Blogoversary Card

A card recently made to celebrate one year of blogging for Jen at Pieces of Me. She calls it a

"Blogoversary" and was celebrating with a surprise giveaway...so of course I couldn't resist the

challenge! This card is really outside the box for me and usually not my style...but I wanted to

try something different. Saw a challenge a while back on Bitten By the Bug to create something

using the crown from Cricut's Happily Ever After cart...something I would never have

thought of doing myself, but I loved what the designers came up with and wanted to try one too.

The front of this tri-fold card was cut away close to the crown to reveal the patterned paper on

the inside. Sentiment on second page was printed off center so it would remain hidden by

the crown until card is opened. Crown was embellished with rhinestones (left over from

ice skating costumes) and colored acrylic gems

from Photocraft Hawaii. Rub ons from American

Crafts, Blossoms from Prima, glittered brad from

Making Memories, swirly die cut from Quickutz,

and a bit of Stickles for extra bling.

Happy Birthday, Ashley!

My first attempt at using the Dreams Come True cart to make a card for my niece's birthday. The details on these cuts are amazingly intricate and can be really difficult to piece together with my clumsy hands and blind eyes! The front of this tri-fold card was inspired by Susan Bluerobot, who very
generously shares many of her great tips, ideas, and design studio cuts on her blogsite. Used cuttlebug fantasy embossing folder for the side panel and a prima blossom to keep the card closed. Happy Birthday is printed on yellow vellum.

All Aladdin characters including Jasmine, the genie and Abu are from the Dreams Come True cart and the fancy birthday cake from the Celebrations cart. Krylon gold leafing pen used to color in gold accents and Gelly Roll Glaze pens for intricate eye details that were too small for my cricut to handle.

The inside of the card and closeups:

This mega-sized cut for the gift bag was also created with Dreams Come True and Design Studio. Definitely a lot easier and faster to piece together when cuts are as large as this!

My Heart is Broken

Yesterday was an extremely sad and difficult day for our family as we had to say "goodbye" to a beloved family member and faithful friend. Star baby, we are gonna miss you so much!

No more searching for daddy's socks, no more soupy squeeky yellow porcupines, no more surprise greetings at the front door, no more silly costumes for mommy's camera, no more doggy kisses, no more spinning spinning spinning, no more "bang!" for treats, no more shoot-shoot perfume in the morning, no more tomatoes, no more warm fuzzy puppy dog hugs...but it's okay baby, no more pain...no more pain...

we love u baby, we'll always remember all the good times we had together...gonna miss u so much.

Simply Stamped & Embossed

Back to my project of making simple cards! Made a couple sets of these 5 cards to give away as gifts. Very easy, embossed with a cuttlebug embossing folder, stamped with a Versafine stamp pad and colored using

Staedtler Aquarells and Dove Blender. Scalloped circle punch from SU pop dotted for emphasis and a bit of ribbon for accent. Inspiration for these comes from Sue at Heart Prints. She has a gallery full of beautifully embossed and stamped cards with full instructions on how to recreate them. Stamps are from Imaginisce, Dandelion Designs & SU.

Happy Easter!

Easter is another of those holidays that I have always loved for all the fun things there are to make and share. Got the idea for these candy bouquets from a catalog I got in the mail last year just before Halloween. The catalog showed very cute but very pricey bouquets of Halloween candies and I thought to myself, "I wanna try making one like that!" The sweet little lambies on the pails are from the Paper Dolls cart, their bodies were embossed with the cuttlebug swirls template to look like fleece and details on legs and face were chalked. Grass is from the Zooballo cart and tiny paper flowers are from Photocraft's All Natural Accents line. Easter goodies were taped onto bamboo barbeque sticks and arranged in styrofoam. One mailed to dd, one for my sweet niece, and one for dh to share at work.

Found the idea for these 9-square baskets at the cricut website. The pattern for these was shared on the message board by a super talented lady, Sue Nelson. She has a extensive gallery full of inspiration of all her beautiful cards and creations at Heart Prints. Used 9x9" chipboard covered with patterned paper to make these. Very quick and easy! Filled these with silly Easter goodies and mailed them off to dd and her bf.

Used the George cart and my new Doodlecharms cart to cut bunnies, baskets and eggs to make tags for my Easter baskets and candy bouquets.

Finally got a chance to try making these pull card pouches that I first saw a sample of at Photocraft back in January. I think the pull mechanism on this is the neatest thing...so simple, and yet it makes you wonder, "How the heck does it work?" Filled the pouches with bags of my favorite Cadbury Mini Eggs and an adorable little Lindt chocolate lambie. Peeking bunny from Doodlecharms & George carts, flower is a sizzlit die, and "Happy Easter" is Mickey Font welded with the help of Design Studio. Made several of these to share with special friends.

And WhooHoo!!!! Take a look at these Easter goodies! Aren't they just precious? These darling mini decorated cookies were from a very special lady at dh's workplace. She always does an amazing job making everything she bakes into works of art. It must take an incredible amount of patience and time to make so many different colors of icing and to decorate all these little babies with such detail! Thank you so much! The Betty Crocker-Martha Stewart award goes to you!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Another go at my paper dolls cart, this time with a dancin' leprechaun for St. Paddy's Day! Pot of gold & shamrocks also from paper dolls cart, clouds from paper pups, and the rainbow & leprechaun's "dancing legs" created with design studio. First time ever for me to make or even send a St Patrick's Day card...thought it might be fun to try to make and at the same time send a smile across the miles to dd & her bf!

You GO GURL!

Having mucho fun playing with my Paperdolls cart and the design studio! Made this card for dd who was

getting ready for college interviews last week...she was so nervous, and since we couldn't be there in person for hugs and moral support, I sent her this card to let her know we were rooting for her! And since dd was a cheerleader in highschool, I figured she might get a kick out this. Used a cuttlebug embossing folder for the front together with qk daisies & leaves, qk cooky cutter scallop circle, Sizzlits Wingo Zingo font, & Family Treasures photo corner punch.