hi all! happy monday! i know – oxymoron right 😛 i had to run to the grocery store this morning around 8 and i had ICE on my windshield!!! yikes! but yesterday was wonderful and the trees are INCREDIBLE right now! i LOVE fall color! we never had that down south (NO i do not consider virginia the south – i am talking about south louisiana – south of new orleans.) anyway we didn’t have any fall color change on our trees – heck we BARELY had winter. as a kid i always thought it was some kind of myth. then i moved north – first missouri and then here – WOW!!! makes my jaw drop every year! like some of the trees are on FIRE!
so apparently i should have bought some lottery tickets last week or something. i think i got three challenge awards in one week!!!!!!!!!! i one a gift certificate from the cuttlebug spot, made the top three scoops at pile it on, and got a mention over on just buggin!!! i think i have been doing challenges for 2 years now and have had this happen like twice before 😛 talk about floating on air hee heee!!!! i enjoyed all of these challenges immensely and felt i needed a change so i hope to fit them into my weekly crafting every week!!! starting now HAHAHHA!
tried something new for today’s card – new for me anyway!! the challenge over at Just Buggin’ is to make a die cut shape card with your cricut. well i NEVER use the card feature – mostly because i have the baby bug so the card is small and envelopes even smaller and it just frustrates me. BUT i really started looking at them for this challenge and wow! some really good stuff:
after i cut the main card i cut some layers for the snowflake and then a frame with nesties. here is the second reason i get frustrated with the card (tag, whatever) feature – the layers don’t quite match up – BUT i made it work! i took an acetate sheet from the back of a set of studio G stamps and colored it with alcohol ink. then i adhered it to the back behind the snowflake cut out. i cuttlebugged a border and then added some snowflake skittles and a cute little snowman face skittle.
all of the layered pieces are popped up on foam tape.
i also did the inside:
i cut matching pieces to cover the inside so the acetate sheet edges were hidden. i used a nestie to cut the windo out for the snowflake.
The snowflake border and inside image/sentiment are studio G stamps – don’t let anyone tell you these little $1 babies don’t stamp well!!! look how crisp those itty bitty letters are! i always use brilliance dew drops.
i had SO much fun with that one i decided to do another one but i got a little fancier – broke out my cricut design studio. i have had DS for 1 1/2 years and have barely dabbled in it at all. but i really like what i did – totally nothing fancy by DS terms but still cool:
the card shape is just a shape on the cartridge. in DS i put the shape on the right and then the shape on black out feature on the left and welded them together so the cut out to form a card. then i also cut out the frame the same size from DS. i outlined the letters with holly stickles – a cool mix of green glitter with a bit of red. added some red sparkling pezabling and the front was done!
the letters were cut out and well that just bothers me so once again i HAD to put on a backing. i cut the blackout shape again from clear acetate. wanna know where i got it this time? it is the cover that comes off a new cricut mat 🙂 i covered it with alcohol inks and attached it with glossy accents. i put another frame on the inside edges to give it a finished look.
here’s the best part – all the extras that were cut out of the noel piece and the frame were perfect for a second card with no additional cutting:
i edged everything with brilliance galaxy gold and also brushed gold over the raised embossing. this time i did my stickles outline with candy cane – red glitter with a bit of gold mixed in. this gold ribbon went perfectly and i finished off with a christmas yoyo, a green printed holly skittle and some more red pezabling! this covers the daring cardmakers challenge use at least 5 of your favorite things on one item – 10 if you can! i used:
1. cricut2. cuttlebug embossing3. yoyos4. skittles5. pezabling6. stickles7. metallic inkmy hubby really liked these with the cutout feature so i might have to experiment some more with them. i can do tags too!!! hahahha! i may devote one weekend to tags since i need a bunch of them.
and now i am off to see what the mysterious pouring sounds are i hear coming from the kitchen……..my child NEVER stops getting into stuff….
Stamps: Studio G
Ink: Brilliance; alcohol inks
Paper: SU & scraps
The Rest: cricut – noel & joys of the season, stickles – holly, candy cane; ribbon, yoyo, skittles, pezabling, acetate; cuttlebug