Monochromatic Magic!

I was playing in my studio the other day and made this card, It qualifies for the current monochrome challenge at Caardvarks:

Digital stamp: Lindsay's stamp Stuff, EMB folder: Cuttlebug, Sentiment: SU!

This card was all about using up leftovers and experimenting.

experiment 1: Watercoloring a digital stamp. I started by taking a digital stamp of a dragonfly from the Winged Things set from Lindsay’s stamp Stuff and I colored it with watercolor pencils, the printer ink did not bleed, I was amazed, never tried watercoloring a digi before because I was sure it would bleed but it didn’t!

Experiment 2: I used my new fleur-de-lis emb folder with silver cardssock because I had never tired it before, it is swell:)

experiment 3: I showed a friend how to make a “faux bow” and I left the long thin ribbon that I tied the knot with attached (instead of trimming it close) and wrapped it around the front panel.

Also I used a mistake die cut (there is some unfortunate stamping on the back) to add my sentiment and finish the card. Luckily all my experiments were of a blue-green color scheme so they all went together nicely!

Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

Lets Crop!

I have met so many cool crafters over the years online and I wished we could all get together for a craft night, well now we can! Next week in Celebration of the Lindsay’s Stamp Stuff 1 year Anniversary I am having my first ever virtual crop and I hope you will join me:

All you need to do, if you havent already, is join the MyGrafico Community then when accepted you can join the crop room {a virtual classroom} and you can crop with me next week! It is free of course and you can win fabulous prizes so what are you waiting for, sign up now :)

Digital Stamps: Lindsay's stamp Stuff, Rubber stamps: SU!, Inkadinkado, Paper: DCVW, Sketch: 2s4y

I was looking for some inspiration this morning so I popped over to 2 sketches 4 you and mad 2 cards using both Laura’s sketch #49 and the bonus sketch. This card uses the bonus sketch and the “Baby” theme from Caardvarks:

The chick digi is from the cute easter stamp set from Lindsay's stamp stuff. See stamping tip at the end of this post :)

There are some fun techniques on this card. I stitched 4 pieces of 2″x7″ tissie paper together, fringed  and crinkled it (I got that tip from Johanna on Leah Fung’s blog) and hot glued it to my card, fun! Also I embossed the little dots on the scallop circle with my Crop-a-dial just by placing my paper in the eyelet setter part and giving a squeeze.

All of the die cuts were done with Sure Cuts a Lot  (SCAL) software using fonts! You can save 10% on scal until the 14th with coupon code: 8774959 SCAL lets you cut fonts from your computer with your Cricut machine, cool huh!

I colored the scissors from the Sew Pretty set with copics.

Here is another cool tip from Johanna, look at the little bow, all you do is fold a scrap of ribbon in 3 and tie it with thread, saves time, money and look how cute!

I had a bit of trouble stamping the “it’s a girl” on the tall card, the ink kept beading up on the cheap-o clear stamp so I scuffed it with an emery board (fingernail file) and now it works so well:

Use a fingernail file or fine grit sandpaper to improve a cheap clear stamp! Please note, this if for the silicone cheapos that you find in the craft store (like the dollar stamps) high quality clear stamp will not need this step. Stamp first, scuff later:)

Boy that was a lot to get through! Thanks for sticking with me and til next time happy crafting!

Caardvarks Holiday Hop: Pretty Packaging!

Welcome to day two of the fabulous Caardvarks Holiday blog hop. The theme is pretty packaging and it is sponsored by Creative Cuts and More, a leader in die cuts. If you came here from Lila’s blog you are in the right place but if you landed here first be sure to start at the Caardvarks blog so you don’t miss out on an exclusive CC&M coupon and your chance to win some great die cuts, this is a 3-day hop with a prize each day and lots of holiday inspiration.  Without further ado here are my quick and easy holiday wraps:

Die cuts: Creative Cuts and More, Stamps: see credits below

I used the mug card, crayon box and short puff box for these and there are so many uses for them. they will each hold a gift card beautifully but Imagine the acetate puff box filled with chocolate covered cranberries, the mug filled with hot cocoa packets and candy canes and the crayon box filled with a mini note pad and crayons to entertain the youngins’ during a trip to grandmas! Another thing I love is how these sturdy boxes can be reused. Fill them with sweet treats for a friend then they can eat the sweets and tuck a gift card in and pass it on…I’m dreaming of a green Christmas ;)

Cocoa Packet Holder: Stamps: Stampin Up (stamp wheels), Inque Boutique/Darice: Label

For the cocoa packet holder I assembled the card with tape then used a stamp wheel to “pattern” my card base. I used chalk to color the images then I stamped the label on cream and adhered it over a ribbon with foam tape and stuck in a decorative spray.

Crayon box: Stamps: The Rubber Cafe, Inque Boutique/Darice

For the crayon box I stamped a flourish and heat embossed it in white, tied on a ribbon and added the label, quick and easy!

Short puff box: CC&M

This was the easiest of all, assemble the box with double stick tape, wrap with a strip of paper and tie on a bow and glue on some dew drops!

Next stop on the hop is the wonderful Pam Smerker, be sure to check out her lovely work. Tomorrow is the final day of the holiday Blog hop and I do hop you will join us again, til then happy crafting!

Caardvarks Holiday Blog Hop!

Wow, I’m thrilled to be a part of the Caardvarks Holiday Blog Hop, if you are arriving from Lila’s blog you are in the right place! If you just stumbled upon the hop here be sure to start at the Caardvarks blog so you can see all of the fabulous cards from their design team and have a chance to win some goodies from Creative Cuts and More and get an exclusive coupon for CC&M too! This is a 3-Day Hop. Day one is cards. I hand make 70 Christmas cards every year (it’s my one big Christmas thing;) and I enjoy it immensely but I also am realistic, when you make that many they need to be cute, quick and easy, this card is all three:

Die Cuts: Creative Cuts and More, Stamps: House Mouse, Rubber Stampede, MSE!

I used the 5 1/4″ square filigree window card in smooth red cardstock and heat embossed snowflakes in white (for some odd reason this red cardstock turns dark when you heat it but goes back to normal when it cools) randomly over the card. I stamped the Mistletoe Mice on white cardstock with Versafine ink and watercolored it. I stamped Happy Holidays on a kraft scrap and adhered to the card over a length of ribbon. Total time 20 minutes but if you make this card assembly line style it is even quicker;) And you save $$ when you but 10 or more of a die cut from Creative Cuts and More, perfect for mass producing x-mas cards! Using die cuts as embellishments is great too because they are flat and need no extra postage and are as little as 10 cents a pop! And it is nice not to have to cut them yourself ;)

Next stop on the hop is Pam Smerker, I can’t wait to see what she has cooked up for us…speaking of cooking you won’t want to miss the two great new recipe kits that Creative Cuts and More will be debuting next week (November 9th and 10th) during their Mega Recipe Blog hop!  They will be perfect for holiday gifts. You will even have a chance to win them;) That’s all for today, tomorrow I will have some pretty holiday packaging to share with you, till then Happy Crafting!

Caardvarks!!!

I am a happy girl because one of my projects is featured today over at the Caardvarks blog! I’ve played along with their fabulous challenges for some time now and this week I get to be a guest designer! Yay! The theme is bridal and baby showers so I made this little bridal shower set using dies for Creative Cuts and More:

Die Cuts: Creative Cuts and More, Stamps: Magents, Rubber Stampede, PSX, PP: DCWV

Wanna know something funny? When I was putting together the place card holder I noticed there was a extra piece…know why? Because it was supposed to be a matchbox like this:

An easy to assemble XL matchbox will hold a generous amount of mitns or candy YUM!

One great die, two cool uses! The does I used were the cupcake box and the large matchbox both cut from metallic cardstock. There is an insert in the cupcake box so your cupcake doesn’t go sliding all around, it is about 4″ square when it is assembled (try the killer red tacky tape) so you can leave out the insert and have a lovely box for an different gift as well and it is super sturdy too!

Check out the cute window on top of this box!

Thanks for stopping by, make sure you visit the caardvarks blog for some awesome eye-candy and check out their other DT members too! Til next time happy crafting!

Caardvarks challenge and a cute die from CC&M!

Good Monday morning to ya! My morning has been a bit weird as a strange dog followed me home when I took Hazel for her morning walk. The dog is so nice, an older yellow lab and he is currently camped out on my front porch (I will not let the dog inside, I will not let the dog inside…) Anyhow the totally funky-cool caardvark gals had a challenge to make a shaped card and since shaped cards are one of mt favorite things I made one for the challenge:

Die cuts: Creative Cuts and More, Stamps: The Rubber Cafe, Staples and Punch: EK Success, Ribbon: dollar Tree

I use a the 11 1/2″ mini-scallop die from Creative Cuts and More (they are updating their website right now so if it isn’t right there it should be soon) and I cut it in half to make my card, an idea I ripped off from the talented Melissa who always has the cutest shaped cards on the block.

Here is a close up, I got the funky texture on the card by pressing wax paper over the shimmer spray and putting a book on top as it was drying.

I embossed the flowery border stamp from The Rubber Cafe in light pink but it didn’t show up so I gave it a squirt of my red homemade shimmer spray to make it stand out. I punched out some flowers on the edge and glued the punch outs on the front of the card, BTW the card is made from Fairytale pink double mates cardstock do you can see the darker pink inside through the punch outs, it has a subtle texture to it but it stamps like a dream! Then I stamped and embossed a couple of Butterflies also from the rubber cafe and curled the wings a bit and adhered them with foam tape. I used my “hot glue pearls” for the center of the flowers and stapled on some ribbon. The little ribbon slide is from Creative Cuts too!

Thanks for stopping by and have a great Monday…the dog outside is howling…I’m still not letting him in even if he is sweet and cute…until next time happy crafting ;)

Happy Earth Day! (a wee bit late!)

To celebrate Earth day and also because they have a tree themed project over at Caardvarks I thought I would share this tree mini album with you. The best part is you are recycling! Instead of cutting the pages out of chipboard I used a cereal box.

"chipboard" tree minibook to cut with scal/cricut, download links below.

I used a postmark stamp from Close to my Heart and circle punches to make the tire swing.

I had a leftover tree so I made this card. More recycling! The clear base for the card was plastic packaging material that my Scor Pal came in!

Digtal stamps: Lindsay Stamp Stuff, Rubber stamps: SU!, Paper MME, DCWV, Other: Plastic Packaging

The inside of the clear card.

I used my brand new Dear Deer stamp and  Primitive Bird digital stamps as well as the Trendy Trees set from Stampin Up. I colored the digi-stamped images with colored pencils and blended them with a Prismacolor clear marker.

I designed it in Inkscape so you can download my files can cut it with your cricut if you have SCAL software. I cut the tree shape out of a cereal box using the deep cut blade depth 5.5 and the pressure on my cricut on max (or 5) and yes it is baby bug compatible :) Don’t forget to change back to your regular blade and housing and set the pressure to medium (or or 3) to cut the paper. To cover the back of each page either flip the shape in scal or place the paper pattern side down on the mat to cut. Here are the download links:

Download the tree shape  SVG file here, the treetop svg here, and the tree trunk SVG here. You can get a printable template here.

Tip: Cut the tree shape from the cereal box first then line up the trunk and tree top shapes on the virtual mat in scal to make sure you have the right size for the pattern paper before you cut.

Until next time happy earth day and happy crafting!