Cute as a Button

Today is my daughter, Melissa's baby shower. Not exactly a shower card, but she is having a boy and I couldn't resist using this cute image from Scrappin Doodles. Martha Stewart doily lace punch, QuicKutz tag, Nestabilities label die, ribbon, pearls, button brad and a clear stamp. I added a tiny bit of stickles to his feet. Now I've got a ton of things to get done before heading off to the shower!

Post-It Craft Paper ~ The Cuttlebug Spot

Our sponsor this week at The Cuttlebug Spot is Post-It brand paper. Nilda sent us some sheets to use on our projects and we were free to make whatever we wanted, using the paper of course. Not quite sure I'm a big fan of the paper. I used bright yellow, green and pink on my card. The image and sentiment are from Bugaboo stamps. I used my deckled edge Nesties (2 different sets) to cut out all of the pieces and inked the edges in black. The 3 pieces behind the image were embossed with a QuicKutz embossing folder, in my Cuttlebug, of course, and please don't ask me what it's called, because I simply don't know! LOL! The bottom yellow piece was embossed with a Sizzix folder from the Hello Kitty Spring set. I punched some holes along the right side, added tiny eyelets and threaded some funky fibers and added a fun flower button. Those silly pom-poms on her shoes are tiny earrings. I snipped the post of and glued them on. NO, they are NOT my earrings! My daughter got her hands on a bunch of cheap, costume jewelry and bought it all home for me to disect and use on my cards! Woo-hoo! Now, if you'd like to see how my dt sisters used this Post-It paper on their projects and for a chance to win some fun stuff, click HERE!

Genevieve ~ Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps

Genevieve is my latest acquisition from Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps. I can't get enough of them! While visiting Kris' blog, I was delighted to see she made a card using Chester, another Kraftin' Kimmie stamp. She was playing along with their blog challenge so I jumped on the band wagon and got busy. I can't wait for my new copic order to arrive. My current set just doesn't have enough shades to work with.

Super Bowl Celebration at The Gypsy Spot

Time for another challenge at The Gypsy Spot! This week it's all about the Super Bowl. Invites, favors, centerpieces... whatever you'd like! I used the frame feature from the Sports Mania cartridge with the football. To form the card base, I welded the frame to a square in George. Then I welded the XLIV, from Alphalicious, in shadow feature, to the frame. I used the blackout feature for the bottom white layer of the football and the base feature for the top layer. I embossed the top layer with my Cuttlebug and tiny mosaics folder. I added Liquid Pearls in white opal to the football stitching and then forgot it was wet and placed my Cricut mat RIGHT ON TOP OF IT! That's why it looks like 5 year old Bella applied the Liquid Pearls! The sentiment was done on shadow and base and was then glued to the card front. It is not welded. Nilda has some great stuff up for grabs this week, so come play along at The Gypsy Spot!

Silver & Black - The Cuttlebug Spot

I almost feel like I cheated on this one. Not a whole lot of details, but I like it just the same. This week at The Cuttlebug Spot, Nilda had the design team use Silver and Black. I have these great, self-adhesive silver metal sheets and knew they would be perfect for my new Cuttlebug embossing folder, from HSN. I inked it up with black Staz-on, peeled the backing off and adhered it to a piece of textured black cardstock. Added a satin ribbon and heart charm and a silver button fit perfectly inside one of the hearts, so of course I had to use it. For more silver and black inspiration, come see what my design team sisters have come up with over at The Cuttlebug Spot.

Don't Make Me Crabby Cottage Cutz die

Is this not the cutest crab ever? He's a Cottage Cutz die, available exclusively at Scrapping Cottage. The background is embossed with a new Cuttlebug folder I bought on HSN. I used Core'dinations Chocolate Box paper. It has a pink core. After embossing I sanded it to allow the color to show through. Very cool stuff! Used a Martha Stewart doily lace border punch, a Nestabilities die for the sentiment, which is computer generated and added two little pink heart brads. The ribbon is from Michaels. Inside heart is a Marvy punch and the corners are an EK Success punch. Check out more Cottage Cutz die over at The Cuttlebug Spot.

Black & Gold ~ The Gypsy Spot challenge

We're having a color challenge over at The Gypsy Spot! Come join us for some fun and a chance to win a Love Struck cartridge and some new Post-It craft paper! The colors Nilda asked us to use are Black & Gold and I was happy to be able to pull this off without using any other colors. Well, maybe a little vellum, but that hardly counts! hee-hee! The heart is from the Gypsy Wanderings cartridge and the key and scroll are from Sweet Hearts. I started with the base and used all 3 cuts on shadow feature, welded, copied & pasted and flipped to form the base card. I cut this twice. The vellum, which is sandwiched between the two black bases, was embossed with the Cuttlebug Script folder. There is also a gold heart sandwiched between the two back layers. This gave me a nice, sturdy card base and it's looks all neat and professional. The gold layer was cut on the base feature and the key and scrollie thingy are adhered with foam dimensional tape. I added some Basic Grey Bling and there ya have it! To see what the other design team members have done with this challenge and to play along for a chance to win that cartridge and paper, CLICK HERE!

"TEN" for The Cuttlebug Spot

This week at The Cuttlebug Spot we are showcasing the number 10. This started out as a card but quickly grew. I'm thinking it may work better as a centerpiece but it could be still serve as a very large card! The TEN font is from the Hannah Montana cartridge, the smaller font is Lyrical Letters, the bottom border, which I stretched the life out of, is from.... I FORGOT! I'll have to check when I get home and I'll post it then. I used a rounded rectangle for the back of the card which is welded in Design Studio to the front, to form the card base. I used 5 different embossing folders and again, when I get home I'll post all of them. You've just got to see the other ideas my design team sisters came up with using the number 10! Play along and you'll have a chance to win a $20.00 gift certificate to one of my favorite on-line shopping sites! CLICK HERE!

Skelekinzmyheart ~ Bugaboo stamps

One last quick card for the weekend. Image is a downlaod from Bugaboo Stamps. Colored her with Copics and added some stickles t her shirt. Matted with Nestabilities deckled edge die and used an EK Success corner punch. That's basically it. Not the fanciest card but at least I've now got a couple of Valentines Day cards under my belt.

Charlotte ~ Papertake Weekly challenge

Thought I posted this yesterday, but somehow it's not here. Anyway, this is for the challenge over at Papertake Weekly. The stamp is "Charlotte" and she is from Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps. I am just loving these stamps! I colored the image with my Prisma markers, cut it out with a deckled edge Nestabilities die and matted that onto 4 squares which were also done with square and scalloped square Nesties. I then mounted that on 5x5 mat, and used a Martha Stewart 'punch around the page' set on that. The sentiment was stamped with a Just Rite alpha set and that was cut out using a label Nestie and matted on a larger label. A little inking and some some Prima flowers and that's it!

Get a Life

Just having a little fun with a quick card. Seems to be all I have time for these days. The image and sentiment are a digi stamp from Bugaboo Stamps. I used my square and scalloped square Nesties for the image. The sentiment was also cut out using a Nesties label die. I attached that to the embossed strip with foam dimensional tape. The embossing was done with a border folder from the Cuttlebug Pop Culture set and the border punch is EK Success. The background paper is ProvoCraft. I believe its from the Tags, Bags, Boxes & More 6"x12" pad.

I haven't been doing much with my Cricut lately and he's beginning to feel a bit neglected, so I will dust it off tonight and should have some more Cricut projects to share with you over the weekend. As always, thanks for visiting and your comments are so very much appreciated!

THE GYPSY SPOT ~ Party Favors

Well, I must admit, I think I am all partied out at this point! For this week's challenge over at The Gypsy Spot, we are making PARTY FAVORS!!! Can you hear the excitement in my words? I pushed this one off until the very last minute, so it's not very festive but I think it turned out cute. I can fit a little mini cupcake in this Sweet Treats box. I placed a heart from Sweet Hearts on the front of the box so when it cut, it cut out the heart. I placed a piece of cellophane behind the opening. The frosting was embossed with the folder from the Cuttlebug cut 'n emboss Baby set. I inked some of it with embossing ink and added some pink Antiquities embossing powder. I also added some clear UTEE to the heart. Although I'm not too pleased with my paper choices, it was getting late and didn't have time to re-do it. Wonder why Dan is always calling me "Last Minute Margie". LOL!
To see more fabulous party favors from my design team sisters, head on over to The Gypsy Spot. Oh, did I mention the Martha Stewart border punch prize? Go check it out! Click HERE!

The Cuttlebug Spot & Polka Doodles CHALLENGES

THE CUTTLEBUG SPOT - PARTY FAVORS

We're still in a partying mood over at The Cuttlebug Spot! This week, Nilda asked the design team to come up with some party favors. I'm a bit angry with myself for not being more creative, but what's done is done. TODAY is my sweet little grandson, James' first birthday! His party will be later in the month, so I started making up some party favor bags for the children. Dan was out food shopping yesterday and I asked him to pick up a bag of M&M's. He brought home a 2-1/2 pound bag!!! We'll be eating those things till the cows come home! Anyway, on to my project. The alien looking creatures were done on my Silhouette. The cuts were driving me crazy, as they are so thin and kept ripping. I ended up using a spare hand as one of the mouths! I glued those to two deckled edge Nestabilities die cuts and inked the edges just a bit. The bag topper is also a Nesties die. I believe it's one of the labels die, just not sure which one. I scored it down the center and embossed it with the Cuttlebug Spots & Dots folder and then added a few orange raindots. The small label print is computer generated and then cut with a smaller deckled edge Nestie. All of the Nestabilities die cutting was done using my Cuttlebug, of course. I added some small eyelets to the mats and a flat-back thingy to the little tag. My dt sisters have come up with some pretty creative party favors, so hop on over to The Cuttlebug Spot and check 'em out!

POLKA DOODLES Song Title Challenge I had some spare time (yeah, right!) and decided to play along with the Polka Doodles challenge, which is to use a song title. I downloaded this Tropical Bird printable, also from Polka Doodles, and I thought he looks like he's singing, hence my song title "Sing for the Day" by Styx. Not the most popular song, but it was the first that came to mind. I printed the image onto a pale colored paper, inked it a bit and colored the image with Prisma markers. Cut it out using a Nestabilities die. Can someone please tell me the name of this die set? I used foam tape to adhere it, just to give the card some dimension. I used a Cuttlebug border folder from the Organic Flourish set on the bottom. Some Martha Stewart ribbon, Primas and a skittle and called it done!

Friends Stick Together

INSIDE:

Another one of my stamps from Kraftin Kimmie Stamps. This quirky little lady is Drucilla. Don't ya just love her? I think we can all concur that my coloring is amateur, but at least I almost stayed in the lines! The sentiment is computer generated. The white cirle was done with a punch because I've managed to misplace one of my circle nesties, but it was the perfect size to pair up with the scalloped circle Nestie.

Peggy Loves Vintage - Devil Boy

My first Peggy Loves Vintage, but I am already hooked! My sister in laws birthday is mid January, and without fail, every year I miss it. So, this card is for her. I haven't missed it yet this year, but looks like I'll have to be a few days late in mailing it. She'll get a big kick out of it. I used Nesties and an EK Success border punch and computer generated tags. The card was pre-embossed. Easy and can be!

Happy New Year! ~ The Cuttlebug Spot

Happy New Year, everyone! I'm just getting around to posting my design team card for The Cuttlebug Spot. It's been a bit hectic around here. Don't have much time to elaborate, so here's a quick rundown. The confetti is clear acetate cut from a Sizzix die, colored with alcohol inks and Pearl Ex gold metallic pigment powder and embossed with the Cuttlebug Swiss Dots. The black background edges were embossed with a folder from the Cuttlebug Pop Culture border set. The numbers are a Sizzix die (Ransom) and colored with alcohol ink and gold metallic pigment powder. The stamp is a House Mouse (Surprise Party) colored with Prisma Markers and cut out with a Deckled Edge Nestabilities die. It's hard to tell from the pictures but the pom pom on the hat is also colored with the metallic pigment powder as well. It's very shiny irl. I then embossed the edges of the white background with a border die from the Just My Type set. I punched little holes in the tops of the streamers and attached them to "springs" that I made using a plastic coated wire.

My 2009 Favorites

Following in the footsteps of Enfys and Donna, I've decided to list my personal favorites from 2009. It was fun looking back on all of the projects I completed... some of them I had nearly forgotten about and some are etched in memory forever. Hoping you remember some of my favoties. Here we go...JANUARY

FEBRUARY


MARCH

APRIL

MAY

JUNE

JULY

AUGUST

SEPTEMBER

OCTOBER

NOVEMBER

DECEMBER

Bird Cage and Butterfly

This card started out as a shaped card, but nothing went as planned. It was supposed to be a shaped card and the sentiment was supposed to be on the front. I totally forgot to add the embellishments to the finished card. Like I said, nothing went as planned. Guess I'll have to give it another try. The bird, cage and butterfly are from the Cricut Serenade cartridge. I welded the butterfly to the cage and the bird to the sentiment. Although I do like the end result, I think I'll go back and add some embellies to it.

Precious Lillith

When I saw one of these image on someone's blog, I just had to have one! (I've been hopping around from blog to blog trying to figure out who's blog it was, but to no avail). So, I headed over to Kraftin Kimmie Stamps and ordered a few. While my coloring skills are comparable with that of a 3rd grader, I'm satisfied with the way it came out. I don't have high expections when it comes to this technique, so I take what I can get. This stamp is called Lillith. I Colored her with regal colors of purple and gold. Used Nesties to cut her out. I used a MS border punch along the bottom and added a computer generated sentiment and punch out. A little bit of ribbon and it's done.

CHRISTMAS EVE DAY

Well, it's December 24th, and here I sit at work. I've got a house full of guests and I am very anxious to get home. We are going to have a full house tonight and the excitement is quickly growing. Dan and I will get home around noon and we will begin cooking everything for tonight. My mom is already at the house and I was SO excited to have her come and stay for a few days. We haven't seen each other since last Christmas. My brother Tom is also coming tonight and I haven't seen him since last Christmas either. My baby sister, Liz, who I see more often is at the house as well. Mandy and Jimmy will be coming with little Bella and James. Melissa and Frank will be coming with Domenic, who is going to be in 7th heaven when he opens up all his new cars and trucks! Melissa, who is now 6 months into her pregnancy, had an awful stomach virus since Tuesday, but as of last night, she thinks she was feeling better. So, hopefully by tonight she'll be feeling even better. Dana and Pete are coming and we are so excited because Pete, who is in a wheelchair, hasn't been upstairs since 2 years ago, before the accident. He now has a stair climber, which will make it possible for him to come upstairs and join us. They will be bringing Carla, their dog. Carla is always underfoot, but she's so darn cute! My 21 year old baby, Danny, stayed at the house last night, so we'll be putting him to work when we get home. It's going to be a wonderful Christmas Eve!!! Last year, Dan wasn't feeling well, and now we know all too well the reason for that. He has been feeling SO good, it's sometimes hard to believe he just fought the battle of his life. Literally. His strength is returning, he's more upbeat than he has been since the diagnosis and he looks extremely healthy. Maybe too healthy... the doctor has ordered him to lose 30 pounds by his next visit! LOL! If that's the worst news the doctor can give us, we'll take it! Thank you to everyone for all of your constant prayers, well wishes and support! I am confident that Dan's scans will continue to report nothing but good news. We just take it one day at a time.
Tomorrow, Christmas Day, we are off to my sister, Jenny's house. We will be back home on Saturday and I will be spending the entire day in my craft room, all by myself... aahhhh, peace and quiet once again!
I barely got out cards to my family this year, but had the best of intentions when I thought I was going to be sending one to all of my dear blogging friends. Unfortunately, I was hit with some last minute orders and got those done just in the nick of time. So now I extend my warm wishes to all of you and your families for a very, merry Christmas! I'm sure you've all been good girls this year, so we'll all be back next week to share the excitement over the new crafting goodies Santa has bought us, right?

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Bird on Branch - FREE .CUT FILE

Here's another card I did for Custom Crops. It can easily be used for other occasions by changing the sentiment on the tag. The .cut file and step-by-step instructions can be found HERE. I'd very much appreciate it if you left a quick review at the end of the article. THANKS!

Doodlebat Christmas Tree

This is going to be the card I send out to friends and family this year. With any luck, I will get them all done today and in the mail before noon! The tree and sentiment are doodlebats from ScrapNFonts. The set is called DB Seasons Greetings. I printed them out on white cardstock and cut out with oval Nestabilities. The scalloped oval was done is silver metallic paper. I don't think I have the correct coordinating size sets in the Nesties ovals and scalloped ovals because they don't nest correctly. See how the top and bottom have a wider edge? Does anyone know if it is supposed to be like that? I'm not sure what the sizes are that I have, because I threw out the packaging. Oh well! The white background is embossed with the Cuttlebug Seasons Greetings folder.

THE GYSPY SPOT Challenge

This week at The Gypsy Spot we are making Christmas cards. I was so, so late in getting this one done, so not much welding or layers here. All of the cuts, included the card base, are from Gypsy Wanderings. The deer and trees were cut on shadow and base features and two of the trees were also welded to the card front base. The card front and back have two holes in the top of the cut so I threaded a ribbon through and made a bow. Liquid Applique was used for the snow. I'm not too thrilled with the way this one came out either. I didn't allow myself enough time to get it done and to me, it looks very "blah". Maybe I can add some embellies to it and give it some life. What do you think?
The challenge is open to anyone with a Gypsy, so we'd love to have you play along. Need more inspiration than my "blah" card? Head on over to The Gypsy Spot to see the very inspirational cards by the other Design Team members.

Naughty or Nice - The Cuttlebug Spot

There's a new challenge going on over at The Cuttlebug Spot, and this time you have no excuse... all you need to do is create a Christmas Card using your Cuttlebug! How easy is that?! As usual, I waited till the last minute to get mine done and time was not on my side. The kids came over for dinner yesterday and so that just about killed the day. My sweet, sweet friend Wanda sent me this image and I just had to use it. It's precolored... what a time-saver! I cut it out using a scalloped oval Nestabilities and I added a bit of stickles to the moustache and pants. I embossed the background paper with the Christmas Countdown CB folder and distressed the edges and then inked with Tim Holtz Shabby Shutters Distress Ink. The present is a Sizzix die and I pop-dotted that on. Added a ribbon, prima and button. Ta-da! Off to Nilda it went!

Bella's Christmas Card to Momma & Daddy

Bella had a sleepover last night and while I was busy trying to work a card, she was busy making a card for momma and daddy for Christmas. This is the inside. She is going to write on the outside, but hasn't done it yet. She said she needs to think of something beautiful to write on it. The tree is a Sizzix Bigz die. That's about all the help she received from me. She wanted to use every single tool, gadget, embellishment, and craft item I own on this one card! She found my ribbon stash and picked out these four. I have no idea how she adhered them to the card. She was very upset when the ORANGE (yikes!) glitter glue (that she globbed on) was oozing out from behind the button. I tried in vain to convince her it looked nice like that, but she insisted we wipe it off. As you can see, that didn't work out as planned. Those drawings on the right are presents. Everything else, in case you haven't figured it out, are decorations! The card weighs about 5 pounds! LOL! Thank you so much for taking the time to look. I told her we would check back in a few days to see what everyone thinks.