BBTB2 Love Struck Hearts Challenge and Blog Hop!

I can't believe we're almost through with January, but happy to finally be back to our end of the month Blog Hops at BBTB2. You should have arrived here from the wonderfully talented Shelly's blog, but if not, you may wish to start HERE, at the beginning, so you don't miss a thing. My super sweet and oh so talented friend and DT sister Maria chose two of the hearts from the Love Struck Cartridge and really wished for a layout, but was kind enough to allow us non scrappers (who me?) the option of making a card. I knew immediately what hearts I wanted to use. Scroll down 2 posts and you'll see why. I can't believe I hadn't cut them before.

The card has a shaped front which as usual, doesn't really show in the first pic. All is welded in Design Studio to the welded rectangle from George which I pull and skew until it's the right size. The front sentiment comes from Wild Card. Since "Wild about you" comes all together as a cut, I had to hide the contours of the rest of the phrase to have the "Wild" and "about" be different sizes and placed how I wanted them on the card. Let's just say it took me awhile to design this one, but I'm quite fond of it. I'm hoping a certain someone is too. HeeHee!

This one turned out to be FAT, even for me. the "U" actually ended up having a full 6 popped layers! I make my own adhesive foam using Fun Foam and double stick tape in loads of colors and cut it myself so the dimensionals aren't so distracting when viewed from the side.

And lo and behold, I even finished the inside! the dotty paper is Bo Bunny. I used small clear epoxy letters from J's and backed them with little punched circles (so they'd show up) for the "so let's" and also for the "I'm" on the front (which you can barely see because of the glare.) "Go wild" is from Straight From the Nest. Sometimes it's difficult to do an inside sentiment on a shaped front card without it showing from the front, but I placed the large heart and hugs and kisses (from Wild Card) exactly behind those on the front and the rest of the front elements hid the the slight run over of the sentiment. Of course it wouldn't be complete without some little metal adhesive hearts and the ever present adhesive beads. Now hop along, but not before leaving a comment for a chance to win a $30 gift certificate to Custom Crops. Next up is the gorgeous and super talented Julia so enjoy!

Haunted Design House Macabre Monday Angels and Demons

Our challenge this week for Macabre Monday is Angels and Demons: use angelic images or products and creep them out as only HDHer's can. Our sponsor this week is The Angel Company, offered by none other than the Macabre Mistress herself. I must say, I was blown away by the quality of the card stock and DP from this company; gorgeous colors and superior weight and texture of the card stock and the coordinating ribbons and die cut tags, etc are really fab. All of the paper products I used in my design are from The Angel Company Winchester collection and although you can barely see it, I also used the Edge Design Stamp Set on the vertical blue strip on card stock. Really cool set, though.

The digi image is Angelika, one of the Devil Dolls from Stamp Insanity. She's colored with Copics and the semtiment is computer generated on one of the die cut tags from the Winchester Collection. I used the sketch by Lynn from Cute Card Thursday and will be entering this in the challenge there as well. All of the Minions designs use the fabulous products from our sponsor so be sure to check out Haunted Design House for inspiration and see what what you could WIN if you play along! (You know you want to!)

A Little Sneaky Peeky

Sorry, no new project today. I've been a busy gal trying to get all my DT stuff done but I do have a little sneak peek of the inspiration for my BBTB2 card for tomorrow. We're resuming our end of the month Blog Hops so you won't want to miss it. Here are a few pix of the zebra stuff all over our house. Starting with the mosaic zebra in the entryway.

Zebra canape plates

Zebra towels

Zeke, the 6ft tuxedo clad zebra that started it all. (Yes, he dresses up for all major holidays) And BTW, he's on roller skates.

And finally, the zebra rug. Does any of this pique your curiosity?

Tiddly Inks Clock

My project for Tiddly Inks this week actually started last week with the Just Be Me Challenge. While perusing all of Christy's adorable images looking for something that fit, I came across Time Will Tell. Time seems to be getting away from her and that's exactly how I've felt since maybe October. I had a tough time with a layout however, and eventually put it aside for a future date. Then I came across a quote on the sidebar of Disney Dreamer's Designs (Melissa's Blog) that made me LOL. SOOO ME and perfect with Time Will Tell! I've only modified it slightly and decided to make a little clock to hang in the craft room and keep me on track (yeah, right!) Well, at least it will keep me smiling. The frame is a little $3.00 number from Walmart, the only one I could find in the right shape. The DP is Heidi Grace.

I've colored Time Will Tell with Copics (notice she has red hair) and cut her out and matted her with my Nesties Labels Seventeen, then inked with Distress Inks in Tumbled Glass while she was still in the die. I used my Cropadile Big Bite to punch the hole for the clockworks (several times to make it big enough).

Here's a better view of the sentiment and the little embellie in the corner which is a Dienamics Die from My Favorite things. The leaves are hand cut. This is definitely one of my favorite quotes right now which fits right in with the current Quote Me Challenge at the Tiddly Inks Challenge Blog and there's still loads of time left to play so why not take a look.

Edit: WooHoo! Hot off the press! There's also a fab new release at Tiddly Inks that includes these adorable images and check out Fabulous Inky Friday for even more creative inspiration!

Bah! Humbug! Christmas Cracker Challenge

This week at Bah! Humbug! the challenge is Christmas Crackers. How fun! Wish that were more a tradition in the U.S. because I just love the idea. Sets a festive table, for sure. As usual, my worst dilemma was choosing paper. I wanted to make an elegant cracker (like the fabulous one offered as a Spot Prize this week) that would look pretty with my Mom's china. Then I remembered the gorgeous Linen Pack I'd won as a Spot Prize from the lovely Humbuggers last year. OOOh, it was tough to cut into. I'd been hoarding it for months but I dare say it was exactly what I was looking for. Not much else needed, just some ribbon and peelie borders to finish it off.

And of course a little Christmas greeting, UK style. Thanks again for my lovely prize, ladies. As you can see I'll be putting it to good use. And carry on, Carole and Ann. Fabulous work! Hope Max and Irene are on the mend, though. I miss you both. xx

The Cuttlebug Spot Be Inspired Challenge

If you've been following The Cuttlebug Spot this month, you 've noticed each challenge was to "Be Inspired". This week is no exception, with the inspiration being a magazine ad. With all this crafting going on, I've let most of my mags expire but I did find a copy of Architectural Digest which saved the day. (Not much goin' on in BonApetit, I must say). My interpretation is a bit feeble, but I did manage the colors (sort of) and was able to use another of my Cuttlebug Emboss Plus folders called Perfect Perennials. I cut using kraft card stock and went over the embossing with my Copics. Behind the cut out I used Birds and Swirls. The butterfly is an MS punch and the "Thank you" is from the With Gratitude Card Making Combo. I added a few Prima flowers and some adhesive beads and that was it. Pretty simple. Now go have a look at the creative designs by my teamies. We hope you'll be inspired to play along.

BBTB2 Butterfly Challenge

This week at BBTB2, the lovely Lori chose the beautiful butterfly from Once Upon a Princess. Who knew? and it's a great one too with all kinds of fabby layering. This is actually my second design and second attempt at cutting the second design because I just couldn't make up my mind what to do (and the cuts I did with yellow black and orange turned out looking more like Halloween than the monarch and swallowtail vision I had originally. Not that I don't love me some Halloween, but...) Anyway, this isn't a card but possibly a wall or door hanger. Maybe I'll even frame it so I can gaze at it when I'm feelin' the need to fly away. The base shape is also from OUAP and Fly is from Straight From the Nest. All of the butterflies are welded to the word using Design Studio. I finally settled on a color scheme from the gorgeous background paper from the Jubilee stack from K&Co.

Loads of dimension here, as you can see. I'm never really happy doing flat things. At the last minute I decided to give them antennae so out came the wire.

I wasn't quite sure how I was going to layer up the butterflies either, so I cut them in all of the colors so I could have lots of options. And of course, the pearls... Now remember, if you don't have Once Upon a Princess you may use a butterfly from ANY cartridge (and we all know there are TONS!) so you have NO EXCUSE not to play along. Check out the fabulous inspiration pieces by my DT sisters HERE and have fun!

Macabre Monday Smudgetastic Challenge

It's another Macabre Monday and his week the newest member of the Macabre Minions, Andrea, is strutting her fabulously creative self by allowing the team access to her amazing personally drawn digis. WooHoo! We have a Smudgetastic (Andrea's blog name) challenge that requires you to use charcoal, pencils, chalk or whatever you can smudge when coloring your work (similar digi techniques allowed). Before I ever started paper crafting, my DH gave me charcoal pencils and a sketchbook to encourage my creative side and I did zip with them. Amazing I could actually find them, but I did and what better way to use them than to color Andrea's fab Bat Face.

She's cut and matted with my Nesties Large Octogons. The EK Success border punch was glittered by turning my card stock upside down in my Xyron and I finally figured out how to get my gems to stick to stick without using additional glue; stick them on BEFORE you sprinkle on the glitter...duh! Let's see how often I remember that in the future. LOL When I got her all assembled she sorta reminded me of Malificent from Sleeping Beauty and she looked like she had daggers in her eyes while gazing in the mirror (as I often do these days...getting old is not for wimps...sheesh!) hence the sentiment, computer generated. Might make a good birthday card, eh? The Gruesome Twosome and another lucky winner will receive some of Andrea's fab digis so I know you want to pull out your smudgeworthy mediums and play along. the rest of the Minions have some wonderfully creepy examples HERE.

Oh Alice! Chapter 46: Queen Alice

Just squeeking in at Oh Alice! today. An unforseen interruption in my crafting plans led to this rather hastily put together card. The challenge is to choose between the Red or White Queen's Court. Red being my favorite color, the choice was obvious. Had I had my wits about me (or wanted to keep them, I might have chosen differently. LOL) The quirky image is another from the Octopode Factory. (Love her 'do and the way her crown is permanently embedded in her skull!). Her scepter has gone missing amongst the thousands of scraps and other crap on my table. The red lace doily is a die from the Scrapping Cottage. It didn't show up against the red background, embossed with a 5x7 Cuttlebug Folder that was part of the Valentine bundle (from last year?) so I added a gold foil doily that was laying on my table which led to the other gold embellies that were also not part of the original plan.

The playing card is from a Stampin'Up set and the sentiment is done with my Dymo Caption Maker. Sorry no links to the stuff today. I gotta get this in and it's past Happy Hour.

Bah! Humbug! Stencil Challenge

Oh WOW! Those gals at Bah! Humbug! sure know how to make a challenge! this week it was stenciling. Now I know there are lots of ways to stencil, but I had purchased the brass kind with embossing paste eons ago and thought this was the PERFECT time to try it. Ahhh...not so much. First of all, I couldn't find the brass stencils I'd purchased. No surprise, considering the way my craft room looks at the moment, but that embossing paste was no picnic to work with either. Tape the stencil down and use a spatula as if you were frosting a cake. Okay, but every time I lifted the stencil, the paste sort of globbed and covered some of the finer lines. It took me 7 tries to get these feeble results, finally realizing that since I wanted to use white glitter, it would show up better on colored card stock...duh! And also it's best to tape the stencil down on ALL sides and hold it down while applying the paste so it doesn't get under the stencil. Slightly harder to remove it that way (and be sure to lift STRAIGHT up) but this, at least was a fairly clean image. The problem was my paste is translucent instead of white so with the iridescent glitter it isn't nearly as bold as I would have liked. (Great, DH just came in and said he could hardly see it without tilting it at an angle. Thanks, hon! Best I could do)

So if I couldn't find my stencils, what did I use? I peeled the brass part of the Sizzix Simple Impressions Embossing dealie out of the folder and Voila! They have tons of these at Custom Crops and they're only $1.00. The DP is My Mind's Eye Wonderful Winter, which has a bit of sparkle, with white glitter paper mats. Card stock is Stampin' Up and the sentiment is a peelie I cut apart. Don't think I'll be trying this technique on a regular basis but you never know. LOL Thanks for the inspiration, though, ladies.

The Cuttlebug Spot Inspired by Children's Games

We're being inspired all month at The Cuttlebug Spot and this week it's by children's games. I've chosen Twister because I've always loved bright colors against a white background and dots to me mean PARTY! The background is embossed with the 5x7 Polka Dots Cuttlebug folder, and the 24 colored dots are embossed by the various textures from the Snow Fun 3x3 combo.

I actually punched the dots because it was faster, and I was able to emboss 4 at a time using the folder like this. Easy, peasy. (The hardest part was gluing them on straight.)

The birthday 'prise ( read "surprise") is cut twice from the Beautifully Boxed 3x3 combo. The yellow ribbon is cut and pasted directly over the white for contrast. I was really happy with the simple design that I think would work for guys or gals of any age. The DT came up with some really creative ideas so be sure to check them out HERE and play along for a chance to win a $20.00 gift certificate to Custom Crops.

Tiddly Inks Just Be Me

This week on the Tiddly Inks Challenge Blog we are celebrating ourselves with a Just Be Me Challenge. I hate to say I struggled a bit with this one. You'd think by now I'd know who I am, but I guess I'll always be a work in progress. LOL Goliath and Jezebel helped me out a little, appearing at just the right moment, so here I am...Catgirl! Okay, so I'd have liked to do something more profound, but my little furbabies bring me so much love and joy I can't imagine my life without them. Catgirl is colored with Copics and cut with my Mega Ovals Nesties. The darling DP is Basic Grey Max and Whiskers from my dear friend Leah. Most of the card stock is
Stampin'Up (thanks, Lillie) as is the coordinating dotted ribbon. The center band is punched with a border punch from EK Success.

The sentiment is computer generated and popped, along with the image, and the adorable pawprint brads are from M's. It's really fun to see how the Tiddly Inkers interpreted this challenge so be sure to pop over HERE to see the fabulous creations. And we sure would love it if you played along too. There are also tons of new adorable images at the Tiddly Inks Shop as Christy ramps up for Valentine's Day. AND, don't forget, it's Tiddly Tuesday so you can snag a freebie on the Tiddly Inks Blog or our PCP Group(if you're not a member, just ask to join). WooHoo!

BBTB2 Armadillo (or Whimsical Bird) Challenge

What? You've never seen an armadillo purse/basket? Really? LOL Well, this week at BBTB2, the lovely Krista chose the armadillo cut from Birthday Bash. Because it's a fairly new cart, a number of the DT sisters didn't have it, and surprise, surprise there is no armadillo on any other regular Cricut cart so Krista included the whimsical bird from Birthday bash or any other whimsical brid from any other cart. Got it?

Okay, when I think of armadillos I always think of my BFF from college, Becky, whose grandmother gave her the funkiest basket made out of a real armadillo complete with head, feet, little nails...you get the picture...eeewww!!! She's an avid knitter and used to keep her yarn stored in it. It actually was kinda cool in a really creepy sort of way, and being that that's as close to an armadillo as I've ever been, I set out to recreate it. (I know, sorta warped, but you know I NEVER really like to use the cuts exacty like they are on the carts.)

I welded 2 of the shells and the face to the purse card from Create a Critter. Had to do a bit of manipulating it in DS but it sorta worked. the stripes on the tail and armor were cut free hand. I used the Cuttlebug Tiny Bubbles folder for embossing, stuck a few flowers, beads and a gingham bow to gussy it up a bit and called it done (after about 7 hours of screwing around with it... LOL) I was a bit out of mojo after my Macabre Monday card which also has a ton of Cricut manipulation so be sure to scroll down to see why I was SOOO tired. Be sure to hop on over to BBTB2 and check out the adorable projects this week and we'd love to see your armadillo (or whimsical bird) so why not come and play along?

Macabre Monday Hell Hath No Fury Challenge

On week's Macabre Monday at Haunted Design House the challenge is "Hell Hath No Fury" and we're betting it's a popular one. LOL I, of course, have no experience in this matter, but if I did...

So anyway, I thought it was about time I did a Cricut card, being the Creepy Cricut Cween and all. I already had the sentiment in my mind. so I decided to make a bed shaped card using a bed from Everyday Paper Dolls with Design Studio. The stamp is Baby Cakes by Jill Penney and Daniel Torrente for Stampotique. The sentiment is computer generated, cut with my Nesties.

Fully opened, the card reveals the full intentions of the poor scorned girl. Obviously she's much happier with the thought. Revenge is so sweet. (dig the cute metal knife) The smiling face is that of Karin, another Stampotique stamp by Penney/Torrente. The blood spatter on the computer sentiment is from the Inky Dreams set from Smeared Ink.

Here you can see how both the bottom of the bed and the hand cut pillow open and how the front sentiment, secured with a skully brad, slides to open it. It really was fun to design and I hope you all find the humor in it. Now, if you want to see some hilarious crazy bee-otch projects along this line, check out the rest of the Macabre Minions designs at Haunted Design House. We're dying to see what you come up with.

Cutie Couples from Peggy Loves Vintage

Just in time for Valentine's Day, Peggy has release 3 new sets of Cuties Couples Cut Outs available on the Peggy Loves Vintage Website, Etsy, and Ebay stores. The cut outs are an easy fast way to enjoy Peggy's adorable images and I immediately fell in love with this cute couple from Cutie Couples 3. You remember my dinner party last week? Well, I pulled out all the stops with my best china, crystal and silver, but the bad news was it all required hand washing. We had spent 2 days cleaning and cooking and enjoyed it all immensely, but at 1:00am I was hardly in the the mood to begin washing the mounds of dishes (although waking up to them is infinitely worse). As I was wrapping up leftovers, there was DH washing away. Got to love him! The retro DP is DCWV Nana's kichen stack and the sentiment was computer generated using my Greeting Card Factory Deluxe program.

I used Scalloped Rectangles and Petite Circle Nesties on the front and Mega Classic Ovals and Mega Scalloped Oval Nesties inside. The hearts are a MS punch. I thought it would make a cute Valentine or Anniversary card, or in this case, a Thank You.

Bah! Humbug! Holly or Fairy Challenge and Tiddly Inks Refresh Me

Yea! Bah!Humbug! is back with their first challenge of the year. I know many are totally done with Christmas, but I'm raring to go. The gals are making it easy this week, allowing either holly or fairies for the challenge, but I immediately thought of Holly Bug from Tiddly Inks so I could do both. It is also the first challenge of the new year for Tiddly Inks and we have some changes on the Tiddly Inks Challenge Blog. Our Design Team is divided into an A and B group and being on the B team, my Tiddly Inks card this week did not have to follow the current challenge, but I love the idea of a "refreshing" all white card with the only color being that of the image, so I decided to meet the current Tiddly Inks challenge with this card as well.

I cut Holly Bug and her frame with my Nesties. The background mat is embossed with the Cuttlebug Holly folder. I used white peelies to hide the raw edges and used the MS double scallop border punch on the bottom edges of the card. All I needed then were some adhesive pearls and an organdy bow for embellies. Be sure to check out the fabulous creations by the rest of the Tiddly Inkers and read about the exciting new images, challenges and prizes we have for the new year. And I know at least a few of my friends who vowed to get a jump start on Christmas cards for this next Christmas so now's the time to get going with a little help from Bah!Humbug! Oh, and hey, if you get a chance, take a scroll down to see my Whimsical Wednesdays Guest Designer card. This week's theme is Alice in Wonderland and I'm really proud of it.

Whimsical Wednesdays Alice in Wonderland Challenge

Today is a special day because I'm so honored to be Guest Designer for Whimsical Wednesdays. When Jess contacted me and told me the challenge was Alice in Wonderland how could I say no? You know I love me some Alice! This fun challenge is open to any interpretation of an Alice theme so I hope you're inspired to play along. (I've heard there is a fabulous prize to be had!)

I'm quite the collector of Alice images so it was very difficult to choose. Because it is "Whimsical" Wednesdays, however, I decided you couldn't get more whimsical than the quirky digi stamps from The Octopode Factory. Lily is such an amazing artist that it's hard to believe she's only 17 years old. The stamps are available individually, or as a set, and I've used characters from both the Alice in Wonderland and Alice Elements sets. They are all colored with Copics and a bit of metallic gel pen here and there.

For my Wonderland scene I chose a side step card so I could add the layers and depth I wanted. Here's a LINK to a simple tutorial for this style of card. Choosing papers is always difficult for me, but when I saw the gorgeous flowers on this sheet from Webster's pages, I thought the quirkiness of the images would play off the beautiful, realistic botanicals quite well. The pattern is on the edges and corners of the page so with a bit of fussy cutting I was able to contain this magical world quite easily.

Of course the whole concept of time is central to the Alice theme. My clock here is a digi stamp from Smeared Ink and I've mounted Alice with a brad as if she were one of the hands and she does rotate. I'm afraid these days I feel alot like Alice. Time just seems to get away from me and sets me spinning! (Of course it doesn't help that I'm so easily distracted and the consummate procrastinator! LOL)

The sentiment is a combination of computer generation and what was printed on the Webster's Page. I've used wire to attach the computer generated portion which I printed in olive on more of the blank part of the printed card stock and cut and embossed with my new Nesties Labels Seventeen. I love the thought of "living the life I have imagined" and better still that it's "never too late" to make that happen.

Now to get you even more excited about the challenge I have a couple of "sneak peeks" from the gals who bring you Whimsical Wednesdays. The first is from Jess. Again, I want to thank Jess for this fun and fabulous opportunity. OOOhhh, I recognize that face and it's one of my FAVES! Hurry over to see the completed project HERE and leave her some love.

And from Stephanie I see another peek of gorgeous hair! I'm sure you're excited to see what Steph has in store and you'll find the particulars of the Whimisical Wednesday challenge, Mr. Linky, and the prize info HERE too. Hope all you Alice lovers come and play along!

The Cuttlebug Spot Inspired by a Song

This week at The Cuttlebug Spot we're taking our inspiration from a song. I immediately knew the artist, Eva Cassidy, but as she's my fave, the decision of which song was pretty daunting. Eva has the voice of an angel and unfortunately she's with the angels now, having passed away at a young age from melanoma. She did not sing original songs, but was a genius at arranging the songs of others. Keeping the Cuttlebug in mind, I finally chose "Fields of Gold" which is fitting because it was the first song I ever heard her sing over the radio and I actually went online to the radio program listing to find the artist, it touched me so. I'd never particularly liked Sting's version but Eva's is magical. Her voice takes me away to a special place I hold in my heart. Please have a listen.

I made a shaped card using the frame from Accent Essentials, hiding the inside contours and welding them together. Usually I try to do my Cuttlebug Spot card with only the Cuttlebug, but I noticed on the Bontanicals Lite cart there was a sheaf of grain that I wanted to incorporate, so I used the frame again and welded that shadow of the grain to it. I thought this made a lovely foreground. My fields of gold are embossed with the Bird Call Cuttlebug folder that I fussy cut and popped. (I also cut off the bird) I used the Sizzix Tim Holtz Rays folder for the jealous sky and a Nestie Inverted Scalloped Circle for the sun.

To add a bit of texture to the sheaf I used the small dots from the butterfly cut and emboss combo set just at the tips.

I did quite a bit of popping to get the the amount of depth I wanted and inked everything in warm tones of Distress Ink to help enhance the embossing. The sentiment, of course, are words from the song, computer genterated and cut with Nesties Label One. The inside sentiment is also lyrics from the song that I need not share. You know...

I have no music on my blog but if I did, it would probably all be Eva. I hope you listened while reading about my card, and if you have a chance, find more of her music to enjoy. Now pop on over to The Cuttlebug Spot to see what inspires my fellow teamies. I'm anxious to find out myself. (I usually wait until the new challenge is up to post but I was anxious to share this one. Sorry if I jumped the gun.)

BBTB2 Lyrical Letters Hummingbird Challenge

Yikes, I'm still running WAY behind. We're finally back from break at BBTB2 and this week's Hummingbird Challenge was chosen by our sweet DT Sister Karen. One of the reasons I love BBTB2 challenges is that I often find cuts I never knew existed on the various carts and this was no exception. I looked for flowers for my hummingbird and chose another cartridge I'd never used, the Lite Cart Botanicals.

I chose one of the card cuts and then used Design Studio to elongate the card and weld the hummingbird off the other side so it would fold in to the flower. The light green mat is embossed with the Cuttlebug Bird and Swirls folder, the flower itself, with Swiss Dots. In some ways this looks more like one of my Cuttlebug Spot cards, but the hummingbird had no shadow so it lended itself to a more simple design. However I'm noticing now that the embossing just barely shows up in the pix. What's up with that?

There isn't alot of space for a sentiment with this style of card and I was originally going to do a sympathy card, but I found both the "So Kind" and "Thank You" on the Cuttlebug With Gratitude Cardmaking Combo and they fit so that's what I went with. All that was left were adhesive pearls and a ribbon to complete the embellies. (Big surprise! LOL) Now pop by BBTB2 to see the marvelously creative ways the rest of the team used the hummingbird cut and remember, if you don't have Lyrical Letters, you can use a hummingbird cut from any of the carts.