Friday, May 30, 2008

Altered Over the Hill? card for the Cricut "Show us your Best" contest

As some of you must already know Cricut had a "Show us your Best" contest in which the winner gets 3 carts of their choice and their project will be featured in the next Cricut infomercial. So...I took the design of the card that I had the most fun making and coincidently the most carts used! In the original design I used 5 carts but I decided to make some changes to this version which I ended up adding another cart to the recipe! I used the CDS and there was one cut that I made that I had to change the cart 5 times!

Here's the recipe for this version:
Cricut carts: AE, Celebrations, Cuttin' Up, Doodlecharms, Doodletype and Opposites Attract (strangely enough I didn't use anything from Beyond B-days).
Stickles: Xmas Red
Blossoms: Making Memories Jumbo Daisy Spotlight
Various rhinestones and self-adhesive gems
Cuttlebug: D'Vine Embossing Folder
Ribbon: Offray Stripe Red-Bk and red ric-rac
CS: White, Black, Red, Brown, Metallic Papaya, Neutral Tan
DPs: DCWV The Glitter Stack











For the rest of the pictures that I did exactly the same for this project and also of the different inside of the card design, click here.

TFL!

40,000 its for Going Buggy!!

Wow!! Enfys has gotten 40,000 hits on her blog (which is absolutely no surprise to me as she does AMAZING work! I love visiting her site!) So, to celebrate she's giving away some great stamps so go over and enter her contest and be able to see all the amazing things she's done...

Sunday, May 25, 2008

Mom & Dad's 38th Anniversary...& Taylor's Cupcake Challenge #17 & Rima's Blog Candy

It's my parents 38th anniversary next week and Taylor is having another fun challenge (Cupcake Challenge #17), one of these days I'll actually use a cupcake for one of these challenges as I have so many fun cupcake stamps, plus the most fun I've had was making the cupcake b-day card for my dad using the cupcake from the Celebrations Cricut Cart (which to my honor was chosen to be on Inspirational).

Also, after I made this card I found out that Rima is have an amazing Blog Candy give away for being a Cricut member for a year and having a whole lot of hits to her site (congrats Rima!), go check out her site!

So anyway, my parents favorite color is blue so this is the color theme I went with:











Recipe for this creation:
-Cardstock: The Paper Company "Parchment Ivory"
-DPs: DCWV "Robin #2" and "Old World Stack"
-Cuttlebug Script Embossing Folder
-Stamps: Inkadinkado's "Hearts (from their clear set)", Inkadinkado's "LOVE" and Heidi Swapp "Cherish"
-Inks: French Blue (from Colorbox's Misty Meadow Cats Eyes set) & Dune (from Colorbox's Rich Rustics Cats Eyes set)
-Ampersand from George & Basic Shapes Cricut Cart
-Mom & Dad from Opposites Attract Cricut Cart
-Happy Anniversary from Beyond Birthdays Cricut Card (using the shadow feature)
-Love lettering from Joann Scrap Essentials "Antique Mold Alphapbet"
-Misc Items: Self Adhesive Gems, Pop Dots, Ribbon, Ranger Embossing Powder, Heat Tool

The Greatest Mom in the World...

My mom's b-day was this past Friday and here is the card that I made for her. It was quite strange as I was having a hard time starting it as I had couldn't come up with an idea of what color theme or design in my head, nothing, it was almost like writer's block, so I decided to flip through DCWV Nina's Kids Glitter Stack pack and chose what popped out the most to me and this is what I happened...











Recipe for this creation:
-Cardstock: The Paper Company "Burgundy"
-DPs: DCWV Nina's Kid Glitter Stack pack, ?? "Mommy & Me"
-Stamps: Inkadinkado "Happy Birthday Flourish Frame" (Embossed and colored with I Kan'Dee's Pearlescent Jewel Tones)
-Inks: Colorbox Fluid Chalks Rouge & Maroon (from Rose Petals Cats Eyes set)
-Blossoms: MM Jumbo Dark Pink Daisy and Colorbok Layered Flowers
-Stickers: Me & My Big Ideas Soft Spoken "Renee-Mom"
-Acrylic Flowers: Heidi Swapp Ghost Shapes embellished with Stickles (Pink, Lime Green & Diamond and 12mm Rhinestones)
-Ribbom: Offray "Thelma Pink"
-Circut Cartridge: Opposites Attract

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Some Birthday Cards already done...

The following two cards I did back in February & March and had them on the bottom of my blog way before I learned how to post (took me a little bit to catch on to this blogging thing), so I thought I would post them and finally be able give credit to where credit is due. Both these cards are based on the idea of welding the letters to the base of the card using the Cricut Design Studio. This idea is from a very talented lady named Susan (check out her site, boy does she a very creative mind!)

So with her idea and my altering, here's a b-day card I made for my cousin who just turned 21. I used the CDS by welding the card and lettering from Alphalicious. The letters welded to the base of the card are with the shadow feature and then making a separate cut of the same letters in base feature. The hearts are from TBBM and the scallop frame is from AE. The stamp on the back of the card is from Inkadinkadoo which I used with various fluid chalk inks from ColorBox (which I also used to ink the edges of the scallop frame and hearts, along with I Kan'dee Pearlescent Jewel Tone Chalks). Hope you enjoy & TFL!










This next card I made for my boyfriend's daughter who just turned the BIG 1 0! Her b-day present from us was the baby Cricut and oh my does she love it!
Like the other card I used the CDS by welding the card and lettering, again using Alphalicious. The flowers (attached with mini heart brads) are from George, the hearts for the backside of the envie & the back of the card are from TBBM and the frame opening of the card is another goodie from Alphalicious (also cut from the base of the card by welding it together.
I again used various fluid chalk inks from ColorBox and I Kan'dee Pearlescent Jewel Tone Chalks (I LOVE using these combinations together) to shade the edges of pretty much everything. And finally added some fuzzy yarn by attaching it to the inside fold of the card with crystal brads. And here is what I came up with...TFL!









And here's the birthday girl, very happy with her present...

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

New Birthday card for my brother

I made a post a couple days ago that had a b-day card for Taylor's cupcake card challenge, originally the card was going to be for my brother, who's b-day is at the end of May. But I thought the inside was too plain so I had to foof it up, forgetting it was supposed to be a b-day card for a guy, so I decided that card is going to be for someone else and made this new one (stay tuned for the finishing touches of the other card)...TFL!



















Recipe to this creation:
-DPs for card: Paper Pizzazz "yellow w/circles", Cool Metallic Cover Mango, DCWV "Green #3", "Pistachio" and papers from the Glitter Stack
-DPs for Envie: Around the Block "Sunrise Stripe", DCWV Glitter Stack and various stash
-Stamp: Stamps Happen "Row of Cupcakes" colored with Prismacolor pencils and stickles
-Stickles: Diamond, Burgundy, Copper, Lavender & Lime Green
Ribbon: Offray
-Cricut Cartridges: Mickey Font for all lettering for both card and envie (silhouette feature for the card cover), TBBM for the Tag holder for the Gift Card (using the mirror window feature), Doodlecharms and Christmas Cheer for the presents on the backside of the envie.
-Cuttlebug: Happy Birthday Embossing Folder
-Stickers: EK Success by Jean Card Dimensional Stickers "Tools"
-Gems/Rhinestones: various

I think that maybe it?

Sunday, May 18, 2008

Morgan & her time with us...

A year ago I lost my cat, Morgan, to cancer at the young age of 13. For those of you that are cat and/or dog people, you know it is like losing a member of your family. Morgan couldn't have been more like my very own child. She had been with me for almost all of my adult life and always there for me. So over the last year I've been going through pictures to put a memorial journal together for her. Well I finally decided to sit down and actually start it when the latest Bitten By the Bug contest came around. This especially works as the journal was definitely going to have "Morgan & ..." (hadn't figured out what the rest of it was going to say until today). This is definitely far from finished...many more pages to come but at least I finally have it started and here's the 1st 3 pages which two of them are designed for BBTB contest which was to use the Ampersand from either the PLANTIN SCHOOLBOOK or the GEORGE CARTRIDGE. The cover of Morgan's journal uses the ampersand from PS and the 3rd page uses the one from George. Also this is my 1st attempt at doing an acrylic album, it has been quite interesting and challenging (in a fun way) to figure out how to make the other side of each clear acrylic page just as pretty as the front. Stay tuned for more pages to come...







It's a little hard to read the tag above Morgan, it say "No Peaking"






Morgan, kisses to you forever
October 11, 1993 - April 30, 2007

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Taylor's Cupcake Challenge

OK, even though it's a cupcake challenge, Taylor said we didn't really need to use a cupcake so I went with a b-day cake since I needed to make a b-day card for my brother. The challenge was to follow her sketch that included using 3 patterned papers, a border and a sentiment box. Here's my take on it...also check out Taylor's site, she's one talented lady.





Thursday, May 8, 2008

Mother's Day Card based on a great sketch by Beth for her 100th post Blog Candy!!

Beth over at her site Beth's Little Card Blog is having a GREAT Blog Candy contest celebrating her 100th post (WOW!). Check out her site and her blog candy !!

So since I was about to start a card for my mom for Mother's Day I thought what a great sketch to base the card off of and also get to enter a great contest. This sketch was a lot of fun to work with!

So a little about the card:
Papers used:
--Paper Pizzazz Vellum Swirls
--Smooth Cranberry
--Natural Tan
--Corduroy Burgundy
--Pastel Pink
--K&Company Smitten Marbled Flat
--Bohemian My Minds Eye Blossom "Girlfriends" Floral/Pink
--Basic Grey Blush Angelic
Pigment inks Merlot & Dune
Inkadinkado Heart Flourish Stamp (swirls cut off)
Prima's Got Flowers?
MM Mini Blossoms Pink Mix
Platinum Stickles
Heidi Swapp Photo Corners - Tuxedo Pink
Fonts printed on vellum is CK Elegant from scrapNfonts (which BTW they're having a huge $1 sale!)
Heart is from Cricut's Stamped cartridge (from the Love)
Mom on the envie is Cricut's Opposites Attract cartridge
The frame tag is from Cricut's TBBM cartridge using the Mirror Window Feature
Hope you like!

BTW, the picture in the card is of my mom and myself at Lake Winnipesaukee, NH, August of 1978...









Monday, May 5, 2008

OMG OMG OMG!! I've just been featured on Inspirational!!

Hi, I am soooo very excited to tell everyone that I've just been featured on Inspirational which is a blog made up of 18 EXTREMELY talented ladies. They put this site together to "...showcase creations from around the world...that...the team find inspirational."

You should check out Inspirational to see all the other wonderful inspirations!
-Nikki (a very honored person right now!)

BTW, it was for my dad's Over the Hill birthday card.

Saturday, May 3, 2008

Wedding season is definitely here...

...since this card is for the 2nd wedding in two weeks. This time it's my brother's best friend (since they were 7 years old). He lucked out like my brother did with finding a wonderful woman, Michele.

I used the CDS with the cartridges Celebrations, Stamped, Tear Drop and Opposites Attract.

And I finally found out how awesome Stickles are! I used lilac to make the dots on the cake stand and platinum for the center of the flowers on top of the cake where the Bride & Groom are (made by using the Inkadinkado stamp, embossing it and cutting it out). For the centers of the other flowers (MM's purple mix) I used Hero Arts 3mm Pearls.

The romance definition on vellum came from DCWV's Love & Wedding Scrapbook in a Kit.

I used fluid chalk and pigments inks to ink the edges of the lettering on the envie.
TFL!!










My to do list...

*Become a Project Corner & Spotlight winner on the Cricut™ Chirp Newsletter (or at least a highlighted thread)
*Ongoing Memorial Journal for Morgan
*Scrapbook for my favorite moments at DisneyLand and DisneyWorld (my other obsession, big, big, big Mickey fan!)
*Scrapbook for my trip to Europe
*Scrapbook for the last two years of the kids for my DF's mom and one for his Dad.