All sorts of Butterflies

I am heading home today and will soon be back to a more normal schedule.  Before I leave for the flight, I thought I'd share a few butterfly ideas...

A few people asked about the butterfly on the card I shared yesterday.  If you have a Marshalls, T. J. Maxx or HomeGoods store near you, you should check to see if they have some items from Brides on clearance.  I found those pretty butterflies in a pack of 12 for 99 cents.  These butterflies are a sparkly brown, beige and green and they are a great match with the colors of the DCWV Linen Closet stack.

I also found another set in sparkly silver and pink  (and a "mystery" $2 item that I will tell you about in another post soon).

On my trip I saw some beautiful real butterflies - I enjoy trying to capture them with my camera.  It can be tricky to focus and catch them before they fly off!

One card that I have not yet tried on the A Child's Year cartridge is a butterfly shaped card.  This screen shot shows the keypad location.

I was a little worried about the delicacy of the butterfly as the entire card but I had a few minutes to play around with my Design Studio before the flight and realized that you could create a blackout layer to fill in the area behind the head by using "hide selected contour."  (The area will stay hidden since I also always hide the "tick marks" for folding the cards).

You can also create the two butterfly layers and then adhere them to a plain A2 base card - there is one located on this cartridge as shown in this keypad view.  This will prevent the delicate tail pieces from bending.

When you select the butterfly card at 5.5 inches you will need to adjust the values in the Shape Properties box slightly to make it fit on the A2 base layer.  This screen shot shows the values I used for the preview shot.

I can only use solid colors in the preview but try to imagine the top layer in a lovely print.  I am eager to get home to my Cricut to test this!  By adding the butterfly to a plain card there is plenty of room to stamp a sentiment in the left or right corner.

Tomorrow is Sweet Treats Thursday on the Cuttlebug Challenge Blogspot and there will be some tasty projects created by the Design Team to inspire you.  You may even want to use your kitchen for some of these projects (hint, hint...)!

Signs of Spring...

I am still away but will be home soon.  I thought I'd share this photo to show that Spring is truly arriving.  I always enjoy the first buds on the trees.  I may get a chance to be online later to share one of the projects I did before I left - but the day could be hectic, so I am sneaking in a quick post! 

I wanted to let you know that Twisted Papers has some great specials going on right now.  You can have free shipping on orders of $25 or more until March 31st or you can save 40% on merchandise (excluding digital downloads and Designer Shops) until midnight Easter Sunday (April 4).  If you haven't already seen the free downloads for March you will want to try these - they are great for last minute Easter projects.  There are also special free downloads on their FaceBook Page each time they add another 100 fans.  If you make a project with one of their images and post it on their FaceBook page you can also have a chance to win a month's subscription for 500 free downloads - the details and rules are all listed HERE (just scroll down a bit to see them).

I hope your week is off to a great start - I'll try to check in later...

A Sunny Sunday

This looks like it will be another very busy day and I don't know if I will have a chance to be online to finish up the post I had planned for today.

I thought I'd share this sunny photo and let you know that things are going very well.  I also want to mention that I haven't been on Facebook for several weeks, so if you are waiting for a response to a friend request or to see an update from me please be patient - I won't be able to get back to Facebook until sometime late next week (so don't take it personally!).

Have a great Sunday!

Don't mess with the Bunny!

I am going away for a few days and I am not sure how easily I will be able to get on the internet.  Today I had a lot to do to get ready. I prepared projects to post while I am away so I hope I can get them online!

I went to town, had my hair cut (it looks very different!), bought a few gifts and found these scissors at the candy store.  I am sure that I have a couple of dozen pairs of scissors - but I just had to add these to my collection. They are so cute and they actually work!

They are predicting snow again here for tomorrow - surely Spring will be back soon!

The Flowers that Bloom in the Spring.....

Today I stepped outside and saw this very welcome sign of Spring - there are crocuses blooming in our front flowerbed!

Just a few clusters have started - one dark and one light purple.

This makes me very happy - I  like Spring and Fall better than Summer and Winter!

I hope you have been able to see all of the posts I have made on the Everyday Cricut blog as Guest Designer this week.  It is a little hectic posting in two places!  Today I shared this layout.  The file is available to download at the bottom of this post but you should read all of the details in the post on Everyday Cricut to help answer any questions about the design.

I also made four more "leftovers" cards.  These are great for little notes and so much fun to make.  Here are a few more details on each card.  I really like the Core'dinations gemstone cardstock and I don't want to waste any of it!

 This color blocking card has a 5 1/4 x 1 1/2 inch yellow strip, a 2 1/2 x 1 1/2 blue strip and a 1 1/2 x 2 inch pink strip.  They are placed flush to one another on the card front and the green circle at the intersection is punched with a 1 1/4 inch punch.  The butterfly is from Creative Charms and the flowers are offcuts from the Easter Egg cards I posted on Monday.

 On this card the patterned paper is a leftover from the boy and girl images on the scrapbook layout.  It is 2 x 3 3/4 inches.  The pink negative of "thanks" is a "leftover-leftover" from yesterday's egg card and is 2 x 2 1/2 inches.  The butterfly is again from Creative Charms.

 Another color blocking card - the blue strip is 5 x 1 1/2 inches, the orange strip is 1 1/2 x 2 inches  and the yellow is 1 1/2 x 1 1/4 inches.  This time they are evenly spaced with with areas between.  (I need to add a bit of adhesive the the orange piece - it wants to curl up off the card!).  The butterfly is from Creative Charms.

This was the most fun to make - I used the scraps from cutting the eggs for the layout and reversed the colors on the letter placements.  The rectangles are 2 x 2 1/2 inches (and the flower is from Creative Charms).

I hope Spring is arriving wherever you are!

Searching for Eggs Layout

Red leaves and some shopping tips!

 Today's post is mostly about shopping (with a bit of photography thrown in).  I just had to share a couple of photos of this amazing tree that I saw Sunday when we visited my mother-in-law.  The leaves around here have not been as spectacular as they are some years but this tree was incredible.

 Here is the tree in a longer view - it was so brilliantly red, like a giant ball of flame!

So now I have a bit of "enabling" for you.  I found this pack of 28 battery operated tealights at Costco.  There are 20 white, four metallic red and four metallic silver and they come with a complete set of extra batteries.  All this for $13.89, so check your Costco for this great deal. 

The package claims that they will last 80 hours on one battery - I hope that is true.  I have some projects coming up very soon where you will be needing some of these (hint, hint!).

For my next tip - you need to click this LINK and see the images of some great new Cuttlebug folders on the CuttlebugChalllengeBlogspot.  If you look at the more recent posts you will see some examples of the folders in use - lots of great ideas to get you inspired.

I really enjoy using Cuttlebug folders to emboss - the effect is always so interesting and adds a lot to a card or layout.  I have learned that finding the newest folders in the stores near me is very difficult.  There are six new folders coming out for the holidays that I just "had to have" - three of them are in a new 5 x 7 inches size.  There is a bundle of all six available on HSN - they will be featured in a few days (I think November 2) but I discovered that you could actually order them from the site already - so I placed an order tonight.  They could have a special deal on the 2nd but I didn't want to take the chance that they might be sold out and $19.95 for the six seemed like a good price to me, particularly since three of the folders are the larger size.

Here is a LINK to the HSN page where you can see the folders (and order them if you want to).  I think that the two with the ornaments (one 5 x 7 and one A2 size) are exclusive to HSN.

 I also want to let you know that this Halloween card is now up on the Custom Crops site and you can download the file and see the instructions if you'd like to try making it - here is a LINK to the page.

I'll be back with an actual Cricut project tomorrow - I have a lot of things in the works but some of them have to stay "secret" a little while longer!

A few photos to share

I know we were all hoping to see the Mystery Challenge projects at Custom Crops today - I checked on and off throughout the day, but they still are not posted. I am sorry for the wait - I haven't heard from the owner, but there must be some reason for the delay. I hope that they will be available to view on the site tomorrow.

I had intended to give you a few more "insider" details about how I made my project today but I can't reveal it until the projects are available to view on the Custom Crops site.

I thought I'd show you a few recent photos that you may see appearing in one of my projects soon...



I love geraniums and this pink and white variety is particularly pretty.



Hmmm ... things are just not going my way today! This photo should be rotated 90 degrees to the left so the smaller blossoms are on the bottom, but, no matter how many times I upload it to Blogger, it is always rotated incorrectly. The flowers are still pretty but the lighting looks a bit odd at this angle. (I wonder how many people would have noticed that the photo looked odd if I hadn't mentioned the rotation problem...)

A few people have asked about the newest class we are offering at Let me Show you How to Do that - on Full Page Designs. I have been making this type of design for a long time - the effect is similar to the lace cardstock that you can buy, however, with Design Studio you can make custom designs that work perfectly for your projects.

Here are a few photos of some of the designs I have made - if you are interested in joining the class on Thursday (or the word book class on Wednesday) we do have some openings for each class. Directions for registering for classes are on the LMSYHTDT site.













I hope you are enjoying the last few weeks of summer schedules. I know many parts of the country have started with school and the fall routines already - it won't be long until we are complaining about the cold instead of the heat!

Digital Challenge #5 - Create a page using 8 or more photos

It's Thursday, so that means it is time for another Digital Challenge for From C to Shining C. If you want to participate in this challenge you will need to join the forum site (click the link above) in order to be able to post your project in the gallery.

I work with the Creative Memories StoryBook Plus program for my projects, but the challenges can be done in any digital scrapping program.

One of the advantages of digital scrapping is that you can crop and resize your photos quickly and easily and experiment with various sizes and degrees of zoom on the cropping - without the expense of having multiple copies of your photos printed. When you finally have the page completed you just print it once which can save you money, particularly if you are using a lot of photos on each page.

This week the challenge is to create a page with lots of photos - at least 8 and the sky is the limit. I have posted a few that I did a while ago as examples and I will create a new page for the challenge and post it in the FCTSC challenge gallery (here is a LINK to the digital challenge section of the gallery).

The example at the top of this post is a simple collage of photographs. Many programs have templates you can start from to speed the process of creating the page. This page was created using one of the free downloadable templates for the Creative Memories StoryBook Creator Plus Program in the 12 x 12 "Basic Black" theme. Here is a LINK to the page on my Creative Memories personal website showing the themes available. I used the template and simply dragged and dropped the photos, adjusting the sizes to focus on the parts of the photos I wanted to highlight.



The second example started from a predesigned template in the "Everyday" theme, but I altered it to suit my photos and added various elements and journaling. It is a real time saver to start with a template and adjust it to suit your needs.

Have fun with this project - there are lots of occasions that produce multiple photos and I find it easier to incorporate a large number of photos on a digital page as compared to a traditional paper scrapbook page.

(For those who have been asking about additional times for the Design Studio classes - we are taking a brief break next week, but we will be posting some new sessions for the "Getting Started" class and adding some more advanced classes very soon).

Iris Gardens

It seems like this is turning into a photography blog - the flowers this Spring have been so beautiful I just can't resist taking lots and lots of photos!



My sister and brother-in-law live in Montclair, New Jersey, which is close to my son's college. I usually stay with them when I am taking him back and forth each semester. Today, while he was at a graduation party for one of his friends, we went to this beautiful park with one of the largest collections of irises in the world. It is not yet at the peak of the season, but I saw a lot of beautiful irises.

It was a long drive home and I am very tired so I will just share a few of the photos I took. Things should settle into more of a routine now that I am home again and I hope to have more crafting time!












If you'd like to know more about this garden and the irises, here is a LINK to the website.

Just a few notes...

I have been working on so many things - but I can't show you any of them just yet...watch for some news coming very soon!

Tomorrow I will be teaching the first "official" online class on Design Studio Basics with JenC as my trusty sidekick! The two classes for this week filled very quickly so we are adding some more sessions for next week. Check the "LetmeShowyouHowtoDothat" blog tomorrow if you'd like to join a class. We are doing introductory classes the first few weeks and we are happy to take suggestions for future topics - you can also respond to the poll in the sidebar of the teaching blog.

Yesterday was a beautiful sunny day here even though it was a bit windy for Mother's Day - I took some photos in our garden and I thought I share a few with you.



These pansies are growing in a pot on the back patio. Pansies are one of my favorite flowers.



One of the last blossoms on this azalea - we had some rain that knocked most of them down. Our rhododendrons are about to burst out and I can't wait to see how the hillside looks once they are blooming.



These yellow tulips are so bright and cheery! Tulips and daffodils always make me smile.



This photo was taken a few days earlier - just after the heavy rain. I think the raindrops clinging to the tulip are so pretty - like little jewels!



Here is another pansy photo from the same rainy morning.



Finally, some bleeding hearts that are growing on our hillside.

All of these flower photos are putting some ideas for new designs in my mind - I think I will be pulling out my "Walk in my Garden" cartridge very soon.

I hope you enjoyed this little flower show. Many thanks to my husband - he is the gardener and I just take photos and admire his work.

Have a wonderful day!