Forever, You and Me

This is a card that I made some time ago.  My inspiration for the card came from a picture I saw of a bathroom scene complete with his and hers towels hanging on the wall. Isn't it great the things that kick our creative juices in to high gear?

For the front of my card I used:

Sweethearts - for the you & me cut

Every Day Paper Dolls - for the bathtub, bubbles and towels

Paper Pups - for the dog

George - for the "towel bar"

My "tiles" are 1" squares that I cut on my paper trimmer

For the inside of my card I used:

Home Decor - for the word Forever

Indie Art - for the lips

Unfortunately the lips don't show up very well in the picture, but they were cut from a shimmering card stock so as to give that appearance of lip gloss.

Man's Best Friend

Happy Wednesday everyone.  It's the middle of the week and that means we're just that much closer to the weekend and for me that means I'll actually be able to do some more crafting this weekend.  WooHoo!!  But before that happens I'd like to share a fun project with you that is perfect for showcasing pictures of your furry friends, or whatever you'd like to showcase.  Just pick a theme and have fun.

This project was inspired by one I saw in Flip, Spin & Play from the Editors of Memory Makers books. Using a bit of foam core board, a slinky and regular paper crafting items it was project in the making and I love the end results.

For the cuts on my frame I used the Paper Pups cartridge cutting the pups on the outside at 2 1/2" and the ones on the inside at 1 3/4". I also used the Graphically Speaking cartridge for the man's best friend phrase.

Here you can get a peek and how things are put together.  Each end of the slinky is poked into the foam core board and twisted in just enough to ensure it's stable and stays put.  The the pictures are "fastened" in place by using a scrap piece and a glue dot with a ring of slinky between the two.

Oh and to make it stand I took one of the picture frame 'stands' that I didn't need off one of the pictures that hang on the wall.

May Day Flowers

Happy Wednesday fellow bloggers and welcome to Cricut Cardz Challenge #108 - May Day Flowers.  This week's challenge was to make a card using flowers from any cartridge/cut we desired.  And since I have a friend who's birthday is this week I took the opportunity to make my May Day card in to a May Day Birthday.

For this card I used:

Forever Young for the flower.  Before cutting the green layer I created a text box in MS Word and filled it with the text Happy Birthday in a font that would be compatible with the look and feel of my card.

Paper Pups for my pup and the stack of birthday presents balanced on his nose.  I also pop dotted the pup and presents to give the card some dimension.

My background paper is from my stash.  I thought that this print was perfect for the flower cut I chose because the petals look so much alike.

Now that you've seen my card for this week's challenge, hop on over to Cardz TV and check out the rest of the fabulous designs our team created this week.  Then when you've finished taking in all the inspiration create your own card, link up and play along with us.

Family Secret Recipe Page

This morning I wanted to share another page from my daughter's recipe book.  Only this time you won't see the recipe because it's one that has been passed down from one generation to another after the recipient promises to never share the recipe.  Yep, it's that good.  lol

For this page I used:

Graphically Speaking for the folder and the words hush, hush (which adhered a little off kilter, but hey isn't that part of homemade things sometimes?  Letting the 'human' element show through?  ;o) )

Paper Pups for the dog

Stand & Salute for the hat

So whaddya think?  Cute way to "guard" the family secret don't 'cha think?

Hello Spring

Since yesterday was the first day of Spring I wanted to share with you a card that I made back a couple years ago.  This was the very first stair step card I made and I was so proud of the way it turned out.  For this card I used several cartridges including:

Paper Pups for the butterflies - cut at 3/4"

Stretch Your Imagination for the caterpillar - cut at 1"

Cricut Sampler (I don't have Walk in My Garden) for the flowers - cut at 2"

Zooballoo for the grass - cut at varying sizes for layering on the steps

Camp Out for the sign - cut at 2 1/2"

Animal Kingdom for the hello - cut at 1/2"

Needless to say once I finish getting my craft room put together (things have been crazy here and I should hopefully have it finished this weekend minus the new trim, carpet, etc.) I'm going to have to sit down and make some more of these kind of cards.  Especially now that the warm weather is back I'm feeling more 'motivated'.  LOL

Congrats and Good Luck

It's time for another fun challenge over at Moxie Fab World.  This time my card is for the Card Creations: Favorite Occasions Congratulations Challenge.

It's another quick and simple card with one cut from the Paper Pups cart.  The bones are stickers and of course so is the good luck "sign" that the pup is holding.

Hello Spring Flower Garden

This week's Cricut Cardz Challenge was to create a spring themed card using flower, butterflies and/or birds. Well I used two out of three so that wasn't too bad. I also tried a new card fold - the side step, and I don't mind telling you that I had a lot of fun with this one. I found the side step to be more creator friendly than just the step card so you'll see more of these in the future.

For this card though I used several cartridges:

Paper Pups for the butterflies - cut at 3/4"

Stretch Your Imagination for the caterpillar - cut at 1"

Cricut Sampler (I don't have Walk in My Garden) for the flowers - cut at 2"

Zooballoo for the grass - cut at varying sizes for layering on the steps

Camp Out for the sign - cut at 2 1/2"

Animal Kingdom for the hello - cut at 1/2"

Free Standing Paper Pup Birthday

On the way home from work Saturday my husband and I were talking about how our son's birthday is today (Monday) and out of nowhere he says - yeah I think mom's is Tuesday. My jaw hit the floor - okay not really but still.....After verifying with my husband's step-dad that yes her birthday is Tuesday (tomorrow) I had to quickly get a card created so everyone could sign it and I could get it in the mail.

So yesterday morning I whipped this card together before we left for church. It's just another of my simple to put together cards, but I think she'll love it just the same.

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"

Paper Pups Christmas - Card challenge #23

Karma's assignment for me was to use:

Paper Pups for the cart, using any of the Christmas themed cuts like the doggies in stockings or the Santa doggie, perhaps with the fireplace? And of course, the Christmas theme! I used Christmas Cheer for the fireplace.

Paper Pups I Love you - Card Challenge #11

Here is my last card for the month of August. This time I chose Leslie's assignment which was for me:

"to make an I Love You card. I love the tree and birds so you must use those cuts along with the i love you banner cut. For bonus points you may also use the border dog and cat or even just the dog and cat cut. Most of all have fun challenging yourself and thanks for letting us help you with that!"

So I created this one a couple days ago to use for my parents 43rd anniversary this weekend. I didn't use the dog/cat cut because it would not cut properly for the size I needed to scale it down to.

The couple silhouette is from the new Sweethearts cartridge.

Grunge Halloween Card

I have never made a Halloween card before because I am not much of a Halloween person. My husband on the other hand loves Halloween and would decorate as much for it as we do Christmas if I was into it too.

Last year I won a RAK for the Cuttlebug Skulls embossing folder and this is the second time I have ever used it. Since the embossing folder was skulls of course I had to use a skull from Indie Art. Unable to decide which one to use I asked my daughter to make the decision and this was the end result.

Beautiful

Inspired by a picture I saw in Just Cards magazine this layout was a while in the making. I was drawn into the whole flower in the center as a focal point kind of thing. I had one flower that I knew I wanted to use because of its size and color. From there I tried several different "characters" and finally decided on this cute pup from the Paper Pups cartridge.

The scallop in the center of the flower is a chipboard piece.

The following cuts were used for this card:

Paper Pups: Pup - 3 " and the butterflies at 1"

Tags, Bags, Boxes & More: Tag at 1 1/4"

Home Decor - Beautiful at 1"

My background was embossed using the swirls folder. Because of the size I had to emboss from each end of the paper.

The inside sentiment says, "Beauty...is the shadow of God on the universe." - Gabriela Mistral, Desolacion

Butterflies & Irish Blessings

This card began as a need for creating a project using ribbon for the current contest over at Bitten by the Bug. So I pulled out my stash and saw this one with the butterflies and knew that I had to use it.

Next was trying to figure out what to do with it. Then I remembered this cool idea I saw over on the Splitcoast Stamper boards where another lady used ribbon as a frame. Great! Now I'm getting somewhere....all I have to do now is figure out what I want to use as my card front. Oh and let's not forget the important inside sentiment.

So I opened up the document that I have all my sentiments saved into and found one that I thought was perfect. It says: May the wings of the butterfly kiss the sun and find your shoulder to light on to bring you luck, happiness and riches today, tomorrow and beyond.

When Life Hands You Lemons

I got the idea for this card during one of my awake times the other night; however, while putting it together I realized that I still have a lot to learn when trying to modify certain cuts.

There's not really anything special to this one just a lot of cutting, inking and strategic placement.

Get Well Card

Here's another one that I did yesterday. Again very simple - unless you consider the layering of colors in the silhouette and then having to trim around to get it all just right. While not a difficult task was a little time consuming, but worth the effort.

The balloon is from Hello Kitty. I just cut the 'tail' off of it and used embroidery floss to make it look a little more 'real'. I also pop dotted it to add a little dimension to the card.

Christmas Tree Layout

I wasn't quite sure how to scrap a layout of our tree this year, but while trying to fall asleep one night the idea just hit me all at once. I was so excited that I couldn't wait to wake up the next morning and get everything done so I could start putting my ideas to paper.

I took several pictures of the page but none of them revealed the true colors - rather they all flooded out regardless of lighting.

For this layout I used the Christmas Noel cart, Paper Pups, Locker Talk and PPDU.

September through December

Whew - my 2009 calendar is now complete. And what fun I had designing and putting this together. Needless to say, I saved all my files for future re-makes. And I had an epiphany this morning too. When a month is over - don't throw the calendar page away - use it for a month themed layout. Viola! the calendar will now serve a dual purpose. How great is that?!?

For these pages I used the following carts:

Paper Pups

Stretch Your Imagination

Pooh and Friends

Graphically Speaking

Making the Grade

Zooballoo

I also used a leaf punch that came with one of my many kits last year.

Oh, after completing this project I came to another conclusion. While the 5 1/4" tall pages work great and fit in the case individually - they do not allow for the page holder to recline enough when all pages are lying in the tray with only one month displayed. So for my next calendar I think I'll scale back to a 5" tall page and see how that works. But then again I might decide what the heck and leave well enough alone.......

CD Calendar for 2009

This is a project inspired by one I saw on the Cricut message boards a couple weeks ago. And since Thursday was the last day of my vacation I decided to sit down and give it a try.

With everything else going on - family in town, all the kids out of school, etc., etc. - I was only able to get the first four months completed......

For this project I used a regular CD case (not the slimline). All pages are cut to 4 5/8" by 5 1/4". So far I have used the following cartridges:

Graphically Speaking

Pooh & Friends

Paper Pups

Making the Grade

Stretch Your Imagination

Mickey & Friends

Doodlecharms

Rouse House

This was inspired by the January issue of Scrapbooks, etc. magazine which spotlighted a project for making a 'house' out of foam core board. So I spent part of my day today scraplifting this project and turning it into one of my own. The original directions can be found on the Scrapbooks, etc. website.

For my house I did not have access to a copy machine in order to enlarge the templates. However, I enlarged the pdf file to 125% and set my print options to print on borderless paper. Once printed I then measured the diagrams and drew them out on the foam core board for cutting.

I also used the following carts:

Accent Essentials for the picture frames (Accent 47 at 1.5"), rug (Accent 5 stretched to measure approx. 3"x4"), and the trim on the roof (4" and 4.5")

Happily Ever After for the chair (2.5" cut twice - one in blackout and one layer - for the back of chair and pieces. The pieces were then glued to other paper and cut to include 'tabs' for creating the dimension)

Paper Pups for the puppy cut at 1"

Making the Grade for the Rouse verbiage - R cut at 1" and the "ouse" were welded together to create the size needed.

The book on the chair was a piece of foam core board cut and covered with scrap paper.