All dressed up

........Ah ha thought you were going to see a dress or lady all dressed up!

This card was so much fun to put together.  I ran across this striped paper in my stash and thought it would made a great guy card.  Originally I was going to cut a fishing reel in the center square and some small fish where the buttons are.  My Mom had come in my room and said the paper reminded her of a tie.   While I was looking through my cartridges for fish and a reel, I ran across this cut on Simply Charmed.  Isn't it the cutest cut ever?  It was paired up in the handbook to be a Father's Day card, but since I don't have my dad here anymore and I wanted to make a gut card I turned it into a birthday card.  I added a pearl brad for a tie tack and inked the edges of the "shirt" and collar cuts to make them stand out.

Look at the texture on the white paper, it looks like the texture of a shirt, I didn't notice it till I took the photo.  Don't ya just love it when something like this happens? :)
I made this card following one of the sketches this week at RAQs challenge on the Cricut message board.  I love making cards from sketches because it pushes me to make cards I would not make!
Well thanks so much for stopping to look at my card, I would love it if you left a comment.

Oh so Pretty Poppies!

I think I had to pick a favorite flower it would be Poppies, I just love the simplicity of them and the bright colors.  I made this card using one of the images from Tiffany Doodles, I just love her images and she just redid her store, check it out if you like digital images.  I made this card to enter into the monthly challenge blog at Tiffany Doddles Blog, kind of nice to do a monthly challenge as it gives you more time to create, she even gives away some of her images each month.  Also this week at Stamptacular Sunday Challenge the theme is "WHATEVA" which is so much fun and I thought this digital stamped image was perfect!

My Mom also loves poppies and her birthday is coming up so I made this for her.  It was made over several days, she comes and spends the winter with us from Colorado so I always had to have two things going and every time she came in my room I had to hide it and pull out the other card, LOL..........I colored the poppies using my Promarkers, using the colors Poppy and Bright Orange and blended them together.  The leaves were also colored using Promakers.  The background paper is from the DCWV Crafty stack.  The cream colored strip on the left side is pearl paper that I embossed using of the the Cuttlebug embossing folders that comes in the Asian set.

The largest poppy I colored twice and cut one of and pop dotted it over the top of the other one to give it a little depth.  I think image would make a fabulous "spotlight" card, I may have to try that soon.  Happy Birthday is a Gina K stamp that I heat embossed using a pearl orange powder.
Thanks so much for visiting my blog and leave me a comment so I know you stopped by.  I love reading them!

Circles of Blue

My Mom's friend's birthday is coming up and her favorite color is blue, so I made this card for my Mom to give her.  It was made following a sketch at Friday Sketchers Blog (which I think I may be too late for) and also the exact same sketch was one of the sketches for RAQs Challenge on the Cricut message board.  I will also post this card on the Paper Cutz Challenge as it is "Your Choice" week.

The papers I used all came from the DCWV Summer stack from last year.  The circles were cut from George, my go to cartridge for shapes and the flowers I sprayed with Glimmer Mist and crumbled  slightly and added a glitter brad to the centers.

Then I remembered that I had the Verve Stamp Birthday Wishes stamp that went perfectly with this card and paper.  If you are not familiar with there stamps be sure and click the above link and check them out, they are fabulous.  I stamped it and heat embossed it with a very dark blue.

Thanks for stopping by, and I would love to hear your comments.

You Warm My Heart.....................................

Well this is my last week as a Guest Designer at the Crafty Creations challenge, I can't tell you what an honor is was to me to be asked to be a guest designer and be grouped with the awesome talented people on the Design Team.  Thank you so much Melissa for asking me :)

This week our hostess is Jaime over at Inky and Scrappy and the theme is "Heat it Up" we had to use something that reminds you of heat, i.e. coffee, tea, heat emboss, spicy etc...   This is what I came up with

I made this card following the sketch at Tiffany Doodles January sketch challenge, although I did no use one of her fabulous images, I loved the sketch so I went ahead and made it without one.  Jump on over to her blog and check it out you still have time it runs through January 31st.  I hope to get another one done using one of her images.

This card is 5 x 7 and the papers I used are from the DCWV Autumn  Stack.  The coffe cup is a Dazzle sticker.  I put red and brown paper on the back of the sticker to show through the open areas.  The steam (swirl) is also a Dazzle.  You warm my heart is a stamp that I stamped on a cut out from my Cricut then embellished with two heart brads.

Thank you so much for taking a peak at my blog and I would be thrilled if you became a follower and/or left a comment so I know you were here.

Happy Birthday Daisies

Anybody ready for spring yet?  I know all of you back east that have been buried in snow this year are ready!  Well maybe this card will at least bring Spring to you for a moment.  I made this card following one of the sketches at RAQ's Challenge on the Cricut message board and also the theme this week is "anything goes" at Penny's Challenges, my first time entering this challenge.  Then one more challenge that you may want to check out that I am entering this in is My Grafico Crafts they have some great images and other goodies there also.

 Once I saw the background paper in my Best of K & Company stack, I knew exactly what I wanted to do.  The daisies were cut from MS Elegant Cake Art cartridge and then sprayed them with Glimmer Mist to give them a little sparkle.  For the centers I covered them with Glossy Accents then when it was about 3/4 of the way dry I place tiny pearls on them.  The happy birthday is a stamp from Stampin Up.

I like the way the pearls look sitting on top of the Glossy Accents, but looking at the picture it looks like I should have put one more on :).

I am glad you stopped by and truly look forward to reading your comments. 

Flower Soft Trees...............

For a long time, for some reason I have wanted a stamp of bare trees, not really sure why just thought that some day it would be nice to make a card with, so I bought one a month or so ago.  Well that day came, when I got my March 2011 issue of CardMaker magazine on the front cover waw a card made with a bare tree and covered with Flower Soft.  Then at Jitterbuggin the challenge this week was to make a card with.   BROWN.....and one other accent color! It also had to include at least one Cricut cut and a bow somewhere.
 So here is the card I made following that theme.

 I think I may have done the color scheme a bit backwards, OOPS seems like it came out green with a "BROWN" accent, but I think that Sherri will let me include it in the Jitterbuggin Challenge :).

I cut the green frame for the Cindy Loo cartridge, this cartridge has some great frames on it and you can cut out the flourish to match.   I stamped my bare tree stamp using a dark brown and heat embossed it.  Then I put dabs of glue randomly on the tree branches then sprinkled it with light green Flower Soft  and pressing it down to push it onto the glue, after that I added a few more dabs of glue and sprinkled on Flower Soft Summer mix to make it look like blossoms on the tree. 

I hope I achieved the effect of blossoms on the trees, with a few that had fallen onto the ground.
We also had to have a bow, well I wanted to try and keep this as a card I can use for a guy so I chose a brown piece of braiding cord to make my bow.  Later I will add a sentiment when I decide how to use it.    I offset the frame at the top corner so I could add that sentiment in the lower right corner when I am ready.
Thanks for stopping by, I always enjoy hearing from you.

It's a Bird thing Challenge

This week Shelly is the host for the challenge at Crafty Creations Challenge and our challenge was to use a bird on your card, but you also had to use polkas dots (which I love) and the color green.   Luckily a piece of DCWV paper helped me with the polkas dots and the green.

The bottom wavy part I cut  by hand, as I could not find a cut that has ups and downs on any Cricut cartridge.  The pink strip behind the image is a piece of mulberry paper that gives a nice feathery effect if you tear it by getting it wet, besides it is nearly impossible to cut with a paper cutter. 
The bird image was one I found when by Goggling "bird" images, I think it was intended to be a coloring page.  I colored the image using my Promarkers, which I am beginning to improve using them.   I put Crackle Accents on the bird and hoped it would have dried to look like feathers???  The  Glossy Accents on the flowers and the umbrella I thought would give the image some dimension. 

The oval with the sentiment was cut using Cricut Design Studio, the pink is actually a frame.  I placed one oval inside another to get the scalloped frame.  I had a hard time trying to  figure out what sentiment to use till  found this Gina K Designs stamp.
 
Thanks so much for stopping by and again I am just thrilled to be asked to be a Guest Designer at the CCC.
I would love to hear what you think of my little birdie.

Valentine Card for my Hubby.............

I had fun making this card and I think it came out so pretty.  I needed to make a Valentines card anyway so with the help of a few challenges this what I came up with.  The layout is a sketch from RAQs Challenge this week on the Cricut message board.  The challenge this week at My Sheris Crafts was too bling it up!  I added the red pearls and also it is misted with Scarlet Glimmer Mist so it has a very shimmery look to it.  I can never get that to show up well in the picture.   Also over at Cricut Cardz Challenge this week the theme was to use Red, White & Black ONLY, well that is one of my favorite color combinations so I did not have to spend a lot of time picking out my papers LOL, usually a big problem for me.

The background paper is from DCWV Black Currant stack, love the papers in this stack, the black parts of the design are glossy.  The large red heart is actually a dollie that I have had around here for a long time.  If you all know me you know I love to make crumpled flowers, well I thought "why can't I make a crumpled heart" so I did.  I cut the heart 4 times in descending size using Martha Stewart Elegant Cake cartridge out of white paper, then I sprayed it heavily using Scarlet Glimmer Mist and crumpled them into a little ball and then carefully unfolded them and stacked them on top of each other and stuck a red pearl in the center.

I cut some swirls from Serenade cartridge from glossy black paper and placed them behind the heart.  The "All my love..." is a Gina K stamp that I heat embossed with red glitter embossing powder (more bling LOL) and cut out using Spellbinders Label 11, added a couple small pearls on the sides of the label.
Hope you like my card, thanks for stopping by and would love to hear your comments.

Plaid Male Birthday Card

I don't know about you but male cards are sometimes hard to make.  It seems like I keep trying to add flowers or bows to cards.
Here is a male card I made for Enfys at Going Buggy week long party she has going on. 

This day you had to create something with a bug on it, luckily she let us use a dragonfly as a bug.  The cute little dragonfly is from the Camp Out cartridge and the rope frame is from Old West.  Added some matching plaid paper and doodled with my white gel pen to the Happy Birthday.  Simple, but perfect for a guy
Thanks for stopping by.

Red, White & Blue Birthday

My Grandson's birthday is February 24th and he will turn 19.  On March 9th he will be leaving for the Navy so I thought it was appropriate to make him a patriotic card.  This card is also made for Mojo Monday Sketch Challenge 173, following the sketch that was posted.

The papers are mostly from a small DCWV mat stack, the ribbon is something I picked up a while back from the Target dollar bin.  Very little Cricut, just the oval and the stars which were both cut from Plantin Schoolbook.  The stars are from glitter paper.
Thanks for stopping by, let me know what think.

A Simple Birthday card.

I made this card to day for a weekly card challenge on the Cricut message board.  It also fits a color challenge which was, robin egg, rust and cream.  I had hoped to make this card to be a male birthday card, but I think with the lacey cut it makes it a bit feminine, oops!
The cream colored lacey cut is from Cindy Loo, and so is the label part where I stamped Happy Birthday.

The papers are glitter papers from a My Minds Eye fall stack.  Hard to see in the picture but there is a "robins egg" blue border.  The card is 4 x 8 so I had to make my own envelope.  I also used my i-rock to add jewels on the lacey part.
Thanks for stopping by and I would love to hear your comments,

Wedding Cake - New Beginnings CCC Challenge 101

Again I am extremely thrilled to be a Guest Designer on the Crafty Creations Challenge blog this month.

This week the challenge was to make something for a "new beginning"; birth, wedding, engagement, etc.........  That was the only limitation for the challenge so it was pretty wide open and it will be very interesting to see the different project created by all the amazing talent out there.  Go ahead give it a try and post your creation using the link on the CCC blog.
I have a couple of weddings coming up this year so it was easy for me to chose which new beginning I wanted to use.  I made this wedding cake using a digital image from My Grafico, if you are like me you are always looking for new digital images, check them out.

 There was not a lot to color on this image but the white was just too plain, so I shaded it around the edges and lines with very very light chalk using light blue and gray.  You can not really see it in the photo but it does give it depth in person.  The wedding colors are dark blue & silver, so I used papers in those colors that have a very shimmery/pearlized look to them.  I get the paper from Paper and More, they have such pretty papers and their customer service is outstanding, order some samples and see for yourself, plus shipping on the samples in only $1, can't beat that.
I colored the flowers and leaves using my ProMarkers that you can purchase at Carpediem Store for only $1.49 each.  I used Blue Pearl and Cobalt Blue on the flowers, for the leaves I used Meadow Green and Apple.  After I colored the flowers I put Ranger Crackle Accents on them, which gave them an unusual look, here is a close up to see the effect it gave them.

I printed and colored the image twice and the bottom off of the top one and pop dotted it on top of the other one, I like the way it gave the cake more dimension.  The cake was mounted on Spellbinder Labels Ten.  The "wedding wishes" was stamped and heat embossed with a dark blue embossing powder.

I also finished the inside using one of those same Spellbinder labels, the sentiment was computer generated and the paper that I printed it on does not dry very fast so with embossing powder in hand I pour it on as soon as it came out of the printer and I was able to emboss the inside.  I edged it using one of Martha Stewart edge punches.

Thank you so much for stopping by, I would love to here your comments.   Again stop by Crafty Creations Challenge and check out all the other talent.

Stamptacular Sunday Card Challenge

I don't know about everyone else, but I am so so behind on my holiday thank you cards.  We left for Las Vegas the day after Christmas then when I got back I had two birthdays and a shower card to make, well actually 4 birthday cards (2 for me, 2 for my Mom) and you all know I am not a speedy card maker,  LOL
Anyways, I took the opportunity to use the sketch from this weeks, Stamptacular Sunday Challenge to make one of those thank you cards.

The center flower is a stamp from Inkadinkado Stamp, I colored it using my ProMarkers.  I am still learning this coloring technique but I think these came out pretty.  The paper is from a Michaels Recollections, Romance pack.  The borders down the side is a Martha Stewart punch, I love this punch.  Then I put a drop of Viva Decor pearl pen in the center of each flower.  I even finished the inside, left it blank so I could right a personal note.

Well still have a few thank you cards to go, but thought I would share this one with you.  Thanks for stopping by and would love to read your comments :)!

Crafty Creations 100th Challenge Blog Hop WINNER

******************And the WINNER using random.org is comment #11**********

 Is  Claire

Claire's cards said...

Such a fab card, it will bring a smile to the recipient. Love the sentiment as well. Thanks for the chance of winning on this enjoyable bloghop. Claire xxx 

 

Claire contact me with your information so I can get your prizes out to you.  CONGRATULATIONS!

I am so excited to be a part of this amazing blog hop. I still can not believe that I am a Guest Designer, it is such an honor for me to be among these talented people, thank you Melissa for thinking so much of work to ask me to be a guest designer.

It's a big celebration for the Crafty Creations it is their 100th challenge, so please make sure you stop at all the blogs as there is some incredible talent and inspiration along the way.  Don't forget to leave comments on each blog because will be prizes on some of the blogs and 3 lucky blog hop participants will win a prize at the end of the hop, too!!

OK, so if you got here from Saskia you are on the right track
and your nest stop is Sharon and I am sure she has some beautiful things for you to look at.

Now on to the 100th Challenge, the CCC 100th celebration challenge is no ordinary challenge...it has several elements that needed to be followed.
There are 3 parts to this challenge: A sketch to follow, a color combo plus add a recycled element or item! Stop by Crafty Creations Challenges for all the details and come a play along! Show us what you got, I love seeing everyone's creations. There will be 2 winners and fabulous prize packages for entries into this challenge!
Here is the card I made for this challenge.

I chose a digital image from Meljen's Designs called Chili Chihuahua, isn't he cute. Visit Whimsy Stamps to shop for her images, there are some fantastic ones, she is a very talented artist and they also have other designers.  I colored "Chili" using my ProMarkers that I won back in November, an entire set of all 148 colors!  I used Ivory and Sandstone, with a touch of Cinnamon for the dog.  For the sombrero I used French Navy, Blue Pearl, Amethyst, and Plum, the chilis were colored with Berry Red & Poppy, with Forest Green for the leaves. That covered the colors we needed to use for the challenge, also the papers are using those colors, and my added recycled element which is the strip of reddish ribbon that was from a Christmas present a few years back.   Just to add a touch of silly I added the googlie eyes, I thought he needed that!    Here is a close up to see his little silly face.

The plum paper strip and the half circle are pearl like plum color and the half circle I Cuttlebugged with one of the folders from the Pagoda set.  This will be my brother-in-laws 70th birthday card, so the "Ay, caramba" (computer generated) and here is the inside

I sure hope you like my little chihuahua.  I so enjoyed using this image as I had a chihuahua going up.  

Now I have a couple of prizes to giveaway, Letraset ProMarkers has donated a set of 5 markers for me to give away and also Tiffany Doodles has donated five digital images of your choice to use those markers on.  Be sure you check out her website to see all of images she has to offer, you will have a hard time picking out just 5 of them.  Now to be eligible to win this prize you do not have to become a follower, although I would be absolutely thrilled if you did, just leave a comment on this post and a winner will be drawn January 11th from all the comments using random.org.
Thanks you so much for stopping by and don't forget to visit by all the blog for more inspiration and chances to win some prizes, or just to see all the amazing talent!

In case you get lost here is a list of all the blogs participating in this challenge:

Amy

Bernie

Claire

Deena

Jaime

Jeanet

Jenni

Jennifer

Melissa

Saskia

NanaDonna Guest Designer   You are here!

Sharon

Shelly

Crafty Creations

I hope you have a lot of fun hopping along with all of us and don't forget to leave a comment, I love to read them. Sorry there was a slight mix up in the hop oder so please make sure that you visit all of the blogs.

A Lifetime of Happiness

I am going to a bridal shower on Saturday and here is the card I made for the bride.  Her wedding colors are blue & silver so those are the colors I used.  The center frame I created using a square from George and welded swirls from Sweethearts to it.  I then cut out an additional set of the swirls from silver and glued them onto the base cut.

I added some small blue pearls to the hearts.  The center sentiment is Verses stamps (I believe).  On the blue background paper I stamped randomly with a Gina K umbrella stamp from the Enjoy the Sunshine set using my Versamark pad and embossed it using clear embossing powder.  It is very faint but if you look close you can see it.  The center strip I made using a Martha Stewart punch.

Just carried the same theme onto the inside, then sentiment is computer generated.

Thanks for stopping by, I would love to hear your comments.

A Repeat of my Anniversay card......Funny

As some of you may know December 27th was our 25th anniversary. We went to Las Vegas to celebrate along with several other family members. Well on 12/27 when we got up, I placed the anniversary card I made for my husband on the bed while he was in the shower. Here is the card

I got in the shower after him and when I came out this is what I found

I thought it was hilarious! Since we were out of town and the trip was our anniversary and Christmas present it was OK that he didn't get me a card.

To see my original post on this card with more details click HERE

Sailboat Birthday Card

If you stopped here for the Crafty Creations 100th Challenge hop click HERE, if not you may want to check it out there are some fabulous creations and great prizes along the way.

A while back I got a few sets of Gina K Designs stamp sets and finally got around to cutting them apart so I could use them.  Her stamps are very high quality and stamp extremely well.  The sailboat is one of the stamps in the "Enjoy The Sunshine" set, I thought it was great for a male card.  My younger brother's birthday is next week so I made this card for him.  I will also post it on the Cricut message board for this weeks RAQs Challenge, as it is follows one of the sketches. 

Very little Cricut, just the ovals cut and layered 3 times.  I colored two sailboats using my ProMarkers, then cut one of them out and pop dotted it on top of the other one.  The turquoise strip of paper I Cuttlebugged with a folder that sort of matched the paper pattern.    And since I need to use it next week I finished the inside.

The sentiment is computer generated and I finally remembered to print it directly on the inside of the card before I put it together!
Thanks so much for stopping by and I really appreciate each and everyone of your comments.  Happy New Year!