Mini Monsters and lots of glitter -- my first Scrapbookpal.com DT project!

 Well, I was like a little kid waiting for Christmas morning while I waited for my first ScrapbookPal.com DT supplies to come in the mail!  They have so many great supplies; I couldn't wait to see what I'd have to play with first.  I was not disappointed!  They sent me the new Cricut Mini-Monsters cartridge, Stickles in black diamond and fruit punch, and awesome Stardust glitter pens.
The obvious choice for this cartridge, of course, is Halloween.  There are a plethora of adorable little Halloween characters and fun, unique monsters.  But my first thought was all the other ways you could use these cute little characters.  I made this first card for my little sister who had had a really tough week, and was feeling just about like this little guy looks.  ARGH!  I cut everything out and assembled it, then use a brown marker and my glitter pen to accent it to match the funny background paper.

An extra shot to show how cool the glitter accenting works:

Materials: Die-cuts -- Cricut Mini-Monsters cartridge;  Stardust glitter pen; Patterned Paper -- Diecuts with a View; Scallop border punch -- Stampin' Up

But I couldn't stop there!  I had to try out the Halloween possibilities as well.  This time I wanted to use both colors of Stickles, and I thought a cute little girl card was in order.  I cut and assembled the cute little spider and web and used my stickles to accent the details.  A little doodling for a border and the card was finished!  I love how a good mix of die cuts and personal touches (like the stickles and doodling) can help create a fab card in record time!

Materials: Die cuts -- Cricut Mini-Monsters cartridge, Stickles in black diamond and fruit punch; Scallop border punch -- Stampin' Up


I want to teach you a little trick I learned recently.  You can use Stickles to make your own super-inexpensive, ready-anytime gem spots!  All you need to do is get a scrap of clear packaging and make a line of Stickles dots in whatever sizes you like.  Let them dry and they slide right off the plastic, and then you can adhere them to your project with a glue dot or just a spot of liquid glue.  Just make sure you don't make your dots and then forget where you set them down, because you might just end up with an arm smeared in glitter glue.  Not that I would know anything about that...

And just for good measure, I had to use my black stickles on one more card.  I made this one for my daddy for Father's Day.  The Stickles were the perfect touch to really make it pop.

Materials: Stickles in black diamond; Embossing folder -- Tim Holtz for Sizzix; Ink -- Clearsnap chalk ink; Die cuts -- Cricut George cartridge (stars)

The fruits of a very fun weekend...

This past weekend was such a blast. About every 6 months we have a Cricut SWARM -- a crop with a bunch of my online Cricut friends from here in the area. On Friday we cropped and shopped (well, mostly shopped) together at the Scrapbook USA Expo, then on Saturday we had a crop at a local scrapbook store. So fun! And amazingly enough, I actually got a ton done this time! My goal was to get a lot of scrapping done, since I've mostly been making cards lately.

I've been planning this lo since Eliza was a month old -- these are pictures from her month-day every month, ending up with this adorable pic on her 6-month birthday. I got the pics printed in B&W because the colors were all so different. There are three tags with more 6-month photos and journaling behind the big photo. The PP is from Basic Grey, and the flowers are from MM and Heidi Swapp. I cut the 6 with Base Camp at 3 1/2", and the letter stickers are from October Afternoon.


Aw, my cute little Josh. He is so afraid of my mom's big dog, Beau. Beau just a big puppy and thinks the boys are puppies, too, so he gets a little exuberant. Joshy usually runs straight in from the car to Nana's house, but one day he mustered his courage and told Beau to "SIT!" and he actually did it! I happened to have my camera out -- lucky day! The chipboard letters are from Scenic Route and rub-ons are from American Crafts. The paw prints are from the Cricut Paper Pups cartridge and the pp is from Basic Grey. I used embroidery thread to sew on all the buttons -- thanks again to my friend Amy for reminding me to stick the buttons down with glue dots before trying to sew them on -- sure saves a lot of hassle!


This one is not my favorite, but I was glad to get a lo with so many photos done! Last November we took a little ferry trip with my in-laws and it was so fun.






These last two are for my album about Dan and me. I usually just have one photo at a time, so I do this book in 8x8. This first one is our first couple picture, taken right when we started dating so Dan could show me off to him mum. We're so young! The pp is from Chatterbox, and the little branch dies are from Sizzix. I cut "Beginnings" at 1" with the Cricut Base Camp cartridge. I used a Heidi Swapp edge distresser for the edges of the paper -- it's my favorite cheap tool!



This pic is from only a couple weeks later, from the few days in between when Dan asked me to marry him and when I said yes. In my defense, we'd only been dating a couple weeks and he really took me off guard! :) There's a big long story that goes with it, which I think you'll be able to read better if you click on the pic and get the bigger version. The pp and chipboard letters here are from Scenic Route, and the ribbon is from SU (yay, Sale-a-bration!). Letter rub-ons are from American Crafts.


Of course, I couldn't leave cards out completely!

This one is an ATC (artist trading card) for our crop. I completely spaced the swap until I got there, so that was my first project of the day. I embossed the background with the Cuttlebug, then used my SU "Pocket Silhouettes" set and scallop and ticket corner punches to put together the rest. Phew!



This one was for our "Rummage Challenge," which I was in charge of. Each participant, before leaving home, was supposed to go to THAT PLACE in their scrapbooking area where supplies just pile up and get forgotten -- you all know what place I'm talking about! -- close their eyes, and rummage around. The thing they brought out was their main supply for the challenge, then I also rummaged in several of my areas and brought more supplies they could incorporate. It was cool to see how creative people could be! One of my rummaged supplies was a Mary Engelbreit desk calendar from 2002 -- I've kept it all these years because the illustrations were so wonderul and I knew I wanted to make cards from them someday. I picked this sweet quote and used scraps from my "Beginnings" layout to create this card. The label and scallop border punches are from SU.


I was half packed to go home when I decided I really wanted to finish just one more project, so I made up a few of these cute, quick cards. The background is embossed with the Cuttlebug, then I cut the scalloped oval with the Cricut Storybook cartridge. "Happy" is cut from Base Camp at 1". To make 5 quick cards, I loaded 5 scraps of bright adhesive paper on my mat and cut the word "happy" on each one. Then I just took one letter from each for each card. I outlined each oval and wrote "birthday" with a black marker. Easy peasy, and so festive!


Phew, you made it to the end! I had a blast this weekend, and it was wonderful to have so much to show for it. My kids thought the scrapbook pages were great -- they just love seeing themselves on layouts. Can't wait til our next SWARM!

Ready for Swuimsuit Season?

I had SO much fun making this card! I meant it as a tongue-in-cheek card for a friend, but I think I'm going to keep it and post in on my fridge to discourage late night snack raids... I dug out a bunch of fun vintage-y scraps from my bins and went to town. The swimsuit and dress form are more of my own designs using my Cricut and Sure Cuts a Lot (available in my etsy shop), and the pp is from Scenic Route. I'm not sure where the twill tape is from -- I got a couple yards of it at my favorite LSS a few years ago and this is the first time I've actually used it! The ruffly scallop border is a neat trick I learned from my friend Brooke Stockman -- it's a bunch of scalloped circles layered and then bent outwards for texture and depth. So cute!



Check in over the next few days -- my blog just made it to 40,000 hits, and I'm going to celebrate with some fun blog candy!

Happy Birthday, Dad! (No peeking!)

My daddy's birthday is coming up, and this week's sketch at 2 Sketches 4 You seemed like the perfect springboard for me to try out this accordian flower technique I've been wanting to try (I believe I first saw it in the SU catalog). It turned out to be trickier than I expected! I highly recommend the tutorial at De Stampin' Corner if you want to try it out -- I think it would have been much easier if I had looked that up first rather than just winging it! I added some piercing accents by drawing flourishes and punching along them with my piercer.

The pp and card base are from We R Memory Keepers Urban Window collection. I cut the 4" circle with my cricut, then sanded it. The circular stamp is from the CTMH Free Spirit set, and the others are from various SU sets. "dad" is from the Cuttlebug Olivia font. TFL!

Here are a couple of close-ups:

Here's to you, little butterfly...

I've been thinking about this layout for a long time. These are the last pictures I took of my little sister Carissa before she passed away, and I was struck by the butterfly picture in the background, and how well that fit with the lyrics to this beautiful song by Susannah Clifford Blachly. Here are those lyrics, in case you can't read them:

“Here's to you, little butterfly
You grew wings and learned to fly
You broke through to a clearer view
And a wide open sky

You taught me things I need to know
When to hold on tight, when to let go
How to trust that the darkest hour of the night
Holds the promise of the light

Now I know that some day you'll be leaving
To heed the call of distant lands
And though I'll be no stranger to grief
I'll still open up my hands
And watch you fly, little butterfly

Here's to you, little child of mine
You'll be all grown up in no time
So much to learn through the twists and turns of this life

You taught me things I need to see
How to love the world that's in front of me
How to feel what's true and to listen to what it means to be free”

And here's my journaling:
"These are the last pictures I took of Carissa before she passed away, during the brief time she had been moved out of the intermediate care unit and the boys could visit her. Originally when I was working with this photo I cropped out most of the background, but then I noticed the butterfly photo in the background, and I thought it was so fitting. Carissa spent mortality in a body that was in some ways so limiting, but her beautiful spirit always shone through. In her passing, that spirit emerged more beautiful and radiant than any earthly butterfly. I know that Carissa is free now from the limitations of her mortal life and shines as a jewel in our Heavenly Father’s kingdom."

It was also a perfect opportunity to try out a new idea I had for making butterflies. It's a take-off from the flower technique I posted a while back, and I really like the way it turned out. I thought someone out there might like instructions, so I did a little photo tutorial as I went along.

1. Cut your base shape -- I cut mine with the Cricut George cartridge. It's , above the J. I cut it first on shadow with the cardstock and then regular with a light vellum. Adhere together as shown.


2. Sew a straight line from corner to corner as shown.


3. Trim out shape of wings (just like the flower petals from the previous technique). For butterflies, cut the top wings larger and rounder than the bottom. If they are the same, you'll get a shape more like a dragonfly.


4. Fold top layer away from bottom layer at stitched lines -- this gives it a really pretty dimensional element. I also used a mini-scallop scissor to add some detail to the wings on the larger butterflies, but it's too much of a pain to do it to the smaller ones.


5. Add a body. Mine is the dragonfly body from the Cricut Doodlecharms cartridge (hint: cut the body 1/2" smaller than your original shape -- ie, my largest butterfly was cut at 3", and the body was 2 1/2") Embellish as desired. I used thread to stitch glass beads onto the largest butterflies here, but on the card below I covered the whole body in Stickles.





Here is another card I made when I was trying out these butterflies. This card also uses last week's great sketch from 2 Sketches 4 You.



Supplies used:
(Layout)
Bazzill cardstock
Misc. vellum
Green Ice Stickles

(Card)
Kraft cardstock: Hobby Lobby
Patterned paper, ribbon: Fancy Pants
Stamp: Studio G
Mini-Scallop scissors, Threading Water (scallop) punch: Fiskars
Green Ice Stickles
Ink: Clearsnap Chalk Ink

Another note -- I made this layout to go in the book of remembrance I made for my family after Carissa passed away. Here is a link to those layouts (posted on the Cricut MB), if you'd like to see them.

I love hand stitching!

It does take a long time, but for a very special card there is nothing I love more than hand stitching. This baby card is for my brother and SIL who just had their first baby (yay, I have a niece!), and I really love the handstitching on the buttons. For this card I used this week's sketch from 2 Sketches 4 You -- it was just perfect for this stamp! A friend gave it to me unmounted, so I have no idea what company it came from, but I think it's just adorable.


For the birthday card I used a Bazzill In Stitchz template and added the french knots for a little extra pizzazz. This is actually last week's sketch from 2 Sketches, but I didn't finish it in time to upload it there.

Supplies used
(Baby Card) Velvet ribbon -- Fancy Pants
Buttons -- All My Memories
Glitter -- Stickles Cotton Candy
Jewels -- Westrim Crafts
Scalloped square -- Cricut Mini-Monograms cartridge, cut at 1 1/2" on RDS
Embossing -- Cuttlebug Swiss Dots folder
Other - chalk ink, cotton thread, foam squares, mystery stamp

(Birthday card) Patterned Paper -- Scrapworks
Flowers -- Making Memories
Stitching Template -- Bazzill In Stitchz
Stamp -- Imaginisce
Jewel brad -- Joann Craft Essentials

Birthday card with fun flower tutorial!

I made this card for this week's sketch challenge over at 2 Sketches 4 You -- these colors are just scrumptious, aren't they? They make me want to eat sherbet!

This flower is such a fun, unexpected, TOTALLY simple touch. I did not come up with this one myself -- I saw it in an issue of CARDS magazine (The creator of the original project was Betsy Veldman.) I took these step-by-step pics of another card I created quite a while ago, and I thought some of you might enjoy a tutorial! The great thing about this technique is that you only have to be able to sew a relatively straight line. This is great if you have a lot of coordinating scraps from another project (this one is leftovers from my memory book and scrapbook pages about Carissa).

Step one: cut however many circles you want in varying sizes and colors or patterns.



Step 2: Adhere circles together -- apply adhesive only to centers



Step 3: Sew 3 or 4 intersecting lines through the center of the circles.


Step 4: Cut petals around the stitched lines. I did it freehand, but you could also draw the curves on first if that helped.




Step 5: Bend all the layers to create the layered petals.


Step 6: Chalk or ink the edges (I really like the cat's eye chalk inks) and add a button for the center. Voila!




Let me know if you have any questions!

Fun new projects -- spending ban in full swing!

Well, I'm halfway through the month of October and I haven't spent a penny on supplies. Whew! It gets easier as I get out of the habit of checking all the ads and surfing the great shopping sites.

The best part about it is that I've still been having lots of fun creating stuff! Here is a layout I made for my album about my hubby and me. I just took this picture off the wall and decided it needed to be scrapped ASAP so I didn't forget about it, because it's such a fun memory. I haven't been a huge fan of this paper, but it worked just perfectly with the crazy striped shirt I'm wearing. This PP is from DCWV, and the circles and paperclip were cut with the Cricut (George and Fab Fins carts). The big eyelet is from We R Memory Keepers, and the definition strip is from Memory Works.



Part of my "use what you have" quest is to really use up all I have, so after I finished the layout I made some quick cards with the scraps. I was able to get 3 cards AND that layout out of this single piece of PP and a couple sheets of cardstock. Not bad! This "u" stamp is from Pebbles, Inc.



Here are a few of the cards I've worked on over the past couple of weeks. As you can see, I'm still obsessed with scallops! I've created nearly all these scallops with the Coluzzle circle template -- I LOVE doing that!



This one uses an adorable Stampin' Up stamp and some great paper from CTMH. The little flowers are cut with the George cartridge. After I scanned it, I thought it was missing something and I went back and sprayed the whole card with glimmer mist -- very cute touch.



This one is for one of our employees whose cancer has returned. I did these scallops with my corner rounder. The paper is Crate Paper, and the letter stamps and cuts are from the Quickutz Sophisticate set, which I got for $30 at the Scrapbook Expo (score!).



This is another one I made at the expo -- I love this Treehouse Designs paper. The flower is an Autumn Leaves stamp. I used my Cutterbee stitchng piercer to make the holes for the stitching -- just love those things! The rub-ons are from Making Memories.



This is one I made for Regina's BBTB blog (http://regina-bittenbythebug.blogspot.com) -- the challenge this week was using the scallop shapes on the Mini-Monograms cartridge. Right up my alley! I just love this totally fab paper from Sassafrass Lass, too. I also used a Sassafrass Lass stamp to do the dots inside b, and a dymo labeler for "is for birthday."



I made this one at the expo, too -- I just totally fell in love with this Crate Paper doing a make-and-take with it at the expo, so I had to buy some to play with. More scallops, of course, and a flower and oval from the Cricut George cartridge. This rub-on is by Pebbles, Inc., and the giant brad is from We R Memory Keepers.

And last but not least!




If you'd like instuctions on how to make this cool folding card, check out this link:
http://www.cricut.com/messageboard/tm.aspx?m=1154158

Thanks for looking!

My first Bind-it-all project!

Yay for the Bind-it-all! I can tell I will really love it. I made this little guest book to go on a shelf in our guest room. I thought it would be so fun to have a little mini-book of all the people who come and stay with us. The book itself is about 6" x 4 3/4". The paper is from Wild Asparagus and the die cuts are all made with the Cricut. "Friends" is from Jasmine, cut at 2 1/2" (for 'friend') and 2" (for the 's'), with shadow. The tulip bunch is from Walk in My Garden, cut at 2 1/2" on border mode. The tag is from George, cut at 2" with shadow.


This is a view of the inside cover. I used the same cut from Walk in My Garden, plus a scallop circle tag from Alphalicious. "Welcome" is from Zooballoo, cut on silhouette mode at 1 or 1 1/4".



This is what the rest of the pages look like -- the left-hand side is for the guests' entry, then the right is a mat where we can put a little picture of them from their visit.



Thanks for looking!