Santa Paws

I got this image from JSL on CDAC Freebie Challenge #8. I colored him with Copics and then used colorless blender on a towel to give the fur a little dimenson. The hat was cut from the Winter Frolic cartridge printed and cut on my Cricut Imagine. The sentiment I printed out on my computer and edged it with a Copic marker. I thought he would look cute with a little Santa hat, so I added him to a shopping list notebook I made by cutting a 8" x 4 1/2" notepad in half and attaching to double sided card stock. I also used a small rectangle of coordinating paper to cover the binding at the top of the notepad. Thanks for stopping by.

"cdapc8, JSL"

Snarky Christmas Card

I got this fabulous image from Sugar Creek Hollow on the CDAC Freebie Challenge #7 that reminds me of a partridge, but with attitude. I knew I had to do something with it, so here's what I came up with.

"cdacpc7, sugarcreekhollow"

I also thought this image would go great with Sketch 96 from Operation Write Home. Hope it makes you laugh. Thanks for stopping by.

And the winner is...

Mallika.

Rarely do I see random.org pick either the first or the last post, but this time being first paid off for Mallika. I'll email you for your mailing address to send your Imagine cart to you. Congrats and thanks for hopping with us for Brenda's birthday.

Birthday Wishes Blog Hop

Welcome to the Birthday Wishes Blog hop.  Hi everyone! I want to thank you for joining us today for Brenda’s birthday hop, she’s turned a corner to 40 something and she has a lot of wishes right now.   Please make sure you leave some bloggy love at all the stops today.  If you post on all the hops and follow hers and my blog you will be entered to win some blog candy from her!!!  If you've just popped in to visit my blog or are reading this via email and you'd like to join our Birthday Wishes blog hop, then please start here at the beginning with Rhonda.  Brenda’s blog will be the last stop, so make sure you are commenting on everyone’s post before you get there.

To celebrate Brenda's birthday, I've made this pinwheel birthday card. 

The pattern paper is from K&Company's Super Paper Pad, and the white ribbon is from Really Reasonable Ribbon. The Sentiment is stamped from Just Rite's Happy Everything Tag Making Kit and the mini round gem is from Recollections Boutique Fleur. The pinwheel card is easier than it looks, I learned it from a tutorial at Operation Write Home. If you'd like to see the tutorial, click here. HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRENDA! If you'd like to win a new, in the box, Cricut Imagine colors & patterns cartridge Elise just leave a comment and you could receive a gift from for Brenda's birthday too. Thanks for stopping by. :)

Now head on over to Erika's blog by clicking here

1. Rhonda http://scraphappenswithrhonda.blogspot.com/
2. Kari - http://purplefuntastickcreations.blogspot.com/
3. Amy - http://www.lovetocrop.com/
4. Lisa - http://indymermaid.blogspot.com
5. Lynne - http://slasewcraftiness.blogspot.com/
6. Kathy - http://the3esblog.blogspot.com/
7. Audrey – http://cuteandsome.blogspot.com
8. Tami - http://tamiscraftconnection.blogspot.com
9. Kathy - http://www.scrappingfelkatz.blogspot.com/
10. Susan - http://susanascorner.blogspot.com/
11. Kacee - http://www.youhadmeatscrap.blogspot.com/
12. Christy -  http://christybladehandmade.blogspot.com/
13. Erika - http://www.craftysprouts.com/
14. Brenda - http://createbyburffrau.blogspot.com

Flippy Floppy Gift Box

The dolls at Paper Dolls did it again. Another great SVG file and another fun 3D challenge. This one is a Flip Flop gift box and it was super easy to make and turned out adorable. Check out their website for their weekly challenges and giveaways and see all the awesome creations they make. The file for the 3D flip flop was created by Eleanor from SVGShop.com. Stop by and see all the other great files she has.

The zebra print is from DCWV Texture and Finishes, all the other pieces were cut from black Colorbok textured cardstock. The glittery teal ribbon is Holiday Time gift wrap ribbon I picked up on clearance after Christmas at Wal Mart. I wasn't sure what I was ever going to use it for, but this was perfect. Thanks for stopping by.

Getting Cricky Vintage Challenge

I was watching Kristal's show on Ustream on Thursday showing off her new stamps. I actually won a set (Freedom isn't Free) and can't wait to try them out. I was checking out her blog when I saw she is having a challenge this week where anything goes as long as it's vintage. I've been doing mostly cards lately and decided to try something new.

I spent this afternoon making some tags using mostly Tim Holtz inks and stamps. I made this vintage tag that I thought would be great for the challenge. I've never done anything like this before, but I loved how it turned out. I added some charms, one I thought ended up looking like a bird house. I used four different distress inks in each corner and then edged and blended it with Tea Dye Distress Ink. Then I stamped with 3 different stamps. Thanks for stopping by.

Paper Dollhouse

I found a great new blog called Paper Dolls and this week they had a super cute dollhouse for their challenge. The dollhouse file came from Patricia at A Little Hut! Here's the link to the challenge blog Paper Dolls Challenge #2 Dollhouse I had so much fun making this dollhouse and I don't even have little kids. :)

I used part of an awning from the Peony Street Card SVG set from SVG Cuts and modified it, resized it, and welded some pieces together to make a really cool roof. Then I used the flowers and flower pot from the same file and added it to the front. I wanted the flowers to be big, but that made the pot too large, so I cut off part of the bottom of the pot and it was fine. Then I glued some white cardstock that I had marked with black and gray lines to look like a vent for the attic.

 

Before I cut out the dollhouse I glued the another piece of 12x12 cardstock to the back side of the cardstock I was using for the main house. That way my interior "wallpaper" would be cut at the same time and no need to try to put it together after cutting. That worked out really well. Since I used a patterned paper for my interior I cut out an extra door (mirrored) and extra window frames to use on the inside. The last modification I did was run the support piece for the second floor thru my Cuttlebug using the Textile folder. This made a cool looking textured ceiling.

I decided to make a brown house with white trim and I was really happy with it. The house was made from the DEWV immortal love cardstock stack and the roof and woodflooring was from the DCWV Textures & Finishes cardstock stack. The interior wallpaper campe from the DCWV Old World Stack. All of the white trim was made with GP 110 lb cardstock and the flowers were made from my scrap stash. Thanks for stopping by.

UPDATE 6/12/2011: Added curtains and furniture. All the paper is from K& Company Super Paper pad, except for the rug, which is from Tim Holtz cut with a Nestie and the mirror, which is from the immortal love stack and also cut with a Nestie.

Memorial Day Blog Hop Winner!!!!

Thanks to everyone who stopped by my blog during the Operation Write Home Memorial Day Blog Hop. A special thank you to those of you who became followers of my blog. I hope you had fun and got tons of inspiration. I know I did. If you left me your blog address, I'll be stopping by YOUR blog soon to see what you've been creating.

Congrats to Lisa H. who wrote:

Love this card! Simple and clean, yet still elegant! The ribbon is cute and sets it off nicely!

Lisa H.

Lisa was the final commenter on my blog hop post and Random.org picked her number. Lisa, please email me your mailing address by next Wednesday, June 8th and I will get the SewEasy Stitch Piercer out in the mail to you right away. Thanks for stopping by my blog and thanks for becoming a follower. :)

My first Copic card

I took the Copic certification class last week, but didn't use them for my OWH Blog Hop card. After seeing Karen Howard's card using her Copics (she was in the same class), I decided to make another card and break out the Copics. I still have alot to learn, I need more practice coloring hair and I didn't even bother with shadowing on this card, but it was fun to try.
The stamp is a digi stamp from Just Some Lines named EmoSpring and the pearls on her dress are white Enamel Accents. The sentiment was printed from my computer. Everything else is Copics.
Hair: Y21, Y26
Skin: E000, E02, E21
Dress: B01, B05, B06
Flower: Y15, Y26, E44, 100
Shoes: E44, E49
Grass and flower stem: G12, G14
Cardstock borders: B05, B06

Thanks for the inspiration Karen. Thanks for stopping by.

OWH Memorial Day Weekend Hop

Welcome to the OWH Memorial Day Weekend Bloghop. If you'd like to start at the beginning, click on the blinkie above.

 We are all creating Missing You cards and here is mine. It's an A2 sized card on a white base. I've added blue cardstock from my stash that I embossed with a Cuttlebug folder from the Preserves Companion set, paper ribbon cut in half lengthwise is from Anna Griffin and the sentiment I printed from my computer using the Marker Felt font.

What's a blog hop without blog candy? I'll be randomly selecting one commenter to win a Seweasy Stitch Piercer from We R Memory Keepers. All you have to do is leave a comment and a way to contact you. I love finding new blogs, so if you have a blog and would like for me to check your blog out, include your blog address in your comment. Thanks for stopping by.

Your next stop on the hop is the very talented PAULA.

Cynthia's sewing room

I created this shadow box as a birthday gift for a friend who loves sewing. I loved how cute it turned out so I'm entering it in the Simply Sunday's challenge over at Getting Cricky with KAndrews.The shadow box is 7"x9.5" and comes in a pack of 3 at Michaels. Here are the individual elements:Wallpaper: DCWV's The Green Stack
Wood flooring and door: DCWV's Textures and Finishes. For the wood flooring, I scored at varying lengths to give it a real hardwood floor look. All the elements were cut at 5 inches. The door was cut from the Wild Card cartridge. The dress form is from Forever Young cartridge with the frame cut from black heavy cardstock and the dress form is from Wausau Paper's Crinkles specialty paper. The sewing machine was cut from the Country Life cartridge from the same heavy cardstock and the accent silver pieces were from my stash. The desk was cut from brown Core'dinations paper and sanded to look a bit distressed. The rug was cut from an oval nestie from Tim Holtz paper and run thru the Cuttlebug with the Textile folder. The sentiment was printed from my computer and then cut with a nestie and inked with Fired Brick distress ink and "hung" with a piece of jewelry wire. Thanks for stopping by.

When life gives you lemons...

If you thought I was going to say "make lemonade" you couldn't be more wrong. :)

A week or so ago a fellow blogger (Paula from Stamford, CT) was sharing some of her word art digi stamps and asked if anyone had any favorite quotes that she could use for inspiration. I gave her my favorite and today she emailed me that she had created a digital stamp from my quote. She is so amazing and made both a black and white and a colored stamp. To see her original post and to download a copy for yourself, click here.

Here's my take on her awesome stamp.

I printed the colored stamp 3 times on cardstock. The first one I cut out with a thin white border around it and mounted on a 3"x3" brown square. The second copy I cut out around the frame of the quote and mounted it with dimensionals above the original. The 3rd one I cut out only the chocolates, which I then inked with an embossing stamp and melted with my heat gun. I repeated this step 3 or 4 times until it was perfectly smooth all over. I then attached it over the chocolates on the top layer. I recently purchased some ribbon that I've been dying to use and it perfectly matched her colored stamp. I also embossed a piece of white cardstock with my favorite Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folder.

I loved this stamp so much I decided to make a one layer card for the Less is More challenge this week where the sentiment is the focal point. I liked this one equally well.Thanks for stopping by.

WooHoo!!! I'm getting a new toy!

As soon as I can get verification that this awesome machine works with SCAL, it will be mine!!!! I'm so excited, I can't wait!!!!

I'm Guest Designing for Birthday Week at Inking It Up Crazy

Kassidy, over at Inking It Up Crazy, is celebrating Birthday Week,  and no it's not her birthday. She thought it would be fun to spend a whole week designing around birthdays and so far her designers have done a fabulous job. On Monday, she featured invitations; Tuesday was decorations; yesterday was party favors and she has asked me to help with today's topic of gift wrapping/packaging. I was super excited to be included in Kassidy's project!!! Be sure to check out her blog and see all the great creations by clicking here.  I wanted to create a gift bag larger than a 12"x12" piece of printed cardstock could make. I've looked at the 12"x24" cardstock and there isn't much out there, so I created this giftbag using 2 sheets of printed cardstock instead, but you would never know it to look at it. Here are some pics along with a few quick instructions so that you can make your own. Cardstock is from DCWV Cotton Bloom Stack, ribbon is 1.5" Celebrate It Sheer Creations from Michaels, Cricut cartridge is Tags, Bags, Boxes and More on my Gypsy.

I used the 12"x24" mat and matched up my cardstock lines. It is essential that you line up the cardstock carefully for it to line up properly when assembled. I was using a new mat and my pattern had lots of lines to match up so I put my cardstock face up. I also inked the edges while I had it on the mat. If you want, you can certainly put it facedown, which will make it easier to tape the two pieces together. I taped the two pieces together once it was already cut out, so either way works.

 When sizing my bag on the Gypsy I made it as large as would fit on the mat, which in this case was 21.75"x11.62". I then lined up one of the score marks exactly on the 12" line so that my seam would be right on the fold.

 Once I cut the design, I taped the seam with clear, extra strength packing tape. Then scored all the score lines and prefolded them to make it easier to assemble. I love the hole cutout for the ribbon. It worked great.

 I took pics on my Martha Stewart Scoreboard so you can see the dimensions, a full 9"x7" bag that is 2" deep!!!

Hope you enjoyed my first tutorial and my first time guest designing. Thanks to Kassidy for giving me this fun opportunity. Please feel free to leave me a comment and if you like this and my other creations, please follow my blog. If you leave me your blog address, I'll check out your blog also. Thanks for stopping by.

Who needs a Bow Easy when you have a dinner fork?

Last week there was a tutorial on bow making over at OWH Stars and Stamps using a simple dinner fork. Well, I had to try it out because my bow making leaves a lot to be desired. This was super easy and I think  it turned out great. I liked it so much I made another one with spring flowers for challenge 2 over at Birthday Sundaes. The cardstock is all from the K&Company Tim Coffey Designer Mat Pad. The tag was made from my stash using my new Just Right Happy Everything Tag Making Kit and the  brown ribbon is Celebrate It Basic Narrows from Michaels and the blue ribbon is Offray. Thanks for stopping by.

Less is More Week 8 Sketch

Lucky for me I just found some great #10 envelopes on sale at Office Max because this week's challenge over at Less Is More is a tall card. Using this week's sketch I created this 8" x 4" Thank You card that will be great when I have alot to be thankful for. I used my new Cuttlebug Script folder for the bottom portion, some brown Basic Narrows ribbon from Michael's, a sunflower digi stamp I created from clip art in Word and colored with my new Copic markers. The sentiment is a stamp from the Greetings pack from TPC Studio. Thanks for stopping by.

Operation Write Home Sketch #61

Here is my take this week's sketch  #61 over at Operation Write Home. I'm making a dozen of these cards to send in my first box to OWH. You can't really see it well in the photo, but the cardstock is ribbed and I love that it is white on the backside. No need to add a liner. I used a heat set gem by the sentiment. The flowers were solid yellow so I used a Copic marker to darken the inside and feathered out towards the ends of the petals. They are not as bright in real life as they appear in the picture. I used Glossy Accents to adhere the flowers and the pearl inside the flowers. That stuff is pretty strong, so they should stay in place through all the shipping. The ribbon is some paper ribbon I have in my stash, not sure what brand or where I got it. I love the retro paper from K&Company's Super Paper Pad. It's one of my favorites.  I'm also entering this in Cooking With Cricut's Challenge #21, using two shades of green. Thanks for stopping by.

Masculine Thank You card

I created this card during the Operation Write Home Facebook Party. That was alot of fun. I only got to particpate in two card challenges as I had plans during part of the day. But there were some awesome cards created and a fun tutorial. I thought this card would work for this week's Less Is More challenge to create a masculine card. I wanted the sentiment to be the focal point of the card and I think it turned out nicely. Thanks for stopping by.

Hubby's birthday card

Here's the card I made for my husband's birthday which is coming up on Monday. I also made multiples of this card for a card swap group this past week and I wouldn't let my husband see them. I took them all to card swap and didn't have any left to bring home. So I made up another one just for him. :) The card fits in well with Birthday Sundaes challenge #1 since it's anything goes. I took apart a chain that was in the "vintage" jewelry making section of the scrapbooking store. I distressed the wooden sign with sandpaper and distress ink and then stamped the sentiment and left the sign free hanging. I also used distress ink on the black sign holder to give it a more worn look and used black dimensionals.Thanks for stopping by.
Card Base: A2 4.25"x5.5" Kraft cardstock
Papttern paper: The Paper Studio Wooden Fence
Die: Tim Holtz Hanging Sign
Cardstock: Core'dinations
Inks: Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Weathred Wood and Fired Brick, Memento Tuxedo Black
Sentiment: Stampabilities

Shhh....Don't tell my brother

On Saturday I received a box in the mail with some new Cuttlebug folders and I wanted to play. I didn't want to waste any cardstock so I grabbed some sample paint cards and ran them thru the Cuttlebug. They looked so awesome I couldn't throw them away, but didn't know what I would do with them. I also made some birthday cards for a swap using Tim Holtz Hanging Sign die. When I cut the sign holder I had all these extra small scraps where the cardstock overlapped the sign. Those looked too cute to throw away also, so I saved them. Today I saw the challenges over at The Cuttlebug Spot (to use twine on a card) and Really Reasonable Ribbon (to use ribbon, lace or trim) and I knew just what I could use. I used the paint card that I had used with the snake skin folder and a scrap piece of sign. I put them on a piece of black cardstock, stamped the sentiment and used holographic embossing powder on it, added some black 3D squares to the back of the black faux binding, added some floss and I was done. I thought it turned out great. So now my brother will be getting a card next week made from scraps and a paint card. LOL

Less is More - Off the Page Challenge

I'm feeling so much better after hearing from my son in Japan yesterday. I have to say making cards this weekend has kept my mind off of worrying about him. He will be going to Sendai today to help with the relief efforts there, so I'm sure I won't hear from him again for a few days. I did spend some time trying to work out some challenging cards. This week's challenge over at Less is More  was to create a one layer card with part of the image off the page. This was even more challenging for me than the previous ones, because I am not a stamper. I only own a few stamps and I mostly handwrite or print out from MS Word my sentiments. I do mostly die cutting and using embellishments. Thanks for stopping by.

Springtime card while I wait...

I'm waiting to hear news of my son in Japan. He did post a message on his Facebook page from his iPhone after the earthquake, but no word since the tsunami hit. My comfort is that the Pentagon said all military members are accounted for, but the base he is at is without electricity. Hopefully, I will hear from him soon. I need to keep my mind occupied so I went over to My Pink Stamper's blog to check out the blog hop. There were some awesome projects there, so I decided to make one of my own. This card also fits with this week's challenge over at Cricut Cardz Challenge to make a 9"x4" card and Cooking with Cricut's Challenge 20 to use a reference to time. Thanks for stopping by and thanks for helping me pass the time until I hear from Dylan.
UPDATE 9:21am on 3/12/2011: Just received a text from Dylan that he's okay. Thank God! I thought I was done worrying about him when he finished his deployment in Iraq. Guess mom's never stop worrying, huh?
Card size: 9"x4"
Card base: White Colorbok
Pattern paper: All K&Co Super Paper Pad
Card stock for frames: The Paper Company Natural Fashion Colors Pack
Flower: Cindy Loo cartridge cut at 4.75" with stickles added to the center
Sentiment: Sybil Green printed from my computer
Embossing folder: Swiss Dots
.

Less is More (Take 2)

After Mandi had a go at me on my first entry, I decided to make another entry for the Less is More Challenge 5, using pastels. Here's what I've come up with. Thanks for stopping by.
Card Size: A2
Card Base: White Colorbok
Pattern Paper: Nana's Nursery Baby Girl Pack
Ribbon: Celebrate It! Basic Narrow from Michaels
Sentiment: Printed from my computer adhered using Zots 3D Dots

Embellishments: Stickles formed into mounds.

Clean and Simple Card

I decided to create a card for a girlfriend that I don't see very often. I've been looking more and more at CAS cards and have made a couple. They are not that easy to make and I sometimes feel like there is something missing. For my card today I embossed the paper and added a tone on tone ribbon. I liked it so much I didn't really want to add a sentiment on the front. I thought it would take away from the simplicity and beauty of the card, so I wrote the sentiment on the inside. That is a big leap for me out of my comfort zone of card making, but I'm happy with how it turned out and I'm entering it in the Less Is More Challenge 5, which was to make a card using pastel colors. Thanks for stopping by.
Card size: A2
Card base: White Colorbok
Pattern paper: K&Co Super Paper Pad
Embossing Folder: Cuttlebug Stylized Flowers

Ribbon: Offray Spool O' Ribbon from Michaels

After reading Mandi's feedback, I decided to add a couple of Recollections pearl stickers to the center of the two flowers. I like it even more now. :)

Birthday card for Cynthia

I've been MIA for a bit, but I have been creating, just no time for posting. I'll get caught up, I promise. I have a couple of projects completed that I will post shortly. I wanted to get this card posted so I could enter it in a couple of challenges. Cooking with Cricut is having a challenge to use at least two colors of cardstock, two patterned papers and two embellishments. My inspiration for this card was some super cute cut files from Mary Rudakis at SVGCuts.com to make birdhouses and I used it to enter the montly challenge on their forum. I used some of the elements to make the birdhouse and the flowers. I used the Heritage cartridge for the leaves and Simply Charmed for the bird. I printed the sentiments on my computer. The ribbon is Offray and the flower centers are Recollections Boutique Fluer Mini Rounds, all from Michaels. The base is from DCWV's Immortal Love collection (my current fave) and the pattern paper is from K & Co Super Paper Pad. The rest of the cardstock was just from my scrap stash. Thanks for stopping by.

A child's birthday

I decided to make a card for Celebrate the Occasion's Challenge #1 to make something related to a child's birthday. I have a weird sense of humor and when I saw the cute lion on the Cricut Sampler cart I couldn't resist. It will be hilarious hearing the parent explain what "No lion" means. I can just hear the child saying "...but there IS a lion". Hehehe! Anyway, all of the paper and cardstock is from my scrap stash. For the A2 size card, I cut the lion out at 3.25" and the shadow at the same. I used the Divine Swirls Cuttlebug folder for the background and the sentiment I printed with my computer. Thanks for stopping by.

Heritage Birthday Card and Challenges

Tomorrow my husband and I will be going to his aunt's 101st birthday party. Woohoo! I decided to make her a card and also enter the card in a couple of challenges. I saw a luminary Edna from Create With Expression made using the Heritage cartridge and I decided I need to finally put that cartridge to use. Robyn over at  My Pink Stamper is having a blog hop and a challenge. The challenge was to create a project using black and your favorite colors. I love black, red and white together so this was perfect. Also Cuttlebug Spot is having a challenge using a step card so I was able to combine all 3 into one card that I love. I just hope Thom's Aunt Vina loves it too. This card is 4.25" x 5.5" using Colorbok textured white and black cardstock. The red is from DCWV's premium cardstock matstack Brights & Jewels and I ran the side panels thru the Cuttlebug with a Cindy Loo folder. I cut the cameo out at 3.5" and printed the sentiments from my computer. Thanks for stopping by.