Thanksgiving card

This card was made using scraps, and it's posted under the "Ad Inspiration Challenge" and "Scraps Only" messageboards. This is possibly one of the fastest cards to make. It usually takes me hours to finish one card, but this one took less than an hour. The only labor-intensive thing about this is that I had to cut strips of paper, and remove the green part so that it would stay faithful to the color scheme.

Cricut Cards

I always look forward to Wednesdays since that means there will be new sketches for cards at Cricut.com. I am hopelessly hooked, and heaven help me, since I don't want rehab!

Here's sketch 1:


I used cardstock from Core'dinations. I cut the circles first then embossed and sanded the images. The printed paper is a free image from Scrapbookscrapbook.com. Instead of the argyle, I scored lines at the back of the jeweled cardstock. My sentiment is the "Boo" at the lower left hand corner.


For the second sketch, I fused three brackets cut at 4" from Plantin' Schoolbook. I glued flower soft on the swirled tree from Christmas Solutions and placed "shadows" under it using gold ink. The background paper was spritzed with Glimmer Mist. I have mixed feelings about Glimmer Mist. I like the effect that it has, but it's a tedious process to get to it. I had to wait for it to dry, then iron it flat since it makes the paper warp. And it does not spray a fine mist. You get globs of liquid instead. The green paper is from MAMBI.



I flipped the brackets over and placed the tree under it. I skipped the sentiment, since I will be putting it inside the card.


For the third sketch, I made a scrapbook page. Logan loves to sleep. I had a quote from Shakespeare for my journaling. The paw prints at the lower left and upper right corners were stamped, covered with moonlight ink and layered with Liquid Pearls. My husband helped me punch the paw prints around the scalloped circle. It was so difficult to do it with thick cardstock. I got it from the dollar bin, and I guess I got what I paid for. :-) The cardstock is from Bazzill Paper. The fonts are from Plantin' Schoolbook cut at 1 1/2" and the alternating letters were colored with moonlight ink.

Clip Art Card

I love the combination of dark blue and pink, and those were the main colors used for this card. The word "love" measures half an inch, and I used Home Accents cartridge for this. "Love" was painted with crystal effects. I embossed the white background paper for more dimension and pop-dotted the main image and the heart. I actually used sketch 3 again for this card.

Cricut Cards

I made all three of these cards today, and it was so much fun making them. Granted it took forever because the glue and ink had to dry. For the first sketch, I colored the stamp using Jo-ann's markers which I layered and swished around, so I would have a gradation of color. The key to the colors not muddying up is to use complementary and NOT contrasting colors. Otherwise, you'll have brown all over, e.g. orange+blue= brown, etc. I stamped the border, then traced it with a glue pen and applied flower soft for texture. The maple leaf is from A Child's Year cartridge.





For the second card, I used the bell from Christmas Solutions cartridge. I colored the bell with gold ink. I applied clear embossing ink as soon as the first layer of ink dried, then sprinkled it with embossing powder. The "ribbon" was cardstock that I had embossed, then accented with Stickles.




I used the cartridge "A Child's Year" for the third card. I colored the cut with stickles. I reverse embossed the circle, and embossed the upper half of the card. I stamped hearts on the paper for the sentiment, which was a computer printout.

Baby Lock Evolution

This is the ultimate splurge. I love my Baby Lock serger! I am extremely new to sewing, but I decided that I need to have a serger, too. This baby does both coverstitch and overlock. I wanted to have professional-looking finishes in the things that I make.



It easily converts to a coverstitch with a few minor adjustments. Here, I replaced the blade cover with the sewing table.


Here's a closer look at the pressor foot and the cutting blades. The LED lights are so bright! Gotta love it!



Baby Lock is synonymous with easy threading. Here are the thread openings for the upper and lower loops, and coverstitch and the button to initiate the jet-air threading.



This is Japanese technology at its finest. Domo arigatu!

Tinkerbell!

I love Tinkerbell. Here are the cuts that I made several months ago. I colored her with chalk and accented everything with Stickles.

This is Tink, looking shy.


Tink, in profile.


Tink, with dimples.


Tink, just hovering with her wand.



And finally, a very sassy-looking Tink. I can't decide which one I like best!

Cricut Cards

Here are this week's card layouts:


Logan Nicholas is my inspiration for this card. It's his birthday next month. I used A Child's Year. I drew on the features. This cart is a collection of silhouettes. The inchies stamps are from Inkadinkado. The paper is from DCWV.



The inchies and the girl with the cat are all pop-dotted.




The second card was fun to make. I used Flower Soft for the tree, the sweater and the pompom on the girl's hat, Smooch on the boy's jacket and the star, and Fun Flock for the "snow". The snowflake corners are from Home Accents cartridge.



More pop-dots were used in the making of this card. :-)


We had to make at least one guy card for this week. Mine was entitled "Ooops!". It's an apology card. I like the expression in the guy's face. I used Alphalicious for the letters. The stamp is from
Too Much Fun.

Breast Cancer Awareness Cards

For this week's cards, I decided to have the color pink as a theme. I used handmade paper from India. Here are the sketches that they were based on:


For the first card, I quilled a couple of flowers and used a flower-printed ribbon on the lower side.


The second card has the flourish on the side, to substitute for the stars.


For the third card, I put the design inside the card. I take a lot of creative liberties when it comes to my cards. I used flocked paper for this card.

Under my bed

I don't have any monsters hiding under my bed, only stamps and occasionally, our uber-cute cat. I bought the rolling drawers from the Container Store. I've been watching too much Clean House to be convinced enough that organization is the key to a happy life. I have both clear and rubber-mounted stamps. The other stamps from Inkadinkado and Stampendous are in one of the black boxes. I have my stamps organized according to occasion and theme.

My crafting area

We live in a small space, so my crafts are all spread out. I have my Cricut Expression and printer in the living room, since I had my Design Studio installed in my husband's computer. I do like having the advantage of using a 50" plasma TV as my monitor. For now, I have just been using the guest room for my crafts.


I had that desk since I was single. It looks naturally distressed now, but it is meant to be used. I love the little cubbies that I have for storage.


The boxes on the other side of the room is where I store papers, albums, ribbon, embellishments and a whole bunch of stuff that makes my projects look interesting. I bought more supplies recently, so I had to use the bottom drawers of the wardrobe for my pencils, markers, paints, books, etc.

My New Toy

I loved to craft and dabble with art, but for some weird reason, I never learned how use a sewing machine. I decided on impulse to buy one, since I wanted to start making pillowcases and pajamas.

So here it is...my newest baby. It has good reviews and I had a lot of fun playing with it. Now I'm just on the lookout for a serger. I need to practice some more, since I had never sewn using a machine before in my entire life until this Sunday.




Here's the other view. Isn't she pretty?




And here's everything that I needed to get started. I have my fabrics washed and ironed already, and I bought some patterns to play with. My husband helped me pick the Project Runway products.