One Stop Challenge/ Mojo Monday Sketch

This week's winner at One Stop Craft Challenge has the chance to be a guest designer for two challenges. What a great opportunity! For this card the theme is I Believe in Angels/Fairies. I choose the fairy because I was feeling rather whimsical this week. My image came from Squigglefly and I used this week's Mojo Monday sketch. Supplies I used for this card:

• White, pink and gray cardstock
• Pink pattern paper-Paper Pizazz
• White ribbon
• Cuttlebug embossing folder-Floral Fantasy
• Cricut-Mini Monograms cartridge
• Pink and white flowers
• Pink rhinestones
• Glitter

This card is a 5 1/2" x 5 1/2" square cut from pink cardstock. I embossed gray and white cardstock to top it. Pink print is backed with pink cardstock with digital image and sentiment on it. I used glitter on the wings of the fairy for a little sparkle and embellished with a pink and a white flower and pink rhinestones.

BBTB Owl Card/ABC circles, Paper Play sketch

Wow, life has been so hectic around here. My granddaughter (2 1/2 yr. old) has been here for several days while mom had a new baby sister. My 8th grandchild was born on Tuesday. Now we have an even 4 grandsons and 4 granddaughters. Paige Marie came into the world at 6 lbs. 2 oz. and 19" long. Somehow, I managed to get a card done while Payton was napping. The challenge this week at Bitten By The Bug was the adorable owl cut from the Wild Card cartridge. The ABC challenge was for circles and the Paper Play sketch was terrific this week so I combined them all together into my "Owl-oween" card. I didn't want to use the traditional orange and black so I used orange and brown instead. My card is a 5 1/2 by 5 1/2" square from brown cardstock. My orange pattern paper is one from my stash and the vertical stripe "ribbon" is from Paper Pizazz. I embellished the owls eyes with orange rhinestones and an orange glitter pen. A brown check ribbon has a brown button attached with hemp cord. Now I'm off to get Payton cleaned up and dressed to go home and meet her new baby sister.

BittenBTB/365/Saturday Challenges

This week's challenge at Bitten By the Bug was to use the envelope and card cut #2 from the Mini Monograms cartridge. The envelope had to be yellow. It has been awhile since I made an envelope and I've never used the envelope off this cartridge. I decided I like it and I'll have to use it more often. Today's challenge at 365 Cards was to use a triangle, a sticker and a button. I have that covered on the corner's of my card. The triangles are stickers that I added a button to. That makes this card also qualify for the Saturday Challenge--fancy corners. I'm glad I got this done today because I will be out of town for a visit with my aunts. I always take my Cricut machine with me so we can craft. I have a few fun projects in mind and will try to make a couple more challenge cards while I'm there. I won't be able to post them until I come back because my aunts live out in the country and have no high speed internet (hard to believe, I know). Everything used to make this card has been in my stash for awhile. The print papers came from DCWV and the corner stickers are K&Company.

Inspirational Card Sketches/Stamptacular Sunday

I liked the simplicity of the Inspirational Card Sketch challenge this week so decided to use the sketch to make a bear card for Stamptacular Sunday's challenge. My digistamp sentiment is from Daisy May Designs. They have some very darling digistamps which I plan to buy in anticipation of my new Copic markers arriving. I can't wait to get this marker set. They should be arriving Monday or Tuesday. My pretty print background paper is from Anna Griffin and I used DCWV cardstock in green and beige. I cut my scalloped circles with my Cricut Mini Monograms cartridge. My bear in the center came from K&Company paper.

Squigglefly/One Stop Challenges

There is fun stuff going on over at Squigglefly.com. They are celebrating their new stamps with fun challenges this weekend. Both sentiments on this card are new and the price is super. I followed their challenge sketch, too. Make sure you hop over to their website and join the fun. The One Stop Challenge this week is a color challenge, one of my favorite combos, pink and black. The pretty pink and black paper I used on this card came from Kaiser Scrapbook a paper company in Australia. The cute little flower in the center of the circle sentiment is one of my requistions I picked up while traveling this summer from a scrapbook store in Alpena, Michigan. They came in a tiny package (about 25 pieces) called Mini Me and are made by Prima Marketing. They came in tons of colors and I wish I had bought more. I'll probably never see them anywhere else. I used a Fiskars punch on the corners of the friendship saying and my Cricut Mini Monograms cartridge for the scalloped circle. The ribbon has been in my stash for years, it came from a scrapbooking day on HSN. I used a few pink rhinestones for a little bling.

Bitten By The Bug School Challenge/Creative Inspirations

Those first few days at school (before the kids come) can be an exhausting challenge as teachers prepare their classrooms, attend staff meetings and prepare lesson plans. What could be better than a fortifying snack? This is a little treat for my co-workers at school but it would also be fun for kids on their first day of school. I thought it would also be fitting to enter in the Bitten By The Bug school contest. I only used a few supplies--brown, red, gold and beige cardstock, four Cricut cartridges (Mini Monograms, My Community, Doodlecharms, TBBM), and sentiments from The Cutting Cafe's School Days set. The cute lined print paper came from the Cosmo Cricket Girl Friday paper set that I won from the last blog hop. I just received it in the mail today from Jen. Thanks Jen, I absolutely love it. The pattern for the pocket came from the Cuttlebug website.

BBTB,Saturday Challenge,Sketch and Stash

Oh my goodness! I didn't think I'd ever get a chance to make another card. What a week! We finally had to return to the real world from our retirement vacation in our 5th wheel. We've been gone since June 19th and traveled all day on Monday. It took me two days to get everything put away and then my daughter from North Carolina arrived for a visit and to walk in the 3-day Breast Cancer walk this weekend. Wednesday night my daughter in Ohio got in a car accident and she's 8 months pregnant. We had to go down there and pick up our 2 1/2 year old granddaughter and take care of her until my daughter was released from the hospital. She started having contractions in the ER so they moved her to Labor and Delivery but they were able to stop them. Granddaughter is back home and mom is doing well and my other daughter left for the breast cancer walk this morning. My husband went golfing and I ran to my craft room.

This card was a fun and cute card to make for the Bitten By the Bug challenge to use the square scalloped tag from the Cricut Celebrations cartridge. Saturday Challenge asked for a card with the Cute as a Bug theme and I used the Sketch and Stash #16 sketch. I found the adorable canvas bug ribbon at a scrapbook store in Ann Arbor, Michigan and couldn't wait to use it.

I had to use a ladybug for my image because that's my favorite bug. I used the colors in the ribbon to pick my cardstock--orange, blue, green and beige. Just a few flowers and brads for embellishment. The butterfly is a stamp from Studio G I got for $1 at JoAnn's.

2 Red Bananas/2 Sketches 4 U

The 2 Red Bananas challenge this week was to use a quote as a focal point. It was hard to narrow it down to one quote, there are so many I like. I have so many friends that have been there for me as I travel the breast cancer journey. When I came across this print paper with friend sayings I knew I had to use it for cards to let my friends know how much I appreciate their support. I will need to make quite a few so I wanted a simple design that wouldn't be too time consuming to make. This week's 2 Sketches 4 U sketch fit the bill. The supplies I used were minimal:

Beige and red cardstock

Border punched red paper-The C-thru Paper Co.

Print paper-DCWV

Burlap ribbon

Button

I've had this beautiful punched lace edge paper for awhile. I planned on using it for scrapbooking, but I can't seem to do two things at once. For me it's either card making or scrapbooking. I am so hooked on these sketch challenges that I can't seem to stop so I can get scrapping done. But that's okay because I love making cards and friends and family enjoy receiving them. Any way, I just split the 12 x 12 print paper and lace edge paper in four sections to make four cards. The base cards are beige cardstock. I printed my quote using my computer and red ink. Placing the ribbon in the center doesn't allow a good view of the print paper, regrettably. I just embellished with a simple bow with a beige button in the center.

BBTB/Crafts for Eternity,365

I was excited to see Regina from BBTB set the challenge this week to use the snowflake cut #13 from Accent Essentials. I agree with her, this is the best snowflake and cuts like a dream. I used this week's Crafts 4 Eternity sketch for my card. I was really excited to see my design technique mentioned on the Crafts 4 Eternity blog this week and hope it helped someone else. The supplies I used for this card:

Dark blue and white cardstock-DCWV

Metallic blue cardstock-DCWV

Winter print paper-DCWV

White lace

Clear rhinestones

Lace corner punch-Fiskars

Martha Stewart glitter

Cricut-Accent Essentials cartridge

This is a 6" square card made from dark blue cardstock. I topped it with blue metallic cardstock placing lace on the edge. I used my pattern I made from last week's Crafts 4 Eternity sketch to cut my print paper. I cut my center snowflake at 2 1/2" added glitter and placed it on dark blue cardstock with the corners punched. My small white snowflakes in the corner are cut at 3/4" and 1" and covered with glitter. I added clear rhinestones to all my snowflake centers. The flourishes on the card are also cut from the Accent Essentials cartridge at 2 1/2" and I put glitter on them. I added clear rhinestones to all my snowflake centers. I used my computer to print my sentiment in blue ink.

Three Clovers Challenge Think Pink

I had to make a card really fast this morning. This card is for my daughter who will be doing a 3-day Breast Cancer Walk in a couple weeks. Today was the cut off for sending mail for the participants. This walk has taken on more significance since I was diagnosed with breast cancer last year. I hope this card will help Jill know how much we appreciate her dedication to this cause. The supplies I used for this card:

• White, pink and brown cardstock
• Pink and brown plaid print paper
• White mini ball fringe
• Pink pearls
• White ribbon
• Cricut-Stand and Salute and Plantin Schoolbook cartridges
• Fiskars-Corner Lace punch
• Colorbox chalk ink-Dark Brown

This is a standard A2 card. My base card is pink with white cardstock on top of it and I cut out the corners for pearl placement. I cut a rectangular piece from the print card stock and placed it on pink cardstock with the corners punched. The pink oval is from the Plantin Schoolbook cartridge cut at 2 1/2". I added the mini ball fringe to the oval and placed it on top of the plaid. I cut the pink ribbon from the Stand and Salute cartridge at 1 1/2" and shadowed it with brown cardstock. The little tag was cut from the Plantin Schoolbook cartridge at 1 1/2". I used my computer to print"You walk for Me" in brown ink and added a ribbon to it before placing it on the card.

Saturday Challenge

Sometimes I make cards just for a challenge, but this card is for someone special, my granddaughter Payton (2 ½). Last week she joined us at our 5th wheel for some “camping” at the lakeshore. I wanted her to know that we had so much fun taking her to the lake and making sandcastles. (Payton’s idea of building a sandcastle is to fill the bucket, tip it over, then stomp on it). Anyway, when I saw this sketch from Saturday Challenge I knew it was perfect for what I wanted to make. I found this adorable fish paper at the local Ben Franklin store, and that’s where the idea formed for this card. The supplies I used:

Green, turquoise and white cardstock
Print paper-K&Company
Polka dot ribbon
Mini ball fringe
Green button
Clear rhinestones
Cuttlebug-Circles embossing folder
Cricut-Life is a Beach, Plantin Schoolbook cartridges
Colorbox chalk ink-Blue Lagoon
Martha Stewart glitter pen-Blue

I made this card a 5 ½” square. The base card is green cardstock topped with turquoise cardstock, which I edged with the blue glitter pen, then the fish paper. I cut an oval from the Cricut Plantin Schoolbook cartridge at 4 ¼” then embossed it with the Cuttlebug Circle folder. I inked the edge with Color Box chalk ink in Blue Lagoon. Then I used the Circuit Life is a Beach cartridge to cut the title phrase at 3” and a whale at 1 ¼” and one at 1”. I hope Payton will understand that the three whales signify Pop, Nana and Payton. I outlined each whale with a glitter pen because Payton loves sparkles and I used clear rhinestones for eyes. I embellished the card with a polka dot ribbon, mini ball fringe and a green button.

Allsorts,OCC,OneStop,Shelly's sketch

There are lots of challenges going on with this card. The Allsorts challenge this week called for three flowers, two papers and one ribbon. Our Creative Corner wanted a card with purple. The One Stop Craft Challenge was looking for pearls and swirls. I found this sketch when I was surfing Design Team blogs at Bitten By the Bug. This sketch came from Shelly’s blog and it seemed made for all these challenges. Thank you, Shelly. The supplies I used for this card:

Purple cardstock
Double-sided pattern paper-Chatterbox
Green ribbon
Green pearls
Cricut-Stretch Your Imagination and Accent Essentials cartridges
Cuttlebug-Divine Swirl embossing folder

My base card is from purple cardstock and is 6” square. I used each side of my pattern paper putting it half and half on my card. My image background is cut from my Cricut Stretch Your Imagination cartridge at 3 ¾” and embossed with my Cuttlebug Divine Swirls folder. The flourish is from the same cartridge and is cut at 3 ½”. I put two small pearls on each end of the flourish. The three flowers are made from the Cricut Accent Essentials cartridge. They are cut at 1 ¼” and 1” and I used pearls for the centers. My sentiment is computer generated.

2sketches4U/DutchDare/DareU2digistamp

2Sketches4U/DutchDare/DareU2Digistamp

I finally got around to making the birthday card for my other aunt. This is actually the first time I managed to get the cards made ahead of time instead of at the last minute. When I saw this sketch it looked very similar to the card I made for aunt #1 and I wanted different but similar. I added lace to this card for the Dutch Dare challenge and did some distressing for the Dare U 2 Digistamp challenge. The supplies I used for this card:

Beige and rusty red cardstock
Flower and striped paper-K&Company
Cricut-Mini Monograms and Wedding cartridges
Fiskars lace corner punch
Beige button
Colorbox chalk ink-Creamy Brown
Sentiment-The Cutting Café

The patterned paper for this card is two-sided so I used the flower side for the largest area and the stripe on the back for the other side. Before attaching them to my beige base card I punched the corners with the Fiskars lace corner punch and did a little distressing with ink and an emery board. I cut the scalloped circle from my Cricut Mini Monograms cartridge at 3 ½”. I attached the sentiment (http://thecuttingcafe.typepad.com/) after reducing the size to 75% to fit in my scalloped circle. I put the lace on the card before attaching the scalloped circle. The flower in the center of the sentiment is from the Cricut Wedding cartridge. I cut three layers using the beige (1 ½”) and rusty red (1 ¼”) cardstock and used a scrap of the print paper (1”) for the top layer. I added a beige button to the center.