Friday Mashup Challenge #52

This is my final week as a Guest Designer at The Friday Mashup. I want to thank everyone there for giving me this wonderful opportunity, I have thoroughly enjoyed it! And now, on to the challenge:

1. Make a project using colorful twine

2. Or make a project featuring kites

3. Or mash it up and create a project with kites and colorful twine

I only have one color of twine....red/white. I think I may need to get some more colors! Since, I couldn't come up with anything using that particular color I just went with a project featuring kites. This also took me a while, but I settled on this cute, but simple baby girl card. Here is the ironic thing about this baby girl card...I used patterned paper from Nana's Nursery Baby Boy and the kite is from the cricut cartridge Boys Will Be Boys! The card is 4 1/4"x5 1/2." The brown mat is 4"x5 1/4," and the words mat is 3 7/8"x5 1/8." I wrapped the two mat layers with some sheer lavendar ribbon and adhered them to the card base. I used Boys Will Be Boys for the kite, it is cut at 4 1/2." I added a little white button to the center of it, because it just needed a little "something." The mats for the sentiment are from Elegant Edges. I used the oblong feature and cut the brown one at 2 1/2" and the ivory one at 2 1/4." The stamp is called "It's a Girl Script," by Whipper Snapper Designs. I use foam tape to adhere my kit to the card for some dimension. I finished it off with some lavendar pearls in the corners of the card and the sentiment mat. I hope you enjoyed my project and I hope you decide to play along at The Friday Mashup!

Wedding Day

My mother-in-law needed a wedding card for this weekend, so I decided to use a couple of challenges to help me create one for her. Now I just hope she likes it, although it is more important that the bride and groom like it!

The card is 5"x7." I used a white cardstock for the base, rounded the corners, then added a silver layer with rounded corners. The black frame is from Elegant Edges, using the oblong frame feature. I used my Gypsy to size it to fit the card perfectly. I used a piece of striped cardstock from the Formal Affair Stack by DCWV to layer inside the frame. My bride and groom are from the Wedding cartridge, cut at 4." I embossed the black layer with the Swiss Dots embossing folder. I adhered them to the card with some foam tape and gave the bride a pearl necklace. For the sentiment, I used Cindy Loo and the frame feature to create the label. I stamped my sentiment, which is from My Pink Stamper, and added some silver Stickles to the flourish and glossy accents to the frame. I added some sheer ribbon under the frame and used pop-dots to adhere it all to the card. I matted the inside of the card with black, silver and white. I cut a 1" flourish from Cindy Loo, using the border feature and covered it with silver Stickles. I then stamped my sentiment, which is by Rubber Stampede.

I made this for the following challenges:

• BBTB2: "Cindy Loo" - any flourish
• Cardz TV: "Cricut Cardz Challenge" - frame
• 365 Cards: "Day 26" - peace, love, and happiness

Exploring Cricut Spring Fling Challenge

I am so honored to have been asked to be a guest designer at the blog, Exploring Cricut! I will be joining them today for their "Spring Fling" challenge. The challenge is to create anything for spring, pretty easy huh? I hope you all enjoy my spring project.

I decided to try my hand a topiary. I was originally going to use just one styrofoam ball to create it, but I have soooo many of those things that I decided to use two. I have no idea why I have so many! I used Flower Shoppe to create my flowers, they are all cut at 1 1/2." I layered two of them together, then curled up their petals and adhered them to the styrofaom balls. I then used some pearlized pink ball head pins to give them some extra security and to be the flower centers. I used a terra cotta pot that I had on hand, I just painted it with some ivory paint since the terra cotta color just didn't work with my pastel color scheme. I put some styrofoam in the pot and covered it with some of that shredded paper basket filler. I used lollipop sticks that I also painted with the same ivory color to attach my styrofoam balls to the pot. I then finshed it off by wrapping the pot with a sheer ribbon and adding a bow made with the same ribbon.

I really like how this project turned out and I hope you do too! I also hope you join us for the challenge!

Spring Wall Banner

It was time to make another banner for the wall between my front door an window. This time I made one for spring! I didn't initally like how this was looking when I started. I chose the colors based on the inspiration of the patterned papers. They all came from The Spring Stack by DCWV. Once I had all the scalloped circles and letters put together I thought it looked a little dark, but once I added everything else to it I actually loved it!

The scalloped circles were cut at 4" and the inner circles are cut at 3 1/2," both are from Cricut Essentials (pre-loaded on the E2). The letters are cut at 3" from the Songbird cartridge. I used both the shadow and regular feature. I used foam adhesive to attach the letters to the scalloped circles. The sun and clouds are cut from Pooh and Friends, the rainbow is cut from Hello Kitty Greetings, The rain is from Indie Art, and the umbrella is from the Wedding cartridge. I added some Glimmer Mist to the sun, I embossed the cloud on the rainbow with the D'vine Swirls embossing folder, I flocked the clouds and added glossy accents to the rain for some added dimension. I finished off the banner with some pale yellow pearls and tied a bow around a loop of ribbon and attached it to the back of the banner to hang it on the wall.

I made this for the following challenges:

• Cupcake Inspirations: cupcake photo inspiration
• Celebrate the Occasion: "welcome spring"
• Cooking with Cricut: spring song inspiration (I kept thinking of "Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head" and that song from "Bambi" where one of the lines is "drip, drip, drop little April showers...")
• My Craft Spot: spring theme and use scallops
• Whimsical Designs: celebrate spring

Friday Mashup Challenge #51

It is time for another Friday Mashup challenge! This week is challenge #51 and here it is:

1. Make a project using the "Quilted Cards Technique"

2. Or make a project using something that's been forgotten (sitting in your stash forever)

3. Or mash it up and create a quilted card with something you've forgotten about.

I mashed it up again this week and created a quilted card using some papers that I have had basically since I started crafting. In fact, I have never used these papers ever. Here is a link for the quilted cards technique that I used to create my card. My quilt block is 4"x4" and the whole card is 5"x5." The largest middle block is 2"x2" and the outside corners are 1"x1," so that gives you an idea the size of the quilted part. I used Tags, Bags, Boxes, & More to cut my tag. The sentiment is from My Pink Stamper and I finished it off with a bow made of a greyish-blue sheer ribbon.

I hope you enjoyed my project and I hope you decide to play along at The Friday Mashup!

Welcome Home

I must say that the challenge at Bitten by the Bug 2 is perfectly timed! Their challenge is to use the word "welcome" on your project. Well, my husband has been deployed to Kuwait for the past six months and he comes home tomorrow (03/20). He called me today from Baltimore to say he was in the US, and that he would be flying in to Minneapolis on Tuesday. So, that is why the challenge at BBTB2 is perfect...I made him a "welcome home" card! :)

Three years ago I created a "welcome home" card for a friend's husband when he returned from Iraq. I really liked the look of that card and wanted to do something similar for my husband's card, but I didn't want to duplicate it. Also, I think my card making has evolved and looking back at that one makes me realize it looks rather plain. Anyways, you can see that inspiration card just below here. I used Jubilee to create the "home" part using the village feature on that cartridge. In the original card I used Cursive 101 for the "welcome."

For my current card I used Jubilee again, the houses were cut at 1 3/4." This time I used Phrases for the "welcome" part of the sentiment. It was cut at 2" using the real dial size feature since it is supposed to part of a phrase. The card itself is 4 1/2"x6 1/4," the white layer is 4 1/4"x6" and the blue polka dotted layer is 4 1/8"x5 7/8." I used a punch to create my grass trim, which I then wrapped with some polka dotted ribbon and then tied some hemp twine around it. I added it to the card, then layered my "home" on top. The heart is a piece of craft metal that I punched and embossed with the Diamond Plate embossing folder. I also added two silver brads to the top two corners to finish off my card.

I made this for the following challenges:

BBTB2: "welcome" using any cartridge

365 Cards: "Day 19" - three types of trim (grass punch, ribbong, hemp twine)

Friday Mashup Challenge #50

It is time for another Friday Mashup! This week is challenge #50 and here is the challenge:

1. Make a project using the sketch

2. Or make a project using the "faux mother of pearl technique"

3. Or "mash it up" and create a project using the faux mother of pearl technique and the sketch

I decided to mash it up for my project. I created a card using the sketch and used the faux mother of pearl technique for the background of my card. I found a tutorial for the faux mother of pearl technique here, if you want to see how I create my background. I used weathered wood Distress ink and white opal Liquid Pearls to create the faux mother of pearl background. My card is 4 1/2"x6 1/4." I cut a 2 3/4" circle from George and Basic Shapes, then a 3 3/4" scalloped circle from Mini Monograms. I stamped the swan image on the circle and heat embossed it. I stamped the sentiment on the small white rectangle using the same ink as I used for the swan. I wrapped the card with some sheer white ribbon and tied it off in a knot. I added my scalloped circle to the card with 1/8" thick foam adhesive. Once I had created my background everything fell into place. I knew it would make a perfect sympathy card since it looked so serene and peaceful. I hope you like my project and I hope you decide to play along with us this week at The Friday Mashup!

Boy Birthday Card

Here is a sweet and simple card for a little boy...or a boy at heart. :) The card is 5 1/2"x4 1/4." Both green patterned papers are from the Flower Shower Stack by DCWV. I used A Child's Year for the little boy on the scooter. It is cut at 2 1/2." The white label is a Nestabilities die. I wrapped the green mat with a black & white striped ribbon. I stamped my sentiment and finshed off the card with three buttons. I tied four pieces of black twine through the large green ribbon, one piece looked just too weird.

I made this card for the following challenges:

• My Craft Spot: masculine card
• Stuck On U Sketches: silhouette/cameo
• Birthday Sundaes: birthday card, use green
• 365 Cards: "Day 11" - sketch
• Whimsical Designs: use green

Friday Mashup Challenge #49

It is time for another Friday Mashup challenge. This week is challenge #49 and here it is:

1. Make a project using the colors green & yellow

2. Or make a 3D project that is a basket or treat pouch

3. Or "Mash it up" and create a treat basket/pouch using the colors green & yellow

I decided to "mash it up" and I created an Easter treat basket using green and yellow as my main colors. My basket is actually a wooden box that I found in my craft room when I was trying to decide what Cricut cartridge to use to cut my basket. Weird how things work like that huh? I covered it with some green and yellow patterned papers, all of which come from the Lemon Flower Stack by DCWV. The handle was created by cutting a strip of light-weight chipboard and covering it with some plaid ribbon. I used Holiday Cakes to cut the sentiment at 2 3/4." I then covered it with lime green Stickles. The flowers around it are from K&Company. I used A Child's Year for the boy and girl silhouettes. They are cut at 4 1/2" and I drew around the edges of them with yellow Stickles. The bunny medallion on the back is from Martha Stewart Seasonal Cake Art and it is cut at 4 1/2." I filled the basket with Easter grass and added my treats. They look good don't they? Actually, I created my treats as well! The eggs are wooden and I painted them with brown paints to make them look like chocolate, both milk and dark. I then "drizzled" them with white chocolate, which is actually white dimensional paint. I think they turned out quite well. I hope you enjoyed my project and I also hope you decide to join in the challenge at The Friday Mashup!

Baby Girl

My husband's cousin just recently had a baby girl. I just got her announcement in the mail today and thought I should make her a card. Better late than never right? :)

This card is 5"x7." The patterned paper I used is from the Flower Shower Spring Stack by DCWV. The little girl is from Baby Steps, cut at 2." I used the D'vine Swirls embossing folder for the mat that the little girl is on. I added flocking to the cloud and glossy accents to the moon. I put two different types of ribbon behind the mat, a pink satin ribbon and a yellow grosgrain ribbon. I stamped my sentiment in rich cocoa ink by Tsukineko. I finished off the card with a star shaped button that I covered in yellow Stickles.

I made this for following challenges:

• Whimsical Designs: sketch
• 365 Cards: "Day 6" - one piece of patterned paper, one stamp, and any three embellishments (two ribbons and star button)