chayoooo: All occasion

Showing posts with label All occasion. Show all posts

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Tiddly Inks Fabulous Inky Friday and Special NEWS about a Contest at BBTB2!

TGIF!!!!! That means it's time for another Fabulous Inky Friday at the Tiddly Inks Challenge Blog where we highlight fabby creations by our fans found all over the net, as well as creations by the DT that may or may not feature the current challenge, and announce the previous challenge winners. BTW, that current challenge is Art Journaling, and because it is perhaps a bit unfamiliar, we've extended our challenge to two weeks so have a gander HERE and get inspired. I honestly did try to do another journal page, but I never got further than a half done background, so I decided to pull out an old favorite, Poppy, as well as Poppy Accents, for my card this week. I realize the popular sentiment is "Take time to smell the flowers", but my dream has always been a garden that would provide cut flowers for at least 3/4 of the year, but now that I have it, I've been so busy, the majority of them have just died on the vine. Bummer!

Poppy provides an excellent opportunity for practicing your Copic coloring skills. This time I opted to attempt a sort of wavy look and I'm pretty pleased with how it came out. The DP is K&Co and the sentiment is computer generated.

I've also chosen to print the images twice to decoupage. The centers of the flowers are highlighted with Glossy Accents. Each word of the sentiment is cut and glued separately and partially outlined with Copics as well.

Now don't faint. I actually finished the inside as well. I used the flowers from Poppy Accents, colored them with Copics and doodled a similar frame around the space to write a personal message. WooHoo! I might actually send this one. Now why not pop by Tiddly Inks and check out the beautiful featured cards, and it one of them is yours, feel free to grab the badge for your blog. There will also be some adorable new images this coming Tuesday. There's a bit of a sneak peek on Christy's BLOG I'm sure you won't want to miss.

On another note, I hope everyone has heard about the FABULOUS CONTEST going on at BBTB2. Our sponsor is My Creative Classroom. THIS IS HUGE! My Creative Classroom offers classes in just about anything you'd want to explore. Die Cutting (Cricut and others) of course, but also Stamping, Mixed Media, YOU NAME IT! Click HERE to see the list. You have through Monday to enter so HURRY! CLICK HERE to read all about the contest, (wish I could enter!), and good luck!

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Ad Day For Daisies It's a Twine Thing and My Craft Spot 'Sew' Much Fun Challenge

First I need to apologize to my bloggie friends for not visiting regularly this month. To be honest, I'm just totally out of gas. I bit off more than I could chew in August...WAY more and I've been scrambling to complete my DT and guest DT projects as well as a comission (that I can't show you yet), but Thank GOD! it's finished and in the mail. (Just in the nick of time, I might add. Did I mention I'm the world's WORST procrastinator and slowest crafter on earth?) Also, being on a design team means commenting on the challenge participants entries and there have been LOTS!!!!!

I wasn't even sure today if I had it in me to craft. But I WANTED to, so I decided to do a sweet simple card for the A Day For Daisies Twine Challenge. I loved the free image provided for joining the challenge and since there wasn't much coloring... The image was colored with Copics and cut and matted with Nesties. All I needed was to add some twine.

But the My Craft Spot Challenge this week is "Sew" Much Fun. HHmmm...I've been dying to try my Sew Easy Stitch Piercer so I used the Scallop wheel. At first I tried stitching with 2 tone baker's twine but I didn't like how it was turning out, so I dug around in my fiber drawer and found this delicate hemp twine. The neutral color was the inspiration for the kraft paper and fairly monochromatic color scheme. Once I'd done the stitching, it was too late to run it through the computer to add a sentiment and my confidence in my stamping ability is pretty darn low (I would have DIED had I mess this up after all the hand stitching) so I used the Cuttlebug Friends Forever Card-Making Combo. The delicate font was just perfect. I don't do CAS very often, but I LOVE how this turned out!

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

TOFF Birds of a Feather Challenge

This week's TOFF challenge is Birds of a Feather. Actually, this was my original design for last week's Crown or Hat challenge, but I decided to use my Macabre Monday card to enter that one, so this one didn't get made. Still liked the idea, though, and chicks are obviously birds, so... Anyway, I've used Chick Girl for the main image and created my own DP using another little chick from the Easter and Spring Digital Set. I added the "chicks rule" with my Printmaster Platinum computer program. I'm really not too fond of the Copic yellows so the yellow on Chick Girl and the lighter chicks on the DP are painted (rather messily) with Distress Inks. I've drawn the crowns on all the of the small ones and colored them in with a gold gel pen.

I've also painted and sponged the background with Distress inks. The rest of the Chick Girl is colored with Copics. Her crown is a Stampendous Stamp that I heat embossed and cut and popped. I won the stamp on Taylor's blog. She's on the Stampendous DT and does fabulous work and has wonderful giveaways. I've added a feather and also the bow that is part of the Chick Girl image. I really enjoy working with the fun quirky stamps from The Octopode Factory. Check out more inspiration from the fabulous DT HERE.

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

TOFF Girls, Girls, Girls and Whimsical Wednesday Fun With Folds

Well, I'm early (for me, anyway) for TOFF and almost late for Whimsical Wednesday. So happy I could combine them. The WW challenge is Fun With Folds and I've done a cool fold I learned from a former Cuttlebug Spot DT sister, Meredith, who seems to have stopped blogging so I no longer have a link to her tut. Bummer! It just so happened I had folded this card base awhile ago and it's been sitting on my desk since??? I added a Grand Oval and Scalloped Grand Oval to the center to back my images. The Octopode Factory Friday Challenge this week is Girls, Girls, Girls. As usual, I had a hard time deciding which images to use. I finally decided on Wendy, from the Peter Pan set, Posy, from the Steampunk Misses set, and Wednesday, from the Adams Family set. Don't they look like BFF's?

the girls were colored with Copics, and I just received some fabulous "bwainzzz" from my Minion sister Gloria's Etsy Shop. She's got all sorts of cool stuff over there, including jewelry, cards, ornaments, sculptures and more so be sure to check it out.

This prompted my sentiment which was computer generated. HeeHee, sometimes I just crack myself up! Hope you all get a giggle from this. I just love playing along with Whimsical Wednesdays and I don't think you can get much more whimsical than The Octopode Factory images so I'd say it's a match made in heaven! Be sure to check out the fab work by the DT's on both blogs. They are all just super fun and inspiring.

Monday, August 8, 2011

BBTB2 Pie Challenge

Wow, time sure seems to be flying, because it's already Monday again and time for another challenge at BBTB2. Our sweet and adorable sister, Krista, has chosen the pie from Paper Doll Dress Up for our challenge, but there are loads of pies on other cartridges if you don't have PDDU. I've chosen the pie from Simply Charmed because I've had that cart for ages and never used it. I thought about keeping the smily face on the cut but just couldn't quite bring myself to be that cutesy so I hid the contours in Design Studio.

The pie shadow is welded in DS to the shadow of the sentiment from Hello Kitty font, and a heart from Sweethearts. Yeah, no surprise, it's another shaped front card, the back being from Lacy Labels, another cart I had to have but I'd yet to use. The little tag hanging off the "C" is from Plantin Schoolbook. For once I remembered to do some embossing BEFORE I'd assembled the card with Swiss Dots on the heart, and a Stampin'Up folder on the letters.

The background paper is Graphic 45 Domestic Goddess. The print was the right scale and I thought it gave the card a vintage look. Had to laugh because DH even recognized the vintage vibe. His standard comment for my creations is "That's cute." (including the creepiest of my Macabre Monday cards, which pretty much means he's not looking too closely. LOL) I didn't go wild with dimension this time, but I guess it's enough. I had a busy week. I'm guest Designer at Bah!Humbug! for the month of August and I'm particularly proud of my debut card HERE (if you REALLY wanna see some layering) , and I've joined The Altered Alice Design Team and did something a bit different this week by altering a frame HERE. What fun! Anyway, there's a whole lot of yumminess going on at BBTB2 so be sure and check out the fab creations by my DT sisters and we do hope you play along.

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Tiddly Inks We Are Gell-ing Challenge

We have an exciting challenge going on at Tiddly Inks this week: Gel Cards! Never heard of a gel card? Go take a peek at the tut by our very own Meredith HERE. I didn't have any of the smaller baggies to use for my card so I had to fill a snack size that was 4 x 6 1/2. Now those who know me well, know I'm not really one to get "down and dirty" with inks and goop and whatnot, so I wasn't all that sure about this challenge. However, I was able to use hair gel, Distress Reinker and stickles all in my baggie, close it and smoosh it around (even open it and add more) without getting a drop of it on me or my table. WooHoo! I loved having the large window in my card, but it was a bit more difficult to mount. I used Terrifically Tacky Tape on both the card and the silver mat to secure it, then added the the top mat, embossed with the Cuttlebug D'Vine Swirls folder to the top with adhesive foam. The windows were cut with my Nesties Mega Ovals. Peeking through is the fabulous new Mermaid Miranda, part of the oh so gorgeous Victorian Gothic/Steampunk release.

Here's where It actually got messy. For the undersea flora, I cut apart a felt coaster I'd gotten at M's and tried to color it, not realizing that the felt had a water resistant coating on it (duh, it's a coaster). My first thought was Distress Ink, but it didn't even begin to stick. I then tried Alcohol Inks, Copic?...nope. (By then my fingers were blue and I was getting P---ed!) I finally tried soaking the felt and mopping up the Distress Inks Reinker I'd dropped on my craft mat and that at least turned it from yellow to a bit of a greenish color. I added Waterfall Stickles and Sprinked on some Mica Flakes as well. The glitter flowers are Heidi Grace, with Doodlebug glitter brads in the center. I'm also adding this to the Paper Cutz Under the Sea Challenge this week.

Here is the lovely Miranda inside. She's colored wth Copics and glittered up with Stickles, as well, and I've added Cloud Nine Raindot bubbles. To me she looks like she hasn't a care in the world, so I've added the Cloud Nine epoxy sentiment "no worries". Wouldn't that be nice? Now go have a look at the amazingly creative ways the Tiddly Inkers are gell-ing this week and I just know you all want to play along. And be sure to pop over to Christy's blog for a look at the fab new images she's added to The Store and the sweet story that resulted in some FREEBIES! WooHoo!

Friday, June 24, 2011

Tiddly Inks Sugar and Spice challenge

TGIF! It's Fabulous Inky Friday at the Tiddly Inks Challenge blog where the winners of the previous week's challenge are revealed and we spotlight cards by our fans (and some of the designers as well). Loads of inspiration, and if you're featured, you may grab a button and display it proudly on your blog. Our current challenge is Sugar and Spice with a Twist; create a humorous or sarcastic card. I nabbed this freebie sentiment from Graphicat Designs and immediately thought of the gorgeous Cast your Spell Tiddly, one of the many Gothic Cute digis available, who seems to be tossing fairy dust all over the place. After coloring her with Copics, I doused her liberally with Stardust Stickles and cut her out and embossed with Nesties Wonky Rectangles. I cut another mat and punched a border out of glitter paper. Then cut the sentiment and small mat with smaller Wonkies, embossed and ran them through my Xyron and glittered them with MS fine crystal and Doodlebug pink Sugar Coating. I ran terrifically Tacky tape around the outside of the card front and used Doodlebug glitter on that as well. DP is K&Co.

Here's a better look at the sparkle on Cast your Spell. I found the little metal flower (star?) in the $1.)) bin at J's. If glitter is her Prozac, she must be feeling mighty fine! If you haven't stopped by the Shop lately, you're in for a surprise. Christy has been hard at work bringing you tons of new images in the What's New section. There is truly something for everyone! I'm also entering it in the Crafty Creations Let it Shine Challenge and Magical Monday Challenge which is punches and embossing (the Nesties mats are embossed after cutting)

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Tiddly Inks Simplify, One Layer Card

Oh what a challenge from the Tiddly Inkers today! Simplify and make a one layer card. What? Eiyiyi! As you know clean and simple is hard enough for me, but ONE LAYER!? Fortunately I'd been blog hopping and came across a beautiful card that StampinAngelJenn had made for her hubby's birthday HERE. The sentiment just spoke to me so I "borrowed" it and used Love Hurts to create a one layer card. Jenn informed me that the sentiment is actually part of the gorgeous image she used by Michelle Perkett Studio. I sized and colored each heart individually on my Pagemaker Pro computer program, added the computer generated sentiment and used my Cuttlebug border to emboss above and below.

I also made some quick note cards using one of Christy's Colored Art images. Her beautiful Flower Blooms is perfect for any occasion and would make a lovely card gift set in the blink of an eye. The image has a soft yellow background so I sized it to fit the inside of a Nesties Classic Scalloped rectangle and I embossed the frame (instead of cut it) using my Grand Caliber. This would work with your Cuttlebug or Big Shot as well. I'm also entering this card in the Less is More One L ayer Frame it Challenge.

Simply print your image and tape your Nestie to the card front using removeable tape.

Turn your card cut side up on the base plate, but instead of using the cutting plate, use the embossing mat and plate as your sandwich and run it through your machine.

Here's how it looks on the inside after I punched tiny holes and threaded Peapod twine from The Twinery through to dress up the front. Easy peasy! Christy has loads of fabulous colored images in the Colored Art Section of the SHOP that makes cardmaking a breeze! Christy also has a fabulous Freebie Template and tut on her blog HERE. There is some exciting news about the new shop with new features and for less than a day, today, there's a special freebie printable notecard set available when you register for the new shop so hurry! Be sure to visit Christy's Blog to find out the deets and exciting new coming attractions. Now check out the rest of the Tiddly Inkers inspirational one layer cards and we hope you decide to simplify with us this week.

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Tiddly Inks Darling Diva Challenge

This week our Tiddly Inks Challenge is Darling Divas. I couldn't help but go with Flora, one of the Tiddly Inks Gothic Pin-Ups. Tell me this girl doesn't look like a DIVA, with her voluptuous hair (and bod) and gorgeous vintage outfit? I was sort of getting a French vibe so I went with beautiful flocked DP and a border from the GCD Studios Paris Nights collection. The striped mat is from DCWV La Creme Stack. The both mats are cut with my Nesties Mega Ovals and Mega Classic Scalloped Ovals LG and I've added a flocked sticker by Stampendous behind her. The quote is from Mae West (it's missing a "very" but it wouldn't fit in the oval, LOL). Can you think of a bigger diva?

Flora was colored with Copics and popped for dimension as are the the sentiment ovals. The vintage looking brads are by Recollections. Besides our fabulous Diva Challenge at Tiddly Inks, I'm also entering this in the Sweet Stampin Oh La La Challenge which is either something French, or cheeky/saucy. (I'd call this is both, HeeHee!) Be sure to stop by the Tiddly Inks Challenge Blog for tons of inspiration by the rest of the Tiddly Inkers and we hope you can play along. Pop over to Christy's Blog for a peek at a new image and a little freebie, too. And if you haven't already, scroll down for my BBTB2 Blog Hop Post and leave a comment for a chance to win a $40 gift certificate from Custom Crops.

Thursday, May 26, 2011

A New One for Tiddly Inks

This new Imagination stamp from Tiddly Inks really took me back. I used to just get lost in books, especially during summer vacation. I spent hours and hours outside, transported to worlds unknown. Oh, to have that time again! I have to apologize for the coloring. I'm having a bit of trouble with new contacts that I hope to have corrected on Friday, but in the meantime, my close up vision stinks. Besides that, I printed the image quite small to fit into my Nesties Labels Seven die and tried that "dotty" technique with my Copics on much of the background, somewhat unsuccessfully. (Oh crap! Now that this is posted I realize I didn't finish coloring in the bunnies' ears and noses either. Well, At least that's fixable!)

I wanted the image to look like it was a part of the book so I cut several of the largest size Labels Seven and cut a Classic Rectangle out of the top one. Then I curved and popped the layers. I added a little twine bookmark for embellishment. The DP is Heidi Grace as is the "imagine" rub on. The top words are just how I felt during those carefree summer months. They are also rub-ons from K&Co. Don't forget the Manly Men Challenge at the Tiddly Inks Challenge Blog this week and stop by Christy's blog for a peek at the new images and freebie at the Store. I"m also entering this in My Partner in Crafting Crime's Twine, Jute, or String challenge.

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Tiddly Inks Photo Inspiration Challenge

This week at the Tiddly Inks Challenge Blog we have a fab photo inspiration. It's funny about photo inspirations, as well as sketches. I find that I generally take them pretty darn literally, while others can pick and chose elements from the inspiration, be totally creative, make it their own, and go with that. Wonder why that is? I guess I'm sort of a "follow the rules" kinda gal. Always a "good girl"; good grades, model behavior, (well, most of the time, and those who know different aren't likely to tell, Hee Hee) and pretty obsessed with being perfect. Anyway, I'm gonna make you go over to Tiddly Inks to see the inspiration because for some reason Blogger won't let me sign in to my own blog using IE on this computer. I'm on Firefox now, but for some reason I can't move pix around in Firefox so I have to go login on my laptop (where I don't upload the pix) and then move them around there which has been a royal PITA for the last few days and I'm about ready to throw things. ( I won't, being such a "good girl" LOL but if it isn't fixed pretty darn soon all bets are OFF!)

I've chosen Sugar Plum Fairy and colored her with Copics. The frame around her is done with Petite Ovals Nesties and the "ruffles" are done with that old standby, Fiskars Threading Water Punch, using a combination of Bazzill and American Crafts card stock. The sentiment is a Melissa Francis rub-on. Christy has some fabulous new images which she's previewed HERE and there's also a fab new freebie available in the SHOP in the Freebies section. Now go have a look at the beautiful examples from the Tiddly Inkers and be sure to give a warm welcome to the fabulous new ladies joining the group. Can't wait to see what you come up with.

Friday, May 13, 2011

Tiddly Inks, Bloom Little Lillie

What a fabulous celebration we've had at Tiddly Inks for our first birthday and what unbelievable cuteness Christy has added to the already wonderful collection of images. If you've missed any of them, be sure to click HERE and prepare to be amazed. In anticipation of a new little niece, Christy has added an adorable new character to the Tiddly clan; Lilli Claire. (Tell me that name isn't the most precious thing EVER!) I had a hard time deciding which image to color first, but after perusing my DP I decided on Bloom Little Lilli. I thought the swirl on the gorgeous DP from K&Co's Que Sera Sera stack would be a perfect frame for sweet Lilli, so I cut a circle out with my Nesties and mounted her behind. Not much embellishment needed. The beautiful flowers in the corner were from Offray that I got at WalMart. the butterfly is an MS Punch. The sentiment is a Heidi Grace Rub-on and I've added a few adhesive gems. Hope you all enjoyed our birthday festivities and play along with our challenge which is Anything Goes (as long as you use a Tiddly image, but freebies can be found HERE. Be sure to check out our Fabulous Inky Friday post for more inspiration and have a great weekend.

Monday, May 2, 2011

BBTB2 Preserves Apple Core Challenge

It's Monday AGAIN! How time flies! Our BBTB2 challenge this week was chosen by our fabulously talented and pretty darn sweet, fearless leader, Heather. Her pick is the apple core from Preserves. WOW, ANOTHER cart I don't have (sure seems like I've got them all) and to be honest, I almost blew this one off coming off a birthday trip and all and I was a little off my game, but just 'cause it's YOU, Heather... Anyway, I used CricutSearch.com to pull up apples and lo and behold there was somewhat of a core on Give a Hoot. It was part of the border feature and didn't have any layering but I decided to see what I could do in DS. First I made a shaped card using the shadow of the apple from then on, who knows. I stretched and skewed and hid contours up the ying yang to get a size that fit correctly on my base and layered images until I managed cut a core and some peel. The center part is from George and the seeds were the result of some additional manipulation of one of the cuts from Give a Hoot. The adorable worm is from Create a Critter and the sentiment is from the Cuttlebug Everyday Greetings Card Making combo.

Sorry there's not as much layering as usual. I actually had an additional apple layer under the worm originally but when I decided I didn't like the first base color I chose and cut the whole thing over, I decided that layer didn't add to the design and I chucked it. Not quite as much detail, either, but DH was itching to go to the wine festival in town so... Now go be inspired by the rest of the DT's fabulous creations HERE and remember, we allow some artistic license if you haven't the cart in question. Oh, and if you're having a rough Monday, scroll down for a laugh.

Monday, April 11, 2011

Macabre Monday Zombie Apocalypse

In case you haven't noticed, we at Haunted Design House LOVE our Zombies! Our challenge this week is Zombie Apocalypse sponsored by none other than our Sinister Sister Andrea, of Smudgtastic. I've used use one of Andrea's fair zombie maidens and colored her with Copics. The brain is a cartoon image I found on the net. Behind the this beauty are Nesties Pinking Circles ( to accentuate her lovely 'do) and I've used MS's Drippy Goo punch to enhance the computer generated sentiment. The fab skully paper is from the Basic Grey Eerie 6x6" pad. Stop by Haunted Design House to view more undead inspiration.

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Some Odd Girl Clean and Simple Challenge

Just a quickie to play along with the SOG Clean and Simple Challenge. You know CAS is ALWAYS a challenge for me. I used Shy Mae and printed her on kraft card stock. I really love how the Copics are muted and take on a whole different character. And for some reason I associate kraft with CAS so I cut the card base in it too, as well as the sentiment, which is a clear stamp by Studio G. The scalloped edge is a punch by EK Success. The striped mat is from the Julianne Designer Mat Pad from K&Co. I added a it of twine from The Twinery and THAT'S IT! Gee, it only took me 3 hours to complete. LOL Now I just may go enjoy the sunshine. xx

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Tiddly Inks Picture Me Challenge

This week at the Tiddly Inks Challenge Blog we have a super challenge. Besides the gorgeous Photo Inspiration, you must combine it with a shaped card NOT using your Cricut. My initial reaction to this was "I'm glad I'm on Team B and not required to follow the challenge this week, LOL" but Lysa has done a fab tutorial and the photo is really beautiful so I thought "Hey, it's a CHALLENGE, get that butt in gear."

I've used Lysa's Style 1 using my Nesties Labels 10. The only difference is I cut an additional mat to glue on top to hide the fold. I pretty much do that with ALL of my shaped cards, including Cricut, because it gives me a sturdier base on which to pop my images. Next came another mat using DP from Me&My Big Ideas in the colors from the photo above. I chose Tiny Dancer for the image because her tutu reminded my of the flower puffs in the photo (and because it's one of my favorite songs). She's colored with Copics.

The sentiment is a REALLY old word stamp from a set called Rubber Stamp Poet by All Night Media. It's cut with the the smallest of the Mega Ovals large Nestie and matted with a Petite Scalloped Oval Large. Does anyone but me get confused by these names? the sentiment is popped with a 1/16" dot and Tiny Dancer with 1/8" dimensionals. for the flower, I layered pink and orange tulle and cut it with my Tim Holtz Tattered Florals die. These thick dies do work in the Cuttlebug by eliminating the A Plate and sandwiching the die and what ever you're cutting between 2 B Plates. The layers (6 in all) are secured with a sparkly Doodlebug brad. There's a little tulle bow at the top, and some amethyst adhesive jewels for embellies.

Come on, peeps, this is not that tough a challenge! There has been a change in the Tiddly Inks Challenge criteria requiring the use of TI images only, but there are FREEBIES to be had HERE, and if you don't have any Nesties, you can check out some of the there ways the DT has created shaped cards. Christy even has a freebie Template available on her BLOG, so there's just no excuse! Christy is also previewing the adorable new images available this week so what are you waiting for? I'm also entering this in the Simon Says Stamp Mother'sDay/ Girly Challenge. Don't think I could get much more girly than this! AND on the Simon Says Stamp and Show Blog the challenge is Show a WORD! Mine is obviously "Dance".

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

The Cuttlebug Spot Buttons Challenge

Continuing our focus on embellies this month, our weekly challenge at The Cuttlebug Spot is buttons. I knew immediately I wanted to use the adorable La Mode dragonfly I'd gotten at J's awhile back and set about looking for a good embossing folder to use with it. I decided upon the folder from the Cuttlebug Friends Forever Card Making Combo and the "hello" sentiment from the Everyday Greetings set, both still available, and on SALE at Custom Crops. I fashioned antennae from fun wire I had strung though the holes in the dragonfly's body and took the colors from the wings and chose tiny buttons by Fabulous Findings (also from J's) to glue onto the embossed flowers. The sentiment was cut twice and glued slightly offset and I added a polka dot mat and it was done! Super simple but I love how it came out. Be sure to stop by The Cuttlebug Spot for more inspiration from the rest of the team. I'm also entering this in the My Partner In Crafting Crime Challenge which is conveniently, BUTTONS! WOW, short post! How about that?

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Oh So Charming at The Cuttlebug Spot

Continuing our month of embellies, The Cuttlebug Spot is featuring charms this week. I was really pretty excited about this one because I knew immediately what charm I wanted to use. I got these cherries in the clearance at M's awhile back for a buck and they had originally been $19.00. Apparently to go on a bracelet with a clip on clip so it's removable on my card. I figured I'd FINALLY get to use my Spellbinders Cherry Pickin Frame so I had that cut, embossed and colored with gel pens very early on. I'd just gotten new Cricut blades, too so I decided to cut the sentiment from Just Because Cards on my Cricut at 1 1/4", a size I wouldn't normally attempt for a delicate cut like this but it cut like butter and I was on a roll (or so I thought). I pretty much thought I was WAY ahead so I put my card aside to work on some of my other DT things and picked this back up yesterday figuring it would be a snap. Not so much!

Here's where things got tricky. You might want to pause here and get a cup of coffee or glass of wine, depending on what time of day it is in your neck of the woods because I'm gonna ramble again, or you can just skip it all, look at the pix (there are more than usual) and of course leave me a comment (hopefully) and go about your merry way. This card took FOREVER (all day and into the early evening, actually), even though I had all of the major stuff done. It's because I put so darn many self imposed rules and restrictions on my DT cards. I take my DT positions VERY seriously. I try to do each in a style that suits the particular challenge blog be it Cricut, or stamping, or vintage, or macabre or CUTTLEBUG, so you're not gonna see a Cricut card or stamped card with a teeny bit of embossing thrown in as an afterthought because I really want to showcase the Cuttlebug and perhaps show you a different technique, new goody or whatever. Now that's just me. Basically, the challenges are good as long as you use your Cuttlebug somewhere, but I challenge MYSELF with this (and hopefully encourage you to explore your Cuttlebug capabilities a bit more in the process). So I didn't just want to slap this stuff on a card and call it done. I wanted to incorporate more folders, a new card fold, you know, something different but was stumped.

I wanted to use, in particular, a folder from the Cuttlebug Preserves Cricut Companion set because it had cherries on it and also something that looked like a basket (finally decided on the Sizzix Plaid folder from one of their Basic Grey Christmas sets, both on SALE at Custom Crops) but that cherry frame was pretty BIG. I got it in my mind to do one of those sort of petal cards (a square in the middle with half circles at each side that fold up sequentially). Not really sure if I explained that right, but I did designed and cut one on my Cricut and embossed every other one with the 2 folders I mentioned but them couldn't decide what to do with the frame. Put it inside? Obviously this was a no go, because I ended up cutting off 2 of the flaps that WERE embossed with the Preserves folder to stick on version 2 and this is what was left. Hopefully I can use it for something else in the near future.

So on to a regular gate fold card but the thing wouldn't stay closed so I made a band and stuck the frame on that and took this pic but I didn't like this either. the band hid too much of the embossing and was a pain to slide off so I tried again...

ripped the ribbon off, taped it to card stock the same width and attached the frame again. Better, but with the band off the card was so darn plain... so I abandoned the band idea completely. (I do love that cherry ribbon though)

Ripping that frame was pretty difficult but I managed so here's how the final version opens. The colored part of the frame is popped on one side of the gate fold (reinforced with a second frame glued to the back for strength) the the sentiment side is attached directly to the other. Conveniently, when the 2 sides intertwine, the card stays closed. WooHoo! So you see, many times my designs turn out nothing like I originally planned, often take 5 times longer than anticipated, and drive me to drink at the end of the day. I wonder if any of you STILL want to get inside my head while I'm crafting. Bet not. LOL Now go have a peek at my my fabulous teamies have done with this challenge and why not try a hand at it yourself?

Friday, March 4, 2011

A Cutie Couple From Peggy Loves Vintage

I've been dying to use this sweet little Dutch boy and girl from Peggy Loves Vintage Cutie Couples 3 cut outs but just couldn't decide on DP. I was drawn to the dark background and thought my new tulip border folder from Stampin' UP (thanks, Lillie!) was just perfect, but where would I go from there? I kept thinking tulips and Spring, but none of my pastels looked quite right so I leafed through my DCWV La Crema 8x8 stack and found this flocked DP that looked to me just like tulips. I lightened it up with a bit of lace and added some flowers from Making Memories Vintage Findings et Voila! it all came together perfectly. That's what I love about the Peggy Loves Vintage images, you can make a unique, professional looking card in no time at all. WooHoo! I left the sentiment off because I think it's pretty versatile and I love it so much I'm considering framing it.

Peggy has CD's and cut outs for every occasion so be sure to check out her Etsy, Ebay, or Web Store, and if you pop over to her BLOG, you just might find a freebie. She's such a sweetie that way!

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

The Cuttlebug Spot Hat Pins Challenge

This month The Cuttlebug Spot is all about embellishments and our first week features hat or corsage pins. Some of us (like me) used manufactured pins (my little hearts are from Maya Road) while others made gorgeous ones using beads and pearls. Our own Theresa has a wonderful video on making your own right on The Cuttlebug Spot this week. My card is a sort of "Welcome Spring" card using the pyramage technique. I originally saw this technique on Sherry Cheever's Blog and she has a video HERE. The image was a freebie from ? and I used my Nesties Lables Nine for the layers. The embossed frame is from the Heritage Cuttlebug Companion set . The pretty velvet leaves are from 7 Gypsies.

I inked the frame to bring out the embossing a bit and popped it. Usually when I cut a frame in a mat I use a larger Nestie so the underlying mat shows around the image, but I'd used all 5 of the Nesties in the set for my image so I had nothing larger. I still like the fact that it is slighty recessed, though. The rest of the team has done a fabulous job with the challenge so stop by the Cuttlebug Spot and we invite you to play along for a chance to win a $ 20.00 gift certificate from Custom Crops. But remember, although the challenge is about embellishments, we still expect you to use your Cuttlebug or similar machine somewhere on your card.