My Daughter's Birthday

It is my oldest daughter's birthday on the 17th! She is 28 years old already! Where does the time go???? I made her this sparkley butterfly card. She is a music teacher so I added one of Tim Holtz Fragments with music as the paper underneath it. I flipped the butterfly and cut it from Create a Critter at 2 inches. I also cut the Happy Birthday from this same cart at 2 inches. I love the sparkley, glittery paper. I had an exta butterfly that I had cut at 1 1/2 inches so I used it on the envelope. I made the envelope using my Martha Stewart Scoring Score Board. It matches the main cardstock of the card. I believe I bought this paper at Target. It is made by Colorbok and is Pearlescent Paper. The orange and green glitter paper I bought for $4.00 at a clearance at Walmart. It is Best Occasions glitter paper pack. The snipits that I used (the music paper) is from Tim Hotlz Paper Stash Vintage Shabby that I got at Michaels 40% off. His paper packs are the best!!!! The can't remember where I bought this ribbon. The overlay paper is from some 6 x 6 paper that I won leaving a comment on Lisa Buttafuoco's blog. (http://ourangelsinheaven.blogspot.com/) I was so excited to win some goodies! Thank you Lisa for the opportunity to win!

I have been wanting to make some boxes. I got the Martha Stewart Scoring Score Board and found out how easy it is to make them as well as envelopes! Here are two quick boxes that I made using some printed cardstock. I also finally got my pink ATG gun from Customcrops.com and I love it! I know that the boxes will stay together for sure. The larger one is 8 x 8 and the smaller one is 4 x 4.

MPS Critter or Animal

I decided to make the MPS Critter or Animal using MPS product line. I used a MPS stamp from Family & Friend, "Wish you were here". I mean, who wouldn't want to be on a cruise with this cute little octopus??? I cut him from Create a Critter cartridge at 2 inches. I found the white trim on his hat to be very difficult to cut at this size. I had to try many many different pressures, speeds and blade depths. I cannot remember which one I finally got the cut on. I just kept adjusting and pushing the repeat last button on the cricut until I got one right! I cut the cruise ship out of Summer Vacation cartridge. I cut one out of red and one out of blue at 3 1/2 inches so that I could add the blue on the ship as well as the water since there is no shadow or layer features on this cartridge. I used turquoise blue stickles to enhance the blue additions. I cut the main water border with threading water border punch to get the scallops at the top to look like waves and ran it through the Swirls Cuttlebug embossing folder. I enhanced the swirls with the turquoise stickles. I used pop dots to raise both the ship and the octopus. I thought that the bright yellow base cardstock made it look like a sunny day!!!!

My Son's Birthday

My youngest child is turning 21 years old tomorrow!!!! I cannot believe it! Where has the time gone? I made him this card using coordinations cardstock. It is a 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 card. I used the "A" (for Andrew) font from Tim Holtz Grungeboard Alphas. I ran it through the cuddle bug using Tim Holtz's Collage embossing folder. I inked it with Black Soot distress ink and raised it with pop dots. I cut the tag from a cuttlebug die that I found at Big Lots for $2.00. It has four different tags on the die. I cut the "21" using Ashlyn's cartridge. I used pop dots on the "21" and added just a touch of ribbon on the tag. The Happy Birthday stamp is from MPS Family and Friends stamp set. The inside sentiment was a Fiskars stamp. I lined the inside with the lighter blue coordination cardstock measuring 5 1/4 x 8 1/4. I seemed to be stuck on these colors of blue and black when it comes to making a masculine card. :)

Great Storage

Michael's had an internet coupon for 20% off your entire order including sale items. Well, the storage items were 40% off so I picked up quite a few things for just a few dollars! I found this jewelry storage item that happens to match my turquoise scrap room (which we call "the blue room") and I took one look at the plastic pockets and I thought that Tim Holtz distress inks would fit perfectly in them. Sure enough they do! Now I can see all my inks in a blink of an eye and it hangs nicely off of my paper stacker or the dresser as is shown. I proceeded to hang many other inks and tools in the pockets as well. I think I ended up only paying $8.00 for this storage item.

Trying out Wild Card Cartridge

I have had Wild Card for some time now and I have not used it. So tonight I decided to give it a whirl. I find it difficult to figure out. I wish the manuals were more explicit and I also wish that the pictures were bigger so that you can actually see what you are trying to cut out! I cut this out at 6 inches. I used three different greens for the card and envelope. I stamped Happy Birthday and the cake which I colored with Zig markers. I added the sticker on the left side of the inside only because I accidently got some ink on the card. It is merely covering that up. I do feel that too much is going on inside but it is different. I just need to get more comfortable in using this cartridge.

A Fishing Gal

My husband's godchild is having a birthday. She is not a girly girl. She likes fishing so I used Celebrate with Flourish cartridge again to cut the fishing pole out at 4 inches. I used bright pink as the base card just to make it a bit feminine. I used a clear Happy Birthday sticker for the outside sentiment and another one for the inside sentiment. It is a simple card for a simple girl. I think she will like it a lot.

My Brother's Birthday

My brother, who also happens to be my boss, is having a birthday today. He is a dentist and I have been his hygienist for the past 30 years and for four years before that I was his assistant and receptionist. He loves the game of golf so I used the Celebrate with Flourish cartridge to cut the golf bag. He loves the color green so I used it as the base. I used MPS family stamps to stamp Happy Birthday Brother. I am not sure where I picked up this ribbon but it had a nice masculine flair to it.

The Crash!

Well, Wed. I was using my computer late at night with no problem. I woke up the next day and opened my laptop up to discover that there was a disk error and no operating system was found. My hard drive bit the dust!!!! There is nothing more frustrating than this. I think I have most of my pictures still on my camera. (Whew!) And I know that I backed up not too long ago so hopefully I can recover some of what I had. My design studio projects probably are lost, no wait, I think I saved most of them to a DVD not too long ago. Well, I just got my new laptop today,(ugg...the cost!) and I am slowly trying to rebuild what I had. I did make a wedding card for a friend of ours son's wedding. It is similar to the last wedding card that I made but I changed the color to match the pink in their invitations. I was pretty happy with it and I put it in a 6x6 silver envelope which made it more elegant.

I am a Winner!!

I am so excited! I followed Peachy Keen's blog hop last week and Lisa was the last blog to hop onto. (http://our2angelsinheaven.blogspot.com) She was giving out an extra prize for anyone that commented to give her inspiration on her next project using the Cottage Cutz dies. Well, I was chosen and won some goodies from her. I can't wait to see what she is sending me. Yeah for me!!!!

Bridal Shower Card

My neighbor's daughter is having a bridal shower so I made her a card. I used some bold colored coordination card stock which I love for the base and overlay. I cut the umbrella from the Wedding Cartridge at 3 inches. The gifts were also cut from this cartridge at 2 1/2 inches, 2 inches, and 1 inch. I used MPS stamp for the outside sentiment and a See D's stamp for the inside sentiment. I used pop dots to raise the gifts and umbrella for dimension. I added a rick rack ribbon that had the right color of purples in it.

Bridal Shower Card

This seems to be the summer for bridal showers for us. My daughter has a college friend who is getting married next month. I offered to make her a bridal shower card. I used threading water punch to make the border. I cut the umbrella from the Wedding cartridge at 3 inches. The sentiment is from MPS stamps. The inside sentiment was from a See D's stamp set. I added the small round glitter dots for a bit of dimension. I also used dimensionals under the umbrella. I was pretty happy with how this turned out!

Moving

My oldest daughter is moving as I type this. I will go to her new place tomorrow to hang curtains, build shelving, hang pictures etc. I thought it would be nice to give her a Create a Critter card with the two lamps that I bought for her house warming gifts. I will admit that I used the sample on the back of the MPS Punny-licious stamp set to make my card. I used the Have a moo-velous day! stamp from this set. I love Robyn's stamp sets!!!! I used Martha Stewart black ink. I cut the cow at 3 1/2 inches. I did notice that in the book the layer 1 and the layer 2 were switched when I brought them up on the cricut display so I just cut it accordingly. I think this cow is soooo darn cute! The card is 5 1/2 x 4 1/4. I just used some scraps for the overlay. The ribbon is American Crafts Premium Ribbon that I bought at Hobby Lobby, I think. I also think my daughter will get a kick out of this card.

Get Whale Soon!

My daughter's boyfriend had an appendicitis the other night so a get well card is in order. I finally got to use MPS Punny-licious stamps and I must say they are really really nice. What a difference from other clear stamps. I know Robyn kept saying they were better quality but until you use them you cannot believe the difference. This is a 5 1/2 x 4 1/4 card. I used Create a Critter to make the whale and I sent the top layer through the cuttlebug using the Swirl embossing folder. I used Black Diamond Stickles on the eyes and mouth and Faded Jeans Distress Stickles on the water spout. I punched the border with a Martha Stewart punch that I don't know the name of. I tied a blue rope/string that I bought at Hobby Lobby. I lined the inside with a light blue overlay so that I could write a note inside.

Fragments

I purchased Tim Holtz Fragments and wanted to give them a try. Instead of using paper I printed out the sentiment and placed the Fragment over top of it. I used Glossy Accents to adhere the Fragment. I used a Martha Stewart border punch on the yellow cardstock. I used my cuttle bug to emboss the orange paper and then used Vintage Paper Distress Ink to ink over the embossing. I used the key hole die cut by Tim Holtz to cut the key hole out of grunge. Then I embossed it with the checkered folder from Sizzix using my Cuttlebug. I then applied Vintage Paper Distress Ink using an ink applicator working it well into the grunge. (Grunge is so awesome!!!! I will be using it a lot!) Then I used Distress Vintage Photo Stickles on the little squares on the key hole. It gave it a nice dimension. I used pop dots to raise the key hole. I then used the applicator to apply more Vintage Paper Distress Ink to the base of the card. I also used Tea Stain Distress Ink over top of the sentiment words. This is a whole different feel for making cards. I am going to enjoy his many techniques!!!! I later added the small key embellishment which I think finished the card nicely.

Tim Holtz

Okay, I have been bitten by the Hotlz bug! I am loving all his alterations and stamps and methods of crafting. I finally invested in some of his products and now I cannot get enough. He is soooo creative and the methods are so fun to try. I threw this card together thinking about how my oldest daughter is about to make another move this weekend. I was trying the different techniques and I cannot believe how cool things turn out! So much more to try!!!!!

Stampin' Hello

I bought some new stamps so I wanted to try them out. The scroll in the corner is by Kelly Panacci http://www.sandylion.com/. I used Tim Holtz distress ink in brown and black around the perimeter. I colored the I Cling bird stamp and sentiment with colored pencils. I just glued the ribbon underneath the overlay in the corner for a touch of texture. It didn't take long at all to make. :)