BBTB Telephone Challenge and Blog Hop

Well it's the last Monday of the month which means it's Blog Hop time for Bitten by the Bug. If you just happened upon this post and you'd like to start at the beginning of the hop click HERE. And if you've arrived from the sweet and wonderfully talented Sharon's blog you' re on the right track. This week Regina has chosen the telephone cut on the From My Kitchen cartridge. All I could think of was a child worrying about being on the "naughty" list and trying to call Santa to explain.

I made a shaped front card using the telephone, holly from Joys of the Season, and the font from Winter Woodland welded to a rectangle from George. The cord is wired ribbon I got at M's.

Here are the dimensional views of the popped layers.

I'm offering some of my favorite embellies from K & Co. as well as some holiday Raindots as blog candy. (OOPS!, guess you have to turn your head sideways to see it, huh? Sorry about that, but I'm too tired to fix it right now.) All you have to do to be eligible is leave a comment on this post. My DH will draw a name on Saturday morning. Now you're off to view the fabulous Michelle's blog. Her work is awesome so you are in for a real treat. Enjoy the rest of the hop!

A Simple Quick One

Well, instead of getting ready for our overnight shopping trip to San Francisco, here I am making a card to post. LOL I've had this idea in my head since Halloween. The little mouse punch from MS is just too cute. I used one of the new Christmas Cuttlebug folders for the background and the misteltoe is a Sizzix die. How simple is that!?

Inside sentiment is computer generated and of course the border punch is also MS. So we're off to enjoy the holiday kick-off. SF is so romantic this time of year. Have a great weekend! We sure plan to. :D

Vintage Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to all! My pies are baked and all I have to do is roast some brussel sprouts and pop the butternut squash lasagna in the oven before heading off to friends. Whew, way ahead of schedule for a change so I couldn't just let the day go by without popping out a final quick Thanksgiving card using a vintage image from Dover Publications. The paper is Graphic 45 Domestic Goddess, the flowers Prima, skeleton leaf from my stash and the velvet ricrac is May Arts. Have a blessed bountiful holiday! Hugs, D

Reindeer Wreath- .cut file available

Doodlecharms is one of my favorite cartridges and this little Rudolph is one of my favorite cuts so I just couldn't resist decking him out for the holidays. I'm really partial to the sort of rustic lodgey decorations at Christmas (although I don't really have any, LOL) so I was thinking along the lines of a wreath around a deer head that you might see in the mountains. Then because this deer is so whimsical I thought a tangling of Christmas lights in his antlers might be in order. They are from Jolee's and I believe I bought them at my LSS, but I'm pretty sure they're also available at M's. This shaped card also uses Joys of the Season and has quite a bit of texture with the Cuttlebug embossing, flocking, and Glossy Accents for his nose. Because it was designed for Custom Crops the free .cut file and full instructions are available HERE. Just a note. If you're looking for the projects on the Custom Crops site they are now located near the top left of the home page, and if you're looking for my projects specifically, you can click on the Custom Crops Designer blinky on the right of my blog, or on my name in the top right hand corner on any of my projects at Custom Crops.

Penguin Pyramid Revisited-.Cut file available

Well the wait is finally over for those of you who wanted a .cut file for my penguin pyramid. Custom Crops had decided that cards submitted for challenges would no longer be considered for the site (they really prefer exclusivity) so when I made my original I took no pix during assembly and left my .cut file unfit for human consumption. LOL However, I got so many requests that I decided to redesign it (oh so very slightly) and told Kelly what I'd done and she decided she'd accept it, this time. Now don't go thinkin' this is gonna happen every week, but it's tough since alot of my best work is done for BBTB. Anyway, I'm grateful for the slight bend in the rules this time. I kinda like the addition of the snowflakes to the back of the card, but if you prefer it without, just delete them from the file.For full instructions and the free .cut file click HERE. If it's Tues and you're having problems downloading the .cut file it may be because the site is overwhelmed because of their sale. Try again tomorrow and let me know. They actually took the articles from their sidebar in anticipation but I linked anyway.

The addition of the snowflakes to the back really jazzes up the inside of the card, don't you think? Also, I have to tell you that Custom Crops is having their "Pink Tuesday" sale TODAY until 12:00 midnight CST so HURRY over there. This blows Black Friday WAY out of the water!Honestly, the deals are fantastic (would you believe 12 x 12 Cricut mats for $7.99!?) so be sure to take a look.

BBTB Cornucopia Challenge

Well how about this! Kinda early for me to be posting this week's BBTB challenge but they're up, and I'm kind of excited because the cut was chosen by ME! I thought the cornucopia from Paper Doll Dress Up would be fitting for Thanksgiving week but instead of filling it with fruit I filled it with flowers as if it were a decoration for the Thanksgiving table. I made a shaped card using Design Studio and then because there are no shadow cuts on this cartridge I cut several more slightly smaller and embossed it with the Cuttlebug. I've been collecting all sorts of beautiful Prima flowers and thought this would be a great place to use them. The leaves were cut in gold foil board using a die from Stampin'Up and embossed on the Cuttlebug with one of the embossing folders that came with the butterfly set.

For the dimension I stacked foam so the cut got progressively thicker towards the opening of the cornucopia.

Then I trimmed the rim and popped that as well so the flowers would look like they were really coming from within. My Design Team sisters did a fabulous job with this this challenge so be sure to stop by BBTB and have a look and next week Regina will be choosing the challenge cut because it will be blog hop time again.

Christmas is... and a Blog Award

I've been in the mood to use some of the MANY new things I've been purchasing lately but haven't gotten around to playing with. Here I made another simple card using one of the new larger format Cuttlebug folders, my new MS holly border punch, some new WIRED ribbon from M's (those cool swirls will STAY swirled!) and The Christmas Long Border from The Cutting Cafe. Really quick and simple but I love how it came out.

Inside I've used another of the many Christmas Card Inside Greetings, also from The Cutting Cafe. These are a life saver for me and you'll be seeing plenty more in the future. I'm so happy that I now have my Printmaster program so I can change the color of these printable stamps. Regina has full instructions HERE for working with the stamps if you're interested. Instructions for resizing and the like too.

I also want to thank my dear friend Leah for this very special blog award. Her friendship means the world to me. Love ya Sweetie! Because I'm feeling really thankful for all you the friend I've met through this wonderful hobby I want to pass it on to each and every one of you. Feel free to copy it and paste it to your blog and say it's from me. I truly appreciate your inspiration and support.

A Contemporary Christmas Card from The Cutting Cafe

So this one is a little different for me. I was inspired by the little ribbon trio I got at M's last week. The color combo just sings to me and I thought a contemporary card might be in order. I browsed through my Cutting Cafe files and came across the Christmas Long Phrases printable stamp set. There are 6 different phrases included in this set, but the "May you holiday season be all wrapped up in cheer" was perfect for what I had in mind.

I printed the phrase out twice in the colors to match my ribbons and wove them together to look like a wrapped present. The background is embossed with the new Tartan Cuttlebug folder. Then all I needed was a big bow.

Regina must have read my mind this year when she came up with the Christmas Card Inside Greetings. I rarely finish the inside when I'm making a card and then have to scramble to come up with something when I want to send it. NO MORE! In fact there are so many different sentiments in this set that I've finished the last 3 cards both inside and out! YEA!!!!!! There's a variety of different fonts and styles so this is a MUST HAVE! Also don't forget! You have until midnight PST to download the Christmas Daily set ABSOLUTELY FREE. Regina has had such an overwhelming response to this generous offer that she even has a link where you can download it YOURSELF. NO WAITING! Click HERE before it's gone!

The Cuttlebug Spot Turkey Challenge

As soon as I found out we were doing a turkey challenge for the Cuttlebug Spot I thought I was set. I had the most adorable image that Aprile from the Cricut message board had sent me last year for the MCPT challenge and planned on using that. Boy has it been a LONG time since I pulled out my pencils but I was up for it. Well, the coloring went okay, but then I went to cut him out to add more interest and I just couldn't make it all come together. Back to the drawing board. Next I cut a turkey out of patterened cardstock, cut off most of his tail feathers and went to add some embossed ones but that didn't look right either. Now what!? It was getting later and later! Then I went to my Cuttlebug stuff and saw the new Persia cardmaking combo which I had yet to use. Could I turn that peacock into a turkey? You betcha! I trimmed off his head and feet, cut a body out with my petite scalloped Nesties circle and used the leaves also from that die for feathers. I thought some of the other cool cuts could be turned into a wing and more fancy feathers and hand cut a waddle. So there you go.

The feathers are embossed with the Herringbone folder and I used the new Tartan for the background. The embossed frame is also from the Persia set. Of course I snuck in some Swiss Dots and the wing is embossed with one of the folders from the butterfly set. I finished it off with some adhesive beads and a peel off from Stampendous. WooHoo! There are loads of fun stuff from my DT sisters so be sure and check out their wonderful projects HERE. We have the week off next week so if I don't see you before, have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. Hugs, D

Mystery Box Project Revealed

Here it is, what you've been waiting for. Finally the Custom Crops Mystery Box project that keep me sooo busy last week is posted and ready to reveal. My project is a recipe box and recipe card holder. It all started with a papier mache gabled house that I got at my LSS.

Here are the box contents: Jillibean Soup Kraft paper (almost missed that), German glass glitter, Mini gel pen holder and pens for the Cricut, Sizzix embossing folders, Shrink film, plastic utensils and a box of Kix Swirls cereal. the gel pen holder and utensils gave me the basic idea for my project and enjoyed the challenge of using all of the objects.

See if you can spot where they all were used.

There are lots more pix and an explanation of how it all came together HERE. All of the participating designers did a fabulous job and I'm sure we are all looking forward to the next time. And if you'd like to be included as a guest designer and receive your very own Mystery Box Challenge, be sure to email Custom Crops for the chance. The address is at the top of the Mystery challenge page.

Christmas Daily from the Cutting Cafe -Free for a limited time!

Oh wow! Regina has a fabulous new set called Christmas Daily that she is offering for FREE through November 19th! If you're unfamiliar with the concept (as I was) Regina has a link on the site to give you ideas. Doesn't that sound like FUN! 89 images that you can use to make your own Christmas Daily album, or use as you please for cards or layouts! After that time the price goes up to $12.99 so HURRY! This is Regina's way of saying thank you to all of her friends of the Cafe site! THANK YOU REGINA! Click HERE to view and download this fabulous set, but HURRY!

O Holy Night- .Cut File Available

Okay, I know it's Monday so where is BBTB? I'm so sorry to say I dropped the ball this week. My dear DT sister DeeDee came up with a really fun but challenging cut but the Mystery Box Challenge for Custom Crops took 3 solid days of work plus several additional days of shopping for more stuff and my mojo was totally drained. Obviously this was not a problem for most of the team so be sure to pop by BBTB and see the marvelously creative things they came up with. So where is the Mystery Box? Hopefully to be posted later this week along with The Cuttlebug Spot. Poor Nilda is down with the flu. Check back later for our turkey challenge. Fortunately I do have a new design for Custom Crops using the new When It's Cold Outside cartridge. I was blown away by this gorgeous creche and set about making a shaped card that resembles an ornament and could sit on a mantle. I welded the title using Blackletter and enhanced the star using Joys of the Season. The base is made from shaped from Plantin Schoolbook. The FREE cut file and full instructions are available HERE.

BINGO! - .Cut File Available

Bingo cards seem to be all the rage so I decided to use Design Studio to make some of my own. I did several versions, a regular one and some with different headers for holiday time. The FREE .cut files are available HERE at Custom Crops.

I made the generic Bingo card into a card. Thought it would be great for a male birthday or to celebrate some other important day.

These are some of the holiday ones. In the article I explain how they could be used for a Christmas countdown for the whole family. There are plenty of different headers (including WISH, BELIEVE, and even HUMBUG) that could also be used for different occasions.

If you're really careful, you can use the negative cuts to make even MORE Bingo cards! I turned this one into a tag. I really had fun with these. What do you think, Lillie? (She's the BINGO QUEEN!)

Give Thanks- .Cut file available

I decided this year not to just skip by Thanksgiving and go directly to Christmas so I designed this card for Custom Crops. I intend to send it to my cousin who lives in Michigan. When DH was still in grad school we spent many a Thanksgiving there in Lansing. We talk far too infrequently and she really enjoys my cards (when I get my butt in gar and send them ). It's a shaped front card using Opposites Attract, Doodlecharms and Plantin Schoolbook. I really love the look of the mixed fonts on OA and wonder why I don't use it more often. Also really love Fall colors and beautiful warm plaids. Was happy how the herringbone texture looks on the word "Thanks".

Big surprise there's lots of dimension, inking, and of course adhesive beads but I was happy to find it still fit in a business size envie. Full instructions and the FREE cut file is available HERE. I sure hope everyone is enjoying these projects. It takes loads of time to clean up my .cut files and take extra pix and write the article. Unfortunately we don't get any feedback from that site unless you leave a comment. I REALLY appreciate the extra effort those of you have made to leave a comment there. Thanks sooooo much!

Let's Get Fruity with The Cuttlebug Spot

This week at The Cuttlebug Spot we're getting fruity, or should I say our projects must all have some kind of fruit on them. Well, this challenge project comes with ANOTHER little story. LOL Skip this part if you're bored. Since the beginning of the year crafting has taken over my life and my daily exercise has been cut down to...well, shall we say non-existant? Needless to say this has not been great for the figure and the jeans are getting mighty tight. Therefor, I have resumed my healthy eating plan and added at least a bit of activity other than loading the Cricut and cranking the Cuttlebug in hopes of being able to fit comfortably into my winter clothes. If starvation isn't bad enough, I've been on the wagon since last Monday (that being a WEEK ago, not yesterday) so the ONLY fruits I could think about were WINE GRAPES. LOL I made this tag using my 3 smallest oval Nesties which I glued and popped to a hand cut triangle. I used an old cartridge package for the leaves. First I dropped in some alcohol inks and let them dry. Then I cut it with my Cuttlebug Leaf die and embossed. (Had to run it back and forth a few times and sort of punch it out, but eventually it worked.) I backed them with some cardstock leaves for a bit more color.

The label is a Nesties Label 4 with a bit of inking with Distress inks. I thought this would be cute packaging when I bring wine to a dinner party. I'm afraid I'm gonna be whining for at least as couple more days. No wine for me until Friday when we go to a special Winemaker's dinner at a local winery. Trust me, I'm counting the days! :D My Design Team sisters just rocked this challenge so why don't you go have a look HERE and of course we'd love to see what you're going to create.

Snow Bird

This week at BBTB my dear and fabulously talented friend Carole hosted the challenge and chose the little bird from the Storybook cartridge. For some reason this cut made me think of the old Anne Murray song "Snowbird". Back in the very early 70's (before I knew him) my DH hitch hiked from Michigan to Vancouver Island, built a log cabin on Wreck Beach and lived off the land for 9 months. (How we ever got together beats me. My idea of camping is when room service is late. LOL) I've heard lots of stories about his experiences including how often this song was playing on the radio when someone picked him up. He has fond memories of his time there, and we have even traveled to the area and found the site where his cabin had been although it had long since washed away with the tides. I made this card for him.

This view shows the shaped front a bit better. The snowflakes are from Accent Essentials, Winter Woodland and When It's Cold Outside. The two smaller ones show through the front from the inside. The branch. the word "Snow" and the shaped back are also from Winter Woodland and the word "Bird" is from Opposites Attract. All is welded using Design Studio. I am not a gypsy convert yet and probably won't be in the near future. Besides some of the capabilities issues which I know they're hard at work fixing, the screen is just too small for my poor old eyeballs. LOL I'm not sure you can tell, but the snowflakes are all glittered using my Xyron and the bird is embossed with D'vine swirls.

Oops! I guess Carole was thinking Spring when she chose this cut. that's the beuty of these challenges. They are open to so many beautiful interpretations. In any case this was loads of fun. You must stop by Bitten By The Bug to see the beautiful examples from my Design Team Sisters. Then why not have a go at it yourself? BTW, BBTB is also hosting another CONTEST sponsored by Dream Designs by Iralamija (one of my favorite places to shop). There's still time!

ANOTHER Mystery Box and Weekend Swarm pix

Sorry no cards today. I've been busy creating, but of course I have to wait to post. I sure wish I could get caught up enough to do some things just for the heck of it (I say that every week LOL) but as usual I'm running behind. I was very excited to find another Mystery Box from Custom Crops on my doorstep. Obviously Jezzie is too. I can't reveal the contents yet, but if you remember our last Mystery Box challenge, there are 7 items, both craft and non-craft, and we must use all of the items in some way in our project. Stay tuned. If you missed my last Mystery box challenge project click HERE.

I thought it also would be fun to post the pix from our weekend SWARM the weekend of Oct. 24th. A neighbor of Leah's parents was kind enough to let us use her second home in Discovery Bay so off we went. We had a ball...one big slumber party! Here we are hard at work.

Lakisha gave Sandy, Jen and I a BIA demo.

Cody was more interested in his two thumbs. LOL

Happy hour on the back deck.

Happy Mom and her sweet boy! Thanks so much Leah for setting this all up and to Colleen for generously donating her home.

Vintage Christmas Card with Woven Background- Free .cut file available

I couldn't resist doing another Christmas card with A Child's Year. The adorable vintage images really speak to me, and although I know Scherenschnitte (papercutting, actually "scissor cuts") originated in Germany, it reminds me of my Swedish background, especially when done in red and white. I did a bit of welding of the image to a frame from Storybook. The holly accents are also from A Child's Year. I thought the simple design might look pretty against a woven background which I then embossed with D'vine Swirls in my Cuttlebug. Unfortunately this picture really doesn't show the detail. For more views and a full tutorial on weaving the background please click HERE. There is also a free .cut file available for those who are interested also on the Custom Crops site.

The Cuttlebug Spot "Give Thanks" and Thank You Smita

This week at The Cuttlebug Spot we are kicking off November with a Thanksgiving challenge. Having a rough week last week my card is sort of simple but I am pleased to announce I've gotten the hang of those darn around the corner punches from MS. Thank you Margie. Aren't you proud? Looky looky, the corners and borders don't even match but I still managed to make it around the block with no mishaps, how about that!? LOL This is an A2 card which I almost NEVER make and I used a portion of the Autumn Type folder done with Coredinations card stock and sanded. A couple of mats and cool Tim Holtz Metal Foliage and I was done. All of my Design Team sisters did much more fabulous projects than I did this week so click HERE to view. Also, if you play along you have the chance of winning a 20.00 gift certificate from Custom Crops (where you can get that cool Metal Foliage, seriously I love it!)

I have also recieved an Award from Smita. Thank you so much! Smita is from India and we met when she won my Blog Candy many months ago. Then she vanished from blogging for a bit. I'm so glad to see her back and creating. Please go visit her blog and say "hi". We don't want her to disappear for so long EVER again. Since I just answered the questions that accompany this lovely award I won't bore you again, but click HERE and scroll down if you're interested.

Penguin Pyramid for BBTB

Happy Monday everyone! Have you all recovered from the sugar rush? After all of that work decorating we only had about 50 Trick or Treaters but I was smart (or maybe not so) and bought a bag with ALL CHOCOLATE so the leftovers won't be going to waste. LOL This week kicks off a new phase for BBTB where the designers will be hosting the challenges (except for our monthly Blog Hop) and choosing the cartridge/cut. This week the fabulously talented CARLA has chosen the penguin cut from Joys of the Season. I can't believe I had never cut this little guy because he's the cutest EVER! I loved him sooo much I had to design a penguin pyramid shaped card so I could cut him over and over. They are all decked out hats from Pooh and Friends.

The shadow cuts are welded in DS to a sort of tree shape behind using the rounded triangles from George. I love the snowy paper from Me&My Big Ideas I used on the inside. Where it shows from the front it looks like a blizzard.

I'm afraid you can't really tell that the white part of the penguins is flocked and the black part is cut in glitter card stock. The hats are also cut in glitter and I colored the green, purple and orange pompoms with my Copics to get them to match. The eyes, beaks and feet are adhesive beads.

Here's the dimensional view. Now I'm sure you want to rush right over to BBTB to see the absolutely ADORABLE creations from my DT sisters this week. They have truly outdone themselves. Thanks Carla for choosing such a fun challenge. Please come and play long. I sure would love to see your take on it too!