Skull Valentine (or Indie Art meets Doodlecharms)

OK, right off the bat I'll admit this is not the most lovely valentine out there.  Not to us anyhow.  But I bet my nearly 8 year old grandson will think it's a pretty cool one. And that, my friends, makes me a cool grandma.  And the fact that it will enclose a McDonalds gift card is even cooler yet.  Not sweet and cutsey but I think I pulled off gothic glam ok.  Thanks for taking a peek!

A few sweet little Valentines

Apparently, the last few days I've been working on Valentines.  I didn't know this until I looked back at what I was making and saw there was a heart theme going on!  And now that I think of it, they all feature my new Doodlecharms cartridge.  It's such a sweet cart, it's made me let my hair down and for once just do CUTE!  So this one here started as an experiment.  I was playing with my ink blending tool and seeing how it would look with the embossing folders.  It worked well with this folder so I added some Doodlecharms hearts and a punched border.  Now it's a Valentine for one of my grandaughters.

This little puppy from Doodlecharms is a "just because" card for my 2 year old granddaughter.  She loves getting her own mail and thanked me profusedly when I sent her a card this past week.  Nothin' fancy here but a toddler sure can appreciate a puppy and sparkly pink hearts!

                                              

This was a fun one for my chemo buddy.  I'm just letting her know I'm thinking of her, and I think this conveys that.  Doodlecharms for the mailbox, my ever fav A Child's Year for the grass, and envelopes done by hand.  I stamped some hearts and added just a touch of stickles.  This took awhile with all the paper piecing but I enjoyed doing it for her.

And a BIG thank you to all the congrats I had for having some mentions in the "CHIRP".  I had 1 last week, and 2 cards mentioned this week.  Just lucky I had a few new carts and they were featuring those, but it was a fun 5 seconds of fame!  LOL!  Thanks for taking a peek!

Learning something new--tri-fold shutter card

Well, they say you can't teach an old dog new tricks, so I must not be that old after all since I'm learning how to do tri-fold shutter cards.  Now, it did take me the better part of the day to make this, what with looking at tutorials online and getting ideas and deciding on papers.  I took it slow and careful because this is for my chemo buddy and I wanted it to be nice.  So it did take awhile, but it was sooo much fun to do and not nearly as difficult as they look.  Future tri-folds will go much quicker, I'm sure (maybe not--I'm pretty picky!).  Anyhow, it's not perfect but I'm still happy with my first attempt.  First off, I used the prettiest papers I had--Webster's Pages mat stack.  There's no beating Webster's Pages for sheer Victorian/girly/swirly/lush beauty.  (DCWV Mariposa may come close.  I'll find out when those 2 stacks I ordered come in!).  The cameo on the front is from Heritage and I layered that on some nesties.  For the inside, I cut a tag from Sentimentals and stamped with a Studio G stamp.  I inked the edges.  Doesn't that go great in that spot with the flowers and music?  Added a few mini pearls and fibers, and that's all this pretty paper needed.  And there's hardly any scraps left over since these papers are double sided and I used both sides!  How did I do?  Thanks for taking a peek!

A worthy scraplift

I can not take credit for this cards design.  It's a scraplift from one I saw someplace in cyberland last year.  But I really like this layout and I think it works well for more serious cards.  Isn't my new stamp wonderful?  I stamped and heat embossed it, and the words and image are so crisp and clear.  I'll be using this one a lot for Cricut Card Fairies, I think.  Although I've been working at using my scraps, I cut 3 new sheets of paper for this card.  BUT...I then made 2 more cards out of those scraps so had nothing left over and got 2 simpler cards done.  Now that's the way to do it!  Thanks for taking a peek!

A Very Victorian Birthday

Here's a sweet little card I whipped up in just a matter of hours (gotcha--you thought I'd say minutes) for an elderly woman celebrating her birthday.  I love this color combination and was really happy with the way the cameo and frame from Heritage turned out.  The scor-bug made for a great background.  My problem was that annoying, uncooperative little swirly corner cut.  OMGosh!  I'm sure I spent at least an hour or more trying to get just one decent cut!  I tried every thickness of paper with every speed and depth combination on my cricut.  I replaced the needle, I re-stickied my mat.  I blessed the machine and I cursed it.  It just does not like this cut.  I wasted so much time and paper on that corner and developed a few new wrinkles and gray hairs because of it!  So I had to make due with the best I could get.  Thank goodness for pretty Primas!  Thanks for taking a peek!

Postcard-card using Sentimentals

Sentimentals has some cool images on it that kind of intimidate me because I'm afraid I can't do them justice.  But today this postcard cut just caught my eye and I had to give it a shot.  I cut the postcard out at 4", stamp at 1", and the bird at 2".  (The brown, pink, and green pattern paper are all scraps--yah, me!).  The 5 cents was cut from Printing Press.  Once I had the postcard done, I mounted it on a brown card and added a few flowers.  Oh, and the inking--do you love it?  I learned this inking technique from Marti and ordered the supplies from her.  This was my 1st time trying it and I was really happy with how it looks.  You can see her video here:

http://pezadoodle.wordpress.com/2009/12/28/just-buggin-challenge-17-inky-fingers-tutorial/

Excellent tutorial and has changed my way of inking!

And here's a card I made yesterday:

This little card uses Stretch Your Imagination.  This cart is also pretty new to me so I haven't used it much yet.  But I like these funky tall flowers, and my colors from my scrap box just seemed to all line up like the stars.  Very simple card, although those stems are only thick as a hair and can be a bit picky to work with.  So that's what I've been up to lately.  Thanks for taking a peek!

Butterfly cards with new Sentimentals cartridge.

I received a few new cartridges the other day and what better thing to do in the winter than to play with them?  I was immediately drawn to the butterfly.  Very swirly and pretty.  This black and white card was done for a couple celebrating their 75th anniversary.  I can't imagine 75 years of togetherness.  Wow!  So I used my scor-pal on this to emboss it--it's an elegant look with the mini pearls.  The butterfly is made from flocked paper, and of course it's all made from scraps!  But I also did a more colorful one.

                                    

This one is also mostly from scraps.  I did have to cut into a fresh sheet of the green color (and oh, it felt so good!  It's been so long since I've done that, with me trying to use up scraps!).  I scored this one also and added pale green pearls.  I used a ticket punch in the corners for a little something different.  This one is going to my chemo card buddy.  Next I'm going to play with my new Heritage cart!  Good stuff on that one-can't wait!  Thanks for taking a peek!

A couple scrappy cards

As anyone on the cricut message board knows by now, I've made a serious commitment to use up that endless pile of scraps.  I'm really itching to cut into a fresh whole sheet of paper.  Remember those early school days when you had a brand new box of crayons?  All the tips were sharp, the paper was still on, none were broken, that fresh waxy smell--ahhhhhh.  Well, a fresh new sheet of paper is just like that.  But I'm not using any.  I'm trying to be creative with my scraps and make do the best I can.  For this card I used all scraps and also dipped into some unused stash.  I have a lot of unused stash so I think I'll make more cards just like this one.  Not a fancy card but I think it has a cute simplicity about it.  It also was much quicker to make than the next one.

This one is also from scraps.  My objective here was to use pattern paper scraps, which I really have a hard time with.  This card is for a woman who loves green, so I picked papers with green in them and hoped they would somehow blend together.  I shadowed the flower petals and doodled on them.  Not my fav card colorwise, but it did use a ton of scraps and I like the style so will do more of these.  So the scrap pile IS starting to shrink and soon I'm going to reward myself by cutting into a thick, untarnished, glorious 12 x 12 sheet of paper with unbridled glee.  See how easy I am to please?  Thanks for taking a peek!

The Never-Ending Snowstorm--Day 6

On the final day of 2009 we could still see grass (a rarity for Western New York!).  That changed on January 1st when the New Year brought us what will here-on-out be called "The Never Ending Snowstorm".
It has snowed for 6 days and is supposed to continue for all of the forseeable future.  It's so cold the salt isn't melting it off the roads so the roads are coated with a slimy, slippery powder that is not fun to be in.  So how is this craft related, you may be wondering?  It's keeping me home instead of hitting up all those great sales at Michael's and other stores I keep hearing about!  People on the message board (they must live in the Florida Keys) are out buying $3500.00 worth of paper, stamps, and punches for about .30 cents!  And I'm missing it all!!!!  It's a 50 minute drive to M's and not worth getting $3500.00 worth of stuff for .30 cents if I slip in the slush and destroy a $25,000.00 car.  Or......is it?

Bubbles and Swiss Cheese

Do ya like that title?  Bubbles and swiss cheese--I'm not talking wine and cheese here.  I'm talking about this card I made today:

I used the swiss cheese border punch around the edges in the hopes it would look like bubbles.  Everyone on the message board says it does, and they're the experts!   So bubbles it is.  I love it when I can think outside the box.  It doesn't come to  me everyday!  Oh, and of course I used the ever so fantastic A Child's Year to get that cute tub cut.  I really use that cart more than all my others combined.

Speaking of which, here's another card I made today also using A Child's Year.

I love how soft and girly this turned out.  I just bought this great new background stamp and wasn't sure what to do with it.  So I inked it up with pink and blue and created a background and the rest just fell in place without even thinking about it.  And the best part is it's all from scraps!  I'm really working hard on that pile.  I joined a scrap exchange on the message board and we were to send a small baggy of scraps to someone.  Well, I sent this HUGE envelope filled to the brim--it cost me $2.50 to mail it.  Heh, heh, heh--her problem now!  Thanks for taking a peek!

Woo hoo--final update!

With this update I'm all caught up on my blog and I'm never never never going to get behind again.  Well, at least I'm going to try!  So here's a few of the final cards I did in December 2009.

This one is a pretty close copy to one I saw in a card magazine.  I loved the color blocking and decided to give it a go.  Their's had a stamped image but I used a cricut cut for mine.  The papers are some Cosmo Cricket papers I got in a grab bag.  I really wasn't feeling these papers at all and didn't know if I'd use them.  I ended up liking them for this card though and will do some more similar to this. The cut went great with the printed paper, don't ya think?  And next:

This card was for a guy and I love this stamp set for guy cards.  It's rugged yet peaceful.  I also love that tartan folder for the background for men.  It adds so much interest without being girly.  All of the stamps are also heat embossed.  Hope he liked it.  Next:

This was another guy card.  I make a point of buying stamps for guys because they make the job so much easier.  This one was also stamped and heat embossed.  I did it on glossy cardstock so the whole thing is nice and shiny.  It's matted against copper foil paper--a color I seldom use so this gave me a chance to do so.  The corners are from Jasmine.  For those of you who ask about the foil papers, I get some from Walmart, right in the craft section.  Mine carries it but others have said their's doesn't.  I also get American Crafts foil paper in a pack at Michael's.  I use up the gold and silver then have these odd colors that I have to find a way to really make use of.  Ok, one last card:

I made this card today completely from scraps.  I have 6 drawers of paper bits and this year's motto is "use it or lose it".  So everyday I'm trying to make a "scrap" card.  I'm liking this one because I think red is so striking against white.  The flower is hearts cut from George and shadowed.  That white prima was heat embossed with white powder twice.  Love how it looks like ceramic!  I dug out my scor-bug to use on the background.  Love my scor-bug but forget to use it, so I hung it on a little hook next to my scor pal.  Lastly I added some mini pearls.  Why don't you all try doing something just from scraps and see what you can come up with?  And TA-DAAAA, I'm caught up!!!! I've earned a margarita in the hot tub so I'm headed there now.  Happy New Years! And thanks for taking a peek!