Loving Birthday Cross

Well hello there.  So sorry I have not posted in a 

while I have been working on a couple projects for a guy 

at church.

He asked me to make a religious birthday card for his wife

whose birthday is in December.

It is a large card, a letter size paper folded in half.

I love the pearl embossed background paper, I had used it for my son's

wedding card HERE.  The cross is one I found online

and uploaded it to Cricut Design Space and cut it out with

my Explore.  Since it is such an intricate design I put some

Stick-It adhesive on the back of the cardstock before I cut it out.

It worked great!  It is very thin and light so the Explore had no problem cutting it out.   The sentiment on the bottom is a Cricut file I had my Explore

write.  I love the new very fine point pens.

Here is the inside.

The verse I typed out in Word and then printed on pearl

paper.

Thank you so much for stopping by and I hope you

all have a very Happy Thanksgiving, we have so much

to be thankful for.

Have a Beautiful Day

Hi, sorry I have not been posting too much lately

have just been in one of those funks that when I go in my

room I am all over the place and not settling down to

make a card.  But I have got some things cleaned up and

put away although you could not tell by looking at my room.

I did, however, get some Christmas cards done so that

is a good thing.

Today's card I made following this week's sketch over at

MFT Wednesday Sketch challenge.

Sometime ago I had bought a 6 x 6 pack of 

Bazzill Kraft and Foil paper pad.

So when I saw this sketch I thought using that paper

would be perfect.

The oval center I cut with my Explore out of pearl paper

and stamped with a Unity stamp oval frame and heat embossed it in gold.

The sentiment in the center is also a Unity stamp.  

Well that is it I hope you like my card and have

a great weekend.

Hickory Dickory Dock.............

............the mouse ran up the clock.

That is the song for this week's challenge over at

The Outlawz, Sunday Songs & Rhymes.  

I had struggled a bit with this one and then I found this

cute little file on an Etsy shop called BoxerScraps.  The background

paper is also from an Etsy shop this one is called

PoppyMoonDesign.

So here is what I came up with.

I thought this could be a new baby card or a birthday card

for a small child.

I printed it out and then cut is using one of my Gina Marie dies.

The words I printed and cut using my Cricut Explore.  I amazed

myself because I made this card without following a sketch😁

something I never do.

So come on over and join The Outlawz.

Fireside Christmas

Hi, over at the Outlawz message board the challenge

on Sundays is Songs and Rhymes and this week the 

song is "It' beginning to look a lot like Christmas".

I was honored to be asked to be a guest designer this week.

So here is my card using that song as inspiration.

I created this card using my Cricut Explore.  All the images 

are from NitWit collection called Fireside Christmas.

I love the collections that they have.  I just import the images

into Design Space and then print and cut them out.

The tree and the chair are cut separately and then pop

dotted to add dimension.  I also used the Explore to write 

the sentiment.  I printed it on glossy photo paper

so the colors are very vibrant. 

So head on over to the Outlawz and sign up to be a member

and join in the fun challenges.

Lori's Garden Vines

Hi, hope you are having a great day and have lots of

fun stuff planned for the weekend.

Today I have a card to share with you that I made using

this weeks Wednesday sketch over at The Outlawz.

When I saw this sketch I thought "oh man what am I going to
use for that flourish in the corners."
I looked through my dies and didn't find anything so I
went to Cricut Design Space and searched for
flourish, and didn't see anything so then I search corners
thinking maybe some fancy corners would come up.
Well, I did find the perfect corner flourish for my card.

I spent a lot of time looking through my stash for the perfect thingsto use to make this card.  I had picked out my paper before
I found the pretty corners and they came from an
SEI pack called Aunt Gerti's Garden.  The center polka square
was from the same paper pack.
Then when I found that flower in my stash I knew it wouldbe great for this sketch. 
The vine corners are from the Cricut Imagine cartridge
called Lori's Garden.  I think this was my favorite Imagine
cartridge.  I am so happy that I can access all my Imagine
cartridges in Design Space.  I printed and cut them using
my Explore and they cut perfectly, I was a bit worried because
some of the branches were so thin.
The happy birthday wishes is a Catherine Pooler die and
I thought it worked great on this card.
I didn't realize that the vines corners and the paper
are both from a garden named pack.
I just noticed that there is nothing colored or stamped
on this card, weird for me.

I hope you like my card, would love to hear your thoughts.

Challenges entered:

The Outlawz sketch challenge - sketch

Crafting With Friends - anything goes 

Crafty Catz - anything goes/twist blooms

Creative Fingers - anything goes

Birthday Wishes

Hi all, I have a quick card to post for you today.

I was messing around with my Distress Oxide inks and made the

paper to look like water.

The fish is from NitWits "From the Sea" collection.  I just imported it into Design Space and cut it out using my Explore.  The bubbles are a stamp from Designs by Ryn you can check it out HERE.  I love how real they look.  Then the Sentiment stamp is from Rubbernecker Stamps.

That is it, came out pretty cute.

Thanks for taking a minute to check out my blog.

Challenges entered:

Crafty Creations - anything goes

Creative Moments - Anything goes

Little Red Wagon - Animals in or by the water

WOW - Long time no Post

Hello, I had no idea it has been nearly month since I posted

on my blog till my sister-in-law asked if something was wrong.

So today I will share a couple cards with you that are along

the same color scheme.

The first one I used some paper, for the squares that I had 

colored or created using Distress Inks.

I cut the squares using a stitched die and mounted them on black. 

The bow I cut using my Cricut Explore, and the background I embossed

using a Spellbinder 3D folder called Cane Weave.

I love how the embossing looks.

This next card I used up a lot of scraps on.

The background I had made using scraps of paper from the

CTMH paper pack Laughing Lola.  I had put the background together a few years ago and it had been sitting on my desk waiting for me to create

something with it.

The feather is a Unity Stamp designed by Gina K.  I was following a sketch so I added the 3 buttons along the side of the image and then stamped the

happy birthday on a banner.

So there you go, now you know I am still around just didn't sit down and type up a post.

Have a great day everyone and thanks for stopping by.

A Baseball Birthday

Two happy things happen this week.

Baseball season starts and it is my hubby's birthday.

He loves baseball and nearly had a chance to play

professional but I guess it was not meant to be.

So I made him a baseball birthday card.

When I saw this sketch this week at Freshly Made Sketches

I knew it would be perfect for his birthday card.

I had found this Arizona Diamondbacks a year or so ago so

I just used it as the background.  The baseball was cut using

my Cricut Explore and the CTMH Artbooking cartridge.

The happy birthday was cut and written with the Explore also. 

The panel across the card I embossed using a Teresa Collins

embossing folder.  That is it, it was a pretty simple card.

Thanks for stopping by have a great weekend and a

very Happy Easter.

Pocket full of Posies - Bugaboo

Oh geez, am I running behind, but I have

a good reason.  We had been out of town for my son's

                       wedding, now I have to get cracking of getting some

                                                  of my projects done.

It was time for the Bugaboo Crafty Challenge on the

15th of February so here is my project.

I chose this cute image from Bugaboo called

Flower Pocket.  I colored the flowers using my Copic markers

and they are much more vibrant in person.  I cut the image

out using one of my Gina Marie dies, then cut a mat

layer with my Cricut Explore.

Yellow and purple are one of my favorite color combinations, so I

just went with plain colored paper and embossed each side.

I will put a sentiment on it when I decide how I would use it, I thought it would make a great get well card or thinking of you.

So that is it for my card.

And for all those wondering the wedding was awesome. 

I have never seen a couple so happy and so very much in love, it just lit 

up the whole room.

Head on over to the Crafting Circle and join in the fun.

Layered Birthday cake

Hi, I am really excited to share this card with you today.

Sometimes I play along at PowerPoppy's blog (they always have many different challenges going on) and the 

Hues to Use challenge, well I was so thrilled when I got an email

from Julie at Power Poppy asking me if I wanted to be a guest

designer for this week's Hues to Use.  Of course, I said yes!

So here are the colors I was to use for the challenge.

Magenta, White & Gray.

I chose to use the Layer Cake that Marcella drew.  Marcella is a fabulous artist, you will have to go take a look around her shop PowerPoppy.  She has some
fanstatic flower images then she generally draws from flowers in her own garden.

I was worried a bit about getting the gray in there bu, in the end,d I think I pulled it off.
And THEN something else happened (I think me being a guest designer was meant to be), I get monthly emails from Amy Shulke at Vanilla Arts witha free image and the "recipe" for coloring it.  Amy also has monthly instructional Livestream for a small fee, well wouldn't you know it this months video was on coloring this exact PowerPoppy Layer cake image.
YIPPIE!!!!!! I signed up immediately and boy am I ever glad I did.
Her Livestream instructions are the best I have ever seen.  Her approach to coloring is great and helped me tremendously because she
doesn't concentrate on "light source" which I have always had a hard time with.
However, following her instructions you can see how much dimension you
can add and this was my FIRST class of hers.
Thr background was done using Distress Inks and the image was colored
primarily Copic markers.  Then she uses Prisma pencils and
Staedtler triplus fineline pens to add in details.  Just the small details she teaches you makes all the difference in the world.
So working together with a Power Poppy image and Amy's instructional videos
it was a win win for me and I am sure it would
be for you also, so check out PowerPoppy images and then head on over
and see what is going on at Vanilla Arts.

Oops, sorry got sidetracked a bit.  I made the card by cutting out a
rectangle in the center of the front panel because I wanted to
mount the image behind the cut-out.  Then using a Gina Marie die
I cut the magenta loopy rectangle, then had to cut the center part out.
I embossed the white panel using a Cuttlebug folder and added a few sequins.
The sentiment is also from PowerPoppy that I printed and cut out using
my Cricut Explore.
Thanks for stopping by and taking a look around and reading
through my long-winded post.

Wedding Wishes & Love

Hi, I am excited to share this card with you but more so

for the reason behind it.

My son lives in Colorado and I live in Arizona so I don't

get to see him very often.  He did surprise us and show up

for Thanksgiving along with his fiance, we just love her and she

makes my son very happy.  I had to make them a special card for

their wedding.

 I created following the sketch this week over

at Die Cutting Divas.  I flipped the center piece but otherwise

followed the sketch.

It is a half size card or an 8 1/2 by 11 cardstock folded in half so

it is a larger card. I cut the loopy center oval using a Gina Marie die, then layered a plain oval cut from pearl linen paper. 

I struggled so long to figure out what I wanted to put in the center, then 

I saw this heart cut with the swirls using the Wall Decor Cricut cartridge and my Explore.  Then I cut the word love also with my Explore, both the swirls and the love are cut from gold mirror paper.  So hard to take a good picture of this

kind of paper, but this card is beautiful in person.  The top paper is a very pretty pearl paper that is embossed, I got it from the single sheets at Michaels.

The sentiment is also a die cut and is stamped using a Stampin Up stamp and heat embossed in gold.  The bottom strip of paper is also from Michaels single sheets and is very sparkly and glittery. 

So with all this sparkle & shine and love, this card also fits into

this month's Power & Sparkle Challenge over at the Power Poppy blog.

I just have to finish up the inside of this card and then it will be already to hand deliver to them at their wedding Colorado.

Thanks for taking the time to stop by, have a great week.

Challenges entered:

Die Cuttin Divas -  sketch must have a die cut - ends 2/12

Power & Spark - Love and/or Sparkle - ends 2/28

A Gem of a Challenge - Have a Heart - end 2/15

All Sorts Challenge - Love is in the Air - ends 2/15

Crafty Calendar Challenge - 2 or more layers - ends 2/28

Happy New Year - Dilly Dilly

Well Happy 2018 to all, I know, I know I am a little late

but the wish for a happy, healthy and crafty New Year is

still meant very much.

We say this every year or it seems to get worse every year but this 

past holiday season really kicked my butt or got me so

chasing my tail I couldn't get anything done. 

I did manage to get this little project done just in the

knick of time to give my brother-in-law for Christmas.

He is a pretty funny guy so always try to do something with a chuckle

for him.  

           Recently a beer commercial came out where there are several different

medieval versions which all at some point they

say "Dilly-Dilly".  Well my hubby and his brother now are

always saying "dilly-dilly" to each other for any old

reason that suits their fancy at the time, so I thought it

would be perfect to make him this shirt.

I was pretty happy with how it turned out, I think I chose the perfect

font and the crown is symbol from the Ancient font.

Sorry the picture is not so great but at least you can see it.

Our theme or challenge this month  at the Crafty Awesomeness Challenge 

was to use something you got

for Christmas in your project, well I didn't get anything crafty 

for Christmas but I got a new laptop (woo-hoo) so I used it to design this

in Cricut Design Studio and cut it out with my Cricut Explore.

I used HTV or heat transfer vinyl and ironed it on the shirt.

So head on over and join in the Crafty Awesomeness Challenge,

there is a $20 Kit & Clowder gift card up for grabs.

Well, I thought I would throw this in here, since it is that
same crazy BIL birthday this month.  Here is the card
I made for him.

The image I have had for years and is from
Digis with an Attitude but unfortunately I don't think they
are in business anymore.

Snowman Couple

Hi, it is that time of the month again (oh no not that time lol)

for the Bugaboo Crafty Challenge over at the 

Crafting Circle.

Each month starting on the 15th we have a challenge that is 

sponsored by Bugaboo where you just need to color up a

Bugaboo image and enter it in the challenge. 

Don't have any Bugaboo images, no problem Bugaboo offers

                         a freebie every Friday and if you look around I am 

                                sure you will find some images you like. 

So for my card this month I chose to use this adorable little

Snowman Couple.

 Aren't they just the cutest?  Well there is a reason I chose this image

beside their cuteness is, recently my son got engaged and I thought this

would make the perfect Christmas card to send them for their

1st Christmas as an engaged couple. 

I struggled so much on how I wanted to do this card, first I was going to

put them in a snowglobe and make a shaker card, but decided not too

because I didn't want them to be covered with things.

I was trying to keep it rather simple.   I randomly stamped on white paper

with a couple of snowflake stamps from the October 

Unity Kit of the Month and also some Hero Arts stamps

then I heat embossed them with white glossy

embossing powder.  

I colored the snow couple using my Copic markers and accented with some

glitter pens on the ornaments.  Her hat I added white fluff to

the band and the ball on the top, a couple details that are hard

to see in the picture.  Then I cut the image out using a

Gina Marie die that actually embosses the edges.

I then created a label in Cricut Design Space and wrote

out the Merry Christmas using my Explore and a black

Pilot Precision V5 pen.  Then fit right in your Explore

and I love the fine line they write with.

I pop dotted both the image and the label to give it some dimension.

Well thanks so much for taking the time to stop by and visit my

blog.  Head on over the Bugaboo Crafty Challenge and join in

the fun. 

A PAR-fect Day

Hi, boy October and November are such busy birthday 

months for me.  

One of my son-in-laws loves to gold so using the sketch this

week at Paper Players I created this card.

When I saw this sketch I knew it would be perfect.

I was looking through my single sheets paper trying to figure out what I wanted to use and I ran across this argyle pattern paper, thought

it would be perfect for a golf themed card.

I cut all the parts with my Cricut Explore.  The circle I embossed with a 

dots embossing folder but flipped it so it looked like divets

in the ball.  I always worry about cutting text from 

paper when it is small letters, so this time I cut the

word out of vinyl and stuck them onto the pretty silvery gray paper.

As a matter of fact this SIL works at a printing place and he brought me that

paper.  It is so pretty in person.  He has brought me some

pretty unusual awesome papers.

Thanks for stopping by I hope you enjoy my card and am

inspired if you have a golfer in your family. 

Challenges entered:

Paper Players - sketch - ends 10/27

Little Miss Muffet - anything goes - ends 11/2

Go OWL Out

Hi, time for the new Crafty Awesomeness Challenge over at

the Crafting Circle. 

This month our sponsor is Rick St Dennis whose images are

a bit different than most out there.

This month I chose these owls because I knew I had the

perfect sentiment stamps to go with it.

LOL, funny huh?  I colored the lil owls using my Copic markers then cut

them out with a Gina Marie cross stitched die.  The sentiement is from

a stamp set I bought many years ago that is Pink by Design stamps.

The web site still comes up but don't think they do business anymore since

nothing has been posted since 2013.  Such a shame because there were so

many pun stamps.

Don't these two owls already look like the went "owl out".

I actually made this following a sketch from Sweet Sketch Wednesday but didn't get to enter it since the challenge ended on the 29th. I made the triangle piece using

my Cricut Explore and Design Space.

The ribbon banner I cut using another Gina Marie die and then stamped the

sentiment on it.  The corner is a die from

My Little Paper World. 

So come on over and join in the 

Crafty Awesomeness Challenge.

A couple fun cards for boys

Hi, hope everyone has great plans for the weekend.

Not much going on here, but we need the rest since we had 

a very busy week last week with family here.

Today I have a couple quick cards to share with you.

I made them a few weeks ago as I had to make a little boy birthday card.

I'll explain later why I made 2.

Both cards were made using digital files from

NitWits Digital Collections.

It was so fun and easy to create this card using the 

From the Sea collection and my Cricut Explore.

The entire card is made using elements from this collection, even the papers.

I imported all the pieces into my DesignSpace and arranged them the way I wanted.  The "water" paper I used to fill a rectangle then added the octopus

and the sea weed leaving part of the sea weed hanging over the edge.  I then did print then cut with my Explore.  The other pieces were all print then cut with the Explore.  I stamped the sentiment using a Rubbernecker stamp.

I made this card for a little boy that is like a grandson to us that wasturning 3.  When I showed it to my hubby he said I should have made him a

card having to do with a farm, since he lives on a place that has animals

and tractors and such. 

So here is what I came up with, again using NitWits Collections.

They have horses and chickens so I had to incorporate them into the card.

For this card, I used the "Funny Farm" collection.

Again all the papers and patterns are from the Funny Farm collection.

The sentiment is also a Rubbernecker stamp.

I so love how these 2 cards came out and thanks to NitWits and my 

Cricut Explore they were pretty easy to create.

I would love hear what you think of my 2 cards, we all know

sometimes making a boy card can be difficult these collections made

it easy. 

Baby Boy

I am invited to a baby shower this weekend so I needed

a card for a baby boy.

I used the sketch from 

Tuesday Morning Sketches to create this card.

The colors are much prettier in person, it is more a baby blue

checked background.  The paper is from a single sheet that I have had

for years. 

The cute little outfit and socks I cut using from Cricut Explore

from the Baby Steps cartridge.    It's a boy was also cut using my Explore along with the circles.

Pretty easy card, came together quickly but turned out so cute.

Thanks for stopping by and head on over and check out

the sketch at Tuesday Morning Sketches. 

A Bit More Time to Craft

Hi, I am here to share my April project for 

A Bit More Time to Craft. I used the challenge sketch
from Retro Rubber to create this card.  

I used a digital paper from "Regal" for the maroon background

and the upper corner is from "Merry Christmas".
I added some faux stitching around the edges.
The qualify at Retro Rubber you need to use a
stamp that is at least one year old.  The happy birthday stamp I used is from Scrappy Cat and is probably 5+ years old.
  I placed a button on the corner to
add some dimension.

Lots of Layers Birthday

Hello all, last month one of the sketches at the 

Crafting Circle message board had a bunch of layers and

elements to it.

Finally while looking through some of my digital downloads

from NitWits I found the pattern papers I wanted to use and the

card just fell right into place.

The collection from NitWits Collections that I used is called Promises. 

I love the NitWits Collections because they all coordinate.  They come with                                      many embellishments and coordinating papers. 

I just imported the pattern papers into my Cricut Design Space and

then I print and cut out the shapes the sizes I needed.

I cut a dark purple rectangle using a Gina Marie loopy die.

I stamped the Happy Birthday with a Gina K Designs stamp and then

water colored with my Zig Clean Color pens. 

I just so happened to pick up those flower stickers at Michaels a couple

days before I made this card and they were perfect!

Well, that's it, thanks for stopping by.

Challenges entered:

Crafting with Attitude - anything goes - ends 3/26

Little Miss Muffet - anything goes - ends 4/6

Crafty Girls Creations - anything goes - ends 3/31

Birthday Cheers!

Hello, I am back to share a card with you I made for

my grandson's birthday.  

I made this card following the sketch at Mojo Monday for sketch

number 485.  I love to play along at Mojo Monday but this time I

could not enter it in their challenge because I didn't get it posted in time.

It's ok, my grandson turned 25 so the beer part is ok.

Plus he is in the Navy and you know what they say about Sailors and drinking.

I added some stickers that I picked up the other day on clearance

at Michaels.

All the papers are digital papers from 

A Bit More Time to Craft 

where I am on the design team.   They have an "Anything Goes" challenge

the 1st and 15th of each month. 

I used my Cricut Explore to print and cut out all the papers.

Remember that comment about Sailors and drinking........................

well here is the inside.

Ha ha ha, this is a stamp from Repeat Impressions. 

I am sure this is exactly what will happen.

Thanks for taking the time to stop by my blog.