Cuttlebug Challenge

The mother of a good friend of mine is in the hospital and will probably be there for some time. So I'm trying to make a new card to send to her each week. This week I've used the Cuttlebug Challenge http://cuttlebugchallenge.blogspot.com/ for inspiration.

I love this easel card. I've seen several recently, but never been sure of how to make one. A little online research led me to a tutorial by Split Coast Stampers http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/tutorials/easelcard/. This card was made using Creative Memories and Paper Company card stock. I used the Paisley Cricut cartridge and a Martha Stewart edge punch along with one of the small Cuttlebug folders in an attempt to make the blue cardstock look like water.

On the inside I'm going to write "Hop-ping that this card makes you smile." I know, it's awful but I'm a little cheesy at times. Have a great day!

Challenging Page for a Throwback Challenge

How do you create an album page when the only picture you have of the event is a Polaroid? You can't cut the picture or surrounding white because the chemicals inside will be exposed and the picture ruined, but it's not exactly an attractive shape to incorporate in a layout. I decided to try to deal with it by hiding it in plain site and at the same time participate in Emma's Throwback Thursday Challenge (http://www.creativetimeforme.com/2010/06/throwback-thursday-challenge-episode54.html).

Using the Doodlecharms cartridge, I cut the presents at 5 1/2 inches along with the bow and tag layer. The present on the top right became the spot for the title sticker. The present on the top left will be the journaling box. (I just used my scissors to cut out the main part of the present and then backed it with white paper.) I used the Polaroid to make the third present, tucked the base of the picture under the lower border to make it look like a picture with a white mat, and added the bows on top. By reversing the top layer of each of the bows, I felt like they had a little more dimension. The paper and cardstock are all from Creative Memories.

I'd love to hear how you might have dealt with a challenging album page!

Peachy Keen Stamps Challenge

I really am feeling very motivated by all the challenges people are posting on their blogs! This one is from Peachy Keen Stamps (http://peachykeenstampschallenge.blogspot.com/), and, while I don't own any of their stamps yet, I do have some on the way. I was a winner in a blog hop that they hosted last week. It's so exciting to win something! Adrianne from their office was wonderful about contacting me right away and sending the prize out as soon as I sent her my address. I'm hoping that they will arrive tomorrow. If the customer service was that good for someone who was receiving product for free, I would definitely buy from them!

On to the challenge, our family album for 2008 has outgrown one album and moved into a second. So I created this title page using the font and shapes from the George and Basic Shapes cartridge. After taking this picture, I added our last name to the tag on the bottom left. I have to say that I love the patterns and colors of the Creative Memories Primary Power Palate papers!

3-D Throwback Thursday Challenge

Emma at www.creativetimeforme.com is having another Throwback Thursday Challenge. I don't have the cartridge she suggested using, so I'm using some other oldies but goodies - Doodlecharms and Stretch Your Imagination. I made this card for my dad for Fathers' Day and added the 3-D element on the inside with a special message behind each acorn.

Each of the large acorns for inside was cut from the Doodlecharms acorn and leaf cut. I scored the acorns to make tabs and used Zig 2-way glue to attach the tabs to the card. My favorite part is that each acorn folds down and my dad will be able to see that we have written something that we love about him on the back of each one.

I used Stretch Your Imagination for the front of the card. The layers for the acorn stack were very easy to cut and put together. The letter stickers and all the papers are from Creative Memories.

Creating my own envelopes

So my favorite new tool is this scoring board from Martha Stewart Crafts. I used a 40% off coupon at Michael's and was able to get it for about $12. I've bought inexpensive white card stock on sale, and using the board I can make envelopes of many sizes for less than a nickel each.

The scoring board comes with an envelope guide which fits in a little slot in the base of the board when it's not in use. So convenient! The top of the board also flips open to hold the scoring tool which is even better than the bone folder that I already own.

I recently made a little 3x3 card and needed a small envelope for it. The guide on the scoring board has measurements for a 6x6 envelope, so I decided to try just halving all the measurements. It worked like a charm!

Happy Fathers' Day to all the dads out there!

Unexpected Color Combination

So this weekend I managed to squeeze in time for creating a card for Emma's challenge a www.creativetimeforme.com. Her throwback challenge this week was to use the Stretch Your Imagination cartridge and the colors blue, brown, and red to create a card.

I really struggled with the combination of colors. So I started by finding three papers in those colors that I felt worked together. Luckily, I found exactly what I was looking for in a retired Creative Memories Storybox. (I've found that card making is a great way to use up some of my older Storybox papers.) Then I used the foundation card in the Stretch Your Imagination cart to cut out the card base in cream cardstock. Then the Flrsh3 Shadow and Blackout cuts for the two layers and the birdhouse was last. I repeated the cream cardstock in the Layer cut of the birdhouse. I also made a matching envelope for this 3" card, but I'll tell you about that in a post later this week.

Cricut Animal Challenge

This week, Emma from www.creativetimeforme.com is having a Throwback Thursday Challenge. So I chose to create this birthday card for a little girl whose birthday party is this weekend. The zebra and his ride are from the Paisley cartridge. To the left of the picture, you can see that I cut the same flower from the car as a tag for the gift. I added a little sparkle using some glitter glue. (If I'd known how cute the glitter would be, I would have added it to the flower on the car as well.)

Have a great weekend!