Cricut Challenge 17 AND 18 and CAS-Fridays Challenge CFC 13

Well, aren't I rocking???....I knocked off two cartridges in my own personal Cricut challenge to use each cartridge I own.  I thought that was pretty awesome.  I didn't plan it that way....it just happened!  Like I said...I rock! :)

I also did this card for the CAS-Fridays Challenge CFC 13 which is "the long and short" of it...making a card 4x9 inches.  I tell you what...I struggle with Clean and Simple.  I like stuff...I like lots of stuff...I like lots of layers...it is hard for me to leave parts of my cards NAKED (or as we say in the heart of Dixie..."NEKKID!!!)!!!  So this card which I should have gotten done in about 15 minutes took me 2 hours.  It is a very complicated process to be clean and simple, I think.  Simple does not mean EASY!...or fast, for that matter!

So this is what I came up with:

I actually like the way this card came out (sort of)...but it needs stuff! HAHA!
The bird house was cut from April Showers and the bracketed mat was cut from Elegant Edges.  I changed the proportions of the mat as I wanted it to be a little more rectangular than the square way the cut is set up to be.  That's where the Gypsy sure comes in handy!  The scalloped circle is actually a piece of felt...thanks, Judie of Cards by Judie, for reminding me to use fabric! I used a Nestabilities and my Cuttlebug and the felt cut beautifully.  I tied a bit of hemp at the base of the little bird house.  The sentiment was stamped with Stampin' Up Real Red (Craft) and embossed with clear embossing powder.  I found a little heart button I had and cut off the shanks and stuck that baby down with a glue dot. The papers are Cosmo Cricket except for the base cardstock and the Kraft paper. And I tried to de-naked-fy my card by adding some inking to the edges.  My card thanked me.

And that's it for today!

Happy Sunday and Happy Crafting!

Onwards: The Birth of a Baby....

And below are a couple of additional pages I did for my granddaughter's scrapbook.  The layouts are here but if some of you are squeamish about icky, gooey newborns you may want to skip this post.

As some of you know...I WAS THERE when she was born.

Now I had one child "naturally" (the mother of my AG and NBG) and I pushed for 4 1/2 hours and she still had to be delivered by forceps.  That was quite a few years ago!  My baby #2 was born by scheduled section so that was a whole different experience.  You know what they say about C-section babies, though?  They "are a cut above".  HAHA!  OK...I digress....

Anyway, so after this incredible day which included a wonderful win on the tennis court followed by a massive dehydration headache...I got to the hospital about 5pm.  I had gone to my daughter's house because at first it looked like I was going to take her to the hospital because my SIL was on a sales call and then stuck in traffic.  Thankfully he got to their house about 5 minutes after I did so he whisked her off to the hospital which was a good 40 minutes away...maybe more like 50 minutes...and I stayed at their house to try and get rid of my headache and to take care of AG.  I told them I'd be 15 minutes behind them but I put my head down on the couch and couldn't move.  I drank a lot of water and tried to rehydrate and then I ate a pickle (yes, pickles and pickle juice has lots of electrolytes in them) and finally started to feel better.

Like I said.... I made it to the hospital at about 5pm.

I thought I would have plenty of time and planned to take tons of pictures because I was going to be in the delivery room.  I've watched a lot of Baby Center and it usually takes a while to have a baby, doesn't it?

Well, when it was time...at about 6:30 pm the doctor told Amanda to give a little push...well, that head just popped out...and another push and NBG was HERE!  I didn't even have time to focus my camera!!! It all happened so fast.  I wanted to say "PUT HER BACK...I'M NOT READY!!!"

So the pictures are a bit blurry...but let's face it...you get what you get...you can't recreate the scene now, can you???

And it was the most magical 22 and 1/2 seconds I ever experienced!!!

These were the first photos ever taken of NBG (Taylor Aemelia).  The doctor is the same one who delivered my grandson...she was wonderful, calming and funny....

The layouts were completed with Bazzil paper, Making Memories printed paper, some chipboard stickers from K & Company, ribbon from Michael's. I did the journaling on my computer but decided against a fancy font...using Arial Narrow because it was simple.  I wanted this layout to be simple and basically unadorned...I think the pictures are powerful enough....even if they are blurry....

Precious Baby Girl

I've been working on a few scrapbooking layouts recently including some of NBG (New Baby Girl).  I am already way behind in my scrapbooking .... the other day I actually ordered a couple of photo books just to get the pictures organized and printed (plus My Publisher and Shutterfly were having great sales). Doing that sort of frees me up to really scrap the photos I really love.

And this is a photo I love...
Many of you have seen this photo before.  This is NBG in her dad's hand....she was about 2 weeks old here.  We have a similar photo of AG (Adorable Grandson) when he was a newborn so my daughter wanted the same pose with her.  I took this photo and this was actually one I had leftover.  I had put different filters over the photo and this was not our favorite but I just couldn't bear to dispose of it.  I wish her eyes had a little more catch light to them but I didn't edit it that way and decided this will be good for her scrapbook.

I used some My Mind's Eye paper as well as some ribbon I'd gotten at Michaels (the black is satin...the pink is grosgrain) and I just ruffled it up a bit.
The label is from the Creative Memories Stork's Delivery Cartridge.  I've actually used it several times now (Yay for me!).


We took AG to the train (tootoo tain) at Stone Mountain Park today and here is a photo I took of him on the train.

I know you'll agree he is ADORABLE! :)

Happy Crafting!

Cricut Lovers...You Gotta See This!

Check out all the new cartridges and wonderful projects on the Cricut blog HERE,  I am LOVING the card feature on SOPHIE!!!
My friend, Christine, is a CTMH consultant and so I'm hoping to pick up the package from her....the way I understand it is the CTMH cartridge comes with stamps that coordinate with the cuts.  Way cool...
I'll post again later....I have a layout I worked on...just need to take a better picture of it!

Cricut Challenge 16: Doodlecharms and FCCB Melon #70 Challenge

I am continuing on my personal challenge of making at least one project with each Cricut cartridge I own.  Doodlecharms is one of the older cartridges...it does has some cute seasonal images in it as well as a border, a  flat card feature and even and envelope.  I really need to explore this cartridge a bit more!  There are lots of images...but they are all rather simple...not many layers...just pretty simple.  Cute but not too involved!


It seems like lots of bloggers have been doing melon cards lately...I guess people are wanting reprieve from the heat we are all having...and watermelon seems the perfect treat for hot weather!

I cut the melon out of Papertrey Ink papers at 2 3/4 inches.  I used the Swiss Dots embossing folder, the small scalloped square Nestabilities, a Creative Memories square punch and for all you long time users of Stampin' Up stamps you may recognize the sentiment from a several years old stamp set.  I've sold a lot of my SU stamp sets recently but couldn't part with this cute set! I also tied some baker's twine that Kim, the Basement Stamper, sent me some time ago.  I don't know if you can tell from the photo or not but I used some really small buttons that I tied thread through for watermelon seeds.

I also did a little pen stitching as you can see.  If you can't see it...that's quite all right!

I entered this in the Fantabulous Cricut Challenge #70 Melon....making a card with a melon or other fruit.

Happy Crafting and Happy Summer and Happy Staying Cool in the Heat!

A Coupla Cards....

Nothing special here...just liked the paper (DCWV Whimsy)....such a pretty glittery paper, liked the colors, liked the stamp (Stampendous)...and I even colored and blended it (!)...liked the Glossy Accents on it, liked the Spellbinders oval die and the green Offray ribbon...the best part about the card is that it kept my hands busy and out of the M&Ms! (heheheheheh!)

I did a little dry embossing and a little heat embossing with Versamark, a Techniques Tuesday sentiment and some bright orange Zing powder on this one.  I had seen Christina do the "split" embossing with the folders the other day on her BLOG and I hadn't done that before so it was fun (and oh-so-easy to try).  I don't know why there are yellowish stripes through my photo...but that's what my phone camera picked up.  Oh well....I think you get the general idea of my "coupla" cards!

And that would be it for me for today...off to see your creations!

Oh, I snuck into Michael's today and bought some Distress Stickles and some Crackle Paint (all Tim Holtz). It's all 30% off this week plus I had a coupon for an additional 20% off the total purchase so not a bad buy!

Happy Crafting!

Cricut Challenge 15: Cricut American Alphabet

Back to my personal Cricut challenge!  Many of you Cricuteers may not be familiar with the Cricut American Alphabet Cartridge because it is not available for purchase.  It came pre-loaded on my Expression 2 when I purchased it from HSN a few months back.  It is a great cartridge with some cute images and word art as well as 3 wonderful fonts.

I made a little 3x3 gift enclosure:

I used Linen Closet papers by DCWV and cut this cute doily (and there are SEVERAL doilies on the cartridge!) at 2 1/2 inches.  I added a couple of scalloped circle layers punched out with Fiskars punches.  I inked all edges with Color Bok Chalk Ink (Chestnut Roan).  The sentiment was stamped with Stampin' Up's Chocolate Chip and punched out with an SU punch.  I added a little twine just because it was cute!

I DID DO MY SHOPPING AT PAPER TREY INK!! Woohooo....!!!  You know, I wrote about finding money in my husband's pocket while doing the laundry.  So, I treated myself to a big purchase (big for me anyway).  I bought some dies, a few stamps sets, some paper, ribbon, felt.  I can't wait to see it all!  I do have a complaint though...I don't like when things are out of stock!!!  I so wanted the small rickrack die but it was not in stock!  Sad....guess I'll just need to do laundry more often so I can be checking those pockets out!

Happy Crafting!

Gift Bag

Made this Gift Bag to match the little shaped card I made HERE.  I used a plain ol' white bag I bought with a coupon from Joann's, scraps of paper, one sheet of Martha Stewart printed paper, some foam tape and my trusty EXPRESSION 2 and the Creative Memories Stork's Delivery cartridge.  The giraffe was cut at 6 inches....and popped up with some foam tape...added a little ribbon from Michael's, a few gems for the eyes...a little felt rickrack at the bottom ...and voila...instant, but CUTE, gift bag!

Happy Crafting!!! 

Finders Keepers...Losers Weepers!

Today I was doing laundry (I'm one of those unusual types who really doesn't MIND doing laundry....don't ask me to go to the grocery store, though!)...and I always check my husband's pants pockets because despite my NAGGING him he still leaves things in his pockets.  Usually there are napkins or tissues...or receipts...on occasion reaching in his pocket is dangerous because he leaves toothpicks and they have drawn BLOOD!  Well, today I hit the jackpot.  I reached into his pocket and pulled out a wad of cash!  Mwahhahahaha!!! Well, being the kind of person who can't be quiet about a find like that....I have to put it in your face...I went to him and said "If I do your laundry and I find money in your pockets I get to keep it, right?...that is the rule, right?"  Poor man...he knows when to just laugh at me.  He's much better about not getting in my face than I am about not getting in his face.  It takes years of training but most men can learn...I do believe that!

So I think I will shop at Papertrey Ink  later today.  I am seriously in need of some of their dies and stamp sets!

Here is a card I made for Papetrey Ink's Stamp-a-Faire Challenge #2 which was to use raspberry and gray colors on a project.

I used white cardstock for the base and smoky gray cardstock for matting and a sheet of the Raspberry Fizz from the 2008 Bitty Box Basics (by Papertrey Ink).  The ribbon, stamps and die are also  from PTI as well. The stamp set is Mat Stack 3 Collection and I used the coordinating die.  I used a punch I have...used it the other day, too, but there is no manufacturer on the punch and I don't recall where I got it.  I also used some Hero Arts gems on the punch out.  

This was also entered in the Wacky Wednesday Challenge #45 - Cricutless Challenge!

Happy Crafting and may your husbands also leave money in their pockets!

Summer Card Camp 2011: Week 4

This is the last week of the Summer Card Camp...it's been interesting and I've learned a few new things.  Our color palette for this week is shown above...I love those colors and they immediately reminded me of the BEACH.  And yep, I'm going in September with the whole "FAM" and I can't wait!!!

I made a card using a technique called Faux Letter Press demonstrated by Jennifer McGuire.  You basically ink up an embossing folder and then run your folder and paper through your embossing machine.  Jennifer also demonstrated inking on acetate which I'd done before (thanks to a class I took at CKU with her several years back).  She does such beautiful work...such a stamping Queen!

Without further ado...here is my card:

For the Faux Letter Press technique I used Stampin' Up Bliss Blue ... the effect is that the dots are raised and white and the background is Bliss Blue.  I also ran a Pearl Paint Dabber over the white dots to give it a little more sheen.  This photo doesn't show up the Bliss Blue very well, but it's there.  I also used StazOn Opaque ink (note to self: get a new pad!) with an Autumn Leaves swirl stamp.  All paper was Bazzill Basics and the flower was Spare Parts from Hobby Lobby.  The sentiment is from Paper Trey Ink Mat Stack 3 and was done with Color Box pigment ink and embossed with clear embossing powder.  That's it!  I like the effect and will probably do this again at some point.

Dying Seam Binding:
Creations with Christina had a tutorial this past Monday on dying seam binding.  I ordered from the place Christina mentioned called SEW TRUE on Monday and received my shipment today!  I thought that was really fast shipping!  I followed Christina's tutorial and dyed these 4 pieces in less than 5 minutes...which included clean up time!
The 3 on the left were done with Stampin' Up Reinkers...the one on the right was done with Glimmer Mist.

I've left it on my craft mat to dry overnight.  I think that is just a really inexpensive but fun alternative to ribbon!

Lucky Me!

I was out most of the day in this terrible oppressive heat (but I'm not really complaining because I'd much rather have the heat than the cold any day!!!) with my tennis team as today was our last match of the season (my team won the day by the way...woohooo!) but when I got home I had the most wonderful surprise!!!

I walked into my kitchen where my husband had placed a huge box on the table.  What was in the box you ask?  Well, a few weeks back I won some blog candy from Keshet Starr of  Over the Rainbow..."blog candy" doesn't even do all the stuff justice...it was more like BLOG FEAST!  There were so many goodies in the box I couldn't even take a picture of all the items at once.  There was chipboard, buttons, clips, ribbon, stamps, stickers, flowers, 2 idea books from the fabulous Northridge Publishing (I didn't have), rub-ons, and so many things I couldn't even begin to name it all...PLUS a huge stack of some beautiful paper!!!  And...a pair of child paper scissors that my cute little AG can use when I can trust him not to cut my hair! :)

Take a look....

Thanks so much, Keshet!  You were so very generous and I'll have fun playing with these new things!!!!  And check out Keshet's blog...she does giveaways often and also has some interesting things on it!

Tennis, Anyone?

Now, I know you may have come here to see some fantastic new paper creation from me (just kidding about the "fantastic"...but it is a very nice adjective, isn't it?)...but if you did you may be in for a little disappointment.  That is unless you are a tennis buff!  As I say in my profile...I play league tennis and love, love, love the sport.  I play on 2 teams right now but our season ends tomorrow.  The good think is that there is always another season just around the corner.

Atlanta is hosting the Atlanta Tennis Championships which is one of the warm up tournaments to the US Open and is part of its series.  We don't have the top-top men here but there are some very good players including the #1 US man, Mardy Fish, who has really done well lately.

Some of my good friends and tennis teammates went to the championship today. IT WAS HOT!!! We were all sweltering...I can't imagine what it must feel like to these men playing such high level singles in this heat!  Wowza!

We did see Robby Ginepri shown here:

Robby is a local boy...from the Atlanta area and was our hope a few years back.  He made it as high as 15 in the rankings but  has dropped to the 150s now.  Sad...he did have a lot of potential.  He was known for a while as being the boyfriend of Minnie Driver.  I am a wealth of tennis knowledge! :)

Robby lost tonight...no big surprise...but he did have a good match.

The evening match pitted two American favorites together...the veteran James Blake who is well over 30!...and John Isner...the 6'9" giant who has the record for playing the longest match in history which was at Wimbledon last year...beating Mahut in over 11 hours!  

Wow....  John Isner went to the University of Georgia and helped that school win a national championship so he was definitely a local favorite tonight although lots of people were rooting for James Blake.

Here's James Blake (such a GOOD LOOKING DUDE!):

and here is a photo of John Isner:

They sure gave us spectators a great match...Isner won it in a tiebreak in the 3rd set.

So...no paper crafting for me...but hopefully I'll get something cutesy posted soon!!!

Happy Crafting and Happy Tennis!

Hi, Sweetie!

This little card was literally made in about 15 minutes...ok...maybe I'm exaggerating a bit...but seriously it was pretty fast! I have a template for a vertical A2 sized card in my Gypsy and just pulled in the sundae image and sized it accordingly...and then cut the other layers at the same size.  I put all the images on one layer on my Gypsy and then just used the screen to lay my papers out so all cuts were made at the same time.  I love that about the Gypsy!   I used Paper Trey Ink paper and cardstock, a little white pen stitching, an embossing punch which says "hi"...and there is no manufacturer on the punch so I couldn't tell you who made it or even where I got it.  I used a Corner Chomper (clouds) and some Glossy Accents on the cherry.  The little "sweetie" sentiment is from the Notes for a Friend stamp set by Stampendous.  The Cricut cartridge I used was Just Because Cards (once again).  And this little happy card will be entered in the CAS-Friday challenge CFC11 and the Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Me Monday #69 as both were to make a project with ice cream or a sweet treat.  I actually put a little bow below the cherry but apparently I took this photo before I secured the bow.  You'll just have to use your imagination!


Clean and simple it is...and who doesn't like an ice cream sundae with a cherry on top!

Happy Crafting!

Cricut Challenge 14: Flower Shoppe/Bloggers Challenge

Continuing on with my personal Cricut Challenge of using all my cartridges....  Again, I'm jumping out of order here but I recently ordered the brand new, hot off the press FLOWER SHOPPE which I was just itching to get my hands on.  Anyone who knows my crafting tendencies right now knows how much I love these three dimensional flowers that are quite popular in all kinds of crafting now.  So, I was happy when Cricut jumped on the wagon and designed this cartridge.

I think I will need to play around with it a bit more. One of the first flowers I attempted would be great on gift bags or gift wrap or frames, etc because it was quite thick and very 3D...it would not have worked well on a card that needed to be mailed.

OK...now that I look at this card and I look at the bottom right it looks like there is a SHRIMP there.  Does it look like a shrimp to you?  What the heck!!!  This is from the K&Co Que Sera Sera paper stack....It's all abstract floral designs with really pretty colors but now I see a shrimp!  Oh well.... :) 

The only other items I used on this card were a couple of small pearls that I placed in the center. 

I am also entering this in the Bloggers Challenge which provided this sketch for the week:

 

I don't know about you but I am always losing things in my craft room...I spend some of my time relocating things I've set down and can't remember where I put them.  But I do have a tip for you Gypsy users.  I put my stylus on a long lanyard and wear it around my neck...that way I am free to use it but I don't lay it down somewhere and forget where I put it!  Of course, last night I wore it upstairs and realized it as I was getting ready for bed and took it off and left it in my bathroom.  So, again...this afternoon when I went to my "playroom" I said "YIKES, WHERE IS MY STYLUS?!"...and then I remembered it was in my bathroom so I had to trudge up the stairs to get it.  But I like thinking positively...so I figured I burned another 10 or so calories retrieving it!  

I keep thinking I should get a pretty lanyard but for now this is what mine looks like:

Functional, functional, FUN!

Happy Crafting!

Cricut Challenge 13: Just Because Cards

Plugging along with my personal Cricut Challenge...and that is to make at least one thing from all the cartridges I have. I'm sort of going out of order but like I said...it's my challenge and I am the queen of my blog so I can amend the rules when I like!  Anyway, I made this card for AngelCakes' mommy who is a tad under the weather.

I decided to use the pickup truck because I thought it was really cute...but "girly-fied" it up by using purples and soft greens.  I also put a bit of foam tape under the car to pop it up a bit. A little purple ribbon also made it a little more feminine I think.  I thought it turned out pretty cute and I loved the cut.

I used all scraps I had...mostly Bazzil and Core'dinations cardstock, I believe.  I also used Stampin' Up! Sage Shadow ink for the sentiment.  The mat shape is a Nestabilities and then I just hand cut the green mat around it because the next size up die made too fat of a mat for my liking.  I used a white Signo pen for some pen stitching and although you can't see it in the photo I also edged around the lettering with a glitter pen to give it a little more something or other. I don't exactly know what it gave it but it finished it off nicely, I thought.

Happy Crafting!

Teresa Collins and Giveaway

The Craft Channel is featuring Teresa Collins (an awesome designer) and also hosting a Cricut Expression 2 giveaway.  I have an E2 and love it...so here's your chance to win one! ;) Click Here: The Craft Channel.

I recently took a class with Teresa Collins herself and it was great fun and we ended up with a wonderful little album.  I had posted it a while back but if you didn't get a chance to see the wonderful photos of NBG here it is: Teresa Collins NBG Album.

Which reminds me...I never did totally finish this little album off so that will be a good project for me on this cloudy (but much cooler) day!

Summer Card Camp 2011: Week 3: Card 1

 Week 3 of the Summer Card Camp class presented us with the above color palette.  Another interesting color combination...I do like the neutrals with the splash of red but not sure I love that putty color on the second from the left....at least not the way it shows on my computer.  But it is what it is.... :)
So here is the card I made using a technique Jennifer McGuire demonstrated called "Finger Inking".

First I stamped on the smooth side of a piece of watercolor with Versamark.  I put white embossing powder over and used my heat gun to melt it. Then I started the Finger Inking.  Now Jennifer just used her inks and her fingers...my technique would more aptly be called Latex Glove Inking because I am a prima donna and don't like getting ink all over my hands so I put a glove on my hand!   In the video we saw Jennifer's hands were just a mess at the end and I thought..."I DON'T WANT TO MY HANDS TO LOOK LIKE THAT!" 
As Jennifer demonstrated I put some of the Ranger Distressed Inks on my craft mat and spritzed with water and then picked up some of the color with my latex covered finger tips and dabbed it on my stamped paper.  I also added a little Perfect Pearls (Pearl) to the red ink for a bit of a sheen.
I added a few metallic dots to some of the flowers.  I also used the flower stamp with Versamark on the dark brown card base to give it a watermark look.
It was really kind of fun to do...but I'm glad I used the glove! 
Other supplies I used were:
Stampin Up Vintage Vogue
Twine from Archiver's
Hero Arts Metallic Decor
Woodmark USA "On Your Special Day" Sentiment

My Fifteen Minutes of Fame!

...well, probably more like 15 seconds of fame!

My little Avenue here where I love to Express myself (the Expression Avenue BLOG)  is being featured on the Crafty Steals Blog today on Feature You Friday!

If you are not familiar with Crafty Steals...well, it is just the best place to pick up paper crafting deals.  You all know how much I love Unity Stamps...well, I don't pay retail...I "steal" them through Crafty Steals.  Crafty Steals has just redone it's whole website and it is very nice...it just launched on Monday so check it out!

I'll be available for autograph signing shortly...but first I need to go check out the Steal of the Day!

Happy Crafting!

Back to Scrapbooking...a Bit....

It's been so long since I've done any scrapbooking...I've been on a card making frenzy and have enjoyed every minute of that but I am seriously getting behind!  I was behind before NBG was born...now it's even worse! LOL!!!  AG will be celebrating his 2nd birthday in September and I still haven't done all the photos from his first birthday!  Don't you wish you could slow down this fast moving GAME OF LIFE!!!  I wish I could stop time for...say...a week or so so I could get caught up!  LOL!

So here's a two page layout I did earlier this week...

I did the left side of this layout at Archiver's as one of their make and takes but needed a companion page so did the right side to half way match.  I used one of my Cricut cartridges to make the squirrel...maybe it was Birthday Bash.  Wow!  I really have NO memory and I'm at my daughter's for a few days and don't have my notes!  I only did this about 3 days ago but that could have been a month ago when it comes to my memory! Haha! Sheesh!  I know I cut 3 1/2 inch circles with George and Basic Shapes! :) 

I also used the Hero Arts Friendly Flags stamp set which I LOVE!  I have used that set in other cards I've shown on my blog before.

The paper, I think, was Echo Park but again I'll have to look back when I get home!  Anyway, it was fun and at least I have 2 pages done for AG's Birthday Album! :)

Oh...and a little extra something...here is a picture of NBG...she is 6 weeks today!  This is her best impersonation of Carmen Miranda!  She had you fooled...admit it!...although really, she does look a lot like her brother the wonderful AG in this photo!

Happy Crafting!

Thanks for the Blog Awards!

Thanks to my friends, Judy at At Home Crafting with Judy, Kim at Basement Stamper, and Melissa at Created by Sunshine Honey Bee for the recent blog awards!  It's so nice to be recognized! :)

Toiling with a Doily!

Who has been using any of the doily dies out there for card making (or scrapbooking)?  I had bought a doily die from Paper Trey Ink a while back...this one is called Parisian Doily but I had yet to use it.  I decided that it was time to break it out and try it! 

I had also bought the punch out tool to help remove the teensy punched out pieces but still am not sure exactly how that is supposed to be used.  I did find (after a few attempts) that running the die through my Cuttlebug several times and even rotating the die on each pass through helped me get the best cut.

I made two cards both the same with just different background papers.  The papers I used were from Crate Paper's Portrait Collection.  The sentiment and the butterfly which were both embossed with gold Zing embossing powder were from Bevy of Butterflies by Unity Stamps.

I inked with Pumice Stone Distress Ink (Ranger) and used a little American Craft dotted ribbon. 

I love that doily die...look at the detail here:

It really is lovely, isn't it?

and here is a picture that shows the embossing...I know that you know what embossing looks like but I thought it turned out so cute!  And sometimes it's just fun to put up more than one picture! :)

Is it hot where you are????  I played tennis today for just an hour and thought I was GONNA DIE!  We have had one hot summer so far...and I think it is going to be worse tomorrow!  But I'll take the heat over cold any day....

Happy Crafting!

Fun Shaped Cards and Cricut Challenge 11: Creative Memories Stork's Delivery

Like my friend, Kim, who hangs out in her BASEMENT and was talking about this the other day, I too am a linear scrapper.  I like straight edges...it's something for me to round the edges of a card.  I do it from time to time but it really takes effort.  I like those 90 degree angles much better for the most part!

So what showed up in my inbox last Friday?  A challenge at CAS-ual Fridays for a shaped card.  Yikes...that meant probably no straight edges.  Today, one of my favorite bloggers Christina of Creations with Christina made a shaped card using her Gypsy and I thought to myself, "Self...you can do that!"

I ended up making these two little cards:

Both were made for enclosures for baby gifts.

The first one was made with cards stock scraps I had in my scrap box.  Some Core'dinations cardstock and some Bazzill were used for the little zebra.  I used a little tag I had and stamped "Sweet Baby" which is a Paper Trey Ink sentiment from the Mega Messages set. He has a little Bazzill bling for eyes.

You can see the cute little zebra a little closer here:

The image came from the Creative Memories Stork's Delivery Cricut cartridge.  I think he's just so cute!

The second one shown below was done with the Baby Steps Cartridge (another newer cartridge):

was done with Martha Stewart papers and a little white ribbon.  I think he's kind of cute, too, if I say so myself!

I had not used the Stork's Delivery Cartridge before so this is another one knocked off my Personal Cricut Challenge! Yay!!!  I will come back to this, though...it's a great cartridge and I need to look at it a bit more closely.

And my dear friends...that is it for today I think!  Hope you all are staying cool...we are having a huge heat wave in the south here....I think today is going to be worse than yesterday with temps in the mid 90s.  And of course here in Atlanta we have HUMIDITY!  It is oppressive but I try not to complain too much as I'd rather have it hot any day as opposed to that cold that some parts of this country get!

Happy Crafting!



Embossing Paste: A Finished Project

I ended up using my embossed image as a birthday card and will mail it to my sister in law whose birthday is just around the corner.  I love her so much because she is older than I....by several years if you are interested in knowing that tidbit.   I love her for other reasons, too...but that is as good a reason as any if you ask me! I'm actually the youngest in my family and I act like it, I think!  Can you tell? 

If you are interested in the how to's with the embossing paste look back to yesterday's post or click HERE

To finish the card I used DCWV Mango Frost papers, a Spellbinders file tab, Paper Trey Ink ribbon and sentiment, Splendor Pigment Inks, and a little bling I had in my stash. 
I think my much older (ok, she's probably wiser, too) sister in law will like it.
I'm also entering this in the Blogger's Challenge: Floral Frenzy which was to use some sort of floral or flower product on a card.

I actually had quite the busy crafting day...beside this card, I made two others and finished a scrapbook layout.  That's quite some output for me...the world's slowest crafter! Maybe I'll show my other things later...

Happy Crafting!

New Toys: Embossing Paste

I used to love to do dry embossing...stick a stylus in my hand, give me a brass template and a light box and I was a happy crafter!  But once the machines came out where you could emboss and die cut...well, those little brass templates just got filed away and haven't been used in a long time.

When I was at Scrapbook Expo yesterday Cyndi and I stopped at a booth where embossing with a paste was demonstrated.  It was really a pretty interesting demo and Cyndi and I were both hooked...bait, line, and sinker!  You know how it is...you see something demonstrated that looks great and then you get home and it's a disaster and NEVER turns out the way it was demonstrated!  Know what I mean?  Well, thankfully this was pretty easy to duplicate but took a little bit of trial and error for me.

The product is called Tessler Dimensional Elements and there is a website listed on the container which is http://www.tesslerstamps.com/ but I was unable to find the paste on the site.  The paste comes in two types: a clear, glossy gel and a white matte paste.

To use it you select your stencil (I used brass stencils) and postition them on your cardstock.  You want to use a removable tape to anchor it....the woman at the booth said blue painter's tape worked fine and I had some of that on hand so brought it out:

Don't try to be skimpy with the tape because it also helps protect your paper (tip from the experienced there, by the way!).

Once your template is secured you can open the tub of glop (I love that technical term!)...the kit I bought came with a little plastic applicator that looked similar to a knife.

Begin to spread the glop over the template...the more the merrier! But you really don't need a ton at your personal party here...a little goes a pretty long way!

Once you have good coverage you can use your applicator to smooth off the excess:

Remove all the pieces of tape except for the top one and then lift up your "hinged" template to make sure you have the coverage you want.  If your coverage is how you want it you can remove the brass template which should then be scrubbed with an old toothbrush and some water and mild detergent.  (The residue did come off easily but I would imagine it would be more difficult if it were dried on.)

And as you can see it left a raised embossed image.  Then you have to leave it to dry.  I am not good at letting things dry.  I always have an irresistable urge to TOUCH!  I think it took about 30 minutes to dry .  The glossy dries shiny...the white dried more matte like.

Once your item is dry you can secure the template back over your embossed image and use inks to dab in your color with small paint dabbers.  I used pigment inks so I was able to add a little glitter at the end while the inks were still wet for a little extra shine.

Here are some samples of finished images:

I would imagine you could put a small amount of the paste in another container and then add some drops of ink to color it.  I didn't try that, though...I really liked the white matte paste against the dark backround.  The trees above on the black were not inked at all. 

It was fun...and easy...and the result was really nice.  I'd definitely recommend this stuff if you can find it and feel like pulling out your old recently unused brass templates!

Happy Crafting!



Good News and Bad News!

The good news is that I got some really cool new things I hadn't seen before today at Scrapbook Expo...the BAD NEWS IS I SPENT TOO MUCH $MONEY$!!  My husband is so great because I came in...he said "Did you have fun?"  I said, "Yes it was so wonderful...crafting heaven...but I spent too much!"  He said (bless his heart), "Well, it's great you have such a passion for this!"  Isn't he the greatest?

So here is all what I hauled away....

But you want to know specifics, right? :)

So the first item is this:

A cute little plastic case for paint daubers.  We paper crafters love cute storage containers!
The next items are something I can't wait to try:

Two jars of embossing paste (one is clear and one is white), an applicator, some pigment inks, and some glitter.   You basically tape a stencil to a piece of paper, slap the paste on...let it dry and ink it up the way you want it.  I am sure it will be a huge mess when I get started but the demonstrator made it look oh so easy and oh so pretty!
Next up:

A set of stamps from Making Memories for $1.50!  I am always drawn to butterflies, dragonflies, and ladiebugs so I thought this was so cute!
Next up on my buying spree were these Spellbinders dies:

They had a promotional where you bought 3 you got one free.  I tried to pick up some I haven't seen at my local stores including those cute little file labels on the bottom left!

Next:

I got this punch/button maker...I got the flower shape. They are carrying these at Archiver's but this is my first one. It punches paper and adheres it to the epoxy shape and you have a custom button.  Too cute!

This case is a little ArtBin box that is deep enough to hold Stickles!  They sit right up in it...and like I said...we like cute containers.  Dan the Cricut Man said he is also coming out with a larger box that holds about double the Stickles that this one does.

Next:

Some pretty pink trim...can use it on layouts of N.B.G.
And then I got these...more Sew Easy heads:

Then I got a pretty shade of purple Distress Ink.

And then....

A container of Sparkly Fluff.  I was tempted to get more colors but decided to see if I use this first before investing in more!

And then....

A good sized bag of opaque black bling!  This whole bag was just $1.00!

And lastly I picked up some hair bow making doodads for N.B.G.

So it was fun but I'm exhausted from all the decision making!  I'm hoping to get to play with my new things tomorrow...we are going to my daughter and son-in-laws house to celebrate my husband's birthday tonight!

Happy Crafting!