Dragonfly Garden

 I made this card using Stampin’ Up stamps that I just purchased .  I followed a “mystery” card making event.  

I had to change it a bit because the author of the event did not state that the pattern paper design should go in one direction.   Oh well, it still turned out alright and I’m sure the recipient will still enjoy it.

Here is the inside.  

Have a glorious day!

Tweet Congrats

This is a card I made for a colleague who just bought her first home.

 This is a cute little card for Your Next Stamp blog post challenge #155.  It is called “New beginnings”.  A new home definitely a new beginning.  I love these little birds.   The little one poking out from the bird house is so fun and the little one outside looks like he is looking for food... until the roof is open and you can see his friend. I made the roof hinge so that closed you would not see him right off the bat. 

I used two of their stamp sets “Gardening birds and Spring birds”.  The grass is from a different set and company.  

Have a tweet day!

IndigoBlu

I made this card with an IndigoBlue stamp.

It was embossed and then colored with Copics and Distress Inks.  I added Prills to the flower center; glossy accents to the bird and glitter and Nuvo Mousse to the flourish.  The background was stamped in ink with a Glitz stamp and stenciled with Nuvo Mousse.  The flowers were plain white ones I've had in my stash forever.  The top one I painted with Prima gold acrylic paint.  The second layer was foiled with gold flakes.   The leaves were cut with my Cricut and  Nuvo Mousse to accent them.  I used a Cuttlebug embossing folder on the green layer. The ribbon is seam binding that I put into an Alcohol ink and water mix.  The water activates the ink so I didn't have to worry about it running afterwards.

There were lots of firsts on this card for me.

#NuvoMousse, #Explore, #Prima

French Country - Graphic 45 Cards

For all of these cards I used the French Country collection of papers and stickers.  Some how I ended up with several sheets of these stickers.  Because I ended up with more than one sheet, I was trying to use up a whole sheet of the stickers. 

 This card I used My Explore to make the flowers and the leaves.  I love this flower!

 Bits and bobs added to increase the interest.

                            
I used My Explore again to cut out the mats for the stickers.  The butterflies are a Stampin' Up die that I have used a lot.  I recently lost this little gem and that is very sad!

This is a stamp from Stampendous.  I just love it!  I colored it with my Copics and then added Prills to the centre of it.  The butterfly is from Cricut and the bow is a Cuttlebug bow.  By using the Black Magic card stock, I was able to have a nice vintage looks with a simple bit of sanding!

This final one, I again used my Explore to make the rooster.  He is a perfect fit for this paper!

I have been continually going through my stash to see what I can get rid of and what I can re-purpose.  Always a good challenge!

Thanks for stopping by!

Little Monster

A cute little Treasure Box Designs Monster I cut out with my Cricut.  He is so sweet! 

The papers were just large scraps I had from other projects and placed them on a Reflections card base.  I didn't put a sentiment on him yet because I was not sure what I was using him for when I made him.

Have a wonderful day!

Be Blessed

I used this Mary stamp by Prima for the Inspiration Challenge at Splitcoaststampers. IC583 We were to go to this site: Pandora to get our inspiration.  There was a purple charm and a red apple one right next to each other, so I put them together and came up with this.  What I don't like about this photo is that you can not see the white paper under the red because of the background.  Oh well, you get the idea!

Thanks for stopping by and of course... be blessed!

Dragonfly in the dark

I made this card for the Splitcoaststampers Inspiration Challenge #582 found here IC582  The item I chose to use as my inspiration was a shirt found here:Hope in the Sky.

This is a technique I have used a lot in the past and thought it would be fun to pull out again, once I saw the shirt.

The dragonfly is an old Spellbinders die.  The stamps of bushes are from Stampscapes.  The dimensional bushes are Tim Holtz dies called Holiday Greens.  The  ink is old SU! ink.  Paper from Bazzill and SU!.  I added my new favorite products from Tonic Studios:  Nuvo glitter paste, Nuvo drops and Nuvo mousse.  I love that stuff!

Love

Yesterday, I went back to Splitcoaststampers.  I had not been there for quite some time.  It was fun to visit there again!  Today, they have a sketch challenge, which occurs each Wednesday.  I checked my gallery to see when I last posted there... 2013!!!  So, I checked out the sketch and decided to play. 

Anyhoo, I was doing some work in my craft room and found these old SU! stamp.  I have a lot of them that I took off of the blocks years ago.  Yeah, I got caught up in that rage!  It works a lot better for storage space, but I should have kept the pieces together in their original stamp sets.  Oh well, lesson learned!

Here is a link to the challenge.  SC628

It's a bit basic, but that happens sometimes!

Thanks for stopping by!

Deer Valentine

This stamp and the one on the inside of the card are from Santa's Magical Sleigh from Your Next Stamp.  I didn't get a chance to use it for Christmas so I am using it now. It is a Christmas stamp to be sure, but I love these little deer, so I changed the wreaths to make them look like collars.  I like to use what I have and use them in more than one way.    And with those little hearts on their hinys, who would know it wasn't meat to be a Valentine's Deer?

I have a fellow crafter who said that she's, "Done the cutsie thing and is so over it!"  I wanted to show her that cute can be turned into elegant, which is what I believe I have done with this card.

All of the papers and the two large flowers are from Prima.  I love that company.  Not only do they make great products, but the staff are amazing too!  Now, having said that, there is a package of ephemera, which I have not liked at all, but kept it in hopes I would eventually use some of it.  I used a piece of it here - the green border.  I toned it down a bit as it is a bit bright for me.  It worked well with this piece.   I still have to say, this package is not my favorite, but they can always be modified, or hidden just enough to make them work well!  Gesso is a friend with stuff like this! lol! If anyone wants what is left, pictured below, let me know and I'll ship it out to you! The package originally had 24 pieces, and as you can see there are still 22 left! 

The tags, leaves and the white "flowers" were made with my Cricut Explore. I added highlights to everything with my new absolute Favorite consumable product that I just found:  Nuvo Mousse!  Love, love, love it!

Tales from the Error Crypt: At the very end of the coloring of the inside deer, my Copic marker decided to leak all over the back legs.  😢  She was meat to be below the heart, but she is now above, errror hidden under the paper layer it looking like she might just jump off the page!  Tada!  problem resolved!
 
I will use this for my entry to Your Next Stamp's #55 Sketch Challenge found here: YNS Challenge #55. 

Christmas Bows from Wrapping Paper!

I made all of these different bows using a Cuttlebug die!  (In the video I see that I kept using Folder instead of Die).  Oops!  I folded the wrapping paper and ran it through my Sizzix machine.  Easy to make a lot of bows in literally a minute or two!

I obtained the different looks using more than one ribbon or bow and alternating how I added them and which side of the paper I used.  Super easy and really handy!

Now I have matching bows for my gifts!

Give it a try.

Have a nice day!

Cricut Vintage Ornament

I made this beautiful ornament for my Christmas tree using my Cricut and Silent Night kit from SVGCUTS.  I think it turned out perfectly! 

Before I made this one, I practiced first and it is a good thing I did!  I made this one below first to try my hand at it and to see the size.  The size was much too big for my liking, so I made it smaller.

It's a nice ornament for a different tree, but definitely on the larger size.  When I went to make the ball, I forgot to change the dash lines to score, so they cut out instead.

It is good for making definite lines, but it weakens the ball.  It is also not so good if you are using a paper with a different core color as it shows through as seen!

This piece Mary made to give you a way to connect all of the pieces together and being able to press from the inside.  The difference between these and regular paper balls that are made with only pieces of paper is the ball to which you add everything to.  This gives added strength.

With the Cricut, you need to change the dash lines to score if you don't want cuts plus you need to ATTACH them together or else the score lines will try to go on a separate mat.  I am not sure why the files come in from SVGCUTS that way, but they do.
(If you have a Silhouette Designer Edition or Sure-Cuts-A-Lot, you don't need to do this.  The program keeps them together for you.)

I chose pink papers as that is the color of my tree ornaments this year.  The rose, pine needles and leaves were made from the Cricut.

Flower:  Flower Shoppe
Pine Needles:  Martha Stewart Seasonal Cakes
Leaves:  Vintage Wedding

I also added Nuvo Mousse to the light green leaves, and a center line with my Sakura Silver Star Gelly Roll pen.  To the rose, I added chunky glitter to add more dimension and to give it a more vintage look.  I added lace to the seams as I felt they needed to be covered.  That is actually how I ended up with a vintage ornament.  I'm glad I did though!  I scrunched the ribbon and added Prima Bloom Spray to add a bit of sheen.  The pearl loops and feathers were purchased from my local dollar store.  The charm was ordered online from ebay and the glass charm is from Michaels.

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a blessed Christmas!

Your Next Stamp Haul and Cards

I recently made my first purchase from Your Next Stamp.  They have stamps and coordinating dies.  I'm so glad companies are doing this as I don't always like to fussy cut itty bitty items!


Here are the first cards that I made with my new items! 

 Looking outside the window to see these little cuties flying around!

 These birds are stinking cute!  I can see I will definitely use them a lot.

To create this curvy mat, I cut out a rectangle and then used my new Bracket Borders One Dies to make the edge.

 I didn't have any mountains or hills so I created my own by just cutting paper.  The tree is from a package I got from the local $1 store.

 

I used Mini Monsters Cricut Cartridge to make the street lamps for the birds to hang from.

So much fun!

YNS:  Tweet News, Word Critters - Winter Birds, Perfect Chemistry, Sprinkles - Spreading the News
I also used my new Spellbinders for the mats and also the Light bulb tag.

Halloween Tags

Some fun and cute tags.  I cute the tags with my Cricut Explore.  I used Cuttlebug folders to emboss on Black Magic card stock.  I stamped images and colored them with Copics.  The words are from a sheet of paper from K& Co Spooktacular.

Hello you!

Ha ha!  Attack of the Tim Holtz Crazy animals!  I am so in love with these guys!

I made this card for my friend using Tim Holtz Crazy Birds and Crazy Cats.  They were stamped, colored with Copics and then cut out using the dies, which are sold separately.  I don't mind fussy cutting, but I don't like trying to cut around those little whiskers and curls!  So, bring on the dies!!!  They are worth every penny to me!

The words and the thing the cat is sitting on are dies from ebay; the scallop cut out  is a Spellbinders die and all were cut out using my Sizzix.  The leaves and the cat's sunglasses were cut out using my Cricut.

The flowers are Prima with some added bling and a button.  The beads on the scallop are from Martha Stewart.  The main paper is from DCWV and Stampin Up!.  It was sitting on my table from a project I am working on for a colleague.   So I thought I would use it instead of putting it away.  Okay, so I'm not sure if that speaks to my level of creativity or laziness! lol!

Have a blessed day!

What?

I just got the new Tim Holtz Crazy Dogs and just could not resist to get to work on them!  Yes, I have the birds and cats too!  I have a bunch of them colored and will be hopefully putting some of them on my blog soon. 

I used my Cricut to cut out the scalloped circle, circle and the "What?".   They could easily be cut out of Spellbinders, or whatever other dies or machine you have. The dog is both a stamp and die.  I used my Sizzix to cut it out.  I still love my Sizzix and dies too!  I think I just love all things paper!  I colored the dog with Copics and then took the colorless blender to add polka dots to him.   (How could I resist?)   There is glossy accents on the eyes, nose and tongue.  He looks like he is trying to hear something and not doing such a good job!

 The "What" font is one I downloaded and I believe it's called, "Great day".  By keeping the title simple, I can use almost any sentiment I want on the inside of the card. 

I used a We R Memory Keepers embossing folder for the scalloped circle as it looked to flat and boring without any embossing.  I love their 6x6 embossing folders!  The ribbon has been in my stash forever and it's from Making Memories.  I have several multi packs of this with other nice ribbons in it.  I have no idea where I got the little flowers or the bobbles from. 

Unfortunately, this past year has been very difficult for me as I had a head injury.  It made it very difficult to even think about crafts, let alone do any!  I am hoping I will be able to not only craft, but add my makings to my blog.  That was one of the hardest things for me to do... work with the computer or watch T.V.  I'm glad to be heading back to the more normal me.  I'd love to say I'm "normal" but I don't think I've ever been that!  Lol!

Little Bee Nugget

I love finding little nuggets on carts.  Especially those I have forgotten about, or those I think I may not use again.  This is one of those finds!  These cute little guys are from Sesame Street Seasons.

 I like to do the inside of cards as well.  I used to leave them blank, but then I thought it was nicer to put something on the inside.  Store bought cards can stay boring.  I want to spice mine up a bit!  Besides, it uses up items and scraps.  We all have too many of those!

Have a lovely day!

Tardis Birthday Card - It's Bigger on the Inside!

My sister-in-law is a great Dr. Who fan.  These are her two favorite doctors.  Fun and fast card! I learned by combining print & cut  and cut out pieces it works really well.   She loved it!  That made me happy! 

Have an awesome day!

Drinker Bell

Here is a shirt and card I made for my daughter.  She loves wine.  (She's not a wino though!  lol!) The inside reads:  "I Tink you should have a Happy Birthday!"   It was an idea that came from Facebook:  Let's Learn Cricut Explore by Heidi Varden.  The designer paper and sentiment are from Kaiser Craft "Violet Crush".  I used a Recollections card base and envelope.  These are so easy, I use them a lot! 

My first Drinker Bell was a bust.  The first OOPS was I put in "glitter vinyl" NOT "glitter iron on vinyl"!  What a nightmare it was to weed.  Then, after taking the time to weed and put everything together, line it up, center it, wash it, blah, blah blah, I managed at the last moment to flip the bottle onto the body of Tink and iron it together!  Oi!  All of the work, not to mention having to buy another shirt, was toast!  PLUS I didn't have any more HTV!  I went mooching and found one piece I could get.  Phew, saved by the bell!  This was for her birthday and she needed to receive it today!

I am so loving the Design Space and Explore.  I can't wait until they make it usable off-line as well!

Hello Again!

It has been so long since I have been on this blog!  It seems like life has a way of interfering with what we would like to do by adding those things that we have to do.  I love to craft and have been doing so, but the ability to keep up this blog, simple though it may be, proved to be too much over the past while.  I'm finally at a place where I can begin again.

 I decided to start on with a simple project.  I was wanting to buy a new Explore Air - gold, of course,  since I can not find a pink one (swoon) but realized color is really not a reason to buy a new machine.  My current Explore One works like a charm.  There was really no reason to go and buy a new one.  (Drats!)  So, I decided to create "a new one".  I love the fun of it!  It's really a lot more fun to create something than to buy something.  Well, at least that is what I tell myself when I want to spend money but really can't!  But honestly, I love how it turned out and no-one would be able to claim my original, one-of-a-kind machine!

I love How to Train Your Dragon.  I like that the little guy can still be a leader, and life is not always perfect.  There are hardships in life, but you can overcome them.  What a glorious message to share with kids!  Who can resist this little guy?!  Dr Seuss's fish in a bowl is iconic and he always looks like he's reprimanding someone!  Today, he's talking to Toothless.  He better beware or he may get swat!


The images were from Krafty Nook.  The font was a free download.  I created the speech bubble and circle in Cricut Design Space. All images were cut out with this wonderful "new" machine.

I hope to begin posting regularly again.  This time with all different types of creations.

A Fun Birthday!

I made these for my grand daughter for her birthday.  She wanted something a little funky, with tye-dye.  The telephone is made from an SVGcuts.com file.  The flower is a "freebie of the week" cut from Cricut.  The images on the card are also Cricut.

It's so nice being able to easily combine svgs and carts!

They were fun to make! 

Thanks for stopping by!