Spooky Halloween Pumpkin Card

October 23, 2012 by 3 Comments

 

This is a Halloween card I made for a couple of challenges.  The first one is Cooking With Cricut, and their challenge is to make a project using a pumpkin and circles or dots.  The second one is Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog, and their challenge is to make a Halloween project using the colors black and orange.

My card fits in a #10 business envelope — it’s approximately 9″ x 4″. The pattern paper is from a DCWV stack from a year or so ago.  I laid the design out in Cricut Craft Room and used my Expression to cut everything.

I used the Happy Hauntings cartridge for the sentiment and cut it at 1.75″.   The pumpkin is from Autumn Celebrations, cut at 2″.  The bats are from Holiday Cakes and were cut on shadow feature at 1″.  I bent their wings up and glued down just the bodies.

And here is the inside of the card.

The little bear posing with my card is my newest Disney Duffy Bear, the Halloween 2012 bear.  He is so cute with his little treat bag that is shaped like a Duffy bear.

  • Cricut Craft Room
  • Cricut cartridges:  Autumn Celebrations, Happy Hauntings, Holiday Cakes
  • DCWV holiday stack
Filed Under: Autumn Celebrations, Card Challenges, Cards and Projects, Cartridges, Cooking With Cricut, FCCB, Happy Hauntings, Holiday Cakes Tagged With: , , ,

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

Sunny Snail is Thinking of You!!

March 19, 2011 by 15 Comments

 

Erin is back in Taiwan after a lengthy visit here in the US.  I had lots of fun while she was staying with us.  We attended CHA every day and even managed to get in a scrapbook expo in Anaheim right before she left.  Once she got home to Taipei and settled in, she wanted to do a challenge together.  So we have been busily working,and thanks to Skype, we were able to scrap together.

A member of the Cricut Circle recently had surgery and I wanted to send her a card to wish her a speedy recovery and let her know I am thinking of her.  I thought doing a challenge would be a perfect way to accomplish this.  And here is a little Duffy “spokesbear” model to present my card:

The base of the card is green Bazzill bling cardstock.  The glittery print cardstock is from two different DCWV paper stacks, Blossoms & Butterflies and The Glitter Stack.  I used a yellow bling cardstock from Bazzill for the contrast, sun and snail body. 

I laid out my card in Design Studio and I cut the sun, snail and flowers with my Cricut.  I used Create a Critter for the sun, Birthday Bash for the snail and the Bloom Lite cartridge for the flowers.  I used my Cuttlebug to emboss the sun and the snail.  I embossed the snail with four different embossing folders, Swiss Dots, D’Vine Swirl, Plum Blossom and Mesh Texture.  I inked the edges of all the pieces to give them some depth.  I used Stickles on the center of the flowers and an atyou Spica glitter pen for the cheeks on both the sun and snail.  The sentiment on the envelope the snail has in his mouth is from a $1 clear stamp I purchased at Michaels.  I used lots of pop-dots on the sun and snail, popping up layers and also the completed pieces. 

I am loving all the baker’s twine that is so popular right now, but  I have not purchased any yet.  When I was in Michaels a couple of weeks ago, I found some Lily Sugar ‘n Cream Twists string/thread in the yarn department that reminded me of the twine.  It was on sale so I bought a few different colors to see how it would work.  I wrapped some of the blue around the bottom of this card and I think it looks pretty good.  I attached a charm to the twine with a little hanger that is from Making Memories.  I think they are called garment pins. 

For the inside of the card I added a couple of flowers that I cut out twice so I could layer them together for some dimension.  I used Stickles for the bling on the center of the flowers.

This was a fun card to create and I am happy to say that my card qualifies for the following challenges:

Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog – Challenge #51 “Hip to be Square” -green & gold

Cooking With Cricut – It’s A GREEN  SCENE!

The Cuttlebug Spot –  All Tied Up: twine challenge

The Cuttlebug Spot –  Oh so Charming

  • Bazzill bling cardstock
  • Die Cuts With a View paper stacks
  • Cricut cartridges:  Birthday Bash, Bloom (Lite), Create a Critter
  • Cricut Design Studio
  • Cuttlebug Embossing Folders:  D’Vine Swirl, Plum Blossom, Swiss Dots
  • Twine:  Lily Sugar ‘n Cream Twists
  • Making Memories garment pins
  • Charm from my stash
  • Stickles
  • atyou Spica glitter pen
Filed Under: Birthday Bash, Bloom (Lite), Card Challenges, Cards and Projects, Cartridges, Cooking With Cricut, Create a Critter, Cuttlebug Spot, FCCB, Stickles, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , , ,

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

Snow Bird

January 16, 2011 by 22 Comments

 

Here’s another card that I made for several challenges and I had a lot of fun making it.  Unfortunately it will be my last card for a while.  The next couple of weeks are going to be filled with embroidery and trade shows.  CHA is coming up at the end of the month and Erin is flying home from Taiwan to attend with me. 

There’s lots of sparkle on this card as the little snow bird makes his winter home in a warm mitten.  The solid cardstock is from Bazzill and the patterned paper is called Snowflake Waltz and is from Daisy Bucket Designs.

I wanted to do a cardinal for my bird, but I wanted a chubby little guy and I couldn’t find one on any of my Cricut cartridges.  I found a cute bird on Straight from the Nest and decided to use him.  As I was laying out the card in Design Studio, I kept trying to figure out how to make the bird into a cardinal shape.  My solution was to use a lower case “v” from the Mickey Font cartridge.  I turned it upside down and welded it to the top of the bird’s head.  I used Copic markers to color the dark spot on his face.  I’m pleased with how he came out.

The circles are cut from the George and Basic Shapes cartridge and I used my Cuttlebug to emboss both of them.  The mitten is from Simply Charmed, the large snowflake is from Joys of the Season, “Snow Bird” is from Straight from the Nest, and the bird’s scarf is from 3 Birds on Parade. 

I added lots of bling to this card.  I heat embossed the large snowflake on the front using holographic embossing powder.  I put some fine snow on the sentiment using Martha Stewart glitter.  The coarser snow is also from Martha Stewart.  The small snowflake on the mitten is a Martha Stewart punch.  I added rhinestones to the centers of the snowflakes.

While I was working on this card, the song “Snowbird” by Anne Murray kept running through my head.  I printed part of the chorus and put it on the inside of the card.   The snowflake on the inside is from Joys of the Season.

 Here are the challenges I am entering and the requirements for each:

Jitterbuggin – For the Birds Challenge – follow the sketch, add a Cricut bird and use something pink.

Fantabulous Cricut – Challenge #42 Winter Warmies – create a project using some type of winter clothing or accessory.

Cooking With Cricut – Glittermania! – glitz up your project.

The Cuttlebug Spot – Inspired by a Song – find inspiration for your project in a song.

  • Bazzill cardstock
  • Designer paper – Snowflake Waltz from Daisy Bucket Designs
  • Cricut cartridges:  3 Birds on Parade, George and Basic Shapes, Joys of the Season, Mickey Font, Simply Charmed, and Straight from the Nest.
  • Cricut Design Studio
  • Cuttlebug
  • Copic markers
  • Ranger holographic embossing powder
  • Martha Stewart punch
  • Martha Stewart glitter
  • Rhinestones from stash

 

 

Filed Under: 3 Birds on Parade, Card Challenges, Cooking With Cricut, Copics, Cricut, Cuttlebug, FCCB, Jitterbuggin, Joys of the Season, Mickey Font, Simply Charmed, Straight from the Nest Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Bring It On — 1st Card of 2011!!

January 9, 2011 by 31 Comments

 

I haven’t posted in a quite a while.  I’m still busy with the business, so that is a good thing.  I decided to take a little down time and make a card.  The nice thing is that this card fits so many challenges that are starting off the new year. 

I made a whimsical snowman, who is looking up and telling Mother Nature to “bring it on!”  He is all prepared — he has his snow shovel at the ready.

The patterned paper is by Die Cuts With a View (DCWV) — from one of the holiday stacks that I picked up at Jo-Ann’s.  I cut the snowman with my Cricut using the Doodlecharms cartridge.  I used Design Studio to hide his face so I could move his nose to the top in order to have him looking up into the sky.  I sure hope this is what he looks like, and not some strange looking snowman/unicorn creature.

The snow shovel is cut from the Sesame Street Friends cartridge, the snowman’s scarf from 3 Birds on Parade, the large snowflakes from Accent Essentials, and the snow flurry swirls are from Calligraphy.  I printed the sentiment on the computer using a free font that I downloaded.  It has little snowmen faces peeking out of the letters.  I colored the letters using Copics.

I cut the flurry swirls from a transparency sheet (acetate) so they would be clear.  I then took some white paint and dabbed on them to give them a little opacity, but not too much.  I wanted them to remain in the background when I glued on all the small snowflakes, which I made using a Martha Stewart snowflake border punch.  I used the negative cuts (the part that usually gets thrown away).  Gluing those little snowflakes was a tedious job.

The finishing touches include a small metal star charm hanging from the snowman’s scarf and some rhinestones in the centers of the large snowflakes.  The charm was gold but I thought it looked too stark on the card, so I took my Copics and changed the color. 

 

I placed three of the large snowflakes on the inside of the card:

Here are the challenges that I am entering :

Circle Blog Weekly Challenge #15:  Feeling Frosty!  The requirements are to use white paint, a snowflake and something metal.  I think I covered all of those bases with this card.

Jitterbuggin’ Challenge – Sketch 29 – Let It Snow!:  The requirements are to follow the sketch, use blue somewhere on the card, and include something snow related.

Fantabulous Cricut – Challenge Me Monday #41 – Snowy Delights:  The requirements are to create a project using snow or snowflakes.

Cooking With Cricut – Snow Fun!:  The requirement for this challenge is any project with snow or winter-time activities.

Made By Momo:  Make something with a snow theme.

My Sheri Crafts Challenge #39 – Winter:  What winter means to you. 

  • DCWV patterned paper
  • Cricut cartridges used:  Accent Essentials, 3 Birds on Parade, Calligraphy, Doodlecharms, and Sesame Street Friends
  • Clear acetate (transparency)
  • Martha Stewart snowflake border punch
  • Charm from stash
  • Rhinestones
  • Copics
Filed Under: 3 Birds on Parade, Calligraphy, Card Challenges, Circle Challenge, Cooking With Cricut, Copics, Cricut, Doodlecharms, FCCB, Jitterbuggin, Martha Stewart Punches, Sesame Street Friends Tagged With: , , , , ,

Jitterbuggin’ Gifts Galore Challenge and Fantabulous Cricut Ribbon Challenge

December 1, 2010 by 10 Comments

 

I haven’t been able to make many cards lately because this is my busy time of the year with the embroidery business.  I’ve had two machines running since Thanksgiving.  I’m taking a short break this weekend to go away with hubby to celebrate our 44th anniversay.  I wrapped up a couple of embroidery jobs on Tuesday and found time to make a card. 

I made this card to enter into two challenges.  At Jitterbuggin, Sherri asked us to make a card with a gift theme.  The sketch is not mandatory this week — we just have to add a bow and some bling — and, of course, use our Cricut.

At Fantabulous Cricut we have to use ribbon somewhere on our project and, again, have a Cricut cut on it.

I made a card with a little mouse bearing a gift, which he wrapped up so prettily and tied with a bow.  The designer paper is Christmas Mint from SEI.  I used glitter cardstock from Core’dinations for my bling.  I am really happy with the way it cuts in the Cricut.

The little mouse is from the Winter Frolic Cricut cartridge.  The frame he is mounted on is from Lacy Labels Lite cartridge and I cut the tag from the Very Merry Tags cartridge.  The printing on the tag, “not a creature is stirring”, is a download I got from the Cutting Cafe.  I wanted something small and didn’t have time to try and put text on a circle myself, so I was happy to find the saying I wanted for a very reasonable price — just 99 cents.  The text on the inside of the card is also from this same download.  I cut out the text for the tag using my Cuttlebug and Nestabilities scalloped circles.

I cut the tag, the scarf, the bow on the present as well as mats from the glitter cardstock.  I found a piece of 1 1/2″ wide green satin ribbon in my stash and tied it around the middle of the card.  I attached the tag to the bow with a scrap of ribbon edged in metallic gold. 

The inside of the card has another little mouse and I cut this one from the new Birthday Bash cartridge.  When I laid out my card in Design Studio, I planned on putting this mouse on the front of the card and the mouse with the gift on the inside of the card.  But once I started cutting out the pieces and laying out the actual card, I decided to switch mice.  I thought the mouse carrying the gift looked better on the front of the card.  Oh, I almost forgot — for both mice I used very small pom poms for their noses. 

  • SEI Christmas Mint paper
  • Core’dinations glitter cardstock
  • Cricut cartridges:  Birthday Bash, Lacy Labels, Very Merry Tags and Winter Frolic
  • Cuttlebug
  • Spellbinders Nestabilities
  • Text for tag from Cutting Cafe
  • Ribbon and pom poms from stash
Filed Under: Birthday Bash, Card Challenges, Cards and Projects, Cartridges, Cricut, Cuttlebug, FCCB, Jitterbuggin, Lacy Labels (Lite), Very Merry Tags, Winter Frolic Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Speedy Turtle – Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog – Challenge #36 Achoo!

November 21, 2010 by 8 Comments

Here is my card for the current challenge at the Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog, which is to make a project that has something to do with being sick.  I don’t know why, but this challenge stumped me.  I couldn’t think of anything exciting that I wanted to make.  I started several different projects before the light bulb finally went off and I had a clear vision of what I wanted to make.

The card base is Bazzill cardstock, the patterned paper is Basic Grey, and the solid that the turtle is cut from is Stampin’ Up.  I cut the turtle using my Cricut and the Create a Critter cartridge.  Since I am wishing the recipient a speedy recovery, I figured I needed to give my turtle some running shoes so she could speed things up a bit.  I cut the shoes from My Community and laced them up with some white cording that I found in my stash.  I used the Cuttlebug embossing folder Swiss Dots to emboss the bottom edge of her shoes.  I also gave her a hat, which I cut from Paper Doll Dress Up.  The label that the sentiment is printed on is from a Lite cartridge, Lacy Labels.  I used Create a Critter for the flowers and the tufts of grass.  I added pearls to the centers of the  flowers. 

The flowers on the inside of the card are also from Create a Critter. 

  • Bazzill cardstock
  • Stampin’ Up cardstock
  • Basic Grey designer paper
  • Cricut cartridges:  Create a Critter, Lacy Labels (Lite), My Community, Paper Doll Dress Up
  • Cuttlebug Swiss Dots embossing folder
  • Pearls
  • Cording from my stash
Filed Under: Card Challenges, Create a Critter, Cuttlebug, FCCB, Lacy Labels (Lite), My Community, Paper Doll Dress Up Tagged With: , , , , , ,