Fall Digi Stamp BBTB2 Challenge

Hello everyone.  It's another Bitten by the Bug 2 Monday with a stamp and frame challenge.  This week we have a sponsor at BBTB2, The Stamping Boutique, who provided digital stamps for the design team to use in this week's challenge.  We also had to use a frame from the Happy Hauntings cartridge with our digital stamp to complete our project.

We had a choice of several fall or Halloween themed images and I chose this cute scarecrow, who I do not believe could scare a soul!!   I used my Copic markers and colored image to be a night time pumpkin patch setting.  I especially like how my moon and night time sky turned out. 

I chose the loopy square frame from the Happy Hauntings cartridge to use with my card.  Using Cricut Design Studio, I stretched the frame into a rectangle, measuring so that it would fit my image. 

I used Just Because Cards to cut the base card as well as the green background on the card front.  I cut a rectangle to go across the bottom edge of the frame, and a tabbed index card for the top of the card. 

I found fun fall ribbon in my stash and added the ribbon to the index card as well as the top and bottom edges of the card.  I finished the card with an additional loop of ribbon and lots of black and white doodles.
If you have not already done so, please do go by and check out the other design team members' projects for the week.  Some of the projects are truly "WOW"-ers!!  Also, be sure to check BBTB2 this week for information on a new contest that will offer you the opportunity to win some great stamps from

The Stamping Boutique.

 

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!!

Back to School

Can you believe that it is already August, that for millions of teachers and students school is just around the corner and soon we will be basking in the luxury of fall temperatures? I confess that after our high today fall temperatures would indeed be a luxury! In honor of the approaching school year my dear design team sister Lori selected this week’s challenge cut. Lori gave us a wide range of choices by selecting any of the school cuts on the Locker Talk cartridge. I do not own Locker Talk, but I found some cute crayons on My Community and this great Back to School phrase on Celebrate with Flourish.

Using Cricut Design Studio and the My Community cartridge, I created a custom card design.  I welded the shadow cut of the three crayons to a square, adding two long thin rectangles across the crayons to hold them together.  As you can see after the words were added the rectangular bars a nearly invisible.

I had fun with my crayon colors, choosing bold prints as my crayons and crayon labels.  I then chose lime green for the contrast color.  
  

The Back to School phrase was cut in four pieces - the shadow in yellow, the icon cut in a white grounded multi print, a blue stripe and a darker blue solid.  In the end, I thought that the white background multi print was too light, so I colored over most of the white letters with a lime green Copic marker. 

I used pop dots to affix the words to the front of the crayons.  The dimension added by the pop dots allow for the letter to have a bit of a visual pop from the card.

While you are out and about on the Internet today be sure to drop by Bitten by the Bug 2 and check out the design team's fabulous back to school projects! The BBTB2 site will be up at 11 am eastern time. I like to post a bit earlier so as to not miss my early readers.

I will be back with a couple of fun projects to share this week – including a unique birthday card for my future daughter-in-law.

Summer Ice Cream Cones Blog Hop

 

Happy Monday and welcome to the Bitten by the Bug 2 monthly blog hop! This week we are celebrating summer with fabulous ice cream cones. If you are following the BBTB2 blog hop you arrived here from the amazing Maria’s blog. If you have not been following the blog hop, please consider doing so when you leave my blog.

 

My amazing design team sister, Maria (mentioned above), chose this week’s BBTB2 challenge cut – the ice cream cone from the Sweet Treats cartridge. The cartridge is on sale this week at Custom Crops, who just happens to be sponsoring my blog for this week’s blog hop! I just spent some time browsing the new items at Custom Crops, and I confess I peeked at the Sizzix sale too!

 I ended up working a bit extra on this week’s challenge.  I began by making the large card above while I was at the lake last week.  At the time I was not truly happy with the card so I decided to try again with the smaller card.  However after I arrived home, I attacked the chocolate topping and the phrase “frosty fun” with glossy accents and I realized that I loved the look of the chocolate topping! 

I cut the ice cream and the cone from Bazzill embossed cardstock.  I love the patterns of this cardstock.  I used a brown micro tipped pen and doodled on the embossed patterns – adding a dot to the middle of the flowers on the pink ice cream, and tracing the edges of the pattern on the brown.  I loved this look.

My second card is a three leveled flip open card.  I used the same techniques on the chocolate topping and the ice cream cone.  However, I used different cardstock for the ice cream.  I chose Basic Grey’s strawberry print cardstock for the ice cream layer.  I stamped the phrase “for you” on the edge of the chocolate topping.

The chocolate layer flips up and to reveal the ice cream layer.  You could add another stamp, a charm or a hand written not here.  The ice cream also flips up to reveal a white inner layer, where I stamped the phrase “Happy Birthday.” 

As I mentioned above, Custom Crops is sponsoring my blog hop this week by offering my lucky winner a $20.00 gift voucher.  You can shop the Custom Crops site and apply the voucher code to receive $20 off of your total!  As I also mentioned above, Sweet Treats is currently on sale at Custom Crops - just click this link for a great price on this wonderful cartridge!  Just leave a comment under this post, be a blog follower and you will be entered to win the gift voucher.  I will draw a winner on Thursday.

Thank you for hopping by today.  Your next stop is at PenniAnnies blog, the home of our very sweet Penny!  Penny has the MOST ADOREABLE project to share with you.  Enjoy!

Bridal Shower Card with Graphic45 and Cricut

A few years ago when so many of us began sharing our Cricut Design Studio cut files someone shared a card cut which she called “Anus Lace Edge Card”.  I adore this cut file and will get into more detail momentarily, but first I wanted to apologize – I have no idea who created the original cut file.  At first I thought perhaps it was Jen C., but her cut files usually contain her name.  If you happen to know who created this fabulous cut file PLEASE let me know so that I can thank her again.

Okay, back to today’s card. My friend Beth is preparing for a wedding in her family – her daughter Libby is getting married in a couple of months. I have been invited to a bridal shower for Libby this Saturday and SO unlike me, I have already purchased the gift, done the assigned homework (share a recipe) and now I have created the card!  It is quite unlike me to be this prepared!

I have had this sheet of Graphic45 bridal paper for sometime, but just recently realized that it is PERFECT for a bridal shower card!  With this cardstock in mind, I began looking for the perfect card design to use with this Graphic45 print.  This Anus Lace Card was Perfect base on which to build the Graphic45 card! 

I cut the base card on lightly textured vanilla colored cardstock.  The card front has slits cut for ribbon to run though the card, but I chose to cover that with my base layer of Graphic45.  I cut two rectangular images from the cardstock and using pop dots, I affixed the rectanglular images to the front of the card, building in layers.

I embellished the card with fabulous rose print flower trim.  I trimmed one rose from the strip and glued it to the lower left corner, then I trimmed a three rose section and glued it to the top image layer.  I added gems to the center of the flowers, as well as assorted corners on the Graphic45 cardstock.

The final touchs to the card include the ribbon and knotted "bow" to the middle top layer.  I used an Anna Griffin stamp to create the Best Wishes tag.  A pop dot was placed under the left side of the tag while the right side was pinned to the ribbon.  I just love those tiny pins!!

Here is one last peek at the card - which you click to enlarge.  I hope Libby likes her bridal shower card, I think it is fun and unusual!!!

Baby Boy Card for Everyday Cricut

Happy Saturday readers!  You know that the much tauted Father's Day card I have talked about all week?  Well, it is not going to happen after all.  I had planned to post both my Baby Boy card AND the Father's Day card today, but alas, Cricut Craft Room and my Cricut Imagine were having some communication issues and this card took far longer than I had intended.  And frankly, by the time I finished with the card I still had to write not one but two blog posts.  So yes, the Father's Day card will go in the archive folder for next year!

This cute Welcome Baby card was created for Everyday Cricut using Theresa Collins' F-A-B-U-L-O-U-S Imagine Cartridge - Baby Boutique.  For more details on how this card was created AND more information on Baby Boutique, visit my post at Everyday Cricut.  There are many more photos there also. 

I will not be posting again until Monday, when it is my turn to host the weekly challenge at Bitten by the Bug 2.  In the meantime, I wish the men in your lives a Happy Father's Day!

Damask Floral with Damask Decor Cartridge

It is Thursday and I have a blog candy winner!  The lucky winner of a Custom Crops $20 gift voucher is:

meredemaison (who) said...

Great card and I think that the paper is the best ever! I also am a huge Custom Crops fan, so the candy would be fantastic!  TFS!

Meredemaison, if you could please email me your name, address, and phone number I will arrange for the Custom Crops gift voucher!  Congratulations!!

Last week Cricut updated the Design Studio software fonts and I was finally able to cut with Damask Decor using CDS!!!  Yes, I was doing happy dances!  Though, hold on to your socks!  I have also been using Cricut Craft Room more frequently.  And yesterday I received an email saying that CCR was moving on past the Beta phase.  I need to update my Imagine and my Expression 2 and try cutting with my new machines.  I have a cut file all set to go for the Imagine using Lori's Garden so this is GREAT NEWS!

Anyway, I digress.  Following the CDS update I decided to play with Damask Decor a bit.  I decided to make a card from the cartridge and top the card with cuts from the cartridge.  I loved the shape of this "half tag" card (my name, not Cricut's) because it gave me the opportunity to use the tag shaped floral cut.  I added the icon layer over the tag, along with additional layers. 

I used the Hide Select Contour feature in CDS and created a matching bottom layer tag in rust.  I could have found the tag on another cartridge, but this way the tags matched exactly. 

I recently ran upon a HUGE Prima sale -- 40% off all Prima.  I dug through my newly replenished stash and found brown Prima pearls that match correctly. I used a craft knife and cut the pearls apart into usable strips. 

I finished the card with a length of ribbon and cream and brown Prima flowers.  The little brown roses were also from the sheet of Primas. 

Thank you for stopping by today.  I am hoping to get in some crafting time today but I will starting preparations for an event I am hosting on Saturday.  I am having some girlfriends over for a Girlie Luncheon and a small book make and take.  I have to prep my make and takes.  I will keep you posted on how the event progresses!

You Make My Heart Sing

Wild thing!  You make my heart sing....   I have been reliving the music of my youth as I have played with the Quarter Note cartridge.  This weekend I crafted this fun card using the drum set from QN and the Kidnapped font on my computer. 

The drum set was cut in three layers.  The shadow layer was cut in smooth black cardstock.  The middle layer, with the silver swirls, was cut in silver metallic cardstock.  The top layer was cut in teal blue metallic cardstock.  I glued the layers together and added doodle dots and gem stones to the drum set. 

The base card was cut with Just Because Cards.  I really like all of the sizes and shapes of cards available on this cartridge.  I used my paper trimmer to cut the additional layers on the card front.  I printed the phrase "You make my heart sing.... Thump thump" onto white cardstock and out the individual words and glued them tothe striped cardstock on the front of the card.  I finished the front of the card with black and silver flowers and black and grey demask ribbon.

Inside the card I added a double layer rectangle on which to stamp a sentiment and write a personalized message.  I also welded and cut two music notes.  The music notes were cut in two layers to help them visually pop.

 

Please remember that I am offering fabulous blog candy this week - a $20 gift voucher from CUSTOM CROPS!  Become a follower and leave a comment under MONDAY'S post to be registered for the prize.  The winner will be announced in THURSDAY'S blog post.

Not Your Typical Sympathy Card

Hello everyone. I have to tell you, I have really debated with myself about posting this card. I really like how the card turned out, but I made this sympathy card for a friend and I did not want her to think I was exploiting her card or loss.
My friend Toby is an amazing woman, mother, teacher, wife, friend, and an incredible daughter. Toby's mother became ill and Toby refused to put her into a nursing home, but instead turned her own life upside down in order to care for her beloved mother. Her mother had been a pillar in Toby's life and Toby became a pillar for her mother. Toby is an example of what we should all aspire to become - completely devoted to those whom we love. I know that I have learned greatly from her example.

Toby's mother recently passed on to her eternal life and I wanted a pretty card for Toby. Toby loves dimension on cards - she is very tactile and likes touching the layers. I chose this card cut from the Cricut Circle exclusive French Manor cartridge especially for Toby. I knew she would be able to touch the flower cut over and over again. I cut the base card, then resized and cut the top layer to add dimension. I added foldered flowers over the cut flower, again for dimension as well as for additional color.

Inside the card I used an old-school wooden stamp to add a verse of scripture..... Toby lives her faith better than anyone I know so I thought she might I appreciate this reminder from Isaiah.

I know that most sympathy cards are not rosy pink with flowers and a bow, but for this lovely friend, "pretty" was perfect.

Soaring with Florals Embellished & BBTB2

Happy Monday!  I hope this Monday morning finds all of our Midwestern Cricut friends safe and sound.... The weather channel and news channels covered some horrid storms and tornadoes though the middle of the US last night.  That is especially horrid in those areas already suffering though flooding.  I hope that everyone is well.

My friend and design team sister, the incomparable Donna Mundinger, selected the challenge cut this week at Bitten by the Bug 2.  Donna selected this lovely bird from the new-ish Florals Embellished cartridge.  I must say, Hello Kitty and the Disney cartridges have nothing on this bird!  There were A LOT of cuts to assemble for this bird!

First, I have a story to share with you about the Florals Embellished cartridge.  Back in March when I attended the Cricut Circle Crop in Atlanta I actually won this cartridge.  Madge, the fabulous crafter sitting to my right, won a screen for the Yudu Card Shop, but did not have a card shop machine.  Later in the crop I won a Yudu Card Shop.  Madge was a honey and gave me her screen.  I, of course, immediately gave her my Florals Embellished cartridge so that we both had prizes.  I did not tell Madge, until now(!) , that I really coveted that cartridge. 

A few weeks ago when I found out that Donna had selected to use the Florals Embellished cartridge, I immediately searched my usual cartridge sources for the best price on FE.  I found a good price and purchased the cartridge - and I am quite pleased that I did so.  I think this cartridge is going to be fun.

I used four cartridge to create this card: Just Because Cards (base card), Florals Embellished (bird and medallion), Plantin Schoolbook (a welded rectangle), and Martha Stewart Elegant Art (the border on the lower front of the card).  Using design studio I welded a rectangle to one end of my base card and a MS border to the other end.  I made sure that the rectangle and border were the same height/width, that way the center score line on the card remained the same.  I cut the base card in white cardstock, and then I cut the card front only in Basic Grey cardstock. 

I think I am going to love my MS Elegant Cake Art cartridge.  The cartridge has a lot of MS border cuts and different shaped edged mats.  Using your Gypsy, Cricut Craft Room, or DS you can resize and weld the border cuts to your cards or layouts.  Think of all of the MS border possibilities that this cartridge provides.  I feel like even though I may have paid $40 for the cartridge, I saved a mint in MS punch costs!

I layered the bird onto the medallion with pop dot, and I also layered the medallion onto the card with pop dots.  I used Stampin' Up ribbon without a bow.  I like the texture and the color of the ribbon, but a bow would have distracted from the bird.

I finished the card by adding doodle dots to the bird and medallion.  I also added the "post card" scrap and the thin strip of cardstock to the lower front of the card.

My goal for this week is to learn to use my new E2 Cricut machine with both regular and Imagine cartridges.  I will keep you posted on my progress!

Please do take a few minutes and pop over to BBTB2 and check out the teams' projects.   And remember, we would love it if you should decide to play along with us!!