Belated Happy Birthday Wishes to MFK

I am not the best BFF! Truly ... My BFF, MFK (My Friend Kathy) celebrated the anniversary of her 39th birthday earlier this week and I am *just now* posting her birthday card.  That is because I have yet to deliver said card to MFK!  I know, I am a bad BFF!!

Actually Kathy will receive her card today - we are off to Charlotte, North Carolina for the Creating Keepsakes Convention and I will present her card when I pick her up.  We are sooo happy that hurricane Irene has a more easterly path now; earlier in the week she was aiming for the Carolina's and we were a bit nervous about our weekend.  But now our weekend is back to looking great. 

I am signed up for seven classes, four on Friday and three on Saturday.  I have never taken this many classes in one weekend before, but I am quite excited. I will share the details when I am home again on Sunday.

Okay, back to MFK's birthday card.  Kathy is an awesome papercrafter so I tend to stress over project I create for her.  This birthday card was no exception.  I decided to use a cartridge that Kathy does not have yet, Art Philosophy (can you tell that I am truly enjoying this cartridge?). 

I cut the base scalloped card in white cardstock.  The other papers I used are from Echo Park's Victorian line.   I used the words paper as a background for the front of the card.  I topped the words with a pretty green scalloped circle frame.  I used lime green chalk on the edges of the frame and pop dots to attached it to the card.

I love Art Philosophy's filigree detailed butterflies. I cut two of the butterflies using a solid cardstock for the bottom layer and a coordinating print for the filigree layer. I finished the butterflies by adding a gem to the body centers.

I added a ribbon and the same gems used on the butterflies to the front of the card.  I also stamped the phrase, Happy Birthday to the front before adding the welded initials MFK. 

Inside the card I stamped Happy Birthday again in the same lime green.  I also added a vellum butterfly, colored with a copic marker.  I added a little stamp to the outside of the envelope, but sadly I forgot to photograph the envie!

I promise to have a new post for you on Sunday giving you all of the details on the CKC convention and all of the new and fun products we find in the vendor faire!!

Summer Layout for Everyday Cricut

Happy Saturday everyone.  Today is the third Saturday of the month so that means it is my week as the Saturday Designer  Everyday Cricut.   This month I am sharing a sweet summer layout featuring photos of my daughter Bethany and cuts from two Cricut cartridges, Art Philosophy and George and Basic Shapes. 

For more information on how I created this sweet layout, please visit the Everyday Cricut blog.

I will be back on Monday with another new project to share.  Have a wonderful weekend!

MFK's Anniversary Card

Last week My Friend Kathy - the infamous MFK - celebrated a huge milestone.  She and Mr. MFK celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary!!  For real!  40 years!  MFK and Mr. MFK met while still in high school so in addition to forty years of wedded bliss, they have actually known each other for 45 or so years.  Gotta love a couple who still enjoy one another's company after all of those years.

We, the scrapping girl friends, ignored her actual anniversary - that was for her family and she and Mr. MFK.    We did however, plan a great get together last Saturday night. One of MFK's favorite entertainers is Nick Trivelas Greek Band.  And as luck would have it, Nick was appearing in a nearby city at our favorite Greek restaurant last Saturday night.  So yes, a Greek festival of food, music and dance commenced!!!  While none of us is actually of Greek linage (except of coure the Trivelas'), we all want to be adopted by the Trivelas family.  Greeks know how to have fun.

Now on to the card.  MFK's card was created using ONLY the Art Philosophy cartridge.  I chose a light pink, black and grey color palette because, once upon a time, MFK was married in a light pink dress!!  I cut the scalloped half circle card on the AP cartridge in white cardstock.  I then cut the scalloped half circle topper in pink and gray cardstock, which I printed myself using Theresa Collins Baby Boutique cartridge and my Cricut Imagine.  I inked the edges of the pink and gray half circle before affixing it to the front of the card.

I used some scraps of additional Theresa Collins papers and cut the pennant shapes.  I used the Art Philosophy cartridge to cut the number 40.  The font is adorable and I am plan to use it - A LOT!  I stamped the pennant scroll stamp (from the CTMH Art Philosophy set) onto the pennants and affixed them to the pennant chipboards.  After inking the edges with black ink, I used a blush colored Copic marker to highlight the outside areas of the scroll design.  Finally the word CELEBRATE (again from the CTMH set) was stamped on one pennet and the 40 were added to the other pennant.

Inside the card I used another of the CTMH stamps, the scrolling heart, and added a heart next to the Happy Anniversary (from my stamp stash) sentiment.  I added two of the hearts to the front of the card in charcoal gray ink.  Using the same blush color Copic, I colored the loops in the hearts with the marker.

I wanted MFK to know that I really love her so I added a special touch (HA), and pulled out my trusty Bernina and actually stitched across the top of the card.  I almost never pull out my sewing machine unless I have some mending, so MFK will know to be impressed by this "special" effort.  LOL.  I finished the card with a double ribbon bow, black doodle dots, and a blinged button.

I know the card is rather simple, but my feeling for MFK and Mr. MFK are not so taken lightly.  At our house, we love the MFK family!!

Welcome Rookie Baby Boy Card

Hello everyone.  It's another Bitten by the Bug 2 Monday.  My talented design team sister Karen selected this week's challenge cut - the BASEBALL from LIFE'S A PARTY cartridge.   I used four cartridges to complete my project for this week's challenge:  Life's a Party, Baseball, Kate's ABCs, and Art Philosophy.  Additionally, I also used one Cricut Imagine Cartridge to print the fabulous coordinating cardstock for my card - Theresa Collins Baby Boutique. 

After designing my card in Cricut Design Studio I printed three 8 x 8 inch squares of cardstock with Baby Boutique, the Baby Boy Words print, the light blue with grey damask print, and a coordinating solid blue.   With additional white, black and brown cardstock scraps, I was ready to begin my card.

The base card was created by welding two baseballs together in Design Studio.  I also welded the shadow cuts for the baseball bat and the word Rookie to the top layer baseball.  I cut the base card in white American Crafts lightly textured cardstock. 

Next I cut the elements for the card front in layers, back to front.  The baseball bat was cut in a solid brown cardstock and a brown print paper.  The baseball bat cuts were adhered to the base card and the large black baseball was glued over top.  Next the baseball top layer, cut in Theresa Collins baby boy words, was added over the black baseball.

The word Rookie was cut from the Baseball cartridge in two  additional layers - a polka dot shadow and a light blue top layer.  I added black doodle dashes to the edges of Rookie.

The "Congratulations" tag was cut using the Art Philosophy cartridge.  I wanted to use one of the new Close to my Heart Art Philosophy stamps - "Congratulations on your ...".  After referencing the cut size listed beside the stamp on the acetate packaging, I cut the Theresa Collins blue and grey print top layer at 2 inches.  I then cut a light blue layer at 2.25 inches and a black layer at 2.5 inches.  I stamped the top layer and then attached all of the layers together.  I add the word "boy" to the bottom of the tag.

I used the negative cut from the baby boy words baseball (from the card front) and glued it to the inside of the card.  I welded the phrase "Welcome baby boy" using Kate's ABC's and using a xyron, attached the phrase inside the card.

I finished the card with a light blue polka dot ribbon bow around the bat.  An especially cute baby card for the baseball fan new parent!

I will be back tomorrow with another new project to share.  In the meantime, remember to drop by BBTB2 and check out the amazing baseball projects the design team is sharing.  Remember that it is also fun to play along on our weekly challenges!

If you would like more information on the Art Philosophy cartridge, stamps, and chipboard set, you can visit Melanie's Close to my Heart consultant site.   I love the versatility of this great set!

Happy Birthday Peggy!

Today is my friend Peggy's birthday so I thought I would share her card with all of you!  I used Art Philosophy and my E2 to create Peggy's birthday card.

I cut this wonderful shaped card using Echo Park's Victorian line of cardstock.  The base card, the yellow print top layer and the pink-punch print frame were all cut at 5.5 inches. I also cut an additional frame, as there are two frames that coordinate with this shaped card(!), again at 5.5 inches, for the inside of the card.

I chose the cupcake cuts from the cartridge and cut them at 2.5 inches to match the stamps.  I used a medium brown ink to stamp the cupcake details.

Have I mentioned that the stamps have the cut sizes written on the acetate cover?  It's awesome.  No guessing.  When you choose to use one of the stamps that comes with the Art Philosophy cartridge, you just have to look at the stamp package to determine the correct cut size for your cricut cut!!

Next I used a piece of the coordinating chipboard, covered in the yellow print, framed in a coordinating solid.  I used the Happy Birthday stamp, again from the CTMH set, to add my front and inside sentiments. I used  a hole punch to punch holes in the chipboard and then I ran ribbon through the holes and affixed the tag to the card.

Above is a view of the inside of the card. 

I finished the card by ACTUALLY sewing around the edges of the circle frame.  I used a combination of zigzag and straight stitches.  I added a few additional pen doodles and finally using small glue dots, I attached assorted pink buttons to the cupcake frosting!

Happy birthday, Peggy!  I hope your day is super special as you are super special to me!

If you would like more information on the Art Philosophy Cartridge, stamps and chipboard set, visit Melanie Brown's Close to my Heart Consultant page. 

My First Art Philosophy Project

I just couldn't stand it, I HAD to play with my Art Philosophy cartridge and Close to my Heart stamps yesterday!!!  I had actually put together a schedule for the week.  The schedule included two lists - one of tasks to accomplish in my house and the other a list of scrappy projects for the week.  According to the infamous list, I messed up yesterday.  According to my degree of happiness I think I did the right thing!!!  My bathrooms WILL be cleaned today!  And I will finish cleaning the scrap room, only because I messed it up (again) after I spent 5.5 hours there yesterday!!

Do I even need to tell you that I used only one cartridge to create this card???  And only one set of stamps???  I cut the card shape on page 45 of the manual, cutting at 6.5 inches.  Next I cut as a background in black and then a bit smaller in blue and berry print. I then cut the decorative frame layer on the reverse side of the paper, a dark red. 

I cut three flowers () from page 39 of the manual.  I cut the flowers in white lightly textured card stock and stamped them with the coordinating Close to my Heart flower stamp.  I used a Blush color Copic around the edges of the flowers and in the centers.  I left the decorative details on the flowers white. 

I attached the flowers with pop dots and trimmed them out with sticky pearls.  I added two thin strips of ribbon as an additional border.  I finished the card by stamping the sentiment "A Wonderful Season of.... Joy, Hope, Love".   Both of the stamps I used on this card are included with the Art Philosophy package from Close to my Heart. 

If you would like to know more about the CTMH Art Philosophy set, visit Melanie's CTMH site.  Also, Melanie is doing a week of Art Philosophy projects at her blog, Courtney Lane Designs. 

I will be back tomorrow, hopefully with clean bathrooms, with a fun project from Tie the Knot.

Looking for the New CTMH Cricut Set???

(Click photo to see larger)

Are you like me and LOVE the idea of the new Close to My Heart-Cricut collaboration set?  I like stamping on my nestabilities and this set takes that idea light years forward!  So of course I HAD to have this new set.  The only problem was finding a Close to My Heart consultant.  Well it turns out that was not a problem at all - the lovely, creative, totally WONDERFUL Melanie from Everyday Cricut is a CTMY consultant.  Seriously!  Shut the door!  So YES, of course I have already ordered the set and it is currently on its way to my house as I type!!!  I can't wait.

I know 99% of you probably follow the Everyday Cricut Blog - this post is for the other 1% and for those of you who are sitting on the fence about ordering.

This is from CTMH:

"When you purchase the Cricut® Art Philosophy cartridge, you’ll also receive three exclusive D-size stamp sets designed to perfectly coordinate with images on the cartridge. Plus, we’re including three sets of Dimensional Elements that work in tandem with the cartridge as well. You can mix and match to your heart’s content! Stamp on your Cricut® shape; cover your Dimensional Element with a Cricut® shape; or cut, stamp, and then cover! You’ll be all set to create uniquely beautiful artwork with incredible ease.
Collection includes:
1 – Cartridge (700 images: font, shapes, and 3-D items)
3 – My Acrylix® D-size stamp sets
3 – 9" × 12" Dimensional Elements (3 sheets of different shapes)
Creative Feature Keys: Layer, Decorative Layer, Tag, Card, Font, Font Layer."

What they do not tell you is that you also qualify for the August stamp of the month set - WICKED - at the special price of just $5.00!!!  And you also get a FREE bonus stamp set.  Yes, you will pay tax on the free and bonus items, but still, WHAT A DEAL!!! 

You can learn more about Close to My Heart and the new Cricut-CTMH cartridge set at Melanie's Close to My Heart consultant store.  Just click HERE to open Melanie's site!!!  Go to new products and click Cricut.

I hope you are as excited to receive this great set as I am.....

Happy Shopping!!!