Imagine Country Carnival

This is a pretty simple card, but love the way it turned out.  It is something different for me.  I usually use brighter colors but this came out fine.  I am loving my Imagine, it so helps me put everything together.

Everything was printed using the Imagine and the Country Carnival cartridge.  

 I cut the flowers twice and then just cut our the flower part to pop dot it on the top of the other.  I also added black stickles to the lines on the flowers.  The flower part cut with a border a little bigger than I liked so I had cut a bit of the gray area off.

Thanks for taking the time to leave me a comment. I love to read them, besides that way I knew you were here to take a peak.

Challenges
Creative Craft World  Anything but Birthday  ends - 8/5

Blessing to you

This card was inspired by a sketch this week for a challenge on the Cricut message board.  I think it came out so pretty.  I always have trouble with pictures of cards that are light pink, it never seems to show the color well.  

The cuts are all from the Cricut Lite cartridge Lovely Floral.  I heard some of the ladies on the Cricut message board talking about and when I went to Wal Mart and saw it marked down I picked it up.  Wow it is a great cartridge, and it also has a cool font on it.  I think I will be reaching for this one often.  The center scallop circle is cut from Core'dinations pearl pink paper and then embossed using a Sizzix folder, the "frame" scallop was cut from vellum.  The edges of the paper I tore using a wavy ruler that I have, it left a nice edge.
All this shows up better in this close up

The green swirls were also cut using Lovely Floral as were the flowers.  I added a few white dots with my pen to match the dots on the ribbon.  Blessings to You is a stamp, then cut it with my Nesties.

Thanks for stopping to take a look at my card, I would love to hear what you think of it.  And don't forget to stop by tomorrow as it is my 1 year blog anniversary and I will be doing a small giveaway.

This card will be entered into the following challenges
Simply Betty  challenge to "die" for (use die cuts)  -  ends 8/4
The Paper Shelter anything goes  -  ends  8/1
Sew Many Challenges anything goes  -  ends 8/4
Paper Craft Star  anything goes  -  ends 8/1
Make it Monday  always anything goes  ends 7/31
Ohh la la Creations  Circles  ends - 8/6
Colour Create   Pink, Green & White  ends - 8/10

Red, White & Black

I love the way this color combination works together.  I made this card following a challenge sketch, and I did not realize till I started making it how challenging is was to put those circles together correctly. 

The card is kind of an odd size as I had to cut it to make the circles line up the way I wanted them.  It ended up as 5 1/2 by 4 3/4, guess I will have to make an envelope.  The "happy birthday" is computer generated that I printed in a circle using Word, this I think was part of the lining up challenge.  My circles had to match the angle of the printed sentiment.

All and all I think it worked out well.  I Cuttlebugged the background with a checked folder.  When I assembled the card I first glued all the circle together how I wanted them, then I placed them on the corner of the card with the extra hanging over the edge.    I then flipped over the card and cut off the extra.
I had those extra pieces so here is what I did with them.....................

I didn't want to just throw them out so I stuck them inside :).  Later I will stamp a sentiment inside.
Thanks for stopping by my blog and I would love for you to leave a comment.  If you really like what you see I would be thrilled to have you as my newest follower.

I will be entering the card in the following challenges:
Make it Monday  Always anything goes  ends - 7/31
Lollipops Crafts  Anything goes  ends - 7/30
Paper Pretties  No Markers  ends - 8/2
Ooh la la Creations  Circles  ends - 8/6

You take the cake..............

Sorry I have not posted for a while, I had been in Colorado visiting my Mom.  Was hoping to enjoy the cool weather but they were having highs above normal, so we went up into the mountains for cooler weather.

I had made this card before I left but did not have time to post it.  I made this card following one of the sketches on the Sweet Stop sketch challenge blog.  They post a new sketch every Saturday.  Now since I am so slow I didn't get this done till past the cut off time but I still wanted to share it.

I used Cocoa Mouse from Sweets & Sassy stamps and the sentiment is also from Sweet & Sassy .  The papers I printed using my Cricut Imagine and the Imagine More Cards cartridge.  I colored the image using my Copics and Promarkers, I like to use both together depending on what colors I have in each.  I added some Crackle Accents to the cake frosting and Stickles to the candle flame.

I also finished the inside of this one with scraps that were left from the paper I printed using my Imagine.  I will stamp something later when I decide to use it.

Thanks for stopping by my blog, keep a watch out as my one year blog anniversary is coming up.

Seeing Double Poppies

This week our challenge at Crafty Creations is "seeing double" you need to use the same image on your project twice.  Although it sounds easy it does take some creative thinking to put it together.
  Our hostess Claire is sponsoring this this challenge herself.  See has some great images make sure you check out her blog.

I chose to use this Poppy stamp from Poppies, Poppies, Poppies set from Mark's Finest Papers.  they have some really nice stamps and great paper for stamping and coloring with your markers.  Can you tell I like Poppies,  I have several different poppy images, I just love to color them.  These I colored using a combination of my Copic markers and my ProMarkers.  Both work well together, if I don't have a color in one then I use a color from the other.  I stamped them using my Memento Black ink on Snow Storm Ultra Smooth paper I got from Mark's Finest Papers when I ordered my stamps.   The markers blend very well on this paper and I had no problem with the ink running or the markers bleeding.
The bow was tied using the Tye a Bow on a Fork method, there are several different ways to do it out there but I used the one on Happybird's Crafting Haven, I like this method because you can make more than one loop on your bows.

After I colored the poppies I covered them with Glossy Accents to give them some shine and dimension and added black Stickles to the centers.  I cut the white oval with my Nesties but did not have the right size scalloped oval so I cut that using my Cricut.  I love using Nesties for cutting around images.

Now to cover the challenge of "seeing double" I used my Versa Mark stamp pad and stamped the poppy stamp all over the orange paper to make a matching background paper.

I made the inside very simply by adding a piece of paper stamped with the Versa Mark ink pad.  I will add a sentiment when I decide how to use this card.
I am glad you stopped by, I would love to hear what you have to say about my Poppies, and why not join us in the challenge at Crafty Creations.

Christmas in July

I made my first Christmas card of the year.  It was made following a sketch on the Cricut message board, as are the majority of my cards are.  I hauled out my Christmas paper stacks and found these two papers in my My Minds Eye paper pack from last year and created this card.

The plaid paper in the background I cut using the MS Seasonal Cake Art cartridge with a file that I set up in the Cricut Craft Room.  They are improving the Cricut Craft Room all the time and it cuts like a breeze.  Soon I hope they will have most of the kinks worked out.
Other than that cut the rest in stickers so I feel like I cheated a bit but I do like how it turned out.  The stickers are some glittery ones I got from WalMart last year.

A close up of the tree, they are clear and just about disappear when you put them on paper.  I stuck this one on white pearl linen paper.

The "Joy" i stuck directly on the plaid paper that has some glitter in it.  The candy canes are also small stickers.
I am so glad you stopped by and I would love it if liked what you seen enough that you would become a follower.  I am coming up on my 1 year blog anniversary and would love to have 200 followers by then. Thanks

This card falls into the following challenges
Charisma Cardz Stars  -  ends 7/20
Creative Inspirations  Christmas in July  -  ends 7/27

Bright & Glittery Butterfly

I am so excited to share this card with you.   I have had these Double Stick Dazzles, I wasn't exactly sure what they were so one day I got them out and figured out what they were, with the help of the directions.
Here is the sparkly card.

This card was made following a sketch a couple of weeks ago, but just didn't get a chance to post it.   I think it would make a nice get well card or something to cheer someone up. Butterflies always remind me of summer so it would also make a nice birthday card for someone with a summer birthday.
So theses double stick Dazzles are clear and very thin, almost like double stick tape in a shape.

It is kind of hard to see but here is a picture of the package.  There are around 8 medium to large ones in a package and a bunch of small ones.  What I did was peel off the wings of the butterfly (brown part) and stick it to a piece of bright green cardstock.  Then I sprinkle that part with Martha Stewart brown glitter, then the body and colored that part with green glitter and finally the small pink pieces.  It was very easy and the pieces are pretty durable, you have to be careful but they can be handled without them falling apart.  After I got it all glittered I cut it from the green cardstock.

Now that I finally played around with these, I love them and want to see what other shapes they have.
The two flowers on the bottom are buttons that I clipped the back off of and glued down.
Here is a close up of the butterfly after it is on the card.  The swirl is also from the Dazzles.

Glad you stopped by and hope you like my card.  Please leave me a comment and let me know what you think

Challenges this card will be entered in
Crafts and Me  Summertime   - ends 7/19
Simon Says Stamp  Anything Goes  -  ends 7/19
Fussy and Fancy   Summer  - ends 7/27

A Bright & Cheery Birthday

A month or so ago I bought the DCWV Lemon Flower stack.  Oh the papers are so pretty and I had been wanting to make something with so when the sketch challenge was posted on Fairytale Challenge blog I pulled out this stack of paper to make my card.

Here is the sketch that was to be followed, I like this sketch and think I will keep it for future use.

And here is the card I made using this sketch

At first I thought maybe the papers were to busy together but after inking the edges I think it made them stand out a bit more.  All papers are from the Lemon Flower stack with the exception of the scalloped circle.   This I made using my Imagine, I am a new Imagine owner so I am still playing around and learning.  I thought I would try to print on pearlescence paper to see how it turn out, and oh my is came out beautiful the pearl shows through the light yellow pattern print from the Country Carnival cartridge.   This make me even more excited about my Imagine.

Here is a close up of the circle, but you still can't see it too well.  The "happy birthday"
is a peel off sticker and the swirls are Dazzle stickers.  I love the Dazzles they add a nice embellishment to your projects.   They even have a monthly Premiere Dazzles club you can join and every month you get not yet released Dazzles, paper, and a project letter.  The flower is a Martha Stewart stick on.
I am very happy you decided to stop by today, I would love to hear what you have to say about my card and take a look around if you like what you see I would be thrilled to have you as a follower.

This card is also for the following challenges
Make it Mondays   Always anything goes  - ends 7/17
Penny's Challenges  Happy Birthday  ends 7/19
Bearly Mine   Anything Goes-  ends 7/18
Hanna Stamps  Happy Birthday  -  ends 7/20
Ruby's Rainbow   Happy Birthday  - ends 7/18
Southern Girls  Happy Birthday  -  ends 7/26

Let's Make Some Music

This week at Crafty Creations our challenge is Boys to Men, making a male creations, whether it be young, old or anything in between.  I don't know about you but male cards can be challenge and who can't use more of them in there stash for future use.

Christine is our wonderful talented hostess this week, this is her first time hosting for us so come on make her feel good and join in the challenge.  She got  Lili of the Valley as our sponsor and got us the cute LOTV images to work with, perfect for our theme of Boyz to Men.    Plus one random winner will receive a gift voucher to LOTV.

I chose this adorable image of a little boy playing the guitar.

Isn't he cute with his little doggie there singing along.  I colored him using my Copics and Promarkers depending on which had the color I wanted.  Now don't look too close as I am just learning this coloring stuff, but feel like I am making some improvement.   The background music paper is printed from Imagine using the Imagine More cartridge.  I printed it on tan paper to give it a worn like look.  I cut him out using my Spellbinders and then cut a scalloped shadow circle with my Imagine.

I am not too happy with his little music book, I think I over colored it, but in the end it does kind of match the background.  Can't see it in the picture but I used my Gelly Roll clear pen for the strings and tuning knobs on the guitar.
So come on what are you waiting for, get those guy cards made and join our challenge this week, look forward to all those guy cards for inspiration.
Thanks for stopping by my little blog,  hope you found it likable enough to become a follower.

Entered in the following challenges
Digis With Attitude! anything goes ends 9/1
Paper Crafting Journey for the male/man ends 7/19
Deep Ocean Challenge A card ends 7/18
C Inspirations   No flowers ends 7/18
Lollipop Crafts  Anything goes ends 7/30
Cupcake Craft Boy Oh boy oh boy #146 ends 7/17
Clearly i Stamp  Punches, Die Cuts, Cut Outs ends 7/14
Pink Gem  Let's hear for the boys  - ends 7/22

Scrap n Easel BIG NEWS

I just learned that the Scrap n Easel was chosen as one of the Top 20 Summer 2011 Innovations Awards!  I think that is so cool.  And it well deserves it.   It is a wonderful and very handy product.  If you go to crops you can stow away all you papers, fold it up and go and never have to worry about the paper getting bent.  And when you get there you have this great easel work space that has magnets to hold you project in place.

If you haven't heard of it or you want to order one of these award winning products
just click the link  below to check it out and order yours.

Scrap & Easel

Scrap & Easel

While you are there also check out their Cricut cartridge storage system Scrap & Tote

A very simple...............

..................card I made using my Imagine.  I think everyone is going to get tired of me talking about my Imagine, LOL.  This card is very very simple, I just wanted to pretty paper to show through.

The papers were printed using the Elise cartridge, added a fiber bow and a few eyelets and that is it!  I will add a sentiment when I decide how I will use it.
Thanks for stopping by.

Serenade Butterfly

Thanks for coming to take a look as what I created today.  This card was made following the RAQs challenge on the Cricut message board (as most of cards are LOL).  All the papers were printed using my Imagine and the Heirloom cartridge.  I am really enjoying my Imagine, it makes it so easy to put patterns and colors together.

The butterfly was cut using the Serenade cartridge and so was the scalloped circle in the background.   I set up the cuts that I wanted then filled them with the colors or patterns.   The stripped ribbon like banner is a file I set up in Gypsy (or CCR when it is working) and is very very easy, I just took an rectangle to the size I wanted then placed a triangle at the bottom and that's it!

I cut the butterfly about 3 1/2 inches, I slightly inked the edges, Cuttlebugged the two layers then sprayed with Glimmer mist, which slightly broke down or smudged the the color and I was please with the effect of that accident.  I glittered his  body to add a touch of sparkle.
Well while you are here why don't you take a look around and see if you like what you see on my blog to become a follower.  Thanks for stopping by.

I will be entering this in the following challenges
All Sorts Challenge  Free and Easy   ends 7/15
Paper Take Weekly  Anything Goes ends 7/10
Stampin for the Weekend  Wings and Things  ends 7/21
Truly Scrumptious  Things with Wings ends 7/11

Tags Trio Card, Bright & Pretty

This card is so much brighter and pretty in person.  I made this following a sketch and also an ad color challenge on the Cricut message board.  The ad colors were, Turquoise, Lime Green and white, not much white but there is some there.

 

I am really loving my Imagine and learning new things all the time.   I was a bit disappointed to learn that you can set up your files to cut with the Imagine application on the Gypsy, but can not flood fill imagines with colors and patterns.  In fact the regular Gypsy application and the Imagine application do NOT "talk" to each other.

So to work around that I printed up the paper patterns I wanted to use  close to the size it needed to cut my images out.  Then placed the papers on my mat and cut the shapes I wanted out of the pattern paper.  It is a shame if they have the Imagine app on the Gypsy that you can not use them together.  The papers I used for the tags are from the Blossom Imagine cartridge, then I cut out the tags using Tags, Bags, Boxes & More cartridge.

The background paper is that paper they call Invisibles, it is all white and has a raised pattern on it so when you rub your ink or whatever you chose over it does not adhere to the raised areas, then you rub lightly with a paper towel and the pattern shows through.  I also prayed it with Hula Hoop Glimmer mist to give it a shimmery finish,

The butterfly I got some time ago at a fabric remnant store here is town.    The "thinking of you" is on there temporarily as I am not quite sure how I want to use it yet.  

Well I sure hope you like my card well enough to leave a comment, and if you look around my blog and like what you see I would love for you to become a follower, I am trying to get to 200.

Thanks for stopping by

Challenges for this card

One Stop Craft  Tag Your It ends 7/8

Oldie But Goodie  Anything goes ends 7/11

Flutterby Wednesdays  Butterfly ends 7 12

We we Parie'..................................

Are we in Paris yet?  Well this week at Crafty Creations our challenge is hosted by Amy this week and she has put us to the following challenge.  Anything but a card with a Paris theme, well that really had me going for a long time, 1) I just put up a mental block when she said "anything but a card"  I mostly make cards and I just could not wrap my mind around anything else,  2) Paris, I have never been there and if I ever do travel to Europe my place to visit would be Italy, not that I wouldn't want to visit Paris it is just not at the top of my list for now.

Our sponsor this week is Black Leaf Studio

Make sure you stop by and check out their store

They allowed the design team to use a couple of their

Paris like images.

So finally some how, a door hanger popped into my head, so this is what I came up with.

I cut the base (tag) out of heavy card stock twice and glued the together, then cut it again from the patterned paper.  The whole thing measures about 8 1/2 by 4 1/2 inches, which is actually a huge tag cut.   The Eiffel tower was cut from Grunge board and then colored with black ink, then I sprayed it with a silver like Glimmer Mist to give it a dark metal like look.  It was cut using the French Manor cartridge, this was the first time I had used the Cricut Circle cartridge, it sure came in handy for this project.   The word Paris was also cut from the french Manor cartridge.

The Poodle dog is an image from Black Leaf Studios that I printed on very heavy card stock that does not dry real fast coming out of my printer, so i immediately sprinkled clear embossing powder of it and heat set it.

I then cut it out and covered the pink area with bright pink flock to match the background paper.  There is also a very small silver boy on her head, rather hard to see.  I tied a piece of sheer pink ribbon at the top to hang on the door.  

After all that struggle of coming up with the idea I like the way it turned out.  Not sure what I am going to do with but, I am sure it will find a door knob somewhere.

So why not join us at Crafty Creation for this "anything but a card Paris" challenge.

I am so glad you stopped by, I would love for you to look around and if you like what you see become a follower.  That would make me very happy.  

I will also be placing this in the following challenges.

Paper Play   Anything but a card  ends 7/6  

One Stop Craft  Use a tag ends 7/8

Make it Monday   Always anything goes  ends 7/10

Stars & Stripes Forever

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY EVERYONE............I feel very honored to live in this fabulous country and am very thankful to all who make it such a great place to live.   I made this card in honor of our nations colors, the land of the free and the home of the brave.  One of my favorite things is honoring our country and I love making card using red, white & blue even if they are not necessarily a patriot card.

I will probably send this card to my grandson who is in the Navy studying to work on the submarines, just a note to tell  him I am thinking about him and miss him terribly.
I was created following the sketch this week at Card Patterns.  If you ever need some inspiration or a sketch to follow be sure and check them out they have some great sketches to work with.

I used the Cuttlebug embossing folders "stars" on the white area.  The star and swirls were cut from the Home Decor cartridge using my new Imagine to cut them in the color I wanted.  It was really cool as I could go into the colors and pick the exact shade that I wanted.  The Imagine also cuts like a dream on these intricate cuts.   The two stars on the bottom are the left over center star from the star swirl on top, it leaves it with a slight red edges which is nice.

The stars & stripes are cut from the Stand & Salute cartridge out of red glitter paper, I had the Imagine do two passes (cut) on this because sometimes the glitter paper is a bit hard to cut with just once by.

I even finished the inside very simply and left blank so I can write a note in it.
Well I thank you for stopping by and hope everyone is having a wonderful time with their family and friends today

Challenges for this card
Crafty Our Passion - Anything goes  ends 7/10
Stampin for the Week  Favorite things  ends 7/7
All Sorts Challenge Free & Easy (we live in the land of the free) ends 7/31
Card Making Mamas  Red, White & Blue  ends 7/7
Fairy Tale Challenge America  ends 7/7
Splendious Creations  Red, White & Blue ends 7/7
The Shabby tea Room  Red, White and Blue ends 7/10

Thinking of you................first Imagine card

I love love love my new Imagine.  When they first came out I thought "no way, no how" would I ever get one, it was priced way to high at $599. (thought the same about the Gypsy).  Then when I heard they were going pretty cheap on eBay I had to go check it out.  So I bid and got it for slightly over $150  with free shipping.   It arrived quickly but just a day before we left on vacation so I really didn't have much time to play with it.  Well long story short it was a bad one and had to be replaced, all the while thinking to myself what did I get into, I had already accumulated 7 cartridges by now.  Well PC was wonderful and had me my replacement Imagine in less than a week.   Fired that baby up and everything went very smooth.  Now I have been playing around with it and here is the first card I made.  All the papers were printed using the Imagine.  The flower is old one I made a long time ago but thought it worked well with the papers.

 

I am not too happy with how the "thinking of you" stamped, but there was nothing I could do about it.   

Entered in the following challenges

My Mums Crafts Shop  Something Old Something new  ends 7/4
The Paper Shelter anything goes ends 7/5