Sunday, January 30, 2011

This card is for my sister. She just finished school and obtained her dog and cat grooming certificate.

I searched for a half hour before I found a dog SVG that was realistic and not goofy looking. Thanks to Alice at Cute-Cutz, I was able to have a couple to choose from! The scissors I made by tracing a coloring page, found here, deleting the extra details, shrinking it and assembling in a border . I love the possibilities SCAL gives me! Originally they were just colored gray, but the chalk was hard to see, then I thought to heat emboss them, which turned out wonderfully! I used one of the tags that comes with SCAL and I used BoyzRGross font (which I love) inside of it. I dry embossed the tag and added some ribbon from my stash!

So many family photos were taken at our wedding; limiting this double layout to 8 pictures was difficult! Keep in mind that these will be side-by-side in a scrapbook with the tree layout on the right.

Ok, now for some details, the heart border is my first ever border that I created in SCAL! I looked for one and couldn't find one to my liking, so I played around with it and made my own. I am pleased with how it turned out. The Heart Tree is is a free file from Beth, over at My Cricut Scrapbooking (she has lots of good stuff!). Ok, now for the twist. I saw this somewhere and was excited about the possibilities it held of adding more space to a layout~the tree folds out!I just love the picture of my parents kissing me, but it didn't really fit the rest of the pics, so I gave it its own spot (it may go by itself on a layout later on down the road).

So, I've been really busy yesterday and today working on scrapbooking my wedding photos and artifacts and such. This first double layout (they are all double layouts) is our engagement announcement and our wedding invitation. I can't take credit for the invitation, that is all my mother-in-law's genius. You can see her other creations here. I wanted to keep it simple, so I just added a quick title using Sure Cuts Alot2.

The invitation was so wonderful, I wanted you to see the inside (particularly the velum with RSVP info). I think the bride might have come from SVG Cuts, but don't quote me on that.

The next is a book that was compiled of people that attended my bridal shower, the gifts they gave, games played, etc. The hearts are from the Stamping Cartridge. A peek at the inside:Challenges:Do You Stack Up-patterned papers (background)Digi Doodle Shop- Swirls (both the invitation and the hearts have swirls)MamiDoodles-the magic of love

Thursday, January 27, 2011

I made this as a birthday card for a friend of mine. She is only 5 days older than me! She has a very different style from what I typically make and I was trying to capture that. I think I did, because when I showed it to my husband asking, "is this her, or do I need to try again?" he said, "this is not your typical card, but it is elegant and she will love it". I'm so fortunate to have a husband that fully supports my crafting and can give me an honest opinion. No doubt due to his talented mother, thanks, Tammy! The wording is a bit hard to read on the first, but I hope the second shows it better.The sentiment is a digtal stamp from Ginger, you can find it here. The roses are Penny Duncan's cut file. The corner swirl, a punch and the bottom swirls are embossed. The blue paper is The Paper Studio, and the brown is a patterned wall paper sample.

On another note, I am participating in my first ever blog hop in a couple of weeks! I am part of an amazing group of Scrapbooking and papercrafting DIVAS and we are hosting a Be My Valentine Blog Hop on February 7-14th! I hope you can find time that week to hop along with us!

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

One of my New Year's Resolutions was to better organize my craft stuff. I'm working on it little by little. One of the first steps was to go through my stuff and decide if there was anything I never use/never will use and get rid of it. So I began the process and was surprised by how many things I have that I will probably never use. But I decided just because I won't use it doesn't mean someone else won't~so I am putting pictures up and if you are interested leave a comment.

*Note: I will only ship to the United States of America* I am going to do one giveaway for each picture. When you comment, please indicate which picture you want or both. I will draw the winners on February 1st (that gives you 2 weeks to decide if you want in on this). Either post your email with the comment (so I can contact you) or check back on the 1st to see if you won!

Since this is because I am organizing, part of the deal with this giveaway is if you receive something you won't use, you have to pass it on to someone who will or donate it~don't hold onto it if you never foresee yourself using it!

Picture #1-these came in a scrap the whole year set. These papers are 4 1/2 by 6 1/2 and represent different holidays/special occasions. Included are: celebrate your pregnancy (all three trimesters), Cinco De Mayo, Hanukkah, horoscopes, Halloween, day on the farm, happy birthday, golf outing, Happy New Years, baby, Mardi Gras, St Patrick's Day, Nursery Rhymes, Day at the Spa, cat/dog pages, big city, sports, 4th of July, green/blue/brown snowy sheets, abstract animals & Merry Christmas. There are also a couple of 12x12 transparency overlays and some green 12x12 that match the green in the blue/green/brown snow sheet (on top). There are a couple of matching sheets for each occasion.

Picture#2-Stickers. I realize I very seldom use them and when I do they are very particular types of stickers (I did keep those). You deserve fair warning that a couple of sheets are missing a couple of stickers. I thought there were still enough there worth saving, though :) Stickers include (1 sheet unless noted): dictionary entries for several words, Valentine sweet hears w/ sayings, going to prom accessories-3D, 4 random words pastel, circle pastel alphabet, 6 3D Thanksgiving, various size hearts, 2 bright colored alphabet, beach rub ons, 2 winter alphabets, 4 winter themed, bohemian chick rub ons, flower tags, 1 garden themed, 5 friends/family sentiments-bright colors, 2 bright letters, a couple sheets of 8x11 vellum. To be honest many of these were bought on clearance by my grandmother who really loves sales, bless her heart.

Saturday, January 15, 2011

I made this notebook for my sister's birthday. She raises and shows cows. The cow file is a coloring book page from Super Coloring that I traced to make cutable on my cricut. The words I made in SCAL 2 and cut out.

Friday, January 14, 2011

So I've been busy making flowers, of all sorts and kinds. They are fun and I have even experimented with some colors I would probably never use. But, I'm being creative, as these flowers aren't for me (and the people they are for could be more adventurous than I). Who are they for, do you ask (you didn't have to, I was going to tell you anyways), the winner of the January Diva of the month Challenge over at Creative Scrapbooking Divas. The challenge can be found here (feel free to join in, the more, the merrier). I will undoubtedly make more, as I seem to be yes... addicted~I'll join a support group next week :)The Roses and Cala Lilies are Penny Duncan's files, and are surprisingly easy to assemble (she has tutorials on her site). The others are borders wound into flowers with cricut cut-outs on top. There is glitter on several, but it is difficult to see in this picture, so much prettier up close. Interested in these particular ones? Check out the challenge. It is open until January 30th.

Thursday, January 13, 2011

I did two cards with these cut files, because I couldn't decide how I wanted the cards to look. Although I am not fond of green, two challenges this week called for olive green and purple, so I gave it a whirl! Both (you will see the other in today's other post) cards are for a Valentine Card Swap over at Creative Scrapbooking Divas-come join the fun (there are 2 days left for sign-up)!The Heart Tree cut file is by Beth over at My Cricut Scrapbooking. She has lots of free SVG files! The Love Tag is by Penny at Penny Duncan Creations-she has like a bazillion files-be sure to check her beautiful art out!

I did two cards with these cut files, because I couldn't decide how I wanted the cards to look. Although I am not fond of green, two challenges this week called for olive green and purple, so I gave it a whirl! Both (you will see the other in today's other post) cards are for a Valentine Card Swap over at Creative Scrapbooking Divas-come join the fun!The Heart Tree cut file is by Beth over at My Cricut Scrapbooking. She has lots of free SVG files! The Love Tag is by Penny at Penny Duncan Creations-she has like a bazillion files-be sure to check her beautiful art out!

I used the swirly embossing folder on the tag, some purple ink and ribbon from my stash and stickles.

For all you Divas out there that love to scrap, have you seen the Creative Scrapbooking Divas site? We are a group of crafters that get together for lots of fun online! Click the right sidebar to go there.

Monday, January 10, 2011

I guess I'm in a pink and brown mood of late. This is a thank-you card for my grandmother. This year she gave money for Christmas and wanted to see what I spent it on. What did I spend it on? A Sizzix texture boutique and a couple of Cuttlebug embossing folders. (showcased on the bird and the white background).

The bird file was free. If you like it grab it here. The swirl came out of the bird's tummy :) The intricate circles are a digital stamp by Stef aka Glitterbabe that she allowed me to cut with my cricut~so sweet of her! The sentiment I created with SCAL2, not sure what font is was~sorry!The brown/gold paper is a wallpaper sample and the brown and pink is left over from another card-not sure the brand. The embossing folder is Stylized Flower by Provocraft. The glitter is generic stickles I picked up at Michael's for a dollar! Ribbon and lace, from the stash. Button from the local store Scrapbook Friend'z (they let you pick a scoop of randoms for $.50!

This is just a little something I worked up for my husband. Today was his first day at a new University and (although he wouldn't say so, I know he was a little nervous).Just one challenge-Digi's With Attitude!- New Year's Resolution (one of mine was to uplift my husband on a regular basis)

Friday, January 7, 2011

This card style is something I would never have tried without first seeing examples. Judianne of Creative Scrapbooking Divas kept showing me beautiful examples and made me want to try one of my own. So if you hate it, keep in mind, this is my first and they typically get better :) I also probably never would have tried this without the aid of my Cricut and Penny Duncan's SVG cut file. I could have tried to replicate the template, but it would have been difficult for me and I likely would have given up. Both the ladies above are extremely talented artists, if you have not seen their work, you should follow the links I provided.

On to my card. The first picture is the outside (ignore my fingers, it didn't want to stay shut).

And the view when opened.My materials:Cricut and Penny's file it includes the card template (score marks, too!), and the squares/rectangles for each slot (I left out the ones where I put the sentiments).Patterned paper-Amanda BluInk-Staz On Timber Brown (I got it for Christmas!)Flower stamp-Stampin' UpSentiment- I created it in SCAL using Brody font (my first time!)Latte cup-Stamping Cricut CartSwirls-Stamping Cricut CartButtons-random from Scrapbook Friend'zRhinestone-RAKFlowers by buttons-RAK whew!

About Me

I am one of those creative types that disguise it well by teaching children and making cards. How else am I going to get to color, cut and paste?! Honestly, though, art is an important part of life that often gets pushed out of the school districts when they need to cut funds. Sad. In order to teach all students we need to reach all students, and for some students that is through art, music, sports, history, reading etc. Let's use their interests to our advantage!