Christmas Cards

Todays updates are some of the Christmas cards I made.  I admit to buying way more supplies than I could possibly use, but I just loved all the Christmas stuff I saw.  Cartridges, cuttlebug folders, stamps galor, and piles of paper.  I'm thinking that maybe I'll make Christmas cards throughout the year with this stuff, then give them to the residents at the assisted living place where my father-in-law lives.  Anyhow, on to the cards I did make.

This card is one of my favorites.  It's so sparkly and shiny in real life.  The snowglobe was cut with Joys Of The Season, then embossed with the cuttlebug on both the globe and the base.  The cardinal on Winter Woodland is the same as on this embossing folder, so I cut that out at 2", embossed it in the folder, and layered it on.  Added some sparkly flowers, glittered branches, and rhinestones.  I almost hated to give this one away, but someone else needed it more than I did.  The snowglobe was so much fun to do, that I did another one.

This snowglobe went to my Chemo Card Buddy.  I sent her Christmas cards all month long, but this was her final and fanciest one.  I used the cuttlebug on the globe and base of this one also.  I thought the snowy village scene was perfect for this card.  Next:

This is the card I made for my family members.  I heat embossed all of the stamping with silver glittered powder, and used the new larger sized snowflake cuttlebug folder on the background.  I did tons of matting with light blue, white, and silver foil cardstock.  This card was so heavy and cost so  much to mail, I didn't have to worry about sending gifts.  (tee hee).  Next:

I did a handful of these fun glittery cards.  I just love this embossing folder, and again cut the cardinal out from Winter Woodland and layered it on.  I also added some glittered snowflakes and put red rhinestones in them.  The corners were done with a punch.  Isn't that festive?  Next:

These 3 are some of the ones I did with the new embossing folders, foil cardstock, stamps, and gold glittered embossing powder.  They were pretty quick and easy.  I just LOVE that flurries folder--so elegant looking.  Notice that I didn't use a single sheet of the Christmas print cardstock I bought, or even very many cuts from the cricut.  Bad, bad, bad.  So much stuff and such a short season to use it....  Well, you all have a great New Year and don't forget I will be posting some blog candy shortly after I have this all updated.  I'm almost there!  Thanks for taking a peek!

Back to my updates...

Ok, still working at updating this poor forgotten blog, so here's today updates. Let's see what I have first:

Ok, I don't know how this cutie patootie got in my card file but there she is--my 2 year old granddaughter. She's a tremendous help in my scraproom and is especially adept at unrolling spools of ribbon, dumping jars of buttons, and applying stickers to every surface. Who has time for blogging with a mess like that to clean up? Heh, heh--she's my little buddy. Ok, next:

This is a Thanksgiving card I made for my chemo buddy. It's the first time I used that tartan folder which I really disliked until I used it. Now I use it quite a bit for backgrounds. The pilgrims were cut from A Child's year. I did something cool with the flowers. They were kind of an off-white, which I didn't want. So I dabbed them on my glue pad, dipped them in white embossing powder, and applied heat. They almost look ceramic. Very cool effect I keep meaning to repeat, if only I'd remember. Next:

This card was kind of just thrown together, but I like how I did the background paper on it. After stamping the main image, I just stamped the background several times without re-inking the stamp. Helped add interest and tie it all in together. Next:

I love my Peachy Keen stamps and this little chick is just so sweet. The trick is to find different ways to use the same stamp without making the same card over and over. I layered some nesties and sprinkled on some ladybugs and there we have it. Hmmm, not sure if this my idea or if I scraplifted from someone.....Next:

This is my grandson, the master artist. When my daughter posted this picture, I had to scrap it right away. This is soooo Noah! Noah has red hair, pale skin, ruby lips, and ocean blue eyes. I wanted to capture his colors without the layout interfering, so I put the pic in photobucket and did that thing where you turn the background black and white. The paper is from DCWV The Music Stack and it already had that fabulous swirly circle and the photo strip on it. Made my job much easier! The craft images are from.....you got it, A Child's Year, and the circle is a Fundamentals ring I inked to match his hair. I really like how this turned out. That silly little

guy...Next:

So..., I'm not particularly crafty. I guess I could be but just really am into the cards and layouts right now. But when my little granddaughter (see beginning of post) came down with H1N1 and then got pneumonia, I needed to make her something. This little treat bag was made with Walk In My Garden using glitter and foil papers. The ladybugs' smile is from Stretch Your Imagination, I think. It's actually a watermelon rind cut. How's that for thinking outside of the box? Ok, last one for tonight:

This is a birthday card for my sister. I've always loved this saying and it goes so well with this image from, well, you should know by now. (ACY) Seriously, if you don't have that cart, you NEED it! It's great for everything. My sis is special to me and I wanted this to look really well made so I gave it lots of layers and depth. This thing is heavy! And that's todays update! Phew, I'm exhausted! Feels like I just made all of those all over again. I'll be back soon, and thanks for taking a peek!

My poor neglected blog...

Well, some very keen people over at Cricut have mentioned they can't find anything on my blog after October 4th. So with red face and hanging head I have to fess up that I have been a neglectful blogger! Not sure that I need a 12 step program yet but I'll try to ignore that cricut message board long enough to get stuff done right here. Bear with me as this could take several days as I really have been productive the last (gulp!) 3 months what with Cricut Card Fairies, my Chemo Card Buddy, and doing that Book Of Me. (OK, I admit I'm 2 months behind the Book Of Me too, but I'm getting back to it.)

So here's a card I'll share with you:

I cut these images from Winter Woodland, a fabulous cartridge with lots of great woodsy images. Coincidentally, shortly after making this card, Provo Craft came out with a cuttlebug folder showing this exact scene. Hmmmmm.... Anyhow, I stickled that bird from tail to beak and made him beautiously sparkly. I thought the birds and swirls embossing folder was a good match for this card. TFL! Next:

This card I'm not totally satisfied with. I wish I'd made the sentiment section bigger and had the squirrel part overlap it a bit. But what I like about this card are how nice the leaves turned out. I cut them from A Child's Year then inked them with different shades of yellow, orange, and green. Then I took the negative cut and used that as a stencil to make that leafy background paper. That turned out kind of cool and was fun to do. The squirrel is from Winter Woodland, and the acorns too, if I remember right (but it has been 3 months!). Next:

I love this piano from A Child's Year but wasn't sure what I could use it for. Then I found a stamp that says "Music is what feelings sound like". So I bought that stamp (because I have a stamp addiction) just to pair it with this image for a card for my chemo buddy. I cut the piano out with glossy paper and paired it up with the music cuttlebug folder that I don't often have a reason to use. The corners were done with a punch I had just bought (see, all that shopping is what keeps me away from blogging), and there it is. Really a pretty easy card. Next:

This card was one I had to throw together fast when my husband remembered his cousin was soon to be married in a different state and he wanted to send a card. Apparently, husbands don't understand that the process of thinking up a card and designing the layout and doing that layout, then hating it, throwing it away, and starting all over all takes time! But I didn't have time so I took my inspiration from myself with an anniversary card I'd done before. The image is from Joys Of The Season. Don't ya love it when you can use a Christmas cart year round? I put it on a heart from George and used the script cuttlebug folder for the background. Pearls are always good for a wedding so I threw some on to make it look more, um, wedding-like. Anyhow, the happy couple loved this card enough to frame it! Yup, folks, I've been framed! One more:

This was my husband's birthday card. He plays the violin and I was really wanting to use this great image I found online. I don't know how well you can see here, but it's actually in several layers. I used the script cuttlebug folder to go behind it because it looks rather elegant, and I mounted all that on some awesome paper from DCWV The Music Stack. The edges were inked and distressed to give it an older look (like my hubby, tee hee), and I used a metal happy birthday embellishment.
Well, if you've made it this far--thank you! I'll be adding to this over the next few days till I'm caught up. One of my scrapping New Year's resolutions was to get my blog up to date. It'll feel good to cross that off the list 'cause I don't know how well the others are going to go! And after I'm done, there will be some blog candy so keep checking back! And thanks for taking a peek!

Who I Am

Over on the cricut MB, I've joined a challenge to do A Book Of me. This was actually a goal of mine for 2009 but I wasn't sure how to start. Add that to my naturally procrastinative (is that a word?) nature, and you know I hadn't done a thing. So I jumped at the chance to do this with clear directions and good examples for a LO each week. This is the first page and is a Title/Dedication page. I splurged on the nice Prima flowers and added all my favorite elements-butterflies, flowers, pink, swirls, and bling! I stamped on flourishes around 2 sides of my pic, then painstakingly add tiny micro gems to the swirls. I love the metal butterflies I found. Papers are Totally Girl by My Mind's Eye. Lots of soft pretty papers in that pack. So now that's done and it's on to my baby page. Thanks for taking a peek!

Card with new Persia folder

I just made several cards similar to this, all for different occasions. This one is for my chemo buddy, who, as she gets sicker, I think of more and more. It's such an easy card to do. I used the new cuttlebug Persia combo folder for the embossed background. I love the scalloped frame on it. Haven't used the dies yet, but they are awesome--the scalloped frame, a super cool peacock, a leaf, and a flourishy thing. Can't wait to try them out! Anyhow, I digress. The girl cut of course came from A Child's Year--I just can't get enough of that cartridge! The sentiment is a new stamp and I thought it went great with this cut. Quick and sweet.

On a side note, I put myself on a stamp ban because I have sooo many and I haven't used a lot of them. I'm just so addicted to stamps. Know how long I lasted? 24 hours. 24 hours and someone came on the message board with these gorgeous stamped cards and I rushed to ebay and bought them! I'm so weak.... Thanks for taking a peek!

Mini album & frame

This is my 1st mini album and I was terrified I would totally mess up. The photos are of my granddaughter, and this was a gift for her mother, so of course I wanted it to turn out decent. Once I got into it, I had a lot of fun with it. Now I have abunch more I want to do! What do ya think--did I do ok?

Most of the images came from A Child's Year. A few from Walk In My Garden, Home Decor, and Indie Art. The font is mostly from Alphalicious, and the tags are from George. Oh, and the inner green edges were embossed with the cuttlebug. Thanks for taking a peek!

Happy Birthday to myself!

Today is my birthday (age will remain unmentioned) and when I got up this morning, there was HAPPY BIRTHDAY written in marker on a piece of used printer paper sitting on my computer. Next to it was a Hostess cupcake with a little umbrella stuck in it-LOL! Guess the hubby forgot to buy me a card. So I made my own! I've had this image for years, along with some glass micro beads. I decorated the red rose with the beads, and used mini pearls on the wrist. The background was embossed and punched. I popped up the Jasmine corners and the heat embossed sentiment. Really hard to get a nice picture of this with all the dimension and shine. Anyhow, I think I made myself a decent card and thought of having the hubby sign it for me. But my chemo buddy has a birthday soon too, so I'm going to pass this on to her. It'll go nicely with the Jim Shore angel I bought her. Thanks for taking a peek!

3D kitten & roses

This adorable image is from a 3D sheet I printed up and cut out. I love the contrast of the pink roses against the white kitty and I didn't want to take away from that, so decided to go with white on white. I added some stickles to the roses--really made them pop! The scalloped ovals are cuts from Storybook, and the flower and flourish in the corner are cuts from Home Accents. Of course I had to emboss with Swiss Dots--doesn't it look so sweet with the image? Added a few pearls just in case it still wasn't girly looking enough yet--LOL! Sure hope my chemo buddy is a girly-girl or I'm in trouble otherwise! The inside says, "Wishing you a purrrfectly nice day!" Wishing you all one too. Thanks for taking a peek!

Peachy Keen BIG HUGS

Here's another cute Peachy Keen stamp. It looks like it's more for spring, but this little feathered friend is too adorable to not use year-round. This is a pretty simple layout so I colored a bunch of these at once so I'd have extras on hand for Cricut Card Fairies (which I'm embarrassingly behind on). Added some primas and it's set to go out to my Chemo Buddy. I think this will make her smile. (((BIG HUGS))) to all my blog buddies too. You're what makes me smile! Thanks for taking a peek!

Pink, blingy birthday

Yaaaah, I finally had a chance to make something and post it! We've been so busy with vacations and stuff, I'm really missing my scrap room! So here's a card for my daughter who just moved back overseas for her hubby's hockey season. Her birthday is tomorrow and she loves pink and brown and BLING. The papers are Smitten by K&Co, and they are the ultimate girly papers! All pink and heart, and swirls, and flowers and glitter--totally yummy! I also used some hot pink mica paper that has sparkly specks in it. Anyhow, I used this girl image from A Child's Year cartridge cut at 2 1/2", then shadowed. That's on layers of nestabilities cuts. This card is heavy--12 layers thick from the card stock base to the pink girl! The pretty flower is also from K&Co and has been sitting around for the past year--isn't it just a perfect match? I used paper scraps for the inside and used A child's year for the grass/flower cut as well. What a cool effect looking like a silhouette against the rising heart "sun". Love these papers--did I already say that? The little wheel barrow and flowers were cut from Walk In My Garden. Now I have to email this card to my daughter (well, after I sign it) since I don't have an address for her, so I hope she sees the love I made it with. And now I have to finish packing to take some grandkids camping for a few days. Thanks for taking a peek!

Moonlit dove

This card is a bit different from what I usually do and I don't quite know what to make of it. Starting to grow on me though and was easy, so maybe I'll try some more. I bought this beautiful dove stamp at the stamp show but the image doesn't turn out anything like how theirs did. Their sample was all white with touches of blue and green, with pink flowers and green leaves--very striking. But MY stamp just comes out all one color like it's nighttime, and theirs looked like daytime. Is it possible there were 2 versions of the stamp? Anyhow, I almost threw the darn thing away because I couldn't do anything I liked with it. But I just don't know how to give up and kept playing with different colors until I found one I liked. This is vintage sepia, and after stamping it, it seemed natural to go with torn and inked edges. The dark brown background is some mica paper I had put through the cuttlebug a while back. Inked the card and threw together a flower and some "skittles". I don't know--what do you think??? Thanks for taking a peek!

Note card gift set

Here's a little gift set I made for my chemo buddy as a surprise. She can use the cards for thank you's, thinking of you, birthday, whatever. I made a pile of those with a Quickutz folder in my cuttlebug and a row of daisies from Walk In My Garden. Daisies are one of her fav flowers. Then I wanted a nice container for the cards so I made this box through trial and error until I had it right. I love how the butterfly from Indie Art turned out using the regular cut, the blackout, and the shadow all layered together. The daisies are from WIMG again, at 3 sizes and shadowed. Swirls are from Home Decor, and those cute leaves are from the daisy shapabilities by Spellbinder. Hope she can make use of this. But if not it's still cute to look at, right? Thanks for taking a peek!

May your day bloom...

Here's a happy little card for my chemo buddy. How can you not smile at those darling faces! These Peachy keen stamps are just such feel good stamps--gee, I have other ones I haven't even used yet because I keep reaching for these! Ah well. I added a touch of glitter to the flowers and a drop of liquid glass to the bugs. The embossed edges were done with my scor-bug (which I totally forgot I had and love to use!).

I hope you're all having a great summer. We're heading to vacation in NC next week where it is hopefully warm and dry (unlike here). And I take a big tote of card making goods just in case! Thanks for taking a peek!

Elegant teacup

The last card I did for my chemo buddy was just a simple quickie card that was rather blah (ya know those days when you are rushed for time and MUST create something but don't feel inspired?). Yeah. So I felt bad that it wasn't nicer and wanted the next one to show I put some effort and thought into it. I wanted it to be pretty and elegant, and am happy with how this one turned out. I have this background stamp that I just love, and I used it to emboss gold on part of the card, and white on the rest. I also gold embossed the teacup stamp then cut it out with my large scallop nestabilities. I cut another larger scallop out on gold foil paper. I used the threading water punch for a double scallop border, and added a few flat sided pearls to finish it off. Inside the sentiment says: Sending you a special blend of thoughts and wishes. I think she'll like this one. Thanks for taking a peek!

A Child's Year card

Here is my first card with A child's Year. This is a fantastic, loaded cartridge. For those of you who don't think you want it--you do! Each button has multiple images and functions that you don't even know about until you see the booklet. I can see me doing many, many layouts and cards with this.
So anyhow, this image was cut at 3 1/2" and I couldn't believe how nicely it cut. All of the pattern papers are Ancestry by K&Co. I've seen the sentiment as a stamp, but since I don't own it, I printed it up on the computer. Perfect sentiment for so many of the images on this cart. And I'm headed off to do some more playing myself. Thanks for taking a peek!

Peachy Keen birthday

I finally broke down and bought some Peachy Keen stamps, just because I wanted something cute and fun and whimsical. And how cute is that little face! All of the papers are Martha Stewart and I used nestabilities to cut out the flower and circle scallop. These stamps are fun and easy to color and took no time at all. The little butterflies were a last minute touch. (Shhhh, the edges of my birthday stamp smudged some ink and I had to hide it!) Part of being creative is knowing how to creatively hide your mistakes-LOL! Thanks for taking a peek!

Simplicity

This was a card for my chemo buddy I did right before the 4th of July. I needed something easy to do because time was short with getting ready for my family party, so I turned to these awesome rub-ons by Fancy Pants I'd just gotten. I wasn't sure what I'd do with this particular sheet, but decided it would make a nice card for my buddy since she's of an age when home sewing was the thing to do. My dotted background paper was some I made a week earlier when playing with a new dotted background stamp. (Don't I always seem to have something new to play with?) I just used some cheap pink ink on white cardstock with the stamp, then inked the edges. I made the brown paper with the scallop border by pressing a brown inkpad on some textured blush cardstock. I thought these papers worked great with the rub-ons. So I just threw those papers together and added the rub-ons--couldn't be easier. The second picture shows the inside of the card, also done with rub-ons from the same sheet. Aren't they pretty? Thanks for taking a peek!

Sailboat Birthday w/Angelina Fibers

Oh , my poor blog! So neglected and starved for attention. It sure got crazy at home trying to get things ready for our annual July 4th bash. The rain interfered so much and by evening I was beat! Now I have a bunch of cards to post and a ton of wonderful blog awards to hand out. Everyone has been so kind and generous to me with their comments and awards--goodness I've missed you all so much!

So this card is my sailboat stamp from Class Act (they are based in Canada and have an amazing supply of stamps perfect for guys). I use this stamp quite a bit, but this time I played with my Angelina fibers again. I made the sails with the white fiber and cut it out as one piece. I colored and stamped the boat part and cut that out as well. Next I did the water with white and a touch of blue, green, and gold fibers. Isn't that so cool looking? The clouds were stamped and heat embossed, then I layered everything on top, added the sentiment and some dew drops. I thought it made for an unusual look, and my son was dutifully impressed when I gave it to him.

Oh, and a big shout out to my Auntie Carol who told me she loves to visit my blog and actually reads what I write and loves my cards. She doesn't know how to leave a comment, and that's ok--I'm thrilled she visits just because she loves me. Back at ya Auntie Carol!

Christmas in June card challenge

I made this for the card challenge over at karelj.blogspot.com. We had to do something Christmasy without using white or primary red or green, and had to use a metallic element. So I decided to use this stamp I got at last months stamp show and gold embossed it on black mica paper. Pretty dramatic, don't ya think? Then I stamped it again on a blue spruce type color paper and embossed it and cut it out. Then I repeated that on cranberry paper. Look closely--I even cut out and glued on those tiny red berries. How's that for headache-inducing detail? Anyhow, I backed it all up with some gold foil cardstock and added some sparkly brads. A lot of work but it sure is a different christmas card. What do ya think of the black? Thanks for taking a peek! (And I'm off to the chiropractor today--yippee, hopefully I'll be cured!)

Smile

Well, I haven't felt much like smiling this week or being creative. My 6 month struggle with sciatica and back pain is really taking a toll. BUT I'm finally listening to my husband and will be seeing a chiropractor on Monday so I am confident better days are ahead! In the meantime I have to give my chemo buddy something to smile about, and her issues are certainly much larger than mine, so I came up with this for her. She loves red so I decided to go with bright cheery colors and keep it simple. I used the Cord'inations papers on this and a Quickutz embossing folder. I even had Primas that were just the right colors (how could I not, I have a huge stash!).

I apologize to all of my wonderful blogging buddies that I have not collected awards and visited your blogs lately. I'm not able to sit very long this week--I'm more comfortable moving around. So the good news is that my housework is all caught up and after I see the chiropractor on Monday, I can just morph here and have a visit with you all! I know you have fantastic creations I can't wait to see and I sooo miss seeing what you've done. And now it's time to move around again (ouch!). Thanks for taking a peek!

Polka Doodle Birdhouse

Whew! I think I got this done in time for the Polka Doodle challenge. Hope so--I worked on it all evening! The challenge was to do a card in the shape of a birdhouse with a stamped image and using their paper download. That's my background paper. It's looking pink but is actually a citrusy orange. My stamped image is the yellow flower. It's an Autumn Leaves stamp cut out several times and layered. The bird is from joys Of The Seasons and it has a slight shadow under it, as does my scalloped trim. The flower stem and bottom flowers are Fancy Pants rub-ons. Gotta hurry over to Polka Doodle and post this! Thanks for taking a peek!

Card with Angelina fibers--fun!

I blew off an entire afternoon playing with this stuff! I bought 5 colors of Angelina fibers (do a Google search-lots of places sell it) at the stamp show and finally got brave enough to try it out. It really was easy. Ink a stamp, lay various fiber colors on the stamp, cover with a piece of parchment paper, and iron for a few seconds. The fibers fuse together and your stamped impression shows through! That's the most use my iron has gotten in a year, seriously! I kept trying it with different stamps --wasn't fond of the results with large background stamps. But always cute with smaller ones. You can also make a fiber sheet by piling this stuff on parchment paper, covering it with more paper, and ironing over it. It fuses into a sheet that you can do all kinds of stuff with. I was able to use it with punches, but you have to be careful as it is thin and can get stuck. It also embossed beautifully in the cuttlebug! It's so shimmery and cool and is great for dragonflies, butterflies, and flowers. Comes in a ton of colors, which I now MUST get more of! Well, anyway, about this card (forgot why I was here)! The background is a dark turquoise which I used the same dragonfly stamp on with my Versa watermark pad. It gives a faint impression of dragonflies flitting about. That's mounted on a pale yellow pearlized cardstock for contrast. For the stamped sentiment, I used one of those cheap-why did I buy this thing-multi-colored inkpads that I thought I'd never use but still couldn't toss away. (Come on, I know ya all have em!). I thought it worked great with all the shiny colors of the Angelina fibers. The colors of the fibers seem to pop more against dark cardstock. This is the most fun ironing has ever been. For once I can't wait to get out the ironing board again! Thanks for taking a peek!

Card with fun foam

Goodness, I'm so far behind here! Several wonderful bloggers have given me blog awards that I've yet to post and pass on. I'm behind on challenges I want to do, and have some fun cards I need to post. Yikes! I better get busy.

So, anyhow, this is a card for Cricut Card Fairies and is for a lover of all things yellow. I saw some cards where fun foam was used with the cuttlebug dies and had to try it. The cuttlebug dies and the nestabilities cut this stuff beautifully! Wouldn't cut in my cricut, and stamping on it didn't work either (ummm, guess all that experimenting is why I'm behind here. But aren't ya glad I saved YOU all that time?). But it is fun in the cuttlebug and I didn't even have to change or adjust my "sandwich". I used the Core'dinations white wash cardstock (don't know where you can get it, I bought it at the stamp show), ran it through the cuttlebug and sanded the embossing. Then I distressed the edges but good--works well with this paper and looks great. Added some orangy buttons just to break up the yellow a little and used craft glue to attach the fun foam sentiment. Oh, I also tried the foam in my punches but it's too thick to fit in, so don't waste your time. Rats, I thought that would be cool. Well, I'll just have to go buy more dies to continue the fun with my fun foam. Thanks for taking a peek!

"Friend" ad challenge card

Over on the Cricut message board an Ad challenge was posted to make a card using the ad layout or the colors (blue, brown, and tan). With Father's Day coming up, everyone is making Father's Day cards with these colors, but I no longer have a dad to do that for. So I challenged myself to use these colors for a feminine card for my chemo card buddy. Hope I was successful. (Egads--tell me if I was NOT so I don't send it to her!). Anyhow, I obviously used the cuttlebug birds and swirls folder on the background. The green swirl was cut from Home Accents. I think it's the first time I've used that cut, and I really like how it looks on a card! Then the flowers were cut from that old stand-by, Walk In My Garden. Someone had given me these cute little metal bookplates, and I wasn't sure how to use them. But I knew instantly it was just right for this card. It framed my FRIEND stamp perfectly. I used gem brads in the flower centers to help feminize the card a bit. What do ya think-is this ok for a woman? Thanks for taking a peek!