One fish

I must of been one of the few people who didn't own a Cricut Create a Critter cartridge until recently. My gf Teri gave me one for my birthday and I've been cutting animal pieces out at night and still need to put them together. I'm so glad this one is much simpler to assemble than the older cartridges that I have. Thanks Teri, I'm enjoying this one!A few things happened prior to using it. First I had to dust my machine off since it's been way over 2 years, then I couldn't find my mat. I spent 15 minutes searching for my mat, so I ended up opening a new package and after I was done cutting, I turned around and right there on my shelf were 3 used mats! Ugh!

Anyways, first I cut the fishbowl out of clear acetate that I bought from the store. Funny thing because over the weekend, I decided to pick up some clear acetate for no reason. I thought about the sticky adhesive getting all over the clear acetate but it actually came off the mat clean. Hope you can see it here. The stamp is a Hero Arts clear stamp from last year.
Thanks for stopping by today and check back soon because I'm working on some other ones to post.

Friends thank you cards

Happy humpday! I spent part of last weekend making some thank you cards to mail out during the week. I really should make a bunch of them so I always have some on hand. For this card, I used Dandelion Designs new friends stamp. There wasn't much to color because I paper pieced the kimono's on the girls. All the paper used is from a 6x6 Basic Grey paper pad called Sweet Threads which I bought from the store.The thank you stamp is from a Hero Arts set called Florentine Message Border. It is becoming one of my favorite thank you stamps. I used Spellbinders lacey circle die for the girls.
Hope you're having a wonderful day, I think I'm starting to catch my husband's cold. Thanks for stopping by today!!!

Wish you were here

I started this card off to be simple but then I started punching and die cutting and ended up with a whole background scene. Lol! Actually, I really love this new die called scallop circle 3-D pop-up by Karen Burniston. It is so easy to make a pop-up card with this die. There is nothing to piece together.I used Camera Brigitta from CC Designs. The white border on the card is a border punch from EK Success, the cloud punches are from Fiskars, the sun, banner and words are all cut from the Eclips machine. The grass punch is a MS punch and the red flowers are from an old Hello Kitty die.
I used glossy accents on her glasses and camera lens to give it a shine although you can't really see it in the photo.
I cut the acetate scallop circle pop-up from one of the textured impressions folder package since I didn't have any acetate paper. Now I wish I kept all those packages to recycle. I hope you can see in this photo how it pops up. Also, I used Tombow clear adhesive for vellum to attach the acetate to the card. You can barely see the adhesive through the acetate.
Here's what the Sizzix die looks like.

Thanks for stopping by today and hope your week is going well!!!

Simple thank-you cards

When the new jewelry dies from Sizzix arrived at the store, I went down there to purchase this die called frame & sculpted flower. These dies are actually original dies so you can use them for all your paper crafts.

I had to make some thank-you cards and went with a very simple look. I used Hero Arts solid dot background stamp for the card background.
The thank you stamp is from Hero Arts called florentine message border. This first card is orange with turquoise flowers.
The 2nd card is pink with orange flowers. I stamped the flower with Hero Art's friend definition background stamp.
And the last card is turquoise with pink flowers. I stamped the flower in pink ink and used Hero Art's friend definition background stamp again.
Thanks for stopping by and I hope I'll be able to post another card before the weekend. Have a great evening!!!

Sweetalicious 3-D cupcake card

Happy Thursday!!! I saw this new Sizzix cupcake die at the store the other day and couldn't wait to make something with it. It's a 3-D cupcake XL die by Karen Burniston who is the queen of pop-up dies. At first I couldn't figure out how to assemble it but I went straight to her blog, and she has a video tutorial on making this pop-up. It's so easy once you make it. She also has some helpful hints on making pop-up cards like using a thicker cardstock for the card base. It works so much better. If you are using a lighter cardstock, it is better to apply a second piece on the inside of the card but cut it in half first before you glue it down. You can see where I cut it in half.The round scallop that I placed under the cupcake is from the Eclips cartridge called "basic shapes". It is not in the stores yet but will be soon.
Here's a closer look at the cupcake.
I used Ice Cream Brigitta from CC Designs. She's so cute and "sweetalicious" was also cut out with the Eclips from the sweetalicious cartridge.

Thanks for looking and hope you're having a wonderful day!!!

Birthday Marci

Wow! I didn't think the last time I posted was over a week ago. I've been spending more time using my Eclips machine and trying out all the different cartridges that I have. The fancy oval shape was cut using the basic shapes cartridge. The cartridge is not out in the stores yet but will be soon.

Anyways, on to my project. I used the Sizzix caddy bag die once again but this time, I placed the pockets on both sides of the bag. And I cut the bag out using regular cardstock and not chipboard. I saw this cute Lala Land stamp in the store and decided to get it. This one is called Birthday Marci.
I stamped and embossed the bag with Hero Arts daisy background stamp and clear embossing powder.
Here's a photo of the side of the bag so you can see how I made it on both sides.

Well, I hope to get myself back into making more projects so I can post them here.

Have a great evening and thanks for stopping by and leaving me your sweet comments!

Hello friend caddy bag

I've had my eyes on this new scoreboard die that arrived in the stores last week. And finally was able to get one for myself on Saturday. It is called caddy bag and is a XL size die. I had some leftover pieces from last week's make & take kits and used it to decorate the bag.I filled it with 2 Bath & Body hand sanitizers which fit perfectly in the bag. You can also put different sized treats in it.
Dies used are from the Country Foliage line - accordion fold flowers set, decorative frames set and the swirl is from the edges cartridge for the Eclips machine.

I was a little shaken up this afternoon while crafting downstairs in my craft room. I heard all these really loud and weird noises coming from the hedge in front of my window. When I looked out my screen door, I saw 2 mongooses and I'm not sure if they were fighting or mating. Anyways, I was terrified to leave and I had to get back upstairs. So I got out my wood bat and a big rubbish can hoping to use it as a shield. Can you picture this??? I finally made it upstairs in one piece. LOL!!! If anyone knows how to get rid of mongooses, please let me know.

Thanks for stopping by today and have a great week!!!

The make & takes

It's been a hectic week, but a lot of fun spending time with Cheri from Sizzix and getting more training on the Eclips machine. There's so many features that I have yet to explore and shortcuts.We made a milk carton box using the Eclips machine at our last make & take today at J's. We made a fancy cutout in the middle of the box. The box was made to fit on a 12x12 cardstock.I took a picture of my husband with Cheri at the end of the day. We were pooped!
We started our day at Photo Craft this morning and made this box with handles also using the Eclips machine. There was a butterfly that we put on the box but I took this photo before putting the butterfly on it.

The machine cut the center out using an embellishment die cut from another box and used a glue pen to draw around the window and we glittered it. It's so pretty!

We made this card at Flora-Dec using the Big Shot machine. All the dies used were from the Country Foliage line.
Cheri was at Stamps & Memories last week Friday making this box with the Eclips machine. The cutout was an embellishment from the same box cartridge.

I have one more box to post that I need to take a photo of.

Thanks for stopping by today and check back again for the last box. Have a great evening!!!

I'm back and make & take schedule

I'm back from Vegas and although I don't have anything crafty to post, thought I'd share with you some pictures that my husband took.

We stayed at The Orleans off of the strip. We checked in close to midnight and by the time they brought our luggage up, it was 2:30 am. I was not a happy camper. But the room was huge! The size of a suite.
Just the walk to our room took 160 steps from the elevator. It was at the very end of the long hallway. And another 160 steps from our room back to the elevator.
My husband who is usually the photographer, takes most of the pictures. Except this time, we ended up with a lot of these types of photos. See... very crooked photo. Here's another one.And then when I take the photo, I get facial expressions like this.

Anyways, just wanted to share some photos from our trip.

My girlfriend Cheri from Ellison is back in town this week. So I've been busy prepping kits and making sure we have everything for the make & takes scheduled for this weekend through next weekend. Every project is different.

Here is our schedule:

May 13th - 6-8 pm Stamps & Memories

May 14th - 1-3 pm A Place In Time

May 18th - 5-7 pm Flora-Dec

May 21st - 10-12 pm Photo Craft

May 21st - 1-3 pm J's Knicknacks

Hope to see you at the stores! Have a great day!!!

For mom

A couple weeks ago while I was at the store, I decided to buy one of the Magnolia stamps. I'm not too familiar with this line of stamps and I had no idea what I was getting other than it looked oriental. I used a Sizzix pro box called matchbox which my friend Gail sent to me all the way from Georgia. Thanks Gail! And because Mother's Day is coming up, I went with this stamp from Hero Arts because it reminds me that I'm always thinking about my mom. Here's a picture of the box opened and I filled it with a lot of Hershey kisses.
And this is what it looks like without the candy. It's quite big and you could probably fit cookies in there too.
Hope you're having a great week and thanks for stopping by today!!!

My so called "man" card

Here is what I ended up with while making my "man" card. I struggle with anything male because I end up making it look cute. So I stuck with keeping it simple. My hubby's birthday is tomorrow so this is actually his birthday card. He loves watching AI every week so I decided to go with this theme. I used Tyler from the Greeting Farm creepin set.
This card is actually a trifold which I saw and was inspired by Sue. Go check out her blog to see her cards. I changed the measurements on my card. This one is cut 5" x 11" and scored at 3 1/2" and 7". I used an old SU half circle punch to hold the card shut on the bottom right.

Have you finished your taxes? I'm still working on ours and wish I was done. Hopefully I will be by tonight.

Hope you're having a wonderful day and thanks for stopping by!!!

Ballerina Marci

I forgot about posting this card that I made over a week ago. When I was little, I always wanted to be a ballerina. I used to watch my mom sew everyday because she sewed kids clothes part time for a local manufacturer. So whenever she got off the sewing machine, I would get on the chair and pretend to sew a ballerina outfit. Which led to me breaking her sewing machine a couple times. Bad girl...I had to get this stamp called Ballerina Marci from Lala Land Crafts. It reminded me of those days when I tried to sew one of those outfits.

I used Spellbinders grand nestabilities large scalloped circles to make the base of the card. I'm still loving the gray and pink colors.

Thanks for stopping by today and always leaving me your sweet comments. I know I said I was going to post the card that I made for my hubby but I will do that tomorrow. Have a great day!!!

Happy Boy's Day

I know that Boy's Day is coming up in 3 weeks and I decided to make a little treat bag. When I was a kid, we never celebrated this day even though I had a little brother because my mom said her parents didn't celebrate this day. I remember seeing all the carps flying at our neighbors homes and thinking how I'd like to do that someday if I had a son. And of course, I did.To make this bag, I used the treat bag die by Lifestyle Crafts. Stamps used are Dandelion Designs. I made it very simple since I have a hard time making boy themed projects.

Thanks for stopping by today and come back tomorrow to see the "man" card that I made for my husband. Have a great evening!!!

Playing with punches

Last week while putting away my punches, I decided to make a little treat box using one of my older Sizzix dies called box #2. I used a Martha Stewart punch from last year called bunny hop which I found in the yellow tagged marked down bin at the store. There were a couple left when I last looked in the bin. I cut the cover flap part off of the die cut and punched right along the edge.
Here's a picture where you can see the punched edge. I used Dandelion Designs bunny stamp to decorate the front of the box.
Here's another one that I made using all the cherry blossom punches.
The japanese girl is a cling stamp also from Dandelion Designs.
Sorry my posts have been so far apart lately but I am still not feeling that well. My mojo has also been missing since I haven't been crafting as much. I will post the make & take project from the Ben Franklin Crafts paper party last month tomorrow.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great evening!!!

5 minute Easter treat

I just picked up this new Sizzix die set called decorative frames last week and thought it would look great on this little diaper pouch. I used the bunny from Dandelion Designs to decorate the pouch.It was so quick and easy to make this and took me around 5 minutes. Although I did have the bunny lying on my craft table.
And if you have some time this Saturday the 26th, I'll be at Ben Franklin Crafts Market City doing a make & take from 10-11 am. We'll be using this same bunny but different project which is why I had it lying on my table.

Thanks for stopping by and hope you're having a great evening!!!

Paper blossoms punch

Here's a card I made using Leslie from the GF creeper set. I must of been in a purple mood because I usually grab for the pinks first. I wanted to sweeten her up a bit so I made a flower using the paper blossoms punches from McGill. This one is called azalea. You can find the punches at most of the craft stores on the island.
I also added this lace border punch from Martha Stewart. It reminds me of the days that I used to manufacture and sell toddlers and girls white eyelet dresses for spring to Liberty House.
Hope you're having a great Saturday even though the weather seems to be raining off and on. I am planning to work on my taxes and maybe take a break and craft. Thanks for stopping by today!!!

Yipeee!

Here's a cute box I made yesterday with a stamp from "your next stamp". I used a Sizzix pro die called box with scalloped lid. For some reason as I was looking at these double sided papers from KI Memories, the gray and pink colors stood out so I went with these 2 colors.I took a photo of the box with the lid off so you can see it's quite roomy and can fit a bunch of goodies in it.

Thanks for stopping by today!!! Have a great evening!!!

Happy Easter carrot box

I've had this Sizzix die like forever and never got a chance to use it when it first came out over a year ago before Christmas, or maybe even longer. This die is called long triangle box and it's shape reminds me of a carrot so I decided to make it into a carrot box to hold Easter treats. I used Dandelion Designs new Easter cling stamp set for the rabbit.The green poof on the top of this box is tissue paper. I used Tim Holtz's tattered florals die to cut the green tissue flowers, squished it up and stuck a green brad in the middle to the box top.
Hope you're having a great evening! I'm getting dinner on the table so we can watch AI tonight.

Thanks for stopping by and check back as I have a couple more projects to share with you.

Harlow

I recently bought this GF creepin set and while stamping some of the images, I ended up coloring this one called Harlow. It actually took me several days to finish it because after I colored her, I realized that I didn't have any matching dark colored cardstock. So I just used what I had.The card base is cut from a Spellbinders die called Grand Nestabilities Label 1. It's a perfect size for these stamps. Little bigger than the regular nestabilities.
I used glossy accents on her goggles to make it shine like glass. It's kind of hard to see in this photo. And the fence is a Tim Holtz edge die which I embossed with his woodgrain embossing folder and rubbed distress ink over it.
Sorry that my posts have been so spread apart but until I get better, I can only sit for a short period of time. Thanks for stopping by and keep checking back because I do have some other projects to post. Have a great day!!!