Happy Birthday, Margie and Bah! Humbug! Christmas Tree Challenge

Before I do anything, I want to wish my dear friend Margie (Bellabug) a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I'm thinkin she'll be asleep before I post this so she won't see it until tomorrow (March 31) which is the BIG DAY! Have the best birthday ever and win, win, WIN BIG at the casino WOOHOO!!!, don't get too tipsy, and stay away from pay per view. LOL Love you, girlfriend! Be sure to wish her a happy day.

Okay, so this week at Bah! Humbug! the challenge is Christmas trees. I wanted to do something different so I decided to do a 3D project. I'd been playing with the Stampin' Up Petal Cone die (thanks Lillie) and turned it upside down. It sort of reminded me of a tree and wondered if I stacked them how it would look. I embossed the cones with the Stampin' Up Elegant Lines folder and cut the scalloped portions of the die in red. I think the clean red and white looks kind of Scandanavian to me. (I'm half Swedish).

To stack the cones I cut circles with my Nesties that would fit inside the cones. This one for the top cone,

and this for the bottom. The base is a ribbon spool that has been covered in card stock, also with my Nesties and the trunk is just a rolled piece of regular copy paper. For a first try I don't think it turned out half bad. I think I'll be playing with this again.

The Cuttlebug Spot Oh So Soft Challenge

Were rounding up our month of embellie challenges at The Cuttlebug Spot. And I'm sad to say it's the last of our challenges for awhile. The Cuttlebug Spot will be taking a bit of a break but don't forget us, WE'LL BE BACK! Our final challenge is Oh so Soft featuring felt in our designs. I was particularly excited about this one because I'd been dying to try my MFT Die-namics dies with felt. I use the Rolled Flower and the Rolled Rose. They cut quite easily in the Cuttlebug, but in a few cases I did have to snip through a few reluctant stands of fiber. You use the same sandwich as with Nesties; A plate, C plate, die, felt, and B Plate. Then I rolled them up and glued them using Zip Dry glue to a small punched circle and added adhesive pearls to the centers. The leaves were from the Spellbinders Nested Leaves dies. Pretty pretty, huh? The background embossing is done with an old style Fiskars Basketweave Texture plate. I'd never had much luck with embossing with these, but while at the Scrap Expo I came across Lucy McGoo's Wonder Goo which, when sprayed on card stock is (among other things) supposed to enhance embossing. Still not as crisp as a folder, but a definite improvement. The eggs were cut with my Spellbinder's Nested Eggs dies, and embossed with my new Sizzix Country Foliage folder. The bottom scalloped border was not punched, but rather cut with the Scalloped Scallop Die-namics Die from MFT. "Happy Ester was computer generated on a little banner cut with my Stampin' Up Bigz Petal Cone Die (Thanks Lilllie!) I'll be using that whole die in the near future.

So, it's a simple Easter card, but ALL Cuttlebug. Here's a pic of all of the goodies I used. the Design Team has all sort of inspiration using felt, so be sure and check out The Cuttlebug Spot and please play along. Last chance for awhile. You might want to consider subscribing so as not to miss our return. Don't forget us!

Tiddly Inks Celebrate With Us! Challenge

WooHoo! Today is Christy Croll's Birthday! I'm sure you all know this, but Christy is the owner, illustrator, and all around fabby lady of Tiddly Inks and we're celebrating the day with a challenge in her honor. Christy's favorite colors are red, black and white so create a card with those colors (and a Tiddly Inks image) for our Celebrate With Us Challenge and you're IN! Christy has been in a creative frenzy with TONS of cool new images in THE SHOP and I thought I had this card all worked out until I saw this new one, Christine. It's Christy's self portrait so previous plans flew out the window so I could put the Birthday Girl (spelled out in Alpha Beads) herself on her card. She's colored with Copics and obviously came with me to my hair appt yesterday because she too, now has many more red highlights in her hair, LOL. (Honestly, you should go for it, Christy!)

I used my new Nesties Lacey Circles to create a Swing Card using the video HERE. I used Bo Bunny Sugar Dot paper, black peelie borders and my Dymo Label Maker for the outside sentiment.

As you open the card, that lacy circle swings around to reveal...

Wicked Fun! (Now don't we ALL want that for our birthday?) She's another of the NEW RELEASES available at the TI Shop (including some brand new Cute Girls, Gothic Cute Girls AND Gothic Pin-Ups and there's MORE!!!!!!! Christy has a yummy new freebie available on her blog HERE (so be sure to stop by, snag it, and leave her some birthday love) AND...

How about THIS?!!!!! There is a super SALE going on at the Tiddly Inks Shop right now! Today ONLY!!! with 25% off everything! Oldies, New Releases, Digi paper, YOU NAME IT! No minimums, no coupons, no restrictions...LET'S PARTY!!!!!

BBTB2 Disney Challenge and Blog Hop!

Woohoo! It's Blog Hop time again at BBTB2 and this week we're hosted by my dear and fabulously talented friend, Maria. In honor of Spring Break she's chosen a Disney challenge, hopefully using one of the new carts, but hey, any Disney cart will do. If you've come from dear Carole's blog you're on the right track, but if you'd like to start at the beginning, hop back to BBTB2 so you don't miss a thing. I really find the Disney characters intimidating so this is actually the first one I've actually cut and assembled. This is Figaro from Pinocchio on the new Disney Classic Cart. I love the surprised look on his face so I added the "Oops" sentiment by welding letters from Mickey Font. I added striped twine from the Twinery to the "O's" to make them look like balloons thinking this would make a cute belated birthday card.

It's a shaped front card (again) with a rounded rectangle from George welded in Design Studio. All of Figaro's layers were cut in white card stock and colored with Copics, even the black. Once I'd colored the other parts, the solid black card stock looked too one dimensional and I was able to add a teeny bit on shading coloring it all with my Copics even though it still was essentially black. The inside striped mat was from the DCWV Summer Glitter Stack from awhile back. Yikes! How bright! Definitely a kid's card, eh?

One this I find particularly challenging with the Disney characters is they are not particulary conducive to the type of dimensional layering I like to do. I thought I was gonna be okay with that, but after gluing on all the the features it just looked too flat to me. To remedy that, I actually cut apart the character using the layer placement cuts and popped the head, bow, paws and legs on top of the solid black cut and then popped the entire kitty on the card base. Definitely better, but wished I'd thought of this before I'd glued down the chest fur or that would be popped too. Next stop is Theresa's Blog and wait 'til you see the magical layouts she's created! WOW! but before you go, don't forget to leave a comment for a chance to win a $40.00, yes, you read that right, a $40.00 gift certificate to Custom Crops!!! Thanks so much Custom Crops for being such a generous sponsor. BTW, Custom Crops currently has the Disney Classics cart on SALE for on $27.00! In fact nearly ALL of the Cricut carts are on sale as well as regular Cricut mats for $8.00 and Imagine mats for $9.00 so be sure to check out Custom Crops for all of your Cricut needs.

Macabre Monday Hacked to Bits Challenge (and Various Mother's Day Challenges...YIKES!) WARNING! Possibly Offensive!

Okay, before we even go there. I need to do a bit of a disclaimer. I was having a bit of a challenge with my Macabre Monday Hacked to Bits Challenge when I remembered this adorable image from Limited Runs Stamps. Little Madison with Hatchet, one of the Grimms, reminded me a bit of Lizzie Borden so...well, there ya go. What followed was a bit of my twisted humor which in no way reflects my opinion of my own Mom, or any Mom I know or have ever known so I really don't hope to offend here. Please blame the humor on WAY too much wine at Sunday Brunch and please forgive. The image included a collection of 6 of the images which I resized, then copied an pasted, until I got 54 of the little dears and then trimmed it down to 40. Then I made the computer generated sentiment and overstamped the whole shebang using the by Smeared Ink Inky Dreams Set in Aged Mahogany Distress ink. The sentiment was cut and matted using Nesties Labels Seventeen. I actually tried to hack my original attempt with an axe but it sort of made a mess, so instead I blew up the single Madison with Hatchet image and cut out just the hatchet to add to the front. The lovely roses are by Recollections from M's. Mom's Love roses!

Just in case you can't see some of the 40 little Madisons, here's a close up. Love doing my own DP! HeeHee!

And the beginning of the little Lizzie poem...

Now here's where I might be skating on thin ice. To whom would you send such a card? Well, all I could think about was Mother's Day, so here's the inside sentiment. Hoping I'm not going to lose followers over this! Check out s0me more Hacked to Bits Inspiration HERE AND because there are quite a few Mother's Day challenges out there I thought I'd stir up the pot a bit. (Besides, I've been dared by another of the Minions so ...) I'm also entering this in the following Mother's Day challenges (I'm not ALWAYS like this ladies, really, I'm not!): Simon Says Stamp, Mother's Day or Girly 2nd entry, Stampin'for the Weekend, One Stitch at a Time, Craft your Days Away, and I'm thinking I better quit while I'm ahead. Most are UK blogs and I'd hate to have my passport revoked.

Tiddly Inks Picture Me Challenge

This week at the Tiddly Inks Challenge Blog we have a super challenge. Besides the gorgeous Photo Inspiration, you must combine it with a shaped card NOT using your Cricut. My initial reaction to this was "I'm glad I'm on Team B and not required to follow the challenge this week, LOL" but Lysa has done a fab tutorial and the photo is really beautiful so I thought "Hey, it's a CHALLENGE, get that butt in gear."

I've used Lysa's Style 1 using my Nesties Labels 10. The only difference is I cut an additional mat to glue on top to hide the fold. I pretty much do that with ALL of my shaped cards, including Cricut, because it gives me a sturdier base on which to pop my images. Next came another mat using DP from Me&My Big Ideas in the colors from the photo above. I chose Tiny Dancer for the image because her tutu reminded my of the flower puffs in the photo (and because it's one of my favorite songs). She's colored with Copics.

The sentiment is a REALLY old word stamp from a set called Rubber Stamp Poet by All Night Media. It's cut with the the smallest of the Mega Ovals large Nestie and matted with a Petite Scalloped Oval Large. Does anyone but me get confused by these names? the sentiment is popped with a 1/16" dot and Tiny Dancer with 1/8" dimensionals. for the flower, I layered pink and orange tulle and cut it with my Tim Holtz Tattered Florals die. These thick dies do work in the Cuttlebug by eliminating the A Plate and sandwiching the die and what ever you're cutting between 2 B Plates. The layers (6 in all) are secured with a sparkly Doodlebug brad. There's a little tulle bow at the top, and some amethyst adhesive jewels for embellies.

Come on, peeps, this is not that tough a challenge! There has been a change in the Tiddly Inks Challenge criteria requiring the use of TI images only, but there are FREEBIES to be had HERE, and if you don't have any Nesties, you can check out some of the there ways the DT has created shaped cards. Christy even has a freebie Template available on her BLOG, so there's just no excuse! Christy is also previewing the adorable new images available this week so what are you waiting for? I'm also entering this in the Simon Says Stamp Mother'sDay/ Girly Challenge. Don't think I could get much more girly than this! AND on the Simon Says Stamp and Show Blog the challenge is Show a WORD! Mine is obviously "Dance".

Bah! Humbug! Metallic Challenge

The challenge at Bah!Humbug! this week is Metallic. Easy peasy since I use foil card stock pretty often when doing Christmas so I wanted to try something new. My DH had recently asked if I could use a roll of adhesive backed foil tape and of course I said "yes!" Hadn't messed with it yet so I tried cutting it with my Tim Holtz On the Edge Snowflake die (another thing I'd not used yet) and voila! How cool! Peeling off the backing was a trip and boy is it STICKY! you really have to get it straight the first time and make sure the snowflakes don't curl and stick to each other or you're pretty much screwed (ask me how I know). It's also VERY thin but you can smooth out the bubbles carefully with a rub-on stick. What I loved is that the edges of the flakes sort of had a teeny raised edge around them. The flat edge bothered me so I took a Cuttlebug border and embossed it. My original thought was to use a peelie sentiment, but then I remembered the adhesive metallic words I'd gotten in the dollar bin at M's. Peace seemed to fit the bill and I only added a few adhesive beads for embellishment. It's really flat and an A2, but I really love how it came out. I think it has something to do with the gorgeous cobalt card stock I got at my LSS.

Here's the tape I used. Got lots more so I'll be experimenting further. The On the Edge Die is called Snow Flurries and I have no idea where the Cuttlebug Christmas border came from. An HSN bundle? Oh well... I'm still thoroughly loving the challenges at Bah!Humbug! Hope you guys aren't totally sick of Christmas...I never am. Well, maybe a little, but not enough to miss a Bah! Humbug! Challenge. (Shut up Margie, don't you dare say a word!) I'm also entering this into the CHNC Challenge which is Seasonal Silver (a little or alot) and the Winter Wonderland Challenge which is Embossing (heat or dry). Oh, and yes, you can use the On the Edge and all of the Sizzix Bigz (but not XL) dies in your Cuttlebug by eliminating the A plate and using a sandwich of B Plate, Die, Card Stock and B Plate.

The Cuttlebug Spot Buttons Challenge

Continuing our focus on embellies this month, our weekly challenge at The Cuttlebug Spot is buttons. I knew immediately I wanted to use the adorable La Mode dragonfly I'd gotten at J's awhile back and set about looking for a good embossing folder to use with it. I decided upon the folder from the Cuttlebug Friends Forever Card Making Combo and the "hello" sentiment from the Everyday Greetings set, both still available, and on SALE at Custom Crops. I fashioned antennae from fun wire I had strung though the holes in the dragonfly's body and took the colors from the wings and chose tiny buttons by Fabulous Findings (also from J's) to glue onto the embossed flowers. The sentiment was cut twice and glued slightly offset and I added a polka dot mat and it was done! Super simple but I love how it came out. Be sure to stop by The Cuttlebug Spot for more inspiration from the rest of the team. I'm also entering this in the My Partner In Crafting Crime Challenge which is conveniently, BUTTONS! WOW, short post! How about that?

BBTB2 Paisley Dachshund Challenge

This week our BBTB2 Challenge was chosen by our sweet Melissa in honor of her adorable pup, Spooky. We're using the dachshund cut from the Paisley cartridge, but if you don't have Paisley, choose another dog from any cart to play along. I wanted to try something different than my usual and was inspired by the sentiment I chose. I decided to make a sort of "missing you" card for my good friend and next door neighbor who dissappears from January 1st through April 15th because she's a tax attorney and estate planner. I cut two of the dogs but in this case I didn't weld them.

I did my usual multiple layering including adding glasses, also from the Paisley cart. The embellies included Prima flowers and adhesive pearls and I scored the edges of the doggie sweater with my MS Score Board to make it look more like ribbing. Because the shadows are so BIG with the Paisly cart, I decided to doodle around the entire thing. As you can see in the pic, the shadow and regular layer of the front dog is actually cut apart.

So the card could open and expand. The hard part was figuring out how to keep it closed. I cut two of the sweaters and trimmed them so the back part could slip under the front part of the sweater and the front could slip under the back ribbing. Inside I added an accordian pleated strip attached to the center of the back and to the edges of the front dog at the edges where it is cut apart.

Full opened, you can read the sentiment which is how this card came about. Ya think she'll get it? I used Plantin Schoolbook Roly Poly font (my fave from that cart) and cut them twice and glued them slightly offset because that font has no shadow. I couldn't get a pic with the card fully extended because it was too long. Cloes the card is (about 9 x 5 1/4" closed and almost 20" wide when fully extended.) I really was hoping I could fit it in a legal envie, but cutting the dog any smaller (she's cut at 4 1/2") made the inside expandable strip too narrow and fragile. As it is, it's only 1 1/2" wide by 11 inches long. Fortunately it will be hand delivered. LOL Now go have a peek at BBTB2 at the fabulous project by the rest of the team, and remember, you have 2 weeks to complete our challenges. Hope to see you play along. I"m also entering this in the Fairlytale Challenge Blog where the theme is green and pink.

Macabre Monday Dastardly Divas

This week at Haunted Design House we're focusing on Dastardly divas. You know, those who still manage to look ravishing while performing acts so vile and vicious they would make Dracula blush. Well take a look at Ivy by our fabulous sponsor this week Barbara Jensen. Eiyiyi! I call her Poison Ivy so don't let those looks fool you. She'll give you an itch NO ONE can scratch. (Well, maybe...LOL) She's colored with Copics and cut with my Nesties Labels Seventeen which I then inked with Crushed Olive, Shabby Shutters, and Forest Moss Distress Inks. The sentiment was computer generated and cut with Labels Fifteen. I used my MS Laurel Leaf border punch and colored just the leaves with my Copics and did the same for the sentiment mat which started out the same color as the Bazzill card base. The DP is K & Co but I don't know which stack because the cover is ripped off. The cool beads are K & Co as well.For more fabulous inspiration visit the Minions this Macabre Monday and be sure to check out Barbara Jensen's fabulous images to see what you could win if you play along.

I'm also entering this into some new challenges for me: the Cardmadfairy's Back to Nature Challenge, the Fab 'n' Funky Challenge "All Things Green", and the Creative Card Crew Challenge Show us some green. Thanks Teri for the links!

You're Just My Type

Instead of working on DT stuff I'm here screwing around on some "just for fun" challenges. First is Gingersnap Creations Random Redhead challenge which this week is typewriters. (Ya didn't think I'd let THAT one go by, did ya?) I KNEW I had some Graphic 45 paper I hadn't used so I was all up for this one and figured I could make a quickie. The typist and typewriter images are from the Communique Collection and the typewriter keys are punch outs from the Domestic Goddess Collection that I covered with clear epoxy stickers from J's. I designed a quick frame for them in Cricut Design Studio using George and then a tab from the From My Kitchen cartridges and printed it on my computer and stapled it on. Both the receipt and tiny calender are Tim Holtz Traveler Tissue Tapes (on SALE now at Custom Crops!)

The frame and keys are popped for dimension on a 5 1/4" square card. The corners are rounded with my Cropadile Corner Chomper. I'm also entering this is the Little Red Wagon Challenge which is Office Supplies. Finally, I'm entering this in Guest Designer Michelle's Challenge On Yvonne's (Do More With Less)Blog which is to do something out of your comfort zone. I'm a Cricut cutting, Cuttlebug embossing, stamp coloring kinda gal so I RARELY make a card that I "assemble" using primarily images, stickers or punch outs, etc that I didn't make myself. Okay, there's a little Cricut, but hey, you can't tell me that this looks remotely like my usual style. LOL

On Friday I scored BIG TIME at the Pleasanton Scrap Expo. All day yesterday I was lamenting the stuff I DiDN't get because I ran out of time but when I unpacked it all...HOLY SMOKES! I'm surprised my credit card didn't self destruct! So I'm outta here. Back to working on BBTB2. Yes, I ALWAYS wait 'til the last minute.

A Horror Spooktacular! Barb Turns 40!

The Minions of Haunted Design House are wishing our Fearless leader Barb, the Masterful Mistress of the Macabre, a very Happy Birthday, or at least as happy as it can be turning 40 and all. LOL (Yeah, like I should talk bein' the Granny of the bunch. What I wouldn't give...) Anyway, being the Creepy Cricut Cween and all, my card is a Cricut shaped card I designed in DS using the Fabulous 50's cart. I went for the Horror Movie Drive In kinda theme. Had to do a bit of hand trimming because the cart design includes a car designed into the cut and I added a Nesties full moon. Spooktacular and 40 are cut from Mini Monsters and Plantin Schoolbook respectively and the rest is spelled out in stickers or computer generated. Cool embellies including Memory Makers, Recollections and the very best Glow Skull from our own Creepy Glowbug. Click HERE for info on how to win your own.

Did a bit of my dimension thing and really had a ball creating this card. Gonna be a little late, girlfriend, but have a great one! xxD

I'm also joining the challenge at My Partner in Crafting Crime which is Retro Cool.

Happy St. Patty's Day

I'm feelin' bad because I didn't make a single St. Patrick's Day card this year so I decided to show you a fave oldie of mine. Wow, this one is from way back in 2009 from the original BBTB DT Challenges. I'm thinkin' it might be new to most of you though and I'm busy working away on something special for tomorrow so this will have to do. You can read the original post HERE. Enjoy your corned beef and cabbage. I'll be wearin' my GREEN tonight for the MSU/UCLA basketball game. GO SPARTANS!

Bah!Humbug! Aperture Challenge

The gals at Bah!Humbug! are featuring apertures this week. WooHoo! I LOVE apertures. There are so many ways to do them. I decided to do mine in Cricut Design Studio using the Winter Lace cartridge I hadn't even taken out of the package yet. LOTS of pretty snowflakes! I decided upon an A2 card because I knew I'd want to emboss the front mat. First I made a 4 x 5 1/4 inch rectangle from George and chose a simple snowflake cut at 3 1/4". I wanted a larger border around the snowflake than the regular shadow provided, so I cut that at 3 1/2" instead. The snowflake opening need to be enlarged as well because I wanted not only a large enough aperture to fit a word inside, but also a red border around that opening as well. To do that I hid the snowflake contour of a larger flake and the inside contour of the 3 1/4" one and centered it. (The only bad news about this is that each time you open DS you have to hide the contours again because DS will only remember to hide contours when there is more than one hidden in a design. PITA!)

On a second page I made a 5 1/2 x 8 1/2" rectangle for the card with a snowflake center that would fit inside the one on the top mat and hid the outer snowflake contour on that one. To line them up perfectly, you'll need to place them on the mat layer first and them copy and paste it to the second page and then delete them from the mat page. Then you have to close the program because you can't hide contours on an image that's been cut and pasted (ANOTHER PITA!) reopen the project and hide all of the appropriate contours again. Bah! Humbug! I know this is Greek to those of you who don't use Design Studio, but I thought it may be helpful to those who do and would like to make something similar.

After cutting, I embossed the mat with a Cuttlebug folder from the Oh My Crafts Holiday bundle from 2009 (I think) and the snowflake with Swiss Dots. Both the snowflake and mat are raised with dimensionals. I loved the sort of asymmetrical embossing on the mat, but it left a void in the top left corner I filled with adhesive beads.

The inside sentiment was done in my Printmaster Pro program. Lining it was a bit tricky but I'm pleased with the results. It looked rather plain, however, so I ended up embossing that as well. Although my aperture is small, I think it's effective. Ann, Judith and Fiona came up with lovely examples so be sure to check out their inspirational projects and we U.S. followers still have all of today to join in. See you there.

The Cuttlebug Spot All Tied Up Challenge

We're all tied up at The Cuttlebug Spot as this week we used string or twine on our projects. I decided to do something a little different for a change. I've been dying to try the faux leather technique using the Cuttlebug and came across this wallet project on SplitcoastStampers. I followed the measurements, but wanted to make a more "tooled leather" Western look because I wanted to lace around the edges of my wallet instead of machine stitch. I started with kraft paper and used the Cuttlebug Floral Fantasy folder which is an oldie, but is still available at Custom Crops. After embossing my cardstock, I inked the embossing a bit with Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink and then the entire thing with Versamark and heat embossed it with clear embossing powder. OOOH, COOL!

The inside is lined with bandana print paper by MS that I though captured the Western feel. It is held closed with tiny thin magnets from Basic Grey. They are really strong little suckers and had to be attached with Glosssy Accents and left to dry a long time!

Besides doing the lacing rather than machine stitching, I changed the orientation of the gusset pieces so I could lace through them too for reinforcement. I used my MS Score board and piercing tool to pierce evenly around almost the entire wallet. I did it flat first before adding the gussets. Then was kinda tough to get through the gusset pieces because they had to be taped in place before piercing through them as well, but I used the already pierced holes as a guide. I managed by piercing into a small rubber eraser so as not to tear the card stock and voila! the final embellishment was a metal button brad by Recollections that I had to glue on because I forgot to attach it before I taped on the inside lining. Still worked though. LOL Be sure to have a look at The Cuttlebug Spot for more fabulous DT inspiration.

Tiddly Inks Lucky Me Challenge

The Tiddly Inkers are "going green" this week with a challenge that celebrates the Luck of the Irish or an enviornmental theme. I love to try new things with my Tiddly Inks images so I set out to do a backround using the trees from Harmonious. I printed 3 different sized trees in various greens and lined them up , then copied and pasted the same trees and printed them in brown for the trunks. I fussy cut the trunks and glued them on. The grassy hills are also the tree tops which I enlarged and stretched, cut and pasted for the little outdoor scene. The sky is inked with Distress Ink in Tumbled Glass. The little guy holding the Earth is Use your Head, colored with Copics fussy cut and popped. the sentiment is cut on the Cricut, both shadow and regular at 1" from the Give a Hoot Cartridge. The birdie is a Martha Stewart punch.

The flower embellies are also from Tiddly Inks. I used Flowery Wishes and printed them in various sizes and colors and added RainDot centers. The entire piece is matted with kraft paper and then on an enviornmental word collage from the DCWV Green Stack. It's really busy but I think it's kinda fun. So how will you "Go Green" this week? For inspiration, why not check out the gorgeous examples by the rest of the Tiddly Inkers? Hope to see you play along.

BBTB2 Easter Chick Challenge

Morning peeps! This week our challenge at BBTB2 was chosen by our dear sister Penny and she's chosen the adorable chick from the Easter 2010 cartridge. My chickie is decked out in an Easter bonnet from Heritage with a sentiment from Songbird, all welded together in Design Studio with an egg and grass from Easter 2010 as well. I flocked her by running her through my Xyron right side down and sprinkling on the Doodlebug flock to get her all fuzzy. If you're careful, you can sort of rub off the sticky from her beak so she doesn't get feathers in her mouth and color it with Copics. She actually has an additional layer behind her in orange for her feet and she's off set from the cream layer slightly (as is the grass) which is what I do when an image lacks a shadow on the cartridge and I'm unable to successfully create one in DS.

The whole kit and kaboodle was welded to a rounded rectangle from George (big surprise, LOL) to make a shaped front card. I seriously hope you all don't get tired of these because they're my absolute favorites to make. Although I didn't plan on it, it ended up being an A2 size card which almost never happens. Of course it doesn't fit in a regular A2 envie, though, because it's FAT! But it will go in the smaller size padded one for a change so WooHoo!

I happened upon a little tip while constructing the card which I'm gonna pass along because it was an "aha!" moment (and because I like to hear myself talk :) After I'd glued the egg to the card base I noticed I'd forgotten to ink it. It looked so FLAT to me! It bugged me...REALLY bugged me. I tried to peel it off but it was a no go. Laying on my table was the piece of DP I'd cut the egg out of (the negative). Obviously it fit perfectly around the attached egg and I was able to ink the cut without messing up my card. Brilliant! (Or so I thought, but I'm easily impressed.) The difference was really subtle, but it made ALL the difference to me. I don't feel compelled to ink everything, but inking and doodling are those extra touches that I think make a card more finished and professional looking.

Here are the dimensional shots. I said it was FAT! The majority of DP's are from the DCWV Nana's Nursery (Baby Girl) stack and the bonnet is from the Flower Shower Spring stack from last year. For the egg I used the Baby Girl mat stack because the scale of the print was smaller and more proportional. Originally I had planned to use the cut out floral layer of the egg cut, but even that seemed out of scale with the chick.

Now that I could see the end in sight I actually even finished the inside! (Gosh, this one might actually get sent! LOL) One thing to keep in mind when designing a shaped front card is planning to have enough solidity to the front to hide the inside sentiment. You can size your sentiment in DS by trying it on the card front page first and copy and pasting it to another to cut. "Happy Easter" is also from the Easter 2010 cartridge. Now go be inspired at BBTB2 by the rest of the team's fabulous takes on this challenge and remember, you have 2 weeks to complete our challenges for a chance to win our coveted blinkie. As always, if you don't own the featured cartridge, any chick or duck will do.

Macabre Monday Alas, Poor Yorick Challenge

This week for Macabre Monday we want to see SKULLS! How convenient, since I've been wanting to bedazzle the lovely skully bottle of Crystal Head Vodka DH surprised me with.
He certainly knows the way to a girl's heart. LOL The lovely tag is Skull with Roses from The Octopode Factory. It includes the sentiment banner which I filled in with my Printmaster Pro Program.

The tag is tied with a kind of fringy fiber from my stash, the black swirls are from the Prima Say it in Crystals.

An the lovely purple ones are from the M's $1.00 bin WooHoo! Now I know you're gonna wanna play along this week because the prize is a $20.00 gift certificate to her Etsy Store, donated by our very own Creepy Glowbugg. She's got loads of fab cards, card candy, jewelry, and even Christmas ornaments (with a bit of a macabre twist heehee!) and they're beautiful! I know 'cause I got me some. She's also offering a little surprise for a random winner, but you'll have to pop over to Haunted Design House to see how you can WIN and get a little inspiration from the fabulous Minions!