Crafty Designers' Day at Craft Junkie Too - Green & Gold!

Hello everyone!
It's nearing the end of February already and soon it will be St Patty's Day! :)  And this holiday is the inspiration for our next challenge/theme for Crafty Designers Day at Craft Junkie Too!  We were asked to create something with the colors Green & Gold in honor of St Patrick's Day coming up in a few weeks!  Well, I started to create a "lucky" project, but instead created some birthday cards for my grandparents!  They are in their "golden" years so it was appropriate I thought!  :)

So my grandfather's birthday was Feb 1st and my grandmother's is today!  :)  Happy Birthday to you both!  I love you very much!  So onto my cards....

I know my grandfather's birthday was first, but I must go with ladies first, right??  :)  So this is the card I made for my grandmother......she loves to knit, crochet, paint, and all sorts of crafty stuff.  I guess you could say that she is my inspiration when it comes to crafting......even though she is 85, has COPD and is on oxygen, she still is on the go when she can and is always making something beautiful.  For example, she has made me a slew of little flowers to use in my projects and they are so special to me!  But I know, I know....onto the card! :)

I used the Country Life cartidge for the images on this card and printed the sentiment for the inside. 

I finished it off with some cute brown ribbon and a bow!  I also added a strip of the coordinating paper from the card to the envelope after punching it with my Martha Stewart Doily Punch.



Then for my grandfather’s birthday, I of course made a card suited for him too……one my childhood memories with my grandparents was going fishing.  He's 87 now and doesn't go fishing anymore, but I knew he'd like this card.  Both of them actually loved to fish and they’d take me fishing with them on their boat when I was a child.  I haven’t gone fishing in so long……gonna have to do that soon with Carley especially! Can’t wait until it gets warm here in NC!  :)

But for his card, I used the Celebrate With Flourish cartridge for the main image and the Creative Memories Stork’s Delivery for the sentiment tag shape. I added some gold to the reel too!

 I used some $1 stamps I had and inked everything in brown and blue then I printed the sentiment for the inside on my computer. For the envelope, I used my Creative Memories fish punch to add some from the coordinating pattern paper.  He loved it!

Thanks so  much for stopping by and don’t forget to check out the other Crafty Designers’ green & gold projects!

A little early.....but                                     

My Blogoversary & Some Cards I've Made...

Well, yeah.......I missed it a couple days ago...the 18th!....It was kind of a crazy day here.....there was a lockdown on the campus of my college for a gunman.....so yeah, the police never found him and well, all is well now.  But it WAS a crazy day.

I can't believe it's been a year since I started my blog and wow, how I have created so much with that lovely Cricut Expression my hubby got me for Christmas last year....or, eh...should I say two Christmases ago now! :)  It has been so much fun!

And soooo much has changed in the last year.......man, has so much changed and God has his reasons....and I have to trust in Him that they are for the good and that He will bring me through it......me and my family.  I haven't crafted much in say.....the last month or so, but I have created some things here and there.......so I wanted to show you some cards I've made.....just maybe didn't feel so much about blogging or when I actually did attempt to, Blogger was having a crazy issue and I couldn't.....imagine that......ha!  But it's no biggie!  Not gonna stress about it....I've learned, that doesn't really help anyway!  :)  Just create something instead!

So onto the cards......(and in no chronological order either!)  :)

This card I made for my cousin (sister in law), Allison for her birthday. (Yes, she's the one that got married in October 2011 and I've yet to post the pics of the decor I made for her wedding shower and her wedding.....but I'll get around to it!)  :) Anyway, I used the Paper Shapers 3" Scalloped Circle Punch on the front of this card, then actually just hand cut a circle, inked it, and stamped it with a $1 birthday stamp.  I added some bling of course and some turquoise ribbon as well.

On the envelope, (seen above) I cut a flower shape from the Paisely cartridge and added an "A" monogram sticker for "Allison".  On the inside of the card, I added some small rhinestone-flower stickers (sorry, I forget the brand) for a final detail. Actually from that same set of stickers, I added an orange flower to the front of the card as well (in the top left corner of the card).

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This card, I made for my friend, Teresa's birthday! She is married to the pastor at the church we used to attend.  She is a dear friend and says she feels like she could be my mom because her son graduated with me! :) Her birthday is the day after Carley's and with them being so close to Christmas, we of course, can NEVER get together close to that date so it's just 'whenever' we can before Christmas and exchange Christmas gifts and her & Carley's birthday gifts....and sometimes mine too if we couldn't get together in Septenber!  Ha!  But for this card, I again used the Paper Shapers 3" Scalloped Circle Punch to cut two circles and then I inked and stamped the beige one with a $1 birthday stamp and my "God Bless You" stamp.  I added a piece of beige satin ribbon under the circles then on top of the circles, added a piece of green paper to the bottom of the card as well as a shorter piece to the center.  On the strip in the center, I punched the ends with my Fiskars heart circle punch and then I added some bling to finish it off.

I guess I forgot to take a picture of the inside of the card....oops.  But all the while, she loved it! :)

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This card I made for my friend & pastor's wife, Angie for her birthday.  The flowers are from Bo Bunny and the brad, lace, and ribbon are just all from my stash.  I used the Creative Memories Stork's Delivery cartridge to make the sentiment tag on the front of the card.  I also used one of my $1 birthday stamps and blue ink on the edges.

A close-up!

On the inside, I used my Martha Stewart doily punch and a birthday sentiment stamp from My Pink Stamper.

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No you're not seeing double.....I just made two identical cards!  Well almost.... :)

These are both anniversary cards that I made for my paster and his wife, and my for my grandparents....both celebrating wedding anniversaries in December!  Not to mention our anniversary is in December as well. :)  Popular month to get married, huh?

Anyway with these cards, I used the Paper Shapers 3" Scalloped Circle Punch to cut several circles. Obviously, the circles get smaller as you can see, but I just manually moved an already punch 3" circle around and made it smaller by using the same punch.  They are not symmetrical, but that was the whole point.....to make sorta smaller "flowers".  After inking the beige "flowers" and turning up their "petals" a bit, I added a flower sticker from Jolee's to the very center of these.  Then I hand-created a layered sentiment tag and stamped them with "God Bless You".

On the insides of the cards, I stamped in the same ink "Happy Anniversary" from my $1 bin of stamps!  (Love that bin!)  Then on the opposite page, I punched from a shimmery, orange cardstock & adhered two butterflies to each card. Then in the center of these butterflies, I added a monogrammed sticker to represent their last names.

They loved their cards! :)

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This card I made for our church......they give our family a love offering which was a huge blessing. Just when we sometimes start worrying or stressing about something, we have to remember to pray that God will take care of our situations....whatever they may be, and just then He answers your prayers and you get a blessing! It's wonderful how He just works those things out! For the tag on this card, I used the Creative Memories Tag punch and just punched it on both ends to create this neat shape. Then I added a "Thank You" sticker from Jolee's. I then added a couple red rhinestones and some glittered red ribbon to finish off the front.

On the inside, I simply used my "God Bless You" stamp in between the ribbons.

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And finally, this card I made for a friend's daughter, Indigo, who turned 3!  She is almost exactly a year older than Carley.....and they go to school (daycare) together!  She had a 'groovy', 'hippie chic' themed birthday party which was 'FAR OUT'!!  :)  We painted pottery and Carley had a blast!  I made this card using the Groovy Times cartidge of course! Added some bling, buttons and twine to finish it off! :)

On the inside of the card, I used my Creative Memories punch (sorry I don't know the name of it because I believe it's retired) to create the little flowers and one of my $1 birthday stamps.

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Wow, that felt good to get caught up on some of my blogging for the cards I had made in the last few months.  It's so easy to get behind when "life" takes over....but it's ok.  I'm not gonna stress about it!  :) 

Well, until next time when I share more goodies.....there are some banners, more cards, Carley's birthday, and some Christmas presents that I know I've promised to share as well as the wedding stuff I did for my cousin now sister-in-law!  :)

 

"Christmasy" Crafty Designers Day at Craft Junkie Too!

Well December is already here and only 18 days left until Christmas!!  Can you believe it?
Have you finished all your shopping and gifts? Or....have you even started?  :)

Well, me personally, I have haven't been shopping yet but rather busy making things!  Of course I can't share them yet and it's about to kill me, but I'll have to wait to share!  However, today is Crafty Designers' Day over at Tracy's Craft Junkie Too and simply, we were to create a Christmas card of any kind, shape, size, or color! So I'm definitely sharing that.....but be sure to check them all out and be inspired! :)



So for my Christmas card, I chose to make something I had never made before!  I have seen them made by many fellow bloggers and always wanted to make one, so I finally did and it was so fun!  I created a Christmas "Shaker" card!  I first of all used the same paper pad that I used in my last DT post about my Christmas ornaments, the 6x6 My Mind's Eye - Be Merry paper pad.  This pad has so many fun patterned papers for Christmas! (Did I mention that I can't wait to show you what I created for my Christmas gifts with this paper as well??  heehee)

I started out by choosing a coordinating cardstock to go behind my 'window' on my card, then simply recycled some plastic casing from I believe a package of brads (maybe).  I used my regular hole punch to punch out a bunch of circles from scraps of coordinating papers from this pad.  The circles and some silver glitter I added to the window, then adhered the cardstock to the back of it to hold it all in.  Beforehand, I had traced this plastic 'window' piece and cut out the window on the Be Merry paper so it could fit over it and adhere to the card front.

Now after adhering the paper over the 'window', I just added some glitter glue around it to 'seal' my window!  :)  Then I added a strip of pink ribbon from my stash to the top of the card.  Then from my stash of buttons, (I know I have many stashes!) I added a pink button with three different twines tied in a bow!  These three colors of twine from My Craft Spot were great for this paper (Traditional Bakers Twine in Cherry Red, Baby Blue, & Spring Green)!  Then finally I added a fun, Christmas sentiment sticker from BasicGrey!

On the envelope, I added a little extra decoration with a matching paper.  I used my Creative Memories snowflake punch and then trimmed around it to create a shape, then adhered it to the corner of the envelope.

On the inside, I added another extra touch of color with scraps from the same papers, random scrap Cricut cuts, and another fun, puffy ornament sticker from BasicGrey. Since I had the sentiment on the outside, I figured that I would just leave this one blank and simply write a quick Christmas message on it when I decide who the lucky recipient will be!  :)

Well, I hope you've been inspired by not only my Christmas card, but by the other Design Team members' creations!  Check them out at Craft Junkie Too's site!  Take care, and I hope you have all of your Christmas cards ready to mail/hand out!  :)

 I can't believe it, but Carley's 2nd birthday is coming up next week and I can't wait to share with you what I will be creating for it!  She is really into Elmo & Abby Cadabby so it should be fun!!!

So come back soon!

Shelley

                                  Digital border images - Copyright © Jessica Weible or ©2009 JD Digi Designs

Congratulations Card for Lynn!

Hello everyone!  When I chose a winner last Monday for

my 100 follower giveaway, it was Lynn from Boots and Bling Time! 

I had sent her some festive Martha Stewart Christmas stickers and embellishments along with a Congratulations card!  Just thought I'd share that card with you!  And I didn't even use my Cricut for it!  Shocking I know! :)

I used my Martha Stewart Doily Punch to create the strips of paper on the front.  And I used my "Congratulations" stamp for the sentiment (I do not know what brand the stamp is) and just used a metal butterfly embellishment that I had picked up at the dollar store.  I used another punched strip of the multicolored paper on the inside of the card too.  On the envelope as well as the inside (and I think one on the back!), I used a Creative Memories punch for several added butterflys here and there! :)  Then I inked the lighter colored paper strips with a touch of purple ink.

I know that Lynn will create something beautiful with those Christmas stickers and I can't wait to see it!  Have fun Lynn!  :)

I have many projects that I have created over the last month or so, but just haven't had the time to blog about them (college homework and studying seems to supercede lately!), but hopefully I'll get caught up soon.  So come back and visit for more crafty projects to be posted soon!  :)

Take care!

Shelley

Kali's Baby Shower

So yesterday I went to my friend Kali's baby shower for her soon expected bundle of joy, Isaiah.  Yep, that's the Isaiah that I made the baby banner for!  :)  She LOVED it!  She said that it would match perfectly to his bedding, so Yay!!!!!  :) 

So with this banner and some other baby stuff of course, I made her a card and had made her a corsage to wear for the baby shower!

I just glued some beige tulle to a foam circle along with some baby boy shower decorations and a bow I had made from some beige ribbon I had. Then I glued a safety pin to the back of the foam circle and there ya go! :)

For the card, I used the Creative Memories Stork's Delivery cartidge for the "It's a Boy" and for the baby carriage. I used my white gel pen for accents on the carriage and for the pin on the inside. For the white sentiment tag layer, I used my Cuttlebug for embossing and inked the edges with a bright green ink. Funny story to tell.....when Kali got to my present, she was digging thru the bag to find the card envelope and was tearing into it because she said she was "looking and waiting for the handmade card!" and she loved it too. She was so excited to see what I had made her (the card that is), but she was totally surprised by the banner when she found it in the bag!

I pray that Kali has a good rest of her pregnancy and that Isaiah arrives a beautiful, healthy boy!

Shelley

***Entered at You Had Me @ Craft: Made It Myself Mondays

and

Obsessed With Scrapbooking Linky Party

 

Happy Birthday Sheena!

Happy Birthday Sheena! 

Hope your day is great!

Sheena is one of Carley's daycare teachers and I think very much of her!  She is very caring and takes care of my baby girl!  For her birthday, I made this card!  Everybody loves birthday cake, right? :)  Well I hope she has an awesome day and an awesome birthday cake to eat too!

On this card, I used the Sweet Treats cartridge.....man, I always want something sweet while using this!  :)  The background paper is from a new paper pad I just recently got from KI Memories called "Marry Me".  It has some really cute papers in there. I added some ribbon from my stash as well as the birthday sentiment stamp, and some "M" brads to spell out "Mmm"!  I inked the bottom layer of the image as well as the edges of the card with a brown ink.  On the inside, I just added a strip of the patterned paper and inked it after I finished off the front with white gel pen accents and a bow.

Sheena!

Love,

                               Shelley and Carley (:

Entered into the Birthday Sundaes Challenge #22 - It's All About the Brads,

Fantabulous Cricut Challenge #73 - Piece of Cake,

and T.G.I.F. Linky Party #21 at Craft Junkie Too

                                        

             

"I now pronounce you"....

This is what we all commonly hear at a wedding, right? 

Yes, so for my next project, I was thrilled at how they turned out.....and they were so much fun to make!  And right before I started on them, the UPS man delivered the perfect thing......my free Cricut points rewarded cartridge....Tie the Knot!  :)

My friend Cassie from Cake Monkey had asked me to make her some cards that she wanted to give to her clients when she delivered their wedding cakes!  How sweet!!!  So below is the set of 10 wedding cards I made for her....Bear with me as it is a long post with lots of pics of the cards....yes, I was a little proud of them!  :)

So what I did, was make 10 cards.....but I essentially I made 5 pairs of matching cards.....well sorta matching.  :)  The cards in each pair had the same background papers, Cricut images, embellishments, and even all 10 had the same "Congratulations" stamp sentiment to the happy couples!  But I made each card to be its own....different colors and even maybe a little rearrangements on the cards.  :)  I did a lot of inking and even went through almost two Tombo adhesives to make all of these cards!  :)

So to begin, I had never stamped on ribbon before....and well I thought they turned out beautifully!  On these two cards, I also added some brads (which for that reason, I'm entering these into a challenge!  ;) See the bottom of this post). 

Close-ups of these two cards

On the inside, I added a simple heart to accent the matching strip of patterned paper.

Then onto the next two cards......I decided to do these as portrait cards (just to have variety) and I added Stickles to these in various spots on the patterned paper. (Hopefully you can see this in the pics...I laid them down instead of standing them up.) And mainly here, I just swapped the colors on the tag and inked them both in the same purple ink.  I also used the same paper strip and lace behind them.

 Inside this card, I simply attached a matching strip of the patterned paper. (Sorry, no photo.)

Close-ups of these two cards 

For these two cards, I used my Martha Stewart Doily Punch, rhinestones, and some Black Licorice Traditional Bakers Twine from My Craft Spot.  Like the "I Do" card, I simply added a strip of the patterned paper but forgot to take a pic. :)

Close-ups of these two cards 

And these were my favorites I think......eh, I loved them all actually! Hard to choose!  But on this one, I switched sides for the chapels and the word images to make them a bit different.  I even stamped the ribbons on opposites sides too. 

Close-ups of these two cards 

On the inside, I used the little heart cut-outs from the chapels (instead of throwing them away) and added them to accent the strip of matching paper.

And finally for the last two cards, I actually used the Songbird cartridge.  On these, I made a couple of cute bows and added some white gel pen accents to finish them off. 

Close-ups of these two cards

On the inside, I added a little matching bird to the strip of matching paper.  Isn't he adorable?  I thought so!  :)

Now, after creating the cards, I printed Cassie's logo and a message onto cardstock and adhered them onto the insides of all the cards directly above the matching paper strips.  And viola....they were finished! :)  Isn't he cute?  :)

This was really a challenging, yet fun set for me to make.....I really liked making them!  Again, it was a hard thing to do for me since I did not know who the recipient would be for them; but I'm trying to do this more so that anyone can enjoy them!   Each card was different much like each of Cassie's customers will be different and I hope that the cards can correspond with each couple that receives them.  Thank you Cassie for asking me to create these and I'm sure your customers will love you for them!  :)

Hope everyone is having a great week!

Shelley

*First card with brads entered into the Whimsical Wednesdays "Three Times A Charm" Challenge
and all cards entered at T.G.I.F. Linky Party #21 - Craft Junkie Too