Thursday, September 30, 2010

More Classmates Cards

Okay, so I have more cards made with the classmates cartirdges than I realized. See what happens when I am not sitting in my craft room with my cartridges in front of me? ;) I keep forgetting that My World and My Community are classmates cartridges, I just lump them with the shape cartridges, and for some reason I just skipped over Learning Curve. So here are the cards made with those cartridges. :)



















The card on the left is made with Learning Curve. The card is a pre-made A2 card, with the pattern already on it. I cut the letters from Learning Curve in dark green paper, using the shadow feature. I then cut them again, regularly, with gold paper. I don't remember at what size they were cut. I then adhered them on, using pop dots on some of them for a variety of texture. The card on the right is from My Community, and is a 5"x5" square card. The background papers are from Me & My Big Idea. The green tree paper is a flocked paper. The gingerbread house is from My Community, cut at 4 1/2." I cut out all the pieces multiple times, in multiple colors. I then adhered them all down on the house, I used some pop dots on the gumdrops and truffle. I used a lot of Stickes and glitter on this one. The gumdrops are covered in glitter, from Martha Stewart. The roof and snow on the chimney are icicle Stickles, I also used Stickles on the candy canes and dots on the house. I used a white gel pen for the swirl on the truffle and the salt on the pretzel.
This last card, and I promise it is the last classmates cartridge card, is from My World. I used another pre-made A2 card. The car is from My World. I cut it using the shadow feature in white, then the regular cut in red and the wheels in black. I placed some vellum behind the windows for a litte more realism. The sentiment is computer generated and cut with my scalloped circle Nestabilities.

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Classmate Christmas Cards

Holy alliteration Batman!! I didn't really intend to go for the all "c" title, but I think it works. ;) Since my first Christmas card in my personal challenge was from a classmates cartridge I thought I would show off the the rest of the cards I made using the other classmates cartridges I own.
I don't own too many classmates cartridges, mostly because I'm not a teacher, so I don't really need them. I do, however, have a few because they are good fonts. The card on the left is using Speaking of Winter. I made it a 5"x7" card, but I don't remember what size I cut the letters. The snowflake in the corner is a dimesional sticker. The paper is all Debbie Mumm and the ribbon is from my stash. I added some Stickles to each letter for some glitter. The card on the top right is using Printing 101. This card is 4 1/2x6 1/4." I used a green cardstock for the base card, then covered it with the patterned papers. I folded down the top right corner so you could see a glimpse of the double sided paper. I added some buttons tied with fiber to help hold down the folded corner and a ribbon from my stash. The "JOY" is cut from Printing 101 at 1" (I believe). The last card, on the bottom right, was made using Cursive 101. The card is a pre-made A2 card. I used a Cuttlebug embossing folder and then sanded the top of the embossing to expose the white core. I then used my Gypsy to weld the letters from Cursive 101 for my sentiment. This was a super simple one, but I liked the embossing so much I didn't want to detract from that. Hope you enjoy these and stay tuned for more!!

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Sad Day

Well, I have packed up my Cricut and all my crafting supplies. :( That means I won't be able to do any crafting for a while. My husband has said that I will not be fun to live with for a while since I won't be able to create. ;) I think I will be a litte busy though...we have a heck of a drive coming up, then I have a wedding in Washington, then we are visiting family in Minnesota, and finally we have to find a place to live at our final destination. I will miss not being able to do any crafting for a few weeks. I will, however, be able to post older projects that I did this summer.

Earlier this summer I challenged myself to make a Christmas card with every cartridge I own. I have not been posting them because I wanted to wait until I was done. Well, I finished not too long ago, so I think this would be a good time to post them, since I won't be able to make anything new for a while. I do own more cartridges than when I started this challenge, but I only did the challenge for the ones I owned when I started, otherwise it would be neverending!!
So, for today I will post the card that started it all for me. I have been living in North Pole, Alaska (for 6 more days) and my husband is on the volunteer fire department up here. I was looking at the patch they wear and came up with a Christmas card that was inspired by it.

This is a pre-made A2 card. I cut the circles and the star from George and Basic Shapes, I couldn't tell you what size anymore. The state of Alaska came from 50 States. I cut it regular in silver cardstock, then with the shadow feature in white cardstock. I used a pencil to draw in the lines and then colored the red pieces with a marker. I used some striped cardstock for the pole and gold cardstock for the ball on top. I think I will probably wind up sending this to the North Pole Fire Department for their Christmas card...it seems fitting.

Saturday, September 25, 2010

Creepy Candle

The challenge this week at Bitten By the Bug 2 is to use the candle cut on the October 31st cartridge. I combined this with the challenge at Clean & Simple and the challenge at 365 Cards, which is "Keep it Simple." The challenge is to use one image, one sentiment, one embellishment and to only use 1/3 of the available space on your card.
I came up with this 5"x7" card. The patterned papers are from the DCWV Midnight Spell stack. I used an EK Success border punch on the black spider web paper. The purple spider cardstock is cut at 3"x6." I used a piece of ribbon and wrapped it around the purple cardstock twice. The sentiment is computer generated using a font called "chiller." I matted it with some black cardstock. I used my Gypsy to cut out the candle four times at 3 1/2." I cut it out in black twice, once using the hide contour feature to hide all the cuts in the candle and again with all the cuts in place. I cut it out of a light yellow cardstock, again hiding all the middle cuts. Finally I cut it out of a dark yellow cardstock normally. I cut off just the flame of the yellow candles and used some yellow Stickles on the light yellow flame and layered on the dark yellow flame. I layered the blacked out candle with the cut candle. I then used Glossy Accents on the top layer. I used two layers of Glossy Accents for a really shiny look on the candle. I really like how it all turned out. Enjoy!!

Friday, September 24, 2010

Being Sick Stinks

One last card for the night, I had to take a break from packing. I made this cute little card at 6 1/4"x4 1/2." The skunk is cut from Create a Critter at 2 3/4." I used the hide contour feature on my Gypsy to hide the face so that I could stamp the face with a Peachy Keen stamp. The flower is from Cloud 9 and I used a jeweled brad as the center. I used pop dots to raise the skunk and the flower up for some dimension. The stem of the flower is also from Create a Critter. The stamp is from my stash and I matted it on white and black cardstock. The inside "get well soon" sentiment is from Cindy Loo.

I made this card for the challenge at 365 Cards. The challenge today was "quite a pair." The rules were to use one blossom and one brad, and they must be used together; they must be in the center of your card; and anything else goes as long as you meet those requirements. I am also making this for the challenge at Paper Cutz. Their challenge this week is to make a card, layout or craft project with a digital, hand stamped, or Cricut image of a critter.

Pilgrim Birdie

Fall is definitely in the air up here. Most of the trees are bare and what few trees actually have leaves left are brown and yellow. I do miss the bright colors I saw when I lived in the midwest, but fall up here is still pretty spectacular....and COLD! This morning it was 29 degrees when I got up. I just hope we beat the snow out of here when we move. Fall was definitely my inspiration for this card. I made it for the Jitterbuggin' challenge. The rules this week were: follow the sketch, add a Cricut fall element, and add something plaid. I also made this for Crafty Creations Challenge, where the inspiration was "falling leaves."
The card is 6 1/4"x4 1/2." I used a plaid cardstock from the Guy Stack by DCWV. The strips of patterned paper are from the Indian Summer stack by DCWV. I layered them on a piece of light tan cardstock. One of the strips is 6 1/4"x1" and the other strip is 4 1/2"x1 1/4."
The mats for the bird are cut out of scraps of cardstock. The red mat is cut at 3 5/8"x2 7/8," the tan mat is cut at 3 1/2"x2 3/4." I cut the pilgrim birdie at 3" from the 3 Birds on Parade cartridge. I just love this cartridge!! :D I was able to use up a bunch of scraps while cutting him out. The leaves are two punches, the maple leaf is an EK Success punch and the oak leaf is a Marvy Uchida punch. I layered the leaves around the corners of my mats. I also put some leaves on the inside to tie it all together. The stamp is one I picked up in the dollar bin at Joanns. I used Tsukineko Memento ink, rhubarb stalk, to stamp it onto the tan cardstock. I used the same red and tan cardstock for the inside matting as the ones I used on the front of the card.



Thursday, September 23, 2010

I'm Moving!

A few months ago my husband applied for a job in Minnesota. We just found out today that he received the job! We have been waiting two weeks to hear the official answer, which has been rough. Mostly because we will be moving out of here on October 4th. That doesn't give us much time, but since his interview we have been planning like we were going to be moving. That means we have some stuff packed up, basically stuff that we don't really need on a regular basis. Now, though, we can start really packing. It is good timing to be leaving Alaska, since it is starting to really get cold out, but we should be able to beat any snow. Soon we will be off on another adventure!

No Cricut?!

This week for the Throwback Thursday challenge at My Creative Time, Emma has challenged everyone to make a card without using their Cricut. I've been using mine so much, even just for small stuff here and there, that it was definitely a challenge. But I did manage to come up with something to enter.

I made this card 5 1/2"x4 1/4," using patterned paper from the DCWV Midnight Spell stack, the glittery green paper is also from that stack. I cut a piece of green cardstock, K&Company, at 5"x3 1/4." I then punched it with a web punch around the page from Martha Stewart. I layered plain purple cardstock and the glittery green cardstock to make a frame. I had this stamp in my stash, I think it is Fiskars, and I stamped it with black ink and heat embossed it with a clear glittery embossing powder. After it dried I colored it all with glitter. I used a green and purple glitter for the accents on the skull and the bulk of the skull was colored with a white glitter. It is not a technique I use often, mostly because it takes some time and can be very messy, but I love the results whenever I do attempt it. Hope you enjoy!

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Bundle of Joy

I just recently got 3 Birds on Parade and I have been wanting to use it, especially this cute little baby bird. Well, this week's challenge at Cricut Cardz gave me that chance. Their challenge is to make a baby card, using any cartridge you want, but only the colors green, orange, yellow and white. I used this week's sketch from Clean & Simple for the layout of my card.
The card was created using my Gypsy and George and Basic Shapes. I welded two 4 1/2" circles together, using some green polka dotted paper from DCWV's Nana's Kitchen stack. I cut a strip of orange glittery cardstock at 4 1/2"x1 3/4," and trimmed to fit. The white piece is 3 1/4"x1 9/16," and I rounded the corners. The sentiment is a Fiskars stamp and stamped using ColorBox pheasant gold ink. The little bird is cut at 2 1/4." Nice and simple, and perfect for the couple who wants to be surprised by the sex of the baby. Enjoy!!

Dam Good Birthday!

How cute is that little beaver? I think he turned out really adorable, but I am also a little biased. ;) The card is 5 1/2"x5 1/2" with a 5"x5" mat. The base of the card is kraft cardstock and the mat is a cream cardstock. I scored the mat on all four sides at 1/4" and a second time on the top, this gives the mat a frame without using paper to do it. I like that look and might try it more often. I cut a dark blue strip of paper 1" wide and just short of 5 1/2" tall. I punched three flowers from a EK Success punch. I took three buttons and tied twine through them and adhered them to the center of the flowers. The log is from Create a Critter, I used my Gypsy to stretch it to 4 3/4" while keeping it at a 1 1/2" height. I drew in the tree rings and then inked the log. The beaver is also from Create a Critter and cut at 2 1/2." I used the hide contour feature on my Gypsy to hide the face when I cut it out. I inked around the edges and then used a Peachy Keen stamp for his face. I used a white gel pen to color in the teeth and eyes. I stamped "Happy Birthday" on a piece of light brown cardstock, then I trimmed it down. I used my computer for the inside sentiment and I inked the edges of the paper. I also added a couple more of the same punched flowers, this time I used some blue gems in the middle instead of buttons.
I made this card following the sketch from Peachy Keen. They also added a twist, you had to use kraft cardstock on your creation. I also used the Simon Says recipe from Papercraft Star. Their recipe was: make a card, base-5 1/2"x5 1/2," mat-5"x5," score mat 5 times at 1/4," 3 flowers from a die cut or punch, 3 buttons and twine. Enjoy!!

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Wedding Dress

This was a super simple wedding card I made this morning. I think I took longer to actually come up with an idea than I did on making it. :) I do like how it turned out though, a classic color scheme and an elegant look. The card is 4 1/2"x4 1/2." I used a shimmery off-white cardstock for the base. I used George and Basic Shapes to cut my ovals, the black one at 3" and the shimmery white one at 2 3/4." I used a Martha Stewart border punch for the border and on the corners in the inside of the card. The sentiment stamp is from Rubber Stampede and the dress stamp is from Inkadinkado. I used Tsukineko graphite black ink for the stamps. The ovals are pop-dotted for dimension.
I made this card for the white space challenge at 365 Cards and for Sentimental Sundays, where the challenge is "wedding."

Monday, September 20, 2010

Cornucopia

Here is an autumn card I made that I actually like a lot! I've been making a few, but most I haven't liked or I thought they were so-so, but this one I really like. :) The card is 4 1/2"x6 1/4." I used paper from Debbie Mumm's Harvest and Holiday paper stack that I got last year. The background paper, the strip of yellow patterned paper, the patterned border paper, and the paper for the cornucopia are all from that stack. The rest of the plain paper is from my stash, I got to use some more scraps for this one. :) I laid out all the pieces on my Gypsy so I could figure out how I wanted it to look and how big to cut everything. I don't remember sizes of everything anymore, except the sentiment. That was cut at 3/4." The cornucopia itself came from Paper Doll Dress Up. The pumpkin came from Everyday Paper Dolls. The corn and apple are from My World. Finally, the wheat stalks, squash, tomato and cucumber and the sentiment are all from Country Life.


This card is being entered into the following challenges:
Paper Playtime: autumn
Paper Sundaes: fall/halloween colors
My Sheri Crafts: autumn
Fantabulous Cricut: in my garden harvest time
Pile It On: red, brown, green, yellow

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Santa's Sleigh

Well, at least I am getting an early start on my Christmas cards. This one is a 3 3/4"x9" card. I used some dark green cardstock for the base and some patterned Christmas paper from my stash for the triangular pieces. They were cut 1/4" smaller than the card base and then cut on the diagonal. I adhered a ribbon around the card. The image is from the Christmas solutions cartridge, cut at 2 3/4." I used plain black cardstock for Santa and his sleigh. The crescent part of the moon is cut from a piece of glitter cardstock and I used George and Basic Shapes for the shimmery circle for the rest of the moon, it was also cut at 2 3/4."

I used the sketch from 365 Cards' Super Sketchy Sunday. The colors are this week's Just Us Girls challenge: green, red and black. Over at Um Buggin's Cricut Cuts & Stamps she is asking to see your favorite cut from the Christmas solutions cartridge. I love this cut, I just don't use it as often as I would like. This one is nothing fancy, but I love how it turned out...very Christmasy!

Green Floral Card


This card is made for the following challenges:
Crafty Hos' Challenge Blog: sketch #62
Picture Perfect Creations: colors-bashful blue, early espresso, pear pizzazz
Alphabet Challenge Blog: U is for Unused Stash-the flower stamp, the butterfly stickers and the embossing folder
The card is 5 1/2"x4 1/4." I used some dark brown cardstock for the base. All the papers used are from my stash and are actually scraps. I was more than happy to use some of those up. :) The patterned green mat is cut at 3 1/2"x4" and the blue embossed mat is cut at 3 1/4"x3 3/4." I embossed it with the Birds and Swirls folder. I have had this embossing folder for well over a year and I have never used it! Can you believe that? I'm not sure why, because I really like it, so I'm glad to finally use it. The patterned blue paper is cut at 3 3/4"x2." The green paper on the bottom is 4"x1 1/2." I stamped the flower on some green cardstock in a dark brown ink. I cut around the edge of the flower, and pop-dotted it onto the front of the card. I have had this stamp for a while too, I don't even remember when I got it. I stamped both the outside and inside sentiments in the same brown ink. I added the butterfly stickers, which is another think I have had in my stash for a while. I can't even remember why I bought them, but I thought they fit quite well with this card.

Saturday, September 18, 2010

An Apple a Day

This is my entry for this week's Jitterbuggin' challenge. The rules are to follow the sketch; use red, green and yellow; add something black; include an apple; and don't forget to use your Cricut.

This a 5"x5" card. I used a dark green glittery cardstock. I then used a pale yellow and embossed it with an embossing folder from the Preserves companion set, it was cut at 4 3/4"x4 3/4." The red square is cut at 3 11/16"x 3 11/16" and is made using a shimmery red cardstock. I used a pale yellow cardstock for the next square, which is cut at 3 1/2"x3 1/2." I did some doodling on the square with a black pen. The red circle is cut at 3 1/4" from George and Basic Shapes. I cut the other circle at 3" from George as well and then did some more doodling on it. The apple is cut at 2 1/2" from Home Accents. The apple blossoms are from 50 States and cut at 2." Once the card was assembled I used some black Stickles for the seeds in the apple and some black flat-backed pearls around the circle.



The Song in My Heart

This is a 5 1/2"x4 1/4" card. I used a dark gray cardstock for the base. The patterned background paper is from the Spring Stack by DCWV and cut 1/4" smaller than the card. I used some light pink cardstock as the base for my stamped images. The sentiment stamp is by Fiskars and the paper is cut at 2 5/8"x1 5/8." The music stamp is from Stampendous and the paper is cut at 4"x1 3/4." I cut a 5" circle out of a dark pink cardstock and trimmed it to fit the card. The guitar is cut at 2" from Hannah Montana with the pop princess feature. I cut it out of the same dark pink cardstock as the circle so that it would blend and give a pseudo-embossed look. The musical notes are also from Hannah Montana and cut at 3/4" out of the same dark gray cardstock as the card base. I used a black pen to draw the lines.

I used sketch #82 from Card Patterns for the layout of the card. I rotated the sketch for my card. The colors are from this week's Color Throwdown: pink pirouette, basic gray & rich razzleberry. The theme comes from Crafty Creations Challenge, which is a music and/or dance theme.

Friday, September 17, 2010

Halloween Treat Bags



Peachy Keen is starting a new challenge on Fridays, called "Let's Face it Friday." The rule for this challenge is to use Peachy Keen face stamps on your project. For their first challenge they ask that you make Halloween Treat containers, and of course to use a Peachy Keen face stamp on it somewhere.
I made these little treat containers using a K&Company Halloween paper pack. I started off with a 8 1/2"x11" piece of cardstock and after it is all folded the container is 3 1/2"x4 1/2." I used Mini Monsters (I am really lovin' this cart) for all the characters on the containers. The Frankenstein character and the candy corn girl are both cut at 4." The cat is cut at 3." I used the shadow feature for all of them so they would stand out on the patterned containers. I used pop-dots to adhere them to the containers. I also used glossy accents on the hair and boots of Frankenstein, the boots of the candy corn girl and the pink part of the ears on the cat. I used some Stickles on the white part of the candy corn and I flocked the stomach of the cat. I finished off the bags with some eyelets and ribbon to close them. The faces on Frankenstein and the candy corn girl are from the Critter faces set and the face on the cat is one of the stamps that came with the Cottage Cutz dies, it is for the Tear Kitty. These are the only Peachy Keen stamps I currently have, so I made them work for me. I think they all turned out really cute though. Enjoy!

Fang-tastic Halloween

The challenge this week at Cricut Cardz is to make a Halloween card using the card feature of any cartridge. I decided to combine this challenge with the challenge at Paper Cutz, which is to make a Halloween project but without using any black or orange.
I had found a stamp the other day at Michael's on clearance that said, "Have a FANG-tastic Halloween!!!" When I saw these challenges I knew I wanted to use this stamp and make a vampire card. I used Mini Monsters and the card feature to make this shaped vampire card. I made it out of a dark gray shimmery cardstock. I used that same cardstock for the hair and bow tie. I used a pale cream cardstock for the body and white shimmery cardstock for the teeth and white part of the shirt. I used a purple cardstock for the main shirt. The card is cut at 5 3/4." I cut a piece of pale cream cardstock for the inside as well, trimming off the arms and ears. Once I got everything layered on the card I did some doodling on the shirt, cape and shoes. I used some google eyes in place of the paper ones that were cut. I then added some glossy accents on the hair and teeth to give them some shine. I used the stamp on the inside, with a glittery purple ink, and I think the sentiment is perfect for the card.