Birthday card again!

Last one, I promise.  Can you tell my brother's birthday dinner is tomorrow??  This is for another brother to give to him, and they both have motorcycles, so I decided to go with this theme.  I got the cycle from a JPEG on Google images, and used MTC to make it into a cutting file.  After searching through many, many images, this one seemed to have the least amount of small pieces.

I know it's hard to see, but the silver is actually really shiny foil paper, so it actually looks like the chrome on a cycle.  The red is also a foil cardstock from American Crafts.  The cycle was cut at 5.2" x 2.8", the mat is from an 8x8 DCWV birthday stack, and the buttons are SU!  The pennant tag is also from MTC.  I kept the inside really simple, mostly because I put the card (and the one in the last post) together at my boyfriend's, where my supplies are limited!  Thanks for visiting!

Birthday card for my brother #2

Here is another one for my brother, this one is for my Mom to give him.  I used the car from Just Because Cards, some silver foil paper, Cuttlebug Swiss dots, and a piece of cardstock from a DCWV stack to make this, and I finished it off with a couple of SU! buttons at the top.  The title tag is also from JBC, and the font is Pooh Font.  In case it doesn't really show up, the inside reads, "I prefer to think of you as 'classic'."  I am pretty sure I made up this saying all on my own, but it's entirely possible I have seen it somewhere in passing before!  But I was pretty proud of it, LOL!  The car was cut at 5.0" x 2.5".  Thanks for visiting!

4th of July Cupcake wrapper

Well, I have to admit, that I briefly was disappointed that my Wal-Marts have no Lite carts anywhere, but it was a fleeting disappointment.  Andy, the awesome creator of Make the Cut, showed us on the forum over there how to MAKE OUR OWN cupcake wrappers.  WOO HOOOOO!!!!!  So happy...so, following his settings and instructions, I cranked out this from scratch in a couple of minutes, using a rectangle and his new Bezier warp feature!  I just welded in a "Happy 4th of July", and voila - instant cupcake wrapper!  I added some sprinkles and icing, and it was done!  I plan on cranking out a few of these for the holiday in a couple of weeks!  Enjoy, and thanks for visiting!

Brother's birthday card

Well, I was really lazy here.  I totally let the paper do the work here, and didn't do much at all, other than coordinate colors!  LOL!!  So, this is for my oldest brother, and it may not seem much like a birthday card, but he was in the Navy for 25 years and when I think of him, I think of a patriotic theme.  Is that too weird??  So, the stars are all from Mickey and Friends, the "happy" is from Just Because Cards, and the "B-day" was welded from Gypsy Font.  Have I mentioned how easy welding is in the Gypsy??  WOW!!!!  So super simple. 

Tha large star is cut at 4.8" x 5.9", and the star border at 2.4"H x 4.5"L.  The paper is from Michael's, and they have lots of cute new patriotic themed double sided prints like this, which you will probably see more of in the coming weeks.  ; )     The sentiment is an SU stamp from the birthday sayings set, and I finished off the stars with marker for faux stitching and the CB swiss dots folder.  Thanks for visiting today!

Hooray for the zoo!

So, this past week or so has had me a little down, so my boyfriend finally gave in and went to the zoo with me to cheer me up a bit.  He says he doesn't like the zoo, but you should have seen him entertained by the playful tamarin monkeys and the otters!  I love the otters.  Anyway, I wanted to share some highlights with all of you, and I hope you enjoy!  I will have a card up tomorrow, promise!!  WARNING:  Tortoise porn.  Only readers over the age of 18, please!  LOL!!  Oh yeah, the giant tortoises were......and it was quite the spectacle!  I'm so awful....

All of the others are G-rated, I promise.  Sorry if I offended anyone by putting up that pic, but that's just my sense of humor!  OK, next was the tigers.....my FAVE!!!  Love, love the big cats, especially tigers.  And our kittens were playful today and very active.  Look how close!!

And finally, the Philadelphia Zoo was blessed with a baby Orangutan recently - LOOK HOW CUTE!!!!!

Love this little face.

My cardmaking start! LOL

Well, forgive me for the emotional trip down memory lane this week regarding my Dad, but this will be the last of it!  I am putting this up in honor of Father's Day tomorrow, which I will be intentionally ignoring for my own mental health.

Anyway, I recently found this in my Mom's room and she explained that she had found it in one of my Dad's dresser drawers after he was killed, and she was waiting until she thought I was ready to give it to me.  All of the memories came flooding back of how I used to do this every Christmas and Halloween - I would take notebook paper, draw a jack-o-lantern or a Christmas tree to fit the holiday, and sneak in and put it on their pillows!!  I had totally forgotten about this until I saw this "card", and it was funny to me how years later I resumed cardmaking without even realizing!  I would put this card attempt at about 9 or 10 years old.  It just makes me sad that my Dad never got to see me make cards as an adult, and bring it full circle.

So that is my sentimental story in honor of Father's Day, even though this is a Halloween Card!  I hope all of you take time to honor your Dads tomorrow, be they alive or passed on, and have a wonderful weekend!!!

Baby gift bag

Well, I could not find the exact gift bag I wanted, so I decided to make one myself - well, sort of.  The bag is from the Dollar Store, and the file is from a coloring page I found online, and cut with MTC.  I love this little guy, and since PC will never make a Precious Moments cart, thank heavens for MTC!!!   : )

Anyway, the sentiment is from Gypsy Wanderings, and the paper is from a DCWV stack.  Not much to say about this, it was so easy!  I cut the little guy at 10" tall to make a nice piecing, as these can create some small pieces if you use it on a small project.  So, that's my little project for today - thanks for visiting!!

"Hello" card

This is a Gypsy file from the "Gypsy A to Z" DVD from Above Rubies Studios, and I wanted to give it a try.  I did not watch this part of the DVD yet, so I have no idea what the ladies did with this file, but when I saw it, I immediately thought of my mom and her friend Pam.  Pam comes over every Wednesday morning for coffee, and that was the inspiration for this!

So, the file is from the DVD, the paper is from SU's Summer Picnic designer series, and the two sentiments are both from Wild Card.  This was ridiculously easy to make, so I hope I did it right, as compared to the DVD.  Maybe I will watch that segment tonight!  Thanks for visiting!

Another Father's Day

I made a couple of Father's Day cards, and let my boyfriend choose which one to send to his dad - this one lost out to the vest card (see below).  This is one inspired by Tammy over at Cricut Critters, and I used the new Billionaire and Celebrate with Flourish Lite carts.  (Side note - I almost bought the Cupcake wrappers, but recently discovered that I can MAKE any wrapper I want with the upgrade in MTC - WOO HOO!!!). 
The sentiment is from Celebrate, and the tie and vest from Billionaire.  I used SU paper for the vest, and the herringbone background is loose from Michael's.  I use plain cream cardstock for the tie, and then ran it through the swiss dots folder, then used a little brown ink on the dots.  I wanted to keep it super simple with thin pop dots and no buttons, because it has to be mailed via snail mail.  The inside is also very plain, with "Happy Father's Day" sentiment from Wild Card in the same houndstooth print as the vest.  I think that about covers it all, so thanks for visiting!

Blog award - twice! LOL

Well, I am honored to accept this Creative Writer Blog award from two of my friends - Barb at Snowmanlover and Just2Ducky at 2DuckyDesigns!  They both gave me this award over the last couple of days, and I am so flattered that they thought of me.  And just to let you know, Ducky, Barb gave it to me before you, and you were going to be one of my five that I passed it along to - so...OOPS!!!  Haha.

I appreciate this award so much, and these two ladies, along with a fwe others, always take the time to comment on my blog, on nearly every post.  It means a lot when people do that, so I wish I could give it back to these two, but I think that would be redundant.  They are very, very talented and be sure to take some times to visit them! 

Anyway, I am supposed to give you 6 facts - 5 true and one false - about myself, and you all need to decide which is the false one.  So, here goes:

1.  I work in sports medicine.
2.  I do not like doughnuts at all.
3.  I have 5 older brothers, and am the youngest of the family.
4.  I hated the show "Lost".
5.  I am single, with no kids.
6.  I owned my own house, by myself, at age 25.

Soooo....which one do you think is the lie....errr, creative writing??? 

I would like to pass this along to some other blogs that I really love, and here are my 5:

1. Melissa at http://melissascrappenplace.blogspot.com/
2. Stacy at http://lovethatbug.blogspot.com/
3. Jin at http://underacherrytree.blogspot.com/
4. Marcia at http://scrappin-times.blogspot.com/
5. Lori at http://scrappinmystressaway.blogspot.com/

I hope I didn't duplicate for any of you - if so, I apologize!  I hope everyone has a wonderful day, and I again want to thank Barb and Just2Ducky for this.  Make sure you click on the link with their names for their aweome work!  Love their stuff, and you will too!!!

In Memory of my Dad

It was 5 years ago today that a selfish, idiot driver took my dad from us.  I still spend the bulk of the month of June crying and being irrationally emotional (just ask my boyfriend), and as I write I'm crying, of course.  Man, this sucks, and he was stolen from us wayyy too soon.  But, life throws us these things at times, and we do the best we can.  I can honestly say I do not remember much of that summer, and I was not on any medication or alcohol, lol.  It's amazing to me how the brain clouds, to protect us and shield us from harm.  Such an amazing organ it is.  I've always said that God does not give you more than you can handle, but He surely gave me ALL I can handle 5 years ago today.

This picture was from the trip he took to Australia with his best buddy, back in 2001.  Sometimes I will catch myself saying something he used to say, or like he used to say it, and just smile.  And cry, lol. 

So, I dedicate this post today to all who have lost someone dear, and may the memories comfort you, and make you smile through your tears.  Now, I'm off to do something fun and distracting with my boyfriend!  Have a great day everyone.

Shape card take 3.....

Yet another!  This one is for my boyfriend's dad for Father's Day, it is another Friday Freebie from My Scrap Chick, and, as always, I love how easy her piecings are with MTC!  For this one, I made it 5"x7", and used SU designer paper from the Brocade Background pack (on clearance here, by the way), and I think it went perfectly with this vest theme.  I love how the top of the inside pattern shows through the front.  But, I digress.  Oh yeah, details....sooo, the pocket square was embossed with Divine Swirls, and the sentiment on the inside is from the Wild Card cart.  The plain cardstock is just Recollections brand from Michael's, and this was so simple, I think that covers it!  Thakns for visiting!

Flip flop shape card

I'm really having fun with shape cards right now - it's always nice to do something different for a while.  Maybe this is what I need to break out of my slump, some more shape cards!

This one is from one of My Scrap Chick's Freebie Friday files, and I love how easily this cuts!  I used paper from the K&Co Citronella pack, which I LOVE (I bought 3 of them), and I cut it at 6"H x 11"W !!  I liked how the double sided pattern worked for this flip flop cut also, and notice how the flower she provided in the file almost matches the paper perfectly???  I inked the edge of the flower base, the top of the stamen, and the inside mat with the same color pink, and to finish it off, I hit the flower base with the CB Swiss dots folder.  Super, super easy, and I think it would make a great invite for any summer picnic/pool party!  What do you think?  Thanks for visiting!

Purse card

Here is another MTC design, generously shared in the program by Cre8ive Cutz.  This cute purse card is made with the K&Co 12x24 paper pack that was out a couple of months ago, and I found a daisy design in the MTC gallery I liked to complement the purse.  I inked the edges of the daisy, and used a random button from Joann's for the center.  The second picture is of the inside (unfolded, flower side down) it's just plain pink cardstock, and this literally took me two minutes to make and put together - I love it!  I made it rather large - 7.5"x6.5", and it could easily be made small without any cutting issues.  So, this is just a simple one for tonight, so thanks for visiting!

MTC update!!!

For those of you who have not tried, or even considered Make The Cut software, I wanted to share a little bit about the new update today. First, tracing coloring pages is easier than ever now, and it gives a cleaner cut. But here is a little sample done with the new text to path feature. Above is a screen cap of it inside the actual program, before cutting. This is a sample the creator used in demonstrating all of the new features, and I duplicated it to practice.

For this next picture, I typed out "This is fun!", and then clicked on an option to put the text in a circle.  It literally is done for you in the program, so all you have to do is type out your phrase.  Then, I copied it a few times, and warped the images differently each time, which you see here.  The top left is just a simple text to path, with the letters welded, and the other three are unwelded, with some degree of warping.  I am showing the negative images because this is mostly what it will be used for, at least in my opinion.  Cards and layouts can be taken to new levels!  I also showed the welded positive cut, just so you could see both. 

If you want to see it all in action, in a few days this new version should be available, and out of beta.  At that time, you can download the trial, play around, and see what you think.  You can find it here:

 http://www.make-the-cut.com/.  I will be working on lots ofstuff this week, so I will be posting projects soon.  Have a great day everyone!

Mom's birthday

Well, today's is Mom's birthday, and I made this card for my brother to give to her.  Since she has a gray and black cat, I made it to resemble him a bit, lol.  The cuts are all from Create A Critter, and the card base is the card function from beyond Birthdays.  I used DCWV Sweet Stack for the base, and just plain cardstock colors for the rest of the cuts, and used the Divine Swirls on the balloon and gift. 

Now, here is where the post drops off, LOL.  So, this is my first attempt at using the frosting sheets put out with the Cricut Cake.  Let me just say I do NOT have a Cake machine, but when I looked at the frosting sheets, they seemed thin enough that they would not clog up my machine or the blade housing, and I was right (thankfully).  So I just used the regular Expression, and the cuts are from Home Decor (butterfly), Gypsy Font (swirl fourish), and Create a Critter (wording).  I cut the butterfly at 6"H, the swirls at 4"W, and the happy birthday at 2.5"H, and you can;t really see it, but I put the swirls all around the side.

As you can see, I was too chicken to try working with fondant, so I simply used regular icing and went over it with a knife dipped in hot water to make it a bit smoother.  It's not a great first attempt, but I have never claimed to be a cake decorator, so it's OK, I guess!  I am a great baker, but the decorating....not so much!  Anyway, there it is and thanks for visiting!

Another spinner card

Well, I'm still not sure about this, but here it is.  This is another spinner card (told you I was addicted), and it is for my Mom's birthday Tuesday, and yes, there is a story here.  Unfortunately, both my Mom and I have the dubious distinction of, shall we say, always having seagulls "unload" on us at the beach.  Last year, I got it right on my neck/chest while walking on the boardwalk, and my boyfriend STILL talks about it.  My poor mom has been "hit" several times - the middle of her back, the top of her head, etc.  You get the idea.

So, I made this card with Life's a Beach (seagull, umbrella), Paper Dolls (Mom and bathing suit), and a couple of Jolee's Stickers (beach ball, towel, sunscreen), and the spinner card makes the seagull fly over her. The template was yet again from MTC, and on the inside I wrote a little bit about having a nice, relaxing birthday, but make sure you watch out for the seagulls.  She will laugh!  The cloud paper and sand are both loose sheets from Michael's, and I just hand tore the paper that looks like sand to give it that look.  So, watch out for seagulls flying overhead, and thanks for visiting!

In a creative slump??

Has anyone out there ever been in one of those slumps, where you think you have ideas but when you put it together, you hate the final result??  And then the ideas stop flowing totally, getting you in a nasty slump??  I feel like I am in one of those, and need some advice!  I made a couple of cards for my mom's birthday, but don't like either of them!  I don't know whether it's because the anniversary of losing my Dad is approaching and I get emotionally "off" around this time each year, or what???

So, for anyone who has gone through this, how long did it last???  And what did you do to get out of it???  If I can tweak these cards to the point of them being decent, I will post them in the next couple of days.  In the meantime, any advice is welcome!  So, for now, enjoy these cute babies!!     : )      One for the dog lovers, and one for the kitten lovers!!