Thanksgiving Card

The theme or challenge this week at Cricut Cardz Challenge was to make a Thanksgiving card using the card feature on any of your Cricut cartridges.    So this card was made using the card feature on Stretch Your Imagine cartridge.

This card is about a 5 1/2 inch square, using the bare tree cut on SYI.  That leaves kind of an open window in the card so it is lined with vellum paper.  In Design Studio I set up another tree cut to fit exactly on top of the cut out of the card.  I cut it twice and pop dotted it on top.   The "Happy Thanksgiving" is cut from Lyrical Letters and I colored the pine cone with Perfect Pearls.  The leaves are kind of interesting.

For the leaves I glued a piece of aluminum foil onto a piece of plain white card stock.  Then I colored the foil paper using my alcohol inks with Fall colors.  After that was done I cut out the leaves using my Cuttlebug and Spellbinder leaf dies.  I stamped with Versamark all over the background of the card with a leaf stamp just to add some depth.  Overall I think is came out nice, thanks for stopping by and let me know what you think of this card.

Snowflake................lots of Bling!

This is so so sparkly and pretty in person, it has so much dimension.   I made this to enter in the Cricut Circle monthly challenge where the prize is a Work Box, what a fabulous prize if you haven't seen these check out that link, it would take me a month to put everything in all those drawers.
Well the challenge/theme this month was to celebrate the reason you love to craft by making a home decor project (you also could have made a layout) and you had to use; at least two cuts, the shadow feature, patterned paper, and embellishments...........I think I have them all covered.

I love Christmas and enjoy making things to decorate the house with so that is why I choose to make something Christmasy for the house.  Living in Arizona I felt we needed to have some "snow" for the holidays............................  The snowflake was cut from the Christmas Noel cartridge starting at about 5 1/2 inches.  I cut the blackout feature, shadow feature and the top layer.  The top or snowflake layer was cut several times in decreasing sizes to layer.  The "snow" is cut from Gypsy Wanderings and out of pearl white paper and is about 3 inches long, and I inked the edge with blue ink.  The shadow is my patterned paper cut from a silver holographic paper with a pattern on it.  It does not show up too well in the picture because it reflects the light.  The snowflake layers were all cut from white cardstock.  The white ones were glued and glittered with Martha Stewart crystal fine glitter.  The blue parts were the white paper sprayed with Glimmer Mist Frost color then glued and glittered with the same glitter. Also a few of the layers were pop dotted.  It was hard to glue onto the glitter, in fact I had to add some extra glue to the pop dots to make them hold.   A close up of the word snow shows the paper a little better.

Lots and lots of bling added to the tips of all the snowflakes.  Now to make this a home decor project it was all made onto a magnet sheet.  I cut the snowflake base from the magnet sheet with my Cricut and it cut great, however I think I built it a bit heavy so I am going to add another piece of magnet.  Here is a view from the back

I am so excited about this and can't wait to make more, maybe even in different sizes.  My mind is running wild I could even make these into ornaments.  Thanks for stopping by and would love for you to leave a comment.

Give Thanks...........Fall Card

I created this card following a sketch from the Jitterbuggin Challenge you also had to  use a pumpkin somewhere on your card.  As long as it had to have a pumpkin I thought I would make it a Fall card because that was the theme over at the Cuttlebug Spot.  Since this card is a 5 1/2 x 5 1/2 square card it was rather hard to use the Cuttlebug so I added Tim Holtz Crackle Accents to give the pumpkin some texture.

It is hard to see but the background paper is has some sparkle to it because I sprayed it with Glimmer Mist Bronze spray., the leaf print paper is from DCWV Autumn Stack.  The light or off white paper is very pretty in person as it has gold flecks in it.  I inked the edges with a very dark purple ink to add an extra fall color to the card.  I cornered punched the pumpkin colored paper with a Fiskars corner punch and slipped the white paper under the punched corner.
The pumpkin and the "give" are cut from the Thanksgiving cartridge, and the "thanks is from Beyond Birthdays, that was the only vertical word I could think of, but all and all I think it worked well together. 
Here you can see the crackling on the pimpkin and those gold flecks in the paper.

Well thanks for stopping by my blog and hope you like this Fall card.  I love to here your comments.

Bouquet of Flowers Birthday

I am so so excited about this card....................Something I have been wanting to do for a long time but didn't think I could without it looking like a mess!

I wanted to put together a bouquet of mixed flowers but was always worried that I would not be able to put them together without them looking like a jumbled mess of flowers and branches.  I think I pulled it off!  What do you think?

I made the card following one of the sketches at RAQs challenge this week in the Cricut message board.  I tried to make it a vintage looking card, the oval "mirror" was cut from Sentimentals cartridge at about 3 1/2 inches.  I cut a piece of glossy foil silver for the mirror and misted it with Glimmer Mist then immediately wiped it to make it look like an old mirror that is loosing its silver.  The vase I cut using Serenade cartridge but I manipulated the shape a bit on my Gypsy to make it look chubby instead of long and skinny.  The flowers are cut from a variety of cartridges, they were all cut from plain white card stock then I colored them using my inks to make them the colors that I wanted. The pink roses have Glossy Accents on them.  The one cut reminded me of Pussy Willows so I colored the branches brown then using Viva Pearl Pen Ice White and dotted each bud.  These pens are wonderful they make perfect drops then dry in their shape.  I only have two colors but you can bet I will get more.  You can make your own skittles with these.   Here is a closer look at the pearl dots.

I made this card for my sister-in-laws birthday so I even finished the inside :)  Scalloped oval is a Spellbinder die and the sentiment is a stamp.  I would so love to hear your comments on this card.  Thanks for stopping by.  

Breast Cancer Awareness..............month October

In honor of October being Breast Cancer Awareness month I made this card following one of the sketches at RAQ's Challenge on the Cricut message board and the Cricut Cardz Challenge.  I also posted it on Sweet Sassy Diva's blog, the more I get it out there the more awareness there is.  I think most every family has some how been affected by breast cancer, so this is a very good cause that needs as much attention as we can give it. So here is my card

   Thanks to Okie..for setting up a cut file for the ribbon.  If I ever need a cut file her blog Okie Ladybug's Scrap n More is the first place I go.  She has wonderful cut files and a very large variety.   Her file was for a 5 inch ribbon, but I played around with it in Design Studio and downsized it to fit on a card.  Check out her blog sometime if you haven't already, but most of you probably have as she is a Cricut message board icon.

Anyways on to the rest of the card....................The back of the card is just a 5 1/2 by 7 inch piece of cardstock from DCWV Sweet Stack, then I cut the very pale pink paper and put a gatefold card on top of that base.  I Cuttlebugged the "doors" with the Quckkutz Vines folder, I love this fold it adds such a nice touch (I think).  The strips are pieces of paper that I put a piece of double sided tape on and then sprinkled with Martha Stewart Kunzite glitter, I used the same glitter on the breast cancer ribbon and one of the butterflies.  The butterfly as you all may know is a Martha Stewart punch, very high on the list of my favorites.  The word "HOPE" is cut from Home Decor at about 1 1/2 by 2 1/4 inches.   I also added pearls to the center of all the butterflies, I tried to put a lot on bling on this card, as anyone with this disease needs as much sparkle and bling in their lives as they can get.  Here is a close up of the butterflies, they are punched from white paper then sprayed with Glimmer Mist to give them sparkle and a slight pink tint. 

  

This card took me two days to make, that's right you read it correctly two days.  I am very slow, I guess it is because every detail has to be just so, a fault I have.  Well I would like to show you a picture of a small instance of why it takes me so long.

   This what I have to do to get it right.  They are covered with, flock, glitter, glass beads, flower soft & inked and heat embossed.  Anybody need any ribbons, LOL.  Anyways I sure hope you like this card as all my heart ans sole went into making it.  Thanks for stopping by!

Think Pink Challenge Entry

This was entered in the Cricut Circle blog the challenge is "Think Pink"  so you had to make something girly using at least 3 of the following; pink, ruffles, scallops, flourishes, glitter and jewels.  I think I got all 6 of them covered, plus you had to use at least 2 cuts with your Cricut to qualify.  I am so so excited at how this came out...............  There is so much to tell about this so let's get started!

Isn't it pretty?  And it isn't a card it is a 5 x 7 inch magnet to hang on your refrigerator or wherever to remind us of those people going through this horrible journey and with hope that research will find a cure.
I also made this so it can be displayed all year to remind us of the importance of self breast exams as referred to at Hoos' Crafty blog where she is giving away a huge pile of pink goodies.

I cut a 5 x 7 square out of magnet material, then cut another 5 x 7 piece from white pearl paper.  I then in Design Studio put another smaller square inside that one to make the frame, it was cut twice out of thin chipboard to give it some body then again out of the dark pink paper.  I Cuttlebugged the dark pink frame (can't really see it)  and sprayed it and the light pink one with Tattered Angles Glimmer Mist Marshmallow.   I had that white ruffle ribbon (clearance at Wal-Mart) so I glued it between the two pieces of chipboard.  I stamped with a light pink ink on the pearl paper with a Stampabilities scrpit background stamp.  The scallop or flourish light pink frame I cut using Sentimentals cartridge.  As many of your know I love love to make crumpled flowers, so I cut out lots of scalloped circles from Sentimentals cartridge and sprayed them with Glimmer Mist Marshmallow (I think this is my favorite color so far LOL) crumpled them up while they were wet then uncrumpled them and stacked them and added a glitter brad to hold them together.   I just cut them from plain white copy paper.  I find they work better with a thinner paper.   Here is a close up of the flowers .  You can't really see it but they sparkle.

I then cut the word "journey" with my Gypsy using Gypsy Wandering, I cut the shadow layer with the darker pink then the top layer with the lighter pink which I glittered with crystal glitter so it really sparkles also.  The butterfly I bought the other day along with the strings of pearls, then mounted the butterfly using a large glue dot over the pearls.  Added some extra pearls to the corners for more bling, them more bling the better! 

I sure hope you like this magnet with all it's sparkle and bling to remind us this Breast Awareness month October.  I think I may leave it up all year to remind me to pray for those afflicted with this disease.

I was so touched by Brens story on the message board and what she is going through right now that I sent this to her.  Please please keep her in your prayers

Christmas Wreath Card

This card really gave me fits and I am still not sure if I like it.  I made it following one of the sketches at RAQs challenge last week and also for the Paper Cutz Challenge where the theme is anything goes. I thought I would make a Christmas card to get myself going since it will be here before you know it.

The background paper is from a Christmas stack that I bought at Wal-Mart last year that has a lot of blues in it.  I wanted to dress or bling it up so I sprayed it with sparklie Glimmer Mist although it looked OK it just not do it for me so I inked the edges with silver ink and still it did not have that pop or WOW I was looking for.  So I crumpled up the whole piece of paper into a little ball and then unfolded it and rubbed the silver ink on it so it rubbed onto the creases, it was OK but at that point I thought I better stop messing with it.  LOL  But I did add a few holographic dots to it here and there.
The wreath was made using the Martha Stewart branch punch.  I punched it a bunch of times out of very light blue and then I had read somewhere that if you punch out aluminum foil it will sharpen your punch so I threw a few of the foil branches in there.  I glued them onto a circle I cut with my Cricut, it was an open circle that I found on Plantin Schoolbook cartridge.  Of course them I had to go and spray it with Glimmer Mist Frost to added some sparkle, can you tell I like this stuff.  In fact I had ordered some from Scrapbooking Warehouse where they have it on sale for $4.75 a bottle which is a great price and my ordered arrive today with some neat colors.
Then my first try at printing sentiment in a circle using Microsoft Word, it came out pretty cool thanks to instructions from Carolyn D on the Cricut message board.  I printed on white pearl paper and as soon as it came out of the printer I sprinkled glittery embossing powder on it and heat embossed it. It worked!!! I was so excited................

You can see the foil branches here and there,  I also added some bling on the wreath.  So I hope you like it, I guess it is growing on me, thanks for any comments.

A Southwestern Birthday Card

Finally, my husband has been after me to make a southwestern card since we live in the Southwest.  I had bought this Paper Wishes background paper with the intention to make just such a card and I have had the Stampin Up set for years so it all worked together well.  The card also works for a couple of challenges.  It is built around one of the sketches this week for RAQs Challenge on the Cricut message board.  

I made this card for my older brothers birthday coming up later this month.  He lives in California and just loves to come here and visit our desert so I made this with him in mind.  So with that said it fits into the theme of the Cricut Couple's  Anniversary challenge.  You were to make a card for someone you love (yeah I guess I love my older brother)he teased the heck out of me when we were little and he STILL does when he comes to visit! LOL
The Happy Birthday is cut and shadowed from Martha Stewart Cake Art Cartridge, I love her Cake Art cartridges great images.  Although the bottom border is on one of the cartridges I used the punch to cut it out.  I stamped the "characters" with Versamark watermark on brown paper and then heat embossed them with clear powder and cut them out.  A couple of them are pop dotted.  Here is a close up

I just love the colors of this together, the turquoise on the back is Core'Dinations paper And the pattern on the background paper makes it look 3 dimensional.  Thanks for looking and would love to hear your comments. 

WOW some awesome blog Cand

Check out this blog candy, there is a lot of stuff including a CD of digtal images.............You have till Nov 4, to enter  Click on the picture for the link..........................................

Happy Halloween

I never knew till recently how much purple is used for Halloween along with the traditional orange and black.   The center "haunted house" image was sent to me this month by Aprile at October MCPT on the Cricut message board.  If you like coloring using Prisma Pencils and Ordorless Mineral Spirits this is the way to go to get some interesting images each month.  All you have to do is send her a self-addressed stamped envelopes and she will send you the images to create a card and post it on the message board. That is a pretty good deal as she uses high quality paper to stamp the images on.

This card also follows one the the sketches at RAQs Card Challenge that Carolyn hosted this week.  It is one of those cards that looks better in person, the orange circle and the Happy Halloween is Cored'nations glitter paper, the circle is Cuttlebugged with Distressed Strips embossing folder.  The "Happy Halloween" was cut from Happy Haunting cartridge at about 2 3/4 inches.  The black is glossy paper is also Cuttlebugged with Distressed Strips.  The pumpkins are covered with Glossy Accents to give them a shine and some dimension.  I added a small jewel for the door knob, I don't know why I just wanted some bling LOL!
I had won some goodies at Sugar Sweet Paper Treats and what a bunch of neat goodies I got.  All Halloween stuff, the background paper is from K&Company Halloween mat stack that was in my box.:), some glow in the dark glitter which I can't wait to try.  In fact I held it up to the light then took it in the closet to see if it glows!!!! It was cool.  And lots of other things were in my box.  I just love receiving goodies of course who doesn't.
Here is a close up of the haunted house....................

  It is just the cutest image to color with all it's details.  I put glitter pen on the spider web and inked the edges of the entire house just a little bit, in fact I got a little too carried away and inked up my orange chimney oops!  Well let me know what you think and have a HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Gold Dazzle Sticker on Alcohol Ink Paper

I am so thrilled with how the colors on this paper turned out.  Then over at RAQ's Challenge on the Cricut message board there was the perfect sketch to use this paper.

The bottom piece of paper (a half sheet) I made by adding some Ranger Alcohol Inks to glossy paper by just randomly placing drops of color, I think I used 4 colors on this one, then added some Ranger Blending Solution and just tipping the paper around and letting the colors run together.  This is a technique I learned in my Technique Junkie Newsletter.   I just recently subscribed to this and I love it.  This was not part of the technique in the newsletter, but I took and added a few drops of pearl alcohol ink, more blending solution then turned the paper over onto my craft mat and twirled it around to get that marbled look.
I cut a kind of scalloped edge circle from A Child's Year at about 2 inches and then place a gold flower Dazzle Sticker on the scalloped circle of the alcohol ink paper that I cut out.  Then on my Gypsy I made a slightly larger circle out of a deep plum colored paper and mounted the flower on top of it.  This is the first time I used Dazzle Stickers and I love them.  Then with my i-Rock I added small green jewels to the flower.  The happy birthday is a stamp on a Spellbinder Nestabilities label.  Here is a close up of the flower, colors aren't that great close up.

And I have been trying to work on getting the insides of my cards done, so here it is.

 

Thanks for stopping by to take a look and let me know what you thin of this card.  I just love to read your comments and appreciate them a lot.

Huge Blog Candy at Twinkle Glow with Stamps

In celebration of her birthday Chris is offering a fabulous blog candy package, check out the picture on my left sidebar or go to this link Twinkle Glow. 
Chris has a wonderful blog with a lot of inspiration and some beautiful creations.  There are also links to challenges and some great images.  Check it out you will love it!

Trick or Treat Ghost........

Well you know I never really make Halloween card unless I am challenged to!    As most of your know I try and participate in RAQ's Challenge on the Cricut message board every week, this week Sherri at the Jitterbuggin Challenge  is hosting RAQs challenge.   One of her sketches is also for the Jitterbuggin Treat or Treat  special challenge where you can win a Cricut Lite cartridge of your choice.  Anyone can participate so check it out, then on Saturday voting will begin for the winner, I would love to have your votes :)!  The challenge was to use the sketch to make a Trick or Treater using two cartridges and have a star somewhere on your card.  See it that little blingy one next to the moon?  The Ghost is cut from Paper Doll Dress Up and his bag is from Doddlecharms.  The tree and moon I cut at 3 inches from Celebrate with Flourish, I am loving this cartridge more and more however it will not cut using Design Studio, I guess there is an issue with that.

I also posted this on the Sunday weekly challenge Stamptacular Sunday , where the theme is "Layer-it-on", you can use any theme or colors you wish but there must be at least 5 layers and have stamped something.  This card is actually about 8 layers, wow I couldn't believe it either till I counted them.  The "Trick or Treat" is stamped and heat embossed.

I just love the way it came out, I think it is so cute.  The Boo and black cat are a Jolee sticker.  It has so much dimension in person here is a close up of the ghost.  He is two layers pop dotted.  I accented him using watercolor crayons and a blender pen.  I had the hardest time coloring the pimpkin face on his bag as the paper is holographic and nothing would dry on it, I finally just used a Micron pen and that stayed on. 

Let me know what you think, and stop by  Jitterbuggin Challenge I would love to have your vote.........  I would love to read your comments Thanks

Fall Birthday Card

This card was made following the Ad Color Challenge and using one of the sketches from RAQs Challenge this week on the Cricut message board.  I loved the way the colors looked together and my son-in-laws birthday is in November so I thought it would make a perfect birthday card for him.  I did use the Cricut to cut the rectangles because you are suppose to use your Cricut in these challenges.

It is a very simple card, but I think very comforting looking (I almost made it a Sympathy card), the colors just give it such a soothing look.  I stamped the leaves with a Martha Stewart leaves set, the white leaves on the brown is embossed with white Puffs embossing powder, it puffed but not too much, this was my first time using it.  The off white paper I stamped with Pumpkin ink and heat embossed.   The happy birthday is also stamped and embossed.  I rarely stamp without embossing unless, I am going to be coloring the image.  I just prefer the look of embossed stamping.  I then used my i-Rock :) tool to added orange jewels place around on the card.  The happy birthday and the off white square are pop dotted so they stick out a little.
I did the inside and will stamp a sentiment when I am ready to use it.  Thanks for stopping by and taking a peak at my blog.  I would love to have you as a follower.

Autumn -------------waiting for that cool weather

I don't know about you but out west here it has been hot hot hot!  We are so waiting for Autumn or Fall temperatures to get here.  Yesterday was 104 the hottest day ever recorded this late in the year here in Tucson Arizona.    So I made this card to send to someone just to say don't worry Autumn will come,  which was the challenge this week at the Cuttlebug Challenge to make a card to send to someone just because.  Tomorrow Saturday 10/2 is World Cardmaking Day   so you may want to check it out and join in the fun.

I also posted this card on the Stamptacular Sunday Challenge  where you had to make a card using fall colors and have something stamped on it.
The center three strips are stamped with three different Fall colors (Pumpkin, Dark Purple and Brown) and heat embossed.  The strips edges were distressed using my Tim Holtz distressing tool, I love this thing!  I also distressed the cream strips where the leaves are stamped, the 3 strips are pop dotted so they stand out a little. Although you can't really see it the three colored strips in the middle and the top cream colored strip are embossed with my Cuttlebug using Textile folder.  The background paper is actually a green glitter paper that is from a My Mind's Eye Fall stack.  The "Autumn" at the top was cut using Cricut Stretch Your Imagination cartridge, this is one of my all time favorite cartridges.  You can't really tell but at the right end of the word Autumn is two small leaves and an acorn, used some glitter pens to highlight them and then put Glossy Accents on the acorn. 
Hope this card gives everyone hope that Autumn will come!