It's a Cricut Card, REALLY!

So of course you all know I've been enjoying a bit of a diversion with stamping and the like but look again here. This is a Cricut card. At CHA I spent alot of time with fellow Custom Crops Design Team sister Amy Chomas of Chomas Creations. Amy makes those fabulous mini gel pen, mini sharpie, and micro mini sharpie holders that work in the Cricut like the Cricut markers but SO MUCH BETTER! (Over a martini or two, hee hee) we got to talking about Copics and she said "Well you know you can use my pens with Copics too." What? Are you kidding me? Sure enough. (Okay, so I'm a little surprised I remember the conversation...)

Although I LOVE the images on the Tinker Bell and Friends cartridge, the chances of me cutting those teeny little pieces are slim to none. Instead, using Design Studio, I placed both the shadow and regular cuts of Fawn and that gorgeous floral corner on my screen for placement. Then I copy and pasted the shadow images to another screen and welded them and went back to the original screen and deleted them. Now I have one mat for drawing and one mat for cutting. I replaced my blade with the mini gel pen holder and first drew the images. (I used pressure 3, speed 3 but in DS the speed has a mind of it's own) NOW, DO NOT UNLOAD THE MAT, PRESS LOAD MAT (not load last) and replace the pen holder with your blade again. (ADJUST YOUR PRESSURE to cut, VERY IMPORTANT) Go to your second page (with the shadows for cutting) click cut and voila! Now you don't have to use DS for this if you're just cutting single images and it works the same way. If this is clear as mud, check out Amy's video HERE.

WOW! Now I could color to my heart's content and didn't have to fussy cut around the image to pop it! I have the freedom to resize like a digi, WOOHOO!!! I don't know about you, but those Disney carts drive me up the wall and I can see getting SO much more use out of them with my pen holder! Not all that much more needed for the card either. The gorgeous paper is K&Co Que Sera Sera, a bit of that sort of weird sparkly fuzzy $1 bin ribbon from M's and "imagine" in wire attached with my Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher. Guess you still can't really see it, but it's there and looks pretty cool in person.

Not a whole lot of dimension here, but this was a first attempt. It will be interesting to try drawing and cutting the layers for even more dimension. Thanks Amy for cluing me in to this fabulous application for your mini holders. I'm SURE to be using them a whole lot more now, not to mention all of those nearly unused Cricut carts I thought I just HAD to have. Be sure to check out Chomas Creations for more great ways to use these FABULOUS holders (including the embossing kit which I'm anxious to try after seeing Amy's super cool layouts). They can be purchased right on her blog (as well as Custom Crops) and I have to mention that they are manufactured in the USA which is always a big deal to me (especially in this economy) by Amy and her family members. (Tell me that's not cool and deserves support!) Luv ya, girl!

I'm also linking this up to Scraptastic Saturday which is a great new feature on Hannah's blog where you can view a wide variety of fun creations all in one place.

The Cuttlebug Spot - Sympathy Cards

This week at The Cuttlebug Spot we were asked to do Sympathy Cards (or apparantly also Thinking of You cards, you lucky participants, because I had a hard time here.) With all of the cards I make, I just don't do sympathy. I can't, and I feel terrible about it too because I've had the occasion recently and just froze up. Had I made this one I probably wouldn't have sent it anyway because it's pretty darn foofy (suitable for the Pope? Ha Ha, Margie!) but I was determined to use a bunch of stuff I bought awhile ago and had yet to even open. Those things include the Spellbinders Cross set, the Lattice Pendant and Lattice Border and one of the 5x7 embossing folders from the Cricut Companion Sentimentals Cuttlebug set. The lacy corners come with the pendant, the rectangular panel behind the layered cross is the cut out center of the Lace Door Embossing Plus folder and of course the computer generated sentiment is on yet ANOTHER of the Fanciful Labels (that one's getting a workout!)

I layered up a storm and actually do think it turned out quite pretty. Maybe I'll just change the sentiment (First Holy Communion, Christening?). Be sure to stop by The Cuttlebug Spot for a glimpse of the more tastefully simple and elegant cards done by my DT sisters. And if you're not inclined to do Sympathy, you can still play along with a Thinking of You card as long as it's embossed and is NEW (come on you guys, back posting isn't fair to those who really take the challenge!) and you may win a $20.00 gift certificate from Custom Crops.

Bah! Humbug! Challenge 31- Angels and Fairies

Oh boy, just under the wire again for Bah! Humbug! this week with Angels and Fairies. I couldn't resist using another adorable Tiddly Inks image called Holly Bugg. She's colored with Copics and mounted within an ornament cut with my Cricut from Joys of the Season. The top mat is embossed with a 5x7 Cuttlebug Holiday folder exclusive to Oh My Crafts. The green mat with the circle cut out was also done with my Cricut using Design Studio and it's embossed with Swiss Dots. I did this by cutting my folder at the fold, and placing it in the center of the mat, using the open circle to "click" it in place before running it through the Cuttlebug. Gutsy, eh? LOL

Then it was just a matter of popping the red mat, adding a peelie border and holly sprig and some ribbon, adhesive beads and metal sentiment from M's.

Movie Magic at Tiddly Inks

This week at Tiddly Inks we're celebrating the silver screen. What's my favorite? That's a no brainer, especially with the adorable images Christy has created. I took the cup from the her new Cuppa Love set and sized it big enough to make a shaped card (and printed it twice for dimension). After coloring and cutting it out, I realized I'd made it too large to open it fully from the top or bottom (more than 12 inches either way) so it folds at the top of the cup (without the fun hearts) and I traced around the bottom and cut that part out. Then I did a full mat (including the hearts) to glue on top. This is what I generally do with my Cricut shaped cards when I weld and there was plenty enough room inside for a sentiment.

All is colored with Copics, there's Alice (Time for Tea) and the Hatter (Mad For You), but there wasn't a Cheshire Cat purrr se (LOL) so I drew a huge grin and a little stripe on the kitty (What's Up) and voila! The images are cut and popped and the tea bag sentiment is hand cut and computer generated. That cool string is from The Twinery (thanks Nat!) Be sure to check out the Tiddly Inks Shop. New images are added each Tuesday and I just saw MORE that I MUST HAVE! Christy has a super sale of 20% off orders of $15 or more so what are you waiting for? If that isn't enough, check out the Tiddly Inks Blog to see the latest FREEBIE available (for a VERY limited time) when you join the PCP Group. And while you're at it, check out the imaginative creations by the Tiddly Inkers on the Challenge Blog and come and play along for a chance to WIN.

BBTB2 Joys of the Season Cup Challenge

This week at BBTB2 our sweet sister Marina chose the cup cut from Joys of the Season. Of course my first thought was an "Alice" inspired card, but we'd just spent the evening with friends who have poodles (really BIG ones!). I guess I'm more the small dog type, so I decided to make a "teacup" poodle (or a poodle in a tea cup, LOL). I created a shaped card using the shadow of the cup from JOTS and the poodle (flipped) from Create a Critter. I welded the shadow of both, along with the resized heart from the "merci" cut (also Create a Critter) to allow for a decent amount of writing space inside. I really haven't used CAC before and I omitted the "layer 1" because the eye and mouth placement for the poodle looks weird to me. It was interesting to note that when using the shadow and regular cuts for the poodle, the layering pieces weren't exactly the right size so I played around with those until they fit to my liking. The poodle is flocked by running the pieces right side down through my Xyron and afterward her ruff and topknot were embossed with the D'Vine Swirls Cuttlebug folder. Embossing AFTER the flocking made the pattern show up much better than vice versa. I also cut the regular cup twice so I could add some detail to it.

LOTS of layers so I could achieve the dimension I was going for. IRL she really does look like she's inside the cup. The paper is from the 6x6 Sabrina pad by Making Memeories. This was a fun one! Be sure to stop by BBTB2 to see the wide variety of spectacular projects by my DT sisters, and we love it when you play along. Make it a new project though, not one dug up from the depths of your blog because it happens to fit, okay. What's the challenge in that?

Happy Anniversary Haunted Design House!

Would you believe Haunted Design House is celebrating it's first Anniversary? That's right, one year of Macabre Mayhem and to celebrate we ask you to Stamp it Crazy! Create a project with a minimum of 3 stamps (digi is okay) and we're being sponsored by the fabulous Barb at Stamp it Crazy. Although you don't HAVE to use Stamp it Crazy stamps on your project, but with the plethora of diabolical digis and rubbah, how could you not? I've used the vixonish digi Wonda, a vamp of the Nth degree, along with the rubbah Pet #33 and that little spider hangin' off the Inkadinkadoo web is Stamp it Crazy too, but I can't seem to find it at the moment. (Don't faint, I actually masked the web and Wonda, a first!) The sentiment is computer generated, and if you don't "get it", I suggest you Google "familiar" (the noun) and it may make a bit more sense. LOL I gathered and laced some tulle to echo Wonda's sexy little outfit. I think this one's going to DH for Halloween. Now if you visit this week's Macabre Monday challenge you may notice something about random facts. Read all about why they are important (prize alert!) and rush to gather them up from the Minions and you may WIN! My fact? What kind of shoes does the Creepy Cricut Cween LOVE? Well killer stilettos, of course! So be off, my pretties, and create! And don't forget to email Barb at barbi007@kc.rr.com with your facts for more chances to WIN!

Oh Alice! Chapter 25 and PCP Cuttlebug-ers #81

It's been a few week's since I've been able to play in Wonderland and I've missed it so! This week the Oh Alice! Challenge is White Rabbit, White Gloves, White Wonderland which means make a card or project that is all WHITE except for the main image panel. I was actually ruffling through my stuff to work on next week's Cuttlebug Spot card when I came across this adorable Cheshire Cat stamp from Nikoart I'd bought way before all of this Alice obsession began. Of course the purrrfect place to put him was a tree and it hit me. My Leafy Tree embossing folder from Crafts Too was just what I needed. I knew I wanted a cutout window but the tree itself seemed too flat so I cut a Petite Scallop and regular Circle with my Nesties and embossed the plain circle as well. The window for the kitty to peek out was cut through all 4 layers with the mat and top circle popped for dimension. We all know that it's nearly impossible for me to embrace the clean and simple style (not that I don't like it, it's just sooooo against my nature) but I resisted the urge to over embellish and merely added a ribbon and computer genterated sentiment cut with my Nesties Mega Scalloped Ovals and popped it as well. It still didn't look quite right because the cut out had totally removed the leaves from the upper right side of the tree so I fussy cut the tip of a branch and several individual leaves from the cut out and glued them in the bare spot above the cat. Better!

The cat is colored with Copics and cut with a Nesties Petite Scalloped Circle and popped. I did add a colored mat (doubt that disqualifies me) inside and a computer generated sentiment. What do you think, Heidi? I also found a new (to me) PCP group called The Cuttlebug-ers that I found through Betty's blog so I've entered their challenge #81 as well. Looks like a fun group for all you Cuttlebug lovers. Check it out!

I also want to remind everyone that is IS Friday the 13th, and there's all sorts of mayhem going on for Fiendishly Fun Friday over at Haunted Design House (both majorly creepy and not so much so if you're so inclined...) :D

Bah! Humbug! Through the Window Challenge

Well, I intended to do 2 challenge cards for Bah!Humbug! this week so as not to spoil my perfect record, but I'm afraid I just couldn't manage the paper tearing one. I actually started it, but didn't like how things were going and I was anxious to to the Windows Challenge and I'm quite pleased with it because it is finished inside AND out. WooHoo! I used another of the Cuttlebug Emboss Plus folders called Lace Door (and turned it into a window, of course). I then cut windows in both the card front and the foil mat and used acetate for the window so I could add panes and snowflakes. Instead of inking the trim, I turned it around and used silver peelies in the debossed lines. The corners are peelies as well.

Inside is the foil embossing of the Snowy Village Cuttlebug folder framed with one of the Oh My Crafts exclusive Holiday folders. I stickled the flakes, rooftops and hillsides. The cut out was done with Nesties Labels Four. Again I used peelies to frame it. The blank space below is where I'll sign it. More peel offs for the sentiment on another of the Emboss Plus Fanciful Labels inked with a silver gel pen. For those of you unfamiliar with "peelies", they are fine metallic stickers that are manufactured mostly in Holland. I get most of mine now from StoneBridge Creations. I hit them up big time at the Expo again (obviously). LOL I'm hoping the Bah! Humbug! gals will forgive me my one lapse and enjoy this window card. I so love playing along with their challenges!

My FIRST Tiddly Inks Card as a Guest Designer and Papertake Weekly Challenge.

WooHoo! I'm over the moon because a dream has come true! You all know I've been doing the Tiddly Inks Challenge since I discovered those ADORABLE digi images. Well here I am, along with my dear friend Nancy, as a Guest Designer. Pinch me (No don't, I'd hate to wake up and find it isn't true.) LOL Well this week the theme is Windows, create a card or project with a window that either opens or you can see the image through. I had a tough time choosing among all of the fabulous images available at the Tiddly Inks Shop. I finally decided on the Happy Couple from the Gothic Cute images (these are definitely some of my FAVES!) They were colored with Copics and cut out with my Nesties Labels Eleven on the inside of the card.

I created a shaped window card in Cricut Design Studio from the Happily Ever After cart. Instead of the "valence" I trimmed a doily but wanted a bit of extra shimmer underneath. Because it was part of the main image cut I used an embossing pen and heat and stick powder just on the area under the valence, heated it up, and sprinkled on some fine MS clear glitter. It was just Serendipity (my new favorite word) that the embossing pen that goes on blue STAYED blue to match my card stock. I wound ribbon through the layer of the open window and attached little doves at the top from an MS punch.

The window is popped as is yet another of the Fanciful Labels from the Cuttlebug Emboss Plus folders. The sentiment is a peelie and of course I used a number of silver adhesive beads from M's to dress it up. I'm also entering this card in the Papertake Weekly Challenge which is Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, and Something Blue. Thanks Nancy for turning me on to this one! (How Serendipidous! :D ) Now hurry on over to the Tiddly Inks Challenge Blog to feast your eyes on the fab creations by the Tiddly Inkers. Thank you so much Christy for this wonderful opportunity!

BBTB2 Life's a Beach Lizard Cut

This is my second post of the day, so if you're looking for Macabre Monday, please scroll down. I'm trying hard to get back in the swing of things, but I had to get up at 3:00 am to do it. Just couldn't make this one all come together yesterday. For this week's BBTB2 challenge our dear DT sister Lori has chosen the lizard from Life's a Beach. I knew I wanted a sun (also from Life's a Beach) but the sentiment took awhile. I finally decided that "Bask in it" would be a good sentiment for a variety of occasions like birthday or some sort of congratulatory thing (the inside will some day read "It's Your Day!") and also thought it would be good for a guy, so I resisted the urge to put blingy toenails on the lizard. :D He's embossed with the Mesh Texture Cuttlebug folder (reversed) and inked with Shabby Shutters and Peeled Paint. Okay so he does have long lashes on those lidded peepers (and yikes the eyeballs sort of rolled back in this pic, enjoying the sun, I guess) but I do know a few guys who were blessed with bedroom eyes. (Are you reading this? LOL)

With all of that texture goin' on on the lizard, the sun looked pretty plain so I took the wavy embossing folder from the Cuttlebug Just My Type border set and embossed each ray. To do that, I positioned the border as shown and used my A plate, Spellbinder's tan mat, B plate, folder with sun inside and 1/8th inch plumber's gasket cut to the size of the border folder and ran each ray through the Cuttlebug individually. There was a little smooshing of the texture where they met, but I was covering that up anyway. The center of the sun is embossed with Swiss Dots.

I really wanted to make one of my shaped front cards here but the design was really too open for that so I created the base by welding two rounded rectangles from George and cutting 2 smaller mats as well. No shadows on Life's a Beach, either so I welded the entire front mess together and cut additional sun and lizard layers to do my offsetting trick. The font is from Don Juan which actually DOES have a shadow but it's so close to the regular cut that I cut extra of those as well. (Oh yea! There are his little eyeballs.)

That cool "sand" paper is from an old DCWV Summer Glitter Stack. I will be heartbroken when I use that up! As you can see, there's quite a bit of dimension here. Glad I started making my own pop dots using fun foam and double stick tape. And no, that isn't lizard poop, I just need something to balance the design, Marlene. Obviously getting up that early didn't leave me at a loss for words,but one last thing. be sure to stop by BBTB2 to see the fabulous creations from the rest of the DT and we sure love it when you play along.

Macabre Monday Netherworld Nymphs and Smeared and Smudged Oh! the Horror Challenge

Much to the relief of some of you, my Macabre Monday card isn't creepy so it's safe to look. LOL Our challenge this week is Netherworld Nymphs and I was excited to use one of the (MANY) Sweet Pea Stamps I own. This one is ching-chow kuik's Fairy of the Night. All of these stamps are just gorgeous but I though she might be able to be "darkened up " enough for Haunted Design House. I stamped her 3 times in order to cut her out for the dimension and colored her with my Copics. One of the reasons I went to the Expo on Saturday is because I wanted to do her in purples and found I had hardly any! I hate buying them at a premioun price but what's a girl to do? The crystal ball in her had was stamped on holographic paper with Staz On and cut out. Then I used an acrylic bubble over it so it really glows IRL. The star necklace is also acrylic from a Recollections pack form M's amd I scattered them around the frame to add to the magical feel. The sentiment is a Sweet Pea stamp as well. I've also recently joined the Smeared and Smudged Forum and this month's Oh! the Horror challenge takes inspiration from the movie Pan's Labyrinth. I did see this (really bizarre) movie (in the theater, even) and enjoyed it immensely. My inspiration is the oval stone gate and twisted vines from the movie poster. This is a fun group with a wide variety of stampers participating so I encourage you to check it out.

The double mats are cut with my Nesties Deckle Ovals and popped along with the sentiment and fairy layers. Papers are Stampin'Up (thanks Lillie) and K & Co. Obviously I'm still playing with my MS Iron Gate punch, this time the corners of the sentiment mount. The silvery fiber is from my stash. Be sure to stop by Haunted Design House to see what the other Minions have created and we're thrilled to see so many more of you playing along. We've got stuff going on throughout the week (and not all of it is totally creepy) and this Friday is the 13TH!!!! Oh oh, prepare to be scared! Bwahahaha!!!!

Tiddly Inks Fit For a Princess and Friday Sketcher's Challenge

Slowly but surely things are getting back to normal and I managed to crank out a card yesterday for the current Tiddly Inks Fit For a Princess Challenge. I had not colored Everyday Princess yet and was anxious to do so. For once I chose my paper first from the DCWV Madly in Love Stack. (It works out SOOOO much better that way!) She's colored with Copics and cut out with Nesties Petite Ovals Small and I used my newest Iron Gate MS punch and snipped it to go around the oval. Now what? A sketch might be nice so I bopped over to Friday Sketchers to see what was up. This is the first time I've played along there (you know me and sketches) but I LOVED the sketch because it included a tag so I was able to use another of the new Fanciful Labels from my new Cuttlebug Embossing Plus Folder. (Surely a new FAVE!)

Here's the dimension shot. (Crappy pix I know, but again I had to use my Bloggie. The new battery for my usual camera I finally came in the mail did nothing so DH has it in pieces as we speak.) I printed her several times and colored her head twice and skirt 3 times to cut them out. I snipped fat glue dots to adhere the layers and make her skirt all frilly. Her head is popped as well and I used a silver brad for her crown. Of course there are adhesive beads but I actually had to GLUE them with Glossy Accents to get them to stay put on the metal. More were added to her scepter and the ends of the horizontal bar. Instead of the side sentiment on the sketch I substituted a bow and charm. It still looked a bit unfinished to me so I added the off cuts of the coordinating MS corner punch. Lotsa stuff goin' on, but you know me, more is never enough. LOL

Although I've got loads to do, I'm toying with the idea of going to the Scrap Expo in Santa Clara today. Like I need more stuff, huh? Well it's just looking at the CHA Trade Show and I really didn't get to shop at the Super Show because I was soooo busy so we'll see... (Shhh, don't tell DH!) :D xxD