Be Inspired Wednesday #107- Cauldron Card!

Good Wednesday morning and welcome to Be Inpsired #107 - A color challenge! Our challenge this week was to use the colors black, orange, green, purple, and a pop of red! I had so much fun with this and you should join in the challenge too!

I love this Haunted line from MME. At first I was a little worried about how I would use it, but it is gorgeous! For those of you that love kraft like me, you will love the versatility of this line. I am in love with this Harlequin Paper™! The flocking on it is gorgeous and precise. 

Recipe:

Cartridge: October 31st™

Gypsy™

Paper: My Mind’s Eye Haunted “Harlequin” Paper™, MME Blackbird “Trick-or-Treaters” Paper™, MME Blackbird “Halloween Words” Paper™, Core’dinations Nostalgia line

Embossing: Swiss Dots™

Sentiment: MME Blackbird Stamps™

Pink Paislee™ Pixie Stix in black

Glossy Accents

Hero Arts Gems

Adhesive: Glue Arts Glue Glider Pro with Perma-Tac™

Instructions: 

1. Weld two cauldrons together on the Gypsy and hide all contours to make the base.
2. Cut out base and another regular cauldron to put on the front
3. Cut two sets of eyes from the October 31st Cartridge™ - one with the contours hidden again.
4. Run the top layer of the eyes through the Cuttlebug™ using the A2 Swiss Dots Folder™.
5. Attach layers together popping the eyes.
6. Use glossy accents to draw a line around the contours of the cauldron. Apply Pixie Stix black glitter and shake off excess. 
7. Stamp sentiment on the inside of the card.
8. Apply Glossy Accents to the spooky eyes.
9. Add Hero Arts self-adhesive gems (that’s how I got my red in there!). 
10. Let dry

I made another card that is being put on the website! This one is a little more simple and fun! :)

Recipe:

Paper: Paper Trey Ink White Card Stock™, My Mind's Eye Blackbird Costumes Paper™ (Front side is shown, back side is the black with white polka dots) 

Embossing powder: a la mode: Black™

Stamps: My Mind's Eye Blackbird Stamps™

Coloriser by EK Success heat embossing tool

Hero Arts™ Adhesive gems

I am still learning how to heat emboss so sorry about the little black spots - I didn't notice them before I used the heat embosser so they are on there for good! But I am having a great time learning and it is definitely my new favorite thing to do to cards! :)

Now hop on over to the Passionately Artistic blog (the new name for the Cuttlebug Challenge Blog) and see what the other ladies have created! 

Be Inspired Wednesday #106 - Halloween 3D!

Once upon a time, there was a girl --- who WON A CRICUT CAKE! Long before I was asked to be a part of the Cuttlebug Challenge Design Team, they had a wedding week celebration and all you had to do was leave comments on all the posts. I couldn't believe it, but I won the Cake machine! I received the Cake machine a few weeks ago and did some preliminary cuts (see below). This was my first cupcake project and I have been waiting for this challenge. Because I received the Cricut Cake from the Cuttlebug Challenge Blog, I thought it was only right to say thank you by doing a project for THEM! :)

So while you can tell that I am a horrible cupcake decorator, at least you can tell that the Cricut Cake makes up for my lack of ability!!!

Let me tell you, I LOVE the Cricut Cake! I will definitely be baking more for sure. It cut fondant like it cuts paper. Sometimes it looks like the objects smoosh, but you can just straighten them back out. Obviously, you can't cut anything too small, but other than that, it was really impressive!

I used Wilton pre-made fondant that I got at Michaels. I just added the Wilton icing coloring to it.

I did choose the drippy goo looking frosting. It was REALLY hard to work with! It felt like glue!

If there are any marks on the fondant, that's from my handling and not the cake. I was a little rough on it and my nails hit it on more than one occasion.

Recipe: 

Cricut Cake™

Cartridges: Wild Card™, October 31st™

Now head on over to the Cuttlebug Challenge Blog and see what the other ladies have done for their 3D projects! 

I will be home from Europe on the 25th and I'm sure I will have plenty of stories to go in my blog posts! 

Be Inspired Wednesday #104 - Breast Cancer Awareness

Good morning. Today at the Cuttlebug Challenge we are making cards for a wonderful cause: Breast Cancer Awareness. 

This card dawned upon be very quickly and I love how it turned out! Joanna did one similar a while ago and while I also had the idea to make it a shape card, I used hers as inspiration for the doodling since she is the doodle queen!

Recipe: 
Gypsy™
Cartridge: Tie the Knot™, Designer's Calendar™
Embossing: A2 Victoria Emboss Folder™
Stamps: My Pink Stamper: Everyday Occasions™
Pixie Stix from Pink Paislee™(black glitter)
Hero Arts Gems
Glossy Accents
Pop Dots

Instructions:

1. Select bodice, bodice blackout, and bodice shadow (twice) on your Gypsy™ from the Tie the Knot Cartridge™.

2. Weld two of the bodice shadows together to make the card base. This is the light pink layer.

3. Select Designer's Calendar™ pink ribbon from the October page twice. In the Gypsy™ you can see both the bodice and the bodice blackout. Lay them perfectly on top of each other on their individual layers.

4. Place one of the ribbons in the middle of the bodice. Place the other one on the layer with the bodice black out and also make sure these are perfectly on top of one another. This method allowed me to the cut ribbon out of both layers where you could see the pink of the card base all the way through.

5. Cut out all layers.

6. Doodle white around the edges of the dark pink layer.

7. Run dark pink layer through the Cuttlebug™ with the A2 Victoria Emboss Folder™. 

8. Adhere to black layer (bodice shadow).

9. Doodle black around the light pink layer.

10. Place pink and black layers over the card base.

11. Take My Pink Stamper: Everyday Occasions ribbon (it's the black ribbon) and stamp it in black in the middle of the cut out ribbon.

12. Use Glossy Accents™ on top of the black ribbon stamp. 

13. Sprinkle Pink Paislee Pixie Stix in black over the top. Tap the card to remove excess.

14. Use pop dots to adhere dark pink and black layers to the light pink base. The black ribbon should be showing through the center cut out ribbon.

15. Add Hero Arts™ adhesive gems to the top in the middle and the points of the cut out ribbon on the bottom (you can barely see mine, but they are hot pink). 

16. Give it to someone who is fighting the pink fight! 

I went to a Crop for the Cure on October 2nd in honor of Monique Griffith. So I gave this card to her! 

Head on over to the Cuttlebug Challenge Blog to see what the rest of the Design Team has created and play along with us! 

Be Inspired #103 - Haunted House

This week for Be Inspired Wednesday at the Cuttlebug Challenges we are celebrating World Card Day early and giving you inspiration of all different kinds. We were given free reign and our personalities really came out in our work. I hope you enjoy and hop over to join in the fun! EDIT: They are giving away TWO cartridges to those that play along and follow! Woo Hoo! 

This haunted house was so much fun to create. I put on the Harry Potter movie in the background and went to work.

When I purchased the October 31st Cartridge™ I automatically knew I wanted to make this into a shape card on my Gypsy™. I paired this with some Pink Paislee™ supplies that I won over at Penny's blog! She was so generous and you will be seeing a lot of that awesome black glitter coming up. I had never used Pink Paislee™ and I loved it! Thank you!

Recipe:
Gypsy™
Cartridge: October 31st™
Paper/Cardstock: Cricut™ Card Stock Earthtone (orange), Pink Paislee™ Twilight Collection (black), My Mind's Eye™: Ooh La La paper pack - For Him: Get in Line (yellow with orange cross-hatching, Bazzill™ (diamond white)
Adhesive: Glue Glider Pro Perma-Tac™ - I LOVE this and I have an ATG as well, but this is my new love for sure.
Glitter: Pink Paislee Pixie Stix™
Hero Arts Black Adhesive Gems
Glossy Accents

Instructions:
1. Weld together two haunted houses with everything "hidden" except the outline. Don't forget that one has to be flipped. (This is the dark orange layer.)
2. Duplicate the house that is going to be on the front and put on a new layer. (This is the black layer.)
3. Duplicate the house again on another new layer. On this layer, "hide" everything BUT the windows. You want the windows not to cut - for them to be solid. (This is the yellow with orange cross hatching layer.)
4. Cut all of the objects out.
5. Glue #3 to card base (#1) using your Glue Glider Pro.
6. Hand cut little white ghosts (I wish I would have had that adorable ghost in Paper Doll Dress Up for this one!) and draw sad little faces on them.
7. Glue sad little ghosts onto the yellow with orange cross-hatching layer making sure that they will peek out of the windows properly.
8. Take the black layer and apply glue to the roof (you could use Glossy Accents to make it more solid, but I wanted this house to look dilapidated so I just used glue and kept shaking it off.)
9. Add two orange Hero Arts adhesive gems to the gables of the house.
10. Add black adhesive gems to the bottom two sides and one as the door knob.
11. Apply Glossy Accents™ to the rest of the black layer
12. Pop dot the black layer and add to the front of the card.

Enjoy your card!

I might make this larger and do it as a wall decor item because I really liked how it turned out. I hope you do as well!

Court

Be Inspired #102 with Whoopsi Daisy!

These digital stamps are too cute for their own good! Whoopsi Daisy is sponsoring us at the Cuttlebug Challenges this week! I love these images! :) We had to use at least two buttons and a bow!

I made this card without the Cricut (this one is for you, Dee!) :).

This is a feel better soon card. I always recommend drinking tea when sick, so why not send a tea bag with the card? What kind of tea, you ask...? This one happens to be Royal tea - it's close to an Earl Grey. I love Lady Grey and Rose tea. Those are my two favorites. Usually it's just peppermint when sick or sleepy though! Enough about me, onto the card!

I had so much fun coloring in this little lady and while the angle doesn't let you see, she is carrying a trey with a tea pot, sugar bowl, and milk pitcher. Too cute!

Recipe:
Embossing: A2 Victoria Emboss Folder™
Paper: DCWV™, Bo Bunny™, Bazzill™
Image: Whoopsi Daisy™ Sheet 42
Ribbon
Tea bag
Buttons
Glossy Accents™
Sharpies and Copics

Come play along this week for your chance to win Whoopsi Daisy images! :)

Cuttin' Up Saturdays with Crafty Secrets

This week we are being sponsored by Crafty Secrets - specialists in all things vintage in my opinion :)

The Cuttin' Up team has decided to do altered items for this edition and I am very excited about what I came up with.

My husband has to go to England and Paris on a business trip coming up and has asked me to go along. By using all of our combined airline points, I was able to book a flight!!! I am so excited. We are going from October 12-24th, but I will have posts going so fear not! I will not leave you without inspiration.

Well, recently we have gotten into making little videos - you know, tutorials and what not - and we are planning on making a DVD of our trip to Europe. It is my first time to Paris and I am oh so excited. Feel free to leave me comments on "must do" activities! So, I altered this blank DVD case to put our DVD in when we return! Notice the top of the trunk says "Paris" :)

I "mod-podged" the DVD case, mod-podged on the K&Co.™ background paper (this was my first time using Mod-Podge™ - love that stuff!) and Crafty Secrets™ items. I embossed the "Post Card" with the Window Panes Emboss Folder™. Then I cut the sentiment from Graphically Speaking™ out of Core'dinations™ paper and pop-dotted it. I added some buttons and voila!


Recipe:
Cartridge/Sentiment: Graphically Speaking™
Embossing: Oh My Crafts Exclusive: Window Panes™ (4 embossing folders on sale for $4.99 - That's why I bought them!)
Stamping: My Pink Stamper's Family and Friends™ set (the word "memories" stamped on the trunk)
Ink: VersaMark™ Neptune
Paper: K&Co.™, Core'dinations™
Mod-Podge
buttons

Don't forget to play along in our Be Inspired #101 Nostalgia challenge this week where you could win a prize package from Crafty Secrets!

Be Inspired #101 - Crafty Secrets

This week at the Cuttlebug Challenges we are being sponsored by Crafty Secrets.

I love their classic vintage images. Come and play along and you can win something similar from them! :)

Recipe:
Sentiment: Gypsy Wanderings™
Image: Crafty Secrets
Embossing: A2 Perfectly Paisley Emboss Folder™
Paper: DCWV and K&Co.
Ribbon

Cuttin' Up Saturday - Happy Birthday Cuttlebug Challenges!

This week during the Cuttin' Up Saturday edition at the Cuttlebug Challenges we are going to use a "Happy Birthday" phrase that comes on a cartridge. There are a LOT of cartridges that come with a happy birthday phrase. I chose to use one from Elegant Cakes (there are actually two on this cartridge). I don't have my Cricut Cake™ Machine (yet), but I got this one just for the beautiful fonts and imagery and have used it on several cards. Remember, all the Cake Cartridges work in your Cricut®! :)

I wanted to make a shape card out of the words because it comes with a great shadow feature. I loaded the image onto my Gypsy™ and "hid" the holes in the shadow so that it would be a solid blackout image. After welding it together to make a card, I added another shadow layer (without hiding the holes), the phrase, and the "Happy" layer.

I chose to use Cosmo Cricket Material Girl DP that I got at Torendi. Torendi will soon be carrying Pink Paislee. Color me excited. Anyway, I digress.

After putting all of the layers together, I decided that it didn't have enough "pop" and was a little difficult to read, so I penned around all of the letters to make them stand out.

Simple quick and fun for a summer birthday!

Have a wonderful weekend! I am hosting a small Swarm at my house on Saturday and am very excited to teach some newbies the ways of the Cricut and Cuttlebug!

Don't forget to play in this week's Be Inspired challenge for a chance to win! :)

Be Inspired #100 - Happy Birthday Cuttlebug Challenges!

It's birthday week at the Cuttlebug Challenges and I am LOVING the spirit! :) It's always great to have birthday cards on hand, so join the challenge this week, play along, and maybe win some prizes as well!

This was a simple and fun card to make.

I used the A2 Happy Birthday Emboss Folder on some design paper from the Cosmo Cricket Material Girl Mini Deck that I picked up at Torendi.

I layered the card, tied a ribbon, and added a graphic from Designer's Calendar (the party hat and balloon). I then covered it with Glossy Accents and a cute card was born!

Have a great Wednesday!

Court

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!

Cuttin' Up Saturday with My Pink Stamper!

Hello everybody!

This is the My Pink Stamper edition of Cuttin' Up Saturdays at the Cuttlebug Challenge! I hope you are having a wonderful Labor Day weekend!

I think you already know by now that I LOVE My Pink Stamper stamps. This set is no different. In fact, you all have a chance to win it if you play along this week! This set is called Punny-licious.

I used my Gypsy™ and the Gypsy Wanderings™ "cartridge" for this whole card. As always, I am happy to email you the .gypsy file if you would like.

I used Core'dinations card stock. I meant to emboss one of the layers with Swiss Dots™ and totally forgot! But like Robyn at My Pink Stamper says, "If I wanted it to be perfect, I'd buy it at the store". So, I still love my Hoppy Birthday card. :)

I welded the bunny in the grass shadow to the card base (which is a shadow of a tag) in light pink.
Then I cut the bunny in the grass shadow again in dark pink.
Next I cut the bunny in the grass (regular) in olive green - my favorite color!
I used some basic shapes for the middle of the card, some white and black ribbon and black adhesive gems and voila! Hoppy birthday!

Don't forget to "hop" over to the Cuttlebug Challenge for a chance to win her Punny-licious stamp set! What a great prize! Thanks so much, Robyn!

Be Inspired #99 - My Pink Stamper and Our Anniversary!

On September 1st two years ago, I married the man of my dreams and the love of my life. So, Happy Anniversary, husband! The years that I have been with you have been the best of my life.

I am so excited to share this card that I made for him with all of you!

At the Cuttlebug Challenges this week, Robyn at My Pink Stamper™ is our sponsor! I received some stamps from the Family and Friends™ line. I was so excited to use the stamp that says, "Love Always". I just love the font! I can't say enough about My Pink Stamper™ stamps. They are the best quality stamps I have used to date. I will definitely be buying more especially now that she has come out with some for the holiday seasons. Go check them out! They're about to start shipping! :) She has a total of 12 stamp sets out. They're all so much fun! I think Buggy Punnies™ is still my favorite.
The stamp sets were an original idea by Robyn made to coordinate with your Cricut® cartridges.

Anywho, back to the card... I used the Sweethearts Cartridge™ for all of this and separated out the layers on my Gypsy™ so that I could weld the blackouts of the car together to make a card, hide certain features, and only cut out one of the color that I wanted (you'll know what I mean if you look at the cut in the handbook for the layers). I used Core'dinations™ card stock and some acetate to create the window - you can't tell as much that there is a clear window from the picture, but you'll have to take my word on it ;).

The only paper that isn't Core'dinations™ is the shiny paper that the license plate is made out of which is Bazzill™ Diamond Glaze card stock.

I used the My Pink Stamper's Family and Friends™ set to stamp Love Always on the license plate.

I ran the light blue layer through the Cuttlebug using the Love is in the Air Emboss Folder Set™. Embossing is gorgeous on Core'dinations card stock, don't you think?

Glue all the pieces together, add some adhesive pearls, and voila! You're done! :)

Go and play in the challenge over at the Cuttlebug Challenge blog! My Pink Stamper™ is generously giving away a set of her Punny-licious™ stamps to the winner!


I hope you all have a beautiful day and tell someone you love them whether it be parent, sibling, best friend, or spouse.

Be Inspired #98-Under the Sea

This week at the Cuttlebug Challenges Digital Delights by Louby Loo is sponsoring us. We are all doing an Under the Sea theme and having a wonderful time with these awesome digital stamps!

For my Wednesday project I chose the adorable Sea Crab and the Under the Sea Background. This was only my second time coloring in digital stamps so I think I did alright! I decided to give the crab polka-dotted boots. I think they're too cute. I used Glossy Accents™ on his eyes and tongue and did a bit of doodling with my white gel pen.

The background was pretty straight forward. I used my Copic™ markers for all the coloring. I put Glossy Accents™ on the kelp and picked up some sand from an obliging sand box in a playground by our house and glued that to the bottom.
The sign was cut from Everyday Paper Dolls™ twice: once out of kraft card stock and the second from glossy white. I simply cut off the top and bottom of the glossy white and adhered it to the kraft sign. The kraft sign was first sponged with gold ink. I used My Pink Stamper's Punny-licious set for the "Crab-ulous" sentiment. I LOVE her stamps! They are such great quality.

The fish tank was also cut from Everyday Paper Dolls™ and the patterned paper was K&Co paper stack and then embossed with D'Vine Swirls™.

I simply layered the embossed paper onto the glossy white card stock base, pop dotted the background from Digital Delights, put the sign behind/under the background and glued the crab down. I also added some bubbles coming up from the crab.

Play along with us this week using the Under the Sea theme where you can win a complete set of digital stamps shown here!

Recipe:
Paper: Bazzill™ Diamond White card stock, K&Co
Cartridge: Everyday Paper Dolls™
Embossing: D'vine Swirls Emboss Folder™
Stamps:Digital Delights by Louby Loo
Sentiment: My Pink Stamper™
Other: Glossy Accents, Dimensionals, Hero Arts™ adhesive gems (bubbles)

Cuttin' Up Saturdays Book it - Paris

For this edition of Cuttin' Up at the Cuttlebug Challenge Blog we are covering composition books or other books.

I did a 9.75x7.5" typical black and white composition book. Right now there are a lot of back to school themes going around so I wanted to do a back to school - for a high school/college student. When I was in high school I dreamed of traveling to Europe and I was (and still am) in love with all thing Audrey Hepburn-ish. So this is a very girlie, fun, classy and fabulous notebook. I think I will use it! :)

Summer in Paris™ is my favorite cartridge - so watch out when I get the French Manor Cartridge™ - I am going to go crazy! :) All the cuts are from this cart. Since the cuts on Summer in Paris are really intricate, I knew this would be perfect as I was going for "oversized" images.

The Eiffel Tower was cut at 8.5". The Arc de Triomphe shadow was cut at 4". The word Paris was cut at 5", but it ends up being about 3.75" tall after you cut out the Eiffel Tower part. After I cut Paris out, I didn't want double the Eiffel Towers on there so I just cut it out after the fact and made the letters connect. I then ran it through the Cuttlebug™ with the D'vine Swirls Emboss Folder and inked it with some hot pink ink. I used my EAD Designs Vintage Rub-ons and put the shoes on the bottom of the page. Lastly, I put glue on both the flag of the Eiffel Tower and the dot of the "i" and put Pixie sparkle on them.

I cut the black vinyl at blade depth = 5, Pressure = Max, Speed = Max, cut 2 times.

I hope you like it! Head on over to the Cuttlebug Challenges to see what other projects the ladies have in store for your book/notebook covering inspiration! Play along with our Be Inspired Wednesday. You can create anything that has to do with books - bookmarks, re-cover your own books, make a card that has something book-ish on it. And most importantly, have fun... and maybe win prizes too!

Recipe:
Cartridge: Summer in Paris™
Embossing: A2 D'vine Swirl Emboss Folder
Shoes: EAD Designs Vintage Rub-ons
Paper: Glittered pink paper from my stash, black vinyl recycled from the covers/backs of other notebooks. :)
Pixie Sparkle

Have a wonderful weekend!

Cuttlebug Challenge Be Inspired #97-Book it!

It's the middle of the week and we all may need a bit of inspiration. This week's theme at the Cuttlebug Challenges is Book it! Feel free to play along, link up your projects, and you might win some Cuttlebug Folders!

Before being asked to be a Design Team member, I was one such lucky winner and not only won a Cricut Cake™ a few months ago during their Wedding Week extravaganza, but won during their Christmas Around the Clock (I'm sure you all remember me posting 24 Christmas projects) and the Cuttlebug™ folder just came in the mail this afternoon. You all will know when the Cricut Cake™ arrives. I will be posting some cakes! All I'm sayin' is, you never know what kind of prizes they are going to have!

Anyway, this is actually a card. The goal was to make a card look like a book - and now I think it looks too much like a book and not enough like a card. I covered some cardboard to make the base of the card and then covered it in white card stock. The edges of the pages are drawn with pencil. This project took a long time and a lot of patience.

I thought about doing it as a tutorial and if there is enough interest, I will gladly do it again, but be prepared to spend about 4 hours on it with glue drying time, etc. It took me about 7 with brainstorming, messing up, and trying again - and I STILL stuck my finger in the ink when it was wet! I hate that! Anyway, I think it was worth it in the end. I love the way it turned out. Let me know if you'd be interested in seeing how this was done!



Recipe:
Paper: DCWV, Laura Ashley "Love Song" 'Velvet' paper pack
Embossing: A2 Script Texture Emboss Folder
Cartridges: Tie the Knot™ (you can use any of the cartridges almost and find a scalloped circle)
Ink: Versa Mark (navy blue inking around the edges of the rectangle and scalloped circle), Colorbox (black for sentiment)
Sentiment: Martha Stewart Serif Alphabet

Cuttlebug Challenges Cricut Saturday Cuttin' Up Team - Clearly Creative

Good Saturday morning to everybody! This is my card that I made using more clear material for The Cuttlebug Challenges. My mom actually said, "Why don't you do a house so the little windows are clear?" I thought that was a great idea and since I knew there was this cute little house on Wild Card™, I thought it would be perfect.

I did some work on my Gypsy™ with this one taking out the scalloping on the roof that comes with the natural cut, the scoring lines (as I wanted to make my own), and I added the door back on and then hid the outer rectangle and the door knob so that the window in the door would cut all the way through - providing me another opportunity to use my clear materials :). This could also be replaced with a square or rectangle punch.

The binder cover (my clear material) was utilized in the door, window, and on top of some Core'dinations™ card stock on the roof.

This card was cut at 6.5" and if you had the real dial size off on your Cricut™, then just keep the settings there and cut the rest.

I cut the roof twice: once for the clear and once for the dark grey Core'dinations™ card stock.

I cut the door twice for the clear and the card stock. For the clear piece I "hid" the inner part with my Gypsy™ so that it would be a solid rectangle - this could be replaced by cutting a rectangle by hand or with a rectangle from another cartridge.

I embossed the door with the A2 Forest Branches Emboss Folder™ and the roof was embossed with the clear material on top with the D'vine Swirl Emboss Folder™.

I got the idea for embossing the clear material on top of card stock from one of the Cuttlebug Challenges' faithful followers (and now one of my followers) Ilona! Thank you! If you click on her name it will take you to the post that got me thinking about acetate swirls. :)

I actually cut the topiaries that were on this page as well, but decided to cut their tops off and use the bottoms as flower pots and added these sweet flowers to it.

I added a button as the door knob and voila! It was done!

Recipe:
Cartridge: Wild Card Cartridge™
Paper: DCWV, Core'dinations
Embossing: A2 Forest Branches Emboss Folder™,D'vine Swirl Emboss Folder™
Pop dots, Adhesive, Little flowers

Cuttlebug Challenges Be Inspired #96 and First Video!

Well here it is - my first post as a Design Team member for the Cuttlebug Challenges! The challenge this week is called Clearly Creative. We had to use something clear in our project as well as embossing (and so will you if you play along!).

Even more exciting, this is my first video! There will be plenty of improvements made on the next one, but feel free to view and comment!




Recipe:
Cartridge: Sweethearts™
Embossing: A2 D'vine Swirls™ and Swiss Dots™
Lots of pop dots, buttons, report covers, super glue.

Scroll down to see my giveaway post open until August 16th!

Cuttlebug Challenges Sympathy Card

This is a hard card to make for a lot of people - including me - so I wanted to do something that would put one of the hardest situations in life in an encouraging light.

I found this phrase and knew it was the one I had to use. This is just a simple card, but I wanted it to be elegant. Remember what kind of love you are leaving behind - make it strong, faithful, unconditional, and passionate. I know I need to work on that every day so that those around me always know how much they are loved.

Recipe:
Card stock: Core'dinations, DCWV Luxury Line
Embossing: A2 Flourished Frame Emboss Folder™
Sentiment: Cloud9Design - Simple Thoughts - Love
Pearls: Recollections (Michael's brand - small) and Hero Arts™ (large)
Pop Dots

This card is for the Cuttlebug Challenges Be Inspired #95: With Heartfelt Sympathy.

On a different note: I have some exciting things coming up. Welcome to my new followers! I am so excited you decided to join me on my adventure. Yesterday I was featured on EAD Designs' Blog. I love them. I'm sure you have seen the vinyl, rub-ons, and stickerz on some of my projects, but they have SO much more! Go check them out at their store HERE.

I am at 47 followers and am planning on doing a giveaway at 50. So stay tuned for that!

I have two more exciting things that will be announced very soon, but until then, have a wonderful Friday and a fabulous weekend!

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

Torendi/EAD designs/WMC#16 Hello Bird!

This is going to be a fun post with lots of links to products and blogs that I am coming to LOVE!

Jenn over at Torendi's Blog had a contest a while back that I won for a free roll of washi tape! So I not only ordered that but ordered another washi tape, a "mini deck" by Cosmo Cricket™ (Material Girl), a "wee bundle" from Sassafras™ (Indie Girl), some Cosmo Cricket™ (I spell Cricket -Cricut- every time now! I just realized I did that in all my posts before! Oh dear!) Earth Love chip board pieces (on sale for $2.50!), and Jillybean Soup "bean stalks" a.k.a. ribbon ($3!).

Thank goodness because Jenny at Wee Memories made chip board her challenge this week).

SO, that came in the mail on Saturday and I was SO excited, but I had to finish up the Christmas Around the Clock over at Cuttlebug Challenges first! One I commit to something I have to finish it. Anyway, I finally got to play with my new Torendi products and I am THRILLED. Her sale is still going on right now so go check it out!

Also, a little while ago my EAD Designs Stickerz and Rub-ons came in the mail so I wanted to use a few of those too!

Recipe:
This is an A2 sized card (4.25x5.5").
Cartridge: Elegant Cakes™, Gypsy Wanderings™ (scallop edge welded to rectangle with the Gypsy™)
Embossing: A2 Combo Friends Forever™
Paper: Cosmo Cricket™ (via Torendi) Material Girl Mini Deck, Core'dinations™
Tape: Washi - "pink" with polka dots - it comes out more of a lavender color.
Stickerz: EAD Rainy Day set (flowers which I colored in purple)
Sentiment: EAD Right on Target
Chipboard: Cosmo Cricket™ via Torendi™ Earth Love chip board pieces

This qualifies for:
Wee Memories Challnege #16: use chipboard (this was my first time using chipboard! It's so much fun!)