Dance in the Rain

This is my second post of the day.

This is for two challenges:
Cuttlebug Challenges: Dance, sing, energy
Cricut Cardz Challenge: Green, blue, black and white only

Recipe:
Cartridges: Everyday Paper Dolls™ (clouds), Sweethearts™ (couple)
Embossing: A2 D'vine Swirls Emboss Folder™
Paper: Torendi Sassafras™ Indie Girl Wee Bundle
Sentiment: EAD Designs Rainy Day set
Ribbon

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 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.

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!

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.

Hezzy's Wedding Week - Photo Frame

One of my bridesmaids - Heather - whom I call Hezzy or Hezzymae - is getting married on July 10th! My husband and I have been here for a while already (we got here on the 3rd) and have been LOVING Montana. It's so beautiful here.

Heather was my college roomie and we have had so many crazy adventures together - none of which will make it on this blog because girlfriends keep their secrets :).

Anyway, I wanted to do some home made with love presents for her. We were always that way and she is SO crafty that I know she will love them.

First up: an embellished photo frame. I bought this frame at IKEA for $3.99 (not bad!). A little while ago, I had gotten some vinyl from EAD Designs and this was my first attempt at cutting vinyl. After some trial and error, I found that since my blade is older, I put it at a depth of 5, speed of 3 and pressure of 3. It is recommended for a new blade to just have it at 4. Whatever floats your boat! :). This worked perfectly with my little Cricut.

I cut the corners from Storybook™ as well as the "and". The H for Heather and C for Court came from the Gypsy Font™.

I made it so that we could take a picture at the wedding and she can print it out and put it in there. I think it will make for a lovely reminder of the wonderful day we are about to share celebrating the love between her and Aaron.

Owl

I made this little owl card for fun. He was cut from the Storybook Cartridge™. I used the shadow feature to make the card base. It was welded on my Gypsy™. Then I cut both the shorty/holes function and the shift of the normal key because I thought they all went together like layers. That is not the case! :)

So, I used most of the pieces that cut out from the normal key and placed them on the Shorty/Holes shift function owl which turned out just how I thought it was supposed to layer! :) I placed the pupils right in the center and showed my husband and he moved them into the upper right corners - so I have to give him his kuddos for that! I love it!

This card would have been perfect for My Pink Stamper's new Tweetie Hoo Puns™ stamp set!

Happy Wednesday!

Paper Cranes

I made this for the Torendi challenge. We were supposed to get inspiration from the photos and create a project. I think I got to Torendi through EAD Designs.

Anyway, I've had this paper with the lotus blossoms for a while and I wanted to make a simple, classic card. When I looked at the inspiration photos, for some reason I thought of a Japanese wedding and I know paper cranes are part of the tradition. I knew I had the paper cranes on Wild Card™, so that's what I used!



I made them different sizes and flipped one of them to make them all a little different. I ran the cranes through my Cuttlebug™ with the A2 D'vine Swirls Emboss Folder™. Then I added some ribbon and stamped it with my Hero Arts™ stamps.

I made the envelope to match and didn't match up the edges like one normally does so that it could look a little more like origami.

I hope you're having a wonderful day!

You Make Me Smile

This green and white card stock is my favorite pattern that I've found. I was considering making it my blog background! I love it. Olive green is my favorite color and while this photograph makes it come out a little more apple then olive - it's a little closer to an earthy olive.

I cut the crown at 2 inches (it's the height - which I had forgotten and cut it out MUCH too large initially). It is cut from the Summer in Paris Cartridge™ (noticing a theme? I LOVE this cartridge!). I cut the background out of white and the front out of raspberry and popped the crown with pop dot to give it some dimension.

I embossed the pink layer on the bottom with one of the folders from the A2 Organic Border Emboss Folder™ set. I inked around all edges of the bottom border. I stamped it with the Hero Arts CL272 stamp set (the only one I own! haha) and my card was simple and complete.

Baby Girl - MPS challenge

My husband and I live in a condo in San Francisco. Our building manager, Candace, is on leave and I just found out that she had her baby girl yesterday morning. I don't even have the details or what her name is yet! Anyway, I thought this would be a fun card to make for the My Pink Stamper challenge of Brown, Pink, Green, and Orange.

Now, these would not have been the colors that I would have put together on a card, but I think they ended up pretty cute. I did use beige for the baby's head. But I think I will be forgiven for that. In hindsight, I wish I would have used the same paper that I used for the envelope for the baby carriage. But alas, Now I know for next time.

The carriage card and envelope are from Wild Cartridge™. The baby body, head, and bunny are from Everyday Paper Dolls™.

I welded the baby body and head to the card base with my Gypsy™ as I didn't want all the colors showing on the inside of the card. Then I re-cut the baby's head and pasted it on top. The bow is my orange - it more of a coral, but it's the orange I wanted to use. I used a black pen to ink in some eyes, definition lines, etc. and I cut the the green scallop by hand (you can totally tell!). My scissors are kitchen scissors so they are huge! haha. Add another thing on the craft list!


I stamped the sentiment with Hero Arts™ CL272 stamps.

Now, I just have to take it to the HOA office so they can send it off to Candace! I can't wait to see her new baby girl!

My Pink Stamper Entry

I decided to apply for the My Pink Stamper design team. I did not get in :(. But alas, here was my entry for it.

Recipe:

Cartridge Used: Sentimentals Cartridge™

Card:
1. Frame 1 (page 28) was welded at 4.02 x 5.24 inches on my Gypsy™ to a flipped version of the same thing to create the front and back.
2. I used the hide contour function on my Gypsy™ to hide the cut out rectangle on the back of the card so it would be solid.
3. I cut that image from My Mind's Eye Ooh la la "Playful" paper.
4. The layer, Frame 1 image was also cut at 4.02 x 5.24 inches on DCWV paper in dark blue.
5. I stamped it with a Hero Arts™ stamp from CL272 "Love Always" in yellow.
6. I added an organza bow and voila!

Envelope:
1. Paper is from K&Company. I scored it on my Martha Stewart™ scoring board.
2. Address label was cut from Sentimentals at 5.5 inches from My Mind's Eye Ooh la la "Playful" paper.
3. The address label was inked around the edges with the side of a blue marker and popped with pop dots.

Here is a detailed photo of the Love Always part:

I'm bummed, but I'll try again next time! :) Congratulations to all the girls that made it!

4th of July!

Well, my friend Aubrey sent me some goodies in the mail and they are all over this card! The ribbon and the buttons are all from her (Thank you!).

4th of July and the sailboat are both cut from Designers Calendar™ cartridge. The "4th of July" didn't have a shadow feature, so I just cut it out a little bit bigger and I think it still looks great!

I embossed the sailboat with two folders: the A2 Swiss Dots Embossing Folder™ and the A2 Combo Birthday Wishes™ folder. I just used the part below the candle tops. I love the striped look!

The paper is kraft, DCWV neutrals (dark and light blue), and the DCWV Taj Mahal stack.

This card qualifies for three challenges:
Wee Memories: red, white, and blue
The Cuttlebug Spot: Independence Day
Cricut Carz Challenge: 4th of July

My best friend Kourt is active duty in the Air Force right now (she just graduated from medical school!) and I think I'll be sending this to her. I hope everyone has a wonderful and safe 4th of July.

Wedding Card!

I made this card for Cricut Cardz Challenge #30: wedding theme.

I loved this paper from the DCWV Luxury Stack although it's a little brighter blue in person than showed up in the photo.

I cut the cake and cake background at 4.75 inches from the Summer in Paris Cartridge™ with the real dial size on.

I added a little ribbon around the three layers and the bow at the bottom. Then I popped the whole thing with pop dots. Easy Peasy and classically gorgeous.

OTWC#13 and Peachy Keen Stamps Challenge #31

This card was made using the Peachy Keen Stamps Challenge sketch:

and with the inspiration photo from Off the Wall Craftiness:

The challenge at Off the Wall Craftiness was to use the colors from the inspiration: pinks and blues.

I had a great time making this card. The paper is from K and Company, placed onto kraft card stock. I cut out the images from the Storybook Cartridge™ and made the shadow circle bigger so that it would suffice for the sketch challenge. I used my flower punch to cut out the background for the buttons, stamped it with the Hero Arts™ stamps CL272 set, added some ribbon, and glued it all on! :)

I hope you like it!