Diamond Lattice Thank You Card

Finally had the chance to make a card using this beautiful and intricate diamond lattice cut file created and shared by Linda on her blog, Just for Sharing. Linda generously shares this and many other awesome cut files she has created on her blog. If you own Design Studio and decide to download any of these files while visiting her site, please be sure to leave a comment to thank her!

The original idea for the design of this card comes from Cricut Message board member, DC Scrapper here. The elegant card she created was actually a sympathy card, but it's so pretty, I thought it could be used for any occasion. Wanted to try and make one too but unfortunately, mine didn't turn out anywhere close to looking as good as hers!

The 3 dimensional effect with the folded butterfly wings is something I've seen on many cards recently, but never had the desire to try because I always figured it was an effect that would be lost once the card was flattened and squeezed into an envelope and went through the postal system. Or, at least so I thought until I read a very cool trick from Susan on her blog. She very innovatively figured out a way to use heavy gauge plastic (like the kind used to package merchandise at Costco that's almost impossible to cut open) to keep those wings popped out no matter how much it gets pressed down. Cutting small rectangular pieces of this type of heavy plastic, folding them in half and attaching to the center back of both wings assures that your butterfly, fairy, angel and dragonfly wings will always pop back into the "flying position". Very cool indeed. Susan's detailed instructions complete with photos are here.

Used Bazzill Luster from the metallic line for the base of this card. Used Cricut to cut the butterflies (Home Accents) and the vine (Stretch Your Imagination); and swirls on inside of card are from Quickutz. Gold vellum used for all gold accents. Front panel of the card is Bazzill Bling Diamond cardstock run through the Cuttlebug Swiss Dots folder. Thank you sentiment is a rubber stamp from Dandelion Designs.

Peek-A-Boo Thank Yous

...And yet another peek-a-boo card! Really having fun with these. This was actually the very first peek-a-boo card I put together. Just didn't want to post it until it had been mailed out. Made for my special friend, Jen who had sent me a surprise package of goodies. Base of this card is a double sided cardstock from Bo Bunny's Double Dot Collection. All the yummy candy and cake cuts are from Sizzix. "Sweet" is from the Stone Script cartridge and "Thank you" from the Beyond Birthdays cart, both from Cricut. Scalloped circle frame cut with Nestabilities and embossed with the Cuttlebug Swiss Dots embossing folder. Used MM rubons for the sliding sentiment on the inside and Stickles for a little glitz on the cupcake.

My second peek-a-boo thank you was made for another special friend, Jean who is also the designer of Dandelion Designs, a line of ultra cute mini stamps. Jean also has a blog by the same name where she shares the cutest and most creative little projects created with her stamps. Definitely a fun place to visit! Wanted to send her a card showcasing her kaki mochi stamp which I think is adorable. Coloring in the kaki mochi with prismacolor markers made them look so real I got hungry!




"I heart" is a clear stamp from Imaginisce's Loves Me collection, "Yum" is from Hero Arts' Clear Design Cupcakes set, and flower is from Stampendous! Perfectly Clear Floral Flourish set. "Thank you" is another from Jean's Dandelion Designs. Front of card embossed with Cuttlebug Spots and Dots folder, and scalloped frame was created on Design Studio by welding circles from the George cartridge.

Quick Embossed Wedding Card

So many cards to do, so little time. That was the case with this card I had to quickly put together for a co-worker's daughter's wedding. Wanted to do elegant, but it had to be fast and simple. Used Bazzill Luster from the metallic cardstock line and Bazzill Diamond from the Bling line. Embossed with Cuttlebug Floral Fantasy and Wedding folders and embellished with MM glitter brads and gold edged white nylon ribbon. Really lovin' how the embossing folders can really make simple look so pretty!

First Card Class

Held my very first card class ever last month for a group of about 18 young ladies from a co-worker's church. It was quite a learning experience for me, I'm so glad that dd was there to help and support me all the way. Made me really appreciate and respect all of you who are always doing those craft demos and make and takes. Lots and lots of time spent is preparing all the supplies before class. For my first class, I wanted to keep it simple, but interesting so I chose to do a easy peek-a-boo card and a push/pull card. Thank goodness for my Cricut and Design Studio! The card pattern, smiling doggy, scalloped frame and heart frame for the first card were all cut using George and Paper Pups cartridges on the Cricut. Front of card embossed with Cuttlebug heart folder.Sentiments inside from a Stampin Up rubber stamp and peek-a-boo sentiment computer generated.

The second card we made at class was this push/pull birthday card with tabs that pull out
to hold a gift card surprise. Used my favorite Doodlecharms cupcake, decorated with


colorful sprinkles from a Sizzix die. Happy Birthday is also a Sizzix die, and used my Nestabilities dies to do the scallop circle and circle. Swiss dots embossing die from Cuttlebug for the front panel. Didn't have a chance to create the card pattern on Design Studio for this one, but it's definitely on my to-do list! Using the Cricut to make 20 sets of kits for both of these cards plus embellishments certainly made things go a lot faster. Happy to report that everyone that afternoon seemed pretty much pleased with the cards they had created. Thank you for all your help, sweet dd...you know I never could have pulled it off without you!

Congratulations, Graduates!

With so many friends and relatives graduating this year, figured this was a good time to justify the purchase of all my stuff! Made good use of this cute little Graduating Chick stamp from Stampendouse to do Peek A Boo cards for all the "Chicks with Brains" we had graduating...all the same except changed the colors to match school colors. Used Cuttlebug's Graduation embossing folder to do the front panel. And the best part of all was that I took a tip from Okielady's Blog to create the basic card pattern for this Peek A Boo card on my Cricut Design Studio. Now I can make multiples of Peek A Boo cards anytime I please without having to spend time cutting and measuring. What a great timesaving idea! Thank you Okielady! This lady is pure genius when it comes to designing stuff on the Design Studio.






Scalloped window frame for the front of this card was also created with Design Studio, which makes it nice knowing that now the window cut in my frame will be perfectly centered everytime. The flower embellishments are from Prima and Photocraft's All Natural Accents line.



Sentiments inside are computer generated on Printshop. Created and saved files for these too so I can change the sentiments anytime to fit any occasion without worry that everything will be properly aligned on any Peek A Boo card made using this pattern. Now maybe it won't take me a whole day just to make one card!



For the graduating guys, figured they might not appreciate being called a "chick with brains" so had to do something different for them. Made a simple square cut window card, again using the Design Studio to create the pattern. Embellished with die cuts (diploma, hat, globe) from Quickutz and Cuttlebug Congratulations embossing folder.

A Whole "Latte" Love . . .

Aha! Another play on words...lol. Just a couple of pix of the newest member of our family. Her name is "Latte" which dd came up with, which is the Italian word for milk (...not to be confused with Cafe Latte...) Little Latte is our 14 week old Maltese puppy, and she is just the most adorable, huggable ball of puff! Latte was my Father's Day gift to dh this year. She is so loveable and has the cutest puppy antics...and she has brought much joy into our home.

Happy Fathers Day!

Here's the card made for my dh for Fathers Day. The front of the card reads, "You're still my MANE man..." (Get it? Mane...Main...) Saw a card with this play on words on the SU Gallery a while back and thought it was so clever!

Created this to be what is called a "Peek-A-Boo" card. Found a video tutorial for this on Dawn's Stamping Thoughts and have noticed versions of this card popping up on lots of blogs lately.

Had to change the dimensions of the original card pattern to make the window large enough to accomodate my Cuttlebug Lion. As the card is opened, a new image appears in the window on the inside of the card..."peek-a-boo"! For this card, I had the inside sentiment appear in the window, "NO LION!" Uh, huh, yet another play on words. My Dd pointed out that it was actually a double play on words because the lion "disappears" and there really is "no lion"! Corny but fun...just like my Dh. "Happy Fathers Day, Hunny...we love you!"