You're Sew Sweet

I have a card today to share with you that I hope you like, I love the way it turned out.  

The dress form cut is from the new Close to my Heart Cricut cartridge Artiste.  Isn't it a great cut, you thought Art Philosophy was the greatest cartridge ever but somehow someway CTMH topped it with Artiste.  This cartridge has so much on it even a lot of 3D items and comes with a separate instruction book for assembling them.  I hope to share some of these things with you in the near future.

I covered the cut with Liquid Glass to give it some dimension and shine.  I also sewed around the panel with my little Jacome sewing machine.  The sentiment is a Dazzle sticker and it helped me theme and put this card together.  Not sure I like the button on the bottom but I wanted to add another sewing element.

Well thanks for stopping by and be sure and check back on August 1st when the Artiste cartridge will be available for purchase.  

Happiness in Kanji

Hello all, I have a card to share with you today that I just love, although it was a big challenge.  Well it should be a challenge because I was following one of the sketches from a challenge on the Cricut message board.  So I guess first I should share the sketch with you.

Sorry it is a bit blurry so I can't make out where the sketch came from to give them credit.  Well it looks simple enough right? Wrong!  Well I wanted to use my Cricut to cut it so I went to my Gypsy using good old George and Plantin Schoolbook I created a cut file for it.  After working on it and doing several, well a lot of test cuts I found that the angles and meeting at the corners came out best using a square card, so my card is 5.5 x 5.5.   

So here is my finished card, I will get back to the cut file in a minute with some pictures.

Both the black and the red paper is glossy paper, which doesn't show up well in the picture.  The symbols on the red squares and the happiness are all Dazzle stickers.  The Kanji symbol for happiness I cut from the Pagoda cartridge.

Here is a closer look at those symbol stickers, I also added some red/gold small circle stickers to the corners of the gold square.

So here is a screen shot of my Gypsy screen.  One of the hardest parts was the diagonal line down the center.  The Cricut doesn't have just a straight line cut (that I could find) so I took just a skinny rectangle line and stretched it out and then pulled it as close together as I could.  

 Here is it still on the mat.

This what it looks like as I pulled it apart, you can see that a slight piece was left from that diagonal line.  Obviously this was my sample cut, as I didn't want to waste that glossy paper if it did not come out right.  After all the tweaking this was my final cut file.

Thank you so much for stopping by today, please leave me a comment and let me know what you think of my card and cut file.  

Challenges for this card

Art With no Boundaries  Anything Goes  ends  7/28

Make It Monday  Always anything goes  ends 7/29

Simply Create Too  Use it twice (at least) ends 8/2

A Couple of Cards using Artiste

I am sure you have all heard by now but CTMH has done it AGAIN!   We all know that Art Philosophy is the greatest cartridge, well just when you think it can't be beat Close to my Heart comes out with Artiste.  As a consultant I was able to get my hands on it a bit early, but it will  be available to purchase on August 1st.
Here is a link to check out all that is on this cartridge, it has some of everything, from boxes, cupcake wrapper, flowers, sayings to cards, the list goes on.

Artiste Handbook

You can click HERE to order yours August 1st. 

It even comes with an instruction booklet to tell you how to put things together.

So playing around with mine here are a couple of cards I came up with.

First I made this fun card using papers I printed with my Imagine and the Enjoy the Seasons cartridge.

It is kind of simple and fun!  There is only one cut on it and that is the yellow banner/ribbon, that I then stamped using the Moonstruck ink and one of the stamps that comes in the Artiste bundle.  I am so very impressed with how cool it looks and how it matched up.  I am even more impressed with myself that I stamped it straight and matched it up.  ha ha.  I then mounted the banner onto a piece of chipboard that comes in the bundle.

  The cupcake is a little felt sticker I had around here.

For next card I used paper from the La Belle Vie paper pack that is new in the 2012 Autumn/Winter Idea Book.  The papers are so pretty and make it easy to put a card together.

This one only has a couple of cuts from Artiste, the black banner on the bottom I cut then I stamped on it with Versa Mark ink just to leave a slight pattern so it wasn't so plain.  The pink circle is actually like a button cut that is on the Artiste cartridge, I cut it 5 times then glued them all together to give it more dimension.  The I tyed a bow through the wholes and added a small flower from the Bitty Buds embellishments.

Here is a closer look at that button.  The thinking of you is a stamp from the Casual Expression set that will be in the new Idea Book.

Well I want to thank you for taking the time to stop by and visit my blog today, I love to hear your comments so please leave me one.  Have a great weekend!

Soft Colored Happy Birthday

I love the soft look of this card.  The background paper was printed using my Imagine and the Blossom cartridge, then mounted it on kraft card stock.

The banner I cut using my Art Philosophy cartridge and stamped it with a CTMH stamp using Olive ink.

I cut the tic-tac-toe kind of grate using my Gypsy and some lines I welded together.

I placed them on the paper but thought it looked to plain behind them so I took one of those crazy little foam thingies that come in the box when you get a new cartridge and inked it up with some light ink and stamped it, came out perfect just what I wanted.  Then all the flowers are stickers I placed inside the squares.

Thank you for taking the time to stop by my blog, I love to read your comments.

Fabulous Poppies

Actually they are giant flowers turned mini!  Hi, I have a card to share with you today that I created following the sketch challenge this week at the Cricut Circle Blog. The rules are to follow the sketch and use at least two Cricut cuts.  I used 5 different cuts and that is only counting both flowers as one, so I think I am good there.  The prize is $25 in credit at Cricut.com

I am so happy with how this turned out not to mention that Poppies are my favorite flowers.  The poppies are cut using the Giant Flowers Cricut cartridge, but I cut them small, one at 1.25 inch and the smaller one about 3/4 inch.  Now those are the sizes of the pieces the actual flowers when put together are approx 2.25 and 1.25.  First you  cut out the petals, then there are these pieces that you have to fit the bottom of the petals into, I should have taken a picture, cutting the flowers this small makes those pieces pretty little but I got them put together with some teeny workings, ha ha, after all the cartridge is called Giant Flowers.

The center pieces are a bit different to work with but I think I got them put together correctly.  I added some MS glitter to the center just to give it some sparkle.
A bit more details on how I created the flowers, whenever I cut something out for the first time I cut it from plain white cardstock to make sure the size, cut etc is right.  So the larger poppy is cut from white paper that I colored with orange ColorBox ink after I had all the petal part assembled I sprayed it with Oriental Poppy Glimmer Mist.  The smaller poppy was cut from bright orange card stock, then sprayed with the glimmer mist, the smaller one is a bit deeper orange but amazingly close being that they were cut from way different papers.  The center of the flowers were both cut from white cardstock and inked to make them brown.
I did "rough" up the petals a bit with one of those thingies with the ball on the end, just kept rolling around on the petal till the paper (on a foam pad) soften up a bit and made it easier to shape

The green swirl I cut using the Art Philosophy cartridge, the leaves are cut from MS Season Cake Art, I thought they were closest to a poppy leaf that I could find.  The striped green background paper is from a K&Company paper stack that I have had for a long time and then I used a corner punch which had been in my stash for a few years.  Using these "old" things makes this card eligible to enter in the challenge this week over at Oldie But Goodie where the theme is Flower Power

The scalloped circles and the ribbon/banner were cut also from Art Philosophy and I added a brad that I had which I thought matched the card well even though I think it may be a rose.

The ribbon across the front I found in the dollar bin at Michaels and it is actually what inspired this card.  The sentiment I stamped and heat embossed using a Mark's Finest stamp.

Well I am so glad you took the time to stop by, please let me know what you think of my card.

Challenges for this card

Oldie but Goodie  Flower Power  ends 7/23

Make it Monday  Always anything goes  ends 7/14

Incy Wincy  Summertime  ends 7/15

Hot Birthday wishes

I created this card following a sketch (of course ha ha) for a challenge that my sister-in-law hosted a few weeks ago, by I just got around to making it yesterday.

I have had a lot of trouble with my Imagine and yesterday got it working, well partially, at least enough to print the papers for this card.  The red background is from Kate's Kitchen and the yellow is from Enjoy the Seasons. 

The chile string is from the Ole cartridge that I printed and cut.

The saying is computer generated and the small chile on top is a sticker.

This card fits into the challenge over at My Sheri's Crafts so I will enter this card there.  There is a picture for inspirations and this card has the colors from that picture.

Thank you for taking the time to stop by today, would love to hear your comments.

Iris for my Friend

My best friend is going to have heart surgery in a couple of weeks so I wanted to make her a special card.   It was quite a shock to hear since she is very active vibrant and full of life.  Apparently a few years ago she had a heart attack and did not even know, she just recently went on Medicare so she went to her doctor for a check up and the doctor sent her to the hospital where they discovered the damage to her heart, she is so lucky.  The surgery is not scheduled for another couple of weeks but I wanted her to know me and God are by her side.

I created this card following a sketch and a color challenge.  I have had this Iris digital image for a while and always wanted to try and color it with the purple and yellow, well when the color challenge came up to use, black, tan, green, yellow, purple and lavender, I thought this was the perfect opportunity.  Actually deep purple and bright yellow is one of my favorite color combinations.  The Iris is a Delicious Doodles image,  I like their images because some of them have some shading in them already and that is one of my biggest challenges using my Copics.
The colors I used on the flower is V12, V15, V17 and for the yellow Y02, Y04.

Here is a closer look at them.  Overall I am very pleased with how they turned out, with practice I will get better.  The sentiment is a CTMH stamp from the Card Chatter - Sympathy set.

The inside I finished very simply carrying the same color theme to the inside and printed the digital image lightly.  I will hand write a note to her when I am ready to send it.

Thanks for stopping by and I love to read your comments.
Challenges for this card

Make it Monday  Always anything goes   ends  7/14
Great Impressions Show us your coloring  ends 7/31
Lil's Little Fairies Anything goes  ends  7/11
Paper Take Weekly Anything Goes  ends  7/9

Red, White & Blue........

................FOREVER!  Seeing as tomorrow is the 4th of July I thought I would share this patriotic card with you.

The center star/circle was cut from a piece of paper that is in the K & Company Americana stack. I added Crackle accents to the off-white area leaving the star part as is.  I mounted it on a couple of scalloped ovals I cut using the Art Philosophy cartridge.  The random stars I cut from Stand & Salute.

 Here is a closer look at how that Glossy Accents look, I am pleased with how it turned out.  The red,white & blue banner is a sticker which must be a K & Company (lost the packaging) because it has a star in there that matched this one perfectly.  

Now if you visit my blog regularly (thanks :) you know that I have a couple of grandsons in the Navy, one has already finished his schooling and is a Sonar Tech and the other one will also be a Sonar Tech but is just in the beginning of his schooling.   Now this card is particularly special to me as just this morning we found out that grandson #1 will be going out on his first deployment/underway on a submarine.  He will be gone for 3 months over the holidays, we are so very excited for him as he finally gets to see first hand what a Sonar Techs; duties are.  After a year of training it is so very thrilling to finally get to go underway.  His sub that he is assigned to is in Portsmouth undergoing an overhaul so he will be a "ghost rider" on another sub.  I had already started this card yesterday not knowing the news so I will be sending him this card to wish him well on his journey.  It is rather bittersweet as he has a wife and a 17 month old daughter, but they will be fine.

Thanks for stopping by and taking a peak at my blog, would love to hear what you think of my card.

 And a very very Happy 4th of July to all especially those serving our country.

Challenges for this card

Sentimental Sundays   Patriotic Colors   ends  7/7

Make it Monday  Always anything goes  ends 7/8
Cute Card Thursday Patriotic   ends 7/4
Simon says Stamp  Patriotic or Sporty  ends 7/4
Mr Sheri Crafts  I love America   ends 7/6
Tammys Scracpin Corner Celebrations/4th of July  ends  7/8
Sisterhood Crafters  Stars  ends 7/8
Hiding in my Craft Room  anything Goes    ends 7/7

Spots and More Spots

Hi, I have a fast post here to share with you a birthday card I made a couple of weeks ago.  Sorry I got so far behind on posting my cards.

It was a fun card to make and has a a few different textures.  I Cuttlebugged the white strip with the Spots & Dots folder, then Cuttlebugged each of the circles with one of the images on the clock folder.

Here is a closer look at the embossing.  I added a piece of bling to the center of each circle.  The happy birthday is stamped on a cut from Art Philosophy that I welded back to back so it would have the banner/ribbon cut on each end.
Well thanks for stopping by and hope you have a fabulous week.

Challenges for this card
Make it Monday  Always anything goes  ends 7/8
Creative Inspirations  Anything goes   end  7/3
Charisma Cardz  Anything goes   end  7/4