More Christmas!

I have another Christmas card today!  This again goes along with Catch the Bug Challenge Christmas in July week long events!  and the Send a Smile 4 Kids Christmas in July Challenge!  Today I followed a sketch.  I LOVE using sketches!  and this one was a great one to work with!

and my creation:

I used the image Knobby Knees Christmas - sack and colored it with my Copics.  The scallop background is from Accent Essentials and the sentiment from Fiskars Tis the Season stamp set.  I cut the stars with my Creative Memories Star Punch.  I polished it off by glossing up the collar and ball of the Santa hat with Glossy Accents and used some glitter on it!  Again a nice and simple Christmas card...and for someone who sends out close to 75, these are the kind I like!!

Die Cuttin Divas Challenge!

It's time for another Die Cuttin Divas weekly challenge!  This week is all about desserts.  We would like to see a dessert somewhere on your project.  I decided to branch out from cards and layouts and came across an incredibly cute idea for a cupcake gift card holder!  Check it out!!

I had so much fun making this!  I used THIS tutorial called 'Hey Cupcake' from Fabulously Artsy and just did my own thing in places.  The tutorial is wonderful but I did make some changes.  Below is a general run down of what I did!

1.  Cut out 6" circle on chipboard.  Then trace a 2" circle.  Cut the edges just up to the inside circle and fold up to make a cupcake.  Hot glue it together.

2.  Accordion pleat paper to cover outside of cupcake.

3.  Cut a 3" Styrofoam ball in half, position gift card inside, use foam dots along sides to hold it together.  Then glue it inside the cupcake.

4.  Glue ribbon and paper flowers (I used Forever young cart) to cupcake to decorate making sure you don't cover the opening.

5.  Paint wooden bead red, and glue it to the top of a small binder clip.  Use crumbled paper or ribbon to make 'whipped cream'.

6.  Insert gift card into binder clip, slide it into the cupcake and finish with glitter and stickles!

 I used glossy accents on the bottom layer of paper flowers and sprinkled them with Martha Stewart glitter.  I loaded the top layer of flowers with Studio G glitter glue.

I think it turned out pretty cute for my first go!  I can see myself making a whole lot more of these!  I think they are adorable!

Be sure to submit your dessert project HERE at Die Cuttin Divas for a chance to win our weekly prize!!!

Die Cuttin Divas Challenge

Welcome to another Die Cuttin Divas Tuesday Challenge! This week we want to see your shaped cards! Make any shaped card except for a square or rectangle! I decided to take advantage of using my moms expression while on vacation since my personal cutter doesn't make very big cards :( Time for an upgrade I think! So while thinking of what to make my sister said she needed a birthday card for her nieces 2nd birthday. So I jumped right on that! Here is my creation!
This was actually a pretty simple card. I used Sweet Treats for both the number 2 and the crown and welded their shadows together with my gypsy. I did want to glam it up a little so I used glossy accents on the crown and sprinkled it over with some glitter! I finished with some doodling around the edges and the sentiment sticker was from my moms stash.

I'd love to see your shaped card! Go HERE to enter in our challenge!!

Die Cuttin Divas Challenge 20!

It's that time again! Die Cuttin Divas weekly challenge! This time we needed to use a Christmas cut for a non-Christmas themed card/project! The cartridge was an easy choice for me as I only have 1! So I used the Christmas cartridge. and here is what I came up with!

I thought I would take this opportunity to check off another baby card I needed to make! I decided to make a 'tag' for this project instead. Since I will be hand delivering it I didn't have to worry about size, weight, bulk, etc. Actually I will probably just attach it to the gift!

I used Christmas cartridge for the bear and train cuts. The train is actually popped from the tag and I added stickles to the bear to shine him up a bit. The large white flower is from Imaginisce. The button and bling are from Oriental Trading Company and the ribbon is from ek success. I used George and Basics to cut the circle for the sentiment and it's stamped from All Night Media. The shape of the card is also from the Christmas cartridge. I finished the card by lining it with Glossy Accents and some Martha Stewart glitter!

I hope you decide to play along too! Click HERE to add your project!

Peachy Keen Sketch Challenge #53

My project today was inspired by a wonderful local business called Noodles and Company. Our local facility generously donated a mac and cheese lunch to the classroom at our elementary school that collected the most Box Tops for Education this year! I am the head of that fund raising committee and I counted, cut and submitted every last box top that was turned in. Fancy enough, my kindergartner's class collected the most! So last week my co chair and I brought in mac and cheese for 24 kindergartners! They LOVED it! Most of them had 2nd and 3rd helpings! The woman at Noodles and Company is such a fantastic lady. She was willing to do basically anything to support the school. What a neat experience for everyone! SOOO I wanted to send her something to thank her for her generosity. I decided to make a card for the Peachy Keen Sketch Challenge #53 with a twist, where the twist was to use a sponging technique. I've been learning how to ink the edges of my papers but I wanted to try something a little different. Here is the Peachy Keen Sketch:
and here is the card I created:


I immediately thought of the bowl and noodles image from Create a Critter when I decided to make this card! I mean how perfect! I sponged the edges of all of the papers but I also cut out the sentiment Thank You and sponged through the shadow onto my background sheet. I think it turned out pretty neat! I finished the sketch by using Glossy Accents and some Martha Stewart glitter! I really like the look of this card! I cannot wait to bring it into Noodles and Company!

Create a Critter cart - noodles, bowl, chopsticks
Gypsy Wanderings cart - thank you sentiment
Technique Tuesday - yellow ink
Rubber Stampede - black ink

Flowered with thanks!

I've been meaning to make a shaped card for some time now but I feel limited with my personal cutter. I may have to upgrade to an expression soon! I had to find an image that was basically square so I could enlarge it to 6x6 and virtually make a 5-6" card. So what better than a flower! and my go to cartridge is always Forever Young! I made this card for the Whimsical Wednesday Take Shape Challenge and the My Craft Spot Monday Challenge #9, both requiring a shaped card. Here's the final product :)

I just love embellishing flower cards, well flower anything really! After I assembled the flower layers I was actually kind of stuck as to what to spice it up with. I used glossy accents and Martha Stewart Course glitter for the center layer and then pulled out my pearls. I decided early on I was making this card for my 1st grader's teacher since the end of school is right around the corner. I cut my own little tag and stamped it. I also inked all of the edges. I really don't think the picture does it justice. I always find my stuff looks better 'in person'!

Forever Young cart - Flower and all layers
Oriental Trading Company - small self adhesive pearls
Eyelet Outlet - center pearl brad
Studio G ink to ink edges

Baby girl

You will never hear me complain about making baby girl cards! I have probably 4 friends right now who are expecting babies in the next few months. 1 of them knows it's a girl and the others are going to be surprised. So I took this opportunity to make a special baby girl card. This is actually going to be her third girl so I joke that I have the other half of her Brady Bunch!

I'm entering this card into a few challenges, the first being the Peachy Keen Stamps Sketch Challenge #51 with a twist. The twist was to pop up a stamped image on the card. I'm also entering it into the Cricut Cardz Challenge #74 which is to make a card for a new baby (PERFECT!!). My card also qualified for the More Than Favors Wacky Wednesday #38 Anything Goes Challenge. Finally I'm including it in the Patches of Pink Link Up Party!

Here is the Peachy Keen sketch I was to go by:

And here is the card I made!

I'm really happy with how it turned out! I love the colors, I love the glitter! I love how girly it is! and it was really simple!



I started by stamping the background of the card. I felt like there was too much empty space behind the frame. I cut the frame from Stretch Your imagination, inked the edges, outlined it with glossy accents and used my Martha Stewart coarse glitter to glitz it up a bit! I also outlined the edges of the baby blocks with glossy accents and added glitter to those. Can you really have too much glitter?! Popped the blocks from the card per the twist in the Peachy Keen Challenge (as shown in the second picture) and added a ribbon to finish it up! I still can't believe how pretty this card turned out!

Background Frame - Stretch Your Imagination
Baby Letters - George and Basic Shapes
Inks - Studio G, Technique Tuesday
Stamps - Rubber Stampede, Scrappy Cat
Ribbon - Celebrate It

A metallic note!

Good morning! I finished up a little quick card this morning that really took me to a new level. COLORING! I think this is usually my downfall but I'm really happy with how this card turned out! I think I did a pretty good job! I made it for a few challenges. The first is the Peachy Keen Stamps Sketch Challenge #50 w/ a twist, the twist being you had to use metallic accents somewhere on the project. The next 2 challenges, Stamp, Scrap & Doodle Saturdays Tagalicious, and Die Cuttin Divas Challenge #11 Tag you're it! both required the use of a tag.

Here is a picture of the sketch I had to follow:
and my card :)

This is a bigger card, 6.5x5 inches. The sunflower stamp is from Rubber Stampede (Sunflower Designs 770F). I've had this stamp for decades, literally. My mom bought it for me during my teenage sunflower craze where literally everything I owned, and lived in and around had to be sunflowers. I can't believe I saved it. Being a pack rat pays off I guess! I colored it in using my Prismacolor pencils. All of the scallop cuts are from Gypsy Wanderings. The sentiment is from Stampendous Personal Notes Mini Quad Cube and I pop dotted the scallop that you can kind of see in the second picture. I used the ek success Victorian Photo Corner punch and used glossy accents and glitter on them. I absolutely love this corner punch! Thanks for looking!

Showered with Love!

One card....FOUR challenges! Oh my gosh I'm so excited! This card is nothing how I envisioned (it started out as a seal on a beach LOL) but I'm so glad because I just love it! It came together so easily and it was so fun!

The first challenge is Whimsical Wednesday Challenge #2 April Showers bring May Flowers. The second is over at Paper Playtime where we needed to make a card that had to do with the weather. Next I'm entering it in Paper Sundaes Challenge #65 using texture. Finally over at Die Cuttin Divas their challenge #10 is to use 2 different cuts from 2 different cartridges. Take a look!!
Lots to explain on this one! First I embossed the entire background with the D'Vine Swirl folder and inked the edges. The sun and clouds came from Create a Critter cartridge. The couple and umbrella are from Sweethearts. I used a small punch for the hearts, put glossy accents on them and finished them with glitter. The sentiment is computer generated and printed on vellum. and lastly, I used the Victorian Photo Corner punch by ek success to add some color around the edges! I am really really happy with how this card turned out!

Floral Happy Birthday

I decided tonight to combine a few challenges and try my hand at a new birthday card. The first is at Stamp, Scrap & Doodle Saturdays where I needed to use 3 flowers, 3 pattern papers, 3 sparklys and a ribbon. The second is over at Birthday Sundaes where their challenge #5 is anything goes birthday. And lastly I am entering it in Paper Sundaes Challenge #65 which is to use texture/dimension in my creation. Here is what I came up with!



I actually ended up not even using a cricut cut! First time ever I think! The 3 flowers are from Imaginisce and I used jeweled brads from Making Memories to attach them to the card. I inked the edges of all the paper. I used my corner punch by ek success and spiced them up a bit by using glossy accents and Martha Stewart Coarse glitter on them. This was a really fun card to make! It went together really nicely and quickly!

Peachy Keen Stamps Sketch Challenge 49

Wow this card got the best of me! I think I was trying too hard to do it the way I initially envisioned AND to include Peachy Keen Stamps. Problem is I only have 1 set of those fabulous stamps! So I came to the conclusion that I cannot have both. So I went with the card design that first popped in my head w/o stamps. Here is the sketch we were to follow for the Peachy Keen Stamps Sketch Challenge 49.

and here was my take on it :)



LOOK OUT! I found the glitter at the craft store! I am totally in love with this card! I love the sparkle! I love the colors (maybe I should try to break away from pink and brown though!) It may have taken me a few days but I am completely satisfied with the final product!

Here are the details!
I made the card 4x9 so it would fit in a standard business envelope. The girl is from Forever Young (I seem to always revert back to this cartridge when I think Mother's Day). The MOM is from George and Basic Shapes so I could get the shadow layer. I used Glossy Accents and sprinkled Martha Stewart Coarse Glitter on the top layer. The flowers are from Imaginisce. I added some hemp cording and a button to fill in the void on the end. The picture really doesn't do it justice. This card has some sparkle!!! My new favorite I think!