Throwback Challenge

Hey everyone!  :)  This week's Throwback Challenge Emma posted is to use Celebrations cartridge for a Christmas theme project.  This was a toughie.... Celebrations is mostly birthday related.  Some of the posts are soooo creative.  Mine isn't very creative/original but I did think a lot on it ;)  I didn't want to use the presents... too easy.  ;)  So I went w/ the numbers.  I decided to make a Christmas tag.  Here's what I came up with...

front (flash washed out the green colors)

back

(A Christmas tag in front of my little pumpkins looks kinda funny)

This was pretty fast to put together once I decided what to do.  I'm thinking of making more of these for the "biggie" Santa gifts... wouldn't take long at all. 

This little tag is 3x3.  The edge of the kraft cardstock is inked w/ a cat eye ink in Warm Red.  The patterned paper is from the new DCWV Christmas Combo stack.  

For the front... the circle scallop tag (page 123) is cut at 2.25 inches.  The numbers (page 82 & 86) I cut at 1.25 inches.  I added a little gold brad.  

The back "to" and "from" (page 129) is cut at 1 inch.  I added some left over paper from the front and the Christmas light chipboard is from American Crafts.

Pretty easy.. just like usual with me :)  Hope you like it and thanks for looking!  :) :) :)

Cheers
-Amanda

Halloween Decor

Hey there blog world!  :)  Hope you had a good week.  It has been crazy hectic around here lately... which is partly to blame for the lack of posts up on the ol' blog recently.  I sat down today during my lunch and made out my weekend 'to do' list.  It's gonna be pretty busy weekend as well.  Hopefully November will be quieter and allow me more time to craft & post :)

Ok, enough of my rambling.  I have a quick little Halloween Home Decor project I did.  Now I saw this idea somewhere online, I thought it was one my blogs I have in my Google reader but I've been through it twice and still can't find it.  Soooo... if this is your idea or you know where I saw this, blog, message board... etc Please Please let me know.  I always want to give credit and link back to the original.   So - this is not my idea but I thought it was too cute to not do.  And sooo easy.

w/ flash... I have terrible lighting

w/out flash, no glare but not color acccurate

I loooove the way these turned out!  They are on my side board in my dining room right now with some other Halloween-y decorations.  I love silhouette pictures so when I saw these I knew they were going to become part of my Halloween decor.  I picked up the black frames at the Dollar Store and I had all the paper... so this was a very inexpensive project, a whopping $2  LOL  ;)

I put it all together in the gypsy (which I'm sooo in love with, BTW!) so I'm not sure the sizes of the cuts.  The images are from Happy Hauntings.  Paper is from DCWV Midnight Spell.

Hopefully I'll get my last Halloween projects up and posted before Halloween is past.  ACK!  Time flies.  I still have a little something I want make using the chipboard coasters too....  

 I hope you all enjoy your Friday night and the weekend!!!  

Cheers

-Amanda

#5 & #6

Still posting up the challenges from World Card Making Day hosted by Christina @ http://www.creationswithchristina.com/.

Challenge # 5 was to make a Christmas tag or gift card.  This was certainly a challenge for me.

Wow.  I need tag help!  LOL  Definitely not my strong suit.  This tag was cut @ 4.5 inches from the Joys of The Season cartridge.  I did my own layering, cutting it 3 times.... white (just the tag shape, I used Design Studio to take out all the cuts inside the frame), red, than the stripped paper from KI Memories.  Added some red bling around the frame and some white sheer ribbon.  I see such cute tags online but had some trouble coming up with something I loved.  I'll probably use this one on a scrapbook page.

Challenge #6 was to make a card using a fall image or stamp.  Here's my card...

I found the pilgrim's hat on Designer's Calendar when I was using the ribbon from challenge #2.  I thought it was pretty cool.  Designer's Calendar is really under used for me.  There are some cool cuts on this cartridge... I need to start using it more.  I cut the hat at 2.75 inches.  The patterned paper is from DCWV's Amber Autumn stack.  The top one is more reddish, the camera flash pulled it pink in this picture.  I added some ribbon (love that ribbon, I think it's my favorite in my stash), white gel pen to bring out some of the cuts on the hat, and inked up the edges.... another simple one from me :)

Thanks for stopping by.  I'll be putting up the final 2 challenges later tonight or tomorrow.

Cheers
-Amanda

Random mix

I'm slacking!  LOL  I keep meaning to post up what I made for the World Card Making Day challenges that were posted over on creationswithchristina.com.

I already posted challenge #1 the sketch.

Here's a few more...

Challenge #2 was to make a card w/ pink as the main color.  Here's what I came up with...

The pink paper is from DCWV Sweet mat stack.  The ribbon is from Designer's Calendar cut at 3 inches.  I didn't even know I had that ribbon cut, someone mentioned on the cricut MB that they found the ribbon using http://www.cricutsearch.com/.  If you haven't used the site I can't recommend it enough!  A-mazing!  Added a couple Prima flowers and brads and this card was finished! :)

Challenge #3 was a Christmas card.

The "joy" was cut from Lacy Labels (can't remember how big).  I added a little bling for the dot over the "j".  Thought it added a little holiday sparkle, LOL.  Some quick ric-rak at the bottom.  Easy!!

Challenge #4 was to use the colors orange, purple, and green.  I made another Halloween card and used up scraps (one of my favorite things to do!).

The green paper is left over from another card I made and is from DCWV's Midnight Spell stack.  Purple card base and some orange ribbon.  I stamped the Spooky on it, which is Inkadinkadoo from Joann's dollar bins.  Couldn't be an easier card.  :)

I'll post up challenges 5-8 later.  These were fun to work on.  I love challenges :)  Thanks for looking and I hope your week is fabulous!

Cheers
-Amanda

Another no Cricut card

Mary at cardztv challenged everyone to make a card w/out the Cricut.  Here's what I came up with...

Those little guys remind me of Mini Monsters kind of.  I just cut up a couple pieces of paper from the DCWV Midnight Spell stack.  The strip of monsters and the "Monster Mash" both come from that stack.  The black polka-dot paper is American Crafts.  This card was so simple and quick to put together.  I think it turned out pretty cute though :)

Thanks for looking :)  Hope you are all having a great day!!!

Cheers
-Amanda

Z Fold

Happy Sunday everyone.  Hope your having a blessed day!

I made something I've never done before.... a Z fold card for cricutcardzchallenge challenge 44 which is to make a Halloween Z or S fold card.

Here's my card...

I really like the way this turned out and it wasn't nearly as difficult as I thought it would be.  While I was working on this card I decided to challenge myself over the month of October to try out other card folds to stretch my creativity.  I'm kinda excited to try out some new techniques.  :)

So the card details.... the patterned paper is from DCWV Midnight Spell stack.  I'm really enjoying this stack... it's getting pulled out quite a bit lately.  The spider is cut at 1.25 inches from Doodlecharms.  The spider web is cut at 2.5 inches from Mini Monsters (of course... I can't seem to make a Halloween card w/out that cartridge).  The stamp is from Inkadinkadoo and it's one of the $1 clear stamps.  I believe I picked that up at Joann's.  I stamped it on a piece of scrap Bazzil paper that was laying on my table.  At first I didn't like it because the image wasn't crisp.. you know it never stamps very well on textured paper.  I moved on to finishing up my card and the stamped image grew on me... I kinda liked that it was rough and worn looking.  I think it works for a Halloween card.

I hope everyone has had a great weekend.  I've had a very low key one with lots of crafting... it was kinda perfect :)  Just what I needed.  Thanks for taking the time to stop by.

Cheers

-Amanda

Some Like It HOT HOT HOT!

Seriously -- it's so HOT here!  I guess California didn't get the memo that it's Fall and October.  We have had some blazing heat the past week or so.  Where I live it gets really hot in the summer, 100 degrees isn't uncommon.  This late in the year though... no!  I'm over it already!  Yesterday I got in my car it was 102.  Gag!

So when I got home to work on Momo's Tuesday Challenge using stitching and the colors green, yellow, and orange I wasn't feeling very fall at all.  I started looking through my cartridges to see if something inspired me and saw Life Is A Beach -- I thought to myself I wish I was going to the beach!  LOL :)  Than I pulled it out and started looking through it.  This is pretty much a lift of the project card in the booklet... I loved it.  It was cool and refreshing looking.

Ahhh... I need one of those!  :)  I think this turned out cute!

I used the card feature cut at 5 inches.  The pineapple and all the layers were cut at 3.5 inches.  The blue pattern paper in the window is from DCWV Summer Dream stack.  I used some tea dye distress ink on the pineapple.  The letter stickers are American Crafts.  Used my white gel pen for my stitches and dots. 

Has everyone made a card for World Card Making day?   So much great stuff posted out there in blog land today.  I think I spent too much time online and not enough creating ;)

Thanks for looking.

Cheers
-Amanda

Late Night Crafting

So I found a challenge to get me inspired and sit down to make something.  I saw Cristina @ craftingwithcristina.com was having a challenge to use leaves, red, orange, and yellow in a Falling for Fall companion challenge.  I still had out my Celebrate With Flourish Lite cartridge on my table from the gift bags I posted earlier... when I looked at it this card was a no brainer.  Perfect for 11:30 at night when you're trying to get your mojo back :)

Here's my fall card...

I really like the way card turned out.  The red paper is from DCWV's Amber Autumn stack and the base is kraft cardstock.  The "Happy" and "Fall" were also cut from DCWV's Amber Autumn stack.  The cut is 2.25 inches and from Celebrate With Flourish Lite Cartridge.  I did some quick (and kinda sloppy, oops) stitching around the edge of the card with a brown Zig pen.  Oh, and added a piece of brown ribbon, trying to balance out that side of the card.  

Big thank you to Cristina for getting me going with your challenge.  Thanks to everyone else for taking a look.  :)  Hope everyone has a great day!!!

Cheers

-Amanda

A couple layouts

Happy Saturday!  Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend.  So far it's been a great day.  I was up early to finish up on my housework and get out all my fall decorations.  I looove this time of year and getting out all my fall decor.  Granted, where I'm at we don't get much of a change in seasons... but the calendar says fall, so I go with it :) The weather is perfection right now... I've got all the windows open and there's a nice little breeze coming through.  I watched a couple DVR'd shows (man, my DVR was smoking this week with all the new show premieres,  LOL).  I finally got to sit down at my craft table.  Ahhh... just makes me so relaxed.

Thought I'd share a few quick layouts I did.  These are just 8x8 size for a Disneyland album I'm working on.  For me, there is no better time to go to Disney than the holidays.  Man, do they know how to do it up!  (Did you know they make it snow at night during December.  Right here in So. Calif -- SNOW!!!  Well... fake snow, but still it's snows!  It's so cool)  I went with some friends to spend the day at Disneyland during the holidays and decided to just do a small 8x8 album for these pictures.

These pictures are from the Haunted Mansion...

This picture isn't very good but they deck out the Haunted Mansion like the movie Nightmare Before Christmas.  It's crazy but fun.  So that's the deal w/ the skulls.  The sign in the picture says "Haunted Mansion Holiday" and it's right at the entrance of the Haunted Mansion.  So this page... the patterned paper is from DCWV Midnight Spell Stack.  The 2 skulls I cut from Indie Art and the little Santa hat is cut from Joys of the Season. 

Here's a couple more pictures from around the Mansion...

The patterned paper here is from KI Memories (I love that paper with the dots).  The pumpkins I cut from October 31st and just stacked them up.  

Super simple pages.  I'm just wanting to get them in an album.  Next I'm working on some Toon Town pictures.... and I just dropped my letters I cut out earlier behind my desk.  Guess it's time to go dig them out... what a pain.  LOL  So I'm off to go do that and some more crafting.  :)

Thanks for looking and I hope you are all enjoying your weekends. 

Cheers

-Amanda

A Baby Card

Over at Cricut Cardz Challenge they are on Challenge 43 which is to make a baby card using the colors green, orange, yellow and white.  This was kinda hard for me.... my least favorite color is orange followed closely by yellow.  That being said... I'm really happy with this card!

Isn't it cute!  Kraft cardstock base, the flower paper is from DCWV Stack 7 and the yellow paper is from the DCWV Citrus matstack.  Cut the stroller out from Stamping Solutions (of course, lol) at 3.25 inches and added some orange ribbon.  Came together quickly and I'm happy with the results.  

I've been working on some Disneyland 8x8 layouts.  They're simple (which is my style) but I might post up some pictures.  I've been on such a card kick lately that my scrapbooks have been ignored.  Oh well... I'm so far behind what's it matter, LOL.

Thanks for looking and a special Hello to my new followers.  I really appreciate you guys!!!  :)

Cheers

-Amanda

More Monsters!

Seriously you guys..... I'm in love with this cartridge!!!  I've got a couple more Halloween cards I need to make, I should put down Mini Monsters and use October 31st.  Maybe one of each... I don't know if I can leave my cute little monsters, LOL.

Here's some cards I've made....

I made this card from the Phrase feature key.  It's cut at 2.5 inches.  The patterned paper is from the DCWV Midnight Spell stack.  I added some buttons and some quick white stitches around the edge with my white gel pen.

Next up... the cutest spider EVER!!!

 

I just loooove her!!!!  She's cut at 2 inches and I used Design Studio to do the hide contour feature on her eyes because I knew I wanted to use googly eyes.  I also did the hide contour feature on the shape on her belly.  The paper is again from the DCWV Midnight Spell stack.  The stamp is Scrappy Moms.

Last I have what I'm pretty sure is my favorite monster...

I just love this little guy and all 3 of his eyes  :)  He's cut at 3 inches.  The patterned paper is from my stash.  Used googly eyes and the ribbon is just plain satin ribbon from Walmart.  The stamp is again from Scrappy Moms.

Hope everyone is having a blessed Sunday and enjoying the weekend.  I'll be posting some more cards from the Stamping  Solutions cartridge this coming week before I move on to another cartridge.  Not sure which one I'll be "spotlighting" next.  I need to go through and look at my cartridges.

Thanks for stopping by and looking.  :)

Cheers

-Amanda  

Quick Note Cards

Hi everyone!

Something super quick and easy to share with you all today.  Like I mentioned in my last post I think I might try to "spotlight" different cartridges.  It's something I love seeing on other blogs so I think I should join the fun.  Right now I'm working with the Stamping Solutions cartridge.  It's a nice cartridge that gives you a lot general images and sentiments.

I made these little note cards....

(sorry for the weird picture angle)

These are really easy to make and cute to give someone with just a quick little note in them.  They are only 4x4.  Right now I'm into square cards.  Makes envelopes kind of a pain, but I'll work it out ;)  The top two are made from scraps out of my stash.  The bottom two I used the DCWV Whimsy mat stack.  All the cuts are from Stamping.  

Hope you enjoy and thanks for looking.

Cheers

-Amanda 

A challenge and a borrow

Hi there everyone!  Hope you are all enjoying your long holiday weekend!  I've had a little time to spend at my craft desk.  I made up some really easy cards to send out in packages I have to get out this week.  Here's what I came up with....

This first one I made completely "borrowing" Sarah's design from liveloveandscrap.blogspot.com  I've been trying to think of a way to use the mushrooms from the Paisley cartridge and I thought Sarah's card was just too cute.  This is also using a scallop for challenge #40 over at cricutcardzchallenge.blogspot.com  The circle and scallop are from Mini Monograms which I grab all the time for scallops and circles.  I didn't realize it until this post but I think it's the exact same stamp as Sarah's.  Ack!  I hope she believes that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.  I really do love all that she does!  Thanks for the inspiration.  The patterned paper is ancient Chatterbox (are they even in business anymore?) from my stash.

The next card I cut the little birdie from Cherry Limeade.  I just love this bird.  Same papers used here.  I am the worst with ribbon!  Ack!   I think I need to force myself to use it until I get better with it.

This one the patterned paper is from DCWV Summer Dream stack and the cut is from the Home Decor Solutions cartridge.....

Lastly -- this card is using the same DCWV Summer Dream stack and the cut is from one my new cartridges I got a few days ago Rock Princess.  Butterflies are just so pretty and this one is a great one.  I need to try the stained glass looking butterfly cut from the Rock Princess soon... that one looks gorgeous.  

That's all I've got for now.  I'm heading out for a family BBQ in a bit.  It's really hot today here so I'm sure I'll take a dip in the pool as well.  Tomorrow I've got nothing planned but spending time on my scrapbooks and I'm really wanting to try to make a post-it note holder.  We'll see how it goes :)

Thanks for looking and have a Blessed Sunday!

Cheers

-Amanda

Ummm.... It's Cold Outside?

Not in August, not where I live, LOL!

It was kinda weird working with snowflakes and penguins while the temps are so warm.

Robyn at mypinkstamper.com has a challenge this weekend to make a Winter theme project.  As I started to go through my cartridges I noticed I don't have much in the way of winter-y cartridges.  Joys of The Season is about it honestly.  I just don't have much use of winter images.  In the part of California that I live in we just don't get much of a winter.  I did find a few cuts on random cartridges and this is what I came up with....

I think this is the first tri-fold card I've done as well.  Isn't that little penguin to die for!  I loooove penguins (almost as much as owls).  I'm really happy with the way this card came out.

It's cut @ 4.5x12, than I scored at 3 inches and 9 inches.  All the cardstock is Bazzil.  The snowflake paper is from DCWV Stack 7.  The snowflakes and Brrr were cut from Graphically Speaking.  The snowflake on the front is cut at 3.25 and the little ones inside are 1 inch.  Brrr was cut at .75 if I recall correctly.  I just used my exacto knife and free hand cut the paper on the inside to look like snow.  Super easy to do.  The cutie little penguin is cut at 3.25 from Joys of The Season and he's pop dotted up inside there.  I still have plenty of room on the side flaps to write a quick note to one of my girlfriends living in Pennsylvania this winter... when she'll be seeing plenty of snowflakes.  :)

Thanks for taking a look.  Hope everyone has a blessed Sunday!

Cheers

-Amanda

Companion Challenge Birthday Bash

I love that now I'll be able to share my creations for various challenges now here online.  I usually do challenges but haven't had a place to post them up or link them.... now I can!  Woot!  (Hey - It's  the small things in life, lol.)

So first up I have Crafting With Cristina's Companion Challenge.  It's birthday bash this time.  

Here's my simple card....

More cupcakes!  I just love the cupcakes on Sweet Treats... actually I love that entire cartridge.  So this is a card base from DCWV, the kind you buy in the boxes.  I've had it for ages.  The pink patterned paper is from the Sweet Stack by DCWV and the green patterned paper for the cupcake wrapper is from DCWV Summer Dream Stack.  It's cut at 3 inches.  The stamped sentiment is from some random set I picked up at Joann's awhile back.

Thanks for taking a look.  I know not many are reading, but I know a few friends are... so leave a comment!  I need my first one :)  Hope everyone is having a fabulous weekend!  I've spent all Saturday in my craft room... yay!

Cheers

-Amanda

Grams

In a long line of crafty chicks in my family it all starts with my Grams.  She was an amazing crafter.  Not with paper and glue, which is my chosen love, but she is a fabulous seamstress, quilter, painter, crocheter, knitter, doll maker, she was so good at so many different things.

The past couple years her body has started failing her.  The mind is sharp as a tack, just her body is losing and time is winning.  :(  Her hands have really been affected so crafting is something in the past for her.  I know she misses it and that makes me sad for her.

Since she has a hard time getting out and about but still remembers EVERYONE's birthday (seriously, she remembers everything!) every couple months I crank out some super easy cards for her to send to family and friends.  This is what I came up for her this time around....

Very simple, even for me and I'm a super simple card maker/scrapper.  Standard card base.  Circle was punched w/ my big jumbo circle punch (which is hiding from me somewhere since I made these cards... hmmm time to organize and straighten up!).  The stripped patterned paper was from my scraps, but I believe it's old KI Memories.  The green plaid and polka dot paper for my cupcake frosting is from the DCWV Stack 7.  The cupcake I cut out with the Solutions Home Decor cartridge.  I used my Design Studio and did the Hide Contour feature for the cherry on top of the cupcake because I didn't want it on these.  I also used the Hide Contour feature to cut all my tops out at once, than my cupcake wrappers.  Saved paper that way.  

I think that's it.  Pretty easy.  Thanks for taking a look.

Cheers

-Amanda