Monday, October 27, 2008

A nut for a NUT!...BBTB Challenge

OK, I know there are some of you out there or at least have DHs that do this...wait until the last minute to do Christmas shopping. So I decided to go with that theme for this past week's Bitten By the Bug challenge which was to use the Nutcup cut from Tags Bags Boxes & More. We were asked to do a Christmas project with it and since it's the nutcup I starting thinking of all those nuts that go out shopping on Christmas Eve. And I know how many people do that as I used to work part-time for Linens N Things. You would not believe how many people would come in, even on the edge of closing time, for gifts or even worse...stuff for entertaining for their Christmas dinner guests! And the killer was...if what they were looking for was sold out...how enraged they would get! Hmmmm, a Chocolate Fondue Fountain on sale at an amazing price in the Christmas flyer, gone by the end of Christmas Eve store hours, how could that be?!?!?

You can click on the images to see close ups:










And yet another angle:


Nutty Mix:
-CS: TPC Double-sided Mulberry Chocolate/Tan and Mi-Teintes Royal Blue
-DPs: Paper Pizzazz "Let It Snow"
-Stickers: Jolee's By You "Snowflakes"
-Ribbon: Offray
-Prismacolor Pencils: PC918 Orange, PC901 Bleu Indigo and PC946 Dark Brown
-Computer Font/Doodlebats: scraNfonts doodlebat "DB Snowy Doodle" using the "Q" character at 400 pts and font "LD Honeydukes" at 48 pts
-Cricut Cart: TBBM for the Nutcup stretched out using the CDS and the 12x24 mat to the largest allowed.

TFL!!!

Thursday, October 23, 2008

How to pamper a Pampered Chef?

Let everyone else do everything! Here's a birthday card for a my SIL's sister who's birthday is this weekend. She's an awesome wife, mom and a Pampered Chef consultant. I saw this Whipper Snapper stamp and just thought to myself this is the perfect stamp for her birthday card and I think I'm right!



And I'm really liking the Prismacolor pencils and gamsol technique, still practicing, but feeling more and more comfortable with it. :) Click on the image to zoom in on the coloring:


And still loving embossing my stamped images:










Check out this cool stamp I found at ACMoore by MSE! from their Back of Cards Set:


Baking Ingredients:
-CS: MM Grapevine and TPC Plum Tree
-DP: Paper Pizzazz Purple Party Words
-Stamp: Whipper Snapper Squeaky Baker and MSE! Back of Cards Set
-Fluid Chalk Inks: Colorbox Wisteria, Warm Violet and Amber Clay
-Prismacolor Pencils: PC943 Burnt Ochre, PC929 Pink, PC941 Light Umber, PC1005 Limepeel, PC924 Crimson Red, PC1034 Golden Rod, PC937 Tuscan Red, PC911 Olive Green, PC949 Metallic Silver, PC946 Dark Brown and PC1003 Spanish Orange
-Chalks: I'Kandee Pearlescent Jewel Tones
-Blossoms: Prima's Got Flower?
-Rhinestones: Jewelry Essentials 3mm Purple
-Computer font: scrapNfonts.com LD Brush Stroke - 54 pts & 32 pts
-Cricut cart: Alphalicious cut @ 2 1/4" using the shadow feature
-Misc: Adhesive, Mini Pop Dots, Black Pigment Ink, Embossing Powder, Gamsol, Thread, Sewing Machine

TFL!!!

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Regina’s Cutting Designs has a Design Team

I'm very excited and honor to tell you that Regina Easter has asked me to be on her design team for her amazing new adventure of selling her very own designed cutting files. Regina is an extremely talented and such an inspiring designer and leader of the Bitten by the Bug design team.

You really must check out Regina's Cutting Designs and see all the wonderful cut files that you can purchase as a WPC file to cut on a Pazzles machine or you can purchase them as a printable (PDF file) that you can print out on your cardstock from your printer and then cut out the images with scissors or a craft knife.

If you have a Cricut Expression you can convert the PDF file to a SVG file using Inkscape, a free downloadable software, and then import that file into a software program called SCAL (Sure Cuts A Lot) which you do have to purchase, but fully worth it! You can do an internet search for it to purchase. Once you've done that then you can cut it using your Cricut Expression though a USB cable/port from your computer.

And the great thing about being able to buy these wonderful cuts designed by Regina, you purchase it just once and use it over and over again for many different projects.

The design team is brand new so stay tuned for us to supply you with our creations made with Regina's designed cuts by visiting here! But in the meantime you can at least meet the design team members by visiting us here.

Again, definitely check out Regina's Cutting Designs. All her designs are amazing and I'm so excited to be a part of making creations with her designed cuts.

Hugs, Nikki

Christmas Tree Card...BBTB Challenge

Hi there, this past week's challenge over at Bitten By the Bug was to use the Tree Card cut from Joys of the Season, which is great as it got me in the mood to start Christmas cards! Go over to the BBTB and see all the wonderful things the other talented designers did!

Isn't this paper from Debbie Mumm's Harvest & Holiday with Glitter Pack yummy!




A few stars popped up with some mini pot dots:








Hey, you can see through it!


I sooooo love these snowmen!


Tree Trimmings:
-CS: Bazzill Basics "Caprs", "Palo Verde" and some shade of yellow I don't know the real name of.
-DPs: Debbie Mumm's Harvest & Holiday with Glitter Pack
-Fluid Chalk Inks: Merlot and Yellow Ochre
-Stickles: Burgundy
-Cricut Carts: Joys of the Seasons for the Tree Card cut at 7 3/4" and the tree cut at 5 3/4" with a shadow and George for the Stars cut at 1 1/2"

TFL!!

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Turning 21 years old 10 times...

A friend of mine just recently celebrated her 21st birthday for the 10th time...I guess 10th time's a charm! Well, she's one very fashionable chicie so I thought that using one of the awesome Stampendous Scrumptious Shoes would be perfect for her...and it was! Actually I used two shoes! The Sundae Shoe and the "Happy Birthday" from the Birthday Cake Shoe.



I used the Prismacolor pencils & gamsol technique (still practicing on that):


Then I used some Liquid Applique for the "whipped cream" down the shoe (kind of hard to see in the pic):


A little bit of sewing...


I stamped the SU! Celebrate You! stamp once on the pink card stock and once again on white card stock, cut out the cake part and mounted it with a layer of chipboard to give a little dimension:


And viola!...a matching envie:


Churning supplies:
-CS: MM "Poppy" and TPC "Pastel Pink"
-DPs: Sandylion/Kelly Panacci "One of a Kind - Pink" and "Floral-Crochet-Cream"
-Stamps: Stampendous Scrumptious Shoes "Sundae Shoe" and part of "Birthday Cake Shoe", and SU! "Celebrate You!"
-Fluid Chalk Inks: Colorbox "Rose Coral", "Rouge", "Warm Red" and "Olive Pastel"
-Chalks: I'Kandee Pearlescent Shimmers
-Blossoms: Prima's Got Flower? Fabric Fancies "Opal" and "Quartz"
-Dew Drops: The Robin's Nest "DD Hyacynth"
-Markers: Marvey 1314 "Olive Green No. 15" and "Bubble Gum Pink No. 6"
-Misc: Black Pigment Ink (Colorbox), Embossing Powder (Ranger), Liquid Applique (Marvy), Ric-Rac, thread, sewing machine, chipboard, adhesive, mini pop dots

TFL!!!

Monday, October 13, 2008

Twelve Days of Christmas

The latest Bitten By The Bug challenge was to use the Accent49 from Accent Essentials and here is what I decided to go with...the Twelve Days of Christmas...you should really go over to the BBTB site to see all the other great creations made by the other design team members!













Music Notes:
-CS: TPC "Sable" and Metallic Cover Uptown Gold"
-DPs: Colorbok "Sepia Music"
-Fluid Chalk Inks: Colorbox "Creamy Brown" and "Chestnut Roan"
-Stamp: Inkadinkadoo's Frames and Circle Icons set for the Snowman
-Computer font: Shelley Allegro at 20 pts
-Cricut Carts: Accent Essentials "Accent49" cut at 1 1/2" using the blackout feature and welded
Fabulous Finds "Bookplate10" for the tags cut at 1 1/2" using the blackout feature
Joys of the Seasons "Holly" cut at 1 1/2"
-Misc: Red Rhinestones, MM Red & Green 1/8" eyelets, red sheer ribbon, chipboard, adhesive

TFL!!

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

We Make A Great Pear

Here's a card I made for my fiance that was also for this past week's challenge over at Bitten By the Bug (you should check out the very cute creations that the other designers did!). The challenge was to use the Pear from Home Accents. We were allowed to use it anyway we wanted and this is what I came up with. You would think out of the 28 cartridges that I have that I wouldn't have to ask someone to make the cuts for me two weeks in a row. :P

So once again with some help of my friend and sister BBTB designer DeeDee...she so kindly cut the two pears for me (and actually a few more, so sweet of her!!!, thanks again DeeDee!!!). You must check out her site as well...Scrappin' with DeeDee...and see all the amazing things she does.

The 1st thing that came to my mind when thinking of what to do with a pear was 'hey, we make a great pair", which is actually kind of how my fiance and I got together. A mutual friend of ours one day said "you know...you guys would be a great pair together"...and we thought to ourselves "yeah we would!" and that's how it all happened (a short and sweet story for the grandkids...).

So here is what I did:












Fruit bowl:
-CS: Bazzill "Black", DCWV "Pistachio 149"
-DPs: DCWV "Wedding Black"
-Fluid Chalk Inks: Colorbox "Dune" and "Olive"
-Blossoms: Gartner Embossed White Shimmer Table Confetti and Hero Arts Art Flowers "Spring"
-Stickles: Lime Green
-Stickers: Joann Craft Essential 3-D Embellishments "Groom" for the top hat and Jolee's Dimensional Stickers "Bride" for the vail
-Dew Drops: Fresh Mowed Grass
-Computer Fonts: scrapNfonts LDJ Fantastical at 72 pts
-Edge Punch: Martha Stewart's Doily Lace
-Cricut Carts: Home Accents for the pear one cut at 3" and one at 3 1/2"
Opposites Attract for "We make a great pear" and "Scott": "We", "great" and "Scott" using the Upright feature cut @ 2" and "make" and "a" using the Base feature cut at 1" and "pear" using the Opposite feature cut at 1 1/4"
-Misc: Thread, Zots adhesive, Mini Pot Dots, Vellum

TFL!!!

Sunday, October 5, 2008

A Witch's Dress for Brewing up a Mess!

Here was last week's challenge over at Bitten By the Bug (you should check out the amazing things the other designers did!). The challenge was to use the Yellow Dress (Belle's dress) from Dreams Come True on page 47 of the manual. We were allowed to use it anyway we wanted and this is what I came up with (with some help of a friend and sister BBTB designer DeeDee...I don't have this cart so she so kindly cut the dress for me, thanks DeeDee!!!). You must check out her site as well...Scrappin' with DeeDee...and see all the amazing things she does. She's awe inspiring, especially right now if you are looking for some Halloween inspiration, WOW, you should see all spooky creations she has come up with! My fave is her Halloween Goodie Bag & Card, I love that cat from PDDU!

Also, another great site to check out is SweetArt Paperie a place to get unique themed kits created by Kirsta Norman & her mom Penny Shuberg (both also BBTB designers). They offer some fun and/or gorgeous kits. This project was made with just some of the items in their Halloween kit...can't wait to do some more projects with what I have left...ribbon, chipboard die cuts, stickers, rub-ons, Heidi Grace papers, and those are just some of the items that the kit was full of.

So anyway, like I said here is what I did with the BBTB challenge:





I used Lime Green Stickles & Glossy Accents for the overflowing gooey brew...


Don't you just love this double-sided Heidi Grace paper?? This is the other side of the orange stripes...




Here is the front of the envie which I bordered the top with the same paper using Martha Stewarts awesome Drippy Goo edge punch (which I also used on the bottom the witch's dress):


And here's the back of the envie with those goofy pumpkins!


Witch's Brew:
-CS: Bazzill Basics "Tangelo" and TPC "Ivory Parchment"
-DPs: Heidi Grace Double-Sided Jeepers Creepers
-Stamp: Inkadinkado's Witching You a Spooking Halloween
-Fluid Chalk Inks: Colorbox Amber Clay, Chestnut Roan, Creamy Brown, Dune and Olive
-Stickles: Lime Green & Orange Peel
-Chalks: I Kan'Dee Pearlescent "Shimmers"
-Martha Stewart products: Drippy Goo edge punch, Halloween Rub-ons and Confetti "Creepy Spider Shapes
-Computer font: scrapNfonts CK Transylvania at 48 pts
-Cricut carts: Dreams Come True for the Dress cut at 5" with a shadow and Paper Doll Dress Up for the broom and the cauldron both cut at 6"
-Misc items: Glossy Accents, Sakura's Gelly Roll Black Pen, Prismacolor pencils, adhesive and mini pot dots, Offray Black ribbon.

TFL!

Friday, October 3, 2008

I received the Javablu Award!

I have just received an award from Susan Edwards, you should check out her site (click on her name). Thanks Susan, I'm very honored to receive this award from you!

Here are the 6 rules:

1. The winner can put the logo on their blog.

2. Link the person you received your award from.

3. Nominate at least 5 other blogs.

4. Before listing the nominees give a brief reason why you chose them.

5. Put links of those blogs on yours.

6. Leave a message on the blogs you have nominated.

I have chosen the following very talented ladies because they give me so inspiration. The funny thing is that the 4 other nominees that Susan chose would have been on my list, so I don't think I can list those, but these five ladies are also extremely inspirational and each thing they do just amazes me!

1. Regina's Hand to Paper @ http://reginaeaster.blogspot.com/

2. Sharon's Gramma's House of Card @ http://grammashouseofcards.blogspot.com/

3. Tracy's Scrap Happens @ http://camsmum-tg.blogspot.com/

4. Carole's Paper Arts @ http://www.crayola58a.blogspot.com/

5. Sonia Scraps @ http://www.skscrap.blogspot.com/

All of these are must check out sites!

:)

Thursday, October 2, 2008

B-day Boy card to my cousin

Man is it hard to keep myself under control when making a card for a guy. You know how much I like to embellish everything and wind up make it girlie. Usually it takes me a couple hours to do a card between me being picky and a perfectionist and then of course all the interruptions...

So I think the key to making a guy card is to only give myself 30 minutes to make it. Well I think it took a few more minutes but it worked and this is what I came up with.

















Recipe:
-CS: DCWV "Brown #3", Bazzill Basics "Safari", TPC "Gingersnap" and MM "Smooth Cranberry
-DPs: DCWV The Fall Glitter Stack (loads of fun papers in there!)
-Stamp: Inkadinkado Handmade with Love
-Fluid Chalk Inks: Colorbox "Chestnut Roan" and "Dune"
-Tim Holtz Distressed Ink "Walnut Stain"
-Stickles - Crystal
-Border Punch: Fiskars Threading Water
-Cuddlebug: Birthday Wishes Die/Embossing Combo set
-Cricut: Cuttin' Up for "Mike" using the cartoon & shadow feature cut @ 1 3/4"
-Misc" Colorbox Black Pigment Ink, Ranger Clear Embossing Powder, Heat Gun, Adhesive

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.