Seasons Change

Life has been insane!!! Between teaching school, responsibilities at the church we pastor, two kids which includes scouts and flag football I have been running crazy! Unfortunately, that means I've had precious little time in my craft room lately and when I have been there, I'm too tired to think! I do have a card in the works that I was hoping to post tonight, but hopefully I'll get it done to post tomorrow. I did, however, want to post a picture of the bulletin board I finished at church last night. It's kind of funny that I haven't posted a picture of any of my bulletin boards from church or school on here since this time of year that's what I use my cricut for the most!

The board is covered with brown craft paper. The ribbon boarder is from some seasonal ribbon from Walmart. I love using ribbons for my boarders because I roll them back up and they are already cut the right size to use again! The leaves in the corners are from Stretch your Imagination. The ones without the gold outline embossed on my cuttlebug with the Divine Swirls folder and inked with copper Cats Eye ink. The letters were cut at 4" from Nursury Rhymes. The pumpkin is from the Thanksgiving mini cartridge. I cut it at fit to page on my 12' x 24' mat. The green and orange are from pack of cardstock from Hobby Lobby. Thanks for looking and I hope you enjoy!!

Fall is in the Air!!

I love fall!!! I love the colors, the smells, and most of all the cooler weather! We aren't officially into fall yet, but when we had been averaging 105 every day here in Western Oklahoma and then have days with mornings in the 50s and highs in the 80s, it makes me feel like fall is on the way! While in my scraproom this past weekend I felt inspired to make a fall themed card.

The card base is the white, premade 5x6 card. My first layer was dark burgandy cardstock from Hobby Lobby cut at 4 7/8" x 6 7/8". The next layer was New England Ivy from Close to My Heart cut at 4 1/2"x 6 1/2". I embossed this piece with my Cuttlebug using the Autumn Type Folder. I inked over the embossed area with a Copper Cat's Eye ink pad. I cut the scalloped oval from Lacy Labels at 4 inches. The shadow piece is Autumn Terracotta from CTMH. I inked all the edges with a chestnut Cat's Eye ink. The stamped image is from Stampendous and called Harvest Angel. I colored her with my prisma pencils using the Goo Gone technique. I accented her wings, halo and scrolls on her skirt with Copper Stickles to give her some bling. The gold ribbon is from Hobby Lobby, and the jeweled leaf accent is from a pack of buttons in the fabric section of Walmart. I tacked it to the ribbon with gold thread.

For the inside of the card I again layered the burgandy and New England Ivy cardstock. The leaf accent was cut from Stretch Your Imagination at 2 inches using Autumn Terracotta and gold from the Die Cuts With a View. I have to say that the leaves on Stretch Your Imagination are my favorite leaf cuts to use! The stamped sentiment is also from Stampendous and was stamped in Chocolate ink from CTMH.

I hope you have enjoyed this card as much as I enjoyed making it!

Tales from the Cut Drawer!

Does anyone else have a cut drawer? "What is a cut drawer?" you ask. Well I don't know about you, but many times when I'm finished with my project I end up with extra cuts. Usually they are flowers as I tend to cut out more than I need. Sometimes they are cuts that I made thinking I wanted one size, and then after it is cut realize I needed a bigger size. Now like most of you, I HATE wasting my papers and cartstock. Especially if it's the good stuff!! Now I won't cry over a piece of cardstock from the 100 sheet pack from Hobby Lobby, but let me cut something I can't use from DCWV cardstock or Heaven forbid my Core'dinations, well...I don't want to think about it. Yes, I do make test cuts with cheap cardstock if I'm really not sure what size I want. But sometimes I end up with a cut that I decide I want just a 1/2 inch smaller. Other times, I make all of the cuts I think I want for a layout or card, but when I actually start putting it together I decide I don't want to use some of them. Those things (along with all the extra flowers!) get sent to "The Cut Drawer!" I have one drawer in one of my plastic organizers from Walmart dedicated to these extra cuts. They are great inspiration for new projects especially if you are in a hurry!! Need a quick card or embellishment? Just open the cut drawer and see whats there!

This card came from that wonderful cut drawer! When making the purses in my last post, I originally cut the cherries at 3". I had cut all the layers and assembled the cut when I realized it was too big for the purse. To the cut drawer it went just waiting for another day and another card! I put this card on a 5x7 white card base. The black and red cardstock was from Hobby Lobby. The black first layer was cut at 4 7/8" x 6 7/8". The red layer was cut at 4 1/2" x 6 1/2". I embossed the top with my Cuttlebug using my Swiss Dots folder and punched the bottom edge with the Threading Water Punch. For a contrast piece, I cut a 2 1/2" strip of the black polka dot paper I had used on the purses. The cherries are from the Preserves cartridge and cut at 3" using Christmas glitter cartstock from The Paper Studio. I wanted a sentiment piece, so using the Lacy Labels cartridge I cut a label in black and white at 3". The sweet word art was a part of the label and was cut with a scrap of red glitter cardstock. Green ribbon from Walmart finished the front. As always I love to add something to the inside as well. I layered the black, red and white cardstock graduating 1/8" each time. The cherries inside were cut at 2". The sentiment is a stamp from Penny Black that I stamped in Cranberry ink from Close to My Heart. And, of course, all of the edges are inked.

I hope you have enjoyed this card and it has inspired you to check out what might be hiding in your cut drawer. Or, maybe, to start a cut drawer of your own! Have a Cherry Good Day!!

Purse Collection

Hey, everyone!! I can't believe it's almost September. I haven't posted for a few weeks because I've been busy getting my classroom ready and starting school. Here in Northwest Oklahoma we start really early!! We started school on August 12! Anyway, I made these a couple of weeks ago, but have just now had time to post. I was really excited about these, because they were actually the first order I have ever done for anyone. I made these for a lady at our church who loves to give these as gifts!

So, on to the project. The purses were all from the Forever Young cartridge and cut at fit to page. I used the purse on one of the flower buttons that doesn't have any cut out. On the polka dotted and houndstooth purses, I cut out the patterned paper (from Paper Studio) out at fit to page, then trimmed off the bottom flaps and the closure flap. After gluing the paper on top, I folded the purses fastened them with Terrifically Tacky Tape. (I love that stuff!!) I wanted a variety of embellishments. The cherries were from Preserves, and cut out using glitter cardstock from a Christmas Mat stack from the Paper Studio at Hobby Lobby. The hearts are from Sweethearts. I cut the red one out and used both the positive and negative image on a white glitter blackout image. The zebra shoe is from Forever Young. The Eiffel Tower is from French Manor. I didn't have any black glitter cardstock, so I ran it through my Xyron and glittered it with Martha Stewart glitter. The medallion is also from French Manor. I cut it out in red glitter cartstock and the layer in black. I cut out the layer again in red glitter and cut the center out to layer. The rhinestones are self adhesive.

I love these little purses! My friend has already given several away and has already told me she will want more. She has sent them to family, given them as graduation gifts, and others. They make great gift card holders, money holders, small gift holders, or even chocolate holders!! Maybe you have a friend who a purse would make her day!! Get out your ForeverYoung cart and put a smile on someones face! Thanks for looking!!

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!