Thursday, February 28, 2008

Sucked him in!!!

Heh heh heh! I sucked Jonah into the Cricut vortex. He decided to make a card tonight for his secret pal. He has to save it until June, but he has it made. SO ..... if your kid is playing in the Quacker kids' QSS, don't let him/her see this! :)


Jonah used pink SU cardstock and some blue he had sitting in his stash. He inked around the edges of the duck to define it from the background. The fish were stamped from Whale Wishes in Night of Navy. The duck card was cut using the Cricut and the Cricut Design Studio - of course. :)







I cut 3 of these cards the other day in 3 different colors and completed one today. I'm not sure that I'm really pleased with the card, but it gives me a starting point for the next one. The butterfly is cut from apricot cardstock from SU and the flower is in Almost Amethyst. I cut a green background with leaves to give dimension. The butterfly combo set was used again to add the butterfly to the flower. Versamark ink was used to cover the butterfly and accent the debossed areas. The middle of the butterfly was scored to allow the wings to stand up and give dimension to the card. Stampin' Dimensionals were used to attach the flower to the card backing to set it off from the leaves on the background and clear Stickles were used to accent the edges and add some sparkle to the petals.

Like I said, I'm not sure this is what I really wanted with this card, but I'd love to hear what you think!



Stamp happy, and remember that there's a great, big, beautiful tomorrow shining at the end of every day!!!

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

It's sometimes hard to know what to get some folks for gifts - know what I mean?? Jared's girlfriend is SO hard to buy for! I wanted to get something other than a gift card. Those seem so impersonal. So .... I decided to create something for her ... and hope she likes it. Her mom let me know what colors she has in her comforter on her bed, so I used that for inspiration.

The colors don't show up very well. I'm not sure why. I used Green Galore, Tempting Turquoise, and Chocolate Chip to attempt to match the aqua, lime, and brown in her bedspread pictured here. Her bedroom has spots instead of stripes, though. All paper and stamps used are from Stampin' Up!



"Rachel" was cut from Tempting Turquoise using the Cricut, Printing 101 and Stretch Your Imagination carts, and the design software. I cut it on low speed to accommodate the scrolls. The background is Chocolate Chip and has a circle stamped on it in Versamark. The circle is from an SU set, but I can't remember which one, and the flower is from Tropical Blooms (??). Scattered on the background are little flower brads from Making Memories. I used SU paper and the Cuttlebug to create the great butterflies on the background. Cuttlebug has a new combo set of one cutting die (butterfly) and 4 embossing folders to emboss the butterflies. So much fun!! Small paper flowers from ... somewhere ... are adorned with small white brads. Oh... and 4 crystal brads from Making Memories were used on the name. This was fun to make ... I really hope she likes it!!!!!



I wanted the card to match her name frame, so I created it in the same colors. I used a .cut file that I created a while back using George and Accent Essentials. I added some flourishes to the green layer and some direct-to-paper ink on the edges of the turquoise. Three of the crystal brads embellish the center of the flower.




On the inside of the card, I added some brown spots to match the spots in her room and her name frame. Another spot covered the back of the brads .... because I messed up and put them on AFTER I put the green layer on the front. :::rolling my eyes:::







Hopefully, I've not forgotten any details. If I have ... shoot me a question, and I would be glad try to fill in any blanks I left. I really would love to hear what you think!


Have a great day ... and remember, there's a great, big, beautiful tomorrow shining at the end of every day!!! :)

Thursday, February 21, 2008

More, More, More

So ... I'm really loving the Cricut cards. I made 2 more tonight. One of them *should* be really pretty, but it didn't turn out that way. LOL!! I really, really like the .cut file that I created, but I should have used different colors ... or *something*. It just doesn't work well for me. I made it for a friend, and I sure hope she likes it better than I do! LOL!!! It actually looks better in the picture than it does in real life ... in my opinion.



This card uses the Accent Essentials and George cartridges and the Cricut Design Studio - of course. I used Winter Wishes stamp set and that yummy pink taffeta ribbon. The blue and silver background uses the polished stone technique with alcohol inks. The card base is Basic Gray - I love that color!! The sentiment is stamped in black Staz On.






My duck card uses the Zooballoo, Animal Kingdom, George, and New Arrival cartridges - and the CDS, of course. :) I'm not sure who I'm sending this one to ... I might make a bunch for some Quacky friends of mine. This one turned out a little better than the snowflakes. The card base is So Saffron. Ballet Blue makes the waves, and the duck is sponged with Going Gray. The flourishes are from Friendship Blooms and the ribbon is some wonderful, orange grosgrain that I had from ... somewhere. A wiggly eye adds a little more fun and whimsy to the card.




As always, tell me what you think! I even want to know if you actually LIKE the snowflake card. LOL!!



Have an awesome night and remember, there's a great, big, beautiful tomorrow at the end of every day!!

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Fun night here! Jonah made a card, and I made 2. Yippee! Time got away with us, too, as we were creating and having a good time .... and while Jaydin was destroying my photo contraption. ::rolling my eyes:: The pictures tonight were taken with a cardboard box top as the background. Sorry. Not as good of quality as before.



Here's Jonah's card for a friend. He used Whale Wishes and some patterned paper. He was pleased, and I think he did a great job!










This card was made for one of the kids in our deacon families. He will be 6 in March, and I thought the By Land set fit that age pretty well. Again, the card isn't fancy, but works well for the purpose. I cut out the car - please keep in mind that I HATE to cut anything out ... that's why I have a Cricut - and used torn paper for the background hills. The car was spritzed with water and colored with the WWC. It was stamped on Whisper White. Big, silver brads embellish the wheels. I sponged Ballet Blue on the top for the sky.




My Cricut card for the night .... I used the Cricut, Accent Essentials cart, and the George cart for this one. I can imagine doing this card in several other fun colors. This combo kind of turned out looking like Christmas. It's two of the current In Colors by SU. I believe it is Wild Wasabi and Purely Pomegranate. I stamped the flourish from Friendship Blooms on the petals and embellished with a big, yellow brad. The flowers were welded together and welded to a rectangle before being cut. Then, the pomegranate layer was cut separately. I sponged Going Gray on the wasabi petals to give a little distinction.







Here's the promised Cricut card for my friend. Yep, her name starts with "M." I welded the "M" shadow to a rectangle and cut it. I then cut the regular "M" and adhered it on to the shadow layer. Embellishing was all that was needed after that. I hope she likes it!! I thought it turned out pretty cute.





As always, I'd love to hear what you think - and I'm sure Jonah would love to know what you think of his card, too!!!



Stamp happy, and remember that there's a great, big, beautiful tomorrow at the end of each and every day. :)

Monday, February 18, 2008

New Stuff!

New stuff came today from SU!!! Yippee!! I love it when Mr. Brown makes a trip up my driveway. :)

The card that I made today wasn't anything wonderful or special, but it will work well for a deacon family member card. I used Friendship Blooms - which you can get FREE from SU right now during Sale-A-Bration. I also used some of that fantastic taffeta ribbon - basic gray - that came in that big box today. The flowers are colored using the Watercolor Wonder Crayons and the aquapainter. The flourish from the stamp set is used on the pale plum layer and on the inside. The top right corner and bottom left corner are pierced to add texture and detail.Tomorrow - my Cricut card! Can't wait to post it, but I did want it mailed first. :)


Remember - there's a great, big, beautiful tomorrow at the end of every day!!!! YOU can decide to take it or leave it.

Saturday, February 16, 2008

Finally!!!

Today was creation day! LOL! Ok ... so maybe not *that* dramatic, but I did manage to create a bit. I'll try to share some today and save some for later this week.

As I mentioned before, my dh has asked me to do cards for our deacon families. I needed to get one more done for February, and start March. The last one that I needed to do for February was for a child turning 1. Since that card is mainly for the parents, I didn't make it too cutesy. For this one, I used the Cricut cartridge Celebrations for the candle '1' and the scalloped square. Craft white was applied directly to the edge of the chocolate chip paper after it was embossed with the swirls Cuttlebug folder. On the card base, I stamped the smiley face from Smiles - a long-retired set. Some cute , brown, gingham-checked ribbon was tied on each corner to give some fun embellishment to the card front.





The other card that I'm sharing today is really nothing special. It's a good card for just about anyone. I'm going to use it for one of the adult males that I need to send to. It, also, satisfies one of the Quacker challenges - the circle one - from December/January. The top part was done as a whole sheet and cut down to fit this card. The bottom was embossed with the Cuttlebug and a silver Brilliance pad was rubbed lightly over the top. It looks a bit like old metal. Chocolate Chip ribbon was used to embellish.


A little bit of my Haven decorations ....




All of the decorations were done with the Cricut (many different cartridges) and either Wall Pops or some wonderful vinyl gotten from SignWarehouse.com, I believe. Fun, fun, fun stuff - and so easy to cut and manipulate. I'm not finished, but I really wanted to share some of it. I have some vines and monkeys ready to invade my Sunday school space tomorrow. We'll see how well it works on concrete walls. Nothing ever sticks on there very well.

Coming later this week ... a cute card made using the Cricut and the Cricut software. Awesome combo, let me tell ya!!!


Until I post again, have a great weekend and remember that there's a great, big, beautiful tomorrow at the end of every day!!!! :)

Friday, February 15, 2008

I Promise

I promise! I'm going to create tomorrow. Things are much better around here, and I have some cards and projects to get done. Working on those tomorrow will be my priority.

Hopefully, all of you are well and staying away from the nasty flu!!! Stay safe, stay well, and stay happy.


Remember, there's a great, big, beautiful tomorrow at the end of every day.

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

I'm Sorry

I am so sorry that I've not posted any new creations lately. At this moment, I am so, so sick. Doctor tomorrow, I think. Anyway, as soon as I get an opportunity to create, I will do so and share on here. Forgive me until then!!!


Have a great, big, beautiful tomorrow (even if it looks like you're going to the doctor!)!!

Tuesday, February 05, 2008

Success!!

Yep ... success on the potty training. All done. NO MORE DIAPERS!!!! Yippee!


Success, too, in creating tonight. Mark is a deacon in our church. Through our deacons, we have a family ministry, and each deacon has about 16 families on their list. He's asked me to do birthday cards for the family members that have birthdays coming up. So, I made 3 of the ones needed for February tonight.



The first one is for an adult female - the *easiest* cards for me to make. I used some of the SU designer paper for the background, a piece of vanilla paper for the layer, Petal Prints (is that the name?!) for the flower, and some taffeta ribbon. The flower is stamped using the WWC colored directly on the stamp. Told you it was simple!!!






The next one is for a 7 year old little girl - probably the 2nd easiest card for me to make. I used Pretty Princess, some mulberry paper, shimmery white paper, WWC, and some adorable heart brads that I found at JoAnn's sometime back. Nothing really special about the card, but I think the child will like it.




The last one ... which was actually the first one that I made tonight ... is for a young, adult male - one of the HARDEST kind of cards to make!!! I used Setting Sail on this one, and it's a great stand-by set for guys. My 16 actually LIKED this card. That thrills me!!!!! I used the SU distressing tool for the sides of the vanilla piece and did direct to paper to ink the distressed sides. I used hemp thread to embellish. The background is done on blue with white craft ink to make it look like a blueprint. The card base is basic gray, and I used a layer of going grey behind the sailboat image layer. The sailboat is stamped in basic brown.



So ... lay it on me. Tell me what you think!


And until I hear from you, have a great, big, beautiful tomorrow!!!! :)