Elegant Birthday Set

I made this set for my SIL who just had a birthday. The box was plain chipboard and I altered it with some pretty paper, stamping, sewing and ribbon. The box was then filled with goodies. With the scraps from covering the box I made a matching card. This afternoon my nephew is having a birthday party, so I'm off to go make him a little card:) Hope you are having a great Saturady!

Supplies:
Stamps: Vintage Butterflies (CHF), French Script backgrounder (CHF) Fancy Pants
Other:black satin ribbon from stash, sewing, MM flower, Prima flowers, bling brad
Tools: Oval Nestie, Cricut, Jasmine photo corner

Sweets Anyone?

Isn't that such a cute cupcake stamp? It a Studio G $1, which makes it even cuter! I colored them in with my Bic Markers for a bit of a different look. I've been needing Birthday cards and decided to go cupcakes instead of my more normal route of flowers:)
And these are some Valentine treat box gifts I made for some ladies at my MOPS group. I made a total of 10. Love this cute little box off of the Wild Card cartridge. The candy hearts are dark chocolate, Yum! I hope you have a happy day!

Supplies:
Stamps: Studio G, PTI, Fancy Pants
Tools: Cuttlebug, flower die, tag die,embossing folder, Cricut, Wild Card cart, piercing tool, MS punch(border and flower), Friskars flower punch, sewing
Other: rick rack ribbon, Frosted Stickles

MDC Card Challenge Thursday

This week it's a sketch challenge over at Mother's and Daughter's Creations. I used paper from BG, Sultry and BoBunny. The adorable image is from Stampavie and some pretty bling from Zva. Come play along with us this week!

Supplies:
Stamps: Stampavie, PTI (sentiment)
Ink:Chalk ink, Ranger Archival Black
Paper: BG, BoBunny
Tools: MS punch (boarder and butterfly), pen
Other: Prismacolor pencils, baby oil to blend, buttons

MmWaaa!

Over at the Cuttlebug Spot the challenge this week is to make a card for your sweetie for Valentines. I've never actually made a card for my hubby so this was fun. I am really loving my light box, it's so nice not to hope for a sunny day to take good pics! I hope some of you that commented about it try one out, it wasn't hard. It's a low key day for me...just staying home with the kids and hope to get caught up on some house work. Fun. *lol* I hope you have a good day...thanks so much for all your lovely comments, makes my day!

Supplies:
Stamps: Kim Hughes, The Birds and The Bees
Ink:Chalk brown, Clearsnap
Tools: Cricut, George cart, Friskars flower punch,Cuttlebug, Paisley embossing folder
Other: $1 bin ribbon, yarn, buttons, Fruit Punch stickles,flat scallop card base

Odds and Ends

I don't know about you but I have a little box that I keep reject die cuts and stamped images in that I thought I would use on a particular project and then decide not to. Last night I was going through this little box, which was beginning to get rather full, and started pulling out different pieces and thought, why don't I just make a card using the odds and ends out of it! So this is what I pulled together. The only extras I added were the dry embossing on the back card base (swiss dots) and the stamped flourish on the bird. It was fun to make something "new" out of the "old" :) Maybe give it a try yourself! If you do link your creation here so I can come take a look. Have a wonderful day!

Trying a new way of taking pictures

Not bad, huh? Today is very overcast with snow flurries and there was no way to get a good, non flashed picture, so I finally made a make shift lightbox. A friend and I were saying we really needed to do this, so I did:) This is the first picture I've taken using it and the colors are more true and I didn't need to use a flash. Yea!

This card uses some new stamps I just got from CHF. The Picotage Backgrounder, Scripture Essentials 1 and Beautiful. I cut a Labels 1 Nestie, added some piercing, ink distressing and some Spring Moss PTI ribbon and stiched on a hydrangea flower and button. The little heart stick pin is made out of chipboard cut with my Cricut using OA. I also very lightly colored in parts of the backgrounder with my Primacolor pencils.
Here is a boy verison of the door hanger. Used New Arrival and my Cricut to cut this and then added some stiched buttons.
And here is my makeshift light box! I used a diaper box, cut off one side of it and lined it with copy paper. I'm sure it could improved, but I am pretty happy with it so far! If you have any suggestions let me know. I hope you have a wonderful day!

Family Love....

So, after quite awhile of not doing many LO's it seems I'm back into wanting to do them. I really like doing 81/2x11 size and am storing them in a three ring binder, but sometimes I still want to do 12x12 and at Mikes they have a 12x12 binder(MM, Chloe's Closet) that I can get with a coupon for $10!! I'm very excited about this. I hate how much space post bound albums take up, so a couple binders and I should be good for a while.

This LO is based on another sketch by Inspired Blueprints.I used my Home Accents Cricut cart for the title and flourishes and the scalloped background. Only having the baby bug I had to be a bit creative making it look like one piece, so I cut the same size scallop rectangle 3x and pieced it together. It's not perfect, but I think I can get away with it since it's a dark color:)

It's a bit hard to see, but the brown scallop background is stamped with one of my new CHF backgrounders, Pretty Pattern. I love their backgrounders! (heck, I love all their stamps!!) I hand crocheted the flowers and have been playing around with getting my Cuttlebug to cut fabric and with a bit of extra shimming it's working! So the blue/cream part is fabric cut with one of my Cuttlebug flower dies. Added a few fuzzy brads, some faux stiching, lots of chalk inking and white pen distressing on the pics. Thanks for coming by:)

The Cuttlebug Spot Challenge

This week over at the Cuttlebug Spot the challenge is to make a Valentine without using PINK or RED. This was a fun challenge to do. I cut my heart card base with my Cricut using Wild Card. I threaded some embroidery floss through all the little holes and traced and hand cut the teal heart to fit inside. The flowers are prima and I glued some pearls on and added a snippet of ribbon. The image was stamped directly onto the teal heart and is a new set I just got from CHF, Kim Hughes line,The Birds and the Bees. So cute:) The background paper is from CTMH. I hope you like my take on non-traditional color Valentine! Thanks for stopping by today!

MDC Card Challenge Thursday

This week over athe Mother's and Daughter's Creations challenge blog we had a limited supply challenge! No Nestiblities or Cuttlebug, one piece of pattern paper, one embellie and 2 stamps, one being your sentiment. My design is clean, simple and springy:) I used paper from Daisy Bucket that was double sided, a cute little bird from Imaginisce, Fairest of the All collection, a Daisy Bucket sentiment and a little Zva felt flower. I added a bit of faux stiching and called it good:) Go check out the site this week and visit the store too to see what great sales are going on!

Blog Candy!

Giovanna from A Place To Praise and Craft is giving away some fabulous blog candy to celebrate her blogeversary! Go check it out HERE. I'll be back later to today for the MDC card challenge Thursday! :)

Inspirational Card Sketches DT call

There is a call going for a brand new card sketch blog that is starting up soon. Here is my entry:) Go check it out HERE. Good luck to all who try out!

I really enjoyed this design and the pretty papers I used. The papers are from K&Co. along with some Paper Company cardstock that I embossed with Swiss Dots folder. The hydrangea flowers are from the silk flower section at Mikes and the pearl stick pin I made. The scallop border is a MS punch and the circles were cut with classic Nesties. I added some sewing, a hand cut heart, a photo corner cut with my Cricut and some stickles. The sentiment is from CTMH. Thanks for coming by!

Live With...

I am really loving doing 81/2x11 LO's. Here is my most recent one and I used a great sketch from Inspired Blueprints. This is my daughter who right in the middle of playing fell asleep with my house shoe on her face:) I used my Curvy cutter for the circle panel and my Cricut for the title and tag. (Don Juan and All Mixed Up) The swirly stamps are from Inkandinkado. The pretty brad in the middle of the flower is from K&Co. and I used some pretty $ bin ribbon. I hope you have a wonderful day!

2Sketches4You

Another great sketch over at 2Sketches4You. I really enjoyed this one...the pattern paper is so pretty, it's from K&Co. I hand cut out the paisley and the circle, leaf combo that fit over it. I got to use my new MS heart lace punch.I punched out a vellum strip of it to go behind the "Love". LOVE was cut with my Cricut using the Stamped cart. I stickled the heart and hand embroidered a tiny "x". The top and bottom was also hand embroidered with a blanket stitch. To finish it I added some faux dew drops and a bit more stickles to the flowers. I hope you like it! Thanks for stopping by:)

Shhh...

This is the first thing I've cut using my new Cricut deep blades. I am very happy with the results and it beats hand cutting by a lot!! This is the door hanger from BBTM cart and I am so thrilled I can now cut one to full size on my Create in the Portrait setting. I used OA and DJ for the fonts and NA for the bassinet. The little flower corners are a Cuttlebug die and I embossed "baby" with my Swiss Dots folder. It's hard to see, but the little flower on the bassinet has a mini saftey pin through it. I hope you are enjoying your Sunday afternoon, and don't forget to let me know if you'd like me to link you! Thanks for visiting:)

I'll Link You If You Link Me!

If you would like to be linked under my blog roll please let me know. I want to get a list going. If you are one of my followers, thank you! Leave me a comment if you'd like your blog link listed and if you do please link me to yours! :)

One Happiness

Isn't this such a true quote? This is the new stamp of the month over at CHF. The freesia flower image makes lovely background paper, which is what I did here. For the main image I cut out the flowers and popped them up. Added some stitching and Antique Linen distress ink and a photo corner cut with my Cricut using Jasmine and s little snippet of ribbon. I hope you have a day full of loving and being loved.

An Award

My friend Fink over at Fink's Happenings was sweet enough to give me this award. Thank you! I think I'm suppose to name 7 blogs I love, but I am terrible at this! So, if you are a follower of mine and comment, consider yourself awarded:) Fink was also having an open call on telling 16 things about yourself so here's mine.

* I hate tomatoes (raw)
* I grew up on the Big Island of Hawaii (miss the ocean so much!)
* I have one brother who is 4 years younger than me
* I have been married for 9 1/2 years
* I use to dance ballet, not professionally but for 19 years or so and on pointe (did many, many performances)
* My birthday is the Ides of March (the 15th)
* I get to stay home with my kids
* I went through an amazing adoption to have my son and after 5 years of infertility was blessed with my daughter
* I would love to have a therapy dog one day
* I love to shop
* My mom and I are super close
* I absolutely love the dersert in the spring when it's in bloom, amazing
* I am not good at coming up with things like this *lol*
* I love to keep a garden
* I am slightly addicted to the computer
* I am SO thankful for the life I live

Consider yourself tagged! :)

MDC Card Challenge Thursday

This week over at Mother's and Daughter's Creations challenge blog we had to pick a fellow DT member and case a card we liked. I cased this one from Dawn. I thought this image was so sweet from Stampavie . I colored her in with my Primsacolor pencils and blended with baby oil. The sweet paper is from Imaginisce. The border is a MS punch and the oval was cut with my Nesties. The sentiment is from PTI. I am going to save this card and give it to my neice for her birthday, I think she'll like it. Why don't you go check out the challenge blog and play along with us and check out the store to see what great items are on sale. Happy creating!

Somebirdy Special and my first DS word book

I don't know exactly what it is about Kim Hughes stamps but they just make me happy. Last night I wanted to just stamp, no patterned paper no extra embellies, just stamps, ink and paper. I used two sets from Kim Hughes, Cute Curls and Pretty Birds and cut the card base with my Cricut using my new Wild Card cart. The background is stamped in Antique Linen distress ink (have you figured out this is my fav distress ink yet *lol*) and in green on the bottom for "grass." I stamped the sentiment on one piece of paper and then cut them apart using my craft knife. The flower tops and bird are all popped up on demensionals. To finish it I threaded some sheer ribbon through the scallop openings and tied a bow at the top. I wanted a springy card, and I'm happy with how it came out. I think I send it as one of my Valentine's.
This is my very first word book I designed in my Cricut Design Studio. SO much fun! Except for the flower paper the entire thing is stamped. I used my Don Juan cart for the font of the book and cuts from Storybook, my other absolute fav cart! I bound it with my neglected Bind It All, though I think it will be getting more use now that I have the DS. The pages were left pretty simple as it's suppose to be for pictures.


I hope you are having a great day. Leave me some love, would ya? Thanks!

2Sketches4You

I played along again over at 2Sketches4You and LOVE the way this came out! I was doing my morning walk on the treadmill looking at the sketch and this idea popped into my head:) I used some BG Sultry paper, my Storybook Cricut cartridge for the font and owl/frame, photo corner and heart. I embossed the cream panels with my cuttlebug Swiss Dots folder and sponged some Antique Linen distress ink on top. The pink ribbon is twill from PTI and a bit of sheer white from Mikes.The scallop is a Friskars punch and the little bling I've had. I hope it makes you smile too!Thanks for visiting!

Butterflies for a Cause

Over at The Limelight they are collecting butterflies for the Holocaust Museum butterfly exhibit that is set to debut in 2012. Please go read this post, it will give you all the info on the project and where you can send them to. I have made a few so far, very simple ones but I want them to travel well. What a great cause and also to think that any butterflies you make will be in a breathtaking display.

I hope to post a card or two today a bit later...I had a busy weekend and am trying to get back into the swing of creating:) Have a great day.

Card a Day/ Labels 1 flower and leaves

Good morning! I am off rather early this morning but I wanted to quickly post today since I missed yesterday. I was so excited when this idea popped into my head and when it actually worked, well I was even more excited:)

The flower and leaves on today's card were made with the smallest die from the Spellbinder's Label 1 die. Very easy to make too! Are you interested in me posting a tutorial? Drop me a comment if you are. (and for creative courtesy if you use my idea please give me credit!)

The rest of the card is pretty straight forward, the heart and word "LOVE" is CTMH stamps, the scallop border is Friskars punch and the little photo corner was cut with my Cricut using Jasmine.

I hope you have a good day!

Thursday MDC Card Challenge~ Winter Fun!

This week's challenge over at the Mother's and Daughter's Creation challenge blog is to make a card that celebrates winter fun! Nothing says winter more than a snowman:) I used papers and a greeting stamp from Imaginisce along with a flower and rhinestone from Zva Creative. I had a lot of fun using my Cricut and Design Studio to cut the snowman. I hand cut her nose and her eyes are french knots. The scallops are from Friskars punch.

Play along with us this week and have a chance to win this folding pencil cup from Croppin Companion - it folds flat so it's great to carry to crops and stamping parties! Just visit the site and post a comment with a link to your card!

Check out the MDC store too! Some great sales going on...Basic Grey and Imaginisce 25% off! Plus check out the customer appreciation rewards program. Thanks for visiting!

Card a Day and a LO

I love this quote, "There is no distance too far between friends for friendship gives wings to the heart."

All the stamps I used are from CHF (Cornish Heritage Farms). (Except for the little snippets of lace, that is a CTMH stamp) These Silhouette images from Kim Huges are some of my absolute favorite. I love how they are so easy to layer and are just well, beautiful. I stamped the pink card base with Canvas Backgrounder and on my Label 1 die stamped Spanish Script backgrounder. Then layers 3 different sihouette images in light to dark distress ink colors. I added some darker sponging around the pink base also. The butterfly is from Vintage Butterflies. I stamped the butterfly twice with brown Stazon ink on vellum and cut them out. To hide the white pop dot underneath I used a white gel pen to color in a few sections of the wings. The flower is a silk hydrangea with a sprial clip from an office store and a threaded button. I added a bit of the same thread to the side and knotted it.
I also got a LO done! I am loving the 81/2 x 11 size! More like a card I guess:) This was some of my favorite Christmas pics from this year. *Tip: Don't be afraid to cut an embellishment in half! I did this with one of the snowflakes and it allowed me to get the nice visual triangle going."

The tittle was cut with my Cricut and welded together in Design Studio. I highly recommend getting this software! I love not having individual letters to deal with. I added a lot of bling and some really blingy silver Martha Stewart glitter. The scallops were punched with MS edge punch. The journaling box was cut with my Long Rectangle Nesties.

I hope you are having a great day!!

Baby

Here is my card for today. I got this beautiful stamp from Mikes awhile back and just love it. I colored it with my Prismacolor pencils and blended with baby oil. I added some paper glaze to the eggs so they are a bit shiny. The word "baby" was cut with a Cuttlebug alphabet set, (sorry, I don't remember which one!) Added some stitching and sheer polka dot ribbon. I hope you are having a great day!

2sketches4you

I played along over at 2 Sketches 4 You this week. I didn't want to cover up all the pretty paper(K&Co.) I was using so instead of making an extra paper panel I just added stitching so that it still blocks of that section. I colored the butterfly with my Prismacolor pencils and popped him up. The circle was cut with my Nesties and I used Antique Linen distress ink to soften it. The scallops were made with my MS punch. The sentiment, "Dreams are wishes your heart makes" is from PTI. I added some pen work for a finishing touch. Thanks for visiting!

Happy Birthday

Here is my card for today. This will be for my SIL who loves birds. I used the Storybook cartridge and Design Studio to weld the branches and bird together. It is SO nice being able to weld things and have one piece to deal with! Used my MS punch and distress ink. Sentiment is from PTI. At the top I added some liquid pearls in white.

It's a snowy cold day here, I think I'll just stay home with the kids and craft! Have a great day:)

Gingerbread

Well, with the New Year I have decided that I really want to get back to doing alot more layouts. And I think I am going to start doing 8 1/2 x 11 size. It's smaller than 12x12 which just works better for me. Plus I have 2 huge 3 inch three ring binders that I can put a ton of LO's in and get away from buying albums which take up so much space.

So here is my first 8 1/2 x 11 LO. I stamped the polka dot background (PTI) and had so much fun welding my tittle and flower embellie together with my new Cricut Design Studio. The LO was based on a sketch from Inspired Blueprints.

I am looking forward to having more pictures in an album. I have quite a few to catch up on!

Card a Day Challenge and Stamp Something Challenge

Apparently I am in a pink mood:) This card uses all scraps of paper I've had but it uses a brand new stamp set I just got. The set is from Clear Art Stamps and is called Rosy Wishes. I didn't have any stamps that had roses and I really liked this little bouquet of them. I also used a new Friskars Starburst punch I got at Target.

I stamped the roses in Antique Linen Distress ink so that the outline would be soft and then colored the image in with my Prismacolor pencils. The oval was cut and embossed with my Nesties. I added some sponging of Antique Linen to the edge of the oval and pierced it. The solid pink layer is embossed with my Cuttlebug, Swiss Dots folder. I stiched up the sides with my sewing machine and added a bit of transparent blue ribbon to the bouquet. The sentiment is from CHF. It reads"Plant a seed of friendship reap, a bouquet of happiness."

Jen over at Jen at the crazy scrapbooker is doing a challenge of making a card a day for this month and I wanted to jump in. Go check out her card today, super cute. And this also doubles for the Stamp Something challenge this week which was to stamp something new.

Thanks for visiting!

Bitten By the Bug Challenge

The challenge this week over at Bitten By the Bug was to use the Mini Monogram circle dot cut. The inside circle with the flowering branch was cut from Storybook. I used Bushed Courderoy and Antique Linen Distress ink around all the edges and stamped Spanish Script backgrounder (CHF) on the cream panel. The sentiment is from Clear Art Stamps, a set I got at my LSS for $4! I used my Swiss Dot embossing folder for the pink panel and a couple of hydrangea blossoms from some silk flowers from Mikes, attached with a brad and a bit of lace tucked in. To finish it off I added some stickles to the branch cut, it gives it such a pretty shine. Thanks for visiting and leave a comment, I love to read them!