Paper Hugs

Not Broken

2010-02-17T22:36:00.000-05:00

Hi friends! I have a whole bunch of layouts I want to share with you but it may take me a day or 2 to have my head in a better place. So I'm sharing what I made today as I had my own little therapy session in my scrap room. I love my husband dearly, but for the entire 8 1/2 years of our marriage, he has indulged in unacceptable behaviors. I've stuck with him through many years of therapy, been forgiving of his setbacks, and patiently awaiting progress. There comes a point in time where staying is more painful than leaving, and so a tough choice had to be made. And what can a scraper do but scrap those choices? I hand cut the hearts, then distressed the edges. The picture on it was done in Photobucket with several cool special effects. My embellishments of lace and flowers were parts of my bridal bouquet. I inked them but good to make them look old and wilted. My words are done with Pooh Font, then put through the cuttlebug and inked. Not a pretty subject, but life ain't always pretty, right? Thank goodness for all my wonderful crafting friends who continually brighten my day. God bless. And thanks for taking a peek!

My 2nd Tri-fold Shutter card

2010-02-10T23:43:00.000-05:00

Here's my 2nd tri-fold shutter card, and this one went a bit quicker than my first. Well, it would have if I didn't do the base 3 times! Do NOT use anything with a white core for your base, as the white will show through when you make the folds. Also do NOT use paper with a heavy texture for your base, as it will crack and look ugly! Lessons learned! I used the beautiful Mariposa papers on this and didn't need to add a whole lot else. I only added some brads to the middle and made a lacy valentine for the front. Here, I'll show you.

And, AND, I used the scraps to make a valentine for my little granddaughter. One of my Peeps asked if my scrap box was empty, seeing as I'm digging into all this pretty new paper. And the answer is, um, well, not really quite--ok, you dragged it out of me-I have a ton left... I love it you all keep me on track. But I did make a couple quick cards with my scraps so I'm still plugging away...

Actually, I made this birthday card for my granddaughter today and it was all out of scraps. That was on accident but it's all still good, right?

Someone sent me this cute Sarah Kay image and I've never colored one before. I've seen better for sure, but I had to get this in the mail today and really threw this card together in record time, and will a 9 year old really notice if the coloring isn't perfect? And anyhow, it does look cute with the Blossoms & Butterflies papers so I think it wasn't a bad card for a quickie.

So tomorrow I'm going to be posting some lay outs I've been doing. I have a daughter who's husband plays Pro hockey overseas, and when they come home next month, we'll be doing a big birthday/Christmas party. I'm making her 3, yes three, scrapbooks for her daughter, her son, and the family. So I have to make 60 pages in 30 days. And let me tell you I am NOT a fast crafter! But I've pulled it off for the past 3 days (only 54 LOs left), so root me on, keep me in line, and push me through it when my fingers are too tired to pull that ATG trigger one more time! Thanks, I knew I could count on you. And as always, thanks for taking a peek!

A Fairy Thanks

2010-02-01T21:38:00.000-05:00

I love this little fairy from A Child's Year and never have a chance to use it. But I needed a thank you for someone I'm sending a gift to, and she's a Cricut Card Fairy, so this cut just fits the bill perfect! Isn't she such a cute little gift-giving fairy? I popped her up on some nesties circles and cut "thanks" from Storybook. The papers are from the new Mariposa stack from DCWV. I'll tell ya those papers are so rich with color and sparkly embossing, I almost want to frame them and hang em' up! I bought 2 stacks just so I wouldn't hoard it and be afraid to use that pretty paper-LOL! Thanks for taking a peek!

Skull Valentine (or Indie Art meets Doodlecharms)

2010-01-30T22:05:00.000-05:00

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

2010-01-29T22:01:00.000-05:00

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

2010-01-26T12:04:00.000-05:00

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

2010-01-21T21:40:00.000-05:00

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

2010-01-19T21:47:00.000-05:00

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

2010-01-13T22:44:00.000-05:00

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.

2010-01-11T21:55:00.000-05:00

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

2010-01-07T12:13:00.000-05:00

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

2010-01-06T12:21:00.000-05:00

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

2010-01-05T18:05:00.000-05:00

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!

2010-01-01T20:30:00.000-05:00

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!

Christmas Cards

2009-12-31T21:37:00.000-05:00

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...

2009-12-30T20:43:00.010-05:00

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...

2009-12-29T16:06:00.010-05:00

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

2009-10-04T12:02:00.003-04:00

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

2009-09-28T19:52:00.002-04:00

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

2009-09-26T18:45:00.010-04:00

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!

2009-08-31T16:30:00.003-04:00

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

2009-08-19T18:30:00.002-04:00

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

2009-08-14T12:56:00.003-04:00

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

2009-08-09T14:01:00.005-04:00

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

2009-07-25T09:24:00.002-04:00

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

2009-07-22T22:50:00.003-04:00

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...

2009-07-21T16:35:00.003-04:00

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

2009-07-12T19:15:00.003-04:00

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

2009-07-12T19:05:00.002-04:00

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

2009-07-09T21:01:00.003-04:00

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

2009-07-09T20:42:00.004-04:00

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

2009-07-09T20:19:00.003-04:00

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

2009-06-22T10:01:00.003-04:00

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

2009-06-19T21:47:00.003-04:00

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

2009-06-16T22:40:00.002-04:00

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!

2009-06-15T21:58:00.002-04:00

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

2009-06-15T21:10:00.004-04:00

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

2009-06-12T13:07:00.003-04:00

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!

My First Blog Award!

2009-06-10T17:52:00.020-04:00

Wow, I got my first blog award from Leanne! How sweet was that of her? Go check out her blog. She has REALLY good taste--her background is the same as mine! LOL! Thanks Leanne-you're too nice!

There are a few requirements to accepting the Honest Scrap Award and they are as follows. A) I must thank the person who gave me the award and list their blog and link. B) I must list 10 honest things about myself. C) I must put a copy of the The Honest Scrap logo on my blog. D) I must select at least 7 other worthy bloggers and list their links.

So, ok, 10 honest things about myself. That was hard as I live a very ordinary existance.

1) My biggest blessings are my kids and grandkids. I am nothing without them.

2) I come from a very blended family. I have 5 full-blood siblings, 1 half sibling, 2 step siblings, 1 adopted sibling, and 1 deceased baby sibling.

3) I love pink, blue, and purple. I seldom wear or use red, orange, and yellow.

4) I use to dabble in creative writing and had a children's short story, a poem, and a religious essay published.

5) My husband and I have built homes for Habitat For Humanity in NY, SC, AL, and Conn.

6) I am very shy.

7) I am very intuitive. I have "known" of deaths, miscarriages, and baby genders of those who are close to me before they happened.

8) I swear when I play golf.

9) I proposed to my husband through a picture of our favorite word game saying "Will you marry me?".

10) I don't particularly care for chocolate and never crave it.

So, now to come up with 7 worthy bloggers that I would like to pass this award on to:

Victoria

Jo

LoopyLou

Thanks ladies for the support you've shown me as I ventured out into blog land! You are all fantastic people as well as talented artists!

Criss Cross card for Polka Doodle

2009-06-08T10:28:00.007-04:00

This weeks Polka Doodle sketch challenge lent itself quite nicely to a criss cross card. I've always wanted to do one but never had, and thought it would make for a special card for my granddaughters' 2nd birthday next week. I have a terrible time with putting patterned papers together, and we had to use at least 3, so I picked up this Martha Stewart paper. All of the sheets look so adorable together! I stamped and colored the Lily stamp twice and popped dotted the top layer. "Wishing You" was printed on purple cardstock on my computer then glued to some purple ribbon. The flower is a bunch of Primas layered together with a button from Fancy Pants in the middle. My whimsical little sun is a Studio G stamp. I used it on a circle cut from George, then glued that to a foam circle cut with my scalloped nesties. The inside balloons are from George and the words from Alphalicious and Stamped. Can you believe I used 6 different prints and a solid from this paper pack? Wow, Martha makes card making easy! Thanks for taking a peek!

Easy colorwash card

2009-06-04T09:39:00.003-04:00

I made this card in just minutes (no small feat for me!) with Cord'inations new colorwash cardstock. I love this stuff! I rolled a piece through the cuttlebug then sanded the embossing. The colorwash coating is pretty heavy and takes 150 grade sandpaper. So cool to see the color coming through. The corners were trimmed with my corner rounder punch-gives such a nice finished look. Then I stamped my sentiment on another piece, sanded the edges, and taped it on. I finished it off with some purple rain dots in the flower centers. I really like the rain dots when you want to send a nice flat card. They don't poke through the envelope like brads and pearls do. How easy was that? I pumped 4 of these out in no time for Cricut Card Fairies--maybe now I'll get caught up! Thanks for taking a peak!

my stamp show goodies

2009-06-02T16:42:00.005-04:00

Look at all the great stuff I got at the stamp show. Actually, my husband bought me a lot of it! He watches the demos while I'm shopping, then tells me all the stuff I need to buy. I'd be crazy to argue! I can't wait to try out the Angelina fibers--they look so awesome on butterflies and flowers. Lots of great stamps of course-my fav thing for card making. The whitewash Core'dinations cardstock had the coolest look when it's embossed in the cuttlebug then lightly sanded. Really can't wait to try that! And hubby got me chalks, Marvy inks, color dusters, and a technique video so I can try some new things out. Woo hoo! I'm going to be busy for quite awhile!

Yummy juicy cherries for Polka Doodle!

2009-06-02T16:26:00.005-04:00

This is my entry for the Polka Doodle card sketch challenge. (I wanted to post the sketch here, but I'm a little challenged myself!) But I have to brag about my cherries--don't they look like they are bursting with juicy goodness? I colored the stamp with 2 shades of red and blended it with a prisma wax blending pencil. I have never used these before but I really like them! Then I dabbed on a little red stickles (ya know I include stickles every chance I get!), then I slathered on a good helping of Liquid Glass (by Close To My Heart). The circles and scallops were cut out with nestabilities. I stamped little cherries on the background paper and heat embossed with white. And it may not look it, but I used my cricut on this. My weird shaped sentiment stamp is on the caterpillar from Walk In My Garden. He may be hard to recognize without head and legs. I doodled little black dots on the sentiment to match the ones that were on my mini cherry stamp. So do you think this is challenge-worthy? It's going to my chemo buddy. Hope she likes it. Thanks for taking a peek!

"hello"--my first chemo card angel card

2009-05-28T17:26:00.003-04:00

I'm so excited to be a chemo card angel, I wanted to get started right away. Tomorrow I leave to go camping with the kids and grandkids for the weekend (and sneaking off to a stamp expo too!), so this is it for the rest of the week.

So I thought a "hello" card would be perfect for my first introduction with my patient. I'll be including a little get-to-know-me letter so she has a feel for who her "angel" is (their word, not mine--I don't own a halo!). I used Indie Art, Alphalicious, and Home Decor for the cuts. The embossing was done with a Quickutz folder. Sorry the pic quality isn't too hot. Cloudy, rainy day here today. You all have a great weekend and I'll be thinking of ya as I wander that stamp show and fill my bags with goodies! I asked dear hubby how much I could spend and he said, "No budget. Buy whatever you want." Aren't those the sweetest words ever spoken?

B HAPPY--improved (I hope!)

2009-05-28T12:23:00.003-04:00

Ok, here's my improved card. I just couldn't keep those other bees with their creepy crawly legs! So I looked at my other cartridges and saw these on Walk In My Garden. DUH--why didn't I think of that before! Guess I'm having senior moments! LOL. Anyway, I think this is a little more cutsey and in keeping with the feel of the rest of the card. At least it doesn't make me cringe anymore!!! What do you guys think?

Woo Hoo--I've been assigned a patient!!!

2009-05-27T21:25:00.002-04:00

No, I don't need to BE a patient (don't call out those guys with the straight jackets!). I have joined an organization called ChemoAngels and I have been assigned a patient today. I am officially a ChemoAngel Card Angel! I've been entrusted to send cards and letters at least 1-2 times a week to a woman going through chemotherapy. I'm not allowed to say anything about her, but will say I was thrilled to see it was someone with similar tastes and interests as me. She even loves pink and blue--my fav colors too! So you know how easy it'll be to make cards for her. I'm just so excited to have one specific person to keep making cards for. Someone who really needs to be uplifted and will (hopefully!) look forward to my creations. I just had to share my excitement! Woo Hoo-happy dance! Wish I knew how to put a dancing happy face here!

B Happy

2009-05-27T15:20:00.002-04:00

Well, I did this card for the new sketch challenge at Polka Doodle, but as I was getting ready to post it there I had company arrive and missed the chance! Oh, well, it was still a fun challenge and now I have this card done that I can give someone. And a new challenge starts Friday so I'll just be a little more punctual! I practiced my sewing skills on this card--with contrasting thread this time. I was a bit nervous about that because mistakes will show up more easily, but I think I did ok. And if I didn't then, hey, it's only paper. Throw it away and start again, right? I used Storybook for the words, George for the flower, and Home Decor for the bees. The bees are a bit realistic for me--kinda creeps me out, but I didn't have any cutsey bees. I added a touch of glitter to the "skittles" in the corner by first dotting some yellow stickles to the paper, letting it dry, then sticking on the skittles with a glue dot. Love how the glitter shows through the plastic bead. The papers are all Fancy Pants Botanicals. I love the soft colors of these papers. Thanks for taking a peek!

blog candy from JulieT--scrumptious!

2009-05-18T17:50:00.003-04:00

Look at these goodies I won on JulieT's blog! There's a whole lot of fun sitting there! And that card is soooo darn cute-you should see the sparkle! Thanks Julie! That was a very generous blog candy and I'm so glad you offered it! Check out Julie's blog and see her great creations HERE.

Purple & White sewn card

2009-05-18T15:58:00.002-04:00

So here's my second card that I sewed on. Ya know, it's pretty easy once you get over the fear of running paper through your sewing machine. I kept this card a little bit plainer than I normally do--hope it isn't too dull! I cut the flower out with George at 1", 1 1/4", and 1 1/2". The leaves are actually a flourish from Home Accents, but I think it makes great leaves! I threw some of those same flourishes in the corners too, but cut off the ends. And of course my ever present Martha Stewart butterflies (I always end up sticking them in spots that seem boring)! A few dewdrops and some ribbon finish it off. Pretty easy layout--I think I'll try it with pattern paper next and see what I come up with. Thanks for taking a peek!

My first card with sewing!

2009-05-17T10:14:00.003-04:00

This was a fun card using Walk In My Garden which I don't use often enough and has so much cool stuff on it. The flower stems, sign, and caterpillar (isn't he cute?) are all from WIMG, and the flowers are from George. I curled the petals with a little paint brush handle to add dimension. I embossed the leaves using the vines Quikutz folder, and the sign with a Fiskars plate. I used a lot of pearlized papers on this so it's hard to see the sign through the shine, but it says "Thinking Of You". I stamped the sky with a flourish and embossed with white powder. The grass was made with my new Fiskars treading water punch, and the butterflies with my trusty Martha Stewart punches. OH! And I sewed on this--my first time ever to sew on a card! That was fun and I love how it looks. But how is it that I've had this sewing machine for, like, 20 years and never realized it has only 2 stitches??? Now I NEED a newer sewing machine! Am I right? Thanks for taking a peek!

Faith card

2009-05-17T10:06:00.002-04:00

This is a little bit different card for me as I tried to keep it very simple. I made it for Cricut Card Fairies and is for a man who is in his final weeks with cancer. These cards are very hard to do, when someone has no hope and all you have left is Faith. So no frills with this one. I hope he clings to his faith as he walks his final journey.

I won a RAK!

2009-05-17T10:00:00.002-04:00

Look at all the goodies I won in a RAK by AllbuggedoutinNJ! I couldn't believe when this box came and it was so packed with surprises. There were Fiskars plates, cuttlebug folders, tons of stamps, number packs, brads, ribbon, book plates, and more! How awesome! I've already tried the Fiskars embossing plates in my cuttlebug and they worked great. You can never have too many embossing toys. Thanks AllbuggedoutinNJ!

Lilac

2009-05-11T11:55:00.002-04:00

How realistic and pretty is this lilac? This is another decoupage image but is only 4 layers deep. Seems most of the ones I do are 6 or more, so this was an easy one! I curled these images under a little bit to give a puffier look since lilacs are, well, puffy! The background paper is something I found on a vintage graphics site and is actually vintage wallpaper. I cut the frame around the lilac on my cricut using my fav Home Decor cartridge. The frame and the punched butterflies are made with pink foil cardstock which just looks so pretty on this card. I had a chunk of vellum so I used that for the lilac backdrop and some fancy corners. A lot of people have asked me for the link to this lilac, so if you are interested, you can find it HERE. Have a great day and thanks for taking a peek!

Roses Mother's Day card

2009-05-11T11:37:00.003-04:00

I love how cheery and colorful this card turned out. I printed up the decoupage sheet on white cardstock, cut the pieces, and layered using 1/16" foam dots. I love matting these images a couple of times--seems to make it more dramatic. The yellow cardstock was embossed with my scor-bug. I used gold glitter embossing powder on the greeting and added a ribbon and some self adhesive pearls. This is a ton of layers and the card is HEAVY! I like how it turned out though. If you want to try this image you can find it HERE. Thanks for taking a peek!

2009-05-08T14:10:00.009-04:00

I have been asked to post step by step directions on doing the layered cards. It can be a little time consuming, but it's not difficult. For this rose card, I started by printing up a decoupage sheet. You can find it by clicking here. Print on smooth white cardstock:

This one has a base image with a frame around it, and I'll be building on that. So first cut out your images. Use small scissors and cut as close to the image as you can. You'll have to leave a little extra around stems, or sometimes you can just eliminate the stem and use just the leaf. I cut the base piece on my paper cutter. Here are the pieces all cut:

To assemble the pieces, use 1/16" foam dots. Turn over the piece that goes on the base (it was marked #2 on the sheet) and put dots wherever support will be needed. This rose has a lot of layers, so I use a lot of dots for good support. I cut thin strips to put under the rose stem to help support that. Remember to work from the bottom layers, up:

Lay that on top of your base and press down. Repeat with all of the layers until it's done. It's easy to tell which piece is next-there will be less detail on it. You can also number the backs of the pieces as you cut them out. Here's the assembled image:

And that's all there is to doing a decoupage sheet image for a card! To finish this card, I mounted the rose on a scalloped frame I cut from Storybook at 4 1/2". I mounted that on some dark red cardstock that I had adhered vintage lace to (the lace is taped to the back of the cardstock). I cut Jasmine corners at 4 1/2" and 5" on shadow, and adhered them with foam dots. The little bird was cut with Home Decor (can't say enough good about that cart!) at 1 1/4" and shadowed. That was adhered with the foam dots too. Any cricut or punched butterfly will work, but mine was an image I printed and layered 4 times. I used glue dots on that instead of foam dots. The card was finished up with self adhesive pearls on the lace and rose frame. Sorry I couldn't take pictures of all that--I had to hurry and get this done and in the mail! But here's the finished card:

And click HERE for a ton of links to decoupage images. Hope this pictorial was helpful! I've never done one before, so if I left out anything you need to know, just ask! And thanks for taking a peek!

Layered Thank You card

2009-05-06T10:17:00.003-04:00

This card is for a realtor who helped my daughter buy some property. I love the soft colors on this! The pink cardstock was scored using my scor-bug (such a handy little gadget!). I cut out and layered the image multiple times with 1/16" foam dots, and added just a touch of stickles to the flowers. The thank you frame was cut out with Storybook. I stamped thank you and heat embossed with silver powder. I also stamped and embossed a butterfly image on my Martha Stewart punched butterflies. A few primas with blue pearl brads finished it off. I hope they like it. Thanks for taking a peek!

Challenge #10--use a circle/oval/scallop shape

2009-05-03T10:14:00.003-04:00

This was the final card I made yesterday for The Pink Stampers blog party to celebrate National Scrapbooking Day. What a blast to be presented with challenges and see how productive I could be. I completed 8 of the 10 challenges and was pretty happy with that. This one was done after 11:00 PM and I was beat, so I was glad this was an easy, easy one. Easy for me anyhow since I use these shapes in many of my cards and I have a bunch of great nestabilities to work with! So I threw this one together in about 5 minutes. I used my scor-bug on the background, then cut 2 sizes of nestabilities scalloped ovals and embossed them with the cuttlebug. The swan image was a leftover from a previous card so I cut that with an oval nestie and added some stickles and liquid glass. Turned out kinda cute for a 5 minute card don't you think?

Challenge #9--mix it up title

2009-05-03T10:08:00.002-04:00

Here was something different and interesting to do--make a card or layout with a mixed up title. Meaning, use different fonts and sizes. I used 3 fonts on this card from Storybook, Alphalicious, and George. Did various sizes, in blue, yellow, and green pearlized paper. I shadowed the letters in a black mica paper--really makes those letters pop! Fun card to do!

Challenge #8--heart card sketch

2009-05-03T10:05:00.002-04:00

For this challenge we had to make a card based on a provided sketch. This was a fun and easy challenge. Did my heart on the cricut, punched out a border with a EK Success punch, and some butterflies with the ever present Martha Stewart punch. Easy!

Challenge #6--use pattern paper and cricut

2009-05-03T09:54:00.002-04:00

National Scrapbooking Day is over with but I'm still posting the challenges I completed for The Pink Stampers blog party. For this one we had to use pattern paper. I own tons of it, and it's all in co-ordinating pads. Yet I never quite know what to do with it. I'm afraid all the patterns will look messy together and the sentiment and embellishments will get lost. But I thought this card turned out ok and really didn't need much added because of the paper. In the light of day, I see my ribbon is a bit red for it. At 11:00 last night I could have sworn it was burgandy! Ah, well. It's still another card done!

I'm tired!

2009-05-02T21:23:00.002-04:00

I've been busy creating and blogging for 9 hours now--I'm tired! But I'm not done yet--I've got 6 challenges done and want to finish at least 2 more tonight. Then I can do the remaining 2 tomorrow. Thank goodness the Pink Stamper is giving us extra time to do our stuff--I work to slow! She threw a great party though and tomorrow I'll have a bunch more cards to post here. I know all my message board friends had as much fun as I did. A giant THANKS to our host!

Challenge #4--Make a Mother's Day card

2009-05-02T18:13:00.003-04:00

Well, I've just been having so much fun participating in The Pink Stamper's blog party to celebrate National Scrapbooking Day. I'm getting so much done! This was a great challenge for me because I hadn't done a Mother's Day card yet so it got my butt in gear! I stamped and embossed the white cardstock--white on white just always looks so classy. Then I cut out the bird and branch on my cricut. I was going to shadow them green but it was WAYYYY too much green--looks better as is. Some pink primas and mini pearls dress up the branch. I stamped the word Mother and embossed it with copper. Wow--glad to get that done!

Challenge #3--make a child's card

2009-05-02T16:18:00.002-04:00

The timing for this challenge was perfect because my grandson had just called to say he won the pine wood derby race that those little boyscouts do. He's 7 and was so thrilled to have the trophy! So, perfect time to make him a congrats card. I found this image on a decoupage sheet and layered it 3 times. I cut out the "SPEED" and stars on my cricut and was done. On to the next challenge!

Challenge #2--Try something new

2009-05-02T14:58:00.002-04:00

I've joined Pink Stamper's blog party for National Scrapbook day and she posted a challenge to use something in your stash you haven't used before. Now, I really do use pretty much everything in my stash--except these Copic markers that I just never know what to do with. So here's my feeble attempt to color a tree and the sky with copic markers. ( I didn't have gray for the rock so used prisma pencils for that.) Not sure I'm loving this card. I guess it's ok for a guy, but I'm not used to leaving white space and not using butterflies and bling. Oh well--2 challenges done!

Brown & pastel card--challenge 1

2009-05-02T13:35:00.004-04:00

Well, here's a quickie card I just made. Today is National Scrapbook Day and I've joined a blog party with challenges and prizes. The 1st challenge was to make something using brown and pastel. I totally froze--what will I make? I can't work under pressure! UGH! So I thought my blog party days were over. But I grabbed some brown and pink cardstock and just started throwing this together with no plan in mind. This little bird goes with everything so I cut him out, added a flower and was done before I knew it. Whew! Back to the party now!

Little Ballerina

2009-05-01T10:24:00.002-04:00

This ballerina card is for a little girl who's family is going through some really tough times (the card below is for her mother). This is a decoupage image I layered 3 times and added a little sparkle. What little girl (or big girl) doesn't like sparkle?! The yellow flower border was cut on the cricut and some cute button brads added. The double punched border was done with the Martha Stewart lace doily punch--my fav! Thanks for taking a peek!

Hello...

2009-05-01T10:17:00.002-04:00

This was a simple card I made for Cricut Card Fairies. What I like about it is the Fancy Pants paper did most of the work for me! I finally got around to using my new cuttlebug border folder--really adds a nice touch. I backed that up with a punched border and topped it with a butterfly made with my cricut. This card went together so fast that I threw another one together with the scraps for future use (why don't I think to do that more often!). Thanks for taking a peek!

cute mouse & flowers

2009-04-30T09:54:00.003-04:00

I just love this adorable decoupage image. Hearts, flowers, butterflies--then that adorable mouse to boot! I just had to make a card with it. This was pretty straight foreward--print and cut the images, stack them on 1/16" foam dots, then add some stickles in lavendar, fruit punch, and star dust. Don't ya think this image just begs for some stickles? I matted it all against some white and green cardstock. The green is a pearlized cardstock and is about as heavy as chipboard. Great stuff I think I bought from Marcos and worth the money! Anyhow, it turns out in my arsenol of border punches I somehow don't have a scallop (I really must remedy that soon) so to make the scallops I ran my largest scalloped square nestabilities through my cuttlebug then cut off the edges. Worked pretty cool! I stamped "Hi!" and matted to match the image and added some cute flower buttons. If you want to try this image, just click HERE Thanks for taking a peek!

50th Anniversary

2009-04-28T15:17:00.003-04:00

Ok, here's a pretty simple card that took me 3 hours to do. That's because after figuring out what the basic sketch would be, I decided to mix things up, switch things around, and experiment with techniques. Eventually I was sick of it all, had lost my creative mojo, and didn't have a clue what I was trying to do! So, back I went to my original sketch and was done in 15 minutes. UGHHHHH--the wasted time! And that's why I'll never be able to post more than a few items here a week.

Anyhow, this card is pretty self explanatory. I used the scor embosser ( I think that's what it's called) directly on the card. I put some white cardstock through the cuttlebug using the birds and swirls folder, then matted it on gold foil cardstock. The swirl and 50 were cut on the cricut using Storybook, and the birds are from Joys Of The Season. I love using those "2 turtle doves" as love birds on cards like this. (Plus I didn't buy the cartridge until after Christmas so I didn't get to use it for the holidays). A nice white and gold card for a golden anniversary--hope they like it! Thanks for taking a peek!

Swan Decoupage

2009-04-26T19:01:00.004-04:00

I managed to get a card done today even with the grandbaby underfoot. It's amazing how much fun a little one can have with a pile of buttons and some old stickers!

This swan was from another decoupage sheet online. The swan was edged with star dust stickles, and liquid glass was applied to the water. I matted the swan background with white cardstock and put some self adhesive pearls in the corners. The black cardstock was embossed with swiss dots. I used the Martha Stewart border punch on it too. Added pink ribbon and more pearls. If you're liking that swan, you can find it HERE . Thanks for taking a peek!

Lavender Fairy Card

2009-04-25T19:28:00.004-04:00

This card is one of my favs--I got to use sooo many toys and goodies on it! Butterflies and the fancy border were done on my cricut. The interior of the frame was embossed on my cuttlebug. I lightly inked it and love how it makes the fairy look like she's right down in the grass. The purple frame was "glitterized" with stickles, and boy did that turn out sparkly. I stamped, colored and cut out the fairy image several times and used foam dots to layer. Liquid glass on her wings and touches of glitter in her hair and skirt make her nice and sparkly too! I finished it off with bunches of primas, gem brads, and tiny rhinestones dotted about. Definately a girly-girls card!

Black and White Anniversary

2009-04-25T19:12:00.003-04:00

Here's an anniversary card I made for our soldiers, and it's a great way to get more use from a Christmas cartridge. I cut the 2 turtle doves from Joys Of The Season and matted them 3 times. Can ya tell I really love my ticket punch? Sometimes getting rid of those pointy corners is all you need. I used little touches of red to give this some pop--somehow I just can't do a totally b & w card! Thanks for taking a peek!

Lily stamp card

2009-04-25T19:00:00.003-04:00

This is the first time I've used this Lily & Milo stamp and it was perfect for my granddaughter's birthday card. I colored it with Prisma pencils and added just a touch of sparkle to the dress. The blue glitter cardstock is super sparkly. The pattern paper was just some dollar store stuff, but doesn't it go pretty with this? I doodled around the stamped image--my first attempt at that. Thanks for taking a peek!

With Sympathy

2009-04-25T16:42:00.002-04:00

Here's a sympathy card I made when I was first experimenting with embossed backgrounds. I stamped and embossed the white cardstock--love the satiny look it gives to it! The bird and branch were cut with the cricut using Home Decor. I added some little pink primas and pearls and stamped the sentiment. Thanks for looking!

Totally scraplifted...

2009-04-25T14:05:00.002-04:00

So, I totally stole this card. Well, not the card--I made that! But the idea for it came from some talented individual on scrapbook.com, whom shall remain nameless because, well, I'm terrible at remembering names! I thought these colors together were just so striking, I had to do one. The blue paper has been stamped and heat embossed with white powder, as was the sentiment. The white cardstock was embossed with the cuttlebug and a border added with the Martha Stewart lace doily punch. The edges were inked with green, which I also used on white ribbon to make my own matching ribbon. And the brad was one of those plain silver ones you get from a hardware store. I dragged it across my glue pad then dipped it in blue embossing powder and applied heat. I love embossing!

Anniversary card

2009-04-25T13:58:00.002-04:00

This is the card I made my husband for our anniversary a few weeks ago. The cuts were made with the Storybook cartridge and I stamped and heat embossed the pink paer, the letters, and the black scallop. Little mini pearls were added to the heart, black scallop, and the center of the little pink flower. The larger flower has a Martha Stewart punched butterfly and a heart brad holding it all together. It may be hard to see, but above LOVE is a rub on Celebrate. Thanks for taking a peek!

Sailboat card

2009-04-25T13:41:00.003-04:00

I just love this sailboat stamp for guy cards, and when I found this sentiment stamp, I just had to pair them up together! The stamp is from a series called Words Worth Remembering. I stamped the boat then colored it in and added a touch of stickles. Liquid glass was added to the water. The sentiment was stamped using versawatermark pad (my new fav) and heat embossed with blue powder. The white cardstock was mounted onto blue pearl cardstock (gives it a cool little sheen) and some silver brads added. Thanks for taking a peek!

3D Blue Rose

2009-04-25T13:28:00.003-04:00

Here's another 3D card done with a decoupage sheet. This was a little picky to cut out but I think it was worth the effort. The sheet was printed on white cardstock, I and cut out most of the layers--there were one or two I opted to not bother with. I pop dotted the layers with 1/16" foam dots and mounted it on an oval I cut with my nestabilities. I ran the oval through the cuttlebug for added interest. I matted that against a scalloped green oval (also nesties) and mounted that on purple cardstock. I made a scalloped square with nesties and put that peeking out from behind part of the purple. I've seen that done many times and like the effect! I made a swirl on the cricut and shadowed it, added a touch of ribbon and some silver dew drops. I may experiment with a little stickles next time.

So far I have not been able to find where I got the rose, but I'll link it here as soon as I figure it out. Thanks for having a peek!

3D HUGS card

2009-04-25T08:52:00.011-04:00

This card was my first attempt at a 3D card using decoupage images. I LOVE how these cards pop! I printed this sheet up on white cardstock and cut out the 8 layers (I did that while watching TV so I didn't feel like I was wasting time). I matted the base background layer on white cardstock, then mounted 4 layers on top of that using 1/16" foam dots. I felt using all 8 layers was too much, and so used the 5 (think every other layer). This is all on a blue mat I embossed with my brand new scor-bug embosser--LOVE the look it gives! Then that's all matted on white and deep rose. I cut HUGS out on the cricut using Alphalicious and shadowed it, then pop dotted that on. Butterflies and branches were made with Martha Stewart punches (used the cuttlebug on the butterflies), and some Making Memories button brads.

The second picture shows the great dimension, and the third one shows what I did inside. I used the remaining 3 images, popped them up and taped it in. The sentiment was computer generated. This card is heavy and thick. It'll be mailed in a bubble envelope.

If you want to try one of your own, here's a link to the image.

In The Beginning...

2009-04-24T22:17:00.000-04:00

A couple of people have been asking me if I have a blog. Ummm...what's a "blog"? Then I began noticing links others posted to their sites of musings and creative expressions. I began thinking, "Hmmm, maybe I could do this". And then a year (or two) passed. And after much blood, sweat, and tears, (and a sledgehammer to several laptops--just kidding--sort of), here I am! This is still a work in progress, as am I, and the skills necessary to do work that one dares to display in a public forum! So bear with me as I show off my creations, and my grandkids no doubt, and put in the occasional shameless plug for my daughter's website at www.paciplushies.com. And thanks for stopping by Paper Hugs!