~Valentine Card in a Box + others

These were the rest of my Valentine's for this year. 

The first one is a card in a box for my mother-in-law.  My Circle MB friends had a Valentine blog hop a couple of weeks ago and TiffysMom posted one for her project.  I thought this was super cool and had to try one, so here is my card in the box.  The butterfly came from Michael's, but the rest of the hearts were cut from Artiste and Hannah Montana.  You can find a very good tutorial for these boxes at SereneStamper.com.

 Next we have a Hello Kitty card with an extra flair button and some yummy conversation candy for Tacoah.

And finally, for the love of my life, a card that follows the same basic sketch as the previous post (the one for my surrogate mom).  In this case though, instead of a vintage valentine, I used a card from Project Life. The paper is from a Crate Paper 6x6 called Love Notes.   I also used a piece of embossed foil for the heart.

Thanks for stopping by!

~Lots of Hearts

What would February be without hearts?   There is a challenge on the Cricut message board right now to make or share previous projects - with Hearts!  Makes sense since Valentine's day is fast approaching.  I have several projects in progress, but thought I would share the first two that I've completed.

I've been looking for this photo of Tacoah - taken at around 9 months for awhile.  It wasn't on my computer, but when I got the new issue of CKC magazine in December and saw this layout by Kayleigh Wiles, I just knew this Red Hat picture would be perfect!  Fortunately David has brought pictures along through 3 laptops he's owned since Tacoah was born.  Yeah!  By using a pretty much black and white layout, the pictures really stand out.  The hearts lend another touch of red and of course the title is silver glittered.  Gotta have some BLING.  The background is white acrylic paint and white dye ink that I stenciled on.  I made the rest of the embellishments with my Cricut and tried to stay pretty true to the original.  I used Hanna Montana for the big heart behind the pics, Artiste, Art Philosophy, Create a Critter to make tags and the other hearts and the Ace of Hearts playing card.  There is only a little pattern paper on here and it's from a 6x6 MME pack called Love Me.  I also used a couple of Becky Higgins Project Line 3x4 grid cards to make the tabs behind the 2nd picture.  The $2 stamp is from Stella Rose and Recorded is from CTMH.  The pussy willow branch was cut from a bunch that I got at Michaels.

 

Next, I set out to decorate her Valentine Mailbox.  Target has these in the $1 bin every year but I missed out on them last year.  Tacoah likes getting little notes  all the time, so we will use this even after Valentine's day.  I put her Monogram on the front and used images from Storybook, Create a Critter,  Stamping, Beyond Birthdays and Pretty Pennants to decorate all sides.  Then I added some bling that I got as a gift for ordering from ScrapbookPals.com.  I just love working with Vinyl!

Anyway, I hope the be back later in the week with her class valentines and some cards.  In the meantime, Thanks for stopping by!

~Follow your dreams

A very sweet friend of mine is getting ready to move back to Atlanta, GA.  It was a tough decision for her as she has many friends here, but the pull of her family, especially her niece and nephew were pretty strong.  I will miss her tremendously.  This is the "going-away" card that I made for her using A Child's Year, cut at 4" for the fairy and the banner, cut at 4.5 inches wide for the sentiment.  I used royal blue and cream DCWV shimmer paper for the base and MME Simply Cut patterned paper.  I also tucked  a little gift inside.  ;-)  She is a big Mumford and Sons fan, so I cut her a 6" wide mustache from vinyl for her car.  Hopefully she will think of me everytime she sees it.  Thanks for stopping by!

~A summer mini album - or - Sun Part II

This is another project that was already in the works when the "use the Sun" challenge was posted.  I had this fabulous paper and knew that I wanted to try making a mini album using the Close to my Heart - Artiste cartridge.  I cut all the pieces at 4.25" tall.  The inside pages were each cut twice to give me more surface for MORE pictures.  I love to make these mini's of Tacoah so I can give them to my mother-in-law.  They don't get to see each other often, so she really enjoys having these little albums and showing them to visitors who stop by.

The sun on the front of the album was printed and cut using my Imagine and the Imagine More cartridge at 2.5".  I cut the face twice and pop dotted the face off the main sun and also pop dotted the sun off the page.  I have been trying to use my Imagine more, so I take every opportunity to use those wonderful cartridges.

Once I finish this, I will post some of the interior pages.  Thanks for stopping by!

~A Special Thank You Card

I really, really like this card.  And not just because I made it either.  :-)  I love the colors and the sturdiness (it has tons of layers) and the simplicity. 

I made this card to thank a very special someone who gifted my Church's CCD program with an Inspired Heart cartridge when I could not find one to purchase anywhere.  I just <heart> my crafting community and I hope when she gets this card, she will feel the love.

The card base was created from Close to My Heart Artiste (love, love, love this cart!) at 4.25".  I cut it twice and adhered the pieces creating a sturdy base.  On the front I layered several more patterned papers (all from MME) and then added the hummingbird cut at 3" from Art Nouveau.  I inked all the edges of EVERYTHING and on the inside of the card, I added the flowering vine cut at 4", also from Art Nouveau. 

I have never before made a card this heavy.  It was costly to mail, but oh well, I think it was worth it.  I will definitely use this card base again.  Thanks for stopping by!

~Feel Better Soon

One of my BFFs took a tumble a couple of weeks ago and I was so busy working on my kitchen at the time that I didn't have time to make a card until now.  She loves all things nature, so I thought this card (inspired by one in an old issue of Paper Creations) would cheer her up as her bruises heal.  The little bird was cut from Artiste at 1.5" in red polka dot, blue and yellow.  I hand cut the blue overlay and the yellow wing from those pieces and layered and stitched over the red polka dot.  The eye was hand drawn.  I machine stitched the branch and also stitched on the leaves created from Sophie at .5".  I inked the edges with dark green ink and crinkled them up a bit.  I added some trim from my stash which I threaded a burlap thread (left over from a wreath I made) through and tied a bow.  The papers came from 6x6 WRMK Anthologie & AC Celebrations.  Thanks for stopping by!

~ A spring birthday card

for one of my BFFs.  I just wanted to use bright colors and flowers.   I also wanted to try some flowers I haven't used before.   So these flowers are Accent 1 on page 55 of Artiste.  I cut one each at 1.75, 1.5 and 1.25 inches.  I used glue to put them together, but they have holes in the template all ready for you to put together using floss or bakers twine or any type of thread.  I had neither the right color nor the patience, so I just glued and added a rhinestone to the top.  The stems and leaves were hand cut.  The grass border was cut at 1 inch from Plantin Schoolbook.  I embossed the white cardstock and used a deep purple base.  The picture does not do the color justice.The birthday sentiment is a Stampendous stamp.   This will be going out in the mail tomorrow!

~Boo Kitty~

I've recently unofficially became involved in a "use your stash" challenge that worked out great for me because I am sooooo far behind in my granddaughter's scrapbook, that I thought the challenge may also motivate me to at least ATTEMPT to get caught up.  I've decided that scrapbooking chronologically is a lesson in futility, but here is a layout using pics from last year's Halloween and some FREE goodies I received as a door prize at Mania.  The only cricut cut here is for the CTMH stamp (Trick or Treat).  I hand cut a shadow for the owl and inked it.  Both are pop dotted from the page.  Thanks for stopping by!