Merry Christmas, Tag #11

     I only wish this season I had more time to try out these awesome techniques Tim Holtz showed for the 12 Tags of Christmas...2011. Although I only had time to complete 4 I know I will continue to try some of the other tags and the great projects he shared.
     This tag by far is my favorite. I always loved this angel image yet for some reason I just hadn't found the right project. I started with Art Philosophy cartridge by ProvoCraft and cut the tag @ 6.25". The background is so easy to make. I used cream glossy card stock and some alcohol inks. The Salt Boat Blue and Stream alcohol inks go together perfectly.
     Next I used a piece of craft plastic and stamped this beautiful sentiment: The most precious Gift of Christmas arrived in a very small bundle with no bow." You have to use Stazon ink or one that can be used on slick surfaces.

     The stars are really cool to make. Unfortunately I only had Shrinky Dink material in white. Tim had used the clear one and the effects are so stunning. Don't worry, I will be getting some to try the other techniques.Any way I like how these stars turned out. First, when working with shrinky dink material you need to cut your images 3x the size you want the shrunken article to be. I cut my stars from "Tis The Season" cartridge @ 2.25", 2.50", 2.75" and 3". this yields finished stars at 1" or less. Here's the fun part. You need to heat UTEE, Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel in a melting pot. Ranger sells these and they are great. All you do is heat the utee, drop your shrinky dink material in the pot and watch it shrivel and squirm! Once it flattens out (in seconds really) gently remove from pot with tweezers and place on a craft mat or another non stick surface to cool. It really is that easy. I finished it off with some Creative Charms rhinestones and also used a gold detail heat embossing to the horn and halo. Add a bow and you are done. Whew, I can't wait to try some more tags.

Little Chickie!

     This is the final Easter card I had using, what else, my Imagine and Celebrate with Flourish. For this card I cut the chick/egg image from Celebrate With flourish cart @ 2". I used the relative size so all layers match up nicely and used the Blossom color palette for all the layers. What's so nice about this is how well it all comes together.
     Once again I used scraps that were hanging around on my craft table so this card came together rather quickly. I wanted a more elaborate look to this card so I used my cuttle bug on the egg and did some distress inking on the chick. After looking at it for a while I decided to hand draw in its little eye.
     The tag is a spellbinders that I used the Just Rite Stamps for the saying "happy easter". I finished off with some creative charms gradient gems. There you have it!!!

Easter Basket Card

     How fun is this! I really love making cards with my Imagine. I used the Celebrate With flourish cartridge for the Easter basket @ 2.5". For the layers on the image I used the Elise imagine cart but the background square was an image from Paper lace using the Elise cartridge for the printed paper. How cool is this?
     What is so great about the Imagine is that I can select all my layers in relative size ( so I know they are all going to size together neatly) but I can go back and color each layer separately using a palette that co-ordinates well on that particular cart.
     I like to have my embellishments pop so I embossed the basket with my cuttlebug and then inked the edges. The eggs have glossy accents on them to add dimension to the eggs. Of course you have to add some prima flowers, gradient gems from creative charms and then some ribbon.
     Finally I use some new tags from Spellbinders and added my sentiment using Just Rite Stamps for the "happy easter". Quick and easy without wasting time looking for paper.
     You can purchase this card in my etsy store.

Thanks For Being You

      It always pays to clean your workspace! The challenge @ Just Us Girls (JUGS72) is to use aqua, melon and kraft for your colors. For those of you that follow me, the background paper is a piece I had leftover from the sympathy cards I made last week. Perfect for the challenge. I love when that happens!     All the papers except for the kraft color are scraps. I even used the small pieces of melon and solid blue to cut some dimensional butterflies. I painted a few stickles on the wings and used Creative Charms gradient gems for the body of the butterfly. The white border is a punch from Fiskars and blends so well with the background paper from DCWV. I also added some faux stitching on the Spellbinders label. The stamp is also from my stash.

     I also like to finish off the inside of my cards and I had enough leftover pieces to do just that! Don't be afraid to leave a comment, I won't bite!

Puuur-Fect!

     Isn't this just the cutest Kitty? Talk about a Diva! I told you that my favorite new cart is Paisley. This cat is a puur-fect example. The die cut has her sitting on a pillow and she has a crown on her head. Its a super simple cut. All the layers were cut @ 3.5" .  The shadow is rather large in proportion to the rest of the cut so I decided not to use it. Of course there had to be some stickles to add the bling factor so Added some to the crown in gold. I also used the lavender stickles on the pillow.
     If the green background paper looks familiar, it should. This is a scrap of the paper by Anna Griffin that was used for the engagement card I made for the Cricut Circle card contest that I won! This paper makes the cat really stand out and gives her a regal look. The other pink papers are also scraps from Anna Griffin. It still needed something so I grabbed a piece of white scrap card stock and a Martha Stewart paper punch and made some "lace. These rhinestones are not Creative Charms, if they were they would sparkle more!

Return To Bermuda

     Another challenge, yeah! The Cricut Circle Blog has both weekly and monthly challenges. The monthly challenge is the one where I submitted the "I Love Candy" shirt. The weekly challenge required you to use Baby ( Brads, Aqua, Butterfly and You). They were right with this challenge to require you to use a picture of yourself. We are the ones who take the pics but rarely do a layout of our self. I chose a picture of our trip to Bermuda back in 1999. We had gone there for our honeymoon so returned 25yrs. later with our youngest who was 11 years old at the time.
     I started with this beautiful paper by K&Company, Que Sera fera stack. This is such a beautiful aqua color and goes well with my pic.I also love this paper from Recollections I got @ M's. It's a colored core and is sand able! All my flowers were cut from Tim Holtz floral die but embossed with various cuttlebug folders and inked with distressed inks by Ranger. The centers have either rhinestone brads or mini picture type brads. If you look close the bottom center flower has a butterfly on it!
     You also needed to use cuts from your cricut so I went back to my library and pulled out one of my favorite carts Base Camp. I cut all the letters @ 1" and used the blackout, shadow and regular features. The frame was cut using Lacy Labels @ 4". I used some natural raffia so I could hang the words Bermuda on it.
     My journal ling tag is cut from Spellbinders Labels but the journal ling tag was stamped with Donna Salazar" new tag. Can I just say how awesome her stamps are? They are lightweight and stamp beautifully.

     I finished this off by adding glossy accents on the red flower for dimension and painted some petal areas with Creative Inspirations Garnet paint. The butterfly is also K&Company. I was going to make my own but the colors in this were perfect. The above picture is shot at an angle to give you an idea of the details on this LO. I really have to start doing more layouts.

Congrats, You're Engaged!

     Whoot whoot! My friends daughter got engaged over the holidays and I am finally getting around to making a card. Why not pair it with a challenge? As a member of the cricut circle ( we are an exclusive group, lol) I have a chance to win the latest new product from Provo Craft: Yudu card shop! This is a fabulous new machine that lets you silk screen your designs on cards. It's perfect for invitations and all other 5x7 cards. In order to have a chance to win this you had to mail your card to Jinger Adams @ Provo Craft and have it received by Jan. 18th. I think I made it because I mailed it today Priority mail and they should receive it Tuesday.
     The best part of this is that they will pick 2 winners to receive this new product @ the launch on HSN January 20th. They might even display some of the entries so wish me luck.
     The above card is my entry. You had to use Anna Griffins paper. Isn't this just gorgeous! Next you had the option of several cricut cartridges which will also be featured on the show. I used Don Juan for the frame and hand. The arrow was cut using Home Decor.
     I chose to make this an easel card because it exemplifies what a girl does when she receives her ring, constantly raises her hand and gazes at it, lol! This card was a blast to embellish! All the die cuts were inked with Ranger Distress inks. I added a piece of silver roping around the ring finger and added bling from Creative Charms for the rock! I didn't want it to look like a hand just hanging there so I gave her a pearl bracelet and a lace "cuff". 
     One of my new favorite tools are the script letters from JustRite stamps. This allows me the freedom to spell out exactly what I want to say. How cool is that! I used this to say "on your engagement".
The frame and background were embossed with cuttlebug folders swirls and textile. The label was also cut with the oval cuttlebug die. I also used the negative piece to add a frame to the tag. A little bit of sheer ribbon and it was done.
     Hope you enjoyed my latest project and wish me luck!!