Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Totally Trippin'

Several months ago, I used the deep cut blade assembly and blade to cut the cardboard cover for this book. I bound it using the Bind It All and left it for a while. Before we left on our cruise, though, I got it back out and got it ready for our trip. It became Jaydin's (my 4 year old) autograph/memory book for this year's journey. I embellished most of the pages with stamps, stickers or the gel pen, and I put the title on the front cover.



The cover title was cut using the Cricut and SCAL. The glitter gel pen was used to add some sparkles ... actually, it's Pixie Dust. :) The title words were cut from SU Yoyo Yellow paper.

I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Have an awesome day and a great, big, beautiful tomorrow!!!

~*Shell*~

Friday, November 13, 2009

Another Frame

One of the other name frames that I made for the cruise was for Stephanie. She loves Tinkerbell, and although I wanted to put Tink on there, I also wanted to capture the 'feeling' of Tink, too.

Using the drawn-flourish stamp from the SU set, Doodle This (or Doodle That .... whichever one is the bigger set....), the flourish was stamped as the background in VersaMark ink. Stephanie's name was cut using SCAL and the Cricut. Bling butterflies were added, along with some sparkle dots using the glitter gel pen from Gelly Rollz. Tink was stamped, colored with Copics, and cut out to be placed sitting on the 'n.' All paper used was from SU. A few star sparkles are placed around the frame, as well.


Another fun one to create. :)


Have a wonderful day and a great, big, beautiful tomorrow!! :)


~*Shell*~

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Alexa's Name Frame

Here's the name frame on which I used Bruce and Nemo. It was for a young lady named Alexa, and she loves Nemo.

The font used was Findet Nemo. You can find it here at FontSpace for free. It works perfectly for this name frame.

The paper used was from SU, and the bubbles were created with a glitter gel pen (GellyRollz). The pen was perfect to use for bubbles because it allows the color under it to be seen. Nemo has wiggle eyes and some touch-ups with a fine black Sharpie.









We delivered it on the cruise. I hope she liked it!!!! I sure enjoyed creating it - as well as the other 2 I made. :)


Have a fantastic day and a great, big, beautiful tomorrow.



~*Shell*~

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Here's Bruce!

Another day, another character. Today, I introduce you to Bruce. Bruce is the lovable shark in the movie Finding Nemo. I used Bruce to create another name frame - which I will share later on here.

Bruce was cut using SCAL with the Cricut and the SCUT files that I created. He is made with SU paper and is put together using Xyron adhesive. His base is a dark blue.

Bruce's mouth *without* teeth was actually cut twice - INSTEAD of using the teeth cut. I cut the mouth in pink and again - a little smaller - in white. Then, I cut the regular mouth file to give the illusion of cut teeth. It works well - and you don't have to deal with all those tiny teeth.



The SCUT (for use only with SCAL) file for this character is available for those that wish to have it. Simply comment on this blog post and include your contact information. I will email the files to you in .scut format.

Have an awesome Wednesday and a great, big, beautiful tomorrow!!! :)

Saturday, October 10, 2009

A Stitch In Time

I'm so sorry that it's been a long time!! This post is worth the wait, though.

My son and I are creating swap items for our cruise chat friends (kids) that we will meet in 21 days when we board the Disney Magic. My son decided to put his talents to use by making journals/notebooks for each of his new friends. He focused the themes on the Disney characters that each person loves. We used the Cricut and Cuttlebug to cut, cut, cut some wonderful shapes for the journals. And, he did a fantastic job on them.

One of our friends, though, loves Stitch (Experiment 626 from Lilo and Stitch). I could NOT find a Cricut file for SCAL for that critter. I haven't had the time to 'create' one, so we used stickers (bought from Hobby Lobby) ::::::SHOCK:::::::: for that one journal. When creating my project, though, I finally decided to take some extra time and create. It took me a long time to get all of the layers sorted and created, but ... it got done. I am THRILLED with my little Experiment 626. I can't wait to hear what you have to say about him - oh! and the name frame I made using him.


Here is Stitch ... in all of his glory. LOL! All cardstock used is from Stampin' Up!, and he is put together using Xyron adhesive machines.














This is the first name frame that I created tonight. Kristen is the Stitch-lover on the cruise. I sure hope she likes this. The font is from dafont, and it's free. It worked really well with SCAL. The flowers in the background are stamped in VersaMark ink and are from the Island Blossoms stamp set (retired SU). The little, crystal, self-adhesive flowers are some that I had on hand.












I would be happy to send the *jpg* files of each layer to you if you are interested. Comment on this blog post with your email address or contact information if you would like the zip file of all layers. In SCAL, simply open each file by selecting 'Trace Image' from the "File" menu.


I will try to update my blog more frequently now. Sorry about the delay in posting recently!! Forgive me!!

Have a wonderful Saturday night and a great, big, beautiful tomorrow!!





~*Shell*~

Tuesday, September 01, 2009

More Bible Study

Our Bible study theme this week was joy. That one was pretty tough for me to handle this week since my oldest child (my 18 year old son) headed to boot camp on Sunday. Joy .... not the first emotion I would say that I felt. But the Lord brought to mind many things about His intent for us and for our joy. He is good, and He will sustain me through the next 13 weeks.



The joy pages. Joy was done with SU paper, cut with the Cricut using SCAL, run through the Cuttlebug to emboss circles and flowers on the purple layer, and put on pop dots to add dimension to the page. The pictures were all from this past weekend. They are cherished memories. Some pictures are on pop dots, but some are adhered flatly on the page.

The background paper is from a paper stack from Hobby Lobby and the little flowers are also from Hobby Lobby.


Next week is 'peace.' With three kids, I don't get much of that particular thing!!! LOL! Guess we'll see what the Lord has to say to me about it, huh?


If you pray, please pray for my son. He will be in boot camp for the next 12 weeks and will graduate as a US Marine the week of Thanksgiving. This will be the hardest experience of his life, but it will be worth it, and he will be the very best Marine that he can be. :)


Have a wonderful day and a great, big, beautiful tomorrow.

Saturday, August 22, 2009

Frustration!!!

I'm so sorry that I've not posted, but I've not been able to log in to Blogger for *days*. It's been extremely frustrating!

Anyhoo .... on to some crafting. :) Another Bible study has started up. Once again, it's a scrapbooking study.

My first page, strangely enough, has not even one picture on it.



"Living the Fruitful Life" was the theme for the week. Since I eat fruit and refuse to decorate, stamp, or scrap with it, I went with a 'tree' motif instead. Fruit .... trees ..... yeah, it works. This page has the theme cut using SCAL and my Cricut, the verse layered and 'popped up' using pop dots, and the little flowers from Hobby Lobby. All paper is SU except the verse. I took that directly from the study book. The leaf at the bottom is a carry-over from the next page and is embossed using the Cuttlebug.





The tree. :) The tree was cut using Zooballoo and the leaves came from Doodlecharms. Each fruit of the spirit is written on a leaf in the pile, and some leaves are embossed using the Cuttlebug. The trunk of the tree was inked using the Basic Brown (SU) pad directly on the paper.








Holes were cut in each page before the pages were created and embellished. I will bind all of the pages together in a scrapbook using the Bind-it-All after the Bible study is over.




Hopefully, Blogger will be more cooperative this week!

Have a *wonderful* Saturday and a great, big, beautiful tomorrow.





Monday, August 10, 2009

Simple Cricut Stocked Up Shapes

As mentioned before, I often cut a bunch of shapes with my bug, sort them, and save them for later cards and projects. This card uses a couple of those shapes. The card is done in SU basic gray and the layers are Not Quite Navy and white, I believe. The flowers are colored using watercolor wonder crayons (you thought I was going to say Copics, didn't you??!!!). The stamp was spritzed with water and then colored with the crayons. They were lightly spritzed again just before they were stamped on the paper. Versamark ink was used to put leaves on the Not Quite Navy layer. Ribbon from the SAB ribbon bundle adorns the front, just over the sentiment. Both scalloped squares were cut using the Cricut, SCAL, and the shape font that was on my blog some time ago. It's a simple card. Hopefully, the recipient enjoyed the birthday card, as well as the special wish that went with it.







I hope, tomorrow, to have create projects to share with each of you! Thank you so much for supporting my blog.


Have a wonderful Monday evening, and a great, big, beautiful tomorrow.

Sunday, August 09, 2009

Birthday Card

A friend of ours turned 50 in July. A big party was held for him on July 25th. I used Copics and more of those cool, completely clear, stamps. Both moose stamp and the tree/moon stamp were clear stamps permanently mounted on clear blocks, but the "birthday wishes" stamp came from SU.

The images were all stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black and colored with Copics. The white layer with the images was mounted on a piece of old olive (I think...), and a leftover piece of rope (from a past challenge) was used to embellish the side. Creamy caramel was the lower, base layer. Inside, a piece of cardstock was used to make a pocket for a gift card.

Happy Birthday, David!!



Have a great day today and a great, big, beautiful tomorrow!



Saturday, August 08, 2009

CHA Baby!

Wow. What an experience!!! I am so happy that I was able to be a participant in the first, ever, CHA Craft Super Show. It was an 8 hour drive to get there, but well worth it. We had so much fun!! My mom joined me on the trip, along with Jonah (my 13 yo ds) and Jaydin (my almost-4-yo dd).

Here are some pictures from the awesome trip.




Look!!! SCS is top and center on the Thank You board!!!!
















And, of course, the first booth I went to was, indeed, Splitcoast. I have waited years to meet these wonderful people. Jonah took this picture of me, Daven Nolta, and Jenn Balcer. Yes, as Daven noted, I have on a very old version of the SCS shirts. :) Love my SCS!!!!













Jaydin had a great time at the make-n-takes. Everyone was so kind to her. This was at the A.C.Moore booth.















Jaydin and one of the workers at A.C. Moore. They were showing off their puppy dog masks. :)















Jaydin even got her face painted.

















On day 2, I realized that I had not gotten a picture with Beate while at the SCS booth on Friday. I took care of that not long after getting there on Saturday. :)












Yeah, believe it or not, Jaydin was a pink kitty cat on the 2nd day, too. And what a cute kitty cat she is.















The damage ....

Made this adorable purse bag at the SCS booth with Just Rite Stamps.













Because there were so many make-n-takes and so many goodies coming home with us, I decided to just take a big shot of everything. There are a few things that my kids made that are not in this picture, but I think you get the idea. Things in this picture were either bought or free. I came home with plenty of fun things - some of which, I would never have purchased without trying them at the show.







This trip was a wonderful experience. I hope that next summer, they hold it in another place that I can get to with relative ease. :)



I didn't get pictures of Jonah doing the make-n-takes. He and Mom took off and did a ton of things that I didn't do. We all had a great time!!


More projects tomorrow. Have a great day and a great, big, beautiful tomorrow!!!






Friday, August 07, 2009

Believe

A friend was going through a tough time, and I wanted her to know that my thoughts and prayers were with her family. Sometimes, those cards are very hard to make. This one came together pretty easily, though.



The circles (with one side cut off) were cut using SCAL and the Cricut. Circles from an SU stamp set were stamped in Versamark for the background. Believe (from the CDS set "Whatever") was stamped randomly in Versamark on the purple and stamped again in Memento Tuxedo Black to be a focal point. The purple circle layer is adhered using dimensionals to give the card a little more depth. The verse is also from the "Whatever" set and was stamped in Memento.













The tiny flower embellishment was part of a pack of paper flowers from Hobby Lobby. There's even a little bling in the middle. The flower was a perfect size to add just a little bit to this card.











Hope you had a wonderful Friday and that you have a great, big, beautiful tomorrow!!!





Thursday, August 06, 2009

A Work of Heart

My son has been dating a young lady for over a year. Her birthday was on July 25th, and he wanted to give her a CD with pictures of them on it for her special day. A CD? Really?? It was suggested that he give her a scrapbook, instead. He went with the idea, thankfully. Unfortunately, I had only 1 day to create the special gift. He and I went through the pictures on Wednesday night, and all of Thursday was spent working on the book. The book was 20 pages, but I'm only showing a few here. I know that you have no desire to see all 20!! LOL! The book is rather simple because, as I mentioned, I had to do it in only one day.



The album is an 8x8 and the cover is black with white flowers. This is the front, inside page. The font worked sooooo well for this, don' you think?? It's called "Love Letters" and was cut using SCAL. Small pearl and rhinestone corners embellish the two open corners.








Simple, but I thought it worked. I loved the paper. It was an 8x8 stack that I bought at Hobby Lobby. I also bought a 12x12 stack that had stickers and such in it, as well as black and white patterned paper. I used the stickers and tags from that to embellish the layouts and the paper to layer under the pictures.















This was the first of a 2 page layout from my daughter's birthday party last year. For whatever reason, everyone loves putting icing in Jared's face. :) And he wears it so well!! Victoria did it this time, and we have reactions on both pages.











The word "laugh" was colored using a Copic that almost exactly matched the color of the background paper. The black and white paper with the words was taken from the 12x12 stack. Bringing out that one word put the focus on the fun we had that day.













The last page was a challenge. We didn't have a picture for that page, so I made an envelope on the page where a note or letter could be stashed. It's interesting to 'scrap' without a picture. :)








Word has it that Victoria loved the book. I sure hope so. It was TOTALLY a work of heart. :)



Have a great day and a great, big, beautiful tomorrow.

Tuesday, August 04, 2009

Texture

Recently, my battery in my truck died. Now, I don't mean that it died and had to be jumped off. No. I mean that it DIED and *could not* be jumped off. In the past, my daddy was always there to help me in those situations, but sadly, the option of calling him in times of need is no longer available. Fortunately, Dad's best friend lives up the street from my mom. Mom called him, and he came to rescue me. To let him know how much his help was appreciated, I created this card.




The fisherman and the tree/moon stamps came into my collection a LONG time ago. They are unusual stamps as the stamp and the block on which it is permanently mounted are both clear. I have no idea where they came from, but I LOVE stamping with them and coloring the images. The images were stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black and were colored using Copics. The "thank you" stamp is from SU and was also stamped in Memento.












The Creamy Caramel layer was made using walnut ink and by wadding the paper up to distress it. It made a wonderful background layer for the rustic feel of the card. Three large, black brads were used to embellish the background layer.








The card was mailed today. Sure hope he likes it and that he knows how much his help was appreciated.



Tomorrow, I will update you all on my weekend. I was at the CHA Super Show and had an absolute blast. Bought and made tons of stuff!!!! Sooooooo much fun.


Until then, have a great day and a great, big, beautiful tomorrow!!!!!!!


Monday, July 27, 2009

Crafting Lull

I've had a tough time getting the energy back to use crafting. After the surgery, I had energy to workout or craft. Because my body needed it, working out has been winning. In the last 2 weeks or so, though, crafting has resumed a little bit.


The last pages of my bible study scrapbook were about My Relationship with God. The image of the "Bride of Christ" came to mind, and I went with that theme for my pages.

The background paper was included in a pack of Christian-themed paper bought at Hobby Lobby. The flowers, also, were bought at Hobby Lobby. The cross was cut using SCAL and a Christian symbol font. The pictures were printed in black and white, and the title was printed using my computer and printer.











This page uses the same background paper as the first one, along with the same flowers. The 'stained glass' cross was cut using SCAL and the Christian-symbol font, and names of God were written, free-hand, on each 'window.'










After doing the Relationship page, I wanted to use that stained glass cross for a card. The symbol was welded to a blackout image of that symbol. A blackout was also cut out of acetate to use as the 'stained glassed' layer. Copic markers were used to color the colored glass and that layer was adhered to the cross layer.







It's so neat to be able to see through the card. A piece of white was cut just a little smaller than the card size to allow for writing on the inside.










Here, you can see the effect of the light shining through the 'glass.' The color reflections are really quite beautiful. :)











More to come. Let me know what you think about these!

Hope you have a wonderful day and a great, big, beautiful tomorrow!!!



Wednesday, July 08, 2009

Challenge and Bible Study Pages

My July challenge envelope came the other day with some interesting elements included. I was able to make some time last night to put them together. The card didn't turn out exactly like I had planned, but I think it came together ok.


The image was in brown ink on white paper. I used walnut ink in a spritzer to age the image paper, as well as the piece of creamy caramel behind it. I wadded the papers up to give them crinkles, wrinkles, and character. :) The lowest layer is a denim print, and the red and blue layers have a bandanna-paisley pattern. They were all included in the challenge, along with the stars, checked-paper strip, twine, and the brads. Walnut ink was used on one of the stars, and the twine was stripped down a bit to make it a little thinner and easier to use on the card. The stamped image layer is adhered using Stampin' Up! Dimensionals. I think this card will work well for any occasion that requires a generic or masculine card.










As we worked on our bible study last week, we decided that one 'theme' was missing for us. Since we were studying God's Good Gifts, we wanted to include our husbands. They are such great gifts from God to us, and we didn't want to miss the chance to recognize that in our book. So, we added a week to our study and used the week to find and study verses on husbands and marriage.


The title is cut using SCAL and a jigsaw font with shadow. This looked very 'rough' and was a great font for something masculine. Several of the pictures were put on pop dots to give some dimension to the page. Three big brads were used to adorn the side of the page.









"Friend," "Lover," and "Gift" were also cut using SCAL, but I can't remember which font. Let me know if you need to know what it was, and I can look it up. The background paper is from a paper stack that I had on hand. Three heart brads were used with "Gift," and three more round brads were used at the top of the page.





I'm very proud of my husband. He's lost about 75 lbs since the beginning of the year and is doing *great*. I love him very much. :)



Have a great day and a great, big, beautiful tomorrow!!!

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Fun Baby Card

Recently, I had a friend that needed to announce to her hubby that she was going to have baby #2. She asked me if I had any suggestions, and my first thought and response was - naturally - a card. :) We played around with the idea for a little while, and I came up with a fun poem to announce the event. That jump started the ideas, and here is what we came up with.



The base card is certainly celery and the layer is barely banana (I think). The hands are from the SU set called "I'm Here," and they were stamped in pink and blue (SU ink) on whisper white. Pink taffeta ribbon and blue gingham embellish the front. It is very simple on the front, but I believe that it has a very clean look.











The inside had the same layering, but the feet were used in place of the hands, and they were stamped off once before being used as the background. A black Sharpie was used to write the poem.



I've heard that the card was effective and that we now have 2 excited, expecting parents. :)










I hope today was awesome for you and that you have a great, big, beautiful tomorrow!



Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Cleaning Up and Creating

It has been a long time since I've really created. Last night, I had a chance to do just that. The Haven was calling.

At some point, two previously-created graduation cards were ... misplaced. Replacements had to be made, and that was my first task of the evening. It adds a special touch when the cards can be created using the graduate's school colors, but one of the invitations got lost in the mail on the way to our home. I have no idea what colors her high school used, but I do know that she's going to Auburn in the fall, so I used blue and orange. Hopefully, that will make her happy. :) The other graduation card is done in red and gray for that school's colors.
















The main stamp used on both graduation cards was from Hobby Lobby. I really liked this stamp for the focal image. The background images were from a Studio G set bought at Michael's.










Two weeks ago, I had a hysterectomy (YIPPEE!!!!!), and so many wonderful friends brought us meals and sat with my dear hubby while I was in surgery. Thank you notes were in order. Before the surgery, I had created several cards, but I needed another one. That was my other 'creation' task for the night.

Cutting many layered shapes at one time with the Cricut makes putting simple cards together easy and quick. The focal layer and layer behind it were both cut in SCAL using the font shown here. At the same time, I cut scalloped circles, squares, and such of varying sizes. These are kept in a box with colored layers on one side and white, stamping layers on the other.

The flower images (SU) were colored with Copics and stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black. The organdy ribbon is SU, and the background images (SU) were stamped using Versamark.


I also managed to clean up my work area. I didn't want to do too much, but it was good to get that done.


Have an awesome day and a great, big, beautiful tomorrow!!! :)