BBTB2/WildCard/Heart

Happy Monday to all.... I hope each of you had a wonderful weekend full of love, happiness and fun. Lots to report today.... First of all, it's the design team posting for our weekly challenge at BBTB2 and this week the lovely talented Penny Shuberg is our hostess. She asked us to design with Wild Card (one of my faves with the wonderful choices of unique cuts) and we were to use the Heart and Heart Envelope. I have to admit...this one gave me fitzzzzzz. I just couldn't seem to end up with a card that I really was happy with. Nonetheless, here is the final acceptance. I called this "Nine of Hearts" because I just kept adding curled up hearts and in the end, there were a total of nine. So without further adeau, here is the card. Lots of red and pink happenin' here.

This was the weekend that my fun fun fun friends Kris, Deb and Sandy came up from Tucson to spend 2-1/2 days with me for what we call "our Card Over". The living room was full of tables and tubs and pouches full of papers and embellishments and happy girls designing cards.

Here's a pix of moi' and at my table you will see my new fun DreamKuts machine. This darling little wonder cuts many sizes of papers so easily. I really love it... I think I slapped together about 20 cards and when I got bored with that, I colored in some Tilda images with my Copics, and then later I did some scrapbooking.

Deb, Sandi and Kris, at their stations, surrounded by lovely card making supplies. And you can see Heidi in the kitchen watching over Deb. Heidi loves the kitchen because that is where the foods and doggy treats live and so she kept a watchful eye for anyone who wandered in... We had a great time, and those 3 gals made the most awesome cards.

Thanks for stopping by.... And while you are visiting the BBTB2 designer blog to see the weekly challenge cards, take time to visit our newest designer, Lori Warner.

Free from Cutting Cafe

Cutting Cafe Printed Flower Set

Regina is giving away 2 free sets from Cutting Cafe... Hop over here to take a look at the deets on this fantastic giveaway...and there is a contest too ...and the winner will get to select 4 sets of their choice. Wowzer...this is a great deal Regina is offering...so hurry...what are you waiting for. The free set offer expires on February 8th so you won't want to miss out.
GO...

Sweetheart Frogs

I love frogs. I guess most of my peeps know that...I have some friends who send me frogs to join in my FrogVille that I have around the house. Today I received these two frogs who are holding hands. She has her froggy lips puckered and he is waiting to plant a Valentine Frog Kiss. How cute are they???

BBTB2/Winter Wonderland/Rabbit

Blog Candy Winners announced: Here are the three in random.org. Amylynn, Avril and Psrusberg. Please email me your addies...and if you have a preference on the tote theme, let me know and if it is possible I will mail that tote... if all of you ask for the same one.... then I will draw a name for the chosen tote, and then the other two winners will get one of the other two.

Also please let me hear from you no later than February 12, or I will draw another name. Thanks to all for playing along with the BBTB2 blog hop and my blog candy fun.

It's the end of January....can ya believe it?.... I just am amazed at the fast days that speed past me.

It's time for the blog hop for Bitten By The Bug2 and I am so pleased to be a part of it. I love blog hops, I am always so pleased to see visitors and I appreciate each one of you. This challenge is hosted by our design sister Melissa Kirwan who selected Winter Wonderland Cricut cartridge and we were to design with the Rabbit cut on Page 58. I don't have this cartridge (yet) and so my DT sisters, Heather and Sandi shared with me . I used rabbit cuts from each of the sweet girls...and here is my card... I decided to do an Easter Card because bunnies just must be on a sweet Easter design. The pink and blue mounts were edged with the giant MS punch. I added some MS punch flowers and a rubber stamped sentiment. The grass is a Sizzix die cut.

And now onto the blog candy! I have three small totes that I am offering, so three visitors who leave a comment will be in the draw. I embroideried the designs on one of my embroidery machines. First up is Birdy Tote, a small size measuring 7x7-1/2. Birdy is encased with blue rick rack and there is a sweet burdundy ribbon tied at the top edge.
Second blog candy is Chickie tote, measuring 8x8 and the tote has red rick rack around Chickie and some cotton eyelet lace around the top.
Third offering is Ducky Tote, measuring 9x9 with a sweet eyelet lace around the top edge.
These are not large totes but they can carry small treasures and books. I hope you like the challenge card and that you will want to sign up for the drawing. I will draw all three names on February 5th so please check back after 4PM that day to see the announcements. If your name shows, please email me with your addies and I will get those mailed to you the following Monday.

Now in the tradition of a true blog hop, you will want to hop over to Donna's blog to see her wonderful take on this challenge. Donna is an awesome designer, and you will love reading about her recent participation in CHA (Craft and Hobby Assn)... TFL...

Cutting Cafe/Gift Bag

Regina has done it again (and again and again and...) Every time she releases one of her wonderful printables, I want to sit down and create with each one until there simply is not one piece of paper left ... and in my case that would be nearly impossible. This set is from the 6x3 Inch bag set.... I had some double sided cardstock which has awesome butterflies to cut out.

The bag and the card are made from that paper...and I cut out some of the butterflies and put them here and there seemingly flitting about on paper and paper edges.

Here is a photo of the card and the bag. I love it...

This is the bag with the butterflies. I have used my Sizzix butterfly body die to sit on top of the whole butterfly cut out, and I've added some gold and green jewels as well. The round Cutting Cafe printable has been cut out with my round scalloped Nestie.
This is the card. The card front has been cut shorter. I added a black strip with a MS punch open weave. I added 3 butterflies on the edge. The Happy Birthday sentiment is cut from Beyond Birthdays cartridge.
Sort of a sideline view.
And this is the inside with another Cutting Cafe printable sentiment.
I hope you like my creation.... And do visit Cutting Cafe here to see the printable set.

BBTB/Sweethearts/Stamp

Our host for BBTB2 challenge this week is that fantastically talented designer, Marina. She has chosen the Sweethearts cart, and asked us to design with the stamp die cut. There were so many ways to go with this cut, and I sat staring at the sample layouts for a long time and couldn't decide what to do. And then suddenly I just snapped up one design and went with it. There is, I have to admit, a lot of red and black and white goin' on here... The stamp die is on the right and a bit caught up in the overall colors. I just sort of ignored the word "love" which is cut out on the stamp die, but I added the word onto a punched white embossed heart. That word is cut from the Calligraphy cart. I love the style of this cut. So delicate and yet it says it all.

Please stop by the BBTB2 site and take a peek at the lovely designs the DT created.

Unc's 84th

My Uncle Jack has just celebrated his 84th birthday. For those who know me, you know that I call him "Unc"... I used my Design Studio on this card because I wanted that number 84 to be the front of the card... I used a second pattern paper overlay in those bright colors he loves. He loved the card....and so did I.

Cutting Cafe/Baby Cards

Regina released the most wonderful sentiments for baby cards. I generally leave my cards blank unless someone who wants a card will ask me to add an inside sentiment. I couldn't pass up making some cards with these new printables from Cutting Cafe. I think I made about 40 cards, but here are a few with designs from various carts. The word "baby" is from Don Juan, the baby die cuts are from New Arrival, and there is one card showing an inside sentiment. Of course every card was treated to my Cuttlebug Embossing folders....It's overcast here in AZ today and so my photos have sort of an artificial color to them when I had to hit the "enhance" option... they really are soft delicate pastel papers... thanks for looking and take a peep here at the darling sentiments for your baby card creations.

BBTB2/Doodlecharms/Snowman

It's time for another BBTB2 challenge and this week the sweet and talented Krista Norman is hostess. She selected the Doodlecharms cartridge and asked that we use the snowman cut.

I love Doodlecharms...it has so many cute cute cuts on it, and it is so appropriately named.

I felt like I did a few thousand snowmen during the Christmas card creativity phase so for this challenge I decided to create a Snowgirl. I cut three, pop dotted the top layer. And to that I added 3 blue buttons, and a blue ribbon on her snow-head. For her feet, I used the popsickle cut on the same cartridge...and I added two bows. I pop dotted Snowgirl on a circle of snowflakes. The little sign says:

Sweet little Snowgirl,

With Her Buttons and Bows,.

Sweet little Snowgirl

With her Popsickle Toes

and I should have added..."don't forget her little carrot nose".

Cutting Cafe Giveaway!

A Winner A Winner: Congratulations to Crafteezee for winning the draw on Regina's background design. Please email me and we will get that prize to you. Thanks to all for playing along with the Give-A-Way.

Regina is doing another wonderful Give-A-Way at the Cutting Cafe, and each of us could chose which fantastic printable we wanted to offer. I love all of the Regina's printables and it isn't easy to select just one. But for today, with Valentine's Day close at hand, I decided I just love this background design. Here is my card.

I love that background full of x's and o's signifying a lot of kissies... and to that I've added some more in red and black with a beautiful cut of the word LOVE...all of these are from my STAMPED cartridge. Thanks for taking a peek, be sure to check out the Cutting Cafe for all of the designer's cards AND don't forget to leave a comment here on my blog to put you in the draw for this printable. Check back on Monday and I will show the winner.

BBTB2/ACY/Vinyl

Happy Monday....it's BBTB2 day and there are some really cute projects to see at the BBTB2 design site. Jen Wuthrich was the hostess and she asked that we design from A Child's Year, and to use the sweet image of a boy and girl both holding flowers behind their backs. I love this cartridge. Not only does it have some precious silhouette images, but each design has a plethora of extra cuts and phrases. I can see I am going to use this cartridge often. Our sponsor for this challenge is Expressions Vinyl. There is a wonderful video on how to use Vinyl.....I have added some nice numbers to my mailbox, I have put a witty saying over a photo on my wall... I love this Vinyl...

so....here is my take on the challenge. I picked up a purchased notebook and I even kept the original red and white striped paper theme. What a quick gift this made...I applied the die of the children, cut out the welded word Friends, added a sweet kitty cat watching two friends with gifts. I put some red ribbons on the wire spine and considered it completed. TFL, and do pop over to BBTB2 and admire....

BBTB2

Regina has stepped down from Bitten By The Bug so she can devote her time to Cutting Cafe and her other numerous endeavors. There aren't enough words to say how much I enjoyed being on Regina's design team for BBTB, she is so so talented, the most awesome designer, a giving sharing gal who was always right there to help us. (I still get to work with Regina since i am on the Cutting Cafe design team, lucky lucky me)....When Regina asked if anyone would like to take the post, Heather Binnie accepted the role. Needless to say this delighted us because we all love the design team and it was heartbreaking to think it would end. Thank you, Heather, for continuing on with the new Bitten By The Bug 2.

Heather Binnie is the host for our 2010 first challenge. She selected "IN STYLE" cut from Graphically Speaking cartridge. I do not have that cartridge but sweet design team sister Jeri Thomas shared some with me. Here is my card. ... I hand drew the image of a young hip chickie who shows off her new Christmas outfit. I used my Copic markers to color in this blonde cutie... A short mini skirt in lavendar, trimmed with red and a lovely red jacket. See those lavendar boots? I used a black and red theme, and of course my wonderful Nestabilities Labels 8 played a role in the mounts for the image. I added a little black and white checkered bow on the die cut. TFL, and if you are here, thank you for following our new BBTB2 challenges.

Twenty Ten

My Uncle informed me tonight that it is not the year Two Thousand and Ten, but it is being called Twenty Ten. Whatever we are to call it, I am astounded that we are 10 years away from the fretting that went on for Y2K. Could that have actually been ten years ago?

To each of you who visit me on my humble little blog, I thank you. I wish each of you a blessed New Year, may you have all that you desire for a fullfiling year with health, happiness, love and a good life. Thank you for visiting me, and for leaving sweet comments. I appreciate each and every single one of you...

Gifties...

I love getting Gifties...those little gifts that someone hands you that you can use and always remember who gave you the gift. I love GIVING gifties too. My grade school/high school friend is coming to visit tomorrow and she is bringing her friend. Here are their gifties.

This is a folded card pack and I give a hearty shout out to my talented and cherished friend, Sandi Kelly, who inspired this set. She sent me a lovely set of cards and although these are not exact, the inspiration came from Sandi. These are the folded card packs. I ran the front of the folded pack through my Cuttlebug Embossing folder...and I've added initials from the Calligraphy Cricut cart, and I've also added some MS punches for the sweet little flowers and leaves. Oh, and some jewels. There is a 4 inch tab that folds to the back and slips under a wide tab, just to keep the pack closed.

When the folded card pack opens, there are two flaps to hold the cards in place. One is a square flap on the bottom, and the side flap is cut into a cute little boomerang shape and although the flap doesn't show in this photo, it has the Swiss Dots embossing.... The cards were punched on the center edge with MS loop punch, the embossing comes from the small strips of Cuttlebug embossing folders and the really neat long initials are from Cricuts STAMPED cart.
I've slipped a folded white linen paper inside for personalized notes. I really like how these turned out and I hope my friends will as well. TFL...

Cutting Cafe/Valentine Long Phrases

Regina has done it again... her Valentine printables are just so......well......so Valentine-ish wonderful. Here are some quickie cards I did using her long phrases. They print off all on one sheet and you can use the whole page for background, or cut them into strips like I have done here. The cards are cut from my Cricut Sweethearts cartridge... By using the "card feature" I selected 5-1/2 for the size, selected the cut and here are the results. The heart and the word "LOVE" are actually cut right out on the front of the card, and I've slipped a white cardstock beneath to get that depth. I put the card fronts through my Cuttlebug embossing folders, added the Valentine long phrase strips, added a few punch hearts that were embossed, and tied a ribbon on the side.

I had some folded red cardstock...it had been shoved in my scrapbin of solid cardstock pieces. I am really pleased how this quick little card created itself. I used MS loop punch just above the Valentine long phrase from Cutting Cafe... I've added a wonderful ribbon that I received from Sandi Kelly. And a punch heart. That cute little "tab" holds the pockets inside closed. Please take a peek at the printables here.
Here is the inside. There are two pockets and I've done some inserts. MS punch captures the rubber stamp sentiment, and the "Hugs & Kisses" are from Sweethearts cart.

Cutting Cafe/Flowers

I've been a busy girl trying to clean up some stacks of unfinished projects. And then comes something wonderful from Regina so I have to drop everything and try it out. These flowers are from Cutting Cafe's Flower printables.... I love cutting the layers out and stacking them, using pop dots for full dimension results. I am going to try another paper, only this time using pattern papers. Take a peek here for the set.

Published RSC Layout

This is the cover of the Dec 09/Jan 10 Ready Set Create Ezine.... My layout is shown below this cover page.

I was pleased to have my scrapbook layout published in the December 09/January 10 Ready Set Create mag. This photo is one of my faves of my son and daughter in law and their sweet dog Daisy. Please notice that darling tag with the gold star. This was done by my talented friend Sandi (Celtic Woman)..and she's got some for sale on her Etsy shop. I've got some cards coming up in the RSC mag for Feb/March and I'll be back at the end of January to show you those. TFL.... and oh...Have a safe and happy New Year and may 2010 be a blessed healthy year for you and yours.

Cutting Cafe/ValentineSet

FEBRUARY IS NOT THAT FAR AWAY...

Regina's release in Cutting Cafe of the big Valentine set is just awesome. Giant sentiments that pack a whallop on a card, or even on a scrapbook page. I selected just 4 of the many sentiments and I made a card set. And I think I will offer this up on my Etsy shop. These first photos show the envelope that was created to hold the 4 lovelies. And the photo of the group captures some inserts that could be slipped inside the card. I've left the inside blank for personal sentiments. TFL, and I hope you like my Valentine cards...

Altered Coasters

I found these colorful coasters in the dollar bin at Michaels and they yelled out for me to grab them up and making a little something. This "birthday card" is unique, donchathink? I simply used my Crop A Dial to make some holes, added some lavendar flower shaped eyelets, strung the 3 coasters on a metal ring and added a load of colorful ribbons. On the coasters I made three punched leaves and flowers with a button center, and I've added sentiment strips for a friendly birthday greeting. Two strips are rubber stamp sentiments and the Blessing sentiment is from Regina's Cutting Cafe. TFL.... and stop by that dollar bin. There were some really cute coasters to alter.

Tutorial/Sweet little gift

I just love it when I can make a lot of cute little do-dahs for many of my friends, just as a little added giftie. Everyone I know uses Post It Notes, especially the gals at the offices I visit. This is a little Post It Note Cover, so cute, so easy to make. When the Post It Note pack is finished, you can glue another in. Here are the quick instructions:

I use chipboard for the sturdiness of the cover.

Chipboard: Cut two 3x3 squares. Cut one 3x1 strip which will be your "spine".

Pattern Papers: Cut one 5 x 8, cut one 3 x 6-1/2.

On inside of the pattern paper, lay out your chipboard pieces as shown. There is just a wee space between the front and back cover and the spine.
Glue down the chipboard pieces. Fold in the excess on all four edges. Trim the inside lining to about 3 x 6-1/2. I fold the cover so that the spine folds are set. I then glue the lining pattern paper to the spine strip. Then I glue to top, and fold it down and smooth so there are no wrinkles. Then I glue the bottom half, fold it up and smooth out any wrinkles.
Here is the finished cover, and a Post It Note pack that I will glue on the inside bottom portion.
For the top of the cover, I have cut out the word NOTES from the Stamped Cricut cartridge, and I've added a MS punched leaf and flower stack. I added some cute little gems as well. In this next photo you will notice a green box with one Post It Note Cover to match. This is made to fit 4 Post It Note Covers inside.

A lovely gift, doncha think?

cutting Cafe Stuff

I love the Merry Christmas set from Cutting Cafe. Here are two cards featuring some of the sentiments. The Happy New Year Card for 2010 is shaped from my Labels 8 Nestabilities which I ran through a Cuttlebug Embossing Folder. Two shapes are joined together with a folded label on the inside. The lettering and flowers are cut from my gold cardstock, and then I slightly shaded it with ink and poured some gold embossing powder on the numbers before using my embossing gun. The little flower has microbeads on it. The numbers are from Don Juan cart. TFL...and check out Cutting Cafe for some wonderful ideas and images.

This card uses the circle sentiment from Christmas Set at Cutting Cafe. I love that big round space to fill up with pretty Christmas images. I ran the circle sentiment through my Cuttlebug for embossing. The trees are from Don Juan cart as well, and I cut them in 3 sizes. The tree is cut with dark green cardstock and I loved the dark blue shadow cut. I've added a red ribbon and a blue jewel at the top of the biggest tree.

BBTB/JOTS/RbnFrm

I've drawn a name for the blog candy tote...and it is KRISTA... Thanks to all for leaving your comments. Krista, email me your addie ...

Enfys is the host of BBTB this week... she is an absolutely awesome designer and I always visit her wonderful blog to see her creations. She chose for us designers to work with Joys Of The Season cartridge, and to use the Ribbon Frame. I had never even noticed this cut. It's fun to imagine the many ways this die can be used...On cards or scrapbooking, to just frame a special photograph. I elected to use it as a hanging do-dah...and since the pear is part of the die options, I hung a cute little pear in the open framework. The pear hangs from some ribbon strings and I've even added another red and green ribbon. Please visit BBTB and see the wonderful creations by the designers.... TFL....and oh...I have some little totes laying around so I thought I'd toss in a blog candy tote. It's sort of fushia pink, and has a cute little flower embroidery. Might make a cute little gift bag. So... leave a comment and I will put you in the draw on December 10th. If you see your name as winner, please email me right away with your addie and I will mail the little tote right to you.

Cutting Cafe/Calendar Set...

More calendars from Regina's Cutting Cafe. The calendar sheets are a bit larger and I mounted them on a layer of pattern papers and then on a layers of scallop squares. Those are from Plantin Schoolbook. I used bits n' pieces of some beachy type papers left over from a project I just finished for a friend. I've added some die cuts to a few of the months, and all were threaded onto a metal ring and loads of bright ribbons added.

TFL...

Cutting Cafe/Calendar Set...

OMG, Regina released the cutest calendar set. I am going to do all three sizes but for now here is the first one I made and I am very happy with the end results. Please visit here and take a gander at this really cute printable from Cutting Cafe. The 4 layers are from my Round Scalloped Nesties, the sweet little leaf and precious pink flowers are from Martha Stewart punch, and the ribbons were in my stash...I gathered up all 12 rounds and thread them onto a round metal ring. TFL...

BBTB/FMK/Telephone

A winner is drawn (early). I couldn't wait so I did the draw and VELTA, you are the winner. Congratulations... email me with your addie, put your name in the subject line and I will get this blog candy mailed out to you poste haste... Thanks to all who left sweet comments, I appreciated your visits.

It's Monday It's Monday...and not only that, it's month end and it is blog hop time. (Can you believe this is the last day of November?)You perhaps are arriving here from Michele K's wonderful blog ... and I am happy you are here to visit. As you know we designers are taking turns at being the host of the BBTB site, however Regina will do the blog hops at the end of each month. This month she asked us to design from From My Kitchen and to use the die cut for the telephone. I love my little card...it just sort of fell together and I was happy with the end result. Big thanks and shout out to Sandi K. (Celtic Woman) for sending me the tele cuts. At the moment, I don't own the FMK...and I think that will have to change soon.

I am offering up a wee bit of blog candy. This is a gift bag tote adorned with a pretty embroidery of a blue rose. I did this on my trusty sewing machines...
Now.... leave a comment and I will put your name in the draw for the blog candy. Please check back on December 4 after 4:00PM Az time, and if your name appears as the winner of the draw, please email me with your addie so I can mail the gift bag to you. To complete this blog hop, please visit Regina's blog to say hello and see her wonders!!!

Cards for darlings...!

My wonderful son and darling daughter in law were here for Thanksgiving and as is the tradition I made their Christmas cards. I designed all of these using Regina's Cutting Cafe printables. The "kids" were thrilled, and I loved each card as well. TFL...and I hope your Thanksgiving holiday was all that you wanted it to be.

BBTB/PPDU/Cornucopia

The winner for the Christmas Stocking is: Carol, ScrapMomof2... Congrats, Carol, I have your addie and I will mail this today. Thanks to all who played along.... I appreciated each of you stopping by to play and say hello.

It is time for another wonderful project from my design team sisters. This week, that oh so talented Donna is the hostess and she selected Paper Dolls Dress Up for the cartridge. We were to design with the Cornucopia die cut. Hmmm, well.... ! Luckily the cut has the neat little veggies and fruits as part of the Cornucopia cut so I was able to put together a little card featuring this vessel of plenty. Please visit the BBTB blog and see the wonderful projects everyone presented. Here is my Give Thanks card.

Also, just cuz.....I have a little bit of blog candy for you. It's one of my quick-sew-it-up Christmas stockings. It is about 12 inches long and 8 inches wide at the foot. It is unlined and two red ribbons here n' there.....

If you'd like to be in the draw, please leave a comment on my blog...and I would love it if you signed up to be one of my followers. I will draw the winner on November 27 so check back late in the afternoon. If your name appears as the winner, please email me with your addie and I will mail the stocking.

Thanks for stopping by to take a peek at the challenge, ... and have a splendid Thanksgiving week. My son and daughter in law will be here and I am soooooo excited.

Cutting Cafe Giveaway

Oh boy, you MUST visit Cutting Cafe... Regina has a free set of 83 images called Christmas Daily which will run for 3 days from Monday the 16th through Thursday November 19th. After that time period, the set will be $12.99 a set.... Here is the link to take a look see. It's a wonderful set.

BBTB/WMG/Grass

This is the third week of the Designer Choice for BBTB. Oh So Talented DeeDee Campbell selected Walk In My Garden for the cartridge, and she asked us to design with the grass cut.

Well, I went to the Cricut cartridge manual, I looked at the grass cut and I figured "no way" do those look like grass to me. I had no idea what to do, but I shuffled around, lay down the papers, some sewing, the cuts and a darling set of trees and birds from a font called dbmulberry lane from Scrapnfonts who sponsored this challenge. Hop over to BBTB and take a look at the great cards the designers created. Mine?....well, at least I entered something!!!

CC/Bingo, I just love you..

At Cutting Cafe, Regina has presented a wonderful new set called BINGO. How this brings back memories of playing Bingo with my Dad and beloved step mom...and now and then I would win. It was so exciting. I miss my folks terribly but I have the most wonderful memories with me. Here is my card. The background paper is scrapbin grabbies, I added a MS punch for the doily edging, a lovely punch of hearts, a ribbon, some buttons and the sentiment is a rubber stamp. TFL, and do go see the Bingo set at Cutting Cafe.

Play Date Cafe Challenge #4

My dear friend Sandi is the host this week on The Play Date Cafe design team. Her work is always so wonderful and playful and imaginative. Her color choices for the challenge are chocolate brown, tan, cream and blue-green.

I just happened to have this little card already made and I simply added a blue/green swirly girly corner decoration from a Cuttlebug die to make it meet the challenge. And ...as the wise men say, "gather ye acorns while ye may"... Sound advice. TFL...and visit the Play Date Cafe for some neat inspiration.

BBT/Storybook/Bird

I am so pleased to say that it was my turn to be the host of Bitten By The Bug for the week. As I mentioned on BBTB blog, I was happy that Carla had the first host post (and it was fantastic) and I could follow her lead. Each designer gets to select the cartridge and the die so I chose Storybook cart and the bird. I love birds, and since winter is nigh, I thought I would make a card that honored the last fling for Spring. Here is my card. TFL, and please visit BBTB to see the wonderful cards that the designers made. You'll LOVE them, I promise.

Cutting Cafe/Thanksgiving

Regina has released a new set for Thanksgiving. You can see the set here.

I love anything with a Thanksgiving theme and with the large block printable, the card just fell into place. I drew one of my silly turkeys for the decoration, and added a brown checked ribbon to seal the deal. That large scalloped edging is from my new mega size Martha Stewart Stamp I got at M's yesterday....Hope you like my little card.

Play Date Challenge #3

Play date Cafe is featuring their third challenge....the color challenge asks that project designs use black, white and fire red. I love this color combo and since I needed a few monogram cards for a friend with a C initial (not me) I decided to use those colors for my first card. I like it. TFL...

Cutting Cafe/Christmas List

Regina of Cutting Cafe has some absolutely perfect printables for this holiday season. I have chosen to do some projects featuring her Holiday Planner... You can see the printable set here.

I have done a few styles, and I adjusted the sizes.

This is a planner that was bound with the Zutter wires, ...there are 3 tabs which separate the sheets for cards to send, gifts to buy and notes. I love this set....

This is a tri fold cover ... so simple to make. I just mounted the pages for the sections and scored on each side and then folded.

This is the inside of a folder that has an insert section rather than securing the pages on a main mount.

Cutting Cafe/Christmas Stuff....

Regina's Cutting Cafe has the cutest Christmas printables. Here is a card from the Mitten Shaped Card set. The card fits perfectly in the envelope which is included in the set. I've added a little Christmas ribbon and a snowflake.

Sweet Christmas Duck wearing a hat. This printable is from "Christmas All Around" set in Cutting Cafe. The circle sentiment and Duck was shaped with my Scalloped Circle Nestie, and mounted on red and green Nestie shapes in the larger sizes. I've added a ribbon, and Duck has been glazed with Crystal Lacquer. The design was placed on a simple Gate Fold card.

BBTB/JOS/Penguin

At BBTB we are starting a new and exciting adventure. Each week a design team member will select the cartridge for the card design and she hosts the challenge. This week Carla, the wonderfully talented Carla, is the hostess. You have to visit BBTB and look at the darling projects featuring this precious penguin. I love penguins and I had a lot of fun creating this card for the team. Joys Of The Season has one of the cutest penguin cuts so I cut three... I ran the base papers and card through my Cuttlebug embossing folder, I added some snowflakes, a sentiment and some doodling. Hope you like it....and please visit BBTB to see the creations.

Just Us Girls Challenge #5

Just Us Girls Challenge #5 is on the books....and I had a lot of fun making a card to meet their deets. The challenge is to use a Holiday theme card featuring a frame and a photo. This is one of my fave photos of my dog, Heidi Sweetface. She is such a character, always snooping around to see what is going on. I had my big jar (an old mint jar) full of larger ribbons. I pulled out this beautiful red ribbon, she sniffed the ribbon and before she knew it, I plopped it on her noggin. I always have my camera at hand and now you see Miss Heidi in her Holiday hat (of sorts). I dug out the real thing and here is my card. Hope you like it...TFL...and do do do visit Just Us Girls to admire this fantastic blog. And do do do enter the challenge.

Play Date Challenge #2

Play Date Cafe is on their 2nd challenge...and here is my take. The color challenge is to capture the colors of autumn with brown and/or black coupled with orange and yellow. I had some papers that I was given at one of the latest scrapbook crops and the paper was 5x7 in size. I find these papers are fantastic for making cards rather than scrapbooking. This is a glimpse of just two of the cards which are seriously layered with Labels Eight from Nesties. On the white card base I have placed the largest label in black, and to that the next 2 smaller sizes with some of the pattern papers, and finally the next small size of label in a solid cream cardstock. The layers were all glued together and then I ran it through my Cuttlebug embossing folder. I wanted to make 4 cards to place into a Card Folder and so I selected the Indie Art Cricut cartridge. Below you will see the darling bee and the ladybug on two of the cards.

This shows the Card Folder and the 4 cards.
The Card Folder is simply a 12x8 piece of patterned cardstock which has been scored with a 2 inch strip in the center. The two sides are folded up, and two small side strips are glued to the front and back panels. The sides of the Card Folder are open except for the small "tabs" holding the folder in place. I edged the front of the Card Folder with a Martha punch, and I've added more labels, a flower and a dragonfly die.
Here are the four cards. Each card has a different die from Indie Art Cricut cartridge...a bee, ladybug, dragonfly and butterfly. I also made a score line around the layering by scoring with my Scor-It board.
This will make a handy gift for someone, donchathink???? TFL... Now, why don't you visit Play Date Cafe and join in on their challenge?

BBTB/SYI/Tag

Congratulations to the winner of the felt flowers. Carol of Carol's Cards. Please email me at least by November 4th so I can make arrangements to get the flowers mailed to you. Thanks to all for playing along.

Happy Monday and not only are our design team cards up on the BBTB site but it's a wonderful blog hop as well. If you are here, I hope you came to my blog from Regina's wonderful creations. Our task from Regina was to create from the Stretch Your Imagination cartridge and to use the Pointed Tag. A little additional rule: Make this a Halloween theme. Easy to do since I am in the Halloween time of year spirit. Here is my card. I used the SYI cart all the way on this... I cut the tag with the orange checkered paper snippet from my scrapbin, added some background paper in the theme of things, and then cut the pumpkin and two spiders as well. That cute brown ribbon with white polka dots came from my ribbon stash. I added my trade mark harlequin corner and a jewel for pumpkin's eye. Thanks for looking and now in the heart of a blog hop, you will dash over to DeeDee's blog to see her wonderful creations. I love DeeDee's cards, she puts her heart into each one. Also please let me direct you to Shelly's blog...she has a darling card for you to admire.

Here is a little bit of blog candy. These are my felt flowers. They are cut out from felt on my Sizzix die cut machine ...and the die offers variations in the size of flower so they are great to just stack up, add a felt die cut leaf, sew a little button on. These are great for most anything: cards, scrapbooking, purses, totes....

There are five being offered in colors of red, orange, and bright pink. Leave a comment that you would like to be in the drawing. On October 31st I will do the draw, so please check back after 4PM AZ time and if you are the winner of the draw, please email me so I can get mailing instructions. Thanks for looking. I love all comments. They make my day....

Just Us Girls Challenge

I've found a wonderful blog and I am going to enter my card for their challenge at Just Us Girls. This DT does the most awesome projects. The current challenge is to do a 3D flower....and this is the card I've created.

This view is the inside of the card. The pattern paper has been run through my Cuttlebug Embossing folder for Swiss Dots, and the white sentiment base has been shaped with my Nestabilies and Cuttlebugged. I have added a dimension flower which was created with my Cricut Machine with the Walk In My Garden cartridge. The green leaf has been cut by hand with decorative scissors and the leaf has been distressed with my chalk pad. The sentiment is a rubber stamp.

The card style is a Gate Fold and one of the issues I seem to have with this style is the inability to close the card and keep it closed. You will notice that I have made a little strip of paper on the lower flap, and there is a small tab that slips into it. Aha, a closed card at last. The flaps have Cuttlebugged papers that are also edged with Martha Stewart's Doily Punch. The base for the flower are Nestabilities, two sizes and they have been Cuttlebugged. Oh how I lovezzz m' Cuttlebug. The flower was cut in 4 graduating sizes from Walk In My Garden cartridge and of course, each flower was put through my embossing folders before stacking. I've curled the petals, added a center and a sweet little Martha Stewart butterfly. Just for some additional color and embellishment I've added two wine colored ribbons.

This is a view of the card slightly open.

Play Date Challenge #1

This is so much fun to be on the Play Ground Floor for the first challenge on the Play Date Cafe Design Team. The challenge is a color challenge, and I have selected autumn colors for my entry.

I used Cricut Basic George cartridge to cut a 5-1/2" capital O to get an open frame. I switched to the Stretch Your Imagine cartridge to cut out the word "autumn" and the wonderful leaves. I selected pattern papers with the two changing colors of the season, I doodled on the leaf and then ran it through the script Cuttlebug embossing folder. Stickles have been added here and there. Some of the leaves have been lifted with popdots. I have some wonderful velum sentiments which I had added to display in the center of the open frame. I like the way this turned out and I hope you do as well. TFL, and do visit Play Date Cafe to see the wonderful creations from the designers. My friend Sandi is one of the designers and I am always entranced by her projects. The whole team is very very talented.

BBTB/CN/Sign

It's Monday...It's Monday and I love this day because that means Regina has loaded up the cards and projects from we designers on BBTB. This challenge she asked us to design with the Sign die cut from the Christmas Noel cart but we were to use a Halloween theme. You must go see the darling cards the gals did...simply awesome Halloween eye-candy. Here is my take. I used the sign, but it isn't the center of attraction. I love this little skeleton, the ghostie, and the bat and cat (from PDDU cart) and the poem is one of my mind creations. I've written poems and children's stories for years and years.

TFL and do go visit BBTB.

30,000 Blog Hits Blog Candy

Thank you all, I have hit that wonderful 30,000 hits and I am so happy. I always appreciate every single visitor and I love comments. They make my day. Now...to announce the winner of the red Mickey/Minnie Mouse SweatJacket. The winner is......LILLIE. Email me, girl, and I will get that jacket off to you poste haste.

You ARE awesome...!

Here is a little deal for ya. I am approaching a wonderful 30,000 hits on my blog and I want to do a bit of celebrating. Here is a red sweat jacket I made and it is embroideried with Minnie and Mickey mouse dancing. It is a size medium sweatshirt that I cut down the center, created a red and white polka dotted placket.

I am offering this as blog candy. All you have to do is sign up to be a follower and leave a comment on this post that you are my follower and you would like to win the sweat jacket. When my blog count rolls up to that 30,000 count I will do a draw. Keep an eye out...and check back to see if you are the winner. If you are, I will ask you to email me so I can get the deets on mailing this jacket to you.

My Friend Sandi

I am so happy to announce some great bloggy world news! My wonderfully talented friend, Sandi Kelly (Celtic Woman) is the guest designer for 2 weeks on Die Cuts R Us, AND she is now on a new Design Team called Play Date Cafe. I plan on playing the challenge on October 22 so be sure and check the site and play along too. Check out Sandi's blog here and she'll lead you the way.

BBTB/PD/Monster

Aaaaaack, as my friend Sharon would say when she sees something sooooo cute.... Regina asked us to design with Paper Dolls cart and to use the monster cut. Well, I had so much fun with this cut, I did TWO. You must go to BBTB and see the designer's take on this challenge. After I cut two sweet Monsters, I added the spider web and spider from the PDDU cart. TFL...

Heartfelt Thanks

This is a Thank You Card and I made it to present to those messageboard friends on Cricut. Yesterday I lost a treasured friend. She had been fighting her cancers and the effects of chemo. So many wonderful people on the Cricut board sent prayers and good thoughts and 52 sent lovely cards to Carole. There just is no way to describe how she cherished those cards, and as her health declined, she still took the cards and looked thru each one. I received many emails from Carole's sister and she never failed to tell me how Carole was so enormously heartwarmed at the caring. Carole is free now from her nightmare pain and I know she is happy and healthy and smiling. I am very sad to lose my precious friend.

50th Wedding Anniversary

A friend needed a card for a 50th Wedding Anniversary so I offered to make one of my cards that I love to make... This is actually 6 folded cards, stacked and bound with the Zutter BIA. I've added a lot of ribbons on the wire, and each page is embossed, die cuts are added, there are pockets to hold messages and sentiments, ...the die cuts come from Storybook cart and the sentiments are from Celebrations, Wedding Solutions. I've added jewels and more ribbons, and my little Cuttlebug embossing folders were very very busy. I didn't photograph every page but these will give an idea of how the card looked.

The last page is much like this page. It has a pocket to hold a tag that is a "to and from" tag. This page has a pocket to slip a lovely anniversary sentiment into.

My favorite part of the whole card is the front cover. I used the Fleur de Lis Spellbinders die as a base for the Wedding couple to stand on. The edges of the folded cards were punched with the large scallop punch. I love the effect...

TFL.... These are great fun to make and well received.

Black/White/Red Card

I love this color combo. Anything with black and white paper is a winner, add a wee bit of red and I love the end result. Have you ever noticed the little bird on the Lyrical Letters cartridge from Cricut. I just found this darling critter and had to make a card. I had paper left over so what could I do but make a second card....The ladybug is an MS punch. The sentiment is one of Regina's special Cutting Cafe printable sentiments. TFL.

BBTB/HA/Chandelier

Regina's challenge for us was to use the Home Accents cart, and to design with the chandelier cut. The card top was cropped short so that the chandelier would "hang" off the edge. I used scrapbin papers, added some gems on the various globe areas. The sentiment is from Opposites Attract (one of my fave carts). Hope you like it.

Please drop over to BBTB and see the wonderful designs from the team. I am so proud to be on this team with such talented designers who always spice things up with their imaginations and new designs. TFL....

Cutting Cafe Giveaway!

A WINNER.... Congratulations to LOUISE who has won the draw for the Cutting Cafe giveaway. Please email me, Louise, so Regina can get that set right to you. Thanks to everyone who stopped by to leave a sweet comment. I appreciate each of you.
Regina is letting us designers offer a wide range of giveaway printables from her Cutting Cafe site I have chosen to make a card using When I Count My Blessings. Here is the card.

The sentiment, of course, is a Cutting Cafe printable from When I Count My Blessings, I've used border punches from Martha Stewart, a pretty red and white polka dot ribbon tied with a wooden heart that I painted at least 10 years ago. I found this little treasure in one of my "buttons n' stuff" stashes in my craft closet.

Leave a comment on this post and I will draw a name on October 7th. Please check back by October 10th after noon for the winner and if you are the winner, I will ask you to email me with your particulars so Regina can get the set emailed to you. TFL, and thanks for stopping by.

YouTube Yippy

Well, Regina has done it again. She has created something fantastic to put a spotlight on her wonderful Printables and the designers who worked with them. You must visit Youtube and see this great gallery of wonderful cards using Regina's Cutting Cafe Printables. My little ole' Boo Crew card is about 40 seconds or so into the video. Yayyy, Regina...and thanks for highlighting my card. I enjoyed seeing all of the wonderful cards the designers created.

Published me...

I am always so pleased to say that 5 of my cards are published in the October/November issue of Ready Set Create. Please see here for information on purchasing an issue.

Resignation

Just a note... I have resigned immediately from the Die Cuts R Us design team. All is fine....It was just something that I needed to do for myself.

BBTB/GS/Priceless

I HAVE A WINNER: JAN FARNWORTH...please email me with your addie so I can make arrangements to mail the Apple dish towels. Congrats to Jan, and to each of you who played along, I thank you so much. I appreciated each visit...
Well it's fun fun fun time because Regina lets us do a blog hop each month end. I so enjoy these and I hope you do as well.

We were asked to use Cricut's Graphically Speaking cart and to design with the "priceless" die. I was at a loss on how to even make this work and then I ran across this treasured photograph of my son at age 16, all spiffied up for his first high school prom. He looked so handsome in his tux and that blue cumberband ... so I took the photo and made it part of a greeting card.

It is a tri-fold card with the photo on the left, down the center is "always remember" cut out from some scrap bin papers. I've used Nesties on the right side of the card and added the words "first prom" just above the Priceless cut. I love the way this card turned out and I've mailed it to my 40 year old son to chuckle over.

Leave a comment and you will be put into a drawing for the two little handtowels that I have embroideried with an apple.. One towel is a smaller size..I will draw the winner on October 6, so check back after 4:00 AZ time that day. If you are the winner I will ask you to email me so I can make arrangements to mail the towels to you. If I do not hear from the winner by October 9, I will draw a new name. Now, you must blog hop to Michelle's blog and see her wonderful work.

Felt Flowers

I love making Felt Flowers.... The tub of felt was put in a closet and forgotten so yesterday I hauled it out, cut bunches of flowers from my Sizzix dies, sewed the stacks together, topped the flower with a button. Adds a bit of pizzaz to a card, I think.

I suspect some of these will end up in packages on my Etsy Shop. TFL.

BBT/CampOut/Dragonfly

It's Monday....and that means BBTB has the challenges up and as always I rush to see what the gals have done and as always I love every single project. I am just so so proud to be on Regina's design teams... We were to design from Cricut's Camp Out cartridge...Here is my take on that dragonfly. I cut her out on blue polka dotted paper twice, and then added some emphasized eyes. A little ribbon ties around her...waist? Dragonflys do have a waist I think.... The flower is a Cricut Walk In My Garden cut 5 times in 1/2 inch size differences. I've added embossing from Cuttlebug on both the card base and the flower. The sentiment is a rubber stamp and it is mounted on the lower left of the inside. The card top has been cropped and scalloped and the flower hangs off. TFL and do visit BBTB to see the wonders...

Cutting Cafe/Coffee Date

I so love Regina's Cutting Cafe printables...and

this sentiment in her new release coming up struck my fancy. I hope you will take a peek at Cutting Cafe to see the wonders that she offers for us all to create with. I had fun making this card and decorating the little coffee cups from Beyond Birthdays Cricut Cartridge.... I ran papers through the Cuttlebug embossing folders, I sewed a wee bit, I added a ribbon,. TFL...

DCRU Tuesday Challenge/Media

Here is my take on the current DCRU challenge to use other media on a card...like embossing, shading, gel pen doodling. We all know Carole loves to doodle on her die cuts, right?

TFL and go here to see the challenge by Gwen. I used my Quickutz dies for the dog, cat and flower, and the sentiment is Opposites Attract cartridge from Cricut. The base card has been run through my Cuttlebug with the Quickutz Embossing folder for big polka dots.

Tie Dyed Flowers

My friend Diane did a wonderful tutorial on tie dyeing paper using shaving cream and inks....  It's right here. (Scroll down to Friday, September 11 post)
This is my version of a tie dyed paper.  I scooch (izzat a word?) Marvy ink pads all over white card stock, blending in one color after another.  I love the final result.  For this card, I used  Walk In My Garden Cricut cart for the flowers and leaves.  I cut the flowers out in graduated sizes, decreasing by 1/2 inch with each cut, stacked them, curled the petals and doodled on the petal for final effect. The card base has been polka-dotted with the Quickutz Polka Dot Embossing folder which I ran through my Cuttlebug.  TFL... 

Regina's Cutting Cafe News

You must check out here..... Regina is having a special on her wonderful printables.  You will see some wonderful "all about Cupcakes" printables... Please....go see...  I have made some of my cutest cards using her sweet images.  

Happy Holiday

I took one look at Regina's Holiday Background Printable for Happy Holidays and I just had to make a card.  I am now in the process of trying out several holiday cards so that I can decide which styles I want to do for my mailings at Christmas.  I love this simple card and this is probably going to be among the choices.  Regina's Cutting Cafe is sooooooo neat and she has absolutely wonderful designs to choose.  This is the entire site, and if you want to see the background I've used on my card here, just scroll down.  You will see so many wonderful things to love. 

Now...onto my card.  I printed off the Holiday background and then I ran red and green cardstock through my wonderful Spelllbinders Fluer de Lis die cut, (bought that from Die Cuts R Us..check out their store right here)....I added a wee little snowflake in the center along with a clear jewel.  And I was so pleased to stumble across the red and white checkered ribbons to add. 

DCRU Tuesday Challenge/Pop Up

Today was my post on DCRU for the Tuesday Challenge, which followed my Monday post for a Main Tutorial ...and the subject was Pop Up Cards. Simple ones. There are so many styles from quick and easy to detailed, laborious wonderful pop up cards. Here is a Blooming Flower Pop up showing the inside which opens to a flower that literally blooms right before your eyes. It is an easy card to make. See the DCRU tute for details.
Here are two simple pop up cards. The front has been decorated with Cricut's New Arrival cartridge for the baby theme, and I have used several rubber stamps and a Sizzix die cut for sentiments on the outside. And oh how easy to use pre-printed pre-made cards.
This is a sample of the inside ... a small insert has been glued to the inside of the base card that has a "shelf" and it is on that shelf the pop up art is placed. I have added some alphabet letters as hang off sentiments.
Thanks for looking and I hope you will read my article on the Die Cuts blog.

BBTB/Pooh&Friends/Present

Regina was early in posting our cards for the BBTB team so I am early in posting mine.  I was so excited when I saw that the challenges were up on the site because it's always such a delight to see what my design team sisters have created.  Absolutely wonderful stuff.  Go see here. 

When I was in Tucson, Deb shared some of her Tilda images with us and I found this darling Tilda holding a tag.  So what better to pair her with than the Present challenge?  Here she is...colored with my new Copics from Die Cuts R Us.  I cut the Present out with scrapbin papers, and I've added 3 Martha Stewart jewels to the bow.  The sentiment is done from the Calligraphy Collection and I absolutely love the cut out letter available.  Tilda sits on a strip from a MS punch. The base card has been run thru the Cuttlebug embossing folder.  Thanks for taking a look, and I hope you will visit Bitten By The Bug to take a look-see on the designer's cards. 

lookie lookie, ETSY UP..

Hooooray.  After weeks of messing with it, my Etsy Shop is up and running.  I stressed over it and thanks to my friends Sandi and Diane, it all came together.  I have about 10,000 cards (at least) to add over the months, and there are some of the hurry-up-and-sew-them totes.  As time marches on, maybe one of my quilts will show up too.  So take a look here, and see how cute the Etsy mini-show looks on my blog over to the left. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you'll take a look-see at the Etsy shop.  Took me long enough...!!!!

DCRU Thursday Blah blah blah

On Thurs we designers write about mini-topics....sort of capturing some of the trends in the card making/scrapbooking market.  Love to have you jump over to Die Cuts R US and take a read on my post about sewing on cards. It is one of my most fav things to do ....  Thanks.... see you there. 

DCRU Tuesday Challenge

Today is Tuesday and that means challenge day at DCRU blog. On my prior post I spoke of Diane's inspiring article on using negative scraps. Today was the reveal of the cards the designers submitted for Diane to show. There are some really wonderful cards, great ideas and Diane's ideas gives many an inspiration for doing a project using that part of the paper that might get tossed. Here is my card, and for details, please see Diane's post. TFL.

DCRU Tutorial/Negative scraps

Diane, One of my talented design team sisters on Die Cuts RUs has a spiffy tutorial on the blog today about using negative die cuts. The card she shows is wonderful. Negative hearts placed over beautiful themed paper that fits perfectly. It is so easy to just toss aside the papers after we've cut dies out, and sometimes they end up on piles of other paper. Now and then I take time to go through the stacks and I come up with papers that match perfectly and make a wonderful card or project which features the negative cuts. Take a look at Diane's post. She does a great job of inspiring. And check back tomorrow too because you are likely to see some other samples.

BBT/PP/Ribbon/Blog Hop

UPDATE: The winner has contacted me and her towel will be mailed on Monday.

We have a winner: 4Furbabies.  Please email me soon and I will get the handtowel mailed to you. Thanks to everyone

who played along and congrats to the winner. 

If I do not hear from the winner by September

11, I will do another draw.  
Oh yay, this is month end and time for our

end of month blog hop that mixes so wonderfully with our BBTB challenge for the week.  Regina asked us to design with Paper Pups and to use the ribbon cut.  Here is my card...a cute little dog posing for his dog show and that ribbon.  My blog candy is (oh no another hand towel) a flower design in orange and white on the towel.  Thanks for stopping by and taking a look at the card and the blog candy, please leave a comment if you want in the draw.  I will draw the winner on Thursday September 3, after 4:0o PM Az time.  Please check back then, and if you are the winner, please email me so that I can make arrangements to mail the towel.  Now to continue on with the blog hop fun, do do do go to Donna' blog and see her absolutely wonderful work and her blog candy ... Oh, and PS, check out that frog birthday card on Donna's blog that she did for lil' ole' ME for my birthday in July. 

I cherish this card.... 

DCRU Giveaway

I am proud to announce that I am the sponsor for the DCRU giveaway. Go here

and follow the instructions if you care to be in the running for the froggy towel I am giving away. Now...if you follow ME, you know how I feel about froggy.. so for me to offer up one of my froggy towels is a special thing.

Cutting Cafe/Thank You

Regina at The Cutting Cafe has released some new sentiment stamps.  I love this Thank You sentiment circle, and I made the card bright n' cheery.  Do visit her site here...and see the cutest sets. 

Thanks for looking. 

DCRU Organization Tips

One of my DCRU design team sisters, Diane, has written a wonderful article

about organization tips on scrap papers. We all know what a challenge this part of working with paper can be. I've had so many organization systems, I could write a book. With each new system I evolve into a better tidy clutter but I have so many steps left to go. Take a look here, read this wonderful article. Perhaps you will see yourself, nod your head, and get some great ideas.

DCRU Tuesday Challenge

At Die Cuts R US the Tuesday challenge was to create something using a date as the main focus. I selected August 22 and on my calendar that date is highlighted by a tiny blue heart. It's a very special date, indeed.  My son was born the end of July, but he was a preemie, a wee tiny little guy who couldn't come home to us until August 22.  And although his true birthday is a special day this date is a date that the world became a lot brighter.   The details are on DCRU so be sure to stop and see all of the cards and projects the designers made. 

BBTB/Wild Card/ Owl

Oh Happy Monday to all.... Weekends fly past, don't they?  Each Monday I rush to the BBTB site to see the cards and projects that Regina posts from my designer friends.  This week the challenge was for the Wild Card cartridge and to design using the owl.  I looked at the cut and I thought "Oh noooooo, what am I going to do with THIS"?.  Please go and look at the designer's cards, but meantime here is mine.  The inside says "ME!"...TFL...and have a great Monday. 

DCRU Friday Tutorial

Happy Friday. I remember this day with such fond affection during those "working years" and I was always so gleeful when wonderful Friday rolled around and it was the last day of work for a busy week. Today is Friday Tutorial at Die Cuts R Us and it was my turn. I did a Halloween Star Card and I'd love it if you stopped here to take a look and leave a comment.

Have a great weekend.

Cutting Cafe/Halloween

Announcing the winner:  Rheannon, you won the draw.  Please email me so that I can get that Halloween Labels set to you.  Congratulations, and thanks to all for playing along. 
That sweet Regina! ... she has some wonderful sets up for giveaway.  I have chosen to make a card from the Halloween Labels set here....  If you will leave a comment on my post here, I will put your name in the draw on Sunday August 23.  Please check back Sunday evening for the name of the winner.  Once I announce the name, please contact me no later than August 25th or I will draw a new winner.  Thanks for playing....

WOW-Working on Wednesday

It's Wednesday....and  for Die Cuts R Us design team sisters, we are having fun reporting what we each are working on.  What are YOU working on?  I am doing two card challenges, a card for a birthday friend and my biggest project is to scrapbook 25 photographs taken in September 2008 at an Arizona Quilter's Hall Of Fame induction ceremony.  I had the wonderful pleasure of nominating my dear high school friend Dee and her partner Audrey for the Hall of Fame.  These photographs are special, and this album will be for Dee's birthday coming up next week.  Shsssss....  If you are visiting me, tell me in the comments section what you are doing today.  Thanks for visiting me.  Visit my DT sisters and see what they are up to today.

DCRU Challenge Tuesday

Tuesday is Challenge Day at DCRU so you must

stop over and see the cute cards.  We were to 

do a color challenge; chocolate brown, teal, and white or ivory.  I used a Tilda image, colored her

in with my Prisma pencils and Odorless 

Mineral Spirits.  The sentiment is a Hero Art

Stamp, and I added some ribbons.  Tilda  is

featured on a round scallop Nestie which has

been put through my Cuttlebug embossing 

folder.  TFL...

A Friend Award

I am so thrilled to show my new Blog Award from Diane, one of my design team sisters on Die Cuts R Us.  This is one cute award and says it all, doesn't it?....friends walking side by side.

Thank you, Diane.  

I now pass this on to:  All of my blogging friends deserve 

this really cute award because we walk beside each other

every day in our blogging adventures. 

Go Look...

The DCRU store is having a wonderful sale. Take a hop over and take a look see.  Lots of great bargains goin' on. 

BBTB/WMG/Envelope

This week on BBTB Regina asked us to use Walk In My Garden cart which is one of my favs.  There is just everything wonderful on this cartridge.  She gave us a little stipulation though. We had to make a yellow envelope.   So here is my take on that assignment.  The paper is ...well, I LOVE it...it's bright and cheery and it was just screaming to be used on this very BBTB project.  On the card, I added a black flower, a center with some of the paper itself, and an orange ribbon... For the envie I used a circle scalloped Nestie, and cut it in half so the scallops would wind around the lower envie flap. 

All in all I was happy with this bit of summery project. 

TFL...And hop over to BBTB and just look at the wonderful creations.  

Blog Award from Sandi

How thrilled I was to receive this beautiful blog Award from my sweet friend Sandi Kelly.

I am to tell 5 things I like and then share this with five.

1. I love my family, my friends and my dog...this is all one love!!.

2. I paper. And anything it creates

3. I love fabric and anything it creates.

4. I love blogging and sharing

5. Steak and lobster.

Now I wish to share this with:

Vicki

Margie

Kris

Joy Sikes

DCRUS Tuesday Challenge Day

Today is Tuesday Challenge at DCRU and you have to check out the designer's projects to see the fun cards featuring "layers".  This was the challenge.  Make a project using die cuts, papers, embellishments, ribbons...just so there are layers.  Check out the store here to see all of the wonderful tools you would need to make such darling cards.

Here is my card:
The base paper is Nana's Papers for Little Boy, the sentiment is Sizzlits.  I used two Nestie scalloped ovals and ran them through the Cuttlebug Embossing Folder Swiss Dots. The scallop edging is a Martha Stewart doily punch.  The sweet little blue birds are from Cricut's Wild Card cartridge and to Mama Bird I added a sweet white ribbon.  

Join the challenge.   Make a card featuring layers.  Leave a comment on the design team blog and a link to your card.  See the DT blog for all the details. 

BBTB/CelebrtsTag/Teddy

 I was so happy to do this challenge.  First of all, I love the Celebrations cart..it has so many neat neat dies on it.  I love this Square Scallop Tag and that was part of our assignment. 

To pair with this lovely tag, we each received a die from Go Kreate.  I love this little Teddy Bear  ... I have a lot of Teddy dies but somehow the look on this face perfectly matched the fact that the word HUG was also on the die.  When my son was wee little he would bang his finger on a toy he would  tell me "me needs a hug" so....!   As you can see, I cut the Celebrations Scallop tag out 4 times for the layers and of course my wonderful Cuttlebug played a big part in embossing.  There is a tiny jewel on Teddy's tie. TFL, be sure to check out the other designs and join us by making your own card and posting it in McLinky.  

Cutting Cafe Flower Shape Card

WINNER UPDATE:  Lisa B., congratulations...  please email me and Regina will get this set to you.  Thank you all for playing along.  If I do not hear from the winner by August 18 I will draw another name. 

Well now...I love this card. .... It's a new set from Regina's Cutting Cafe Flower Shaped Card set here. . AND she is letting me do a giveaway on this very set . Just leave a comment and I will do a draw on August 12th after 4:00 Arizona time. Be sure to check back on that date to see whose name is drawn, and I will then ask for some email information. Notice, if you will, the cute little frame where the sentiment resides. I sewed around that and cut apart a sentiment stamp to put on the various lines. This is from another set on Cutting Cafe here. For this post, however, the giveaway consists of the Flower Shaped Card. I cut the flowers out, rubber stamped on the flower shape and used my circle scalloped Nestie for the flower center, and I added a punch flower and jewels in the center of that. MS punch decorates the edges.

Birthday Fun

 

Look at these wonderful faces!  This was taken at my 72nd birthday dinner with wonderful friends.  

DCRU Giveaway

Oh my, I wish to announce a giveaway  of a Just Rite stampers set and you simply must sign up for it.  Please visit DCRU and these are your simple steps: 1. Become a follower and leave a comment 2. Post about the giveaway on your blog and leave a link on the DCRU blog.  The deadline is August 9, and the winner will be announced on August 10. Lots of luck.  This is something wonderful to win.

DCRus Tuesday Challenge Day

Happy Tuesday, you sweet visitors!...today is challenge day at Die Cuts R Us and I am so pleased to present my Monogram Card.  We were to design a project to feature a  Monogram and I selected the beautiful font from Cricut Storybook ...sold right here at DCRU.  The card base is from Wild Card which is one of my favs....the card is cut at 5 inches, and I ran the base through the Cuttlebug Embossing folders. The white mount squares are Nesties in the square circle and oval, also Cuttlebugged. (I love that word...)  I added some white dots with my acrylic paint, and a lovely jewel to the initial C. I put on a pretty ribbon and a tulip die cut from Storybook.  Since my initial is C, perhaps I will use this card to send to some sweet friend, or it could end up in the trays of the other 10,000 cards that may end up on Etsy someday.  Please visit the designer's  blog here to see the darling cards, and you should leave your card as well on Mr. Linky.  Great contest going on!

Cutting Cafe/Congratulations on your Wedding

It is Saturday and I did the draw.  JOY SIKES, congratulations.  You are the winner.  Please email me quickly so we can get this wonderful Wedding set to you.

I love this card.  This is a sentiment from The Cutting Cafe "Congratulations on your Wedding" set  I had fun putting the card together.  I ran a cream colored cardstock through the Cuttlebug Embossing folder, then I added another layer in white cardstock that was embossed and has a MS fancy edge punch. I used an oval scalloped Nestie to open up the center so the sentiment would show. I cut out the heart and the flower from the Cricut Wedding cart, and I added some pearls in the center of the flower.  The ribbon?...it was just laying around and I am so happy I found it for this card.  Here is most exciting news.  Regina says I can do a giveaway with this set.  How neat is THAT?....  just leave a comment, and on Saturday I will do a draw. Be sure to check back no later than Monday, and if you are the winner, I will ask you to email me with your information. 

Thanks for looking, thanks for playing along....

Cutting Cafe/School Days

A winner:  It's Saturday and I've done the draw for this darling set from Cutting Cafe.  SHANA... please email me so I can get this set to you.  Congrats.  And thanks to all for playing along... 

I am so excited.  Here is a simple card I made with one of Regina's Cutting Cafe new releases called School Days.  There are so many cute printables in this set, ...please hop to here and take a look. 
I actually printed out the apple on white card stock and used my colored markers to color in the apples  I used my Nesties to cut out the circles and I ran them all through my Cuttlebug Embossing folders.  Now here is the exciting part.  I get to giveaway the School Days set.  Please leave a comment, and this coming Saturday I will put your name in the draw.  Be sure to check back no later than Monday.  If you are the winner, I will ask you to please email me so I can have Regina give you this darling file.  Tfl.... 

BBTB/AE/Snowflake

Ahhhh Monday and our posts arrive on BBTB.  I rush to see what the girls have done with the designer challenge and I am always filled with admiration at the ideas.  Please visit here  to admire too.  

Our challenge was to use Accent Essentials, #13 which is this wonderful snowflake.  I used my marker pens in a blue to draw the snowflake and then I cut it out 3 times .  Initially I had just the oval shape fold over card with a blue ribbon that says "snowflakes fall".   I had to give in and place it all on an A2 card because I couldn't get the oval to stand free. The oval was run through my Cuttlebug Embossing folders.  Snowflakes were stacked with pop ups, a small snowflake dots the center and I've added gems and a hang-off sentiment of JOY from Joys of the Season Cricut cartridge.  TFL and have a spiffy Monday.

Excitement ....!

I am so pleased and excited to announce a new Design Team.  I will be a designer for  Die Cuts R US ... You simply must visit the site here so that you can see the activity that will be going on each day.  It's inspiring, it's a learning adventure with exposure to so many different ideas, so many wonderful products, so many talents.  I am proud to introduce the designers.Sammye Jo, Diane, Margie, Jessica, Amber  Cara, and Gwen.  Please stop by their blogs, say hello, sign up to be a follower.  You'll be so glad you did.  Here is the link for the Design Team.   Mustn't forget the link to the Store

Now, let me tell you a bit about this new first-ever design team.  There will be tutorials for the how-to creations, giveaways (those are always fun, aren't they?) Product Reviews (want to know about that new card making or scrapbooking tool or product  you saw somewhere and you aren't sure what it does), there will be wonderful useful tips and techniques, and features on some of your favorite scrapbooking and card trends.  Each Tuesday there will be a new challenge listed.  Be sure to sign up as a follower so you don't miss a single thing. Be sure to watch the store for wonderful products. 

I'm very excited.  There are new things I need to learn like being in a Google group.   New experiences are fun.  ... I am a bit nervous, so bear with me...

Published me...

The new issue of August/September Ezine is out with Ready Set Create and I am always so pleased to say that I have a card in the mag.  If you wish to see some really inspiring and creative projects, take a look here.... You get a great dose of wonderfulness with Jen's mag and her prices are wonderful too.  TFL...and when the 30 days are up under the publishing stips, I will post my card ...which was done with the clear sheets. 

Happy Friday everyone!

BIG NEWS EXCITING NEWS

Watch for some wonderful news Saturday morning...

BBTB/GP/People/BlogHop

I HAVE A WINNER:  Congrats to ASHJOY for winning the Rocking Horse Hand Towel. Please email me before August 5 with your name and mailing address  ... Thanks to all for playing along with the blog hop/blog candy.  

It's Monday and we know what that means... Regina has scheduled another BBTB Blog Hop and I so so love these. You can blip from one blog to another to see the designs AND you can sign up for some pretty spiffy blog candy. If you are here, you probably have arrived from Enfys' blog. A true delightful experience! Her work is wonderful, inspirational, and just pure genius in design and ideas.
Here is my card. We were to design from Going Places and we were to use the people cut.
This is just a blank couple holding hands so I had to dress them up. I figured a vacation would be just the ticket...and the ticket would be Hawaii. The vacation dies are from LAB, a fun fun cartridge to work from.


For my blog candy, I found a cute little white hand towel that I embroidered with a rocking
horse. These are not expensive towels but I love to embroidery on them and give as gifts.
Please leave a comment and your name on my blog and I will put you in the draw. Be sure to check back on the draw deadline of August 1st. If you are the winner, then I will ask you to email me with your information so I can mail the towel to you.
Now.... please blip over to Sandi's blog to see her delightful designs and fantastic techniques and ideas. Talk about getting inspired!...Thanks all for stopping by. Have a super day.

Sunday

Stay tuned...Blog Hop on Monday.

Butterflies Flit

I love Regina's Cutting Cafe and the sets she offers.... I love to look at the cards the designers create and the gallery full of cards to admire. Hop over there right now and take a gander at the beautiful Butterfly set.

With that said, here are three cards I did using Regina's sentiments. I love this little simple card. I double mounted the sentiment and ran it thru the Cuttlebug Embossing Folder. The card front was also embossed and the butterflies come from a MS punch. I've added some feelers, and a dab of tiny pink micro beads.

Such a simple to do card. The MS butterfly punch, a sweet pearl and two pretty white ribbons atop an embossed mount.
I was pleased with this card. First of all I love the circle sentiment with the butterflies swirling all around. Going with that, I used four MS punched butterflies with small pearls and put them in a circle with tips of wings touching. TFL...I always appreciate your visits.

Free Stuff @ The Cutting Cafe

Wow, what a treat you are in for if you perchance to The Cutting Cafe here. Regina has a set that she is giving away free until the end of August. Hurry.... you don't want to miss these.

BBTB/IA/Cone

Today is Monday and that means Regina has posted the designer cards for the Indie Art Ice Cream cone challenge. I always rush to the site to see the fantastic cards. Please visit here and you can see too.

For my card, I used some scrap bin papers of red white and blue. The crochet flowers are from Paper Blooms. Aren't they darling? Leah does a wonderful job on these. The sentiment is from Regina's Cutting Cafe, 40 Ways to say Happy Birthday. And of course I ran the background paper through the wonderful Cuttlebug Embossing Folder.

TFL...

Blog Candy Mice Towels

UPDATE:  WINNER...Vicki, congratulations, you won the draw. 

Please email me with your addie and I will mail off these cute Mickey and Minnie Towels.  Thanks to all for playing along with my celebration blog candy.  

My blog has had more than 23,000 hits which makes me smile big.

So I am celebrating with a little gift for my friends who stop by to visit.

These towels are not expensive but they are fun to embroidery on.

Here are two. Mickey and Minnie Mouse. Something cute to lay on your sink. So leave a comment and I will put your name in the draw which will be next Tuesday, July 28th ...and that happens to my birthday. TFL...