Happy Holidays to All

I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas (if you celebrate), and a peaceful holiday season.

Welcome to Day 15 of the 25 days of Christmas at My Paper Crafting. I've had a great time working with a wonderful team of crafters! I chose the "tree" part of the theme for the day.

The tree was cut at 4 1/2" from the Joys of the Season Cricut cartridge. The paper is a mix of DCWV and stash paper. The white piece was embossed with a Cuttlebug folder and the green border is cut from a Martha Stewart punch. I added a mix of pearls and bling from my stash, some of which were from Creative Charms. 

I wish everyone a wonderful holiday season! Enjoy your family and friends, and try not to stress out too much!

25 Days of Christmas - Day 14

Welcome to day 14. We are the downhill side of 25 days of fun! Today we are focusing on "Back to school". It's hard for me to think of the next school year when we are still firmly in the throws of this one. New years are always exciting, though, because of all of the unknown factors. 

 I made this little album with more of an elementary school level in mind. It would work for a student, but I had in mind more of a class record/album. The apple and sentiment were both cut from the Makin' the Grade Cricut cartridge. The sentiment was cut at 4", the apple at 4 1/4". I have a Yourstory personal bookbinder and used it for the first time on this project. There are several pages in here that could hold pictures for different holidays or themes/units the class does in a year. I thought the teacher could put in a picture from the beginning of the year and one from the end so the students could see how they'd grown as a class over the year. It could also hold data of their heights and they could use it as an ongoing math lesson throughout the year (can you guess what I teach?). The project went together really quickly and I'm please with the way the book turned out.

I hope everyone has a great day! See you on day 17....

25 Days of Christmas - day 13

Hi all! We are smack dab in the middle of the 25 days of Christmas at My Paper Crafting! That's kind of a scary thought 'cause I'm NOT ready!! We don't get out of school until the 20th which doesn't give me much time for those last minute preparations.

It was a nice break to make something other than Christmas. Today's theme is Chillaxin', so I made this cheery, colorful card that makes me think "beach".  I used the Life is a Beach cartridge so that makes sense...

The drink was cut at 4" from a variety of stash paper. The lines in the pineapple are cut but you can't see them very well so I went over them with a q-tip and some Antique Photo distress ink. The polka dot paper is from a Martha Stewart pack I've had for a while. I used some DCWV chalkboard paper for the sign under the drink and wrote on it with a white gel pen. The drink is on an Action Wobble to add a little more fun to the card.

I hope everyone gets a few minutes of "chill" time today. 

25 Days of Christmas Day 12

Welcome to day 12 of the 25 days of Christmas at My Paper Crafting. I can't believe it's almost half over. I hope you've all had a great time on this journey with us! I've thoroughly enjoyed being a temporary part of the Design Team, they are truly a great group of crafters! 

The theme today is Kris and Kompany. I made a pretty whimsical card for today's post. There are non-traditional colors mixed with traditional, and some patterns in places where patterns usually aren't - his nose for instance. The cartridge used was Simply Charmed. Santa (Kris) was cut at 3 1/4". He has fuzzy whiskers thanks to some white flocking. The hexagons were cut using a Spellbinders set and the little tree is a Martha Stewart punch. There is glitter on the star of the tree. Who says you can't mix your Cricut and other cutting systems, sometimes they just work better together. I hope everyone has a great day. See you tomorrow for day 13!

Snow

The challenge this week at Fantabulous Cricut Challenge is to do a project with snow. I have started making tags for some family members that I can put a pocket on for a gift card. Shipping can get ridiculous, especially since it's going 2000 miles.

The both tags were cut from Plantin Schoolbook, the white at 6 1/2" and the blue at 6". The bear is from Joys of the Season as is the large snowflake. The tree is a leftover cut from a different project. There is "snow" glitter on a few of the embossed snowflakes and the ground beneath the bear. The silver flakes are made from DCWV Glitzy glitter paper. It's super sparkly, but I can never get my camera to get a good shot. The embossing on the blue was done with a Cuttlebug folder.

Quick card

This is a super quick card, uploaded without editing, so I could get it in to Exploring Cricut. I really need to work on these earlier in the week.

Got it posted so now I can write more. I've been busy all day doing Design Team stuff and really wanted to do this challenge, I just got tired.... I used the Best Images of 2010 cartridge again. The snowflakes are from a MS punch and the paper is DCWV Dazzles. There are Stickles on the trees that are still wet:/ I embossed the white background but you really can't see it. I could have skipped that step. Live and learn.

Give away - maybe...

 I think I'm going to do a little give-away once I hit 100 followers. I've been sitting at just under for several months now and would like to hit that 100 mark before the new year. I've never really cared how many people follow me, but it's so close it would be nice to get there. Leave a comment on this post and follow me if you don't already. Once I hit 100 I'll do a drawing from the comments. It may take more than one post to get there so I'll count comments made on any post from today 12/8/12 until I hit 100. I'm not sure what I'm giving away, maybe some stamps, trims or other goodies (it will be a surprise).

If you don't want to follow, that's cool too. Like I said, I'm not in this for the followers I'm just glad you stopped in!

Christmas Tag

The challenge the week at BBTB2 was to make a gift bag or tag. I obviously chose the tag;-) I think it's going to my brother-in-law for Christmas. The plan is to make a pocket on the back to hold a gift card. I know I have a cartridge that has a pocket cut, but I couldn't find it and my computer was not near my craft room. I'll check My Cut Search when I'm done posting so I can finish the little guy.

 I used Plantin Schoolbook for the tag (love that tag), and cut it at 6 1/2". The snowman was from Best Images of 2010 and he was cut at 3 1/2" The snowman was cut from stash paper scraps, which I am always glad to be able to put to use. The background paper is from an older DCWV holiday stack. The tag was embossed with a snowflake embossing folder. It really added some dimension to the tag, it was boring flat. The green border is from a Martha Stewart punch and the top trim is from Scrapbuck and the bottom from Michaels. Scrapbuck has some great stuff and I can shop without killing my budget, love that! I thought about putting the snowman on an Action Wobble but decided it might not hold up in the mail so went with foam tape instead.

I hope everyone is enjoying getting ready for the holidays.

Getting Cricky DT Post

Hi everyone. Today is my day to do a design team post for Kristal at Getting Cricky. She still has some stamps left, and they're still on sale! The stamp I used today is from a set that is still available. The "Food for Thought" sentiment set can be found here.

Yes, I know it's December, but one of the teachers I work with is having a birthday this week and I made a simple, silly card for him to remember the day. He is the basketball coach at our school, but I wanted to do something less expected. The hot dog was cut from the Simply Charmed cartridge at 3". The paper is a mix of stuff that I've had around for a while. It turned out pretty cute and the fact that it's on an Action Wobble adds to the cute factor. The inside has some of the patterned paper and a strip of yellow to make it a little less plain. There is no sentiment inside so several of us can sign it and leave our own sentiments. To be honest, I know this is going to be a card that is going in the trash so I didn't add a lot of extra stuff(is that bad?). I also know that he will appreciate it in the moment, which is what counts! I hope everyone has a great week and enjoys this quick break from all things Christmas.

25 Days of Christmas Day 3

Welcome to Day 3 of the 25 Days of Christmas at My Paper Crafting. The theme today was "pretty poinsettias, pine cones or presents." I incorporated both the pine cone and the poinsettia into my quick little card.

I used the Joys of the Season Cricut cartridge for all of the cuts on this card. The paper is a mix of things that I've had around for a while. The base paper is from a Recollections pack from last year and is pre-embossed. I sanded it to make the trees stand out more. The ornament has the "poinsettia" part of the card. It is hanging from the branch so I had to make it double sided. I used the "flip" feature on the Cricut and cut 2 at 1". I put double stick tape between the two pieces and sandwiched them together then I sprinkled red glitter over the tape on both sides to make the flower stand out. It is made from a piece of gold metallic paper from an old Martha Stewart stack. The twine is MS as well. 

I hope you are all enjoying the projects at My Paper Crafting. Make sure you check back in there every day till Christmas to see all of the great things the designers and guests have created!

25 Days of Christmas - Day 2

Welcome to Day 2 of the 25 Days of Christmas at My Paper Crafting! I am excited to be part of the design team for this event, it's great fun! I am one of the Cricut designers so my projects will incorporate at least one Cricut cut. The theme today is January - winter sparkle. I live in Florida, so naturally I thought "snow" (ha)!

This card was made using the Joys of the Seasons cartridge. The large snowflakes were cut at 2 1/2"; one layer from blue stash paper and the other layer from a DCWV Glitzy Glitter stack. It's super shiny and it was hard to get a picture that showed the true sparkle. The small snowflake was cut out of the background paper using the center cut function on the Cricut so the glitter paper showed through from behind. It added another level of dimension to the card. I put some of the little pieces that were cut out of the upper snowflake down in the corner. The top edges were rounded with my Corner Chomper. The layered snowflakes are on foam tape. It's still pretty flat so it will be easy to mail.

I hope everyone has a wonderful day and is enjoying all of the great projects!

Holiday Card

 I'm attempting to get into the holiday spirit by doing some challenges that involve holiday cards. Technically this one wouldn't have to be, but that is the intent. The tree was cut at 4 1/2" from the Joys of the Season Cricut cartridge. I used the blackout feature and cut a backing for the tree from velum that has some sparkle pieces in it. The background was embossed with a Cuttlebug embossing folder. I cut the embossed piece 1/4" smaller than the card base so you can see the flat background behind the embossed piece. The tree is on foam tape for added dimension. The ribbon package says "Details"... that's all I can tell you other than it's white satin. The pearls are from my stash and have been picked up here and there over the last couple of years.

I took pictures with a blue background and a red background. I put them both here because I couldn't pick which one I liked best. The only reason I put the blue one on top was because the ribbon looked better. I am entering this into the Fantabulous Cricut challenge for the week as well as the challenge at Really Reasonable Ribbon. I hope everyone is enjoying the beginning of the holiday season, whatever that looks like for you!

Getting Cricky DT Post

Hi all!

If you've stopped by from Getting Cricky, welcome. If you're here just because, welcome too. Either way, I'm glad you're here! Happy Thanksgiving Eve to all of those in the U.S. I hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday.

This is a really quick to put together card. As I posted in my DT post, I worked all day, picked my son up from college (5 hour drive) and then made the card. Really quick! The top 2 layers were cut 1/8" smaller than the previous layer to make small borders. The squares are 1 1/2" on each side and the corners were cut with a corner chomper. The paper is from a 6" x 6" stack from My Mind's Eye that I picked up at TJ Maxx a few weeks ago for $2.00. I love the scale on packs that size, and the colors were great for a Thanksgiving themed card. The kraft paper is from a Recollections pack of different shades of brown. The leaves were punched using a Martha Stewart punch. The border punch is from EK Success. Almost all of the pieces were inked using Vintage Photo distress ink. The sentiment is from the K Andrew Designs "Fall-O-Ween" set, which is unfortunately sold out. There are many great sets still available, so head on over and check them out before they are all gone. You can't beat 60% off!

Veterans Day

Sentiment from the KAndrew Designs "Guy Talk" set

The challenge at Exploring Cricut was to do something for Veterans Day. I always forget the challenge ends on Saturday night and I usually miss it. I'm cutting it close this week. I don't have any military type cartridges, so I used a couple of the cuts from "A Child's Year" to make the stars and the pieces behind them. I also discovered I have major black ink issues - as in it's almost dried out (ugh).  This will be short as I want to get it submitted. Enjoy the long weekend if you get Monday off! Happy Veterans Day to all former military personnel, and thank you!!

Polka Dot Challenge

The challenge this week at Fantabulous Cricut was to do something with polka dots. I made this for my daughter for Halloween and decided to post it as it fit the challenge. The box and the boot are both Cricut cuts. I bought a couple of the specials CCR had available last week so I don't actually own the cartridges for either. The boot is from Happy Hauntings and I think the box is as well. The box is pretty small, about 3" tall. The boot is even smaller (obviously), and is about 2 1/4". The pumpkins are from a little tiny punch that I've had for several years. I drew the face and lines so they aren't the neatest in the world. The orange strip is made from the Martha Stewart drippy goo punch and the twine is from K Andrew Designs. There is stickles on the bottom of the boot along with a little bling. I put pumpkins all around the bottom of the box so the sides wouldn't look bare.

Now for the picture issues.....I had to get a new SD card last week and my pictures did not turn out as focused as they used to. I'm going to have to get that worked out soon. I have design team posts coming up and this is just NOT ok:(

Here's a quick shot of the side of the box.

Hope everyone has a good week, and those of you in the northeast are beginning to recover.

Zentangle Stripes

The challenge this week at I am the Diva is to do stripes. I haven't been tangling much lately, but felt the need to do this one. I really need to do more as they are very relaxing! It's not fancy, but I finished it:)  Hope everyone stays safe and has a good weekend.

Getting Cricky Post

If you would like to see the rest of the card, head on over to Getting Cricky where you can see all of the design team posts.

There are changes at Getting Cricky.  Kristal has decided to make a change in  her stamping business. She is a busy working mom and it's what she needs to do. She is seriously reducing the inventory at K Andrew Designs which is a great thing for people who haven't had the opportunity to buy her stamps before because the prices are really great! If you want them be sure to head over to K Andrew Designs and pick your choice before they're all gone!

All of the designer paper in this card is from DCWV. Thanks to that wonderful give-away I won a few weeks ago, I will have Halloween paper for a long time! The washi tape is Martha Stewart, and so is the fence punch. The cut is from the October 31st Cricut cartridge.

Farm Animal

The challenge this week at Fantabulous Cricut Challenge is to use a farm animal. I used the Create a Critter cartridge and cut this horse at 3". It's a pretty simple card, but the paper I used for the horse and the sentiment make it a little different. The paper is a variety of things I picked up at Tuesday Morning, most of which is from The Paper Company. In the picture below you can see how metallic looking the paper is and I thought that was a good fit with the sentiment. Speaking of the sentiment, it's from the K Andrew Designs "Guy Talk" set. Kristal is taking a break from creating stamps for a while and everything is on clearance. If you're interested in any of her stamps head on over to K Andrew Designs and pick some up before they're all gone.  The picket fence is Martha Stewart. I embossed the bottom layer and then
flattened it back out some as I just wanted a hint of embossing. It worked pretty well. Hope everyone has a great week. I should have a couple more posts this week so I'll "see" some of you later:-)

Give - away at Going Buggy

Enfys at Going Buggy is giving away a complete set of Promarkers, yippee!! This is an awesome opportunity. If you aren't familiar with Promarkers you can check them out here. Good luck everyone!

Post number 3 - believe it or not

I'm entering this card into the Mojo Monday challenge and the Action Wobble Challenge for this week. I don't know why I got so motivated to make cards today, but it was fun. The Mojo Monday challenge is a sketch and the Action Wobble challenge was to do something Halloween related. I combined the two and this is the result. The orange "moon" is on an Action Wobble (you can kind of see it in the photo below). The black paper is Recollections and the rest is from DCWV. I inked the moon with gold to try to make it look like clouds were passing over, but it doesn't really show in the picture.
The crows were a last minute addition as the green was too stark alone. The spider web punch is Martha Stewart and the witch was cut from the October 31st Cricut cartridge. A Spellbinder Nestabilities die was used for the circle.

Pumpkin card for BBTB2

This week's challenge at Bitten by the Bug 2 is to create something for fall using a pumpkin, just no Halloween. The pumpkin was cut at 3 1/2" using the Happily Ever After Disney Cricut cartridge. I had a little trouble with the vines, they were really thin, but I couldn't make it much bigger and still have it fit on the card. The patterned papers are from the DCWV Halloween and Fall 180 stack. The solid green is Bazzill, the orange and gold is from a multi-pack I got at Tuesday Morning. I hand cut the banner to fit the stamps. They are from the K Andrew Designs Fall-O-Ween set. I used Memento ink in Rich Cocoa.

Boat

The challenge this week at Fantabulous Cricut was to do a boat in honor of Columbus Day. My boat is a little juvenile looking because of the colors, but it turned out ok. I did the colors on purpose as I'm not sure who will end up with this one. My daughter babysits so it could go to a child or possibly one of the many teachers who are retiring this year from the school where I teach. The only sentiment is the "Smooth Sailing" from K Andrew Designs Splashtastic Summer set, and that could work for either as well.

 The card looks very plain from the front, but it is actually an easel card. The boat was cut at 3 1/2" from the "Best of 2010" cartridge. I believe it was originally on the "Pack your bags" cartridge. I embossed the waives with a Darice embossing folder and inked it with a combination of blue and green Martha Stewart ink. (You can't see it much in the picture.) The papers were a combination of Recollections and The Paper Company. The background embossing folder is a Tim Holtz Sizzix folder. The boat looked a little plain as I was putting it together so I hand drew the stripes around the top. I may widen the bottom one at some point, or possibly add something else, depending on the recipient.

This is a side view of the easel. They are fun to make and adds just a little more interest to the piece.

Easel

Getting Cricky Design Team Post

Today is my first design team post for Getting Cricky and I am beyond excited! I love Kristal's stamps! They are very versatile and she donates at least $1 from each set sold to a well chosen charity. She spent a lot of time researching the charities she donates to, so I know they are good ones.

Fall-O-Ween

My project is a treat box for a fellow teacher. You
can go to the Getting Cricky blog and see the full project. There are a couple of details I didn't put there as the post was getting a little long. I used the Stamping Gear from Inkadinkadoo again, I really like that thing. Kristal's stamps are polymer and the Stamping Gear is meant for cling stamps that are thicker. I put a piece of foam tape on the back of the stamp again and it worked really well. I touch the tape a couple of times on both sides to reduce the tack of the tape. I've done this twice now and the tape has come off easily both times (make sure you take it off right away). The stamps for this project all came from the Fall-O-Ween set.



This is what you get in the introductory Stamping Gear pack. I haven't used the stamps, but the gear is fun.

Stamping Gear starter set

BBTB2 Tree

The challenge this week at Bitten by the Bug 2 was to make something with a tree. The tree had to be cut with the Cricut. I used the October 31st cartridge to cut the tree at 3 3/4". The clouds were cut with the Pooh and Friends cartridge at 1 1/4". The pumpkins were cut with a little punch I've had forever and the fence is a Martha Stewart punch. I was the very lucky winner of one of the DCWV giveaways and receive both of the Bewitched stacks plus a lot more. That's where all of the paper came from. I should be set for several Halloweens with all that was in the box. The design is loosely based on a Pagemaps sketch that was used for World Card Making Day on Saturday. The sentiment is from K Andrew Designs Fall-O-Ween set. It looked a little bare when I was done so I drew in some bats with a pen. Does it need a moon?

Here is the wonderful bundle I received in the mail from DCWV. Thank you so much!

Toy ;) and announcement :)

Ok, I succumbed to peer pressure and bought the new Inkadinkado Stamping Gear. I just got the introductory kit to see if I liked it. I will admit it was pretty fun to use! I did have a little issue as the stamps I wanted to use were polymer and they aren't thick enough to get a good, flat stamp. I did manage to come up with a solution that worked pretty well. I don't have any of the stamp cling mount that people use on the back of rubber stamps, but I do have...wait for it....foam tape! It worked like a charm. I put the polymer stamp on the tape (a couple of pieces) and then cut around the stamp. When I took the paper off the back I touched it several times to reduce the stickiness. I was able to make the circle with very little problem after that. The lighter ones are a second generation stamp and the stamp is flipped over. Of course the stamps are from the K Andrew Designs Coffee Time! images set and the tag along set. Did I mention I just made her design team? I'm so excited!! The ink is brown Momento. It's not very exciting, but it would be a good guy card. Have a great evening!

Simply fabulous

Materials used: Cosmo Cricket Upcycle 6x6 pad, Hampton Arts/Spellbinders flowers, K Andrew Designs fashionable friends, MS punches, Wild Orchid Crafts flowers, Plantin Schoolbook Cricut cartridge.

Sketch challenge on FB. Sorry not much typing, issues with carpal tunnel (or tendinitis) again.

Simply Sunday Fall

 I'm not leaving this till the last minute this time. Sadly it will be the last Simply Sunday challenge at Getting Cricky:( I don't know what the next chapter will be, but I think we'll find out soon. The theme for the challenge is Happy Fall Ya'll. I decided to take advantage of the Cricut Craft Room freebie for the week, a sneak peek at CAC2, and make this cute squirrel cut at 3.5". He's on an Action Wobble and doesn't want to stay straight, oh well. You can sort of see him in action below.

The paper is mostly stash except the patterned piece. It's from a pad I got at TJ Maxx recently and I'm pretty sure it's K and Co. It's double sided and that's just one sheet (plaid and leaves). The ribbon is May Arts 3/8" double sided satin in pink and gold. The pumpkin is a Martha Stewart punch and stamp I also pick up at TJ Maxx.  The sentiment is from the K Andrew Designs Fall-O-Ween stamp set that you can find here. It's a pretty basic card but will be fairly easy to mail.

Simply Sunday at Getting Cricky

 The challenge at Getting Cricky was to make something "punny". This challenge was a month long, nothing like waiting till the last minute (bleh). I paid for it, for sure. This was one of those cards that too far too long because so many little things kept going wrong. I can't even remember how many times I dropped my red ink on the floor. The cherry part is on an Action Wobble that I had to rip that off 3 times to get it to balance. And to top it all off, the pictures are terrible:-/  Oh well, maybe I won't wait so long next time I enter a challenge.

The cherries are from the Nifty Fifties Cricut cartridge. I used CCR (which was another issue at times), so I didn't really pay attention to how big it was. The sentiment is from the K Andrew Designs Even More Food For Thought stamp set. There are a lot of cute stamps in that set and I can't wait to use it more.

I attempted to take a picture of the wobble------------>

The shiny stuff on the leaves is Glossy Accents. It's on the cherries too, but you can't tell. (The leaves really don't look this stupid in person).

Halloween is on its way....sort of

I got the MS spider web edge punch this weekend at TJ Maxx (3.99!!) and couldn't wait to use it. The sketch one posted on one of my FB groups. The patterned paper is We R Memory Keepers and the solid is from my stash. The twine and the stamps (Fall-O-Ween) are from K Andrew Designs. The moon has Glossy Accents on it but it's not showing in the picture. It was cut from the October 31st Cricut cartridge using Cricut Craft Room.

Scrap card

I had a bunch of scraps from cards I've been making and wanted to do something with them besides throw them out. I put a bunch of them together in a chevron pattern on a long piece of paper and cut a piece out with a spellbinder die. I wanted to use one of the K Andrew Designs sets I hadn't used much and this seemed like a good piece to use it on. The set has several stitching stamps, a needle and thread, a spool, some scissors, a thimble (others I don't remember), as well as several sentiments. The washi tape I just got went well with the stamps so I used some of it, too (ok, so it's not all scraps).

I pulled the blue from the Tahiti scrap and used it for the spool of thread. It may be a bit too bright for the rest of the piece it's on. I may throw a few more embellishments on it later, any suggestions? I have some scissors charms coming this week and that might be cute.

We (teachers) go back to school Monday. It doesn't feel like we've been off long at all. It's going to be a different year, lots of changes. Hopefully I will still have time to play with my paper:)

DCWV Stack-a-holic card

   

This is the card I'm entering into the DCWV stack-a-holic card challenge this month. There is a sketch to follow --------------->

and this version is pretty close. I used the Latte mat stack to create it. The embellishment is a Tim Holtz holiday piece that I was able to turn over to the back and use since the H is reversible. The stamp is  K Andrew Designs stamp from the Coffee and Tea Treat set. The twine was from my stash and the punch is Martha Stewart. 

This is another card I made using the same sketch. I turned it sideways and used the Ghost and Goblins solid mat stack. The cauldron is cut from one of the cricut Halloween cartridges. I used glossy accents to help get the drippy effect with the Martha Stewart drippy goo punch. The sentiment is from the K Andrew Designs Fall-O-Ween set. It turned out pretty cute, and very different from the first one.