A Special Halloween Card

I am super excited about this special card.  In February I was blessed with a great-granddaughter, she is just adorable and I have been trying to make her mementos for her first year.  For Halloween she will be dressed as a ladybug, she is a very active 9 month old but not quite walking yet so trick-or-treating will have to be done via the stroller.  But at the rate she is going she will be walking by Thanksgiving, she has taken a couple of steps and tries very hard to walk.
So here is that very special card.......................

I cut the "person" and the ladybug outfit from the Paper Doll Dress Up cartridge.  She is about 6 inches tall so I had to make a half sheet size card.   I then had to find a picture (we have tons to chose from LOL) that she was facing forward, I had to print it until I got it the right size.  I covered the ladybug part with red flock so it is fuzzy looking and added some black dots that I had.  The shoes are cut from glossy black cardstock so they look like pan-ten leather.   The spider web, spider and trick or treat bag were also cut from Paper Doll Dress Up.  The web was misted with Glimmer Mist so it has a sheen to it.  I even snuck my new MS drippy goo punch in there along the bottom

The trick-or-treat back had the words cut into it but did not show up too well, so I set it up on my Gypsy and "cut" it first with my Quickkutz pen in the blade housing then, returned to the design put the cutting blade back in and cut it out.  Now the words showed up better.  Then I covered to whole thing with glossy accents.  This card was made following the sketch this week at Mojo Monday #212.   I was so happy when I seen this sketch as I knew it work perfectly for this card.
Now I thought I am going to have to make the inside special also, so here is what I came up with.

I covered it with the same background paper as the front from the DCWV Halloween/Fall stack.  Then I went hunting on the internet for a sentiment to use of the inside.  They were all scary and way to old for a small baby so I took a few of them and along with my own ideas put this one together.  Now lately I have been working a lot with the hinge method to use my Cricut to cut out around things that have already been printed, but until now the shapes were simple, circles, squares etc...  This time I went a bit out of the box and cut this cute ghost around my sentiment.
This card has been in the making for several weeks and has changed courses so many times, trying to evolve around the ladybug but in the end I am very very happy with it.
Please leave me a comment on what you think of my Halloween card.  Thanks for dropping by.

Challenges for this card
Make it Monday  Always anything goes   ends  -  10/30
More than Favors  Anything goes   ends  11/1
Scrapbook Sisters  Anything goes   ends  11/7
Inspire me Friday   Link poarty anything goes   ends  -  11/4
Shellys Images  Tic-Tac-Toe  (Twine - Free - Punches drippy goo)  ends  10/30

An Autumn Hello

Hi, thanks for stopping in.  Today I have made an Autumn Hello card.  I made it following a sketch and also this week at Crafty Creations our challenge is to make something with leaves/Autumn colors.  Jamie is our hostess this week and she got Whiff of Joy stamps to be our sponsor.  So come over to Crafty Creations, you could win  a prize from our sponsor.

This card is kind of simple but I think it really reflects the Fall.  The background paper I printed and cut using my Imagine and the Enjoy the Seasons cartridge.  I also printed and cut all the other pieces also, like the yellow strip and center cream colored piece where the sentiment is stamped.  What I like about printing my paper on the Imagine is !).  You can get the exact color to match your other papers and 2) I printed this on Cryogen White which has a mica sparkle that shows through the printing.
The large leave is a button and all the others are brads.  Pretty simple huh?

Glad you stopped by and be sure and join in the challenge at Crafty Creations.

Challenges for this card
Celebrate the Occasion  Fall   ends  - 10/31
Shopping our Stash  Fall/Autumn   edns  -  10/31
The Paper Shelter   Anything goes   ends  10/31

Gobble Gobble Turkey

Over at round 5 of the CDAC Progressive Freebie challenge one of the images we got to use was this adorable turkey from Sew Many Cards.  You can still join in this progressive challenge for just $1.  Head on over to CDAC and check it out, the new images come out on November 1st.   You have two weeks to work with each set.

I colored my little turkey using my Copic markers, then added some Glossy Accents to the heart shapes at the end of his feathers.  I do feel like I am getting a bit better with these markers.
I printed him with my printer then colored him, after I was done I realized that I did not have the correct size Nestie to cut him out so I pulled out my Gypsy and set up an oval that I knew he would fit into and used the hinge method to cut out the oval around him,.  Because I printed him a bit large I had to make the card a half sheet card (8 1/2 by 11 folded)I am beginning to really like making this size card.  I also cut a brown oval (hard to see)and and additional scalloped oval and then added a couple of brads and pop dotted the whole thing onto the card.    Because I printed him a bit large I had to make the card a half sheet card (8 1/2 by 11 folded)I am beginning to really like making this size card, easier to get all your elements on it and your Cricut cuts do not have to be so small that they tear up while cutting.
I made this card following a sketch from a challenge on the Cricut message board, so I had to set up the "ribbon" like piece behind the turkey.  It was pretty easy using my Gypsy, I just placed a long rectangle the length I needed then lined up a triangle on each end, easier than trying to cut this by hand and keeping it even and straight.  I ran it through the Cuttlebug after and inked around the edges.
The Happy Thanksgiving is cut from the Simple Charmed cartridge, I liked the fun look of it.  I added a small bling for the dot on the i.  The border above the sentiment is an MS border punch.

The background paper is from the DCWV new Halloween/Autumn stack that I just got a couple of days ago.   Love it, an awesome paper stack as was their Autumn one last year.

Here is a closer peak on my Turkey, isn't his face just so cute.  You can also see the brownish oval.
I will finish the inside later and give it to my great-granddaughter for her fist Thanksgiving.  She is almost 9 months old and trying very hard to walk.
As always I am very happy you stopped by, let me know what you think of my turkey and I really feel like he needs a name, any suggestions?

Challenges
My Time to Craft  Punches & die cuts   ends  -  10/25
Paper Playtime  Past or Present anything goes   ends  -  11/4
Make it Monday  Always anything goes   ends - 11/6

Bold & Bright Card

Hi, hope everyone is having a great weekend so far.  I love working with these colors so when I saw the ad color challenge to use yellow, black & white together I knew I had to make a card.  It was also made following a sketch.

The circle I cut using my Cricut George cartridge, this is the cartridge that came in the very first Cricut and it seems like I go to it more often than any other cartridge.

I put a variety of different buttons in the center of the 3 circle and then tied some twine into bows.  I had ordered the twine several months ago and I sure don't use it often enough, I like the way it looks especially with buttons.  I had a tough time deciding what sentiment to put on this card and then I found the "bee happy" on Just Because cards cartridge, I wish I would have found it first because I think I would have put a bee in place of one of the buttons, I guess I could still put one off to the side?

I even completed the inside of this one very simply and left space for a hand written message.

After typing up this post I went back and I did add that little bee, what do you think?

Thanks for stopping by, I would love to read your comments. :)

Challenges for this card
Joyful Stamper Inspire me Friday  Anything goes   ends  - 10/27
Make it Monday  Always anything goes   ends  - 10/30
Totally PaperCrafts  Layers   ends  -  10/27

Christmas Birthday - Two cards in one

Hi, at a time of year when most of us are thinking about making our Christmas cards I also have to think about making a Christmas Birthday card and I amsure some of you do also.  There are so many people that have a birthday on Christmas day or very near, for instance my son's birthday is the 22nd and he will be 41 this year, he is old not me LOL.
I am hosting the challenge this week at Crafty Creations so I have set the challenge to make that Christmas birthday card.
Also I had a friend sometime ago ask me to make a birthday card for his uncle that will turn 91 on Christmas Day, this is what helped me pick my challenge.  The card I made is for him not my son, but I hoping I will get ideas and inspiration for my son's card from everyone that joins in the challenge, so head on over to Crafty Creations and jump in, there is a prize to be won.

This card will be hard to show in just one picture so there will be several.  Here is the front of the card.

The paper has like a leather suede feel to it and came in one of my Dazzles monthly kit I get.  The clock and sentiment is also from that kit and are Dazzzle stickers.  I stuck the clock Dazzle sticker on a piece of that suede paper and then cut out around it.  I colored in some areas with my StazOn Metallic ink pad using a paint brush to color just some small areas.  I also added a brad to the center of the clock face to hold the arms.  Not sure anyone will notice but I put the hands at "9" and "1" for 91 years old. The paper behind the clock is like old catalog paper that I crinkled up and then inked some of the wrinkled places, was trying to go for a vintage look.
Here is the inside of the card

The sentiment was computer generated, then cut out using one of my Nesties.  Now onto the Christmas part of the card.

The Christmas tree was cut from the Christmas Noel cartridge and shadowed with the red paper.  The Christmas papers are from a K & Company Christmas stack that I got last year.  Again the sentiment is computer generated.  Here is a front view of the card.

I stuck the two cards together back of the birthday card to the front of the Christmas card.  Here is another view.

I hope they like this card, I tried to make it very special since it such a big milestone.

Thank you so much for stopping by, please leave a comment I just love to hear what others think of my creations.  And don't forget to stop by Crafty Creations and join in this weeks challenge to make  Christmas Birthday card.

Challenges for this card
Make it Monday  Always anything goes   ends  - 10/23

You Rock - a repost

I posted this card about a year ago, but I had it in my stash and had not finished the inside.  HERE is the original post if you want to take a peak. Well my older brothers birthday is coming later this month so when I was trying to decide what kind of card for him I remembered this one.  Although he does not play the guitar he does play the drums and still has a set in his living room, yes at 60 years old  ssshhhh don't tell him I told LOL. In fact he still has hair down to his shoulders.  So very many childhood memories around music in our house/family will tell you a cute story later in this post.

The guitar was cut from the Stamping cartridge as well as the "You Rock".  Hard to tell in the picture but the middle part of the guitar is cut from glossy silver paper and Cuttlebugged.  I hand cut very small strips of paper for the guitar strings.  The guitar itself is also Cuttlebugged.
Now the interesting part of this is the background music paper is from a kleenex box.  There were several colors and in the original post HERE I also have a pink girl version of it.
Here is the finished inside, I though this stamp was the perfect verse.  I hope it is readable.

 I think he will really enjoy and like this card.  Now on to that family story.  When Mike (brother) was about 14 or so he wanted to play the drums and as I said my whole family loved music but not as much as my grandma so she bought him his first set of drums.  As he got older and better and joined a band he saved up enough to upgrade his drum set, well my grandma offered to buy back his first set of drums for she paid for them (to help him out) and she took that set of drums and put them in HER living room and she played them! She had an ear for music and never took a lesson in her life but if she could sing a song in her head she could play it on almost any instrument.  She had a concertina, the set of drums and later she bought herself an organ and boy could she play them all.  I don't know how much you really want to hear but I am on a roll and this story popped in my head.  While I was living in Tombstone AZ she came and spent sometime with me, we would go into town and she would say "come on let's go to the Crystal Palace for a beer" so we would go and she would order her beer.  One day in the afternoon there was a small band playing and she went up to them and said "let me on the stage I will play those drums" and sure enough she did, she was probably in her 70s and she kept right up with that band.  She was so amazing and we lost her way to soon to cancer because I can only imagine what other memories she would have let us.
Thanks for stopping in and letting me reminisce.

Non-Traditional Colored Snowflake

Hello everyone, I have another snowflake card for you today.  I love the way it looks even though it is as far from the color of a snowflake as you can get.

I thought I would follow the colors in the paper to make this snowflake.  I made this card following a sketch (of course) and using papers from a DCWV Christmas stack from a year or so ago that I had in my stash.  The I guess since it is Breast Cancer Awareness month the pink fits right in.   It is actually pretty simple, I printed the circle sentiment using my printer on vellum then using the hinge method cut the circle out using my Cricut.  The more I do this the easier it gets.
I cut the snowflake in three layers from the Christmas Noel cartridge, there are a lot of cartridges that have a snowflake cut on them but I seem to like this one a lot.

Here is a closer look at the snowflake layers.  I cut the larger or shadow layer from a dark red paper and sprayed it with glimmer mist, then the next two layers I cut from kind of a hot pink color.  The middle layer I ran through my Xyron and covered it with pink glitter, the top layer I again sprayed with glimmer mist.  Then I added a few pink accent pearls and that's it.
So let me know what you think of my "pink" snowflake.  Thanks for stopping by.

Challenges for this card.
Paper Craft Weekend Challenge  Think Pink  ends  11/16  (special challenge)
Make It Monday   Always anything goes   ends  - 10/23
Squiggle Stamps  Christmas Cheer   ends  - 10/28

Let it Snow

I made this card for one of the entries at the Cricut Circle Blogiversary.  We had to use one of the Circle exclusive cartridges.  I used Sophie, which was the last one we got and by far my favorite so far.  It has a card feature and since mostly make cards I love this, it also has some fabulous dollies.   She here is my card, the prize is to win $75 to your Cricut.com account that would be cool!

It is so sparklie in person, The large snowflake has three layers that I sprayed each one with Glimmer Mist, a darker color on the bottom layer.  The top layer I put crystal glitter on it.  What do you this about the blue & silver dots, do they look OK?  I have not glued them permanently yet, they had sticky on the back but that doesn't stick real well to the glitter.  It was not my intention at first to have part of the snowflake cut off, but when I cut it out using CCR and my Expression, I thought I had the 8 1/2 x 11 piece of paper in the right direction but the cut ran off the edge of the paper on the bottom two layers of the snowflake so I thought I would just put it off the edge of the card and cut the top layer off to match.  I really think I like it better than placing the whole snowflake on the card.  Happy accidents, don't ya just love when that happens.  :).  The smaller snowflake is cut from the Christmas Noel cartridge at slightly larger than 1 inch.  The card is a 5 1/2 inch square card.  The "Let it Snow" is from the Winter Frolic cartridge and I flood filled with the same snowflake pattern as the background, but CCR put a green border around it and you can see it, so it is on there temporarily because I am not sure I like it there.  I wish they would fix that border bug in CCR as I love to use this program especially when I am using my Imagine.
The snowflake background is printed/cut from the Snow Angel cartridge, is is printed on Cryogen White paper that has a sparkle through it that shows through the printing.

Here is a closer picture of the snowflakes where you can see the sparkle a bit more.  The top layer of the small snowflake is pop dotted.

Thanks for stopping by and I would love to hear what you think of my partial snowflake.

Challenges for this card
Belli Challenge Flower soft, glitter or felt   ends  - 10/15
Anything challenge  Die Cuts  ends - 10/17
Make it Monday  Always anything goes   ends  10/18
Crafty Cardmakers  Anything goes   ends 10/16

Circle Blogiversary Sketch Challenge

This October celebrates one since the Circle Blog was started.  There is always so much inspiration, fun and giveaways on the blog.  So this week we had to follow the following sketch and the prize is An Imagine!

I had fun with this, as I love to follow sketches and I think it came out so pretty.  You had to follow the sketch and use at least 2 different Cricut cuts.

I had cut this adorable teapot a couple weeks ago when I got my Everyday Pop Up cards cartridge.  I just love this cut so I left it on my desk to be used when I found the right project and this was it!  It is cut at 3 inches.  I Cuttlebugged the yellow part with the swirls embossing folder, I did not want the embossing to be so deep, so I ran it through again under the embossing folder to flatten out some of the embossing.   I did the same thing with the yellow flower.  The flower was also cut from the Everyday Pop up cards cartridge.
All the papers were printed and cut using the Imagine and CCR, the white piece was cut but of course not printed.  The background flower paper is printed from the Imagine cartridge Blossom and it was all printed on a mica coated paper which has a slight sparkle to it.  Happy birthday was cut from the MS Elegant cake cartridge, it was printed with the blue but I covered it with blue ink and heat embossed it with sparkle so it would sparkle.  So with all those cuts this card should qualify for the challenge.

Here is a closer look so you can see the difference in the embossing.  I used the swirls folder on the white but did not flatten it out.  I added a bling for the dot on the "i" of birthday.  Lots of other bling on this card.  It is a large card, half sheet of letter size paper.

So glad you found your way to my blog today, I would love it if you left a comment for me to read.

Challenges for this card
Make it Monday   Always anything goes   ends  - 10/15
One Stop Craft Challenge  Anything goes   ends  - 10/14

Scaredy Cat!!

This image is an Design 2 Delight image and is an image from round 4 of the CDAC Freebie Progressive challenge.  If you are not familiar with this challenge be sure and check the link above and get in on the fun.   This week it worked out perfect for me because I also used this image for our challenge at Crafty Creations this week.   Our hostess this week is Deena and our sponsor is Willow Designs.

Here is the  3-2-1 challenge Deena has set for us

1. Use 3 designer papers

2.  Two embellishments

3. one image

Here is my card

My 3 designer papers are from three different paper stack, the one you see the most the plaid is from DCWV Autumn stack.  My 2 embellishments (well there are more than 2) Bow, brads and purple bat on the bow, and the image of course from the CDAC Freebie Progress challenge.  I had the scaredy cat sticker in a pack of stickers and I thought it fit perfectly.  The green strip behind the image I punched using my MS drippy goo punch.  

Her is a closer view.  I was going to cover the pumpkin with Glossy Accents but I forgot.  Still might go back and do it?  I colored the image using my Copic markers and cut it out with my oval Nesties, then I wanted a scalloped shadow layer (my 3rd DP) so I used my Gypsy and cut it so it would show behind the image, can't remember which cartridge. :/

So come on over to Crafty Creations and join in the 3-2-1 challenge.

Thanks for stopping by.

Challenges for this card
Make it Monday  Always anything goes   ends - 10/16
Cupcake Craft Challenges  Halloween   ends - 10/16
Everybody Art Challenge  Halloween   ends - 10/17
The Beary Scrap DT  Free for All (anything goes)  ends - 10/14
I Did it Creations Anything goes   ends  - 10/15
The Scrap Master  Use Orange   ends  -  10/15

Lori's Garden Birthday

.........I am still playing with my Lori's Garden cartridge, I just love all the images and the papers on this cartridge.
This one was made following a sketch on the Cricut message board.

This car is rather simple however I added some bling to it by putting some Stckles on the flower.  I printed some of the patterned paper on vellum and just love the way that turned out.  Hard to see but it is the pink piece behind the vellum that the happy birthday is stamped on.

I think you can see that better in this picture.  Lori;s Garden makes it so easy to make a card.
Thanks for stopping by leave me a comment so that I know you were here.

Challenges for this card.
Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge  Sparkle   ends  10/13
Make it Monday  Always anything goes   ends - 10/16
One Stop Craft  Anything goes    ends  - 10/13
Penny"s Cahllenges  Anything goes   ends-  10/11

Fall colors Wedding card

We have a wedding to go in early November and the wedding colors are Fall colors.  At first I thought that this colors might be a bit dark for a wedding card, but in the end I like the way it came out.

Since I needed to work with Fall colors I pulled out my DCWV Autumn stack from last year, this is still one of my favorite paper stacks.  I chose the dark red paper that has a slight black line design to it.  The base of the card is white pearl paper and I left a small edge of the white behind the red paper.  I embossed the top half of the background paper, but since the paper was thin it torn a bit and you can see the white, but I think that kind of gave it a nice effect and picked up the white border.  The border across the center is a very very pretty pearl like gold paper, it is so hard to see that in the picture.  I cut the border from the Martha Stewart All Occasion Cake art cartridge, and saved some of the small hearts and glue them on the bottom half of the card.

The heart were also cut from the MS All Occasion cartridge.  I printed the names on a piece of pearl white paper in brown and immediately sprinkled it with clear embossing powder the second it came out of the printer.  The pearl paper doesn't dry as fast so you have that window that you can sprinkle it with the embossing powder and then heat emboss it.
Now the tricky part was getting the hearts to cut out exactly around the names.  I used the "hinge" method.  I set up the hearts in my Gypsy then cut them from just plain white card stock, then took the hearts off the mat but left the rest on the mat and placed a piece of tape across the top.
Then I lifted that piece off the mat like a hinge leaving it attached at the top and slipped my printed piece of paper under the template to line up the printed names under the cut out hearts.  You can see my arrows of which way I had to move each heart to get them lined up.

 Stuck my printed piece to the mat, removed the template (hinged piece) and loaded it in my Cricut to cut.  I think I made it a bit harder on myself by trying to cut out both name hearts at the same time instead of doing them individually.

Are here are the hearts cut out.

 I hope this makes sense.  There is a video out there on You Tube on how to do this.  I am not too good at tutorials but I am trying
I then place pearls alternating small and tiny pearls around the hearts, cranberry colored on hers and brown on his.    The "Wedding Wishes" is stamped and heat embossed in gold.  I still have one more card to make for this wedding (for my Mom) so hope to get that posted in the next couple of days.

Thanks for taking time to spot by my blog.  I would love it if you left me a comment.

Challenges for this card
Crafty Card Makers  Anything goes   ends - 10/16
Creatalicious Challenge  Anything goes   end - 10/14
Make it Monday  Always anything goes   ends - 10/16
ABC challenge  Anything goes   ends  10/13

Lori's Garden Birdcage.

Ever since I got my Imagine in June I had been wanting the Lori's Garden cartridge.  It was one that people got at launch but since then you were able to purchase it however it is usually pretty pricey even on Ebay it was $50+ which I think it too much for a cartridge.  So I waited patiently and two weeks ago CricutMachine.com had a sale and it was just $19.95.  I almost fell off my chair when I saw that this was one of the ones on this special.  It arrived  last week and I love everything one it, even the papers are pretty.  So this week at Mojo Monday  I thought the sketch would be perfect for using this cartridge and the birdcage.  Here is the sketch I had to follow, and be sure and go over there and join in as this week there is prizes.

Mojo Monday is such a great place for inspiration and they release a new sketch every Monday.
So here is the card I made following this sketch.  Plus there is a challenge over at the Cricut Circle blog to make something using your Imagine papers and print out layers, I think this card fits that challenge perfectly.

I am so over the top happy with how this came out.  I even think it might qualify as being a Bobby card from the Cricut Couple.  After all it was his cards using this cartridge that made me want it so so bad.  If you are not familiar with him or the Cricut Couple blog you really need to go check it out both Bobby and his wife Jill are amazing card makers, one of the most talented in blogland   Well one of the things that makes it a Bobby card is the size, it is a 8.5 x 11 size of paper folded in half, I am really liking making cards this size as it is easier to get what you want on them and also your cuts do not have to be so small that they are hard to get off your mat.

So on to my card, I used Lori's Garden for the entire card, papers and all.  I printed the papers on Cryogen White paper that has a mica like sparkle to it, and it shows through when you print on it.   There are several places on line that you can buy it one of them is Paper Temptress, she has a lot of other great papers also.
The Imagine really helps me to put colors and patterns together which is something I struggle with now and then.
Over all the birdcage is cut at 3 1/2 inches and I cut each layer that comes for the design and pop dotted then as I stacked them.  Added some pearls to the centers of the flowers and along the bottom of the cage.  Then after I get it all put together and even mounted on the scalloped circle and onto the card, I decide I should cut out a bird for in the cage, well it did not look right for the bird to be "outside" the cage, but my design was all assembled already :(..................Hmmm what to do, then I have one of those moments and it pops in my head to print the top layer of the cage on vellum paper and put the bird behind it.  Well that meant I had to take all the layers apart, being the anal person I am sometimes I went ahead tackled it and gave it shot.  I risked ruining my whole card, Yikes!   So carefully using one of my Cricut tools I pried each piece off and set it aside to put it back.  So here is it is, all re-assembled.

 with my little birdie properly place "inside" the cage.  I took a huge chance but I am very very happy I did as it worked out great.  What do you think, even in the close up it looks good or not redone?
So would you or do you do things like this or am I just crazy?  LOL
I am so glad you stopped by to take a look, leave me a comment so that I know you were here and sure hope you decide to follow me or come back again for another look some day.

Challenges for this card
CES Challenge   TotallyGorguss/Girlie   ends  - 10/7
Simon Says Stamp  Sparkle & Bling   ends  -  10/11
Make it Monday   Always anything goes   end - 10/9
Crafty Cardmakers  Anything goes   ends - 10/16

Sparkly Christmas Wreath

Boy you should see the sparkle on this one in person!  This week at Crafty Creations our challenge by our hostess Claire is to make a decoration, when I think of decorations I always seem to think of Christmas especially this time of year.  So the challenge is a decoration but it does not have to be Christmas it can be any kind of decoration, candle, wall hanging, Halloween, door hanger, well you get the picture.  So make sure you come a play along because Claire got us a fabulous sponsor this week.

                                    

You could win a fabulous CD from Polka Doodles.

The Magical Winter CD full of images, papers, sentiments etc....

So here is my decoration, it is a small wreath only about 8 inches big, but I created nearly the entire thing using my Cricut Imagine.

I cut all the branches from the Christmas Noel cartridge, in fact there is 16 in all.  I flood filled them with a pattern from the Imagine cartridge Snow Angel.  Here is a picture of them still on my mat.

I flipped some of them in CCR so the some would be going in the opposite direction.  Then I sprayed them with water and crunched them up, like when you make crumpled flowers so that they would not be so flat and have some dimension to them.   Beware, when you get things wet that were printed with the Imagine the ink fades and runs, lesson learned so the colors are not as bright as they started out to be.  Maybe if I let the ink set overnight it might not have happened, will have to try it again some time.  Here is a picture of them well some of them drying on a paper plate.

Then I cut a circle out of green card stock and chipboard and glued them together to make it heavier and punched a whole in the back for hanging it up.  Then using my hot glue gun I started to glue down all my branches in various directions till I completed the circle.  When they were all glued down I very lightly misted it with spray glue and sprinkled clear and green glitter over the whole thing, had to do something to make up for the color I lost when I wet all the branches.

While I had my glue gun out (don't get it out very often) I decided to have some fun and make some skittles, I made several small ones to color later, then I got the idea to make BIG ones and sprinkle them with red glitter, after all I was already covered from head to toe in glitter.  They came our great, I am very happy with them and they were the perfect decoration for my wreath.  

So one of my dilemmas was, what else would I put on there, wanted to do a bow but nothing I had looked right.  So Sunday my hubby took me to Michaels to try and find something, well after picking up several Christmas stickers decorations etc still nothing I brought home seem like the right fit.   I decided to cut out my own bow.  I cut the bow using the Ashleys Alphabet cartridge and coloring it using my Imagine.  The top layer I covered with red glitter and it was perfect!!!! I even added one of my special glitter dots to the center of the bow.

You can see some of the sparkle in this picture.  

So go ahead jump on in and let's see your decorations.

Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope you enjoyed my wreath and extra pictures of the process, I always forget to take pictures along the way.

Challenges for this card
Simon Says Stamp  Sparkle & bling   ends  - 10/11
Make it Monday   Always anything goes   ends  10/9
Anything Challenge  Dies cuts and/or Punches   ends  10/16
Scrapalicious USA  Something that hangs   ends  -  10/11

Black & Gray Card.

Didn't want to title this as a sympathy card, but when I put these papers and colors together I thought it would do well as a sympathy card.  Besides it is nice to have these around as I find them more difficult to make when you need them.
This is one of the sketches this week at RAQs Challenge on the Cricut message board.

After giving me many fits I think it came out fine.  This was one of those cards where you have something in your mind and it is just so hard to get it on the paper how you imagine it.   I was determined to use one of the tag cuts from Picturesque that has a butterfly on it because I had paper that would work well with it.  Well after cutting out several and flood filling them with the Imagine I finally moved on to something else.  The background papers are from the same pack that I originally wanted to use..  What I had a hard time with was that I was also trying to follow a color challenge using black, gray and ivory, well I just could not get the ivory to work so I used white.  Close enough huh?   The papers are from a Best Occasions stack that I bought a WalMart a couple of years ago, the tag is from the same stack.

I knew one of the cartridges had a cut to match the "Queen Anne's Lace" (as I call it) on the paper so I could incorporate a Cricut cut into it.  This particular cut from Lyrical Letters is an extremely fine cut but I went ahead and tried it using my Imagine because it cuts so much better than my Expression, but even using the Imagine the fine lines/stems just fell apart trying to get it off the mat.  I so wanted to use this cut and then I had an Ah Ha moment and used my Quickuts pens in my Create to draw it.  I set it up in my Gypsy at the size I wanted and then put my black pen in and hit cut, after is was done drawing it I hit "return to mat" and placed a circle around it using George, then I deleted the Queens Anne's Lace and hit cut and it cut it out perfectly! Here is a link to a video on using these pens in your Cricut, just click HERE.   YEAH t worked!  I cut out a slightly larger black circle to use as a shadow.  I colored in parts of the drawing using my Stardust gel pen, the petals part but it is hard to see.

I cut the "with sympathy" from the Wild Card cartridge and added a few dots with my white gel pen.  The edge of the gray I torn using a metal ruler that I had found on clearance at my grocery store, works great when you don't want to use a straight edge.  Whew well I think it came out fine although it took many many turns along the way.

Thanks so much for stopping by, I would love to hear what you think so leave me a comment.

Challenges for this card
Inspire me Fridays   Anything goes   ends - 10/6
Crafts 4 Eternity   Anything goes   ends - 10 6
Creatalicious Challenges  Anything goes   - 10/13
Make it Mondays   Always anything goes   ends - 10/9
Ooh La La  Sympathy   ends  - 10/16

Happy Holidays Snowman

Well it seems I have been on a Christmas card roll lately, well at least I am getting a bit of a head start.  Also at the Cricut Circle blog weekly challenge was to make a card using your Cricut, well this card was all made using my Cricut Imagine.
I made this card following a sketch this week on the Cricut message board.

I used the Imagine cartridge Snow Angel to print the background paper and the snowman.

 I layered the snowman and added a few extra embellishments to him.  I used brown pearls for his buttons and a brown rhinestone for his eye.  His carrot I colored using my Copic markers and then covered it with Glossy Accents.  For the "ice" I covered it with Crackle Accents to make it look like ice.  Using the Crackle Accents on the Imagine printed images gives it a bit of a different effect.  The Crackle Accents makes the colors bleed a little, in this case it was a good thing, but I will have to remember that because some times it may not be good.  LOL
I a very happy you took the time to stop by, leave me a comment so that I knew you were here.

Challenges for this card
The ABC Challenge   Anything goes   ends -  10/13
Make it Monday   Always anything goes   ends  10/9

Christmas Ornament

Well happy World Card Making Day everyone, I hope everyone is having a lot of time to play and make some cards today.  Here is my card I will submit on the Cricut Blog where they are having a giveaway of the Cricut cartridge "Happy Hauntings" and the October issues of the Cricut magazine.  So stop on over for you chance to win and to see some inspiration.  But you better hurry cut off is midnight tonight.

The card is a half sheet sized card ( 5.5 x 8.5), so the ornament is cut rather big about 5 inches.  It was cut from the Christmas Noel cartridge using all 3 layers.  I cut them all from plain white card stock and then sprayed each layer using a different color of Glimmer mist to color them.  The top green layer I covered with Glossy Accents for some added dimension and shine.  Even the striped background paper I printed using my Imagine and the Mr Frosty cartridge.  I printed it on Cryogen White paper which has a light sparkle to it.  The sparkle shows through the printing.  I think I will have to get more of this for printing with my Imagine.

Here in this close up you can see the Glossy Accents a bit better.  The green border/strip was cut using the MS Elegant Cake cartridge, using Cricut Craft Room I welded three of them together to make it the correct size I needed.  Wow Cricut Craft Room will really be an awesome program when it is released.  They are still working out a few minor bugs but I am sure it will be released soon.  I added some red stickles to the border to look like holly berries??  The Merry Christmas is a stamp.
Thanks so much for stopping by to visit, I love to read your comments.

Challenges for this card
Simon Says Stamp   Anything Goes   ends - 10/4
Truly Scrumptious  Clean & Simple   ends -  10/4
Penny's Challenge   Anything goes   ends - 10/11
Catch the Bug  Anything goes  ends - 10/8
Paper Crafting Journey   Die cut and Punches  ends - 10/12