Friday, July 30, 2010

Birthday Cards and a Great Book

I'm new enough to papercrafting that I love to buy books and magagzines which show me new ideas and techniques.  While at my LSS, I came across "Card Making With Cricut" published by Annie's Attic.  I love this book, probably because I have all the cartridges that are used in the designs and because the directions are easy to follow with great results.
The first card is a birthday card for a very special boy in our lives.  When I saw him the other day, he was wearing a rockstar t-shirt, and he also loves hunting and the outdoors.  This card (from Card Making With Cricut) seemed perfect.  The inside says U rock and I added a money pocket since he's leaving today for a week's vacation and some spending-money seems like a great idea.  I used Indie Art, Tags, Bags, Boxes, and Plantin.  The background was distressed using very coarse sandpaper.  The second card is for his mother, whose birthday is today.  She's a country girl at heart and her home is decorated in a western theme.  This simple layout is my own.  I used DCWV All About Boys and Doodlebug papers, Just Because Cards, a Hero Arts stamp and scalloped and round punches.
I hope you enjoy my creations.  I love making special cards for special people.

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Layout - DisneyWorld Marathon Weekend

As I mentioned in my first post, I'm making an album for my daughter who ran the DisneyWorld Marathon in 2009.  This page is the beginning of her adventure as she and her roommate fly from Illinois to Florida.
For this layout, I used Potpourri for the plane and US map, Just Because Cards for the title to which I welded the mouse ears from Mickey Font, and Paper Pups for the clouds.  I designed the entire page on my Gypsy. The plane was embossed with Diamond Plate, and the clouds with Divine Swirls.  The journal tag is a stamp and the mickey heads are punched.  This album is definitely a work in progress - she sent me over 100 pictures!!!  I'm thinking of making an envelope mini-album to store the pictures that aren't used in the album.  What do you think?

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Scraps, wonderful scraps

My scrap drawers fill up rather quickly - I have an obsession for buying and using lots of paper - so I try to use my scraps to create my card-challenge cards.  Sometimes the scraps work well together and the result is rather nice.  Other times, what looked like a good idea doesn't turn out quite so well.  Sheila, AKA Sassy Lady, has shared some of her what she calls mistakes (they always look wonderful to me), so I thought I'd share a couple of scrap adventures and misadventures with you.

I ordered the Martha Stewart floral punch set when it was featured on HSN.  When the punches arrived, I grabbed a scrap drawer, dug around, and came up with this simple card.  I think these scraps worked well together and the punches and ribbon added just enough accent. Note that I almost always make my cards A2 size (4.25x5.5) because that's pretty standard and I can buy boxes of envelopes at Staples when they're on sale.  Since I make so many Cards for Soldiers and Cricut Card Fairy cards, staying with one size works for me.

For sketch #3 in this week's Raq's card challenge, I also went to my scrap drawers, this time choosing colors that I don't usually use except for accents.  I loved the layout which I designed on my Gypsy.  I used Heritage for the slider, Tie the Knot for the monogram, Jasmine for the corners, and Home Accents for the flourish.  It all looked wonderful on the Gypsy screen.  I laid out the papers I'd selected, cut, and began to assemble.  Hmmmm, looking a little strange so I added doodling, a little too much so I covered some of it with the corners. I Cuttlebugged (is that a verb?) one of the mats and added a little chalk ink.  Well, I do like the layout, but the colors aren't sitting well with me.  If I choose to send this design, I think I'll re-cut with a different color scheme.  I'll keep this card in my file - maybe I'll call it my "what was I thinking?" file.  I feel good when I'm able to use up some of my scraps (then I can buy more paper, right?), but sometimes those darn scraps look just like what they are - scraps!!!





Building a Card Stash

As I stated in my profile, I am one of the Cricut Card Fairies.  Our mission is send cards to people (children and adults) offering congratulations, sympathy, get well wishes, thank yous, etc.  The missions come from requests received by our Card Fairy Army Commanders.  If you're interested in what we do and how to join, please visit www.Cricut.com/messageboard and look for the Cricut Card Fairies forum. We sometimes get up to 10 requests in a week and, because I have the time, I try to respond to each. Now you understand why I need a card stash.  Many times I'll make a unique card, especially for the children or a messageboard member, but often I'll send a card from my stash, adding the appropriate sentiment - usually stamped- with a personal or stamped message inside. 

Today I'm sharing cards from my stash.  I have not added sentiments, just a place for them.  I try to keep happy cards, serious cards, and gender neutral cards on hand.  Most of these are made from papers in my scrap drawers. They are all A2 size and don't have a lot of dimension.  I keep dimension to a minimum because anything that can't go through the post office's automated sorter must be hand cancelled and that requires an additonal $.20 postage.  How embarrassing to have a card delivered with postage due!!!!!

I hope you enjoy my cards and might be motivated to join us.  You're not asked to complete all the missions, only when you can.  It's a wonderful group and certainly a worthwhile cause.


Thanks for visiting - hope you found some inspiration.  We'll see where my journey takes me tomorrow.

Friday, July 23, 2010

I love card challenges!

Each week I try to participate in Raq's card challenge found in the Cricut Card Forum.  You'll meet many great gals who are so talented and encouraging.  It's a great place to learn and receive feedback.


This card will be sent to Cards for Soldiers.  We were challenged to create cards with a "fruity" theme and the sketch from Raq's fit perfectly.  The cherries are cut at 2", using base, shift, and layers from the Preserves cartridge.  The layers on this cartridge are so easy to use.  I used the Polka Dots embossing folder with my Cuttlebug, added a little VersaChalk and some felt ribbon and that's it - simple with lots of room inside for the sender to write home.




I really wanted to use Life is a Beach so this sketch was perfect.  I used my Gypsy to create the design elements so that I could easily size them for layering and popping.  You'll notice more Cuttlebug embossing, chalking, and some sanding to bring out dimension. 

Speaking of "sketches", if you're new to cardmaking or scrapbooking, sketches are a great way to begin learning about layouts.  Many challenges provide a layout sketch to get you started.  Others provide "recipes" which are also helpful - colors, shapes, embellishments to use, for example.  Visit the Cricut Message Board and look up "Consider a Challenge."  It's a great place to start your journey.

Sunday, July 11, 2010

It's a start!

Welcome to my blog and my first post. I spend a great deal of time reading blogs and learning so much about cardmaking and papercrafting that I felt it was time to join in the fun. I hope you enjoy my creations. I have learned so much in the last year and want to continue to learn and progress in my craft. I hope you enjoy my journey.

I'll start by sharing a layout created for my daughter's DisneyWorld Marathon scrapbook. She ran the marathon in January, 2009 - a personal challenge for her and a great source of pride for her family.
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