announcements, information, Cricut.com deals and creative projects meant to inspire everyone who loves Cricut." The blog will go live May 18th 6:00am EST. Join now!

Mother's Day Exploding Box

2011-05-14T22:58:00.003-04:00

I made this for my mother for Mother’s Day. I think she didn’t know what it was at first, but once I told her it was like a mini album and that she could add pictures in it or add journal tags with special memories she really liked it. I do hope she will use it. I spent a lot of hours on it J. I used SEI’s Jocelyn paper pack and SU! Chocolate Chip, Tempting Turquoise and Certainly Celery to make the box and all the embellies in it. I loved using a paper pack to make this…it made it soooooo easy!!! Not only that, the SEI paper cuts sooooo well with the Cricut...there was no tearing, no skipping, no snags and it cut all the way through the first time; it was truly like cutting butter! I will warn you to take care when scoring their glittered papers though; I actually scored right through one of the pages. I used Tags Bags Boxes and More, Calligraphy Collection, Fabulous Finds, and Sweethearts for all the envelopes.

Wish me luck...

2011-05-14T21:55:00.001-04:00

I am trying to win something from Provocraft J. I had to post a picture of myself in my craftroom. So, here it is.

MPS Challenge # 5 - Make a 3D Item

2011-05-08T23:24:00.002-04:00

This is to go along with my gift bag with the socks and cow…AN EXPLOSION box for her to put pics of new baby Luke on her desk (and only show them to who she wants).

MPS Challenge # 6 - Include a Tag in Your Project

2011-05-08T23:13:00.004-04:00

I have enjoyed participating in MPS’s National Scrapbooking Day Challenges! It really has pushed me to get a lot done this weekend. I didn’t participate in all 12 challenges, but in most cases I was able to complete my projects in the 1 hour mark. But this one and the next one I am posting took quite a bit longer because I just wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. I had bought just a little something for a friend (and co-worker) who is having a little baby boy in early June. She is so excited, as it is her first child. I found these really cute socks that are white with green and blue blue stripes (they match the packaging I made) and they have little shoestrings on them to make them look like little tennis shoes. On the bottom of them one has “little” written on it and the other has “buddy”…how cute!!!! Then I also found a mini Gund (LOVE Gund) cow that moos when you press his belly. I hope she likes everything!

Oh, I almost forgot…I custom made the tag with my Gypsy by welding the airplane from New Arrival to match the decoration on the front of the bag.

MPS Challenge #9 - Glitz, Glam & Glitter

2011-05-08T08:26:00.003-04:00

I am posting these out of order, because I am skipping to challenges that fit my needs for getting caught up on my crafting LOL. I know you can see the glam (hehehe) but it is kind of hard to see all the glitz and glitter in the picture, but I promise it's there. I did the best I could to capture it with the camera. I am very pleased with how this card turned out. I have a niece that turned 17 in April; we all went out to dinner to celebrate but I had been traveling for work and hadn't had the time to make anything. So, I came up with this idea...I hope she likes it :o).

MPS Challenge #4 - Mother's Day Theme

2011-05-07T21:07:00.002-04:00

No, you didn’t miss #3; I decided to skip it. So here is my creation for the Mother’s Day theme. Since I need two cards I think I should do this challenge twice. However, I think instead, I will try to incorporate another MPS Challenge for the other one. Oh, by the way, I know I am behind…I AM trying to make these in an hour or less, but I have had to take a few breaks to do some other household things here and there; and I had an unexpected visitor today. Off to another challenge…

MPS Challenge #2 - Kraft Cardstock

2011-05-07T14:45:00.003-04:00

Another birthday card. I was able to use another cartridge I have owned and not used!! I also challenged myself to use a color combo that was posted by one of MPS’s designers.

MPS Challenge #1 entry - Anything Cupcake

2011-05-07T12:17:00.003-04:00

I will probably re-take this pic…I really haven’t had enough time to let the stickles dry…

I also challenged myself on this card to use a cartridge I haven't used yet. The cupcake is from Smiley Cards.

National Scrapbook Day 2011

2011-05-07T12:15:00.001-04:00

I have decided that I need to take the day to get caught up on some crafting. I am really behind in making my family’s birthday cards. So, while I am not working on layouts I feel like I am still celebrating NSD 2011!! I have decided to see if I can follow some of My Pink Stamper’s challenges. Not only will I be getting caught up, I may be lucky enough to win something at the same time. I will be posting the projects as I complete them. This is the first time I have truly participated in a challenge. Have you ever participated in a challenge?

Birthday Card for a Special Aunt

2011-05-02T21:58:00.002-04:00

Here is another quick card I put together. This probably one of the only cards I have ever made that didn’t include a cut from my beloved Cricut. This was quick, easy and I really love the way it turned out. I may actually make this card again if I am in a pickle.

Recipe

Paper:

SU! White Cardstock

SU! Melon Mambo

SU! Certainly Celery

Scrap piece of light pink

Stamp:

SU! Eastern Blooms

Miscellaneous:

SU! Melon Mambo stamp pad

SU! Pearls

Wedding Shower

2011-05-02T20:41:00.003-04:00

Obviously I have been horrible about keeping my blog updated lately. Life has just been in the way!! I have been lucky to find the time to craft, let alone post. So I will try to load up on some posts over the next couple of days. Here is a very simple card (really! It took less than 40 minutes to make from design to execution) I made for a friend’s wedding shower. I used the following to make the card:

Recipe

Paper:

Generic Cardstock Off White – Card Base, Bracket, and Wedding Dress

SU! Crumb Cake – Bracket, and Wedding Dress

Cricut Cartridges:

Accent Essentials - Bracket

Tie the Knot - Wedding Dress

Stamps:

SU! Eastern Blooms – Background on card base

SU! Heard from the Heart – Sentiment (Wishing You Happiness Today and Always)

Miscellaneous:

SU! Crumb Cake Stamp Pad - sentiment & negative embossing

Versamark Dazzle Frost Stamp Pad- embossing

PK Glitz Crystal Glitter – wedding dress (adhered with Xyron sticker maker)

SU! Pearls – wedding dress

Hope you like it!

Tonight is the Night!

2011-04-25T20:50:00.000-04:00

HSN is debuting the new 5 yr anniversary edition of the Cricut Expression (version 2). I am soooooo excited I am beside myself. I just hope I can stay awake for it LOL!

There are several bloggers that have been given the opportunity to give a CE2 away. Check out Everyday Cricut's giveaway HERE. My Pink Stamper also has one HERE. Good luck!!

I won! I won!

2011-03-14T21:13:00.000-04:00

Oh my goodness!!! I actually won the giveaway from Wende's blog Passionately Paper!! Yay!!! Thanks Wende!!! Ok, enough with the exclamation points, right? Sorry, I just normally don't have the luck for that type of thing...I am very excited :). Maybe I should go play the lottery? LOL. I hope y'all have as good a night as I have...night, night.

Giveaway at Passionately Paper

2011-03-12T07:43:00.000-05:00

I know it has been a while since I have posted to my blog. I have been EXTREMELY busy with work and life. Even through my busy times I have been trying to keep up with some of my favorite bloggers and crafting buddies. Wende over at Passionately Paper is having a giveaway of the April Showers Seasonal Cartridge. Hop on over there, become a follower and enter for a chance to win. You can even have a second chance to win if you post about the giveaway on your blog and leave a second comment (guess what I am doing hehehehe). I rarely enter these giveaways because 1) I don't usually have the luck to win and 2) I normally already have the cartridge :o/. This is one I actually don't have, so I thought I would give it a shot. The link to the giveaway post is in the title :)...good luck! However, I do hope I am the lucky one :).

I hope that work begins to slow down for me and that I can spend more time blogging. I won't get to do too much creative crafting because I have a special young lady in my life that has asked me to make some things for her wedding. Her mom and I are very good friends and so when they asked me I was very happy to oblige (I also felt honored)! I can't wait to get started! I am going to be making the programs, place cards, table numbers, and menus. I have quite a job ahead of me! I have been trying to make a card here or there and one of these days I will get pictures posted. Keep checking back!

Cutest font site EVER!!! (and a tutorial on how to download fonts)

2011-01-18T07:31:00.001-05:00

OMG! I have been really busy (work, family, holidays) and I know I have been neglecting my blog lately (sorry!!) but, as I was working on a project I ran across the BEST site for the CUTEST free fonts! Here is the link; and I have added a button on my sidebar…you really need to check it out!!! I am so in love…I have downloaded over 600 fonts tonight, hehehe. They have handwriting fonts and scrapbook fonts…ALL available for free! And they make so easy to download them!!! Please check it out and let me know what you think.

So, a couple of hints…when you open the site there are two things on the page. The first title is fonts for peas. This is where you will find the handwriting fonts. When you click on this page scroll down about halfway and look on the right hand side for a button that says download all…this provides you with a zip file that allows you to “extract all” and send them to your Windows Font file. The second title, free scrapbook fonts, is yep, you guessed it more fonts! These are more funky, fun fonts that you would use for titles on your scrapbook pages. Of course you digital scrappers will enjoy, but just so you know, most of these will work with MTC or SCAL!!

If you are unsure how to download fonts:

Let me preface by saying this is the way I download fonts…if you have a better way, please share! I am using the site referenced above as the source for this tutorial, but you can follow these instructions for downloading a font from any free font site.

1. Click on the download all button

1. The following pop up box will appear; click save

2. The following pop up box will appear; this is simply asking you to map where you would like the file saved. Select Desktop (I will explain why in just a minute); click save

3. The following pop up box will appear once the file has completed download; click on close.

4. Now, here is the reason I suggest sending these to your desktop…THEY ARE EASY TO FIND!! Now, you just simply go to your desktop (I use the quick link on my bottom taskbar)

…Here is cropped view of my desktop showing the zip file (a zip file is a large content file that has been compressed)

5. Right click on the zip file and select extract all

6. You will be asked to select a destination for the extracted files; your computer should select this for you. Make sure to have the show extracted files when complete button checked; click Extract

7. The individual files will now show in a pop up box and a new folder has been created on your destop. This particular zip file had 123 files. As you can see they are all TTF (true type font) files.

8. Now you need to highlight all of the files (you can do this by clicking on the first file, scrolling down to the last file, hold the shift key down and click on the last file); right click and select copy

9. Now you need to find your master Fonts file. You should be able to get to it by selecting Computer – finding Local Disk (C:) – opening Windows folder – opening Fonts folder

10. Now right click anywhere in the fonts folder and select paste. Viola! You have installed your fonts! You should be able to open any program in which you would normally use fonts and they should be visible.

I hope some of you will find this useful!! Oh, and since I haven’t said it yet…HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

It's Always Sunny In Here - Scrapbook.com

2010-12-06T19:16:00.001-05:00

Thought this was so cute I needed to share it!!

YAY! Another Blog Award!

2010-11-22T20:44:00.003-05:00

Thank you, thank you Wende! Wende at Passionately Paper awarded me with this super cute Blog Award, ‘The Stylish Blogger Award’. This is my second award and really does make you feel like all the time we waste on these lovely little blogs is actually worth it. In the words of Stuart Smalley from SNL…I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and doggone it, people like me. LOL! And doesn’t this just match great with my theme J

The Stylish Award comes with some fun to do's!!!!

1. Thank and link back to the person who awarded you

2. Share 8 things about yourself

3. Pay it forward to 8 bloggers that you have recently discovered

4. Contact those bloggers and tell them about their awards

Eight things about me:

1. I have been with my husband for going on 20 years and I am only 37 (YIKES! That is more than half of my life!!)

2. I have two amazing dogs. They are 80 lb and 100 lb lap dogs, hehehe. Love, love, love them!

3. I love crafting, mostly paper or Cricut related crafting.

4. I am learning photography

5. I am a certified scuba diver – bet you couldn’t figure that one out LOL!!

6. I love to cruise! Not in a car, but on a Cruise ship…great way to travel and see different destinations.

7. I am very anal; so anal that I have a hard time crafting because I nit-pick my work to death.

8. My favorite color is green and has been my entire life…when I was 5 my parents bought the house I grew up in and it just happened to be Olive Green (yes, I am a child of the 70s/80s) and they said when we pulled up to it for the first time my face was frozen with a huge smile and all I could say was “It’s Green, it’s green! You got me a green house!”. Yup, for many years I went on believing that they chose the house just for me because it was green…HAHAHA!

It is extremely hard to choose only eight of the many blogs I follow. Since I have to select 8 ‘recently discovered’ blogs I feel these are the ladies that deserve it:

1. Karli at Crafting with Class

2. Edna (Pinke) at Create by Expression

3. Cassandra at Glue Meets Paper

4. Roberta at TX Scrapper Mom

5. Alma at Alma's Pink Life

6. Samantha at SamanthaJDesigns

7. Joanna at Scrap-Making

8. Steph at Scrap Happy Steph

Birthday Diva!

2010-11-16T09:15:00.005-05:00

My youngest niece turned 6 last week (yes, I gave her the card on time, just a little late with the post J). Last year I gave her this guitar for her birthday. She absolutely loved it. In fact a few weeks ago she told me that she had been rockin’ it hard. I got so tickled. Being that we call her the drama queen of the family and that she had been “rockin’ it” I came up with this idea for her birthday card:

Recipe

Paper:

SU! Pixie Pink - card base and Birthday diva

DCWV Rock Star - heart patterned background paper

SU! Perfect Plum or Lovely Lilac (sorry!) for clothing and shadow for ‘Birthday’

Basic Black cardstock – card base and base cut of the girl
SU! Blush Blossom - skin color

Chrome paper (sorry don’t know the mfg) – Crown layer and guitar handle

Cricut Cartridge(s):

Rock Princess – Brttny, pg 28

Rock Princess – ‘Birthday’ welded and shadowed, on the Gypsy, using the heart font

Rock Princess – ‘Diva’, pg 69

Embellies:

PK Glitz Glitter Glitz, Eggplant – Guitar

Stickles, Magenta – Headband
Stickles, Waterfall - Eyes

Celebrate It Ribbon from Michael’s

Uniball Signo Pen (broad), White for doodling

Happy Birthday to an oldie but goodie!

2010-11-01T21:29:00.005-04:00

My Uncle Rick has a birthday coming up and he has always been into cars. So I saw this really cute older style car on Holiday Cakes (yeah, I know...of all places?!) and I knew I had to use it for him. I used Paper Doll Dress Up for the road and Zooballoo for the grass. The Happy Birthday and to an oldie but goodie sentiments were cut using AR Bonne font with MTC software. I love how the car came out. I had some "chrome" paper that I used for the detailing on the car and I used Real Red cardstock from SU! and coated it with Glossy Accents to give it that sleek, slick just waxed candy apple red car look. I think he will love it!

Halloween Treat Boxes

2010-11-01T20:51:00.005-04:00

Simple and cute treat boxes. Frankenstein box idea came from one of my craft magazines. I designed a file on my Gypsy for the eyes and hair using George. I made them for my employees and they just loved them!

This Cookie Tower was designed by Kasey’s Creations and was very easy to make. The cuts were from Happy Hauntings cart. I made this for the girls I used to work with…they always loved my craftiness (I think one of them (Zhade) misses it ;)).

New York Part III

2010-10-22T05:40:00.002-04:00

These pictures were taken from our Harbor Lights Cruise...we had some fabulous lighting! My cousin Tara and I just couldn't stop taking pictures (I have WAY more than I posted)!!

As the sun was setting over Jersey...

As the sun was setting it was throwing back some beautiful light at NYC...

Our Lady Liberty as the sun was setting ...

Notice the Statute of Liberty through the bridge...(this was a long zoom shot and didn't come out as clear as I would have liked)

What an amazing city...

New York Part II

2010-10-21T21:21:00.002-04:00

Rockefeller Center...

The elevator ceiling going up to "The Top of The Rock"

Views from the Top of the Rock...

The Glass House Tavern...our Saturday lunch spot

Times Square Madness...a bunch of zombies were roaming around in Times Square on Saturday

The famous Times Square Boards (and New Year's Ball)...

McDonald's in lights....and Madam Tussaud's...

Yummy...Dwayne,"The Rock" Johnson

Aunt Pam and Johnny Depp

and Miley (how adorable is she?!)

All the Single Ladies (not a one of them is hahaha)

New York Part I

2010-10-21T20:54:00.001-04:00

Sunrise from the plane...we weren't expecting this...our flight was originally scheduled to arrive in NYC on Friday night at 7:17 pm...instead we arrived at 7:35 am Saturday. We had two hours of sleep and then we hit the town (and I mean hard)

Our Hotel...On the Avenue...

A walk through Central Park...

Columbus Circle...

St Patrick's Cathedral...

more to come...

Thanking my Girls with Designer Handbags (well, just a paper version)

2010-10-21T20:38:00.003-04:00

I had an amazing weekend with my Mom, Aunt and Cousin this past weekend in NY. I made these cute little purses for them as thank you gifts for all they did for me. I put matching personalized note cards in two of them and my Mom had some pins she wanted to give my Aunt, so we used one as a gift bag of sorts. They all loved them and I was very happy to get to spend the time with them. It was wonderful. I will be posting pictures from our trip in another post…I got soooooo many great shots I am having a hard time narrowing them down.

Anyway, I used a tutorial I purchased from Inking Idaho to make the purses. I also used Make the Cut to convert the files (and I even made them a little bigger) so I could cut them with my Cricut…it worked beautifully!! And the best part is the files are now saved if I want to make more in the future…all I have to do is open the file and cut!!! I LOVE my Cricut and my Cricut Carts, but I also like to have the flexibility that MTC offers. I know a lot of people frown on it, especially PC, but I just don’t see the harm. I am still buying carts…TRUST me. Well, I hope you like them. If you have questions just add a comment with a way for me to contact you and I will be more than happy to answer you.

A Pot full of Petunias

2010-10-04T20:58:00.002-04:00

I liked the design of the snowflake Christmas card so much I thought I would make my MIL’s birthday card in the same design. So here it is…

Supplies:

Cricut Cartridge – Freshly Picked (Flower4 cut @ 2.75)

SU! Cardstock – Really Rust (card base)

Grafix Clear Craft Plastic .007 – Acetate (card front)

Martha Stewart Patterned Cardstock - Woodland Paper Pad (card front)

Martha Stewart Border Punch - Lattice (?)

Raffia for ribbon on card front

Hampton Art Studio G Stamp – Happy Birthday (inside sentiment)

Versamark – Dazzle Frost (inside sentiment)

PK Glitz Embossing Powder – Eggplant (inside sentiment)

Cat’s Eye Chalk Ink – Lime Pastel (inking on leaves)

Cat’s Eye Chalk Ink – Stucco (inking on flower pot)

Stickles – Purple (flower centers)

Happy 10th Dawson!!

2010-10-03T22:26:00.002-04:00

My youngest nephew, Dawson, will be 10 this month. I wanted to make him a card that would fit a boy his age but still be manly and “cool”. He enjoys drawing so he actually appreciates the stuff I have made him in the past. I think he will really like this. Of course this is not an original idea, you can google these wallets all day, but making them your own is the trick. Here is my supply list:

SU! Cardstock – Chocolate Chip

Cuttlebug Folder – Mesh Texture

Cat’s Eye Chalk Ink – Dark Brown

Versamark – Frost

PK Glitz Embossing Powder – Crystal

Click HERE to see a video on how to make the basic wallet card

A Birthday Card for my Diving Buddy

2010-10-03T21:59:00.015-04:00

I made this for my very close friend and scuba diving buddy, Abbye.

I used the following supplies:

Paper

SU! Cardstock – Bermuda Bay

K & Company patterned paper - Happy Trails

Scraps for Cricut cuts

Life’s a Beach Cricut Cartridge cuts

Divers @ 2.48

Treasure Chest @ 1.53

Seaweed @ 1.32, 1.12, 1.00

Coral @ 1.95, 1.59, 1.00

Turtle, Fish, Mermaid, Starfish, Seahorse @ 1.00

Fish @ 1.17

Embellishments

Glossy Accents (bubbles, crab, mermaid)

Gold Stickles (treasure chest)

Lavender Stickles (mermaid, seahorse)

Turquoise Stickles (fish)

Yellow Stickles (fish, mermaid’s flower)

Fruit Punch Stickles (coral)

Jolee’s Swarovski Crystals (jewels in treasure chest)

PK Glitz Embossing Powder – Eggplant and Fuchsia (coral), NST Copper (starfish), Crystal (starfish)

Stampendous Embossing Powder – Detail White (starfish)

And as you can see I had a couple of mishaps. I accidently cut off the arm of my girl diver…oooops J. And the boy diver lost his hand in an envelope entry accident, but don’t fret, I found it (only after taking the pictures) and I was able to reattach it!

First Christmas Cards of 2010

2010-10-03T19:55:00.004-04:00

As usual, I am behind on my posting. I am trying to catch up tonight. My mom came for a visit a couple of weeks ago, which just happened to be when a friend has scheduled her SU! Holiday Workshop. My mom agreed to go because she enjoys crafting; she just doesn’t participate on a regular basis and doesn’t want to invest the time and money it requires (she’s been there, done that many times in the past – you all know what I am talking about - when you go out and drop a bundle to buy everything you need to make the latest craft trend, only to have it last one season and you didn’t even have the time to make it LOL). I wasn’t sure if she would like making cards or scrapbook pages, but she had a great time and was so proud of her projects. She made one of the scrapbook pages and gave it to me since she doesn’t have scrapbooks and I gave my cards to her (since I can make more and she can’t). I think it worked out great. I wanted to share the cards we made; I think they turned out great!

My Personalized Stamp Came!!!!

2010-10-03T19:44:00.001-04:00

I am very late in posting this, but was so excited when I received it! I had this custom stamp made from some guy on eBay. He can make pretty much anything you want. I designed this based on a template he had posted for sale. I can’t want to begin using this on all my projects! I realize this isn’t the best picture I could have made, but maybe I will replace it later J.

Cricut Cards for Kids

2010-09-12T22:24:00.002-04:00

Here are my Cricut cards:

I made two of the Hang in There cards and two of the You’re so Cool Popsicle Cards. Each card was made for a specific child and contained a personal greeting. If their blog talked about something they liked I tried to tailor the card to their likes. I hope they bring smiles to their faces!

Blogger will not let me post all of the labels, so I thought I would post the cartridges used here...

alphalicious, calligraphy collection, create a critter, cuttin up, dreams come true, everyday paper dolls, graphically speaking, gypsy wanderings, hannah montana, hello kitty greetings, indie art, lacy labels, life's a beach, paper doll dress up, paper pups, pooh and friends, preserves, zooballoo,

SU Cards for Kids

2010-09-12T19:38:00.003-04:00

I have been meaning to post these cards that I sent for Round 3 of Cards for Kids hosted by Jennifer McGuire. It has been CRAZY busy for me lately. I have a huge project I am rolling out at work that has required a lot of after hours and weekends. Although, somehow I still find time to craft here and there! I just put posting on hold, hehe. My mother came for a visit this weekend and after she left I decided to catch up on my posting.

So, if you will remember I organized a card making workshop back in July to get additional cards for CFK. With the help of a SU! Demonstrator we had a day of making cards for these 13 amazing children. Here are the cards I made at that workshop:

I will post my Cricut cards in the next post.

WOOHOO - I Got My First Blog Award!

2010-08-22T00:48:00.039-04:00

Yeah!!! And it is super cute too J...

Thank you so much Alma!!! You can visit Alma at her blog My Pink Life. It is so nice to know that the things we do are appreciated by others that enjoy the same hobby.

So now that I have been presented with this sweet little blog award I must follow the rules attached to it by completing the following:

1. you must thank the person who passed it on to you - check

2. copy award to your blog – check

3. list three (3) things you love about yourself - check

4. post a picture that you love on your blog - check

5. pass award on to five (5) others – check

Three things I love about myself:

1. 1. My faith in the Lord – without Him I am nothing

2. 2. My creativity (even when I am not feeling that creative)

3. 3. My loyalty and dedication to my family, friends and work

A picture that I love (ok, I am cheating here…I am posting two):

These are my maternal grandparents. I lost my Grandfather in July 2008 and my Grandmother in March 2009. They were very special to me and I loved spending time with them. Unfortunately I didn’t spend as much time as I should have. These pictures were taken during a visit in 2004. The first pic was taken in my car. As you can tell, we always had a good time together…aren’t those smiles just contagious?! We were actually on our way to where the next picture was taken. I adore this pic. It was a candid shot I took while they were getting ready for what they thought was the real picture. My little ol’ Grandpa was just the sweetest thing and he just adored my Grandma…can’t you tell? I miss them.

So, onto passing the award to five others:

1. 1. Tammi Skinner @ Creative Critters Cricut Club – Tammi has a style that I truly admire. I love her personality and I think she is a little OCD about organization, like I am. I just hope her blog isn’t too big to accept this blog award. Her blog really is my go to blog when I am looking for some inspiration.

2. Jamie Lane @ Bits of Paper – Jamie is a designer for several of my favorite places such as PK Glitz and ScrapbookPal.com. I am always inspired by her creations.

3. Roberta Lima @ TX Scrapper Mom – although I am new to subscribing to her blog, I just love her creativity! She is very talented and I am always anticipating her next post.

4. Lori Coughlin @ Organized Chaos – Lori’s blog is very clever, you just have to see for yourself. She is also very talented, and I love her style.

5. Kay @ Clever Someday – Kay has a different kind of blog than the others above. She posts amazing tips, tutorials and new ideas related to the Cricut. She does a ton of research and brings it right to you so you don’t have to. I have really enjoyed reading her posts over the last year.

So that’s it! I hope all of these ladies get my email/post and accept the award.

Looking to buy a Cuttlebug? Check out this deal!!!

2010-08-19T07:38:00.002-04:00

Oh my, what a deal!! A blue cuttlebug AND a tool kit for 39.99 with free shipping?! WHAT?! If I didn’t already have one I would be all over this. The sad thing is that I still want to buy it. LOL…Sick, I know!

Coming Soon....Cards for Kids Update

2010-08-17T07:29:00.001-04:00

Just a reminder for those of you that were participating in Cards for Kids with me…

Cards are to be submitted by Aug 31. I have one set of 13 made. I ended up organizing a card making day at our local Senior Center, we were disappointed in the turnout, but those of us that were there had a great time. Anyway, a Stampin’ Up! demonstrator joined me in this initiative and made 13 different card kits. I will be posting pics of these cards very soon and of course I had to make some with my Cricut! I have about 3 left to make and then I can post those. I hope you aren’t as behind as me J.

My Day of Fun and Goodies from CKC!!

2010-08-15T11:58:00.003-04:00

I had a great time at the convention Friday! You didn’t think I wouldn’t did you? LOL! Sorry I am just now getting around to posting these. I didn’t get home until 11:00 Friday night and was trying to get my housework done yesterday along with getting these pics and putting everything away. The picture quality isn’t as good as I am used to…I used my little point and shoot for the first time in a year; I didn’t want to lug my good camera around all day. You kind of forget the difference in quality ; makes me love my DSLR that much more!!

So Friday morning my friend Debra and I left at 7:30 and drove down to Charlotte, which is about an hour and fifteen minute drive from my house. We missed all the morning traffic (WOOOHOOO!) and made it there at 8:45. Parked just about at the front door. We went to the pre-registration booth, picked up our tickets and by that time the line that had formed for early entry was entering the vendor faire. We got in line to enter only to find out you actually had to purchase three classes to get in at 9:00…we misread our materials. BUT, this wonderfully nice lady we talked to was sooooo nice to let us in . I guess she felt sorry for us – even though it was our mistake. It paid off though, I spent enough to make it worth their while.

Our first stop was Tami Potter. Funny thing was that we were taking her class that afternoon and had to get our mats for the class…their booth just happened to be the first one in the door! I went ahead and purchased the kit that included the special mat with markings every 1/8 inch, a book with detailed instructions and page examples for the Mosaic Technique, the Quick Glance Guide, and two packs of grid paper containing 6 pages each (2 each of 3 different colors). I guess it was my lucky day for some reason my kit had a Herma Dotto refill instead of the “Lil Chizler” that it was supposed to come with it. Debra and I discovered this later when we were in our class. The even better news was that the Lil Chizler came in our class kit. Kevin, Tami’s husband was nice enough to tell us that we would have a coupon in our class kit and to hold off on buying any pages until we took the class.

My second stop was SEI. I wanted one of their assortment packs and had a coupon for 25% off. I went to purchase On the Coast and ended up with Jocelyn. I saw Jocelyn online, but fell in LOVE with Jocelyn in person. Pictures just can’t do it justice. And I totally love the names of the pages…check them out! I also grabbed a few coordinating chalk inks. What is so funny is that I hardly ever use SEI paper because it is so beautiful I hate to cut it. I need to get over that! It is great quality, and has a great thickness. I haven’t used it in my Cricut YET though; but have heard it cuts beautifully.

My next mission was to find Jim at PK Glitz. I love this stuff! They have amazing glitter and I was on a mission to buy some embossing powder from him this time. Of course, I walked away with a show special kit AND more. I bought more glitter…I just couldn’t resist! Their glitter is so sparkly and they have great colors. I just can’t say enough good about their product. The embossing kit I purchased came with two color wheels, a brush, an embossing tool, a couple of spoons and a 4 pack of Wonder Film. In addition I bought one more embossing color wheel and two glitter wheels. I saw these transparent glitters and thought they were so yummy I just HAD to have them!

After I hit my must haves I shopped around a little and came across this most adorable make and take at Strictly Scrapbooking’s booth. The owner Sophia said she is setting up her online store now. Her web address is http://www.strictlyscrapbooking.com/. I made these two pages for $6…aren’t the butterflies gorgeous? Of course I had to buy some. I will definitely have her on my must have list next year.

It was now time to meet up with some of my Circle friends! We were scheduled to meet in the café at 12:15. Well the café had closed, but we still managed to find each other. It was very good to meet everyone. Here we are…from left to right we have me (Scubascrapper), SusanEdwards1, debraballance, SusanfromSC, Mary, and doodledo. It is just so cool getting to meet people that have the same obsession, I mean share the same love for paper crafts as you hehehe and that you have been corresponding with on the message boards for a while. It really is like a sisterhood.

After we met up with the Circle girls and had lunch I had to take about 30 minutes to do some work…then I headed back in to shop for a few minutes before my Tami Potter class. I found the Paper Loft and found this awesome manly paper! I just loved it. I also found a few other papers I liked, but decided to just get the individuals instead of the entire packs since I didn’t like everything in them. This is the Dude collection:

Isn’t that awesome for male pages, cards and gifts? Here are the other pages I bought:

The first two are from the Slug Bug Collections and the last is from Autumn. I just can’t wait to use those adorable scarecrows!

So on to the Tami Potter class. We took the Falling for Mosaic – Advanced Technique class. This class was focusing on the landscape pages that Tami had designed. The pictures were provided in the kit, so these are not my pics. Much easier for her to teach when everyone is using the same thing. Her techniques are truly genius! She even explained that this technique will change the way you take pictures. I am uber excited to use this technique for my upcoming trip to New York and for my Christmas Cruise! I already have ideas and I haven’t even take the first picture LOL. Anyway, here are the page layouts we made in class:

And LOOOOOOOK, I won a door prize !! It was a page kit. I guess Friday the 13^th is a good day for me (as it has always been in the past). Of course, just like Kevin said, there was a coupon that allowed us to purchase up to 5 more packs of gridline paper for $2.50 off the regular price and page kits at buy 2 get 2 free. So what do you think I did? Of COURSE…went and bought more Tami Potter stuff. So here it is…

Oh, and I can’t forget my door prize…

I also got this freebie from Storyteller’s Club

Ok, well I think that is enough! Sorry for the long post - complete overload, huh? If you are in the area I hope you can join me next year at CKC!!

CKC Charlotte, here I come!!!!

2010-08-11T23:06:00.000-04:00

I am so excited to go to the Creating Keepsakes Convention in Charlotte again this year. This will be my second year and I am doing things a little different this year. Since I learned last year that there are such things as make and takes I will be planning on taking the time to do some. I think this is a good opportunity to be introduced to new techniques and tools without having to jump right in and invest in something you 1) don't know how to use, and 2) find you may not even like. I am also taking a class this year. I am going to take Tami Potter's Falling for Mosaic Moments - Advanced Techniques (check it out HERE). Her system is so awesome. I saw it for the first time at last year's convention, and just love the options and the mathematics about it (I know, sounds weird LOL). I am very stoked about truly getting a class on it not just a 5 minute demo that is not hands on. I hope to have some great pics to use this technique on very soon. See, I just finalized plans to go to New York, NY in Oct with my Mom to celebrate her 60th birthday. My cousin is currently living in NY City and so she (and her husband) is going to show us around. She even talked her Mom (my favorite Aunt) into coming too! I am bursting at the seams. We are going to see the Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building, Top of the Rock, we are taking a Harbor Lights Cruise, seeing Central Park, eating at Serendipity3, and we are going to try to fit in a few other stops. We are going to have a fun-filled, siteseeing packed trip. I think this is going to be a great head start to our 9 day Exotic Western Caribbean Christmas cruise :).

I would like to take a minute to thank the Lord for all the ways has blessed me! I have a great family, a great career that allows me to do the expensive hobbies I have decied to love such as paper crafting, scuba diving, traveling and photography, the talent (not to sound arrogant here-I mean I am not the best, but I think I do ok) he gave me for my hobby of paper crafting, and let's not forget my so far good health. Glory to God! You ARE the Man! I promise without you, I am NOTHING!

Blog Giveaway on Bits of Paper

2010-08-06T21:15:00.001-04:00

Thought I would share this great giveaway that Jamie is doing on her blog, Bits of Paper…

http://jamielanedesigns.blogspot.com/2010/08/happy-blog-aversary-to-me.html

I have been a subscriber of her blog for quite a while. She is extremely talented and her sister is too! Jamie is constantly coming up with creative ideas, and she is great at creating word art – that she shares for FREE!!! Her sister is an artist; she creates some of the cutest images. I am hoping I win, but knowing I was the first commenter, my chances are very low J…so maybe you will be the lucky one!!

Hummingbirds!!!

2010-07-19T16:49:00.000-04:00

I went to visit my parents this weekend, in the Raleigh area. They have lots birds where they are and they have a ton of hummingbirds. I just think hummingbirds are absolutely beautiful. I had an opportunity to sit out on their deck and snap quite a few shots with my still fairly new DSLR. I thought I would share some of them with you. Aren’t they just gorgeous?

Hope your Birthday is sweet!

2010-07-11T22:12:00.001-04:00

This card is for my sister-in-law whose birthday is tomorrow, but she just happens to be in Paris. Don’t you just feel so terrible for her?! Anyway, I hope when she gets back and opens this card it will bring a smile to her face even though she is home.

I was looking through a magazine in WalMart the other day and it gave me the idea for the sno-cone on this card (which I think turned out adorable!). It was very simple to do. I used my Gypsy to size a circle and a triangle (from George and Basic Shapes) to the right size to make it look like a sno-cone. Once cut, I made a light pencil line on the circle indicating where I wanted my ‘ice’ to start. To create my ‘ice’ I coated the top part of the circle with glossy accents and sprinkled it with crystal glitter. While letting that dry I tried to make the cone look more like a true sno-cone by hand cutting a piece of the same colored cardstock to make it look wrapped. Then I rolled up a scrap piece of printer paper to put at the top of the cone to mimic the rolled edge sno-cone has. I inked it to match the cone. Once the ‘ice’ was dry I used different color ink pads to create all of the syrup colors and added another layer of glossy accents and Crystal glitter. While the last layer was drying I created my card, using the directions for the joy fold card from Splitcoaststampers. I chose to add the word sweet from the Paisley cart and cut the base, blackout and shadow blackout images, assembled the cuts and added some stickles. I popped it up so the card would open easier. That’s it! Hope you like it J!

Picture perfect birthday...

2010-07-03T21:53:00.006-04:00

So a really good friend (and fellow scrapper) of mine recently broke down and went on a cruise. She also likes to take pictures. While I was looking through them I noticed she commented on one she really liked but said it would’ve been better if there was a drink in it. You know the picture I am talking about…a shot of the ocean from your lounge chair where you just see feet, ocean and a cool refreshing drink! Well, that gave me the idea for her birthday card. I had been wanting to try this technique that I found on the Split coast Stampers website. Well, I changed it up a little to fit my needs. Here is my interpretation…

Cartridges used for this card:

Paper Dolls for Everyday - cloud

Forever Young - legs

From My Kitchen – cup *note: straw was cut off

George and Basic Shapes - sun

Life’s a Beach – flip flops

My Community - feet

Preserves - lemon

Stand and Salute – clouds

So I started with a 6 x 6 square card and a 5 ¾ x 5 ¾ layer in which I used chalk to create the sea and sky. I used my Gypsy to create all of my cuts. Once completed, I assembled the layers and chalked the vellum (cup) with red, orange and yellow, then added trimmed the top with a piece of ¼” wide Sticky Tape from PK Glitz and covered with PK Glitz Crystal glitter. I decorated the lemon slice using a glitter pen and chalk ink to give it a little pizzazz. I cut a straw down to a proportional size. I cut the legs down to the size I wanted and inked them, then inked the feet and glued them together. I then used Fruit Punch stickles to create the toenails. I then used my Crop-a-dile to punch three holes in the flip flops so I could feed the ribbon through and then I inserted the feet. I chalked the sun to the color I wanted and I laid the cloud cut outs down and chalked around them and then popped two of them off the paper. I used a scrap piece of tan cardstock for the sand and tore it, then ran it through the Zyron twice (once on each side). I put the card layers together and then added my cup and popped up the feet/flops. Once all pieces were in place I took some sand and covered the tan cardstock….and there you have it…the picture perfect birthday card!

I know this doesn’t really go, but it is something she wanted after I sent her an email about a panda rescue effort in China after their most recent earthquake. I just aim to please. He is cut from Create a Critter. I flocked him and used glossy accents on his nose and eyes. Isn’t he super cute?!

I did it! I am a Circlet!

2010-06-29T19:21:00.001-04:00

Boy, nothing like waiting until the last minute, huh? Well, I really have been on the fence about this for a lot of different reasons. I was convinced by some of my enabler buddies on the MB, decided to cut back on a few things and bite the bullet. So, I don’t like the name “Circlet”; I think I will have to come up with something else. I mean Cricette is better than that for goodness sake!! I know there has been some discussion on the MB, so I will have to see what I like out there. So, who else is a Circlet?!

A challenge for myself and to you...

2010-06-25T18:57:00.003-04:00

So today I was browsing through my RSS feeds and a post from Jennifer McGuire, ink caught my eye. It was entitled “NEW Cards for Kids Card Drive - Round 3!” As I was reading I was so touched and I feel compelled to challenge myself for the very first time (craft wise) to accomplish a project. I am challenging myself to create AT LEAST one card for every child on the list (13 cards). I am challenging you to do what you can. Please join me in providing these children and their families with an uplifting card. They face difficulties the majority of us will never know or understand and if I were in their shoes I would love to know that people were sending prayers my way.

If you would like to take on my challenge, please post a comment letting me know what you propose to do. Include a link to or the address of your blog so I may follow you and check up on your status with this challenge. The deadline for this round of cards is Aug 30. For further details on this project such as info on the children and their families, where to send the cards, please click here and here.

Patriotic Birthday Card

2010-06-16T19:11:00.006-04:00

Well, like I have said before, I think it is important when making a card to make it special for the recipient by using a color, symbol or putting a meaningful memory or saying into it. I mean what is the point of hand making cards for people if you don’t want it to mean anything to them? You could just go buy one if you didn’t want it to be personalized!

One of my uncles is a very patriotic guy and really appreciates the US flag. Being that I hadn’t used my Stand and Salute cart EVER I thought I would try to get some use out of it by making a birthday card for my Uncle. It is not easy to make a card like this attractive, but I did the best I could. I hope you like it, but better yet, I hope he likes it J.

I used Stand and Salute for the flag, A Child’s Year for the image of the kid holding a flag with his wagon in tow. Happy Birthday sentiment was stamped using a glue pad and then PK Glitz glitter (which I absolutely love – it just sparkles so much better than regular glitter). Thanks for looking!

Awesome envelope tutorial - UPDATED

2010-06-15T20:02:00.010-04:00

I am ALWAYS looking for envelopes for certain cards, aren't you? Well, search no more! All you need is paper, some type of adhesive, a Scor-pal, bone folder, a drafting ruler and one minute and you can have any envelope you need!! The Frugal Crafter has this awesome tutorial on her blog about making envelopes with your scor-pal to fit all different sizes of cards. Here is the tutorial and a link to her blog to get the cheat sheet for the sizes. How awesome is that?!!

I thought I would add this handy dandy card size chart for everyone. I found this on google, but have no idea who to give credit to. I think given the above video, this chart will prove to be very useful.

Father's Day Card - UPDATED

2010-06-12T11:50:00.002-04:00

**I AM SO EXCITED! THIS CARD WAS HIGHLIGHTED IN THE CRICUT CHIRP NEWSLETTER ON JUNE 15, 2010 (VOL. 212)!!**

My father is an architect and so I wanted to try one of those unusual cards and opted to go with the Tri-shutter card. Thanks to this website I got the needed instructions to make it. I really like the way it turned out and am planning to utilize their instructions to attempt some of the other cards featured in the near future.

For this project I used:

Cricut Cartridges: Create a Critter (owl), Calligraphy Collection (Happy Fathers Day), Beyond Birthdays (Dad), and Wall Décor and More (mushroom)

Paper: Stampin’ Up! Soft Suede, MME Magnolia, and DCWV Rock Star.

I hope he likes the card. I decided that I wanted it to be simply say Happy Father’s Day and chose not to put a sentiment in the card. I mean, really, most men don’t care for sappy sentiments, right? I know my dad doesn’t. What he will know is what the mushroom means…Dad’s of girls are like mushrooms, they are kept in the dark and fed a bunch of B-S, hahahaha!

A couple of thank you cards

2010-06-11T22:41:00.004-04:00

I got a very nice gift from my Aunt and Uncle for my birthday and I thought I would take a minute to make them a thank you card. I made one and then decided to make another one for use in the future…I mean you can always use a thank you card, right?! Both Frog and butterfly are from Create a Critter. Embossing folder on butterfly card is Cuttlebug Stylized Flowers.

"I'm so fabulous....

2010-06-10T21:56:00.004-04:00

…I piss glitter”. This is a quote a friend of mine uses. I get cracked up when she does. Don’t mistake this for arrogance, she is not serious and it is always said in a light-hearted manner. So, a group of us kind of throw this quote around a little and when her birthday rolled around I thought it would be cute to tie into a card. However, I didn’t feel right about saying “piss” in the card, so I made this card and changed it up a little. As you can see the outside says fabulous birthday wishes and the inside said for a fabulous lady that oozes glitter. The most important thing is that she like it and it brought a smile to her face when she read it!! I used the Forever Young cartridge for all cuts on this card.

Birthday cards for my cousins

2010-06-05T23:49:00.002-04:00

I have two male cousins, who are brothers, that were born one day apart (and 6 and 7 days apart from me – only I am MUCH older, LOL). I always find it hard to create cards for men; it is such a challenge. Anyway I came up with these because one of the boys (note to self…they aren’t boys anymore, they are men) reminds me somewhat of a prep. He is uber sweet and is a doll (can’t call your cousins cute, can you now? Kind of gives the wrong impression). Anyhooooo….I thought the argyle cut from Wild Card fit his personality. The second card was for the younger cousin who just qualified for his pro Motocross license (GO Ricky!!!!); so, I thought the diamond plate embossing folder and the barbed wire image from Indie Art fit. Both cards have the birthday sentiment from Simply Sweet.

Holy Mackerel...he's 19!

2010-06-05T23:32:00.004-04:00

My oldest nephew just turned 19. I had a card made for him that I just wasn’t loving. It really is a challenge making cards for guys! Then I saw it…the perfect card for him. It was the customer spotlight card in the May 18^th issue of the Cricut Chirp Newsletter. I HAD to scrap lift it, and as the rule goes…give credit where credit is due. You see my nephew eats, sleeps and breathes fishing; making this card a perfect fit. Of course I changed it up a little and didn’t use some of the cartridges that Ms. Nooren Pierce used. I decided to use a real fishing lure dangling from the rod, instead of the age she used. I tried to get a more realistic look by using a silver shimmering ink pad I had (I hope you can see it in the pics). I thought it turned out super cute and he loved it, which is all that mattered.

Mother's Day Card

2010-06-05T22:43:00.004-04:00

Before we get into the card I just want to apologize for the lack of posts lately. It wasn’t for lack of crafting; it was just from lack of time to spend uploading and posting pics. I am going to try to catch up tonight, so forgive me for the multitude of posts you will see today.

I made two mother’s day cards; one for my mother and one for my mother-in-law. Dumb me forgot to take a picture of my mother-in-law's card, but I did get the one I sent my mother. I had been wanting to use my Forever Young cartridge for a while and I remembered seeing a cut on there that reminded me of an old pic of my mom from the 70’s. The font is from Hello Kitty Font. Since I was born in ’73 I thought I would play off of her being established as a mom in 1973 (which was done with flocking). The paper made me think of the 70’s too. Anyway…hope you like it.

Welcome Baby!

2010-04-04T22:50:00.001-04:00

A colleague of mine invited me to her baby shower next month so I thought I would make her a card. I have been dying to use the elephant from Zooballoo and now I got my chance!

I used Zooballoo for the elephant. Simply Sweet for welcome baby. Sentiment inside was printed on my printer using Candy RoundBTN font. Elephant eyes are Jolee's Swarovski Crystals. Orange Stickles. White Souffle pen used to create dots on baby.

Sweet 16 birthday card for niece

2010-04-04T22:28:00.001-04:00

One of my nieces is turning 16 this month...WOW, I can't believe it! Well she is just a great young lady, so just a standard sentiment wouldn't do. I wrote her a poem to go on the inside of the card. I sure hope she likes it!

I used Hello Kitty Font for her name on the front of the card. The embossing folder is Spring Flowers. This was a very simple card.

Birthday Card for Cousin (Tara, don't peek :))

2010-04-04T21:54:00.001-04:00

I made this card for my cousin Tara's birthday. She loooooves cupcakes. Hopefully this one is cute enough to eat (even though she can't eat it, hehehe). I fell in love with the saying on the inside...it just fit her. If you can't read it, it says "Birthdays are natures way of telling us to eat more cupcakes"

I used the cupcake from Wild Card and the cherry and additional topper on the cupcake is from Sweet Treats. Embossing folder is Spots and Dots. Glitter for icing is PK Glitz Crystal glitter. Cherry is coated with Glossy Accents. Inside sentiment was printed on printer using Angelina font.

More cards! More cards!

2010-03-29T19:57:00.003-04:00

I realize it has been awhile (again), but I have finally found a few minutes to post some additional cards I have made.

This first one is for a special Aunt. She is one of the dearest sweetest women I know. She has always had a special place in my heart ever since I was a little child. She was the Aunt that would stay in the room and play with me while all of the other adults gathered around the kitchen table to gab. This Aunt also played an instrumental role in planting the seed of God in my heart, and for that I am forever grateful!

This one is for my borrowed grandmother that I call Mawmaw Moore. She is my Aunt's mother and when my last grandmother passed away a little over a year ago she gave me this huge hug and told me that she would be my grandmother now. She is so sweet, I guess that is where my Aunt got it from. Anyway, she has had a couple of shoulder surgeries and so I was wanting to send her something to tell her I was thinking about her.

Pooh Valentine Card

2010-02-13T21:14:00.000-05:00

A very good friend of mine loves Winnie the Pooh. We tease her all the time about her ringtone because when her husband calls it rings the Pooh song and she always answers "hello Pooh Bear". Well, this gave me an idea....I asked her hubs if I could make him a card to give to her. He has done a ton of nice things for me over the years, so I thought maybe I could return the favor. So my idea was to have Pooh lovingly thinking about his honey pot and so this is what I came up with...

Valentine Gifts for Co-workers

2010-02-13T21:00:00.000-05:00

I made these chocolates and then bagged and tagged them for Valentine's Day to give to the girls I work with. They loved them. Oh, I also included a picture of the cards I gave them...

The wording on the card was heat embossed using Versamark Dazzle (Frost) and Stamp 'n Stuff embossing powder (Kaleidescope) and says "all things grow with love". The card itself is embossed using the Cuttlebug Heart Blocks embossing folder and inked using fluid chalk.

Sending Mom Love through Snail Mail

2010-02-13T20:44:00.000-05:00

Here is my Valentine card to my mother. I guess I could've just done one card for the both of them, but it was fun doing two. I haven't done cards for Valentine's Day in years, but I just couldn't help myself.
The snail and love you is from Paisley. Hearts are from Doodlecharms. Stitching was done by hand using a Souffle Pen.

Hoppy Valentine's Day Dad!

2010-02-13T20:33:00.000-05:00

My first attempt with an acetate card...I like the way it turned out but it is impossible to keep the plastic clean! Hopefully it is manly enough for a valentine to a father :). Frog is from Paisley cartridge. Writing on inside is welded in Gypsy using Cursive 101.

Baby Shower Card

2010-02-13T20:22:00.001-05:00

Here is a card I made to double as a gift card holder for my husband's cousin's second child. The sad thing is that I missed the shower because I thought they told me it was on a Sunday, but it was actually a Saturday. I came in to church that morning and asked her "now what time is the shower today?" and her response was "ummmm....it was yesterday."......totally embarrassed! I sure hope she liked the card :).

Gift Purse

2010-02-13T20:10:00.000-05:00

Here is a purse I made for a girl friend's birthday...

I know, I know...it has been a while

2010-02-04T15:25:00.000-05:00

I realize it has been a while since I have made any posts. Things have been crazy since the new year began. I have been working on several different things. On top of work, I have been coordinating a family cruise for this coming Christmas, been making samples for a bazaar that I am going to be involved in on the 21st of Feb, and I am involved in a church play. I should be done with the play this weekend, weather permitting. Then I have to get back onto making items for the bazaar and when I am done with those, I will be posting some of the projects. Check back soon!

Birthday Card for BIL

2010-01-03T22:52:00.005-05:00

This is my first card using Sweet Treats. I used the card function for image #11 on the overlay (or page 34 of the handbook). The 'recipe' is below.

Cuts: (all images cut at 7 1/2")

cards feature - cut with beige cardstock
shift - cut with pink cardstock
layers - cut with Coredinations Chocolate Box/mint green
layers shift - cut with red cardstock

Cuttlebugged:

cone/beige cardstock using Tiny Mosaic Texture folder
top scoop of ice cream/Coredinations cardstock using Divine Swirls folder (make sure the stem isn't in the folder when running through the cuttlebug
strawberry/red cardstock using Swiss Dots folder

I then inked the cone and strawberry to bring out the texture and all edges of each piece using Colorbox Cat's Eye Fluid Chalks. I then put a light coat of Glossy Accents on the strawberry to make it shine. Then I sanded the Coredinations cardstock to let the mint color show through. After that I adhered all the layers to the card and stamped with 'happy birthday' using Versamark and bronze embossing powder and applied heat. That's it!

By the way...I am very new to heat embossing. I learned on this card that it doesn't work so well with the small stamps ;)! Just a tip in case you haven't tried it before either. This is only my second try with heat embossing. Gotta start somewhere, right?