Party Hardy.....Mario Style

 
So my oldest son is a huge video game fanatic.  He collects and plays all kinds of video games.  Including all the old, original Nintendo NES games.....you know those big, gray, brick looking cartridges.  Anyhow when I saw this new Mario Brothers file over at Marjorie Ann Designs I knew I had to use it to create a birthday card for my son. 
 
To make things even better this file comes with clip art ready for importing into Design Studio for use with the print 'n cut feature.  And since I was short on time that's exactly what I did.
 
My card base though was created using the Sunflower Treat Cup Girl Card from SVG Cutting Files.  Admittedly when I put this card together for the first time I had an oopsie with placing the treat cup properly.  Since there was nothing wrong with the card itself I decided to save it for later use.  Glad I did too because it worked beautifully for this birthday card.

And here's a view of the inside of my card with more goodies from the Mario Brothers file...

 
 
My stamped sentiments are from the Cardz TV Stamps set titled Good Times.

Birthday Balloons

 
Today I have a fun birthday card that I'd like to share with you.  This is another of the shaped cards from Marjorie Ann Designs and this one is called Baby Panda Birthday
 
I had a sheet of birthday themed, double sided paper in my stash so I used that as my card base.  Since the inside of the card had all these stars I decided to cut a few extra ones like what's on the Panda's hat - only larger.  I then adhered these onto the white stars.
 
 
 
The stamped sentiment on both the outside and inside of my card are from Calling All Superheroes from Craftin Desert Divas.

Happy Birthday Sassy Pants

 
Today I have a fun birthday card to share with you.   It's kind of like a two for one card.  It's a card and a treat all in one spot.
 
To create my card I used a couple of different files from SVG Cutting Files:  Sunflower Treat Cup Girl Card and Potty Pooper.  I know, I know.  Sounds nasty right?  But I bet you thought it was cute before you found out the name of this cute little guy who's part of the Poopeez collection.  My boys (who are ages ranging from 17 to 24) carry on and crack jokes about bathroom antics so when I saw these files I admit there were several that I purchased.  After all they are cute in their own way and you don't really know what they are until you're told.
 
So to create my card I used one of the treat cups from Stamping Up.  However, these were discontinued a while back and I remember hearing about it so I joined in and purchased a couple of boxes before they were gone.  Now I have heard that Wilton Candies makes a mold that will also work with this card base but that you might need to resize the card to fit the mold.
 
After I adhered my treat cup to the front of the card base and then adhered the top layer, I turned my card over and wondered how I was supposed to make the inside layer work for my treat flap.  Then I realized that all I needed to do was draw a faint line around where my flap would fit when fully inserted and apply my adhesive around that.  Viola! My flap moves in and out perfectly to reveal the fun candy treat inside.
 
To compliment my Potty Pooper character I decided to use some of the fun sentiments from the Jaded Blossom stamp set titled Sassy Pants.  Here's the inside of my card....
 
 
 
And now I'm going to enter this card in to the following challenge:
 
SVG Cutting Files - All About Boys - Ends July 14th

Dad - You're my Hero

I thought I'd try something a little bit different today.  Cricut Design Space has several of their cut and go style cards free for the making right now so I figured why not make one.  After all they're quick and easy and who doesn't like to have one or two of those in their stash?  And since Father's Day is this weekend I chose this "Dad" card from the Simple Holiday Cards collection.
 
After cutting out the card I cut a piece of light grey cardstock to use as my backing.  But then I decided I wanted to a little color to the card as well.  Then the idea to turn dad's tie into a shaker hit me.  Using pieces from the Shine Bright pack of sequins from Craftin Desert Divas I accomplished my goal.
 
I also decided to add a stamped sentiment on the outside of my card.  This one is from the Calling All Superheroes stamp set, also from Craftin Desert Divas.
 
And now I'm off to enter this card in to the following challenges:
 
Craftin Desert Divas - Father's Day - Ends June 21st
 
Die Cuttin Divas - Masculine Theme - Ends June 22nd
 
DL Art - For a Man or Boy - Ends June 24th



 

Bandaids Make Everything Better

Remember as a kid when  you had a boo boo and you ran to mom asking for a Band-Aid?  My kids used to ask for them all the time.  Especially after they started making all the fun ones with cartoon characters and such. 
 
Of course when I saw this cute Alphabet Baby with her N block and Band-Aid I just had to make another get well card.  This little cutie is so perfect for one too.  She was easy to put together and it took no time at all.......well until I realized that I had adhered my baby and her block upside down on my folded card.
 
Oh how I wanted to cry.  I loved the way she looked on the embossed background and I just couldn't let such a cute piece of work go to waste.  So I did the next best thing.  I cut the card in half and found a piece of cardstock that would work beautifully as a background.  And I must say I love the way this turned out.
 
Where did I find this little cutie you ask?  Well from Marjorie Ann Designs of course.  You can find this Alphabet Baby with her N block here.  And my sentiment is from the Tissue Time stamp set from Craftin Desert Divas which you can find here.
 
I even used the stamps to play around on the inside of my card - stamping a few Band-Aids here and there instead of a sentiment.
 
I've always loved how some of the stamp sets that Craftin Desert Divas has been coming out with go so perfectly with files from Marjorie Ann Designs and vice versa.  These ladies along with Kristi from Kristi W. Designs really know how to get out there and give their customers the best bang for their buck.
 

Speedy Recovery Wishes

Today I decided to try my hand at a remake of last week's get well card featuring this cute little mouse in a medicine bottle.  I loved the way he looked so much but wondered how much cuter he'd be if I used a printed paper for the card base.  Well now I know. 
 
I used a piece of paper from my DCWV stack called the Homeroom.  I chose this paper because I thought the circles were done in such a way that they looked like pills.  After all what could be better for a get well card background?
 
So using the same Get Well Wishes Shaped Card from Marjorie Ann Designs, I made version two of my card.  This time I opted to use my script embossing folder for the label on my medicine bottle.  And I love the way that turned out as well.
 
 
 
On the inside of my card I used the label 'face plate' from one of the other card files.  I think this dresses up the inside better and I might even go back and add some pills to the inside of the card as well.  I just haven't decided yet.  In the meantime though my stamped sentiment that you see if from the Tissue Time stamp set from Craftin Desert Divas.

Fuzzy's Patriotic Shaker Card

I have a shaker card that I would like to share with you today.  This one I made using the Fuzzy's First 4th file from Marjorie Ann Designs.  I saw that cute little bear peeking out from behind his star and immediately thought he'd be perfect for a shaker card.
 
To create the shaker on my card I used the star base only.  I made two copies of the star and then scaled one down smaller than the other.  I then placed the smaller star on top of the other being sure it was good and centered.  Then after selecting both stars I used the slice tool in Cricut Design Space and viola I had the top of my shaker.  I then realized I needed yet one more star so I made another copy and for this one I cut the star from one of my old mat covers.
 
To fill my shaker, I used sequins from Craftin Desert Divas.  These are from the Shine Bright pack. 
 
I think that for my next shaker card though I'm going to try using foam sheets.  I've never tried cutting that type material in my machine, but I've heard other ladies use that so I'll give it a try.  Who knows I might that it works beautifully and then I'll be in heaven.....

Barb Wire Crawl - Spartan Shadowbox

 
I love it when I am able to combine two of my hobbies together, and if you've been following my blog for any period of time you've probably noticed.  Even though it might take me a bit to get my shadowboxes completed after a race I still get them done....
 
Today's shadowbox is from the Spartan Sprint that I ran with my oldest daughter and her boyfriend this past March in Atlanta.  It was the boyfriend's first, my daughter's second and my third Spartan. 
 
 
 
This year featured several new obstacles and that presented it's own set of challenges.  Not to mention that this was my first race since completing physical therapy for a shoulder impingement that had me reduced to about 30% mobility.
 
Needless to say, I wasn't worried about time - then again I never am.  I just get out there to have fun, challenge myself and do it safely.  And I am happy to say that I was able to do every obstacle with the exception of the rope climb, but what else is new there? 
 
Back to my shadowbox though......for this one I decided to use a picture from my barb wire crawl.  I'm not sure what the distance was for this year's section but it was broken up in two parts this year and each section was full of the typical mud, bumps and fun.
 
To compliment the picture I chose to showcase I used the following files:
 
  • Dark Barbed Wire from the Cricut cartridge Old West.  This had a small section and I needed a longer one so I welded together four of the sections to create the length needed.
  • Girl in the tire (without the tire) from the Mud Run file by Marjorie Ann Designs.  Since I was crawling through the mud I wanted my girl to do the same so I cut a small slit in the 'mud' that I could fit my girl into so as to give her the look of doing the same.
So why do I run these crazy races you ask?  Aren't I too old?  Absolutely not!  You're never too old to do what you enjoy.   And well I do them because I want....
 
 
 

A Flower A Day...



Well we made it through graduation last week.  Our youngest son was scheduled to graduated last Thursday but the ceremony was cancelled due to inclement weather and the fact that it was an outdoor event.  So Friday night we went back for try number two, and as the students were seated on the field and the first speaker stepped up to the podium the sky bottomed out.  But the ceremony continued and for the next hour and a half we all - students, parents, teachers, families, friends - sat through five different rain showers until everyone had walked the stage.  Now mind you it had not rained ALL day so we never thought to take an umbrella and by the time it was done we were soaking wet....
 
And so that leads me in to the card that I'd like to share with you today.  As you can see these cute little elephants are standing there while one waters the other.  (That's kinda how I felt Friday - only with a lot more water.)  This cute little card is called If Friends Were Flowers I'd Pick You and is another brilliant creation from Marjorie Ann Designs.
 
The inside of my card looks like this:

 
 
Both of the sentiments on the outside of the card and the inside are from the recently released stamp set from Craftin Desert Diva's titled Garden Cuties.

Feel Better

 
Today I have a fun get well card to share with you.  This is another one of the recently released shaped cards from Marjorie Ann Designs.  This one is titled Get Well Wishes - Shaped Card.
 
After I cut this little cutie out and put it all together I realized that using a white background for my card was not the best of ideas because it looked 'empty' with all that white space.  So I set the card aside for a couple of days, but left it where I could see it.  That way I could look at it and ponder what to do.  .....  Then one day I remembered seeing these great cards where the artists used stamps to create their background so I thought I'd give it a try. 
 
Using one of the stamps from the Tissue Time stamp set by Craftin Desert Divas, I tried my hand at creating the background......yes, after the fact.  After all, you know what they say about hindsight.  LOL
 
 
 
And I used one of the stamps for my inside sentiment as well.  This set is just perfect for this file and the Get Well Wishes file as well.

Scooby Dooby Doo Layout

So during our last trip to Universal Studios we got to have our picture taken with the characters (well most of them - Daphne was nowhere in sight.  Guess she was out solving a mystery.  lol) from Scooby Doo.  And finally I found a file that I could use for scrapbooking this picture. 
 
Just last week Marjorie Ann Designs released the new Scooby Doo and Mystery Gang file.  Of course I had to get my hands on it and that's just what I did.  And since most of the gang is in the picture I used most of the characters in the file.  A few pieces like the words and such were too small to cut so I just wrote them in by hand, but I think it all turned out well.
 
I love that I had this piece of paper in my stash too.  It fits in wonderfully with the flowers on the Mystery Machine.  And then adding in the strips of green and orange papers just tie it all together beautifully.

And now I'm off to enter this into the following challenge:

Bimini Moose - This Day in History - Ends June 8th