Bloobel Baby Tag

I seem to have a problem getting things posted these days.  Kind of hot and our upstairs air has been out due to a rerouting of the air ducts in the attic project that hubby seemed to have forgotten all about...ahem.  A few sleepless nights did the trick, along with a massive cool down so here we go.  Adorable tag with this sweet Baby Giraffe image (only 1.50!  You need him!) from Bloobel Stamps with gorgeous hand dyed crinkle ribbon from Mermaid's Tale Third Edition from DL.Art.  Argyle DP from the ancient DCWV Nana's Nursery Boy's Stack. Gingham on my desk from another project?  (Hey, could have been years ago) Colors and "not a card" for the Outlawz Tuesday Color challenge.

I'm adding this to the DL.Art May Linky challenge, TTRCD May2-9 AG, 2 Crafty Critter Crazies (AG with Animals), Craft Dee BowZ May AG w/handmade bow, Crafty Animals May AG, Cute Card Thursday AG, 613 Avenue Create April AG , Animal Friends Anything but a Card and Crafty Hazelnut's May Patterned Paper challenge.

Warm and Fuzzy with Aurora Wings

A new challenge starts today at the Aurora Wings Challenge Blog with the theme of "Warm and Fuzzy". I gotta say I had loads of ideas for this one, especially involving Christmas and kitties, but decided at the last minute to switch gears. I mean, who doesn't get a warm fuzzy feeling from a sweet little baby girl, especially when she's all sleepy eyed in jammies with her blankie?  EEEEK! LOVE!

The adorable image is Sleepy Bunny Elf (also available HERE in the AW digi shop). Couldn't you just eat her up?  I printed her several times on both white and pink card stock.  Her skin is colored with Copics and I've fussy cut up a storm to add flocked layers to her bunny jammies and slippers.  Gotta say, I love to flock ;D.  Such an easy way to add texture to your project by running the piece upside down through your Xyron, pouring on the flock and rubbing it in, until you get the coverage you want.  I generally use white on colored card stock which mutes the shade beautifully.  More warm fuzzies with the pom pom bunny tail and the wispy white hair cut from marabou trim.

Here's the dimensional view.  Love that she's sucking her thumb. (True confession:  I did 'til the 4th grade, not in public mind you, just in bed at night, and my teeth turned out fine, without braces, thank you very much.) One thing about adding dimension here.  Adhesive doesn't stick to flocked surfaces, at least for very long, so you might want to used liquid glue on your foam.  I find Fabric Fusion works especially well.

I've added a heart doily behind her and more "warm fuzzies" in the form of a small piece of chenille fabric I've had in my stash forever.

And surprise! this is actually a little gift box.  I know, don't faint, it's been quite awhile since I used my Cricut.  The box, bow and sentiment comes from the Close to my Heart Artiste Cartridge. 

Finally, I added one more "warm and fuzzy" detail in the form of some fuzzy rick rack.  Hope you like and will come join our "Warm and Fuzzy" challenge at Aurora Wings.

P.S. Sleepy Bunny Elf makes and adorable Baby Boy project, too. Here's one I did earlier.  So what makes YOU feel all "warm and fuzzy"?

Here's how to keep up with all that's happening at Aurora Wings.

Aurora Wings Challenge Blog

Aurora Wings Showcase Blog

Aurora Wings Etsy Shop

Aurora Wings Digi Shop

Aurora Wings FB Group

Aurora Wings FB Fan Page

I'm entering my Baby Girl Project in the December Sparkle and Sprinkle challenge, the Outlawz Twisted Thursday ATG/Girly Girly Challenge, Die Cut Divas Warm and Cozy, Allsorts Anything But Christmas, 613 Avenue Create ATG, Wags and Whiskers Fairies and Elves, Crafting With an Attitude ATG,  the DL.Art December ATG Linky challenge, TTRCD ATG Dec 15-21, and Simon Says Wednesday Die Crazy.

Little Boy Blue at BBTB2 using CTMH Artiste

Happy Monday!  This week at BBTB2, our wonderfully talented Suzanne has chosen the theme with her soon to be born, first grandson in mind.  After 2 wonderful daughters and 3 lovely granddaughters, she is excited to start scrapping in blue so our theme this week is "Little Boy Blue".  Although the projects do not need to be for a baby, they are to be for a boy using the color blue.  I opted for a baby theme anyway because there was another cut on my fabulous CTMH Artiste cartridge I was dying to try.  My little favor is actually the diaper envelope (shift on the card feature) on page 64  of the cart.  For some reason, I thought is was 3D but actually, with a teeny bit of modification it easily adapted to what I had in mind.

I stretched the length of the envelope slightly in Design Studio and instead of scoring at the score lines, I scored 1/4" out from of it and after the first scallop at the back leg opening.  This made a little flat base on which to stand.  At the sides I didn't score at all, just tucked the flaps throught the slits and secured with glue dots inside.  To gain stability, I cut the scalloped card portion of this cut (twice) large enough to make a base and taped the diaper to it.

The little diaper pin AND "It's a Boy" are also all on page 64 of the Artiste booklet.  The diaper pin and pin head are separate cuts, but I cut the sentiment twice and trimmed for the two layers there. Don'tcha just love it when you can do a project with only one cartridge?  I ran out of time, but thought that matching invitations using the card and envie as intended would sure be the beginnings of great shower decor. If you haven't purchased CTMH Artiste yet, I strongly urge you to visit my dear friend and DT sister Susan's site and check out the fabulous deal.

Now please take a look at the fabulous projects from the rest of the BBTB2 team and we invite you to play along.  Just make sure you follow the rules posted at the top of the blog and have fun!

I'm also entering this in the Come and Get It Anything Other Than a Card Challenge, the Squirrel and the Fox Celebrate the Occasion (new baby) Challenge, and the Cute And Girly September Boys/Men challenge (can't help it, this makes me giggle).

It's a Girl with CTMH Artiste

I've been playing with my new CMTH Artiste cart and was excited to use the sweet baby shoes on page 63.  Our nephew's wife is expecting and although we don't know the sex yet, I figured I had a 50/50 chance.  I cut them at 4" in the sweetest flocked DP from Me&My Big Ideas and then set out to find something to do with them.  I loved the cool box on page 74 and used DS to determine how large I wanted the top to fit the shoes with room to spare.  I was surprised to find out it was 2".  Must be measuring from the height of the box.  At this size, you need a 12x24" mat and you still can't fit the top, bottom and side cuts on one piece of 12x24" card stock but the box was then a substantial size, with the interior being approximately 5" square.  I chose to do the top and bottom cuts out of white, instead.  The assembly instructions tell you to glue the shoe upper flaps to the top of the soles, but I wanted a more finished look inside so I cut the soles again at 3 7/8" and glued the flaps under the smaller soles and then glued the 4" soles on the bottom.  This was a bit tricky and I ended up doing a teeny bit of trimming, but I preferred the clean look both inside and out.

I made a second layer for the top, again using DS so I could add another layer of DP.  The sweet bows on the toes are another cut from Artiste, (page 56) which I embossed (along with the shoe straps) with Swiss Dots.  They started at 1" but I shrunk them down to fit with DS.  "It's a Girl" is another fab cut (on page 64 at 2 1/2") and I cut it twice, embossed the top layer and offset them slightly and popped them for a little more dimension. 

I have to say my fave cut of all on this is actually the bow.  Couldn't help but use it again cut at 1", and embossed with the Cuttlebug Polka Dots folder. This is cut in a single piece with holes cut with your Cricut for a brad for easy assembly.  Too cute!

For a finishing touch I lined the top and bottom sections of the box with DP.  I just cut a square at 5" and attached inside which not only added strength, but also hid the flaps used for assembly.  I'm really loving CTMH Artiste because it really has fabulous 3D projects  and cuts for all holidays and occasions as well as coordinating chipboard and stamps.  If you haven't already purchased it, please visit my fab friend, DT sister and CTMH consultant Susan HERE.  Also be sure to visit her personal blog HERE for many more inspirational projects from this versatile cartridge.

I'm entering this in the Simon Says Stamp and Show No Rules Challenge, the Allsorts It's a Gift Challenge, and the Divas by Design Anything Goes challenge.

ADFD for Bah!Humbug! and a Few More Challenges

Okay, don't faint ladies! Yes, it's Saturday and I've done my Bah!Humbug! challenge ALREADY this week. YEEHAW! I knew immediately what image (or at least which group of images) I was gonna use for the Baby's First Christmas challenge. 4 Crafty Chicks is also asking for a baby theme, as is Designed to Delight, WooHoo! I have the whole Santa's Nice List set from ADFD and chose this cutie in the stocking cap. The current ADFD challenge is "Flock Together" so I printed the image (flipped) 3 times so I could cut it apart and flock the pieces individually by running them face down through my Xyron and then reassembling them on the base image. (Does that make sense?)

Tell me this isn't the sweetest baby EVER! Well actually there are 3 other singles, a set of triplets, and a stocking just filled with a teddy and sweets in this set, but the stocking cap really did it for me because I could add a mini pompom. What little coloring there is is done with my Copics. The red part of the stocking is colored as well, before running through the Xyron and flocking, so the coverage is deep and even. The little dots on the toe and heel are mini adhesive beads I applied AFTER running through the Xyron but before adding the flock. The flock would have obscured the dots had I just colored them, and I was afraid of bleeding if I tried to touch them up after. The adhesive on the beads doesn't stick well to the flock, either, but applying glue after the fact is pretty messy so this solution worked well for me.

Besides the flocking, I wanted to add some additional texture for the Cardmadfairy's Texture Challenge and the Frosted Designs Fabulous Friday Challenge which is Embossing. I chose a Sizzix folder because the scallops echoed the Nestie scalloped mat but look what happened when I ran it through my Cuttlebug. I've had this happen with quite a few of the Sizzix folders, including those by Tim Holtz, and I was really bummed at how it actually cracked and ripped my cardstock because of the deep embossing.

Lucy McGoo's Wonder Goo to the rescue! Honestly, this stuff has been on my crafting table for MONTHS! I bought it at a Scrap Expo (I think) because it's supposed to help get a better impression when using those old embossing plates (rather than the folders) so I thought I'd give it a go and WOOHOO! A little spritz on the card stock, in the folder, and through the Cuttlebug and VOILA! No more cracking! I do, however suggest you leave it in the folder until the thing dries because it does have a tendency to curl more, but hey, small price to pay. I'd been getting kind of discouraged with these folders lately so I'm happy as a clam to find a solution. That link is the only place I found this stuff online, but I hate to mention a product with no link to where you can get it sooo... I also apologize for such a long post for such a simple card, but I finally seem to be coming out of my funk so I'm back to my old wordy self. LOL Anyway, I'm off to get boofy for the first holiday party of the season at my BFF's. Have a great rest of the weekend and go check out all of these fab challenges, if for no other reason than to oooohh and aaaahh at the DT inspiration.

BBTB2 Clouds Challenge

This week our fabulous Shelly chose the clouds from Pooh and Friends for the BBTB2 Challenge . Well, we're no strangers to clouds out here in (sunny? I wish!) CA since that's all we've been seeing lately. Who stole our weather? Shame on YOU! Sit back with a cuppa now, 'cause this is gonna be one long post. Not nearly as long as it took to make the darn thing but... Anyway, I immediately had an idea for this challenge but it proved to be a little more daunting than expected to design because of the fact that the clouds came in pairs (and had no shadows) so there was a lot of resizing and hiding contours to weld the base of this door hanger together. Although it's perfectly okay at BBTB2 to use another cartridge with clouds, I figured that since I own the chosen one, I was gonna go with it. I inked the clouds, ran them through the Xyron right side down, and covered them in MS coarse crystal glitter. Then I ran them through my Cuttlebug with the D'Vine Swirls folder for added texture. If you've covered your cut completely with glitter, it doesn't stick and actually helps adhesion, and any glitter that remains on your folder just rinses off. The three cloud shadows were welded in Design Studio to the shadow of the little lamb jumping over the fence (which I flipped). That cut comes from Wall Decor and More but had a much longer fence that I had to trim off by hand repeatedly for the layers. OOps! I just noticed on this top pic that the little lamby on the left has fallen down a bit. That foam doesn't like to stick to glitter. All fixed now.

Next problem; although the sweet little lambs have individual layers, they have no shadow if you want to use them individually, so if you want one, you have to cut the border feature and then hand trim the fence off to get a shadow. I know I'm kinda anal about shadows, but the lamb didn't show very well against the clouds without one and they are very important to me for layering purposes. I cut each lamb twice, with the swirly cutout and without, in the same color and then flocked the upper layer in white which softened the colors of the card stock and made them all cute and cuddly. "Sweet Dreams" is also from Wall Decor and More and WooHoo! it has a shadow, but no individual layers for the letters, so I cut the phrase out several times in various colors and again hand trimmed and embossed with Swiss Dots to get what you see here. (There is a font on the cart, but many of the individual letters do not match up with the phrases. The "E" actually does, though)

As I assembled the hanging, I realized that I needed to balance the right lower side so I added a star from George and Basic Shapes. I poked a hole through the shadow and one of the layers of the "D" and hung it from a jump ring. The dimensional star was made by scoring from tip to indent, all the way around and mountain folding from tip to center and valley folding from indent to center. I folded first, then ran it through my Xyron and used MS fine crystal glitter so the card stock color would show through. After folding again, I attached it with one of those big globby dimensional glue dots.

As you can see, there are lots and LOTS of layers on this one and although it was a real PITA to make I totally love it and was glad I persevered. After the several days it took to complete, however, I was too exhausted to finish my Macabre Monday project, so you'll just have to check back on Wednesday for that. However, if you're craving something creepy after all this fluff, scroll down to see my offering for Skull Appreciation Day and if you're interested in hopping, it goes through Tuesday so you still have time. Be sure to stop by BBTB2 and see the fabulous designs by my DT sisters and remember you have 2 weeks to complete the challenge and any cloud from any cart will do.