Warm Winter Birthday Wishes

Happy Wednesday everyone.  We are halfway through the first week of 2011.  I bet all of you teachers out there are counting the hours until Friday afternoon after two weeks off.  My son's school district scheduled a teacher work day on Monday to help them transition back to school.  He was thankful for the transition day.

We have two family birthdays in January, my mom and my daughter.  Their birthdays are one week apart - Bethany was late and my mom was annoyed that Bethany refused to be born on her birthday.  I wanted her to come by Christmas so I had not sympathy for mom's annoyance!!

Anyway, this is mom's birthday card.  Inside the card, which I forgot to photograph, reads Warm Winter Birthday Wishes!  I used Bazzill cardstock and Echo Park cardstock; Spellbinder's Snowflake Pendant 2010, Label #14, Lacey Circles, and regular circles dies; JustRite stamps and Popcorn the Bear stamps; Stampin' Up ink and ribbon to create this card.  Oh, and a Spellbinder's embossing plate. 

I wanted a winter themed card that was both feminine and fun and I believe that this card met those goals.  I used Bazzill shimmer cardstock and Spellbinder's Snowflake Pendant  dies to cut the adorable pink snowflakes.  I used a pink ink to stamp the circle and lacey spellbinder dies with JustRite stamps.  Again, going for feminine with all of the pink, yet fun with the embossing and less formal stamps.

I had trouble finding a Happy Birthday stamp for the front of the card.  I am not sure where I stashed all of my birthday stamps.  I finally used a Popcorn the Bear "Happy Birthday" stamp.

I should be back tomorrow with another Spellbinder based project.

Nesties and JustRite Stamps team up for Elegance

Is everyone still "stuffed" from Thanksgiving??  We are looking forward to "round 2" today with the leftovers!

Before we get into the details of today's card, I want to announce the winner of my DVD set, It's a Kid's Life, from the Kickin' Off Christmas blog hop.  The winner is

Melissa (who) said...

This card is absolutely gorgeous!

 Melissa I will need your shipping address so that I can get a package in the mail to you!!  Congratulations!

And now on to my Christmas card....  This card was created using white cardstock as a base card and green textured cardstock as a front matting.  I stamped the candle image and surrounding circle onto smooth white cardstock.  After coloring the candles, bow and greenery with Copic markers, I used my circle nesties to cut out the candle image.  I then used to scalloped nesties to cut a small red matting and a larger green matting. The three layers were glued together and set aside.

I used the base layer of my nestie charm to create the pretty printed background matting.  I attached the three layers with the candle image to the center of the charm and affixed the charm to the front of the card.

I used Peel Off Christmas phrases to add greetings to the cards, as well as two different ribbons to create a different feel for each of the cards.  Where the print ribbon creates a sassy, fun card, the solid ribbon creates an elegant card.  In both cases I finished the cards with white gel pen doodles.

Depending on my post-Thanksgiving recovery and decorating schedule I may or may not return tomorrow with a new project.  I will keep both of us guessing!

Hello Kitty BBTB2

Happy Bitten by the Bug 2 Monday!  Such a fun week is in store for all of us!  Of course with Thursday being Thanksgiving Day here in the U.S. this is already a special week!  But on top of that, today is BBTB2 with HELLO KITTY (you KNOW I ADORE Kitty!), tomorrow is the first day of the Kickin' Off Christmas Blog Hop as well as my 29th wedding anniversary(!), Wednesday is day 2 of the KOC Blog Hop, Thursday is Thanksgiving and I will share the details of my North Pole house, and Friday is BLACK FRIDAY!   I think MFK (my friend Kathy) and I are planning a Walmart run!!! And of course in the midst of our crafting fun I will be preparing the traditional big meal as well as a finger food buffet for Wednesday night.  Whew! Busy week.

The challenge cut this week at BBTB2 is Hello Kitty in her elf/Santa outfit (HK19).  This cut was selected by my sweet Design Team sister and team leader Heather, who probably doesn't even know about my love for Hello Kitty. I decided to take the HK project a bit further, because I always find inspiration when Kitty is involved.

I started with a basic box from the Tags, Bags, Boxes and More and Cricut Design Studio.  I chose the 12 x 24 inch virtual cutting mat and placed the box onto the mat at 9-1/4 inches tall by 17-1/3 inches wide.  I decided that I wanted to place the Christmas tree next to Kitty, so placed the outline on the mat at 5-1/4 inches tall by 4 inches wide.  I then placed the tree center cut into the front section of the box.  I did NOT select weld.  This way when I cut the page the shape of the inside of the tree and tree stand only cut out.  I glued a square of acetate over the inside of the opening.  The tree outline, star and package pieces were cut on the same mat.

A word about the cardstock I used to create this box:  The cardstack was purchased through Darcie's when I attended a stamping expo.  However, you can order their large printed cardstock on-line.  ( I would have added the link but as of Sunday evening as I type this post their site is down).  The cardstock measures 18 x 12 inches and is a wonderful weight for boxes and cards cut on the Cricut.  Also their printed cardstock comes in a variety of prints - seasonals, birthday prints, manly prints, fun prints, plaids, etc.

Page two of the cut file uses a regular 12 x 12 cutting mat.  On this mat I placed the HK19 Hello Kitty card cut at 3.5 inches tall.  All of my Hello Kitty pieces were cut with the Cricut set at 3.5 inches. I cut Kitty in white smooth cardstock, her outline in black and her clothing in metallic green and red.  After assembling the card front, I applied glue to the white portions of Kitty's body and covered them with white papersoft, creating the illusion of "fur".  I then attached Kitty to the base card and affixed them to the front of the box.  This assures that the TO/FROM tag will stay on the box.

The last piece of the box ensemble is the Merry Christmas to You tag hanging from the bow.  I used my set of JustRite Christmas stamps and scalloped punches to create the tag.  I then attached it to the ribbon and bow at the top of the package.

My daughter saw the box on my scrapping desk and told me that she hopes to see the box under our tree with her name in the "TO:" area.  I think there is a very good chance that she will get her request!!!

I will see you back here tomorrow for the Kickin' Off Christmas blog hop!  The goal of the blog hop is to use Amy Chomas products and SP and Company products.

One last note, please remember that you can vote for Capadia's (Diane) entry in the Creative Memories contest once every 24 four hours.  Please click HERE to go vote today and go back and vote again tomorrow!!!  Diane is a true delight and has done so much for sooo many in the paper crafting community.  I would love to see her win this contest and the cruise.

Thankful for the Little Things

Surprise!  Another Thanksgiving themed card - but this card is completely different.  Well yes, it does utilize the same Autumn Blessing stamp set, but also introduces some additional color to the fall palette!

The center image and border were stamped in a burnt brown on pumpkin colored cardstock.  The center image was colored with Copic markers and then cut with the oval nestie.  I decided to shake things up a bit with a green scalloped matting!  The nesties were affixed to an embossed white cardstock and mounted on fun fall print cardstocks.  I went with a pumpkin colored base card.

I think this is my favorite Thanksgiving card of the week.  I really like the green twill ribbon and the fun print cardstocks.  I also really like the sentiment because sometimes in the day to day routine of life we do forgot to remember to be thankful for the little things!  This card is a nice reminder!

Thankful for Fall

Here is another JustRite stamp Thanksgiving card.  I think this one is for my mom!  My mom lives about 5 hours away from where I live and she will be spending Thanksgiving with my brother and his family.  I will be staying home as my sons will be coming home from college and work in other cities.  My mom likes the fall color palette so this card should appeal to her.

This is another center and border stamp from the Autumn Blessings stamp set that I used yesterday.  All of the borders are interchangeable so it is easy to mix and match the centers and borders.  The JustRite stamps were designed to compliment Spellbinders Nestabilities. So far I only own circular and oval stamps, but they also come in rectangular shapes.

The stamped image and the scalloped matting were cut with oval nesties.  The print matting under the ovals was also cut with nesties - label number five.  The print label is affixed to two layers of matting which have been punched with the corner ticket punch.  Two layers of ribbon surround the mats and are tied with a two tone bow.  A strip of golden rod colored lace was added under the ribbon.  And under all of this is one more layer of print matting and a rust colored base card.  There are five amber gemstones accent the stamped image, bow and card corners.

I like how pretty and feminine this card seems, while still maintaining a fall feeling.  I will be back tomorrow with another Thanksgiving themed project. 

Give Thanks - BBTB2

It's a Bitten By The Bug 2 Monday morning!  Everyone at BBTB2 is giving thanks this week, as our sweet Design Team sister, Donna (Ms. Popsicle Toes herself), selected this week's challenge cut - "Give Thanks" from the Thanksgiving seasonal cartridge.  And I know that YOU know what comes next - me telling you how much I love the Thanksgiving cartridge.  All I am going to say is - I DO LOVE THE THANKSGIVING SEASONAL CARTRIDGE (that was an excited squeal, not a yell)!

I am a little bit hooked on JustRite Stampers at the moment (could you tell?) and today's card is no exception.  This dried corn image is from the Autumn Blessing Borders and Centers set and compliments today's Give Thanks challenge cut quite well.  I colored the image with Copic markers and cut the image and the matting using oval nesties.  I finished the image with an amber gem in the middle of the bow.

I used Bazzill cardstock to cut today's challenge cut, and again used a single amber gem as a highlight.  The cut is adhered to four (4) layers of fall colored matting on a rust colored card.  I used the Stampin Up corner punch and two amber gems to embellish the top corners of the card. The card is wrapped in a pumpkin colored ribbon with the nesties images affixed over the ribbon knot.

I will be back tomorrow, and everyday this week, sharing Thanksgiving themed projects.

Sweet Chrismas Card with JustRite Stampers

Thanks so much for all of the super-nice comments on yesterday's Advent Calendar.  I am pleased that you liked the calendar as much as I did.  But let's be honest - that is a tough project to follow!  I realized that anything I posted today would be a let down.  So, I decided to cop-out and continue with the Christmas theme and share a fun Christmas card!

While this card does not begin to compare to yesterday's project, I really like this card.  It is sweet (ha ha ha - I crack myself up) and simple and fun.    The card was created using Spellbinder's nestabilities (label eleven and circle and scalloped circle dies), JustRite Stampers' Merry Little Christmas stamp set, and a candy cane cut from Cricut's Christmas Cheer.  The other card elements - Bazzill cardstock, snowflake paper, and the ribbon - were from my "stash". 

The candy cane was cut on the Cricut expression using smooth white and red Swiss dot cardstock.  After being tied with bit of Merry Christmas ribbon the candy cane was attached to the pink label with pop dots. 

The JustRite Stamp images were stamped onto smooth white cardstock and then cut out with a circle nestabilities.  The scalloped circle was cut in the same Swiss dot cardstock.  The layers were adhered together and then affixed to the card using pop dots.  The card was finished with a strip of Merry Christmas ribbon and bow and white dots and doodles.  

I will be back tomorrow with a new project to share - probably not another Advent Calendar - sorry!  :-)