BBTB2/Celebrations/Cake

The Blog Candy winner is.........JESSICA. I will get the necessary info and get the little red book tote mailed out this week. Congrats, Jessica, and to each one of you who left a sweet comment, thank you so much. I appreciate everyone ....

Happy Monday....can you believe May is just a few days from being over and we will be in the month of June.

Welcome to the end of month BBTB2 blog hop. I am the hostess for this blog hop and I selected Celebrations cartridge for the die cut, and I asked the gals to design with the birthday cake. I love this little cake. I cut the candles from Celebration cart as well but I hand colored them with my Copics just to give 'em a wee bit of oomph. I used some MS edge punches for scallops, I embossed almost everything, and the sentiment is a rubber stamp. A sweet little blue bow has been added for a final embellishment. I believe I am the first stop on the blog hop and from my blog please hop over to Donna's wowzer blog to see her take on our birthday cake challenge. Click right here for Donna.

Please join us in our cake challenge. You can use any cake from any cartridge. When you link your blog with the challenge entry, be sure to tell everyone that you are joining the BBTB2 challenge.

Now...here is my blog candy. It's one of my little totes I make with some left over fabrics. This tote is about 7-1/2 long and 9-1/2 inches wide. Not big but this would be a cute little tote for a little girl who likes bright red and colorful flowers. Leave a comment and on June 3rd I will do a random draw. I will post the winner after 2:00PM that day so check back for the name.

Please contact me no later than June 5 so I can make arrangements to mail the tote ....if I don't hear from the winner by June 6, I will do another draw.

Thanks so much for visiting. Hope you have a splendiferous week. I plan to.

Cutting Cafe/Tooth Fairy

I don't think there is enough time in the day to do everything that I want with the Cutting Cafe printables. Oh that Regina, she gives us so many wonderful images and sentiments to create with. One of the new printables is Tooth Fairy Box. How cute an idea is THAT?.... You can see this set right here.

Anyway in one of my dresser drawers there is a plastic container with all of my son's baby teeth. I've looked at the little container many times over the years when I have had need to rummage around in my old old jewelry box and I always say aloud, to no one in particular, "I gotta do something better with these". I can remember each time he lost a tooth so this little plastic do-dah holds some mighty wonderful memories. Along comes Regina with a great printable. Here are two boxes, one girly, one boy...and of course the boy Tooth Fairy Box will replace that silly plastic container.

And just cuzzzz I loved making these, I made a few more. I used a very simple box cut ....cut the cardstock 6x6 and scored all four sides at 1-1/2 for the box, and 1-1/8 for the lid. I love the little Cutting Cafe sentiments and images so they are here and there on the boxes... I cut some 2-1/2 inch envies from Calligraphy cart, applied one of the circular toothy sentiments on the front and each box will have about 5 envelopes like these.

TFL.... I think this printable is just the cutest thing evahhhhhhh.

Cutting Cafe/All About baby

I am in the Box Lid Card Frenzy mood again. I MUST get that studio tidied up. I keep everything...every little tidbit of paper and each die cut that I hadn't use for something....and then suddenly I am aware that I am surrounded by stacks. When that happens, you see these posts of cards that I put together in nothing short of a record ... I found the Cutting Cafe pile of the darling little round sentiments. "Cute As A Button" can be used on so many cards...babies, pets, children growing up. I had one sentiment that I did myself on the computer.... I cut some faces from New Arrival. I used the blackout cut and drew in my own face, and I added a MS bow punch ... then I grabbed up the chipboard button designs, added a wee bit of tied twine and the cards were done. You can see the set from Cutting Cafe right here. It's a cute one. Go see....

BBTB2/Florals Embellished/Flying Bird

Donna, oh that super talented gal, is our hostess for BBTB2 this week. She has chosen the Florals Embellished cartridge, and the flying bird on page 61. I don't have that cartridge...and in fact somehow the existance of it escaped my scrutiny. At any rate, I found a flying bird on Indie Art. I cut three bright and colorful birdies, cut a moon, some stars a cloud, added some jewels to the stars and cloud, a few on the blue bird and called this creation "girls night out". ... Little Blue Bird with all her bling seems to be the leader and I am sure this flying trio will have a great night in the sky.

Hope that you all have been able to visit all of the design team blogs and see the wonderful project they offered in this challenge. And I hope that you will join in on the challenge. You don't have to have the cartridge selected...just pick a bird, flying or not. And be sure to mention on your blog that you are entering the BBTB2 challenge.

Cutting Cafe/Belated Birthday Wishes

Whenever I have a card idea rattling around in my head, I automatically hover over Cutting Cafe printables to close the deal. These two cards are a result of finding 2 little unfinished elephant die cuts .... I believe these darlings were cut from Sugar N' Spice. Elephants are supposed to remember everything but these little cuties forgot birthdays. You can see the set right here.

Recipe:

Cricut: Sugar N' Spice

Sentiment: The Cutting Cafe

Cuttlebug Embossing Folders

Pattern Papers

Cutting Cafe/Calendar Set...

I LOVE this set and I have made a lot for friends who delight in receiving them. You can be sure that when January 2012 arrives, I will be Susie-On-The-Spot with a new year's set for all my friends. This is the second post for this particular Cutting Cafe printable. Everytime I repeat a project, they just seem to turn out all brand new because of different papers and embellies.

You can see the set here....

BBTB2/ForeverYoung/Sunglasses

Heather is the hostess this week for our BBTB2 challenge. She asked us to design with the sunglasses on the Forever Young cartridge. I really have a lot of fun when I pull up the FY delight....it has great cuts and among them the wonderful sunglass diecut.

I used FY for all of the the cuts on my card. The sentiment "chic" is artfully shaped, and I love the cute little silhouette girlie with the red jewel on her belt. My sunglasses were set upon with a wee bit of red jewel bling. I've added ribbons and most of the card has been embossed. Thanks to Martha for the edge punch.

Where were these sunglasses in the fifties when I wore wild and crazy sunglasses?
Here's a close up of chickie girl with the blingy belt.
TFL. Do join in our challenge. You don't have to have Forever Young.... any sunglasses will do. Link your card up to BBTB2, and be sure to mention that you are joining in the BBTB2 challenge.

Cutting Cafe/Cupcakes.

Woot Woot..... another wonderful giftie from Regina and The Cutting Cafe is being offered. A while back I posted a card I did using one of her new cupcake files. You can see my blog card right here. Here's the cupcake scoop! Regina is having the Monthly Inspiration with darling projects and cards done by the designers. This month you can win ay 3 sets from The Cutting Cafe by leaving a comment and you can also buy one get one free of equal or lessor value on all of the sets offer. Not kidding...what a deal because The Cutting Cafe rocks when it comes to darling printable images and sentiments. The offer is good until Wednesday May 18 at midnight. See the fine details at The Cutting Cafe here.

Spring Cards

Many of us got emails from one of the companies that sell Cricut carts and this offer had a free Your Story if you bought a cartridge. I have a Your Story and I love it, but I have a friend who pays big money for little digital scrapbooks so I thought how great it would be if she had a machine that could do a few for her.

I bought Cindy Loo and April Showers. Once everything arrived I could not wait to get those carts into play. I had some 12x12 sheets of printed cardstock that had the words "spring" across the center. I cut the pages down so that I could fold them in such a way that the panel of words would end up on the edge. I was able to make 4 cards....and since I used the printed papers for the cards, the inside is a lovely robin's egg blue.

Cindy Loo has darling images and so does April Showers....and on the AS cart I went right to that sweet little birdie in a cage. I thought about making a blue bird but the birdie just sort of disappeared into the paper. I did the first cut at 2 inches, using green paper. The second cut was yellow. The overlay for the bird was yellow and I did some distressing with yellow chalk inks for a little definition. I added a little punch daisy and leaf, and on one card I added a sentiment from April Showers. I had already cut some garden boots in blue with a pink overlay so I added those on two of the cards. Quick and easy cards and they will make a cute gift pack.

I LOVE the alphabet section of Cindy Loo.. I have most of the alpha carts and I really like each one ...I find that I mostly use Mickey Mouse Font or Don Juan for my letterings but now I have a new fave.... Cindy Loo. I had extra sets of photos from the County Fair and my blue ribbon quilt as well as a set of photos taken of the Porch Cat, Tabby... Just for giggles I got my Your Story up and running. I bound the two sets in the little 4x6 binders. The titles are the darling Cindy Loo cuts. Thanks for taking a peek at my fun little last minute projects.

I

Cutting Cafe/Cars

Regina has a cute cute printable set featuring cars and quips. There are so many instances the printables can be used. I selected this red car and out of the numerous sentiments, I selected "You're Going Places"....I added a rubber stamp that says "Adventure" and I shall use this for a graduation card. Take a peek at Regina's car printables right here.

BBTB2/Simply Charmed/Strawberry

Oh so talented Jeri is our hostess at BBTB2 this week and she chose Simply Charmed as the cartridge. We were asked to design with the strawberry. We would love to have you join in on our challenge, and remember...you don't have to have Simply Charmed. Use any cartridge that has a strawberry. Please remember to mention on your blog that you have entered your card in the BBTB2 challenge.

For my base card, I used a 5x7 size. I cut away half of the front fold so that the main design could "hang" from a sturdy upper card strip. I strengthened this upper "flap" by adding a red scallop strip, a white scalloped strip and some pattern paper. I cut 4 strawberries; 3 small, and one larger for the focal point. The title is also from Simply Charmed. Everything has been embossed with the Cuttlebug. Finally, I added a green jewel on the leafy stem.

I hope you have viewed all of the cards from the design team. If you haven't as yet, just click here and you can see the cards. The team is so so talented, and I love how each of us on the team has their own take on the challenge.

Making Pretty Boxes

You've heard me speak of and show my "box lid frenzy" creations which is where I attempt to empty out the lids of extra small papers, die cuts and sentiments. I also have a "box frenzy". I love making little boxes and fortunately I have a friend who loves getting them to gift out.

Here is a stash that she will pick up tomorrow, along with a big sack full of little totes and handsewn items she will give to the Open Arms Orphanage in Africa. Like anything I dive into, once I am making these boxes, I find it hard to stop... With each paper change, it is like making a new box all over again. I add flowers, stars, sentiments...ribbons, brads.

Here is how I do this: You can use any size of paper you like but for purposes of this tutorial, I am using paper cut 8x8. In this instance I selected a wonderful pink pearl 8-1/2x11 cardstock and this makes a sturdy gift box. I cut two 8x8 bases. On the first I score on all four sides at 2 inches. This is the box itself....The score lines will make the flaps on the box. The second box base I score at 2-1/8th inches. This will make the lid.

Fold up at all score lines. Use a bone folder to make a nice crisp fold.
On the box and box lid you will make cuts on the two sides opposite each other. Cut up to the score line. This will create flaps that you will fold up and glue inside to form the box. Do not cut on all four sides of each as this will cut away the part of the flap you need to glue inside the bases. (However, if you should cut away that small flap, fear not. You can save the project by creating an outside decorative flap to glue each panel and create the necessary flaps.
I fold down all 4 of the smaller flaps and swirl some glue. I find it is easier to glue everything so that when you start to fold the box together, it is uniform.
Pull up the flaps, place the smaller cut flap inside, line it up all edges and hold to secure the glue. I have also used double sided tape but I feel glue is a wee bit more secure.
Here is a finished box and a tag to accompany. The tag comes from the extra paper I cut away from the 8-1/2x11 cardstock. The flower is a simple punch in several layers, and two buttons for the center. I added some Nestie corners just cuzzzzzzz.
I am always thrilled to give my box creations to Patty and I had a lot of fun making them.

TFL

Cupcake At The Cutting Cafe

Who doesn't love a cupcake?.... I certainly do. Paper cupcakes are fantastic. They are not only so pretty to behold but they are wonderfully calorie free. This cute card shaped cupcake is from The Cutting Cafe. I love the larger cuts, and instead of creating an entire card with the printable, I mounted it on a card base. The decorative edging is from an EK Success Edge Punch. That big fat ribbon was in my Big Ribbon Jar. (I love ribbon, ...I have two big big trays of ribbons, and I had a huge jar of smaller bows and made up ribbon styles and I have a big jar of ribbons that came from packages.) I put the cupcake wrapper through one of my Cuttlebug embossing folders, and of course everything else has been embossed as well. The sentiment is a clear stamp. TFL.... and if you want to see more of the darling cupcake printables, check out The Cutting Cafe right here.

Last week I was absolutely thrilled to be able to visit with my friend Carol Sheetz, her two darling daughters and her mother in law. I was happy that Carol could wedge in a visit during their busy trip to AZ. This is the second time Carol and her family have come to see me and let me tell you, to have a bloggy friend face to face is pretty exciting. Here is the pix of Carol and I.

Now if I can just visit face to face with my many other cherished bloggy friends.

BBTB2/Preserves/Apple

Our talented and loved BBTB2 leader, Heather, is our week's hostess. She asked us to design from the Preserves cartridge and to use the apple core die cut. I do not have that cartridge so I went to my much loved Doodlecharms cartridge and cut the apple. I love this cartridge...it has everything.
Here is my card.

I cut a Nestie opening in the front of the base card and placed the apple mid-center. I found some cute red with white polka dot paper, cut the sentiment from Blackletter and created the card.
We love it when you join in our challenges. We can use any apple so find a cartridge, make a card and do enter our challenge. Please be sure to mention that you are joining in on the BBTB2 challenge. Thanks for stopping by.
Recipe:
Cricut: Doodlecharms, Blackletter
Nestie (card front opening)

Doodling

Rubber Stamp

BBTB2/HomeDecor/Crown

Our talented BBTB2 hostess this week is Julie. She asked us to design from Home Decor and to use the crown. I hate to admit this but I put this card together in about 2 minutes using papers and sentiments that were laying in one of my well-known box lids. The Crown die cut was also in the box lid and I cannot find which cartridge I cut from. For 2 weeks now I have been once again on a tangent to get those lids cleared out and so far I've made about 120 simple cards. The paper is from a doggy themed pack and the cute dog with the alert little ears is an image I cut out from another part of the paper. The sentiment is from Paper Pups. I've pop dotted the doggy house, the cute little dog and the crown...and of course I added some bling to the crown and the collar. Hope you've taken a glance at the BBTB2 blog to see the design team contributions to our challenge and I hope that you will do up a card and post it on our blog to share. Please mention that you are sharing the card for the BBTB2 challenge.

Thanks for looking, thanks for stopping by and if you've left a sweet comment, many many thanks. I appreciate you.

Box Lid Frenzy

Ah, the famous stack of box lids containing paper parts, die cuts, sentiments and "stuff".... Now and then I attack those lids and start putting together simple cards. I tell myself when I have extra things to take the time and make a card right then instead of tossing the spare parts in those lids. But soon the lids are full again and here is my latest "attack". If I find 4 die cuts I make 4 cards with that die, and you will see that in some instances I found 10 or so stamped sentiments and those became cards. Basically I pull out a die cut, grab some papers, a sentiment and the card is formed just using stuff laying around. It's fun and I accomplish a lot in a short time.

Cutting Cafe/You Color My World Cafe Set

Regina has a new set out that is wild and colorful.... I had about 1000 ideas on what to do with the colored "patches" and I finally settled on a gate fold card with 2 stacks that has a square scallop of the printable on top of a light pink, a lavendar and a fushia block . I placed two lightweight lavendar ribbons under the mounted blocks and that allows me to tie the card together. There are so many darling little sentiments in this set but I chose "I am wild about you".... it fits the wild and wonderful patterns. TFL and take a look at this darling set here.

BBTB2/Pineapple

Karen is out hostess for our BBTB2 week's challenge. She asked us to design from Wall Decor and to use the pineapple cut....however, if we did not have Wall Decor we could use a pineapple cut from any other cart. We hope that you will join in on our challenge too. Here is my card.

I used Life's A Beach cartridge. I cut the pineapple, the hibiscus flowers and the word Aloha all from this fun fun cartridge.

Thanks so much for stopping by. Please visit BBTB2 here and see the delights the girls have created.

I cut everything at least twice, ...and each of the flowers and the title have been popdotted.
Recipe: Cricut: Life's A Beach (flowers, sentiment, pineapple)

Background Paper: Polka Dots. The entire card is a folded pattern paper in a 5x7 size.

Jewels

Embossing

Blue ribbon Green Frog

Frogs Are Green
I have been doing some sort of craft since I was about 14....(and when you do the math, that is about 50 years of crafting something) and in all that time it simply never occurred to me to enter anything in the AZ State Fair or the Maricopa County Fair. My high school friend Bonnie enters quilts and sewing creations and wins blue ribbons. She urged me to enter something... ...anything....a quilt, a card, something, just enter. I decided I would toss in the pink n' green froggy embroidery quilt. We took down our entries and I left with the over all feeling of being glad at least I entered, and I certainly had no expectations of winning anything.... it was just fun to put something in the fair under the category of "Quilt, Machine Embroidery"... This quilt has about 15 embroidery panels of frolicking froggies. On Wednesday April 13, we trekked to the fair since it was freebie day for us senior citizens. Bonnie headed for her vintage dress display and I headed for the quilt display. I cannot even begin to tell you how surprised and pleased I was to find my Quilt was marked "First Place" and I had a wonderful Blue ribbon tacked to it. Here I am....in all my frog quilt glory, doing some showing off. My wise Daddy used to tell me "you can't win if you don't try"... I hope my high school friend Dee was looking down from her heavenly seat because I know she would be proud of me. Dee was co owner of Quilt Camp,a Master Quilter was she, and after I had finished the Frog Quilt, I showed it to her and I said "You know, I am NOT a quilter, I just sew and this happens to be in the shape of a quilt".... "Hmmmm", she said, "looks like a quilt to me" and that comment was worth a gazillion rounds of applauding fans. My friend Dee lost a battle to cancer a year ago this March and the Quilting community lost a teacher and a friend.

BBTB2/Easter 2010/Egg

Our beautiful talented DT sister, Krista, is our hostess this week. She asked us to design with the easter egg on the Easter 2010 Solutions cart and if we didn't have that cartridge, any egg will do.. So, if you want to join in on our challenge, pick an egg, create a card and upload to our blog through Mr. Linky and please be sure to mention that you are indeed submitting for the BBTB2 challenge. Thanks to each of you who visits me, and I love your comments.

I happen to have the Easter 2010 Solution cartridge and I really love this little offering of many cute and beautiful Easter cuts. I cut a bunny and that was a hard decision to begin with because there are several and all are cute cuts. There are two egg choices and I opted for the scrolled egg. I cut two, with opposing papers of pink and white. They have been embossed as well as the bunny.... The pink and brown (a fave color combo of mine) background paper is a 12x12 design paper and I cut it so I would end up with a card large enough to accommodate the larger die cuts and all the "stuff" I wanted to add to the card. I found a left over pink and cream polka dot paper so I added that to the base. I love my little rubber stamp for the sentiment and that is placed on a Nestie cut that has been embossed. And of course, I added a big pink ribbon rose and two smaller ones.

A close up of those pink ribbon roses. I love these....
Recipe: Cricut: Easter 2010/Rabbit/Eggs

Ribbon roses, embossing, rubber stamp, pattern paper.

Cutting Cafe Mikala

Everyday Mikala
Here is a card featuring a darling little printable gal called Everyday Mikala from Cutting Cafe. Regina has 3 of these cuties available. There is a dress set with cute pockets and all three little darlings are precious. I have to admit, my coloring skills are blah because my hands are really starting to act up with the arthritis but I gave it the ole' college try. Please pop over to Cutting Cafe and take a look at this set. I know that you will love everything from Cutting Cafe so wander around and see the delights that Regina offers.

BBTB2/Mother

Happy Monday.... our talented BBTB2 Design Team Sister , Lori, has asked us to design with the seasonal cartridge for Mother's Day 2010, and if we do not have that cartridge, we can use anything that says Mother, Mom, Grandma, Happy Mother's Day..... Weld letters together if you will. Why don't you join in on our challenge? We love to see your creations. Here is my take on our challenge.

I mixed a few papers together for this recipe...starting with a pink and yellow polka dot for the background, a pale yellow embossed mount upon a EK Success lattice work punch. Upon that I placed a small punch out strip of light turquoise. I had a circle scallop just laying about so I placed a pink and yellow bow upon that and then I added some of those fun fun rolled up roses in paper. The leaves were fussy cut, and the title is from Beyond Birthdays.

Here is a side view of the roses. I always feel this is the kind of card you hand to someone instead of trying to mail it...unless, of course, you are adding a gift and then the dimensional card can be placed in a nice roomy gift box. Have you made some of these flowers?.... they are so easy and there are several ways. I fussy cut with scallop scissors or even punch a scalloped circle. The smaller the circle, the smaller the flower. Once the circle is cut, take a little nip at the side and begin to cut around so that essentially you have a spiral... which eventually leaves a small round area at the very end. At the beginning start to roll the paper "strip" and a flower begins to appear. Once it is all rolled I put a small dot of glue to hold the shape and then I glue the rolled flower to the round base. If you want a flower without the scalloped edges, just cut with straight edge scissors. For larger flowers, it is fun to roll them tight, let it loose to unroll and then reshape gently. You are left with a lovely flower. Add a center of your liking and you have a wonderful dimensional embellishment. My flower center was done with a very small circle in pink paper.
TFL.... and if you leave me a sweet comment, I will appreciate it. I hope you have enjoyed looking at the design team sister's creations at BBTB2.

BBTB2/Disney/Dreams Come True

Random Draw Winner: I am pleased to announce the winner for the Duckie Quiltie. Congrats to Sharon who said she will give the quiltie to her granddaughters for her dolls. Sharon, please email me quickly so I will send the Quiltie to you. Thanks to everyone who joined in on our blog hop.

DISNEY DELIGHTS
Happy Monday and a very Happy Blog Hop to one and all who visits here. I love being part of the talented design team for Bitten By The Bug2 and I especially love month end when the blog hop event comes to the board.

Our talented design team sister, Maria, is our hostess. She wanted to showcase some of the newest Disney cartridges but if we did not have the newer ones, we could design with anything Disney. H0pefully you have started out with the BBTB2 blog and then came to visit me from Maria's wonderful blog here. I grabbed up my Dreams Come True cart. It was a cartridge that was given to me by my friend Cathy and I am ashamed to admit, I just had not used anything from it. Once in the manual I found I loved the little fishie Finder, oh and the mermaid Ariel caught my eye but finally I settled upon this wonderful corner border on Page 41. I cut 4 base borders and popdotted the top design. I also popdotted the pretty little flowers the scatter around. Behind the border design I added the sea flora that I saw on the fishie page. I embossed the base card with the swirls, and then connected some of my lovely punch out letters to make the word LOVE. Each letter was embossed as well and just cuz, I added a little heart on the L.

This is a side view of the card to show the popdotted sections of the design.
Recipe: Cricut: Dreams Come True (Border)

Cuttlebug Embossing folders: Swirls/Swiss Dots

Jewels

Now onto the fun fun part of our blog hop. The blog candy!... This BH I am offering up a small 27x20-1/2 quiltie. I have tubs of fabrics and when I was rummaging around in one of the tubs, I came across this sweet duckie print. There was just enough to make this cute little quiltie ...it might be cute to use for a doll or a teddy bear... It might be a little coverlet to sit upon for a tea party. Perhaps it can be a cute gift to someone. I have used the tied method on the quiltie which results in a puffy finish, and the binding was done with a red and white heart fabric. If you wish to be included in the drawing for the Duckie Quiltie please tell me that you have a child who will use the quiltie for a doll, tea party or playtime, or if you will give the quiltie as a gift to a child you know. I will put your name in the draw on April 1. Check back after 2:00 that day and if you are the winner, please email me quickly so I can make arrangements to mail the quiltie to you. If I do not hear from the winner by April 4, I will select another name in the draw.

Here is a close up of part of the duckie print. Bright n' colorful it is....
Now...for the rest of our blog hop fun, I am so pleased to direct you to our very talented designer sis, Donna. She will delight you with her imagination of designs, and I am always envious of her many layers and details.

As always, thanks for visiting.