Progressive Challenge for chocolate and book lovers.

     Today's post is another bookmark using a Bugaboo freebie image from Creative Digital Arts Center's (CDAC) Progressive Challenge. You can join this series for $1 here and as long as you participate, the next set of images are free. I colored the image in PhotoShop Elements and got the reflective effect on the glasses by using the plastic wrap effect that's available in the Filters in PhotoShop. The print fabric was made by using the Abstract Flower brush which comes in PhotoShop. The background paper is Jenni Bowlin's Brown and Cream Collection from Core Impressions. I sanded it to bring out the design. The sentiment was done digitally in PhotoShop as well using the font SNF Jester Curls. You can find Scrap N Fonts here. I inked both the image and the sentiment (the sentiment more heavily) to knock down the whiteness of the paper with Tea Dye Distress Ink. I think this will make a great gift for a friend, shhhh ;- )

     Thanks for dropping in and checking out my newest challenge entry. Hope you had a great day. Please leave a comment before you go. they really make my day ;- )

The Outlawz freebie challenge - a day early ;- 0

     Today's post is a bookmark using Anne's image from The Outlawz Freebie Challenge here. You can find Anne's blog here. I colored the image in PhotoShop Elements. I added appropriate romantic titles to the book spines (fonts are Love Store in Nickelodeon, Love Poems in SNF Infinity and Sonnets in SNF Sunday Alternate - Nickelodeon (a freebie) can be found here and Scrap n Fonts can be found here (about $5, but they go on sale))  and added artwork using PhotoShop brushes that I'd picked up as freebies. The one on the top book (which is hard to see and you might want to click the photo to make it bigger to see any of this ;- ) is from the Heart brush set by Pop the bubble wrap, the middle book (on the spine) Heart brushes by Cassie and the bottom one by Hero Arts at 2peas Background stone etchings. The best way to find them would be to google Photoshop brushes + hearts or do browse over at Brusheeezy or deviantART. I added Diamond Lace stickles to the heart. The square mat was sprayed with Crafters Companion Spray and Sparkle Iridescent Glitter Varnish. The pattern paper is from Paper Studio. I experimented at the bottom and used a scalloped circle die from Quick Kutz to cut the edge. I added some card stock to the area above where I didn't want it cut, in case I went to far when I put it throughout the Big Kicks. I had just wanted a softer end on the bookmark.

     The nice thing about doing the image digitally is that I can make multiples. I'm thinking of using this to make some note cards for my librarian friend, with maybe a change of titles. She works in a school library, so I'll change them to children's lit ;- ) This one is for me though.

     Thanks for stopping by and I hope you are having a relaxing and creative weekend. I will be back soon with the other image and another bookmark. please leave me a comment before you go.

A Second Penguin Waddles Out.

     A friend of mine came over t make a card for her niece's 2nd birthday and her niece likes penguins. I had already used the gypsy to make the file for a shaped card of a penguin using the Create a Critter cartridge. She said she thought the penguin would look cute with a hat, so we added a hat from the Everyday Paper Dolls cartridge. It is the headwear for the winter girl. We cut the hat twice in both pink and white and paper pieced it and added Martha Stewart glitter. My friend had brought the paper, so I'm not sure what we used. We added wiggle eyes to the face. We hid all contours on the cuts on the Gypsy.

     By the time we got to the inside, we were really pressed for time if we were going to go to lunch and she was going to make it to school on time to pick up her son (ok we were pressed for time throughout it all ;- ) We had some Church website things to work on before we were able to work on the card to begin with.   Sooo, we cut out the body again as a mat for the sentiment. We used Printshop to create a sentiment using  Calibri and NewWGL4 as the fonts. Then, I test cut another body piece in order to get the placement and lined up the piece with the sentiment on it and put it on the mat and by a wondrous act of God, my sentiment was cut in the cent of the body ;- ) We also cut a balloon from Create a Critter (it's the shift of the snake) and the number 2, because she's advanced and can recognize her numbers according to her dotting Auntie (from Birthday Bash.) 

     I thought of a few things I might change or enhance as we went, but we didn't have time, so I might have to CASE myself soon, ha ha. I think a know a young boy who likes penguins, at least he did last year. You may be seeing the updated version of this card in a month or so ;- ) If you'd like the Gypsy file for this, just let me know (with a way to get in touch with you) and I'd be happy to send it to you.


     Thanks for stopping by. Your comments mean so much to me, so if you have time, please leave me one. Have a great weekend!

A Simple Gift Bag.

     I needed to make a gift bag for a gift (yes, it's a Christmas gift, still - it was something that was ordered and didn't come until after my friend and I got our families together for Christmas - OK - don't you judge me ;- ) and the Cricut didn't have a file for one that was large enough, so I checked the Internet and this was what I came up with. It's really simple, but since I looked it up, I thought I'd share it with you and maybe save you some time. I found this template from the About.com people and you can find all of their directions here. They have a template there that you can print out and it looks like this.

     It shows the measurements in units, so that you can make the back about any size. This will make the front and back twice the size as the sides. (You can click on the image to enlarge it.) Since I wanted to make as large a bag as I could from a 12 inch sheet of card stock 2 inches was my basic unit. Now you may be saying, "Hey that doesn't divide out right!" Probably not, I don't do that kind of math in my head either, I would have just believed you, but it doesn't, because you need to leave that edge that is in grey in order to glue it. So, my sides are 2 inches (because I wanted the extra ease on the sides) and the front and back are 3 3/4 and the extra 1/2 inch is in the grey area used to glue it together. I just made that up to make the numbers work (it made more sense to me than have fractions all over the place and used the whole sheet of paper across.) I scored it on my Martha Stewart score board. It was scored up 2 inches from the bottom as well, in order to make the  bottom flaps and that is how far up you cut from the bottom. I didn't use the whole sheets height, because my gift isn't that tall. I didn't take a photo of the scored bag, but here is a photo of the part that I had cut off of the top with the score marks.

     The bag was made with DCWV's Holiday Collection Christmas Stack from last year. I used Terrifically Tacky tape down the side seam first (the smallest area on the right) first. Now remember, on the actual bag I cut on the score lines for 2 inches up on the bottom, to make my flaps. (the template never tells you what to do with the part in the grey are here. I cut it off.) I then folded them in to form the flaps, first the smaller side flaps and the the larger flaps and used the Terrifically Tacky Tape from Provo Craft to hold them together.

     Now from here you can decorate your bag any way you want. If you used plain paper and had wanted to stamp it, of course you would have done that while it was still flat ;- ) I thought about add some poinsettias that I had meant to make for Christmas, but didn't (don't judge...) but they wouldn't have gone with the paper I ended up using. In the end I decided jus to add a handle. I didn't have an eyelets that matched, but I knew the gift is light, so I just punched holes in the front and back of the bag and threaded some ribbon through and then knotted the ribbon.

     To keep the ribbon from twisting I added some discreet tape on the inside ;- )

     So, just switch this out with some valentine paper and fill it up for you sweetie <3 Thanks for stopping by and not judging me today. Please leave a comment before you rush on with your day. I really appreciate hearing from you! I'll be leaving christmas behind now!!!

Gift and sympathy.

     Sorry, I would have posted sooner, but the coming snow brought me a cluster headache as well >.< The first thing I have to show you is a cupcake holder, that is part of the packaging of a Christmas gift I made for a neighbor. Now we did exchange gifts after Christmas, but not this far after >.<  I just used an SVG freebie from Heather at Images by Heather M. You can find her post with the freebie here. She has some nice freebies on her site. I used SCAL2,  my Expression and K &Company's Peppermint Twist card stock to cut the cupcake holder. I purchased some nice fluffy footie socks and rolled them up and put them in the cupcake holder and in the center, I put a Mary Kay lip sunscreen (my neighbor is taking a trip to Florida, lucky her since we just got 7 inches of snow.) I also included Mary Kay Mint Bliss Lotion for Legs and Feet. This was all wrapped in cellophane that I got at Michaels, which actually came with the tag. This would make a great Valentine gift if made with different card stock and cellophane.

 There is some nice sparkle and gloss on this card stock that didn't show in the photos.

     The same neighbor had also lost her father and was going to have a memorial for him. I told my son she was leaving the next day and I was making a sympathy card for her. He was thinking of the Florida trip and he said, "That requires a sympathy card now?" LOL He knows I miss her when she's gone.
   
     The background was stamped and clear embossed with Hero Arts Flowered Wallpaper. The grey card stock is Core'dinations. The ribbon was something I had pack ratted  repurposed from something I don't remember. I cut the ovals with nestabilities and the the sentiment was done digitally and the font is SNF Infinity. You can Scrap n Fonts here. Infinity is a premium font, which means it has all of the font characters, including all of the symbols. You can get the bundle which includes the bold style as well for $8 right now. (I get nothing for saying this. I just think it's a pretty font.) The butterfly is from Jolee's Boutique Beautiful Butterflies (the one on the inside as well.)

     The inside sentiment was also done digitally. The font here is Harrington. The stamp used is from Hero Arts, with Color Blok ink and the papers are Core'dinations.

   
     I had to go to the Mary Kay Center the other day to pick up some product (yes, I'm a Mary Kay consultant and have been for a very long time.) We took the puppy, now 9 months old, with us, since we only had run in and out errands and we thought he could use a car trip. On our way back we spotted a herd of deer in a neighborhood by our library. Now I'm doing a photo or photos a day from my dogs point of view, so we happened to have the camera with us, so here's what we saw.

 Very interested in the barking dog ;- )

     And here is his self-photo from the day. My son thought it was pretty good, since Shadow doesn't have opposable thumbs ;- )

     Have a great Sunday! Thanks for stopping by and please leave a comment before you go.

Wordless (and card-less) Wednesday.

    

 

2nd Challenge in one day ;- )

     The freebie challenge is from The Outlawz and you can find us here. It looks like I goofed up though. I thought both challenges had given us extra time due to the holidays, but it appears the deadline was Jan. 1st for this image and I missed it. Oh well, here is my card anyway. I used one of the cupcake images that Anne Fenton created and colored it in Photoshop. I paired it with 2 patterned papers from Paper Studio and added ribbon from Michaels. I underlined the Happy Birthday on the one paper with a white gel pen and added an embellishment from Creative Charms (added - It's called Groovy Petals) that Diane from Capedia Designs sent to me. You can find a link to her wonderful blog here or on my side bar. I cut out Judy's name using my Gypsy and the Opposites Attract cartridge. Now, Judy does read my blog and I'm kind of bummed that she is going to see her card, so I'm not going to show the inside. We're not going to question whether or not the inside got finished in time. We are just not going to go there. Let's just say, her birthday is still a ways away and I don't want to spoil the surprise. 'nuf said OK!

     Thanks for dropping by and please leave me some feedback or a kind word ;- ) Have a wonderful weekend!

Two posts in one day ;- )

     Ha! bet you thought I wouldn't be back, well here I am and I will be posting twice because I have 2 challenge deadlines today (did I hear someone say, ahhh, that's why... hmmm.) Well, I've been busy playing scrabble and monopoly and going to the movies and just spending time with my family and friends, while my son was home. Then, there is always a let down after he returns to college. I'm suppose to use this blog and the card making to help me get past that, but I didn't fee like it, so there! I actually have been busy editing photos in Photoshop and I do have another card and a gift holder I made to show you, but I will keep those for maybe tomorrow. We don't want to overload you all in one day ;- )

     The first challenge is CDAC (Creative Digital Art Center). You'll find us here. I used the snow globe image from Crafty Ann's (only, wait, you can't see that yet.) They had provided a number of other nice images that you could pair with it, but since I have a friend whose birthday is coming up and she loves penguins (her name is Gwyn and that is how she explains to people how to pronounce her name correctly, not Gwen), I figured I'd use Meljen's Penguin's Little Letter image to go with it. This will fit her challenge "Anything Goes" so I'll enter it there too ;- ) The images were colored in Photoshop. The black card stock is Core'dinations Black Magic and is embossed with Sizzix's snowflakes. I cut the hole with Martha's circle cutter. I set up the words and the heart on the Gypsy. The letters, except for birthday, are from the Cricut Plantin Schoolbook cartridge and "birthday" is an element from the Cricut Sweet Treats cartridge. The heart was cut from card stock from the Peppermint Forest pack.

front

     I wanted the inside of the card to have a surprise, so that is where the snow globe image can be seen. The sentiment is my own, done in Print Shop. The fonts are LD dabble from Lettering Delights,  Kauffman (the script) and wm Christmas3 for the  skating penguin. You can get it as a freebie here. I added glitter pen to the base of the snow globe and Martha Stewart fine crystal glitter to the snow at the base of the penguin.

 inside card

close-up of image inside card

     This would also make a nice Valentine card. Please leave a comment, because I love to hear from you.  I'm also entering this into the challenge at Going Buggy here for grey (black)/ red/ white. Read the next post for the challenge from The Outlawz.