This card is for the Copic Colour Challenge using YG03, Y17, and C7. I used a cute Penny Black stamp image. I used the green and yellow on the present and the gray for the kitty. I used my nesties to cut the scalloped squares. My base card is white cardstock and this is a 4 1/4" square. My DP is just a scrap from my stash. I used yellow cardstock behind my stamped image. I embellished with white rick rack, yellow button and yellow ribbon.
I made this card for several challenges:To feature ribbon I used brown ribbon for tree trunks for my button trees. This card is very textural. The light blue paper is embossed, the silky texture of the ribbon and the feel of the zig zag stitching all add to the texture. There is also hemp cording on the buttons. I used my Cricut Stretch Your Imagination cartridge to cut the word Spring from my patterned paper and shadowed it with dark brown cardstock.
I went onto the internet to search for quotes about trees. That is where I found the quote by Kenneth Patton about seeing the leaf. If you look forward to Spring like we do in Michigan you can relate to that day when the first leaves start to pop out on the trees and you see green after looking at bare trees all winter. I printed the quote in brown ink on the light blue embossed cardstock and shadowed it onto dark brown cardstock.
So I made this little Easter basket from the new Cricut Easter cartridge. I just love this cartridge, especially this little 3-D basket cut. I used my new K&Company 12 x 24" paper pad which is just incredible. I used the fit to page feature so it cut the basket at 11 1/2". The paper is a pink check though it doesn't show up well in this photo. 
The darling little chicks were also cut from the Easter cartridge at 2 3/4". The bows are included on this cartridge. I wanted my chicks to have some Easter bonnets so I went to my Forever Young cartridge. My patterned paper is Me & My Big Ideas. The hats both have layered flowers on them and a rhinestone for embellishment. Each chick has a black rhinestone eye. I think the hats make them look pretty spiffy, don't you? The grass the chicks are standing on is another cut from the Easter cartridge.
My stamped image is Inkadinkado's Round Frames and I used distress inks in tea dye and green to stamp the image. I added beautiful crocheted lace, green ribbon and pearls to embellish the card. The flower is Prima that I added MS Crystal Fine glitter to for some shimmer.
Happy Monday everyone! A new week, a new challenge. It's the elephant cut from Everyday Paper Dolls. What a little sweetie, right? Who would look for an elephant on the paper doll cartridge? Not me! Of course, my elephant is a girl done in pink. This card is for my granddaughter Paige's 1st birthday. The print papers on this card came from The Cutting Cafe.
I outlined with a little faux stitching using my grey Sakura 3-D Glaze pen. This cut doesn't come with a shadow feature so I used my Magic Mat on pink cardstock to mat my elephant. A pink button and pink ribbon at her neck for embellishment.
Floating from her trunk are three pink balloons I cut from the Celebrations cartridge. I used Don Juan to cut "i am" and Designer's Calendar to cut the number one. I used pink Stickles for a little sparkle on each balloon.
The Challenges--I made this card following this week's Mojo Monday sketch. I needed to make some Get Well cards for my stash so when I saw the challenges for Creative Card Crew and Paper Cutz I took it as a hint. I decided to work in blues because I wanted to use my newest Copic requistitions--B93,B95,B97. I'm slowly but surely adding to my marker collection. I'm really excited because in March I will be going for Copic certification from Imagination International, Inc. I can't wait. This cute butterfly with heart wings was just perfect for the Flutter By Wednesday challenge this week. I also got to use my new Cuttlebug folder from the Asian collection. I think it's called Cherry Blossoms. I got the set of six folders on a recent special at the Cricut website. I don't think I'll use the folder with the Asian lady very often but I love all the others that came with the set.
The Supplies--
Just Buggin' has a black and white challenge this week that really called to me. For some reason lately I've taken a strong liking to using the color black on my cards. We all go through phases, don't we? My butterfly cuts are from Gypsy Wanderings. I cut them at 1 1/2" and 2". I used black Stickles to outline them and place black rhinestones into the flower cut outs. I will also enter this card in the Creative Belli Blog challenge that called for butterflies.
My black and white patterned paper is just a scrap I found in my scrap file. No clue who makes it. The black and white ribbon is from Hobby Lobby Paper Studio.
I love this little saying. It came from the Social Butterflies set at The Cutting Cafe. I just printed it out and shadowed it with a piece of black cardstock.
This week at Cricut Cardz Challenge we are making a tall card using any cartridge, color and theme. I've made a birthday card for my DH. Poor guy--having to celebrate his birthday while recuperating from his surgery. Gee, now that I think about it, that's exactly how I spent my birthday last year, recovering from breast cancer surgery. It's been a rough year, but somehow we'll make it through together. We haven't survived 37 years of marriage without other hardships. My card idea started with my paper from Creative Imaginations. Those party hats on the paper made me think of the party hats on the Celebration cartridge.
I cut two party hats at 1 3/4" using this very colorful paper. Just cutting from different areas of the paper gave me two totally different color hats. I bordered the left side of the card front with a red patterned piece, a Fiskars border punch and then a strip with the party hats in a row. I used pompoms to embellish the tops of my hats. I used my favorite Sakura 3-D Glaze pens for doodling.
My sentiment is a digi stamp from The Cutting Cafe. I placed it atop a blue section of the party paper and tied a bit of black ribbon around it at the bottom.
My inside sentiment is from a set of clear stamps I recently bought with sayings all made by children. This set is made by Inkadinkado and has six sayings in it. I'll also enter this card in the Paperplay Challenge for a birthday card for someone special.
Another fantastic challenge at Project Tuesday. I just love how their challenges always come with a tutorial. I've learned so many different techniques thanks to them. This challenge is a joy fold card. I decided to get a head start on the Easter cards with this project. This cute bunny image came from Whimsie Doodles. I just so happened to have a piece of Easter paper with jelly beans on it, perfect for this card. It is from Best Creation, Inc. and it's double-sided. I used a MS punch for the lacey edge on the front. I will also enter this card in A Spoonful of Sugar challenge for a spring card and Saturday Challenge looking for a multi-fold card.
I used my Cricut to cut the scalloped circle I placed the image and sentiment on. The sentiment came from The Cutting Cafe. I used a wide sheer yellow ribbon. I stumbled upon this ribbon just a couple days before my husband went for his surgery. For some reason that day one of his hearing aids stopped working. The place he goes for them is just a couple doors down from the last remaining scrapbook store in my area. So I rode along with him and went to look at the scrapbook store. It's a really tiny place and they don't carry much, but just the day before they had a shipment of pastel ribbons come in. So I bought a yard of blue, pink, yellow and green for some spring projects. +003.jpg)
I was so excited when I saw the challenge at Just Buggin' for a 3-D project. I've been dying to use one of the purse cuts on the new Forever Young cartridge and got my chance. I cut mine using 12"x24" Cricut paper with the Fit to Page feature on. This cut the purse at 7". I used a Sakura 3-D Glaze pen in gray to add stitching lines to make it look more like the real thing. I used my Accent Essentials cartridge to cut the circular piece for the front of the closure. I cut it from silver paper then added a little distressing with charcoal colored ink and silver ink. I added a pink pearl to the center from American Crafts. Since my purse is pink I'm also going to post this for the Alphabet Challenge-P is for Pink.+005.jpg)
I wanted to add a little monogram tag to the purse for personalization. I used a Lisa Bearnson chipboard piece that I colored black with a Copic marker. Then I placed it atop a scalloped stamped circle. This stamp is from a set called Round Frames from Inkadinkado. I attached it to the purse with a little chain. To add a little more detail to the purse I used a flower ribbon along the top and bottom edges. This purse will be filled with goodies as part of a gift basket I'm making for a raffle prize for a 3-day Breast Cancer Walk fundraiser. 
I managed to carve out a few minutes of time this morning to make a quick card. It has been difficult to get into design mode since my husband's surgery last week. I have been spending a lot of time in his care. I'm not getting much sleep (because he's not getting much sleep) so I'm exhausted and so my mojo seems to be exhausted too. Don't know how I managed to come up with this idea so quickly, but I'm happy with the results. Using the fantastic sketch from
I simply backed the sentiment with black cardstock and added a couple pop dots to pop it off the card. I added a little cream floss to a black button for embellishment. I wish all my cards could come together this quickly. Sometimes I agonize for days over a design. Why do you suppose that is?
This is a bucket I filled with Valentine treats for my granddaughters. The story behind this bucket comes from the book that is tucked into it called Fill A Bucket: A Guide to Daily Happiness for Children. Having retired from elementary education I can attest to the importance of teaching a child to read. I am totally convinced that it is the single most important thing for a child to learn. You can not survive in this world today without knowing how to read. I am always excited to come across great children's literature and I love to pass it on to my grandkids. If you have a preschooler or know a preschooler and have never come across the book Fill A Bucket, I highly recommend it. The story inside talks of the happiness in a family when a child is born, how they receive a special name and something else they have. It is a magic, invisible bucket of happiness. The story talks about how to fill the magic bucket by being good and doing good. How a child fills other people's buckets of happiness when they use manners and treat them kindly. I think it teaches some valuable lessons. I hope this book imparts some love and kindness to my granddaughters, Paige and Payton.
In the book it shows the buckets filling up with hearts and stars so I used them to decorate my bucket. The bucket came from the Target $1 bins over the summer. I used my Cricut Plantin' Schoolbook cartridge to cut the stars and hearts at 1", 1 1/2" and 2" from pink and purple paper (Payton's two favorite colors). I used glitter and Stickles to give them a little sparkle and bling.
I used white grosgrain ribbon, and pink pompom fringe to decorate the top of the bucket. Using Cricut's A Child's Year cartridge I cut the letters for the words "Fill Your Bucket" at 1 inch then glued them to the white ribbon. Now I just have to hope that the most important thing the kids get from this bucket come from that book. That they don't just want the candy, chocolate and Wow Wow Wubbzy movie. Of course, I had to add some craft supplies. Lots of stickers--hearts and princess theme and a few other things they can use to put together a card or two. Payton loves to make things, just like her Nana.
I have to say this is one of my most favorite cards I've ever made. It came out way beyond my expectations and I think it looks like a real teacup. This is the teacup card cut from A Child's Year. Now I will tell you I did a little altering on the size with my Gypsy. I also added the solid piece at top to make it look like the cup was full. I designed this card on my Gypsy at the hospital while my husband was in surgery last week. We're both glad that part is done, he's home and now he's on to recuperating. This card was made with K&Company double-sided paper. I made the flower myself from beige tissue paper. I cut out each piece by hand and inked the edges with Chalk Box ink in Chestnut Roan. Then I put the layers together with pop dots between each layer to give it plenty of dimension. There are nine layers on this flower. I added a large pearl for the center. I placed the flower on top of a cream organza bow and accented with pearls. My sentiment was computer generated and placed atop a scalloped circle cut from Mini Monograms using the back side of the K&Company paper.
I love Tuesdays when I can go to the Project Tuesday blog and see their newest challenge. I was really extra excited to see that this project is for a DT call. I would love, love, love to be on the design team at Project Tuesday. This week's project is a party favor and they're so quick and simple. Mine will be part of a bucket of Valentine goodies that I've put together for my granddaughters Paige and Payton. Check back later in the week when I feature that bucket. My paper is from G C D Studios Designer collection Rose Colored Glasses. All that's needed to make this project is one piece of patterned paper 6" x 6" plus ribbon and whatever embellishments you want to add along with some tape. You can find the link for the directions here. I embellished my favor using two pink buttons and I tied my ribbon through them. The ribbon is pink and says Celebrate. It has been in my stash forever and I have no clue who makes it. I added a pink heart also from my stash. I only know that it came with a bunch of embellishments I ordered from QVC a long time ago. I filled my favor with my favorite treat, Hershey Kisses Cherry Cordial flavor. If you've never tried them I highly recommend them. I could eat an entire bag by myself in minutes. But I'm refraining at the moment.
The challenge this week at BBTB2 is to make the heart card from the Wild Card cartridge. The Wild Card cartridge is so great for making a quick card with an envelope. It takes all the guess work out of what you're going to put the card in after you make it, cutting the envelope to be exactly the size you need for your card. My card is going to be for my youngest granddaughter, Paige, who is almost six months old. I can't believe she's that old already. She was born about a month premature and she's so tiny you wouldn't think she was that old, barely weighing in at 11 lbs. now. But, oh my, she is such a joy and such a good baby. We call her our "little lovebug" so that is where my design idea came from. I designed the little love bugs using the Walk In My Garden cartridge. I used the solid ladybug and shadow on page 118. I cut them from Bo Bunny polka dot paper. This is two sided paper with a mottled solid color on the back side which I used for the card. I altered the antenna by cutting the end off so I could add hearts. The hearts are the leftovers from the MS Heart Border punch. For the wings I used a heart cut from the Sweethearts cartridge and I cut them out of vellum. The hearts I added on the body of the bugs are a punch that I've had in my supply stash for years. 
My sentiment is computer generated then cut out with a Nestie. My doodling is done with a Sakura 3D Glaze pen. If you've never used these pens, I highly recommend them. I just love them and use them on almost all my cards. I cut my envelope from vellum and lined it with pink. On the back of the envelope I added this white lacy paper that already had the scallops on it just to dress the envelope up a bit.
Oh my goodness!!! It's 11:00 am and I just realized I forgot to put my blog post up. I am so loosing it. My husband is having surgery on Friday morning and we have been trying to get so much done to prepare for it. It is a huge deal because I am visually impaired and can't drive. So while he is unable to drive for four weeks that means I will be confined to my house. I don't live in an area that has any shopping or public transportation. That means I have to make sure I have enough groceries and any other items I may need including the wide variety of prescription medications I have to take to keep the cancer, lupus and various assorted other ills at bay. On top of all this stuff we sprung a plumbing leak. My mind has soooooooo been elsewhere. Anyhoo---thank heavens I have my design team responsibilities and blog to take my mind off all the crummy stuff. Boy, that Mary comes up with the best challenges. She keeps me on my toes and always thinking. Sometimes I get a headache. LOL The challenge this week to make a Valentine's card with no hearts on it was really fun. Although, I have to admit this is not my first choice of background paper. I had this really cute paper with a design edge and when I went to assemble all my pieces I noticed it had tiny hearts on it that I hadn't seen. In my defense, remember I am visually impaired (legally blind), and they were really tiny hearts. So back to the drawing board. I found this red paper in my stash with just the slightest polka dot pattern to it, no hearts! I just used it and cream cardstock. This is a really cool cut I found on the Graphically Speaking cartridge on page 29. I cut this at 3 1/2" using the word feature on the keypad. There are three elements to the card. The word love, the red piece that is notched and the piece with the letter U which slips into the notches. My scalloped circle and letter -i- were cut from Mini Monograms at 1 1/2". Since this card will be going to my husband during Valentine week I added little embellishment other than cream colored string and little mini buttons.
