BBTB Wedding Solutions Pillow Box (and Hallmark Scrapbook Shoe Challenge)

Good Morning all! It's Monday and you know what that means. This week on Bitten by the Bug Regina asked the designers to use the pillow box cut from the Cricut Wedding Solutions cartridge. I had conveniently received my Stampin'Up order with the fun "Humor in High Heels" set. WooHoo! Perfect theme for this challenge, don't you think? I chose the stamp "Cinderella is proof that a new pair of shoes can change you life!" and set out to make the glass slipper atop the pillow that Prince Charming carried in search of Cinderella.

First of all I cut the pillow box in shadow on the largest size I could get on a 12"x12" mat which was 10"from pearlescent card stock from WalMart. The regular cut was also done at 10" using the beautiful card stock from the DCWV Luxury Stack. The layers were adhered with wide double stick tape so this is quite a substantial box that measured about 9"x5" when assembled. It is embellished with pleated organdy ribbon and rhinestones (from M's) as well as double corner bows and little jewel crowns (from J's).

To make the "glass" slipper I used the packaging from a Cricut cartridge (how about that for recycling?). This required the use of the "multi cut" feature to make it all the way through. The shoe is from the Graphically Speaking cartridge which I chose to complete a challenge for Hallmark Scrapbook (that I was VERY late on but wanted to play catch up.) In order for the shoe to stand up I had to cut it twice (on blackout). Normally I would have welded 2 shoes together to do this but my acrylic wasn't big enough so I glued them together at the top and used small rectangular spacer pieces for the bottom so it would stand and could be glue dotted to the pillow box. I added pattern by running the shoes through the Cuttlebug with the Textile Texture folder and outlined them with the same pearlescent card stock I used to line the box.

The tag was cut from Plantin Schoolbook and I used my Nesties to cut out the stamped sentiment. Be sure to bop over to Bitten by the Bug and see all of the fabulously creative ways my design team mates interpreted this challenge. It was a fun one so we invite you to play along. And P.S., don't forget to comment one post down for a chance to win my BLOG CANDY.

"Happy Tails" Hallmark Scrapbook Challenge

Well, I'm kinda late on this one but I couldn't let it go by. Fortunately there really are no hard and fast deadlines at Hallmark Scrapbook. LOL This card is for the happy wagging dog tail on the Paper Pups cartridge. The very first think I thought of was the old "Happy Trails" song from Roy Rogers. He was my first tv love and I used to go up and kiss the tv screen when he was on (I was 5). anyway, when I saw a cute card posted on the Cricut mb with the same idea I tried to think of another one but to no avail. Unfortunately I didn't write the name of that person down to give her credit but I'm pretty sure our cards aren't that similar.

It really bothers me not to have a shadow version of a cut because I think it adds so much more depth to a project so in those cases I generally cut it twice and off set one of the cuts slightly. Actually I had to do that for all of the cuts on this card. The wagging tail is from Paper Pups, the cowboy hat, neckerchief, the horseshoe from Paper Dolls and the 2 from Mickey font. I layered up a storm on the mats offsetting them all for some interest. I sure wish I could remember where I got that denim paper because I just love it! Even though the tail cut was pretty thin I managed to pop it slightly as I did the hat, 2 and horseshoe. I originally had planned to use the rope cut also from Paper dolls but then I remembered I had some thin leather twine so I tied a lasso and looped it over the doggie and horseshoe. (It's my favorite part!) Of course hindsite (no pun intended) is 20/20. Had I realized I would need some additional embellishment I would have fastened the eyelets appropriately through the corrugated cardstock but it was already totally assembled and I was afraid to screw up my card if I tried so I just smooshed them with my Cropadile and glued them on with Zip glue. If you haven't already, you should check out the challenges at Hallmark Scrapbook. They're just for fun but you can always take a little detour and go shopping while you're at it. LOL

Foxy Lady Hallmark Scrapbook Challenge

Yea! I finally finished this card for the Hallmark Scrapbook challenge. My friend Margie picked the fox cut from Zooballoo which is adorable, but for some reason I had the hardest time with colors. I'm still not really satisfied, but after the 3rd try I thought I better just finish it. LOL I made a shaped card using Design Studio with a welded base from Plantin Schoolbook for the sentiment. "Hi there" came from Beyond Birthdays, and the "foxy lady" was welded again in DS using Mickey Font and the heart from Doodlecharms. I dolled her up a bit with some flowers and a bow and all in all she turned out okay. Was bummed to be out of pop dots so everything is just glued. I used more than a package on my BBTB challenge for Monday so I MUST get to Michael's IMMEDIATELY! Hop on over to Hallmark Scrapbook to see what others have made and come and play along. It's a very fun small group that participates and it's very laid back. LOL Deadlines come and go but noboday cares, we're all just having fun!

Hallmark Scrapbook Challenge Kitty Card and Day 18

The challenge over at Hallmark Scrapbook this week is to make a card using a kitty cut from any of the Cricut cartridges. I was trying to hold out until my Hello Kitty Greetings came but of course it didn't show. Instead I chose the cat from Zooballoo and made a shaped card using Design Studio. I welded the shadow feature of the kitty to the open heart also from Zooballoo. The patterned heart paper is from Stampin'Up and the dots are BoBunny. I cut the cat again using both the regular and outline feature and popped it for dimension. His lidded google eyes are from JoAnn's. I used a wine charm ring and alpha beads for the collar and added a bow. "Daddy" is also spelled out in Alpha Beads. I wanted the card to have a childlike feel because Goliath will be giving it to his Daddy for Valentine's Day. Jezzy is holding out for the Hello Kitty cart. I can't believe it's already day 18 in Jen's Card a Day challenge. If you'd have told me last month I would be able to keep up with this I would have said "NO WAY!" Thanks Jen for being such a great motivater. Please visit Jen's blog HERE and you will be motivated too.

Hallmark Scrapbook Ice Skate Challenge

I was so excited to pick the challenge this week over at Hallmark Scrapbook (Thanks Nancy for letting me take your spot. xx). I've been wanting to do an ice skate card for a long time because I took ice skating lessons for 7 years as a child. My Daddy was an excellent figure skater and ice dancer and introduced me pretty young. In kindergarten I started taking lessons and every Saturday during the season we spent at the rink. He even made me one each year in our backyard to practice on. These are some of my best memories of time we spent together. For the Challenge you can use either the skate from the Joys of the Season or the new Christmas solutions cartridge. I chose the new one because it was nice and girly. I welded the shadow at 5 1/2" to make a shaped card. For some reason some of the shadows don't seem quite big enough for me on this cartridge so when I cut it on regular I decreased the size to 5 3/8". I used pearlescent and mirror cardstock from Best Occasions and the pretty patterned paper is from Daisy Bucket designs. BTW, the snowflake details didn't show up against my usual backdrop so I photographed it on the reverse dotted side of the paper. Isn't it pretty too? I ran the white cuff through the Xron right side down, left the paper attached and then ran it through Cuttlebug using the divine swirls folder. I then peeled off the backing and flocked it with fun flock. To add some more glitz I used frosted lace and silver stickles to accent the swirls. I laced ribbon through the eyelets and added tiny jingle bells and a snowflake charm to the bow. Couldn't wait to put pompoms on the ends because we weren't allowed to embellish our real skates lest some stray fiber fall on the ice and trip someone up.

BBTB Non-Traditional Christmas Contest

This is my entry into the current contest over at Bitten By The Bug. We were to do a Christmas card using non- traditional colors. My color inspiration came from a box of frosted citrus colored primas that happened to have two peachy snowflakes included. I used Design Studio to weld a square from Plantin Schoolbook to the shadow feature of the deer and snowflake from Christmas Solutions and another snowflake from Accent Essentials. I used Provo Craft peach cardstock (the 12x24" size because the design was so long). I placed it near the bottom of the mat so as not to cut the entire deer and trimmed what hung down even with the card back. I cut it again in shadow without the card back in silver mirror board, then 3 more times on regular in copper. All layers were popped. (Honestly, I need to buy stock in that company!) The snowflakes were also cut out of peach glitter paper from Best Occasions. The deer body was cuttled with divine swirls and the antlers embellished with silver adhesive beads. I went kind of wild with ribbon but I couldn't restrain myself. LOL On the inside I covered another square of the peach cardstock with creamsicle tulle for a little more texture and trimmed it with a silver peel off border sent to me by my friend B-bug. The Merry Christmas is a peel off from Stampendous. Finally, I added the original prima peach snowflakes that I stickled a little more with copper. It just dawned on me that this also fills the bill for this week's challenge at Hallmark Scrapbook which was to use any snowflake cut. Yahoo! Better go post there too. MAJOR UPDATE: I WON FIRST PLACE!

Holly Hallmark Scrapbook Challenge

Last week's challenge (see I'm already falling behind with the holiday crunch!) was to use either the holly or poinsettia from the Joys of the Season cartridge. I immediately thought of one of my favorite carols from George Winston's December CD "The Holly and the Ivy." Love the rich colors of these papers. The dot is BoBunny, the greens are K&Company and the gold metallic is Best Occasions. Lots of cartridges got a workout on this one. The holly of course is from Joys of the Season, the & is from Plantin Schoolbook, the flourish is from Home Accents, and I made the ivy leaves in design studio using 5 of the leaves from Accent Essentials. I also welded the letters from Storybook for the word Holly. I love it when I can use a bunch of carts in a design. Sort of justifies the 26 I have (and my motto "more is never enough" LOL) Most cuts were shadow and regular and pop dots were used liberally. Ivy was spelled out using the tiny adhesive gems from M's, and larger ones were used on the holly berries. Tiny gold ones accent "Holly" and the ribbon is from my LSS.

In case I don't make it back tomorrow, here's wishing you and your loved ones a blessed and bountiful Thanksgiving! Hugs, Donna

Rocking Horse Hallmark Scrapbook Challenge

Did you ever have a card that conspired against you? Well let me tell you this one was it! I won't bore you with all of the details, but it came THIS CLOSE to ending up in the circular file at least a dozen times. It turned out okay, but let me tell you that there were no intentions of the tree being filled with the Martha Stewart branch punch. The base was welded in Design Studio using a rectangle from Plantin Schoolbook and the shadow versions of the tree, and rocking horse from Joys of the Season, the teddy bear from Christmas solutions and another rectangle from PS to represent a present. (Sorry the inside is posted first but originally I hadn't taken a pic with the card open and when added I it to the post there it went and honestly, I'm too tired to change it. LOL) It all fell apart when I cut the regular versions of the same images and the tree (or 3/4 of it due to the welding) looked funky. I cut off the curly cue side branches but that looked worse. I tried another paper, again, yuck. I really liked the base paper pattern so I thought maybe it would be okay just leaving it as sort of a patterned background but when I finished embellishing the rocking horse and bear the tree looked ridiculous. Nothing left to do but start punching, and punching, and punching. My arthritis started kicking in so it is not nearly as full as some of the beauties on the Cricut message board but it will have to do. The star of this show was supposed to be the rocking horse after all. He did get a floss mane and tail and an embellished saddle and bridle. The lovely peel off corners are from my friend B-bug on the Cricut message board and the sentiment is a rub on which should have been matted and popped but I was ready to let this one go. Me and my big ideas! LOL I'm just happy to have completed another challenge! Bummer, even the pictures aren't great because I was losing the natural light, and I took them twice. Update! I decided to enter this card in Kiki's vintage Christmas challenge and I won! Yahoo!

Hallmark Scrapbook Challenge

This week the challenge at Hallmark Scrapbook is to use the Santa hat from Joys of the Season, Paper Dolls, or Pooh and Friends. I chose to do a shaped card using JOTS. To create the card I welded the hats using Cricut design studio, then cut them twice on regular in my new K & Company Christmas Cheer and DCWV Metallic paper. I cut the pompon and cuff from the metallic hat, cuttled them using divine swirls and inked them with platinum pigment ink. All layers are popped. Then I cut the poinsettias from the new Christmas Solutions cart in shadow, regular and the flowers only using the first layer of flowers with prima poinsettias studded with gold adhesive beads. Again I popped for dimension and added a prima leaf and some organdy ribbon. Now if I can just figure out how to post the picture at Hallmark I'd be all set.