Quick Card For My Father In Law

Materials used

Circut Gypsy and Expression

Gypsy Wanderings and Just Because Cartridges

Metallic Cardstock in Blue and Brown

Basic Grey Paper - Offbeat

Black Skittles

Pop Dots

Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels 6

Distress Inks

Hi Friends and fellow crafters! I don't know how the holidays are in your homes, but every year, a present in our home goes missing. It's a long standing tradition in my family to put a present where it will be "safe", then forget where you put it and finally unearth it some time after January. This year was no exception. My Mom, who is 79 and entering her forgetful years, wanted to give my Father In Law a present. He is a man who loves his Starbucks coffee, so I figured that would be the perfect gift for him. I took her shopping and she picked him up a Gift Card. I tried to pry it out of her hands, but she wouldn't budge. She is fiercely independent and she insisted she would remember where it was. I made a mental note of where it was in he purse so that when it came time for gift wrapping I would be able to find it. Christmas Eve comes, and I ask my Mom for the card so I can put in a wrapper I made for her. She looks in her purse, but alas! No Starbucks Card! The annual hunt for the gift game was afoot! The missing present had revealed itself! I looked in purses, I looked under the bed, between the mattress, inside jewelry boxes, in draws, but the card was nowhere to be found! Under her dresser? No card! Pull out the draws, look inside. No card! Inside other Cards? Nope! I even looked inside shoes! The Starbucks card had vanished into the missing present void! My Mom comes in her room with my package, and insists the card decorating it is her card. I attempt to explain that it's a different card, but then decide to let it ride, and let her have the card. I knew that Starbucks card would eventually reveal it's whereabouts to me. Later, we told my dear Father In Law there was another Starbucks card, and that it would eventually find it's way into daylight! Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago. I am cleaning my Mom's room, and what do I find on the floor of her closet? You guessed it! A Starbucks card! I decided to make a quick card for my Father In Law, and this is it. It is pretty simple compared to most cards I have been making lately, but he really enjoyed it! So that is the story of the missing Christmas gift for 2010!
The card is a basic 4 1/4 easel card. If you don't know how to make an easel card, Splitcoast Stampers has a great tutorial here.  I used blue metallic cardstock from Paper Temptress for the easel. Brown Metallic cardstock for the base on the sentiment, the cup and the steam. The cup is from Gypsy Wanderings, I used the Basic Grey paper to cut the cup and steam. Love You a Latte comes from Just Because cards. I popped the cup on the easel and slid the card under it.

Don't forget KarelJ is hosting a fun blog hop on March 26th! If you click on the badge you will find the information. We have lots of great projects and blog candy lined up for the hop! Save the date!

Happy Crafting!

Colleen

There's A Spring In My Cards (Part 2)

Materials:

Inkadinkado Nest with Flowers Stamp

Cricut Machine and Gypsy

Nestabilities Labels 1

Vagabond

Cricut Paper Lace & Mother's Day 2010 Cartridges

K & Company Specialty Papers Addison

Core'dinations Cardstock ( green for card base)

Paper Temptress Heavenly white cardstock for stamping

Prima Flowers

MS Leaf Punch

I-Rock

Jolee's Crystals (heat set)

Tim Holtz Tissue Tape

Distress Ink (tea)

My Mother In Law's Birthday Card

Hey Friends and fellow crafters! February was, and now March looks to be, very crafty for me! This is the card I created for my Mother In Law's 69th Birthday. My Mom loves fussy cards with girly images, but my Mother In Law prefers simpler, not so fussy cards. Sometimes I find it hard to go clean and simple and this time was no exception. I picked out my stamp right away, and went to work finding papers. This is the 2nd piece of paper I chose, and I thought it was exactly what I was picturing, until I colored the image. I used my Copics to color the stamped image, but didn't make a list of the colors I used. I'm sorry, I keep forgetting to do that for the blog! Once the image was colored, I carefully ran it through the vagabond to die cut it. I usually try to do that before I color, but I originally thought I was going with square or just rounded corners on the image. Once it was cut, I started thinking that I would make an easel card with it, so I cut some background cardstock for the card. I decided to use different papers and colors, then proceeded to waste about an hour or so on picking out new paper. After a while, I picked up the original paper that you see on the card, changed the design to a 5.5 inch card, and finished it. :-)

All the paper is from K and Company, and I used the Core'dination cardstock that I have been hoarding forever, for the base. I cut a larger nestability shape to frame the butterfly and attached it to the front. I really love the new Tissue Tapes from Tim Holtz. I used just a touch of Distress Ink on the tape and ran it across the front of my card. Then I added some MS punched leaves with a Prima Flower from my stash and attached a butterfly charm to the flower with a cute safety pin. I cut the word Mother with my Cricut and finished the front of the card. I have been trying to make more of an effort to co-ordinate the inside and backs of my cards and I think I did a pretty good job on this one.

Here are a couple of pictures of the inside. The happy birthday is from Paper Lace, as is the border under the sentiment. This is a great cartridge for borders, I know I'll be using it often!

I used Jolee's Hot Fix Crystals on the border for some extra interest. I have the I-Rock crystals and they are great, but I use Jolee's for my Mom and Mother In Law's cards. They are just beautiful on cards, but costly, so they are something I don't feel bad about saving. I did something I don't usually do and finished the back of the card. I like that it added weight to the card, and it looks pretty, too.

That's my card for the day. Thank you so much for stopping by my blog and I always love to read your comments. It means so much to me.

Happy Crafting!

Colleen

I've Got A Spring In My Cards! (Part 1)

Hi friends and fellow crafters! Doesn't it seem spring can't get here fast enough this year? Here in NJ, the stores are beginning to showcase all their outdoor items and the weather has been feeling less cold. I won't say warmer just yet, because today it's only 35 degrees! The temps are supposed to start climbing into the high 40's and then the 50's over the next few days and I know it's close because I saw my first Robin of the season today! This is giving me a bad case of Spring Fever! It's beginning to show in my crafting, too. First, there was the Cricut Challenge Spring Banner, and the other day my Mom needed a new home card so here is my Happy New Home Card.

Materials Used:

Cricut Carts

Home Decor (Butterfly and Home)

Straight From The Nest (Happy)

Mother's Day Bouquet (Flower)

MS All Occasion Cake Art (NEW)

DCWV Songbird Cardstock

MS Leaf Punch

Copics

Stickles

Shimmers Spritz

Making Memories craft wire

American Crafts Crystal Brad

Dark Red Pearl Embellishments

Ribbon

This is one of my favorite stamps. It's called Bird House, designed by Elisabeth Bell for Sugar Nellie in 2008. I don't know if it's still available as EB no longer designs for them, but they still have a fantastic collection of stamps at Sugar Nellie.

I colored the image with my copics, but I used so many colors, I didn't list them, lol! I really like how the birdhouse turned out. I am getting more comfortable shading with the copics, and I think it's beginning to show. I am still on a self imposed paper ban, which has led to me finding and using great paper that I was hoarding and ended up forgetting about. The DCWV Songbird cardstock worked out perfectly for this card.

I also used the cardstock to make the flower embellishment on the front of the card. It was nice and heavy, so I was able to moisten it, scrunch it up, smooth it out and it didn't tear! I love how the flower turned out. I sprayed it with Shimmerz Spritz in Baby's Breath to moisten the paper, so it gives the paper a nice glimmer that's hard to see in pictures. It's similar to Glimmer Mist, but so far, I think it sprays a little lighter, covers more even and the nozzle hasn't clogged yet! I love my Glimmer Mist, but the constant nozzle clogging makes me crazy! Anyway, here's a close up of the flower. It's from the awesome Mother's Day Bouquet Cricut Cartridge. I love paper flowers, so this cartridge was a "must have" for me. I have been playing with all the cuts, so now I have a nice stash of flowers for future use.



I used red stickles to outline the words. It's hard to see in the picture, but the houses on the inside of the card have red glitter on them. I added the butterfly from Home Decor, and the pearl accents on the inside to complete the card. My Mom said her girlfriend loves the card, and that's makes me very happy. It's why we do this, isn't it?

I hope you are all getting a taste of spring wherever you live, too!

Happy Crafting!

Colleen

Last Minute Cricut Monthly Challenge

                                         

FEBRUARY MONTHLY CHALLENGE: BANNERS!

Banners are everywhere! We love their versatility and the way they can be customized for any occasion. For this challenge, we want you to create a banner with any theme you would like. You may use THIS POST as inspiration, or feel free to create something completely new. Project must be newly created for this challenge.

So this is my last minute submission for the challenge. I only have about 40 minutes left, so there won't be too much detail right now.
The project has to be newly created and have at least 3 Cricut Cuts.

                                                       

Carts Used

MS All Occasions Cake Art - Banners

April Showers - Boots and Birdhouse

Heritage - Bicycle and Tree

Country Life - Letters and Laundry Line

Easter 2010 - Bunny and Eggs

Home Decor - Bird and Butterfly

Papers

Bazzill

K & Company - WB Gypsy Baby Paper

SEI - Chick a Dee

Extras

Prima Flowers

MS Leaf Punch

Ribbon from Stash

Doodlebug White Flock

Viva Decor Pearl Pen

Skittles

Diamond Glaze

Copics

Flower Soft

Cuttle Bug Dots Embossing Folder

Nestabilities Scalloped Oval

Flocked Bunny

The bike and tree are colored with Copics.

I added some fibers for the bike tassel. I used Flower Soft for the flowers in the basket, grass, and tree.

                         I enjoyed putting the banner together for the challenge. Thanks for stopping by!



Just a quick note

Good Morning Everyone!
The digi stamps have all been emailed, so make sure you check your mailboxes!
So I was trying to dig out of my email this morning and I popped over to Karel's Birthday Bash to see what's going on there today. She has some great projects and her new design team is featuring amazing talent! I was happy to see Calie from the Cricut Board is one of her designers. Karel mentioned that she met Calie back during the Inchie, Twinchie, and Trinchie days. I was also part of those swaps, and I have barely scratched the surface of the endless amounts of little embellies I swapped. While I was reading Karel's blog, my ADD kicked in and somehow, I ended up clicking a side blinkie. That led me to this

A Beatles Blog Hop!!! I just had to post the blinkie here because I am such a huge fan. I haven't gone through all the posts yet, but you know I will! The host for the hop made a sweet notebook featuring the Fab Four. If you are a fan, you should check it out. They are also offering some great candy!
I can finally see my Christmas decorations on the front lawn, so I am off to try to get them up before the next round of storms!
                                                                      Happy Crafting!

Colleen