St. Patrick's Day

When you think of St. Patrick's Day, the image that comes to mind is a shamrock. Well the challenge this week at Cricut Cardz Challenge is to make a card using any Cricut cartridge but NO SHAMROCKS!

I put my creative cap on and came up with this card. I started with the hand cut from the Designers' Calendar Cricut cartridge and added a lime green bow to serve as a reminder to everyone to wear green. I then used my Plantin Schoolbook Cricut cartridge to cut a banner out of black cardstock with the words "wear GREEN on 17" which I then mounted on lime green background paper. Green bling was added to give a feminine touch to the wrist.

I noticed that most of my other team mates at CCC used the Irish leprechan in their projucts but I tried to do something a little different. I hope you get some inspiration from my efforts not follow the typical rainbow to the pot of gold.

Valentine's Day

Have you ever thought about Valentine's Day and not assumed everything to be red? Well at Cricut Cardz Challenge this week, the call is to made a card for this special day but using only blue, green and while ONLY. It kind of turns your thinking upside down doesn't it.

I started with the bird cage cut from a metallic blue/grey card stock using the Cricut Serenade cartridge. The song bird was also cut using the same cartridge. I had used some blue marble designer paper that I used as the backdrop for the card. The birdcage is sitting on a "ledge" made of white cardstock punched with a Fiskar's edge punch and stamped a line of hearts in blue ink. I also stamped the sentiment "i love YOU" inthe same blue ink. Small white hearts floating out from the birdcage were cut using the Cricut Wild Card cartridge. The finishing touch was to add a simple lime green satin ribbon to the top of the birdcage. Voila! A Valentine's Day card without using red can be done successfully.

Just Chillin'

The challenge this week at Cricut Cardz Challenge is to create a card using any cartridge or theme but using only red, black and white. My Create a Critter cartridge came to the rescue and as soon as I saw the penguin, my plan started to come together. On white cardstock I added a cranberry red background so that the black and white penguin and the igloo would stand out. I also added a little sparkle to it. My penguin friend is holding a flagpole out of black chenille pipe cleaner announcing that he is "Just Chillin'". I think in January this is exactly what everyone needs to do. Sit back after a hectic Christmas season and enjoy the sunshine and winter weather whether that be snowy or not. Pretty soon it will be Spring!

Stop over at Cricut Cardz Challenge and join us for Challenge #57. See you there.

Luminaries

Don't you just love them!!! I do. I found this fabulous cardstock that already had heat embossing Christmas designs so I decided to make these luminaries. They are about 5 - 6" tall but you can make them smaller or larger if you wish. I had some vellum that I recently got for a great price and attached the pieces using Scor tape. I tried using Scotch Quick Dry glue but it didn't work very well and you could see every glob. I used some small battery operated tea lights to light up the project. Because you can see everything when looking in from the top, I cut some small pieces of glittered garland and stuffed some into the tops of each one to hide the inner workings. To finish off, I cut some snowflakes using my Martha Stewart punch - it does such a great job!. I just love the way they turned out. I am giving them to a friend for her Christmas dinner table.

If you want to know how to make lumunaries, I found a tutorial on the Splitcoaststampers website. They were pretty easy to make. Good luck with your own projects.

Christmas Cheer, CCC Challenge #55

Well it's almost Christmas so why not join us for a Cricut Cardz Challenge. The challenge for this week, starting on Wednesday, December 15th, is to make a Christmas card with a mini banner on the front using any cartridge or colour.

I started with plain white A2 card and mounting a backdrop of cranberry cardstock. I found a scrap of paper from last year's Christmas collection that is green, pink and red plaid. I placed it at the bottom of the card and took some co-ordinating plain green cardstock and passing it through my Cuttlebug to add the Swiss dot embossed pattern. I cut the "JOY" mini banner from the Christmas Cheer Cricut cartridge. I had some green satin ribbon with white polka dots and Merry Christmas printed on it so I added it to cover the seam between the two papers. The final touch was to add a white snowflake that I punched out using my Martha Stewart snowflake punch.

Let's see what you can come up with given the requirements above and post it for all to see at Cricut Cardz Challenge. Bye for now.

Cards for the Senses

Recently, my adult son asked me to make 5 cards for him that represented the senses and 1 extra card. He was going to give the cards to his girlfriend for her birthday but only one card on each day before her birthday. With each card was a hint as to what her present was going to be. The extra card was called the Wild Card and she could trade in her the gift represented by the 5 cards for the Wild Card gift. Because she is from the West, my son was going to take her on a sightseeing adventure around Toronto but she didn't know this. She could trade all that in and take the Wild Card gift which was a weekend trip to a couples spa/resort out of town. Unfortunately it was very late and I was unable to take a photo of the Wild Card but I took hot pink glittered letters and glued that onto a 5"x5" black card. I then cut out a large bird cage from white cardstock using my Cricut Home Decor cartridge. The custom envelope I made was really interesting too. It looked sensational if I do say so myself.

This was a different kind of project which turned out to be a lot of work for both my son and I but I was glad to help. He put a lot of thought into making her birthday truly special. His girlfriend is a lovely young lady and I really like her. They have been together for over a year so we'll see what transpires. They are planning on going to visit her family for Christmas and also take a few days to go skiing at Whistler/Blackcombe.

Christmas Gift Tabs

This post is a few days late but I've been soooo busy. I made these 3"x3" gift cards for Cricut Cardz Challenge #53 which is currently underway. I used the Christmas Cheers Cricut cartridge to cut the stocking and sleigh. The snowflake was made with a Martha Stewart punch which has really come in handy as I don't have to pull out my Cricut every time I need a snowflake for a project or for cards. I added a frame to the stocking card which I pop dotted in place to give the stocking a portrait feel. Ribbons were added along with Stickles glitter to complete these gift cards..