Wishing You....

I used a Flowersoft Topper and edged it with some Flower Soft. The sentiment is from Crafty Secrets stamped with brown ink.



The pattern papers are from Stampin Up. I used Kreaxions punch #920 to create the edging and then added the Topper with pop dots.

Supplies:

Cardstock: Bazzill
Pattern paper: Stampin Up
Flower Soft
Stamp: Crafty Secrets
Ink: Memento

Nifty Fifties Cricut Cartridge

I was able to work with the Nifty Fifties Cricut cartridge awhile back and had fun exploring it's contents. This cartridge has both images and a font and I do so love a cartridge that has both.

Check out my blog post at Creativexpress to see how I created this cards.



Supplies:
Cricut Expression
Nifty Fifties cartridge
Cardstock, Pattern paper: American Crafts
Embossing: Cuttlebug

Bloom Card

I was working with the Spring Holiday Cards Cricut cartridge and wanted to create a card, so I pulled out my Gypsy and went to work creating this beauty.

Using Gypsy and Spring Holiday Cards, Background7, place on screen
Duplicate and flip image
Weld together to create a card, approximately 6” in height
Cut card from black cardstock
Cut a second single black Background7 at 6” to fit on top of the card
Cut 5 ½” Background7 from gold pattern paper
Cut 5” Background7 from fabric paper
Cut Flowerpot from embossed pattern paper
Cut again from green paper and cut off just the leaf
Add the leaf to the base with pop dots
Cut Flower and pot from pearl paper twice and gold paper once at 5”
Ink the flower blooms and adhere to the base flower, curling the edges
Put ribbon through an American Crafts button and add as flower center with glue dot
Ink edges of gold flower pot and add to the base
Cut “Blooming” from April Showers cartridge at 1” from brown cardstock
Cut away the flower and “ing”
Mount on gold and green pattern paper, creating a base
Add to flower pot with brad

Die cut butterfly from April Showers cartridge at 1” from green and pink papers
Emboss the pink with Cuttlebug D’Vine Swirls embossing folder
Add pink butterfly to it’s base with pop dots
Add brads under butterfly
Die cut pink pearl paper with Background6 at 5” and place inside card
Ink all edges


Supplies:
Die cut machine: Cricut Expression, Gypsy
Cartridges: Spring Holiday Cards
April Showers
Cardstock: American Crafts
American Crafts Pearl cardstock
Pattern paper: Dear Lizzy and American Crafts Soiree fabric paper
Ink: Ranger Walnut Ink
Embossing: Cuttlebug D’Vine Swirls embossing folder
Ribbons: Dear Lizzy and American Crafts “Lively” ribbons
Brads: American Crafts Jeweled brads
Button: American Crafts Glitter button

Thank You

My blog post today at Just Imagine Crafts showcases this lovely heart punch. I used it without inserts as I wanted a small border to frame my sentiment.

This is a great way to use up your scraps too.

Bunny Cards and Box

I had fun working with the Spring Holiday Cards Cricut cartridge, but wanted to see what I could create, other than the cards. If you review the cartridges, you'll notice that it comes with a box. I'm always looking for different items on cartridges and this box caught my eye.

I decided to create a box of cards - almost like a Memory Match game for the kids. This is a fun and easy project and could be recreated by teachers quickly and easily (and also be cost effective!).



Cut box from white cardstock at 4”
Cut box from black cardstock at 3 ¾”
Cut apart the block box, add the front and back pieces to the white box
Using red line tape, assemble box
Ink edges with Ranger Walnut Ink
Die cut oval from Plantin cartridge from light blue cardstock
Ink edges and place on box
Using Seal3 (bunny), cut at 8” from white cardstock





Die cut an assortment of cards from white cardstock at 4”
Ink edges with Ranger Walnut Ink
Mat with light blue cardstock, cut 2 ¾” x 3 ½”



Cut dark blue cardstock to 3”x 3 ¾”
Emboss the dark blue cards with Cuttlebug D’Vine Swirls embossing folder
Mat each card with the dark blue cardstock
Die cut 2” oval from Plantin cartridge from light blue cardstock
Ink edges and place on the back of each card
Using Seal3 (bunny), cut at 7” from white cardstock
Ink edges and place on top of the oval


Supplies:
Cardstock: Bazzill
Die cut machine: Cricut Expression
Cartridges: Spring Holiday Cards, Plantin Schoolbook
Ink: Ranger Walnut Ink
Adhesive: Redline tape

Welcome Spring

I had the opportunity to work with the April Showers and Spring Holiday Cards Cricut cartridges and created this adorable wall hanging.






Using April Showers cartridge:

Cut birdhouse twice from chipboard at fit2page resulting in an 11 ½” birdhouse
Glue chipboard pieces together
Cut birdhouse twice from white cardstock at fit2page and adhere to front and back of the chipboard pieces
Ink all edges
Cut birdhouse from brown embossed pattern paper at 11 ½”
Cut out the roof and base from the embossed pattern paper and adhere atop the white base
Cut birdhouse front twice from chipboard at 11 ½”
Glue chipboard pieces together
Cut white cardstock to fit birdhouse front and back
Ink all edges
Cut birdhouse from striped pattern paper and adhere
Ink all edges





Die cut bird in cage at 5” and again at 4” from brown pattern paper
Die cut bird layer at 5” and again at 4” from brown embossed pattern paper
Assemble birds, adding brads for the eyes
Ink all edges
Glue some shredded fiber or raffia to birdhouse creating a “nest” for the birds
Assemble birdhouse, using foam pop dots and foam lines for a 3 dimensional effect, allowing some fibers to poke out of the sides

Die cut “Welcome Spring” at 2 ½”



Use Spring Holiday Cards cartridge:

Die cut background10 twice from chipboard at 5 ¼”
Glue chipboard pieces together
Cut yellow pattern paper at 5 ¼” from background10
Ink all edges
Cut green pattern paper at 5”
Ink edges
Emboss with Cuttlebug Floral embossing folder
Adhere to sign
Add “Welcome Spring” to sign
Add brads to some of the flower centers
Punch hole in top of birdhouse and add ring
Tie assorted ribbons to ring
Punch holes in bottom of birdhouse and top of sign
Add jump rings to hold the sign in place



SUPPLIES

Die cut: Cricut Expression
Cartridges: April Showers, Spring Holiday Cards
Cardstock: American Crafts, American Crafts Pearl Paper
Pattern paper: American Crafts Botanique
Brads: American Crafts Glitter brads
Ribbon: Dear Lizzy and American Crafts “Lively”
Ink: Ranger Distress Ink
Embossing: Cuttlebug Floral Embossing folder
Punch: WER Crop-a-dile
Other: Chipboard, Shredded fiber

Together

The color challenge at Justrite Stampers this week is light blue, ivory and kraft. What a nice combination, don't you think and yet I had a heck of a time deciding what I wanted to do.

This card finally came together this afternoon and I do love how it turned out.



I used the shells and border from JR's From the Sea Set and colored everything with Copic markers. I used Spellbinders Oval and Hexagon dies to frame the stamp. The lattice die is from Just Imagine-Kreaxions which I cut with white cardstock, then inked with Brown Color Box ink and clear embossing powder for a shimmery effect.



The ribbon, tag and pin are from my stash and finished off the card nicely.



The sentiment is from JR's Demi Phrases which was then die cut with Spellbinders Oval dies.

Supplies:
Cardstock: Bazzill
Pattern paper: GCD Studios
Stamps: Justrite
Ink: Memento, Color Box
Embossing Powder: Stampendous
Markers: Copic
Embossing: Cuttlebug
Other: Machine stitching, ribbon, tag, pin

Thanks JR for selecting my card as the grand prize winner this week.

It's OFFICIAL!!!!!

I've been selected to be a part of the Clearsnap Design Team. I am just so excited and thrilled. Check out this post to see the other wonderful members of the team.

Happy Scrappin'.

Cuttlebug Daisy Quilling kit

Did you know that Cuttlebug has created a quilling kit? It honestly is a lot of fun to work with expecially if you are like me and don't like to quill. This kit comes with everything you need to make some amazing flowers. Check out my blog post at Creativexpress to see how I made these cards:





The quilling kits are so easy to use. I know you'll enjoy making them just as I did! Combine the look with Cricut cuts and you'll create an amazing project or two!!

Snow Day

My newest layout is up at Scrappin Sports blog.




Use Fancy Pants pattern paper for the layout base, using the light blue side.
Trim 3 photos so they fit on pink cardstock which has been cut 6 ¼” x 11 ½”
Mat on blue cardstock, 6 ½” x 11 ¾”
Cut word paper 11 ¾” x 10” and mat with blue cardstock
Adhere to base
Adhere photo mat to pattern paper
Add a rub-on to each photo
Place a journaling card in the lower left side of the layout and add “snow” rub-on
Die cut 8” snowflake from Cricut cartridge and lightly ink
Place in lower right side of the layout, cutting off the excess
Add “day” rub-on in the center of the snowflake and “fun” along one snowflake edge
Add “brr…” in the upper right corner
From the excess scraps of the word paper, cut a section of words/quote and mat with blue cardstock
Add to upper left corner of layout, inserting under the mat
Add brads in each corner and along edge of journal card


Supplies:

Cardstock: Bazzill
Pattern paper: Adorn it, Fancy Pants
Die Cuts: ProvoCraft Cricut Expression, Winter Lace
Rub-ons: Reminisce
Brads: Creative Impressions
Journal Card: Little Yellow Bicycle

Wet & Wild

Hambo Stamps had a DT call recently and I was given this image to work with as part of my application. Isn't he just the cutest? To keep the image in line with my paper choices, I chose to color in just the inner tube and snorkel mask with Smooch ink.



All paper layers were matted with black cardstock. The image was die cut into a circle, then sewn together to create the card. Wet & Wild was cut from the background paper, matted individually then added to the card with pop dots.



Supplies:
Cardstock: American Crafts
Pattern paper: Scrappin Sports, Little Yellow Bicycle
Image: Hambo Stamps
Ink: Memento, Smooch
Dies: Spellbinders, Nestabilities
Other: Machine stitching

Happy Mother's Day

A belated Mother's Day posting.



I wanted a mix of papers on this card for a sweet girl. The girl was stamped with Memento ink and then colored with Smooch ink - love the nail polish like bottle and brush and the irridiscent look it gives.




Supplies:
Cardstock: Bazzill
Pattern paper: Quick Quotes, K&Co
Stamp: Hero Arts, Stampendous, GinaK
Pearls: Queen & Co.
Ink: Memento, Smooch
Dies: Spellbinders Nestabilities

Teen

Ahh, the teenage years - I'm not sure how much more of them I'm able to endure!!!!! I pulled out papers from my stash, used my Cricut and created this layout about my teenager. I can never take pictures of him any more so I was forced to use school photos.



Supplies:
Cardstock: American Crafts
Pattern paper: Cosmo Cricut
Die cuts: Cricut Expression, Elegant Edges cartridge, Plantin cartridge
Metals: Karen Foster, Making Memories, Around the Block

Garden of Cards

Today's blog post at justimaginecrafts looks at the following items: Lattice Die, Butterfly Die, Punch 901, Punch 918.



I love the Lattice Die and can see so many different uses for it.



The butterfly adds just the right touch. Look at that dimension.



I used Punch 901 as a border inside my card.


This card uses Punch 918 and I love using these punches without the inserts because I can create 2 nice borders at the same time. When you are finished punching, you can easily seperate the 2 borders. This is a perfect way to use up your scraps!



On my card, I decided to use both borders - one along the top edge of my card and one along the bottom. I added a little ink for definition, a spring quote, a couple of brads and a pretty card was the result.

Supplies:
Cardstock: Bazzill
Pattern paper: American Crafts
Punch: Kreaxions
Ink: Ranger
Brads: Making Memories
Rubons: Royal

Happy Father's Day

It's almost time to celebrate Dad. I found this stamp on clearance recently and thought it would be great for a masculine card for any occasion. I chose to make this into a Father's Day Card. I wanted to keep it simple, so I didn't color the image.







Submitting to: Men and Boys challenge

Supplies:
Cardstock: Bazzill
Pattern paper: Reminisce
Stamps: Inkadinkadoo, Hero Arts, Hampton Arts
Ink: Memento

Altered Guitar

My latest project at SIWL is a guitar. This was such a fun item to work with.

I first painted it with Ranger Mushroom paint. Flipping over the guitar, I traced the edges on my pattern paper. Using Modge Podge, I added the paper. I've had this paper for quite some time and thought it would be awesome on this guitar. Once it was dry, I sanded the edges.


The wings were the last item I added. I thought they'd be different. They are a Cuttlebug die. The stamp is from Outlines Rubber Stamps and it's perfect to convey the message I was seeking.




Supplies:
Guitar: SIWL
Pattern paper: Paperloft
Paint: Ranger
Ink: Memento
Stamp: Outlines
Die Cuts: Cuttlebug

I'm Dreaming of....

This week's challenge at ICOPIC is to create a card using Copic reds. Ahh, now that is a challenge. I find that reds are the hardest color to work with, but I needed to give this a try.

I had this lovely sleeping cat in a Santa hat stamp that I knew would be perfect for this challenge.



I first embossed the cat image in black then proceeded to add my reds. I used R59, R37, R29, and R17. Then I went over the entire hat with the colorless blender to work the colors better. I added some Spica pen to the bell, the edge of the hat and the berries. The cat was colored with E43, E47, E50 and the mouse with C1 and C3. The ribbon was a last minute add on to fill some empty space.



Once I had the cat colored, I went through my papers to find some Christmas papers. I used Scenic Route for the backgrounds and Cosmo Cricket for the tag. Because of the ribbon, I wanted the image to pop so I added big pop dots to the die cuts and smaller pop dots for the stamped image. Check out this dimension.

Supplies:
Cardtock: Bazzill
Pattern paper: Scenic Route, Cosmo Cricket
Stamp: Penny Black
Ink: Memento
Embossing Powder: Stampendous
Markers: Copics, Spica
Dies: Spellbinders, Nestabilities
Ribbon: stash
Other: Machine stitching

Spring is in the Air

This week's challenge at Embellish Magazine is to create a square card based on the color pallette shown.

Since I recently received a selection of Magnolia stamps, I just had to play. I colored the stamps with Copics, then created a background with Nestabiliteis. I inked the die cut with a dauber and Ice Blue Ink from ColorBox and then added Spring Mix from Flowersoft under the fence. The sentiment is a Hero Arts stamp that I then die cut with another Spellbinders die and placed it behind the focal image.



I added pop dots to the die cuts and also to the little image to help it stand out from the fence. The lace was just an added touch since I rarely use lace and wanted to play with it.



I am lovin' my supply of Magnolia stamps!!


Supplies:
Card: DCWV, Bazzill
Pattern paper: MME
Stamps: Magnolia, Hero Arts
Ink: Memento
Markers: Copic Markers
Flowers: Flowersoft
Dies: Spellbinders Nestabilities
Lace: Hobby Lobby

Thinking of You

The challenge this week at Justrite Stampers is to create a card based on the provided sketch. I wanted to create a masculine card this week, so I used the sail boat from the By the Sea stamp set and the phrase from the Thinking of You stamp set (I just inked up the phrase).



I "painted" the image with assorted colors of Clearsnap Smooch Ink then cut the frame with my Cricut and the Elegant Edges cartridge. This was then sewn to my background piece. Buttons were threaded with fibers and added to the card with glue dots.




I added some fibers down the side of the card, then added foam dots to the back of my image for some depth. I cut the sentiment with my Oval Nestabilities and added it to the frame with a brad. Several foam dots hold it in place.





Supplies:
Cardstock: Bazzill
Pattern paper: Fancy Pants
Stamps: Justrite Stamps
Ink: Memento, Clearsnap Smooch
Die cuts: Cricut Expression; Spellbinders Nestabilities
Brad: Making Memories
Fibers, thread: Making Memories
Buttons: stash
Other: Machine stitching

Also submitted to:
City Crafter
Men and Boys challenge

Mother's Day

Do you have some paper in you stash that you think is not pretty enough to work with - or just something you know you will never use? Well I just can't throw something away because I think that is just a waste, so I decided to play around.

This paisley paper has been in my stash forever because I could never find it in my heart to create anything with it. I'm not a fan of paisley and these colors are very muted. I pulled out my Cuttlebug cut and embossing folder and cut the paper. This is the inside piece that was die cut.



Using the exterior die cut, I decided to add some Color Box chalk ink over the embossed design, allowing some time between layers. When I had the color I wanted, I left it to dry. After about 10 minutes, I realized that I wanted to add some embossing powder to see what would happen. Wow, even though the ink was dry to my touch, it still accepted the embossing powder! I was able to then heat set it and get a really vibrant shiny look. It almost reminds me of the flocked wall paper from years ago.

Oh, this is so much better than the original paper, don't you think!!!!!! So now that I had this gorgeous frame, I had to decide what to do with it.



So I came up with this card. The frame is perfect to showcase my new Magnolia stamps. Of course I had to color her first with Copic markers. After I cut her out, I inked the edges with Color Box Rose Coral. I stamped the sentiment with Warm Red and inked the edges with Rose Coral before matting on black cardstock.



Look at the dimension created by inking and heat embossing the dry embossed areas.



And I love using foam dots to add additional dimension.



So next time you find yourself holding a piece of paper that you don't want to use, I challenge you to actually find a way to use it.


Supplies:
Cardstock: Bazzill
Pattern paper: unknown
Stamps: Magnolia, Inkadinkadoo
Ink: Color Box Chalk Ink - Warm Red, Rose Coral
Markers: Copic Markers
Pearls: Queen & Co.
Embossing powder: Stampendous
Embossing folder: Cuttlebug

Fairy Dust

Clearsnap creates some amazing ink products from chalk ink to archival ink. Some of my favorite items are the Smooch inks - little bottles of paintable ink. I used lots of Smooch on this card.




The frame is a Spellbinders product which I cut and embossed with the Spellbinders Grand Caliber, their newest die cutter and I love it! The embossing is outstanding and provided me just what I needed for this card.

Once I cut and embossed the frame, I left the cardstock in the die and proceeded to ink it up with Ice Blue chalk ink . The best thing about Color Box ink is that it stays wet longer than many other inks.



I continued adding color until I had the shade of blue that I wanted, then I removed the die. Check out the really beautiful stencilled effect this method produced.



Since the ink was still wet, I added some clear embossing powder and heat set it. This added a little irridiscence to the ink and provided a nice raised effect, enhancing the blue color.



Next, I die cut the same frame from blue cardstock. This time, however, I left all the cut pieces on the cutting mat and proceeded to emboss all the pieces. What I now had was the background for my card as well as several other pieces for another card to be created in the future.



Using assorted colors of Smooch ink, I proceeded to "paint" my fairy. Since the brush tip is quite fine, it was easy to add color just where I wanted it. And the Smooch adds just a hint of glimmer and shine.



I wanted some touches of white cardstock to show through the Smooch, so I painted quickly and lightly. However, on the flower, I added several colors and several layers for a "puffy" effect.



In creating my card, I added black to my card base, then placed the blue embossed piece in place. I pop dotted the frame for some added dimension, then cut my stamped image slightly smaller to allow some of the black to show through. This really helps my image pop.



Before adhering my image, I used a dauber to add some of the Ice Blue chalk ink around my fairy. Since I inadvertently had some wet Smooch ink on my table, some of the colors mixed together with my blue and created a slightly marbled look to my background. I think it adds just the right touch of whimsy, don't you?



To complete my card I stamped the sentiment in black ink and matted in on light blue cardstock and added it to the card with pop dots. I then scattered some pearls about and tied a ribbon around the frame.

Supplies:
Cardstock: Bazzill
Ink: Clearsnap Iced Blue Chalk ink, Smooch Inks (many colors)
Stamps: Justrite Stampers
Dies: Spellbinders Nestabilities
Pearls: Queen & Co.
Ribbon: Offray