Baby Card #1

I couldn't believe when I logged on that it had been a month since I posted anything on my blog. I asked myself where the time went and there was only one answer...Baseball!! But now baseball is over and hopefully things can get back to normal, whatever that means! This post and the next few are going to be some baby cards that I made the last few days. I am so excited to have the opportunity to make some cards to sell at a boutique here in town. It carries mostly baby gifts which is why I made baby cards. I'm planning to add some birthday cards here pretty soon.

Anyway, I love how this first one turned out!! It's so simple and elegant. The base of my card front is dark brown Core'dinations cardstock and the pink striped is from the Cherrio paper pack from Close to my Heart. I cut a 3" strip of white cardstock which I embossed with my cuttlebug using the baby folder. I inked the edges and the embossing with a pink pigment ink pad from Martha Stewart. The square was cut in brown at 3 1/2" and in white at 3". The little girl is from a CTMH stamp set called Baby Miracles. I stamped the image using Chocolate ink, then used my blender pen to pick up color from my Heavenly Pink ink pad to add some color to her dress and bow. I love the watercolor look that gives! The crochet flowers were some I had in my stash that I had made awhile back. I used Fabri-Tac to attach them and accented them with Opaques from CTMH from the Mocha pack.

The sentiment on the inside was from the same stamp set from Close to My Heart, but the baby shoes and teddy bear were from Stampendous. I hope you have enjoyed this card. I have a few more that I will be posting in the next few days. Thanks for stopping by!!

Card for Cricut Circle Weekend Challenge

One of my goals is to start entering challenges. Every weekend on the Cricut Circle message board there is a challenge posted. It's a great way to challenge my creativity and get some great inspiration from a lot of talented ladies. This weekend's challenge was to use a font cartridge.

I chose the Songbird cardridge. I love the font on this cart because it is so pretty, but I also love all of the bird images that are on there. I layered my card front with two shades of blue cardstock from Core'dinations. The first was cut at 7 7/8" x 4 7/8" and the second layer was cut at 7 5/8" x 4 5/8 inches. I ran the lighter blue through my cuttlebug using the Stylized Flowers folder and sanded the image. The frame behind the bird was also cut from Songbird at 4". The cream and brown dotted paper is from the Mirabella stack from the Paper Studio. Finally, I cut out the flowerpot and bird image. The perch feature on Songbird has a lot of really pretty bird images. I cut it twice at 3" once in brown and once in blue. I trimmed the blue bird off the pot and layered it over the brown one. Then I cut the shadow in dark brown. I inked everything with Chestnut ink.

After assembling all the pieces I added brown grosgrain ribbon, with an accent from the Buttercup ribbon collection from Close to My Heart. Then I added Summer Flowersoft to the top of the pot. The sentiment inside was also from Close to My Heart and stamped in Outdoor Denim ink. I cut another bird and flowerpot image at 2" and added the bird inside.

I hope you've enjoyed my card today. Thanks for stopping by!

Patriotic Centerpiece

I love to decorate for the holidays! In the summer, I usually put out my patriotic decorations at Memorial Day, and leave them all summer long. I hadn't used my cricut to make any decorations for summer before, so I decided to make a centerpiece for my table.

I started with a blue ceramic flower pot from the garden section at Walmart. Using the Stand and Salute cartridge, I cut the stars from white vinyl at 1 1/2" to go around the rim. Then, I used the boarder feature to cut the firecracker pieces at 4 1/2". I put a half styrofoam ball in the pot and covered it with red gift basket filler. Then, I began making the pieces for my "flowers". I wanted this to go in the center of my table so I made it where both sides could be the "front".

I started with the flowers. They were cut at 2 1/2" from Plantin Schoolbook with a shadow in dark blue, and the flower in the red patterned paper. The paper was from the Blue Ribbon paper pack from Close to My Heart. The yellow center flower was cut at 1 1/2". I really wanted red glitter brads for the centers, but all I had was plain ones. So, I put a mini glue dot on the top of each brad and dipped it in garnet Martha Stewart glitter.

Next were the accents. The Uncle Sam hats and firecrackers were both cut from Stand and Salute at 2 1/2". I used Diamond stickles on the "flame" of the firecrackers. For the hats, I ran the white blackout piece through my Xyron, attached the red layer, then covered them with white Doodlebug glitter so that the white parts would sparkle. God Bless America was cut at three inches from Stand and Salute and the I Love USA was from Independence Day at three inches. I used Xmas Red stickles to glitter the heart and stars.

All of these pieces I attached to bamboo sticks from the kitchen section at walmart that I had covered in floral tape. I used large glue dots to attach them. The ribbons that I tied on to the stems were from walmart as well. Then, I just arranged it!

I hope you enjoyed this project. It was a lot of fun to make and I hope it inspired you to make your own!

Mother's Day cards for any day!

Belive it or not, I haven't dropped off the face of the earth! Just been crazy with the last couple of weeks of school. But now school's out!!! I have been in my craft room a few times over the last weeks, but it has usually been a frantic project that I didn't have time to post!!

These are the two cards that I quickly made for my mother for Mother's Day. The first one was from me. The solid cardstock is from the Core'dinations vintage stack and the patterned paper is from the Laundry Line stack from My Minds Eye. The medallion is from French Manor and cut at 4" layered with the burgandy and cream cardstock. The pearls are Opaques adhesive gems in Mocha from Close to My Heart. The ribbon is from walmart.

The second card was from my boys to my mom. All of the cardstock and paper is from Close to my Heart. The pattern paper is from the Cherrio paper pack which I am so sad that it is retired!! The pitcher and flowers were from Country Life and cut at 5" I hope you have enjoyed these cards! They would be great for birthdays or for any occasion! Thanks for stopping by!

Eat Cake and Be Merry!

As usual, my week has been crazy!! I haven't had a whole lot of time in my craftroom, although, it certainly looks like a tornado has been through there!! It is tornado season here in Oklahoma! ;) Today I have another birthday card. I really need to get some layouts done, but that may have to wait till summer vacation. So far, I have kept up with my New Years Resolution to make cards for all of the birthdays and anniversaries in our church and this is one of them!

The card stock is Chocolate and Baby Pink from Close to My Heart. The printed cardstock is from the Sugar and Spice stack from The Paper Studio at Hobby Lobby. It's hard to tell in the picture, but the dots are raised and glittered!! That stack really has some yummy papers!! The slice of cake is from the Sweet Treats cartridge and cut at 4 1/2" in Chocolate cardstock. The pink layers and cherry are from Core'dinations. For the icing layer I used the sprinkle print cardstock (also glittered!) from the same Sugar and Spice stack. Of course, everything including the slice of cake was inked with Cat's Eye inks in Chestnut. The ribbon is just grosgrain ribbon from Walmart. I used the Pink Stamper cheater method for the ribbon, then tied pink and brown ribbon layered for the bow.

On the inside, I used the Chocolate and Baby Pink cardstock again. The sentiment was stamped in Chocolate ink and is from a clear set from Penny Black called "Eat Cake". The extra cake that I also stamped on the envelope was from a clear Changito set from Stampendous.

I hope you have enjoyed this yummy looking piece of cake!! It kind of makes me hungry for the real thing!! Have a great day!

Anniversary Card - Circle Weekend challenge

The weekend challenge on the Cricut Circle Messageboard was to use a cart that you had but had never used. Now, I can honestly say I don't have any carts unopened in plastic. Now never used, that's another story! This card was for another goal I have which is to make birthday and anniversary cards for all of the people in the church that we pastor.

The card was done on a 5x7 card base. The mauve and brown cardstock is from the Core'dinations vintage stack. I ran the brown through my cuttlebug using the textile folder and sanded it. The patterned paper is from the DCWV Old World stack. The stamp is by Penny Black and stamped with Chocolate ink from Close to my Heart. All of the edges are inked with Cats Eye Chestnut ink. The corner was cut from the Straight from the Nest cartridge at 1 1/2" in pink with the back in cream. The branch with blossoms was cut from the Straight from the nest Cartridge as well at 2" in brown with the layers in mauve. The pearl accents are from Close to my Heart. I hope you enjoyed my card and thanks for stopping by!

Birthday BashOctopus Birthday Card

Today I wanted to share a birthday card that I made for a little boy in our church. One of my goals this year is to make and send birthday and anniversary cards for all of the people in our church. This was the first one of the year.

As usual, I put my card on a white card base. All of the paper was from the Boys and their Toys stack from Hobby Lobby. I cut 2 pieces of blue cardstock at 7 3/4" x 4 3/4". One piece was used on the front and topped with orange star patterned paper cut at 7 1/2" x 4 1/2". The blue contrast was cut at 2 1/2" x 4 1/2" and ebossed using the star cuttlebug folder. Using the green paper from the same stack, I cut the Octopus from the Birthday Bash cartridge at 4" and again at 1 1/2". The presents were cut using yellow and red cardstock. The sentiment on the front is from Close to My Heart and stamped in Cocoa ink.

On the inside I layered blue cardstock, and orange paper from the Boys stack. I added the smaller octopus and stamped the sentiment which is from Stampendous in cocoa. Sorry the pictures are so bad! That's something I'm needing to work on.

Thanks for stopping by today. Do you have lots of crafting planned for the weekend? I do!!

Organizational Journal

Today I want to share a great New Years project with you. Like many of you, the new year always gets me thinking of ways to be more organized. My life is insane with teaching full time, two children, and being very involved in the church we pastor. I like to keep a notebook in my purse to write down list or jot something down as I need it. I know we live in a high-tech age (my husband would be lost without his iphone!) but when it comes to things like that, I do better with a piece of paper. My goal was to make something pretty and fun that would keep this lists organized for me rather than just random scraps of paper or notebooks. It also helped me in another New Years goal which is to use the products and tools I've been collecting!

I started by cutting a test cut for dividers to see how big I wanted everything. I used the wonderful tabbed cards on From My Kitchen and cut them at 5" which ended up being just the size I was looking for. I then cut the covers out of my favorite chipboard--cereal boxes!! (Honey Nut Cherrios are some of the sturdiest.) I cut the covers at 5 1/2" x 8 1/2" I then covered them with a layer of black cut the same size, red at 5" x 8" and patterned paper cut at 4 3/4" x 7 3/4". All of the patterned paper and solid colored paper was from a Christmas pad of paper I bought at Hobby Lobby a few years ago. It has the most elegant patterns and several that had no Christmas designs at all which I used. I then cut the medallion from French Manor at 4" in red with the layer in black. The medallion got a little lost on the patterned paper, so I cut a layer of cream at 7 3/4" x 4". This layer was ran through my cuttlebug using the textile folder for texture and layered under the medallion. Before putting all the layers together, I used the Pink Stamper method to add black satin ribboon and a red and black satin bow. Once the cover was assembled, I used my irock to add the clear crystals to the medallion. The back of the cover was covered with patterned paper cut to fit. The inside of the back cover was covered with patterened paper like the front, then the outside was oovered in black with contrasting pieces of red and patterned paper .

The dividers were a lot of fun to do. I cut each one out in white cardstock at 5" using From My Kitchen so they would be sturdy. I then cut them out in cream, black and red to cover the front of each one. The back of each one was covered in patterned paper. The pattern that you see on the contrast piece on the front is what is on the back. The contrast pieces for each one were cut at 5" x 7" for the patterned paper and 3 1/2" x 5 1/2" for the solid cream piece. I decorated each divider with French Manor with Heritage for the tea set. The clock was cut at 5", the table 3" and the dress form at 4". The tea set I cut at 1 1/2" All of the stamps I used to decorate were from Close to My Heart. The cream colored piece on the one with the table was run through the cuttlebug using the textile folder. For the tabs I labled them using the font from Quarter Note cut at 1/2". I cut regular copy paper for the inside pages at 5" x 8 1/2". Then I bound it using my bind it all with 3/4" wires.

I hope you have enjoyed my project today. It was my first time making a journal type project. This was one of those that started out as one idea, then evolved as I went. But, I'm thrilled how it turned out. So what are you doing to get organized this year? Thanks for stopping by!

You're a Peach!

Hey, everyone! I just wanted to share my latest card that I made for my husband's aunt. She's one of those ladies that has amazing hospitality whenever you come over. We visited her a few couple of weeks ago while visiting my in-laws. She sent us home with a loaf of homemade bread (YUM!!) and some amazing peach jelly that she had just been canning. I decided to send her this card as a thank you.

As usual I put my card on a white pre-made base. The green base piece of my card was cut at 4 3/4" x 6 3/4" The color is Topiary from Close to my heart and inked around the edges with my chestnut Cat's Eye ink. On top of that I put a piece of cream colored cardstock that I cut at 4 1/2" x 6 1/2". I used the Threading Water boarder punch on the bottom and ran it through my Swiss Dots cuttlebug folder. The edges were inked with Cocoa Cat's Eye ink. I was going for a "Country Kitchen" look and thought the green gingham paper cut at 2 1/2" was a perfect touch. It was inked with Cocoa as well. The peaches are from the Preserves cartridge. The large one is 3" and the smaller one is 2". I cut the base for each one twice, once in brown and once in topiary green. The top layer is peach from the Vintage Core'dinations cardstock stack. I trimmed the leaf off of the brown layer so that when stacked and glued the leaf would show, but the middle would be brown. I cut the flowers from cream cardstock, but I decided that I didn't like the big flowers that matched the sizes. So, I used the two inch flower for the three inch peach, and the 1 1/2 inch flower for the 2 inch peach. The peaches were inked with Chestnut Cat's Eye Ink. The brown ribbon was from Walmart. I was very proud of the sentiment as it was my first time using the Centerpoint button on my E. (Thanks My Pinkstamper for the great tutorial!!) I printed the sentiment was computer generated on the computer. I used the Centerpoint button to cut the piece at 1 1/2" from Lacy Labels on cream cardstock, with the other pieces that went with the cut in topiary and peach core'dinations.

On the inside card I layered the topiary and cream cardstock as on the front. I stamped the checked boarder with Sweet Leaf ink from Close to my Heart. The peach on the inside was cut at 1 1/2" with the flower at 1".

Thanks for looking! I hope you enjoyed!!

When it Rains on Your Parade...

I made this card for a color challenge on My Pink Stamper. The challenge was to use pink, orange, green and brown. I used the Splendor paper pack from Close to My Heart. The brown ribbon is from walmart. I cut the duck from the Create a Critter cricut cartridge at 3" with the boots and umbrella as the accessories. I love the stamp which is from Great Impressions and was stamped in Indian Corn Blue ink from Close to my Heart. The inside sentiment was from CTMH and the umbrella and rain boot boarders were from a set of clear Changito stamps from Stampendous. They were stamped in Chocolate ink. Accent buttons were from walmart as well. Thanks for looking!!

4th of July Layout for CTMH Challenge

I'm taking a break today from posting my parents album to post a layout I made for a challenge. I am a part of a Close to My Heart club and our wonderful consultant Lori put out a challenge to make something to show American Pride. It had to feature Close to My Heart products, but other products could be used as well. These pictures are from July 4th, 2008. (Yes, I'm horribly behind on my scrapbooking!) My parents came over for the 4th and brought my two boys water guns. My dad went outside and had a water gun fight with them. It was a great day this was a perfect excuse to scrapbook those pics I had been needing to scrap!!

On to the layout. All of the papers used are from the Blue Ribbon Level two paper pack from CTMH. The base cardstock was Indian Corn Blue and the picture mats were Outdoor Denim which I inked with a silver Cat's Eye ink. For the accent papers, I cut the red speckled paper at 7", the striped paper at 6 1/2" and the paper with words (I love that paper) at 5 1/2 inches. The bunting across the top was from the cricut Independence Day seasonal mini and cut at 2 1/2" using Colonial White, Outdoor Denim, and Cranberry cardstock. The 4th of July was cut at 4" with red glitter cardstock and the firecracker was cut at 2" and were also from the Independence Day cart. For the journal tag I cut one of the seal cuts from Independence Day at 3 1/2" but I left out the center that is blue with stars. I stamped a journal stamp from the Frame of Mind set in Outdoor Denim. The boy cuts are from A Child's Year ( I love that old pedal car!). I cut the boy in the car at 3 1/2 " in Cranberry with an Dark blue shadow and the boy on the rocket was cut at 2 1/2".

Thanks for looking!! I had not had a chance to post this until today, but I found out that I won the challenge!! I hope everyone has a safe and happy 4th of July!

50th Wedding Anniversary Album pt. 3 "On the Road"

Thanks for following me on this journey! The next layout is titled "On the Road". From the very beginning of my parents marriage they traveled as evangelists singing and preaching in churches. This was while my dad was still in the Air Force as well. This layout has newspaper announcements of some of their early revivals as well as pictures from some of the revivals.

The layout was done on navy cardstock with contrasting pieces from the Faith stack by the Paper Studio. The car is from Heritage and cut at 5" in core'dinations cardstock in gray. I love this car because it reminds me of the old Ford I've heard about that my parents first traveled in. The title is done in Plantin Schoolbook. The journaling tags are from a stamp set from close to my heart called Frame of Mind Thanks for looking!!

Life is Like a Bowl of Cherries

I made this card using the cricut Cherry Limade cart and the Cherry-O paper kit by Close to My Heart. I am in love with these colors and these papers. The stamps used are all from Close to My Heart and came with the Cherry-O kit of the month. I've had this for awhile, but have just now had time to play with it.

On to the card! I put everything on a white card base. The cardstock colors were chocolate, sweet leaf, colonial white, and tulip. The same ink colors were used. The boarder was punched with the Friskas threading water punch and the ribbon was tulip from CTMH. The cherry and the accent on the inside was cut from the Cherry Limade cart that goes great with this paper. I used tulip, sweet leaf, chocolate and baby pink cardstock to cut these out. I can't wait to send this card to someone!

Thanks for looking!!

Close to My Heart Birthday

Life has been CRAZY!!! I have gotten into my craft room a couple of times in the last few weeks, but haven't had time to post. One of my crafting goals this year is to make birthday cards for the people in our church. So far, I'm doing pretty good. They may get there late sometimes, but no one seems to mind so far! I made this card for a lady in our church. It was also for a challenge that my wonderful Close to My Heart consultant Lori Leng laid out. She wanted to see what we were doing with all of our products.

All of the paper on the card is from the Topstitch paper kit. The doily cut is from the Easter Cartridge and cut in Chocolate cardstock, then contrasting circles cut in Baby Pink, and Colonial White. The ribbon is Colonial White. I stamped the images and sentiments with Chocolate ink from CTMH. The birthday cake was colored with prisma pencils. I inked all of my edges with Cat's Eye ink in Chestnut. I hope you enjoy!!

Valentine's Card

Ok, three posts in one night is a record for me!! This card was for my secret valentine at school on Friday when we were supposed to reveal.

The Card base was pink cardstock cut at 4 3/4 " x 6 3/4", and the hear paper is from K and Company Smitten stack cut at 4 1/2" x 6 1/2". Both pieces were inked with brown cat's eye ink. The cut on the front is from A Childs Year (one of my favorite carts!) cut at 4 inches in black with the shadow in pink.

The inside of the card is matted with pink cardstock inked in brown. The sentiment is from Stampabilities stamped in black. In the bottom corner the heart is called "Ornate Heart" and is from Stampabilities. It is stamped in Hollycock from Close to my Heart. The boy and girl is from the "Childhood Memories" from Close to My Heart and is stamped in black. I love how this stamp set coordinates with the A Child's Year cart! Thanks for looking and Happy Valentines Day!