Distressed Card

I received some new WOW! stamps and of course I had to try them out. The sets I bought were Everyday Sentiments, Funky Border Strips and French Music. This is what I came up with. This card style is a bit out of my comfort zone, I don't make a lot like this one. However, I had a lot of fun working on it.

My card base is a light tan card stock cut and folded to make a 4 1/4" X 5 1/2" card base. I added a dark brown mat cut at 4" X 5 1/4" from the Tim Holtz Nostaglic Collection Core'dinations card stock. And another tan mat cut at 3 3/4" X 5".

For my final layer, I started with some white card stock cut at 4" X 5". I used some Tim Holtz distress ink in old paper, antique linen, tea dye, and vintage photo to ink up my paper. I started with my lightest color and worked my way to the darkest color layering the color as I went. I then lightly spritz the paper with some water and allowed it to dry. Next I took some of the Tim Holtz Distress Stain in tarnished brass and inked around outer edges of my paper. I allowed it to dry for a few minutes then turned the paper over and spritzed it with water until it was fairly damp and then crumbled it all up. I spritzed from the back so my ink on the front wouldn't react to the water. I carefully opened up the paper and dried it with my heat tool. Once it was dry I took my blending tool and some Vintage Photo and lightly went over the top of my paper to enhance the wrinkles I had created.

Using Vintage Photo and the French Music stamp I stamped the inked paper. Because of some of the creases, and wrinkles I got a very broken up image which was what I wanted. I then cut it down to 3 1/2" X 4 3/4" so it would fit the front of my card. I took my scissors and distressed the edges of the paper and the adhered all my layers together.

I wanted my sentiment to be the focal point of my card. So using my Cricut and the Elegant Edges cartridge and the Oblong creative feature I cut a scallop and shadow at 3". The shadow was cut out of the dark brown and the top layer was cut out of the light tan.

I inked the edges of the tan scallop with some Tea Dye Tim Holtz Distress Ink and used Vintage photo to stamp my sentiment. Because this ink lightens a bit when it dries, it was a perfect choice to use with the sentiment to carry my distressed theme.

I added some rhinestone flourishes to the front of my card. These were actually clear rhinestones that I colored with a Spectrum Noir marker GB10.

My flowers are a 3d Rose cut that I cut with my Silhouette Cameo. The paper is Core'dinations Gemstone card stock, but not sure of the name of the color but it is a light golden  yellow.

I rolled my flowers and adhered a gold pearl in the center of each flower. I didn't have enough small gold pearls to trim my scallop so I used some Gold Pearl Liquid pearls for that. I adhered the sentiment mat to my card using some foam tape.

I hope you like it. I had a lot of fun working on this one as it was a bit more of a challenge for me.

Ruff Day?

Here is a shaped card I made today using the Create-A-Critter cartridge. I used my Gypsy to weld the shadow of this little dog. I placed one image on my screen mat at 5" then copied and pasted the image again to my mat. I used the flip button to flip the shadow image and moved it until it just overlapped the first image and then grouped and welded them together. I then cut each layer of the little dog again at 5" so I had all three layers and placed them glued them to the shaped card. I added a ribbon color and a dog tag. The tag is cut from the Sentimental cartridge from the desk key. I printed the sentiment on my computer and used the center point function on my Cricut Expression to cut out the scalloped image around the words at 1 1/2". I cut the tag again using the shift key again 1 1/2" from a darker brown. The finished size of the card is approximately 5" X 5". Thanks for looking.

Baby Girl Card

Here is a quick card I whipped up last night for a former co-worker who had a baby girl over the weekend. The card is an A2 card made from white card stock. The patterned paper is from the K & Company Best of Brenda Walton paper pack. Ribbon is from a Martha Stewart pack that I picked up at Big Lots. The onesie was cut from the Straight From the Nest cartridge and was cut a 3 1/2" using the real dial size button on my cricut. This cut is on page 46 of the handbook. The cut is actually of three shirts/onesies hanging from a clothes line. To get the cut I wanted I set the cut up on Gypsy. Since we don't have Hide/Contour feature yet, I simply placed all the items I didn't want to cut off the side of the mat. The sentiment was cut at 1 1/2" cut from the Nursery Rhymes cartridge. The cut is from page 65 of handbook using the Font feature button. The shadow was cut using the Font Shadow feature button.  I embossed the onesie with my Sizzix three dots folder using my Cuttlebug. I adhered the cuts with foam tape to provide some dimension to the card. Once I had the card done I spritzed it with some Pear Glimmer Mist to give it some sparkle and added a small Prima flower in light pink and a darker pink pearl to the center of the flower.

Jitterbuggin' Challenge

I made this card today for my first sketch challenge on Jitterbuggin' Challenge Blog. The recipe was you had to use pink and purple, you had to use a bug from a cricut cartridge, and you had to use a flower as well as follow the sketch provided. So here is what I came up with. I cut the worm from Create a Critter at 2 1/2". The circles were cut from George and Basic shapes at 3" and 3 1/3". Card base is light pink. The patterned paper is from a K & Company The Best of Brenda Walton paper pack that I picked up at Michaels. I used Prima flowers for the card. I added some small googly eyes to the worm and some Eucalyptus stickles to accent the green stripes on the worm. I have never made a card from a sketch so it was fun.

A Little Birdie Told Me

The challenge this week for Cricut Cardz Challenge blog is to create a card using a bird or a butterfly, any color any theme. Here is what I came up with. the card base is white card stock and is 4 1/2" X 6". The green mat is 4 3/8" X 5 7/8" and the patterned paper is 4 1/4" X 5 3/4". The pattern paper is from DCWV Stack 7. I cut the bird from page 28 of the Straight From The Nest cartridge handbook. I cut the shadow and all the layers at 2 1/2". I cut the phrase from page 29 of the handbook. I cut both the shadow and the base layer at 1 1/2". The paper is from my scrap stash. I added an orange pearl to the bird for an eye to give it a little bling. The ribbon is from Stampin Up. I added some doodle dots to the phrase to help it stand out.

Cherry Wishes!

I recently received the Preserves cartridge and a 6 X 6 pack of Basic Grey paper called Lemonade that I ordered. I loved the Cherry paper in the pack and knew just wanted I wanted to do with it. Well today I finally had time to put my idea together, and I am pleased how it turned out. The card is 4 1/2 X 6". The card base is Core de'nations gemstone card stock. The patterned paper is from Basic Grey and the pink paper as well as the paper for the cherries are all from scraps in my stash. I cut the cherries and the layers at 3".  I used my Gypsy to weld the Cherry Wishes together using the font from A Child's Year and it is cut at 2". I used my EK Success dotted scallop border punch to punch the edge of the patterned paper. I embossed the pink paper with the three dots embossing folder from Sizzix using my Cuttlebug. The green ribbon is some I picked up at Michaels. I added some bling to the words and the dark cherry with my pink stickles and used the fruit punch stickles for the lighter cherry. I am pleased how it turned out and it was a nice cheery card to make on this cold, wet, rainy, windy day.

Just Because Birthday Card

Here is a quick card I made for my husband who's birthday is Tuesday. I just received the Just Because Cricut Cartridge and really wanted to use it. The card base and layer were both cut at 5 1/2" and is from page 56 of the handbook. The pickup and its layers were cut at 4" and is from page 42 in the handbook. I ran the wooden planks through my Cuttlebug and embossed them with the distress stripes folder. Instead of using the little circles cut out for the wheels I used some brads.To give the window a more realistic look I covered it with glossy accents. It doesn't show up in the picture very well. I then stamped the side of the truck with Birthday Wishes using some white Colorbox ink. The paper for the card base and layer is from the Home Interiors DCWV paper pack. The paper for the truck is from scraps I had on hand. Thanks for looking.

Dressed up Expression!

The Gypsy Challenge this week on the Cricut Messageboard was to use the kerning feature on the gypsy. This was hard one for me as I usually make cards and wanted to do something a little different. So, I decided to dress up my Cricut Expression a bit. I kerned the word Creation at 0.2 and the word Station 0.4. I used Plantin Schoolbook for the words. This is my first real project with vinyl and using the transfer tape. I did not get the words on as straight as I had hoped but not bad. I then cut a couple of flourishes from Straight From the Nest cartridge for the back of the Expression. It was actually a pretty fast project. I may still do a little more to the front when I have a chance.

Turtle Birthday Card

I made this birthday card today for the Cricut Cardz Challenge using Paisley and Sweet Treats cartridge. The card base is 4 1/2" X 6 1/4". The layers are 4 1/4" x 6 and 4" x 5 3/4".  The Turtle and its layers was cut from the Paisley cartridge at 2 1/2". The party hat is from the Sweet Treats cartridge and I cut the hat and its layers at 2". the ribbon is some I picked up at Michaels. I assembled the turtle and the hat with my Zig Two Way Glue Pen. I added it to the card front with one layer of foam tape.  The ribbon was tied using the My Pink Stampers cheater method. To give the card a more party flair I used turquoise stickles on the hat, cotton candy stickles on the cheeks, and fruit punch and eucalyptus stickles on the cherries. I am pleased how it turned out. Thanks for looking. 

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.

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.

My Favorite Color

I made this card for a challenge on the My Pink Stamper blog. A lot of folks including her are snowed and iced in this weekend. So Robyn has posted a couple of challenges on her blog. This card is for the first one. The challenge was to use your favorite color and black and make a project. Purple is one of my favorite colors so I decided to use that. My card base is 4 1/2" X 6 and is some purple bazzill card stock I had on hand. The black mat is cut at 4 1/4" X 5 3/4" and is Die Cuts With A View card stock. The green patterned paper is from a K & Company super pack that I got at Joann's this morning and is cut at 4" x 5 1/2".  I used A Child's Year Cricut cartridge to cut the little girl with the umbrella. I chose that cut because it went with the kind of weather we are having here today. I cut the girl and the shadow at 3". The Just a Note is cut at 2' and is from the Wild Card Cricut cartridge. Since the phrases don't have a shadow feature I just cut the phrase twice and offset it slightly to give a shadow effect. The flowers are Prima flowers that I held together with flower shaped brade and the ribbon is some I bought at Michaels. I used foam tape to adhere the girl and the phrase and a glue dot to adhere the flower.

Baby Shower Card

We are having a baby shower for a Co-worker next week and I was asked to make a card. Her layette set is Tall Tales by Carter so I used that for inspiration. Tall Tales is dark brown with circles of aqua, orange, and blue with a giraffe on it.  I used the giraffe from the Paisley cartridge. I cut two of the giraffes, one at 3" and a smaller one at 2". I used some pumpkin colored card stock for the 1st layer. The dotted paper is from Michael's. The chocolate brown is by Die Cuts With A View that I bought at Joann's and the cream colored card stock is just from my stash. The card is 8 1/2" X 5 1/2". I used cream colored card stock for the card,  and cream for the layers. I embossed the cream colored card stock with the Cuttlebug Bloom Dot A2 embossing folder. The word baby is cut from Gypsy Wanderings at 1 1/4". I used pop dots for the giraffe's and the word paper to give the card some added dimension. Thanks for looking.

Another Etching

I did another Glass Etching today. I am really having fun learning this process. I used a clear glass votive candle holder that I picked up at the dollar store. I am using contact paper rather than vinyl for my stencil. I have big roll of contact paper that I really have no use for so using it for making stencils to etch glass seems like a way to put it to use. I found a snowflake font pattern I liked and cut it out with my Cricut Expression using Sure Cuts A Lot. I used a stipple brush that I bought at Joann Fabrics yesterday it was less than $4. I think it actually worked better getting the etching cream onto the pattern than the foam brush I used the last time. While the bottle directions say to leave the cream on for 10 minutes I left it on for 30 minutes then washed it off. I am pleased with the results. I have a dinner plate and a vase I still want to try just haven't figured out what to put on them. I will post pictures when I get them done.

Wild Card Cartridge

I bought the Cricut Wild Card Cartridge a couple of weeks ago and finally had a chance to play with it for a few minutes. I made the Cupcake card that was included on the cartridge. I made a green and blue striped cupcake "wrapper" and a pale green "frosting". I then took clear glitter and sprinkled it over the entire frosting section and dropped a few green seed beads to look like sprinkles. I also put the green and blue striped paper on the birthday candle and used a golden colored cardstock for the flame that I colored in with gold glitter. I like how it turned out. I made the card on a white card stock base and stamped Hey Cupcake and birthday wishes onit. I am not overly excited about the overall look of the card but love the cupcake. I may cut the cupcake off the card to use on another card.