Black and White and Red and Pink

Having my craftroom in the basement helps me kill two birds with one stone - I can get three or four cards done in the time it takes to get one load of laundry done.  Today's cards were made with scraps that were on my desk, and I love the colors - black/white/red, and black/white/pink.  Whatcha' think?

This little Hello card was made with Stampin' Up Black card stock for the base, and DCWV solid cardstock for the white and red layers and little Scotty dog - isn't he adorable?  He was cut from the Just Because Cricut cartridge at 6-1/2". I used the Tim Holtz Sizzix embossing folder Burlap on the red layer. The black/white polka dot layer is an adhesive backed ribbon that I found in my stash. 

Black and hot pink - love this color combo too.  The black card base is Stampin' Up card stock and the white and hot pink layers are DCWV cardstock.  There's that black/white ribbon again topped by a strip of pink/white ribbon and topped off with two pink Prima hydrangeas and a Prima bling.  The stamps I used are from Unity Stamp's May Kit of the Month.

And here's one more black/red/white combo.  This red/white striped layer is from DCWV spring stack and the daisy border was made with an EK Success border punch.  The hello sentiment is from the Kites2Fly set from The Stamps} of Life.

Time to get dinner ready - enjoy the rest of your day!

A few more Cards for Kids

Hello everyone in blog land - I hope you're enjoying your weekend.  It's warm and sunny here in NJ today, and before I head outside I wanted to clean off my desk and make a few more cards with the scraps for the Cards for Kids campaign.  You can read about it here. I used my Wild Card Cricut cartridge to make these cards and envelopes.

In addition to the card for the ill children, I think a few of these will be used to send prayers and good wishes to their parents.  They need to know someone is thinking of them too during such a difficult time. 

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Cards For Kids

I got an email yesterday from Jennifer McGuire about round 3 for the Cards for Kids drive which you can read about here.  I've participated in this before and it's a wonderful, inexpensive way to make an ill child and their families smile, if just for a moment.  There are 13 children that will be receiving these cards, and I've committed to making at least one card for each of them.  Since I wanted to play with my new Cricut cartridge Freshly Picked, I decided to start with this adorable little gnome that I named Norman from New Jersey.

 He was cut from solid and patterned paper from the DCWV Summer Stack.  The hello sentiment was cut from the Wild Card cartridge on green cardstock and the card base was Very Vanilla from SU.

I then cut the label from a patterned paper from the DCWV Fall Stack using the Fancy Labels cartridge just to give the card a bit more color.

So Norman from is all set to visit a few little friends taking my greetings from New Jersey with him.  Please consider sending some cards also - it will make you smile knowing you made someone else smile.

Fancy Labels, Wild Card and Just Because Cards

Well, I finally found the booklet for my Just Because Cards Cricut cartridge and wanted to give it a whirl.  I chose the star card and envelope and used  DCWV solid and patterned cardstock from the Summer Stacks.  The inside was kind of plain being all white, so I cut the frame from the new Fancy Labels Lite cartridge.

Next, I wanted to play with the Fancy Labels cart a little more and cut this scallop oval frame and base from it.  I added it to a card cut from the Wild Card cartridge.  I'm lovin' these three carts and if it wasn't so stinkin' hot in NJ today, I'd have made a few more cards. 

Now I'm off to take a look at the Freshly Picked cart that I just linked to my Gypsy.  That's for tomorrow.  Enjoy the rest of your day.

Did you ever have one of those days....

....when everything you tried to create just flopped?  Grrrrr!!!  I waited all week to play with my new Cricut Lite cartridges and they just fought me every step of the way.  The paper stuck to the mat where it shouldn't have...the paper wasn't cutting right....the paper was ripping while cutting....I kept getting glue on my fingers which ended up on the front of the cut.....I should have just taken a nap. 

I made these cuts from the new Cricut Lite cart Blooms.  I ended up putting some diamond dust on the front of the butterfly cuts because glue ended up there.  It was also all over my hands, so was the diamond dust...

The next cart I wanted to play with was Just Because Cards.  I just got it last weekend, but I couldn't find the booklet.  I had it yesterday - where did I put it??  Oh well, pick another cart to play with for now. This little envelope and card were cut from the Wild Card cart.  The patterned paper is from the Best of K&Co. pad and for some reason kept ripping while cutting.  Three tries later, I stopped trying.

This little card was made with two carts: Wild Card and Blooms.  By the time I finished, I was talking to myself.  The scallop card is from Wild Card and I just couldn't get the envelope and card liners to line up right.  I used 3 whole sheets of paper making liner cuts before I stopped.  The little flower basket is from one of the new Lite cartridge Blooms.  Only three cuts, how hard could that be?  The green layer didn't want to cut all the way, then after getting a good cut the second time I realized it was the same color as the base.  Grumble, grumble.  Third time is the charm.  I'm tellin' ya', talking to myself.....But tomorrow is another day, and another cart: hopefully more successful than today.  Enjoy the rest of your day!  Now where did I leave that missing booklet???

Cleaning off my desk

In order to make room to start playing with my new Cricut cartridges, I wanted to clean off my desk and decided to make 4 cards with the scraps and stamped images on it.

This little graduation card was made with my new stamp set from The {Stamps} of Life by Stephanie Barnard along with some patterned paper from DCWV on some Stampin' Up Chocolate Chip cardstock base.

For this next card I used a digital stamp from Pollycraft called Earth Fairy which was colored with Copic markers, layered on some DCWV patterned and solid cardstock and a little butterfly bling.

This next card was made using a digital stamp called 50s Sweethearts from The Greeting Farm, colored with Copic markers, layered on patterned and solid cardstock from DCWV and finished off with a few flowers from K&Co.  I'm lovin' this little stamp.

This last card was made using a sweet stamp from Digital Doodles by Kathy Martin.  I colored it with Copic markers, layered it with patterned and solid cardstock from DCWV, added a little bling and a small stamp from Stampin' Up.

Easy peezy lemon squeezy....now that my desk is clean, tomorrow I can play with my new Cricut Lite cartridges.  Enjoy the rest of your day!

Father's Day Cards

I've been having so much fun playing with my new Cricut Lite cartridges that I forgot I needed to finish up a few Father's Day cards.  These two cards were made using digital stamps from "The Chunkie" collection at  The Digi Shack and can be found here.  I kept the cards simple, and colored the images with copic markers. 

Now before you get the wrong idea, my husband looks nothing like these Chunkie guys, but he's the only male in the house, so at least one day a year he gets to be the king of the castle.  As for being a love muffin, well that's another post for another time. 

This is only the second year that my father isn't with us for his birthday tomorrow and Father's Day on Sunday.  A girl is never too old to miss her Daddy, and I'm missing mine.  Enjoy your weekend!

Just Because Cards and more Cricut Lite

Oh Happy Day.....I'm off to play!

New Cricut Lite Cartridge

Last week I started looking at the new Cricut Lite cartridges, and I was really surprised when I saw some of them at my local Walmart this morning.  They had about 8 or 9 different carts,  I picked up Live Simply and I couldn't wait to play with it.  I made a few cuts and took a quick picture of them before I headed out to do some errands.

There are quite a few more of these Cricut Lite cartridges on my wish list, but I really hope Walmart will be putting them on sale.  They retail for $39.99 each which is more than I pay for full carts.  I'm always on the hunt for good sales for my craft supplies, so patience, patience, patience....

My little drummer girl

My husband and I spent the weekend in Wildwood, NJ to cheer on our youngest daughter and her fellow marching band mates in the annual American Legion Marching Band competition.  Their Post took first place and are the NJ State Champions for the third year in a row!  All their hard work and practice paid off.  We had a great celebration last night when they played an impromptu concert on the hotel balcony and on the boardwalk.  Congratulations to my little drummer girl and American Legion Post #263!

I'm hoping that my new Cricut cartridge Just Because Cards arrives tomorrow so I can play with it.  I've seen some very nice projects made with it and am anxious to try it out.  I'm also looking forward to looking at a few of the new releases that are exclusive to Walmart.  Hmmmm, maybe a shopping trip tomorrow.... I hope you enjoyed your weekend as much as I did.

Feeling the love and so thankful

So today is my birthday....again....didn't I just have one of those last year? I've decided that I'm going to be like my mother and celebrate the anniversary of my 39th birthday each year (next month Mom celebrates the 59th anniversary of her 21st birthday). There - I said it. I know it's just a number, but I don't like that number....

Like I've mentioned in previous posts, June is a very busy celebration month in my family. We've already had two birthdays, and today I share the day with my brother and sister-in-law's wedding anniversary. Presents are nice, but we're all about the love. And the dinner. And the cake. The birthday boy/girl always gets to pick what they want for dinner or where to go for dinner, followed by.....ice cream cake. It's a tradition -when my brothers and I were growing up, that meant BBQs and swimming, followed by ice cream cake for the June birthdays. My choice today - pizza. I know, I can have pizza any old time, and lately cheese hasn't been too friendly to me, but that's what I feel like eating. So when all my kids get home from work, we're going out for pizza. Then I get to enjoy all my wonderful presents like the beautiful bracelet from my husband, beautiful pink roses (my favorites) and....tickets to see The Lion King on Broadway in NYC next month. Holy Moly - how blessed am I? Not just for their presents, but for their love. And the ice cream cake.....

I hope you're enjoying your day as much as I am.

A Thank You card and a chunky King

I made a quick thank you card this afternoon for a dear friend. We gave each other birdhouses for our birthdays, which are this week, so I thought it would be fun to use a birdhouse for this card.

I used a Stampin' Up set for the bird, branch and sentiment; colored the digital birdhouse with Copic markers; added some white rope to hang the birdhouse; made a dimensional butterfly with a Martha Stewart punch; made the flower border with a Martha Stewart punch; finished up by adding some Prima flowers.

I also played with some new digital stamps from The Digi Shack. They have some new releases called Chunkies - so cute! I want to use a few of them for some Father's Day cards. Go check them out.

June cards - almost done...

It's a hot day here in New Jersey, so I spent a little time in my craft room where it's nice and cool and finished up the cards I started the other day for the June anniversary and birthdays. Now I just need a few cards for Father's Day and I'm done! These four cards were all made with digital images and Copic markers, and boy were they fun to work with. I was worried that the ink from the printer would run or smear , but they were absolutely fine. The first card will be for my brother and the next for my son-in-law. I got both images here. I used a Cuttlebug embossing folder on the first card and distressed it with some sandpaper to highlight the birthday sentiments.

On this next card, I used a Tim Holtz On The Edge Alterations dies for the blue layer and my good old Stampin' Up punches along with birthday stamps from The {Stamps} of Life. Everything fit just right.

This cute little bear with a big cake will be an anniversary card for my brother and sister-in-law who will celebrate their 20th anniversary next week. I got this digital stamp here and layered it on a Sizzix top-note die. It just needs a sentiment and it's all done.

This last sweet little frog will be for a sweet little boy who's not so little any more. Sigh....

Time to get dinner going. Enjoy the rest of your day.....

Digital stamps and copics

I've just discovered how much fun digital stamps can be! I stop by Free Digital Stamps each day to see what Alison has found and there's always something wonderful. As I try to keep ahead of my need for multiple cards this month, I thought I'd give a few of these great digital images a try. Plus it gave me a chance to practice coloring with some Copic markers. Four images colored for four more cards to make tomorrow.
When I get the cards finished, I'll post a link to the source of each of these cute little digital images.

Birthday Cards

"Well, June is here, let the parties begin!" That's what my family and I say every year when June rolls around. Birthdays, anniversaries, Father's Day, graduations, June is a very busy month around here. No complaints at all, it's not like we don't know they're coming. And we love our ice cream cakes, so we'll be having at least one or two every week. But that also means I need lots of cards, and yesterday I got to work on three of them.

I used two of my new stamp sets from The {Stamps} of Life by Stephanie Barnard on this card. One card done...

For this card I pulled out one of my HUGE Stampin' Up stamps. I stamped it once in black and once in red, then cut out the middle section of the medalion of the red one and used some pop-dots to add it to the middle of the black stamp. Black/red/white is such a nice color combo, isn't it? Two done....

For this card I pulled out my scrap drawer to look for something blue. I grabbed my Stampin' Up square scallop punch for 5 quick punches and a cut from one of my Cricut carts, and headed for my Tim Holtz stamps and viola! Three clean and simple birthday cards done... I'm all set for this week. Enjoy the rest of your day.....