Christmas Around the Clock 15-20

Here we go! On the home stretch during the Cuttlebug Challenge's Christmas Around the Clock!

Challenge #15- CD case project
I have definitely never done anything like this! This was so strange and yet so interesting. The picture doesn't fit because I needed it for my layout too and didn't want to cut it. So this is a placeholder!


Recipe:
Embossing: A2 Snowflakes Emboss Folder™
Cartridges: Designer's Calendar™, Tie the Knot™, Sweethearts™

Challenge #16 - Layout with at least two things embossed - one has to be a punch
My first layout! I think it came out pretty good!

Recipe:
Cartridges: Tie the Knot™, Graphically Speaking™
Embossing: A2 Snowflakes Emboss Folder™, A2 Swiss Dots Emboss Folder™
Embellishments: From Aubrey! :) (Thanks girl!)

Challenge #17 - Noel Card
I tried this card probably 5 different ways and tried to put the N-O-E-L in the corners and it just didn't look as good as theirs did so I finally welded it on the Gypsy™ and was happy with the result (finally!).

Recipe:
Cartridges: Elegant Cakes™ (font), Tie the Knot™ (welded card)
Embossing: Love is in the Air set™
Paper: Cosmo Cricut™ Breezy Freezy
Ribbon

Challenge #18 - Santa Soup

Recipe:
Cartridge: Designer's Calendar™
Embossing: Swiss Dots™
Ribbon
Hero Arts™ adhesive pearls


Challenge #19 - Cover your favorite candy bar
Well, my favorite candy is Haribo™ gummy bears, but I didn't cover them because currently I have about a 5 lb. bag that my best friends gave me to make fun of me so it would have taken about 4 12x12" sheets of card stock and would have looked horrible when I was done. So I covered a Hershey's bar instead.

Recipe:
Cartridge: Sweethearts™ (tag)
Embossing: Organic Border Emboss Folders™

Challenge #20 - Jewelry out of embossed art metal
Oh dear! It appears I am certainly not a jewelry maker! I made this sad necklace out of art metal and ribbon. ... Don't judge me too severely! ;)


Recipe:
Embossing: Love is in the Air™
Crop-a-dile for holes
Ribbon

Christmas in July 11-14

This was my favorite set by far because I learned new things in all the projects and it challenged me. I had to make a few changes because I didn't have the materials needed, but all of them came out well.

Challenge #11 - Make your own gift bow.
Who knew it was so easy to make a gift bow? Their tutorial made it so simple! I couldn't believe it. This isn't exactly "Christmas-y", but I really wanted to use this paper! :)

Recipe:
One piece of 6x12" paper - double sided pattern if you have it.
Follow tutorial HERE.

Challenge #12 - Simple Little Luminaries
My grandparents had just given me wax candles that have battery operated lights built into them for my birthday. They even come with a remote! So this was perfect for this challenge because I was able to decorate a "wax" candle with some vinyl that I recycled from the back of a black notebook. I realize now that it's not exactly what they were going for, but I didn't know that at the time and I don't have any vellum. It comes out the same as it is still a luminary. I wish I would have taken a picture of this at night! C'est la vie.

Recipe:
Cartridge: Elegant Cakes
Cut one 10.5" Border 3 (depending on the circumference of your candle)

Challenge #13 - Stationary Set
This was my favorite for sure! I am SO excited about this and as I was planning on giving some monogrammed stationary for Christmas gifts, this will be a PERFECT vessel! You can find the tutorial HERE.


Recipe:
Two 12x12" pieces of your favorite card stock
Cards to put inside of it when you are done!

Challenge #14 - TIn Ornament
I didn't have a round tin to use for this, but I did have a tiny glass jar. This jar is about 1x1" so you can imagine how small the little tree and snowman were that I cut by hand.

Recipe:
The bottom of the jar is a green polka-dotted piece of card stock. I cut the tree and snowman with a little flap behind them that I glued down to make them stand up. Then I dropped some glue in the jar and poured some glitter down and shook it around (that's what it's all about! - hokey pocky theme - I couldn't help myself). Voila! I think it is too cute. Oh, and I tied some ribbon around the top. I can add ribbon to the two sides so that it can hang from the tree. I thought it was a good twist on what they were doing! :)

Of course these were all for the Cuttlebug Challenges!

OTWC#17, PKSC#33, and FC#20 Baby Card!

Baby Card!

I made this in the middle of the Christmas extravaganza for two reasons:
1. The challenges were ending
2. I needed a break from green and red

So This card may be a little over the top, but I love it! My best friend Kourtni gave me a cartridge on my birthday that wasn't at the top of my list, so she graciously let me exchange it and it came today - Tie the Knot™. So of course I ripped it open and made this card!


Recipe:
Paper: Cricut
Cartridge: Tie the Knot
Embossing: Swiss Dots
Ribbon
Doodling

This is for three challenges:
Peachy Keen Stamps: Sketch #33

Off the Wall Craftiness: Raspberry, bright blue, and purple

Fantabulous Cricut: Cricut cut animal

Christmas Around the Clock Challenges 7-10

Still over at the Cuttlebug Challenge Blogspot making Christmas in July a reality!

Challenge # 7 - "Create a lot" - create 3 cards with the same pattern so that they're quickly manufactured with embossing.

Recipe:
Left card
Embossing: A2 Snowflakes Emboss Folder™
Cartridge: Storybook™
Ribbon
Middle card
Embossing: A2 Swiss Dots Emboss Folder™
Embellishments: Adhesive Pearls from Hero Arts™, Flower punch
Ribbon
Right card
Embossing: A2 Leafy Branche Emboss Folder™
Cartridge: Storybook™
Ribbon

Challenge #8 - Resist Christmas (I think she meant resist Christmas colors so this is what I did)


Recipe:
Cartridge: Wild Card™ (it is the envelope for the house cut and then I just cut off the two flaps top and bottom to make it a tri fold card
Embossing: A2 Forest Branches Emboss Folder™
Wreath: made from a flower punch and buttons
Door lines were colored with Copic™ markers

I liked the idea of this card. I'm still not positive I love the execution, but I will be improving on it for sure.

Challenge #9 - Incorporate Snowmen into a home decor project.
Well, those that know me from the beginning know that one of my first posts was making this tree into an Easter egg tree. I've decorated this tree with Christmas ornaments during the holidays and now it will have little snowmen on it! These are the first three I made. I used the Gypsy to mold and weld three circles together to make a snowman as I didn't have a snowman cut.



Blue Snowman:
Embossing: Snowflakes™
Pixie sparkle
Sharpie™
Buttons
Yarn
Red Snowman:
Embossing: D'Vine Swirls™
Pixie sparkle
Sharpie™
Buttons
Yarn
Green Snowman:
Embossing: Swiss Dots™
Pixie sparkle
Sharpie™
Buttons
Yarn

Challenge #10 - White and one other color card - add sparkle

Cartridge: Wild Card™
I used my Gypsy™ to hide the features on one of the ornaments to make a shadow
Paper: Bo Bunny™ 12" St Nick Sleigh
Emboss: Forest Branches™
Added adhesive to the shiny spot and added Pixie Sparkle
Ribbon

Whew! Done with that post. But you see what I mean that grouping them together is hopefully better than separating them. You let me know because there are 14 more to go!

Court

Christmas Around the Clock Challenges 4-6, WMC#15

Just a short (written) post today with three projects and recipes. I will tell you that stamping on tile is a LOT harder than it looks! It kept smearing on me! haha.

Challenge #4: Ink an embossing pad, emboss, and then create a scene. (I thought the embossing folder would look like candy canes so that was kind of what I was going for)

Recipe:
Card Stock: white and DCVW™ - size A2
Embossing: A2 Organic Border Emboss Folder™
Corner Punch: Martha Stewart™ rain drops
Stamping: Recollections™ Winter Wonderland set
Coloring: Copic™ makers Ciao set
Shiny things: Glossy Accents™, Memory Box™ pearls, Hero Arts™ Hero Hues Gems
Ribbon
Ink: VersaColor™ - Neptune, Momento™ - Rich Cocoa, ColorBox™ -Black

Challenge#5: Stamping on Ceramic Tiles

Recipe:
Stamps: Recollections™ Winter Wonderland, Martha Stewart Crafts™ (letters for Lee Family)
Ink: StazOn™ Black, Brown, Sharpie™ Markers (lavender, gold, brown)

Challenge #6: Embossed Tag

Recipe:
Stamping: Martha Stewart Crafts™ (letters for "To: From:")
Emossing: A2 Snowflakes Emboss Folder™ (super find at Michaels for $3.59)
Cut: Designer's Calendar™
Eyelets: Crop-a-dile™
Red Ribbon

The first two (technically all three, but just words might not count) qualify for Wee Memories Challenge #15 - Stamping!

Christmas Around the Clock Challenges 1-3

I will try to post these in groupings so as not to bombard you with Christmas challenge updates :)...

Here are challenges 1-3 at The Cuttlebug Challenges.

The first one was to make a Z card. I had never made a Z card before so I followed the tutorial like a cooking recipe you love until you get used to it and then you start adding things! :).


Recipe:
This star cut is the negative piece from challenge number 2 (which I did first). - This is a later challenge, but I am determined to do one for each and not double up.
Card Stock: Core'dinations™, DCWV™, Anna Griffin™
Embossing: Cuttlebug™ D'vine Swirls Emboss Folder™
Eyelets: Crop-a-dile™
Off-white ribbon

Challenge #2 - make a star shaped card

Recipe:
Of course I pulled out my trust Gypsy™ for this one. I made the star shaped card from the liner feature on Wild Card™. I hid the inner lines with the hide contour feature and flipped one of the stars and welded them together. Next, I grabbed another star and cut it at the same size an let the inside get cut out as normal. Lastly, I cut another star (hid the inner lines again) for the raspberry star.
Card Stock: Core'dinations™ and DCWV™
Embossing: Love is in the Air Set™
Off-white small ribbon

Challenge #3 - Snowflake card and (optional) ornament

Recipe:
A2 sized white cardstock
Snowflake: Designers Calendar™
Embossing: A2 Swiss Dots Emboss Folder™
Stamping: Recollections
Ink: VersaColor - 173 - Neptune
Sparkle: Pixie Sparkle (remember this from high school-ish days? Everyone had to have Pixie sparkles for dances! haha)
Adhesive: Martha Stewart Crafts™ All Purpose Gel Adhesive

I got a little sparkle-happy later in the night and I'm not thrilled with all of it (mainly on the embossed snowflake), but like most crafters say, that's what home made cards are all about! :)

Enjoy! Time for me to make more of these Christmas challenge cards/projects.

WMC14-Summer Fun

Whew! I was about to go to sleep and remembered I hadn't done a challenge for Jenny at Wee Memories! It is due in 39 minutes! So I quickly got out my stamps and stamped this card into existence. And I know it's kind of silly, but I love it! I will be looking for a stamp that says "love birds" because I REALLY wanted to own one to put on this card!

I love just being out in nature and looking at flowers and gardening (I walked through a community garden today - it was gorgeous!). So this is what I think of when I think of summer time.

I still only have the one stamp set from Hero Arts™ and these are all the little stamps that come between the sayings. I had a great time doing this!

Butterfly Thank Yous

Just a quick post today as my parents are on their way up to the city to bop around. I am so excited!

These cards were made for my birthday present thank you's (they are shamefully late). I made another batch in a different style that I will share with you later. But for now, here they are!



Recipe:
Card Size: 4Bar which is 3 1/2 x 4 7/8".
Butterfly: Sentimentals™
Sentiment: Hero Arts™ CL272
Card Stock: DCWV
Patterned Paper: K&Co.

Happy Friday everyone!

More Christmas in July

Hold onto your hats because there is going to be a lot of posting going on here soon and it will almost all be Christmas cards.

Cuttlebug Challenges is hosting a Christmas in July week. It started on the 19th and is ending on the 24th - "Christmas" eve in July. On the 24th they are posting 24 one hour challenges. I will participating in as many of these as I can. I realized that since I got my Cricut in January - I have NO Christmas images/cartridges. Luckily there are about 2 on the Designers Calendar, but I think this 24 challenge thing is going to be very tough without it.

With that being said, this card is for their regular challenge per week.


Recipe:
Snowflake - Designers Calendar Cartridge™. Cut at 2" - that was too small to cut properly - used it as the back white diamond and re-cut the image at 3". I ran the top layer through the Cuttlebug™ with the A2 D'vine Swirls Emboss Folder™, glued the same green card stock as the strip to the back so the color would come through. Then I popped it with pop dots.

Green stripe was scrap paper from the doggy mat I made a few days ago. LOVE up-cycling!

The stamp was done with Hero Arts™ CL272 set and ColorBox olive green ink.

I used Crayola™ Glitter Glue (no kidding - I had it from about 10 years ago and it's still working!) for the dots around the snowflake.

Enjoy!

This card qualifies for the following challenges:
Cuttlebug Challenges: Sketch and Christmas
The Cuttlebug Spot: Christmas in July

Crafts for the puppy!

Yesterday I got out my EAD Vinyl and wanted to make something for our little Yorkshire Terrier named Spoon. She is such a little cuddlebug and spooner! Anyway, we occasionally throw wine and cheese parties and Spoon never gets to participate.. :( Poor puppy... So, I decided to make this placemat to go under her bowl that says "Wine" and "Cheese" for her water and food bowls respectively.

I cut the "Wine" and "Cheese" on my Cricut Expression™ from the Elegant Cakes Cartridge™. Then I used the transfer tape that comes with the EAD Designs™ Vinyl (they're SO thorough!) and stuck it to the card stock that I chose.

The card stock is from the Taj Mahal card stock stack from DCVW. I cut it to 8.5x11".

Then I simply placed it in a Provo Craft® laminating sheet and ran it through my YourStory™.

Easy peasy and the pup loved it! I am also posting one of my pup in focus because I think she's too cute!


Happy Wednesday everybody and I hope the week goes by swiftly for you so you can get to the weekend and do some crafting!

Pink, White, Grey and Argyle

Lately I have been feeling a lack of mojo--- but I am certain that it is coming from the general direction of trying to refinance our house - which is FINALLY in progress. SO I should be getting it back soon. :)

On Saturday my best friend Kourt and I found some time to craft. It was choppy at best while Malakai (her son and my Godson) is teething and just wants to be held. So between the two of us, we kept him occupied and co-created a card. I gave her the color scheme and showed her the Wild Card™ argyle cuts and we both picked out the papers together and took turns cutting out the shapes. She glued it together and added the swiss dots embossing (I think that looks amazing and would never have thought to do it!!!). She also thought of the tag on the front and we both put our heads together on the ribbon and the stamping. So honestly, it was a completely joined effort of goodness. I did cut the envelope the wrong way - the stripes were supposed to be vertical! Bad me. Anyway, we had a wonderful time creating this together and I hope you like it too!



Of course, it qualifies for a few challenges:
Cricut Cardz Challenge:Use a card feature on a cartridge
EAD Designs:Pink, Grey, Argyle and optional White and Black
Off the Wall Craftiness:Pale pink, grey, and white or cream
The inspiration photo is here:

Happy Birthday Mike!

Just a quick post for this card to get it in by the deadline!

This card is for my co-father (FIL) Mike. It's about to be his birthday! He's the best kind of man. I am so lucky. Some of the best conversations I've had with him have been driving in the car on family vacations or just between homes that are two hours away.

Recipe:
Car: Heritage™
Road: Everyday Paper Dolls™
Scallops for the "M" pendant : Gypsy Wanderings™
"M": Designers Calendar™
"Happy Birthday": Elegant Cakes™
Embossing: A2 Happy Birthday Emboss Folder™

So this is my card for him and it qualifies for a few challenges...
Peachy Keen Stamps: Favorite Summer Vacation + bling, brads, or buttons
The Cuttlebug Spot: Sketch Challenge


Last, but not least, thank you to my new followers! I am so excited that you like my work and if you have blogs, I'll be around to see your work too!

Celebrate Bug Vinyl

I made this card last night. It's an A2 sized card with and EAD Designs Rub-Ons bug. The sentiment is Hero Arts™, the embossing is done with the Cuttlebug™ A2 Perfectly Paisley Emboss Folder™. I added just the buttons (even glued them on) and then decided that I wanted to make it a garden of flowers with button centers. So I ripped the buttons off and added some flowers that I made with a flower punch and then added some stems and leaves with my new Copic™ markers that I got from iCopic via winning them over at BBTB2! Whew! What a run-on!



I loved this idea so much that I think one of the next cards you will see from me will have a whole garden of flowers with button centers and most likely you will find an EAD rub on bug in there too. :) I love those rub ons!

This card qualifies for two challenges:
Cuttlebug Challenges: Bug and Embossing
Off the Wall Crafitness:Tangerine, teal, and (optional) white, cream, black.... Here is the inspiration photo:




Have a beautiful day!

Hezzy's Wedding Week - Thank you notes

What bride doesn't need thank you notes? I once again stayed within the kraft card stock theme. This time I decided to add a little country yellow.

This was my first time using the Embossing kit from Cricut Cuttables™. Some of this was easier than it looked, other parts were much much harder. Lessons learned: do not cut any object smaller than .25-.5 inches. It will have an incredibly hard time separating and then sticking to the correct sides.

Now, you may be wondering what is smaller than that in my embossed wording - the middle part of the "A" is no bigger than the head of a pin. This was by far the biggest challenge. The three dots for the periods as well as the middle of the R were the other challenges. I used a credit card to help pull apart the letters onto their correct sides. This will make a lot more sense if you had it in front of you. Maybe I will do a video of this because it was so interesting to me. All in all, TOTALLY worth it. I love the effect.

H.A.T. Riley was part of their wedding website name. It stands for Heather, Aaron, and Tucker (their dog). They sign their Christmas cards H.A.T. so I thought I would use that. I played around with a monogram for a while and I think that they are just not monogram kind of people. This, on the other hand, is just their thing. The letters came from the Gypsy Font™ - the shadow feature.

I simply embossed the kraft card stock, cut up some spare off white/light yellow paper, cut up some K&Co. paper, glued them together and added my happy yellow and green ribbon. Then I stamped the inside with my Hero Arts CL272 "Thank you so much". I made white envelopes to go with them and tied them all up in white ribbon. I'm sure they will be useful. :)

Christmas Doily

Well, I didn't think I'd be making Christmas cards in July, but the Cuttlebug Challenges have inspired me to try my hand at it.... I have never made a Christmas card with my Cricut™ as I received my Cricut™ as a Christmas present last year from my "big brother" Bob.

The challenge this week was to use a doily. I don't have any doilies so I made one using the Elegant Cakes Cartridge™. There are plenty of frilly cuts on this cartridge, but I really liked this one.

The REALLY exciting thing is - I was just informed that I won a Cricut Cake™ on the Cuttlebug Challenges wedding week extravaganza! SO, I will be able to use my Elegant Cakes Cartridge™ on actual cakes now!!! I couldn't even believe it. I found out about it when I was about to get on a white water rafting boat for my friend's bachelorette party. I still can't believe it. I sent BettyBee my phone number and I actually got to talk to her! What a treat! And she is SO nice. I'll definitely be calling her when I open it and I'll have my husband take pictures as I will be bouncing off the walls.

I also used my Cuttlebug™ and my Love is in the Air Set™ to add some texture.

So, I made this card for the Cuttlebug Challenges challenge and enjoyed spending time with some great friends while I made it (thanks Hazel and Christy!).

This also qualifies for the Cricut Cardz Challenge: Christmas card.

I hope you like it!

Hezzy's Wedding Week - His and Her Bookmarks

Yet another home made gift I made for the shower - bookmarks. I'm such a nerd - how do you all put up with me? My husband and I love reading together cuddled up. So, I'd like to think they'll be able to cuddle up the same way we do and remember their wedding, their silly friends, and just enjoy being with each other.

Heather's wedding invitations were craft card stock with brown and blue. Our bridesmaid dresses are blue. So, I stuck with the theme for these as well as for the next project.

The bookmarks were elongated tags from Sentimentals™. Once elongated, I didn't like the one with the heart anymore. So I hid the heart and replaced it with a heart from Gypsy Wanderings™ and hid the inner line of that heart as well.

The other bookmark was the tag that was on the Key2 feature. The Key2 feature was also cut as well as it's shadow and placed on the card stock.

I used the font from Elegant Cakes™ to create all the words. I welded all of it on my Gypsy as well as the shadows. This took a very long time, but I really enjoyed doing it and hope she likes it as much as I hope she does.

I punched holes in the top with my Crop-a-Dile™ and then ran both bookmarks through the YourStory™. Then I re-punched the holes and added eyelets.

Then I just added ribbons and tied them at the top. I painted the ends with clear nail polish so they wouldn't fray and there you have it! My mom used to tell me that I was the key to her heart and wore a necklace that had a tiny key and heart to it. So the special meaning is being passed along.