Superhero

Today's the big day: the movers are coming to take our furniture to the house, and then we will be officially out of the "summer home" apartment!  Woohoo!  Soon I'll be back to crafting new projects!

 

I like to keep some cards on hand that remind me of my husband, so that when the opportunity arises I can slip a card into his work bag.  This one uses a bright blue card base and some star patterned paper that I had in my stash.  I had two clouds on hand from Paper Pups, so I put them in the sky also.  

I cut the bird from 3 Birds on Parade.  I had to use the Fit to Length function on my Expression, because when I tried to cut him at 3.5 inches, which is a pretty standard size for me to use, it came out waaaaay too long for a card. I used the white shadow to help him stand out from the background.

The inside is stamped with my Alphabet Soup stamps from The Alley Way Stamps.  It says "You are my HERO."

Summer Wet N Wild at Craftin Desert Divas!

It's week two of the Summer Wet N Wild theme at the Craft It Up and Link It Up Linky Party hosted by Tara of Craftin Desert Divas! Every other Monday will mark the beginning of a new semi-weekly linky party and you could win fabulous prizes! 

There's still time for you to join in! The more you link up, the better chance you have to win.  Visit Craftin Desert Divas for all the rules and to play along.

Here is what I created for this linky party....

For this week's card, I decided to go waaay back.  I pulled out my Cricut and my Paper Pups cartridge!  I love all the images on this cartridge, and I don't use it nearly enough.  The background of the card is fairly simple- I always try to keep is simple with Paper Pups cards because of the way the images are with the thick borders and I don't want too much going on.  I just used two different papers from my huge stash of MME 6x6 pads.  I love the B sides of those papers!  

I cut this adorable dog at 3 3/4 inches.  One of my tricks with Paper Pups is that I always cut the blackout of the image from something in my pile of random scraps that I probably won't ever use, and then as I cut the layers I can adhere them all to the blackout.  Paper Pups layering is different in that all of the layers end up flat, rather than on top of each other, so it helps to have that base. 

My stamp is from Jaded Blossom's Simple Sayings 2.  I thought my pup who was heading to the beach would like me to send some sunshine her way.  :)  I added a little blue flower that I had bought at Michaels for $1 and covered the whole thing in glitter glue.  You know how I like my sparkle!

Hope you will Craft It Up and Link It Up!!!

I'll also be linking this project up at the DL.Art Summer Linky Party.

Love your Pet!

You know that when there are pet themed challenges, I'm going to be all over that!  This card is especially pet themed because I laid a bunch of scraps I had from my 6x6 Snap pad on the floor and said "Sophie, which color should I use?" and the first two she picked were the teal and red.  (Never fear, I made sure they would ALL coordinate with each other before I let her choose!)  I matted them together and then put on a dog cut from Paper Pups that always reminds me of Sophie, because she loves to run around like crazy.   We call it "The Zoomies," and she actually stopped me while I was making this card to entice me into a round of chasing her around the house while she zipped and zoomed around. 

The washi tape underneath the main image is from Queen and Co.  Then below that is a stamp from the "Furry Friends" stamp set by Pink by Design.  I put three gems in the other corner to try to balance it out, and voila: a Sophie inspired card.

This card is being entered into the following challenges:

Craft with Cutters- Love your pets
Fantabulous Cricut- Fun with Puns

Exploring Cricut- Love your pet

PS: Here's a picture of Sophie.  You literally cannot photograph her running, because she's too fast.  So most pictures I have are when she's lying still.  This is the bed I bought her for the craft room, because we spend so much time in there, and the dog blanket that she got from my sister for Christmas. :)

Pet Sympathy card

I made it into my craft room today, but definitely not for the reason I wanted to.  We got a call last night that my in-laws are going to have to put their family dog, Chloe, to sleep today.  If you've followed this blog for awhile, you probably can guess that I love my own dog Sophie like a child.  It breaks my heart to think of anyone having to face this decision, let alone people that I love.

I used a black card base with white cardstock.  I embossed the white cardstock with the clouds embossing folder by Darice.  Since the folder is vertical and I wanted the card to be horizontal, I had to emboss it twice- the die cuts are covering the areas where you can tell I did that.  For the die cuts I used Paper Pups, with the shadow feature and the main image both cut at 2 inches.  Chloe is a chocolate lab, so I cut the dog in chocolate brown.  I colored in the halo with a Sharpie and then put Stickles over it.

Inside the card, I stamped a sentiment from Scrappy Moms Stamps "Raining Cats and Dogs" set.  

Boo

I am on such an embossing folders kick lately! I just got this one in the mail today- it's the Spiderweb folder by Darice.  I had to use my flash on my camera to get a picture where you could see it.  It's a perfect addition to my newest addiction.  :)

Because I wanted to showcase my new embossing folder, I cut the card in black at 4.25 x 5.5 inches.  Then I cut a piece of bright orange paper at 4 x 5.25 inches.  The black paper that I embossed is cut at 3.75 x 5 inches.  I ran a piece of green ribbon across the bottom as an accent

The word "boo" and the dog are cut from Paper Pups at 2.5 inches.  I used the shadow feature to cut the purple so that the white outline would stand out against the word.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:
Paper Playtime- Welcome to BooVille
My Craft Spot- Emboss it!
More than Favors- Halloween
My Crafting Channel- The gh'oul times

Some scrapbook pages

This past weekend, I finished Sophie's second 8x8 scrapbook.  Don't worry, I have two more empty 8x8 albums waiting for her!  I decided to try scanning the pages instead of photographing them, so we'll see which I like better.  The first one came out kind of crooked, but I already turned off the printer so I'm not going to re-scan it...it's a learning curve.  I'm a pretty simple scrapbooker, usually I don't put a lot of embellishment on a page.  It shocked me when I started writing down all of the different companies and products that I used per page.

Here's the first one. It's the one that I scanned crooked.  It's an Instagram picture that I took of my husband and Sophie both passed out on a Sunday afternoon after we'd gone for a walk in the park.  All of my background cardstock is Bazzill.  I bought it in 8.5x11 and cut it down to 8x8.  I use the leftovers as embellishments on other pages.  The green patterned paper, vellum, and diecuts are from Deja Views Dog Days pack.  The journalling card and date card are from Max and Whiskers by Basic Grey.   Along the bottom, you might spot my Ek Success paw print border punch being used on a piece of kraft cardstock!

My second page is about a day when I came into my scrapbook room and caught Sophie gnawing on some scraps of cardstock that I had left on the floor.   This page is full of different companies!  The photo mat is from DCWV Pets mat stack.  The die cut that I used as a title is from a garage sale, so I don't know what company it is.  The bone that says Yum was cut from cardstock with my Cricut and Paper Pups.  Down in the bottom corner are two diecuts from the Dog Days pack and the little dog is from that Max and Whiskers set.  The brad that is the middle of the two flowers is from WRMK.  The strip of paper that I used along the bottom is from the old DCWV Scrapbook kit in a stack- Dog.  

This is the page that faces the previous one.  I always use the same color of cardstock on facing pages in Sophie's scrapbook, even if they are a one page layout.  It's just something I chose to do and have followed up on.  Here I used a chipboard die cut as the title again.  I can't remember the brand, because I got it at Hobby Lobby before I cared about brands and took it out of the packaging.  The same with the 3D bone at the bottom of the page.  The washi tape strips on the top and the bottom are from the Target brand washi tape.  I took that little design tip from my very favorite scrapbooking superhero, Glitter Girl.  :)  I again used some of the die cuts from the Dog Days stack here and there.  I also used a strip of paper that had been embossed with the Crafts Too "Bone and Paw Print" embossing folder.

Here's the last page in Sophie's second scrapbook.  It's another Instagram sized photo.  I took pictures of her in the morning before she went to the groomer and then again in the afternoon when I got her home from the groomer.  I used an app on my phone to do a photogrid of the pictures.  I used some patterned paper from the same DCWV stack as above and the strip of blue paper is a scrap from making another page into an 8x8.  The title was cut with Plantin Schoolbook and Baby Steps and used a couple of parentheses from the Dog Days stack.  I also used a piece of vellum from the Dog days stack at the bottom.  There's a strip of ribbon along the page that I got from Joann's and a little dog from Paper Pups in the bottom corner.  I thought the cute dog with the bow fit on a page about being groomed.  See the journaling right on the page?  That's another Glitter Girl influence.  It was scary, but I did it anyway.

Puppy smile

Today's card is a nice, cheery card that could fit so many occasions.  I first cut the dog face from Paper Pups.  I made the mistake of cutting it first at 4.5 inches, because I twisted it in my mind and thought it was going to cut the other way- it was HUGE!  I recut it at 3 inches and it was a lot better size for my A2 card.  Paper Pups is sometimes hard for me to get to look just right, so in case you were wondering, I cut three layers: the Blackout layer is white, the Solid layer is brown, and the main image is black.  I popped him up on some new foam squares that I just ordered- they are super dimensional!  You can't tell on the picture, but he's REALLY popped up.

The background paper is some that I've had a long time.  I liked how it had the stripes and some were blank but the biggest stripe had the polka dots.  I used the EK Success Pawprint edger punch along the bottom (my husband got it for me for my birthday!) and added three brown pearls to the top corner.  My pearls always look straight on the card and then I take the picture and they don't look straight anymore.  It reminds me of the difference between seeing your outfit in the mirror and thinking you look great and then seeing yourself in a picture someone tags on Facebook and thinking it's time to start dieting.  :)

The final touch was stamping "Smile" in brown using Pink by Design's Scripted Year stamp set.

I'm entering this card into the following challenges:
Pile it on- Cuddly Critters
Fantabulous Cricut- National Tooth Fairy Day (teeth or smile related)
Made especially for you- 3 pearls
Paper Playtime- Polka dots and a sentiment

It's your birthday...

It's no secret that my birthday is coming up.  I start reminding people 6 months before hand. Being a summer baby, I was pretty spoiled when it came to my birthday.  I never had to go to school on my birthday, so growing up I pretty much learned that your birthday is the day that you do what you want.  For me, that usually means relax and laze around all day.  Even now, I  take the day off of work on my birthday.  I just can't understand doing something other than having 100% fun on your birthday!  This card is in that spirit.  I imagined it as a birthday card from my yorkie, Sophie, telling me to kick back and relax on my special day.  She might have a little bit of an ulterior motive, though- when I'm relaxing, she generally is too.

I used Paper Pups to make the "relax" dog and the word "Relax" on the inside with the shadow feature under the main image. The Sentiment is from Joy's Life- I used a mix of Holiday Occasions and Everyday Occasions.  I made the banner that the sentiment is on from cutting a straight piece of paper and using a corner punch on the edges.  Isn't the background paper cute?  It's from the 8x8 Basics pack from Hobby Lobby.  Sophie thought that I should make more purple cards and get out of my comfort zone a little.

I am entering this card in the following challenges:

Tuesday Alchemy- Furry Friends

Celebrate the Occasion- Happy Birthday

In case you wondered, here's a picture of Sophie, relaxing in the craft room:

Scrapbook pages

You know how people have their first kid and they take a zillion pictures, and then the second kid feels left out because by the time they're born the parents are tired of taking pictures all of the time?  Sophie is my first kid.  I take pictures of her playing, pictures of her sleeping, and pictures of her sitting around.  I get so much inspiration from her for scrapbook pages! 

This first page is of Sophie reading the Yorkie issues of Dog Fancy.  The patterned paper for Sophie's scrapbook is from DCWV Dog Scrapbook kit in a stack.  I can't remember where the bones embellishment came from.  I had to take the foam backing off, because it made the page too puffy.  The title is from Sugar and Spice.  Yes, I buy baby themed cartridges and use them for layouts for my dog. 

This next layout is of Sophie laying on the stairs with her favorite toy, her unstuffed racoon.  I used some stickers from the scrapbook stack at the bottom, and the title is made with the fonts from Birthday Bash and Baby Steps.  I like having two different fonts, and mixing them is something I want to keep working on.

Finally, we have Wet nose, Warm heart.  I'm not really sure what Sophie was doing in this picture, I just liked it.  I used the title from Four Legged Friends, but only cut it in two colors instead of four.  Then I made the dog charm from Paper Pups.  I thought they went together, because the dog in the charm is holding a heart.

A birthday and a thank you

We just found out that a friend of ours is hosting a surprise party for his wife.  (The party was a few days before this posts, so no worries about ruining the surprise!)  I wanted to make her a card for her party.  I cut the cute monkey from Create a Critter, along with his branch.  I used some scraps of orange paper as a background. The flowery paper right behind the monkey is actually a scrap that I cut off of an old birthday card that someone gave me.  Have to be resourceful!  I stamped using Joy's Life stamps on the outside and wrote "GO WILD" on the inside with a gel pen.  I like the citrusy color scheme on this one.

Recently, my husband and I had to go out of town overnight so we had to leave Sophie with my sister in law.  We wanted to give her a thank you card for taking time out of her weekend to take care of Sophie.  I used a notecard that I already had for the card and all scraps for the paper.  I originally tried to cut the dog at 4.5 inches, but it was HUGE!  I cut it at 2.5 and it fit perfectly.  I cut the black and tan layers from the main image, and the green from the "solid" feature.  Then I layered the black on top of the green, and popped the brown into the correct spots.  I used my cuttlebug with the polka dot border from the "just my type" pack.  They got a little smushed when I put on my adhesive.  Oops.

Inside of the card, I stamped the dog tracks from the Pink by Design "Furry Friends" stamp set.  The sentiment is a wooden stamp that I was gifted by a friend.  I cut off the rest of the card because I already wrote in it.

Thanks again!

Thank You card

I consider my pup, Sophie, as part of my family.  It was important to me to find her a good groomer, because she is terrified of the groomer and I needed to know that she was in good, loving hands.  It took three times, but we finally found that right at her vet's office.  Everytime she sees Sophie, she acts excited- even if we're there for a vet visit instead of a grooming visit.  I always leave her a tip, but had been thinking for awhile that I should send her a thank you card to let her know how much I appreciate how nice she is to Sophie.

Well, when I took Sophie in for a trim two days before Christmas and she came home with a goodie bag full of rawhides as a Christmas present from her groomer, I decided it was fully time to get on that Thank You. 



The purple cardstock is Paper Studio (what a shock!) cut to the regular A2 dimensions.  I had just gotten a Cuttlebug for Christmas (I'm lucky to have a husband who supports my craft addiction...um, I mean hobby...) so I thought it would be a good time to test it out.  I got out my Spots and Dots Cuttlebug folder and ran it through on the Provocraft cardstock.  I thought it looked like bubbles from a bubble bath. 

I cut the dog, brush, and shampoo from Paper Pups.  As you can see, I cut the main image out in one color and then filled it in with other colors.  The orange, red, and pink pattern on the bathtub is patterned paper from the Classics stack from KI Memories; the rest is my regular Paper Studio cardstock.  I colored over the yellow and pink in the brush and shampoo with some Sakura gel pens to make them shine and colored in the dog's eyes with a Fiskars gel pen to define them better.

The "Thank You" was cut from Calligraphy Collection.  I love the fonts on that cartridge.

Inside, I glued in a picture of Sophie, in her Christmas bandana from being groomed, chomping away on the candy cane-shaped rawhide. 

I love you because...

I saw these here and there on Pinterest (I love you because), and thought it was a great idea.  In no way did I come up with the concept.  I just bought a cheap frame from Michaels and a piece of Bazzill cardstock and pulled out the trusty Cricut.  I cut the letters with Jasmine, and the heart from Paper Pups.  The line was just cut with my paper trimmer (I have two- a Provo Craft one and a Fiskars one).

It's not too inventive, since I scraplifted it, but I am afraid that my blog will become too card-heavy, because I am loving making cards so much, so I thought I would round it out a little by adding this. 

PS- The link that I posted up top was a link to search results of "I love you because" on Pinterest to give you a little bit of a taste of what was inspiring me.  I hope the link works.  :)

PPS- We ended up hanging it next to the door we come in from our garage.  It didn't stay on the baseboard heater.  That's just where I put it to take the picture.  :)

A few cards

I've been working on and off on making some cards.  As I mentioned, part of the deal in getting a Cricut was to promise to make all of our birthday and Christmas cards from now until I die.  But I don't have a lot of the material that I feel I need to have to make really nice cards like I've been seeing in the tutorials on YouTube.  So they aren't quite as good as those.  Here's a sampling of what I've done so far.

This was my first card, for my husband's cousin, who also was the "ring girl" in our wedding.  It was her 11th birthday.  I used a premade blank card that I got from the dollar bin at Target and some ribbon that I believe came in a pack from Michaels.  The saying, dog, and present are from Paper Pups, which is one of my fav cartridges.  I thought it was a kind of lame card, compared to some I've seen, but it seemed to get the 11 year old stamp of approval.

This monster card is one I made for my sister.  She's starting her 4th year of college and applying for grad school, so I wanted to send her a little pick-me-up.  She likes monsters and ugly and weird things, so it was perfect.  I made it with my Wild Card cartridge.  I was disappointed to find out that my baby bug can't cut the envelopes for many of the cards, so I had to stick it in a plain old A2 sized envelope.  Most of the paper is from the Cricut cardstock that came in my Cricut Essentials kit, except for the pink paper which has been in my stash so long that I can only assume it's from my dollar tree days when I first started scrapbooking.

And last, but not least, this card was made for my sister-in-law, who just finished her first week of college.  Again, I used the Wild Card cartridge for this one.  I wish I could tell you where all of the paper is from.  I know the card itself is from the Cricut cardstock, but the rest was just pulled out of my scraps drawer.  Sorry!  I didn't try cutting an envelope, because I didn't want to waste paper after the moster envelope fiasco, so I cut the card to the size to fit in an A2 envelope and figured that will be the norm until I've used the baby bug enough to warrent getting an Expression.  :)