Cutting Cafe/Elephant Shape Card

Happy Thursday. I decided I would give it a try to cut out one of the precious shaped cards from Cutting Cafe. I have some serious arthritis in the hands and I am not really efficient at cutting the shapes out...and so far I don't have the software to have my die cut machines to do the job. Mostly when you see me do one of Regina's lovely printables, it's a sentiment based card. However, here is the elephant shaped card. I embossed her, added a pink heart and a pink ribbon and the inside says "Don't forget I love you". I will send this to my son and daughter in law. You can see the set at Cutting Cafe right here.

BBTB2/Watermelon/BlogHop

A BLOG HOP WINNER: Thanks to Treva for joining in on our month end blog hop. Treva, you have won the draw for the little embroidery heart tote. Please email me quickly so I can make arrangements to send you the tote. Thanks to everyone who came to visit and leave a sweet comment and join in on our month end BBTB2 blog hop.


Heather is not only our Leader in all things BBTB2 but she is our hostess for this blog hop challenge. She selected Stretch Your Imagination as the cartridge and we were asked to design with the watermelon cut. I love SYI, it has fun fun cuts on it and although I didn't use the "stretch" option on this card, I have used it many times and always love the end results.

Hopefully you started out at Bitten By The Bug2 blog site so you can see all of the projects submitted by our team for your inspirational viewing. In the typical blog hop fashion, I hope you have come to my blog by the way of Carri V.

Here is my card. I cut three regular shaped watermelons and then to give each a wee bit of blitzy difference I used an oval Nestie to get the light rind. And of course the watermelons have been embossed. I cut the title from Blackletter and everything was set upon various layers of cardstock and pattern papers. The cute red and white polka dot paper, however, lost its pattern when I applied the "melon" mount. A gold star was added for no other reason than to break up all that red and green.

In the fun of it all, now I ask you to visit Shelly's blog to see what a cute project she has in store for you. You can see her blog right here.

Now for the blog candy part of the month end blog hop. Today I am offering up another little tote which is sewn with pillow ticking fabrics of white and light blue. In the center I have embroideried a pretty heart design, and there is a red and white polka dotted ribbon at the top front. The tote is lined with dark blue fabric. Please leave a comment if you wish to be in the blog candy draw which I will do on July 1st after 2:00PM. Please check back and if your name appears as the winner, please email me quickly so that I can make arrangements to mail your gift. If I do not hear from the winner by July 3, I will draw another name.

Also we would love it if you would join in on our watermelon challenge. You don't have to have SYI, just use any watermelon cut in a new project, connect it to our blog thru Mr. Linky AND be sure to mention on your blog that you have entered the challenge. Often I see cards linked but when I visit the blog to say thanks for joining our challenge , there is no mention at all that the card was shared with our challenge.

Cutting Cafe/July 4th

July 4th is a special day for many reasons.... one more reason - - my darling daughter in law has a birthday on July 4th....I love Regina's July 4th stuff. Oh heck, I love anything Regina's Cutting Cafe. Here are two cards that can be found in the set right here.

Recipe: Cutting Cafe: July 4th Printables here.

Cricut: Stamping (Star) Independence (1776)

RIP Heidi SweetFace 1997-2011

My Heidi Sweetface was put to sleep this morning and I cannot even begin to express my sadness. She was a sweet dog who loved me, loved visitors, loved treats and kept me company each day. She turned 14 on February 1, 2011 and her age started to show. Her back legs were stiff, she was deaf but there was always that House Guard Heidi when a cat would sashshay past our patio window. Last night was the night that sweet Heidi's body began to say "let me go, I will be fine". I am not fine. No no no, I am not fine.

Heidi on her 13th Birthday

BBTB2/Cloud

Our lovely talented hostess this week is Susan. She asked us to design from Celebrate With Flourish and to use the cloud cut. My Gypsy has never allowed me to load CWF and when I tried again, I was told to update my Gypsy ... I did so and after 2 hours of the upload gauge still clocking in full upload mode and a message that said not to shut down the Gypsy, I finally decided I was going to wing it. I found that I could discontinue the upload on the computer but my Gypsy would not shut off so I resorted to the reset button and I was greatly relieved to find it worked and shut the G down. (Whew).... I went to the Expression to see what had worked and I was told to now update the Cricut from the Gypsy. Everything seems to be ok and my Gypsy could now recognize some of the newer carts I had purchased BUT the Celebrate with Flourish was not loaded, and when I tried the old method of just cutting direct from the cart in the Expression, the E was telling me "cart error". Sigh.... People ask me why I have an Expression and two Baby Bugs. This is why. I had a lovely backup which allowed me to cut the selected challenge.

I had some lovely double sided papers in the scrapbins so this card was created using those papers. I embossed the cloud and the sun and the sentiment. I popdotted 3 layers of the circle part of the sun....and since this was a bright sunny day, I added 6 jewels.

I used my cute little Brother sewing machine just used for paper sewing and zig zagged around the one paper mount.
A bright bright sun indeed....
Recipe: Cricut: Celebrate With Flourish

(Sentiment, Sun and Cloud)

Papers: Scrapbin

Embossing Folder: Swiss Dots

Jewels

Thanks for stopping by. The design team sisters always do such wonderful creations on our challenges and I know you are inspired. Please join in on our challenge with a new creation using the cloud and please mention on your blog that you have entered your card to our BBTB2 challenge.

Cutting Cafe/Butterflies

I love butterflies....and I certainly do love anything Cutting Cafe. So when Cutting Cafe does butterflies, well that's a winning ticket. Here is a card I made that was so so simple. The butterfly is cut from (perhaps) Indie Art. It actually was in my famous box lid where all extra cuts land.... So I grabbed it up, and added a cute little Cutting Cafe circle sentiment. The base card is pattern paper cut with a Nestie shape. .... and most everything is embossed. I added the black body on the butterfly. TFL....and if you would like to see the Cutting Cafe set, please butterfly-flit right here.

BBTB2/Gnome

Happy Monday.... almost the middle of June already and I was just saying "oh my, it's June 1st". Theresa is our wonderful BBTB2 hostess this week and she asked us to design with the Gnome on Freshly Picked. I hope you have come to call from the BBTB2 blog where enjoyed the wonderful creations from our design team. I didn't have Freshly Picked cartridge and I couldn't find a gnome on any other cartridge.... so Theresa gave some additional options. We could use a bird bath, we could alter an elf.... ...and that is what I did. I went to Paper Dolls Dress Up and I cut the basic body shape.... then I hopped over to Santa's outfit and cut the beard, the clothing came from one of the other PPDU options and the hat is from the Witch. I cut a birdhouse from Independence Day Seasonal... The fence and bird I believe are from Happy Hauntings but actually I grabbed this up from a box lid of spare dies and that is also true of the shaped frame. I added some strips of green and some punched flowers.

These little fellas are guardin' the garden.... And they don't seem to mind that they really don't resemble a true gnome.

The inside has a little poem.

Thanks as always for stopping by and if you leave a comment, I will love it.

Cutting Cafe Monthly Inspiration

Monday, June 13 is the Cutting Cafe Monthly Inspiration. So many wonderful projects will display for your inspiration. We are told that a new set, Tie-riffic Dad, will be released so be sure and check for this wonderful new set. There might be a free offer, so check it all out right here.

My project for the inspiration is a note pad cover. I chose to use the wonderful background printable that says Father, Dad, Papa and many other endearing titles , a classic automobile printable and one of Regina's great printable sentiments. I have embossed the mounts, and the brown decorative star was cut from Stamping Cricut cartridge.

The inside cover has a pocket so that you can slip in envelopes, notes, or other papers.
TFL, and do do do visit Cutting Cafe for the designer creations which I am sure will inspire you.

Cutting Cafe/DAD

A three letter word that is said with so much love. Here is a simple card I made using two of Regina's Cutting Cafe printables, You can see the shirt and tie set here. The printable letters can be seen right here.

Sadly my father passed away many years ago but the memories of having a wonderful father never leave me.

BBTB2/Pooh&Friends/Cloud

Happy Monday my dear sweet visitors.. Today our hostess at BBTB2 is sweet Shelly who asked us to design with the cloud on Page 39 from the Pooh & Friends cartridge. I do not have that cartridge but we can design our projects with any ole' cloud so I went to my newest cart, April Showers. Such cute little images this cartridge has given us. I decided that a pretty scene of a wonderful spring day would be my design....with the frothy swirly clouds floating by, a lovely bright yellow sun, some flowers and of course a watering pail. I cut the flowers and the water pail from April Showers as well, the sentiment letters are from Cindy Loo. The sun cut was grabbed up from one of the Box Lids. And I went heavy on the glorious embossing as well. Some bling was added to the flower centers and along the rim of the pail. Please join us in our cloud challenge. Link your creation up to our BBTB2 blog, and be sure to mention on your blog that you are submitting to our challenge.... we kinda like that bit of fame.... TFL...

Cutting Cafe/Bingo Cards

If you are checking in on the BBTB2 blog hop, please scroll down. The drawing is tomorrow so you still have time to get into the running for the little red book tote.

Meantime..... here is a card I made using Regina's Cutting Cafe set called Bingo Card Month Set and you can see it right here.

The card is made up of several elements I just grabbed up.... those are the most fun to make.

I had a packet of vellum quotations so I thought this "live for today" snippet was just the ticket for cards showing some months of the year. I had a sheet of stickers for silver wings of all shapes. I had been saving this for just the right moment and this card was it.... I added the Cutting Cafe month cards, then I used my Blackletter cartridge for some of the sentiment.

I believe that the word "flies" may have come from Calligraphy Collection. I love how this card turned out.... I hope you do too. TFL, and as my friend Jeannie says "I thrive on your comments". Truly.