Love this flamingo cut!

I have never used this flamingo cut from Life's a Beach before but I think it is the cutest thing!

This is a 'Hi' card that I am sending out for a Cricut Card Fairy mission. I am also posting this for challenges from Bitten By The Bug 2 - use a flamingo that is not pink, and Paper Cutz Challenge # 56 - use anything metal on your project.

Materials:
Flamingo cut is from Life is a Beach and mounted using pop dots.
I cut the black frame with Nestabilities Labels #8
The metal eyelets are from my stash
The 'Hi' embellishment is one that I had around, not sure where it came from but I thought the blue matched the background nicely.
My 'stitching' was done with a purple Sakura gel pen.
My base card is purple cardstock from Colorbok.
The colored background I made using a watercolor technique with Tim Holtz distressed inks. I also sprayed the background with Tattered Angels Gold.
The black paper is from Papertrey Ink.

A new baby!

A new grand baby is on the way!!! This will be our 7th grand baby and #7 is just as exciting as the first one!  The only sad part is that my daughter and son-in-law live 2000 miles away. (They are not the parents of all the grandbabies, just one - soon to be 2.) Anyway, I am sending them this card to let them (again)  know how excited and happy I am.

This card has also been posted for the Paper Cutz Challenge #55 where the theme was anything goes.

I also posted this one for Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge #82. As you can see by the sketch below, I took some 'artistic license' with this sketch but I think that is allowed...right?

Materials Used:

The carriage is an old favorite of mine - cut a 3" circle and then remove a wedge shaped section. Easy Peasey!!

Scallop border cuts were all from MS All Occasion Cakes cartridge.

The font is from Cindy Loo (I love this Cindy Loo font but tonight I noticed that the MS cartridge I used has a very similar font so if you have that one, check it out.)

The sentiment 'small wonder' is from Stampin' Up!

Papers: (in green & peach because we don't yet know if it should be pink or if it should be blue) Core'dinations, The Paper Factory, Jeneva & company

Ribbon and pearls from my stash, and last but never least... Tim Holtz distressed inks.

Lucky Me! A member of the new DT at Cricut Cardz Challenge

YAY! I am so lucky to be part of the new Cricut Cardz Challenge design team! There are 34 of us (wow) divided into 2 teams. I have been assigned to team 2 so I will be posting as part of the design team every other week. But don't wait for me, get over there now and check out the other team members because there is a whole lotta creativity and talent going on!

Mary at CCC has been a big inspiration for me. When I first got my cricut, I learned so much from her videos, and finally decided that I wanted to be a part of her challenges, which is why I started this blog. Thanks Mary!!

Don't miss out on the fun, the new challenge is up now, so visit CCC for the details!

Butterflies bring comfort

This card is for a Cricut Fairy Mission. A mother lost her child a year ago, and we hear that butterflies have always made her feel like her son was near, and this brings her comfort. I can't even imagine what this woman has been through, but if butterflies bring her comfort, I would like to send her a field full of them!

Paper is from DCWV Y Core'dinations, flower stamp is Unity and sentiment is from Verve stamps, the butterflies were made with fiskars punches, and inks are Memento and Tim Holtz distressed.

Carve Your Own Stamps

A few people have asked me to post about a stamp I carved a couple of weeks ago for a card I made, so here is all you need to know to carve your own (simple) stamp. You can see the card I made here. I needed an ant stamp but could not find one that fit my design. While trying to find something that would work, I came across this stamp carving kit I had picked up at M's about a year ago. This stamp carving kit comes with a piece of rubbery material, reminds me of pink eraser material, I don't know if it's actual rubber. It also comes with a carving tool with 2 different blades, and an instruction manual with some art. Unless you are particularly handy with this kind of thing, I found solid stamp images - such as my ant - work best. I tried something more intricate when I first purchased this kit and... let me just say it wasn't pretty. Anyway, just pencil a design right on the rubber (don't forget you are working in the reverse direction your stamp will stamp) and start slowly carving away the material from the outside of your design. These blades cut through this stuff 'like butta' so it was easy carving. I think this kit was about $10 when I got it, I hope you try this, it was fun when it actually stamped the image I was going for!

Speed Ball Speedy-Carve stamp carving kit.

What's the Buzz??

There is still time to get an entry in for Cricut Cardz challenge #37. Just make a card using only the colors orange, yellow, blue, black & white. Here is the card I will submit.

Materials I Used:

The flower was made by layering 1" circles after inking the edges.

The bee was cut from Just Because Cards cartridge, but I used acetate for the wings.

The sentiment is a stamp from Papertrey Ink.

Paper is from DCWV, Papertrey Ink, and Bazzill.

Back to school card for a teacher

I made this card for my daughter who teaches 3rd grade in Arizona, I think she will love it!

I cut the bus using the Stretch Your Imagination cartridge, and the kids from Everyday Paperdolls. I used my craft knife to enlarge the windows on the bus so that the kids faces would show in the windows, then when you open the card, that is where the kids are. The papers are from DCWV and Papertrey Ink, the patterned papers is from an old DCWV fall stack. Peachy Keen stamps for the faces and my white sakura pen for some highlights and the 'chalk' message on the blackboard. The school zone sign was printed on my computer. And the sentiments I made with my label maker, first time using that on a card and I kinda liked it! :)

I am posting this card for Papercutz challenge #54, and Paper Playtime's challenge #11.

Why am I making Christmas Cards??

I have no idea, but here goes one. I used acetate card stock to make a 'french door with windows' type Christmas card. (I cut the windows and then attached the acetate behind the doors.) I have the cut file for cutting these window panes on a card if anybody is interested, just contact me using my contact form.
UPDATE: I should say what I actually have is the gypsy file for this cut, and the shapes I used for the window panes is from walk in my garden cart. Sorry for any confusion, I was the one who was confused   :)

This Christmas tree cut is from Create A Critter, the snowman is from Winter Woodland and the bird wreath is from MS Seasonal Cakes. I ran the Christmas tree through my cuttlebug using the Herringbone embossing folder, and used stickles on the tree, wreath, and window panes.
Enjoy!

I am linking this card for the Be Inspired Challenge  #96 at cuttlebugchallenge.blogspot.

Here is what we were supposed to do.

YOUR CHALLENGE: Use acrylic or acetate, and your Cuttlebug on your card, layout, home decor, altered item, etc. Post your project to LINKZ below by Tuesday, Aug. 17th, and you could be our next winner!

Pink Cricut Stamps

Sarah at http://www.pinkcricut.com/ is about to release some new stamps that were designed to coordinate with cricut cartridges. I made this card to go with one of her Country Living stamps, SMOOCHES. You can see her stamps here.

For my project I cut the cow from Create A Critter, and the lips (love them!) from Indie Art. I don't actually have the stamps yet so I just printed the SMOOCHES sentiment on my computer.

Crystal Color Lacquer Card

I made this little card while I was trying out the Crystal Color Lacquer pens, I believe these are from Sakura, somebody please correct me if I am wrong. Anyway, I really love this stuff, it is so pretty when it dries. I stamped this flower and then colored in with the pens. It dries to a glossy color that is 3D. Please forgive the look of this one, I clearly need to work on my technique with this stuff! But I would recommend it to anybody looking for this type of effect. Incidentally, I colored that metal tag with one of my copic markers... works pretty good on metal, I never knew!

Paper Playtime Challenge #10 Miss You

This card is going to my daughter who lives 2000 miles away from me. Love & miss you Stacey!!!
It is also for the Paper Playtime Challenge #10 - Miss You.

Materials Used:

Birds & branch cut from Straight From the Nest Cartridge

Paper is from Core'dinations and a DCWV stack called Linen Closet which I LOVE, the papers are so beautiful, and some are glittered.

The ribbon is from Martha Stewart

The sentiment "miss you like crazy" is from Verve stamps.

Sweet Surprise - Paper Cutz Challenge #53

This card is going to a sweet friend who surprised me with a gift. I made this for Paper Cutz challenge #53, which required a project with an image of a monkey, skunk, squirrel or hedgehog. It is hard to see but the sentiment says "Such a Sweet Surprise". My skunk is hiding in a patch of sweet flowers, I hope my friend likes it!

Materials Used:
Skunk & Sweet sentiment from Create A Critter cartridge, borders are from Martha Stewart All Occasions Cake cartridge (love love that cart!)
Paper is from DCWV, Papertrey Ink and Making Memories
Flowers are from my stash (?)
Gave it some sparkle with Glossy Accents & Sakura gel & glitter pens.

My take on Peachy Keen Stamps Sketch Challenge #34

Peachy Keen Stamps Sketch Challenge #34 uses the sketch below.  This is my take on that sketch. This card is going to my sweet hubby who does indeed make my life a picnic!

Sketch:

My Card:

I used Doodlecharms cart to cut the watermelon, paper from Bazzill, Papertrey Ink and a DCWV stack, green ric-rac from Oriental Trading, Memento & Brilliance ink for stamping, Nesties labels #4, and the faces are from PK Simple Simon face assortment stamps. The ants... I could not find an ant border on my carts, I didn't have an ant stamp, I could not find an ant digi stamp I liked, but I did find a stamp carving kit I had purchased some time ago. So..... can you believe it, I carved an ant stamp! :)

8x8 Recipe Swap Layout

I joined my first swap on the cricut.com messageboard. I really had fun putting this together. It was an 8x8 recipe swap for quick breads, I chose Lemon-Blueberry Loaf - YUM! Here is my finished page.

Materials Used:

Patterned paper from a DCWV stack.

White cardstock from Papertrey Ink

Lemons & blueberries cut from the Preserves cartridge

Fonts are from the Nursery Rhyme & Ashlyn's Alphabet cartridges.

Inks from Tim Holtz Distress Ink

MS All Occasions Shape Card

I love the Martha Stewart cake cartridges!! Martha just always seems to do it better. I had to have these (All Occasions and Seasonal) because I fell in love with the borders, but look at this wonderful wreath that was on All Occasions! I made it into a shape card that is just perfect for saying 'hello' to a friend.

This card is about 4.5 x 4.75. I used my Gypsy to hide the inside contours of the wreath, made two copies of that and welded them together to cut the white shape card. Then I cut the wreath in green for the vine, and did the shift cut in yellow for the flowers. I did the flowers twice so I could cut some of them out and pop them up for dimension. I think the sentiment is perfect because these yellow flowers remind me of the summer sun. I would be happy to share the cut file for this card if anybody is interested. There is a 'contact me' link on my blog, just send an email and ask for the sunshine flower cut file. In fact, if you are interested in cut files, click here for two window cards I have cut files for using  the Cindy Loo cartridge; if anybody wants them, I will be happy to email them.

Materials used in this card:

Gypsy, Cricut & Martha Stewart All Occasions Cake Art cartridge

Paper: green and yellow cardstock - Bazzill; white cardstock - Papertrey Ink

Ink: Tim Holtz distress inks for the edges of my cuts; Memento Dew Drops for the sentiment

Stamp: Hey there sunshine! from Verve stamps

Extras: Orange Peel stickles for the flower centers

Challenges entered with this card:

Momo's Tuesday challenge, flowers!

Blog Awards

A short time ago I was so honored to receive a couple of blog awards from Dorcas of 4 crafty angels and I believe I am supposed to pass these awards on to people but I have been putting it off because it is tooooo hard to choose! But I would not want Dorcas to think I have blown off her award, so here goes. I am passing these awards to these people who have inspired me, made me smile, delighted me with their creativity. These ladies have shown me so much in a short time and I can't wait to see what they come up with next! Do yourself a favor and visit their sites.

Jess at scrappyjess.blogspot.com
Sheryl at sherylscraftingcorner.blogspot.com
Crystal at crystalscraftycreations.blogspot.com
Star at starspaperpassion.blogspot.com
Belinda at theembellishedcard.blogspot.com
Pamela at her blog.
Patti at pattiscards.blogspot.com
Terrie at terrie-paperaddict.blogspot.com
Storylady at cardswithmycricut-storylady.blogspot.com

So ladies, come and grab your buttons if you want them, and thanks for all you do.

Thanks again Dorcas, you are just the sweetest!