Easter Card

It's Palm Sunday & I am actually getting ahead on some projects I wanted to work on.  I made this card for my mom for Easter.  Her favorite flowers are Daffodils, so I couldn't resist.

I was inspired by Cindy Royal's cards she shows on her blog:  http://www.royalthings.blogspot.com/.   She creates the most incredible cards.

I purchased the Daffodil Easter pic from Twisted Papers.  Their web site is: http://www.twistedpapers.com/.  They have hundreds of vintage card fronts to download for a nominal price. They also have a great monthly newsletter that you can sign up for that offers free downloads every month.

After downloading the pic and printing it, I fussy cut the entire bunch of Daffodils and then cut some individual flowers and triple layered them with pop dots.  The top layers were adhered at an angle.  Sorry the pic doesn't show the depth (still working on camera settings).

I ran the flower section through the Cuttlebug using the Cuttlebug Swiss Dots folder and then the yellow was embossed using Quickutz Diamonds & Dots folder.  I thought that it looked a little like a trellis.

I cut the corners using EK Success Cardcreator Interlaced corner punch. These punches are made to cut all four corners of a card without cutting both layers of the card.  Although I ended up cutting both layers anyway when I realized that you can't write on dark green cardstock.  If you want to see how they work and other styles, you can find them on http://www.eksuccess.com/ . They have a great website with easy to follow how-to videos.

Thanks for looking.

Seafoam w/String

Seafoam w/String

February's Card of the Month swap theme was Seafoam with String.  I had all kind of ideas about the ocean and water and the usual, but I have to admit that my final idea came from a card that I saw in Archiver's last month.  The link to the card and instructions for their card is HERE.

As you know I have been trying to use supplies I have on hand, so I didn't spend the $$$ to make Archiver's card as they showed it.  Instead I used the Bird on Stems Cuttlebug folder I have had for a long time.  I inked the folder on the raised side with Versa Magic Chalk Ink using the colors: Spring Pansy, Sea Breeze, Aquatic Splash & Aloe Vera.  Then I ran it through the Cuttlebug using two pieces of white cardstock.  I think using the two sheets of cardstock inked the page better.  I used string & eyelets that I've had forever to finish off the card.  The finished card is 4-1/4" x 5-1/2".

Project 365 Layouts

I finally got my first two layouts done for the Project 365.  I've had them done for a week or so, but I was having trouble taking a clear picture.  Pretty ironic when this project is about taking better pics..... LOL.  I was excited to use some of my Cricut Cartridges that I haven't used before.  Pretty bad when you have had them for a while & not even used them.  I used the flourishes from Home Accents.  I cut them and then cut chipboard to bring them out a little.  I used Printing 101 for the day numbering on the second layout.  I'm trying to get caught up, and think that I'm on my way now.

Cards for Soldiers

I was working on some cards for soldiers yesterday and used another cartridge that I forget about all the time.  Graphically Speaking is such a great cart.  There a lot of simple cuts that are great on cards as well as layouts.  If you are interested in making cards for soldiers, you can find the information on the Cricut website HERE.  This thread has the current 'challenge'.  Please take a look as see what they are up to.  It is a great way to support our soldiers and it means so much to them.  If you are interested, just post to the thread & the gals there will get you all of the information.

Jewel ATC

 March's ATC theme is Jewels.  This was another quick card.  It is a cut from the Storybook cartridge sized to 2.5" x 3.5" with Design Studio.  I added the jewels for the eyes.

Project 365 Title Page

Finally - I have the title page done for my Project 365 Book.  Susan & I spent a long time discussing how we were going to do our pages as far as a background paper goes.  The picture is one that I took a few years ago before owning my digital camera.  This butterfly was having a really great time posing perfectly for me that day.  Then a few minutes later a praying mantis landed & I was able to take pics of that too. 

Anyway, I like to take pics of weird insects that I find around the yard in the summer so I will probably incorporate some of them into the Project 365 book.  I'm on my way & hopefully it won't take me a week to do one 12 x 12 page or I will never get this done.... LOL

Sewing ATC

I almost forgot to post the ATC for February's ATC Swap on the Cricut message board.  The theme this month was "Sewing" I know it doesn't look too complicated, but I had to remember how to use my sewing machine.  It has been a few years since I did a real sewing project.  The material was leftover pieces I used to sew my Cricut dust cover with trim that I have had laying around for years.  The buttons came from my Mom's collection.  You know the collection.  Growing up, before we got rid of any clothing, we took the buttons off if they were interesting or might be able to be used for a fill-in for a lost button.  When Mom gave me her machine & cabinet the button boxes came with them.  I have two old checkbook boxes full of buttons and was glad that I was able to use 14.  Now I'm down to 500....

Designer's Choice - C.O.M.

 I finished the Designer's Choice card for the Card of the Month Swap on Cricut.com.  The thread is here.  January's theme was Designer's Choice.  So we were all able to choose our own alliteration for the month.  Everyone gets a chance to guess what the color and embellishment combination is for your card.  Mine was Purple with Parallelograms. Be sure to look at past months cards. We have some really great card makers in this swap.

 The design of the card came from a special Paper Cafts Magazine called Paper Crafts Remodeled.  I have wanted to use this design for a long time.  They have some awesome decorated bags as well as cards with this design and different embellishments. Simple, but cute.

The paper is from a giant 300 piece box from K & Company.  I got the box with a 50% coupon last fall.  It has a huge variety of papers and I was glad I was able to make some work.  The green & teal were from a Martha Stewart pack.  I cut the circles with the George cartridge on my Cricut.  I was having a little problem with the circles looking like circles, they turned out a little oblong.

Notebooks

Just a few quick notebooks I put together yesterday.  They are 3" x 4" Mead notebooks covered with some scraps I had laying around.  These are for me & my friends to write down things we want to talk about when we get together for lunch.  Sometimes we lose track of what we wanted to say.

Project of the Day

Boy, did I find a bargain last night.  I took a trip to Archivers and hit their 50% to 75% off table and look what I found.  This Scrapbook in a Box by S.E.I.  $5.00.  How can you beat that?  A friend of mine just had a little boy and I thought this would be the perfect gift.

I didn't realize how neat it was until I got it home & opened it.

Look what was inside:

It had precut pages with all of the embellishments and layouts for every page.  The backs of the papers had the layout numbers on them so that you could just follow the layouts and put it together.  How simple is that? These are the parts for the front page.

I'm going to add a couple of pics to show some completed pages.

Hopefully, my pictures are clear enough.  This was such a cute album.  I have to admit that I went back to Archivers & picked up the last two girl albums.  It is very similiar to the boy kit, but with pink & orange colors and embellishments.