In Honor of Sophie . . . A Giveaway

My gypsy is going to be headed back to Provo Craft tomorrow for replacement.  Unfortunately this is my second device and it is slowly dying and doing wacky things.  I've been holding off on sending it back, but well, it's time.  So, in honor of my favorite cartridge at the moment - Sophie - I decided to make one final card before I am gypsyless for the next few weeks.  I made this card for a friend who lives far away and who I miss dearly.  We don't do as good as a job as we should at keeping in touch but I am making a better effort this year to keep up.   As you can see, I am still rocking the negative images.  Don't look for this to end anytime soon!

Recipe:
Paper:  K & Company Citronella, American Cardstock
Cricut Cartridges:  Sophie, Art Philosophy
Spellbinders:  Beaded Ovals
Verve Stamps:  Bloom & Grow
Stick Pin:  Caroline's Cartography
Ink:  Stampin' Up
Ribbon:  My Stash
Pearls:  My Stash
Liquid Pearls:  Buttercup and Silver

And now for the giveaway - I recently reached a milestone of 200 followers. In fact I think that happened sometime last week.  I've been blogging for a little less than a year and I have been humbled by the wonderful comments I have received over the days and months for my work, and well, everything that goes into this blog.  So, in honor of that support, I am giving away a Sophie cartridge.  It's a Cricut Circle exclusive - you can't buy it in stores, and it is truly one of the best Cricut cartridges out there.  

So, here's the deal.  Leave a comment at the end of this post with a way to contact you - blog, email, etc.  and you are entered to win. (only one entry per person please) That's it.  No hurdles to jump through - no requirement for following my blog, joining by email, subscribing to my RSS feed etc.  I only want you to do those things if you really want to keep up with what I post here.  I will keep this giveaway open until Saturday, January 21st at 10:00 a.m. EST.  Also, if you have Sophie and aren't interested in the cartridge but still want to comment, please just leave a note saying that you don't want to be included in the giveaway.  

Thanks So Very Much to everyone for the past ten months!

Best Friends for Life Redux

So, I often scrapbook in doubles.  One of these is for Brandy, and the other one that I finished up tonight is for me.  Same sketch from Sketch Savvy, only I changed the paper and the embellishments a bit.  And there are cuts from Cricut and Silhouette here.  You will have to forgive my photography tonight.  I'm tired!

  

Recipe:

Paper:  Kraft Paper, Basic Grey - Indie Bloom, DCWV Black

Silhouette:  all banners, title, Filagree flowers

Cricut:  Indie Art, cupcake Wrappers, Sophie - butterflies

Spellbinders:  Lacey Circles, Scallop Circles, Circles, Beaded Circles, Floral Doily Accents

Pearl Bling:  My Stash

Stick Pins - Caroline from Caroline's Craftography

Ranger Liquid Pearls

Thanks for stopping by!

Take A Picture

Happy Sunday before Thanksgiving everyone! Today is my day to guest design on TheThe Bugbytes.  If you have some time, please go check out the blog.  Pam as assembled a rock star lineup of guest designers and I am never disappointed with the projects over there and neither will you! This week I have more scrapbook pages for you.  I don't know if any of you spend any time perusing the gallery over at Two Peas.  I am always intrigued by scrapbook pages that have this teeny, tiny photo sitting alone, a few small embellishments, and then, well, nothing else.  I think this new stream lined look is definitely *in* to some degree. While it doesn't feel like my style, I can't help but be intrigued by pages that don't have much on them, but still turn out very pretty.  So I decided I was going to attempt a more stripped down look for these next pages.  I also wanted to try a technique I saw in one my my crafting magazines (can't remember which one sorry!) which was to frame out part of a picture.  I've had this photograph of my boys and I from a Mini Golf trip we took last year.   We are in the corner of the photo so it sort of lends itself to this technique.

The frames are from the Cricut cartridges Sophie and Cindy Lou respectfully.  I think I ultimatley like the second one better.  After inking it with chocolate chip (Stampin' Up), I still felt like it was lacking something so I decided to add some bling to the corners, and it just grew from there.  I've had those pearls in my stash for almost a year and I'm always giddy when I get to use something that I really liked but just couldn't *work in* any other project.

Something else new that I tried was stamping on a layout.  The picture is a 6 x 6 photo that I trimmed down to 5.75 x 5.75.  I stamped, in Craft ink on the top page, and then Old Olive on the bottom page the floral stamp from Stampin' Up's Elements of Style.  I then cut the mat out from Elegant Edges and the result is a custom designer paper.  More stamping can be seen on the tags, flower pot and leaves.  I also used Waltzingmouse stamps that coordinate with Spellbinders Labels 18 to create the journaling tag and mat you see at the top.  Again, I used the flourish stamp to give the paper a bit more interest. 

The last  major element on this page worth mentioning are the flowers coming out of the flower pot.  I was inspired by my friend over at Cool Beans by L.B. who created this really cute card with flowers and stems coming out of a pot. This is my attempt at a more 3D version.  The flower pot is from the Make The Cut gallery.  I used baker's twine from the Twinery for stems and finally, the flowers are a mixture of flowers cut and quilled from Flower Shoppe (the leaves are also on the Flower Shoppe cartridge) and from my stash.  I wasn't terribly happy with the flowers overall.  I think this might have been the one time it would have been better to make them less 3D. But I don't hate them and I will remember that for next time.

Here are a few more pictures of the pages.

Recipe:

Paper:  My Mind's Eye Lost & Found

Cartridges:  Sophie, Elegant Edges, Cindy Lou, Flower Shoppe

Spellbinders:  Labels 18, Scallop Hearts

Make The Cut - flower pot

Misc:   Twine - The Twinery, Pins - Maya Road, Pearls and Bling - my stash

 Thanks for stopping by!!

Frame It Up! A Paper Craft Weekend Challenge

Today I am guest designing on a fabulous blog Paper Craft Weekend Challenge.  I have to thank my good friends Caroline and Allison for giving me the opportunity to be a guest designer this Sunday, the day before the ghosts, ghouls and goblins go walking in your neighborhood in search of candy, candy and even more candy!  So, with a Halloween theme in mind, I have a few projects to share with you and of course I am ready to present this week's challenge:

Frames

I created two cards using frames to create a focal point. The first card's frame can be found on the Happy Hauntings cartridge, and just to prove that you can still create something Halloween themed without a Halloween cartridge, I used a frame from the Circle exclusive cartridge Sophie for the second card.

Now those of you who know me know that I am a big fan of dimension.  I mean it's difficult for me to create any project where every piece of paper or embellishment is laying flat on the paper.  I can't begin to tell you how many pop dots and dimensionals I have purchased over the last year.  I would be lost without them.  That being said, one of the best ways to create dimension is to cut out several frames and put some dimension in-between each layer.  I did this on both of these cards, and it certainly makes the focal point stand out that much more.

I am someone who hates for the inside of cards to be bare so I cut out a few layers and added some stamps.  Again I used Elegant Edges and Art Philosophy for a few of the mats and all of the stamps are from Papertrey Ink's Halloween tags collection.

My son's birthday party is today.  Thankfully it's not the big production that it was last year, it's just going to be family and a few friends.  I decided to make up a few quick pillow boxes for the few friends he has coming - and his little brother of course who refuses to be left out.  The pillow box image is from Easter 2010.  You can find numerous ones on different Cricut cartridges.  I prefer this one because it's easy to fold down in my opinion.  I used images from October 31st, Happy Hauntings, and Wrap It Up to cut out a Halloween themed image that I covered with a clear page protector from the inside.  And then I framed each of the images using an Elegant Edges frame.  The back of the pillow boxes has a band that I cut using Paper Lace 2.

And that's it.  Okay, maybe not - there's a little blog candy to go along with this post.   I am an avid fan and collector of Spellbinder dies. I have one new set of Spellbinders Snowflake dies up for grabs - just in time for your Christmas or winter themed projects!  For those of you unfamiliar with Spellbinders, you can easily use them in most die cutting machines, including Big Shots and Cuttlebugs.  Here is a picture of the dies:

If you are interested in winning this set, please hop over to Paper Craft weekend challenge and leave a comment on my "Frame It Up!" post.  I will leave this open until next Saturday, Noon eastern standard time.

Recipe:

Paper:  K & Company Kelley Panacci, Kraft Spooky Words, DCWV Blossoms & Butterflies, DCWV Ghost & Gobblins

Cartridges:  Easter 2010, Happy Hauntings, Elegant Edges, Sophie, Art Philosophy, Wrap It Up, Paper Lace 2

Spellbinders:  Ornate Artisian Tags & Accents

Stamps:  Papertrey Ink Halloween Tags

Bling:  Imaginesence, White & Black Enamel Accents, Martha Stewart glitter

As always, thanks for stopping by!

Simple Cards with Vellum Flowers

I am experimenting with a new approach to cards - simplicity.  I picked up my very first craft magazine  a week or so ago - Paper Crafts Card Ideas for Paper Crafters - and have been blown away by the amazing, but yet simple designs.  I am always someone who is looking for the next cut, paper, or embellishment to add, and this magazine is full of the oppositie - really fresh ideas on cards that don't have much on them in all.  I am in love.  Less is definitely more!  So for the next several weeks/months I am going to be doing some heavy scraplifting as I try to pull this sensibility into my own designs.   To your right you can see a picture of the magazine's cover.  My husband is beginning to laugh at me because this magazine seems to follow me from room to room.  I can't help it!  I am so excited about making some of these cards!!

I want to share four cards that I made this morning.  They are based on a card called Simply with Sympathy designed by Angeline Yong Jeet Leen.  She has a fantastic blog that you can find here.  I have been looking through her blog trying to find her original project to link to a picture, but it could be that it's only printed in the magazine.  It's based on a sketch by Maile Belles and appears on pg 141.  Here are my versions:

I used my Sophie cartridge to cut out the vellum flowers and their correspondening silhouettes.  The stamps are all Verve stamps, and the ink is Stampin' Up.  The brown brads are from my stash and the colorful ones are My Mind's Eye Stella & Rose.  I really love these cards.  I think they are very beautiful and because they are so simple they didn't take a long time to make.  I made all four in just a few hours.

Recipe:

Paper:  Me & My Big Ideas Specaility Paper, K & Company

Cartridges:  Sophie

Brads & Button:  Close to My Heart Filigree, My Mind's Eye Stella & Rose, my Stash

Stamps:  Verve

Ink:  Stampin' Up Chocolate Chip & Regal Rose

I can't wait to try another one of these soon.  Thanks for stopping by!!