Another Panoramic Egg - .Cut file available

I so enjoyed making my panoramic egg for the Peggy Loves Vintage contest that I decided to make one ALL CRICUT for Custom Crops. It's all done with the Easter Cartridge with just the small circle cut outs around the scalloped part of the egg done with Plantin Schoolbook. The Designer paper is DCWV Nana's Nursery Baby Girl, and I want to point out that both the 12x12 stack AND the matstack are used. I like that the smaller stacks scale down the prints for your smaller cuts. The background in the egg cut out, the bunny, and the grass are all cut from the mat stack, while the outer egg pattern on the front and the inside mat are from the 12x12.

As usual, loads of dimension and the FREE .cut file and complete instructions are available HERE on the Custom Crops site.

The inside sentiment is also from the Easter 2010 cart and I added tiny adhesive gems to enhance the cut. As you can see, this inside mat is the same as the dotted paper behind the bunny on the front, just a different scale. Love that! Don't forget that you have until April 2nd to enter the Peggy Loves Vintage contest for a wonderful prize. Click HERE to get the freebie image and all of the details.

Bah Humbug Vintage and Cutting Cafe Winner

Is anyone else having trouble with this time change thing? Yesterday I didn't get up until almost 8:00 (usually it's way before 6:00) and I felt groggy and sluggish all day long. Even though it was gorgeous out, I couldn't drag myself for a walk and my mojo was in really slow gear because it took me ALL DAY LONG to make this card. (And that was with the image and paper already chosen!) I was determined, and persistance prevailed so here is what I came up with for this week's Bah! Humbug! vintage challenge. I wanted to go WAY back this time and chose an image from the internet I had in my pics (sorry I don't remember where it came from). What I liked about it was just the smidge of color.

The paper was from the Graphic 45 Christmas Past Collection which covered the blue, but I wanted a bit of pink as well and that's where I ran into trouble. Matting anything with the pinks I had looked bad. I finally opened one of the random bags I have littering my craft room and came upon the felt coasters I'd bought at M's last week. HMMM... First of all, with a little imagination it could look like a snowflake and alot of vintage ornaments were made from felt so I pulled out my adhesive spray and covered it with German glass glitter I'd bought at Custom Crops. This stuff is way different from regular glitter and really gives that "Old World" look to a project.

I used my Fiskar's Threading water punch to mat the photo and my MS trees (for the first time!) on the reverse side of the paper for the border strip. The little tag letters are sticko Nostalgiques from M's mounted on a Spellbinders Shapeabilites Fancy Tags (also a first time use). OOps, and almost forgot the MS snowflake corner punch. The kraft paper is Stampin'Up and You can see the dimension I added above. Why the heck did it take me so long to make this card? You still have time today if you want to join in the Bah! Humbug! challenge. The new one comes out on Friday, (but remember it's UK time so they're 8 hours ahead and the challenge closes at noon on Thurs their time). So far I've made all 10 challenges so I'm pretty proud of myself! Don't you want to get a jump on next Christmas?

Now what you've REALLY been waiting for: The WINNER of the Cutting Cafe All About Coffee and Coffee Bean Background sets is..................

#12 VeronicaA

who wrote: I love the card and the sentiment. Even more I would love to win. I have several folk I could send that card to. Congrats Veronica! I have your email so will be getting that set out to you in a jiffy. Thank you to all who entered.

The Cuttlebug Spot "if I had Wings..."

Well actually, I probably wouldn't choose a butterfly but I like to keep my Cuttlebug Spot challenge cards all Cuttlebug if possible, so that's what you get. LOL The Cuttlebug butterfly cut and emboss set IS one of my faves, however, and I had this DCWV Mariposa stack that was just begging to be cut into. Alot of times these stacks are difficult to use for making cards, with just opposing corners having images (really meant for a layout) but this one worked out pretty well. I also wanted to try out my new Nesties Mega Ovals LG and Mega Classic Scalloped Ovals LG that I got from Glenda at Glenda's Creative Place. Trust me, if you're looking for Nesties (and actually a whole lot more) at fabulous prices with super customer service, Glenda's is the place to go. (This is a totally unsolicited endorsement. I'm just telling it like it is.) :-) Then I went looking for a folder to emboss and came across this Sizzix one I had never used and it looked to me like an iron garden gate. After embossing I inked it with brushed corduroy Distress Ink and then found a coordinating paper to cut the butterfly. The embossed mat and butterfly are popped and I used gold adhesive beads (big surprise LOL). Finally I used a Stampin'Up border punch (from Lillie) and peelie corners, sentiment and border that I got at the Scrap Expo. It felt pretty good to use 5 never used things. WooHoo! Be sure to stop over to The Cuttlebug Spot to see what winged creatures my teammates would like to be and for the chance to win a $20 gift certificate to Custom Crops, so why don't you play along?

BBTB2 Sweet Treats Birthday Cake

This week at BBTB2 we're celebrating our dear DT sister Susan's milestone birthday with the cut she has chosen; the birthday cake2 from the Sweet Treats cartridge. Although a card cut is included in the cartridge I preferred to make my own using the shadow feature to allow for more layering and because my dear friend Leah's daughter turned 4 on Saturday I added a #4 birthday candle.

I skipped all of the frosting and stuff included for this cut because I'm IN LOVE with this new Heidi Grace paper. Too bad it doesn't photograph so well. (Well maybe not too bad in the closeup) The pastels are truly yummy and the little fairies and flowers are the cutest! The two I added to the cake are actually rub-ons that I cut out and popped on.

This little one flying around the candle is on a wire with a flower behind her to hold it in place. How about that, I only used one cartridge. WooHoo! (And this is the first time I've used this one.) Double WooHoo!

Each layer is popped so it is fairly thick. Of course I added some pastel pearls and and a gem for the flame. My DT sisters did some unbelieveably bright and beautiful birthday cakes so be sure to stop by BBTB2 for some serious eye candy! We are also welcoming a guest designer, Alicia Giess so be sure to give her a warm welcome. Oh, and BTW, if you've ever dreamed of being a DT member for BBTB2, now's your chance. We have an open DT call so click HERE for details. I know Susan had a great birthday, but I'll bet her FAVE 'prise was a win by our Alma Mater Michigan State (GO SPARTANS!). They were just toying with you Sue, winning in the last second like that! :-D

Contest Time at Peggy Loves Vintage

WooHoo! it's another contest at Peggy Loves Vintage! This adorable bunny image is being provided for FREE to use as you choose on any type of project. I chose to make a shaped card using my Cricut and the Easter 2010 cartridge and then used my Spellbinder's Nested Eggs to make a sort of panoramic egg. I printed the image 3 different times and lining up the cuts and popped them for the 3-D effect. I got the fun ribbon in the $ bin at M's awhile ago and the texture reminded me of Easter grass and the little flowers are Vintage Findings by Making Memories (how appropriate!).

Because of the depth of the card I trimmed the underneath to hide the dimensionals and give it a more finished effect. I just love working with Peggy Loves Vintage images because the possibilites are endless. Be sure to check out the fabulous projects the rest of the team came up with and grab your free image and give it a go. Click HERE for all of the details.

WooHoo! A Giveaway from The Cutting Cafe

Ahhh, the weekend is here and the weather is absolutely GORGEOUS! It was 82 yesterday and although it was difficult to stay inside at the Expo, I somehow managed (LOL) and came home with loads of bags I have yet to unpack. I also had time to make a quick card using the Got Coffee? and Coffee Beans Background downloadable printable stamp sets from The Cutting Cafe. If you love coffee, these are the sets for you, and you can win them BOTH, right here, just by leaving a comment. The Got Coffee? set has 24 different coffee related images and sentiments and the Background set comes 3 ways. The beans print in solid black, solid brown, and clear (outline only), so imagine the possibilities! On Monday, Regina will be announcing the list of all of the DT members who are participating in the giveaway so be sure to stop by The Cutting Cafe for more chances to win! She'll also be announcing new additions to The Cutting Cafe Design Team and you can browse all of the fabulous new sets Regina has in store. See ya there! I will be announcing the winner of these two adorable sets on Wednesday, March 24th, so be sure and stop back by.

Tea for 2 - .Cut File Available

The Alice craze has gotten me VERY into tea parties lately, so I thought I'd do this tea related card for Custom Crops using the new Once Upon a Princess cartridge. Originally I was gonna pass on this cart, but upon further investigation I found it's not only good for your girly princess related stuff, but it has some great sentiments as well. For once I actually designed a card using ONLY one cart. Amazing!

It's pretty straight forward and the full instructions and FREE .cut file is available HERE. As in all of my cards, they can be assembled with out dimension as well, but you know me, I've never met a pop dot I didn't like. LOL If YOU like it, I sure would appreciated a comment on the CC site so they know you guys are lovin' the articles. The paper here is from Graphic 45 Domestic Goddess and I LOVE IT, don't you? Anyway. The week is getting away from me and I haven't been able to craft as much as I'd like what with my hair appt. on Wed. , lunch out with DH, and today a Scrapbook Expo. WooHoo! I'm afraid I'll be missing out on a few of the challenges I'd hoped to do and I haven't even begun my DT stuff for next week. Wish me luck as I hope to be in major debt by the end of the day.

Cottage Cutz Birthday for Cards for Men

It's Cottage Cutz Thursday at The Cuttlebug Spot. Every other week The Cuttlebug Spot brings you examples of fun things to do with my favorite dies to use in my Cuttlebug. I just love the Cottage Cutz Camping release from The Scrapping Cottage. My DH is a backpacker and I thought these would be great for cards for him and males in general. (This is NOT something we share. My idea of camping is when room service is late.) This one will probably be from the two of us to his backpacking buddy but I think it would really be good for any male with a sense of humor.

I used the Bear Sitting and the Pine Tree Forest dies and inked and popped them. That Pine Tree Forest is great because although it's only a single 4 x 4 die, the layers work to make 4 different sized trees. I used more of that cool paper backed veneer to cut the trunks. LOVE IT! I used the same die in the previous post as well. I love how the Cottage Cutz dies work so quickly in my Cuttlebug. That perfect background paper is from an older DCWV Summer stack. The sentiment is computer generated. Now you know what's coming, don't you? LOL

The inside paper is also from that DCWV stack and I printed the upper sentiment in a strip to cover the words that were on that stripe. Hee, Hee! I'm lovin' the puns! I was happy to discover a new (at least to me) challenge site that focusses on Cards for Men. The current challenge is birthday cards. I hope to be able to continue to do these challenges because what could be MORE challenging, eh? And wouldn't it be nice to have a stash so you're not scrambling at the last minute? I'm pretty sure the challenge is every 2 weeks which makes it quite a bit easier for me, at least. So if you're game, be sure to check out Cards for Men, and also The Cuttlebug Spot for more exciting ideas for Cottage Cutz dies. Thursdays are volunteer at school days for Nilda so sometimes we beat her to the punch at posting but be sure to check back.)

Bah Humbug Challenge #9 Cool Combos and ABC Christmas Challenge

After last week's dismal entry for Bah! Humbug! I decided to try and redeem myself. The challenge this week was to combine at least 3 of the previous challenges but of course, 2 of the ladies on the fabulous DT used all 8 so I had to give it a go. I used the Joys of the Season Cricut Cartridge for the snow globe. The globe itself is packaging from Terrifically Tacky Tape (#1-recycling), the die cut Tree (# 7) is a new (#2 new stash) Cottage Cutz die (Hmmm, I don't see the specific die at the moment,( perhaps it's out of stock) from the from the Camping release, available at The Scrapping Cottage and is trimmed with red adhesive beads (#4 baubles). The Snowman (#6) is also a Cottage Cutz die from Holly Jolly Christmas (thanks Leah!) which I simplified a bit by leaving off his nose, arms, hat and broom (poor guy, but there's just so much room in there and I wanted to stick to the color scheme) and glittered (#3) by running it through my Xyron and sprinkling him with Doodlebug sugar coating. I also stickled the tree and the globe is filled with MS mica flakes. (You can never have too much #3! LOL)

I made a pedestal and trimmed the folded bits to match the contours of the snow globe.

The base of the pedestal is trimmed with holly (#5) paper and the berries were enhanced with more adhesive beads. Finally, the sentiment is ribbon that looks like it's been cross stitched (#8 stitching real or faux). WooHoo! I'd already had this card in my mind for ages and wasn't it convenient that I could incorporate all of the previous challenges? Thanks so much Ann, Max, and Irene for coming up with the perfect challenge to get me off my bum and finally make this card! I don't always have time to do something this elaborate (and I don't want to miss a challenge) but I'm happy it worked out this time. I'm also entering it into the ABC Christmas challenge which is F for Frosty. Thanks Sheryl! xxD

The Cuttlebug Spot Goes Digital

This week at The Cuttlebug Spot we've gone digi, with adorable downloadable images provided by our sponsor, Lily Boo's Boutique. I had such a hard time deciding which images I wanted to use, there are soooo many adorable ones, but finally decided on #5 Circles collection because I love the bold and beautiful flowers. I colored the flowers to look like my favorite Leonidas roses (which already has buds in the garden WooHoo!) and then decided the image would look pretty framed by the rose folder from Stampin' Up. I cut a circle out of one with my Nesties and cut them apart and shadowed them in black by cutting freehand. The background paper is K&Co Portobello Road (again!) embossed with the Cuttlebug Script folder.

The rose frame is popped with dimensionals and I cut the sentiment in fun foam using the Cuttlebug Everyday Grettings Card Making Combo. The digi image was printed twice so I could cut out the butterfly, and the final touches were the adhesive beads and peelie corners. Be sure to stop by The Cuttlebug Spot to see the fabulous variety of cards done by the DT and hop on over to LilyBoo's Boutique and check out the adorable designs. Just for leaving a comment about your fave you may win 2 free sets!

BBTB2 SYI Flourish and Technique Tuesday Stamp Challenge

This week at BBTB2 we have a new twist. Besides our usual interpretation of a Cricut cut, we were provided with adorable stamp set from a new sponsor, Technique Tuesday This made it a bit of a tough week because stamping is ALWAYS a challenge for me, and because a stamp is what it is, (and the flourish cut that was chosen) I was a bit limited as to size. I rarely make A2 cards because I like to load my stuff up, LOL, so while rifling through my paper I came across this great design from Me&MY Big Ideas and decided to make a tag instead. After several thousand tries (well not really, but it seemed like it) I managed to get a clean impression of the little deer and faired much better with the sentiment. The flourish cut blended in so much with the DP that I used adhesive pearls (big surprise) to embellish.

Just a bit of popping and a few punched butterflies and there you go. Be sure to stop by BBTB2 to see the amazing projects by my fabulous DT sisters. And certainly we'd love it if you'd play along.

Fabulous, Colorful and Quick Birthday Card from the Cutting Cafe

Tell me this card isn't a party waiting to happen. I was in need of a quick b-day card suitable for a male. YIKES! We all know how tough THAT can be! Well, Regina to the rescue with her fabulously colorful new Colored Birthday Celebration Background downloadable printable stamp set (coming very soon, I just couldn't wait!) from The Cutting Cafe. The cool thing about this is it's all colored for you (no messing around in another program) and actually comes as a full page for bigger projects but I resized it so the entire thing would fit on my card. The "HB" is from the set Happy Birthday 40 Ways which I mounted on a block of dots from the Colored Mini Polka Dot Background set (another pre colored set, WooHoo!) As you can see, I love me some dots, so I used 2 of the 12 different colors available on this set!

Inside I trimmed it out using scraps from my dots and a sentiment from the Extended Family Birthday Huge Circle Printable Stamp Set and I was done! The Cutting Cafe is the place to go for affordable downloadable stamps for all of your scrapping and card making needs. Having some sets is like money in the bank. Be sure to visit often, as new things are added all the time.