Thursday, December 31, 2009

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!

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

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!

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

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!