Fun Day

Yesterday my son took us all to Macaroni Grill for lunch and then the guys and us gals split up.  Clare, my daughter-in-law and I hit up all the craft stores, Michaels, Hobby Lobby and Joann's.  The sales weren't as good as I was anticipating, but we still got some bargains.  I got two new 12 x 12 paper stacks and one of the smaller sized paper stacks.  We did some serious damage in JoAnn's at the $1.00 bin!  Lots of bling and a few cute little stamps.  It was so much fun to shop with Clare and she got a great deal on the Paisley cartridge at Michaels.  We both stayed under budget and got some good deals.  I just want to know if Michaels is ever going to put the Martha Stewart stuff on sale?!?!

Hope everyone's Holiday is going as well as mine!
Thanks for coming. See you soon,
Cindy : )

The Last Christmas card for 2010

I made this card for my sister and didn't want to post until after she received it.

The tree is from Winter Frolic and the stamp inside is from PaperTrey Ink.

Thanks for coming by,
Cindy : )

Joy to the World

I wanted to use some more of the word art on the Winter Frolic Cartridge.

I made a standard size A2 card.  The Phrase is from page 70 cut at 3 3/4 inches.   The background tag is from Winter Woodland page 44 cut at 4 inches.  The base of the card is craft paper from PaperTrey Ink.  The other papers are from DCWV The Handmade Christmas Stack. I inked the all of the edges with Colorbox Chestnut Roan to add some dimension. The inside stamps are from PaperTrey Ink stamped using Stampin' Up Bravo Burgundy ink.  I am still not sure about the Jolee's Boutique star on the front, but once it was stuck, it was stuck!

Thanks for coming by,

Cindy : )

Christmas card for Mom

All the cuts on this card are from the Winter Frolic cartridge.  The "Wishing You" is the shift option of the Phrase function on page 65.  The "A Very Merry Christmas" is the phrase on page 46.  The tree is from page 50.  This cartridge has some great Christmas images and phrases on it.  The background paper is from DCWV The Christmas Combo stack.  The phrases are cut from coordinating glitter paper, but it is hard to see in the picture.  This is a 5 x 7 card.

Thanks for coming by,
Cindy : )

Snowman Soup

I made some cute give-aways.  I totally "scraplifted" this from this blog hop.
http://www.thehappystamper.com/2010/12/episode-183-joys-thankyou-gift-blog-hop.html

I used the Snowman from Doodlecharms page 82 in all but the first one.  That one I used a snow man from Winter Frolic page 32.  I went with the Doodlecharms snowman because he had fewer layers which is good when mass producing.  The Snowman's hat came from Christmas Cheer page 111.  I first cut the blackout layer with black paper, then cut the shift base shape out of white glitter paper.  On this one it cuts the nose too.  So I just flipped the actual cut and inked the nose orange and glued it glitter side down and the orange side up. 
I printed the poem on white cardstock and layered it with cardstock.  I used a Martha Stewart punch to punch the snowflake and added a bling to the middle.  On the back (not pictured) I used a My Pink Stamper stamp that said "Sweet Wishes" and signed it. 

The paper is cut 4 1/4 inches by 11 inches then scored in three sections.  I did mine a little different.  I added the hot chocolate pack to the middle with glue dots, then folded over the right side and stuck it with a small strip of tape with my ATG.  Then packaged it with a candy cane, 3 hershey's kisses and 5 mini marshmallows.

They turned out pretty cute. 

Thanks for coming by,
Cindy :)

Jeremy's card

My son's good friend is graduating Saturday from college with a nursing degree.  My son says to me "You can make him a card.  I know you like to do that."  So this is the card that I made for him.

I'm sorry it is crooked.  Must have been holding the camera at a funny angle!  The base was a pre-made white 5 x 7 card. I added a 5 x 7 layer in gold so that you don't see the white at all.  The brown layer is 4 3/4 x 6 3/4 inches. The green layer is another 1/4 inch smaller.
The graduate was made from Everyday Paperdolls using the blackout feature at 3 1/4 inches and a Peachy Keen Dolly Dumplings stamp.  His uniform and stethescope were cut from page 61, the bandaid is from page 62.  The graduate cap is from page 46 of the EPD cartridge also.  The word art "congratulations" is from the Alphalicious cartridge.  I used the Cricut markers on the uniform, bandaid, tassle and word art.  Some stickers for the corners and a few "stitches" with the white Signo pen.

Thanks for coming by,
Cindy :)

Kick up your heels

My Pink Stamper is having a challenge today for a birthday card in honor of her little boy's birthday.
I decided to do a card that I thought a little boy would like.

I made an A2 (5 1/2 X 4 1/4) card with a verticle orientation. I used the Cricut markers to outline the horse on page 31 of the Old West cartridge and then cut it out.  I did the fence on page 45 the same way.  The markers are great at bringing out detail like the wood grain on the fence. I used my Stampin Up Choclate Chip marker to add more detail to horse's mane.  Then I used the Kick up your heels! stamp from My Pink Stamper's Pinka-licious stamp set with my Chocolate Chip ink pad.  The patterned horseshoe paper is from a DCWV stack I think it is called All About Boys or something like that.  I have had it for a while.

Thanks for coming by,
Cindy :)

Shelby's 18th Birthday card

I can't believe my little baby daughter is an 18 year old young lady today.

Paper from My Mind's Eye stack "Just Dreamy".  Happy Birthday is from Elegant Cakes cartridge.  The punch is a Martha Stewart punch.  Inside label is cut from Forever Young in 1/4 inch increments.  The stamp is from Cloud 9 Designs in a set called Simple Thoughts - Girl. 

Thanks for coming by,
Cindy

Gobbler

Another little "gobbler" to go in the mail today for Thanksgiving.  I highly recommend Create A Critter with all the cute critters!  The reindeer card and this little turkey are both from that cartridge and there are plenty more where they came from! Added a stickle bow tie and hat band.  A few i-rock studs for buttons and a brad flower and he is dressed for Thanksgiving dinner (or maybe not).

Leaving tomorrow to go to Ohio for Thanksgiving.  Don't know how I am going to make it without crafting all week. :(```.

See you later.  Thanks for coming by.
Cindy

Thanksgiving card

I was under the weather today.  But crafting can be very therapeutic.  I made this card today with the Thanksgiving seasonal cart. I cut the card at 4 1/4 inches and it is almost 7 inches long.  The wording is a challenge to cut. I actually tried to cut the Happy Thanksgiving several times but couldn't get the settings right for the paper I was using.  So I ended up cutting the Count Your Blessings at 2 inches. I also cut the leaves and swirl at 2 inches and  I cut them twice and layered them to add thickness.  I inked up the leaves and added three studs with my I-rock.  On the inside I used a My Pink Stamper Stamp (http://www.mypinkstamper.com/) from the Everyday Life set stamped on a piece of chipboard  I punched with an EK Success punch.  The patterned paper is from a stack by "me & my Big ideas" that I got on sale at Michaels.

Thanks for coming by.

Cindy

Christmas Card Club

Our little group got together on Wednesday.  We ate good food.  Enjoyed good company.  And made Christmas cards and a few crafts.  We each designed 2 cards and brought enough supplies for each one of us to make 5 of each one. 

These were Jessica's cards.  One was a stand-up card and the other a gate fold card which had pretty candy caned striped paper on the inside.

These were Jill's 2 cards.  She sent them from El Paso and joined us via Skype.  She was in the process of
moving and had to hand cut the tree and snowman. 




These were Betty's designs.  The snowman is covered in glitter made from glass particles.  I forgot what she said it was called. 

These were my two designs.  I posted the reindeer earlier. 

We had a great time and ended up with around 40 cards each.  I am lucky to have such a great group of crafting buddies.

Thanks for coming by,
Cindy

Embossed ornaments

I decided to take a chance and heat emboss glass ornaments.  Guess what! It worked!  No broken bulbs so far.
I cut the templates out of vinyl (on my cricut) using the Songbird cartridge.  Placed them on the clear bulb and went over it with my Versamark pad.  Sprinkled on embossing powder. Took the vinyl off.  Then turned on the heat gun.I did not keep the heat gun on the bulb for long periods.  I would do 6 to 10 seconds and then let the bulb cool for 15 or so seconds then hit it with another blast of heat.  None of the bulbs cracked or broke.  I did take the top hanger off and the glass did get pretty hot but no problems.  I gave the bulb a couple of minutes to cool and the embossing to set up.
Then I poured my Pledge "floor finish with future shine" in the bulb, swished it around and poured out the excess.  I put a generous amount of Martha Stewart tinsel glitter in and swished it around.
I am pretty pleased with the outcome.
I bet you can't guess who these are for!

Thanks for stopping by.
Cindy

A couple of tags

Sorry that I haven't posted for a while.  Our stamping club meets next Wednesday and one of our members moved away but she is still going to be there with us via Skype so I had to get all of her kits and projects ready to mail and while I was doing one, I did them all.

Here are a few tags I threw together to include in her package.  These were very quick and easy with the Very Merry Tags  Seasonal cartridge from last year.  It was fun making them.

I am getting excited about all the projects that I have planned.  They are coming together and I will be sharing them with you later.

Thanks for coming by,

Cindy



Ken's birthday card

I made this card with my new Birthday Bash cartridge.  I had a hard time getting it to come out like I wanted, but Ken liked it, so that's all that matters. The cartridge has a lot of cute images and word art (such as the inside of the card). I used the cuttlebug on the blue background.  I liked this alligator because it reminds me of when I would read Dr. Suess' ABCs to the kids and "A" was Aunt Annie's Alligator. I've been struggling to get another Christmas card together for the card club.  I've got an idea going, but not a "fait accomplis" yet.

MPS Pink, Purple & Green Challenge

My Pink Stamper had a live broadcast tonight and during it we had a challenge to make a card or something using Pink, Purple & Green and we were supposed to do it in 30 minutes.  Well that is really fast for me and I tried but it took a little bit longer, but I finished about the same time Karlee did.
Anyway, this is what I made and keep in mind I did it in a little over 30 minutes!

I will post it to her site as soon as she has the link up.  I used the Create a Critter cartridge because it has such cute images and they are so quick to layer.  The patterned paper is DCWV and the pink background is Coordinations cardstock. 

Thanks for stopping by,

Cindy

Birthday card for my stylish sister

Forever Young cartridge page 26.  The shimmery gold dress is Papertrey Ink and the background paper is DCWV.  The red cardstock and ribbon are both Papertrey Ink.

Christmas card help

I am doing a Christmas card swap with some friends.  We are each designing 2 cards and we are all going to make 5 of each design.  This is the first card that I have made that I am considering for the swap.  It is the first time I have designed a card for others to make.
I need your honest opinion about this card.  Would you like making or receiving this card for Christmas?
Also, should I take the white embossed snowflake to the edge or leave the blue border around it? Do you like the blue?  Any suggestions will be appreciated.

I used the Cuttlebug to make the snowflake background on a shimmer white cardstock.  The cute little reindeer is from Create a Critter as is the word Joy.  And of course I added some ruby red stickles to his nose.

Thanks for looking.  I look forward to hearing what you think about the card.

Cindy

Step-side Anniversary card

Just playing around with a Step-side or Stair-step card.  The patterned paper and the light blue is from the DCWV stack called Whimsy and the solid pinkish (Berry Sorbet)  and yellow (Gold Shimmer) is from Papertrey Ink.  The heart and flower is from the Elegant cakes cartridge page 31 and the word art is from the same cartridge, page 70.  The little "fence" on the second stair is a Martha Stewart punch. The Ribbon is also Papertrey Ink called Lemon Tart. And of course the bling is provided by my favorite - Stampin' Up's Dazzling Diamonds.

I first tried this card style about a year ago.  I got my original instructions from a great web site http://dawnsstampingthoughts.typepad.com/dawns_stampin_studio/2009/10/step-card-video-.html.   She is a Stampin' Up rep and always has great ideas.
What prompted me again to make one of these cards was Joy's post the other day, http://www.obsessedwithscrapbooking.com/2010/10/lets-talk-christmas-cards-with-cricut.html.  I am a subscriber to both of these blogs and they provide endless inspiration. 

Thanks for stopping by,
Cindy

Cricut Search

If you follow Joy @ http://www.obsessedwithscrapbooking.com/ you have already read about this web site.
I find this the most user-friendly search and more thorough than Cricut's own searches on Design Studio and Gypsy.  I have used it several times since Joy introduced it and think it is a great asset for Cricuteers.
So in case you missed it in Joy's post, here it is again.
http://www.cricutsearch.com/

Thanks for stopping by,

Cindy

Halloween Treat Bags

Paper from DCWV Midnight Spell.  Martha Stewart Stamp around the Page punch Spider web.  Cuts are from Happy Hauntings cartridge.

A few cards

I know I haven't posted for a while, but my daughter has had my camera for a  photography class because she has lost the charger for hers.

Anyway, these are just some random cards.

This is a "z" fold card.  I saw several posts on making a z-fold card for a challenge.  I didn't enter mine, just did it to do it.  For this card  I used the Create A Critter cartridge.  This is DCWV paper.

This was just another quick Create A Critter card.  This cartridge has such cute images. The paper is Designer Paper from Stampin' Up.

I got some new Papertrey Ink paper and ribbon and had to make a card with it.  The words and flower are from the Elegant Cakes cartridge.  These cake cartridges have some really great word art on them.  Here lately I go to them first for word art but they also have some great images.  I added some Stampin' Up Crystal Effects to the flower and the words and some stickles to the flower.  The border is a Stampin' Up punch.

Hope you enjoy.
Cindy

Halloween Bouquet

It's pretty cool in person.  I decided I would do red and black instead of the traditional colors.  I am pretty happy with the way it turned out.  The Happy Halloween and the bat are from the Happy Hauntings  cartridge.  I am getting my money's worth out of it!

If the boot fits...

This turned out to be the cutest card in person.  Hopefully the photo captures some of it.  The boot is from page 51 of the Happy Hauntings cartridge.  As soon as I saw that on the cartridge, I knew I had to have it. The card base is a glittered DCWV premade card.  The around the page web punch is Martha Stewart.  The background paper is from DCWV Midnight Spell.  The ribbon is Celebrate It - Halloween from Michaels.  I added Platinum stickles for the buttons on the boot.  The sentiment was printed on the computer and cut out with SU's modern label punch.  I am really proud of this card.

Best Wishes ... for a speedy recovery

A quick card for the wife of my husband's co-worker who had surgery yesterday.

Thanks for looking!

                                                                                                                                                                                        The patterned paper is from DCWV stack Whimsey. The solid is DCWV  Fun in the Sun. A couple prima flowers, a brad, a pearl and a ribbon to finish.  The stamp on the front is from Paper Trey Ink's Mega Mixed Messages and embossed.  The inside was computer printed and trimmed out with a Martha Stewart punch.

Halloween treat boxes

These were inspired by a Featured Project by Roree Rumph in the last edition of the Cricut Chirp newsletter.

I accidentally got two pictures of the pumpkin but the other side was the spider like on the other two boxes.
These were filled with candy and given to my friends at our Stampin' Up meeting.
If the paper stuffing looks familiar, it is because it came in my Cricut Circle package!

Card for My Mom

A birthday card for my Mom's 75th birthday.  I used the card feature on page 41 of the French Manor cartridge cut at 5 1/2 inches.  All the paper is from DCWV stack Linen Closet.   The "Happy Birthday" sentiment and the inside label are from the Elegant Cakes cartridge.  I love the phrases on this cartridge and they are perfect for cards.

Turkey Day

For My Pink Stamper's challenge

Used Create A Critter cartridge

BOO

What have I been doing today?

The Pennants were made with the Independence Day Cartridge.  Everything else came from Happy Hauntings.  The "BOO" background was welded together but I cut the letters apart.  The pennants were cut a 7" and the Boo at 3 1/2". The background for the letters is from the 3-D table on page 70 cut at 4".  The ghost I think was cut at 4" and the Happy Halloween was at 1 1/2" and the witch was 2".  The flowers are two friskars punches with a dot of ice stickles for the center.  The edges are the Martha Stewart spider web punch.  All of the paper was from DCWV Midnight Spell stacks.

Birthday Card for my cousin

I used a stack called Dreamy by My Mind's Eye.  I love every page of this stack.   The solid card stock, ribbon and ink is Paper Trey Ink called Berry Sorbet.  It is very thick card stock and I love the way that you can get ribbon and ink and all to match. The stamp on the front is My Pink Stamper's Everyday Occasions and the inside is Stampin' Up from the set called Whimsical Words.   I used a design sketch for inspiration and am very happy with the way it turned out.