Squared Up

Celebrate the Occasion has a sketch this week, to be used as a birthday card.

I recently purchased a stack by Imaginisce called B-Day Bash and this was the perfect opportunity to use it.

With the print on the paper, I didn't even have to add a sentiment. 

New Challenge

I found a new card challenge the other day, just as some others are taking a holiday break.  Maybe I should break, too, but I love doing the challenges.  This newest one is The Paper Players.  The sketch for this week is

It looked fairly easy so to make it more difficult, I combined it with the challenge at Friday Mashup - (1) use aqua, chocolate and white (2) make a Christmas card.  Or mash it up and do both in one card.  Now THAT's a challenge.  I thought the best way to use those colors would be to do a peace theme with a dove.  So here it is.

The cut is from CM 'Tis the Season cartridge and the printed paper is from Ornamental Christmas by The Paper Studio.  The plain, yet glittery piece is from DCWV Linen Closet, and the rest from my stash. 

Well, what do you think?  Did I meet the challenges?

Freshly Made #12

This is a quick card I wanted to do to get in on the Freshly Made challenge.  It was soooo easy.  Here's their sketch.  You can tell just by looking at it that it would be an easy sketch to follow.  The decision is what "kind" of card.

I looked through my collection of digital images from pcCrafter and fell in love with this snowman.  Plus I won some stamps from My Craft Spot called "Winter Wonderland" a couple of weeks ago and this gave me a chance to use them.

The background paper is from the first Christmas stack I ever bought and I need to use it up ; ).  I ran the strip of white through the Divine Swirls Cuttlebug folder leaving a space for the sentiment.  On the sketch it was on the bottom but I didn't think it would show up on the printed paper.  I hand cut the snowman image and popped him up on dimensionals.  So there you have it - freshly made.

Mojo Snow

Mojo Monday sketch

My Card

I turned the sketch sideways and used my new 'Tis the Season cartridge for the cuts.  All the paper is from The Paper Studio's Ornamental Christmas stack.

Thanks-giving

Just a quick post for the day after Thanksgiving.  And what better than a Thanks card.

The sketch from Sweet Sunday was my inspiration.  I turned it sideways and came up with this.

The paper is all from a DPS called Lost and Found from My Mind's Eye.  The cuts are from George and Basic Shapes and the punch is a MS double punch.  I am also entering this at Fantabulous Cricut.

Anything Goes Challenge

Cricut Creative Cutter Room has a challenge this week called "Anything Goes - make it at the last minute".  The only catch is that you cannot link to any other challenge.  The premise is that you have something to make in a hurry and don't have time to search challenges to post it on.  Here's my card.

I thought this paper from a photo stack from DCWV just screamed "Write me a note."  So I cut "Just a Note" from Lyrical Letters in dark brown and matted the paper in dark green, both colors in the printed paper.  Quick and easy.

Roses are Red

I love it when I can do a simple card and use some of my old papers.  They're not really that old even though I've been scrapping for quite a while.  I just never used patterned paper on my layouts.  When I started card making, I used digital images I purchased from pcCrafter and a few single sheets that came from JoAnn salesoor my local scrapbook store (that has since closed, sob, sob).  Then I saw a Photo Stack on sale.  WooHoo.  180 sheets for $9.99.   Well, not exactly a woohoo since after I got home and really looked, there were a lot of papers I'd probably never use. 

This week on Birthday Sundaes, they asked you to use something from an old stash.  Using this sketch from CAS-ual Fridays

 I came up with this card.

The red rose paper is from The Photo Stack2 by DCWV.  The top cut and black shadow are from the Storybook cartridge. I printed the sentiment in black and added some red bling from Studio G that I got at WalMart.  Clean and Simple, Elegant and Classy.  That's my kind of card.

Snow Buddies

Last week I ordered the Creative Memories 'Tis the Season cartridge from Diane Campbell Payne.  I wanted a Christmas cart besides the Christmas Cheer one that I had.  Originally I thought I wanted the Christmas Noel solutions cart but it has been retired.  I tried unsuccessfully to bid on several on eBay but when I compared the images, I decided that 'Tis the Season would be a better buy anyway.  I haven't had much time to really get into it but I did do one cut on today's card that I quickly made for the Freshly Made challenge.

The background is a Core'dinations Whitewash and the dark blue is from an old Christmas stack from DCWV.  The digital image is from my collection from pcCrafter.  I tore a strip of white, cut the snowflake, ran them through my Xyron upside down and sprinkled them both with Diamond Dust.  So simple and yet so cute.

It's Turkey Time!

Well almost anyway.  I've purchased my turkey and am looking forward to sharing it with family on Thursday.  This turkey, however, will be shared with all you followers and fellow bloggers.

I already made a card using the turkey on Simply Charmed and didn't want to repeat that so decided on this cut from A Child's Year.  It's just a silhouette but I like that he looks more like a real turkey.  I have four challenges to enter this in and I had to follow different guidelines for each. 

1. Harvest Blessing - use red, orange and brown at Fantabulous Cricut
2. Easel card at My Craft Spot
3. Thanksgiving - must use punch at Celebrate the Occasion
4. Let's Talk Turkey - use a turkey at Cooking With Cricut

The background paper is from Amber Autumn by DCWV and has the red and orange in it.  To make the turkey fit right, I ran my easel landscape fashion using brown paper.  I punched a little border piece out of an orange print and used the same paper for the sentiments.  I inked the turkey and wasn't too sure if I liked it but it does make the little cuts show up better.  He and the easel sentiment, of course,  are popped up with dimensionals.  It's not often I link four challenges with the same card but since I was gone earlier in the week, this made it easier to enter them all.  I've always envied those who could make a card fit multiple challenges and now I've done it.  Yay!

It's a Tree-t

I've been away for a few days doing some slipolstery.  That's a combination of slipcovering and upholstery, a word I made up for just such a project.  My daughter-in-law bought a wonderful chair at a garage sale but the color wasn't right.  Plus her artistic side wanted something more colorful.  My son accused her of bringing me in for slave labor but it was a labor of love.  I also loved spending time with them but I missed doing my card challenges.

Today's card is just in time for the Birthday Sundaes challenge - include a tree.  There are so many trees to choose from even on my limited number of cartridges but I decided on one from Stretch Your Imagination.

This is a card cut and something different than I've done before.  I used a Kraftcore cardstock from Core'dinations for the base and a paper from Cloud 9 for the frame.  The tree layer is a scrap of brown cardstock run through the Cuttlebug with a woodgrain embosssing folder.  The leaves are from a scrap of reddish brown that I inked a little to add some dimension.    I also put a piece of the same color under the cut-out leaves on the frame.  The outside sentiment was printed on the computer before I cut the frame and the inside one was printed on a paper from my stash and attached to the back of the card.

This view shows you the cut-out and the blue background.  The sentiment inside says "Tree-t Yourself!"  Now that I've tried it, I think I may do a few more of these cut-out cards.  I want to try one where you cut out the front and put the picture on the inside, too.  I've seen a few on blogs and they are really impressive.

Gobble 'til you Wobble

That's the title of My Craft Spot's challenge this week.  It would be funny if it weren't so true.  We do have a tendency to overeat when a Thanksgiving feast is spread out before us.   I chose to take it literally for the challenge and actually make a turkey gobbler. 

This little cutie is from Simply Charmed and the whole card is a case of make the best of a mess. I cut him too big.  Okay, so I'll make him  go off the edge of the card.  There was a challenge last week that asked you to go over the edge so why not with this one.  Then, do you notice anything different about him?  I accidentally cut the wrong key for his waddle.  The turkey is key 34.  I cut layer 4 on key 35 which was the highlight on a stocking trim.  It wasn't until I looked to see where the two little circles went that I realized I had the wrong cut.  If I didn't tell you, would you know that it isn't right?  It looked okay to me.  In fact, I liked it better than the real waddle cut. 

Book Lovers

I never used to be much of a book reader but when we started going south for 2 1/2 months in the winter, it gave me something to do while sitting in the warm sun.  Now I read whenever I can fit it in, usually before going to bed at night.  I'm in the middle of a wonderful series now and can't wait for the next chapter.

This week's challenge for Fantabulous Cricut is "Book Lover", make something for or with a book. 

I didn't have many book cuts but loved this one on A Child's Year.  I made my own background paper by typing a variety of "reading" sayings to fill the page.  I layered  the cut and the background with grey to keep it neutral.  I can't imagine it's very comfortable sitting on a rock while reading (lol) but it's still a good picture.

My First Rosette

 I've seen a lot of cards and home decor items with rosettes on various blogs lately.  I wasn't really interested because I don't know how you'd mail a card with the rosette on it but when I saw the sketch from Mojo Monday, I decided a rosette was called for. 

I also wanted to make a brighter card since all the ones I have been making lately are in all the colors of autumn.  Enter my 8" x 8" PTI paper stack called HodgePodge. 

All three of the printed papers are from that paper stack and the cardstock from things I had.   You can see where I substitued the rosette for the flower on the sketch.  I punched a strip of white cardstock and then scored it between the designs, folded it accordian style and glued the ends together.  I punched a circle from the background paper to put in the center.   I also used a piece of the punched paper for the end of the tall orange piece.   The sentiment was stamped with a PTI stamp using Dried Marigold Distress Ink.  I guess I'll just have to give this card in person.

To Ink or Not to Ink

This is the sketch for Sweet Sunday this week.

And here is my card. 

The image is another one from pcCrafter.  I inked all the parts of this card before assembling it.  I remember when I used to take ceramics.  Things always looked better to me when they were antiqued.  They seemed to have more dimension and  - I don't know - spark.  While I was doing this card, I made a second one but it has no inking.  Here it is.

What do you think?  Do you like it better with or without ink?

Still in Love

Some bloggetrs have trouble with masculine cards but I have more difficulty with anniversary ones.  Some are two sweet, some too flowery.  I wanted to do an anniversary card for the challenge on Sentimental Sunday and found this image in my collection of pcCrafter digitals.  Perfect!  I used the sketch from Card Patterns for my design.

This was so easy once I picked the image.  I used a gold patterned paper almost the same color as the moon and inked it and everything else with Vintage Photo Distress Ink  I ran the tan cord around and anchored it with a gold button tied with embroidery floss.  I added two other buttons to the sentiment.  Aren't those bears cute?  Still in love after all these years.

Over the Edge

It was cold and rainy here today.  Good day to stay in and craft, huh?   But instead I went with a group of friends to a nearby community theater to see a play called "Death by Chocolate.  The play was one of those crazy farces, so funny, and the actors did a great job. 

Today's card is for the CAS-ual Friday's challenge - over the edge.

I had this paper and decided that a present was needed to qualify for the challenge.  I cut it from Simply Charmed in a cream cardstock which I then embossed with the Spots and Dots Cuttlebug folder.  The shadow layer is in a lavendar and the bow in two shades of blue, one of which is the card base color.  Since the paper had silver writing on it (you can see from the camera glare)  I heat embossed the edge of the bow with silver embossing powder.  That doesn't show up as well as in the picture as the writing.  The overall card size is 5 1/2" by 5 1/2".  Wasn't I lucky that the "Happy Birthday" sentiment on the paper just happened to be in the correct spot on the finished card?

Two for One

I loved this bright sunflower-like paper and wanted to make a card from it.  Enter the Freshly Made challenge.  It was the perfect sketch for this paper. 

I needed something rather large to show off the pattern so I chose to make a half sheet card (5 1/2 by 8 1/2.)

I cut the large sunflower looking bloom from Accent Essentials but one didn't look right.  I cut a second one but it didn't look right with two either plus a design rule is "set of three".  Sooo, I cut a stem from Cindy Lou and that was my answer.  The card base is Kraft cardstock and the rest of the paper is from my trusty Amber Autumn stack from DCWV, except for the dark brown.  I'm also entering this into the Birthday Sundaes challenge.

Since I had a blossom left over, I HAD to make another card.  This one is just an A2 so the blossom fills up the card and there was no need for any extra stem or anything.  Now that I see it printed here, it looks amazingly like the flower in the paper. 

Since it's so bright and cheery, I decided to make this one a "thinking of you-cheer-get well" card.  It cheers me up. :-)

A Little Bird Told Me

There are so many bird cuts on different cartridges that it took a while to decide which one to use for the Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog.  I wanted to use the sentiment "A little bird told me...." and thought the bird on Nifty Fifties was the right one to use.

I love his ruffled feathers although I think he does have rather big eyes.  I tore some Core'dinations paper to make the grass and then hid and cut the wings separately so they'd be the same color.  I inked him with Faded Jeans Distress Ink and popped the wing up. The background is embossed with the Distress Stripes folder.  The sentiment was printed on the computer and attached with black brads.  This looks more like a spring card.  Guess this little bird better think about flying south for the winter just like I plan to do.

Tough Challenge

I'm not sure I even want to enter this card in the Mojo Monday challenge.  I usually love their challenges but this one was a bear. 

We had our choice between a round or square card.  I like the round ones so decided to give it a go.  My main problem was that I made the base card too small.  It's actually 5 1/2" across but the border area is wide so the middle circle is only 3 1/2".  See for yourself.

I can't remember what cartridge I cut the base card from.  One of these days I'll remember to write it down.  I welded the shadow in Design Studio, then cut another shadow in green to go over and hide the welded section.  On top of that went the "lace" border and the print circle.  That meant I had to cut all the various pieces in the sketch to fit the middle.  I did it but it looks crowded to me.  All the printed paper is from a Cricut Celebrations stack. I chose this paper because I thought it was looser and more fun to fit with the wonkiness of the scalloped border. The purple flower was punched from plain cardstock and I colored a pearl with my orange Bic Marker for the center.  I like the individual pieces, but together it gives me pause. 

Birth Flowers

I've always known about birthstones and that July's is a ruby.  But birth flowers?  That was something I had to Google and found out that my birth flower is the larkspur.  The challenge on Sentimental Sunday was to include your birth flower on a card.  Since Birthday Sundaes always has a birthday card, I decided to combine the two.

This cut from Cindy Lou was the closest thing I could find to a larkspur.  It is periwinkle in color and grows on a stem.  I used the same periwinkle for the background. The oval cut was in my reject drawer so I'm not sure what cartridge it was from but I thought the flower looked perfect on it.  I did give the flower a little spray of pearl Glimmer Mist and then added the PTI  birthday stamp in Dusty Concord Distress Ink.  Let's see - who else has a July birthday that I can send this to?.

New? Paper

I was trying to decide what paper to use for the challenge at Card Patterns and was having a difficult time.  I knew what I wanted for the verse on the front, but what paper?  Hmm.  I remembered pulling out a green paper I liked from a stack and when I found it on my workspace, it was on top of a designer stack that I had completely forgotten about.  Yeah!  New papers to work with.

I liked this pinkish paper and decided I could make my own "buttons" by punching out the design on the background paper and heat embossing them several times with UTEE.  I printed the words on the computer, trimmed and then inked them with Tattered Rose Distress Ink.  Another card without a Cricut cut.  I must be slipping. 

The Paper Speaks

 On clean and simple cards, it can sometimes be the paper that does the speaking.  This week for the CAS-ual Fridays challenge, I let my paper take center stage.   Their sketch:

My Card:

The paper is from PTI, their Hodgepodge stack.  I printed the sentiment on the computer in two lines and trimmed them to fit across the card.  I used a circle punch to cut out one of the designs on the paper and a flower punch to put behind it, then popped it up.  Here is a close up of the sentiment.

This was so quick and easy to make that you could turn out a bunch in a short time, changing the paper and the sentiment to suit your need.