Happy Birthday

I hope this picture is ok for you all.  I had to lighten it up a little because of bad lighting when I took the picture.  This card is pretty simple, but I like it.  The red and teal background is made using We R Memory Keepers washi tape.  I just alternated between the two colors.  Then I made the star with an oldy but goody- George and Basic Shapes- with three different sizes of stars cut.  

I cut the strip of paper at the bottom by hand, and then stamped in teal ink using My Craft Spot's "Birthday Wishes" stamp set.  To finish it off, I used three blue skittles in the top corner.  Do you know how cool skittles are?  I got them from Carri at Double Click Connections.  To start off with I just bought 6 colors because I wanted to give them a try, but I will be back for more!

 

This card will be entered into the following challenges:
 Little Scrap Pieces- Happy Birthday           
Pile it On- Decorative Tape  
Simon Says Stamp and Show- Seeing Stars 
My Craft Spot- Wish Big
Die Cuttin Divas- Anything Goes

It's cold out there!

Today I have a nice card that is pretty representative of how many of us in the US are feeling right now!  I chose a baby blue card base and a piece of off-white paper to go over it.  I punched the edge with my Apron Lace punch by Fiskars, then I put on some of my snowflake ribbon.  

I cut the "BRRR" from the font on Wild Card- it's one of my favorites!  The B is at 2 inches and the R's are at 1.5 inches.  There is a lower case font on that cartridge, but out of context the r's looked kind of like n's, so I decided to go all capitols.  

I stamped the phrase "it's cold out there" and the snowflakes on the right side from my new "Winder Wonderland" stamp set from My Craft Spot in blue ink.  Then I blinged up the snowflakes with some small gems in the middle and the word "BRRR" with some Midnight Blue stickles.  If you look carefully, I was able to capture a little bit of the sparkle from the stickles this time!

This card is being entered in the following challenges:
Bitten by the Bug 2- Fontastic
Simply Create Too- Anything Goes

My Craft Spot- Bling it up    
Die Cuttin Divas- Edge Punch and Ribbon                                                                                                                                                        

Winter Wonderland

Last week, I won a prize from Kimberly at My Craft Spot.  When my mail came today, guess what I had waiting for me?  The Winter Wonderland stamp set!

I'm very excited to use it!  Hmmm....time to start planning my entry for their challenge this week!

Birthday Cupcake

It's challenge time again at Pause, Dream, Enjoy Challenges!   Our challenge this week is:

Desserts!

Birthday season rolls around in my extended family from mid-January through about mid-May, so it's time for me to start stocking up on cards!  What better way than with a nice cupcake card?  I made this card with one of my Christmas presents, the Once Upon a Princess Cricut Cartridge!  I cut the cupcake at 3 inches- doesn't she look delicious?- and the tag at 2 inches.  

I went around the edge of the tag with  my Versamark pen to give it some definition and stamped a sentiment from My Craft Spot's "Birthday Wishes" stamp set.  Side note: I had a little extra Christmas money and decided to buy myself Tuxedo Black Memento Ink while I was at Michaels- wow, what a difference between that and the off-brand I had been using!  I definitely recommend it.

For the card itself, I embossed it with a cupcakes embossing folder by Paper Studio (the Hobby Lobby store brand) and then put some extra ribbon that I had on it.  I popped the cupcake and tag up on foam dots and it's ready for someone's birthday!  

Guess what?  It's your turn!  Make a dessert related project- it doesn't have to be a card- and head over to Pause, Dream, Enjoy Challenges to link it up and play with us!

Happy Anniversary!

I can't believe it's been four years already since I got married!  I generally don't make anniversary cards- because in the past we've gone on a big expensive vacation to celebrate our anniversary.  But this year we didn't, because we're saving up vacation days for when our house sells and we have to move (and because there's only so many places you can go that aren't a frozen tundra in January), so I thought a card was in order.

I used kraft cardstock for this card with a piece of patterned paper from My Mind's Eye "Love Me" 6x6 pad.  I also used a piece of off-white crinkle ribbon.  Then I cut two bears from Teddy Bear Parade at 3 inches and also cut their outfits.  Fair warning:  The bouquet on the bride bear is not for the faint of heart.  I had to take my glasses off and look really closely to figure out how it went together.

For the inside of the card, I added a strip of the same patterned paper.  Then I used two sentiments from Jaded Blossom's "Wedding Wishes" stamp set.  I'm still amazed at how well things stamp in Tuxedo Black ink.  Beautiful.  

so little cake

I had a little bit of free time this morning while Sophie was at the groomer getting beautified, so I thought I'd make a quick card for a couple of challenges going on this week.  

I am feeling a bit of the winter "blahs," so I decided to pull out my brightest cardstock for this card.  I cut the cake from Stretch your Imagination.  Just a head's up- the shadow feature cuts the candles separately for some reason, so I had to stick them on the back of the cake's shadow and in person you can slightly see the spot where they join, if you look carefully. 

I used some old paper, I think from one of Paper Studio's 6x12 stacks, as the background paper over gray cardstock.  I stamped the sentiments on the front from My Craft Spot's "Birthday Wishes" stamp set, and the inside has another stamp from that set that just says "Happy Birthday to you!"  This is one of my most used stamp sets, because I make so many birthday cards!

To finish it off, I punched a flower using a Fiskars punch and then put a pink gem in the middle.  In my head, this was going to be gender-neutral, but as I went along it ended up becoming more of a girl's card.  Oh well.

I'm entering this card into the following challenges:

My Craft Spot- Anything Goes 

Pile it On- Happy Funny Birthday   
Paper Crafting Journey- Anything Goes
Lexi's Creations- Anything Goes                                                           

                       

Penguin box

Here's a cute little penguin box I made for a few challenges.  First, I made a box using "fit to page" on my Expression.  I cut it from the Life's a Party cartridge in purple cardstock, then put some polka dotted Doodlebug Designs paper around the outside of the box.

Next, I cut the three trees from Winter Woodland at 1.75 inches.  I adhered them onto the three front panels on the box.  Next, I cut the three penguins from Zooballoo. Because of the way they are situated in the image, I had to cut at 3 inches to get them to be about 1 inch tall each.  I put their eyes and beaks on with gel pen and then put each of them with a tree.  I had a leftover snowflake in my "extra die cuts" bin from the tag I made last week, so I put that on the top as a little extra decoration.

This project will be entered into the following challenges:
Exploring Cricut- Baby It’s Cold Outside 

Die Cuttin Divas- Penguins                                                                          

Scrappy Moms Stamps- Out of the Box  

Thanks butterfly

Today I decided to add a "thank you" card to my stash- birthday and thank yous tend to be used the most here.

This card is on a kraft base, with a brown layer and then a layer of pink polka dot patterned paper from the KI Memories Classics stack.  I put a piece of washi tape from Target along the bottom as embellishment.  

I cut the butterfly from Once Upon a Princess at 3.5 inches.  The off-white shadow layer is adhered directly to the card.  The butterfly itself is only adhered by its body- you can't really tell by the picture, but the wings are folded up from the shadow.  

I stamped the word "Thanks" from Pink by Design's Big Thoughts in brown ink.  

I'm entering this card into the following challenges:

Red Carpet Studios Challenges- The Butterfly Effect

Pink by Design- Brown, Pink, and White                                                               

Celebrate the Occasion- Thank You                                         

Puppy Love candy holder

You know how I cannot resist a dog-themed stamp set?  (let's be honest, I can't resist dog-themed ANYTHING in scrapbook supplies!)  I'm so so so glad I got the Puppy Love set from Jaded Blossom.  I love the little puppy image, and the sentiments are great!  

For this month's challenge at the Jaded Blossom blog, the challenge is anything but a card.  It was probably a pretty easy challenge for most of their customers, because they tend to focus on gift bags and treats, but since I usually make cards it was kind of a challenge for me.  Luckily, I had this pink box sitting in my "old containers that I got something in and thought were pretty so I couldn't stand to throw them out" bin and I used that as a jumping off point.  I'm in love with the pink/turquoise color scheme of many of the Valentine's lines that I've been seeing coming out, so that's the scheme I went with here.

First, I stamped the dog and colored it in using my Sharpies.  Then I cut out the little flag (by hand, but I was sure wishing I had the Jaded Blossom flag dies by my third or fourth attempt!) and stamped on the sentiment, also from the Puppy love set.  

I thought the right side was looking bare, so I got a piece of ribbon that would wrap all of the way around the package, thereby holding it shut and holding the candy in.  Then I punched a little button with my Martha Stewart button punch to embellish it.  I added some classic Valentine's candies- conversation hearts- and it was done.  I've had a horrible time keeping my husband from eating the candies before I could get a good picture on a sunny day.  I had to give him the rest of the bag to keep him out of these ones.  :)

Yappy Birthday

There's another Be Inspired challenges going on over at The Alley Way Stamps!  I really like these challenges because they give you a picture and you can be inspired by whatever part of them you are, well, inspired by- colors, shapes, images- there's no right or wrong!

This week, I was inspired by the orange, black, and white color scheme and I got an image of stripes from the books in the picture.  I flipped the stripes on their side, and used some orange paper from Paper Studio's Basics pad.  I used some orange and white ribbon that I had in my stash and an orange button as embellishments.

For the main image, I used their freebie dog stamp.  I'm sure you've noticed that I love dogs!  I was so excited for this digi stamp, and I bet I'll be using it a lot.  I paper pieced it by printing it onto white cardstock and again onto black cardstock.  My printer was being a stinker and printed the lines lighter than I wanted, so I traced over the lines with a sharpie.  Then I used the leftover scraps from a border punch I had as the circles for his eyes.  

Last, but not least, I used my new Alphabet Soup stamps to stamp the sentiment!  They stamped really well- the only smudge that happened (on the second y) was a result of Sophie jumping up on my legs right as I stamped it- totally not the stamps' fault!  I guess that Sophie wanted to leave her own pawprint on my card.

Snowflake tag

It's...not to snowy here right now, actually.  Everything melted off a few days ago, and we're looking at the possibility of temperatures in the 60s this weekend.  I'm ok with that.  Still, there were a few challenges I was feeling like entering this week, so I shut the window blinds and imagined I was living in a winter wonderland. ;)

This tag is from Plantin Schoolbook at 4 inches.  The shadow is cut on blue and the actual tag is on patterned paper from Paper Studio's All Seasons II stack.  I cut the three snowflakes from Winter Woodland.  The biggest one was cut at 2.75 inches, and for the smaller two I just scrolled my size dial a few clicks each time.  I put Frosted Lace Stickles on each of the snowflakes.

I adhered the smallest snowflake directly to the tag, then the middle one is on some small foam dots and the big one is on my thickest foam dots.  I was afraid that putting white snowflakes on paper that also has white snowflakes would make it difficult to see, but I'm actually happy with the effect that it gave.  It reminds me of when it's snowing out and there are snowflakes all around, some farther away and some closer.

I put a line of diamond bling along the bottom of the tag and some shiny silver ribbon that was left over from my Christmas cards on the top.

I'm entering this tag in the following challenges:

My Craft Spot- Frosty Days                         

Bitten by the Bug 2- Snowflakes                                               

Fantabulous Cricut- Tag, you’re it!
Scrappy Moms Stamps- Winter Tic Tac Toe (secret phrase: Baby New Year)

A quick hello

Just stopping by to show you a little mail I got - I was one of the winners of a recent challenge over at The Alley Way Stamps and today I got my prize in the mail- it even came with a little bow!  I chose Alphabet Soup as my prize, because it's easier for me to stretch their freebie digi stamps if I can stamp my own sentiments on the cards. These are great because they're a bigger font than some of the other alphabets I have and I love the font!  I like to have a variety.  I love that their prize is to let you choose any stamp set you want.

I have a card that I've been working on for their current challenge, and I'll be using these stamps for the sentiment, so keep an eye out.  And head over and check them out.  Their stamps are so cute and their challenges are really fun!

First PDE Challenge of 2013!

You may have noticed a change over at Pause, Dream, Enjoy Challenges-for 2013 we're going to be posting our challenges on Monday instead of Friday, and they will run two weeks instead of just one.  Are you ready for the first challenge of the new year?

MAKE A PROJECT USING RIBBON

Ribbon is one of my crafting weaknesses.  I have tons of beautiful ribbon all lined up in rainbow order jars on the wall of my craft room, and yet I never use it.  I pull it out, I hold it up to the paper, and eventually it ends up going back in the jar to wait for another day.  (In case you were wondering, I do the same thing with all of my washi tape, which is also organized beautifully by color).  So my challenge to myself this week was not to use ribbon in some new way, but just to actually use it.  To challenge myself even further, I used a patterned ribbon with a different patterned paper.  Gasp!

Additionally, this year Pause, Dream, Enjoy Challenges and Paper Playtime will be having their challenges on the same days.  If you want, you can combine the themes and enter both challenges with one project!  In case you were wondering, the theme for this week's Paper Playtime challenge is Pets.  As you'll see, my project encompasses both challenges!  

This card is A2 sized.  The patterned paper is from a 6x6 Recollections stack. The ribbon is from an American Crafts set that I got a long time ago.  See that teal paper?  Yeah, that used to be an envelope.  I was tearing my craft room apart looking for some paper that matched the teal in the ribbon, and literally the only paper I could find that matched was an old envelope that I had in my envelope drawer.  

The image and sentiment stamps are from Jaded Blossom's "Puppy Love" set.  I have NEVER bought a stamp set as soon as it was released from any company, except this stamp set.  This is partly because I buy every dog related stamp set I can get my hands on, and partly because I love Jaded Blossom and the way they stamp.  I mean, I use the cheapest black ink pad they had at Hobby Lobby, and these stamps STILL come out looking clear.  Amaze-balls.  I colored the pup in with my Sharpies and it was all ready to go.

So what about you?  Whether ribbon is your go-to embellishment or it makes you cower in fear, I promise there will be great inspiration for you over at Pause, Dream, Enjoy Challenges.  Go check it out, and add your own ribbon-related creations.  

Time for Valentines

Now that Christmas and New Years are over, it's time to look toward the next major holiday...Valentine's Day!  I saw a challenge over at Pink by Design to make a Valentine's project, and thought it would be a good way to get my pink and red mojo flowing.

As an added challenge to myself, I decided to use as much new product as I could.  The only things on this card that are old are the kraft cardstock and the Pink by Design stamp- from "Scripted Year," which we all know I've had in heavy rotation in my crafts for a long time.

The patterned paper here is from My Mind's Eye- the "Love Me" 6x6 stack.  The ribbon is also from My Mind's Eye, but it's from the Lost and Found pack.  I got both of these in a recent giveaway win from Susie Craft Happy.

The ink that I used to stamp is Memento "Rich Cocoa."  I recently got one Memento pad, and loved the quality so much that I threw out some of my colors of ink pads that I wasn't digging and replaced them with Memento.  The rest of my dye ink pads will be replaced with Memento as soon as they dry out.

The three pink glitter dots are from Recollections, which are also from a recent blog win from Cut it Up Challenges.

       

The official Christmas card

Happy 2013!  While I'm recuperating from being awake after *gasp* 9:00 pm, I thought I'd let you in on what design I picked for our Christmas card this year.  We sat down with many of the Christmas themed cards I made over the course of the year and this is what I came up with:

I cut the card to fit my A2 envelopes on White Bazzill cardstock.  That's right, I buy the heavy duty stuff for the Christmas cards.  :)  Then I cut dark blue Bazzill and wrapped some silver ribbon from Michaels (it's the 360 brand).  I cut the Jesus and star from Winter Frolic with Bazzill cardstock.  The yellow and the silvery/off white color have shimmer to them, which looks very cool.  I drew Jesus' eyes and cheeks on with gel pen and I took his cheeks off using Cricut Craft Room.

The "Merry Christmas" banner is cut from Wild Card and stamped in blue ink with a stamp from My Creative Time's "Gift Card Sentiments."  I forgot to take a picture of the inside of the cards, but you can see the sentiment I used here:  Glory of Christ's Birth Stamp.  I stamped it in the same blue as I used on the front of the card.