Thursday, September 30, 2010

"Falling For Fall"

Although Fall is officially here, Summer doesn't seem to want to say good-bye. It has been torturous here. We've had temp ranging from 113-116. But maybe I shouldn't complain because I'm sure that's a breeze in comparison to Las Vegas or other desert like places.

So in honor of Fall, I decided to create a mini home decor project. It isn't big because we aren't the type to really decorate around here but this year, I thought I change it up a bit. I wanted to bring some of the holiday spirit to my family. I especially want to inspire my sister to be more festive. For the cricut cuts, I used Paper Doll Dress Up. It's a good thing I revisited that cart because I got other ideas from it. The accessories are really hidden gems. You just have to find creative ways to work with the layering. In my case, I used my prismacolor pencils.
Picture 1: It measures approx 14 inches tall.

Picture 2: Plaque 1 represents Fall as a whole. The scarecrow, leaves, etc. I layered it with DCWV paper from their Fall stack of 2 years ago but I thought it looked flat so I covered it with these stickers.

Picture 3: Plaque 2 represents Halloween. All cuts are accessories, mainly from Frankenstein.

Picture 4: Plaque 3 represents Thanksgiving. This turkey comes from the pilgrim boy. With this little guy, I used Kraft paper to cut him out and then used my pencils to try to give him some depth. But I felt like it still looked flat so I covered him up with a sticker (see below)

Picture 5: Other representation of Thanksgiving. Lol, you can still see the turkey's feet. The verdict is still out.

Picture 6: Plaque 4 represents Christmas. The Santa on this cart is really cute but I was trying to steer away from him. I wanted it to be a little different. The Christmas tree in the background was really suppose to be a holly but I couldn't find one in the cart and I didn't want to go rummaging through my other Christmas carts. But I still like the end result. It actually might be my favorite plaque.

I'm really happy with my mini project. It's a little inspiration to get into the mood of the holidays and season. And the best thing about it is that I used all scraps (yay!!!)

I'll also be entering this in a few challenges:
Always Crafting - Create something heartfelt.
Crafting with Cristina - Fall Theme: colors red, orange, yellow, use leaves.
Made by Momo - Fall theme: colors green, yellow, orange, use faux stitching.
Fantabulous Cricut - Use stiching (faux or real).
Charisma Cardz Challenge - Christmas crafting.
Techniques by Trish - The reason I was inspired to revisit Paper Doll Dress Up. She started a new challenge and series. For a week, she along with Cristi and Molly, create projects to showcase one specific cart. At the end of the week, they add a twist to the projects and ask everyone else to join in. We needed to use ribbon. I don't have much of it on this project, just the ribbon that is holding it up and the cute blinged out ribbon that's making the wreath. Go check out her site and play along. You'll love it.

Thanks for stopping by. And as always, I love reading your comments/suggestions.
Don't forget to return on October 3rd to hop along for the Fall/Halloween Blog Hop and have a chance to win an autographed Tim Holtz die.

Saturday, September 25, 2010

"Back to Basics" Card

Hi Everyone,
I hope everyone is having a good Saturday. It has been a scorcher here for me. And I hear that this coming week will be a 3digit week. (Help!)

This week over at My Creative Time, Emma wanted us to go old school and create a cricut less card. We could only use pattern paper and tools that were used before the cricut. I used paper from DCWV's Sweet Stack. This pack is soooo cute. I'm slowly working my way through it. I bought this stack when it first came out and I didn't want to touch it, but now I want to make room for all the cute ones that are coming out this month. I'm also entering this is My Pink Stamper "Anything Goes" challenge.

Picture 1: The sentiment will be added to the inside...
"Sending you lots of Sweet Get Well wishes"

Picture 2: Closeup
Thanks for stopping by/commenting.
Ps. Don't forget to come back on October 3rd for the Fall/Halloween Blog Hop hosted by Stephanie at Always Crafting

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Fall/Halloween Blog Hop

Happy First Day of Fall!!
It has finally arrived and we can now say good-bye to the summer (well at least officially because unofficially the sun is still out bright and shining. I think the sun didn't get the memo about the change of weather happening today).

So with the change of season comes new activities, new holidays and for me, a new birthday (yay! and ugghh!!). And what holiday do we love the most? Well its a toss up, really. A lot of us love Halloween for all the obvious reasons while others prefer Christmas. I land in the middle. Of course I do enjoy Halloween and Christmas but my favorite holiday is Thanksgiving. I love the food, the shopping, the pumpkin pie, the 4day weekend and the food and the shopping (lol). Black Friday enables a lot of us crafters to go mad in Michael's, Joann's and other crafting spots. This black Friday be extra special for me because it will be my first time as a mad crafter in Michael's. Does anyone have any tips as to how to deal with the madness and/or funny stories to share. I'd love to read them.

Speaking of crafts and the reason for my post...next month I'll be part of a Fall/Halloween Blog Hop. I'm thrilled to be part of it. It is my first time being in a hop so my head is running wild with all sorts of stuff I would like to do. The sweet and lovely Stephanie from ALWAYS CRAFTING will be hosting the blog hop. This is her first time hosting so lets show her a lot of bloggy love.

For this hop, you will see a combination of Halloween and fall theme projects. There will be 11 of us total. In addition to finding goodies along the way, one lucky hopper will have the chance to win the fabulous grand prize that was donated by the wonderful sponsor SCRAPADABADOO. Want to know what it is?  Well it involves Tim Holtz, his signature, a die and some fabu paper. So come back on October 3rd to join in on the fun and try to be the lucky grand prize winner.



Feel free to grab the blinkie, post it on your blog and spread the word. Thanks!

Friday, September 17, 2010

Halloween Cards

Hi Everyone,
It seems like I can't escape the fact that October is around the corner (which happens to be the month of my birthday). Although I do enjoy my birthday I also dread it (for aging reasons, lol) but in general I enjoy the month. The heat waves start to die down, I get fancy gadgets and trinkets as gifts, there's massive amounts of chocolate and candy everywhere and the joy of Halloween is everywhere.

So with all these challenges and inspirational cards floating around, I thought I'd join in on the fun. Since I'm trying to create a card in less than 60 minutes, I thought using the card feature would help in that department. But I start to feel as if I'm cheating when I use this feature so I try adding a little extra to them. I'm entering these 4 cards into this week's challenge over at Cricut Cardz. Their challenge this week is to create Halloween cards using the card feature.

Here are my 4 cards:
Picture 1: Shaped cards

Picture 2: Hello Kitty shaped card from Hello Kitty Greetings.
Kitty was cut at 51/2 inches.
 I used metallic paper to make her cat suit more fashionable.

Picture 3: I thought it would be funny to give her a Hello Kitty candy basket. I still have one that my niece got a couple years back. We all love Hello Kitty.
This card will be entered in Emma's Throwback Thursday Challenge. Her challenge this week is free range with any older cart but it must be a card or a LO.

Picture 4: Fraidy Cat shaped card from Mini Monsters. He's at 51/2 inches. Isn't he's the cutest!

Picture 5: Well I thought cute Fraidy Cat deserved a cute diva girlfriend.
She is cut at 41/2 inches.

 Picture 6: I made her pink and used thicker card stock. You need heavy card stock so the back of the card won't be flimsy.

Picture 7: Closeup of her bling. I gave her a rhinestone collar and headgear.
I will enter this card in Christina's Card Creations & More by C challenge. Her theme this week is Bling and Ribbon.

Picture 8: The candy bucket (slightly altered) from Mini Monsters.
He is cut at 51/2 inches. I cut him in orange card stock. Then I cut the front layer with the lighter orange CS. And I cut the back layer in black CS. The leftover piece of the black pumpkin was used for his mouth.

Picture 9: The inside of the card. I stamped it and used a small candy for embellishment.

Picture 10: Closeup of the candy. I cut these candies (except for the round one) from Mini Monsters. I taped to the back of the first layer and then adhered it to the card itself.
 Thanks for stopping by. And as always, I love reading your comments and suggestions.

Monday, September 13, 2010

"Good Luck" Cards


Inside of the card. 
The little dots represent the seeds of the apple.
 I drew in the icons of the iPod as well as the artwork of one of her favorite songs.
 The back of the card. 
Ill finish writing my message after I post this.


Hello out there. I apologize for the lack of posts but I've been enjoying my days out in the sun and the weather is much too beautiful to stay in.

So onto the post... I created a a couple of back to school cards. My cards are a combination of Good Luck and Congrats. The first one is for my sister, who is starting a new job tomorrow in the Special Education field. Since she loves anything to do with apples that is school related I thought I would create an apple card for her. The second shaped card/postcard is for my niece. She will be starting 3rd grade tomorrow and will now be on a different time schedule with the upper class kids. So I am going to add this small note of encouragement to her lunch box so she can read it during her snack time. I'm sure she'll like it, I just hope she doesn't get embarrassed or automatically tosses it.

Thank you for stopping by! I hope you're enjoying your holiday vacation and are enjoying the last unofficial days of summer.

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Just Because (Winter)

Hi Everyone.
I was testing myself to see if I could create a card in 30-60 minutes. I still can't seem to get there. I don't know where I'm going wrong, lol. Since my sister has started to make Christmas layouts, she got me into the spirit of it. So I decided to create a card that was inspired by my friend, her 3 kids & hubby. I was also trying to steer away from non-traditional colors but somehow I got sucked back into green and red. I should have used my crazy dp's. It would have brought life back to this card. Maybe that's where I go wrong. I take to long to choose the card stock, pattern paper, etc.

Picture 1: The front of the card. I originally had heat embossed the base of the card but i ruined it at the end so I had to chop it off, flip it over, scalloped it, inked it and then use it as my mat.


Picture 2: Closeup. I flocked all the snow people. Hopefully this picture gives you a glimpse of that. But I think it was a waste of time. I really don't think they needed it. They prob would have looked better had I gliterized them.

I am also entering this card into a couple of challenges:
My Pink Stamper - Winter Theme
Cricut Cardz - Use Scalloped Circles, Ovals, Squares, Etc
Paper Sundaes - Christmas in August

Thanks for stopping by/commenting!