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...

CuttingCafe/Giveaway YAYYYY

Update: Katarina now has her Nestling Boxes Template.

A WINNER: Congratulations to KATARINA. Please send me your email address by July 22nd so that we can get the Nestling Boxes Template sent to you via email. If I do not hear from the winner by July 22, on July 23 I will select a new name. Congratulations, Katarina, and to all who stopped by to leave a comment, thank you. I appreciate each of you.

Regina has told us that we can offer a free set from The Cutting Cafe. All we have to do is pick a set, make a card or project and then we can offer the set through a drawing in 3 days.

How wonderful is THAT?

First of all, I LOVED the Nestling Boxes Templates that she just released. There are three boxes; the biggest box is approximately 3 x 2.5 with the smallest being 2 x 2-1/2. You can stack them, or decorate them and sit them side by side as I have done here.

Here are two of the nesting boxes decorated with holiday dies and holiday papers. I stacked the two boxes, and nestled in a Christmas text die.

These represent the three sizes and I made the bottom of the box with pattern papers, the lid with white card stock that has been rubber stamped. I added ribbons and some dies, and some beads.

Now, all you have to do is leave a comment and I will do a drawing on Saturday morning.

Thanks for looking, thanks for playing and lots of luck. These are wonderful templates and so much fun to work with.

BBTB/M&F/Ring

When Regina selects a challenge, it's always a good one. This ring icon from Mickey & Friends cart was the whopper of a challenge for me. I sat and looked at that ring cut and simply could not come up with anything so I just cut out 8 rings, stacked them and created a pretty flower. There is glitter in the center along with a pink jewel. I added some rick rack paper, a green ribbon and the word LOVE is from Jubilee cart. (I think)... Please visit the BBTB designer site and prepared to be impressed with the wonderful cards.

Hallmark Challenge/A Sunny Day

Kris had the task of selecting the weekly challenge for our Hallmark Scrapbook Messageboard fun. She chose ...sun... How appropriate, especially here in parts of Arizona. In Phoenix yesterday I read it was about 114 and it surely felt like it too. Here is my card. The sun and cactus dies are from the original dies. TFL...and stop by Hallmark and join in our fun challenges.

Journey to 1,000

What a find.... I saw Donna's post about this wonderful opportunity and fun thing for all of us to enjoy.

The Cuttlebug Spot has this fantastic wonderfulness going on right now and I hope you will join in because it's.....well, FANTASTIC.

They are trying to reach 1,000 followers by the end of July, and for this they are offering $1,000 gift certif from Custom Crops. WOWZER.... Anyone can join. Here is what you need to do.

1. Become a follower of The Cuttlebug Spot. If you already are, the first step is done.

2. Post a link to this contest on your blog. If you don't have a blog, why are you waiting... Start one at blogspot.com. So easy, so much fun.

3. Leave a comment to this post with a link back to your blog post.

Winner will be selected from random.org for those that complete all steps. Hurry, start the ball rolling.

Blog Award from Janis

Janis has given me a wonderful award with one of the prettiest blog award images everrrr. Her daughter did this wonderful work of art of her EYE, of all things, with some added art work. Isn't it lovely?
There are soooooo many blogs that I love to visit, and so much talent from the friends it is really hard to narrow down to a few. I love all of the blogs I visit. Here are some that I visit often and drink in the creations. Visit Janis here.
Sandi
Enfys
Carla
Margie
Kris
Here are the rules of this Award:

By accepting this award you recognize that the giver 'LIKES YOUR STYLE'.
You agree to display this award proudly on your site, and include a post linking back to the giver.
And because there are so many blogs out there which you like their style, you will share this award with them... however many that may be.

Star Card/Holiday Theme

Generally when I do a Star Card, I make them 3 layers with 9 sections but this one has only two layers with 7 sections. I cut seven red 6x9, and seven red 6x7. Fold each in half. On three of the 6x7 cuts, I used my Nestabilities by laying only half of the Nestie on the fold of the card. Here is a sample, and you can see that there is a round opening on the smaller cut. I precut some Christmas dies from Christmas Cheer and Christmas/Noel, and Sizzix.

On those with center openings, be sure to lay your decorations/dies on the 6x9 cut before you attach the two cuts for each section. I place the smaller cut with opening over the larger cut and make sure that whatever diecut or sentiment I put will show. The cuts that have no center opening are easier to embellish and these will be embellished on the 6x7 cut. . I added sentiment rubber stamps, Cricut sentiments and titles, holiday die cuts from both Cricut and Sizzix.

Now that all seven sections (consisting of the 6x9 and 6x7 cuts) are embellished, you will now begin to attach the two cuts for each section. Glue the outside edge of the 6x7 sheet to the edge of the 6x9.. Now you will glue the other edge and pull the smaller cut to the edge. This creates the obvious layers and/or windowbox. Here are samples.

This page is actually the last of the 7 sections. It has a small pocket and a tiny card slips inside. This is where you will add your message and holiday greeting.

When each section is completed, you will now begin attaching them by glueing the back of right page to the back of the left page on the second section.. If there is a sequence, line up your sections before attaching. Big NOTE here...make sure when you are gluing one backside to the next backside, the sections are right side up. As many of these as I have made, today of all things I glued the back section upside down. Fortunately I caught it quickly and was able to pull the sections apart.... And if that wasn't bad enough, I decorated the back cover upside down and had to do a second round of embellishments and titles. Here is a picture of the sections being attached.

For the front and back cover, I cut a square 6-1/4x6-1/4 from chipboard . . I cut two strips of ribbon and glue each one of the edges about 2 inches in from the edge of the cover that will open the card...and then I cover the front of each with paper. I glue the back page of the first section to the inside of the front cover, and I glue the right backside of the last section to the inside of the back cover. When you are doing this, make sure that the two edges don't "collide" with each other when the Star Card is flared open to make the Star.. Again, make sure your pages are right side up before this final step.

One of the inside sheets.

Here is a photo of the folded Star Card, ribbon tied
This is a shot of the flared card.
A picture of the "star" when the front and back cover are pulled together. If you make a card with 9 sections and 3 layers, this card will be very impressive.
TFL,...I always have fun making Star Cards.

A Non Red Apple

Margie (BellaBug) had a turn at selecting a challenge for the Hallmark Messageboard ...she told us we could do something using an apple from any cartridge, but it could not be red. Here is my take on that challenge. TFL. We are having a great fun at Hallmark Messageboard so please, stop by and join in on the challenges.

A Tucson Delight

Here are a few of the 82 cards I made last weekend in Tucson. I love love love the cards with the darling flamingos from Life Is A Beach cartridge.

Are these bright enough????
I was waiting to post a few of the photos from my wonderful Tucson visit to Deb's house. The photos I took just didn't do it all justice so I am borrowing some from Kris. What a wonderful weekend. Deb had a fantastic set up for Kris, Sandy, Deb and myself... tables full of Cricuts and Cuttlebugs, all the bells and whistles for same, tubs of papers and embellishments to share.

Deb's husband did all of the cooking and we had some fantastic meals. I was in my glory with a Pomegranate Cocktail! And I fell in love with Deb and Don's absolutely darling dog, Zoey. She would lure me outside to watch her guard the house against lizards. Here are two of the great photos Kris shared with me, and if you visit her wonderful blog, there are even more. See Kris here...

BBTB/WC/House

Here is Regina's challenge to us. Use the House Cut on the Wild Card cartridge. I saw in my mind's eye a townhouse row so here it is. I used a Sizzix tree and fence and cloud. Thanks for looking and please visit here to see the designer's wonderful cards. TFL and have a wonderful week.