Happy Birthday Cupcake Card

March 23, 2011 by 7 Comments

Mom and I decided on Monday that we’d try to enter the Jitterbuggin’ sketch challenge this week to motivate me to craft more — and put my now organized room to use!   This has been a busy week work-wise as I just finished up four days of writing non-stop for a special charity travel blogging event that was taking place.  I finished off my last post this morning and while I am exhausted, I am happy I participated.

Unfortunately, I didn’t leave myself much time to get a card done for the challenge so I spent the entire day crafting.  Since my birthday is rolling around again in two weeks, I joked with my husband that since we don’t really know where to get English birthday cards here, I will just make one for myself!

My Birthday Card

Making my own birthday card gave me an opportunity to use another recently purchased Taiwan stamp.  I love these three birds as they seem to coordinate with the 3 Birds on Parade Cricut cartridge!  I colored the birds with Copic Sketch Markers (well, tried anyways).

Close up detail of the Bday card

All the papers for this card were loose stock that I must have picked up at Michael’s or Joann’s at some point.  I ended up using four Cricut cartridges to make all the cuts on this card — it’s been so long since I did this much cutting with the Cricut, it was almost like starting over.

For all the rectangles and squares, I used Plantin Schoolbook again.  On the corners, I used wavy scissors to give one edge some contour.  The green rectangle “birthday present” is embossed with the Cuttlebug.  On each of the corners, I added buttons and green memory thread.  The stripes on the card are made using one of the $1 ribbon spools from Michael’s.

The layered flower cuts at the bottom are from the Sweet Treats cartridge.  The bow on the present is cut from the Birthday Bash cartridge.  I embossed it and then used dark purple ink to make the hearts on the bow stand out.  The small bird with the cupcake in the flower is from 3 Birds on Parade.  I cut several layers of each and used foam dots to pop them up.

Inside of the Bday card

On the inside, the “You Take the Cake” is from 3 Birds on Parade as well.  I added the little birdie letters from 3 Birds on Parade to make it “cupcake”.  The cupcake brad is from Michael’s and is just glued on to the popped up letters.

Inside detail on the card

After completing it and sharing it with Mom on Skype, I found out about several more challenges I could enter with it!  For this card, I am entering:

Jitterbuggin’ — It’s Not Easy Being Green

Fantabulous Cricut – Challenge #52 – Happy Birthday

Cuttlebug Spot — Buttons…Buttons Everywhere

Filed Under: 3 Birds on Parade, Birthday Bash, Card Challenges, Cards and Projects, Cartridges, Cricut, Cuttlebug Spot, FCCB, Jitterbuggin, Plantin Schoolbook

Asian Inspired Panda St. Patrick’s Day Card

March 19, 2011 by 11 Comments

After months of travel and procrastination on cleaning my office/craft room, I finally had time to sit down this week and wanted to make a card.  Since this would be only the fourth card I’ve ever made to date, participating in some of the fun blog challenges out there might give me some design direction.

I’m now back in Taiwan and one of the ways I keep connected with Mom back in the U.S. is to craft together! She picked a few of her favorite challenges and we each came up with our own unique take on the required elements.  For this card, a few of the elements include green & gold, square card, use of a charm, twine, along with Cuttlebug and Cricut cuts.

To pay homage to both my Irish roots and my current life in Asia, I decided to combine the both and do an Asian inspired St Patrick’s Day card using a few of the new supplies exclusively available here in Asia.

Asian inspired St. Patrick's Day Card

Close up of St. Patrick's Day card

The card is 6 x 6 and uses a variety of papers I had laying around (not entirely sure which stacks they are all from – sorry!).

The large square paper cuts on the background and the oval on the panda were made with Cricut using Plantin Schoolbook.  (Took the circle shape and just made it an oval).  The yellow printed paper’s three sided border was made with Martha Stewart’s Punch Around the Page punches.

The stamped string of lanterns up top are some of my favorite new photo-polymer stamps from Lawn Fawn.  The string and Chinese lanterns are from their Lunar Lights collection and I used the shamrock in the Hats Off To You collection and just turned it upside down to “hang” them as well.  I colored them with Copics, and popped them up on some glitter green cardstock.

Lawn Fawn stamps used to make shamrock & Chinese lanterns

The Happy St. Patrick’s Day sentiment is also Hats Off To You stamp collection. I took a dark yellow ink pad & rubbed the paper with a makeup pad to give it a more yellow appearance.  It’s also popped up several times using the green glittery cardstock and a scrap of the yellow paper.

Sentiment also uses Lawn Fawn stamps

On the bottom I used a $1.00 ribbon find from Michaels that has green and yellow flowers.  The border of shamrocks is a local Taiwan-made die.  I just bought this last week, which was my first weekend back in town since leaving in January.  It’s so cute and the main reason I wanted to make a St. Patrick’s Day card for these challenges.  I used Marigold Glimmer Mist and then took a dark green ink pad to shade the edges.

Border die is from local Taiwan scrapbook and stamp store

Shamrock border die

I was a bit overzealous and decided to try a shaker and after hours of unsuccessful attempts of cutting a frame border that fit the perimeter of the shaker, I ended up going in a different direction.  The panda in the shaker was cut using a Cuttlebug style die purchased from a local store here in Taiwan.  The locally made die comes with the panda and a bamboo stalk as well.

Panda shaker element

Panda die from Taiwan

The panda’s hat is part of the Lawn Fawn Hats Off To You collection.  I cut it out and colored it with Copics.  The shamrocks in the panda’s hand were cut from the border design die and I used three smaller ones along with the tiny pieces left from the Martha Stewart punches to create the “shaker” elements. They reminded me of little hearts and provided an easy addition to the shaker.

Since I couldn’t manage to cut the right size frame for the shaker oval, I used small prima flowers all around the edges.  These are Summer Fun and Limeade “Iced Got Flowers” jars.  The centers on the flowers are jewels in the Imaginisce set for the I-rock tool.

The background paper on the panda is embossed with a bamboo stalk folder only available in Taiwan as well and matches the panda die.  Although supplies here are anything but inexpensive, I love picking up these great designs that I’ve never seen produced elsewhere (yet).  I used a dark orange ink pad to give some dimension to the bamboo stalks and then sprayed the paper with marigold glimmer mist again.

Bamboo embossing folder from Taiwan

The panda charm and twine are both items I picked up in my Taiwan scrapbook shopping travels as well.

Close up of panda charm

On the inside of the card, I went very simple and just used a Plantin Schoolbook square cut paper embossed with the Provo Craft Bamboo folder.  Again, I used some ink to give the bamboo stalks and the inside card edges some shading.

The challenges we are entering include:

The Cuttlebug Spot: All Tied Up: twine challenge

The Cuttlebug Spot: Oh so charming

Fantabulous Cricut: Hip to be Square -Green & Gold

Cooking with Cricut: Challenge 21: It’s a GREEN SCENE!

Filed Under: Card Challenges, Cards and Projects, Cartridges, Cooking With Cricut, Cricut, Cuttlebug, Cuttlebug Spot, FCCB, Plantin Schoolbook

Scrapbook Shopping in Taipei, Taiwan

April 5, 2010 by 1 Comment

When I first moved here, I was worried about being able to find any craft supplies as we do not have any stores like Michaels or Joann’s.  We have DIY areas – mostly for beading and jewelry making supplies which is big here.  As we continue to venture out into new places in town, I have been able to find some pretty cool items – especially rubber stamps and Asian style papers.

We went to the “mall” on Easter Sunday to see the Alice in Wonderland movie and as we wandered through the stores, my husband spotted a rubber stamp store and tried to convince me to head the other way.  Figuring out what was going on, I made my way around the corner and spotted it!  Sadly, stamps here are more expensive than in the States (along with many other supplies – especially from USA companies).  I’ve decided to collect unique stamps and supplies while I am living here as they are so different than much of what is available in the States.

Here are a couple photos of my latest purchases here.  I finally got a multi pack of the colored mini stamp pads for shading, but they are certainly much more expensive (nearly $30 for the set).  To give an example of how expensive things can be compared to the US, even with the bulk discount they give here – all this totaled nearly $200 US.

The multi stamp set was over $100 normally and on sale for slightly less.  Normally I would’ve probably passed right by this, but there were some adorable Chinese New Year cards made up with these.  I need to have my husband take the word ones into work and have them translated so we know what we are stamping now! 🙂

You can see the heads and bodies are separate so there are some fun things you can do with these stamps.  Much of the designs I saw appeared embossed and the individual small stamps glued onto the cards!  I would’ve taken photos, but no cameras are allowed in the malls here and they are quick to stop you if you try to take photos.

The last picture is three of my favorite ones I got.  The facial expressions and designs on these guys are hilarious – I cannot wait to start making some cards with them!  I have signed up for the Suzanne Dean Copic class and hope to start working on that soon!

-Posted by: Erin

Filed Under: Rubber Stamps, Taiwan

My Second Cricut Card: Frog Anniversary Card from Paisley

April 5, 2010 by 2 Comments

In keeping with the Paisley challenge theme for the week, I decided to make a second card with the Paisley cartridge – this time as an anniversary card for my husband to celebrate our first wedding anniversary!

  • DCWV La Creme stacks
  • MS border punch
  • Stickles
  • Misc ribbon from Michaels
  • Prima Flowers
  • Pop dots

The exterior of the card features all cuts from Paisley, except for the Happy Anniversary, which was cut from Simply Sweet. The frog is layered and up on pop dots.  Each of the letters on the Happy Anniversary were lined with small pieces of black paper and then put up on pop dots.  The solid color on the frog’s body and the cream “xoxo”  are patted with green Stickles.

Exterior of the Happy Anniversary Paisley Frog Card

The inside of the card features all Paisley cuts, except for the words, which were again cut from Simply Sweet.

Inside of the Anniversary Card Made from Paisley

– Posted by Erin

Filed Under: Card Challenges, Cartridge Exploration, Cartridges, Paisley

My First Cricut Card: Zebra from Paisley

April 3, 2010 by 1 Comment

I’ve had my Cricut and accompanying scrapbook supplies for quite some time, but in between moving to Taiwan last year, traveling extensively, and then moving apartments here in the city, everything has been in boxes, simply collecting dust.  My Mom has been encouraging me to participate in one of the challenges posted on the Cricut Community Message Boards for months, so when I saw the cartridge exploration challenge for Paisley, I figured this was as good of time as any to dig in!

Although I still have quite a bit to learn about papercrafting, the features of each Cricut cartridge, not to mention learning Design Studio- I think my first attempt was not as disastrous as I expected it to be.

The object of Cynthia’s cartridge exploration challenges is to make a card with the particular cartridge, using it for all the cuts, except for any necessary font.  It is a way to get people to learn the elements of each cartridge, while challenging themselves to make something within its offerings.  I opted to go with the zebra in the car after purchasing an adorable stuffed Winnie the Pooh dressed as a Zebra earlier that weekend – he felt he should serve as the inspiration for my first card attempt!

Here are the supplies I used to make this card

  • Die Cuts With a View – All Dressed Up paper
  • Martha Stewart Punch Around the Page
  • Fuzzy zebra ribbon from Michaels Craft Stores
  • Black Martha Stewart Flock
  • Silver and Pink Martha Stewart Glitter
  • Miscellaneous beads, loose paper, flower embellishment from Michaels
  • Cuddlebug Paisley Embossing Folder
  • Prisma colored pencils
  • Stickles

To make the puff of smoke behind the car, I used one of the paisley cuts and changed the shape slightly in Design Studio.  On the burgundy shape behind the car, I embossed card stock with the Cuddlebug and then took a nail file to rub off some of the color.  The black areas of the zebra are flocked with the MS flock and the car has both pink and silver MS glitter.  The word bubble is from Paisley as well.   The pink shading around the puff of smoke was done with colored pencils.

The background paper on the inside was loose paper from Michaels.  Both shapes are cut from Paisley and the one embossed with a CB folder.  The words are cut from Lyrical Letters and dabbed with Stickles.

I still have a long way to go in learning how to do some of the amazing techniques I have seen from design teams and talented artists, but this was a pretty decent first attempt!  Hope you enjoy!

– Posted by Erin

Filed Under: Card Challenges, Cartridge Exploration, Cartridges, Paisley

Finally Up and Running!

April 2, 2010 by Leave a Comment

We’ve had this site parked for awhile and now we are finally getting it up and running! Look for some exciting paper crafting creations coming soon!

Filed Under: Uncategorized