Butterfly Happiness

This card was inspired by Lisa's fridge magnets. Again I used my Cricut and Sure Cuts A Lot software to cut the butterflies. I placed the butterflies on a 5 inch square base of Papertrey Ink's Stamper's Select White. I like this paper for a white card base as it is slightly sturdier that Stampin' Up's Whisper White. I was excited to find the tiny self stick gems by Elmer's Sticky Jewels at Wal-Mart. The package I bought had 150 clear and 150 pink peel and stick rhinestones. You can also buy a package of clear and blue.

Thanks for looking,
Kim

Base - PTI Stamper's Select White
SU Textured Card Stock - Kiwi Kiss, Pacific, Riding Hood Red, Tangerine Tango

SU Designer Paper - Kiwi Kiss, Pacific Point, Riding Hood Red, Tangerine Tango
Ink - VersaFine Black Onyx
SU Stamps - Heard from the Heart
Accessories - Elmer's Sticky Jewels

40th Birthday Word Book

I made a word chipboard book for my little brother's 40th birthday in June. This is the first time I've made one of these so it has been a bit of a learning experience! I'm really pleased with how it turned out... I don't think the pictures really highlight it, but they'll work for showing my mom and sister-in-law... "Hi Mom! Hi Shelley".

First pages - it is hard to fit the whole book into the picture, especially on the last pages as they are so long. The book is about 9 1/2 cm tall (4 inches). The picture is of me holding my little brother. I love how unhappy he looks and how scared I look...

On the back of the "H" page and the front of the "A" page. The word art reads, " The best part of life is when your family becomes your friends." Both pictures are of me and my two brothers.

This is the back of the "A" page and the front of the "W" page. It is pictures of my brother with his nephew and nieces. His two sons are also in the helmet picture.

This is the back of the "W" page. These are pictures of my brother with our dad and mom.

This is the front of the "N" page (the last page of the scrapbook). The first picture is my family and the second picture is my brother with his family. The circle word art reads "a family is a circle of love".

All the word art was made by Bethany. She is very talented and has a free word art EVERY day! What a sweetie!

I used my Cricut and Sure Cuts A Lot software to create the pages. Thank goodness box board (cereal boxes) are plentiful as it took quite a few tries to get it right. Some box board is too thick to cut with the Cricut. The box board didn't stick well to the mat, even if I sprayed it with tacky adhesive first. I also found it best to tape down the edges to the mat.

I also wasn't very successful with doing a multiple cut. I liked cutting it once with the Cricut and then using scissors to cut all the way through. I had to remember to put the paper for the backside of the letter down on the mat so it was cut backwards. It also pays to go slow and make sure the paper is placed on the right spot of the mat before you cut. (I had to borrow another piece of cardstock from a friend after I messed up because I put the mat in the Cricut backwards!!! Argh!)

If I was to do this again, I would try making the shape of the pages without the inside of the letters cut out and then cut out the letters out of contrasting card stock to put on top of the pages. This would prevent the pictures from peeking through when the book is all closed up.

Thanks for looking,
Kim

Get Well Butterfly

I used my Cricut and Sure Cuts A Lot software again to create this slightly smaller Carousel Note card from Pink Pirouette textured cards stock. (See this post for an explanation of why it is smaller.) I tried to put something on the right hand side so it would be balanced out, but it just didn't look right, so I put three brads on the inside. It works pretty well, just leans slightly to the left when sitting on a table.

I also used the software to create the butterflies. I learned that when I'm cutting paper with my Cricut, I need the blade depth to be at 4 and the pressure at 4 as well so the paper doesn't tear.

Sometime earlier this week I saw butterflies made with the beads for a body on one of the blogs that I follow. I can't remember which blog and I checked them all trying to find it... maybe I saw it on Splitcoast Stampers. I remember looking at the loop at the bottom, but I couldn't remember what the top looked like. After searching my Google Reader list, I decided to just use Google to search the Internet and I found Lori's site . I like how she made her antennas so I copied hers.

I'm sending this card off to my sister-in-law who just had surgery on Thursday. Hopefully it will brighten her day.

Thanks for looking,
Kim

SU Card Stock - Pink Pirouette Textured Card Stock
SU Designer Paper - Georgia Peach, Sweet Always
Ink - VersaFine Black Onyx
Stamp - PTI - Faux Ribbon
Accessories - beads and wire from my daughter's craft drawer, flower eyelets from a dollar store

Another Masculine Card

I've sure been challenged lately as I've needed quite a few masculine cards. This one is for my nephew-in-law's birthday. I love the colours of this one! I used my Cricut and the Sure Cuts A Lot software to create the Little Leaves just like the Sizzlits Dies. I sure love that program. If you have any questions about how to use it, just drop me a line!

My inspiration for this card came from Mary Fish's card. I just love her blog and her cards... plus she has the cutest haircut in her profile picture :) !

It is not the best picture as it looks a little out of focus to me. Since the card must be in the mail today, this picture will have to do as my husband has our good camera on a trip and he won't be back until late tonight. Can you see the texture of the Kiwi Kiss paper and that the Not Quite Navy piece is raised?

Thanks for looking,
Kim

SU Card Stock - Not Quite Navy, Kiwi Kiss Textured C/S, Whisper White
SU Designer Paper - Urban Garden
Ink - VersaFine Black Onyx
Stamps - Papertrey Ink - Faux Ribbon
Accessories - Stampin' Dimensionals, Hodgepodge Hardware - Pewter, Corner Rounder Punch

Two Sympathy Cards

I needed two sympathy cards last week. Both were for grandfathers that passed away, so I wanted to make the cards masculine looking.

The first one didn't thrill me at first, but it has grown on me a bit more. I used Silke's card as an inspiration. I wanted to use some of my designer paper, but once I made my pick, I realized that the colours wouldn't look good for colouring the trees. I think I could have "upped" the quality of this card by embossing the trees, but I didn't want to use black. I'm also a little frustrated with my paper piercing. I used the Mat Pack so the holes are evenly spaced, but I find that they are not as straight as I would like them. I guess I need to focus on this the next time I use it.


For the second one, I used Kim Scotti's card for inspiration. I really like how this one turned out. I stamped off some of the leaves so that there is a variation in the colour of them.


Thanks for looking,
Kim

First Card
SU Card Stock - Chocolate Chip, Always Artichoke, Sage Shadow, Whisper White
SU Designer Paper - To the Nines Specialty Textured C/S
SU Ink - Chocolate Chip
SU Stamps - Lovely as a Tree, Warmest Regards
Accessories - Chocolate Chip brads from Pink Hedgehog Paper Crafts, Mat Pack, Crafters' Tool Kit

Second Card
SU Card Stock - Basic Black, Whisper White, Ruby Red
SU Designer Paper - Old Olive
Ink - SU Old Olive, SU Ruby Red, Versa Fine Black Onyx
Stamps - SU Branch Out, Papertry Ink - Mixed Messages
Accessories - SU Black Brads, Oval and Scalloped Oval Nestabilities, Cuttlebug Birds and Swirls Embossing Folder, Corner Rounder Punch

New Blog - Old Card

I'm pretty excited about my new blog look. I got the template for free from Gisele Jaquenod. Isn't it cute! I tweeked it a bit to make it a bit wider. Since I know nothing about HTML, it took a little bit of playing. Let me know if it doesn't work on your computer as now I wonder if I shouldn't have been messy around.

It was a gorgeous day today so between working in the garden, preparing for my garage sale next weekend and playing with my blog, there was no time to stamp. So, here's one of the cards that I made in March when I went to Jen's Stamp-a-Stack.

I love the above card, but I needed a thank you card and didn't have one ready - of course! So I pulled off the sentiment and changed it to "Thank You". I added the scalloped oval because I wanted to see if I could make the SU scalloped oval with my Cricut and Sure Cuts A Lot software. I really need to set a goal of working on my watercolouring... perhaps I work on that in the summer.

We made two of each of the five designs at the Stamp-a-Stack, plus a bonus project. I'll try and get the others posted soon as they are all so cute.

Thanks for looking,
Kim

Pardon Me...

I'm trying out new blog templates to see what I like. This is all new to me so there is lots of trial and error happening!

Kim

Branch Out Masculine Birthday

I created this card for my nephew's birthday that is later this month. I used my Cricut and Sure Cuts A Lot software to create an oval that was 0.7" high and 1.35" wide to fit in the Hodgepodge Hardware. I put the oval on dimensionals and then placed the frame over top so the paper sits nicely in the hardware.

Thanks for looking,
Kim

SU Card Stock - Two the Nines Specialty Textured C/S, Sahara Sand, Bravo Burgundy, Always Artichoke
Ink - SU Chocolate Chip, SU Always Artichoke, SU Basic Black, Versa Fine Black Onyx (sentiment)
Stamps - SU Branch Out, PTI Faux Ribbon
Accessories - Hodgepodge Hardware in Pewter (Retired), Stampin Dimensionals