No place like home

Howdy everyone!  It's time for another challenge at Pause, Dream, Enjoy Challenges and it's one of everyone's favorites: Anything Goes!

I made this card using both my Cameo and my Cricut.  Using my Cameo, I cut the center step card, layers, and banner from a file from Pretty Paper, Pretty Ribbons.  It was a free file, but now it's in the .99 store.  Well worth it! I mostly used plain cardstock, and the gingham paper is from the Basics stack from Paper Studio.

Next, I cut the mat with my Cricut from the Elegant Edges cartridge.  The same paper pack from Paper Studio had a piece of plain paper in the same color scheme as the gingham, so I used that for the shadow and plain white cardstock for the actual mat.  I cut the shoes from Wall Decor and More.  I used some burgandy Stickles to line the shadow of the shoe and filled the rest of the shoes in with Christmas red Stickles.  

To finish off the card, I stamped the saying "There's no place like home" with my Jessie's ABCs stamps from Lawn Fawn.

So...if you get a chance to make ANY crafts this week, link them up with us at Pause, Dream, Enjoy.  Anything goes!!!  This challenge will only be open for one week!

This will be my last challenge as a Design Team member with Pause, Dream, Enjoy Challenges.  I've very much enjoyed my time on the DT and getting to know the other fabulous crafters who I have worked with, and am so thankful for the opportunity to have worked with them all. They'll be continuing to have challenges under a different format, so I hope you continue to stop by and see all of the wonderful creations that they have for you!

Die Cuttin' Divas Guest Designer

Hello everyone!  I am so honored to be a guest designer for today's challenge at Die Cuttin' Divas!  This week's challenge is

Purple and Pearls

I love purple, but it's not a color that I go to often in crafting, so I was really excited for this challenge.  I started off with an A2 sized white card, and then put a piece of purple patterned paper on as a background.  I'm not sure where the paper is from, because I found it in my stash.  I used a piece of Doodlebug washi tape along the bottom as an accent.

I cut the oval from Elegant Edges using the Oblong and Shadow features.  Next, I cut the poodle from Once Upon a Princess.  Originally, she was very light lavender.  I found her too difficult to see against the white mat, so I just colored over her entire body with my Versapen.  It gave her just a slightly deeper tone, which I really like.  I made her bow and collar sparkly with some Stickles.  To finish off the card, I added three pearls that I got from Hobby Lobby in the top corner. 

Your challenge this week is to create a die-cut project using purple and pearls and link it up at Die Cuttin' Divas.  There's a ton of inspiration over there from their Design Team- go check it out!  I can't wait to see what you all come up with.  :)

PS- Kudos to anyone who can guess which Disney character my purple poodle reminded me of and the song she inspired me to belt out while I was creating this card. 

Jelly beans

I love the Jaded Blossom monthly challenges.  Possibly because they inspire me to make a treat or something other than a card, and possibly because I just love using their stamps.  :)  At any rate, this month their challenge is to do something Easter themed. 

I don't have any special treat bags, so I improvised and used a zipper lunch bag filled with jelly beans.  I cut the topper from the 8x8 Basics stack by Paper Studio and then punched along the border with a border stamp.  Next, I cut the basket from Stretch your Imagination at 3 inches.  Did you know there are no jelly bean Cricut cuts?  At least, I couldn't find any...so time to improvise again!  I used George and cut the ovals at 1/4 inch a bazillion times, then glued them all onto the basket so it would be filled with jelly beans!

The scalloped circle is from Elegant Edges- I cut it at 3 inches using the main image and the shadow.  I lightly inked around the edges of the shadow, and then stamped the Jelly Bean Prayer from Jaded Blossom's Simply Blessings stamp set.  I don't know if you can read it from the picture, but it goes through each color of jelly bean and what they stand for...just make sure you get a bag of classic jelly beans and not one of the fancy ones! 

Hearts

Today I have a little 4x4 mini clean-and-simple valentine.  The card base is cut from New Arrival.  I liked that it was a square card but had rounded edges.  I inked it up with some Distress Ink.  Then I cut the mat from Elegant Edges at 3.5 inches from some My Mind's Eye patterned paper. The cut has a little heart in the bottom corner, which I put some red cardstock behind and then filled in with Christmas Red Stickles.  They look pretty dark here, but they actually match the red cardstock quite well in real life.

The heart is from Doodlecharms.  I used red cardstock for the shadow and main image, and grey cardstock for the middle layer.  It's popped up on some foam squares.

This card is being entered into the following challenges:
All that Stickles- Anything Goes                                                             

Shop Pumpkin Spice- Hearts                                                                         

CardzTV- Be my valentine (round/square valentine using card feature)                 

More than Favors- Valentine’s Day                                                                                         

Fantabulous Cricut- Queen of Hearts                                                                                     

Lexi's Creations- Valentine/Love              

Friendly Valentine

Today I have a cute little valentine that would be perfect for a friend.  It's about 4.5 x 4.5 inches, cut based on how big the heart mat from Elegant Edges came out.  I loved those little hearts going up the edge- it's actually the "book" feature, but to me it looked like something you could get from an edger punch.

Next, I cut the bear from Create a Critter 2 at 3 inches.  Then I cut the word "Love," also from Create a Critter 2.  The two little glittery hearts are from my "extras" drawer.   Who knows where they came from (actually I think they're negative spaces from a cut I made a few weeks ago). I finished it off with a little Washi tape along the bottom but there still seemed like something was missing.  I happened to have Pink by Design's "Furry Friends" stamp set on my desk and thought the "friends fur-ever" sentiment went perfectly!

Both patterned papers on this card are from My Mind's Eye.

This card is being entered into the following challenges:

Red Carpet Studio Challenges- Ted

Pink by Design- Have a Heart

Exploring Cricut- Cricut 1, 2, 3

Jaded Blossom December Challenge

This month, because it's their one year birthday, there's a special Crafter's Choice challenge going on at Jaded Blossom.  I happen to have just ordered four new stamp sets from them and to have *ahem* a few more on my wish list, so I wanted to try some of them out.  This one's going to be a little more picture heavy than most of my posts.

For this project, I made a gift box and six cards.  The gift box was cut from Wild Card at "Fit to Page," which just so happened to be 7 inches with a 12x12 mat.  I used some patterned paper from Paper Studio's "Happy Hootin' Holidays" stack, which I bought at Hobby Lobby to use in my December Daily/Christmas journal.  I cut the liner in green patterned paper from a K&Company pad that I bought at Michaels.   I can't seem to find it online, and I already threw away the evidence of my shopping spree the cover of the pad and all the embellishments (yes, I bought the entire line), but I will update this post if and when I figure it out.  I stamped the postage stamp and sentiment in brown from Jaded Blossom's "Santa Mail" and put it in the top corner.

Next we come to the cards.  Each card is 4 inches square, and the tag on the front is cut from Elegant Edges at 3.5 inches.  All of the twine is hand made.  Each card as a faux front that is 4x4 inches that I used to wrap the twine around, then adhered down to the real front of the card.  These first two cards were made with Jaded Blossom's "Christmas Wishes" stamp set.  I love it!

The wedding dress and sentiment on the grey card are from Jaded Blossom's "Wedding Wishes" set and the tree and sentiment are from their "Simple Sayings" set.

The tree and saying below are, again, from Jaded Blossom's "Simple Sayings" set and the pumpkin and sentiment are from Jaded Blossom's "Thanksgiving Wishes" set.  

Here's the final product, all ready to gift!  I adhered the back of the box together with some washi tape and it's all set!

Thank You

It's Friday, aka challenge day at Pause, Dream, Enjoy Challenges!  This week's challenge is:

Question: Who do you need to give a THANK YOU to?

Theme: MAKE A THANK YOU PROJECT

There are so many people I need to say Thank You to.  I never think of Thanksgiving as a time to say thanks to people as much as to be thankful for the things I've been given, so this is an interesting reminder for me.

Sorry the picture isn't too good.  It's actually a white card with orange and teal stamping.  I used the Hero Arts "Large Open Flower" to stamp the background.  I covered it with a piece of teal cardstock.  Then I cut out a shape from Elegant Edges and stamped the Thank You sentiment from Inkadinkado's "Thank You Sentiments" set in the same teal ink that the flowers were in.  It's a simple card, but the colors are the focal point.

So now it's your turn to be thankful!  Go check out the inspiration from the rest of the Design Team at Pause, Dream, Enjoy Challenges and join us in making a Thank You project!

Thanksgiving Cupcake Toppers

As much as I love baking, I haven't been doing much lately.  I've been trying to keep sweets out of the house in yet another attempt to lose a few pounds.  But yesterday I was feeling the urge to bake, so I decided to make some cupcakes.  I wanted to do something special for these- because who knows when the next time I'll have baked goods in the house will be- so I made some cupcake toppers.  I got to use my two favorite hobbies together!

Here are a picture of one of each design of toppers I made.  The toppers were all cut at 2.5 inches.  The squirrel and bear are from Create a Critter 2.  The two circles are from Elegant Edges.  I stamped a sentiment from Simple Sayings by Jaded Blossom onto each of the circles.  I'm going to tell you a secret- I have a long list of Jaded Blossom stamps that I want to buy because I love their designs, and because I've been wanting to have stamp sets for each season/holiday that were versatile for cards as well as treats.  So by this time next year, I plan to have a set for each season/holiday.  :)

I’m entering this into the following challenges:

Jaded Blossom- Thanksgiving Treats 

Go Fish Challenges- Color Challenge- Yellow/Orange 

CardzTV- I’m so Thankful  
Paper Playtime- Autumn Colors

Creepy Crawler

Will this be my last Halloween card of the year?  Every time I start to feel Halloweened out, I get one more good idea...so who knows.  The background of this card is cut from Elegant Edges.  I seriously need to start pulling that cartridge out more often.

I cut this little bug from Create a Critter 2 at 4.75 inches.  He's really easy to put together because he's only three layers!  Then I stamped the sentiment up the side with my brand-spanking new Lawn Fawn stamp set- Harold's ABCs! 

I'm entering this into the following challenges:
Cut it Up Challenges- Eek! Boo! Ahh!
Cardz TV- Fall-oween
My Crafting Channel- The g'houl times
Exploring Cricut- Happy Halloween
My Craft Spot- Little Monsters

Best Witches

It's amazing to me how sometimes card challenges will really push me to things that I wouldn't have thought of on my own.  Last night, I had three challenges that I wanted to work on but I knew I needed to get them all into one card because I didn't have a lot of time.  Combining them made something so cute and unexpected!

I started with the basics: an A2 kraft base and a piece of orange cardstock embossed with a QuicKutz embossing folder (Retro Squares).  Texture requirement met.  Next, I knew I needed to add an Elephant, so I looked on MyCutSearch and decided to use the Elephant from New Arrival.  I cut her at 2 inches.  Elephant requirement met.

With one challenge to go, I knew I had to make it Halloween themed.  I decided to use the witches hat and broom from 3 Birds on Parade.  I cut them at 4 inches to make them the right size for Ms. Elephant.  I saw that her broom was blending in too much with the orange background, so I put a piece of purple behind her. Then I put the twine on the other side and cut a tag from Elegant Edges.  I stamped the word "best" from Everyday Expressions by Stampabilities and "witches" is from Jessie's ABCs by Lawn Fawn.  It's on foam dots, because of the twine behind it.

This card is being entered into the following challenges:
Die Cuttin Divas- Elephant
Cooking with Cricut- Texture
Scrappy Mom's Stamps- Halloween

Happy Grandparents' Day!

Did you know that today is Grandparents' Day?  That's what my calendar tells me.  I have only one Grandparent left, and she lives across the country, so I don't see her very often.  I thought I'd make her a card to say hi.

I cut this card from Elegant Edges.  The card was cut at 5 inches using kraft for the Shadow feature and pink for the actual cut.  I adhered two of the shadow together to make the card.  The little bird that was cut out of the bottom corner shows up again in the inside.  :)

The branch and the little blue birds are from Wild Card.  The branch was cut at about 1.5 inches, and the birds were cut at about 2 and 2.25 (I think, I have to start writing these things down!)  

Here's the inside of the card.  I stamped the "happy" with Joy's Life Everyday Occasions and the "Grandparents day" with Lawn Fawn Jessie's ABCs.

Thanks!

Today I've got a Thank You card to add to my rapidly growing card stash.  I started out with the yellow card and the purple cutout from Elegant Edges (which I just got from my birthday and love!) and then got stuck.  I felt like I went through every color and nothing looked right.  Luckily, I recently discovered the handy color wheel at Scrapbook.com and used it to help me pick out teal as my third color.  I used two different colors of teal to cut out the Thanks and the ribbon from Lyrical Letters.  

The teal striped washi tape is Target brand, and the purple flowers washi tape is WRMK.  The inside of the card, which I did not bother to take a picture of, has the left over swirl that was cut out of the purple across the bottom right side.

I'm entering this card into the 100th challenge at Cooking with Cricut- the Thank You challenge.  Special thanks to everyone over at CWC- theirs was the first little blinky that I got to add over on the left side of my blog and so they'll always have a special place in my heart.  I always love participating in their challenges and the DT has such great inspiration.  So, Thanks CWC and congratulations on 100 challenges!