Love Notes Cuttlebug Spot Challenge 13 & Day 11

Yes, I know it's the 12th but it was tough enough to do a card yesterday after the night before what with cleanup and a fairly good food and drink hangover so posting went by the wayside. LOL I'm sure Jen will forgive me and I will play catch up today. Besides, I was so pleased this morning to see that my card was appropriate for this week's Cuttlebug Spot Challenge. Nilda chose a heart theme which is a great choice with Valentine's Day coming up and all. My card started with a scrap I had saved from my first experiment with Tim Holtz's Distress inks. I thought they would work similar to chalk inks but when I went to run the pad over the paper I had cuttled with the text folder, the rather hard pad produced an effect I didn't like. In order to soften the color I tried running it under water which made the ink run . This didn't work for the project I was doing at the time, but when the paper dried I really loved the look so I saved it. The soft colors looked lovely with some new paper from Me & My big Ideas. I used the Love stamp folder that came with my Cuttlebug but punched it out with a scalloped square instead of using the stamp die. I cuttled a second stamp in pink and cut out the heart and glued it to the white stamp. The notes are also Cuttlebug dies that I cut twice each and then cuttled one set with Swiss dots, trimmed off the stems and popped the bottom for dimension. All it needed then was some ribbon, a prima flower and a skittle. Be sure to stop by The Cuttlebug Spot to see what their fabulous design team has come up with. There's even a prize this week so be sure to play along. And thank you Jen for your inspiration. Your Card a Day Challenge is really keeping me going. Check out her beautiful cards HERE.

Card a Day #10

Okay, I should be vacuuming because company's coming in a few hours but I couldn't just drop the ball. Jen's Card a day challenge has got me pumped so I did a quick remake of a previous card. Remember this Julie? It was inspired by a flower aperture card my Cricut mb friend did and it was my 2nd attempt with design studio (way back in June 2008). The flowers and leaves are from Accent Essentials. The new additions are the Martha Stewart butterflies both inside and out and Happy Birthday cut twice using the shadow feature from Tear Drop. See what an amazing job Jen has been doing on this challenge HERE. Gotta go!!!!!! P.S. I lost my counter I'm sooo bummed but no time to fix now.

BBTB Star Contest entry and Day #9 of Jen's Card a Day Challenge

Here's my entry in the current contest over at Bitten by the Bug. We were to make a card using the colors pink, yellow, blue and green and have a star somewhere. This card is inspired by the song"Catch a Falling Star" ("and put it in your pocket" for those of you too young to remember it. LOL) I had this in my mind as soon as Regina announced the contest but just couldn't find appropriate paper until I came across a 6 x 6 pad of Urban Prairie by Basic Grey. I welded a square from the Plantin Schoolbook cartridge (for the card back) to the cylndr 2 (page 97) from George, the star from Plantin Schoolbook, and the moon and stars from Paper doll Dress Up. Once cut, I trimmed the top of the cylinder to form a pocket shape. Each individual shape was cut at least once again in different prints and popped for dimension. The moon and stars were cuttled with the Swiss dots folder and then cut again so I could cut out each small star individually to pop. I was excited to find jewelled stars at J's in the appropriate colors for accent. The large top star was cut and folded to give it a 3 dimensional shape and attached along the edges with rolled up glue dots. The flourish is from Home Accents cut in both shadow and regular and added between the flat and dimensional stars. I cut another pocket and attached it at the side and bottom edges only to allow the star to fit in it. I fussy cut the lower butterfly from another sheet of the paper, attached it in the center only, and embellished it with a jewelled butterfly on top. More adhesive gems were added to all of the elements for glitz and the entire card was matted with another square of BoBunny dotted card stock. Be sure to check out Jen's blog HERE to see all of the beautiful cards she's created in January.

Snow Baby #8 for Card a day challenge

I have no idea why I'm so obsessed with snow these days. Its been YEARS since I've had to drive in it, shovel it, or otherwise deal with the negative aspects so I apologize to all of you who are up to your necks and praying for a thaw. Today is day 8 of Jen's card a day challenge and I'm thrilled to have completed and photo'ed it while it's still daylight. This one's been in my mind for awhile because I simply ADORE this little stamped baby face. (When I made Christmas tags with it DH said it was creepy but that still didn't stop me. LOL) I put her in the center of the snowflake from Accent Essentials and used the circle Alphaclips feature from the Tear Drop cartridge to spell out the rest of snow, then cut the word "baby" twice on shadow. I cuttled the snowflake and the circles behind the letters with Swiss dots and the snowflake folder and popped everything for dimension. The papers are mainly My Mind's Eye and I got a bit carried away with the embellies using foam snowflakes, skittles, pompoms, fiber, ribbon and stickles with reckless abandon. I had a ball indulging my girly side though I have no idea what I'll use this for. LOL I suppose it could be for a winter baby. Be sure to click HERE to stop by and see Jen's progress. She has really helped me get over my slump.

Dec MCPT Challenge and Day #7

I've been feeling terrible about not doing the Dec MCPT challenge on the Cricut message board that Aprile so graciously hosts each month. Today seemed like a good day to tackle those little mice since I really wasn't feeling up to par, I'm still in the Christmas spirit and DH was in my craft room (well, actually we share the room because of the computer) trying to do some organization in anticipation of our new desktop that will be coming any day. WOOHOO! He PROMISED he'd only mess with HIS stuff that didn't need to be in there so I took my pencils downstairs and tried not to think about what was going on up there. LOL Little did I know that when he was removing HIS stuff, MY stuff got totally rearranged and when I came back up to try to finish the card I couldn't find a thing. To make a long story short, how I managed to finish this today I'll never know but here it is. I'm not thrilled with the pic because my coloring looks all washed out but I'm too tired to try to take another and I wanted to post this as card #7 for Jen's card a day challenge. Check out her fabulous creations HERE.

BBTB Pencil Challenge & Card a Day #6

This week at Bitten by the Bug Regina chose the pencil from the My Community cartridge. Although I don't have this cartridge I managed to participate anyway using my trusty design studio and good old George (borrowed from Leah xx). Afterwards I realized it looked more like the pencil in Locker Talk but I didn't think anybody would mind. LOL I also designed a shadow that I cut in both red and black, then cut the pencil in pink, again in Stampin'Up designer paper that I trimmed to expose the eraser and the sharpened tip, and the silver eraser holder. A little doodling, a little ribbon, and viola!..a pencil. The hearts and xo are from Calligraphy, flowers are prima and of course alpha beads (my current fave). I was missing an "s" yesterday so I couldn't finish this card but now I'm current on Jen's "card a day" challenge. Be sure to stop by Bitten by the Bug to see what all of the fabulous designers did with this challenge and also Jen's blog (she just happens to be one of those fabulous designers) to see how she's coming along. I may just give this one to DH since that's how I sign all of my cards to him and the poor guy got store bought for both Christmas and his birthday. We'll see. wow this card looks pretty good with my new blog color scheme. Maybe I should stick to red, white, and black all month.

The Cuttlebug Spot Challenge #12

This little quicky is for the Cuttlebug Spot challenge #12. Nilda posts a fun challenge each week so be sure to check it out. We were to create a male card for any occasion and we all know how difficult that can be. Fortunately there are lots of options with the Cuttlebug and I never feel too compelled to add too many embellies. (It just embarrasses them. LOL) This is also yesterday's card for Jen's "card a day" challenge. Check out the fun stuff she's been doing HERE. The card I actually started yesterday didn't get finished because I was missing an element and just couldn't bring myself to go to M's or J's because of the crappy weather. Unfortunately I'm also out of coffee and egg beaters so it's gonna be a sad breakfast for me. I will however be ahead of the game for today's card so stay tuned. Here I used the numbers folder and then cut the ? twice and cuttled the patterned one with Swiss dots. The strip at the bottom was run through my crimper. (For some reason texture doesn't seem to scare the guys as much. LOL) The "happy birthday" embellie came that way with brads and all (I think for J's) and the inside sentiment was one of the first stamped images I colored with the MCPT and I think it fit.

Thanks "snow" much

I'm having a ball with Jennifer Wuthrich's challenge to make a card a day in Jan. Click HERE to see her lovely card. This is the card for day 4 (I did finish it yesterday but didn't take photos 'til today. DH took me computer shopping, out to eat, and to a movie so it's a miracle I got it done at all. LOL). Not only has Jen inspired me to keep crafting (after a bit of a hiatus during the holidays) but also with the sentiment for this card. It also just happened to fit the bill for Carla's challenge on the Cricut message board to make a card based on a monogram or in the shape of a monogram. WooHoo! I used the roly poly feature on the Plantin Schoolbook cartridge for all of the letters. The "T" I tweaked a bit to make it a bit fatter and welded them to the snowflake shadows from Accent Essentials. The blue card stock is Bazzill and has a gorgeous iridescence. I cut another lighter blue "T" and cuttled it using the snowflakes folder. The white snowflakes and the small letters are flocked and popped for dimension. "Snow Much" is done with pastel blue Alpha Beads and I added mini pompoms for fun. Seems like I can't do a card without adhesive beads so of course they found there way here too. Last but not least is a sparkle tulle bow attached with a snowflake brad. Now I'm off to work on day 5. Hugs!

Caardvarks Jan 1 sketch "Snow Day"

One of my New Year's resolutions is to try some sketch challenges so when I saw this one from Caardvarks on Jen's blog it looked like one I could manage. It was designed by the talented Becky Fleck of Pagemaps. For some reason though I really had a tough time measuring these blocks and gluing them down right this morning so to camouflage some less than perfect margins I decided to do a bit of distressing and tilted the mats somewhat as well. I kinda like the shabby look. LOL The patterned paper came from Bety's Dream Designs and when I saw it it made me think of my BFF Becky in MI who was home on a "snow day" last time I talked to her. Sure wish we were curled up by the fire chatting and sipping tea (or wine depending on the time of day LOL) while the flakes were flying outside. I miss her sooooo much! The other two blocks I cuttled with Swiss dots and the snowflake folders. The large snowflake is also Cuttlebug with a circle punch, 2 foam flakes and a mini heart brad by Queen & Co. on top. I used fine jute to tie on the hand cut tag with the rub on from Cosmo Cricket. This is card #3 for Jen's "card a day challenge". Check out what she's doing HERE and try playing along. She won't mind a late comer.

Merci

Well, I hope everybody noticed I took down my Christmas decorations on my blog today. Of course at home they'll be up 'til probably Valentine's Day. LOL (You think I'm kidding, right?) Jennifer Wuthrich posted a challenge on the Cricut message board to join her in doing a card a day in January so I'm gonna try. I felt so bad neglecting my crafting in Dec that I thought it would give me a push. We'll see... I made this thank you for my friend next door who has poodles. I used the border feature on the Cricut Paper pups cartridge and welded it in design studio to a rectangle from Plantin Schoolbook. I thought it would be fun to use one of the prefolded acetate cards from Hero arts that I got at my LSS. The striped matting and picot edged ribbon looked very "French" to me so I cut "merci" from Beyond Birthdays. I used my double scallop Martha Stewart border punch on the inside mat and then cuttled it using the Swiss dots folder and then added a solid mat with a little ribbon trim which left me just enough room to write on.

BBTB Mini Monograms Circle Dot Challenge

Well this was a fun one! This week over at Bitten By the Bug Regina chose either the circle or square dot cut from Mini Monograms. Dear Leah loaned me her cartridge so I could play along. The cut reminded me of some funky Scenic route paper I had with all sorts of wheels and cogs so I cut and punched a bunch of coordinating circles and some cogs from the Accent Essentials cartridge and popped them with both 1/8" and 1/16" dots for dimension in a sort of kattywhompus way. The whole thing reminded me of my Daddy who was a mechanical engineer but preferred to be called an "inventor". He was so proud of his 62 patents (including the conveyor belts for the first moving sidewalks in airports) and was always drawing or cooking up something in his mind so I cut the arrow and "imagine" from Graphically Speaking and I dedicate this card to him. I wish he were still around because I know he would have gotten a kick out of it. Be sure to check out what the fabulous BBTB design team did with this challenge.

Happy New Year Everybody!

Thank you Julie!

I'm so excited to receive this blog award from my dear friend Julie from the Cricut message board. She was the first to encourage me to start a blog and I so appreciate all of her encouragement and support. Thank you so much! Be sure to check out her wonderful blog HERE.

Now for the rules:
List 5 addictions (gee, only 5? LOL)
List 5 of your favorite bloggers (again, only 5? I have soooo many faves!)

Addictions:
1) Shoes! It's been awhile since I bought a new pair since all my $ have been going to craft supplies (LOL) but DH REALLY indulged me for Christmas.
2) Chocolate
3) Card embellishments (they're taking over my craft room)
4) The Cricut message board
5) Forensic tv shows (both true life stories and fictional)

Favorite Bloggers: So so difficult but here are 5 from my long long list.
1) DeeDee
2) Nancy
3) Sharon
4) Heidi
5) Bety