Birthday Bliss

This week Jitterbuggin' came up with another fun sketch.  In addition to the sketch, we were suppose to use a punch and a specific color scheme.  The color scheme was black and white with one accent color. 

August is a crazy birthday month for our family, so I decided when I saw this number paper that I would make a birthday card for my sister-in-law.  The number paper came in a pack I won a couple years ago at a World Cardmaking Day event.  I used my black, white, and green card stock that I had on hand. It's difficult to see, but the number paper is actually mounted on black card stock.  I used three Cricut Cartridges on this card: Zooballoo, George and Basic Shapes, and Doodle Charms. I cut the hat out on Doodle Charms and used George and Basic Shapes to make the black and green rings on my 31 circle.  I used a punch to cut out the white inner circle. I ran the white inner circle and inner white rectangle through the Big Shot to emboss it with a Cuddlebug folder. I added my last circle and added some bling with some fun Me and My Big Ideas gems I had purchased on clearance a year ago.  I chose green because it is my sister-in-laws favorite color.  I think she will really like card and I had fun making it!

Christmas in July

I have to be honest, I have not started to think about Christmas quite yet.  However, the fabulous folks at Fantabulous Cricut have! This week was a Christmas in July Challenge.  I spent a few days thinking about what I wanted to do. Instead of doing my normal cards, I decided it was time for a creation.  I always get stuck at the holidays when someone I never would have expected gives me a random gift.  I try to keep a few extra items wrapped and ready to return the joy.  Since handmade gifts are always fun to give and very heartwarming, I made a little package for some gingersnap cookies.  Again, I used all scraps from my scrap drawer.  I embossed the green card stock with the swiss dots Cuddlebug folder, used a piece of DCWV glitter card stock, and found some coordinating ribbon.  I cut the reindeer our using the Doodle Charms cartridge.  I distressed the edges of the nose with red, the brown with dark brown, and the antlers with an almond color.  I added some red Stickles to the nose, googly eyes, and a coordinating bow.  I also used some snowflakes cut out from the same cartridge and brushed on white Stickles to match the glitter card stock. I finished the whole thing off with some bling!

Murder Mystery Invitations

We hosted a murder mystery dinner! I wanted a quick and really simple card to drop in the mail.  Since I was low on time, I needed to keep it pretty simple. I used Doodle Charms to cut out some polka dot witch hats, cut a ribbon for the brim and added a button.  I distressed the edges with black ink and used Swiss Dots from Cuddlebug to add some texture. The orange and black polka dot paper was in my scrap pile and I had just enough to do all of the invites.  Easy, quick, fun, and festive!

Fishin' for a Valentine's - February

This is just an example of how you can mix up the Valentine's I made previously.  There are the ones I mailed out to my family.  I like the retro look of the paper I found at Hobby Lobby.  I think the gingham print ribbon is the perfect accent!

Pan of Valentine's Day Cookie Cards - February

This year my husband and I are both continuing our journey of health. With that being said, we are not exchanging sugar, chocolate, and flour filled treats. Instead, I *baked* a pan of Valentine's inspired by conversation hearts and sugar cookies. They are tastefully simple, easy to whip up, and look good enough to eat. I grew up in a home where Valentine's day was not just about romantic love, but loving your friends, family, and the people around you. Rather than taking treats in to an office full of people watching the scale, I decided to give out old fashioned Valentine's with sweet sentiments.

Ingredients:

Ala Mode White Embossing Powder by Hampton Art
JoAnn Craft Essentials Pigment Ink pad (clear)
Paper Studio Clear Stamps in Sophie Caps
Craft Essentials Ribbon in C4 Spring
Colorbox Chalk Ink Pad in Dark Brown
Duck Permanent Adhesive
Paper Studio Natural Ivory Card stock
Paper Studio Pink 3 Card stock
JoAnn ScrapEssentials Red/Pink mini heart brads
Provo Craft Cricut Expression Machine with the Doodle Charms cartridge loaded

Yield: 1 dozen with spare parts left over
Prep Time: 30 minutes in your favorite craft store
Bake Time: 1 hour
Cost: Not including my wonderful tools, the supplies ran around $10.

Directions: I pre-set my Cricut to cut 3 1/4 inch sized hearts. I selected the scalloped heart with the shadow feature on and filled a 12 x 12 page with hearts. Each 12 x 12 sheet cut 6 hearts or enough to make three cards. For my next cut I took shadow off and did a heart without scallops. Each page made 9 hearts.
I distressed the edges of 12 of my 24 scalloped hearts with my dark brown ink. Next I used my arcrylic stamps to create sentiments. I embossed those onto my pink hearts and used the duck adhesive to mount the pink hearts on the cream scalloped hearts.
I cut my ribbon pieces to be about 2 inches. I used my piercer tool to make a hole in the ribbon after I folded it just right. I stuck my brad through the ribbon. I then used the piercer to make a hole through two lined up scalloped hearts (one with distressing facing outward). I stuck the brad with ribbon through the scalloped heart and flattened the bottom of the brad. Repeat 11 more times and you have one dozen valentines baked to perfection.
Valentine cookes slide open to reveal your sentiment.