42nd Anniversary Card

My brother-in-law and his wife celebrated their 42nd anniversary in early March (little behind on posting) this is the card I created for them.

The background paper is from DCWV Natural stack, then I embossed a copper shimmery paper with a Darci tree embossing folder that I got from Consumer Crafts.  They have a very nice variety of folders and most are just $3, plus Consumer Crafts is great to order from.  I then cut the copper paper into 1 1/2 inch squares and mounted them onto black paper.  The branch in the corner is cut from Stretch Your Imagination.

I added a few pearls to the branch and then stamped the sentiment and heat embossed it with black.  The bottom black border was cut using Elegant Edges.

Thanks for stopping by, would love to hear what you think of my card.  I love reading your comments and really appreciate them.

Colorful Birthday cards

Hi everyone, glad you stopped by.  I have a couple of cards today that have similar colors in them so I thought I would post them together.
The first one has a paisley cut from the Stretch Your Imagination cartridge and the oval from Plantin Schoolbook.
Both cards were made following a sketch last week on RAQs Challenge on the Cricut message board and also a color challenge.

I thought the paisley matched the paisley on the background paper.  After putting all the layers together on the paisley I covered it with Crackle Accents.

For the next one I used a lot so glitter paper.

I embossed and sanded the green paper with the Spots & Dots embossing folder to march the spots on the background paper.   I stamped the happy birthday on white glitter tags I cut out using Calligraphy Collection and added a piece of ribbon.  The star with the tail is cut from the Home Accents cartridge.

I finished the inside using the same paper and stamped a sentiment from a new set of stamps I got from Clear Dollar Stamps. they are having a huge sale.

Thanks so much for stopping by and don't forget the special that is going on a Close to My Heart where if you sign up as a consultant you get the Art Philosophy cartridge for free, so for $99 you get the consultant kit packed with tons of goodies and the Art Philosophy cartridge with 3 matching stamps sets if you have been wanting this cartridge this deal is the way to get it.  Check out my post HERE if you are interested or want to read more about it.

Challenges for this card

Make it Monday  Always anything goes   ends - 3/11
Simon says Stamp  Anything goes   ends - 3/7
Paper Crafting Journey  Anything goes  ends - 3/14

Get Well..................Sassy Nurse

This week at Crafty Creations our challenge is to make a GET WELL card.  These are cards we never think of till we need them so it is nice to have a few made up and on hand.   We have a great sponsor this week also,  Digis With Attitude, make sure you stop by and check them out there are some cute ones.   They gave the design team a couple images to work with and as soon as I saw this one, I knew I wanted to make her into a "Sassy Nurse".

This one I colored using my Prisma Pencils and Odorless Mineral Spirits.  I love using this coloring technique as I can blend better this way.  I am still learning how to blend with my alcohol ink markers.  Either way of coloring white is always a challenge, what I did here was use gray at the shadow areas and blend it out, I think I did pretty good.   I thought since I was making her sassy  that red trim on her dress and red shoes was the way to go.  I even gave her red nail polish.  The frame cut is from Stretch Your Imagination cartridge,  then I also added a very pale blue shading around sassy.   Background paper is from DCWV Summer Dreams stack from a couple of years ago.

The sentiment was computer generated and I added a couple of red shinny brads and pop dotted it.

Inside sentiment is also computer generated, I even thought it up myself.  I had one of those days where I was a bit witty, hardly even happens.  LOL  The nurse hat is from Everyday Paper Dolls.

I will also be entering this in the following challenges:
2 Sister Challenges - use a digi ends 5/27
Stamps R Us  - use a digital image or paper ends 5/29
Truly Scrumptious Challenge - anything goes ends 5/31
I Did it Creations  - anything goes ends 5/28
Make it Monday - always anything goes ends 5/29
Creative Card Crew - anything goes ends 5/30

What do you think?  How do you like my sassy nurse.  So glad you stopped by, but be sure and head over to Crafty Creations and play along this week.

A Lovely Simple Card

I had such a hard time putting this card together but in the end I am happy with how it turned out.  I guess I had a hard time because my mojo was a bit gone and my mind kept jumping around.  Yikes!
This card was made following one of the sketches this week at Raqs Challenge on the Cricut message board.

 

I cut out several things as I was trying to make a decorative frame around the card.  So here is what I did and I wish I had taken photos as I went along (I will try and remember to do that), I love using Stretch Your Imagination for its frames.  The loopy white area is one of the frames on Stretch Your Imagination but the center of it is rectangular and I wanted it to be oval so using my Gypsy I placed an oval shape from George over the rectangle and hid some of the cuts I didn't need cut.  When I do something I usually cut it from just plain inexpensive white cardstock  to see if it is what I really want.  I have a hard time just seeing it on the screen, I need the actual piece, I know the Gypsy is suppose to help you not have to do that to save paper but I still like to see it, plus having a cut out helps me pick out my papers to use.   I liked the way this one looked and liked the size which is 5 1/2 inch square so I decided to use this and started to look for papers.  Well still I am always trying things and playing around I took the frame cutout and covered it with Versamark watermark ink and sprinkled it with white pearl embossing powder and heated it.  I like the way the color looked so I found a paper that went well with the pearl look.   So in this case my sample cut was not a waste.  Of course they never are a waste as I have a tray I throw them in and then split them up and give them to my two sister-in-laws that I got into card making.  The love getting their packets now and then. :)  The background paper I chose is from DCWV Luxury stack, as it has a pearl like shimmer to it.
For the center oval I did the same thing, cutting it out of plain white paper till I got the size and shape I wanted.  The scalloped part was cut from Ashley's Alphabet , and the back part from George.  What would I do without good old George.   The center part I did cut out on an iovry pearl paper and then stamped it with a Gina K stampe from the Hugs & Paryers set and heat embossed it with Champagne Pearl powder.  The scalloped part again I covered with Versamark and covered it with the same Champagne powder, however I did it three times on this to give it a very smooth almost look of metal.  I pop dotted the oval to give the card more depth.  Here is a closer look.

Now I wish I would have given the frame an additional coat of powder.   I also saved the negative cuts (pieces left on the mat) using tacky drywall tape.  I will use it someday on another card.  Here is a picture of it on the tacky mess, I also prayed it with Glimmer Mist to give it a golden orange color.

Well thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoyed my card.  I would love to hear what you think. Thanks

I will be putting this into the following challenges.
Crafty Catz - Anything goes
Paper Play - Sparkle Galore
Paper Pretties - Flowers
Papertake Weekly  - Grow - Bloom

ALLL THAT GLITTERS BLOG HOP!

It is finally here and I am so excited about this blog hop.  It is the first time I have participated in a blog hop so I am a bit anxious, but I am sure after it is over I will be hooked on hopping.  The theme of this blog hop is perfect for this time of year and besides who doesn't like a lot of glitter and bling, I know I do and I am sure you will see lots of it a long the way.  I feel very flattered  to be part of this extremely talented group of people and I can't wait to see what they have created PLUS besides all the inspiration there will be prizes at some of the blogs, maybe even all of them I don't know.  I am offering a small package of goodies so to qualify to win my package please leave comment on this post, becoming a follower is not a requirement but I would really be delighted if you did.
So on to my project I created.....................I made a card that has a lot of sparkle and also has a pull out ornament.

The white circle is a cut from Cindy Loo cartridge cut twice with the second one flipped.  I covered both birds with Martha Stewart Garnet glitter, after it dried I glittered the rest with Martha Stewart Fine Crystal glitter.  Very hard to see the sparkle but it is there.  I welded a ornament hanger from Christmas Noel cartridge so I could put ribbon through so it could be hung up.   Then using the shadow feature for the same cut on the Cindy Loo I cut it from clear acetate, so I could glue the glitter pieces back to back on the acetate. 

Gluing something like this on acetate is rather challenging as it slips and then you can see it, so I dabbed glue all over the acetate and it gave it the look of an ice crystal window effect.  Pretty good cover up for a mistake. LOL
The red background paper I stamped using Versamark Dazzle with a star stamp to just give it a watermark look, then when I glued the glued on the front I left a pocket for the ornament to slip into.

I even finished the inside, (this is unusual for me) using a frame from Stretch Your Imagination, then cut the bow frame out of the same gold as the front, also from Stretch Your Imagination. 

The card is 5 1/2 inch square card and the ornament is just under 5 inches.  Here is the card with the ornament taken out.

Thanks, and don't forget to leave a comment for a chance to win my small prize package.  I will pick a random winner on Tuesday,
Now here is you next stop.....


Cardz TV 

 



And in case you get lost along the way here is a list of the blogs.
A Place For My Cards
CardDreams by Nana Donna   You are here
Cardz TV
The Cricut Couple
The Cricut Diaries
Daily Grace Creations
Gaby Creates
Love, Laughter, and Creations
MelissaMade
She's A Sassy Lady 

Thanks Melissa and Bobby for coming up with this hop and inviting me to join.  And a big thanks to Melissa for all the "extra" help or my post would never had made it up!
Thanks for hopping along and have a sparkly, glittery Holiday season!

Thanksgiving Card

The theme or challenge this week at Cricut Cardz Challenge was to make a Thanksgiving card using the card feature on any of your Cricut cartridges.    So this card was made using the card feature on Stretch Your Imagine cartridge.

This card is about a 5 1/2 inch square, using the bare tree cut on SYI.  That leaves kind of an open window in the card so it is lined with vellum paper.  In Design Studio I set up another tree cut to fit exactly on top of the cut out of the card.  I cut it twice and pop dotted it on top.   The "Happy Thanksgiving" is cut from Lyrical Letters and I colored the pine cone with Perfect Pearls.  The leaves are kind of interesting.

For the leaves I glued a piece of aluminum foil onto a piece of plain white card stock.  Then I colored the foil paper using my alcohol inks with Fall colors.  After that was done I cut out the leaves using my Cuttlebug and Spellbinder leaf dies.  I stamped with Versamark all over the background of the card with a leaf stamp just to add some depth.  Overall I think is came out nice, thanks for stopping by and let me know what you think of this card.

Autumn -------------waiting for that cool weather

I don't know about you but out west here it has been hot hot hot!  We are so waiting for Autumn or Fall temperatures to get here.  Yesterday was 104 the hottest day ever recorded this late in the year here in Tucson Arizona.    So I made this card to send to someone just to say don't worry Autumn will come,  which was the challenge this week at the Cuttlebug Challenge to make a card to send to someone just because.  Tomorrow Saturday 10/2 is World Cardmaking Day   so you may want to check it out and join in the fun.

I also posted this card on the Stamptacular Sunday Challenge  where you had to make a card using fall colors and have something stamped on it.
The center three strips are stamped with three different Fall colors (Pumpkin, Dark Purple and Brown) and heat embossed.  The strips edges were distressed using my Tim Holtz distressing tool, I love this thing!  I also distressed the cream strips where the leaves are stamped, the 3 strips are pop dotted so they stand out a little. Although you can't really see it the three colored strips in the middle and the top cream colored strip are embossed with my Cuttlebug using Textile folder.  The background paper is actually a green glitter paper that is from a My Mind's Eye Fall stack.  The "Autumn" at the top was cut using Cricut Stretch Your Imagination cartridge, this is one of my all time favorite cartridges.  You can't really tell but at the right end of the word Autumn is two small leaves and an acorn, used some glitter pens to highlight them and then put Glossy Accents on the acorn. 
Hope this card gives everyone hope that Autumn will come!

Another way to use drywall mesh tape

Another card I made using drywall mesh tape, but this time I didn't use it to take the cuts off the mat, but used it as part of my card.  This is still one of my favorite cards, you know one of those cards that finds a special place in your memory.  I took the mesh tape and inked it by just rubbing my ink pads on it.  Then I stuck it onto the corresponding color card stock and punched out the flowers using a small flower punch, added colored bling to the center of the flowers.  The grass I inked with green ink and then layered several layers but pulled some of the cross threads out and trimmed it to look like grass, hope this makes sense.  LOL   I put all this behind a "window".  I made the window by cutting out the frame from Stretch Your Imagination several times out of chip board (3 I think) and then once from the yellow card stock.  I glued the 3 chipboard frames together, then cut out a piece of the clear plastic that the Cricut cartridges come in and glued that on top of them.  I Cuttlebugged the yellow and placed it on top (oops I embossed it upside down) to make my "window".  I embossed the paper behind the flowers with Birds & Swirls for the back of the frame.  The happy birthday is a rub on that I placed on a plain strip of white paper them used my corner rounder to round the corners.  The floral background paper is from a K & Company stack.  Hope you like this card and try this mesh tape, would love to see what you come up with!

Here is a close up of the flowers.................

Using Drywall Mesh Tape in making Cards

A year or so ago I read about using Drywall Mesh Tape to remove things from you Cricut mat keeping them in order and evenly spaced.  Here is a LINK Clever Someday where you can read more about it.  It is very reasonable to purchase at any home center or hardware store.  It comes in rolls or sheets.

OK, here is what I did with it.  Below is a picture of a frame I cut out from Stretch Your Imagine and attached to a card base.  The one on the left is the actual frame cut and the one on the right is the negative cut that I lifted off the mat using the drywall mesh tape. 

Here is a picture of the drywall mesh tape that I used.  It is re-positionable and will not damage or rub off on your cardstock.  I picked up all the negative cuts off the mat using the mesh tape, then flipped it over and put my Zig glue on it then placed it on my card base, rubbed it a little let it dry for a few seconds them peeled off the mesh tape and the pieces stuck to the card base. 

Try this technique, it works great.  I have also picked up things like a "Happy Birthday" cut and then stored it still stuck to the mesh tape, that way it all stays together and doesn't get bent.