Pearl Paper with flowers

I made this card last week for a challenge, I was still not feeling well so I did not get to post it till now.  It was made following a sketch.  Even though I wasn't feeling 100% it came out well.

The top paper with the flowers is very pretty and has a pearl sheen to it.  I bought a few sheets at Michaels a year or so ago and finally got around to using it.  As you may know I love Poppies, this one is rather simple, no coloring to do.

The bottom white is pearl cardstock also that I embossed using my Cuttlebug.  The card is 5 x 7 and we all know that the Cuttlebug folder do not cover a 7 inch long piece of paper even though it says it is 5 x 7, the folder is but not the embossing area.  Well I embossed it using the large dots folder and it did not cover it all, so I decided to emboss it again in two pieces using the regular Swiss Dots folder, well that kind of messed up so I ran it through the Cuttlebug underneath the folder (not inside) to try and press out the dots.   That compressed them some, so then I took my brayer and ran over it several times and finally decided to use it as it.  Well let me tell you if I was feeling well, I would have stopped and cut a new piece of paper after the first
try at embossing and start over, but because I just wanted to get it done I used it, and I think it looks interesting.  So I guess I learned that a lot of times you can turn "mistakes" into something very different and unusual.
Because of the way the sketch was I added some large eyelets and threaded the iridescence ribbon through the eyelets.

The two tags were cut using the Alphalicious cartridge and then stamped with the happy birthday.  Bot words were on one stamp so what I did while I was inking them was to cover one word (birthday) with a piece of paper, take the paper off and stamp it then repeat with the other word.

I would love to hear what you think of my card.
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 for this card:
Make-it-Monday  Always anything goes   ends - 8/28

A Patriotic Thinkg of You

This card I made following a sketch in the Cricut message board.  Decided to go with a patriot theme, since I will be sending it to a friend of our that is in basic training for the Air National Guard in Texas.  I know how important it is for them to receive mail during this time since it is the only communication they get during basic training.

The "thinking of you" is from Alphalicious cartridge, an older cartridge.  The papers are from a DCWV mat stack that has such a nice combination of plain colors and patterns to go with them.  I love this stack it is so handy.  The tag is cut from Stand and Salute and is suppose to be a dog tag.  I cut it out of silver paper and I added some "chain like" cord to it as the chain.
I love using my Cuttlebug folders to add that special touch to cards sometimes, however many times they are too small for the cards i make so they don't cover the entire surface I want them too.  This one being a patriot theme I wanted to use my stars folder, but it did not quite cover the area.  then I had an aaaah  haaaa moment (rare LOL) so I did part of the paper with the stars and the other part with a stripe folder to make it look like a flag.  i think it came out pretty cool.  You have to be careful when using two folders so you don't run over each other.  Here is a closer look.

Didn't it come out neat, I was pretty happy with it.
I left the inside very simple so I could write a note in it to our friend and see how she is doing.

While you are here don't forget to check out my giveaway at the top of the post.  Tomorrow is the last day

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 for this card
Raise the Bar   Anything Goes  -  ends 8/10
Paper Take Weekly  Anything Goes  - ends  8/8
For Fun Challenges   Anything Goes  - ends 8/9
Make it Monday   Always Anything goes  -  ends 8/14

Birdcage Card

I had brought the Cricut cartridge Straight From the Nest a while back, it has a lot of nice features on it especially the corner feature.  I had not used it in a while but when the sketches came out at RAQ's Challenge this week on the Cricut message board, I went straight to this cartridge.  If you have a Cricut and your are looking for some inspiration or just have fun stop by and join in, there is a bunch of great ladies there.  I will tell you that I feel like my card making has improved ten fold since I started to do these challenges a year or two ago.  We love new people.

On to my card, the sketch sample had a birdcage on it and I knew I had the Mariposa DCWV stack that would go well with a birdcage cut, my problem was picking which paper from this beautiful stack.

  The card measures 4 x 8 inches, which if a fun size to work with, the only thing is I had to make an envelope to fit it.  Business size 10 envelope is a bit too long.  The birdcage is cut at about 2 3/4 inches and has 3 layers, a shadow, the cage and another layer that is part of the cage area, oh and of course the bird :).  The entire birdcage was cut from white cardstock.  The red part I colored using Distressed Ink Fired Brick and then sprayed it with Scarlet Glimmer Mist.  The shadow I sprayed with charcoal Glimmer Mist and the bird I inked it yellow, sprayed it with Glimmer Mist and then covered it with Glossy Accents.  I love Glimmer Mist, as you can tell so this has a lot of subtle shimmer.
The top layer of the cage kind of rolled slightly when I sprayed it so that is was the shape of a dome, which was kind of cool.  I cut the bar part across the opening (the bar the bird sits on) then when I glued that piece on top I glued just along the edges so it looks 3D and set the bird inside on the perch, oh yeah that is what that thing is called.  LOL

I "hung" the birdcage from a piece of gold chain like cord.  The corners were also cut from Straight From the Nest out of white and sprayed with the charcoal.  The happy birthday is actually a sticker, brackets around the sentiment were cut from Alphallious cartridge.   I struggled with what sentiment to use, I was going to make it a sympathy card to have it one hand but it just did not look right to me, so a birthday card is always safe and will always get used.
 I also linked this card up to Make-it-Monday  challenge, where every Monday there is an anything goes challenge.
Well I am so glad you came and checked out my blog, I would love to read your comment.

Spoil Yourself Silly - Prismapencils MCPT

I receive images every month from Aprile on the Cricut message board, that we are suppose to color using pencils and Odorless Minerals Spirits or MCPT (magic color pencil technique).  If you want more info on this challenge just let me know.   Once we color the image we are to make a card and post it on the message board.  This technique is a lot of fun and produces some very nice results.  This month (August, I am late) I really struggled with this image but in the end I am pretty pleased with it.

I colored the kitty image using my Prismacolor pencils and blended it using the gamsol or OMS and blending stumps.   I cut the image out using Spellbinders label ten and then cut the blue label the next size up.  I Cuttlebugged the blue label but you can't really see it.  The balloons I cut using "Alphallicous" cartridge, 3 for the red one and 2 for the blue & yellow, popped the layers and added Glossy Accents to the top layer, with a small amount of stickles glitter for shading.    Then I tied string to the balloons and tied all three strings in a know and glued it to the card.   This is an odd sized card it is 8 1/2 x 4 1/4, a little wider and shorter then the #10 size envelope so I made my own envelope.    I tried so hard to keep this card male looking, and I think I did!  Would love to read your comments they are always appreciated.