Keeper of the Stars

I designed this card on my Gypsy last month while on vacation in Alabama. I was inspired by a wall hanging I saw in a 'flea mall' there but just got around to cutting and putting it together last night.

For this card I used:

Gypsy Wanderings for the snowman cut at 4"

Gypsy Font for the words welded and cut to the sizes needed

A Child's Year for the stars cut at 3/4"

The next time I make this card though I'll have to chose a different color for my words or put it on a less color back drop. ;o)

I pray that you all have a very blessed and Merry Christmas!

Christmas Decor House Project

This year I made a few of my Christmas presents and this is one that I did for my mom. Growing up I can only remember one time that we ever had a family picture taken and I wanted to capture that in a unique way for my mom.

My house was created off directions found at Scrapbooks, etc. but enlarged to suit my needs. By that I mean that my house stands over a foot tall and about 7 inches wide and it's made from foam core board.

For the inside of my house I used a 4x6 picture which was framed using Accent Essentials.

The word "memories" is from Home Decor and cut at 1" tall

My fireplace was cut from Joys of the Season at 4.25". I then traced the outline on a piece of foam core board, cut it out, adhered the fireplace layers and then adhered that to the back wall of the house.

My stockings are cut from Christmas Noel, Joys of the Season and Christmas Cheer - all at 1".

The candle on the fireplace is from Christmas Noel - cut at 1"

My puppy is from Sweethearts and is cut at 2"

My Christmas tree is my first attempt ever at creating a ribbon tree. Howeve, I cut the styrofoam cone in half so that I could set the tree flush on the wall so as not to take up all the floor space.

Pahl is my maiden name and is cut from Winter Woodland.

The snowy eaves are from Winter Woodland and were cut to fit the roof size needed. I then ran them through my Xyron and applied MS snow glitters.

New Year's Celebration CCC Challenge

This week's challenge for Cricut Cardz Challenge was to use any cartridge and colors we wanted to create a New Year's theme card. Since New Year's is supposed to be a time of joy, anticipation and celebration I was thinking fireworks and the brilliant displays of color seen during the show. Going with that idea I chose a colorful background on which to base my card.

Then I wanted to capture a couple of images that go with the theme but at the same time I didn't want to over do it. So I went with "fireworks", wine glasses and a calendar to tie them together.

For this card I used:

Designer's Calendar for January cut at 1.5"

Graphically Speaking for 2010 cut at 1"

Stand and Salute for the fireworks cut at 1.5"

Stretch Your Imagination for the wineglasses cut at 2"

The calendar was created in Excel.

Snowflake Pop Up

This week's Cricut Cardz Challenge was to make a card using one or more things that begin with the letter S. I chose a snowman and snowflakes. And I used a combination of Cricut and Sizzix this week.

A couple weeks ago I purchased one of the new snowflake pop up dies from Sizzix when they were on sale at 40% off. And this card was inspired by the picture that was included with that die.

For the outside of the card I used Winter Woodland.

For the inside I used

Doodlecharms for the snowman,

George for the window frame

and Speaking of Winter for the snowman's hat

Support Out Troops - Thank you card

Today's card is one that is near and dear to my heart thanks to being a military "brat" of a retired US Air Force Master Sergeant and granddaughter to a retired WWII Army pilot. I remember growing up listening to my dad and grandad have their little teasing sessions of which military branch was better and why. Oh how I miss those days....

When Michael's had their Thanksgiving day sale dh took me in the hopes of finding some of the newly released cartridges. But there were none to be had other than the ones I already owned. So as I politely made my way through the crowd of ladies whose arms were fully of 7, 8, 9 cartridges I chose Stand and Salute and Sweet Treats.

That night I sat down in my mother-in-law's living room with my Gypsy and began to play. For this card I used Stand and Salute and Paper Pups.

The inside sentiment says "Thank you for your service and dedication to our country"

Santa Claus is Coming

Last night I sat down and tried my hand at using the new Sizix pop up dies that I had purchased a couple weeks ago. This is the first one. The other one you'll have to wait to see because I also used it as part of this week's Cricut Cardz Challenge.

Since this was my first time using these die sets and piecing everything together it was certainly a learning experience and I saw a couple things that I'll change for the next time I use them. But I'm still pleased with the outcome.

Psalm 149:3 - Dance

Another simplistic card. This one was inspired by a picture I saw in one of the "flea malls" in Birmingham. I used Joys of the Season for the ballerina and George for the oval.

The inside says, "Let them praise his name with dancing"

Romans 10:15 - Beautiful Feet

This card was inspired by a picture I saw. Needless to say it's kind of given me a new direction for some of my cardmaking and in the days and weeks ahead you'll start seeing more cards designed around a Scripture.

For this card though I used Life's a Beach.

Season's Greetings Stair Step Card

This week's challenge for Cricut Cardz Challenge was to make a Christmas themed stair step card using any cartridge we wanted. When I heard this I thought "Great, I've been wanting to try one of those". And then I chose my base paper......For me it was a little more difficult than I thought it would be, but not as much as last week's tunnel card. Why? you ask. Because I'm more of a scenery type designer and using the techniques we have for the past couple weeks don't really allow for that.

I did it though. I made my card and I'm pleased with the end result.

For this card I used:

Joys of the Season for the reindeer cut at 4 1/2"

Winter Woodland for the season's greetings cut at 1 1/4"

And my little elf is a sticker that I found last season at Hobby Lobby on clearance.

Spot of Sanity Online Store - NOW OPEN

Finally, after weeks of learning the softward and uploading inventory and working to get the kinks worked out we are ready to open the online store....

This is something that my mom, sister and I are doing together as we get back to doing our favorite past time - crafting. So if you're in the market for a handmade gift for that someone special stop by and take a look at what we have to offer. There's a variety of items ranging from crochet to tole painting to ceramics to beaded Christmas ornaments. And this week we'll be adding more items to the store.

Hop on over now to www.spotofsanity.com/shop

Sizzix Reindeer & Stocking Pedestal Cards

Good morning and Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!! Are you all looking forward to eating those turkeys and pumpkin or mincemeat pies like I am?

Today I'd like to share a couple of quick and easy cards that I created using my Sizzix dies. A while back I wasn't sure if I wanted to invest in Sizzix, but today I have to say that I am just as addicted to Sizzix as I am Cricut. I absolutely love the ease of use I have with this system - not to mention that their Angel Policy is more "user" friendly.

Noel Tunnel Card - Cricut Cardz Challenge #3

This week's Cricut Cardz Challenge was to make a card using only the colors pink, green and white. WOW! This one was difficult for me because it ook me out of my "comfort zone".

Creating the base for the card was easy enough but when it came time to figure out what to use for the centerpiece that's when I ran into trouble. Why? Because I relly didn't want to use a snowflake...and what did I do?...I used a snowflake.

For this card I used A Child's Year for the snowflake inside. I cut the snowflake twice (once flipped) so that I could apply white and a touch of green glitter to both and then adhere together. The outside cover of the card was embossed using my snowflake cuttlebug folder.

Winter Wishes & Snow Kisses - Pedestal Card

I finally set my Cricut free today. This is one of the designs that I've had sitting on my Gypsy just waiting to come to life and today it all happened.

For this card I used Winter Wonderland for all the cuts except for the tree which was cut from the Christmas Noel cartridge.

Bird of Friendship

I am on a roll with my Sizzix dies this week.

Truth be told I've been so busy with Annual Membership Meetings for the 4 associations that we manage that I haven't had time to break out my Cricut......even though I have several files designed and waiting to be cut on my Gypsy. I know, I know. It's pretty sad when you don't have time for using the bug.

But hey, at least I have my Sizzix and my Cuttlebug that I can utilize when I need/want to create something quick. Like this card. All it took was one Sizzix die, a little paper, a couple flowers and viola! I have a beautiful card for a friend.

Snow Warm

Tonight I wanted to share a card with you that I created using my Sizzix. I love the larger dies since they are so easy to cut and piece together. And this guy was so darn cute that I just had to add him to the ever growing collection.

My Guitar "Hero" Altered Clock

Shhhhhhh, be very quiet......I made this for one of my boys for Christmas.

The "numbers" are actual guitar pics that I bought at the local guitar store (.35 each when you purchase 12 or more) and the cuts for the boy and guitar are from Everyday Paper Dolls.

The face on my boy was printed on using this wonderful new software that one of the ladies shared with our yahoo group. It's called Create A Face. It was the first time I used the software and I don't mind telling you that I was really pleased with the results.

Thanksgiving Card

Happy Wednesday. We are now in the final stretch with T-minus eight days and counting before we get to enjoy the bounty of all that Thanksgiving will bring. Every year our family takes a jaunt to Birmingham so that we can spend time with my husband’s family. It’s always a time of fun and fellowship and we look forward to it every year.

So while we wait for Thanksgiving to arrive I want to share with you this week’s card for the Cricut Cardz Challenge. Our direction for this week was to make a Thanksgiving card using any cartridge and colors we chose.

My card was made using Designer’s Calendar for all my cuts. The calendar was created in Microsoft Word and then printed onto colored cardstock.

To see all the other wonderful cards created by the DT hop on over to: http://www.cricutcardzchallenge.blogspot.com/

Altered Paint Can

This weekend I spent more time playing around with my Sizzix dies. Mainly because the boys had confiscated my computer since their's is temporarily out of service. So I spent two nights cutting out and putting together a variety of cuts and then this morning I took those cuts and created several projects.

One of those projects were these paint cans. Very simple and quick to do.

Penguins Due North - Cricut Cardz DT Challenge

Today is the day! The day for what you ask? Today is the day that I get to officially post one of my cards as a Design Team Challenge member. That's right. There was a call for members awhile back and I decided why not apply. Little did I know that I would actually be accept as a team member for the Cricut Cardz Challenge.

Today is the revealing of the first of our weekly challenges and for this week's challenge anything went. So for my first design I chose the following carts and cuts:

Zooballoo for the penguins

Winter Woodland for the hats

And the north sign is a Sizzix die

If you would like to play along or see the other wonderful designs created by the team hop on over to http://www.cricutcardzchallenge.blogspot.com/

Snowballs - Gypsy Design

I am so loving the fact that I have my new Gypsy. Yesterday word came down from corporate that they wanted dh to stay on-site (we work for a 500+ unit Condominium site and dh is the Director of Engineering) due to what was then Hurricane Ida. Needless to say we were less than prepared since we live an hour from site. BUT, I had my Gypsy. So after a trip to Wal-mart and dinner we settled in our room and away I went.

This card was created using:

Gypsy font for the verbiage,

Gypsy Wanderings for the snowman,

Winter Woodland for the snowflakes,

George for the snowball stand

God So Loved

This card was inspired by a plaque I saw in one of our local indoor flea markets recently. And given that the new "theme" for the Bitten By the Bug contest is: thanksgiving, gratitude, blessings, being thankful/grateful I thought what better to be thankful for than a Lord and Savior who willing gave His life for me?

For this card I used:

Going Places for the globe

Designer's Calendar for the cross

The background paper is Tim Coffey Fall Script.

Gypsy Christmas Reindeer

I designed this card on my Gypsy earlier this week and finally had the chance to cut and put it together last night.

Gypsy Wanderings was used for:

Reindeer cut at 2.5"

Trees cut at 4" and 3.75"

Winter Woodland was used for:

Snowflakes cut at 1"

The background was created by running a piece of cardstock through my Xyron and then applying Martha Stewart glitters in blue, snow and white.

We Give Thanks

With all the late work days I've had lately trying to get ready for the first of four annual membership board meetings for the condominium associations that we manage I haven't had much time for crafting. The good news though is that the Gypsy dh bought me for my birthday came in and he gave it to me even though my bday is a couple weeks away. Isn't he the best?!?!

Now that I have the Gypsy I'm able to design projects while commuting back and forth to work (we live an hour from work). So I do have several projects in reserve, but tonight's card was created using my new Sizzix. I so love this little turkey.......

The inside sentiment says, "We give thanks for unknown blessings already on their way." Author Unknown

Sizzix Santa Penguin

I've been playing around with my new Gypsy tonight and just finished my first try with it. However, I want to do some more playing before I actually post a project so tonight I am posting yet another Santa Penguin card that I made earlier this week.

This card was made using my new Sizzix dies and was cut using felt for the Santa outfit. The background was created using fabric as well. The candy cane is a Christmas button that I found at Michael's.

What do you think?

Santa Penguin

This week's challenge over at BBTB as to use the penguin from the Joys of the Season cartridge. After viewing the design team's projects and seeing how fun they looked I decided I'd give it a try too.

This is my take on the challenge.

For this card I used:

Joys of the Season - Penguin cut at 2 1/2"

Christmas Cheer - Santa's List cut at 1 1/2"

Christmas Noel - Lightpost cut at 5"

Christmas Noel - Wreath cut at 1"

Paper Doll Dress Up - Santa's Beard (stretched to fit)

Paper Doll Dress Up - Santa's Hat (stretched to fit)

The white on Santa's hat is 'painted' with my Snow Writer's pen from DecoArt (found at AC Moore last season) and then sprinkled with Diamond Dust.

The beard and list are pop dotted for a little dimension.

Altered Mailbox Gift Tins

I haven't really had time to do much crafting the last couple of days so it's all hit or miss. The past couple days have been spent catching up on much needed housework - especially in my craft room.

Now that it's all clean I decided to do a couple of quick projects simply using my stash. All told I probably spent a couple hours creating all three tins from start to finish. Problem is I'm now out of the mailboxes and need to find a new medium to alter so dh is going to check with one of his vendors to see what they'll sell the empty paint tins for. Who knows, maybe I'll get lucky and they'll be cheaper than if I went to Michael's or AC Moore.

These tins were created using stickers from Recollections and Sandylion.

Trick or Treat - Halloween Door Card

We're having a door decorating contest at work and each department that wanted to play along had to pick one door. Some of the rules were:

90% of the door had to be covered

Candy could not be used as part of the decorum

You had to use at least one "supply" that is found in your department

No gore/violence

Lights were allowed (but no candles ::grin::)

You're limited to $30

I wanted to try to do a headless horseman riding through a graveyard but couldn't figure out a way to do it with the carts I have and make it look right. So I decided to try a trick or treating "scene".

For this "card" I used the Paper Dolls Dress Up cart and made the following cuts:

Haunted House at 12" (bottom windows are covered in glitter)

Two trees at 12" (cut from two different shades of brown and entertwined)

Remaining trees cut at 4"

Ghosts cut at 2 1/2"

Picket fence at 2"

Skeleton at 4"

Trick or Treaters were cut at 5"

Treat bags cut at 2"

Tombstones cut at 6" (this is where I used our office "supply" - business cards for myself, Resort Manager and Assistant Resort Manager)

Ravens cut at 1 1/2"

Bats cut at 1 or 1 1/2"

I used Accent Essentials to cut the circle for my moon and Child's Year for my witch but I do not remember the sizes I cut.....sorry.

The stars were cut using my Sizzix.

I am not a colorer but broke into my daughter's crayons to "color" the sky/grass/road. I then spot sprayed adhesive to the sky so that I could adhere random bits of glitter.

After my husband help me hang the "card" (yep, I work with my husband - and I love it - we've been working together for years) we poked holes and worked my lights into the sky.....

Judging takes place on Saturday so wish me well.....

Santa Stops Here - Tri-Shutter Card

This is my first (and perhaps my last) attempt at creating a tri-shutter card. Why my last you ask? Honestly, I'm not entirely sure, except to say that personally it just didn't feel right to me and I had too much difficulty figuring out what to put on it for the design.

I like the idea that I was going for with this one but because of the size I wasn't able to do all that I really wanted detail wise. So I'll be doing this design again but on a different style card fold.

For this card I used my Christmas Cheer cart and cut both the house and the tree at 2". The large snowflakes are Jolee's stickers, and the small silver ones are brads.

'Owl' Miss You

Very simple one tonight. This card was made using my Sizzix dies only.

The inside sentiment says:

What will I do without you.

'Owl' miss you.

Ghostly Halloween & Screech Owl

Here are a couple more of the smaller cards I made using only my Sizzix dies this past weekend. I absolutely love this little tree and moon.

The ghost in the first card is actually a sticker from Jolee's boutique.

This second card was also embossed using my swirls folder from Cuttlebug.

The inside sentiment on this one says:

"The wailing owl screams solitary to the mournful moon. ~ David Mallet"

Christmas Gifts

This is another card that I created last night using my new Sizzix dies as well as my Martha Stewart branch punch.

I will say that this girl was a little challenging for me - making sure I got all the different layers/cuts made and then pieced just right. Of course using the dies instead of the Cricut made the small cuts cleaner (IMHO) which made for easier piecing. But still the smallness of it all is what made it a little bit of a challenge for my big, fat fingers. :o)

The background paper is a flocked snowflake pattern and it didn't show it's true colors in the picture but I still think that it turned out nicely.

High Flyin' Halloween

Here's another one that I made this week.

For this one I used A Child's Year for the flying witch - 2"

Camp out for the sign hanging from the tree branch - 3/4"

PPDU for the tree - 3 1/2", cauldron 2" and the moon/stars - 1"

The glitter background doesn't show up well in the pics since the sky is really shades of black and orange topaz but at least you get the idea...

Snowball Cookies - Gate Fold Card

Made this one using my Speaking of Winter and From My Kitchen cartridges.

The outside snowflakes are 4 and 3 3/4". The white snowflake is covered with MS crystal fine and carrara marble to give it a snowish texture/sparkle.

The snowman is 2 1/2" and the bowl is just under 1".

The inside snowflake is 5".

Pumpkin Poop Treat Cups

So tonight's project is one that I am doing for my daughter to hand out to her friends for Halloween this year. I was searching around the net one day for Halloween ideas since I've never been one to really decorate or make cards for the "holiday". But this year I decided to do something different and make some of the cutesy items (I'm just not into the gore). Anyhow, while searching around I came across a poem for Pumpkin Poop and knew that this would be the project for this year.

Fast forward, a couple days ago I showed my daughter four different pumpkin faces and asked which one she wanted? When she saw the one from Doodlecharms her face lit up in a big smile and she said that one. From there this project was created.

For this I used:

Tags, Bags, Boxes, and More for the nut cup - cut at 6"

Doodlecharms for the Pumpkin - cut at 3"

Tags, Bags, Boxes and More for the tags - reshaped to resemble candy corn and then cut at 2" and 1 3/4"

No Such Thing as Too Much Candy

I finally broke out my Child's Year cartridge yesterday and started having fun with it. And I gotta tell ya' for someone who's never made Halloween cards until last month I think I'm on a little roll.

This card is my interpretation/scraplift of one featured in the Sept/Oct issue of Papercrafts in that I used the shimmer and the forest look for my card. But I wanted more of a "scene" to the look so I added the moon, stars, grass and trick or treaters.

The trees are from Stretch Your Imagination

The Moon and stars are from PPDU

For the background I applied glitter - in two shades: copper and orange topaz - to the paper. Beginning at the top and working my way down I used copper going lighter as I got to the bottom. The I repeated with the orange topaz starting at the bottom and working up.

Unlike the traditional cards this does not "open" - it's just two sided. When I created this in DS I created it so that the trees would fold up over the top of the card adding a little dimension to the overall look.

Spongebob Altered Clock & Birthday Card

My youngest daughter turns 17 tomorrow and as those of you with teenagers know it's difficult to know what to do for them sometimes. Yeah, you can always buy music, clothes, or movies but would you buy the right ones? Ah, now you see my problem....Too often I have purchased some of these items for one or another of my children but it wasn't the right style, color, size, genre, etc.

So Saturday morning my daughter woke up poured herself a bowl of cereal, sat down and turned on Spongebob before getting ready for work. Needless to say, the lights went on and I knew whatever I did would be Spongebob related. Then I remembered that I had another clock waiting to be altered and the rest was history.

For this clock I cut:

Spongebob at 3 1/2"

Hamburger at 1"

Spatula (From My Kitchen) at 1 1/4"

And of course I had to have a card........

Winner of Stretch Your Imagination Cartridge

Thank you so much for the overwhelming response to my cry for help in deciding which card to enter into the County Fair. And congratulations to Terri for being the lucky winner of a brand new Stretch Your Imagination cartridge.

It was a close race but Combination Confusion received the most votes with Magical Christmas only 4 votes behind.

Stay Tuned and I'll report back for how my card does. I'm also entering a clock that I altered so we'll see how that one goes as well.....