Happy July 4th Card

Happy Thursday, everyone! I hope you are having a wonderful day! Our internet provider problems seem to be fixed (knock on wood) but I am so behind visiting blogs. I did manage a little bit of time in my craft room to make a card to enter into a few challenges.

The blue base is DCWV paper from Tradewinds. The white is textured cardstock from The Paper Studio. I embossed it with the Distressed Stripes folder and then a 2x2 square with Swiss Dots to make it kinda look like a flag. I distressed the edges and added ribbon from Hobby Lobby and crystals with my iRock. The plane is from Stand and Salute. I used my Gypsy to cut stars from George and Basic Shapes and the USA from Base Camp into the side of the plane. I attached it with foam dots and added scrappy chic stickers for Happy July 4 from Me and My Big Ideas.

I am entering the card in the following challenges:

• Celebrate the Occasion #20 - 4th of July
• Die Cutting Divas #21 - Planes, Trains and Automobiles
• Scrappy Moms Terrific Tuesday Challenge - Stand and Salute Cart
• More Than Favors - Wacky Wednesday  #43 - Red White and Blue

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I hope you have a great evening :D

Over The Moooon!

I hope you all had a great hump day! I have been having internet service provider problems all day long. I can only get online for about five minutes at a time every two hours or so. Grr, so frustrating. They are "working" on the problem, so I don't know when it will be fixed. I'm trying to visit blogs when I can and sneak in comments.

I love easel cards and haven't made one in a while, so I decided to create one to enter into the Cooking With Cricut Challenge #40 - cows.

I purchased the Nursery Rhymes cart a couple of months ago and haven't had a chance to use it yet. When I saw that Cooking With Cricut challenge was a cow, I thought this cut would be perfect! I cut the cow jumping over the moon at 5" twice in yellow and once in white. I cut the stars away from the moon and inked the edges with blue chalk on one of the yellow cuts and then adhered it to the other yellow cutout. I cut the white cow off and used Swiss Dots on him and a black marker for his hooves. I cut black patches and glued them on for his spots, and added googly eyes. I tried adding a smile, but it looked too goofy, so I had to cut a new cow and try again! I pasted him on with foam dots so it would look like he was actually jumping over the moon. I added crystals to all the stars with my iRock to make them glitter. The yellow ribbon of stars is from Hobby Lobby.

Over The Moon was also cut from Nursery Rhymes and I ran the yellow shadow through the Swiss Dots folder and added a crystal to the star. The deep blue sparkly background paper is from Core Couture.

Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope you have a wonderful evening :)

Decorate To Celebrate Guest Designer!

Happy Wednesday, everyone! I am so honored and excited to have been asked by Rhonda and Amy to be a guest designer for their awesome challenge blog, Decorate to Celebrate! For those of you who might not be familiar with Decorate to Celebrate, it is a new challenge blog for crafters, dedicated to showing off decorations for every celebration. Make sure you stop by and follow their blog, and join in on the challenge while you are there! It's so much fun and you could even win a prize!

The theme for this weeks challenge is an adult birthday party. So dig out your bell bottoms, mood rings, Bee Gee's 8-tracks and Saturday Night Fever albums...we're traveling back to the 70's for a Disco Birthday Party!

For the decorations for the birthday party, I made invitations, a disco sign, place cards with recipes for drinks from the disco era, drink stirrers and you can't have a disco party without a disco ball!

I used Core Couture paper for the decorations. I cut "let's party" from Lyrical Letters into the red background paper, and then embossed it with the Seeing Spots embossing folder. The discoing couple and funkadelic are from Groovy Times. The flower border is from an EK Success punch, and the awesome ribbon if from Hobby Lobby and sparkles like little disco balls!

I cut the disco sign from Groovy Times at 6" five times with the different colored paper. The circles were punched from the left over holographic paper.

For the place cards, I printed out recipes for disco-era drinks: Fire in the Disco, Disco Ball, Discordia and Disco Lemonade.

The toppers for the drink stirrers were also cut from Groovy Times.

What you will need to make the disco ball (ignore the Craft Bond and mask in the pic...that didn't work at all so I switched to hot glue):

• 6" Styrofoam ball - I purchased this one at Joann
• 1 sheet of silver holographic paper - also purchased at Joann
• 50 lb monofiliment fishing line
• Large knitting needle (or anything sharp enough and long enough to pierce the Styrofoam)
• Paper cutter
  
• Hot glue

1. Cut the paper into 1" strips, and then again into 1" squares
2. Use the large knitting needle to punch completely through the center of the Styrofoam ball
3. Decide how long you want the disco ball to hang, then double the line and thread the fishing line through the hole
4. Knot one end of the line - this will be at the bottom of the ball
5. Hot glue the knot and fill in the hole on both sides to secure the line
6. Line up several squares of the 1" paper and tape the backs together to make a long strip. Measure until it wraps completely around the ball
7. Add a line of hot glue around the perimeter and attach the first row around the middle of the ball
8. Repeat step 6 for the row directly above and the one directly below the middle row
9. Add hot glue and attach individual squares until the ball is covered

I hope you enjoyed this brief trip back to the 1970's! Thanks again Rhonda and Amy for letting me be part of your awesome challenge blog and thank you so much for stopping by! Don't forget to make your own decorations for an adult birthday party and link them up at Decorate to Celebrate (http://decoratetocelebrate.blogspot.com)! I can't wait to see what you create :D

Harmony, Guest Designer Spot and Blog Award Thanks!

Happy Tuesday, everyone! There are some people I need to thank today before I get to my project. I am so excited to have been gifted with blog awards from two amazingly talented women! First is Shen of My Curious Crafts, who honored me with the Versatile Blogger Award, Irresistibly Sweet Blog Award and A Thing of Beauty Award, and the second is Chris of Get Inspired with ChatterScene, who passed the Irresistibly Sweet Blog Award to me. THANK YOU so much Shen and Chris! These women are both so fantastically talented and creative and genuinely nice, and I am so happy to have met them in blog land! Please stop by their blogs to see their fabulous creations! You won't be sorry!!

I am so excited to have been asked by Rhonda and Amy to be a guest designer tomorrow for their awesome new challenge blog, Decorate to Celebrate! This such a fun challenge blog...it truly pushes me out of my comfort zone of making cards, the occasional scrapbook layout or wall hanging. Every two weeks they post a new challenge where you come up with decorations for a theme. It's so much fun and I hope you will stop by tomorrow and join in!

I have a project today to enter into Getting Cricky With K Andrew's Simply Sunday Challenge - Penned Entries. I love visiting Kristal's blog...she is always so motivating and uplifting and again this week, her message is so powerful.

For this challenge, you are supposed to use pens on your creation. This was the perfect opportunity for me to break out the Cricut markers I purchased months ago but have yet to use. I was lucky enough to visit Japan a few years ago and just loved the beauty of their culture and country. This 6 x 6 wall hanging will remind me of that amazing trip. All of the paper is from DCWV's Far East stack. I used the Pagoda cart and the Cricut markers to draw the kanji in the top right corner, which represents the word "harmony". The screen is also from Pagoda, and I cut around the edges and then lightly scored at the point where the screen would bend to give some dimension and attached it with foam dots. The crane is also from Pagoda and I added glossy accents to make it shine (I have a little problem called lack of patience, so is hasn't dried completely and is still a bit milky in the pic). I used the Cuttlebug bamboo embossing folder for the pink paper, and then inked it with Tea Dye distress ink to bring out the  texture. I used tea dye inside the kanji as well. The word "harmony" is from Lyrical Letters, and the beautiful twig with pink beads I won from Barbara and Peggy and the Grandma's Pearl lot a few weeks ago.

Thanks so much for visiting and thank you again Shen and Chris! And don't forget to stop by Decorate to Celebrate tomorrow for my guest designer spot and a super-fun challenge :)

Let Freedom Ring!

Happy Monday, everyone! I hope you are having a great day! It's stormy here today after such a beautiful weekend. I have a patriotic card to enter into a few challenges today.

The red and white background paper are Core'dinations Core Couture. (I load up the cart with this paper at Joann when they have paper at 5 for a $1 or sometimes 6 for $1!) I punched the edge of the white with a EK Success punch. The blue paper is from DCWV Tradewinds and I embossed it with the Tim Holtz Sizzex Rays folder. I used Stand and Salute to cut the phrase with DCWV paper and the Liberty Bell, also with DCWV paper. I embossed the liberty bell with the Distressed Stripes embossing folder, and attached both the bell and phrase with foam dots. The stars are from a punch I've had forever. I added crystals with my iRock, and the ribbon is from Hobby Lobby.

I am entering the card in the following challenges:

• Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog #66 - Happy 4th
• My Craft Spot Challenge #14 - Seeing Stars
• My Sheri Crafts Challenge #63 - Independence Day

Thanks so much for stopping by! Have a great evening :D

Happy Birthday Stars and Stripes

Happy Sunday, everyone! Wow, we have had the most gorgeous weekend. Perfect temps, high 70's and no humidity. I spent part of the weekend again with the volunteer search teams trying to find any sign of the missing IU student, who I mentioned a few weeks ago. She has been missing since June 3rd, and the cops know nothing more today than they did three weeks ago. She just disappeared.

I did get to spend a bit of time in my craft room today and I have a card to enter into the Birthday Sundaes Challenge #15 - stars and stripes birthday.

I went for a little different take on the stars and stripes theme. I used paper from My Mind's Eye. The stars were cut from Indie Art at 1". Happy Birthday was cut from Paper Lace and the woman from Forever Young at 4". My thought was to make this a kind of an optical illusion card, so I placed all the cuts so they lined up with the stripes on the paper, with the black background and foam dots giving it the illusion of dimension. The ribbon is from Hobby Lobby and the gems in the stars and down the left side from my stash.

Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope you have a great evening!! :D

Gone to the Beach!

Happy Saturday, everyone! I hope you are having a great weekend! Wow, we have had the perfect weather the last couple of days: sun, high 70's, no humidity. We basically had no Spring...the temps were record highs with humidity, so this break is so welcome!

I made a tag to hang on the door when I'm headed to my favorite place...the beach! I used Tags, Bags, Boxes and More to cut the tag at 6". I have had the Hawaiian print paper in my stash for a long time, no clue where it came from. I used Life's a Beach to cut the palm tree. Originally it had a smaller one, too, but I snipped it off. I used the Tim Holtz Regal Flourish Sizzex embossing folder for the leaves and sprayed a light coat of copper shimmer mist over it. The orange surfboard was also cut from Life's a Beach, and the blue one from Luau. I cut the waves from Pack Your Bags, and embossed them with the swirls Cuttlebug folder. I ran the sand colored paper through the Cuttlebug with Swiss dots and then tore the edge off to give it texture before I inked it with Tea Dye distress ink. The paper for the sign is from Core'dinations Cosmo Cricut line, and I sanded it to bring out the wood texture and inked it with walnut distress ink. The shell is a bead I had in my stash.

I am entering the tag into the following challenges:

• The Paper Variety - Summer
• More Than Favors Wacky Wednesday #42 - Tags
• Two Scraptastic Girls CCCC #22 - Tags, Bags, Boxes and More
• GAB #21 - Tear It

Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope you have a great evening :)

Cricut 360º Challenge Blog Launching July 1st!

Yay - there is a new challenge blog set to launch on July 1st! Cricut 360º is a challenge blog for crafty people all over the world who love to use their Cricut to make cards and to scrapbook. Starting July 1, new challenges will be posted every Friday. They have a fabulous Design Team in place to showcase their talents and provide inspiration and to all who participate.

To spread the word about this awesome new challenge site, Cricut 360º is giving away a Cricut cartridge! Click HERE for more details and for a chance to win! I can't wait for the first challenge...I hope to see you there!!

Thanks for stopping by and have a great evening :)

Memory is Forever Cricutless Card

Happy TGIF everyone! I'm so excited another weekend is upon us! I have a card to enter into a few challenges today before I head outside to enjoy the gorgeous weather :)

I jokingly told Diana of DL.ART that I didn't think cards could be made without using a Cricut, and I have to admit, I do have a hard time making them without using it. I've only had a Cricut for a little over two years and made tons of cards before, so I know it can be done. But wow, I'm so addicted to it! I actually was going to enter this into the My Creative Time Throwback Thursday Cricutless challenge, but just realized you were supposed to use the sketch, too and I didn't. Oops! Oh well, there's always next week... :)

For this Cricutless card, I embossed the black paper with the argyle Sizzix folder to mimic the design of the patterned paper from DCWV Glitter Stack. I inked the edges with black ink. I used McGill punches to make the flower, and the charm I had in my stash. The twine is from the Twinery and I used a Fiskars corner punch to make the tag. The gems were attached with my iRock.

I am entering the card in the following challenges:

Frosted Designs Fabulous Friday - Black/white and one other color
Crafty Catz Weekly Challenge #88 - Add a charm

Thanks so much for stopping by and the sweet comments! I truly appreciate them! Have a GREAT weekend :D

God Bless America!

Happy Thursday, bloggers! The first thing I need to do is thank some people. First is Donya of OK Scrappin Mama for figuring out the problem with blogger and older posts disappearing. My blog is all fixed now! Thank you so much, Donya! Next I need to thank Karen of Kaleidoscopic Sparkles for gifting me with the Irresistibly Sweet Blogger Award! Thank you so much, Karen...I am so appreciative! Click HERE for more info on the award.

The Fourth of July is rapidly approaching, so I made a card to celebrate. I used Tim Holtz distress ink in faded lipstick and broken china and stamped them over a white piece of cardstock. I then cut a 3" flag from the Stand and Salute cart and applied removable craft bond spray to the back. I adhered the flag to the cardstock to make a mask. I then used faded jeans and fired brick distress ink to fill in the stripes and ink around the edges. I distressed the edges of the cardstock and then applied walnut distress ink. God Bless America was cut from Stand and Salute at 1 1/2" using Core'dinations Core Couture paper. I also used Core Couture for the bottom banners with an awesome EK Success punch I just won, along with a whole box full of AMAZING goodies from Kristin of Lilsweetpea's Place! Thank you again Kristin! I love absolutely everything you sent! The ribbon is from the Twinery and I added pearls for the stars on the flag.

I am entering the card in the following challenges:

• Whimsical Wednesday Challenge #12 - Let's Get Patriotic
• Cricut Cardz Challenge #80 - American Flag
• Creative Cutter Room - Project with a Flag

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a great evening :)

A Good Life!

Happy Wednesday, bloggers! I am still having issues with my posts from yesterday and earlier not showing up on my blog. You can click on older posts and they are still there, so I guess I shouldn't complain too much.

The challenge this week at one of my favorite blogs, Cooking with Cricut, is to create a project with a watermelon. For my card, I used paper from Me and My Big Ideas for the background and punched the bottom with an EK Success punch. The happy bear is from the Campin Critters cart. Originally he clutched a fork and spoon, but I snipped them off so he could hold the watermelon, cut from Designer's Calendar. I added a couple of foam dots behind his paws so they stick out to grasp the melon. A good life is a stamp from Michael's $1.00 bin. The twine is from the Twinery and I added three gems to the bottom.

Thanks so much for stopping by! I hope you have a great evening :D

Grrr, where are my posts???

I just noticed that my previous posts are not showing up on my blog, only one I posted this morning about Two Pink Peas giveaway. Can someone let me know if they can see any other posts on my blog? Thanks :)

Blog Candy Alert!

Check out this huge giveaway! Head over to Two Pink Peas for a chance to win this awesome candy in honor of her dad's birthday and Father's Day! Here's what one lucky follower will win:

Santa Catching a Wave!

The challenge at Die Cutting Diva's this week is to use a Christmas cut for a non-Christmas themed card. I thought is was such a fun idea for a challenge, so I made a Surfin' Santa card to enter.

I cut the Santa from Pack Your Bags at 5". Yes, I know Santa is a little skinny, but he's burning the calories catching all those waves.  I'm sure he will gain the weight back once he heads North ;) The Santa beard and hat were cut from the Christmas cart and I had to play around with the size until I could get it to fit. I embossed the water with the swirls embossing folder. The background paper and Santa's shorts are from DCWV Tahati Stack. I added cotton to the ball of the hat, gems to the top corner and I inked the edges with Colorbox amber ink.

Thanks so much for stopping by! Have a great day :D

Link Up Love Party With K Andrew!

Happy Tuesday and first day of summer to all my Northern hemisphere followers, and happy first day of winter to all in the Southern hemisphere! It's time for another Link Up Love Party with the fabulous Kristal of Getting Cricky With K Andrew! The Link Up party rules are as follows:

Link Up Love Party: How it Works

• Link Up Party runs from Tuesday 6/21 to Tuesday 6/28. Winners announced 6/29
• Grab Kristal's blinkie and post on your blog's sidebar
• Be a follower of Kristal's blog, and I'd love for you to follow mine as well!
• Create a new blog post that is titled Link Up Love Party with K Andrew.  In your post, you must mention that the link up love party is a way to  get to know each other and find new blog inspiration, mention Kristal's blog,  with a link back to it blog
• Post your favorite project that you've done in your blog post WITH ONE thing you are grateful for!
• Copy and paste the link up code into your blog post so the Inlinkz will show up on your blog
• Spread the word so everyone can join in!
• You must visit, follow, and comment on the 5 people before you AND the 5  people after you in the Inlinkz. It would be fantastic if you would visit as many as you can--maybe everyone? If you are one of the first 5 then you will need to blog the ones before you and a few more after--as long as it's a minimum of 10 near you in the link up tool/gadget)
• If you do not do the above your link will be deleted, because it's just not fair to those who work so hard linking up and showing love to the ones on the list. Kristal has two moderators who will be checking this out to keep it awesome and fun!

What I am most grateful for is the amazing family God has blessed me with!

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Fun in the Sun!

Happy Tuesday, everyone! I hope you are having a great day! I made a Fun in the Sun card to enter into a few challenges today.

The blue background paper is from My Mind's Eye. The yellow paper is from DWCV and I embossed it with the Tim Holtz Sizzex Rays folder. The bottom border was punched with an EK Success punch. I inked the edges with Colorbox ocher ink, and brushed it over the rays to make them stand out. The palm tree was cut from Life's a Beach at 5 3/4" and I embossed the leaves with the Tim Holtz Sizzex Damask folder. The sun was also cut from Life's a Beach at 2" and I attached it with a small spring so it wiggles :) The family was cut from Pack Your Bags at 4" and I attached them with foam dots and used Core Couture for their clothes. The little ice cream cones are from Birthday Bash. I added twine from the Twinery (I soooo love this twine!!) and attached it with a small button. The stamp is from Inkadinkado, and the hibiscus on the hat is a sticker. I couldn't make a card without bling, so I added gems to give the mom a sparkly necklace!

I am entering the card in the following contests:

• Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog Challenge Me Monday #65 - Summer Sun
• Getting Cricky With K Andrew Simply Sunday - Face It
• My Craft Spot Monday Challenge - How Sweet It Is
• You Had Me At Craft - Made It Myself Monday Link Up Party
• Celebrate the Occasion Challenge #19 - Celebrating Summer

Thanks so much for stopping by! Have a great day :)

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to all the Dad's out there, especially my wonderful Dad! I hope you all are having a great weekend! It started out stormy here, but turned into a very pretty day.

I have a shape card to enter into a few challenges today. The teapot is from Once Upon a Princess and I welded two together with my gypsy to make a card. I used paper from My Mind's eye and Core Couture. I embossed the middle of the pot with the spots and dots Cuttlebug embossing folder. I embossed the top rim with Swiss Dots. I added glossy accents to the crown in the middle to make it look glassy (it's not completely dry so it still looks a bit cloudy in the pic).

I cut another teapot so I could trim it down and make the lid of the teapot lifts up to reveal the tag message, happy birthday to you. The ribbons are from Hobby Lobby.

I am entering the card in the following challenges:

• Birthday Sundaes Challenge #14 - Shaped Birthday Card
• Frosted Designs Fabulous Friday Challenge - Add a Journaling Tag
• More Than Favors Wacky Wednesday Challenge #41
• My Pink Stamper - Birthday

Thanks so much for stopping by! I hope you all have a great evening :)

The Irresistibly Sweet Blog Award!

Happy Saturday, everyone! I hope you are having a great weekend. I would like to thank three awesome ladies today for passing along the Irresistibly Sweet Blog Award to me: Madison at Funky Cards, Dr. Sonia of Cards, Crafts and Kids Projects and Jessica of Jessica's Craft Shaque. I am so honored and appreciative to receive this award from these three amazing, incredibly talented and creative crafters! I hope you will visit their blogs to see their wonderful creations...they are so awesome! Thank you so much Madison, Sonia and Jessica!!!

The rules for the award are the following:
1) Send a thank you to the person who nominated you and include their link.
2) To accept this award, answer 7 random facts about yourself.
3) Pass the award on to at least 8 other awesome blog buddies.

Random Facts about me:

1) I am a salt-a-holic

2) I love dabbling in aromatherapy

3) A female relative on my mother's side was a gun moll for Dutch Schultz

4) I was in marching band throughout high school and college, even though I can't play a single instrument

5) I have a fascination/obsession with Navy SEALs

6) I had to perform the Heimlich maneuver on a friend in college

7) I hate peanut butter, even the smell, but I love Reece's Cups

You are supposed to pass this along to 8 people, but since three wonderful people gifted me with this award, I am passing it along to 20 (my favorite number!). I had a hard time narrowing it down to 20...there are so many people who are so deserving. My list (in alphabetical order) is:

 
1) Amy - Amy's Crafting Space
2) Amy - Love to Crop

3) Arlene - WaterDots

4) Bernadet - Bernadet's Craft Blog

5) Carri - DoubleClick Connections AKA ABusyBee

6) Cindy - Cindy's Little Creations

7) Diana - DL.ART

8) Dina - Crazy for Cricut

9) Dusti - Scrappin with Cricut

10) Elaine - Expressions by Elaine
11) Karen - Kaleidoscopic Sparkles
12) Karen - Little Scrap Pieces
13) Linda B - Hands to Work, Heart to Love 

14) Lori - Reflections from Granny

15) Patty - Creative Diva

16) Rez - Karezma Kreations

17) Shelly - My Paper Love

18) Shen -  My Curious Crafts

19) Sherrie - Sherrie Scraps With Passion

20) Susan - Cricut and Grasshopper

I would love for you to stop by each of the crafters on this list as well! They are all fabulous and I love visiting their blogs as often as I can!

Thanks again Madison, Sonia and Jessica for this award, and thank you for stopping by! Have a great Father's Day weekend everyone :)

Father's Day Card for Two Challenges and Award Thanks!

Happy Thursday, everyone! I hope you are having a great day. First of all, I want to sincerely thank Amy of Amy's Crafting Space for honoring me with the Best Friend Blogger Award and the A Thing of Beauty Award! Amy is so awesome and her projects are creative and unique and so fabulous! Please visit her blog and you will see what I mean...she rocks! Thank you so much, Amy!

I have a Father's Day card to enter into a couple of challenges today. I embossed part of the card base with the Cuttlebug Polka Dots folder. The patterned paper is from DCWV Main Street Stack. The circle border on the bottom is a EK Success punch. I used Core Couture paper for the car, which I cut from Groovy Times at 3". The side mirror and background for the Scrappy Mom's Happy Father's Day stamp are reflective mirrors from my stash. No clue where I got them. The orange and white twine is from the Twinery.

I am entering the card in the following challenges:

• Cooking With Cricut Challenge #38 - Father's Day
• My Craft Spot Monday Challenge #12 - We Love You, Dad

Thanks again, Amy and I hope you all have a wonderful evening :D

Father's Day Link-Up Party at Scrappin With Cricut

Show off your Father's Day projects at Scrappin With Cricut's Link-Up Party! Link your project below...

4th of July Project

Happy Wednesday, everyone! I haven't had a chance to get on the computer all day because of storms. I did spend some time in my craft room and made a yard sign, banner and safe sparklers (no fire required!) to celebrate Independence Day. I wanted to stage these outside to photograph them but Mother Nature did not want to cooperate :(

I used paper from DCWV and Core Couture. It's really shiny and glittery and you can't tell at all in the pic because of the awful lighting on this overcast day. The banner and 4th of July were cut from the Independence Day cart. The fireworks and sparklers are from Stand and Salute. I cut the sparklers out of cardboard first so they would have a strong base. You can wave them around and pretend they are real :)

I am entering these in the following challenges:

• Decorate to Celebrate Challenge #2 - 4th of July/Independence Day Themed Party
• Getting Cricky with K Andrew's Simply Sunday Challenge - Anything Goes

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a great evening :D

Time to Celebrate

Happy Tuesday, everyone! I hope you are all doing well! I have a birthday card to enter into the newest Celebrate the Occasion challenge.

Gosh, I love the Birthday Bash cart! The images are so adorable and they layer so perfectly. It is my current fav cart, but I have to admit that I change fav's daily :) I cut the balancing doggie at 4" and the beach ball at 6". The pattern paper is from My Mind's Eye, and the rest is from Core'dinations Roy G Biv and Core Couture. I embossed the beach ball with Swiss dots and the light blue background with the seeing spots Cuttlebug folder. The side scallops are a punch from EK Success. I added crystals to the collar with my iRock, and used some of my new twine from the Twinery that I won from My Craft Spot. I am so in love with this twine! It is simply awesome!!

I am entering the card in the Celebrate the Occasion Challenge #18 - birthday, must have party hat.

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a wonderful evening :D

A Day To Remember Card

Happy Monday, everyone! I hope you had a great weekend! I have a card to enter into a couple of challenges today. It is a z-fold wedding card.

The background paper is from My Mind's Eye. The bells were cut from Sweethearts using DCWV paper. I used a Fiskars punch for the side border. The pearl ribbon is from Hobby Lobby.

For the inside, I used a stamp that reads "In honor of love, may you blossom and flourish in your new life together."

I am entering the card in the following challenges:

• Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog Challenge #64 - Wedding Wishes
• Paper Playtime Challenge #48 - Z-Fold Cards

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a great day :)

Alligator Birthday Card

Happy Sunday, everyone! I hope you had a great weekend. The weather cooled off a bit here - thank goodness. It is still in the low 80's but so much better than it has been this last two weeks.

I have a card to enter into Birthday Sundaes's Challenge #13 - wet or dry embossing. I have wanted to use this adorable alligator since I got the Birthday Bash cart. Using Core Couture paper, I embossed him with a Sizzex embossing folder and attached him with foam dots. The orange paper is from DCWV Citrus Stack and I embossed it with the Cuttlebug Happy Birthday folder. The striped paper is from My Mind's eye. I cut the birdie and banners also from Birthday Bash, using Core Couture. I used a Fiskars border punch for the pink side paper. I added some light green crystal gems, and  I was so excited to use my new bakers twine from the Twinery that I won from My Craft Spot Challenge #10!! It is so awesome!! Love it sooo much!!

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a great week :D

Love To Camp Card

Happy Friday everyone! Hope you are all doing well :) I haven't had much time to play with one of my newest carts, Campin' Critters, so I pulled it out today and oh my gosh, is it awesome! I so love it. It might have shot to my favorite spot, which pretty much changes daily :P

I decided to create another Father's Day card with this cart. I have had requests to make a couple of Father's Day cards for others, but this one is for my Dad. We camped all summer, every summer when I was growing up. We started in a little pop-up tent, moved to a pop-up camper, then a pull-behind camper, then a bigger one. Now my parents have their "vacation home" a super-nice RV. But it all started out in a tent, which was the inspiration for this project. I have wanted to make this 3D tent since I got the cart, but haven't had time. Father's Day was the perfect opportunity.

You are supposed to glue the top of the tent to the bottom, but I decided to make this a gift holder instead. I don't know what I'm going to fill it with yet, candy or something, but it makes such a cute package!

I made an accordion card to accompany the tent. I used papers from My Mind's Eye and the rest from  my stash. There are so many awesome images and signs on this cart, I had a hard time deciding which ones to use.

I am entering this into the following challenges:

• Celebrate the Occasion Challenge #17 - Father's Day
• Decorate to Celebrate Challenge #1 - Decoration for Father's Day
• Scrapalicious USA Challenge #6 - Accordion technique

There are still no updates on the missing student. "America's Most Wanted" will be airing a segment about her tomorrow night (6/11/11) if you are interested. Thanks so much for stopping by and have a GREAT weekend :)

Expand Your Horizons

Happy Thursday, everyone! I hope you are having a great week. It's been a long, exhausting one here. There are still no leads on the missing student...thank you for all your comments and concern. Searches are still ongoing and expanding around the community. It is rare for something like this to happen here, it is usually a pretty safe, eclectic college town. The community and entire state has really pulled together to volunteer their time and efforts in finding her.

I have a card to enter into a few challenges. The background paper is from a package of 10 different sheets that I found at Goodwill for $.49. Talk about a bargain...plus I was with my Dad and he got the senior discount of 30% off! They were practically giving this away :) You can't tell in the pic, but it is textured and glittery and I thought perfect for this card. I used Pack Your Bags to cut the little scuba diving guy, fishies and seaweed. The mermaid is from Life's a Beach. I used foam dots on the scuba guy, mermaid and top quote. I made the sand by embossing beige paper with Swiss dots and then brushing Walnut distress ink over the raised dots and edges. The starfish is a bead I had in my stash and I created the bubbles with Glossy Accents. I added pearls in the Mermaid's hair and an iRock crystal for her belly button. I used a white gel pin to add some accents and the ribbon is from Hobby Lobby. The quote reads "Expand your horizons Your imagination will Follow."

I am entering the card in the following challenges:

• Cooking With Cricut Challenge #37 - pick your poison: fav cart (Pack Your Bags), fav color (blue)
• My Pink Stamper Color Challenge - orange, turquoise, green
• Patches of Pink: Thursday Link-Up Party
• Aud Sentiments Challenge #30 - summertime

Thanks so much for stopping by and remember to "Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow." {Albert Einstein} :)

Dance Like Nobody's Watching

So it takes a lot to get me down, but today, I'm pretty down. I spent the day volunteering on a search team to locate an Indiana University college student missing since Friday. I didn't know her, but I went to school here and now live in the community. She is a beautiful girl who left a friend's apartment in the early hours of Friday morning and never arrived at her apartment two blocks away. The police have no leads and have found her purse, cell phone and keys close to where she was last seen before she disappeared. Hundreds of people are spending hours searching the town for any leads and posting flyers. The temps today were in the 90's with dangerous humidity and the same is expected tomorrow, but we will be out there searching again, hoping and praying for the best.

I was pretty exhausted when I got home, but I wanted to create something to remind me to enjoy each day. I used my brand new Martha Stewart punch around the page for the border. The paper is from My Mind's Eye Deena's Penny Lane. I cut the dancer from Wall Decor and More at 4 1/4" using Core Couture. I embossed the stamp with gold embossing powder, added ribbon around the edges and flowers attached with iRock crystals.

I hope you all have a great evening and remember to work like you don't need money, love like you've never been hurt and dance like nobody's watching :)

Nostalgic Father's Day Card

Happy Monday! I hope you had a wonderful weekend. I was feeling a little Tim Holtz-y in my craft room today :)

For this Father's Day card, I started off with white paper and applied Tim Holtz's clock mask. I used distress ink in Old Paper, Tea Dye, Frayed Burlap and Vintage Photo to ink the paper. Once I removed the mask, I used Tea Dye and Old Paper over the clock to darken the white paper a bit. I then ran it through my Cuttlebug using the Sizzix Clockworks embossing folder. I brushed Vintage Photo and Walnut Distress ink over the raised images to highlight them, and inked the edges with Walnut.

The tag is a Marvy Uchida punch. I dabbed the same distress inks on it and then used Old Paper on Tim Holtz's clock stamp for the background. It is hard to see in the pic, but it gave a nice watermark effect. The nostalgia stamp is from Fiskars. The filmstrip ribbon is from Tim Holtz's Ideaology line.

The old truck is from the Heritage cart and I embossed it with Tim Holtz's Sizzix Rays texture fade folder.

'Happy' is from Heritage, 'Fathers' is from Base Camp and 'Day' is from Gypsy Font and I welded them together on my Gypsy.

I am entering the card in the following challenges:

• Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog Challenge Me Monday #63 - #1 Dad
• Getting Cricky with K. Andrew's Simply Sunday Challenge - Vintage Appeal
• My Craft Space Monday Challenge #11 - Tie it On 
• Scrapalicious USA Challenge #5 - Card for a Man
• Crazy About Cricut Thankful Thursday Challenge - Man/Boy Theme
• Aud Sentiments Challenge Blog Challenge #29 - Sentiment/Card for a Male
• Quick Cards Men's Challenge - Card for a Man

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a great day :)

Winner of My Blog Candy Giveaway!

Happy Sunday, everyone! First of all, I want to thank all of my followers, old and new. I truly do have the best followers/friends in all of blog-land! Thank you so much for your sweet comments and support. I have met so many wonderful people and gained tons of inspiration and ideas from all of you. I'm so glad I found this wonderful online community of crafters :)

Okay, without further ado...Random.org selected the winner of my blog candy giveaway as.....

Barbara B said...
     Hi,
     I am a new follower and added your blog candy to my sidebar
     Barbara B.
     bkb248@gmail.com
     http://barbarab3.blogspot.com/

Congratulations Barbara! I will be sending you an email for your address so I can send the package out to you, or you can contact me at: indymermaid(at)gmail.com.

Thank you all again for following me. I'm getting close to 500...hummm...another giveaway in the near future? Stay tuned!! ;) Have a great day!

Chillaxin'

 **Today is the last day to enter my blog candy giveaway!! Click HERE to enter**

Happy Saturday! It's a warm and humid 90 here today and there is nothing I rather be doing than relaxing in a cabana by the ocean, drinking an ice-cold fruity cocktail, listening to the waves lapping the shore. Ahhh...Heaven! Since I can't acutally do that, I made a wall hanging to gaze at and dream :)

Most of the paper I used is from DCWV's Tahiti stack. Chillaxin is from Groovy Times and I welded it together with the reclining woman image from Pack Your Bags on my Gyspy. I also changed out her drink for one from Life's a Beach...it was way more tropical-looking. The sun is from Life's a Beach, attached with wire. The netting is from a roll of Christmas ribbon, and I cut the wire edges off and frayed the ends to make it look like it was blowing in the breeze. The little ladybug is from Create a Critter.

I am entering this in the following challenges:

1. BugBites Grillin' & Chillin' Bug Hop  - Grillin' & Chillin' project...include hidden critter (ladybug)
2. Paper Cutz Challenge #94 - beach or travel theme
3. DYSU Challenge Blog - orange

Thanks so much for stopping by! I hope you all have a wonderful weekend :)

Elephant Birthday Card

Happy Thursday, bloggers! I have a birthday card I made for a little boy. The cool colorful circle paper is from My Mind's Eye Deena's Penny Lane. Love this stack! The orange paper is from my stock and I embossed it with the Tim Holtz Sizzix retro circles folder. I inked all the edges with Colorbox red chalk. The banner was created on my Gypsy with George and Basic Shapes for the triangles and Base Camp for the letters. The adorable elephant is from Birthday Bash and I embossed him with Swiss dots. I added a foam dot behind the ear to give it some dimension and attached the elephant with foam dots also. The crystals were attached with my iRock.

I am entering the card in the following challenges:

• Getting Cricky with K Andrew's Simply Sunday - banners and pennants
• Birthday Sundaes - masculine card (I hope a card for a little boy is masculine enough!)

On a side note, I was SO EXCITED to discover I won K Andrew's new stamp set, Freedom Isn't Free from the Memorial Day Blog Hop! Thank you so much Kristal! Her new stamps are so awesome and if you haven't checked them you, you definitely should (click HERE). They rock :)

Thanks so much for stopping by! Have a great evening :)

Hope Is The Thing With Feathers Card

Happy Wednesday, bloggers! I hope you are all having a great week. On Monday and Tuesday, we had a heat/humidity advisory, and it wasn't even June yet! I hope that doesn't mean a sweltering summer. Today it's a warm 83 today and sunny. I should be outside but I spent about an hour in my craft room this morning making a few cards. I'm headed out now to enjoy the beautiful weather :)

 

For this encouragement card, I used the card feature from Picturesque to cut the swirly card base. I liked it turned this way...it kinda looks like an easel. The card base paper is from DCWV Mango Stack. The flowered paper is one of my very favorites from the Colorbok Sorbet stack. I cut the bird from Picturesque and embossed it with Swiss Dots. The top arches are an EK Success punch. The ribbon trailing behind the bird is from Hobby Lobby and I added beads. The stamp is a little hard to read here: "Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul, and sings the tune without the words and never stops at all," by Emily Dickinson. I embossed it with Zing vanilla emobssing powder, added some crystals and inked all the edges with a tangerine-colored ink.

I am entering the card in the following challenges:

1. Cooking With Cricut Challenge #32 - color challenge
2. Cricut  Card Challenge #77 - use card feature from any cart
3. Amy's Designs - one year blogaversary challenge

Thanks so much for stopping by! Have a great day :)