Fun with new goodies...

While wandering the craft store the other day, completely NOT looking at stamps or paper because I have enough of both to last me until the end of days, I was mysteriously pulled as though by tractor beam over to a rack with pretty much the cutest stamps I had ever seen -- the "Fine and Dandy" set from My Mind's Eye.  A cute little pennant banner, birdie, and perfect "thanks" sentiment were enough to make me surreptitiously stash it in my cart (in case the "you already have too many stamps" police were lurking nearby), along with some adorable coordinating paper.  Ah, new goodies!  Nothing like it to get your creative juices flowing! 

Oh, except a fun sketch that seems made to use with the new goodies!  That's how I felt when I saw this sketch from CPS this week.  

So, just under the wire, here is my fun little thank you card. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Pretty cards for Spring! -- ScrapbookPal.com

Raise your hand if you're ready for Spring!  Can I get a hallelujah?!  I am sooooo done with winter and I'm ready for some sunshine and flowers!  But it's still gray and yucky around here, so I decided to create a little springtime of my own with the Cindy Loo cartridge and TomBow watercolor markers from ScrapbookPal.com. :)

I decided to make two different cards with similar cuts, one whimsical and bright and one a little more sophisticated, just to show the great flexibility of the artwork on this cartridge. 

First, the cute, whimsical card:

For this card, I cut the shape at 5" and mounted it on the left-hand side of the card, trimming off the excess.  Then I mounted what I had trimmed off on the right-hand side.  I used my turquoise and pink Tombow markers to accent the little birdie part of the cut, using the blender pen to pull some of the turquoise in from the edge to create some shading.  I added some little pink punched flowers and added pearls to the centers.  I also added a sentiment using the markers and Stampin Up stamps and punches, adhering ribbon to the back to "hang" the sentiment flower.

Now, for a more sophisticated twist on the same idea...

I cut at 5" and mounted it on a grey card base, then added the "thank you," which is one of the phrases on the font layer.  I also added a few rolled spiral flowers and a cute little butterfly.  I just love this grey, white, and mustard yellow color combo right now!  Such a great sunny pop of color, don't you think?

I do hope spring is on its way, but until the sun is here to stay, cheer yourself up with some pretty flowery cards! :)

I love the smell of new goodies in the morning...

There is something so inspiring about having new crafting goodies! For my birthday this year I had a little Stampin Up shopping spree and got a TON of the cutest stuff -- yippee! I've been so inspired by having all this great new stuff, so here are a few of the projects I've been dying to show you. Thankfully, my mom found my camera tucked into the pocket of an apron in her pantry -- oops. As Sammy said upon hearing the news: "She gets the dollar!"



This first one was a Valentine's Day project. We went to a church dinner dance, and I was in charge of decorating one of the tables. I had these cool dishes from IKEA, and I thought these little boxes went so nicely with them. Thanks, Brooke, for showing us how to make these at the party! The boxes are SO easy to make -- if anyone is interested I can post a video tutorial. I used the Manhattan stamp set for the flowers, the Curly Label stamp and punch for the label, and cut the "love" with the Cricut Opposites Attract cartridge at 1". I also used CDS and the George cartridge to cut out these hearts from red vinyl to apply to the glasses.







This one is from the 2 Sketches 4 You sketch from two week's ago. The pp is from Sassafrass Lass, and I used my own design and cut file for the notebook journaling spot (which I'll be putting up in my etsy shop when I'm finished here). I used my new "Little Leaves" and "Buttons #5" dies for the branch and buttons. The dotted lines are a jumbo stampin' wheel, named (appropriately) Dotted Lines, and the sentiment is from the "Sweet Little Sentiments" set.




Here's last week's 2S4Y sketch, which I rotated 180 degrees. The pp and stamps are from the "It's a Loop Thing" Sale-a-bration set (one of the best things about my party was that I got one of every single thing in the Sale-a-bration catalog FREE!). Oh, the sentiment is also from "Sweet Little Sentiments" set. I pieced the cupcake by hand. For the top part I just cut a circle in half, then used the SU scallop edge punch on the straight edge. I ran the bottom part through my paper corrugater to give it that cupcake-like texture. I made the cherry using the heart stamp from the set, and added CTMH liquid glass for a little shine.



This last card uses the "Thoughts and Prayers" set, which I think is SO pretty, which I colored with the Stamp and Write markers. I couldn't decide which background to use, so I just did one of each. The first one is embossed with the Cuttlebug text folder, and the second I did a little versamark stamping with the same floral branch stamp. Just a simple card, but I thought it turned out pretty.

Phew! Now that I have my camera back, I should be able to post projects more regularly. I still have 6 new SU sets I haven't even opened, so stay tuned! TIA!

Bless You -- Laura's Sketch #11

When I saw Laura's sketch this week, I knew just what I wanted to do with it. My hubby's mom and grandma made the most beautiful dress for Eliza's baby blessing, and I wanted to create a special thank you card that would pick up some of the beautiful details from the dress. I rotated the sketch 90 degrees for this card. The lace is from Fancy Pants, and I sewed it to the card with the same ribbon used on the dress. The stamped image is a Tilda from Magnolia, which I colored with Prismas and Gamsol, then raised up on pop dots. The background is embossed with the Cuttlebug. The sentiment was what killed me on this card -- I didn't want to cover up any of the lace, and there wasn't too much room that wasn't covered with embossing. I tried a couple different stamped sentiments and rub-ons on various colors of paper but couldn't find anything I liked. "Thanks" and even "Thank you" just didn't seem like enough for the hours of work they both put into the dress. So I hit upon "Bless You!" and wrote it in myself. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out!

And here is a picture of my little angel in the dress that inspired the card!

2 Sketches 4 You this week!

Another Monday, another yummy sketch from Kazan at 2 Sketches 4 You! I had lots of fun with this one.

Supplies:
Paper: Sassafrass Lass (I just love their fun and funky papers)
"thanks": Cuttlebug Olivia font
Stamp and scallop punch: Stampin Up
Flower: Fancy Pants
Acrylic heart: Heidi Swapp
Liquid glass (on the little heart in the middle of the stamp)
Brad and black stamping ink: JoAnn Essentials
Cardstock: Provo Craft and DCWV

Here's the sketch of the week!

Fun with needlepoint, plus a great sketch...

Another great sketch from 2 Sketches 4 You this week! It is so fun to bloghop through all the submissions each week -- I am just amazed at the talented cardmakers from all over the world who take on the sketches. Here's this week's sketch, from Laura:



And here is my take on it!


I pulled out these felt flowers from Fancy Pants and felt like they needed something a little extra, and for me that usually means some decorative stitching! I had fun with these especially because I relearned how to embroider a french knot, which I had learned to do in junior high but could never quite get the hang of again. I found a great video tutorial at Needle'nThread that made it so easy.

For these cards I used the Fiskars Threading Water punch to make the flower stems (see a tutorial here), and the Cuttlebug Olivia font for the "thanks." The pp is from My Mind's Eye, Magnolia collection.

My birdie obsession continues...

Okay, I think my love for little birdies may be going overboard! Just about every card I've made lately has some little birdie element. They're just so dad-gum cute, don't you think? So much fun!

This one used scraps from my "Lucky" layout from last week. This cute birdie is from the Cricut Joys of the Season cartridge -- it's a Christmas cartridge, but I think it's extremely versatile -- cut at 2". I used it for my Mother's Day cards, as well. The flourish the birdie is sitting on is also from JOTS, cut at 2" on shadow. "Thank You" is cut with Alphalicious, I think also at 2".



This simple card is a favorite layout of mine -- it comes together so quickly; it's great when you need to make a big batch of cards. The color scheme here was inspired by some lotion packaging I saw at Old Navy. I'm not sure how I feel about the black inking on the embossing, but I do love this little birdie embossing folder for the Cuttlebug. The stamp and scallop circle are from Stampin Up.



Here's another one with the same embossing folder, but the photo so does not do it justice because it really doesn't pick up the embossing on the white cardstock, but the card is so pretty and delicate. This one uses another stamp from the same SU set, and the scallop circle punch. I also used the Fiskars Threading Water Punch for the scallops on the bottom -- I love it!



I picked up this adorable Imaginisce penguin stamp for less than a dollar and decided he would be perfect for making some fun, fresh Father's Day cards for my grandpas this year. (I usually end up doing something "masculine" with lots of blues and browns, but my grandpas are all pretty fun guys and I think they'll enjoy this even more!) I used watercolor pencils for the green and orange, and blue craft glitter for the popsicle and swirls.



This one is for my aunt and cousin who are traveling to England even as I type. This little birdie is a Quickutz die that followed me home from the craft store on Friday. "bon voyage" is from the Cricut Beyond Birthdays cartridge, and the journaling block is something I designed myself and cut with SCAL. I love this shape, which is so popular right now, but I didn't have one on any of my cartridges and I couldn't find one as a dingbat. I LOVE that SCAL gives me the flexibility to do it myself! Recognize the paper? It's scraps from the penguin father's day cards! Just goes to show how versatile a couple of pieces of paper can be!

More SCAL projects!

This SCAL program is just lots of fun! Here are a few more projects I've done over the past week or two:

This little strawberry is from a dingbat font called "Ichigo." The green part is embossed with the Cuttlebug Swiss Dots folder, then I used my corner rounder and cropadile to create the scallop on the bottom (man, I wish I could find that cute Fiskars Threading Wather punch!).
























This one is my hubby and me -- the word "THERE" is cut with a font called "Euphorigenic." The pp is from Fancy Pants and the stamps are CTMH.

























Last but not least, this card uses the "French Script" font, which I just love, and a heart from George. PP is from Wild Asparagus.


To see more SCAL projects, please see the posts below!

The Rummage Challenge! Fun Prizes, too!

Last week I finally bought a Clip It Up, which allowed me to clean out my giant bin of embellishments and get them organized. I was amazed at all the things I have that I hadn't seen or thought about since I bought them! And I was thinking, I bet everyone has a bin or a scrap drawer or a closet where things just disappear. So here's the challenge:

With your eyes closed, rummage through that black hole stash and pick one thing, then make a project with it! It can be some kind of embellishment, a long-forgotten scrap of paper you've been saving for some reason you can't remember, or anything you've had for a long time and just never used. And remember, you can't pick it on purpose -- you have to have your eyes closed! I can't wait to see everyone's creations! Post a comment with a link to where you've posted your project -- the deadline for entry will be Sunday, May 25th. Then I'll announce the winner on May 26th!

And here are the prizes you can win! Depending on how many entries I receive, I'll probably divide this up into a grand prize and a smaller runner-up prize.



I'm going to have to take some better pictures, but here's what's in the pot:
- Fancy Pants borders rub-ons
- Fancy Pants "Mulberry Road" flowers
- Making Memories cloth flowers - Blue and White mix
- Making Memories cloth pockets
- DCWV 6x6 accordian album
- Scrapworks "Color Rubz" summer-themed rub-ons
- Scrapworks "Hugz&Dotz" accent and alpha stickers (2 sets)
- Scenic Route chipboard alpha in tan
- Making Memories copper sheets
- Sizzix manila envelope die (can be used with Sizzix or Cuttlebug machines)
- Making Memories "desination" rub-on alpha
- We R Memory Keepers "Garden Path" chipboard tags
- Making Memories "Eclectic Brads"
- Pioneer photo corners
- Elmer's adhesive runner


I'm going to be taking on this challenge as well. What got me started on this whole kick was actually trying to use up some of the scraps from my scrap drawers, which were offically overflowing. Here are some of the fun cards I made:

Thanks a bunch -- I feel so springy today!

Wow, you guys really need to check out the designs this week on Regina's blog (there's a link at left)! I'd never used this feature on the Cricut WIMG cart before, but all the cards are amazing! I love how this one turned out, too. It makes me feel all spring-time-y! I cut the green part using the "thanks" button on window card mode at 4", then attached it to a standard 4 1/4x5 1/2 card. The flowers are a Martha Stewart punch, glued on then sewn. I embossed the card base with the Cuttlebug Swiss Dots folder. Best part of all -- this card is made entirely from scraps! TFL!