Sunshine Award

Wow, I feel so honored. I have just found out that I was awarded the Sunshine Award by k-ekreations.blogspot.com.  Please visit her blog. Thank you so much this made my day!

Here are the rules:

1. You must pass this award on to six (6) other bloggers/followers.
2. Link your nominees within your post.
3. Let your bloggers/followers know you are passing this award to them by leaving a comment on their blog.
4. Add a link to the blog of the person from whom you received this award.

I would like to present this award to:

Penny Duncan - Penny is a wonderfully talented artist who is extremely generous with her files and knowledge. Penny designs SVG files. Please check her out.
Christina at Creations with Christina. Christina does some wonderful videos and her mini-albums are fantastic.
The Bug Junkie - The Bug Junkie has some awesome Shape Albums with great detailed videos and directions. Check her blog for fantastic projects.
Dan at Dan's Blogspot has some fantastic SVG files and projects. Check him out.
Cindy - Creates great files for the Cricut Gypsy. She also has some great tutorials on her blog on using photoshop elements. Please give her blog a visit.
Crystal  was a guest designer on Everyday with the Cricut (Formerly Christmas With the Cricut) in January. She is very talented. Check out her work on her blog.

All of these people I have nominated are generous with their talent, files and knowledge. Please visit their blogs to see their work, you won't be disappointed.

Birthday Cards

I made two birthday cards today, one for my daughter who will be 15 on Monday, and one for my niece who will be 22 a week from Monday. For my daughter, I wanted to make her a card the reflected her love of chocolate and sweets. I decided on a cupcake card from the Home Decor cartridge. I used the Blackout feature and my gypsy to weld two 4 1/4" cupcakes together at the top. I then cut the base layer also at 4 1/4" twice once out of the Stampin Up patterned paper and once out of the Aqua paper. I ran the frosting through my cuttlebug using the swirls embossing folder. To further enhance the frosting look I added some liquid applique to the swirls and sprinkled with white glitter and heated the liquid applique until it plumped up. The glitter doesn't show up in the photo very well. I made a little scalloped circle tag using the Gypsy Wanderings cartridge and cut it at 1 1/2". I stamped the birthday wishes with Tsukineko Brilliance Pearlescent Sky Blue ink.

 

For the card for my niece I used the Zebra from the Paisley cartridge. I cut the base cut and all the layers for the zebra at 3".  My card base is some white card stock I had on hand and is 4 1/2" X 6 1/2". I used some Core' dinations card stock and embossed with the the bloom dots embossing folder then sanded it so the lighter core would show through. I then used the button key and cut the flower and its center at 1 3/4" for the tag to stamp my birthday sentiment on. I used some Tsukineko Brillance Ink Pad in Pearlescent Coral to stamp the sentiment. The ribbon is some I picked up at Michaels.

Baby Girl Card

 

Here is a quick card I made for a co-worker who just had a baby girl this last week. The card base is 4 1/2" X 6 and made from some light pink Bazzil card stock.  The next layer is a medium pink and also Bazzil card stock and cut at 4 1/4" X 5 3/4". The striped paper is by Doodlebug Designs and is cut at 4" X 5 1/2". The baby carriage is from the Cricut Everyday Paper Dolls cartridge and is cut at 2 3/4" from the same light pink card stock as the card base. I create a shadow for it with my Gypsy and cut that from lavender Bazzil card stock. I ran the top light pink layer of the carriage through my Cuttlebug and embossed it with the Swiss Dots folder and added a piece of lace to the carriage top.  I tried not to get the wheels when I embossed but wasn't totally successful. The brads in the carriage wheels and light pink glitter brads from 7 Gypsies. I inked the edges of everything with Memento Dew Drop Angel Pink ink and used my corner rounder to round the corners. I mounted the carriage with one layer of foam tape so it would pop from the card base. The ribbon is some medium pink ribbon I picked up at Michaels. The stamp is one of the $1 Clear Stamps from Michaels and says Sweet Little One. I used some Tuskineko Brilliance Ink in Pearl Coral. I have to make a birthday card for my daughter yet this weekend so hope to have another post tomorrow sometime.

Get Well Soon

Here is a quick get well soon card I made this afternoon. The card is made from white card stock and is 4 1/2" X 6. The orange mat is 4 1/4" X 5 3/4" and the dark pink mat is 4" X 5 1/2" made from some Bazzill card stock I had on hand. The print mat is from the DCWV Stack 6 and is 3 3/4" X 5 1/4".  I then used a Fiskars embossing and edge punch to punch the bottom of each mat. The ribbon is some I got from Craft Warehouse. The butterflies were from the Graphically Speaking Cricut Cartridge and cut at 1 3/4" from both the orange and pink Bazzill card stock and adhered with foam tape. I wanted to bling it up a little so went over the butterflies with some Crystal Stickles. I am not too happy with the way they photographed, it looks as if the stickles are still a little wet in spots so they appear a little clumpy. They don't look that way on the actual card. If I get a chance to take another picture I will after they have dried overnight. The Get Well Soon stamp is from Hero Arts and I used a Pearlescent Coral Brillance Ink Pad.

Sentimental Birthday Card

I recently got the Cricut Sentimental cartridge. I wasn't too sure about it at first but once I had a chance to look at the handbook I realized this cartridge had a lot of great cuts on it. It has some great tags on the cartridge as well as cards and envelopes. I decided to make a card and envelope using the cartridge. I cut the envelope from page 66 of the handbook using the Fit to Page feature on my Expression. It cut the envelope at 4 1/2". I also cut the liner for the envelope at 4 1/2". I then cut the card from the same page also at 4 1/2". I used some Bazzill paper for the envelope and paper from the Die Cuts With View Sweets paper pack. I then cut the cupcake from the Doodlecharms cartridge at 3 1/2". I cut the cupcake out using the Blackout feature, and the shadow feature. I also cut the layers. I ran the white frosting through my cuttlebug and embossed it with the swirls folder. I then used some liquid applique in white to give the cupcake a frosted look. I applied the liquid applique and then used my heat embossing gun to plump up the "frosting" and sprinkled it with some pink and turquoise glitter. I want to thank the Bug Junkie for this technique. I saw a video on her blog about the liquid applique. To see her video go here to her blog.

Valentine Bouquet

A couple of weeks ago I made a little thank you bouquet for a co-worker. She liked it so well that she asked me to make another one for her to give to her daughter for her birthday so I did. Then my boss asked me to make a Valentine Day themed one for him to give to his wife. Just finished that this morning. I used a container I found at Michael's on clearance for $1.39, filled it with M & M's and cut lots of daisies from Walk in My Garden and Hearts from the new Love Struck mini cartridge. I cut some of the hearts out of red shiny card stock I had on hand. I also cut one of the hearts out of white and flocked with the red Martha Stewart flocking powder. Kathy Orta from the Cricut Message Board shared the technique of using the flocking powder with the hearts. I really liked the look it gave them so was anxious to give it a try. Everything was cut at 2 1/2". I used some Valentine Themed pencils I found at the dollar store along with some Pixie Sticks for the stems. I adhered everything with the Scotch Quick Dry Adhesive. The ribbon is from Michaels and the tag was cut from the Sentimental Cartridge. I cut both the tag on white card stock and the tag shadow in red both at 2 1/2". I stamped the tag with Valentine Wishes in red and used some red embroidery floss to tie the tag to the larger ribbon.

Key to My Heart

Here is the Valentine's Day card I made for my DH. The card is 4 1/2" X 6. The black mat is X 4 1/4" X 5 3/4" and the white mat is 4" X 5 1/2" . I ran the white mat through my cuttlebug using the Victoria Embossing folder. I lightly inked all the edges in red. The key and lock are cut  from the Cricut Sentimental cartridge and are all cut at 2 1/2". I cut the lock and key in black using the shadow feature and the main layer in red and the top layer in white. I heat embossed the top layer using some silver metallic embossing powder. I love the look it gave the key and lock. The sentiment is also from the Sentimental cartridge cut at 1 1/2" and I cut the two layers. The paper is all paper I had in my stash. To add a little bling to the card without making it tor frilly for my husband I went over the sentiment with red stickles. Thanks for looking.