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!