A Potpourri of Cards

I'm back!  We had a wonderful visit with our family, but it was difficult staying away from my scraproom.  I have some challenge cards that are waiting to be cut and assembled. Until I'm caught up, I'll share some cards that were created at the beginning of this wonderful journey. It's Sunday night so I had to take the pictures indoors - sorry about the quality :(.  The first three cards were made before I discovered card sketches and card challenges.

I didn't have too many cartridges when this card was made.  I used Beyond Birthdays and George.

This is my first Tilda card using Prisma pencils and Gamsol.  I've found that I like using Copic markers better than the Prismas, so this card is one of only a few using this technique.   The flower is cut from George and the sentiment is Beyond Birthdays.  I also Cuttlebugged Tilda's background and inked the edges.

This is an anniversary card for my husband.  The Indie Art butterfly and heart are still two of my favorite cuts.  The initials are from Lyrical Letters and the love is from Home Accents.  I added Stickles to inside of the cuts.

This was my first Gypsy challenge card.  For the Gypsy challenges, we don't use sketches, but rather we're given different functions to use in order to better learn all the wonderful things that can be done with the Gypsy.  For this challenge, we were to "flip" an image (birds).  The frames are from Songbird and the birds and branch are from Home Decor, popped on the Cuttlebugged background.  I also added Stickles to the flowers on the branch.

Finally, a card with no Cricut.  The leaves are a Martha Stewart punch.  I added silk flowers with button centers.  Some paper layering, ribbon, and doodling finished the card.

Thanks for continuing to follow me on my journey.  I truly appreciate your comments and those who are willing to become followers.

Hugs and Happy Crafting,

Larelyn

Santa's Slackers Card Challenge

Sandi at Sandi's Added Touch and Joy at Purtty Paperz have started a Christmas Card challenge called Santa's Slackers (cute name, huh?)  They are posting a new sketch every Monday in the Cricut Card Forum (www.Cricut.com/messageboard)  and also on their blogs (just click the links above.)  Just think how far ahead you'll be with your Christmas Card stash if you participate.  It sounded too good for me to pass up and I'm hoping that I'll find THE card that will become my holiday card to be mailed to friends and family.

Here is this week's challenge card.  It is supposed to be 5x7 (oops, didn't read that part carefully!), have a cricut cut (mine is the snowflake from Home Accents), and have some bling.  I also used the Cuttlebug Snowflakes embossing folder.

This second card is the first sketch Sandi posted.  It is a square card which I don't often make because square cards require extra postage!  The papers came embossed and shiny so I didn't have to do much.  The sentiment, square, and scalloped square are from Winter Woodland.

I invite you to join in the challenge.  It's a great way to get card ideas.

Hugs and Happy Crafting,

Larelyn

Love U card, and a mini-tutorial

I created this card for Raq's card challenge and the Gypsy Lazy Daze challenge, both on the Cricut message board.  Also, I need some romantic cards for our current Cards for Soldiers challenge, so this card fit the bill for everything.  How's that for multi-tasking?  I decided to try a picture tutorial, just to get the hang of it, so here goes:

Using my Gypsy, I began with a 3.75x4.75 rectangle (George) for the background layer.  I added a Storybook frame - 2x3- and welded the leaf flourish - 2.29x2.36 then copied the image.  On the screen shot, you'll see "love" from Beyond Birthdays.  When I cut everything, I felt it was too fine, so I switched to "Love" and its shadow from Home Accents (a little creative license here), cutting them at 3.22x2.64 and 3.22x2.76 respectively.  I don't actually enter those odd sizes on my Gypsy screen.  I just add the image and then increase or decrease the size (a simple tap of the button) until it fits my design - that's the beauty of a Gypsy - you can make any size that works for your design.  The "U" and its shadow are both 1" from Storybook.

Here's the paper on the mat.  You won't see the paisley on the card.  I actually decided to turn it over and use the backside.  It looked better on the 4x5.25 background piece that I cut with my papercutter.

All the pieces ready to assemble.  Notice the Home Accents "Love"?  It just worked better.  I also cut an extra green frame so that I could pop the leaf flourishes after cutting the frame away.

A little inking on the card base, background, and leaves using VersaMagic chalk inks - love them!!!!

I used my Zig pen to assemble the pieces.  I often use Xyron, but I stuck (he-he) with Zig and my ATG 714 for this project. I decided to adhere the sentiment to the leaves first so I could use foam dots when placing that piece on the card to add dimension.

A few Kaiser Craft pearls to dress things up.

Adhere the assembled card to a folded 8.5x5.5 card base and you have the finished product.  This card was so simple that I'm sure a tutorial wasn't necessary, but it was a great learning experience for me. I'm not sure what's on the design screen for tomorrow.  I have quite a few cards to complete and there's always Raq's card challenge that's posted every Wednesday.

Thanks for visiting.  If you have time, please leave a comment or sign up as a follower.  Your support is so appreciated.

Hugs, and Happy Crafting!!!!