This little piggy

First off, let me apologize for the not so great pictures for the next couple of days.  My husband lent our camera to a couple we know whose camera broke two days before they left for vacation, so for the week I'm at the mercy of my not-so-stellar Android camera.  I'm using Picasa to try to edit them as best as I can.

So, as I mentioned before, I'm not an outdoorsy person.  I do remember trying to go fishing with my dad when I was a girl, but I was always too afraid that when I put the hook over my head (I don't even know what it's called) to get ready to throw it out, it would accidentally stab me instead.  So, my fishing hobby kind of died before it started.  Nonetheless, here is a card with a little cutie going fishing.

This card is slightly smaller than A2, because it was made with a premade base that someone gave me.  I think it's about 5.5 x 4.  The yellow background paper is from the 8x8 Basics stack by Paper Studio and the strip is from the ProvoCraft Celebrations 6x12 stack.  I cut the piggy from Create a Critter at 3.5 inches and the fish and fishing rod from Simply Charmed at 3 inches.  The flower in the piggy's hair is a puffy sticker that I got from Dollar Tree.

I'm entering this in the following challenges:

Cardz TV- Anything Goes

Pause, Dream, Enjoy- Sports/Hobbies

Pile it On- Cute as can be

Paper Playtime- Anything Goes

Bitten by the Bug 2- On the Farm

Fantabulous Cricut- S'more anyone? (camping)

Die Cuttin Divas- Anything Goes

I have a pretty busy week this week, so I decided to give myself the challenge of fitting as many challenges as possible onto one card.  It helps that this week there are 3 "Anything Goes" challenges, but it was still kind of tough.  It's pretty easy to come up with cards that only fit one or two themes, but even without the Anything Goes challenges I needed it to fit four different themes!  Yet it's still totally my style.  :)

Yet another Christmas idea

I'm still in the process of testing out some various ideas for my Christmas cards this year.  I kind of want something simple, because we will *hopefully* have moved by Christmas and our cards may double as "we've moved" announcements, which would mean I'll have to make a whole ton of them.

This card was made with only scraps and supplies that I already have.  I cut the word "Joy" from Create a Critter at 2 1/2 inches (cut to length of 5 inches).  I used white cardstock as the background, and stamped it with a little snowflake rubber stamp.  I don't know who makes it; it was given to me in a whole lot of craft supplies that someone I know didn't want anymore.  The ribbon is from that same "haul."  I used Doodlebug red ink.  I'm a novice at pigment ink, so please forgive the few smudges that may be visible in the picture.  I tried to cover them with the ribbon.

Although I am still in love with my snowman couple, I think that this card may be closer to what I may make,  for Christmas, although not exactly what I will probably end up with.  The price would certainly be right- I'd only have to go get a couple of pieces of cardstock and maybe a red dye ink pad.  ;)

I'm entering this in the following challenge:
Cooking with Cricut- Christmas in July using scraps

Where's the summer fun?

I know that some of you are probably looking at this card, and looking at the challenge that brought you here from another website, and being all like "what the what?"  Let me explain.  I am a big geek.  Growing up, I lived in an area where we could see the stars on most nights.  In the summer, when it was warm enough to be outside at night, one of my favorite things was to go on my parents' patio and look up at the stars and try to make out the constellations. I admit that when I got my smart phone, the first app that I downloaded was the google app for finding constellations.  So, for me, star gazing is actually Summer Fun.

Ok, enough explanation.  Let's get to the card!  It's a regular A2 card.  I just used some dark blue card stock as the background.  I cut seven stars from Baby Steps and glued them on in the pattern of the Big Dipper, probably the most recognizable of the constellations.  I used a yellow gel pen to trace the line of the constellation, to make it even more recognizable.  The tag was cut from George and Basic Shapes, and the sentiment was stamped with Lawn Fawn stamps (what a shock, right?)  

The blue striped strip at the bottom is a piece of washi tape from Target, and I used a few miscellaneous green gems to dress it up.  On another note- why is it that pictures always show flaws that are totally not noticeable in real life?  I swear there are no visible folds in the paper or washi in real life... 

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Creative Cutter Room- Summer Fun

Celebrate the Occasion- Star Struck

Pile it On- Tag, you're it

Anniversary

We have two very important anniversaries in August: my parents and my brother-in-law/sister-in-law.  I made them each a card with cream backing and some paper from the wedding stack that I had bought for my wedding album.  I used this cut from Stretch Your Imagination.  I cut the shadow in dark gray, then I cut the main image in light gray.  You can just barely see it on the bottom of the glasses.  I cut the silhouette in light blue, the champagne in yellow, and the ribbon in dark blue.  The Cricut cut some weird little bubbles into the champagne, but it didn't work very well, so I covered them up with bling for bubbles.

I cut a strip in the light gray and stamped it with an AmyR stamp from the Wedding set.  There's a matching sentiment inside that says "A fabulous anniversary."  I forgot to take a picture of it.  Sorry that this picture is kind of dark; whenever I tried to get it in better light the colors came out looking weird for some reason and I thought that the darker light was actually a better representation of how it looks in person.

I am entering this in the following challenges:

DL Art- Wedding or Anniversary

Fantabulous Cricut- Wedded Bliss (wedding or anniversary)

Another Candle?

I can't get enough of Smiley Cards lately.  I think it's because I have the new Lawn Fawn Jessie's ABCs stamps so now I can stamp whatever sentiment I want, and it's been so fun!  Since this cake looked like it was feeling a combination of surprised and horrified, I thought it would be fitting to stamp "Another Candle?" on the card.  I also kind of think he looks horrified at the thought that someone might eat him.

Behind the card, I put some of my home made baker's twine.  The color matched perfectly.  The patterned paper is from the 8x8 Paper Studio Basics stack.  

I'll be entering this card in the following challenge:
The Cricut Chirp- Too Sweet to Eat

Retro!

When I saw that Scrappy Moms was having a Retro Fun challenge, I was really excited.  I love nostalgia.  I quickly cycled through the possibilities from my childhood: maybe some neon?  an homage to Rainbow Brite?  After reading a recent blog post by Kayla Aimee I even briefly considered a Captain Planet theme.

However, with my 30th birthday rapidly approaching, I decided that to think of 80s culture as retro was a little too depressing for me at the moment, and thus decided to go back even further, beyond the scope of my life, into the past.  I went through my cartridges and found the perfect retro image on Wall Decor and More: a rotary phone.  Kids now don't even know what a rotary phone is, and how to use it, which makes me feel old.  I decided to go for a 70s feel, and the first colors that popped into mind were olive green and brown.

I had this great olive green patterned paper in my KI Memories Classics pack.  The flowers are light green, pink, off white, and two shades of brown.  Then I layered the off white paper with the brown ribbon on top of the patterned paper, to help give the phone some definition.  The phone itself has a little something extra- I added the brown behind the dial because I didn't like it being see-through.  I cut the corners with the Large corner rounder from EK Success to finish it off.  Pretty groovy, right?

I plan to enter this in the following challenge:
Scrappy Moms Stamps- Retro Fun

You're so sweet

I made a whimsical ice cream card for summer.  It's an A2 sized card with corners that were rounded with my corner rounder.  I used my Cuttlebug Seeing Spots folder on the yellow paper.  The ice cream and the words "Thank You" are cut from Sugar and Spice Lite.  The cherry was cut from a wine color just like the words, which I covered with pink Stickles.  I used a gel pen to go over the texture in the cone.  The strip of paper is from an old piece that I've had in my stash for ages.   

Confused about why there's an ice cream cone on a Thank You card?  Look inside!  I stamped the words "You're so" and the exclamation point in Lawn Fawn's Jessie's ABCs and the word "sweet" from Joy's Life Everyday Occasions.  It's in a wine colored ink to match the writing outside.

I plan to enter this for the following challenges:
Pause, Dream, Enjoy- Sweet Summer Treats
DL Art- Thank You Card
My Sheri Crafts- National Ice Cream Month

New Blog Linky Party at My Crafting Channel

If you are somewhat new to blogging or you have less than 500 followers, and if you would like more exposure and to meet more crafty friends, you can link your blog to this party that is being hosted by My Crafting Channel.

Here are the rules:

* Be a follower of My Crafting Channel

* Post her button (available on her website) on your sidebar

* Create a new blog post titled New Blog Linky Party at My Crafting Channel
and visit her page to READ THE RULES before you link up (and make sure that you mention that to others in your post, so that they don't get disqualified).

* In your post, also make sure to mention that the Party is a way to get to more exposure, and find new inspiration, and mention and link back to My Crafting Channel.

* Go to My Crafting Channel to get the link up code, which you'll put into your post.  

* Start spreading the word so everyone can join.
* Visit, follow, and comment on as many as you can--maybe everyone's blog that joins the party? If you do not do the above your link will be deleted, because it's just not fair to those who work so hard linking up and showing love to the ones on the list. 

Link Up Party runs from Saturday 7/22 to Saturday 7/30

Snowman Couple

I'm not sure why, but this might just be my favorite card ever.  It looks kind of simple, but it actually took a lot of cutting.  I'll start with the background and go up to give the recipe:

Card is an A2 sized light blue card.  The white part was cut on the top with an EK Success punch and then I used some of the Target washi tape to put across it (it's the two lines of blue dots behind the snowmen).

Both snowmen are cut at 3 inches from Doodlecharms.  I put the snowlady together upside down so she'd be facing the other way and outlined their mouths with gel pen.  I colored the areas of their buttons black and colored their noses orange (so I didn't have to make the entire layer cut again just for the two noses on orange paper).  

The snowman's hat is from the worm page of Create a Critter, cut at 3 inches.  I put Black Diamond Stickles  on the band.  His scarf is cut from Winter Frolic at 3 inches.  It's from Snowman 2.  I assumed that since I cut the snowman at 3 inches, that accessories from other figures cut at 3 inches would also fit.  For him, it fit perfectly!

The snowlady's flowers were cut at various little sizes from Create a Critter's Zebra page.  They've got just a little Glam Pink Stickles. Her hat is from Winter Frolic's Girl 5 at 3 inches.  Her coat did not quite fit at 3 inches because her body is so much wider than the body of the little girl it was made for, so I ended up cutting that at 3.75 inches.  

I popped the snowmen up on popdots so they would stand out a little.  The sentiment is a leftover that I bought at Hobby Lobby a few years ago in a packet for some Christmas presents I was making, so I have no idea who makes it.  It had a clear backing, so it was perfect for this spot.

I plan to enter this card in the following challenges:
Simply Create Too- Use it two times
Cardz TV- Christmas in July
Bitten by the Bug 2- Christmas in July
My Craft Spot- Christmas in July

Fashion

This is a fairly simple card.  I wanted to make something fashionable, and for some reason I automatically went to black, white, and red.  I cut this dress form from Wall Decor and More at 5 inches, so there is just a little bit left above and below it.  I ran the white paper through a Quickcutz diamond embossing folder in my Cuttlebug.  It's kind of hard to see here on the photo, unfortunately.  Then I added black diamond bling on each corner.

I'm entering this in the following challenge:
Bitten by the Bug 2- Fashion

Christmas in July!

It's about time to start thinking about the design for my 2012 Christmas cards.  Can you believe it?  It takes me awhile to do them, between getting the supplies, planning it out, and them assembling them all.  Here is one of the possibilities for this year.  It's unlikely that I'll choose it for my final design, because I did blue and snowflakes last year and I want something kind of different, but I still think it's kind of cute.

I got the patterned paper from my All Seasons 2 stack from Paper Studio.  The cuts are all from Create a Critter- the igloo is with the penguin and the lights are from the reindeer's page.

I plan to enter this in the following challenge:

DL Art- Christmas in July
Go Fish Challenges- Christmas in July
Exploring Cricut- Christmas in July
Die Cuttin Divas- Christmas in July

Sunshine

Here's a little card to encompass a few challenges out there right now.  I started with the sun from Pack Your Bags, cut at 3 inches.  I used some Glossy Accents on it's cheeks.  Then I put some patterned paper from Paper Studio's The Basics pack onto a darker green A2 sized card.  The three orange buttons were from my stash.  

For the sentiment, I cut a tag from Plantin Schoolbook.  I made some orange twine to tie on the tag, and stamped the sentiment with Lawn Fawn's Jessie's ABCs.   My orange ink stained my stamps, so now I'm working on convincing myself that being stained just shows how well loved they are.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Fantabulous Cricut- Sunny Days

Pile it On- Kick back and relax (what's more relaxing than chilling out in the sun?)

Cooking with Cricut- Buttons and Brads

Tuesday Alchemy- Button, button, who's got a button?

Cardz TV- Tag, you're it

Paper Playtime- Say it with sentiments- Miss you

Wild Thing

This card can be used for pretty much any occasion.  I thought I would make a kind of generic, boy card.  I cut the zebra from B is for Boy.  I didn't use the shift image of the main image, because I wanted his mane and stripes to be the same color black.  I wanted him to be simple.  I used some checkered background paper from my stash and some red from my scraps.  The sentiment was stamped with Lawn Fawn's Jessie's ABCs.  I pulled a red button out of my button container and it was ready to go!  

I'll be entering this into the following challenge:
Pause, Dream, Enjoy- It's a Jungle out There!

Happy happy birthday

In my never ending quest to justify to myself buying Cricut cartridges that seem to be limited in scope, I decided to sit down and go through Winter Frolic this week and, coincidentally, found this celebratory little bird that fit a couple of challenges that I was planning to enter!  I cut him in yellow to make him a chick.  He's got a festive little party hat made from patterned paper and a sparkly ball on top that I colored in with some Firefly stickles.  He looked like he was blowing out a candle, so I made a little cupcake from Doodlecharms and used some Tropical Tangerine Stickles on the flame.  

This ribbon was, I thought, a perfect addition based on the colors I had already used.  Surprisingly, I picked it up on a whim from the Target dollar spot when I was there a few weeks ago with my husband.  I'm sure glad I did!

I plan to enter this card in the following challenges:
Cooking with Cricut- Child's birthday
Creative Cutter Room- Chick or chicken

Birthday card

I love to have a stash of birthday cards built up. It helps for those last minute birthday celebrations.  I also try to make them neutral enough that they can be used for male or female cards.

This A2 card's main image is from New Arrival.  I assume they're supposed to be baby shower presents, but presents are presents!  Can you see the little bling on each bow?  I thought it added a nice touch.  I hand cut the Happy Birthday banner that was stamped with Joy's Life stamps.  That got some bling too.  

The final touch was the paper that was punched with the Threading Water Fiskars border punch.  

I will be entering this into the following challenge:

DL Art- Birthday with a present, circles, and bling
Celebrate the Occasion- Birthday card

A simple thank you

I go through "favorite color" phases.  For the longest time it was green.  My old room at my parents' house is still completely green.  Then it was lime green and pink.  Lately, it's switched again and I am in love with turquoise.  All of my clothes are turquoise.  When we move to our new house, I'm painting my craft room turquoise.  I love it. So, here's a nice simple card that reflects my current personal favorite.

The only Cricut cut on here is the tag, which is from Cricut Craft Room Basics.  The stamp is from Lawn Fawn, Jessie's ABCs.  The rest was just layering on the patterned paper (from Paper Studio's Basics 8x8 pad), some cardstock that I got from a garage sale, and the ribbon that I also got from the garage sale.  It went together really quickly, if you don't take into account a slight paper trimmer incident that resulted in this switching from the portrait card that I had planned to the landscape card that it became.

I am entering this in the following challenge:
Go Fish Challenge Blog- Thank You, with your favorite color

Strawberry shortcake

There's nothing quite like a little strawberry shortcake in those early summer months, right when the local strawberries are ripe.  MMMmmm.  This card celebrates that part of summer.

I tested out cream as a card base with this card.  I like that it's not as harsh as white, but a little softer than kraft.  My strawberry shortcake was cut from Smiley Cards at 3 inches.  It was the first time I've ever gotten all of the layers to cut on exactly the spot where I placed the paper when using CCR- practice makes perfect I guess!  Then I cut the tag shape from Cricut Craft Room Basics- there are a lot of cute, basic designs on there.  I stamped with my brand new Lawn Fawn Jessie's ABC's.  I am in love with these stamps.  They stamp amazingly well and are so easy to line up to spell whatever sentiment you want!  Well worth the money.  I've had them less than a week and already used them so many times.  I added some yellow ribbon- it's the Hobby Lobby in store brand- and popped the die cuts up off the page.

I plan to enter this in the following challenges:
Fantabulous Cricut- Yummy Yummy
My Sheri Crafts- Picture This (photo inspiration)

A little sunshine

It's been hot lately, hasn't it?  It makes me want to relax on the beach, in a nice cool breeze- the inspiration for this card.

It's just a regular A2 card.  The cloud was cut from Create a Critter and I stamped it with a sentiment from AmyR stamps.  I think it was from the All Women set.  I just got these on Friday, and and having a great time getting used to stamping with cling rubber stamps.  The setting sun is from Doodlecharms, and has a little Diamond Stickles to give it some sparkle.  The waves were hand cut so that they would be kind of asymmetrical, and the sand was ripped.

The woman on the lounge chair was cut from Pack Your Bags.  She's relaxing on the beach with her lemonade.  ;)  I used some polkadot paper for her bathing suit (but here's a secret- I added the orange dot on her shoulder and enhanced the pink one on her side with marker.)

See the seashells?  They add a bit of dimension because they're puffy stickers from, of all places, the Dollar Tree.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Simply Create Too- Summer Vacation

Pause, Dream, Enjoy- Sunset

Pile it On- It's a Shore Thing
Tuesday Alchemy- No work, just play

Wedding card

This is a simple card that I wanted to make for a wedding.  I ran the card directly through the cuttlebug with Swiss Dots.  The image is from Sweethearts.  I cut the shadow in black and the actual image in white, then pop-dotted it up.  Finish it up with a piece of black ribbon with white polka dots and this simple and elegant card is complete.

Pop of Color

Awhile ago, I got totally obsessed with the idea of using Cricut Cartridges to make silhouettes rather than making layers.  It started when I got the Sweethearts cartridge.  Shortly thereafter, I saw New Arrival and the idea for this card was born.  I've been sitting on the idea, waiting for someone I know to get pregnant so I can send them a Congratulations card.  But I had some free time and a challenge that would fit it perfectly, so I thought I would go ahead and make it and just store it until someone is in the baby way.

This card has a white base- I know it can be kind of hard to tell because of the white background that I photograph on.  Then I cut a black layer, then the white layer that I used the Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folder on.  I cut the silhouette of the pregnant woman from New Arrival and used some sheer yellow ribbon that I had in my stash.  

I like it because it's simple and not cutesy, plus the yellow is gender neutral, since this will likely be sent to someone before they know if they're having a girl or boy.

I will be entering this card in the following challenges:

Krafty girls- Black and White with one color splash

Tuesday Alchemy- Anything goes

Sun, Smiles, and Stickles

This card uses a piece of patterned paper that I got at a crafty garage sale.  I had, coincidentally, cut the sunshine out last week when I had to re-install Cricut Craft Room on my computer after the virus/reformatting debacle and was testing to make sure it worked using Smiley Cards.  I sat it aside in my "die-cuts I didn't end up using" bin, and so when I saw this challenge, I knew I could use it!  I cut the cloud sentiment from Create a Critter.  I never remember that those sentiments are there, but they're so cute!  This one had a little bird originally on top of the cloud, but I messed him up when I was trying to draw his wing on in gel pen, so I cut him off.

I figured since this was a Stickles challenge, I really wanted to sparkle it up.  I used Candy Cane Stickles on the sun's cheeks, tongue, and the word Hello.  I also used Orange Peel Stickles on the sun.  I can never believe the difference that a little sparkle makes.  I need to use my Stickles more often.  This picture was taken while the Stickles were still wet, so the sentiment is flatter now that they're dry.

I'm entering this card in the following challenge:
Cricut Chirp challenge blog- Sun, Smile, and Stickles
Bitten by the Bug 2- Here comes the Sun

Camping

I am the least 'campingy' person in the world.  When I was a kid, I complained about the TV at my parents' cottage only getting one channel on the primitive antenna system. Last winter, I told my husband that we could go camping once ever, so he had better choose wisely.  He hasn't cashed in on that promise yet, and I kind of hope he doesn't. I just don't get the appeal.  However, you don't have to understand something to create something, and that's where this card comes in.  :)

I don't have a whole lot of cartridges that have camping, outdoorsy, cuts on them.  One thing I love about 3 Birds on Parade is that it has so many different occasions covered in a cute way.  This guy is doing the one thing that I might enjoy about camping: roasting a marshmallow.  I cut his fire from Create a Critter (without the face) at only 1 1/4 inches.

The patterned paper is from my stash.  I thought it looked like stars and fireflies.  The strip of purplish paper was edged with my new EK Success border punch that I was super excited to find on clearance at Hobby Lobby.

I'm entering this card in the following challenge:
Creative Cutter Room- Camping

Hooray

Here's my patriotic card making, attempt two.  It's been hard for me to find cuts that go with a patriotic theme, probably because I tend to buy more of the cutesy cartridges.  But, like I said on my last patriotic card post, it's been a good challenge to try to stretch myself in that way.

This card uses patterned paper from the same line as the stars that I used in my other red, white, and blue card (from Paper Studio's All Seasons 2).  I cut a 5.25 inch oval from George and then cut the word "Hooray" from Lyrical Letters.  I used the Fit to Length feature at 5 inches- I think it ended up cutting it at around 3.5 inches that way.  The fireworks originally had some stars included, but I cut them off to focus more on the firework.  I cut it in red, and then Stickled it with Candy Cane Stickles for a little sparkle.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Exploring Cricut-Show your Red, White, and Blue

Fantabulous Cricut-Kaboom! Firework Celebration

Celebrate the Occasion-4th of July

My Craft Spot-4th of July

Die Cuttin Divas-Red, White, and Blue

Cooking with Cricut-Happy Birthday, USA!

Paper Playtime-Red, White, and Blue

My Cricut Craft Room- Anything Patriotic

Thank You

Ok, I'm an 80s girl.  I wore neon colors like nobody's business.  So, when I was at a garage sale a few weeks ago, and I saw this paper with neon pink and orange polka dots, I had to have it.  I have no idea who made this paper, unfortunately.  I thought it made such a cute background for a nice, simple card.  I wanted a make a Thank You card that just said what it meant and showcased the awesome colors.  I did that by keeping the rest of the card to white- including the shadow of the sentiment.  

I used New Arrival to make this.  I'm still on my quest to show my husband that I can use my baby themed cartridges for other things than just baby stuff, since there are no babies here to use those cuts for.  

I plan to enter this in the following challenge:
DL Art- Thank You