Card Creating Sunday

It's Card Creating Sunday over in My Cricut Craft Room!!!!  We LOVE making cards!!  If you've just happened across my blog, thanks for stopping by and welcome, but remember to go over to My Cricut Craft Room to see all of the other wonderful cards that were made for today.

This has been a whirlwind of a week - lots of birthdays this week!  In light of that, today's card is actually the card I gave my Dad for his birthday on Friday.  I hope you enjoy!

I started off with a standard, white 5"x6.5" card and overlaid the front with some birthday paper I bought at Hobby Lobby the other day.  (Celebrations 6"x12" paper pack)  Then, I wanted something birthday and cute, but not TOO girly or childish, as it WAS for my Dad, after all. :)  Here is what I came up with:

I used the cupcake from Doodlecharms for this card and I cut it and its layers out at 4.88" on my Gypsy.  I cut the base layer and some sprinkles out of plain blue cardstock; the icing out of lime green plain cardstock; the shadow, flame and some sprinkles from plain yellow cardstock; the candle and some more sprinkles out of plain red cardstock.  All of this cardstock just came from my stash.  I layered the cupcake together, but wanted some dimension, so I put the cupcake on some foam to attach it to its shadow.  I also wanted the candle flame to stand out, since it was the same color as the shadow, so I inked the edges of it with Barn Door colored Tim Holtz Distress Ink.  The sentiment on the inside is a stamp I had in my stash and I used Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Tumbled Glass for the color.

Then came the fun part!!! I have fallen in love with the idea of Action Wobbles, but they are sold out of them online (plus they're expensive!).  So, I made my own! I used two 1" circles (I finally got me a punch so these are quick and easy) and a small coil of 26-gauge wire.  Take just enough wire to wrap around your cylinder (I use my Zig 2-way Glue Pen since it's bigger around) one full wrap and a couple of half wraps.  Tape the ends of the coil, one to each of the circles, and then use a glue dot to secure the wobble to the card and the cupcake.  Easy peasy!  Here's a quick clip of the wobble in action:

I hope you have enjoyed my Dad's birthday card as much as we did!  I know I had fun making it! :)

Have a great rest of your weekend! And, now, Happy Birthday to me!! :D

My Cricut Craft Room's Card Creating Tuesday

It's Card Creating Tuesday over in My Cricut Craft Room!! Yay!! It's one of our (the Design Team's) favorite days!!  If you just happened across my blog, thank you for visiting and welcome to my crafty world!  Also, please don't forget to stop by My Cricut Craft Room for some more wonderful inspiration!!  If you came from My Cricut Craft Room, welcome!

For today, I made two very simple cards using Damask Decor.  Who knew a card called "Damask Decor" would have holiday cards built right in????  By the way, these can be "dressed up" in any way you can think of.....I am just not that great at the "dressing up" of it all, so I did what I could with the papers and all that I chose...

My first card is a Christmas card....it uses the tree card and layer from p. 70 of the handbook.  I cut both at 4.65" (I use my Gypsy for everything, so you can use just the cart in your machine at 4.5" or 4.75").  For the card, I used a burgundy cardstock and the tree is a dark olive green.  Both of these are just plain cardstock from my stash.  My mind's eye tells me that the tree needs some "decorating" but I am at a loss right now as to how....maybe you guys can help! Comment away on how I can "decorate" my Christmas tree!!  The inside is stamped with a little "Merry Christmas" sentiment I've had on hand for years and the ink is Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Barn Door (I liked the kind of watermark effect it had).

My next card is a Halloween card, or could just be done as a fall card. :)  Again, I used Damask Decor, the Pumpkin card feature and its layer - page 68 in the handbook.  I cut both of these at 4.41" (again, using the Gypsy...if you're using just the machine and cartridge, you can use 4.5").  The card base is just basic black cardstock from my stash and the pumpkin is an orange metallic cardstock from a package that I picked up at Target a few years ago. I believe the paper company is Wasau Paper.  For the inside of the card, I decided to try something I've been a little hesitant to try: embossing!!!  OK; so it didn't turn out quite like I wanted it to, but at least I tried something new!  The sentiment is a stamp I picked up on a clearance aisle a long time ago, and I used Stampendous! embossing powder called Star Dust - a lovely gift from Erica of My Cricut Craft Room herself (THANKS!!).  Note to self: if the embossing powder says "Transparent," you need to use a color underneath it if you want it to really show up on black. LOL  I probably should have stamped it in white before I embossed, but I tried just the embossing powder alone.  Not too terrible, but not too visible, either.  Oh, well, you live and learn, right???  Without any further adieu, here is the Pumpkin Card:

I hope you've enjoyed my creations today; keep checking back, as we have projects going on ALL the time!!! Also, remember to check My Cricut Craft Room daily, as she has new things going EVERY DAY!!!!  (PPPPSSSSTTTT: she's also very fond of giveaways, so be sure to watch for those!)

Have a fantastic day, and remember to stay crafty!



Festive Friday over at My Cricut Craft Room!!

It's Friday!!!! And, you know what that means:  it's Festive Friday over at My Cricut Craft Room!!!  Festive Friday is when we, the Design Team, make creations based on the holidays!  This can be Christmas (our fave!), Halloween, Easter, Hannukah, Fourth of July....any holiday!  For this go-round, I chose to do Christmas, as it is fast approaching, and you can never get going too early.  I hope you enjoy my little cards!

If you just happened upon my blog, GREAT! Welcome!  But, don't forget to head over to My Cricut Craft Room to see yet more wonderful ideas to help you keep your holidays merry and bright!

For both of these cards, I used Doodlecharms.  I just put the blackout of the reindeer and Santa on my mat (on my Gypsy - I use it for EVERYTHING), then copied them and flipped them. I then arranged the images so I could weld them together to make my card base.  Both the Santa and the reindeer were cut at 4.06". The cards came out to be fairly small, but they're cute and will fit in an A2 envelope. :)  I cut Santa from white cardstock and the reindeer from a light brown cardstock, both from my stash.  Here is what my Gypsy screen looked like for this step:

Next, I put in a second layer (you can see Layer 1 and Layer 2 tabs on the image above) for the "features" of Santa and the reindeer.  I used the layers on the cartridge/buttons and arranged them on the mat so I could cut them all at once.  I had to use the Hide feature so I could cut out certain pieces in certain places.  Here is the Gypsy screen for that:

(you can see where the hidden parts of the pictures are - they are the lighter gray lines)

I love doing things this way, as I can use small pieces of cardstock (or even scraps if they're big enough!) and arrange them on my mat and get all pieces cut at once.  Saves a LOT of time!  Let's see.....I used the light brown cardstock from my base for the full reindeer, dark brown for the reindeer face, white for the Santa beard/mustache/etc., a fleshy colored beige for Santa's face and red for the hat and noses.  All were just cardstock from my stash, and all were cut at 4.06" to match the card bases.  I used my Zig 2-way Glue Pen for all of my layering.

Here is the finished product, after all my layering (which sometimes leaves a LOT to be desired LOL):

So, you can see from the Gypsy screen that I hid the eyes on both Santa and the reindeer....that was so I could add the googly eyes! Aren't they cute?!?  Then, I decided the reindeer needed personality, so I added red glitter glue (Studio G from the dollar bin at Michael's) for his nose and turned him into Rudolph!  Santa needs something "extra" too, but I don't have any embossing skills or white flocking, so that will have to wait a bit. :)  I want to flock his hat trim and ball and possibly either flock or emboss his beard and mustache.  I'm thinking the beard and mustache would be neat fuzzy, but also that they need a little sparkle....I just can't decide. Maybe you can help me decide with your comments......... :D   The sentiments inside the cards are just stamps from my various treks into Michael's or Hobby Lobby. For the Rudolph, I used a Martha Stewart red ink and for Santa, Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Barn Door.

I hope you've enjoyed my little creations; hope you leave some feedback and/or become a follower!  I love feedback and new followers!!! One day, I will be able to do a giveaway on here for those who have joined me on this wild adventure!  Have a great rest of your day, and I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas! :)

My Cricut Craft Room's Card Creating Sundays

Making cards is fun!  And, much simpler (to me) than entire scrapbook page layouts.  Apparently, I am not the only one, as Erica has now had to add this, a SECOND Card Creating Day because it has become the most popular day among the Design Team. :)

If you came from My Cricut Craft Room, you're in the right spot. If you just happened across my blog, be sure to go and visit My Cricut Craft Room because Erica has a sneak peak at ALL of the wonderfully fabulous cards that were made for today.

Here's my card for today:

First, I love this card because I LOVE monkeys!!!  And frogs, but that's another story. Secondly, I love it because I just LOVE these tri-shutter cards Kat turned me on to.  You can make the cutest little card without having to figure out some lengthy sentiment to put in it. :)

Directions on the tri-shutter card can be found here.  I used a base of brown cardstock and layered in using the polka dot sheet from a cardstock pack I found at Big Lots (Precious Petals Assorted Openstock Paper Pack - Little Safari), some plain turquoise cardstock from my stash (which was embossed with Circles and Spots on the Cuttlebug), and the green is from an adhesive 4.5x6.5 paper stack I bought at Hobby Lobby.  The vines on the green strips are from a stamp set I won from Erica (thanks!) and used chocolate brown Martha Stewart ink.

The little monkeys I did using Create A Critter, using black, cream/tan and brown cardstock from my stash. They are cut at 3".  The monkey on front is FUZZY!!!  Acutally FUZZY!!! Eek! I just love it!!!  I used my Zig 2-way glue pen, applied it liberally on the brown layer and covered it with flocking just like you do with glitter.  After drying (I left mine for a full day before I checked it just to make sure the glue had dried well) you can shake off any excess flocking to reveal your fuzzy monkey. (I should note here that you should do the flocking BEFORE adding that layer to the monkey - keeps you from having to be SOOO careful with where you apply the glue.) The "SMILE" sentiment also came from Create A Critter and is cut at 1.35" (I use my Gypsy for everything) using the same plain turquoise cardstock from my stash as the other squares (though I did NOT emboss the "SMILE").  I attached the SMILE and the fuzzy monkey on front using foam strips I also won from Erica. (I highly recomment these as opposed to the dots you can get simply because you can cut them to whatever size you need and they are skinny enough for things like these little monkeys' arms and legs.)

That's it!! I hope you have enjoyed my fun little monkey card that I plan to send to Erica for her St. Jude Project Sunshine and Smiles and come back to see me next week for some more fun!

Would You Ever Guess Wednesday

Yay!! It's time for "Would You Ever Guess Wednesdays" over at My Cricut Craft Room!!!  What the heck is a "Would You Ever Guess Wednesday," you ask??? Well, I'm GLAD you asked!!  This is when we, the Design Team, get to take a closer look at our Cricut Cartridges and find features on them to use in our designs; features that DO NOT include the base keys or shadow/blackouts.  We can also use Cricut Cake cartridges for paper or other crafts (would you have guessed that?!?!)  It's Erica's way of getting us (and you) to delve deeper into what our (your) cartridges can do for us (you) and our (your) crafting! (:  After you've checked out my projects, be sure to go back over to My Cricut Craft Room to see what all the DT has in store for you!

My first project is a cute little invitation I created using Elegant Edges (p. 28, Book feature of <Flower1> and <Flower1-s>).

For this cute little card/invite I used the above keys on my Elegant Edges cartridge, cut at 4.18" H.  I used my Gypsy to flip the <Flower1> Book Feature and then slid it to the <Flower1-s> Book Feature and welded the two together for the pink layer (just pink cardstock from my stash).  For the purple layer, I used the <Flower1-s> for both sides (again, just cardstock from my stash), flipped one and welded it to the other to form the card shape.  Then, just glue the two layers together with your favorite adhesive, score and fold, and stamp with your desired message.  Easy peasy, nice and breezy! I made mine into a baby shower invite using some stamps from my stash (Recollections stamps found in the Michael's clearance bins). The inside is printed via my computer and just cut out of white paper so that it shows up on the dark purple. These would also be good for a little girl's birthday party or just some girly-girl stationery.  The colors could also be changed to work for other themes as well.

For my next project I used..........YUP!!!! You guessed it: DAMASK DECOR!!! My new favorite cartridge!!

Prior to stamping

After stamping

For these lovely cards, I used the Card Feature of the <Btrfly> and <Btrfly-s> keys on p. 66 of the Damask Decor handbook.  I just cut the <Btrfly-s> Card Feature out of light purple cardstock, from my stash, at 3.03" (I used my Gypsy, for going with just the Cricut and the Cart, just use 3").  Then, I cut the <Btrfly> Card Feature at 3.03" out of both white and light pink cardstock since I wanted to make a couple of different cards.  The "lacy" butterfly layers easily over the card silhouette and you have a cute and simple card in a matter of two minutes, literally!  I just stamped sentiments from my stamp stash and VOILA! Done.  (If I were a bit more talented, I sure would like to "bling" these up a little more with some embossing powders, but......maybe soon I will have time to try it more in-depth and make something totally "wow" worthy!)

Okay.....so those are my projects using only Feature Keys on my Cricut Cartridges.....Would you have ever guessed you could use the Book Feature to make a card? Or that there would be butterflies on Damask Decor??  Well, now you know, so......Happy Crafting!!!!!



My Cricut Craft Room's 100 Cartridge Blog Hop

Hello! And welcome to My Cricut Craft Room's monthly 100 Cartridge Blog Hop!  You should have come from the wonderful and talented Connie; if not, please go to My Cricut Craft Room to begin at the beginning so you don't miss a single wonderful project!  If so, you're in the right place; please have a look at the cards I made for today using Damask Decor and Gypsy Font, leave a comment (I LOVE feedback!), become a follower if you like and enjoy the rest of the hop!

First, I made this cute little notecard using Damask Decor and my favorite color combination: blue and turquoise. These can be made with any colors to match anyone's personality and tastes!

For this card, I started by cutting a piece of turquoise (or light blue) cardstock from my stash into a standard A2 size card (4.25" x 5.5").  Then, I cut out the image of the very first key on the Damask Decor cartridge (<Damask1> on p. 21 of the handbook) at 3" on brown cardstock from my stash.  This is actually upside down from the image in the book and on the key, but I liked it better this way...it looks more like a flower now. :) I was using my Gypsy, so I also cut the little corner pieces at the same time, but they are also from Damask Decor.  They are <Damask6> on p. 26 of the handbook and I cut them at 1" using the same brown cardstock. I kept this pretty basic because I am a simple kind of a person, but these little fleur pieces of this cart can be cut and layered in so many ways, you can get REALLY elaborate if you so choose.

My next project is also from Damask Decor, but I had to throw a little Gypsy Font into the mix as well...

I have to admit, I have never really looked at the handbooks to the carts until I met Erica. Now, I'm constantly looking at them, mainly for recipe cards, and am finding all sorts of inspiration!  This project is actually from the handbook (p. 9-10) with a little modification.  As you can see, colors can be modified to fit any theme/decor.  Since my cousin is getting married in October, I thought I would play around with making a notecard for her to use with her new "B" initial, and so I used the colors from her wedding - turquoise and orange.  ALL of the cuts here use <Damask13> from p. 33 of the handbook, with the exception of the "B" which came from the Gypsy Font cartridge.  First, I cut the envelope at 4" out of textured white cardstock from my stash, folded and assembled it according to the score marks.  Then, I cut the card base using the Shift Key of the Card Feature Key, also at 4", out of bright turquoise cardstock from my stash.  Next, using white textured cardstock, I cut the outer layer of the card at 4" using the Card Feature Key.  I layered the white on top of the turquoise and added an orange ribbon.  Finally, I cut the "B" using my Gypsy Font cartridge off of my Gypsy at somewhere close to 1.25" (my apologies for this not being exact....I had to play around a little with it and cut a few out at various sizes, so...it measures almost 1.25" high with the ruler right now) out of orange cardstock from my stash.  I used the Monogram Feature Key for the flourished B.  Then, I added the monogram to the flap of the envelope and VOILA! She is finished!

Thank you for looking, and I hope you like what you see!  Leave me a comment about these, or any of my projects; I LOVE feedback almost as much as I LOVE my followers!

Next, you should go to the witty and crafty Amanda Hernandez' Blog.


In case of broken links or other unforeseen issues, here is the complete lineup:

Tammy A. http://crazycardcreator.blogspot.com/

Suzy’s craftshttp://suzyssimplecrafts.blogspot.com/.

Rosa http://kleymanr.blogspot.com/

Pat http://micraftygal.blogspot.com/

Melissa http://pinkpolkadotscrapping.blogspot.com/

Mayra http://gettingcraftywithma.blogspot.com/

Lucinda http://thegrowinggibson.blogspot.com/

Lezlye http://lezlyes.blogspot.com/

Kat http://katscrapfever.blogspot.com

( Crafty Jen) http://mybusycraftylife.blogspot.com

Jen R. http://memorieswithjen.blogspot.com

Jackie http://jackrabbitscrappin.blogspot.com

Heather S. http://operationcricutdesign.blogspot.com

Heather F.http://www.papercrafteranonymous.com

Gayle http://gscraptime.blogspot.com/

Courtney http://craftingwithcourtney.blogspot.com/

Connie http://conniescraftycloset.blogspot.com/

Autumn http://autumnsbuggycreations.blogspot.com  YOU ARE HERE

Amanda He.http://mandyscandywrappers.blogspot.com/ NEXT

Alishia http://alishia-myscrapping.blogspot.com/

Amanda H. http://craftsbyamanda.blogspot.com/

Happy Crafting!!!

My Cricut Craft Room's Theme Day Sunday - BIRTHDAYS

It's BIRTHDAY time over at My Cricut Craft Room!!!  If you've come from there, you're in the right spot. If not, please head on over to My Cricut Craft Room to see all the wonderful BIRTHDAY creations the Design Team has made!

Yesterday happened to be my sister-in-law's 30th birthday, so I made her a card to commemorate this wonderful occasion!  Her favorite colors are pink and black, so this is what I came up with:

I took a standard white 5x6.5 card from my stash and added the black and white paper from DCWV (The Glitter Stack 8x8 pad - found at Big Lots for just $7!).  The picture doesn't show it too well, but the spots have glitter on them. Then, I used Designers Calendar Cricut Cartridge for my "thirty" and "30" sentiments - cut at various sizes from 1" to 1.5" using hot pink cardstock from my stash and my Xyron 1.5" X Sticker Maker.  It wasn't quite "blingy" enough for my SIL, though, so I had to add some pink bling using the iRock - both of which I won from Erica (thank you sooo much - I now have a new favorite toy!). The "Happy Birthday" sentiment on the inside is from a set of stamps I got at Hobby Lobby and the ink is Bright Pink Stampabilities Dye Ink also from Hobby Lobby.

Thank you for stopping by; I hope you like what you see!!!  Don't forget to head over to My Cricut Craft Room to see all the BIRTHDAY creations that have been made today!!

Card Creating Tuesdays

Today is Card Creating Tuesday over at My Cricut Craft Room! If you came from there, you are in the right spot. If not, head on over to My Cricut Craft Room to see all of the awesome cards we have in store for you today!

For today's project, I decided to do a Christmas Card.  Everyone talks about Christmas in July and I truly love Christmas, so this was a great pick-me-up for me!  Here is my card:

Front

Inside

And a collage so you can see all the cute little trees...(there are two different kinds of trees)

For this card, I used the Waterfall Card Tutorial from www.splitcoaststampers.com and made it with traditional Christmas colors: red and green, with a little brown thrown in! ;-)

The paper I used was Creative Memories (Shades of Red and Shades of Green) and then the brown was just some from a basic cardstock pack from Hobby Lobby.  The ribbon is red and green raffia ribbon I found in my mom's Christmas wrapping stash.  For the trees, I used Create A Critter (p. 33 - Accessory Key and its Shift Key). On my Gypsy, I placed 4 of each - the key and its Shift counterpart - at 1.09" and lined them up on the mat so I could cut 2 of each out of the two shades of green.  I also used my Gypsy to "Hide" the face that comes when using the Shift Key.  I then alternated my two different types of trees on the four blocks of the "waterfall" to finish off the card.  The sentiment inside is from a set of Christmas acrylic stamps I picked up on clearance at Michael's a couple of years ago, and the ink color is Barn Door from the Distress Inks line by Tim Holtz.

These cards only LOOK hard; they are truly easy-peasy and give fantastic results!  Thank you for looking, and don't forget to check out My Cricut Craft Room every day for different inspiration!

Tonight's Challenge

So, tonight's Challenge was to use either a Cake cart or the features buttons of regular carts again.  This time, we could create up to 3 entries - anything we wanted - and using as many carts as we wanted.  Here are my two entries; neither of them won, but I liked them nonetheless and still thought I would share:

Gift tag using the window/mirror feature of TBBM cart. I put some hole punches inside a corner of a small jewelry ziploc baggy for the front window.  Something new I thought I'd try... :)

The phrase on this card was done from Happy Hauntings and the ghost and mummy came from - I believe - Paper Dolls Dress Up. I will double-check that tomorrow and post a comment. :)

Goodnight to all who are following; stay crafty!!

A+ Teacher Card

This was a card I made for my son's student teacher, Mr. P, on his last day with the class.  The "A+" was cut from Locker Talk, the word "Teacher" was from Cuttin' Up [and welded using my Gypsy (TM)], and the apple and its shadow from Doodlecharms.  I just glued the "I <3 School" paper strip down, along with some teacher-y ribbon and the words onto a standard 8.5"x11" half-fold greeting card.  Then, I "popped" the apple  over its shadow with some 3-D adhesive dots.  Hope you like it! TFL