Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Love You More than Chocolate - Color Dare Diamond Winner



Color My Heart Color Dare #135 - Chocolate and Champagne.  I knew I wanted to do something with chocolate...or chocolate...or chocolate.  My decision was a Chocolate Easter Bunny inside a Candy Box, which could also be used for the Fantabulous Cricut Challenge #248 Easter.  My attempt with the candy box seemed only appropriate to turn it into a Shaker Card.  

CTMH cardstock Chocolate, and the Paper Fundamentals-Basic Assortment Champagne was used for the entire card and distressed with Chocolate Ink.  Chocolate Bunnies "Theresa Colllins-Bunnies & Chicks", Award "Fathers Day-Fan Club" and Frame of Candy Box were all images cut with Cricut Explore with modifications made to size.  Made a label "Chocolate Bunny" using Design Center, typing text, grouping and then welding.  Getting the hang of making my own sentiments when I need something that I don't have a stamp for...I find this easier than typing on cardstock with a decorative font. Used Foam Tape for the thickness of the Candy Box, and back of the Bunny.  Then came the fun part sorting through hundreds of sequins to get the brown and champagne colors, along with teeny-weeny glitter to complete the Shaker Card...again thanks to my friend's shopping center full of surprises...and it's so close by and convenient. Also the stamped sentiment came from her collection as well...how true this sentiment may be, I don't know it's a toss-up.    

It is so much fun working with both the Color Dare Challenge and Fantabulous Cricut Challenge, and wish that anyone looking at my blog would go to their blogs and look at the Design Teams artwork and other entries...hopefully you will be inspired enough to join these challenges and future challenges.   

Monday, March 30, 2015

Bloom Where You're Planted



This card was made for Freshly Made Sketches #179, and believe me it was freshly made...just got in under the wire...PHEW.  My husband says, you have three minutes and I hadn't even taken the picture yet. So, if I was going to put on any more embellishments, that was out. Right after I posted my link, when I came out of the Link "Linkup Closed" was there.  Changed my picture, so more detail of paper would show and colors more actual, and also used Sunflower paper instead of my cricut for the background in my picture.  

In reading about the Team Members, I came across another blog "The Paper Players" whereby this card meets their current March 29th Challenge #238 TicTacToe  (Any Shade of Yellow, Die-Cuts and Flowers).  

This is my second experiment with SVG Files, a gift certificate I won entering another challenge and purchased at Digiplayground.  The Sunflower A2 size card was just perfect for the focal point of my 5x7 card...

Saturday, March 28, 2015

Walkers Birthday Card

This is not the prettist card I've made, but none-the-less it was a very challenging card.  My son likes The Walking Dead TV Series, and I am a follower too, as strange as it may seem.  With this theme in mind I thought I would make a Birthday card for him.  Usually I reference cards in Pinterest to get ideas on where to start...well it didn't help me this time.  Assuming the Walkers are attracted to fire, I thought I could start out with 45 candles, and another to wish upon. 

Trivia:  Which set of cupcakes has 16 candles on it?  Top, Middle or Bottom.  


Front:  I used CTMH Stamp Sets S1412 Cutie Pie SOTM for the cupcakes and the candles were from Stamp Set D1529 Cricut Artiste Collection Birthday...layered the cupcakes and stamped on each candle and used several colors of my ShinHan Alcohol pens...lots of color and Wink of Stella and liquid glass on the candle flames.  I made the two sentiments "Put Out the Fire" warning and "45th" using Cricut Design Space typing and welding letters together, and cut on white cardstock.  The party hats were also from Design Space and modified to use as an embellishment. 

 
Inside:  When I entered a challenge in FantabulousCricutSketch, I got a Gift Certificate for Digiplayground, and I found a 6-piece Zombie SVG File.  Uploaded it to Design Space, resized the group and cut out several Black Zombies and also cut out several White Zombies which I made a fraction bigger.  Glued the Back on top of White so that The Walkers would show up against the black cardstock.  Again using Design Space typed and welded letters together for "The Walkers are here" and "Surprise" was a image in Design Space from CTMH cartridge.  Placed a Glitter Party Hat on each Walker, using the same hat cut for the front cover.  The "Happy Birthday" Sentiment was from CTMH Stamp Set C1350 Dainty Thoughts.  A party wouldn't be complete if there weren't balloons from Stamp Set M1037 Balloons Occasions. 


Thursday, March 26, 2015

Friendship Makes Life Colorful


OMG! I can't help it; but this is my favorite card I have ever made and had so much fun putting it together.  It was initially designed for Heart2Heart Monday March 23 Challenge "How Cute"; but I also adapted it to Atlantic Hearts Sketch Milestone Challenge #100 because I wanted to do something special and different.  I usually  fall back on flowers and butterflies...but my theme just seemed so appropriate for both challenges...

Tuesday, March 24, 2015

Sweet as Honey - Emerald Winner CMH Color Dare


Color My Heart Color Dare Challenge No. 134        
Cotton Candy, Olive, Lagoon, BlackWhite Daisy 

I started out with cutting a Daisy White Hexagon Card from Cricut, but the colors were a lot sharper when I cut the same card with black.  I still used the white as a layer for dimension layering the hexagons in back and front of the white cardstock, and then the middle of each flower on top of the black cardstock. Used Stamp Set C1537 Honeycomb Flair and stamped the Hexagons in Cotton Candy, Olive and Lagoon CTMH Inks...

Monday, March 23, 2015

Follow your Dreams


7/24/2016:  This card was turned into a Graduation Card for our Granddaughter's 2016 Graduation from High School in Angola, New York.  Made the triangle in the corner a pocket and included a blank check for her to determine how much she wanted me to make out the check...she had three choices.  




Freshly Made Sketches Challenge..."We are looking for clean-lined creations but unlike Clean and Simple challenges, we encourage lots of detail and embellishments as long as they maintain a "clean" look to your card".  Wow, this is my kind of challenge...I always get caught up on Simple because I luv embellishments but still try to keep the card clean, so I think I fit in and hope I meet this challenge...

Thursday, March 19, 2015

Good Times Together


Fantabulous Cricut Challenge March 16 - #247 Bye, Bye Birdie  and Heart 2 Heart Challenge March 16 - Green with Envy.  I chose the image "Bird With Nest" from the Nate's ABC's Cricut cartridge. Decided to do something a little different this time and used ShinHan pens instead of the many colored layers of the image. Made two different sizes, one slightly bigger than the other, sync'd them to one color for all pieces.  Used all the pieces from the larger image, but then in the smaller image just used the Bird and a couple of leaves.  Placed the smaller bird behind the larger bird and placed him on the top branch and did some modification to the branch.  Using the ShinHan pens allow different shades/blends of color instead of flat colored cardstock...

Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Note Card - No Sentiment - AHSC #99 Top 3 Winner


Update 04/22/15, this card was sent to a 1960 Classmate's wife in hopes to lift up their spirits at a bad time in their lives  Email notification "In the past few weeks his wife of 52 years was diagnosed with a brain tumor.  Lynne is currently in a rehab unit in Cincinnati for 4 months receiving chemotherapy and rehab twice weekly at the University of Cincinnati.  Wayne has requested prayers from our class members as it is her only real hope...Wayne takes the cards received to her and they read them together."

A Sketch Challenge with NO sentiment from Atlantic Hearts #99.  I was going to add a sentiment but stuck to the sketch and decided to keep it as a Note Card, or a generic card which could be used for many different occasions.  Leaving it open for a future card seemed like a good idea to me because I don't have an immediate need for this card and wanted to use this pretty paper...

Monday, March 16, 2015

Sue's Cricut Sketch Challenge #1 for Mel



My friend, Mel, had purchased an Expression 2 back when it first came out (Approximately April of 2011).  Used it for a couple months and decided to pack it away in her closet due to her frustration. She wasn't able to use the Cricut Craft Room Program because her computer at that time did not have the capability for hookup to the program.  Since then she had advanced to a new computer but never set her Expression 2 up with the Craft Room.  I have faithfully bugged her for the last 2-3 months to pull her Expression 2 from her closet and start experimenting with it using the Craft Room...finally I was successful...but it was like pulling teeth.  I asked her if she would do a challenge with cricut only and she agreed.  So, I went to work on creating Sue's Cricut Sketch Challenge #1 as below, and gave her a deadline date for completion on the Challenge, which was Sunday night...

Mel met the deadline, and she was also my Diamond Winner for this Challenge.  Please click here to see the Diamond Winner's Card.  Congratulations Mel, please pick up your Diamond Winner's Badge below.



Saturday, March 14, 2015

Hoppy Easter - Color Dare #133 Ruby Winner


Smoothie 
  ShinHan Color Peony Purple
Honey  
  ShinHan Color Marigold
Flaxen  
  Paper Fundamentals 
  Flaxen 
Crystal Blue  
  ShinHan Cerulean Blue
Gypsy:  
  ShinHan Lavendar and 
  Paper Fundamentals 
  Gypsy
Black: For Stamping Eggs
Colonial White:  Cardstock



Another Color My Heart Color Dare Challenge No. 133 - Wow, a lot of Colors or if you had Wanderful Paper Packet all the colors in one package.  But guess what...not a paper I had purchased yet.  

So improvise it was and I thought I had it all figured out. I started out using the Paper Fundamentals for each of the colors for Easter Eggs using the decorative side, but it was White Daisy not Colonial White.  I scrapped that, and had to come up with Shinhan pen colors (above) that were the closest match to the challenge colors...think they are a pretty good match. 

Thursday, March 12, 2015

It's Your Day



My Blueprint for the Heart2Heart Challenge for the March 9, 2015 Your Favorite Sketch was taken from a 2002 Close to My Heart Originals "Card Confidence Program" using the 5 x 7 No. 8 Sketch "Stand Tall".  Few people will remember this program; but this was our bible of creativity back years ago when creating cards and adding embellishments to the different sketches....


Tuesday, March 10, 2015

Happy Easter Tri-Fold/Swing Card


My first Tri-Fold or Swing Card.  I used this type of Card to see what I could do to interpret the Atlantic Heart Sketch Challenge #98 on the front of the card...I think I was successful.  And then when card opened to the inside it also took on the Sketch.  The Card was from CTMH Artfully Sent "Flower Sent Card", and all the cardstock and paper used was from CTMH Hopscotch PaperPak...

Sunday, March 8, 2015

St Patrick Teddy Bear - Fantabulous Cricut Winner #246


This card was inspired by Fantabulous Cricut Challenge #246 
St. Patrick's Day - The Cricut Cuts were:

Bear:  "Teddy Bear Parade" - Added Glitter Tape to the Hat Band and Bowtie, and added the whimsical wiggly eyes. Changed the Pot of Gold in the original cut and placed a different cut for the Pot of Gold in front of him and placed some Shamrocks in Bear's hand covered with Glitter Tape.
Sentiment:  "Classroom February & March" - Cut from Glitter Paper
Pot of Hunny:  "Disney Pooh & Friends" - Used Glitter Tape for the Hunny Pot of Gold
Card and Shamrocks:  "CTMH Artfully Sent"

The Paper behind the card is from 2012 CTMH Paperpak "Lucy".  Glitter Paper and Glitter Tape was used for the Sentiment, Shamrocks, Bowtie and Hat band.  The Jacket was cut from CTMH Fundamental "Adventure" green stripe and the cardboard in back of Sentiment and Bear were the other side of the striped cardstock.  Used 3D Thin Foam Tape for dimension and ended my embellishments with a gold sequin.

Saturday, March 7, 2015

Sunshine, Freedom and a little Flower - Diamond Winner CMH Color Dare




The Color My Heart Color Dare #132 (Whisper (Grey), Daisy White and Black) made me think to do something as a silhouette...so here it is.  The Hummingbird was cut from "BoHo Graphics Iron-On" cartridge and the Flowers were cut from "Summer Celebrations" modified by not using the tag.  Used Daisy White cardstock for the card and put a grey dotted washie tape around the edges.  The Sentiment came from Stamp Set CC-1014 "Pair-a-Phrase" which seemed to fit this card.  Embellished the Grey cardstock with grey sequins, and sentiment and hummingbird were raised with 3D Thin Foam Tape for dimension, and card was distressed with Whisper.

Well, my two week subscription to Cricut Explore Design Space will be over shortly so I am doing as much as I can to take advantage of the many cartridges and cuts I get for free.

Thursday, March 5, 2015

Spring Has Sprung - AHSC Top 3 Winner



This card is for the Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge #97.  Although we're not affected by the snowstorms back East, our Arizona Spring is just around the corner here...suppose to be in the 80's tomorrow.  Cricut Explore was very busy again with cutting flowers similar to the size and pedals of the flower in the CTMH Stamp Set W2028 "Delicate Wings Petite Perks".  Each flower was stamped and then colored with an assortment of the ShinHan colors, and then Wink of Stella added to the center of each flower...

Enjoy Your Special Day


I liked the combination of colors for the Color My Heart Color Dare #131, so I decided to make another generic card "Enjoy Your Special Day" and enter it as a second card for this challenge.    Challenge Colors:  Daisy White, Sunset, Honey, Olive and Outdoor Denim.  The background drop is what they call a Smack Down procedure and I used Honey and Sunset Inks.  I used the flower from CTMH Stamp Set D1602 "A Budding Friendship-Seasons and Nature" and did the smack down procedure on each corner of the daisy white cardstock.  YouTube has several tutorials on this procedure and you put your own spin on it.  The same stamp set was used for the two flowers (Sunset and Honey), leaves and stem (olive) and then fussy-cut and raised them with 3D thin foam tape.  In the center of each flower added an olive daily embellishment from my sewing ribbons and an olive gem in the middle and scattered a few of the small flowers on the card.  The background behind the smack down is outdoor denim cardstock.

You and Me 2-Gether Card


My inspiration for this card was the Heart2Heart March Challenge "Opposites Attract".  My opposites were "Square and Round" and a second was "Color White w/Red and Color Red w/White", and 2-Gether they make a Pink Heart. This can be a generic card for Valentine's Day, an Engagement, an Anniversary, or you name it.  The whole card was made using Cricut Design Space with the "Elegant Edges" cartridge, layered in three different sizes with the heart made out of the largest cut...

Monday, March 2, 2015

A Budding Friendship - Butterfly and Rose - Color Dare Sapphire Winner


My inspiration for this card came from Color My Heart Color Dare Challenge #131.  Since I am still gradually purchasing up-to-date CTMH products, in this challenge I had to use closest colors.  Didn't have any problem with the "Outdoor Denim" ink or paper, those I had...my background used cardstock of that color, and then the stripe is from Paper Fundamentals "Enchantment Assortment".  The Sentiment "A Budding Friendship" was printed with the Outdoor Denim as well.  And White Daisy was used for sentiment background and card glued to Daisy White for the inside of the card.....