Flour, Sugar, Brown Sugar - Home decor project

This project was really fast! 

I did this for the Honey Bee Showcase over at Betty Bee's Buzz. We Honey Bees (the DT) use the tutorial presented on Monday to come up with something that is inspired by the tutorial for Wednesday. 

This week I decided to do a home decor project. 

This was my first time working with felt and I did it so that this would qualify for one of the Cricut Circle contests going on. I had a great time with it and I think I will definitely be using it again in future projects! 

OUT FOR PUBLICATION!!! :)

Recipe:
Jars from Michaels
Cuttlebug™
Cricut™
Vinyl: EAD Designs™ (of course!)
Cartridges: Straight from the Nest™, Cake Basics™
Embossed felt from Michaels
Card Stock: Paper Trey Ink: Ripe Avocado and Spring Moss™
Embossing folder: Perfectly Paisley™
Scissors
Adhesive: Glue Arts Perma Tac™
Ribbon: Paper Trey Ink Perfect Match in Ripe Avocado -Saddle Stitch™

OUT FOR PUBLICATION!!! :)

Now pop on over to Betty Bee's Buzz to see what the other Honey Bees have done using Betty's tutorial!

Thanksgiving Menu!

Courtney Lee

Good Monday morning to you!

I am doing the tutorial this morning for Passionately Artistic and was asked if I could make a Thanksgiving menu to put on the plates before dinner. I was excited to do it!

These are the actual dishes that I made for Thanksgiving two years ago (the food items, not the plates :).

Recipe:

Machines: Gypsy™, Cricut Expression™, Cuttlebug™, i-rock by Imaginise™

Cartridge: Tie the Knot™, Thanksgiving™, Winter Woodland™

Embossing Folders™: Swiss Dots™ and Victoria™

Card stock: Paper Trey Ink: Dark Chocolate™, Ripe Avocado™, Stamper's Select White™, Pure Poppy™, Orange Zest™

Metallic Pearl Glam Rocks™

Ink: ColorBox Olive™, Momento Rich Cocoa™

Buttons: Paper Trey Ink Vintage Holiday Mix™

Twine: Paper Trey Ink Rustic Cream Button Twine™

Adhesive: Glue Glider Pro Perma-Tac™, Glue Arts Extreme Adhesive Squares™

Glossy Accents

Three-dimensional foam

Instructions:

1.  I used my Gypsy to elongate a tag from Tie the Knot Cartridge™ and I hid the hole that is at the top. Then I made one slightly smaller to nest inside of it.

2. I cut these out of white Paper Trey Ink™ cardstock and Dark Chocolate from Paper Trey Ink™respectively. (Ignore the Pilgrim's hat - I decided not to use it when I got to the end.)

3. I inked the outside of the white cardstock with Olive ink from ColorBox™

4. Next I printed out the Menu on my computer in brown ink and used the brown layer as a template to trace and then cut around.

5. Then I burnt the edges of the paper - please be careful that nothing catches on fire and allow for the burning to take in more of the edge than you expect even after you've blown it out. As you can see - I lost my word "gravy" and part of my "M"!

6. I used my i-rock by Imaginisce™ to heat set the Metallic Pearl Glam Rocks™ next to the main titles.

7. Next I cut out leaves from the Thanksgiving Cartridge™ at 1.75" and 3".

8. Then I Cuttlebugged those leaves using the Victoria Embossing Folder™.

9. Next I cut out the leaves from the Winter Woodlands Cartridge™ in various sizes ranging from 1" to 5".

10. I Cuttlebugged those leaves using the Swiss Dots Embossing folder.

11. I then inked around the edges of those leaves with Momento ink in Rich Cocoa™. I also used a paper towel which I had inked up to run over the top of the Swiss Dots embossing.

12. I selected my buttons and tied bows using the Paper Trey Ink Rustic Cream Button Twine™

13. I adhered the leaves and all layers to the different locations using the Glue Glider Pro Perma-Tac™ cartridge. I did pop dot the Dark Chocolate layer to the white card stock layer.

14. I adhered the buttons using Extreme Adhesive Squares™ (those things are amazing! They really mean "extreme adhesive" and I am totally addicted!)

15. Lastly, I used Glossy Accents™ over the green leaves which were inked.

Enjoy your hard work and how impressed your family members look when they read over your menu! :)

I hope this helps you personalize your own Thanksgiving menus! We would LOVE to see them if you decide to link them up to Passionately Artistic! You may get featured and win a prize! :)

Cuttlebug Challenge Monday Tutorial

Happy Monday to you! I know this is not everyone's favorite day of the week, but I hope my happy and bright card makes you smile! :)

This week we are celebrating the Cuttlebug Challenge's birthday! :) :) :) I created this tutorial on how to make a birthday card using your alphabet dies in your Cuttlebug™. I hope you like it!

Supplies used:
Cuttlebug™
Cuttlebug Alphabet Olivia Die™
Cuttlebug® Combo A2 Birthday Wishes™
Cricut Carstock Pad: Reds and Pinks™
Cricut Carstock Pad: Greens and Black™
Cricut Cartsock Pad: Earthone™
Bazzill Basics Paper Bling Diamond Cardstock Item#T18-2004
Hot Pink Ink

Because some people don't like to watch videos, here are the steps :)
Step 1 - Cut one 8.5x5.5" piece of Bazzill Bling Diamond Cardstock
Step 2 - Cut one 4x5.25" piece of lime green cardstock (greens and blacks cardstock pad)
Step 3 - Cut one 3.75x5" piece of Bazzill Bling Diamond Cardstock
Step 4 - Use the Embossing folder that comes with the A2 Combo Birthday Wishes to emboss the bottom of the card using your Cuttlebug™
Step 5 - Ink around edges of 3.75x5" piece using hot pink ink
Step 6 - Adhere all layers down
Step 7 - Use Cuttlebug™ and Olivia Alphabet Dies to cut out desired letters in desired colors (I used the earthtone and reds and pinks cardstock pads for this)
Step 8 - Adhere all letters to card
Step 9 - sit back, smile at your work, write in it for someone special and send it off! :)

Hope you all enjoyed this tutorial. Please don't forget to leave me a comment letting me know what you would like to see/if you would like to see something done differently/or if you just liked it!

Don't forget to play along in the My Pink Stamper challenge from last week's Be Inspired Wednesday and come back this Wednesday to see what we have in store... but given what this tutorial is about... I think you might be able to guess. :)

Have a beautiful day!

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!

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!

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.

Feel Better Soon

I love this card. It shows a lot better in person as the colors are a bit warped, but it was simple and timeless. I used my Cuttlebug™ and a folder from the Embossing Folders Love is in the Air Set™. I just used half of the design on one of the 5x7 folders.

I stamped it with a sentiment from Hero Arts CL 272. Simple, but it's ready to head out to someone who needs to feel better soon.

Whimsy Haven Sketch Drawing - Just for You

Over at Whimsy Haven they were doing a sketch challenge. I decided to participate because I liked Amy's sketch! You should also check her blog out because she puts packages of scrapping supplies together and sells them and they are oh so cute and with the coupons, usually pay for themselves! June's package is called Pocket Full of Sunshine. But I digress...

I designed this on the Gypsy™ using the Gypsy Font™ for all of my basic shapes and stretching them, etc. I ran the blue squares through the Cuttlebug™ with the A2 Persia Die/Emboss Combo™ folder (Thanks Hazel!!!). I just placed them carefully along different parts of the embossing folder and I love the different effects!

The white circle was cut with the Gypsy Wanderings™ cartridge. The "Just for You" sentiment is from Hero Arts™ stamps. I thought this could make an good masculine card as well.

Enjoy!

You Are My Sunshine

I made this card for my dad. Even though I tried to make it masculine, it still came out a little girly, but my dad is a father of an only girl (me) so he's used to that. When I was little and he was late coming home for work or just when he was thinking about me after I went to college, my dad would sometimes call and sing "you are my sunshine" to me. I (since about high school) now call some of my chick friends or my husband occasionally and sing the song to them on their answering machines. So, this "you are my sunshine" is going back to dad as most times fathers don't know what they did right in your life and what is now being passed forward because they loved you the way that they did.

That being said, I was also trying to work in some challenges and this one qualified for four of them.

Cricut Cardz Challenge Blogspot - Father's Day Card
The Cuttlebug Spot - Sketch Drawing:

Wee Memories- WMC9 - "Punch It"
BBTB2 -Use an image of a Sun from Doodlecharms Cart - which I didn't have so I used one from the Designers Calendar Cartridge™ - It's my border on the left if you can't find them. :)

All of the layers - including the card base are from the Gypsy Wanderings Digital Cartridge™ - they were tag shadows that I just stretched on my Gypsy. I welded one of the rectangles to 5 suns from the Designers Calendar Cartridge™ to get the left panel and added another layer.

The embossing on the bottom is from the A2 Border With Love Emboss Folder™ set. The square panel is popped with pop dots and the kraft paper flower was punched out. I added the buttons to the center of three of the Suns and I added ribbon to the bottom.

The "YOU" was from the Designers Calendar font and was squished on the Gypsy. "Are" and "my" were welded and cut from the Gypsy Font™ and "sunshine" was from the Gypsy Wanderings Digital Cartridge™.

There is a lot going on in this card - I think I am going to make it more simple next time. Let me know if you would like the Gypsy cut file as it is all on there. Happy looking!

3 Challenges Fathers Day Card

I made this card with three challenges in mind:

Cuttlebug Challenges - Use a pennant.
My Pink Stamper - Fathers Day Project.
The Cuttlebug Spot - Dads and Grads with (my favorite) embossing.

I designed all of this on my Gypsy™ (yay) and used the new hide contour feature to basically take out all the middle pieces of the designs. The card was made using Wild Card Cartridge™ for the card, envelope, liner, and "pennants" with the inner triangles removed. The "DAD" was cut using all capitals from the Designers Calendar Cartridge™.

The card was 4.25" and the envelope was 4.5". I used the A2 Houndstooth Emboss Folder™ for the "D" pennants and the A2 Forest Branches Emboss Folder™ for the "A" Pennant.

Because of the shape of the card, it looks a little small in person. I would recommend cutting it larger if you were to make it yourself.

Thanks for looking!

Green Chandelier

Yesterday I got to go to Angel Island on a dad and daughter date with my Father-in-Law - we had so much fun hiking around in gorgeous 70 degree San Francisco weather - riding the fairy and eating sandwiches. I try to do a dad and daughter date about once a year with my dad and this is the first with my co-dad (Father-in-Law). So yesterday was for seeing outside and today is for cleaning the house! haha - and maybe crafting if I get get my other stuff done.

I can't even tell you how much I loved making this card. I had such a great time hanging out with my husband and just crafting while a movie was playing in the background. Even though I posted the card with the eyelets yesterday, that was actually the third card I made in the series. This one was the first. I posted two pictures so you could see the envelope as it would be seen before opening the card and after opening the card.

The envelope was made with the Sentimentals Cartridge™, and the chandelier from the Embossing Folders Love is in the Air Set™ with the Cuttlebug™. Happy Memorial Day and I'll be posting the second chandelier card I made tomorrow.

WMC7 - Sky's the Limit

I love Wee Memories and the challenges that Jenny produces. I had grandiose plans for this one and scrapped about 5 different designs. I really just wanted to use my new EAD Designs Vinyl. :)

So, here is my entry for the 7th challenge. I used my Cuttlebug™ A2 Combo Birthday Wishes™ folder - just the bottom part so that the tops of the candles weren't showing. I wanted a pinstripe or fence like feel for the bottom. I also used the new EAD vinyl rub ons that I got from the Bugs set.

Short post today as my mom is here and we are about to go shopping downtown! :) AND it's girls night tonight! This should be a great Friday! Happy weekend! --- News flash --- Girls Night has been rescheduled. So, instead it's date night with the husband - just as good! :)

Business Card

This is a photo of my current business card. I didn't get a very good picture because I took it at night, but you'll get the gist. And yes, of COURSE I used my Cuttlebug™. The personal information has been blotted out to protect my privacy.

BBTB2 - Peggy Loves Vintage Challenge

So, over at BBTB2 they are having a challenge sponsored by Peggy Loves Vintage and you had to use one of the 5 images that was provided as well as a "bug" in your creation.

I decided to use the kids with the sand. I went to print it out and oh-no! My printer was out of paper, but it left this gorgeous watermark. So, I decided to leave it as it was and use it as such. I added gold wings with a stamp (yes, you read that right) that I found in a throw-away bin to the little children. My "bug' aspect was the embossing with the Cuttlebug™ using the A2 Script Texture Emboss Folder™. I then sanded it a bit to wear it down. The silver bow came off of a Christmas gift - I've been hoarding the ribbon :) and I just love the background card stock which you can barely see, but it's really pretty and matches the colors perfectly.

I hope Peggy doesn't mind that I added wings and didn't print it out in color!

The link to the actual contest is here. Then you won't have to scroll down :).

Wee Memories Challenge (WMC6) - Pink with Embellishments

I have a LOT of thank you's to write right now so most of the cards I make will have that purpose. :)

This one was made for the Wee Memories Challenge #6 - Jenny's favorite things: pink and embellishments. I put Jenny's favorite things on one of my favorite things: olive green - and we had a winning combination! :)

I JUST got three new cartridges (see last post) and was dying to try out the tree from the Hertiage Cartridge™. It was also the first time for me using Core'dinations paper and I think I'm in love. I embossed the bottom of the tree with the Cuttlebug™ A2 Forest Branches Embossing Folder™ and then sanded it with some sand paper I found in my husband's toolbox (thanks, love!). I also sanded the tree in parts to just antique it a bit. My embellishments are Swarovski Crystals™ that I placed randomly around the tree to give it some pop. The "thank you" was cut from Sentimentals Cartridge™.

Thanks for stopping by!

Wee Memories Challenge (WMC5) - Stitching

Wee Memories Challenge #5 - Stitching....

Now, for those of us that live in a 450 square foot studio, it's hard to justify having a Cricut®, Cuttlebug™, and now a YourStory™ (eek!). but to have a sewing machine too...?.... well, let's just say that I may be going for either the YuDu™ or the CricutCake™ for my birthday and not the sewing machine. Thank goodness Jenny put in the exception of using faux stitching if one so desires. Well, I looked high and low for a white gel pen. Michaels had one - I put it in my basket (I had driven 25 minutes to get there) and the check out man apparently forgot to take it out of my basket. Thusly when I got home and was ready to do my "stitching", alas - no gel pen.

I didn't give up. I went down to Monterey for Mother's Day and my mom said she would go with me to Beverly's to get one. They closed at 5. We got there at 5:04. No dice.

Thusly, here I am and I did my faux stitching on part of my card with a green pen that ended up looking too dark I think. But the stitching is there! I will have to get a pen soon. I even checked my Walgreens in the city with no luck. I am planning a pilgrimage to Office Depot. :)

That being said, I used some scraps of all these papers to make this card. I popped a few panels with pop dots and voila! I used my Cuttlebug™ to put the embossed flowers in on the side. I can't remember which set it is from, but I really liked how the flowers came out and it's on the inside too. Enjoy!

Challenge Card for BBTB2 and WeeMemories (WMC4)

Challenge Requirements:

BBTB2: To use the leaf from Life's a Beach™ (a Cartridge that I don't have, so I used one from Everyday Paper Dolls™).
WeeMemories: To put script or writing somewhere on the project.

Now, I had such a good time with both. I put on the shirt that I won over at Carole's blog and looked at the album made by Joanna which just came in the mail today and did my best. :) Thanks girls.

Jenny (Wee Memories) has been writing back and forth with me a bit today and gave me some great advice about stamps and some encouragement. Thank you!

So, I cut the card (and envelope) from Wild Card Cartridge™, I embossed the second layer with A2 Script Texture Emboss Folder™ (I LOVE my Cuttlebug™). I cut a little square and inked the edges with the side of a blue pen since I don't have any inks yet and popped it with some foam dots. I cut the leaves from Everyday Paper Dolls Cartridge™ and put some ribbon in a diagonal on the bottom with some Tacky glue. I left the sentiment blank because I didn't know what I wanted to use it for yet.

Thanks for stopping by!

The Pink Stamper Challenge #12 - Critter

For National Scrapbook Day (May 1st), The Pink Stamper had a series of contests. I didn't get to participate on Saturday, so I elected to participate in a few of the contests today. I tried to do one an hour (she wasn't kidding when she called that a challenge) and I did succeed in each one of these taking under an hour, but my house looked like a crafting tornado hit it. Anyway, because she posted them in order, I did them backwards from 12-1. I participated in #12, #11, #9, and #8. I am considering doing one more because I love my Cuttlebug and would love to win 9 Cuttlebug folders, but we'll have to see! This one was made with a one year old's party that we are going to on Saturday. Nothing like multi-tasking! Thanks for stopping by.

Blue Moon Scrapbooking Birds and Butterflies Challenge -

So, I loved the swallow on the Sentimentals Cartridge™ and decided to play with that. I actually made this card first and then the one for the Cuttlebug Spot challenge. But I loved that tree so much that I used it in both and played with the grass, fence, etc. I might make them into a series and sell them, but we'll see. My favorite part were the buttons. :) I used my beloved Cuttlebug™, the A2 Forest Branches Emboss Folder™ on the grass in the background, and the A2 D'vine Swirl Emboss Folder™ on the tree. Thanks for stopping by!