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!

Robins Egg Blue

Taylored Expressions provided a sketch for a wonderful challenge.  I decided that lately I hadn't used very many of my stamps. I have been so impressed with all the stamping I have seen on blogs in the past couple weeks.  There are a few stamp sets that I am saving up for, including some from Taylored Expressions.  Anyway, until I have some new stamps I decided to use some old favorites.  In fact, I purchased this stamp a year ago and hadn't quite decided how to use it.  I think it would be very fitting for Easter or spring.  I purposely bought it to use with my Watercolor Wonder crayons from Stampin Up.  I felt like this would be a great layout to break it in with! Below is the Taylored Expression Layout:

I started by cutting my circles out and practicing my watercolor skills.  After I had my stamp just the way I wanted it, I distressed the edges of the circle with French Blue ink by Color Box.  I mounted my stamp to a scalloped circle, cut with my Sizzix Big Shot, which had also been distressed with blue ink.  At this point I knew I could figure out the remaining colors for the card.  I really debated at this step, I knew I could pull more colors out from the stamped image or go with the white and blue.  I am trying very hard to keep up my resolution of not buying any more paper.  I went through what I already had and there wasn't anything quite soft enough.  I decided that I could go with white and run it through the Big Shot with a Cuddlebug folder.  I moved forward and distressed the circle with the same blue ink.  Now I only spent a moment thinking about my paper when I remembered the paper I used just the other day.  In fact I just realized, it was the same paper I used for the last Taylored Expression Challenge! It is just such a versatile print. I cut it down to size and again softened the edges with my blue ink.  Before adding the printed paper to my card, I added a strip of doilie and sheer ribbon.  I added three white flowers that I just purchased at Archiver's from Prima Flowers. I added my printed paper to the card, mounted my white partial circle, and used pop up foam adhesive for my scallop circle.  I finished the whole card off with some blue beads from the Robin's Nest Spring Bloom collection.

There you have it another challenge done and another wonderful card created.

Going Green

This week Jitterbuggin' focuses on pastels for their challenge.  I don't use pastels very often, so it really was fun to go through my paper and think about what colors I wanted to use.  In addition the recipe for the challenge called for the use of their sketch, a button and a Cricut cut sentiment. 

I decided to go with a light green and create a thank you card.  I cut the flower out in six different sizes using my Design Studio software and Walk In My Garden cartridge.   After they were cut out I embossed them with various Cuddlebug folders.  I distressed the edges with light green ink and add a button to the center.  I have to say, I LOVE buttons.  I have mine all sorted out my color and I have so much fun "shopping" for just the right one!  I used a Fiskars border punch to cut out some coordinating green paper that was distressed with just a hint of pastel blue ink.  I added a shear ribbon and some gems to create my "lines" in the sketch. I stamped the white card with some great swirls and distressed the edges of the card with light green ink. Finally, I added my sentiment to the bottom, cut out from the George and Basic Shapes cartridge. There you have it, a pastel green card with a button in the middle and "thanks" written below.

It was a teeny weeny yellow polka dot bikini...

I was blog surfing this afternoon and came across a new to me blog.  Jitterbuggin' provided a sketch (see below) and required the colors red and yellow, a beach themed item, and something cut from a Cricut.  I thought, I bet I could whip that out and use my Life's a Beach cartridge! I haven't gotten to use this cartridge very much, so was excited to see what I could do.  I also knew it would not be a shape card and thought it would be a could card to create sans Design Studio.

 

My resolution this year has been to use more of my scrap paper. I have a whole drawer full that needs to be sorted and is just sitting waiting for use on a card or scrapbook page.  So, rather than cut into new paper, I made my entire card out of scraps I had on hand.  I started by choosing some papers that fit the look I was going for and met the challenge criteria.  When I came across the yellow and white polka dot paper, I could not quit thinking about the biking song! I took that as a hint I should put a bikini on my card.  I cut the yellow polka dot paper and distressed it with red ink.  I then sewed around the edge of the paper to create a nice border and create a bit of a focal point.  I cut out four rectangles and distressed with red ink.  I set those down to create my quadrants. I used my George and Basic Shapes cartridge to cut out the orange card stock circle and yellow and white polka dot border.  I ran the orange circle through my Sizzix and used a Cuddlebug folder to add the funky circles.  I used more red ink to highlight the entire circle and distress the edges of the yellow border circle.  I used foam squares to lift the circle up from the card.  I moved to the Life's a Beach cartridge and cut out my teeny bikini in yellow card stock with the accent pieces on some yellow polka dot paper. I distressed the edge of the bikini with yellow ink.  I added a blue gem to the center for some bling.  Using foam squares, I mounted the bikini to the card to make it pop! Finally I cut out the "teeny bikini" wording using the Life's a Beach cartridge.  There was a little bikini attached that I chopped off.  It seemed silly to have a tiny version of the big bikini right beside it.  I mounted the yellow words on red card stock and cut around to create a background.  I added three tiny green gems to dot the letter "i".

 
Voila, a teeny weeny yellow polka dot bikini card is ready to go!

Cheers to a Challenge!

The Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog threw down a "cool yummy treat with optional shape card" challenge this week!  I love all things cool and yummy, I think.  So I debated which treat would be made into a card.  I literally called on the skills I learned back in maybe 2nd grade, the skill of brainstorming.  I sat and wrote down every cool yummy treat I could think of.  On a couple of them I had mini brainstorms underneath. Ultimately, the margarita seemed like the perfect adult cool and yummy treat to drink, er I mean create!  Now came the challenge of finding a margarita glass on my Cricut cartridges.  On the Cuttin' Up cartridge there is a martini glass and font set.  I cleverly used my Design Studio software to mold the martini glass into a funky deco style margarita glass shaped card! The olive that gets cut out along with the "martini" glass had the toothpick cut off and became a lime.  I obviously cut the card on white card stock.  I used a scrapbooking plastic to trace out the "glass".  In between the glass and card is some DCWV green glitter card stock or margarita mix.  The ice cubes I picked up at Archiver's.  They are actually Crystal Stickers Mosaic 10mm in white.  Although, I think they have such a pretty shimmer to them, just like rock candy!  I salted the rim of the glass with Stickles in Star Dust. Since the lime was originally white, I tinted it green with some color box pigment.  I added my lines and used Stickles in Green to make the peel. Since the lime needed a seed, I used a tiny green gem in the center. Just a cut and it slipped right on to the rim of the glass. Now every good host has some way to mark who gets what glass.  I experimented with metal rings and such, but those were too bulky and just sort of threw the delicate card off.  The shimmery sheer ribbon seemed like a perfect fit.  When I entertain I really do wrap stuff up with ribbon.  For example, I think napkins with the necessary utensils rolled up inside look so cute in a basket with matching ribbon on the handle and ribbon around the utensil roll!  So, at my house it is not one bit odd that I might have bits of ribbon tied around the bottom of a margarita or wine glass to mark who gets which glass! Finally, what cool yummy treat with alcohol doesn't have an umbrella?! I just had to slip it in between the layer of card stock and my margarita mix.  There you have it, a calorie free, alcohol free, cool, yummy, summer treat. Cheers!

Simple Stationary Set

A few weeks ago I was working in a single set of colors, see back a few posts, anyway one of those creations was this simple stationary set.  There are four of each card.  I used my Design Studio Software and Cindy Loo Cricut Cartridge to design the entire project.  The paper is from the DCWV Spring Pack from 2009.    I added a little bling where there was a circle on the letter "n".  I also distressed the edges of the "n" to make it stand out.  The blue "n" has a light blue distressing around the edges and is very soft.  The red "n" in contrast has charcoal black and really stands out.  I will wrap these with a sheer ribbon and give to my sister for her birthday I think. 
 
In other exciting card making news, I got some new markers this evening and made a trip to Archiver's! I am excited to play with my new toys!  I am thrilled to have new markers for inspiration!  I just realized I bought red and blue as two of my colors, I must be on a red and blue kick! Watch for new goodies inspired projects soon!