A Day at the Beach

I am almost done with the wedding album for my friends! I can't believe it...only three more double layouts left! :) Here is the latest one I created:

The background cardstock on this one is from The Formal Affair Stack by DCWV. I used Elegant Edges to cut the two mats. The turquoise one is 10 1/2" on the shadow feature and the floral one is 10 1/2" on the regular feature. The floral cardstock is from the Tahiti Beach Stack by DCWV. I ran some glossy accents around the edge of the floral mat and covered it with turquoise glitter. The two largest photos are 4"x6" and matted three times with each layer 1/8" larger than the previous. The smaller photos on the left page are 3"x4" and matted one with a shimmery turquoise cardstock. The smaller photos on the right page are 2 3/4"x4" and the middle one is 3"x4" and are all matted once with glittery turquoise cardstock. I used some leftover hibiscus from Tie the Knot and covered them with lagoon Stickles. The shells are from Life is a Beach, the one on the left page is the border feature. I added glossy accents to the darker outline of the shells. Both hearts are from George and Basic Shapes. I covered the shadow layer in cinnabar glitter by Martha Stewart. I used a stamp from Scrappy Moms, stamped in pearlescent rust ink by Tsukineko, on one of the hearts. The title was created from five different cartridges for a fun and whimsical feel. I used Opposites Attract for the "a," Lyrical Letters for "day," Songbird for "at," Printing 101 for "the," and Life is a Beach for "beach." I used Cricut Craft Room to put it all together so that I could get the sizing right. I used pop-dots to adhere all the shells, except the border ones, and the word beach. I also covered the word beach in black diamond Stickles and the rest of the title in glossy accents.

Autumn Blessings

This is an 8"x10" wall hanging I made. The background paper is from Debbie Mumm. The scarecrow is cut from Celebrate with Flourish at 7 1/2." The owl is from Gypsy Wanderings. "Autumn" is cut from Lyrical Letters and "Blessings" is cut from Cindy Loo, both are cut at 4" using the cut to length feature.

I made this for the following challenges:

• Celebrate the Occasion: fall theme


• Cooking with Cricut: scarecrow, hay & crows


• Whimsical Wednesdays: fall theme with an animal (owls count right?)

Halloween Layout

This is a double layout I made of my pictures from Halloween 1985. I was two months shy of my 4th birthday and my brother is 6 months old. The patterned background cardstock is from K&Company. The black cardstock was punched with a Martha Stewart border and corner punch. I double matted all the photos. The bats and spider were cut from Paper Doll Dress Up. The bats are coverd with glossy accents and the spider is flocked with google eyes and purple Stickles for the mouth. The fence is from Pooh and Friends, I ran it through my Cuttlebug, using the Distress Stripes embossing folder and some tea dye Distress Ink. The cat is cut from Everyday Paper Dolls, with some black pearls for the nose and eyes. The pumpkin is cut from Designer's Calendar, and I used it for my journaling space. "Happy Halloween" is cut from Lyrical Letters and I covered it with orange peel Stickles. I used pop-dots to adhere the cat, spider and bats.

I made this for the following challenges:

• BBTB2: Halloween project with purple


• Cooking with Cricut: purple, green and/or one of three sketches


• Stuck On U Sketches: fence

You're So Sweet

I made this 4 1/2"x6 1/4" card from black cardstock. I then trimmed some white cardstock at 4 1/4"x6" and then embossed it using the Polka Dots embossing folder. I then cut some black cardstock at 2 3/4"x5 3/4," glittery red cardstock at 2 1/2"x5 1/2" and some white cardstock at 2 1/4"x5 1/4." I layered them all on the card base. I then cut four cupcakes from Sweet Treats at 1 3/4." I embossed the white part of the cupcakes with the D'vine Swirls folder. I used Sweethearts for the red flower, which I then edged with x-mas red Stickles. I cut the "you're" from Lyrical Letters. It was actually part of the "You're the best" sentiment, and I just cut out the "you're" part. The "so sweet" part of the sentiment came from Once Upon a Princess. I placed some red gems in the corners and I added some glittery flower stickers to the cupcakes and in the top right corner. I used pop-dots to adhere the cupcakes to the card base.

I made this card for the following challenges:

Die Cuttin' Divas: "Love is in the air"

Tuesday Morning Sketches: sketch #80

Crafty Creations: "3 Little Words" - use 3 words on your creation

Jitterbuggin': black, white, red creations; any sketch; and three hearts

For Fun Challenges: your project must contain hearts

Cooking With Cricut: hearts & flowers

The Paper Variety: cupcakes

Love You

I made this card using sketch #201 from CPS. I used the color combo from Cricut Cardz; which is black, white and red. I also made this for the challenge at Paper Playtime. Their challenge is to use the word "love" on your project.
The card is 5 1/2"x4 1/4." I made it out of white cardstock and then cut some black cardstock 1/4" smaller. I mounted that on the card and then used my white gel pen for some faux stitching around the card. I cut a white strip at 5"x1 1/2" and then used a Martha Stewart border punch on the bottome. I cut a strip of red cardstock at 4 3/4"x3/4" and ran it through the Cuttlebug with the Swiss Dots embossing folder. I then mounted that to the card. I used Lacy Labels to cut the label out at 3 1/4." I used the shadow feature for the white layer. The red hearts were then glittered. "Love You" is from Lyrical Letters, using the connected feature. I then glittered the heart for it as well. I adhered the sentiment to the label and then used foam adhesive to mount it to the card. Enjoy!!

Elegant Thank You

This card is 4 1/2"x6 1/4." All the patterned paper is from DCWV's Black Currant Stack. The shimmery white cardstock and the silver cardstock I had in my stash. The shimmery white cardstock is cut at 4 1/2"x4" and I used a EK Success border punch on its left side. I cut four rectangles out of black and white patterned paper, all are cut at 1 5/8"x2 1/8." I adhered them to the shimmery white rectange and adhered that to the card base. I used Lyrical Letters for the hummingbird, which is cut at 2 1/4," and the "Thank You" sentiment, which is cut at 1 1/2." I used a black fine tip pen to draw in the lines on the bird and used a black pearl for its eye. I used pop-dots to adhere it to the card. I glued down the sentiment and used some silver Stickles on the letters for some glitz.

This card was made for the following challenges:

• 365 Cards: define elegance through your card
• Bitten By the Bug 2: Lyrical Letters hummingbird cut
• Clean & Simple: sketch #122
• Paper Playtime: use black, silver and white only

Deck the Halls

I have one more card for the day. It is a 3 3/4" x 9" card. I used some striped patterned paper cut at 3 1/2 x 6 1/4" and a piece of red paper cut at 3 1/2 x 2 1/2" and embossed with the Seeing Spots folder. The "Deck" and "Halls" part of the sentiment was cut at 1 1/2" using Cuttin' Up and the cartoon feature. I used Cricut Classic Font for "the" and cut it at 3/4." The ornament is cut from Lyrical Letters at 1 3/4." I doodled on the sentiment and added some gems to card front and the ornament and I used some red Stickles on the top of the ornament. The inside of the card was stamped with a sentiment stamp from my stash.
I used the sketch from Clean & Simple to inspire the layout of my card. I also made this for the "Deck the Halls and ornament" challenge at BBTB2. The challenge was to use the deck the halls and ornaments from Winter Frolic, but I don't have the cartridge, so I created my own version. :) Finally, I made this for the ABC Challenge blog, where the challenge is "J is for Jewels (or Gems)."

Picture Frame

I've posted the engagement card and wedding card I've made for my cousin. This is part of my wedding gift to her. I have this cute picture of her and her fiance, so I wanted to make a picture frame for the picture. This way they can change out the picture if they want or keep it if they like it. I found the frame at Michael's for $2.00 and I painted it white. I then cut out the images of the flower and the swirl from white cardstock. They are both from Cindy Loo; the flower is cut at 3 1/2" and the swirl is cut at 2 1/4." I glued them onto the frame and then added a couple more coats of paint so it looks like the images are etched into the wood. I cut the quote out of black cardstock from Lyrical Letters. I used my Gypsy to weld the letters. Once I glued the letters on I used some glossy Mod Podge to seal the frame and the cardstock on it. Once the sealer was on I put some dark red flat-backed gems to add just a little punch of color into the "etched" designs. The colors are very similar to the colors I used on the wedding and engagement cards. I really like how it all turned out, I just hope she does as well. Enjoy!!

Lavender Flowers and Baby Bear

This was a super simple card, but I think it turned out really well. I used this week's cupcake from Cupcake Inspirations for both the colors and the look of the card. I used Lyrical Letters for the flower frame. I cut it at 5 1/2" and cut it from both black and lavender. I then cut the flowers out from the lavender frame and attached them to the black frame. I ran the white background through the Cuttlebug with the Floral Fantasy embossing folder. I added some flat backed pearls to the centers of the flowers and a stamp from my stash and done! Easy, right?
My second card of the morning is a cute little card for a baby girl. This week at the Cuttlebug Spot the challenge is, "Oh baby," to make a baby themed project. I used the sketch from 2S4Y and I did some paper piecing and paper piercing, which is the challenge for today's 365 Cards. The base of the card was run through the Cuttlebug using the Swiss Dots embossing folder. I then paper pieced the background. I pierced the bottom of the card to say "baby girl." I embossed a piece of vellum with the baby carriage stamp 2"x2" embossing folder. The little bear is a Sizzix die that I inked and added Stickles to the eyes and nose.

Two More Cards

I've been busy tonight. I got two more cards made, both for some challenges. The first card was for Mojo Monday's current sketch challenge. I had a hard time trying to figure out the theme I was going to do, but I looked at my stamps and hit jackpot. I have a sentiment one I haven't used yet, but have had for a long time, so that set the whole tone for what I was going to do. It says, "coffee and friends are the perfect blend."

I had some great paper from DCWV called Nana's Kitchen. I used that for my colors and Lyrical Letters had the perfect cuts on it to finish off the card. I used some gems for the dots of the 'i' in both hi and friend. I used the same paper on the inside and stamped my image with Tsukineko Dew Drop Chalk Ink in the perfect color, "jumbo java." I like how it all turned out and have the perfect person to give it too. :)

My second card of the night was for three challenges. The first was Card Patterns, which was the sketch I used for the card. The second was for My Sheri Crafts, where the challenge was to create a project with "critters" incorporated in it somehow. The third challenge was for Just Us Girls Challenge. This was a color challenge, the colors were: orange, navy, green, & cream. I created this card incorporating all three of these challenges and I absolutely love how it turned out. I left off any sentiment so that I could use it for pretty much any occasion. The navy blue background is actually shimmery and I wanted to use that as most of my color, so that the other colors would pop even more. The orange, green, and cream were all scraps from my stash. I used my Cuttlebug and one of my flower dies to create the flowers that I put in the corners. I didn't know what to put there at first, but when I came across this die I knew it was perfect. I then used Create a Critter for the butterfly. I wanted a fairly simple butterfly and this one was perfect. I used some crystals for the eyes and then used some orange peel Stickles to glitz up the edge of the wings. I used some pop dots to lift the butterfly off the base and I think it all came together wonderfully.

I'm Sorry

This is my entry into the Cuttlebug Spot's current challenge. The challenge was to use 2x2 dies or embossing folders. The flowers in the top corner and the swirl corner are my 2x2 dies from my Cuttlebug. When I got those pieces together I thought it would make a nice and sweet sypathy card. So, I added the I'm Sorry from Lyrical Letters. I also thought it would be perfect to send to my sister-in-law, who recently lost her husband. It was very unexpected. The memorial service is coming up, but my husband (her brother) and I won't be able to go. So, I made this card for her. I know it won't be the same as us being there, but I hope it helps her out in some way.