I'm Kind of a Big Deal

Honestly, I have no idea why I bought the Superman cart except for the fact it was on a SUPER sale from Custom Crops at the time and the Clark Kent head (with the horn rimmed glasses sort of reminded me of pictures of DH when he was in high school. LOL) Then I saw what I thought was a hilarious downloadable printable sentiment from the Cutting Cafe called "Kind of a BIG DEAL". The look on this guy's face here really made me think he thought he really was a BIG deal (we all know the type, don't we?) so I couldn't resist making this card. Besides, the current challenge at Cards for Men was HUMOR so I thought this filled the bill. The sentiment is colored with my Copics and I used the Stars folder from last summer's Cuttlebug release, the sort of Bricks folder from an exclusive Oh My Craft's release, and the Stripes from a QuicKutz folder.

Inside I cut the Superman logo shape and made a computer generated sentiment. Be sure to stop by The Cutting Cafe so see the LOADS of new designs from Regina! Now I'm off to get some housework done before MY TEAM (MICHIGAN STATE) plays Butler in the Final Four. I can hardly contain myself!

GO STATE!

Oh Alice Chapter 6 and Blog Hop Winner!

TGIF! I finally finished this week's Oh Alice! challenge card and although it didn't turn out as I envisioned,I did manage to use the fine print as the challenge asks. I ended up finding the text from "Alice" on the internet and copied page 1 in a cool font on my computer. I printed it first on some of the Nusery Rhyme Paper from Prima which just so happens to have Alice images all over it. Then I printed it again on plain white.

The quote that caught my eye first was "and what is the use of a book," thought Alice, "without pictures or conversations?" so I took out my Nesties Labels 7 and cut out the book and page and lined it up over the background so you could still read the fine print (after inking with TH Distress Inks). The placement of the quote dictated the layout (which is kind of weird but what can you do?) The little metal flower at the top is Tim Holtz Metal Foliage.

The page goes on about the White Rabbit and his watch so I found this classic image from The Graphics Fairy and colored it with my Copics. The watch face is also TH and I used his game spinners for hands. The left hand side looked a little bare so I twisted the bookmark to the side and attached it under the mat. If you look closely you can see Alice following the White Rabbit down the rabbit hole on the printed paper.

Thanks for hanging in there. Now for the big announcement. Drumroll please!..... the winner of $30 gift certificate to Custom Crops Chosen by a Random number generator (that I can't manage to copy and paste for the life of me ) is #105, (please note that comment #75 was deleted by the author so that made a total of 109 posts instead of 110.)

MY TIME SCRAPPER!

My Time Scrapper said...
"What a cute Idea and I just love the colors that you used in this project! Thanks for sharing!"

CONGRATULATIONS Nicki! Please email me at dlmundinger (at)yahoo(dot) com to arrange for your prize.

Bah Humbug Challenge # 11 - Peel-Offs

This week at Bah!Humbug! the challenge is peelies, which I personally love! Maybe it's because they're not so readily available in the US so I've had to rely primarily on my friends across the pond. But at the recent Expo there was a booth FILLED with peelies and I managed to spend $50 there. I'm particularly fond on them for embossed cards where just a tiny sentiment, corner, or border adds that little special something. On these two cards I used that fun double embossing technique that I've been enjoying so much. For details click HERE for Nilda's video on The Cuttlebug Spot. These were a bit more challenging because I used my Spellbinders Create a Flake instead of a regular Nestie or Label but I LOVE how it came out. The embossing folder is the limited edition Snowflakes folder I got at Custom Crops. The cards are matted in the palest blue foil (which of course didn't photograph anything like the true color. It's even paler than the icy blue background I used for the photo) and aren't those delicate snowflake peelies GORGEOUS! (wish I'd bought a ton more of those!) The "Season's Greetings" was a gift (I think from Izzy Wheadon from the Cricut mb (Hugs, Izzy!) and the "peace" is a Stampendous peelie (one of the few manufacturers in the US). BTW, today is my dear friend Margie's 50th birthday so why not pop over to her BLOG and wish her a happy day?

The Cuttlebug Spot Color Challenge (with a stamp)

This week on The Cuttlebug Spot we were asked to used ONLY the TCS colors of pink, green, black and white AND we were to include a stamp which could be an image or sentiment. Since those colors make me think of Easter (and it's less than a week away) I decided to use this adorable bunny I got from my friend Marlene during a Digi Shack Blog Hop.

Isn't he the cutest? Thanks so much Marlene! The eggs are cut with my Nesties and cuttled with the Argyle folder. I used an EK Success punch for the wavy landscape and embossed with Swiss Dots and the flower folder that comes with the Cuttlebug With Thanks card making combo. The bunnies and grass at the bottom are a MS border punch. The most exciting thing for me on this card is that I actually hand stamped the "hippity hoppity" sentiment on the card without screwing it up. WooHoo! a FIRST! Gotta love those $1 stamps from M's, eh?

The layers are popped as usual, including that bunny which was a bit of a challenge to fussy cut. My DT sisters did a fabulous job with this challenge so don't miss their fabulous takes HERE and our wonderful Sponsor, Simon Says Stamp, is offering a $50.00 gift certificate for the lucky randomly chosen participant this week.

BBTB2 Paisley Purse Cut and Blog Hop

I can't believe it's the last Monday of the month and time for another BBTB2 Blog Hop! This week we're featuring any of the cute purse cuts from the Paisley cartridge chosen by our fabulously talented DT sister Lori Warner. Hopefully you've come from Lori's BLOG which is the beginning of our fabulous hop! Instead of a card this time I decided to use my BIA and make a shopping notepad (or it could be a mini album). I just happened to be talking to my friend Margie on the phone while designing this project and I was complaining that I didn't have all of the layers I wanted and she suggested using the tab feature (shift of the card feature) to get the layer I was looking for and that did the trick. THANKS MARGIE, couldn't have done it without you! I added a mini gel pen attached with a curled ribbon. If you're interested in how that's done, I've explained it in an article for another project HERE.

Inside are pages to jot down your shopping wish list. The title here was welded in Design Studio using one of the Hannah Montana fonts.

Here is the dimensional view. I used mini magnets sandwiched between the popped layers of both the purse body and flap for closure. Now for the good part. Leave a comment here for a chance to win a $30 gift certificate from Custom Crops, to be randomly chosen on Friday, April 2nd and hop on next to my dear and wonderfully creative friend Carole's blog. BTW, there's still time to try out for the BBTB2 design team. The entries so far are fabulous and I can't wait to see who will be joining us. Also, check out the BBTB2's current contest. The winner will be chose on Friday, April 2nd.

WE WON!

Sorry no card. I could barely get my DT cards done because I've been busy supporting my Alma Mater, Michigan State, in the NCAA basketball tournament and WE WON!!!!!! Yea Spartans!

GO STATE!!!!!

on to the final FOUR!

Oh Alice Challenge 4 and 5

Okay, so today you get a 2fer. Meaning 2 challenges for the price of one. I really didn't intend it to be, but I think it's gonna turn out that way. 2 weeks ago the Oh Alice! Chapter 4 challenge was a beautiful sketch by DT member Pam Varnell. However, there wasn't a specific deadline (for me, that's death because I'm such a procrastinator). I fully intended to do it but it was a busy week last week sooo... Anyway, this week the Chapter 5 challenge is to use a caterpiller or BUTTERFLY on your card. Now I do have a caterpiller image that I've even colored for this week's challenge, but I seem to have lost it under the piles of crap I have laying all over this craft room so in the interest of time, I'm submitting this card for BOTH of the challenges. If I manage to find the image in time and can whip out another card I will. The sweet, innocent Alice image is from Mo Manning called Alice in pencil. I first saw it on my friend Barb's blog (she always has the coolest stuff) and of course I rushed right over and bought it. The sentiment is from Sassy Studio Designs. DP is from that gorgeous Heidi Grace stack I've been using lately and the frame is cut on my Cricut from the Sentimentals cartridge (first time using it! woohoo!) The BUTTERFLIES are a MS punch (honestly I feel like I'm cheating but I could have used my Cuttlebug Spot card with butterflies but I like to keep it "Alice" related)

Here's the dimensional view. the card is 6 x 6. The round aperture is cut with my Nesties, I embossed the frame with Swiss dots, and added a few adhesive pearls. I really love how soft the whole effect is.

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.