Have a dino-mite birthday (CPS sketch 174)

Ok, so it's my second time playing along with a sketch from Card Positioning Systems, and I'm really enjoying myself. Here is my card for sketch 174, which you can see here. This sketch was a great challenge for this linear brain of mine...I never skew or offset anything, so it was great to have a reason to do so. Thanks for looking!
The kraft cardstock is Recollections, all patterned papers are KI Memories, border punches are EK Success, dinosaur stamp is Prima stamped with Staz-On Timber Brown ink, glitter glue is Stickles by Ranger, ribbon is Basic Basic from Michael's, handwriting was done with American Crafts Memory Markers, stick pin is Dritz and the stopper on the tip is an earring back, machine stitched thread is Singer, and I used Prismacolor markers to color the dinosaur's scales and limbs.

Close-up of bow and pin:

Another view:

"Delightful little things" shadowbox

Okay, so I've never done a project quite like this one before, but I must say, I am quite pleased with how it turned out. And guess what...I actually put MY pictures in it, and I'm KEEPING it!!! That's huge for me, since most of what I make I give to other people. I don't even have a scrapbook of my own pictures, but I've made plenty for others. Anyway, here is a shadowbox that I made into a piece of "scrapbook-related home decor." The box itself has an overall size of 11" x 14", and is divided into 12 compartments. It came with glass, but I removed it. Here is a little peek...


The inspiration for my title came from one of the stamps I used on it. The set is from Technique Tuesday, and it is just fantastic. So many stamps are geared towards card-making, but this set is awesome for scrapbooking. And I got SO MUCH use out of it. Here is my inspiration: "Memories are delightful little things"

And here is my finished product, minus pictures. ***I will be teaching this project as a class at my LSS, Pages In Progress, on Saturday, March 13, 2010. Space is very limited (10 seats), so if you're in Tucson or the surrounding areas and want to take this class, please contact the store. Cost is $45, and it includes the shadowbox. Everything will come pre-cut, stamped, punched, embossed, etc. All you need to do is assemble and add your pictures.*** Sorry for the shameless plug... anyway, here is the shadowbox completely decorated, minus pictures. (You can click on the picture to enlarge it and see more detail)

Here are my pictures of my beautiful boys. The actual shadowbox is not shown in the next two pictures.

Thanks for looking! And again, if you are in southern Arizona and would like to take this class, please contact Pages In Progress. Reserve your seat early! :)

Pumpkin streusel bread...mmm...

I found these cute little loaf pans at Michael's, and immediately knew I wanted to make pumpkin streusel bread for Halloween gifts. They cost $1.00, are oven- and dishwasher-safe, and Michael's usually carries them in different colors and themes. I also got the clear bags at Michael's, and it just so happened that their credit card machines were down, so everybody in the store got 20% off their entire purchase for paying cash. YAY! Anyway, I used this recipe. And the recipe made enough for 4 of these mini loaves, with plenty of streusel to top each one. I realize there are only 3 loaves in these pics, and you may be wondering about the 4th one...let me just say, it was delicious ;). For the tags, I used a Studio G $1 stamp on patterned paper by DCWV. I used Stickles glitter glue on the word "boo". Ribbons are Making Memories, and I secured the tags to the ribbons with silver brads. I thought they turned out really cute!

Another view:

Orange tag, close up:

Green tag, close up:

Purple tag, close up:

Here is what the cream colored pan looks like:

Here's what the black pan looks like:

A view of all three loaves:

I'm nuts about you

I bought a bunch of scalloped Bazzill cardstock last year sometime, and have never used it (it got lost in the stash)...until now! It was a lot of fun to use on this card. It already had the holes in it too, so I triple-stitched them with white floss. The base cardstock is also Bazzill, and the white cardstock that the squirrel is on is Georgia Pacific. The patterned papers are Three Bugs in a Rug. The squirrel stamp is by Recollections, and stamped with Staz-On Timber Brown ink. I colored it in with Prismacolor markers. The ribbon is Offray, and the brown pen I used on the sentiment is American Crafts. Finished size is 4.5" x 6". Thanks for looking!
Here's a close-up of my squirrel. I stamped him (a pink squirrel can be a boy, right?) on Georgia Pacific cardstock, and then cut him out using my Cutterbee scissors. If you don't have a pair yet, GET ONE! They are sharp to the very tip, and therefore great for making small, detailed cuts. Anyway, I then adhered the squirrel to another piece of Georgia Pacific cardstock, cut at 2" x 2". I rounded the corners with a Marvy punch.

And here's just another view:

A few Cuttlebug cards

So, my mother-in-law got a Cuttlebug a few months ago, and I've been wanting to get together and play Cuttlebugs! Well, we finally got to do just that! The boys went out shooting, and we made some adorable cards. Then we went to Carrabba's for dinner...mmm...Carrabba's...my favorite...(drooling)...
...um, back to the cards. On this one, I used the Swiss Dots A2 embossing folder, and the cute little elephant is from one of my MIL's sets. I used my Scor-Pal to score the lines between which I stamped my sentiment and put ribbon. Purely by coincidence, I had pre-cut a bunch of 2" x 2" squares to use with the smaller embossing folders, and after we had embossed the elephant, I saw this scalloped chipboard frame and wondered if they'd fit together. They fit perfectly! And as luck would have it, I had 2 of them, so we could each use one on our cards. The frame is Making Memories (last year's Valentine line), and the stamp is Studio G. Ribbon was from her stash.
Here's a close-up of the little elephant and the frame. I don't know if you can see it or not, but I took a Prismacolor marker (cool grey 10%) and went over the lines of the elephant. I used a little Frosted Lace Stickles on the flower.

Here is another card I made. I used the Swiss Dots on the upper half of the card, and Perfectly Paisley on the bottom half. The stamp is Studio G, and the embellishments are Making Memories (again, last year's Valentine line). I also used my Scor-Pal and embroidery floss.

Here's a close-up of the embossing and a chipboard corner embellishment.

This next card turned out cuter than I thought it was going to. I really wasn't pleased with it as I was making it, but it's growing on me. The frog is from one of the smaller sets that my MIL has, and the background is the Tiny Bubbles A2 folder. The bookplate is Making Memories (you guessed it, last year's Valentine line), and the LOVE stamp is Studio G. The "u" stamp is Hero Arts, and they were colored with Prismacolor markers. The pearly brads were from my stash, and the ribbon was from my MIL's.

Last, but not least, I made this "you're so sweet" card. I scored a line with my Scor-Pal, and embossed the upper portion with the Swiss Dots folder. Below the score line, I used a Martha Stewart border punch, and filled in the larger holes with Fruit Punch Stickles. The black and white chipboard frame and the plastic embellishment inside it are by Making Memories (you know which line). The plastic embellishment was actually a flower with a pink center. I stamped the "you're so sweet" using a Studio G stamp and Staz-On ink, and then place the flower behind the chipboard frame. I trimmed the flower petals that stuck out past the frame.

Here's a close-up of the chipboard frame, the plastic flower embellishment, and the stamp.

Thanks for looking!

Attached at the heart

So, I've never really been one to use sketches or pagemaps or anything like that, but I thought I'd give it a try. This was for a sketch challenge over at www.splitcoaststampers.com. Specifically, it was SC211 that was posted on 01/14/09. I left out a couple of elements on the sketch, but I think it turned out cute. I was trying to use up some scraps, and I was able to do that. The patterned paper is American Crafts, stamp is Studio G in Timber Brown Staz-On ink, colored with Prismacolor markers. The border punch is Martha Stewart. I also used my Cuttlebug for embossing, and embroidery floss from my stash. Thanks for looking!

How sweet!

Here is a fun little card I made as a thank you for Christmas presents. My brother and SIL gave me some Bella stamps, and my parents gave me Prismacolor markers. I thought I would show my appreciation by making cards using the gifts they gave me. Patterned paper is My Mind's Eye, and the light green is the back side of the pattern. The other solid papers are the back sides of some American Crafts patterned papers. The edge punch is Martha Stewart. I also used a metal-rimmed tag, embroidery floss, and buttons from my stash.
Here's a close-up of a "how sweet" stamp by Studio G.

Close-up of "Cupacakeabella". Love her!

l o v e wordbook (Cricut Expression 201 project)

Okay, as promised to the students in my class...here are the page-by-page pictures of the word book we made in the Cricut Expression 201 classes on January 23 and 25. For those of you who are seeing this for the first time, this is a word book that spells out "love." I really like the look of the premade word books that are out there, but altering them is not always that much fun. So, I designed a word book that incorporates the Cricut Expression. For the base of the book, I used chipboard that was cut with a paper trimmer. The book is 6" tall, and there are five pages. The page widths are 2", 4", 6", 8", and 10". The patterned paper that covers the chipboard was also cut with a paper trimmer in the same sizes. The remainder of the cuts you see were cut using the Cricut Expression machine and the Plantin Schoolbook cartridge. The patterned papers are American Crafts, and the cardstock and brads are Bazzill. Ribbon is May Arts, "xoxo" stamp is Studio G, and the two corner stamps are Heidi Swapp. All were stamped with black Staz-On. The binder rings are from OfficeMax.

Here is a picture of the back side of the cover and the "L" page.

Here is the back side of the "L" and the "O" page.

Here we have the back side of the "O" and the "V" page, showing one of the corner stamps.

And here is the back of the "V" page, showing the other corner stamp, and the "E" page.

This was a fun little project to design and teach. Please feel free to post any questions about the book or cut sizes. Thanks for looking!

"Hoppy holidays" spring card

In my most recent card class, I taught various types of pop-up cards. I knew I wanted to include a "spring" card, the name of which has nothing to do with the season, and everything to do with the fact that when you take these babies out of their envelopes, the top part "springs" upward. I wasn't sure what I wanted to put on my card...until I found this cutie-patootie frog. He's part of a very cute set by Hero Arts, but I immediately knew he was the one for my card. I used Bo Bunny Double Dot papers in red and green, plain white cardstock, Staz-On black ink, Stickles, ribbon, computer-generated text, Rain Dots, and the word window punch from Stampin' Up! I cut the white circle behind the froggy with my Cricut Expression and the Plantin Schoolbook cartridge. I cut the red scalloped circle using the Mini Monograms cartridge. I also tried my hand at paper piercing. It was my first time doing both paper piecing and paper piercing. I think I like them both...

Here's the card:



Here is a close-up of the adorable little froggy. I love him! I stamped him onto the green double dot and onto the red double dot, then paper-pieced the red scarf onto the green frog. I then used Black Diamond Stickles on his eyes and on the black dots on the scarf:

Close-up of the "hoppy holidays". I printed the computer-generated words onto the red double dot paper, then used the word window punch. I used two little red Rain Dots on each word.

Here's a close-up of my first attempt at paper piercing. Not too shabby... :)

Best witches

My friend Stephanie, who loves Halloween like I do, just got a new job! So I made her this card and sour cream container to "witch" her good luck! The sentiments are computer-generated (Bewitched font), and I printed onto the ribbon. I really love this trick, and should do it more often. The black patterned paper is by 3 Bugs In A Rug, orange paper is Lasting Impressions, witch stamp is Studio G (wooden), image is stamped with black Staz-On and colored in with Stickles. The black and white star and the orange frame around the witch are Making Memories Glitter Stickers (Spellbound collection). I used my Fiskars Threading Water punch on the card, and my paper crimper to close the sour cream container (which contained mini Reese's cups...mmm...). Here's the set:
The card by itself:
Another view:
Close-up of ribbon on sour cream container.

Happy Halloween pop-up

So, I love Halloween, and I can't get enough of it right now. I'd been wanting to make a free-standing pop-up card ever since I saw one of Dawn Griffith's YouTube tutorials. They are so easy, but produce such a great result! One of my Cricut secret sisters sent me this cute spider stamp, and I was so excited to get to use it. I embossed the background with the Cuttlebug spider web embossing folder. I made sure to use a white-core paper; when I embossed it, I placed a piece of carbon paper on top of the orange paper inside the embossing folder. The black carbon transferred onto the orange paper, then I sanded all the raised parts to reveal the white core. Papers are Making Memories, spider stamp is Stampendous, happy halloween stamp is Studio G, ribbon is American Crafts, white gel pen for doodle dots, Staz-on black ink.

Here's what it looks like closed and ready for mailing:
Here it is free-standing:
Close-up of the happy halloween stamp:

I know it's only July...

...but I'm getting so excited for Halloween already. So tonight, my friend and fellow Halloween enthusiast, Stephanie came over to make some Halloween cards. It was so much fun, despite the Stickles "incident". LOL Anyway, here's the first card. Patterned paper and tag are Making Memories, chipboard "h" is Cloud 9. Pin is Heidi Grace. Threading water punch along the bottom. Happy Halloween stamp is Hero Arts, stamped with Staz-On.
Here's the second one. Patterned paper is Making Memories (of course, it's the same paper as on the first card). Black scalloped circle is Bazzill, cut with Cricut Mini-Monograms. This originally had a stamped image on the other side of it, but it fell prey to the Stickles "incident" and had to be cut out. But it worked out well. Stephanie still got to use her stamped image, and I got to salvage the scallop. I like the final result. Letters are fun foam. Happy early Halloween!

A cherry hello (Seriously, LOVE this one!)

Okay, so I love this card! I so wish I could claim it as a Kim original, but I can't. I give full credit to Dawn Griffith (SU demo) for the technique, but of course I used different paper and a different stamp set, since I have no SU stuff. Check out her video tutorials on YouTube, or link to her blog on the right. She's fantastic! This is like a card and an envelope all smooshed into one. Of course, if you were going to mail it to somebody, it would need a real envelope. I found that a lighter weight paper (not cardstock) works best on this card, and I'm absolutely in love with every part of it! You probably can't see it in the pics, but the cherries are covered with Glossy Accents. This card screams summer get-together to me!

Here is the card with the top flap open.

Here is the left flap of the "envelope", which bears the sentiment "a cherry hello". I love this stamp set so hard!

Here is the inside of the card, revealing some more cute little cherries, and a place to write your message. Patterned paper is Making Memories, stamp set is Stampendous, Berrylicious cardstock from Bazzill, white cardstock is bulk, stamped with Staz-On, colored using the magic colored pencil technique (MCPT, aka Gamsol magic), Glossy Accents on big cherries. Thanks for looking!