Caramel apple of my eye

Fall is in the air here in the Midwest and I couldn't be happier about it!  Fall is my favorite season by far.  I just love everything about it- the clothes are more comfy, the smells are more 'spicey', it's just my time of year.  For today's card, I was definitely thinking fall!

The background paper I used here is from a DCWV 6x6 pad.  I was in Joann's recently and had to pick up their Autumn and Halloween 6x6 pads, because they were just too cute.  Over that is a piece of cardstock that I embossed with a Cuttlebug Argyle folder.  Argyle reminds me of fall, because that's when I start to pull out the sweaters.

My caramel apple is from the Smiley Cards Cricut cartridge.  I think it was supposed to be a candy apple, but caramel apples are more autumny to me so I cut it from these colors instead.  I put glossy accents all over the caramel part to make it shine.  Random tangent- when I was spreading the glossy accents, I had a total flashback to an old episode of Reading Rainbow when they were making a claymation movie about some pigs swimming in mud and showed how they use vegetable oil to make the mud shiny.  I had to use some black enamel accents to fix his eyes, because the Cricut cut them kind of weird shapes.  This way they match better.

For a final touch, I added a little cardboard button that I got on clearance a few weeks ago at Archivers.  I think the pack was from Making Memories.  There were a lot that were Halloween themed, but also a lot that were just pretty colors.  I used a little Trendy Twine in the button.

 

This card is being entered into the following challenges: 
Simon Says Stamp- Emboss it
Bitten by the Bug 2- Anything Fall 
Craftin' Desert Divas- Autumn/Fall
Paper Playtime- Apples

Wink!

It's the last Friday of the year!  That means it's also 2012's last challenge at Pause, Dream, Enjoy Challenges.    Our last challenge of the year is:

Question: Are you completely worn out from this busy time of year?

Theme: ANYTHING GOES!

I am always worn out by the end of the Christmas season. With my family and my husband's family, it feels like we're all over the place for the time surrounding the holiday.  I love spending time with our family and friends, but I'm always ready for a break afterward.  

When you're worn out, what better way to relax than a nice, hot cup of hot chocolate?  That was the inspiration for this card.  It's a shape card that I cut from Smiley Cards.  I cut two of the shadow of the cup in black at 3 inches.  Then I did not cut the main image, which would normally be the black that shows through in the face.  There are two different blue layers, and of course the cute cheeks that are characteristic of the faces from Smiley Cards.  

Do you know the easy way to make shaped cards?  You don't necessarily have to use Cricut Craft Room or a Gypsy to weld things.  When you cut two identical copies of the background (in this case, the shadow) cut, you can score part of the back copy, fold it over, and adhere them together.  In this case, I scored about a half inch down from the top of the card and adhered those parts together.

Do you need a crafty break after the rush of the holiday season?  Head over to Pause, Dream, Enjoy Challenges and check out what the rest of the DT has for you.  Then head to your craft space and make something to join us!

Candy

It's time for another challenge at Pause, Dream, Enjoy Challenges.  This week's challenge is:

Question: Who loves candy?

Theme: MAKE A CANDY-LICIOUS PROJECT

I like candy, but not as much as many people.  If we have chocolate in the house, I'll eat it.  But I don't ever crave it and I don't mind when we don't have any.  

This card was made with Smiley Cards.  I cut the candy at 3 inches, including the shadow.  I put the patterned paper on an orange card base.  I don't know what company made the patterned paper, because I got it from a garage sale.  I used some scraps of pink paper as an accent to match the pink cheeks.  I stamped the sentiment from Pink by Design's Big Thoughts

Are you a candy fan?  Make a candy-licious project and post it at Pause, Dream, Enjoy Challenges.  There's plenty of inspiration there from the rest of the DT as well.

Hugs

It's challenge day again at Pause, Dream, Enjoy Challenges!  This week's challenge is:

Question: Do you smile often?

Theme: Create any type of project with FACES.

(Drawn faces, cut faces, stamped faces, etc.)

What a fun subject!  I think that my default face is kind of serious, because sometimes my husband will say "what's wrong?"  when I'm just typing a blog post or reading something online.  I always try to be conscious of smiling, especially when I'm out in public.  The day I made this card, I was having a kind of stressful day, and it felt really good to make a smiley card!

Speaking of Smiley Cards, that's where this entire card is made from!  I cut the hexagon card base in bright blue from Smiley Cards and then put the patterned paper over top of it.  Then I cut the hugs emoticon from a different button on Smiley Cards.  I am so happy that the Cricut Craft Room has allowed me to buy this cartridge.  I love it!  I used Cotton Candy stickles on his cheeks, and then stamped from my new My Creative Time "Gift Card Sentiments."  I love the font on this stamp set!  I'm excited to use it more.

How can you make us smile?  Join us at Pause, Dream, Enjoy challenges and play along!  There's plenty of inspiration from our other Design Team members over at the blog to get you started.  :)

Another Candle?

I can't get enough of Smiley Cards lately.  I think it's because I have the new Lawn Fawn Jessie's ABCs stamps so now I can stamp whatever sentiment I want, and it's been so fun!  Since this cake looked like it was feeling a combination of surprised and horrified, I thought it would be fitting to stamp "Another Candle?" on the card.  I also kind of think he looks horrified at the thought that someone might eat him.

Behind the card, I put some of my home made baker's twine.  The color matched perfectly.  The patterned paper is from the 8x8 Paper Studio Basics stack.  

I'll be entering this card in the following challenge:
The Cricut Chirp- Too Sweet to Eat

Strawberry shortcake

There's nothing quite like a little strawberry shortcake in those early summer months, right when the local strawberries are ripe.  MMMmmm.  This card celebrates that part of summer.

I tested out cream as a card base with this card.  I like that it's not as harsh as white, but a little softer than kraft.  My strawberry shortcake was cut from Smiley Cards at 3 inches.  It was the first time I've ever gotten all of the layers to cut on exactly the spot where I placed the paper when using CCR- practice makes perfect I guess!  Then I cut the tag shape from Cricut Craft Room Basics- there are a lot of cute, basic designs on there.  I stamped with my brand new Lawn Fawn Jessie's ABC's.  I am in love with these stamps.  They stamp amazingly well and are so easy to line up to spell whatever sentiment you want!  Well worth the money.  I've had them less than a week and already used them so many times.  I added some yellow ribbon- it's the Hobby Lobby in store brand- and popped the die cuts up off the page.

I plan to enter this in the following challenges:
Fantabulous Cricut- Yummy Yummy
My Sheri Crafts- Picture This (photo inspiration)

Sun, Smiles, and Stickles

This card uses a piece of patterned paper that I got at a crafty garage sale.  I had, coincidentally, cut the sunshine out last week when I had to re-install Cricut Craft Room on my computer after the virus/reformatting debacle and was testing to make sure it worked using Smiley Cards.  I sat it aside in my "die-cuts I didn't end up using" bin, and so when I saw this challenge, I knew I could use it!  I cut the cloud sentiment from Create a Critter.  I never remember that those sentiments are there, but they're so cute!  This one had a little bird originally on top of the cloud, but I messed him up when I was trying to draw his wing on in gel pen, so I cut him off.

I figured since this was a Stickles challenge, I really wanted to sparkle it up.  I used Candy Cane Stickles on the sun's cheeks, tongue, and the word Hello.  I also used Orange Peel Stickles on the sun.  I can never believe the difference that a little sparkle makes.  I need to use my Stickles more often.  This picture was taken while the Stickles were still wet, so the sentiment is flatter now that they're dry.

I'm entering this card in the following challenge:
Cricut Chirp challenge blog- Sun, Smile, and Stickles
Bitten by the Bug 2- Here comes the Sun

Cheers!

I decided it was time to break out the Cricut Craft Room again and make this card from Smiley Cards.  I cut the beer mug and all of its layers at 5 inches.  To make the shape card, I made two layers of the blue shadow cut, scored the top of the back one, and adhered them together.  I hid the layers of the face that are on there- yet another thing I love about the Cricut Craft Room!  He does have a cute face, but I wanted to put the sentiment on the front and just make it a kind of simple, masculine card.

Here's something you might not know about Smiley Cards.  The text comes out GIGANTIC!  When I put it on the mat at 5 inches, it wouldn't even fit on the entire mat (I was using a baby bug).  I had to size it waaaaay down in order for it to fit on the mug.  It was weird.  I guess it's a good thing you can only do it through CCR (or a gypsy, which I would love to have but do not have funds for).

I think I'm going to hide this card away and give it to my husband next time he's having a stressful week.  I love to leave cards around to encourage him.  :)  Good thing he doesn't bother to read my blog because he always assumes he's going to get to see the cards in person anyway.

I'm entering this card into the following challenge:

Cardz TV- My Guy challenge

Smiley Cards Handbook

As I have mentioned before, I purchased the digital cartridge Smiley Cards, which can only be used with a Gypsy or Cricut Craft Room (I use CCR).  When I purchased it, I downloaded a digital copy of the handbook to my computer, so I would know what images I had to work with.  However, I am apparently a more tactile person that I knew and I found that I was frequently forgetting about things that were on the cartridge because I didn't have a handbook to sit and browse through.  I LOVE browsing through my handbooks, by the way.  So, making myself a handbook for Smiley Cards became a craft in itself.  I went to Meijer and bought a cute 4x6 picture album.  After spending hours figuring out how to print a pdf so that each page was one 4x6 picture, I pulled out my old stash of picture paper that I had saved up every time I bought a new printer and they included some freebies.  Sometimes it pays to be a packrat.  I printed out each of the pages, glued the cover to the cover of my album, and just slid the rest of the pages into the album.



I didn't have any photo black ink in my printer, so all of the images that were supposed to be black actually came out teal.  That's ok, I like teal.  This has been great, because now I can sit and compare the images on this cartridge to the ones from the physical cartridges that I own.  And I assumed the P.C. wouldn't mind, since I did spend almost $60 on the cartridge and it was only for my own home use. 

January and February Birthdays

I've decided to group birthdays by every couple of months, so there aren't just post after post of birthday cards. So here are January and February 2012.

 I made two of these cupcake cards for two different sister-in-laws that have January birthdays. You can see that I put a cupcake on the outside and also cut the words for the inside of the cards.  My cardstock here was Paper Studio.  The cupcakes paper that I put on the front was from The Paper Studio.  It was a 6x12 paper pad, but I can't remember the name.  Something about celebrating, I think.  I used my new Cuttlebug with the D'Vine Swirls envelope on the green cardstock.  The cupcake was cut from Simply Charmed and I used Icicle Stickles to decorate the frosting.  The "Happy Birthday" sentiment was cut from Calligraphy Collection.

Obviously, we also had a very special birthday this year- my youngest SIL turned 16!  I cut this card mostly using Cricut Craft Room.  The cardstock and patterned paper are both from Paper Studio.  For the car, I used Craft Room to hide the frowny face that appears on the Smiley Cards car. I also used the Craft Room to weld together the words "Sweet Sixteen."  I used the Doodletype cartridge for "Sweet" and Jasmine for "Sixteen."  I was really pleased with the colors on this and the way that it came out.  This may be one of my favorites so far.

Last, but not least, is a card made for my brother-in-law.  I don't really make cards for males very often, so this one was kind of a challenge. I mean, an adult male doesn't really want something cutesy.  I can use Simply Charmed or Create a Critter for my husband, because he loves me so he doesn't mind.  In the end, I went online for inspiration.  I finally found a card here: Happy Place for Jen and made a few tweaks based on what I owned.  I didn't use the cricut for this one, just plain old cardstock, paper that I got in my Provocraft 6x12 Celebrations pack, and an EK Success medium corner rounder.  The stamp is from Paper Studio, called Everyday Expressions.  It has many different words that can be put together to form the sentiment that you want.

Christmas Countdown

It took me until after Christmas, but I finally finished my advent calendar! It will be all ready for next year.  I have so many Christmas cuts on various Cricut Cartridges, and it seemed like a fun project that could last through the holiday season (and boy, did it!)

The base of the calendar is a cookie sheet (a large size, I can't remember the dimensions exactly).  I used two sheets of paper from the Paper Studio All Seasons 2 pack for the background.  I wanted to make the background look kind of like a present, so I accented it with some burgundy paper, which was from my stash.  It was a slightly lighter color on the other side, which makes me think it may have come from the Provo Craft cardstock that was part of my Cricut Essentials pack, but I could be wrong.  My husband drilled two holes in the top and sanded them down to make them safe, and I strung two pieces of ribbon through to hang it up.  One ribbon is a sturdy, silver ribbon with sparkles.  I'm pretty sure it was left over from my wedding.  The other ribbon was some miscellaneous burgundy ribbon that I thought would add to the effect of it looking like a present.  True story: I originally bought that ribbon to make a bell to hang from our back door so that Sophie can ring it to let us know she needs to go outside.  I probably got it from Hobby Lobby.

Next came the Cricut-ing part.  As I said, I used many cartridges.  I broke the pictures down into two rows at a time so I can go through and tell you where I got them.  My cardstock is almost all from Paper Studio, with some of the Provo Craft thrown in here and there.  I varied the cut size between 2-3 inches, depending on the cartridge.  It took a little trial and error, and unfortunately I didn't think to write down the sizes.  

Days 24-22: Lights cut from Create a Critter

Day 21: Gingerbread house from Stretch Your Imagination, circle from Accent Essentials

Day 20: Sled from Stretch Your Imagination, circle from Accent Essentials

Day 19: Tree from Winter Frolic, circle from Accent Essentials

Day 18: Ornament from Winter Frolic

Day 17: Presents from Winter Frolic

Day 16: Holly from Stretch your Imagination

Day 15: Cup from Winter Frolic

Day 14: Mitten from Simply Charmed

Day 13: Reindeer from Create a Critter

Day 12: Bird (I think it's a partridge in a pear tree) from Winter Frolic, circle from Accent Essentials

Day 11: Snowman and Snowglobe from Doodlecharms

Day 10: Ornament from Winter Frolic

Day 9: Snowflake from Accent Essentials

Day 8: Hat from Simply Charmed

Day 7: Gingerbread man from Smiley Cards

Day 6: Penguin from Winter Frolic

Day 5: Stocking from Winter Frolic

Day 4: Candy cane from Simply Charmed

Day 3: Mouse from Winter Frolic

Day 2: Star from Winter Frolic

Day 1: Jesus from Winter Frolic

Then I wrote the day on them with gel pen, two-sided taped a magnet on the back, and it was done!

Can I take a second to talk about Day 7's Gingerbread Man?  I don't own a gypsy, and I only joined the world of Cricut about half a year ago, so I was sad to find out that I had orignally missed the boat on Smiley Cards.  I love the little images on there and the silly faces, and this Gingerbread Man was one of my favorites.  When Cricut Craft Room was released to the public and the ability to download digital cartridges was announced, I was so excited that I could finally have access to Smiley Cards!  Yeah, $50 (plus tax, FYI) is kind of expensive for a cartridge that you don't physically possess, and I won't be purchasing the digital cartridges willy-nilly, but I'm glad I went ahead and got this one. It's really easy to use- you just design the mat in Craft Room, click "Cut." hold the mat in place, and it loads and cuts in one fluid motion.  You can choose to cut only portions of your mat or the whole thing at once, depending on how you've loaded in your paper.  It was great and I highly recommend it for cartridges like this one, that are only available that way, or for ones that are retired or hard to find in stores.