Card Fronts

Here are some pictures of card fronts I have made for swaps over on the Cricut MB.

For this swap, the card had to contain a butterfly.  I designed this on my Gypsy with the Mother's Day (the background) and Gyprsy Wanderings (the butterfly) carts.  I love the lacey look of the backgroud.  I am going to have to look at the file on the Gypsy to see where I got the label and Thanks from.  I cut the butterfly's shadow from vellum and stickled the edges with Diamond Stickles and the placed the detailed cut on top and sorta of curled the wings with a pencil to give it a more three dimensional look.  (If anyone wants this file, let me know and I will have to email it to you).  This is one of my favorite cards I have made.  I love that I have it on my Gypsy because if I want to use it for a different occasion all i have to do is pull it up and change the sentiment.  I think the possibilities for this one is endless because it would be great for congratulations, deepest sympathy, thinking of you, etc.

This is the first one I made for the swap and you had to have an embossed item on your card.  I used the Moraccan Screen Cuttlebug folder on various color core black magic paper and sanded it to show the embossing then used my ribbon punch and threaded ribbon through to match the color core of the paper.  Next I pop dotted the flowers. 

There are two more card fronts due for this swap, one for September and one for October.  I love having these on hand because you can put them on a card you have or make your own out of cardstock and you have a card ready to go.  They are great for the forgotten or last minute occasions.

Christmas Cards

Here are some cards I made for a Christmas card swap that had several groups with different themes over on the Cricut MB. This was the Kids card group. I used the Mickey Santa die cut for the Cuttlebug on blue core black magic paper which was embossed with the tiny heart Cuttlebug folder which I turned to make it look like snow flakes after it was sanded.

This one was the Let It Snow. I used my Just Rite snowflake stamp, the snowflake paper was from a holiday stack I picked up at Joann's, I think it was DCWV but not positive and kraft cardstock.

This next one was the non-traditional, I decided to use browns and blues as my colors which I think are non-traditional Christmas colors. I used the Lacey Label cart for the circles and "Joy" cut on kraft cardstock.

This one was the Snowman group. I used my Just Right snowman and snowwoman stamps along with a mistletoe sentiment. This Merry Christmas paper is from the same stack as the snowflake paper above again with kraft cardstock.

This last one was for the Vintage group. I used toppers from Flower Soft along with my Vintage Christmas Flower Soft and made two different cards. One said Holly & Ivy and one said Noel. This is my first experience with Flower Soft and I really love how it turned out. This is probably a 5X7 card whereas all the others are A2 size.

I am so excited and cannot wait to get the other cards back from this swap.  After this swap, I have almost 50 of my cards made for Christmas because I made extras of the ones I made and kept them. 

A New Challenge blog

There is a new challenge blog for all of your critter stamps called The Fuzzy Wuzzy Challenges.  On the first Friday of every month, there will be a new challenge posted!!! All medias, brands and projects are welcome to enter, as long as the project fits the criteria of the current challenge, and features an animal!  The first challenge will be posted this Friday, September 3rd.  They are offering candy to help them spread the word so go ovr to The Fuzzy Wuzzy Challenges to find out how to win these great prizes.

Up for grabs is:
$30 (AUD) gift voucher from Tickled Pink Stamps
Two digital stamps of your choice and an unmounted Hansel rubber stamp from The Stamping Bazaar
$15 (AUD) digi stamp gift voucher from Make It Crafty
One Popcorn Bear set - Golfing Popcorn
One TGF Marlene Stamp

Whiff of Joy New Winter Release on September 1st

Have you seen the new Whiff of Joy winter stamp release coming out on September 1st.  The DT is showing sneak peeks on their blogs.  You should go here to get the list of blogs showing sneak peeks plus Katharina is offering up a Winter Kit as blog candy (pic below) so make sure you go there to see how you can enter.

Claudia did a beautiful card here with three of the stamps from this set.  But I think my favorite card showcasing the new release is Jeanette's card using Henry on the train here because my son loves trains, anything with trains, and when I seen this card, it reminded me of him.

Whereabouts

Just wanted to drop a quick post to say that I am still here.  I had an accident on August 1st and tore my meniscus and dislocated my knee cap.  My knee cap relocated by itself but caused the most pain and did the most damage.  I had an immobilizer on and was on crutches until August 12th so did not have much mobility. When I met with the ortho on August 12th, she gave me a flexible brace and told me I could go off the crutches and start driving again.  It has been a challenge with two young ones and full-time work but my DH has done a lot and continues to be a big help.  I have meet with an ortho surgeon and he wants to see if physical therapy will help heal and strengthen my knee enough so that I do not have to have surgery.  I will meet with the surgeon again in late September to see if all the therapy paid off and I do not have to get surgery.

I have been working on several projects and have taken some pictures butI am having internet issues and cannot get them to post at the moment so will have to keep working on that.

Amy is celebrating

Amy is celebrating using a 1000 sheets of paper to make cards.  Here is what she says:

".  . . I thought it would be fun to combine that celebration with another crazy milestone that I've been keeping track of and finally hit this past week... you see, since I started making cards and posting them here I've been keeping track of the number of different sheets of pattern paper that I cut into for my cards just to see how long it would take to get to 1000. I'm excited to say that it only took a couple weeks over my year anniversary to get there! I told you this was crazy! LOL!

Crazy or not though, I'm in the mood to celebrate (and clear out some paper) so I've got A THOUSAND 6x6 sheets of paper that I'm giving away! Wanna see what 1000 sheets of paper looks like? Take a look-see..."

She is giving away a lot of different prizes, including various stamps, so go here to see what else she is giving away and how to enter for your chance to win.

After the sad closure of Magical Crafts Joanne and the other DT girls got together to set up a brand new fortnightly challenge blog Craft Your Days Away and it will be launching with their first challenge on...Saturday 7th August.  It will still be a multi-crafts challenge blog, it'll be much the same as before just a brand new name and home.

Of course to help spread the word they have some blog candy up for grabs for 3 lucky winners.

Prize 1

Prize 2

Prize 3

So how do you enter the blog candy.... go here to find out.

Closing date for all blog candy entries will be Friday 6th August at 16:00 (UK time), and the winners will be announced along with their 1st challenge the next day.

Victoria Case Blog Candy

I am back from vacation and am trying to get back into the swing of things and get caught up on some of the blogs I follow.  One of the things that caught my attention was that Victoria Case is coming out with some new images for SCACD on July 30th.  Go to Victoria Case's blog to find out how to enter for a chance to win the new sheet, plus two more chances by visiting the SCACD blog and the QuixoticPaperie blog.

The Townscrappers Last Challenge for Summer

The Town Scrapper and its Scrapettes are going on a summer hiatus from now, until September 10.  You can go here to visit the challenge blog.

This week's challenge is: Anything Goes! Just post your cutest project for the week! 

Phebe, the owner The Town Scrapper store, stocks various stamps and you can use any of them on your project for the challenge.
All you have to do to enter to win a fabulous prize is to post on your blog and tell everyone about the Townscrappers "last post until after Labour Day", and be sure to link back to The Town Scrapper in your post.

Crafters Companion's New Release

Crafters Companion will be releasing a brand new Collection of 12 Stamps and a CD, this new collection will feature as the Pick of the Week on Create and Craft from 11am On Friday 16th July .

This awesome SWALK collection is a bit different from the previous releases and features some of the cutest characters and wonderful sentiments that will appeal to anyone from 1 to 100. The CD has been designed to complement the Stamps perfectly and features the usual popular designs sets, borders alphabets , inserts, verse writer etc , they have also included 2 sets of co-ordinating papers plus the most amazing co-ordinating flowers that can be resized and layered to make awesome embellishments for your creations.
 
To celebrate the launch of the new release of  Crafters Companion News and Inspriations blog is offering the complete POW to one lucky winner drawn at random at midnight Saturday 17th July and announced on Sunday 18th July.

The DT are showing sneak peeks all week long and offering a little candy of their own.

Leann

Bev

Wendy

Debbie

Lou

Jacqui

Claire

Elizabeth Bell Blog Candy

The Definitive Elisabeth Bell Blog Candy Give Away will be open for 6 days, closing on Friday July 16th at 11:59 pm, Arizona time. The winner will be announced on Saturday July 17th at noon (or 12:00 pm).It’s that time again - Blog Candy time! Woot!!

Up for one lucky winner is the “Definitive Blog Candy Give Away”, which has the following stamps from the rubber stamp companies that you and I love!:

Belles ‘n Whistles - SEVEN beautiful pre-cut clear, genuine Photopolymer stamps - The Forever Young Collection: A Child’s Prayer, Merry-Go!, Clowning Around, Eden with Teddy, Fairy Play, Little Eden, Princess Tales and Sweet Dreams (just so you know, these gorgeous stamps are flying off the shelves fast and one is already out of stock! So the lucky winner will be very lucky to get these! :)

Whiff of Joy - TWO Stamp Kits featuring uncut, beautifully mounted stamps: Scheherazade (1001 Nights) with 7 stamps and beautiful sentiments created by the very talented Katharina Frei AND Aladin (1001 Nights) with 7 stamps and more beautiful sentiments created by Katharina Frei, owner of Whiff of Joy Stamps

SCACD - TWO full uncut, unmounted sheets of yummy stamps! Sampler Edition #4 containing 7 stamps, and my latest release through SCACD, Sampler Edition #5 containing 7 more delightful stamps

In total, there are THIRTY-SIX stamps including wonderful sentiments from Whiff of Joy!

I so want to win this!!  I love all of her stamps. 

Jodi's Birthday Candy

Jodi is giving away five different candies to celebrate her birthday.  Drop by her blog here to find out how to win some of the candy, look how yummy.  I wouldn't mine winning any of them.  They are all great.  You have until July 31st to enter.  While your there take a look at her beautiful cards, she does awesome work.

Dance Recital

Well after running to dance every Wednesday and Saturday for the last 9 months, the dance recital was finally here.  Bailey was wonderful.  As long as she didn't look at anyone else, she performed perfectly.  It was only when she watched the others, and if they messed up, she messed up.  She did a great job and loved every minute of it.  She loves to dance and is such a drama queen.  The ballet production was a Paris Tour theme and she was a poodle.  They were so cute with their white tutus trimmed in pink and little puffy tail and ears.  So for her card, I used the poodle cut off of the Create a Critter cart on the Cricut and the rest were stickers from a Creative Memories pack I got a while ago, I forget the name of the pack.

She also perform a Gymnastic routine which was to Work It and a Jazz routine to Witch Doctor by Alvin & The Chipmunks.  She was also in the finale which was a compiliation of songs from Dirty Dancing, it was really cute.

Graduation Projects

Bailey has graduated from Kindergarten.  We made treat bags for her to take in (which I did not take a pic of, I will have to take one of hers before she opens it) and a thank you card for her teacher for being the best teacher (I forgot to take a picture of the card for her teacher before she took it in).  She has done really well this year.  She even won an award for writing stories, I was so proud of her.  She loves to talk so the storytelling is probably a natural extension of that ;)  She is growing up so fast, sometimes I miss when she was a baby. 

Here is the card I made to give to Bailey and wrote how proud we were of her inside.

Father's Day Cards

Here is the Father's Day card I made for DS to give to DH.  I used a blue based card with paper from 7 Gypsies and the image is a Victoria Case exclusive for The Town Scrapper, I received the stamped image in a blog hop candy.  I stamped the inside with "I want to follow in your footsteps" and below that "Happy Father's Day".  I really like this image, it is so adorable and reminds me of my DS because he loves to put on DH's slippers and walk around the house.

I colored an image to make a card for my DD to give to DH too but she decided she wanted to make her own card to give him so I did not use it.  She really likes making her own cards and she has started drawing pictures and placing them in her "memory book".