Still in Training?

This card is for a dear uncle's 70th birthday and he loves trains!

I really like the result I got on this project with my Cricut.

I decided that I would do a "free-standing pop up" card from SCS resources I had to adjust the measurements as I do "big" cards as in 8.5x 5.5 finished. I wanted to keep it cheerful so hopefully it is with the pearlescent blue cardstock and ink.

Then I had the hurdle of trying to work in Cricut Design Studio. I eventually managed to get a "welded" blackout 70 and a layer from my Printing 101 cartridge. Then I found two backgrounds on my Plantin cartridge for the borders at the bottom one is a city scape and the other is a treeline. I cut out a train from the My Community cartridge to use the negative as a stencil. The train border at the very bottom is Martha Stewart punch.

The greeting and repeat pattern on the card itself is from JustRiteStampers.

I really hope our dear uncle likes his card AND gets it on time with the international post that can be fun!

Critical Eye
when it is folded you can see the "and still in training" in retrospect that would have been a nice surprise when all folded down if I had stamped it lower. AND I had planned to emboss the blue "70" for some texture. Hopefully I will remember this for next time.

Ingredients

• Final Cardsize - 8.5 x 5.5 in - the panel is 8.5 x 4.5
• Cartridges used - Plantin, Printing 101, My Community
• Cardstock - Hobby Lobby, Wassau (that's pearlescent blue) and Georgia Pacific
• Ink - Brilliance
• Stamps - JustRite
• Punch - Martha Stewart
  

ETA - got an email from our uncle and he got it in time!!!!!

My first Cricut card for a "Princess"

I know I blogged a while ago about my "second" cricut card. Well, now that I have found the photo file (it was on my son's camera). I will share my first Cricut card. It is "ok" I like it but I don't love it. I think I am going to have to study the Paper Dolls cartridge a bit more and the Cricut blogs a bit more to find out what I like and don't like.

However, you know my style I don't just share what I deem my successes.

The body and hair are cut out of some Michaels cardstock. Her dress and hat are out of Waussau pearlescent cardstock. I hand drew the "banner" because I needed to get a sentiment on there and there wasn't much room left. I then stamped the banner with See D's sentiment stamp. And of course a Princess needs her bling factor so I dotted stickles all over the hat and the along the hemline and neckline of her dress.

Please feel free to give advice on what I could have done to make her "better" - From my perspective maybe a bit of shading. I know I don't like it but I'm a bit perplexed on what to do to make her "better" LOL

The little lunchbox is covered in cardstock from DCWV.

Inkadinkado flowers (and fairy)

I did this for the Inkadinkado contest. I wanted a really light, fresh spring feel as if I were lying down in the grass and looking up on the card and I think I got it.

I used Marvy le Plume pens direct to stamps and then I covered the stamping with Versamark pen and clear embossed them. So I could wipe away the ink on the layer. Though, I did go ahead and do this with all of the flowers for consistency.

I colored the sentiment stamp with the same green marker for consistency and I just wanted the hint that this was a clear spring day on went the shimmery chalks to give a hint of blue sky in the background.

I think this technique really suits this stamp set.

Ingredients

• Card size - 4.25 x 5.5 in
• Stamps - Inkadinkado
• Cardstock - Bazill, Georgia Pacific
• Ink - Marvy le Plume markers, Versamark
• Color - Pebbles Inc chalks

I'm not going to bother with a separate blog for this fair card as she is pretty much my tester piece for the first fair card I did .

I liked this enough to use it but it made me to decide to not outline the other card's fairy as darkly.

Ingredients

• Card size 4.25 x 5.5 in
• Cardstock - Bazzill, Georgia Pacific
• Color -as listed in previous fairy card
• Threading Water punch, Nestabilities

Jumping or rather smashing Jukeboxes....

I made this card for a dear friend in England who enables the collecting of jukeboxes. I think at last count she told me they had three!!

When I think of jukeboxes, besides of her, I think of the 1950's so that was cue I took for my color scheme. I colored in my VivaLasVegastamps jukebox with copics in blues, reds and greys and and then put glossy accents on it and left it to dry. When I got back to it, it was bowed so I thought VOILA! I would put it through my cuttlebug to flatten it a bit...I really should have taken a before and after picture of that LOL, because the blob that came out the other end of the cuttlebug bore no resemblence to the lovely jukebox I had colored in. So I started again with my VivaLasVegastamps jukebox and colored it in with blues and reds and greys, though not too many greys as I wanted it to be cheerful, not depressing! then I clear embossed to get a shiny image staying well away from the mind bending experience of the glossy accents! LOL

I then thought whats a jukebox without some sparkle so I found out some of my holographic cardstock and cut it down and ran it through the cuttlebug with the Allegro folder (don't worry its even difficult to see in real life) and used my musical notes dies with black cardstock. I then used Nestabilities to cut out the apetures on the black and pink cardstock and ran the pink cardstock through the Cuttlebug with the Swiss dots embossing folder (twice to get the whole thing) and decide to run the paper through once on its own to knock back the dots so it looked more "retro". The frame and jukebox are 3D'd off the cardstock base.

On the inside I used a Martha Stewart punch to give a checkerboard effect to put the greeting on. and then did a white layer using the negative of the double note die and stencil through for a background for the sentiment.

Critical eye - I think I should have carried over the blue from the jukebox with the frame more and with a thin blue layer frame. I also think maybe I should have found a way to make those swiss dots black (I'm not great at brayering and wanted a very neat look) before I mashed them back down

Ingredients

• Card size - 5.5 x 8.5
• Cardstock - Bazzill, Hobby Lobby, Holographic unknown, Georgia Pacific
• Ink - Palette
• Color - Copics
• Embossing folders - Allegro, Swiss dots

Wooly thanks....

I have posted this card in my gallery on SCS from a quick scan. However I thought I would come to my blog and do it properly.

The image stamps are from Clear Dollar Stamps and when I got the little sheep with my last order I just knew that these two sets had to be combined! Maybe it was living in England all those years and seeing sheep in the field with random markings. I don't know but I think it is one of those kinda funny things maybe its punny. I keep thinking, is this what they mean by "pre-dyed" wool?

The sheep stamp is a single (as you can just get a glimpse of inside the card) so I had to make about four masks of her to get this effect.

I do like the mottled effect of the sentiment though I know some people wouldn't. It reminds me a bit of the texture of knitting.

Critical eye - I think if I did this card again I would spell "wooly" as "woolly" - I looked it up and both are correct but the double "ll" is more correct. Also I would have the bottom of the feet of the sheep on the same level as the bottom of the basket. I would have put an insert in the card for the little grey sheep to be on - because as we know copic colors bleed through.

Copic lowdown - I know I don't have a list of Copic colors for this one as I actually made it before the fairy card. What I do remember is that the colors are pretty low numbers 00's, 10's and 20's for the most part, and the basket is mostly numbers in E 30's.

Ingredients

• Cardsize - 4.25 x 5.5 in
• Stamps - Clear Dollar Stamps, JustRiteStampers
• Cardstock - DCWV premade base card, Georgia pacific, Hobby Lobby black c/s
• Ink - Palette
• Color - Copics
• Tools - Nestabilities
• Techniques - Stamping, Masking

Fairy belated... Edited to add list of copics used

Well you know I told you about my trip to Nomojoland, which is a very scary place to be indeed. Well this was another friend who suffered not being remembered on her special day because of the scary monsters in Nomojoland.

Well this cardie friend loves rather funky fairies so when I saw the new(ish) Fairy stamps from Inkadinkado I knew that I had to buy them and do a card for her with them.

I colored the fairy first with my Copics. Then with my Sakura clear stardust pen over her wings. I don't know what it is with fairies but I nearly always tend toward purples, blues, greens and pinks for them - so I think I might need to do this image again a few times and ban myself from those colors! (can you just see the subtle sparkle on the wings? --------->>>>)

I decided that as she is flying I would just "pop" her away from the background with a little shading and I wanted the added contrast of the white around all that color in the image so she really stood out on the card.

The circles were inspired from the K&Co paper that I have had for about five years. The butterfly is from the same stamp set and the greeting is from a Brenda Walton Inkadinkado set.

I did use a new tool on this card which is the Martha Stewart Circle Cutter - I like it because of the variety of circle sizes you can get with one tool and cutter. There is a bit of a learning curve with it however, what I did in the end to keep the paper from slipping was just tack it down to the cutting mat in a few places with temporary glue stick - worked like a charm!

Ingredients

• Card size - 8.5in x 5.5in
• Stamps - Inkadinkado
• Ink - Palette
• Cardstock - Georgia Pacific, K&Co, Bazzill
• Color - Copics, Sakura clear stardust pen
• Tools - Martha Stewart circle cutter

Copics Used

• 0
• Skin - E00, E02
• Hair - E31, E33, E35, E37, E47
• Dress, shoes, wings - V000, V04, V06, B00, B23, B24
• Flower and dots on wings - RV02, RV04, RV06
• Wand - Y00, Y02, Y06, Y08
• Shadowing - C1, C3

Subtle inspiration....

I belong to a very special group of ladies and this was a belated (read embarrassingly very belated) birthday card for one that LOVES frogs... so frogs were the theme... I think it is rather subtle, don't you? LOL

This is kinda how my thought process went with this card - hope you enjoy -

So I started with Frogs. Frogs are green and in my mind bumpy, now you toad enthusiasts don't get all technical on me! Oh I have just the stamps set from Clear Dollar Stamps and that sticker from Imaginisce I bought just for this card... but what safe place did I put them in?. Hmmmm.... now I need to decide on colour combos... oh the toadstool would be red... um no... her birthday is next to Christmas, no green and red together (remember I told you this was v.v.belated) - oh Pink that's nearly red but not so the toadstool will pass... and White will keep things crips and fresh... I want to use my threading water punch... oh and my swiss dots folder... oh, why don't I just have a secondary theme about the bumps I mean circles yes circles ;)

And yes when I'm in the "zone" that is pretty much what my internal conversations are like though I think I left out a squee or two.

As it was so late I thought it would be a bit "naff" to put a greeting on it.

On the mojo loss bit, I had never lost my mojo like that before. I really didn't want to look at anything creative at all and its a quite scary place to be. I don't want to go back to nomojoland anytime soon that is for certain.

Ingredients

• Card size 8.5 in x 5.5 in
• Cardstock - Bazzill, Georgia pacific, Michaels
• Stamps - Clear Dollar Stamps
• Ink - Palette
• Color - Copics
• Sticker - Imaginisce
• Tools - Threading Water Punch, Nestabilities, Cuttlebug Swiss Dots folder.

You'll Never Walk Alone - the 96

Today is 20 years since 96 Liverpool Football Supporters lost their lives at Hillsborough, the youngest was 10. There were many children amoungst the dead and families that lost father and son. Many people have been inspired to blog and reply to blogs about this tragedy such as Steve Wilson from BBC's Match of the Day http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/stevewilson/2009/04/hillsborough.html


Liverpool has been "my" club since that day. I watched 8 hours of coverage on MTV (yeah, no 24 hours news back then) whilst doing my overnight university desk job of making certain the dorm I worked at in the USA was safe, having been introduced to them in 1988. The dignity and respect this club have shown their supporters throughout the years has been incredible. Their players know that you don't become a star without the support of the fans.

The fans were villified in some of the English media for being "responsible" for the tragedy which has been proven not to be the case. If you wish to support the family in their continuing fight for Justice there is a song that can be bought through HMV or downloaded off i-tunes - The Fields of Anfield Road by the Liverpool Collective (the last link I have given)

More information here - http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/lfc_story/memorial/

British PM Gordon Brown's http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/drilldown/N163989090413-1024.htm

And lastly information - the Memorial single is now charting in the top 20 and in the Northwest of England is number 1 http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/drilldown/N163994090413-1128.htm

I still tear up when I sing You'll Never Walk Alone and never has that been a truer anthem for a club.

Mother Expression

I got a Cricut Expression in the Black Friday sales (the friday after Thanksgiving) and in its box it sat until mid January when I got it out to do a quick card - yeah right!?!?! Plus my creative mojo seemed to be completely hungover and really was no where to be found - it was so bad that I am considering trying to get substantially ahead in my card crafting which I have never done before.

I had this vision of a card with "Mother" going down the side. ARGHHHH! I'm going to have to tackle Design Studio too. Yikes! My brain panicked. So I played with DS and got discouraged and left it for another day. When I struck up the courage again I played and got it sorted out with a bit math on my computer calculator. I picked my card stock, a lovely pearlescent blue - it was going to be a "jacket" for a base card. Well that was the original thought. In the end I thought it would curl too much so I cut it down to be a mat on the card base.

The daffodils are traditional in England for Mothering Sunday which is where this card was headed so that was the inspiration for the pot full of them.

I'm trying to use up supplies so the daffs were from Michaels cardstock that I have plenty and the pot and base card are Bazzill. I used pearlescent chalks on the flowers and pot for dimension and stickles on some of the leaves to add a bit of bling.

I think I would have been happier if I had layered the letters of the "MOTHER" on the side but I just couldn't work out how and it needed to hit the postbox. Hope you enjoy my attempts with my Cricut.

Ingredients

• Card size - 8.5 in x 5.5 in
• Cardstock - Wassau, Georgia Pacific, Michaels
• Cartridges - Plantin, Walk in my Garden
• Color - Pebbles Inc pearlescent chalks, Stickles
• Ribbon - Michaels

I really love those tiger feet...

I guess I can go old school on my singing - That's neat,that's neat, that's neat, that's neat I really love your tiger feet... Glam rock at its best - gotta love a bit of Mud LOL! Come on and dance along, you know you want to!

This is another card I posted in my SCS gallery. Its about my third or forth attempt with my Copics. All the inspiration for this card is my son's High School - colors and mascot.

Looking back at the image I can see things that I would change but I am generally happy with a good percentage of the coloring and the layout is fine - there is only so much you can do for non-frilly boy cards!

I love the High Hopes Tiger image and bought it specifically to use over and over and over again over the next few years! This card really is a hodge podge of brands so here we go and I hope you like it -

Ingredients

• card size - 5.5in x 8.5 in
• stamps - High Hopes Stamps; Kitchen Sink Stamps
• paper - Georgia Pacific, Bazzill, Michael's value pack, Hobby Lobby black textured.
• Color - Copics (low & middle E numbers and warm neutrals from the Ciaos - yes I have all the Ciaos where is that embarrassed smilie - but I do love them!)
• Ink - palette, versachalk (highlighting the embossing)
• Embossing folder - Provocraft

Let it Rock, let it rock, let it rock...

Because when I'm alive, I can feel the fire. Make you come alive...

oh wait...

this is supposed to be a card blog, not a group sing-a-long! LOL! Someone out there in bloggieland knows what I mean and yes Treacle, darling, we are in the Naughties not the 80's. ;)Another card I did for my son's birthday. I took him to his first concert, Live8 in Hyde Park 2005. We are still deciding if we need to do another gig soon, Franz Ferdinand is pretty near and then there are rumors that Kaiser Chiefs are supporting Green Day, ah but I digress again. I scanned the card so you can't really tell from the picture that the guitar is popped up.

Hope you like because I know people struggle with "guy" cards.

Ingredients

• Card size - 5.5 in x 8.5 in
• Cardstock - Georgia Pacific, Bazzill, DCWV Rockstar
• Stamps - Inkadinkado
• Ink - Palette, Memento, Brilliance
• Color - Copics

Oh Boy - Card for an Egg Head

I'm truly blessed to be the mother of an incredibly bright young man, but don't tell him I told you so. He is currently working hard at maintaining his straight A's and is on the school's Academic Team as well.
So when I came across this VivaLasVegastamps image, I just had to use it for him! I hope he continues to try hard and accomplishes his dreams.

BTW the saying is JustRitestampers and it says "Massively" a bit of a play on the E=mc2 equation. Hope you like.

Ingredients

• Card size - 5.5 in x 8.5in
• Stamps - VivaLasVegastamps
• Cardstock - DCWV, Georgia Pacific, Hobby Lobby
• Ink - Palette
• Color - copics

But it kept looking too masculine!!!

OK this probably isn't grungy but it definitely isn't "perky" maybe muted is the correct expression with softer tones of earthy colors and beautiful stamps from Kitchen Sink Stamps and a Stampendous marble texture cube.

My personal challenge for this was to make a card for my MIL using the beautiful humingbird and the Basic Gray Archaic pad - just like many I'm a patterned paper collector. I buy it will all these ideas and get it home and stare at it wondering why I bought it. So I cut rectangles with the front rectangle being smaller than the next and so on. I was going to stack them in a decreasing fashion however, it actually looked too masculine. I stamped the hummingbird with memento inks (I bought all the little teardrop ones that Kitchen Sink Stamps had!). I then used my square Nestabilities to cut out and emboss the image and then to mask as I dappled brown ink over the entire image, leaving a white frame.

I needed a greeting so I turned to my beautiful stamps again and stamped the greeting in the darkest brown and cut again with the Nestabilities. I then thought the white around the image looked too stark so I did my best to match up my greens and some paler memento browns and used my cube Stampendous Marble stamp on both images. I found some Bazzill brown that tied into the color scheme to mount and then thought again - "it looks too masculine" so then I thought (as you do) "D'oh! Hummingbird! I need some flowers" so that is when I decided to add the flower brads and the ribbon bow (it looks a bit like a flower right? LOL).

Well that is it for today. Hopefully I will get some more of my stash up here soon!

Ingredients

• Card size - 5.5 in x 8.5
• Cardstock - Georgia Pacific, Basic Gray, Bazzill
• Stamps - Kitchen Sink Stamps, Stampendous
• Ink - Memento

When Dinosaurs roamed the earth...

No! that wasn't the last time I updated my blog - you cheeky lot. However it is a reference to this card I made for my older brother in law for his birthday this year.

This "Prehistoric Party" is just his scene. Can you tell I know he doesn't follow my blog? LOL. I colored the party with my Copic Markers and this was about their second airing. I'm happy with with the dinosaurs - not really happy with my attempts at the ground and sky. I think I really got rather impatient so I am now making an effort to notice the backgrounds of cards etc so I can try to emulate what appeals to me!

Hope you like my new update. I got several more ready and will try to get blogging tomorrow so I can get back in the groove of this.

Ingredients

• Card Size 5.5in x 8.5in
• Stamps - Stampendous
• Color - Copics
• Cardstock - Georgia Pacific; Archivers