Baby card for Niece

I have a precious niece who is having her third child next week and it's A GIRL!! After two boys, she will really enjoy having a little girl, too. They are naming her after my father's mother which is truly, truly sweet.

The clouds are from Create a Critter, the buggy is from Wrap it Up, the flower stems are from Walk In My Garden and the grass is from Plantin Schoolbook. The buttons are from a button pack at Wal Mart and the Memory thread used in the buggy wheels is from Michael's.

I layered the buggy several times and pop dotted it on top of the card mat. Picture doesn't show colors well but it's several different shades of pretty pinks.

This card style came about from a thread on the Cricut messageboard that showed use of the memory thread http://www.cricut.com/forum/Cricut-Community_postst63367_enabler-alert--a-new-find-for-me----you-must-get-some--really-you-will-love-it.aspx . I bought some and sent some to my sister, challenging her to use it on a card, which she did at http://piecesofjoyhadden.blogspot.com/2011/03/sister-challenge.html .   She promptly finished the challenge, and very successfully I would say, while I just now got around to finishing mine. So, she won this challenge!!

Cricut Cake Giveaway from Mixologycrafts

MixologyCrafts is giving away one Cricut cake and two Cricut cake cartridges. Head on over and register but do it quick! Registration ends tomorrow, Friday April 1 at noon (eastern time)

http://mixologycrafts.wordpress.com/2011/03/30/cricut-cake-giveaway/#comment-623

Pansy card

This is a pansy card I made quite some time ago using a Martha Stewart Pansy border punch. I used the technique at http://frommycraftroom.blogspot.com/2010/02/bordering-circles-and-oval-with-your.html to make it shaped into a circle and really like this way of using the border punches. The paper was just a scrap in my scrap stash and the image is "Bouquets of Joy" from Clear Art Stamps by Crafty Secrets and is colored with Prismacolor pencils and OSM. I just love this little girl and her flowers! The tag was also made with the MS border punch on each side of a strip of paper and cut to length. I think the sentiment on the tag is from an SU set but don't remember which one. I used small flat-back pearls in the middle of each flower to give it a little depth, put on a circle cut with my Cricut after clipping and putting the border around the circle. Then the entire thing was pop dotted on the purple paper.

Cricut Stampede

I went to the Cricut Stampede this past weekend and I have got to say that ProvoCraft and Creative Critterz put on an amazing event. I had more fun that I thought possible meeting people I've "known" on the messageboard for years. We ate and drank wine and ate and shopped and ate and crafted (very little for my part) and socialized and traded calling cards and ribbon and just had a fabulous time. PC gave away oodles of stuff (I didn't win anything but that's ok...I had a blast) and our Swag bags were full of goodies-from an Old West cartridge to 3 different sizes of Terrifically Tacky tape and Glimmer Mist to a wooden boot to decorate to a deep cut blade housing and two cricut markers, an organizational CD, ribbon glue tape, glue squares and vendor discount codes. The food was enjoyable (along with goodies that just about everybody brought and shared and little pie tarts and cookies in the shape of Texas from Creative Crittez), the giveaways exciting and the bar-b-que and dance with crazy pictures on Saturday was a total hoot. Most of all, I totally embraced the ability to craft and mingle with others who like to cricut and stamp and just enjoy life. There were a few guys there--one gentleman won a $100 gift certificate for his table decorations.

My roomies were Sandy (I knew her from PS Scrapbook in Allen, Texas) and Denise from Lubbock who neither Sandy or I knew. She was so happy that we asked her to room with us that she made us these wonderful necklaces with beads that she handmade (pic to be posted soon!). Everybody was encouraged to decorate their doors and our door won one of the two 2nd Place Prizes!! We each got a $50 gift certificate for crafting supplies and we were totally JAZZED! The pictures do not do the door justice. I now have a totally new respect for people who coordinate events via teleconference because we did our door decorations via emails and that in itself was a bit of a challenge for me to visualize how it would all come together but our marvelous Sandy had the grand idea and it totally worked!

Roomies Sandy and Denise:

Different Pics of our door--wagon train from different states in sizes that got smaller as they moved away from the door, Pennant over the door with our names and calling cards as well as event name and date and Texas spelled out across the bottom, Cricut Girl on horseback with little Cricuts around the campfire (Sandy used feathers for the flames of the fire which was so clever) with all of them having "thought bubbles" with crafting phrases and Provocraft products roaming through their thoughts. Sorry the pics aren't as good as the real product. I am hoping and hoping this event will be held again and if so, I will do whatever it takes to be able to go again!

My calling card...I had to cut out three Texas shapes--one in each color and then cut and glue together. The Cricut head with green blingy was soooo tiny but marked the approximate site of Frisco where the Stampede was held. I made 120 of these littel 3x3 calling cards which were traded with other Stampeders and used for the giveaways. My card was fairly simple but that's how I craft. Some ladies cards were so wonderful that they could only be called works of art.

Granboy's birthday card - Cricut tractor card

Wow...can't believe I've neglected my blog like this. I swear I had more spare time and my house was cleaner when I had two kids at home, worked a full time job that demanded (unpaid) overtime and extensive outside courses and I was team manager for son's Classic League Soccer Team.

Anyway, this is a very quick and very simple card I did for youngest granboy's birthday--he was 4. Pic is a bit fuzzy because I took it with my phone. I used Create a Critter for the cloud and did some doodling, pop dotted it. The tractor was from my new favorite cartridge Country Life and the grass was a border from Plantin Schoolbook. I think CAC and CL are now my all-time favorites. Granboy LOVES tractors so he really liked this card.

Redid DH's Valentine's Day Card

I wasn't really happy with the card I did for DH because the black scalloped oval just didn't seem to work, so I redid it by making the black scallp oval a red one and edging the white one with Momento Tuxedo black. I will be submitting it for a Cricut Challenge. We are challenged to use embossing, two Cricut cuts and a heart (not stated if that heart has to be a Cricut cut). The cuts I used were the leaves fron Lyrical Letters (did two of the same cut and flipped one when gluing them on the card) and the roses that are made from scalloped circles from Lacy Labels. The embossing folder is used from the Love Language set. It looks like dots but it's really little bitty hearts. Just added the heart button with the twine to make sure the card qualified for the requirement of a heart. DH really liked the card but think he like what was included also--money for shooting range practice. Romantic card, non-romantic Valentine's gift. Perfect for him!

DH Valentine Card

Well, I finally did a card for DH. Every year I just worry and worry about what to do for him and I finally settled on this design. It's my first attempt at the rolled roses made from scallop circles and they "unwound" a little too much, but I think I am going to like making flowers this way. I wasn't quite sure about the black nestabilities cut but I needed another color for the "rule of three" and I just really like the color combo of red, white and black.

I used SU Real Red cardstock for the base, embossed a piece of Georgia Pacific cardstock with the Cuttlebug embossing folder from the "Love Language" set, Nestabilities scallop oval die was used for the black and white oval layers, Cricut scallop circles were cut for the roses using Lacy Labels with a George circle cut out of the middle and the branches are from Lyrical Letters. The white nestabilitie cut is inked on the edges with SU Real Red Ink. The ribbon is from Hobby Lobby. The sentiment is my favorite stamp so far this year and is from Repeat Impressions.

Weekly Circle Challenge

Well, today is another dreary ice day. I'm kinda down in the dumps-no big reasons why, just a bunch of piddly little aggravations, but I think it's mostly sun deprivation. We don't get a lot of this kind of weather and the last two weeks have been a little difficult as far as getting around, cold, ice, snow.

So I decided to get busy and do a Circle challenge. The challenge was to use a shape 3 times and to use spray ink.

I used SU real red and cut the flowers from Walk In My Garden out of SU Real Red scraps, the stem/leaves cut is also from WIMG and I used scraps. The grass was a small piece of dotted paper in my scraps also and was cut using Plantin Schoolbook. The middle of the flowers were done using the Cuttlebug Snowflake #2 die. I thought they were a little big for this shape of flower but really like how it looked on the red. The sun was cut three times from Doodlecharms and I used Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist in Caramel Apple on the top layer of the sun and it made the yellow look sparkly/golden. The face on the sun is a free font I got off the internet called "Face-Off".

I glued everything other than the sun on white Georgia Pacific cardstock and ran it through the Cuttlebug using the SU Textured Impressions folder. I then pop dotted the sun and placed it in the corner. This card is kinda happy looking and brightened up my day.

Hope everybody out there is staying warm!

Last of the snow days cards

Well, this is the last card I was able to do during our recent snow/ice storm. It's back to work tomorrow.

I don't like ever making sympathy cards but I especially don't like having to make them at a time when I need them. So I am trying to build up my stash so that they're there when I need them. This was done with SU Crushed Curry cardstock, Crushed Curry DSP and SU embossing folder Textured Impressions used on white Georgia Pacific cardstock. The middle is a die by Nellie's Multi Frames. The sentiment is by Little Paper Shop and is done with versamark, SU Close to Cocoa inkspot and heat embossed with clear embossing powder on Georgia Pacific cardstock which was inked thinly on the edges with the Close to Cocoa inkspot. The flower was just circles cut in gradually smaller sizes, scrunched up and inked with the Close to Curry ink and a glitter brad in the middle.

Valentine's Day Project for DS

Our recent bad weather had one good outcome--I was able to finish a project that I am pretty proud of. DS and his GF work and live at a wildlife refuge/resort. They are having a Valentine's Day dinner for 50 people (25 couples) and he asked me to do something for the tables. I ended up doing an easle card that was similar to a Christmas card I made for him and a matchbox treat holder.

The card was done using SU real red cardstock (love that red!). The embossed mat on the background was done using the Cuttlebug folder from the Love Language set. The zebra and giraffe are done with Create A Critter (LOVE that cartridge!) For the camel, I tried using the image from Paper Dolls but I needed a one hump camel. I tried welding an oval onto that image in Design Studio but when I did, a lot of the detail lines on the camel's face and legs disappeared. And they have one camel there that is a favorite with everybody so I really wanted a camel on the card. So I did what I said I would never do--bought a cartridge for just one image--the camel. I did get a good bargain on Ebay, tho for the Animal Kingdom cart. The camel did not have layers like the animals on CAC which was disappointing but he turned out ok. The camel had only a profile image of the face so I used the face cutout on one of the layers and pop-dotted it so that the camel is looking at you. The head is a little out of proportion to the body but cuts any smaller had the details almost disappearing into the image. And I'm not just tickled with how the markers looked on the face outline but it was the only way to get any facial details since there were no layers. Then the ostrich. OMW the ostrich! Of all the thousands and thousands and thousands of images on the cartridges, there is one and only ONE ostrich. No layers. So I cut it in pink as the base. Then a white layer where I manually cut off the head/neck and legs as the Hide Contour feature in DS didn't hide what I wanted while keeping the cuts that were needed. Then a black layer where I manually cut off the legs, tail, head/neck and ruffle around the neck. I still wasn't happy with the look so I did a shadow in DS. I never was totally happy with the way the shadow looked but did some hand trimming and that worked. Then on the ostrich face--because of the size, the markers just didn't work. I tried using mini-gel pens to do the face but I didn't have the right adaptors for that and it just didn't work. I ended up using a Micron pen to do the facial details by hand. Not nearly as cute as it could have been if an ostrich had been on the CAC cartridge, but still workable. The scalloped ovals on the card are done using Nestabilities and the white layer was inked only on the edges with Real Red ink to give it more depth. The font on the white oval is computer generated. It's hard to see from the pictures but it says "I left my heart (using small heart shaped button with twine) at ......." (No personal details as I have been repeatedly told to not give personal or specific info on the internet.)

The stamp and cancellation mark on the envelope are from Repeat Impressions. I just loved the African theme and the tie in with the giraffe on the card and since these are more souvenirs than a card someone would mail, I just HAD to put these on the envelope.

The matchbox treat holder was done with a cut file by the marvelously talented Cindy McVey (her blog is http://crazy4crafting.blogspot.com/ ). It holds either two Ghiradelli mini-bars or two Andes Valentine's Mints. It was also done with SU Real Red cardstock, the strip of zebra paper is from Hobby Lobby and the hearts are a Martha Stewart punch. Getting ready to pack them up to mail to him and am pleased with how they turned out. I am asking that they take pictures of the tables when they are set up and the favors are on the table and will post those when I get them.

It's a good thing we had a four-day snow in because it helped me get the 30 cards and 30 treat boxes done in time! (always good to extras so I did a few more than needed)