Explosion Box

This explosion box is made so that when you untie the ribbon, the box opens up. This box has three levels. I've only pictured the top level. For each level, I've left a place for two pictures and I have two tags that can be used for journaling.

Birthday Bash

I made these cards at a StampinUp workshop with Karen Beavers. I had so much fun with this birthday stamp set that I bought it. I love the cupcake cardholder because it makes a creative way to gift the cards.

Flower Stationary Box

This stationary box was a blast to make. I used the tea part designer paper pack from StampinUp. I cut out the flowers and mod podged the box top.

Kind Words

I love this quote by Mother Teresa. I plan on putting it on the wall in my room. It is nice to be reminded of the power of words. The tea cups are actually a horizontal stamp, but I needed something vertical for this space. Again, I wanted an all purpose card for the school year.

Thinking of You (X2)

I came up with this card because I was just desperate to use the rose ribbon. Turns out I need to learn how to tie a bow. I used a stamp set from StampinUp, colored with markers, used some glitters stuff on zig two way glue, embossed with cuttlebug folder. Then I used the same formula on the top card. For some reason the colors look better in person than on the blog. I know I need to build up a card stash for this school year, and 'thinking of you' should work for any number of situations. Yikes - school starts in 2 weeks and I have maybe 5 cards that I can use.

Harmony

I realize after making this card that I should have used black cardstock instead of the patterned paper. The paper is flimsy and it shows all the wear and tear of my attempts at sewing the corners which made my fingers sore. I'm so pleased that the rest of the card turned out as I wished. First, I tried to imitate an ancient scroll as the base by tearing the edge and then wetting with a paper towel to fold over. I popped the center mat and the stamp as well. I felt so clever about the scroll containing "words of wisdom." I think this card would work for a man (always my challenge) or as a kind of generic category.

Something With A Circle

I get the exciting task of creating thank-you cards for my friend. She and her family have need of a number of thank-you cards and I have enjoyed making them for her. I'm using Basic Gray paper. The cut out is from the Storybook Cricut Cartridge. It was easy and fun. I tried to make use of my white space.

Patterned Papper Challenge

This challenge was easy cheesy for me because I love to use patterned. I tried to add texture to the pattern by using my Cuttlebug. The stamp used here is new. It is the first time I tried using it. It was fun because the product shows that I don't have to stick to bright happy colors to make the stamp pop. This is for my brother - I hope he likes it. The inside is a joke between us.

Mother's Day Card

I enjoyed making this card. I know my mother was fond of the brads and the different yarn/strings, so I tried to make a card for her which used both. Carrie gave me the great idea of sponging the ink around the edge of the main image. That worked and seemed to make all the difference. Hope she likes it. I was inspired by one of the Mojo Monday sketches. This was fun.

Kid's Card

The directions for this particular challenge did stump me a bit. We are supposed to create a page for a kid. Well, I don't exactly have children or access to them. The closest think I have is the high school students I teach. They are always asking for a homecard, so I thought I would give this one to the next birthday girl.

Something Different

I have yet to use one of the hardware frames from the hodgepodge set, so I tried to figure it out. Plus I need to start getting Christmas cards together.

Brown and Pastel Challenge

My wonderful boss of 12 years is retiring as principal of our high school. We will all miss him. I can't imagine how he will be replaced.

Baby Shower

Basic Grey products are so beautiful. I received the Euphoria paper, brads, and fiber collection this week and thought the pastels looked perfect for a baby card. I used the Mojo Monday Week 82 sketch for inspiration along with Divine Swirls Cuttlebug folder, Fiskars Treading Water border punch, and Doodlecharms Cricut images. I haven't figured out how to use the border punch where I can align the holes on four sides. I had to give up trying because I was running out of paper. I made the card for a woman I work with who is having a baby shower this next week. I don't know if she is having a boy or girl, so I used both blue and pink. I actually made extras of this card because it seems like many people I know are either trying to get pregnant or know someone who just got pregnant.

Easter - In the Style of Last Minute

I had a blast making these cards. They were so simple. I cut the mellon pink with a scallop at the bottom to show the colors of the paper that  I wanted to work with . The bucket, chicks, and Easter eggs come from the Doodlecharms Cartridge. The pup and the "Yappy Easter," and the dog tags come from the PaperPups Cartridge. I tied the dog tag with ribbon and I embossed the little easter eggs around the chick at the bottom. Finally, I cuttlebug embossed with swiss dots and inked the edges of the top and middle layer of the barrel. For last minute, late night work, I'm happy with the cards. 

Driver's License Congrats

My mother asked me to make a card for a friend who passed an important test. Of course, I was happy to oblige. I had really enjoyed the paper combination I used for my brother's anniversary card, so I went to my scrap pile and had enough paper left to make another card. I did enjoy playing with the butterfly from Storybook Cartridge. I made two copies of it. One is flat and the other one is glued by the body, so I could bend the wing. I embossed the wing that is flipped up to add a bit of shine. The layout is inspired by MojoMonday Week 80. The flower is layered. The bottom layer is a cut from Storybook, as well. A little bit of cuttlebug embossing for the white background, one Stampin'Up Congratulations stamp, and a few eyelets to finish the card off.

Quick Fix

Ack. I am smack in the middle of grading senior papers but had to get a card-making fix. Carrie needed some quick "Thank You" cards, so I had the perfect excuse to turn on the cricut and have a bit of fun. And, yes, the paper looks familiar because I was also trying to use scraps.
On the top card I used the Walk in My Garden cartridge and on the bottom card I used Storybook. I've never tried running a bead with the glitter stuff. It is not so easy to get a straight line. I'm sure there must be some trick to it.

Magnolia Blog Candy

Check out the blog candy. http://rosaswelt.blogspot.com/

Spring Break Get Away

Well, my break did not turn out as I had expected. I was supposed to spend most of it in New Orleans with my husband, but I was sick all week and did not get to go. Since I was home, Carrie came over for cardmaking. I watched her have all the fun since I had senior papers to grade. Finally, the last night of the break I had a few minutes to make a welcome home card for Chris.
I just love this dog from paperpups. He has his arms open ready for a big hug. I have him holding a dandelion from the storybook cartridge. The dandelion is double layered, embossed, and popped. I used the cricut studio for the sentiment. Funny enough, I just realized that I don't have my layered paper facing the same way. Yikes... I bet Carrie notices it right away.
Anyway, on to Carrie's cards. She rocked it this week. I think her creative muse was speaking.
This birthday card uses Walk in My Garden for the vase and flowers and I think storybook for the butterfly. She popped the flowers, cuttlebug embossed with swiss dots the brown cardstock and stamped the sentiment. The next card she made for her mother. It is one of my favorites.

Smile x2

Today, Carrie and I had a blast making cards and working on techniques. I think Carrie's goal was to use multiple patterned papers. She did that today with her first card. I think her original inspiration came from MojoMonday, and then she pulled out some of her new StampinUp papers to use. She stamped, doodled, and blinged to put the card together. Looks great!

The inside is clever as the scallop is in the middle, and the bird mimics the birds in the paper.



My smile card is also inspired by MojoMonday I had a great time putting it together. I used Storybook, WIMG, and Opposites Attrack. This color combination was a challenge for me because it included orange. I think the smile sentiment allows for the card to be very versatile.

Stationary Box

This stationary box project was sooooo fun. I spied the tutorial for it on CuttlebugChallenges, but had to wait until I got some fun, double-sided paper in the designer series called Washington Apple from StampinUp. Like usual, the project took me forever to work through - just three evenings : ) It is not nearly as easy as it looks! Numbers everywhere ... measuring ... scoring lines. Of course I messed up a few items, and then had to improvise my own numbering system to fit the mess - but it all worked out. When you pull off the top, it opens up like this. I need to buy a 3" x 3" post it note and a few stamps for the red items on the front panel.

There is an area for little 3" x 3" cards - I got to use my new Scallop Edge Punch on these, plus I stamped the background, put on a bit of ribbon and popped a cut-out stamp. The right hand pocket is for tags. I made 4 tags with "Friends," "Thanks," "Smile," and "Be Happy." The back section is for larger 4.5" notecards. I made 4 here again with the same sentiments, and stamped envelope.

St. Patrick's Day - Finally

I've been working on this project since Oscar night. I got the pattern from Splitcoaststampers and I started with the pink background. I didn't think until later that the pink/green combination might not be the best for a male gift. On way or another, it is perfect for gift cards. I enjoyed using the watercolor pencil on the shamrock stamp, but I did not enjoy cutting the stamp out by hand. I ended up having Chris do it for me. Poor fellow had to work on his own gift.

Homecoming

Our family is excited that our Cousin, Jacob, is returning from his military, overseas deployment. We are having a big family get-together to celebrate, so this card is for him. To make the card, I was inspired by our childhood where Jacob had a fascination with guns. He enjoyed hunting and finding rare guns. He liked dogs as well, so that is why I used the PaperPups Hunting Dog. All the lettering is from the Opposites Attract cartridge, and it seemed logical to use the camo paper. All in all, I'm happy with this card as it looks like a guy card and it expresses our pride in what he does for a living.

Once Upon A Time

I am so excited about how this anniversary card for Adam and Elizabeth has turned out. I used the Mojo Monday Blog Sketch for inspiration. The white paper is stamped with a three heart stamp from Hobby Lobby. The patterned paper Carrie picked out. Of course the dogs are from the Cricut Paper Pups cartridge. The lettering on the front and the inside is from the Cricut Storybook cartridge. The hearts are cut out from the same stamp used to make the pattered paper. Chris actually helped with this. He told me to use an exacto knife to cut the hearts out. I have no experience with the knife, so Chris volunteered to show me how to use it without cutting off a digit. Chris did get into the spirit of crafting and decided he wanted to re-ink the edges of the stamp. Plus he decided it should be sticking up - his words for using pop-dots. I'm giving the card to Adam and Eliz when we see them this wekend as their Anniversary is over Spring Break.

Birthday Stationary

This morning Carrie and I watched a short demonstration video from http://thepinkstamper.blogspot.com/2009/02/cricut-series-17-episode-92-walk-in-my.html.
After watching the video we were inspireded to use the card option on the Walk in My Garden cartridge for the Cricut Expression. My sister-in-law, Elizabeth, has a birthday coming up, and I wanted to make a bit of stationary for her since we've given up buying birthday presents. She loves everything ladybug which makes the ladybug option perfect. These are two of the four cards I made for her. Because I haven't used my Paper Studio's Daisy Paisley Stack, I decided to use as many of the coording pages as I could. The base for the card is out of Paper Studio's Textured Cardstock Brights. The ladybug front is cut @ 5" so the ladybug would be big enough to work with layers. I embossed the black cardstock with Cuttlebug D'vine Swirls and trimmed it. The layer on the bug is embossed with Ranger Holographic Embossing Powder. Then ribbon from stash to tie in a bit of color. I put a wee ladybug on the envelope and tied it up. I can't wait to see if she likes it.

Friends

My friend, Carrie, made this card today. She used the card function on Walk in My Garden and layered green, yellow, and tan for the sunflower. She used WIMG for the phrase as well. Below is a shot of the inside of the card where she popped two of the flowers for a bit of depth.

Wishing You Well

I made this card for a student who has mono. She will be out of school for 2 weeks, and the class wanted to send her a card. Good opportunity to make a get well soon card for me. I totally scraplifted this idea from DazyCutr on the Cricut Forum in the Paper Pups section. I stamped my paper to create my own pattered paper. I cut the flowers, bread tag, and water can from from Walk in My Garden. I used the Cuttlebug to emboss the swiss dots. I inked the edges of the flowers and the paint can. This is the wet pup in Paper Pups. I need to get busy on an anniversary card for my brother and his wife. Can't wait to see what happens with that. TFL

Bee happy

I was so excited to finally receive 4 cartridges that I had ordered. I purchased Walk in My Garden, Storybook, Opposites Attract, and Doodlebug. I was so happy to get these items I decided to make a card with the cartridges before I went to bed. I did try to use Mojo Monday to inspire me. I had a great time and working on the card made a nice closure for the day.

My Brother: The Working Machine

My brother, Adam, is a PR Rep. We had an opportunity to spend some time together at a family wedding where I realized he is a work-a-maniac. He is always so busy. I wanted to remind him it is okay to relax - it would be good for his heart.

I used my Paperpups Cricut Cartridge for the cover.

Learning the Ropes

This card is one of my first attempts at using ribbon, watercolor pencils, stamping, and the Cricut Design Studio weld feature.