From the Hills

Sweet Baby

2011-01-18T04:08:00.000-05:00

I love this card! I am attending a baby shower for a friend who is expecting a boy in the next few months. I found making a card for a boy much more difficult than making one for a girl. But I had help from the awesome paper from Paper Studio. The 12 x 12 sheet has different baby images in different colors and I've been waiting to use it for a long time! I think the polka dotted paper is from Paper Studio as well.

The duck is 3x3 inches and the brown paper from Stampin' Up is cut at 3.25x3.25 inches. I put it through the Cuttlebug using the Swiss Dots folder. I then rubbed it on a chocolate stamp pad to darken up the dots.

At the bottom and layered two pieces of ribbon and used SCAL 2.0 to cut out the sentiment. Oh, and to make the sentiment standout a little bit more I layered it. There is a brown layer behind the yellow.

Help!

2011-01-12T09:52:00.003-05:00

I need your help! I made this adorable ladybug for this week's Cooking With Cricut challenge. But I'm not sure what to do with her!

The challenge this week at Cooking With Cricut is "Glittermania"! So I took the Ladybug from the Cold Hands Warm Hearts page kit from www.page-kits.com and glittered her out. Everything except her hands are glitter...those are flocked because I thought she deserved some warm mittens. :)

The body and the face of this cute little ladybug is spritzed with Stampin' Ups glitter spray. I put her wings through the Xyron and applied red glitter. (I love the Xyron for glitter and flocking! It is so much easier than using glue!) The black spots are a glitter glue similar to Stickles, but the glue is black instead of clear. I also used that for the face and pink Stickles for the nose.

Now onto my dilemma. I don't know what to do with her. Should I put her on a card or a scrapbook page? And what should my "theme" be? Leave a comment on this post by Midnight on Friday January 14th with your idea and a way for me to contact you. If I choose your suggestion I will have a prize!

AND...while you are in the creative mood....head over to the Cooking With Cricut blog to see what the other Design Team members have come up with and submit your own Glittermania project!

Snow Fun

2011-01-06T21:24:00.004-05:00

Hello everyone! I know I'm a little late with the post. This week just hasn't gone as I expected....some good - some bad. But anyway I have a great winter layout and based on the 6-12 inches of snow we're expecting...it's just in time!

The challenge this week over at Cooking with Cricut is Snow Fun...Anything with a Snow Activity. The layout supports a 4x4 and 4x6 photo. From one of my favorite cartridges, Winter Frolic, I cut out the sentiment Snowball Fight. I thought it went perfectly with the cute snowman that I got from Melin of Cooking with Cricut.

So now it's your turn! Head over to the Cooking With Cricut blog. Check out what the other design team members (there are some new fabulous talents) have created and submit your own project.

MPS Challenge

2011-01-01T20:03:00.003-05:00

Happy New Year everyone! I hope that you all enjoyed the evening and have fully recovered. I spent my afternoon recovering by watching football and making cards.

This card is for Pink Stampers Design Team Challenge. She has two openings on her design team and is inviting anyone interested to participate in a challenge. The challenge is to create a project using her favorite colors: green, pink, brown and a color of your choice.

I created this really cute card using the Create a Critter cartridge. The frog was cut at 4 inches pop-dotted on top of the brown shadow. By taping some red paper to the back of his face I was able to give his smile a "pop" without having red show anywhere else. I placed him on top of a 3 inch lily pad and my color choice of blue!

Up top I cut the dragonfly out at 1 1/2 inches. Again, I pop-dotted it on the brown shadow. The shiny paper really makes the makes it pop. The sentiment was inspired by the announcement banners that planes have behind them. I thought it would be cool to have the dragonfly waving the banner with a stamp from My Pink Stampers Punny-licious stamp set.

The blue, brown and green patterned paper is from Stampin' Up. The rest of it is just scraps that I had. Thanks for checking out my Toad-ally Awesome card.

Merry Christmas - Day 6

2010-12-26T09:50:00.000-05:00

Well, Christmas day may have passed, but I still have more cards to share with you. This one was really simple. The gingerbread man comes from the Winter Frolic cartridge and was cut at 5 inches. I did consider cutting up one of his legs to look like someone had taken a bite out of him....maybe i'll do that with my next gingerbread man!

Merry Christmas - Day 5

2010-12-25T09:40:00.000-05:00

MERRY MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

I hope everyone has had a fabulous morning with their family/friends. It is a relaxing morning for my husband and I. We are celebrating with his family later tonight and my family tomorrow. So for now, it is a wonderfully relaxing Christmas morning.

This is my favorite Christmas card that I've made so far. When I first saw this little mouse I was unsure if I would ever use him. But my sister thought he was the cutest thing ever...so I gave him a try. He is cut at 3 1/2 inches with gray flocking on his body and a little bead for his eye. The different textures really make the card. OH and the paper! The fun background works really well for this simple mouse.

To finish it off I trimmed the photo-holder edge with silver Stickles and stamped another sentiment from Pink Cricut's Christmas set.

Have a wonderful Christmas everyone!!!

Merry Christmas - Day 4

2010-12-24T09:38:00.002-05:00

It's Christmas Eve! Did you get all of your Christmas shopping done? Are all of your cards made? I still have a little bit of both left to do! Luckily I have all day today to get things done!

Here is another Christmas card I made this year. If you've seen my previous posts this week I'm sure you'll recognize that the cartridge again is Winter Frolic. I cut it at 4 inches. The textured and shiny paper work so well for this cute ice skater. And the background swirly paper is PERFECT!

The sentiment "Mix, Mingle and be Merry" is a fun stamp from Pink Stamper.

I hope everyone has a fabulous Christmas Eve. I'll have another card on Christmas morning!

Merry Christmas - Day 3

2010-12-23T07:57:00.004-05:00

Good Morning! Here is my third Christmas card. Again the image is from Winter Frolic and the stamp is from the Pink Cricut Christmas collection. There was a question on one of the past post about where I got the frame cards...they came from Paper Source and I love them!

I stole the idea for the hanging ornaments from another blogger. The silver paper that I used on it looks really cool!

Thanks for stopping by...more to come over the next few days!

Merry Christmas - Day 2

2010-12-22T07:38:00.000-05:00

Welcome to my second Christmas Card post for the week. If you have just come over from this weeks Cooking with Cricut challenge...welcome!

This weeks challenge was to create a project that celebrates The Real Meaning of Christmas. The image is from Winter Frolic cut at 4 inches. Other than the small eyes and mouth, this was a really easy image to put together. I placed it on a piece of crackled red 4 x 6 paper that I picked up at Hobby Lobby this week. At the bottom of the card is Pink Cricut's stamp that simply states "Come let us Adore Him". I really love how the photo-frame card is working for my Christmas cards!

Stop by and participate in this weeks challenge at Cooking With Cricut!

Merry Christmas - Day 1

2010-12-21T10:01:00.000-05:00

Hello Everyone! I hope everyone is getting excited for Christmas. I finally got around to making a set of Christmas cards for my co-workers. I'll be featuring a new card each day this week leading up to Christmas.

I picked up these photo-holding cards from Paper Source when I was in Chicago earlier this year. I thought it would be a great frame for some of the cards I made. All of the cards I feature use stamps from Pink Cricut and images from the Winter Frolic cartridge.

This first one is Snowman 5 cut at 5 inches. I really like the use of the purple...he still looks like a cool dude without being too Christmas-y! To highlight the frame of the card I used a marker to dot along the edge.

This guy is really cute :)

On the inside of all of the cards I used this stamp from Pink Cricut that has a cute saying "Wishing you Sparkle, Wishing you Cheer, For a Bright and Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year".

Check back every day this week to see what other cards I came up with (including a one for Wednesday's new Cooking With Cricut challenge)!

Stocking Gift Box

2010-12-16T07:56:00.003-05:00

First of all I have to apologize for how late this post is! I had my final exam last night so I feel like I can actually breath and do something besides work, study and sleep.

For this weeks Cooking With Cricut challenge we are making Stockings & Stuffers! I created a cute little gift box that could hold candy or small little trinkets that is in the shape of a stocking. The stocking comes from the Winter Frolic cartridge.

First I cut two of the shadows out. Then I cut out the first set of the stocking and it's layers. Finally, I cut out a second set of the stocking and it's layers FLIPPED.

For the box I didn't do anything to fancy. I just measured the inside part of the stocking and made a box that would fit those dimensions.

The patterned paper comes from Stampin' Up. The rest of it is just pieces that I had laying around. To make the gifts look a little cooler than regular solid paper I used a Stampin' Up ink marker to doodle the snowflakes on the blue package, dots on the ribbons and color in the green dots. This was a really simple project that didn't take a lot of thinking or planning.

Be sure to join us on Cooking With Cricut for this weeks challenge AND the 25 days of Christmas which is full of projects and free files!

Pop-Up Birthday

2010-12-07T10:48:00.000-05:00

My little sister turned 21 this year and she asked for a pop-up card. I was a little intimidated at first, but when I found out how it works....boy is it easy!

Seriously, all you need is an image that you want to pop-out and a strip of cardstock about .5 x 2.5 inches. Score the strip every .5 inches and fold it into a square. Attach the square to the image and then the top and bottom of the card.

The one thing I learned was to consider your image when you decide how big to make the strip of cardstock. As you may be able to see in the picture to the right, my pop-up strip was bigger than the lower part of the numbers so you could see it. Also, if you are using a bigger pop-up item, you may want a bigger strip or even two strips. I can't recall what cartridge the images all came from. But I really like how the numbers look like birthday candles. On the front of the card, I did my best to combine fun with sophistication. The only thing I think I did wrong was that I over did the sparkle spritz on the cake.

Thanks for checking it out...really, you should try it yourself!

Christmas Card Winner

2010-12-06T20:41:00.002-05:00

Well, it officially feels like the holiday season. The snow is falling heavily and I'm giving things away! Now we just need to put up the decorations.

The lucky winner of the Christmas Card Cartridge is ... Lynne! I will be emailing you shortly for your address.

Congrats!

Follower Giveaway

2010-12-03T06:42:00.000-05:00

Is everyone getting ready for the Christmas season? I feel so behind as I haven't made many Christmas cards and it is my favorite holiday! A little while back I mentioned that I would have a giveaway to my followers to celebrate reaching 50 followers. Well, after a few blog hops we blew that number away and I have now reached over 100 followers!

I am so grateful for all of you. I really hope that my postings inspire you to try a new technique or use something a little differently.

As a thank you, I am giving away the Christmas Card cartridge. This cartridge has some really cool card shapes that can be used all year long.

To be entered in the drawing:
1) Be or become a follower.
2) Leave a comment on this post by 8am Monday Dec 5th Eastern that includes a way for me to contact you.

I will be using random.org to select the winner.

Again, thank you - thank you - thank you!

ThankYou Money Card

2010-11-30T00:03:00.001-05:00

In a few weeks my husband and I are getting on a boat and going on vacation! I'm so excited for it. I really need this vacation. Even planning this vacation has been stressful (we were supposed to go on the Splendor - see John Heald's blog for more info). Well, we're still going on a boat, it's just not what we've been planning over the last nine months or so. Either way, one great part of cruising is all the people who are on the boat to help you have a fabulous experience. And of course it is customary to tip these people who clean the rooms, serve your dinners and make you cool towel animals. So I made a thank you money card!

I started out with an 8 x 6.75 piece of cardstock and scored it long ways at 3 and 6 inches. The front and back is 3 inches and the inside flap that holds the money is 2 inches. I snapped a little off the length of the inside flap and then rounded the corner.

For decorating the card, I cut up some fun colored paper. On the pink I used silver embossing to stamp the sun image which goes along with the ribbon I got from a cruise pack a few years back. The cap on the front of the card is from a wine cooler bottle. It's such a fun and unique add! Inside the card I used blue embossing to stamp thank you and I plan on writing a little note.

P.S. I will not be tipping $1. That's just ridiculous :) unfortunately, the single was the only bill in my purse!

P.S.S. Later this week I will be giving something cool away to my followers!!!

CCF Blog Hop Winner

2010-11-22T11:32:00.002-05:00

Good morning! Just wanted to post really quickly about the winner of the i-rock. Congrats to TeacherMom!

I will be emailing you and hope to send out the package today. And don't forget...you have to let me know when you use it! :)

CCF Give Thanks Blog Hop

2010-11-20T01:11:00.010-05:00

Welcome to the Cricut Card Fairy Blog Hop. This month we are practicing being thankful for all the blessings in our lives. What are you thankful for? Do you stop daily and thank those around you for blessing you? Do you appreciate the small things in life? I sure hope so! With that in mind all of us fairies have put together some awesome THANKSGIVING/THANKFUL themed crafty items.

For my project I created a Thanksgiving card. I started with the rhinestone leaves that I fell in love with at the craft store. I put the rhinestones on some textured green paper and carefully cut around them to get what you see. I then taped some string to the back of them so that the leaves would look like they were falling. I haven't secured the leaves down, so they swing around. Which I think is cool! The background paper is From Recollections Garage Sale line. It has a great image on it that I want to use for another project and I loved this background for this project....I guess what I'm saying is Don't be afraid of cutting up paper and using it!!! For the sentiment at the bottom I embossed it with bronze embossing powder from Martha Stewart.

Before I get to the blog candy and blog hop list, I wanted to let you know about the Cricut Card Fairy Army. We get regular email requests from people who have friends or family in need of a card. Sometimes it is a sympathy card and other times it's a birthday card! If you are looking to send out some of the great handmade cards you make, contact Crystal to cricutcardfairyarmy@gmail.com.

Now for my give away! This weekend I will be giving away an i-rock and a pack of glam pearls. There are two conditions: 1) you must leave a comment on this post with a way for me to contact you. 2) if you win, I'd like to hear what you think of the tool (I don't have one...yet!). You do not need to be a follower to win the i-rock...however I will be having another giveaway soon to celebrate and thank my followers. So if you like my blog and giveaways, become a follower!

Now onto the rest of the blog hop where there are opportunities for inspiration, and blog candy. So make sure you hop all the way through, leave comments on every blog, and then a comment on Caitlynsmommy's blog when finished. She is the Cricut Card Fairy Army leader and will be giving away a BNIP Hello Kitty Greetings cart to a person that comments on ALL the blogs!
Happy hopping!

Here is the order in case you get lost along the way.

Caitlynsmommy http://crystalscraftycreations.blogspot.com/
ScrappingDeb http://tidbitsplace.blogspot.com/
AJoy713 <<--YOU ARE HERE
RachelMutchler http://trickut-rachelscrafts.blogspot.com
Kisatrtle http://www.kisatrtleskreativekorner.blogspot.com/
ScrappyJess http://scrappyjess.blogspot.com/
PennyLight http://lightwhimsy.blogspot.com/
KarelJcreations http://karelj.blogspot.com/
Shellie http://shelliescreations.blogspot.com/
GRKIDDO http://ginathorntonstamping.blogspot.com/
JamieFitzgerald http://www.jamieisacraftymomma.blogspot.com/
Iluvsnowmen http://wandaswhimsicalwonders.blogspot.com/
blondemommy26 http://blondemommy26.blogspot.com/
SherylGreene http://sherylscraftingcorner.blogspot.com/

CWC Blog Hop Winners

2010-11-17T00:02:00.004-05:00

Hello Everyone, THANK YOU ALL for your participation this last weekend in our blog hop. I was really excited to read all of your comments.

The winner of the Goose File is JustYolie from JustYolie, JustCreate. Please let me know if you would like the cutting file or image file. You can email me at: adrea dot travis dot 2008 @ gmail dot com.

The winner of the Calender Kit is Kathy from Kathy's-Krafts. I will need your mailing address. You can email me at: adrea dot travis dot 2008 @ gmail dot com.

Just a reminder, I will be participating in another blog hop this weekend. AND after that I will be having a giveaway for my followers. It was going to be to celebrate 50 followers, but we blew that out of the water this last weekend!!!

CWC Blog Hop - Day 2

2010-11-14T07:19:00.011-05:00

Welcome to From The Hills and the CookingWithCricut.com Holiday Blog Hop! If you've come from visiting Gaby at Gaby Creates, you're in the right place! If you've just happened across my blog and would like to play along with our fun hop, you can go to CookingWithCricut.com and start at the beginning. Go HERE.

With the holidays fast approaching we are sharing some wonderful ideas and inspiration for your viewing and crafting pleasure! Each Design Team member will be featuring an original project made especially for this hop. Make sure to check out each DT member's blog. There will be prizes along the way at our DT members' blogs, AND there will be some nice PRIZES with a few different ways to win at CookingWithCricut.com!

The card I made today features my favorite word of the season, "Joy". The ornament was cut at 3 inches from Winter Frolic. I used gold Stickles on the top for the hanger! I wanted the ornament to look like it was hanging so I put some string onto the card.

The green paper I used was textured, but I wanted something else added to it. So I used Shimmer Spritz and Pop Dots to make the letters stand out. The blue paper in the background is from Paper Source. I had the opportunity to visit one of their stores in Chicago this fall and thought this would be perfect for Christmas projects.

I have two things I will be giving away this weekend. First is the Christmas Geese Cutting File or Digi File from ScrapbookEden.com. Also up for grabs is a Calendar Kit that contains 999 pieces. If you are ambitious, maybe you can make it a Christmas gift...or you can make it month by month!

All you have to do to win one of these prizes is leave a comment on this post with a way to contact you. For a second chance to win, check out my post from yesterday and leave a comment there!

Now it's your turn! Let’s see your wonderful holiday projects. Be sure to try and include a Cricut or other die cut machine on your project and link it up at CookingWithCricut.com. Next stop...Cathie's blog, Creative Cutter. Go see what she has in store for you today... And when you're done, make sure to head back to CookingWithCricut.com and get entered to win!
Happy Holiday Hopping! Here is the order of the list:
1.CookingWithCricut.com – http://www.cookingwithcricut.com/
2.Abby – http://www.scrapbookaholicbyabby.com/
3.Gaby – http://www.gabycreates.com/
4.Adrea – You Are Here
5.Cathie – http://www.creativecutter.org/
6.Christel – http://www.onescrappinsista.blogspot.com/
7.Kristal – http://www.kandrewdesigns.blogspot.com/
8.Madison – http://www.funkycards.blogspot.com/
9.Kassidy – http://www.inkingitupcrazy.blogspot.com/
10.Jenna – http://jennasfavoritethings.blogspot.com/
11.Valine – http://www.maddstercreations.blogspot.com/
12.Dalis – http://www.stampergirl.com/
13.Brandilynn – http://www.createdbybrandilynn.blogspot.com/
14.Becky - http://www.bouncyflouncyfunfunfun.blogspot.com/
15.Michelle - http://www.mumoftwoblog.blogspot.com/
16.Melinda – http://www.scrapbookeden.blogspot.com/
17.Back to CWC

CWC Blog Hop - Day 1

2010-11-13T07:18:00.017-05:00

With the holidays fast approaching we are sharing some wonderful ideas and inspiration for your viewing and crafting pleasure! Each Design Team member will feature an original project made especially for this hop. Make sure to check out each DT member's blog. There will be prizes along the way at our DT members' blogs, AND there will be some nice PRIZES with a few different ways to win at CookingWithCricut.com!

For today's post I used the cutting file Christmas Geese from ScrapbookEden.com. I thought it would be a touch of elegance if I used patterned paper. The gray and white paper are scraps from a wedding stack I had. The pink tie and hat are from Stampin' Up. To help the geese stand out I put them on a some squares that sit on a card that opens in the center. The sentiment below is from Pink Cricut's Christmas Wishes. I embossed it with silver embossing powder from Martha Stewart. It looks REALLY good...if you haven't already you should try heat embossing. It's so cool.

The card itself is from a 8 1/2 by 11 inch paper. I scored it at 2 3/4 inch from each of the sides. It ends up being a really big card...I think it's perfect for adding a great hand written letter to a friend or family member who you haven't talked to in a while. Before adhering the square by gluing only the left side of it, I took a snowflake stamp and stamped red and silver snowflakes on the background. I think it helps bring together the red and silver accents used on the square.

Aren't those geese cute? Wouldn't you love to use them on one of your projects? Well, here is an opportunity to win it! Also up for grabs is a Calendar Kit that contains 999 pieces. If you are ambitious, maybe you can make it a Christmas gift...or you can make it month by month!

All you have to do to win one of these prizes is leave a comment on this post with a way to contact you. For a second chance to win, come back tomorrow and leave a comment on my second blog hop post! Also, if you like winning things I suggest you become a follower. I have more blog hops coming up and a giveaway planned for my followers!

Now it's your turn! Let’s see your wonderful holiday projects. Be sure to try and include a Cricut or other die cut machine on your project and link it up at CookingWithCricut.com.
Next stop...Cathie's blog, Creative Cutter. Go see what she has in store for you today... And when you're done, make sure to head back to CookingWithCricut.com and get entered to win!

Happy Holiday Hopping! Here is the order of the list:
1.CookingWithCricut.com – http://www.cookingwithcricut.com/
2.Abby – http://www.scrapbookaholicbyabby.com/2010/11/cooking-with-cricut-holiday-blog-hop.html
3.Gaby – http://www.gabycreates.com/
4.Adrea – You Are Here
5.Cathie – http://www.creativecutter.org/
6.Christel – http://www.onescrappinsista.blogspot.com/
7.Kristal – http://www.kandrewdesigns.blogspot.com/
8.Madison – http://www.funkycards.blogspot.com/
9.Kassidy – http://www.inkingitupcrazy.blogspot.com/
10.Jenna – http://jennasfavoritethings.blogspot.com/
11.Valine – http://www.maddstercreations.blogspot.com/
12.Dalis – http://www.stampergirl.com/
13.Brandilynn – http://www.createdbybrandilynn.blogspot.com/
14.Becky - http://www.bouncyflouncyfunfunfun.blogspot.com/
15.Michelle - http://mumoftwoblog.blogspot.com/2010/11/cooking-with-cricut-blog-hop.html
16.Melinda – http://www.scrapbookeden.blogspot.com/
17.Back to CWC

Holiday Baking

2010-11-10T01:06:00.001-05:00

This weeks theme at Cooking With Cricut is baking. You know - holiday cookies, pies and cakes. For my design team entry I decided to bake some Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting. (recipe from All Recipes) My work is having a Chili Cook off & Pumpkin Baking contest this week and I wanted to test out the recipe. (side note, I will probably use more pumpkin next time around)

The tent that identifies what I baked was cut using SCAL 2.0. First, I brought in the Baking Bear digistamp from ScrapbookingEden.com. I sized it to be 3 inches high, copied the image and then flipped it vertically. I then added a 9x8 inch rectangle and welded the images together. This creates a tent that is 3 inches high, about 10 inches long (including part of the bear image) and 1.5 inches wide. After cutting image I made three score lines at 1.5, 4.5 and 7.5 inches from the top.

I then took the bear image and cut two of them out of tan paper. Then ran them both through the printer so I would have the digistamp! I made two as a backup in case I didn't like my coloring. But I was pretty happy with how the first one colored, so I colored the back of the other bear. It created a cool front/back of the image! (p.s. did you see his little tail!)

I also printed out the title of the recipe on the tan paper and used a corner punch to create the shape. To finish it off, I used black Viva Decor Glitter-Liner. I wasn't sure how the tent would turn out when I first started this project...but I am VERY happy with it!

In addition to the tent, I made decorations to go into the cupcakes (is there a name for this?). All three images are from Create a Critter. The apple and pumpkin are cut at 1 1/2 inches and the leaf is cut at 1 3/4 inches. I cut extra sets of the original layer to serve as the backing. This allowed me to hide the toothpick.

I hope I've inspired you to bake along with us this week and participate in the challenge at Cooking With Cricut. Also don't forget the Bloghop we'll be having this weekend...there will be giveaways!

Thank You Card

2010-11-08T19:50:00.005-05:00

Hello everyone! Here is a card that I made for the design team call over at Scrapmaster's Paradise (side note, have you seen that they have a stitching stamp set? that needs to come off my to-get list quickly). They provided a sketch and it needed to include a stamped image. For the flowered background, I rolled Stampin' Ups Fast Flowers wheel stamp. I then used Stampin' Up Markers to color them in. The popped up image, I embossed the flower stems and cut the flowers from the Birthday Cakes cartridge using a white pen for the center. The ribbon starts and finishes on the edge of the thank you stamp. It did require that I cut the ribbon more neatly than usual.

Supplies Used:

Paper - Stampin' Up
Flower Stamp - Fast Flowers, Stampin' Up
Ink - Stampin' Up
Embossing Powder - Martha Stewart
Cut Flowers - Birthday Cakes Cartridge

While you are here, don't forget all of the exciting things coming up (aka giveaways):

This coming weekend, Nov 13-14th, I will be participating in the Cooking With Cricut Blog Hop. We'll be celebrating the Holiday Season!
The following weekend, Nov 19-21st, I will be participating in the Cricut Card Fairy Blog Hop.
Shortly after I hit 50 followers, I will be having a celebration giveaway. I plan on doing it after the two blog hops. So, become a follower!!!

Cooking With Cricut Wk 4

2010-11-03T01:00:00.003-04:00

Hi Everyone! I hope you all enjoyed the sponsored challenge last week. This weeks Cooking With Cricut challenge is Leaves/Fall Foliage/Indian Summer. For my design team contribution, I made a card that uses the same Welcome Fall file from The Cutting Cafe that I used last week! I told you it has a great assortment of fall images and sayings. For tips on how to use their files with your Cricut, check out my new video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNo7TZjrIUk.

The leaves and the sentiment is from the Welcome Fall file. I didn't adjust the size on any of them...they just cut and printed perfectly the way that they were. If you haven't used their files before, there are some really good resources on their site. Also, I created a short video to show how I used them for this project.

When I saw how the leaves had the center cut I knew that I wanted to string them on a ribbon. I think next time I would place them a little bit differently, but I really think it worked well.

The squirrel is cut at 3 1/4 inches from the Create a Critter cartridge. I also used the flip feature to get him looking the direction I wanted. The acorns are also from Create a critter. The green background and dark brown cardstock is from DCWV Latte Stack.

Be sure to head over to Cooking with Cricut and participate this weeks challenge. Also, in a few weeks we will be doing a Blog Hop! It will be November 13th and 14th with a Holiday theme and giveaways!

Glue Arts BOO!

2010-10-29T09:57:00.003-04:00

Happy Friday! Glue Arts is going around and BOOING people. Don't know what that is? Check it out here.

And to see their nifty Glue Glider Pro in action on a SPOOKY Halloween project, check out my latest video: http://adreatravis2008.blogspot.com/2010/10/spooky-hanging.html

Also, a little reminder! When I hit 50 followers I will be having a giveaway. So if you aren't already a follower you should become one :)

PumpkinCarving

2010-10-26T20:13:00.001-04:00

Happy Wednesday everyone! I'm so excited because this weeks Cooking With Cricut challenge is being sponsored by The Cutting Cafe. The theme is non-Spooky Halloween! Be sure to stop by and participate in the challenge.

I decided to change things up a bit and do a scrapbook page. All of the images are from The Cutting Cafe and the paper is from Graphic 45. One the left hand side are two mats for two 4 x 6 photos and on the right hand side is a spot for journaling. After printing the images and then cutting them out I simply used markers to color them in. On the pumpkin I let the orange dry and then used a thin-point brown marker to draw on faces! I did use pop-dots for the pumpkins, leaves and the arrow.

I loved how easy it was to put together this page based on one file from The Cutting Cafe. If you haven't used their files before, they have plenty of instructions on their website. If you are using the files with your Cricut you will need Make The Cut or Sure Cuts A Lot and a free program called Inkscape. Next week I will have another project that features images from The Cutting Cafe and here are a few links of past projects: Halloween Candy Box, Spooky Hanging, School Cards.

Halloween Candy Box

2010-10-25T07:42:00.001-04:00

Hello! I have been having a lot of fun this year with Halloween crafts. I got the cool idea of this candy box from a YouTube Video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8evnkev6k8). It is a Christmas candy box that has 7 nuggets in it. I wanted to create a similar project, but scaled down to only 3 nuggets. It took measuring twice and cutting once, but I got it down! I think this is a fun project that could easily be done for friends at a party or coworkers or if your REALLY ambitious for the neighborhood kids! Here's my video on how I created the box. To prevent misstating the measurements I didn't include them in the video. But you can see them below the clip. Also, if you want to do a box for 7 nuggets the video linked above includes the measurements.

Supplies Used:

Paper - all of it is from The Paper Studio

Tags - cut from Accent Essentials cartridge

Ghost Image - from The Cutting Cafe

Sentiment - I created using the font "Creepy"

Measurements & Scoring for a box that fits 3 nuggets:

For the main box, cut the paper at 5 1/2 x 4 inches. Score at 5/8 and 1 1/4 inch on the short sides. Score at 3 3/8 and 1 1/4 inch on the long sides.

For the slider top, cut the paper at 5 1/4 x 3 inches. Score at 1 1/4 and 1 7/8 inch on the long side only. You may want to adjust the scoring a touch based on the thickness of the papers that you are using.

For the candy wrappers, cut the paper at 3 x 1 inches.

Spooky Hanging

2010-10-23T10:24:00.001-04:00

This was such a fun project to do! I think I got the idea from one of the recent blog hops I've visited. (The Creative Stampers Spot)

Here are some pictures and a video!

One of the things I didn't mention in the video is how I made the ribbon finish. Instead of it just hanging down I put some glue on the end of the ribbon and then curled it up into a roll. You could do this on the top as well depending how you hang it.

MPS Live Challenge

2010-10-23T09:27:00.009-04:00

First of all I have to thank Purple Scrapbooker and My Pink Stamper. I won a MPS stamp set from Purple Scrapbooker and received it very quickly and I'm very excited to have Punny-licious. Although after last nights u-cast I feel a little behind as she announced her third set in the Punny-licious series! During the MPS live u-cast her and Karlee gave us a challenge. Use the colors pink, purple and green to create something in 30 minutes or less. Now, i do have to admit I didn't complete my project in 30 minutes as my flocking needed to dry!

I decided to use Create a Critter and make an animal that I hadn't used before. I decided to use the whale to go along with the Punny-licious stamp "Get Whale Soon!". The background image is from Digital Delights. I flocked the seaweed to bring in the green; it wasn't easy to keep the glue in the lines but it turned out cute. I cute the whale at 2 1/4" with two layers of purple and the top in an awesome pink color. I then sprayed all of it with my Shimmer Spritz and used pop dots to place it. I don't remember how big the starfish was cut at...but I left the little circles in and just colored it instead. To finish off the card I used the MPS stamp in silver! Simple, easy and quick!

If you've just stopped by, I'll be posting a video shortly and will have a giveaway when I hit 50 followers! See previous posts for more details!

Quick Update

2010-10-22T10:36:00.002-04:00

Hello Everyone and HAPPY FRIDAY!!!!

I just wanted to post a quick update about a few things I have coming up.

Tomorrow I will be posting another video! It's a cool non-card project and for all of you cat fans there is some bonus footage of my cat Abbey in it :)
The project involves files from The Cutting Cafe and I will be posting another card that features The Cutting Cafe files on Wednesday as a part of a sponsored Cooking With Cricut challenge. I plan to feature how to easily cut these files with SCAL 2. If you haven't already you really should check them out...Regina does a GREAT job of sending out the files shortly after you place the order. (p.s. check out my most recent card using The Cutting Cafe files Back to Fall)
I have two blog hops scheduled for November. So keep an eye out for those.
I currently have 40 followers...I'm considering doing a giveaway when I hit 50. I'm keeping my eye open for a cool prize - let me know if you have a suggestion!

Thanks for being a follower I really appreciate the comments and support.

Pick Me!

2010-10-20T01:21:00.000-04:00

If have come here from Cooking with Cricut to see my second Designer Team contribution...WELCOME! If you are one of my regular followers, you should head over to Cooking with Cricut to see this weeks challenge!

For this challenge I used Pumpkin Man, you can get the files from scrapbookeden.com. I used SCAL to add the words to the sign and cut out the file using my Cricut. I put the Cricut Man on two ovals and started the decorating. The googly eyes look really cool! I then added some eyelashes to turn Pumpkin man into a Pumpkin woman!

The base of the card is the other side of a scalloped cut. I strung some embroidery string around it and added some foam leafs that I just picked up from Hobby Lobby!

p.s. Did you notice her purple shoes? They remind me of some of the Reebok's that were around when I was younger!

Back to Fall

2010-10-19T23:09:00.006-04:00

Well after my Think Spring post earlier this week I thought maybe I should come back to reality and make a fall card. This was a perfect opportunity for me to use a Cutting Cafe file I had purchased a little while ago.

To make this card I used a scalloped circle SVG to create the base card. I printed the Cutting Cafe leaf pattern on an 8 1/2 x 11 inch cardstock and then used SCAL to cut a circle out of it. I wasn't particular about where the circle cut out on this one since it was going to be a background. After cutting the circle I colored a few of the leafs with Stampin Up markers to add some color. Add some ribbon, orange dots and a simple sentiment and you have an easy fall card.

I have a few other projects in the works for Halloween that use Cutting Cafe files. I'm editing a video as well. Become a follower and you won't miss out! Also, stop back tomorrow to see my second design team creation for Cooking with Cricut!

Challenge #1: Create a project using at least one leaf.

Challenger #1: Fantabulous Cricut

Challenge #2: Create a project using a Fall/Halloween theme.

Challenger #2: Frosted Designs

Challenge #3: Use their photo for inspiration.

Challenger #3: Pals Paper Arts

Challenge #4: Create a Fall/Autumn project.

Challenger #4: Crazy 4 Challenges

Think Spring?

2010-10-16T23:03:00.008-04:00

Okay, so I know we're well into the fall season and that winter will be here before we know it. But I couldn't help but making this cute little rabbit! (seriously - it's a cute bunny!) All of the items are cut from the Create a Critter Cartridge except the little purple thing on the left hand side. Some of my favorite elements of this card are: the fuzzy bunny, the textured carrots and the patterned paper of the stump. I will be writing a note on the inside of this card and send it to a Cricut Card Fairy recipient!

Challenge #1: Follow the sketch.

Challenger #1: Mojo Monday

Challenge #2: Create an animal themed project using an old cartridge. (I can't believe that Create A Critter is considered old!)

Challenger #2: Creative Time for Me

Challenge #3: Yummy, Yummy, Yummy. (Mr. Bunny loves those carrots!)

Challenger #3: Fab N' Funky Challenges

Challenge #4: Use 3 types of embellishments, 2 patterned paper and 1 image. (I used ribbon brads and stickles, the background and the stump are patterned, the bunny rabbit is my image!)

Challenger #4: Simon Says

Cute Spook

2010-10-13T21:58:00.005-04:00

Looking for my Cooking with Cricut DT entry for this week? Click HERE.

Ted over at Happily Ever Crafter is having a very different challenge this month. You are assigned to either make a "trick" or a "treat" project. Treat projects get to use the standard Halloween images and colors. Treat projects have to use more pastels and have to use cute things. Well, I got assigned the trick.

The ladybug image is from Digital Delights by Lou by Loo. I printed it on some light blue cardstock from Stampin' Up and added a trick-or-treat bag! The brown is Cuddlebugged and the patterned paper is just some scraps. The ribbon in the corner is really cool. It is stretchy and was really easy to tie a knot in.

The Challenge #1: Create a Halloween project using pastels and cute animals.
The Challenger #1: Happily Ever Crafter

The Challenge #2: Use stitching on a project.
The Challenger #2: My Sheri Crafts

The Challenge #3: Make something CUTE!
The Challenger #3: My Pink Stamper

My First Designer Post

2010-10-13T01:00:00.010-04:00

<-----LOOK :)

WOOT!!!! I am so excited to announce that I am part of the Cooking with Cricut design team. I will be participating in at least two design team posts a month along with 17 other talented DT members. The design team will use digi-stamps or cutting files created by Melin that go along with the weekly challenge. This is my first design team experience and I'm very proud to have been selected.

This weeks challenge is Love-Sweetest Day. I am using the cut file titled "Elephant Love".

The first step in creating this card was cutting out the parts for the cute little elephants. To do this I divided up the different pieces based on the colored paper I'm cutting it. With SCAL 2 I can easily use it the next time.

After cutting the pieces I did a little edging with stamping ink, I think I might be addicted to that technique!

I then put them through my Xyron, which made it easy to put together the elephants. The bow tie and headband are flocked and to add a little more character to the ladie elephant I inked on a little lipstick and then used my white pen for a pearl necklace and bracelet. You'll notice that I didn't use all of the hearts from this image on the front of the card. It was a little too much for my taste so I put them on the inside!

Supplies Used:

Plain Paper - scraps
Patterned Paper - PaperTreyInk, Friends 'Til The End Collection
Photo Corners - ATD, Story of Us Sticker Pad
Decorative Tape - Martha Stewart, Candy Stripes

Thanks for checking out my project. Be sure to head over to Cooking with Cricut to see what the other design team members created and participate in the challenge!

Fabulous Fall Card

2010-10-08T22:23:00.011-04:00

Who says fall cards have to be traditional fall colors? I came across two challenges and instantly I new I wanted to create a fab fall card!

I used the Create a Critter cartridge to create this pumpkin shaped card. For the stem I embossed it in black and for the eyes and mouth I used a clear embossing powder. The leaf and text came from SCAL 2. This was a really simple card...great for a quick Friday night project!

The Challenge #1: Create a shaped card, include the color orange and use the Create a Critter cartridge.

The Challenger #1: My Creative Time

The Challenge #2: Use the colors pear pizzazz, peach parfait and melon mango.

The Challenger #2: Pals Paper Arts

Margaritas

2010-10-05T08:00:00.003-04:00

I LOVE this card. I made it for a co-worker of mine who had some surgery recently. She likes margaritas so it is perfect for her. I didn't think of the statement myself...I found it online and I'm sorry that I can't remember where.

The Margarita glass is an svg image that I found and cut with my Cricut. I first cut the full image on white paper, the partial image on green cardstock and then the full image on vellum. I think the vellum gives it a frozen glass look. I then added some clear stickles for salt around the rim!

The limes are also really cool. The one in the glass is simply a circle. I used a white gel pen to draw on the shape and then cut out one of the wedges to add the garnish to my drink! The other limes were from another svg file that I cut and then printed on. I also cut out two mini lemons for the banner and added some sparkle spritz!

As a little treat for the inside of the card I cut out a lime wedge, pretty much just a half of the lime from the front.

Thanks for looking...I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Birthday Challenges

2010-10-03T17:34:00.002-04:00

Wow! What a busy Card Day it was yesterday. Here is one of the projects I made. (The rest will be posted later) It is a birthday card that will go out to a Cricut Card Fairy request. I also will be submitting it to three different challenges.

The Challenge #1: Use buttons on your clean and simple card.
The Challenger #1: Pals Paper Arts

The Challenge #2: Create a project using some type of stitching in honor of National Sewing Month.
The Challenger #2: Fantabulous Cricut

The Challenge #3: Use black, white and one color of your choice on your card.
The Challenger #3: Fab 'N Funky Challenges

I used a digi stamp from Meljen's Designs. It is really just and I actually cut out some of the image. I then used some of my stamp markers to color the image blue...yes I did use a few tones of blue on my card...but it's still one color right? There is stitching in the image and I also used a cool ribbon from American Designs that resembles stitching. A simple button and the Cuddlebug adds a little bit of fun to this simple card.

Happy World Card Day

2010-10-02T12:05:00.002-04:00

I hope you all are enjoying World Card Day! I have quite the lineup for the day. I'll be making a video, a few cards, going to some blog hops, catching up on the 900+ items in my Google Reader and more!

Have you seen the BOGO sale at The Cutting Cafe? I just got two sets that I've liked for a while and this is the perfect opportunity to get some great files. I bought You're in My Thoughts and got the Halloween All Around for free!

I'll let you know how the day goes and fill you in on all of my projects!

Thank You

2010-09-28T09:02:00.000-04:00

I sent a lot of "to do's" to a coworker over the last few weeks. Always onsie twosie type things instead of a list of what I needed her to do for me. I felt so bad because I was taking up so much of her time! But she didn't show any frustration towards me or the work I was passing her way, so I wanted to say "Thank You". She loves coffee so I gave her a little gift a long with this card I created.

I recently won the Cricut Cake Birthday Cakes cartridge. I don't own the Cake Machine, but there are some cute images and I love the font! The images and the inside sentiment are all from that cartridge.

Supplies:

Brown Flowered Paper - Paper Trey Ink

Pink Patterned Paper - Stampin' Up

Plain Brown Paper - Stampin' Up

Blue Paper - Scraps

Pink Ribbon - Dollar Bin at Michaels

Pearls - Kaiser Crafts

Toil and Trouble

2010-09-23T22:57:00.003-04:00

Double Double Toil and Trouble! I have been given a second award. This time it was for my Spooktacular Card awarded the Top Three from Frosted Designs. In addition to the Top Three award, I was also randomly selected for the Robyn's Fetish Digi Stamps. To add to the double double theme, I was the second entry into the challenge and was the second top design of the top three listed.

LOL, this is fun!

An Apple A Day

2010-09-21T08:00:00.001-04:00

I made this card for my husband's grandpa who had back surgery a few weeks ago. He has recently moved to his new living place and the family will be going to visit him regularly to keep his spirits up.

I'm really happy with how the text came out in the background. I printed it on some paper, including the stitching, and then cut it out. On the apple I used flocking for the leaves and cheeks.

This card came together very quickly thanks to two challenges!
The Challenge #1: Use the theme "An Apple a Day", follow the sketch, use red green and yellow, add something black, include an apple and use the Cricut.
The Challenger #1: Jitterbuggin'

The Challenge #2: Follow the sketch!
The Challenger #2: Crazy 4 Challenges

Both challenges have sketches to follow and while I didn't strictly follow the first one, I grabbed some specific elements from it. I layered the circle, brought in the stitching and bannered the text along the top of the card.

Supplies Used:

Patterned Paper: The Paper Studio
Apple: Create a Critter
Flocking: Martha Stewart
Plain Paper: Scraps
Felt Ribbon: Recollections

Spooktacular

2010-09-19T21:56:00.004-04:00

It's Halloween season! And here is the first Halloween card that I have ever made...ever. I'm not a big Halloween person. As a kid, I loved all of the candy. But now as an adult, I just haven't found any compelling reason to get into the witchy spirit. Well until I saw how awesome Halloween crafts are! I have seen some really cool stuff this year and have a few tricks up my sleeve. But onto this card and it's challenges.

The Challenge #1: Use the colors Pear Pizzaz, Night of Navy and Perfect Plum.
The Challenger #1: Scrapmaster's Paradise (however, I was too late and didn't get to enter it)

The Challenge #2: Make a project for this week's theme - Halloween!
The Challenger #2: Pals Paper Arts

The Challenger #3: Cut the photo or picture!
The Challenger #3: Frosted Designs

So, Halloween and incorporating those colors was pretty easy together. I love purple and green together for Halloween. Much cuter than orange and black. Cutting an image however was a new thing for me. I printed the image from a kids coloring website and colored it with my stamp markers. I wasn't sure what color to use for the moon, so I took a cotton ball dabbed it on a blue ink pad and then smeared the color around the moon. I like that it colored the moon enough to leave the ghost looking pure white. I'm really happy with how it turned out, especially after cutting it.

The next part is evidence of how to take a mistake and make it into art. When placing the main image I didn't center it. at. all. So the left side had a blank area that needed to be filled. I had some buttons that matched the color challenge really well, so I lined them up! Add a little gold Stickles and you have a complete card!

Thank you to this weeks challengers...I'm really happy with how it turned out! I am working on another Halloween project and I plan on having a video up soon!

Supplies used:
Main Image: Hello Kids
Markers: Stampin' Up and Marvy Matchables
Buttons: The Paper Studio
Gold Dots: Stickles

Happy Anniversary!

2010-09-11T22:38:00.003-04:00

This card was made for my husband. It is our 2nd anniversary on Monday! It was a really simple card to make...the frog and crown are from Create a Critter. I can't remember where the paper came from :( I am really happy with how the frog turned out. The green flocking gives the frog such a fun look compared to simple card stock. My other favorite part of this card is the crown. I used Stampin' Ups Vanilla Shimmer Smooch Spritz and then glitter for the jewels. I hope my prince loves it!

Here are the challenge details:

The Challenge #1: Use the sketch from Mojo Monday.
The Challenger #1: Mojo Monday
This was a great sketch! I modified it a bit by only including two blocks up top and having my tag at the bottom.

The Challenge #2: Use the colors Cherry Cobbler, Very Vanilla and Pumpkin Pie (or something similar)
The Challenger #2: Scrapmaster's Paradise
I got lucky and had some great patterned paper that included the red and orange colors. After that I just had to coordinate paper to go along with it!

Slider Card Challenge

2010-09-10T20:05:00.009-04:00

The Challenge #1: Create a Slider Card
The Challenger #1: Scrappy Frogs Challenges
This project was really all about trying the slider card technique. It really wasn't that difficult! I will definitely be making more of these soon. See the video below to see it slide!

The Challenge #2: Labor Day Theme - create a project that has something to do with work or a job, congrats on a promotion, retirement etc...
The Challenger #2: Fantabulous Cricut
I made this card for a co-worker who helped me a lot in the last 6 months. She really impressed me and I'm sad that I won't have her as a resource anymore.

The Challenge #3: Use the colors Tempting Turquoise, So Saffron and Old Olive. (or something similar)
The Challenger #3: Pals Paper Arts

The Challenge #4: "What'eva"
The Challenger #4: Fab 'n' Funky Challenges

Supplies Used:

Blue Paper - Stampin Up
Brown and Olive Patterned Paper - Paper Tray Ink
Yellow Paper - DCWV

Owl Wedding Card

2010-09-07T08:15:00.001-04:00

My friends wedding was this past weekend. It was a long drive to the tip of the Michigan thumb, but it was so much fun! I really struggled with what design I wanted to use for their card. But when I came across a VERY cute card at ScrapinChic, I had to scrap-lift it!

I'm really happy with how fun and unique the colors are for a wedding card. The owls are an SVG file that I created. I may start offering some of SVG files to other crafters. If you are interested, contact me.

Supplies Used:

Plain Paper - scraps
Patterened Paper - Paper Trey Ink
Ribbon - Martha Stewart
Pearls - Kaiser Craft

Thanks for looking!

CCF Card Hop Winner

2010-09-06T09:48:00.006-04:00

I want to say THANK YOU to everyone who stopped by this weekend for the blog hop. I hope you all enjoyed the blog hop as much as I did. There is some amazing talent in the Cricut Card Fairy army.

Now for my winner...Random.org selected commenter 38 - Stampin' Meg. Meg please contact me (adrea.travis.2008 at gmail.com) so I can send you your prize.

Didn't win? Make sure you check out Crystal's blog (http://crystalscraftycreations.blogspot.com/) to see if you've won the awesome prize from The Cutting Cafe!

Thanks again, I really had fun doing this blog hop. The great comments and new followers just make my day!

Cricut Fairies Blog Hop

2010-09-03T00:00:00.010-04:00

Do you need some last minute back to school ideas? How about ideas on scrapping those school pictures? Just like the school themed items? Then do we have a great bunch of inspiration for you! So sit back, relax, grab a drink and snack and enjoy the Second Cricut Card Fairy Back to School Blog Hop!

Our second blog hop is sponsored by the very talented and generous Regina from CUTTING CAFE. She has donated a great grand prize for this blog hop AND gave us images to work with! So while you are hopping and getting lots of inspiration make sure that you leave comments on all the blogs to be entered to win THREE CUTTING CAFE STAMP SETS OF YOUR CHOICE from the wonderful Regina.

A little bit about the Cricut Card Fairies: I have been making cards for the Cricut Card Fairy Missions for about two months now. I found that I made more cards than I had a purpose for and hated seeing my cards lay around. When I came across the Cricut Card Fairy Messageboard, I signed up immediately. It is very cool to send out your cards knowing they will brigthen someones day!

For the blog hop, I have made two cards for this blog hop. My first was inspired by all of us adults who are starting classes! I've just started my first Masters class...it's like being a freshman all over again. For my second card I wanted to challenge myself to make a card geared towards a kid.

This "adult" card was inspired by the Cutting Cafe's All About School set. While looking through the file, I saw the chalkboard and thought it would make a wonderful card. I used my white pen to write the sentiment and the 123-ABC border. The apple came from the All About School set. I was able to put it into Inkscape, save it as an SVG and load it into SCAL. I love that you can print and cut these files!

This card recevied the ultimate complement. My toughest critic (aka my husband) said that he really liked it. I think it was the mini chalk and eraser that impressed him so much! lol

This "kiddy" card came out nothing like my original sketch. Originally it was horizontal and had a lot of embellishments. It just goes to show that the best part of crafting is figuring things out as you go! The ruler is again from the Cutting Cafe's All About School set. This time I followed their instructions on how to adjust the image size and print it out. The patterned paper is from Paper Studios All Season Long pack. I used the Birthday Cake cartridge and Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folder to finish off the card.

Now onto the best part. The giveaway. It's not a big giveaway but I'm sure you'll enjoy it. I'm giving away two sets of embellishments that I felt complemented the blog hop theme AND you will receive the two cards that I made. Please leave a comment on this post with a way for me to contact you. I'll be using random.org to be select the winner Monday afternoon.

To Continue the Blog Hop head over to BeeJay at BeeJay's Studio.
Blog Map:
Caitlynsmommy
GRKIDDO
LYNNE
ScrappyJess
Kat/Bluerose DDDCort
KarelJCreations
SherylGreene
LarelynSartini
Kisatrtle
AJoy713 <<<---You Are Here!
BeeJay
Pamela

Just Because

2010-08-31T08:08:00.000-04:00

I'm a card making fool ~ ha! This is a card I've made for no particular reason. In fact, I haven't even added a sentiment...that will come when I find a purpose for this card.

I had fun putting this card together. I used the Swiss Dots Cuddlebug folder on the blue paper (which is left over from my wedding) and some beautiful ribbon from Celebrate It (a Michael's brand) to class it up. I put slits into the purple paper, about 1 inch in length, to feed the ribbon through. It's an easy and different way to add ribbon to a project other than layering the pieces.

Supplies used:

Paper - Scraps

Stamps - Stampin Up

Embossing Powder - Martha Stewart

Now I must clean up the mess I've made :( Thanks for looking!

Blog Hop Reminder

2010-08-29T21:37:00.003-04:00

Hello! Just a quick reminder that I will be part of the Cricut Card Fairy Blog Hop September 3-5! Join us for some great projects and giveaways.

Sympathy Cards

2010-08-23T21:36:00.004-04:00

Hello Everyone! Today I'm sharing with you some pictures and a video of some sympathy cards that I made. I ended up making 12 of them to stock up for the Cricut Card Fairy requests. If you are interested in joining us, look us up on the Cricut Message Boards! I'm also entering this into a few different challenges. After reviewing my project if you have any tips on what I could do better I am always welcome to constructive criticism.

The Challenge #1: Follow the sketch posted.

The Challenger #1: Sketchy Thursdays

The Challenge #2: Create a project with this weeks theme...Flower Power.

The Challenger #2: Fab 'n' Funky Challenges

QuackQuack

2010-08-21T17:33:00.005-04:00

This card has been made for special purpose. But because I haven't given the receiver the card yet I can't say what it's for! If you have a guess, leave it in the comments.

I'm really pleased with how this card came up with. I was a little worried at different points of making this. Mostly because I was using a new technique...flocking! I used an orange flocking on the wings and the beak and white for the rest of the duck. At first I really struggled with what type of adhesive to use. I didn't like liquid glue because of how it affects the paper. I could use my Xyron sticker maker for the small parts, but the duck wouldn't fit in that. As I was looking for a better option in Hobby Lobby it hit me. SPRAY ADHESIVE! I couldn't believe I didn't think of it before. It worked really well, the flocking applied evenly.

Challenge #1: Use the Stampin' Up colors Pumpkin Pie, Cherry Cobler and Tangerine Tango (or similar colors).
Challenger #1: Scrapmaster's Paradise

Challenge #2: Follow the sketch by Maria.
Challenger #2: Mojo Monday

Challenge #3: Make a project inspired by the ZOO theme
Challenger #3: Paper Playtime

Challenge #4: Make any card, anything goes!
Challenger #4: Cricut Cardz Challenge

Supplies Used:
Light Blue, Patterned Paper and Markers - Stampin' Up
Flocking Powder - Martha Stewart
Cricut Cartridge - Create a Critter
Ribbon - American Crafts

Scrapbook Challenges

2010-08-17T02:44:00.003-04:00

The First Challenge: Create a scrapbook page based on their layout sketch. This weeks was a double

The First Challenger: Sketchy Thursday

The Second Challenge: Out of the list of 10 recipe items, use at least 5 in your project.

The Second Challenger: Frosted Designs

I ceated this page using 5 pictures of my wedding day. We had so much fun riding in the limo with our wedding party that day. It was one of the most memorable parts of the day! To qualify for the Frosted Designs challenge I used: ribbon, blue & purple, flowers, banners and glitter.

Supplies Used:

Base Paper - DCWV Luxury Stack

Purple Patterned Paper - Martha Stewart

Other Paper - Scraps

Glitter - Silver Stickles

Cricut Cartridge - Birthday Cakes

This Weeks Giveaways

2010-08-16T19:53:00.005-04:00

Give Away #1
There is a GIANT giveaway going on right now. Many different sites are featuring the giveaway, I first saw it at My Creative Time. There you can find out all of the details on how to win a Work Box from The Original Scrapbox.

The Original Scrapbox is hosting the giveaway to promote the Limited Edition Workbox.

Give Away #2
Craft-e-Corner is giving away a My Pink Stamper DVD v2! Besides leaving a comment on their blog, there are many other ways to enter as well. In addition to the giveaway...all commenter's get a coupon code to their store! So go here and enter: http://craftecorner.blogspot.com/2010/08/my-pink-stamper-dvd-vol-2-give-away.html If you enter my name (Adrea) as the referrer I get an extra entry!

Give Away #3
Pink Cricut and Imaginisce Blog are giving away an irock! Go to the Pink Cricut site for details on how to get four entries into this give away!

If I find anymore amazing giveaways...I'll update this post!

Cards Triple Challenge

2010-08-15T16:38:00.005-04:00

The First Challenge: Use the following
colors on your project-tempting turquoise, melon mambo and daffodil delight.
The First Challenger: Pals Paper Arts

The Second Challenge: Create a card based on today's sketch.
The Second Challenger: 365 Cards

The Third Challenge: Use stitching on a project!
The Third Challenger: Practical Scrappers

For this card I used some standard stock paper that matched the tempting turquoise and melon mambo for the PPA challenge. For the Daffodil Delight, I used my Crushed Curry Stampin' Up marker to add dots at the rounded corners.The ribbon across the card is a piece of Martha Stewart Camelia Pink ribbon below a thin black ribbon. The pocket was cut using SCAL and the flowers using the Birthday Cake cartridge and a white gel pen to create the fake stitching. Because of the simplicity of this card I made three at one time; I plan on using them for Cricut Card Fairy requests.

Thanks for stopping by!

Blog Hop Announcement

2010-08-13T16:52:00.002-04:00

Hello all! I will be participating in a Blog hop the first few days of September. I'm very excited for this. The blog hop will consist of 15 Cricut Card Fairies who have created some back to school projects. We all will have blog candy, so you'll want to be sure to join us September 3rd-5th!

Simon Says Challenge

2010-08-10T21:44:00.004-04:00

The Challenge: This week...the theme is Things with Wings! We want you to create a card; ATC; Scrapbook page; tag or anything crafty with your winged things!

The Challenger: Simon Says

Today at Stamp Camp we created 5 cards. The butterfly card was fun for me because it was the first time that I chalked a stamped image. Okay, it was the first time I chalked anything besides the sidewalk in front of my parents home. I do like the way it came out, especially after adding the Shimmer Spritz to it!

Here are the other 4 cards that we made. SO CUTE!

Colorful Birthday

2010-08-10T06:58:00.000-04:00

A co-worker mentioned to me that it was another co-workers birthday this week and I immediately reacted by saying "I'll make a card!" Then when I was at home my husband said maybe a should get a second hobby to give me a break from my first hobby. All of this proves that I may need a twelve step program :)

Here is the card that I made for my co-worker. This was my first time using a rolling stamp. I really like the cupcake pattern! And coloring the cupcakes in reminded me of being a kid and painting by number. In addition to the bling on the sentiment, I also glitzed this card up by spraying the cupcakes with Smooch Spritz. You can see it a little better in the second picture.

Supplies Used:

Paper - Paper Studio, Swiss Dots Cuddlebug Folder

Stamps - Stampin' Up Cupcakes Rolling Stamp, Stampin' Up Markers, Stampin' Up Smooch Spritz

Cricut Cartridge - Create a Critter

Masculine Kiss Challenge

2010-08-09T10:39:00.000-04:00

The Challenge: ...today's KISS (Keep It Simple, Sweetie) challenge, we've added an extra dimension to it and have made it a masculine KISS challenge.

The Challenger: Pals Paper Arts

For this challenge I have created my husbands birthday card! I embossed the design on the left with a set of fun circle stamps. I also edged the sentiment with copper ink.

I purposefully didn't make the stamping perfect, but it's kinda driving me crazy!

Thanks for looking.

P.S.
Happy Birthday to my Love!

Giveaways

2010-08-05T19:27:00.004-04:00

A few of the sites that are in my google reader are having giveaways and I decided to share the info with you. Not only are these sites currently giving away some cool prizes, but they have great tutorials and projects!

Pink Cricut - She is having a SECOND giveaway this week! The prize is a set of her new stamps. Check out her stamps...they are very cute and versatile. My favorite set is the Simply Everything set.

Bits of Paper - HAPPY BLOG-AVERSARY! - Jamie is celebrating her one year blog-aversary. With her talent it is not surprising that she has been able to accomplish so much in such a short period of time. To help us all celebrate she is giving away gift certificates to PK Glitz and Momenta.

My Creative Time - Emma, a talented designer for My Pink Stamper, is giving away a set of MPS Stamps! While you are there you can check out her fun Rock Princess card!

If I find any other good giveaways this week, I'll pass them along.

Exciting News

2010-08-04T13:09:00.003-04:00

Hello! I just found out that one of my projects got recognized with an award. I submitted my Baby Clothes Dividers to Challenge #20 at Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog and it was chosen as one of the Top 5 Projects submitted! I can now proudly display my first Award blinky!

You can see my original project post here and the tutorial video of the project here!

Thanks to Fantabulous Cricut for the recognition!

My Second Video

2010-08-03T08:43:00.000-04:00

Last week I posted some great projects for my friends birthday shower. I'm sure many of you want to now make your own clothes dividers! Think about it seperate your blosses from your dresses or your skinny jeans from your not-so-skinny jeans...no? Well, in case you get the urge here is a little tutorial on how you can make your very own clothes dividers! For all of you Cricut owners, there is a special focus on the Create a Critter cartridge.

Leave a comment and thanks for looking!

Crafting for a Good Cause

2010-07-31T21:56:00.002-04:00

Recently I've slowed down on making cards for different challenges because I didn't have an occasion to use as my inspiration. Well, I've joined a great cause that will give me some regular inspiration. The Cricut Card Fairies are a great group of crafters from around the world who send cards in need of a smile. They send out cards for special events, as a pick me up, sympathy or just because. They send out "missions" three days a week, so I should have plenty of card making inspiration. If you are a card maker and interested in becoming a Cricut Card Fairy, hop onto the Cricut Message board specifically for the group.

This is the first card I have made specifically to send as a Cricut Card Fairy. I hope the flowers and bright colors will bring cheer in someones life.

Supplies Used:

Plain Paper - scraps

Patterned Paper - Paper Trey Ink

Stamps and Embossing Powder - Martha Stewart

Thanks for looking!

Baby Shower Projects

2010-07-27T19:04:00.011-04:00

My friends baby shower was this weekend and I was in charge of the games. We played the rice game, remember the items in the basket and we drew a name out of the envelopes that will be used for the Thank You cards.

I had already made the Invites (see previous posts), but I wasn't going to stop there! Here are the other projects I made!

The easiest thing I made was this decoration for the rice game. I cut the safety pin from a standard image in SCAL using plain paper. I then give it a shimmer using Stampin' Up's Vanilla Shimmer Smooch Spritz. The spritz is SO cool! I added a few safety pins to the ribbon which went around the vase that held the rice.

In the rice there were 10 actual safety pins. The premise of the game is to see how many safety pins you can dig out of the rice in one minute; surprisingly challenging!

My thank you cards were inspired by a RAQ challenge on the Cricut Card message board. The cute little onesie is from the New Arivals cartridge. I used the Stampin' Up Soft Suede Marker to edge the onesie and add the three little dots on the bottom of the onesie and next to the lower-right hand corner of the plaid paper. It was also the color used for the little birdie on the front :) which is from the Bouquet Bunch stamp set. The flower brads and paper came from Paper Studio.

This is the card that I made for the mom-to-be. I cut the various levels of the buggy from the New Arrivals cartridge with a few snips from my scissors. I created the baby blocks in SCAL and this card was all made with scraps!

Clothes dividers for the babies closet. I will be posting a video about this project shortly.

This framed scrapbook page has to be my favorite project! I did everything from creating the page to painting the frame. I got to start as soon as I found out what the colors of the babies room would be, purple and green.

I can't recall where I got all of the supplies for this project from. But I'm so happy with how it turned out!

Like I mentioned, I've been working on some of these projects for some time...which answers the question of Where do I find the time? Thank you for stopping by, I had a blast with these projects!

My First Video

2010-07-20T08:45:00.000-04:00

All right, here it is. This is the first video that I have created. I used my new camera to shoot the full HD video! I learned a lot about creating a video and then editing it. I have already planned out my next video. I hope to have that up next week.

The card I am creating in the video is the Baby Shower Invite card. (original post)

It's My Birthday

2010-07-13T08:00:00.000-04:00

Happy birthday to ME! I have been planning on creating a fun card for my birthday and I think I accomplished that! My original idea was just to have a stamped or die-cut noise maker put on a card. But I just couldn't find the perfect item so I thought of a different way to get a noise maker on my card.

A while back I participated in a challenge where you used non-crafting items on your project. Since then I have seen common items in a different way. So, obviously I decided that putting an actual noise maker on my card would be the only thing to do! I picked up a bag of noise makers from WalMart, about 8 for $1, gotta love cheap! I stamped the swirly dots in black ink. I also used my new heat embosser on the two outside swirls. To add some more color and pop I also used my new Stampin' Up markers to create some dots along the swirls.

The phrase "Go Wild" comes from my new cartridge, Create-a-Critter. I was flipping through the guide looking for the Happy Birthday phrase, but when I came across "Go Wild" I stopped.

Overall, this is a fun card and I got to use new tools and techniques.

Thank you for reading my blog. It's all I could ask for on my special day!

Sketchy Challenge

2010-07-04T23:55:00.003-04:00

The Challenge: Create pages based on the double-page layout.
The Challenger: Sketchy Thursdays

I have given myself quite a few personal goals lately. One of them is to complete the scrapbooking of my wedding before I complete the first two years of marriage. I don't have much time left...but at the same time I don't have much more that I want to scrapbook.I used the sketch from this weeks Sketchy Thursdays challenge as inspiration for my layout. I think you can still tell where my inspiration came from, even though my pages are very simple. Thank you for stopping by!

Evolution of an Idea

2010-06-29T09:48:00.002-04:00

I'm pretty sure that I've mentioned that one of my bestest friends is expecting her first child. Well, here is another project for the baby and happy mommy!

I am co-hosting a baby shower for the expectant mother and I eagerly volunteered to create the invitations. This is the second set of cards that I have made in mass. Ironically, all for showers and all for the same person!

To the left is a picture of the sketches I drew up. The ideas came from two different sources to turn into one great card. The layered squares came from a project that My Pink Stamper did. The cut out circle came from another source. I really wish I could remember where I stumbled across it.

My favorite aspect of these cards are the color combinations. Besides the purples and green there is also a hint of pink. You can't see it very well in this picture, but the circle cutout is edged in pink ink. Such a simple addition really adds some pop to the card.

This invitation project came during the perfect week. Cardstock was 50% off at Hobby Lobby! Which means I made 31 invites for under $10. Obviously that doesn't include the cost for my time!

In addition to creating the card, I have also created my first video! The intention of the video was to practice shooting video with my new camera, getting experience shooting a craft video and trying some video editing. I haven't decided if I'm going to post the video yet. It depends on how the edited format comes out.

Thanks for stopping by. There is a lot more coming your way!

Recipe:

Dark Purple Cardstock, Hobby Lobby: 8 x 4 inches
Light Purple Cardstock, Hobby Lobby: 3 7/8 inch square
Patterned Green Cardstock, My Mind's Eye Penny Lane: 3 5/8 inch square
White Shape: 2 inch circle with Baby Rattle from SCAL 2

Best Wishes

2010-06-21T20:52:00.004-04:00

This card is also being submitted for my chance at being a Pink Designer for My Pink Stamper. The submission requirements are pretty open....leaving it up to me to be creative!

As I only have three Cricut cartridges, I am always looking for new ways to use basic shapes like circles and squares. For this project I wanted to create a birthday card with a row of either cupcakes or ice cream cones.

I cut the circles at 1 3/4 inches using the Plantin Schoolbook cartridge. The circles fit very well into the ice cream cone from the Birthday Jelly embosser pack. After embossing the circles with my trusty Cuttlebug, I used my new Stampin' Write markers from Stampin Up. I pop dotted the circles onto two inch squares, stamped the green textured paper and started piecing this together.

Originally the design in my head was meant to be a birthday card, but now looking at the completed version I can see that it could be used for many occasions! How fun is that! Thanks for checking it out.

Ingredients:

Circles & Squares: Plantin Schoolbook
Birthday Jelly Cuttlebug Embosser
Stampin' Up markers
Green Paper: ATD Vibrant Textured Cardstock
Other Paper: Paper Studio
Best Wishes Stamp: Inkadinkado

Bridal Shower Card

2010-06-21T20:49:00.000-04:00

A friend is getting married this summer and her bridal shower is just around the corner! I designed the cutout for the base of the card in SCAL 2. I'll be saving that file for future use!

The dress is a great SVG file that I found. I cut the file on white paper and on velum paper. I put the velum paper through the Cuddlebug and placed it on top of the white paper. The velum didn't give off quite the look I expected. But it looks great anyways!

I added a pretty blue ribbon (I'm getting better at this knot tying thing), a cute little white stamp and some bling in the corner to finish it off!

Graduation Card

2010-06-14T10:11:00.008-04:00

A friend of our's son is graduating from High School this year. I came across a great guide for a Gift Folder Card at Thinking Inking. I really like the folds and the concept of the card so I will be making more of these. The inside is great for holding money, a check or a gift card. So great!

The card is very black and white which I think looks great. One of the graduate's school colors are maroon, so I incorporated it into the seal. If I did this card again, I think I would print the stamp on the maroon instead of the white.

Thinking Inking has good information on how to create the card. Here is the quick and dirty version!

-The white base cardstock is 5 1/2 by 10 inches, scored at 2 and 6 1/4 inches.

-The patterned paper is 5 1/2 by 3 3/8 inches.

-The gray on the inside is 5 1/2 by 2 inches.

SO SIMPLE!!!

Sweet Birthday Card

2010-06-08T20:34:00.000-04:00

This card came out looking very cute! The background paper is something I purchased a few weeks ago for another project that I didn't end up using. I printed the statement on velum and then placed the velum on top. I left a little edge on the top and bottom. It looks really cool!

On the left side, I cut a scalloped edge and then put little clear kinda sparkly dot things.

The flower on top of the pink patterned paper was drawn on the purple paper with the Cricut markers and then cut out with the Cricut.

Happy Birthday to my sister! (hopefully she gets the card before she sees this post!)

Simple Fathers Day Card

2010-05-31T21:15:00.004-04:00

Two Fathers + Two Ideas = Two Cards!

I'm really getting into printing "stamps" a.k.a. digi-stamps. Thanks to work, I'm VERY comfortable using Publisher. The digi-stamps allow me to create a unique stamp for each card. The only thing it is missing right now is the character that actual stamping has. You know, the slightly uneven coloring and the different texture of the ink.

Another little thing I am proud of is the bow. It doesn't look like much, but I found a way to make the simple bow easily and neatly.

Thanks for checking out my creation! If you missed my other Father's day card, check it out here.

Fathers Day Challenge

2010-05-28T20:57:00.008-04:00

The Challenge: Create a Father's Day craft.

The Challenger: My Pink Stamper

I'm really happy with how this card turned out. While I was piecing this card together I was a little worried that it wouldn't come out like I had pictured.

I came across another card that had the typewriter alphabet on the side and I thought it was a really unique way to add a pattern to a card. To add the typewriter text to the card, I setup the layout in Publisher and printed it directly on the cardstock!

The sailboat image was also printed onto cardstock. I then sewed some blue thread on the paper to take the place of water. The sailboat is pop-dotted onto a piece of blue paper that sits on a piece of red paper. I used those same papers for the tiny circles (.32 inch) I cut using SCAL.

I have another Father's Day card coming, so come back next week to check it out!

PPA42 A Color Challenge

2010-05-17T21:31:00.004-04:00

The Challenge: Create a project using the colors Tempting Turquoise, Old Olive and Real Red.

The Challenger: Pals Paper Arts

I incorporated quite a few new things into this card.
1) ICE CREAM CONES: I've been wanting to use them for a while! I added a little stamping around the edges to give it a little more dimension. The ice cream paper has a marbled print to it, which was perfect.

2) BANNER: Another fad in paper crafting that I have been wanting to try. I found a great video explanation on Practical Scrappers that helped simplify it. Beth also showed a quick way to create a cute bow. I don't have the tool that she used. So I made something similar!

3) PRINTING ON CUTOUTS: This is something I've been trying to master for, well, since I've been doing paper crafts. (which really is only a year). Another blogger, Lori on Fantabulous Cricut had a great tutorial. Basically you print the text on a white piece of paper, adhere your cut out over the text to ensure perfect alignment and print the text again. GENIUS! I did do one thing different from Lori. The first time I printed the text I also printed my cut out shape so that I had a guide on exactly where to put the cut out!

While this isn't the prettiest card that I have created I am extremely happy with how it turned out. I'm also really happy with how my new elements worked out. I expect that I'll be using a few of them in the future!

Stamp Camp

2010-05-12T21:35:00.000-04:00

A sorority sister of mine hosted a stamp camp tonight. It was my first crafting event and I am not much of a stamper. I had three goals going into this thing: learn more about stamping, learn a new technique and buy some more supplies!

We made five cards in two hours. Which has got to be a record for me. The quicker pace resulted in less perfection (especially with lining up the papers). Overall, I really like the cards we made.

I learned one new thing for each of these cards. On the pink card I heat embossed for the first time...and a second time because I burnt it the first time! The embossing doesn't come out on the picture. But I'm excited I got to try it. On the Congratulations card I used a tool called a Crop-a-Dile. It makes eyelet setting so easy! The heat embosser and Crop-a-Dile are now on my must get list!

I love the colors on this card and aren't those little stamps so cute? The new stamping technique that I used here was inking the stamp with an ink marker instead of an ink pad. I liked coloring the stamp so much I bought a set of ink markers! I'm not crazy about the way my fifth turned out so I'm not going to post a picture of it. I didn't do a good job of centering the circle cuts...it made me really appreciate my Cricut. Thank you to my wonderful host. It was nice meeting everyone.

Pink Stamper NSD - Twelve

2010-05-03T22:21:00.000-04:00

The Challenger: Robyn, from My Pink Stamper

The Challenge: Make a scrapbook page, card, or other project using an animal or critter. Simple and fun!!

Saturday was National Scrapbook Day and My Pink Stamper celebrated with a 12 hour event. Every hour a new challenge was posted. Here is what I came up with for the final challenge.

I have to admit, it was tough to get through all twelve items in three days. But what can cheer you up after a long weekend of scrapbooking? A cute lady bug!!! How fun. It took a little effort to create the cut file in SCAL 2. But it was worth it.

Pink Stamper NSD - Eleven

2010-05-03T22:13:00.001-04:00

The Challenger: Amy, a designer at My Pink Stamper

The Challenge: Make a project using 1 or all of the colors of the rainbow (red, orange, yellow, green, blue)

Saturday was National Scrapbook Day and My Pink Stamper celebrated with a 12 hour event. Every hour a new challenge was posted. Here is what I came up with for challenge #11.

These are some of the remaining photos from my wedding that needed to be scrapped. I like the various colors, prints and textures of the paper. I'll be journaling in the purple box.

Pink Stamper NSD - Ten

2010-05-03T22:10:00.000-04:00

The Challenger: Jo, a designer at My Pink Stamper
The Challenge: Make a project using flowers or something Springy!!

Saturday was National Scrapbook Day and My Pink Stamper celebrated with a 12 hour event. Every hour a new challenge was posted. Here is what I came up with for challenge #10.

This is my least favorite card. My creativity isn't flowing as well after so many projects. But it's part of the challenge...so I'm posting it.

Pink Stamper NSD - Nine

2010-05-03T22:04:00.002-04:00

The Challenger: Emma, a designer at My Pink Stamper

The Challenge: Make a shaped card, shaped scrapbook page, or shaped project! Easy enough!!

Saturday was National Scrapbook Day and My Pink Stamper celebrated with a 12 hour event. Every hour a new challenge was posted. Here is what I came up with for challenge #9.

The watermelon is a standard image in SCAL 2. I altered it a bit so that it would fold into a card.

Pink Stamper NSD - Eight

2010-05-02T23:44:00.000-04:00

The Challenger: Karlee, a friend of My Pink Stamper

The Challenge: Make something using monochromatic (which means only 1 color with a neutral color) and add a flower!

Saturday was National Scrapbook Day and My Pink Stamper celebrated with a 12 hour event. Every hour a new challenge was posted. Here is what I came up with for challenge #8.

I got a little lazy with this challenge. But I can't be blamed: 8 projects in 2 days is a new record! I chose paper that was monochromatic and added little fake flowers at the top. The white section will contain the title and the attendants names for journaling.

Pink Stamper NSD - Seven

2010-05-02T23:38:00.001-04:00

The Challenger: Karlee, a friend of My Pink Stamper

The Challenge: Make something for a "Dad" or guy in your life. It does not have to be for Father's Day but try to make it masculine

Saturday was National Scrapbook Day and My Pink Stamper celebrated with a 12 hour event. Every hour a new challenge was posted. Here is what I came up with for challenge #7.

I haven't decided what I'm going to do with this card. It could be for fathers day (maybe adding a dad on the deck) or for a boys birthday card. Both would require a sentiment to be added. The other thought I had was making this a small card by cutting it above the blue line.

Pink Stamper NSD - Six

2010-05-02T23:34:00.000-04:00

The Challenger: Tracy, a designer at My Pink Stamper
The Challenge: Make something WITH a child or for a child.

Saturday was National Scrapbook Day and My Pink Stamper celebrated with a 12 hour event. Every hour a new challenge was posted. Here is what I came up with for challenge #6.

I don't have kids to make a craft with. So I had to make something for a child! I have a few friends whose children will be celebrating their first birthday this year. So I made a simple card for a one year old. Based on the colors I picked it will be for a girl. I do plan on adding a sentiment towards the bottom if I can find the right stamp.

Pink Stamper NSD - Five

2010-05-02T23:28:00.001-04:00

The Challenger: Karla, a designer at My Pink Stamper
The Challenge: Create something for Teacher Appreciation Week OR for someone you appreciate.

Saturday was National Scrapbook Day and My Pink Stamper celebrated with a 12 hour event. Every hour a new challenge was posted. Here is what I came up with for challenge #5.

Recently my husband and I booked a cruise. While we have 200+ days before we leave, I want to make a money card to give the person who cleans our room during the week. I'm glad I tried this out. I realized a few errors I made, so I'll be perfecting this one soon.

P.S. I love the orange flower paper from Papertrey Ink.

Pink Stamper NSD - Four

2010-05-02T23:19:00.003-04:00

The Challenger: Pam, a designer at My Pink Stamper
The Challenge: Make a project using your least favorite or least used cartridge.

Saturday was National Scrapbook Day and My Pink Stamper celebrated with a 12 hour event. Every hour a new challenge was posted. Here is what I came up with for challenge #4.

I have three cartridges, two came with my Cricut. The third one, Home Decor, has some really cool things. But I have a hard time incorporating them into my projects. Mostly because a lot of them have intricate details that don't cut well in small sizes. On this page I added the black flourishes off of that cartridge.

Pink Stamper NSD - Three

2010-05-02T23:12:00.001-04:00

The Challenger: Rowena, designer at My Pink Stamper
The Challenge: Think Outside the Box. Do something on your scrapbook page, card, or other item that you wouldn't normally do. Add something fun or crazy!!

Saturday was National Scrapbook Day and My Pink Stamper celebrated with a 12 hour event. Every hour a new challenge was posted. Here is what I came up with for challenge #3.

For my crazy page, I cut out words from a magazine. Remember all of the arts and crafts we used to do as kids? It was a total flashback. The page ended up a little more busy than I prefer. However, I think that was part of the challenge...to move outside our comfort zone!

Pink Stamper NSD - Two

2010-05-02T23:05:00.001-04:00

The Challenger: Julie, a designer on My Pink Stamper
The Challenge: Make a project incorporating your scraps! Super simple. Everyone has scraps, right?

Saturday was National Scrapbook Day and My Pink Stamper celebrated with a 12 hour event. Every hour a new challenge was posted. Here is what I came up with for the second one!

This card was made for a friend who received her masters degree yesterday! I made this using all scraps. The graduation picture was printed on plain white paper. My favorite part of this card is that it can hold a gift card, cash or check on the inside. Sorry I didn't get good pictures of that.

Pink Stamper NSD - One

2010-05-02T22:53:00.002-04:00

The Challenger: Robyn at My Pink Stamper
The Challenge: Make a scrapbook layout, card or other item with your mother or someone dear to you in mind.

Saturday was National Scrapbook Day and My Pink Stamper celebrated with a 12 hour event. Every hour a new challenge was posted. Here is what I came up with for the first one!

For this card, I was inspired by the start of Tulip Time in Holland.

Card for a Friend

2010-04-22T20:40:00.008-04:00

Sorry this post is a little late. I needed to make sure my friend got her card before I posted it here. She is expecting her first little one and I put together a little gift bag of things to spoil her. Here is the card I made her!

I got the idea and the flower SVG from Paper, Scissors, Ink. The red and patterned paper are Red Ryder from Basic Grey. The blue is just one of a large stack in that color!

The flower has seven layers and took more time than I anticipated. After cutting the pieces I stamped the edges. You'll notice that I ignored the little mishaps. I took the approach real flowers are imperfect. Which, being a bit of an expert, was very hard for me to do.

I used a bone folder to crease the larger pieces and a toothpick to curl the inner petals.

On the inside of the card, I printed out the text and then put a frame around it. I really like how it came out!

My Pink Stamper Challenge

2010-04-10T22:38:00.000-04:00

The Challenger: Robyn at My Pink Stamper
The Challenge: Make a project using your Cricut and the colors Pink, Green, and Black!!

Since I've been regularly looking at blogs, I've been following the Pink Stamper. Her projects are inspiring, simple and she has a lot of good giveaways!

The first step to this project was to create the basket for the hot air balloon in Inkscape. Then using SCAL I placed the basket in the center of a rectangle (1.62 by 3 inches). I first printed the basket using a Cricut Marker. Then without removing the mat from the Cricut, I cut the rectangle. The black rectangles were cut at 1.75 by 4 inches.

The balloons are 1.25 inch circles from the Plantin Schoolbook cartridge. For each balloon I cut 4 circles, folded them in half and then glued them together. Very Easy!!! I added some pink ribbon and a simple sentiment...card complete!

My New Favorite

2010-04-08T22:58:00.010-04:00

So, I had this idea. Take some ribbon...make some flowers...put them on a card. My idea? It was fabulous and the card came out wonderfully.

The Challenger: Cupcake Craft Challenges

The Challenge: Make Your Own Flowers

How I did it: I think the key to this card coming out so well was that every step of the way I placed the pieces together to see how it would come out. It really helped keep my vision.

Okay, so maybe you'd rather know how I put together the flowers.

I used some cute ribbon I picked out of the dollar bin at Michael's. I cut the ribbon at about twice the length that I wanted the flower to be. For the small flowers I cut three ribbons at 3 inches each. For the large flower I cut six ribbons at 6 inches each.

I then put a bit of glue (I used my glue runner) on the end of the ribbon and then put the two ends together. I then creased the ribbon so that one edge was the part I just glued and the other edge was the center.

Next, I added a touch more glue on the inside of the ribbon where the two ends meet. Then I pinched the ribbon together so that the glued part met up with the crease I had made. I'm a bit of a perfectionist and that helped me keep the two loops about the same size.

Using more glue, did I mention you should stock up on glue? Anyways...glue the center of the ribbons together. I then sewed the button into the center of flower.

I cut the background and grass using SCAL and my trusty Cricut. Did you notice the clouds in the background? They have hearts in them. SO CUTE! I sewed the stems onto the background before applying the grass and attaching the ribbon flowers. I tied an individual thread to the stems for the leafs.

I'll stamp a sentiment to the bottom when I decide why this card will be given away.

Fab N Funky Spring Challenge

2010-04-05T20:41:00.000-04:00

The Challenger : Fab 'N' Funky

The Challenge: "Spring is in the Air" This could a project featuring Spring animals or flowers; colours you associate with Spring . . . again, please interpret the theme in a way that suits your project(s) but when we visit, we can still understand where you have used our theme.

With the nice weather that we were having here in Michigan, I really wanted to participate in this challenge. But I wasn't sure how or what I was going to do. Until a new post from Wanda showed up in my Google Reader. She put together the great cut for the card. I did end up altering it a bit so I could have the purple background.

The time consuming part of this card was coloring and glittering the flowers. I first stamped the flowers pink and the stems green. I then placed packaging tape behind the flowers. I used packaging tape because it was the right width! I could use one piece for the whole scene. I then put the blue, green and gold glitter down. They are all very fine glitters and I found that they worked best with the glue and the small area's that I was trying to fill.

I cut out the sentiment using Times New Roman font bolded. Be careful when cutting the font, as some of the letters can be thin making them more delicate to work with. I added some cute blue ribbon from the dollar bin.

I really love how this card came out, especially the glitter on the flowers! I have a few more ideas on what I'll be doing with the cute card SVG that Wanda created....stay tuned to see if they work out!

Colorful Birthday Card

2010-04-05T08:14:00.001-04:00

What says "birthday" more than a cupcake? I have no idea who this card is going to. My inspiration was simply to create a fun colored birthday card with a cupcake. My favorite is the silver cupcake bottom (you can see my reflection in it!). It was left over from some bridal shower invites I made (I wish I had pictures of that).

The patterned paper, like most of my paper is from Paper Studios. The colored paper is just scraps that I have hanging around my scrap room. The top of the cupcake is outlined using Martha Stewart Microbeads. In case you're wondering...I still haven't figured out how to neatly apply them!

365 Cards - Day 29 Challenge

2010-03-29T20:42:00.006-04:00

365 Cards is having a weeklong event for a drawing. Seven days, seven challenges, seven entries. Here is my second entry.

The Challenge: Your challenge for today is to incorporate the sentiment "Hang in There" on your card.

The Challenger: 365 Cards

This card was primarily made out of DCWV Latte Stack (my favorite!). The only exception is the purple text which is actually the back of a bingo card from a bridal shower. It's amazing what you can reuse! I really challenged myself with the monkey. I created the SVG myself...it took multiple tries to get it right. But he's totally cute and I know I'll use him again. Maybe I should give him a name ?!? LOL.

Thanks for looking!

365 Cards - Day 28 Challenge

2010-03-28T19:50:00.013-04:00

365 Cards is having a weeklong event for a drawing. Seven days, seven sketches, seven entries. Here is my entry for the first day of the drawing. We'll see if I can keep up for the rest of the week!

The Challenge: Create your own version of the given sketch.

The Challenger: 365 Cards

The card I created for this challenge again has the male type colors. Which I really need to get away from :)

All of the paper is just scraps that are begging to be used. The starburst is cut using the Accent Essentials cartridge at 2 1/4, 2 and 1 3/4 inches. The oval tag is from Plantin SchoolBook, cut at 2 1/4 inches.

My favorite part of the card is how the tag turned out. I like how the inking turned out and gave it a rustic look!

Here is a picture of my biggest fan....Abbey the cat. She's always snooping around when I'm making my cards and gets in the way when I'm trying to take pictures. Today, she got caught red handed....or red pawed I suppose.

Male Birthday Card

2010-03-22T08:25:00.005-04:00

I am in love with using browns and greens right now. Almost as much I as I love this card!

To create this card I used some Martha Stewart paper as the background and Paper Studio paper for the rest of the supplies.

The trunk of the tree is an SVG file that I cut using SCAL 2.0 and my Cricut. The green circles behind the trunk are embossed using the 'Spots and Dots' folder with the Cuttle Bug. If you haven't noticed from my previous cards I really like to add different textures and layers.

On the inside of the card is another little treat. A little birdy to next along with whatever ends up being written. This card may go to my husband's Grandfather. If not, I'll have another card to make. :)

Scrapbook Sketch Challenge

2010-03-17T07:20:00.001-04:00

I know what you are thinking...What is a scrapbook page doing on this blog? This blog is about cards! Well, I thought I'd spice it up a little bit. Here are the details!

The Challenge: Create your own version of the sketch (remember you can rotate it and interpret it as you wish as long as we can still recognize it as inspiration from the original).

The Challenger: Scrap{a}Tale

The page I created is from a trip we took to Chicago for our first anniversary last summer. When I saw the sketch for this challenge, I knew which picture I wanted to be the focal point. My husband took the picture of the swings while we were on the ferris wheel. Here is my entry!

I love these pictures! The small pictures of the ferris wheel are pictures that we took. I placed them on top of the tickets we got for riding the ferris wheel. The pictures look like they could be the tickets!

The background paper and button is from Paper Stuido. The paper around the pictures is left-over scraps. The ribbon is from the dollar bin at Michaels.

Thanks for looking!

Male Thank You Card

2010-03-08T08:09:00.000-05:00

I've been hanging out with my Mother's side of the family lately. This includes my Grandma's brother. He was great to have around because of the family stories he was telling. He was also very generous - buying us dinner and helping out. My cousin and I thought it would be great to send him a simple thank you note for everything he did.

I put together this manly card for him. The colors and the rugged edges will make it "cool" for a guy to receive a hand made card! The parts to the card:

green thred
red button from Paper Studio
brown card
blue paper from DCWV Latte Stack
brown patterened paper from Martha Stewart
2.5 inch tag from the Plantin Schoolbook Cartridge

Paper Piercing Challenge

2010-03-07T14:51:00.007-05:00

The Challenge: My first challenge for you is Paper Piercing. I love this technique and there are so many ways to use it. You can do a little, you can do a lot, you can do it fancy, you can do it plain--you can even use it for faux stitching!

The Challenger: Crazy 4 Challenges

The style or feel of this card is different from most of my cards. The patterned paper gives it an old-country feeling. The paper is all scraps that I had lying around, it was nice to put old things to use and not feel like I'm cutting up a new piece of pretty paper!

I used SCAL2 to place the circle on the card. The butterfly is from the Home Decor cartridge (blackout butterfly two). For the challenge I paper pierced the butterfly. I am happy with how it turned out! I didn't even know that I owned a tool that would be good for paper piercing! But this is why I love to do challenges. They get me to try to techniques! Thanks for looking!

Double Challenge Card

2010-02-28T15:46:00.001-05:00

This card will be entered into two different challenges.

The First Challenge: This week we are incorporating handwriting in our challenge. Use it on a layout, card or project and show us your work!

The First Challenger: Frosted Designs

The Second Challenge: We’ve all got hoards of them, but they’re covered in dust. I’m talking about those super fun embellishment: EYELETS!

The Second Challenger: Card Blog

In hopes that spring would come to Michigan soon, I wanted to create a bright cheery card. For the Frosted Designs challenge, I hand wrote the sentiment on vellum (see the close-up below). For the Card Blog challenge, I attached the sentiment with eyelets and the flowers with a brad.

The flowers and leafs were cut with the Cricut using the Plantin Schoolbook cartridge. The solid color paper, brad and eyelets are from Paper Studio. The purple patterned paper, say that three times fast, is from Martha Stewart.

I WON!

2010-02-26T21:10:00.000-05:00

I won a giveaway! I feel like it's some sort of rite of passage in the blogging world.

I submitted my Good Luck Card for a challenge at Happily Ever Crafter and was selected to win a Gift Certificate to Papertrey Ink!

If you like looking at cards, I highly recommend following Ted at Happily Ever Crafter. He makes really nice and simple cards.

I do need to give you the full story of my winning. I didn't win because my card was the awesomest submitted (although I think it was). My number was chosen by a random number generator and I was one of four entrants. So I had pretty good odds. Regardless of how it happened...I'm darn excited!