Card for Three Challenges

Happy Wednesday, bloggers! It was spitting snow this morning so what better way to pretend it wasn't happening than hiding in my craft room :) I have a card to enter into three challenges today. The birdhouse, flowers and congrats were cut from the Cindy Loo cart. The tree was cut from Serenade. The robin and nest were cut from Picturesque. The background paper is from K & Company and the glitter paper is from DCWV All About Girls. I embossed the tree trunk with the Tim Holtz wood grain folder, and the leaves and card base with the Cuttlebug swiss dots folder. I added Angelina fibers in mint sparkle for the bird nest. (Sidenote - Angelina fibers are sooo hard to work with! I get the stuff everywhere and it sticks to all my fingers! If anyone has used it and knows how, please let me know ;) I use ribbon from Michaels in white sparkle and silver mesh. I added pearl accents for the center of the flowers and a crystal for the bird's eye. Foam dots were added to the bird, birdhouse and nest to make them pop off the page.

I am entering the card in the following challenges:
Celebrate the Occasion #7 - New House (my birdie is leaving the nest for his first house!)
Amber's Crafts and Stuff #3 - Anything you want using flowers.
The Paper Variety -  Recipe Challenge 1, 2, 3 of your choice. My one is Angelina fiber. My two is two ribbons and two different gem embellishments, pearl and crystal. My three is three flowers and three different Cricut carts used.

Chloe and Her Clip on Koalas Challenge

Happy Tuesday, bloggers! I came across a great challenge over at Chloe and Her Clip on Koalas. For a chance to win Peachy Keen ABC Animal Faces stamps and a Zooballoo cart, all you have to do is enter any project with a smile on it or one that has made someone else smile. I love this challenge! I have boxes of pictures of my niece, Lexi, that I need to add to her scrapbook.  It's a little hard to read the text: New Purple Dress...$10.00; Horse Ride...$.25; That face...Priceless! Some Things Money Can't Buy.

Fantabulous Cricut Challenge #53 & CCCC#11

Happy Monday Bloggers! The challenge this week at Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog is to create a project using any spring time theme. The Cricut Cartridge Chaos Challenge is to use the Forever Young cart. For my card, I used paper from DCWV Mariposa stack (the solid papers), DCWV Hippie Chic (umbrella top) and Colorbok English Moss (stripped glittery background). I embossed the base of the card with the Cuttlebug distressed lines folder.  The umbrella, emblem and flowers were cut from the Forever Young cart. I used foam dots behind the umbrella to lift it off the card. The April Showers quote is from a stamp I found in the Michaels $1 bin. I embossed it twice with Zing vanilla embossing powder. The flowers got a spritz of frost shimmer spray. I added pearls from Crystal Sticks to the center of the flowers. The shimmer ribbon is from Michaels from years ago, and I don't even remember where I got the turquoise brads.

Getting Cricky Challenge

K Andrew's Simply Sunday Challenge at Getting Cricky is to make any project using travel/pack your bags theme. My project is a hanging card for my parents. They bought their "vacation home" last fall...a Dynamax 24 foot RV they nicknamed Gypsy because they like to wander the country :) I used ATD travel-themed paper. The background is metallic maps, though you can't really tell in the picture. I cut the RV, Road Trip and the couple from the Going Places cart. The camera, sun and suitcase are from my new Pack Your Bags cart (love it!). The corner arrows were cut from the Picturesque cart. I used two Tim Holtz stamps: Enjoy the Journey and Not All Who Wander Are Lost. Both were stamped with Black Soot Distress Ink and then embossed with Holographic Embossing Powder from Ranger. I added some gold mesh behind Enjoy the Journey and brushed a layer of Mod Podge over the entire card. Corner eyelets and some decorative frayed ribbon finish it off.

Cedar Waxwings

I'm a little late in posting this...a flock of Cedar Waxwings came through about a month ago and stayed a week before moving on. They are such beautiful birds I just had to share the picture!

Jo-Ann Fabrics!

I just wanted to pass this along because it is such an amazing deal! If you live near a Jo-Ann Fabrics and haven't signed up for their mailing list, you should do so immediately. They regularly send coupons of 40% and sometimes 50% off. This week, I received a coupon for 25% off my entire purchase - sale items included! (Sadly, you can't use the coupons for Cricut carts). I went this morning and almost all of their scrapbook items were on sale for 40% off and some paper stacks were 50% off! I got 12 x 12 DCWV stacks for $7.50! It is not very often that you can get craft items for 65% to 75% off! I stocked up and let me just tell you, my bank account is much lighter now :)

Jitterbuggin' Challenge

TGIF bloggers! Another wonderful weekend is upon us...though it is a chilly 37 right now and a chance of snow tomorrow. Grr. It's not supposed to snow in the spring! The Jitterbuggin Challenge this week is to follow the sketch, add a cricut flower and include the colors pink and purple. For my card I used paper from K & Company and embossed it with the Cuttlebug hearts folder. The silver background circle paper is from the DCWV Metallic Stack.  The center flower was cut from the Accent Essentials cart. The couple and the tiny cupid on the bottom right are cut from the Sweethearts cart. The flower bouquet and two top flowers are from the Walk in My Garden cart. I used white enamel accents for the center of the bouquet and purple gemstones for the top flowers. And though you can't really tell in the picture, I topped it off with a spritz of Sheer Shimmer from Tsukineko (love the stuff!) so it's nice and sparkly!

The Versatile Blogger Award!!

I am so excited and honored to announce that I received a blogger award today from Sherrie at Sherrie Scraps With Passion! Please go check out her blog and follow her. You will not be disappointed. Her work is truly amazing and so inspiring! Thank you again, Sherrie...I appreciate it! My first award :)



The rules to this award are:
1.) Thank the person who gave it to you
2.) 7 things about yourself
3.) Send it to 15 other bloggers

Okay, seven things about myself. Here goes...
1.) I am an avid reader...I average four to five books a week
2.) My guilty pleasures are Dancing With The Stars and So You Think You Can Dance
3.) I'm borderline obsessive compulsive...I wash my hands like 30 x a day
4.) I can't stand coffee...I'd rather have an ice cold Diet Coke first thing in the morning
5.) I take 15 vitamins a day
6.) Love to ice skate 
7.) I am obsessed with Tim Holtz...I have to have all his products and stamps

It was very hard to choose just fifteen fellow bloggers to share this award with...there are so many incredible blogs with tons of inspiring ideas out there. I hope you will check out each one of these amazing crafters!

1. Pam's Paper Passion
2. Debbie's Dash of This and That
3. Expressions By Elaine
4. Handmade From My Heart
5. Pinkldycrafter
6. GrammieJudy's Spot
7. Love To Crop
8. Me-Ma Kim's
9. Homemade is a Hoot
10. Marcia's Memories
11. The Purple Muse
12. Addicted to Cardmaking
13. Craftyful Gardens
14. For the Joy of Creating
15. Crafting Cathy

Thanks again, Sherrie!

Got Followers?

As a new blogger, I am so excited about a great idea I just found out about from Momo at Made by Momo. She has devised a way for anyone with less than 200 followers to add more, and she is even giving away a prize to a lucky participant! What an awesome idea! I will definitely be following some new blogs and hope to add some followers as well. Thanks, Momo! :)

Spring Card for Three Challenges

Happy Wednesday everyone! I am so impressed when people can make one card work for several different challenges. I managed to make one card fit for two once, so I challenged myself to make one card work for three separate challenges. I hope I've managed to fit all the criteria for Cricut Cardz Challenge #67 (a spring card using green, pink and white), Celebrate the Occasion (thank you card using a tag) and Cuttlebug Spot (buttons...buttons everywhere).  The paper I used is from The Sasha Paper Collection and The Breathe Paper Collection from Prima Marketing, Inc. I cut a daisy tag in pink from the Picturesque cart and adhered it to the green paper, and then ran them through the Cuttlebug swiss dots folder. The edges are inked with Shabby Shutters distress ink. I embossed the white cardstock with the flowers folder and then trimmed the edge with decorative scissors. The corner flower on the front was also cut from Picturesque. The thank you is cut from the Sentimentals cart. I added sheer white and pink ribbon, and buttons for the middle of the flowers and the top of the tag.

My Craft Room

Happy Tuesday, bloggers! I thought I would post photos of my craft room today. I did a little spring cleaning and had to take pictures while my work surface was actually uncluttered. Usually it is covered with my Cricut Expression, Cuttlebug and tons of paper scraps and embellishments. I could (and do) spend hours there! My dad built all the cabinets and wood display shelves for me. The theme is the ocean. The color is sea green and you can't really tell in the pictures, but I added bamboo to the front of the cabinets. I also have a day-bed with a pull-out trundle, so it can double as a spare bedroom when needed.

My Mom made the apron hanging below the television in 7th grade. I come by my love of crafting naturally...my mom can sew absolutely anything and my dad is an amazing carpenter.

Happy Spring and Fantabulous Cricut Challenge #52

Happy Spring, bloggers! Can't say I'm sorry to leave winter behind for another year! It's Challenge Me Monday at Fantabulous Cricut, and the challenge this week is Happy Birthday. This is a card I made for my Mom's friend's 70th birthday. I used my Gypsy to make the base of the card, welding a rectangle and two ovals together from Plantin Schoolbook. The inside paper is from Me & My Big Ideas and I'm not sure of the brand of the textured crimson paper. I used Cuttlebug's words embossing folder on the outside ovals. I cut a frame from the Cindy Loo cart and ran it through the Cuttlebug with the swiss dots folder. The inside of the frame is white cardstock, embossed with the birthday folder. The 70 was cut from Planitn Schoolbook, and the butterfly from Serenade, also embossed with the swiss dots folder. I added iridescent ribbon, silver brads and a velcro dot to open and close the card.

Jitterbuggin' Challenge

The Jitterbuggin' Challenge this week is to follow the sketch and use the color green and your Cricut. With paper from the  K & Company Jubilee stack, I used one side for the card base and inside square and the other side for the off-set square. I cut the dragonfly from the Stamping Solutions cart and added white enamel accents from Ranger. Missing You was cut from the Friends Forever Cuttlebug die. The flower is from the Forever Young cart, embellished with a crystal.

Cricut Cardz Challenge #66

First I want to say a great big thank you to all who have left awesome comments for my projects...I truly appreciate it! The challenge at Cricut Cardz Challenge this week was to create a thank you card with a Cricut border, using the colors yellow, blue and white. For my card, I cut a frame from the Sentimentals cart on blue cardstock and adhered it to yellow cardstock. I embossed a sheet of white with the Cuttlebug Friends Forever folder, added a strip of blue embossed with the swiss dots folder, and cut the word thanks in white and yellow from my Gypsy and the Gypsy Wanderings cart. The butterfly is from the Sentimentals cart and I added dots of white enamel accents from Ranger.

Fantabulous Cricut Challenge #51 & Cooking With Cricut #21

The challenge this week at Fantabulous Cricut Challenge is to make a square card and include the colors green and gold. At Cooking With Cricut, the challenge is to use two different colors of green. I used a sheet of gold cardstock from DCWV metallic stack and embossed it with the Sizzix circle folder. Using the Cindy Loo cart, I cut doily1 at 5" on green cardstck and adhered it t the gold. I cut the umbrella and two small flowers from the Forever Young cart, Spring from Gypsy Wanderings, and happy from Just Because cart.

Cart Giveaway

I am still in the process of getting my blog up and running, but I did figure out how to add badges to my sidebar! I came across a great cart giveaway at Expressions by Elaine. Click on the link on my sidebar for details on how to win the Twinkle Toes cart!

Let there be light...houses

This is a card for my dad for Father's Day (yeah, I know it's way early!). I am entering it in the Cricut Cardz Challenge. The challenge was to create a tall card (9 x 4). My dad loves lighthouses so I used the Wall Decor and More cart to cut this lighthouse on DCWV Immortal Love cardstock. The top of the card was embossed with the Cuttlebug script texture folder and the bottom with an old Fiskars ocean waves. I used faded jeans, tea dye, old paper and walnut stain distress ink on the card as well.

Cricut Challenges

I am new to blogging and basically learning as I go. I need to find time to spice up my page, add gadgets and badges. Right now, though, I spend what free time I have making cards and polymer clay crafts. I have found some really awesome sites that have super-talented designers, provide amazing inspiration and offer fun Cricut challenges. Yesterday, was Fantabulous Cricut and today Jitterbuggin Challenge. My second post is a card I am entering in JC's rainbows and butterflies challenge. I used orange cardstock and embossed it with the Tim Holtz Sizzix rays embossing folder. I brushed it with spiced marmalade distress ink to bring out the texture. From the Groovy Times cart, I cut the rainbow at 5, and snipped off the clouds. The butterflies are from the Sentimental cart, each embossed with a different Cuttlebug folder and also brushed with spiced marmalade distress ink. The stamp is from Inkadinkado.

My first post!

I finally found time to sit down and post to my craft blog! Yea! My first post is a 70th birthday card I created with my gypsy, using Plantin Schoolbook for the number cutout. The paper is from DCWV Immortal Love cardstock. I embossed the card with Tim Holtz' Sizzix tall pines texture fade folder and lightly sanded for added texture.  I cut out the trees with the Campout cartridge on generic cardstock.