Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Bah! Humbug! Penguin Challenge



This may be a really lean week of crafting for me so I'm gonna apologize in advance. Besides several appointments (just got back from the dentist, YUCK!) I've got tons to do for our annual 4th of July party and houseguests, so I'm scramblin' to complete NEXT week's DT cards. Or Tiddly Inks challenge has been postponed for a week (which is why you didn't see a Tiddly Tuesday card yesterday) but don't forget to comment on my BBTB2 Blog Hop card HERE for a chance to win a $40 gift certificate to Custom Crops. I have, however, managed to do my Bah!Humbug! card for the week and the challenge is penguins. Since I've done a few penguin cards in my time, I was looking for something new. This cutie from Winter Frolic fit the bill. (I'm actually starting to like that cart now, who knew?) Anyway, I made a shaped card in DS and flocked his little bod. I embossed the hat and added a pompom and Flower Soft to the rim. Initially I just used Glossy Accents on the lolly pop, but it just wasn't enough so I cut off the stick used more Glossy Accents to adhere it to the back of a Tim Holtz Fragment. Then I added a colored toothpick and bow.


The Snowflake is from a Cuttlebug cut and emboss combo that was lying on my work table from??? The little guy looked a little plain (and actually there was a smudge of black flock at the bottom of his tummy from my grubby fingerprint to hide) so I stuck it on there and added a Jolee sticker to the center. Kinda weird but not so totally out there, do ya think? Anyway, not much dimension but I needed this to be quick so there he is. I'm also adding this as my 5th card to the June Anything Goes challenge at Christmas Cards All Year 'Round.

Monday, June 27, 2011

The Burtonesque Dolls Put Me in a Burton Movie Challenge


This is my second post of the day, only because I'm scrambling to join this challenge. If you're looking for the BBTB2 Blog Hop, please scroll down. The Burtonesque Dolls are back in business and I've been trying to play along. This week in particular the prize is something I covet: your choice of 3 of the new Burton-weenies stamps from Simply Betty! The challenge is put an image, any image, in a Burton movie. I had tons of ideas for this one but I just couldn't pull it together. Then finally, when rifling through my Stampotique Stamps, I came across '3 in a Round'. Aren't they cute? Kinda like ET and friends. So anyway, I thought they looked like they might just be peeking out of the scary tree in Sleepy Hollow. So I found a tree on Oct 31st cartridge and stretched it in DS until there was enough room on the trunk to cut a hole for the little guys to peek out of. Then I cut the Headless Horseman from Happy Hauntings. The background is done with Distress Inks. Added some Rain Dot bats and a jack-o-lantern epoxy sticker and there ya go. I got a little slap happy because I'm tired, so I hope you find the computer generated sentiment amusing. Don't they look apprehensive? And wouldn't you be?

BBTB2 Watermelon Challenge and Blog Hop!



WooHoo! It's the last Monday of the month and you know what that means, don't you? It's Blog Hop time at BBTB2. I'm kicking off this blog hop, but if you get lost along the way, check back at BBTB2 for the full list of participants. This week our fabulous fearless leader, Heather, as gone "old school" and chosen the watermelon from one of the "oldies but goodies" cartridges, Stretch Your Imagination. Of course, if you don't own that one, any watermelon will do but please make it a "new" creation. My first thought was to have a little kid taking a bite so I welded the shadow of the face from another oldie, Doodlecharms, to the shadow of the watermelon. I was gonna stop there, but then thought of the coming holiday and decided to go all patriotic, adding the fireworks and flag from Stand and Salute. There was method to my madness, because I really wanted to join the Whimsicle Wednesday Let's Get Patriotic Challenge and didn't think I could get to it unless I combined. (Sorry Steph, one of these days...) I glittered the fireworks and added gems and a glittered foam star (from M's) and embossed the flag and added tiny adhesive stars by Recollections. The little dude looked mighty bald so I added a curly paperclip for hair, much better!

Only the watermelon portion of this card opens because of the weird design, but it was fun to do something a bit different for a change. The bite was done with a simple hole punch. The rub-on sentiment is from Melissa Frances. There's not a ton of dimension, but I got a kick out of popping his mouth open so he looks like he's taking a giant bite. Now hop along to my sweet and beautiful DT sis Krista has in store for you. I'm sure it's just yummy! But don't forget to leave a comment for a chance to win a $40.00 gift certificate from Custom Crops. They have some cool new products that I have't seen elsewhere, so be sure to check it out. I'll be drawing the winner using Random Org on Friday, July 1.


Sunday, June 26, 2011

Macabre Monday From the Bone Pile



This week's Macabre Monday is From the Bone Pile. Translation: must use only scraps from your stash (except card base and main image). Hey no prob. My scraps remain on my desk, my table, my floor for MONTHS! Seriously, my scrap room is a MESS! Recognize the top layer here? It's the negative from a card I did for MM on May 9th. You can view it HERE. It was still hangin' around so how could I NOT use it? I spritzed it with this groovy new stuff called Goosebumps to give it that awesome texture. The fabby stamps I filled the holes with are all Stampotique by Torrente /Penney. How convenient that the current Stampotique Designer's Challenge is also Use your Scraps. A match made in heaven me thinks. I've used Halloween Cube 1, Gobby Lin and Gog Lin, so cute, in a creepy sort of way...PERFECT!


Now just in case you doubt that this was made with all scraps, I've snapped a pic of the rust colored mat See the big cut outs from Nesties? I had to hide those with another scrap of kraft also sprayed with Goosebumbs and inked with Distress. It acts like a resist, how cool!


Just barely enough room to pop my negative mat and then add the fussy cut images that were colored with Copics. The spider web corners are MS from more of the same kraft scrap and actually, even the card base was a scrap from a 12 x 12 piece of card stock that I'd cut my B!H! card from earlier last week (you can't see it because I could only cut it 6x6 and that was the size of the rust mat but you can take my word for it). It felt pretty darn good to use the stuff I usually toss (after I get so buried in stuff I can't find my work surface) so be sure and play along. You'll feel so virtuous if you do!

Friday, June 24, 2011

Tiddly Inks Sugar and Spice challenge



TGIF! It's Fabulous Inky Friday at the Tiddly Inks Challenge blog where the winners of the previous week's challenge are revealed and we spotlight cards by our fans (and some of the designers as well). Loads of inspiration, and if you're featured, you may grab a button and display it proudly on your blog. Our current challenge is Sugar and Spice with a Twist; create a humorous or sarcastic card. I nabbed this freebie sentiment from Graphicat Designs and immediately thought of the gorgeous Cast your Spell Tiddly, one of the many Gothic Cute digis available, who seems to be tossing fairy dust all over the place. After coloring her with Copics, I doused her liberally with Stardust Stickles and cut her out and embossed with Nesties Wonky Rectangles. I cut another mat and punched a border out of glitter paper. Then cut the sentiment and small mat with smaller Wonkies, embossed and ran them through my Xyron and glittered them with MS fine crystal and Doodlebug pink Sugar Coating. I ran terrifically Tacky tape around the outside of the card front and used Doodlebug glitter on that as well. DP is K&Co.

Here's a better look at the sparkle on Cast your Spell. I found the little metal flower (star?) in the $1.)) bin at J's. If glitter is her Prozac, she must be feeling mighty fine! If you haven't stopped by the Shop lately, you're in for a surprise. Christy has been hard at work bringing you tons of new images in the What's New section. There is truly something for everyone! I'm also entering it in the Crafty Creations Let it Shine Challenge and Magical Monday Challenge which is punches and embossing (the Nesties mats are embossed after cutting)

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Bah! Humbug Scarves and Mittens Challenge


Poor Max was ill and Ann is a giddy new Grandma, but the fab guest designers as B!H! carried the torch and brought fab inspiration to this week's Bah! Humbug! challenge which was Scarves and Mittens. Honestly, I've been running on empty and why I decided to do a Cricut shaped card at the 11th hour is beyond me, but I managed. All DP's are from the DCWV Homespun Stack.

It's a shaped front card with all the front cuts coming from Winter Wonderland, welded to the rounded rectangle from George.

Not quite as much dimension as I planned but I ran out of steam. I did flock the mitten cuffs and did a bit of doodling and added some ribbon bows, but that's about it. Note to self: Don't start designing one of these after lunch or it's gonna be a LONG afternoon. LOL Also pretty tough to work on when it's near 100 outside. YIKES! Short post, can you tell I'm dead tired and it's only 8:00PM? I'm also entering this in the Christmas Cards All Year 'Round June Challenge.

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Better Late Than Never BBTB2



So how many people totally freaked that I didn't have a BBTB2 project on Monday? Yeah sure, fess up. It wasn't intentional. I had my card design in DS and then IT WOULDN'T CUT! My dear friend and fabulously talented DT sister Susan chose the Sunny Days cut from Celebrate with Flourish. I'll admit my Macabre Monday project took WAY longer than expected, and I'm sorry to those of you who don't appreciate my "creep factor," but sometimes just the process of doing something new becomes really exhilarating so... Anyway I started to cut my BBTB2 card and it wouldn't cut in DS. I was really late so I emailed my DT sisters and Susan came to the rescue telling me that Celebrate with Flourish was listed twice in DS, once as Celebrate With Flourish and once as Celebrate With Flouris which was a correction for the screwed up first one. Yup, this one I'd done with the wrong one so it wouldn't work and as it was late in the game, I just couldn't redesign it with the right one. Monday I had stuff to do and this morning I had a dentist's appt. I was gonna blow it off (because technically we're only required to do 2 projects a month) but I take this DT position VERY seriously and I've only missed two weeks in the several years I've been on this team (and those were when I didn't have the required cut and there were no substitutions.) So here it is. Not exactly how I envisioned but... Shaped card, no surprise.

Not as much dimension as I'd hoped but it's okay. The colors were inspired my the Whimsical Wednesday Color Challenge as I'm entering this in that challenge as well. I'm hoping the pix speak for themselves because I'm really tired. Getting up at around 4:00 am every morning takes it's toll and tomorrow I have yet ANOTHER eye appt. Anybody know a good seeing eye dog? We have great inspiration on BBTB2 this week (well, when don't we?) and remember the challenge runs for 2 weeks. If you don't have the cart, you may substitute and do the phrase from another cart. Please remember we'd like new projects only, not back dates and be sure to link your challenge to BBTB2.

Monday, June 20, 2011

Macabre Monday Menacing Mermaids




This week at Haunted Design House our challenge is Menacing Mermaids. OOOHHH, did we have fun with this one! Forget Ariel! Mermaids have always had the reputation of causing shipwrecks and luring sailors to their deaths (conveniently forgetting that humans can't breathe under water, yeah right!) with their irresistible songs. They are often portrayed as beautiful creatures, but in the dark gloomy depths of the sea they revert to the the horrific creature they REALLY are. BWAHAHAHA!



So there ya go. It's been awhile since I've gotten my full creep on and I was afraid the Minions might just drum me out of the corps. Never fear! I was REALLY inspired by this challenge! It started with the digi skull head I received for FREE by participating in the Skull Appreciation Day Blog Hop with Smeared Ink. The rest of the skelly was cut and pasted from the Muertos Doll digi from Bombshell Stamps. They were shaded a bit with Copics, then fussy cut and glittered. Her tail was cut from the Dreams Come True (yikes, with dreams like this, who needs nightmares?) Cricut cartridge, again shaded with Copics and embossed with the Cuttlebug.






Her hair is a ripped up used dryer sheet, inked with Distress Inks, dabbed with silver acrylic paint and glittered. the background was done with Distress Inks in the smear, spritz and swipe manner on a craft sheet, dried, ironed and distressed with my Distrezz-it-All, and overstamped with Perfect Medium and brushed with Perfect Pearls. It turned out too big for a card once the mermaid was popped on there so I used my Grand Caliber and the 3 largest Spellbinders Grand Labels Four to cut and emboss a base. This was also stamped with Perfect Medium and brushed with Perfect Pearls. The stamp is the Large Elegant Words background stamp from Heartfelt Creations.







"Siren Song" was computer generated and printed on a Fanciful Label from the Cuttlebug Embossing Plus folder. It was inked and glittered as well. For additional texture I added a woven piece that was cut from a pouch that came with some silverware. It was inked with Distress, dabbed with acrylics and glittered too. This was the closest I've ever gotten to mixed media and I have the blue fingers to prove it. LOL







All that was need was a hanger and some fibers and ribbon to trail from the bottom and a Recollections brad to dress it up a bit. Now, if you dare, check out the rest of the Minions fabulous creations at HDH. I'm sure you'll be inspired to play along. I'm also entering this in my DT Sis Susan's Guest DT Monochromatic Challenge over on the Smeared and Smudged Forum. I'm thinkin' it's close enough, eh Susan? And I'm also entering it in the Cardmadfairy's Under the Sea Challenge and the Shopping Our Stash SOS Challenge using Spellbinders, Smeared Ink, Ocean theme, skull, sparkle, stamping, Siren's Song.


And WooHoo! Look at this!


I made Top 3 at SOS - badge



and this! I love it when people appreciate my "dark side". LOL






Sunday, June 19, 2011

Happy Father's Day from the Cats



Goliath new exactly what he wanted for a Father's Day card this year. He's been "gifting" Daddy almost daily, although we've closed the cat door at night to cut down on unpleasant "surprises" (see bottom of post HERE if you're interested). The rat banner is done with a MS punch some twine and the Cuttlebug Monogram Seals Emboss Plus folder. He's broadened his hunting skills to include birds (on the DP by Heidi Grace) and of course we can't forget the appetizer mice (also a MS border punch.) Goliath, himself, is from a Sticky note pad by Paper House productions that he swears he modeled for.


I glued him to card stock for strength, cut him out and popped him, along with the hanging rats and monogram seals. Before taking them out of the folder, I colored the letters with gel pens. After removal, I inked the edges.

And inside... the little lizard is a Cottage Cutz Die and I've added lidded goggle eyes. He's still smiling because he has no idea he's dessert. Both cats enjoy chasing and catching lizards but we always thought they must taste nasty since Goliath always let them go. Last time I heard Jezzie's muffled "I've got something for you" meow I was totally surprised when she chomped one right down. EEEWWWW!!! I'm assuming it's an acquired taste, but one she's dying to share with her Daddy. She says it tastes just like chicken, yeah, right!


Of course Jezzie's card is all about her. I made a shaped card with Design Studio using Car Decals. I cut the interior pieces by hiding the contours of the regular Cat2 and cutting them pieces individually in the other papers. Jezzie couldn't decide whether she wanted to be fuzzy or sparkly so I used Sparkly Fluff to cover both bases. Attached to her bow in is a silver charm that says "Special". She's a very skittish and wild thing, but she's Daddy's Little Princess and has just recently allowed him to actually comb her, resulting in far fewer hairballs and quite the fluffy coat. She thinks she's just "boofy" (beautiful) these days and when Daddy bends down and tells her she's his pretty girl she stretches and rolls over to show him her tummy.


So the inside reads "Daddy, I feel like a princess all boofy and new and it's all because of you!" The hearts are RainDots. Oh oh! Jezzie just noticed I forgot the hugs and kisses... better go fix that! I'm entering these cards in the Whimsical Wednesday Father's Day Challenge.

Saturday, June 18, 2011

Simply Betty Halloween AND Emo Challenge



All month long, the Simply Betty Stamps blog is celebrating the relaunch of their challenges and the fabulous new release of Burton-Weenies stamps! WooHoo! Talk about some "'tude!", these teens have it in spades. I'm seriously in love with THEM ALL! So of course, instead of doing my DT work or a Father's Day card for DH from the cats, I HAD to sneak in a card for the Halloween Challenge. The challenge is to do anything Halloween. No problem here, that's for sure! I used Mummy Lola from the Emo Halloween stamps that I don't seem to see on the site anymore. Anyway, I colored Lola with copics and cut her out. In my Halloween stash I came upon this fab Pink Paislee paper that literally did all the work for me. I distressed it lightly with my Distrezz-it-All and inked the edges with black soot. Then, besides Lola, all I added were some lightening stickers from the Eerie collection by Basic Grey and a rub on sentiment and jack-o-lantern from Creative Imaginations.

Then I popped Lola with dimensionals and called it done! I'm also entering it in the current month long Emo challenge at Simply Betty Stamps. Do you believe Simply Betty Stamps is one year old? And it all started with the Emos. I was also going to enter it in Fabrizio's Mummy or Quilling Challenge but I missed it. Bummer! But if you love Halloween, Making Halloween Cards is a new challenge blog dedicated to that holiday and there's a new challenge that started TODAY!

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Bah!Humbug! "Whateva" (Teen Card Challenge) and Stampotique CAS Challenge





When I saw this week's "Whateva!" teen card challenge at Bah! Humbug! I knew immediately that I'd be using one of the quirky Christmas stamps by Torrente/Penney for Stampotique. These stamps really have some " 'tude!" Then seeing the Stampotique Designers Challenge was a CAS card (seriously, do you believe two posts in this style in one week?) I figured combining the challenges made some sense. Meet "O Joy". Doesn't he look absolutely thrilled? LOL Tell me you haven't seen that look on plenty of teen faces. He's stamped and colored with Copics with the computer generated sentiment printed around him. He's cut and matted with Nesties Deckled Mega Rectangles and the card front itself is embossed with a 5x7 Cuttlebug snowflake folder. All that was added was an MS icicle punched border embossed with a Cuttlebug border folder. Pretty fit for a teen and CAS enough? Hope so. I'm also entering this is Ujjwal's Simple and Embossed challenge on Yvonne's Do More With Less Blog and Christmas Cards All Year 'Round June Challenge.

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Tiddly Inks Simplify, One Layer Card



Oh what a challenge from the Tiddly Inkers today! Simplify and make a one layer card. What? Eiyiyi! As you know clean and simple is hard enough for me, but ONE LAYER!? Fortunately I'd been blog hopping and came across a beautiful card that StampinAngelJenn had made for her hubby's birthday HERE. The sentiment just spoke to me so I "borrowed" it and used Love Hurts to create a one layer card. Jenn informed me that the sentiment is actually part of the gorgeous image she used by Michelle Perkett Studio. I sized and colored each heart individually on my Pagemaker Pro computer program, added the computer generated sentiment and used my Cuttlebug border to emboss above and below.




I also made some quick note cards using one of Christy's Colored Art images. Her beautiful Flower Blooms is perfect for any occasion and would make a lovely card gift set in the blink of an eye. The image has a soft yellow background so I sized it to fit the inside of a Nesties Classic Scalloped rectangle and I embossed the frame (instead of cut it) using my Grand Caliber. This would work with your Cuttlebug or Big Shot as well. I'm also entering this card in the Less is More One Layer Frame it Challenge.


Simply print your image and tape your Nestie to the card front using removeable tape.


Turn your card cut side up on the base plate, but instead of using the cutting plate, use the embossing mat and plate as your sandwich and run it through your machine.


Here's how it looks on the inside after I punched tiny holes and threaded Peapod twine from The Twinery through to dress up the front. Easy peasy! Christy has loads of fabulous colored images in the Colored Art Section of the SHOP that makes cardmaking a breeze! Christy also has a fabulous Freebie Template and tut on her blog HERE. There is some exciting news about the new shop with new features and for less than a day, today, there's a special freebie printable notecard set available when you register for the new shop so hurry! Be sure to visit Christy's Blog to find out the deets and exciting new coming attractions. Now check out the rest of the Tiddly Inkers inspirational one layer cards and we hope you decide to simplify with us this week.

Monday, June 13, 2011

BBTB2 Freshly Picked Gnomes Challenge



Happy Monday! It's time for another BBTB2 challenge and this week our dear and fabuously talented DT sister Theresa chose any gnome from the Freshly Picked cartridge. I fortunately do have Freshly Picked, but if you don't, you must drop by BBTB2 to see the creative ways my sisters came up with gnomes from other carts. Super fun! I made a gatefold card by welding the flipped shadows of the gnomes to the shadow of the gazebo. Amazingly, the whole card is made using Freshly Picked! WooHoo!


There are quite a few layers to these gnomes, and I find that one of the easiest ways to deal with that is to cut some of the layers in plain white card stock and color them with my Copics. Besides the areas that will show, I also color around the edges of where the layers will be placed (especially if I'm gonna pop them) so you don't have glaring white edges when you view the card from the side. It doesn't have to be neat or anything, or solid. Color just a quarter inch or so in. I considered trying to draw a mouth on the Juliet (I've got Gnomeo and Juliet on the brain, here) but decided against it. Heck, Tilda gets along fine with no mouth. Just think how popular she is. And anyway, Juliet doesn't look like she's missed too many meals...so...


I didn't do a whole lot of popping on this one, quite frankly because I was still working on it this morning. Nothing like waking up at 4:30 AM on Monday knowing you have a DT project to finish! But yesterday was gorgeous (for the first time in weeks), and when DH asked if I wanted to go out for a late lunch at one of the wineries I just couldn't refuse. And after...well...


I only cut the gazebo in one layer because popping the inside makes it difficult to close and at some point I'll add a sentiment. I did emboss it with the Distressed Stripes Cuttlebug folder, though and did a bit of doodling. The vines and flowers wiere also cut in shite and colored with Copics and I added yellow adhesive pearl centers. so what do you think? Maybe cute for an anniversary card? Inside it could say "Just like Gnomeo and Juliet". They don't die in that movie, do they? Well, it's another gorgeous day and I'm off to walk. Don't want to end up looking like Juliet... Catch ya later.

Macabre Monday Kuriously Korroded with Kenny K




This week's Macabre Monday Challenge calls for a card that is "kuriously korroded" as in sanded, torn or otherwise distressed, sponsored my the fabulous Kenny K. The Minions cackled when I chose my Kenny K image, which is Mae Western, but I couldn't help it, it was RODEO Weekend here in Livermore. How could I not? And while she's hardly macabre, I do think she has a bit of a nasty streak, don't you? Korroded it is. The denim paper is torn, the C'oredinations is embossed with Tim Holtz Woodgrain and sanded and chewed with my Distrezz-It-All and there's quite a bit of inking going on. Mae is colored with Copics and fussy cut and she's sittin' on one gigantic spur, cut with the Old West Cartridge on my Circut. So is that fab barbed wire.



So here's where the nasty somes in. She's been ridin' that cowboy HARD! See that blood on the spur? And a bit on the barbed wire, too. Did that cowboy try to escape?..Nah... Too much pleasure in this pain...Oh, that was LAST week...my bad! LOL



A little rope action inside and the sentiments were computer generated and cut and matted with Nesties Labels Seventeen. YeeHaw! Now get along and see what the rest of the Minions have in store for you and be sure to play along for a chance to win some Kenny K's! (try to make you're a little darker than mine, though. I was almost drummed out of the corps. ;) I'm also entering this in the Simon Says Stamp and Show which is Distressed or Torn Edges and the Gingersnap Creations Denim Rust and Dust challenge.

Friday, June 10, 2011

Fabulous Inky Friday at Tiddly Inks!




I hope you all know that we post TWICE a week at the Tiddly Inks Challenge Blog. Our regular challenge is every Tuesday with at least half the DT participating, Christy previews new images on her Blog, and often there's a freebie or two. Then on Fabulous Inky Fridays, we announce the winner of the previous week's challenge, the rest of the DT showcases their Tiddlies (not necessarily following the challenge), and we also feature fabulous creations found around blogland by our loyal friends and followers. If YOU are chosen, you may grab a badge to display proudly on your blog. WooHoo! This week's challenge is Going Goth and I couldn't resist coloring up the adorable new Lilli Lolita. Precious with a capital "P", eh? And she's just one of THREE new images in the STORE this week.


I colored Lilli up using all the Cool Gray Copics I owned and added just a few teeny pops of red. Although you'll ever catch me with gray hair (ahem, unless it's the day before my salon appt), I think it turned out pretty darn cute. She's peeking out the skull face from one of the Toasting Properly Papers that I've cut out with my craft knife.


I printed my made up (obviously) sentiment directly onto a smaller version of the skull cut out and drew some shadows and features with my Copics. The bone "rays" of "skullshine" were cut with my Cuttlebug and trimmed from the Beware Skull and Crossbone set. They are layered and popped on Nesties Classic Inverted Scallop Circles. I also did a little distressing with my Zutter Distress-It-All (great for getting out those pent up frustrations, LOL) The little metal hearts are by Colorbok from J's. Can you tell I'm missing my BFF?

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Bah! Humbug! Surprise! Surprise!! Challenge



This week at Bah! Humbug! it's all about surprises; either surprise the Humbuggers with a theme of your choice or design a project to hide a surprise. Well SURPRISE, ladies! I made the card I planned on doing last week. LOL I didn't quite make the "Bells" challenge as I planned (although I appreciate Ann hearing those church bells from my embossed card through her computer. ) but I really did have a card designed and here it is. I welded the shadows of the bells from the Weddings Solutions cartridge to some elongated ovals from George to make this shaped card. I added a gold mirri mat and patterned one from Graphic 45, then layered things up. The holly is from Jubilee. The bow is cut from matte metallic card stock from Recollections and I used my Copics to shade it. I tried to duplicate the colors of the bells on the front DP.



Inside I added another gold mat and the reverse of the double sided DP from Graphic 45 I'd used on the front. The bells are cut from textured metallic card stock by American Crafts. The holly is cut from Bazzill Emerald City which has a lovely shimmer.

Here's the dimensional shot. I cut the bells twice and hand cut one of them apart so I could get a bit more depth. I've added adhesive beads and gems and my favorite part are the tiny jingle bells I added as clappers. I'm quite pleased that this card fits in a regular size business envelope and think it would be pretty as a wedding or anniversary card in other colors (obviously minus the holly, unless it's a December wedding, I guess). Anyway, I'm pleased to have been able to finally make this, this week and doubly pleased that we're finally seeing some sunshine here in CA. Be sure to check out the fabulous projects the ladies at Bah! Humbug! have made for this challenge. They are really a talented bunch and have a great sense of humor. I'm also adding this to the Christmas Cards All Year 'Round June challenge which is Anything Goes.

Macabre Monday (on Wednesday) Pleasure and Pain Challenge



Had one rough week and major lacking of mojo for my DT card for Macabre Monday. The cool challenge is Pleasure and Pain. Use something you love (stamp, embellie, color, etc.) and something you hate. First were the decisions and I finally came up with wet and dry embossing. Honestly, I already stink at rubber stamping, but to add embossing powder and a heat gun...DISASTER! But you know I love me some Cuttlebug! Then find an image and folder that made sense. Lots of failed attempts here but finally Mr. Stripes by Torrente/Penney for Stampotique (another LOVE as long as I don't have to heat emboss) and the Cuttlebug Spider Web embossing folder. As I continued I realized there were all sorts of Love/Hates on this card. Love: Dry embossing, Stampotique stamps, purple and orange, multiple mat layers, border punches, Nestabilities, foam dimensionals, adhesive beads, the Internet
Hate: Heat embossing, rubber stamping, border punches (I cannot tell you how many times I had to redo these three elements), less than creative layouts, spiders, lack of mojo when you really want to do a good job, THE INTERNET (how many hours do YOU waste in a day?) So pop by Haunted Design House and see the fab offerings of Pleasure and Pain by the rest of the Minions (and already a number of fab entries in the challenge.) Play along! There's plenty of room for interpretation on this one!

Monday, June 6, 2011

BBTB2 Clouds Challenge


This week our fabulous Shelly chose the clouds from Pooh and Friends for the BBTB2 Challenge . Well, we're no strangers to clouds out here in (sunny? I wish!) CA since that's all we've been seeing lately. Who stole our weather? Shame on YOU! Sit back with a cuppa now, 'cause this is gonna be one long post. Not nearly as long as it took to make the darn thing but... Anyway, I immediately had an idea for this challenge but it proved to be a little more daunting than expected to design because of the fact that the clouds came in pairs (and had no shadows) so there was a lot of resizing and hiding contours to weld the base of this door hanger together. Although it's perfectly okay at BBTB2 to use another cartridge with clouds, I figured that since I own the chosen one, I was gonna go with it. I inked the clouds, ran them through the Xyron right side down, and covered them in MS coarse crystal glitter. Then I ran them through my Cuttlebug with the D'Vine Swirls folder for added texture. If you've covered your cut completely with glitter, it doesn't stick and actually helps adhesion, and any glitter that remains on your folder just rinses off. The three cloud shadows were welded in Design Studio to the shadow of the little lamb jumping over the fence (which I flipped). That cut comes from Wall Decor and More but had a much longer fence that I had to trim off by hand repeatedly for the layers. OOps! I just noticed on this top pic that the little lamby on the left has fallen down a bit. That foam doesn't like to stick to glitter. All fixed now.

Next problem; although the sweet little lambs have individual layers, they have no shadow if you want to use them individually, so if you want one, you have to cut the border feature and then hand trim the fence off to get a shadow. I know I'm kinda anal about shadows, but the lamb didn't show very well against the clouds without one and they are very important to me for layering purposes. I cut each lamb twice, with the swirly cutout and without, in the same color and then flocked the upper layer in white which softened the colors of the card stock and made them all cute and cuddly. "Sweet Dreams" is also from Wall Decor and More and WooHoo! it has a shadow, but no individual layers for the letters, so I cut the phrase out several times in various colors and again hand trimmed and embossed with Swiss Dots to get what you see here. (There is a font on the cart, but many of the individual letters do not match up with the phrases. The "E" actually does, though)

As I assembled the hanging, I realized that I needed to balance the right lower side so I added a star from George and Basic Shapes. I poked a hole through the shadow and one of the layers of the "D" and hung it from a jump ring. The dimensional star was made by scoring from tip to indent, all the way around and mountain folding from tip to center and valley folding from indent to center. I folded first, then ran it through my Xyron and used MS fine crystal glitter so the card stock color would show through. After folding again, I attached it with one of those big globby dimensional glue dots.

As you can see, there are lots and LOTS of layers on this one and although it was a real PITA to make I totally love it and was glad I persevered. After the several days it took to complete, however, I was too exhausted to finish my Macabre Monday project, so you'll just have to check back on Wednesday for that. However, if you're craving something creepy after all this fluff, scroll down to see my offering for Skull Appreciation Day and if you're interested in hopping, it goes through Tuesday so you still have time. Be sure to stop by BBTB2 and see the fabulous designs by my DT sisters and remember you have 2 weeks to complete the challenge and any cloud from any cart will do.