BBTB2 ACY Garden2 Girl (or Boy) Challenge

Happy Monday! This week at BBTB2 our fabulously talented DT sister Shelly is hosting the challenge and chose either the girl or boy Garden2 cut from A Child's Year. I fully intended to do a card and even designed one, but I kept wanting to add and add and add until I figured I need to go BIGGER so out came this door hanger instead. I used the watering can from WIMG mainly because it had a shadow and layers and cut it at 7 1/2" with cut outs in the top 2 layers (done in DS) to frame the little girl. I used a combination of Springy prints from K&Co. Portobello Road, DCWV Nana's Nursery Mat Stack and Making Memories Chloe's Closet.

Here's a close up which shows the script embossing on the top layer of the watering can as well as the MS Spring border punch I used along the edge. the rim and portion of the spout are embossed with Swiss Dots but it still doesn't show up. I cut the girl twice so I could add color to the tulips and also added a tiny butterfly from an MS punch. Yes Leah, of course there are adhesive pearls. LOL

I sort of thought I was done, but it looked like it was missing something so I cut the gardening tools from Walk in my Garden to hang from the side. "Spring Wishes" are peel offs from Stampendous and I think look kind of cool being shiny against the mat silver metallic of the tools. Forgot to mention that at the top of the hanger is a Prima flower with a K&Co covered button brad.

Here you can see the dimension. I used large enough pieces of foam to pop the pieces and enough layers that I didn't even have to use a chipboard backing. It was sturdy enough as is. Now if you're in the mood for Spring be sure to visit BBTB2 so see the gorgeous projects from the rest of the Design Team. They're sure to put a smile on your face even if you're still covered in snow. Gosh is anybody STILL covered in snow? Hope not!

Spring has Sprung!

Happy Sunday everyone! I looked out the window this morning and the trees were all an explosion of blooms. It inspired me to make this fresh clean Springtime card using digi stamps from The Cutting Cafe. Trees seem to be all the rage on the cardmaking front so I chose this especially stylish one from the Trees in a Row Printable Stamp set. This set comes with 6 different rows of trees and 12 different sentiments so it's extremely versatile and oh so afforable. I used my Printmaster program to clip out the trees and the sentiment (also included in the set) and resized and colored them individually to fit an A2 size card. Regina has instructions on how to do this on the Cafe site. Then I printed the dotty background using the Colored Mini Polka Dot Background set which comes with 12 different colors already done for you. WooHoo! Aren't you ALWAYS looking for something dotty? Anyway, this card came together so quickly and easily. That's what I LOVE about Regina's stamps. To finish I embossed the front of an A2 card with my Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folder, added a green mat, gingham ribbon, and mini buttons and Voila! So if you'd love to do a quick and easy but oh so beautiful card in MINUTES, check out all of the goodies available for download at The Cutting Cafe.

Dare to be Sassy Color Challenge and Blog Hop Winner

Had a great time at Alice in Wonderland yesterday. I have to say though, that I would have liked more of the Wonderland characters and less of the Red Queen's Army. Definitely not enough Depp and I think my faves (besides the Red Queen) were the Cheshire Cat and Absolom the Caterpillar. Anybody else see it? Would love to hear your thoughts. I definitely will be seeking out Alice challenges wherever I can find them, so let me know if you come across any. I did this one for Sassy Studios Designs Dare to be Sassy Thursday using their Sassy Studios Little Mad Hatter and Sassyland Sentiment digi stamps. You can buy them HERE. It's a color challenge using green, black, hot pink and orange so of course, with that pic for inspiration, I just HAD to! He's colored with Copics and cut out with Nesties. The paper is K&Co. Portobello Road. I purposely made the mats all wonky, popped them up and added some adhesive beads.

And now the moment you've been waiting for. The winner of the $30.00 gift certificate from Custom Crops is #31. CONGRATULATIONS HELEN!

Helen said...
Great card-Thanks for sharing!

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

Thank you all so much for participating in the hop and thank you Custom Crops for your generous donation. P.S. GREAT sale going on there 'til tonight with UNBELIEVABLE prices on Cricut carts (and not just old ones, would you believe Forever Young at $27.00!?!)

Oh Alice- Running in a Sketchy Circle

Today is THE DAY! We already have our tickies to the IMAX for the opening of Alice in Wonderland! WooHoo! I'm excited to have finished my Oh Alice! Chapter 2 which is Running In a Sketchy Circle. Now you know me and sketches, but I think I managed this one okay. It all came together when I decided to make my circle a teapot, cut on my Cricut from the When Dreams Come True cartridge. That's about as much poetic license as I took, but I'm quite pleased. Papers are Graphic 45, sentiment is digi from Sassy Studio Designs, digi image from the net colored with Copics, MS embossing border punch, buttons from Stampin'Up. don't forget that I'll be drawing the name for the $30.00 gift certificate to Custom Crops TOMORROW! so if you haven't commented on my BBTB2 blog hop card be sure to do so HERE.

"Wooden" it be nice?

I'm sorry for the pun, but I just couldn't help myself. I got some of the coolest wood veneer from Creative Imaginations at my LSS and I couldn't wait to use my adorable Cottage Cutz beaver die from the Camping release at the Scrapping Cottage. Tell me he's not the cutest. He's cut in my Cuttlebug using the A, C and B plates and I shaded him a bit with my Copics. I used 3 different woods on my card; one for the mat, the light punched border (how cool is that?!) and I little thicker one for the stick in his hand. The circles are done with my Nesties. The trees are from the DCWV Green Stack. "Hello Friend" is from the Cuttlebug Everyday Greetings card making combo.

Inside, the computer generated sentiment is truly hokey but I couldn't resist. The little punched corners (EK Success) are also wood. Gotta get more of that stuff! Be sure to stop by The Cuttlebug Spot to see more adorable cards made with Cottage Cutz dies. We have fun examples every other Thursday. Also visit The Cottage Blog where ideas and inspiration abounds.

Bah Humbug - Tree Challenge

After a week's vacation (to meet in person, how fun!) the gals at Bah! Humbug! came up with a tree theme for challenge #7. I must say I missed the challenge terribly the week they were gone. Can't wait to hear about their trip. Anyway, I'd been toying with this design using my Cricut Design Studio for some time and finally decided to use it in a very simple and straightforward way. I used Winter Woodland and Storybook to build my tree and cut it in mirror card stock. The white mat is embossed with the Holly Ribbons 5 x 7 Cuttlebug folder with the corners embellished with a MS Deco Fan corner punch. One more gold mat on a premade card and all I had to do was add some gold adhesive beads. This I just might make multiples of. Don't forget, if you love Christmas, Bah! Humbug! is the place to be. There's a new challenge every Friday (UK time so if you're up, we US gals can sometimes sneak a peek Thursday night. WooHoo!

Think GREEN at The Cuttlebug Spot

This week at The Cuttlebug Spot we're going green. We're honoring the Irish, and although our cards didn't need to be for St. Patty's Day, I thought it would be great to finally break out my Celtic Knot folder. I cut a square out of the center with my Nesties and made a scalloped frame for the adorable little image I found at Living Locurto.com. I'm still practicing with my MS punch around the page punches (this one only took me 2 tries, WOOHOO!) and I embossed this pretty mat with none other than Swiss Dots. Pretty simple, I just added a fluffy bow and a glitter foam shamrock from M's that I got when shopping with my dear friend Lillie. BTW, Lillie now has her Cricut and Cuttlebug covers available for sale on her fabulous STORE (along with her gorgeous cards) so go check it out! Also be sure to stop by The Cuttlebug Spot to see the FABULOUS cards by my DT sisters. They pulled out all the stops this week! AND, if you leave a comment you may win a gift certificate from Custom Crops.

BBTB2 Cupcake Challenge and Blog Hop!

WooHoo! Time for another BBTB2 challenge and this week's the Blog Hop! If you've come from the fabulous Jeri's Blog you're on the right track, but if not, you may wish to start at BBTB2 so you don't miss a thing. The sweet and wonderfully talented Carole chose the cupcake from Celebrations, although if you wish to play along this week, any cupcake will do. I've been in sort of a mood lately and wanted to do something a little different so I dragged out my (creepy as my DH calls it, but I think it's cute) baby face stamp. The inspiration for the card came from my new Once Upon a Princess cartridge with the words "Baby Cakes" on it. I made a shaped card in DS using the border feature from the Celebrations cupcake. The pretty paper is Baby Boy from Heidi Grace. I crimped the cupcake bottoms and cuttled the frosting with D'Vine Swirls then inked just a bit.


Of course I popped the layers, then had a ball finding the fun embellies. I'm especially fond of the Alpha Beads spelling "YUM", 'cause aren't babies (and cupcakes) just too yummy for words? Anyway, be sure to stop by BBTB2 to see all of the delicious cards by my DT sisters and if you haven't been following the hop, be sure to start at the beginning, because there are prizes to be had. There's even a special one from Everyday Cricut (formerly Holidays with the Cricut, thanks, girls) if you sign up to follow BBTB2 and leave a comment there as well. My Blog Hop candy is a $30.00 gift certificate to Custom Crops and all you have to do is leave me a (preferably sweet LOL) comment. I'll be drawing the winner on Saturday, March 6. Now you're off to visit the uber talented Krista's blog. You can always count on her to bring a smile to your face. Enjoy!

Dreaming of Paris

I'm really enjoying my altered projects these days because it stretches my creativity. I so loved GCD Studios at CHA and was so thrilled to find a pack of their Paris Nights paper at my local M's. My BFF is a mom and rarely finds moments to herself. She is well traveled but by far her favorite destination is Paris so I thought a door hanger she could could use to "get away" would be appreciated. I used a papier mache heart I'd found at my LSS and covered it with the collage paper from the Paris Nights pack. This pack also comes with fabulous frames and a set of alphabet glitter stickers that I used, along with a tag cut with my Cricut with computer generation to complete the sentiment. The Eiffel Tower is from the Cricut Destinations cartridge with more yummy paper from GCD and I embossed with my Cuttlebug Swiss Dots on the shadow and Textile Texture on the regular cut for interest.

Embelllishing was really fun! I inked a bit and I used tulle, Primas, adhesive gems and pretty pleated organdy ribbon for trim. What do you think? Tres chic?

Prima's Big Secret!

Prima's got a big secret to be revealed March 5th so MARK YOUR CALENDARS! It's all hush hush 'til then, but you can win these goodies by posting on your blog and leaving a comment HERE. There will be 2 winners, one from the U.S. and one international! WooHoo! Hurry! It ends TONIGHT! Thanks, Kaye!

Oh, Alice! New Challenge Blog

Are you counting the days until "Alice in Wonderland" hits the theaters? (On Imax, in 3D, next FRIDAY, YEA!!) Well, you don't have to wait for all things Alice because there's a new challenge blog out there, called appropriately Oh, Alice! I just happened to come across it yesterday and it really gave my mojo a shot in the arm. I dropped everything because the challenges come out every Saturday and combed the net for Alice images. Unfortunately, in my haste, I neglected to note where it came from. The inspiration for this challenge was this cool Urban Decay makeup collection so I sort of went the the colors and added my glam with the Prima Say it With Crystals swirl.

Then I used the reverse of the layered Spellbinder's technique I did HERE so that it looked like you were peeking down the rabbit hole. I found it quite a bit more difficult to do it this way but I LOVE the way it turned out.

However, this made it quite thick so I decided I'd go with a shadow box effect. I intended to make it a card but the reverse side of this K&Co DP was so cool and framed everything so well that I added a large piece to the back so it now measures a whopping 6 1/2 x 8. I may just frame it.

A Better Day and More Cuttlebug Double Embossing

Well today was a better day and I did actually finish a project (none of the ones I NEED to get done, but hey!) Still need to take pix so that post will be another day. Instead here's another example of that fun double embossing technique we did for The Cuttlebug Spot this week. If you missed Nilda's fabulous video on this technique, click HERE. This time I actually used 2 different folders before I did the embossing with the Nestie. The first was the Happy Birthday folder from the Crafts-Too company, available HERE at Custom Crops. That folder embossed the bottom half of the mat and the center sentiment. Then I took Swiss Dots and placed it on the blank top half and used my cut out chipboard (see the VIDEO) to emboss that portion only so as not to flatten the previous embossing. I then used the negative cut out piece and my scalloped square Nestie to complete the double embossing. The popped cupcake is from the set that came with my Cuttlebug and I embossed in white, pink, and plaid and cut the pieces out by hand and glued them together. The border punch is MS and I cut a second border so I could cut out some pink cupcake tops for added color.

I'm trying to finish my cards inside and out these days, so I added a computer generated sentiment and cut it out with my Nesties Labels Four. Gotta love that one! (Might have been nice to take a straight pic, though. LOL) Don't forget we have a new sponsor at The Cuttlebug Spot so pop on over and leave a comment for a chance to win a $50 gift certificate from Simon Says Stamp! You gotta try this technique, too! I LOVE it!