Breast Cancer Awareness Card

  
   Good morning my fellow crafters! Here at Erica's Craft Room we are turning pink from now until October 15 to show our support for Breast Cancer. We honor those who are currently fighting this disease as well as those who are survivors and remember those who have lost the battle.
     I don't think there is a family who has not been touched in some way. For me I have/had a grandmother, mother, mother-in law, aunt and close friend who have fought this disease. My brother in law lost a son to this as well. You are reading that correctly, men also can get breast cancer!
     Today we are to make a card ,of course using pink. I wanted to make a card that would express all the emotions attached to Breast Cancer. That is why I knew I would use the stamp sets from Pink By Design.

      I wanted to use the bra stamp but needed an image with a circular opening. Believe it or not , Tags Bags, Boxes and More 2 had just what I was looking for. It is the card window on page 60 and I cut it at 4". I love the scallop edge so I just inked with some distress ink. The sayings are from Breast Wishes. I embossed these with Versamark Dazzle ink and some Zing pink embossing powder.I also added some Liquid pearls around the window opening. You can purchase these supplies at Erica's Store Here

     I stamped the bra image from PBD "save the tatas" stamp set with Memento ink on X-Press It card stock and used my copic markers to color it in. The colors I used were: RV02,RV04, RV06, and C00,C0,C1 for the lace.

I love the background paper since it matches the bra perfectly and even has a nice sheen to it. It is from s.e.i. Bright Blossom stack. I also had some ribbon with the Breast Cancer symbol on it!

     I had some flowers in my stash that I misted with Tattered Angels Chalkboard Mauve lous and added a brad for the center.

     When I first started using my Cricut I enjoyed making envelopes so much that I made a bunch of them, lol. It just seemed so appropriate to include a pink enevelope! 

     Well that's it for today guys. I hope you enjoyed my card and let's keep on fighting to end this disease. Please be sure to stop back over at Ericas' Blog and see what the rest of the Design Team has to show you.

Thinking Of You

     Hi you happy crafters you!!! Today Erica's Design Team was asked to create a Thinking Of You card. I had some stamped images I had done a while ago and hit a creative block. Nothing, no mojo at all. So when I signed up for this day at My Cricut Craft Room, I decided it was time to do something with this.
     I started with the "Snowy Park" stamp by Penny Black and used Tim Holtz distress markers to color the background. Before I stamped the image on watercolor paper, I spritzed it first with some water for a muted effect.

        It is hard to see in this photo but I used some flower soft at the bottom of the picture to add some texture. Now I wanted to add a frame, but how? Well it was time to use CDS.

     I found a card base with a rectangle aperture on Beyond Birthdays cartridge. You can find this on the card feature and it is the 1st button on the left.In order to fit my image, I sized it @ 7.798 x 5.37". This was a nice size card, however, I only needed the front part for the frame. So, I used the design Studio, flipped the design and then moved it off the mat for the part I did not need. This cut perfectly and was just the right size!

     I wanted to really bring out the wood features of the stamped image so I used the branches embossing folder for the Cuttlebug. I inked the folder with Frayed Burlap before I embossed the frame to get this really cool look. I also added a clear plastic so the picture would really look framed. The sentiment was a rub on and went so nicely with the overall look I was trying to achieve. It also was a great way to keep the flower soft intact.

     Speaking of Flower Soft, thanks to Erica for sending me some. You can buy the products I used here in Erica's Store.

     I used the My Favorite Things rub on to add the greeting on the inside.

     I hope you have enjoyed this project and hope you will head back over to My Cricut Craft Room and see what the rest of the Team has to show you.Your almost over Hump Day  (the week end starts in 2 more days, Whoot!!!).

  

Welcome Home!

     Whoot Whoot it's another card creating day @ My Cricut craft Room! We don't have a sketch for this week so the Design Team could make anything we wanted. I chose to go with a Patriotic card. I know, I know the 4th of July has long past but let me tell you why I went with this. My daughter and her husband spent the last 3 years in Hawaii and have now been stationed state side in California. Yeah to having all my children in the 48 contiguous states! Since they are on base I thought I'd make them a Welcome Home card.

     Anyone care to guess which cart this is from? Give up??? How about Provo Craft's Seasonal Cake Art! That's right it's from one of their cake cartridges. Whether you own the Cricut Cake machine or not, these cake cartridges fit in all the Cricut machines and have fabulous cuts for all occasions.

     This Laurel banner can be found on page 59. I used a gold card stock which I cut @ 3.5". I also used the stars on page 60 and cut them @ .50" also out of the gold card stock.

     Just a tip for shiny card stock: in the fine arts department of Michael's you will find poster size card stock. I believe it is 24" x 36". I cut these into 12" x 12' sheets so I have more than enough for all my projects and it is so economical! The rest of the card stock (the red and blue colors) are left overs from my stash.

     The stamp "Welcome Home" is from the Patriotic set from Pink By Design. In order for it to fit the banner I positioned it by curving it on my mounting block. Easy Peasy!!Now are ready for my boo boo?

     I wanted to add a little sparkle so I pulled out these rhinestone stars. They have a sparkling sticker around the outside of the rhinestone. That's the problem. They are so sticky that when I wanted to reposition it a little different I slightly ripped the paper! I was able to wiggle it a bit so it isn't too noticeable. I think I'll be a little more careful next time!

     That's it for today. Be sure to head back over to Erica's Room and see what the rest of the Design Team has to show you.

Crave The Wave!

     Happy Friday everyone! Boy is this summer going by fast isn't it? Fridays @ My Cricut Craft Room is the place to showcase our scrapbook lay outs. This week's theme is either Dance or Sports and mine is sport related, ie, surf boarding.... sort of.
     We spent the 4th of July week in Colonial Williamsburg, VA with our entire family, 24 of us in all! We stayed at the Great Wolf Lodge and had a blast. One of the draws to this place was that they have an indoor waterpark which also included a simulated surfing area. Both of our sons and one of our grand daughter"s decided to give it a try. Luckily I got some great pictures. Here's how I scrapped them:

     My favorite go to cart for the summer and anything water related is Provo Crafts Life's A Beach.The waves are from the border feature. I cut 4 to make a border on the top and bottom of my 2 page LO.I just love the chevron look of this background paper. It comes from DCWV "the Tradewinds" stack. It really give the feel of the waves don't you think?

     I found the perfect sentiment on this cart. Under the Title words also on page 45, you find this great phrase which I cut @ 2.75" out of silver and mounted on a piece of dark blue card stock from my stash.

The pictures were all triple mounted: Silver, shimmer blue and white card stock. The beautiful shimmer card stock is from DCWV Shimmer Stack.

     I wanted a tag that would go with the sport so I used the surf board on page 74 and used the hide option to conceal the detail cuts then cut them at 2.75". Now they were ready for some stamping. I used K Andrews Splash-tastic Summer set and Stazon Black ink. Wow is this ever a great stamp set! You can purchase them over at Erica's Store. Just a brief note about Erica's Store. She is having a moving sale so now is a fabulous time to check out her deals.

     I hope you have enjoyed my project for today and encourage you to head back over to My Cricut Craft Room and see what the rest of the Design Team has to share with you. Yeah for the weekend!!!!!

Stroll With Me

     Happy Hump Day in July. I love the middle of the week in the summer because the week end can't be far behind.Wednesday is WYEGW over at My Cricut Craft Room. What is that you ask? Well it means the Design Team uses the feature keys from any cricut cart we choose. This is a great way to explore all the possibilities the carts have to offer without using the main images.Today I am going to show a baby card I made using Baby Steps.

      Boy was it ever hard to photograph this card! I love to make my own backgrounds so for this card I used glossy card stock and some ranger alcohol inks. I used purple twilight, wild plum and silver and lots of alcohol blending solution. I started by adding my colors and then kept going over it with solution until I got a softer color back ground. This REALLY shines, lol.
     I used the image on page 42 and cut it at 2.75" with the phrase+, (glitter paper) + phrase layer. The edges were inked with Spun Sugar and Milled Lavender. Thistle stickles really make the phrase stand out.

     I decided to use the Inkadinkado flourishes stamp with memento Sweet Plum ink. I added a touch of Opal liquid pearls and some crystals from Say It In Crystals. Just a word about these crystals: they are awesome! All of the embellishments (including the buttons by Doodlebug Designs Inc. for the wheels!) were a gift from Erica. She is the most supportive person I know and love designing for her team. You can find these embellishments in her store Here.

     I also used a corner punch by Fiskar and finished the front with some vintage crochet lace and bakers twine on the wheels. After adding a small satin bow, I called it complete!!!

     The inside sentiment is by Cloud 9 Design "Simple Thoughts-Girl. I used the Spellbinders Nestabilities Lattice Rectangles. That's it for today. I hope you will go back over to My Cricut Craft Room and see what the rest of the team has to inspire you.

     

A Remote Birthday

                   It's another creative day @ My Cricut Craft Room. I hope you are all enjoying this wonderful spring time weather. Today we could either use our Imagine machines or the Letter U. I used the Imagine cart JT to create the background paper on this card.

     I don't know about you but my husband is always walking around with a tv remote in his hand. He doesn't so much watch a single program in its entirety but rather surfs from station to station. (Swamp people, Pawn Brokers, History Channel, Discovery Channel in addition to House Hunters, Cooking Shows and endless sports commentaries, lol). I swear he has attention deficit since nothing holds his attention for too long. But, I digress. Here are the details on my card:

     As I said I used my JT cart to create the background. This went perfectly with my remote. You can find this pattern paper on page 42. I selected a square 3 3/4" x 5" and flood filled the rectangle with the pattern. I backed it with red card stock and rounded the corners on both before I adhered them together. 

     I noticed that CCR is coming out with a similar remote but I made mine with the Fathers' Day cart and cut it @ 4" and all layers. I used a silver, cream and dark gray card stock to cut my various layers. I wanted to make this as realistic as possible so I had to hand write in the "vol.", "Ch" "DVR" and #'s. As luck would have it, Erica had sent me some "goodies" that included Sakura Black and White Glaze pens and they were perfect for writing on this glossy surface. Erica is great like that. She is always sending us free "stuff" to play with. It's almost like getting crafty products for Christmas, lol.

     I needed to add some buttons to the remote (if there are no buttons to push then he wouldn't have any fun!). I used some liquid pearls in Key Lime and Ruby Red for the stop and go buttons. I even added some Candi (faux brads) in gold, red and green.

     The stamp is from Pink By Design "age is only a #" and I used black embossing powder to add some texture. I also cut a small rectangle in red and wrapped it with some black and white twine from the Twinery again for a pop of color and to add some more texture.
     The finally step was to add a Wobble to the back of the remote. Hey he needs to have some action!!!      All of the supplies to make this card are available in Erica's Store .  It's  true: the liquid pearls, Candi, twine, stamps, embossing powder, card stock and Provo Craft Cricut cartridges are all in there.She is having a fabulous sale for the month of May. I would love for you to stop by and tell her Mary inspired you to shop there.

Please use the code 33 for 33% off your orderworks on everything not already marked down except Cricut and Cuttlebug products.

     Be sure to pop back over to Erica's Blog and see what the rest of the Design Team create just for you.

Until next week, Hugs to all of you~Mary

A Whale Of A Time!!!

    
     Welcome to Theme Day Thursday! I'm so glad you decided to stop by. Yes, I have a new look to my blog and hope you feel more at home here. Hey it's spring so it was time to freshen things up a bit!!
     Today at Erica's Craft room we were to create a project with a Beach theme. I am always amazed when I go through my library of cartridges ( yes I have enough to call it a library!). You would be astounded at the images that you can find on the least likely places. For example I used Life's for  A Beach for some of my images but, I also found some really neat die cuts on Stretch Your Imagination and (believe it or not: Sponge Bob Square Pants and Pack Your Bags). I have a lot to share with you so let's get started.

   
After almost two weeks of rain (can I just say torrential!!) in Hawaii we finally had 2 beautiful days so my daughter wanted to show me the famous spot on Oahu where the whales winter over. There is a lookout spot where the tide rushes into the rocks and sprays up like the blow hole on the whales. Thus the name Blowhole Lookout.

   
 I found the whale border on Life's A beach cartridge on page70. It was cut @ 1.5" for the height out of a gray shimmer pack from recollections.For a shadow I cut it again in black card stock and off set it from the gray. I added some black pearl embellishments for the eyes.
     I found the whale stamp on Pack Your Bags on page 56 and used the stamp feature.I believe I cut this @ 2.5". I cut all the layers and then added stickles to the water spout using Star Dust and Waterfall colors and again, a pearl for the eye. When I cut this out I loved the separate whale and the negative part of the stamp so I decided to use these to my advantage and turn them in a journal tag. The only thing I had to do was cut another layer of the water spout!
     I bet you are wondering where I got the wave die cut from.: Sponge Bob Square Pants!!! That's right. After looking at all my carts this was the most realistic looking waves. You can find the image on page 47 under Icon. I cut 4 sets then inked them with distress inks Evergreen Boughs and Tumbled Glass. I used liquid Glass as an adhesive and Donna Salasar's Sugar Sparkle for the glitter. Now let's follow the turtle as we head on over to the next page!

     It was so nice here in the sun so I had to add this phrase.I found this on Pack Your Bags on page 44. I used a cream card stock but inked the sun with Dried Marigold and Antique Linen distress inks and also used Perfect Pearls Lemon Sparkle on the sun. I also cut it again in black and offset it on the page.
     This spot is near the Blowhole and is sort of an inlet where the turtles get swept in with the tide. There is a beach area where people sunbathe and swim with the turtles. Unfortunately it was too windy and cool for us to venture in.

     Most of the turtles die cuts are from Stretch Your Imagination on page 41. These were so much fun to make!!! First I cut them at different sizes out of brown cardstock. I had left these on the mat until I inked them with both Frayed Burlap and Forest Moss distress inks. I wanted a realistic look and something that would bring out the sand and rocks in the photos. I cut the layers as well and ran them through my cuttlebug with the "Tiny Mosiacs" embossing folder.
     Now for my absolute favorite cut on this whole layout. this would be the "shelled turtle. You can find this imagine on Stretch Your Imagination on page 73-S. I love this turtle! I used the CCR tomake sure the layer fit and hide the outline of the shell. I cut this out of black shiny card stock. I will share a tip with you. Rather than try to glue all these tiny pieces on the shell leave them on the mat and remove the cuts you don't want and leave the tiny pieces on the mat. I use a piece of transfer tape (the kind you use for vinyl transfer) and apply to your cuts. I then trim the edge of the tape and run it through my Xyron machine. After you remove the Xyron backing I place it on my die and gently put into place. I can then use the Cricut "hook" to jockey it into position and then smooth it down! Easy Peasy!!!! I had just gotten some new liquid pearls in with the most fantastic colors and this was a project just begging for it.I used the Avocado to outline the areas between the shells and the  outer edge.
     Sorry this is so long but I just had to share. Although a lot of the Cricut cuts are cute, with some ink and the right cut you are able to achieve a very realistic look.
     If you are looking for products like the ones I used here, please visit Ericas Shop as she has a fabulous sale going on . Believe it or not she is giving 33% off your order! Here are the details:

      The 33% off code is 33 and it will take 33% off your total purchase, except ProvoCraft items (Cricut cartridges, they are only $15-$32 EVERYDAY :)

     Erica is also giving away 3 free action Wobbles. You heard that right FREE! Just head back over to http://www.mycricutcraftroom.blogspot.com/ and on the right side bar you will see where you can  follow the instructions on where to send a self addressed stamped envelope for your 3 FREE Action Wobbles from The Scrapbooking Queen.

     You will also want to download the most up to date Cricut cartridge list directly from Erica's blog on the top left. She has also posted the Excel and Word formats for you all!

     Lastly our design team is having a garage sale!!! Whoo-Hoo! What fun! Next Thursday our sale will kick off. Right now the group is "closed" please request to be added to the group and once we have all of our items listed I will APPROVE you into the group....

The crafty garage sale is Thursday April 26- Saturday April 28

EVERYONE will get approved into the group on Thursday the 26th.

This is the crafty one

http://www.facebook.com/groups/135244386606507/

     Our anything but Crafty Garage Sale will be Sunday April 29- May 2

and this is the non-crafty sale

EVERYONE will get approved into the group on Sunday April 29

http://www.facebook.com/groups/226289120806147/

    

     At this time it is only open for Design Team members to sell their items. This is a temporary group and will be deleted after the event.... I know there are other crafty sales and crafty auctions. This is not to replace any of those. This is a one weekend only event.

     Wow that's a mouthful but I just didn't want you to miss anything that is going on with our FABULOUS Design Team!!!

     Also, I would love if you would head back over to Erica's Craft Room to see what the rest of the Design Team has to show you! I hope you have a wonderful week with the week end coming up.

Hang Ten!!!

     Are you ready for vacation yet, lol? Well I had an unexpected trip to Hawaii to help my daughter after some surgery. So when I saw today was Theme Day Thursday @ Erica's Craft Room, and that the theme was vacation I figured it would be the only way I would scrap any part of this trip.
     Please keep in mind that I am a card maker and am WAY out of my comfort zone yet I am so happy with how this turned out. It rained 12 out of the 14 days I was there however we did have one evening where we went to downtown Honolulu and went to this fabulous park.

     Where do I begin? This beautiful park had statues of a Queen who was reading books to children. It was surrounded with palm trees that were all light with lights. There were even lanterns hanging from the trees. I wanted to remember these so I used the Luau cartridge to cut the lanterns@ 4" wide and 1.861 high out of black card stock.. I then cut 3 sets of the layer feature @ 3.208" x 1" high from different colors. I used my Xyron X to adhere the layers, added some stickles and some black bakers twine. If you need some stickles, bakers twine or other supplies, please be sure to visit Erica's Shop, she has some awesome products over there.

      No matter where we went people make this hand gesture called "hang ten". It's sort of like waving high or goodbye. Believe it or not the Life's A Beach cart has the hang ten symbol, lol. The image is on page74 and I cut the main image @ 3.5" x 4" with the layers @ 1.792" x 2.569" for the fingers. I inked them while they were still on the mat then added pop dots to the fingers. The back side has journaling on it. Since I had saved the coffee wrapper it seemed like a good spot to tuck the hand in.

     Naturally I had to use the "Paradise" from Life's A Beach. You can find this on page 33 under Title words. I cut it @ 6" x 3.111. I wanted a blackout but this image didn't have one so ....CCR to the rescue! I sized it @ 6" x 3.125 and, using the edit button, I blocked out the center of the letters. Again I cut 3 sets out of different colors, then cut them apart to have a multicolored sign. I popped the letters in my Xyron X again (love this little machine!) and after everything is adhered added so stickles.

     This is a picture of how I set up my mat. I love designing in the CCR. Once I have it designed I just place the colors on my mat and cut!!

     This is the right hand side of the page. Notice the second set of lanterns in the top right hand side. I made a tag in the CCR using the Luau cartridge and the Hibiscus image. I cut the image  @ 2.25.

     This has to be my favorite element I created for this lay out! You can find this image on the Luau cart. I cut it @ 4.5" and cut the layer of leaves 3 times out of velum. The layers are separated by pop dots, adorned with stickles. The center has a brown pearl from creative charms.
     I hope I have given you a few ideas and please pop back over to Erica's Craft Room to see what the rest of the team has to show you.

Make A Splash Card

Welcome back my friends. I hope you all had a wonderful week end. I certainly did with 6 of our grand children hunting for and coloring eggs!
Today over at Erica's Craft Room the Design Team uses either the Cricut Imagine, CCR digital designs or the carts for the E2. I am going to show a great card created using the Imagine cart Greeting Cards Inside and Out.

You are seeing this correctly it is a surf board shaped card. The image is found on page 6 and I cut it at 5.50". I first cut the card base as shown but, you know me, I LOVE to seperate the layers out,lol. So I also cut 1 top layer, 1 "on your birthday", 1 splash and 2 mermaids.I started to bling up the mermaid with some stickles and of course rhinestones. I adhered the Splash on the top layer and as well as a "plain" mermaid. The blinged up mermaid was then added by using some pop dots. Finally I used a wobble action spring to the back of the surf board so she looks like she is riding a wave!!!! This card is small (only about 2" wide and would be great as a tag on a gift.

This is with the wobble action.

Such a cutie!!!

I thought I'd complete the look by making a matching envelope. This is also on the cart Greeting Cards Inside And Out. You can find this on page 31. In order to fit this card size, I cut it at 7" and it fits perfectly!
You can purchase the Wobbles over at Erica's shop http://www.shop.ericascraftroom.com/.
Now it's time to head back over to My Cricut Craft Room and see what the rest of the Design Team has to show you. Hope you have a wonderful week. Hugs~ Mary

Scottie Dog Birthday Card

     Welcome to  Mondays from My Cricut Craft Room http://mycricutcraftroom.blogspot.com/ where you are limited only by your Imagination, lol. On Mondays the Design Team is challenged to use either the Imagine carts, CCR images or the cartridges that come with the E2. If you have been following me you know I love to use the Imagine pattern carts to flood fill my images or to use the paper as my card base. This week I used the Imagine cart Heirloom to create my card base and insert with the Just Because Cards cartridge. The card and insert is on page 37 and cut @ a height of 5.50". This beautiful musical background from Heirloom is on page 10.

    I also cut some small rectangles (1:2 and 2:3) that are preloaded on the Imagine for the outside of the card as well as the insert tag using the color palette with this cart. The Scottie dogs are cut with Layer 1 + 2 as well as the shadow @ 1.50". I did use a black card stock for these cute little guys. The shadow was also shaded with distress inks.

     This is the insert that goes with this particular card. Again I used the preloaded label on the Imagine but this time I flood filled with the same musical paper that is on the front of the card. I used some distress ink on the edges and added some pearl dots to the edges. The sentiment is a rub-on as well as the Happy Birthday on the front of the card.

     Here's a close up of the embellishments on the card. I used some i-rock rhinestones for the collar and a pearl for the eye. I wanted the dogs to show up so I used a small prima flower with a pink brad for the center
and a few silver stickles to bring out the center.
      This is a Birthday card for my Mom who turns 87 on April 6th and she just loves anything Scottish. She is having difficulty seeing so I wanted to add some elements she could feel. This is why I used a silver wire to "tie" the two dogs together.
     Are you inspired to try this card? I certainly hope so. Now be sure to head back over to Ericas Craft Room http://mycricutcraftroom.blogspot.com/  and see what my fellow Design Team sisters have to show you. While you are there, check out Erica's store for any of your crafting supplies.http://mycricutcraftroom.blogspot.com/