Candy Apple of my Eye

I have been wanting to make the candy apple on the October 31 cartridge and I wanted to try to make layers since there aren't any for this solutions cartridge AND I wanted to see how it looked with Glossy Accents. So, I cut the candy apple at 4 1/2" in three different layers. The first is the light color that I wanted for the stick. The second was done on Design Studio, removing the 'drippy' cuts that are on the actual apple and then cut in red to show an apple under the caramel and then the red stick portion trimmed off. The third is the caramel with all the cuts and the stick trimmed off. I was VERY pleased at the results and the Glossy Accents! The actual card is a red base with a plaid mat paper from the DCWV Hauntings stack. I cut the green strip across the top at 1 1/2" then the cream color at 1" and stamped 'Apple of my Eye' from a Studio G stamp and then added some fall colored rhinestones.

Autumn Owl

Another MPS challenge, for Robyn's big celebration. This time, make a project with a bird. I decided to use the owl cut on the the Pumpkin Carving cartridge. I was trying to do something un-Halloween with it and I was thinking winter owl but, my husband thought autumn would be better. I cut the owl cut at 3 1/2" and then used DS to cut the blackout oval (I did a hide contour on the interior cut). I embossed the frame of the cut and the brown strip of paper with the branches embossing folder. Then, I used the Martha Stewart crafts Punch Around the Page Modern Garland punches to go around the entire mat. I used some American Crafts ribbon across the front and left the inside plain until I decide what I'm going to do with it.

Best Little Monkey

I made this mini card (2 1/2" x 3 1/2") for the MPS Challenge to make or use an envelope in your entry. I thought this would be a good opportunity to make a little lunch card for my son. I cut the envelope using the monkey key, using the envelope creative feature on the Sweethearts cartridge at 3". I glued a brown piece on the inside to show off the monkey better. The card is just a piece of paper from DCWV Animal Crackers stack at 2 1/4" x 3 1/4". I stamped the 'You're the Best' to a couple mounted sheets of card stock and added it to the front. We will write a little note inside and put it in his lunchbox!

Best Witches

Yes, another Halloween card today but, this one made with the 'A Child's Year' cartridge which I love. I don't think it gets nearly the credit it deserves. The reason I like it so much is because it's really versatile, especially if you didn't have many cartridges. It has LOTS of holiday cuts on it although, no layering. So, today I tried to create some layers! I cut the little witch from the Hallown2, shift key at 4". I only cut two layers, one cream color and one black. On the cream colored layer, I colored the girls socks and the pumpkin pail in orange using my Sharpies and then the broom stick and the pumpkin pail handle in black.

So, I cut the witches hat, dress and some shoes. I had to do some trimming to make the rest of the dress hem jagged and trim back the arms to show hands. When I was done, I ran them through the Xyron (front side down so that they would be sticky) and then glittered them with black Martha Stewart Crafts black glitter. When I was done, I used the Glossy Accents on all the black pieces and let them dry. Once they were dry, I used Orange Peel stickles on the hat brim and the hem of the skirt. I inked the edges and the broom bristles and the witch was done! I am happy with her & I LOVE the stickles.

The mat on the front is from the DCWV Amber Autumn stack. I like that this paper has more of a vintage Halloween look instead of the cute, fun Halloween. I inked the edges of the paper with the Cat's Eye Tangerine ink pad. The ribbon is KI Memories self adhesive ribbon. The sentiment is a Studio G stamp on black cardstock with a self adhesive frame from the Making Memories Spellbound adhesive set and the glitter pumpkins from the (you guessed it) Target dollar bins.

On the inside, I used the same cream cardstock in the mat on the front and punched the corners using a Fiskars corner punch. I inked it with the tangerine ink and then stamped the 'Best Witches' sentiment from Studio G, also in tangerine. The black cats were paper punches that were in a set from Cutting Edge.

Halloween Argyle

So, today's card I made for the CricutCardzChallenge blog challenge #42, to make a Halloween card using the card function of any cartridge. Well, I got to looking at my cartridges and I thumbed past the Argyle cut on the Wild Cards cartridge. Hmmm, to do the entire cut and make a Halloween cartridge without using a Halloween cartridge....that's sounds interesting. So, I cut the base card at 5 1/2" and then the orange glitter mat was cut from Core Couture 'Photo Shoot' paper by Core'dinations (love it). I cut the first layer of the argyle (the green) from the DCWV Hauntings stack and then the top layer in just solid black. The sentiment is another one of the self adhesives that came in the Making Memories Spellbound collection. I mounted it on another small piece of the orange glitter paper and then rounded the edges off by using a circle punch.

On the inside, I used another sentiment from the Cloud 9 Halloween Quote Cards set, and mounted it on some scrap green.

Love you a Latte

Today's card is one of many I imagine I will make for the same person. My co-worker of 15 years was recently admitted to the hospital and they found two tumors on her lung. She will soon find out the results. No matter what the results are, she has a long road ahead of her.

Today's card started with the 'Love you a Latte' saying on the Just Because Cards cartridge. It is cut from the coffee key, words creative function, cut it at 4 1/2". The mat paper is from a Colorbok stack that I got at Walmart for $5. I'm not too fond of the coffee carafe that goes with this cut so, I cut the mug from the Joys of the Season cartridge at 3 1/2" with the shadow and the steam (the layers creative function). The cartoche that I mounted the sentiment on is cut from my newly purchased Sweethearts cartridge at 2 1/4 and 2 3/4".

Hairy Scary Spider

More Halloween here! Today's card was kind of an experiment for me. I used the Spiderweb cuttlebug folder to emboss a white sheet and then tried to ink it with black so that you could see the spiderweb. I didn't love it but, it turned out ok. I inked the edges of the white card stock in black as well. I cut the spider at 4" from the October 31 cartridge using a sheet from the DCWV Hauntings stack. The sheet is green with a glossy back Halloween design around the edges. I also used the EK Success wide Spiderweb border punch. The sentiment is from Studio G and I mounted and pop dotted it. This was a quick card but, I think it turned out well for an experiment.

Whisking you a Wonderful Day!!

Today I have another card for my pastry chef cousin. :) Her BD is coming up so, I decided it was time to buy the From My Kitchen cartridge for myself. Any excuse, you know? lol. I started with a pale yellow solid base and then a mat from the DCWV All About Girls stack. I cut the apron using another sheet from the same stack but, using Design Studio because I wanted to remove the apple from the front. I cut it at 3 1/2" and then pop dotted it on. Then I cut the whisk's, I cut on metallic paper at 2" so that they looked like metal whisks. I wouldn't recommend cutting the whisk's smaller than that because the cut is so thin. I cut more than what I have on the card but, several didn't make it. I cut the word 'whisk' using the whisk key & the words creative funtion. I cut it at 1" and then added the 'ing you' from Plantin Schoolbook at 1" as well.

On the inside, I added a strip of the brown paper I used for the words and the 'scrap' piece of the polka dot mat on the front and then another whisk on top. The stamped sentiment is from the Hero Arts Big Hugs clear set that I got from Archiver's.

Midnight Moon

Another Halloween card today, can you tell I am looking forward to it? This one is a 5x7 inspired by the fabulous black glittered card stock that screams Halloween night, right? So, I started with a gray base and then the black glitter card stock as my mat. I cut the moon at 5" from the October 31 cartridge using Core'dinations Foundations Golden Pearl paper. The bat buttons are my first attempt at using a needle on cardstock. I was really happy with them. I found them at Archiver's...they are from the Little Yellow Bicycle, the 'Frightful Collection'. LOVE them! And then the tag sentiment....clear glitter adhesives from Making Memories, in their 'Spellbound' collection (Archiver's) along with a brad. It was blue with hearts and I didn't have any black so, I colored it black using a sharpie, it worked very well. Then I punched the corners with a Fiskars corner punch.

On the inside, I used a bat from the adhesive glitter collection mentioned above and then added some little 'bats' that are actually the punched corners from the black glitter mat. They have the same shape so, I thought I use them. The sentiment is from Studio G. I think this is by far my favorite Halloween card so far. :) Let me know what you think!

End of Summer Carnival Party

My son was invited to a Carnival themed birthday party so, I was trying to come up with a boy birthday card when I realized that I haven't done anything with my Summer Vacation cartridge and there are some perfect carnival cuts on there. I picked the ferris wheel. I cut it at 4" using the DCWV Haunting stack. Then I decided to create a shadow. I used Design Studio and did the ferris wheel at 4 1/4" and then did a hide contour on all of the interior cuts. Once I cut it, I trimmed the edges where the carriages were over hanging. In the center of the ferris wheel, I added a brad from a summer beach brad set that I got in the Target dollar bin (big shock right?).

I mounted the ferris wheel on the star printed paper from the Paper Studio A Boys Universe stack. I added two thin strips of yellow paper across the top and bottom that I also embossed with the Cuttlebug dots folder. The stamped 'make a wish' across the bottom is from a KI Icons birthday set.

At the top, the banner was cut using the Sports Mania cartridge. The banner key, border function at 1" on some striped paper and then pop dotted. I added some more banner and a quick Happy Birthday sentiment on the inside. Now, we're ready to go!

Bon Voyage

Today's card is one I made for a coworker who is retiring. She is going on a Hawaiian cruise so, what better than a card made with Life's a Beach! I started with the textured light blue card stock base and then added some waves. The waves were made with Core'dinations Color Core paper from the Aqua Blues collection that got at Pat Catan's. I cut the first color in a 1" strip an then the second color in a 1 1/2" strip then I used the Fiskar's waves border punch on them and then embossed them with the Sizzex swirls folder. I glued the larger one to the base and then pop dotted the smaller one for some wave dimension. The cruise ship I cut at 2 1/2" and decided not to use the smoke cut that goes along with it.

I cut the Bon Voyage out using the cruise ship key but, the Title Words creative key function but I cut the small cruise ship off. I cut the seagulls out using the Lighthouse key, shift, at 1" and then the sun, I cut using DS and removing the face. I cut it at 1 1/2" and then trimmed the sides so that I didn't use the entire sun but rather, part of it peaking from the corner. On the inside, I just added another trip of 'waves'.

Tricks or Treats??

I made this next Halloween card business size with an orange cardstock base. The mounted paper is from the DCWV 'The Haunting' stack. I decided to buy the circle punch cartridge for the Fiskars Everywhere Punch and while I was at Archiver's, I found the round clear stamps. So, I cut the circles using the everywhere punch which is 2", then I decided that I needed to cut a 1 1/2" circle (in black) using George & Basic Shapes cartridge. I stamped the Trick & Treat sentiments on yellow paper and then used a circle punch to punch it out (I think it's a 1" punch). I glued the yellow to the black and then pop dotted the black to the orange card base.

The center square sentiment is a stamp from Studio G that is stamped on yellow and then mounted on a 2x2" black square. I used a Fiskars four way corner punch on the corners and then some candy corn stickers and some striped ribbon from Hobby Lobby.

On the inside, I used a preprinted quote from Cloud 9 Designs. I pick them up at the Flower Factory. I decided to match the quote card up with the front by punching the corners and mounting it to a black mat with an orange strip of paper attached across the center. I also added a few more candy corn stickers.

Birthday Dreams

Today is a birthday card for my boss. She's an animal lover so, what better than the Terrier from Create A Critter. The mounted paper is from the DCWV 'The Stack 6' and the scallop border at the bottom is a Fiskars border punch. The terrier was cut at 3" with the layers. I stamped the 'dream bubble' onto white cardstock and then cut it out. I then cut the bones inside using the terrier key, layer 3 shift, on Create a Critter. I cut them at 1/4", 1/2", and 3/4" sizes and then pop dotted the terrier and the bubble. The interior is a birthday wish sentiment from Scrappy Cat.

Silent Night

I barely have managed to finish my card for the MPS Winter Card Challenge. I have been so in the Halloween mood that this challenge was really a challenge for me. After a bit of time spent looking at papers and my cartridges, here is what I created.

The card base is navy blue with white specs in it (which I love and need to stock up on). It's perfect for a snowy night. I cut the 'snow' from two different glittered papers. One is from the DCWV Glitter stack and is very smooth, and the other is from Target and is more like coarse glitter. The snowy trees I cut from the Very Merry Tags at 4 1/2", 3 3/4", and 2" I cut the bottom layers in white and the top in green, to give the appearance of snow and then added some stickles. I glued the biggest & smallest trees down (the smallest being in the center). The third one I pop dotted to add depth.

I had originally wanted to do a moose because I love moose BUT, then I decided on the deer2 from the Give A Hoot cartridge. I cut the first one at 2" and then the second at 1 1/4". I cut the butterflies off their noses & added eyes for each with a sharpie. On the little deer, I used a white gel pen and added spots to create a fawn. From there, I decided that the bird1 would be cute as cardinals. I cut five of them and added them onto the trees and the deer.

Pagoda Lamp Celebration

Today's card is a birthday card for a friend that turned into two different variations. I started with the first card, an orange 5x7 base and then the striped mat cut from the DCWV Citrus stack. I then cut all three lamps from the Pagoda cartridge in various sizes or 3 1/4" to 4 1/2", in different colors and patterns (also from the Citrus stack). And that's how this card became tow, I cut more lanterns than what I needed! I twisted some aqua colored raffia tightly and glued it on and then trimmed the lantern posts at the top to make them hang at different lengths from the raffia. I also used the EK dots border punch on the bottom. On the inside, I mounted a solid yellow mat and used the same border punch but, I also added the dots that were cut from the front mat and glued them in the spaces of the dots on the interior mat to bring both together. The sentiments on both cards are from a Fiskars Make a Wish collection of birthday quotes set.

Enter if You Dare

SO, I am sooo ready for the fall. Cool weather, football, and Halloween!!! I am a big fan of Halloween so, naturally, I've purchased the Pumpkin Carving, October 31, AND the Happy Hauntings cartridge. Love all of them! Naturally though, they are inspiring me to make some Halloween themed cards. Today I have the 'enter if you dare' card. This is a 5x7 gate fold that was inspired by the second gate on the October 31 cartridge. This gate cuts in two different pieces so, I thought how perfect to cut the gate for a gate fold card. The card base is solid black card stock and then I mounted a printed sheet from the DCWV 'The Haunting Collection' stack. I cut the gate at 4 1/2" out of solid black cardstock. When you get ready to glue these gates though, you need to be quick about it. I just dab dots of glue all over using the small Zig glue pen. If you don't do it quickly, the first ones will dry by the time you get the last ones. :)

I found the "Enter if you Dare" phrase on the Happy Hauntings cartridge and decided to cut it at 1 3/4" with a dark purple base and a black top layer and then I glued only half of it and attached it to the card so that it isn't permanently stuck to the card, preventing the card from being opened. Then I decided on bats...hmmm. Lots of bats in these cartridges, in some different layers. I love the bat on the Happy Hauntings cart but, when I cut it, it was bigger than what I wanted for the card and the purple top layer was VERY thin so, I didn't think I could cut it smaller without it ripping. Instead, I chose the bat from frame3, layer 1 shift and the one from the cat key, layer function, both at 7 1/2". Since these bats were actually layers on other cuts, I needed to cut them in a larger size to be sure they were big enough to put on the card. I cut two of each, a top layer in black and a bottom layer in purple.

On the inside, I mounted a grey piece of Archiver's card stock, cut a bit smaller than 5x7 . I cut the graveyard from the Happy Hauntings cartridge as well. It was the graveyard shift cut and then the graveyard layer 1, both at 3 1/2". I used my Design Studio to see test the different sizes before cutting. I don't save it as a cut file but, I do like to check it out on DS before cutting so that I don't waste paper when I do the actual cut. Once I cut the top 'grass' layer, the tips of the grass were white from the core of the card stock so I inked them with a matching green color to hide the white core. Then I decided to ink the edges of the tombstones to give them more of an aged look so, I did that using the Cat's Eye alabaster ink pad. I had to trim a little from the sides of the graveyard cut so that it would fit in the card and then ink a little more. This led to me ink the edges of the gray mat in black, I think it adds to the spooky Halloween feel of the card. I added some more bats at the top to complete the inside.

Back to School

Today's card is a back to school theme that I did using A Child's First Year cartridge. The card base was left over from my Robotz card and is from the Paper Studio's A Boy's Universe. The mat paper is from DCWV's Grade School stack. I decided to use the crayon shape, located on the Apple key, using the Icon shift feature, to make a border so, I cut alternating colors of red, green, blue & yellow each at 3/4". Some I had to overlap but, I like the border that it created. I cut the scissor at 1 1/2" using the crafts key, icon feature and silver mirror paper. The ABC & 123 were cut using the font function of the cartridge, each at 1". The 2+2=4 was cut from a different sheet of paper from the same stack, they mounted it and used some pop dots on it. On the inside, I mounted an orange sheet and added a scrap piece of the mat paper from the front and another blue crayon as well as a 'Reach for the Stars' sentiment that came from a Hampton Art graduation set. I also added a scribble from a blue crayon at the bottom to match.

For the Aspiring Pastry Chef

My cousin in Texas has decided to pursue her dreams of becoming a pastry chef and has moved to a different city to go to school AND the day I finished this card, she got an offer for an externship at a FABULOUS restaurant!!! I am so happy for her. I had been wanting to send her a card but, hadn't had the time to do so. I happened across the tag cut on the A Child's Year cartridge's cooking key and decided now was the time! I cut the cooking tag with the rolling pin and the shadow mount at 2". I felt like the shadow mount was huge in comparison so, I trimmed it down a little. The card is a solid brown base with a mount on the front from the DCWV Latte stack. I cut the shadow base using a cream cardstock and the top tag with the rolling pin cut out, from a green cardstock. I then used a Fiskar's border punch to scallop the front bottom edge. I cut 1/2" strips of the same green and attached a brown ribbon from Michael's to them and then attached one to the top and one to the bottom of the Latte paper. I mounted the tag and used pop dots to attach it to the card.

On the inside, I mounted a dark purple cardstock and then the rolling pin cutout from the tag and stamped the Dee-lish sentiment from Studio G. I can't wait to try some of her Dee-lish creations!!!!

Stay Cool Robot

Today's card I made for another boy in my son's preschool that he wasn't all that close to but, I still wanted to say goodbye to. This card was also made using The Paper Studio, a Boy's Universe stack and the Robotz cartridge. I used Robot36 on page 63 and cut him at 4 1/2". I also used the dots (or circles) folder to emboss parts of his hands, feet and the gauge on his stomach and google eyes. I printed the sentiments on the outside and inside and used some PC border scissors to cut the mats.

Robotz Mini Scrapbook

Today I did a mini-scrapbook that I had viewed on the Creative Critters Cricut site (http://www.cricutcritters.com/). Tammy Skinner is AMAZING with projects. She posted this one back (http://www.cricutcritters.com/2010/04/plantin-schoolbook-christmas-cheer-file.htmlfile.html) in April and I knew I wanted to give it a try but, didn't have a specific reason until now. My son is leaving Preschool for kindergarten at the end of the month and his preschool BFF will not go to the same school. I wanted to give his BFF a little gift from us and I thought this would be so much better than a toy! Besides his mom is a scrapbooker so, I know she will love it!

I won the Robotz cartridge back in May from the MPS site but, I hadn't been able to use it so, I thought, this would be perfect. I had a bit of a hard time finding 12x12 file folders but, I was able to find black and white flower print ones that were lime on the inside. How perfect as it matches the color scheme of my robot papers. I decided to cut the tab from the folder after it was folded as well and I inked the edges so that the white paper cores weren't sticking out. The paper I used for this project is The Paper Studio A Boy's Universe stack that I picked up from Hobby Lobby...I love it and I haven't seen it anywhere else. I also embossed several of the sheets and tags using the Cuttlebug diamond plate folder and the circles folder. To make the Robots, I used almost all scrap paper because so may of the details are so small when they cut.

Now for the details. Starting from the 'inside' of the accordian fold on the left, I will attempt to give a little detail on each of the six decorative panels. The first is just a picture of the boys together and the years span that they were in daycare/preschool together, both mounted and then attached to the panel.

When I first started looking at the Robotz I was a little overwhelmed by the amount of small pieces in the layer functions. I decided to start with one that didn't look as complex but, still lots of little pieces to glue (which again is great for using up scraps). I started making the Robots for the second panel. The Robot on the second panel is Robot1 on page 28 at 4". You can't tell really well from the picture but, I used a silver mirror paper on the body of this guy. I also used larger sized google eyes.

On the third panel, I cut Robot39 from page 66 at 4 1/4". For this guy, I used two different sized google eyes as well as some silver stickles for the tip of the antenna. The lightbulb was cut using the font function of robot41 and the sentiments were stamped from a Mickey Mouse stamp set that I used withough inking the mickey portion of the stamp.

On the fourth panel, I cut two different robots, Robot20 on page 47 and Robot 19 on page 46, each at 3" I put google eyes on both and used the silver stickles on the antenna's again. The sentiment was another from the Disney set mentioned above and the mat is one that I embossed using the diamond plate folder.

Love the little robot on the fifth panel, robot41 on page 68. I cut him at 2 1/2", used the silver mirror paper for one of the layers, used the google eyes again & silver stickles at the top. This sentiment is also cut from the Disney set.

Last, but not least, robot3 on page 30 cut at 3". I used the silver mirror paper as the shadow on him and google eyes, no stickles this time though. The picture is of the boys holding hands on a train ride when they were 2.

I pop dotted all of the sentiments and the robots and the backside has mounted pictures of the boys together. All of the tags have photos on the front and back that I cropped down to fit on the tags. Oh, and the ribbon I used from was KI Memories 'suprise' set, the Target dollar bin, & Un ique ribbons. Oh, and on the front, I cut the words 'preschool pals' and their names using the font creative feature of the cartridge at 1/2" each. They cut very nicely for that size, which surprised me because I wasn't sure they would being that small. I can't think of any other details but, I am sooo happy with the way that this turned out. I hope you enjoyed it!!!