I was going to use my Cricut...

Kudos to Janelle Larson for posting a photo of a card similar to this one online.  It was just so cute I had to scraplift her concept!

Shirley, aka Okieladybug, made a cut file for a crab that matches my SU Mr. Crabby stamp set.  I was going to use my Cricut to cut out the crabs for this card and realized they'd be too big.  Instead, I found a Dustin Pike digi image and used it instead.

The red crabs are printed in color on card stock.  Then I printed out several without color and used my Promarkers to make the blue crab and pop dotted it over the red one.    The sentiment was printed in my card making software, I added some inking and some twine.

My Heart Sings

The music printed paper is a true black but looks more charcoal grey in the photo.  I used SU punches for the heart, bird, tiny hearts and the shape for the sentiment.

Another Cat Card

After I made the photo, I realized that I hadn't colored the mouse in the water can! 

Fat Cat Card

These little fat cat images are cute and only take a few seconds to color with Promarkers.  I adhered a narrow strip of the red polka dot paper on the inside edge, added some twine and a couple of flowers punched with a SU Bitty Punch.

Inspired by susiespotless.

Big Buckle Card

Splitcoast Stampers has a tutorial on how to make this card here:
http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/tutorials/big_buckle_card/

It uses a SU word window punch but you could easily cut an opening using your Cricut.

 

 

card front with "buckle" closed

card open so you can see the strap

just tuck the strap into the opening

Smashbook Page

This is my favorite page in my Smashbook, so far.  It's also the only one that I have completely embellished.

The background is punched pages from an old encyclopedia that I distressed with Tim Holtz ink.  I used some scalloped circles, circles and pleated some long strips with torn edges.

Graphic 45 paper is a favorite of mine.  I love the vintage images but have difficulty coming up with really good ideas to use them on my cards.  The image on this page is too large for an A2 card so now it won't go to waste. The flower on the lower corner is from a package that I picked up at the Dollar Tree a couple of years ago.

When I got to this point, and took a photo, I decided to add some other items to the page.

There just seemed to be too many blank spots on the page so I tucked in some leaves and added a bow.

I'm going to have to study it for a while and see if I can come up with a better flower to put on the page.  I'm not sure I like the striped/checked one.  But, I'm trying to "work outside the box" and learn to put multiple things on the pages in layers.  It's kind of hard for me to not make everything symmetrical!

EDITED*******

My smashbook is laying on my work table with it opened up to this page.  The longer I looked at it with the leaves and the bow, the less I liked it.  I ripped off the bow and flower as well as the leaves and now it looks like this:

Next time I'm just going to smash some embellishments, I need to lay them out and study them for a while before I glue them all down!  LOL!

Red, White and Blue Cards

The current challenge for Cards for Soldiers is to use red, white and blue on our cards.  The paper is some I found at Hobby Lobby, the stickers were in my sticker stash and I added some border punched pieces and some Stickles (which I managed to stick my fingers into and smear at least 3 times).

These cards are part of my effort to use up the supplies I have on hand.  There is still a Jetmax drawer full of stickers that I need to use, and I've already gone through and donated a lot that I thought I'd never use.
I'm also trying to use up the regular weight paper that's on hand and go to more 12 x 12 cardstock weight.  Right now I have a ton of light weight paper so I'll probably do a lot more simple cards like these to get it used up.

Filling up my Smashbook

After going through 3 desk drawers, I found quite a few things to put into my Smashbook.  There's still no embellishments on or in it though!  I love the shabby look of the ones I've seen online but just lack the artistic talent to do mine that way.

So far all I have is some cards, photos, plane tickets and some letters inside.  Tomorrow afternoon I'll look around some more and see what other treasures I can find to put inside.

The pages are 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 and now I'm sort of wishing I'd done mine larger than that to accommodate the programs from our granddaughter's dance and music recitals.

I highly suggest that you put several of the pocket pages in yours if you decide to make one.  I have some old letters from my mother and brother that were hard to put into mine so I had to use the pocket pages.  Now I'm sure I'll find other things that I don't want to tape down and need more pockets! 

Composition from 1984

When my son was in high school, I went back to college.  This composition is one I wrote for a writer's group that I belonged to.  Tonight, while looking through drawers to find items to put into my Smashbook, I ran across it and decided to post it on here.  I don't remember what the assignment was, but I do remember sitting in our living room looking at the Mission rocker and feeling that I had to write about it.

My husband's grandfather, who I never met, first sat in the old oak rocker that waits silently resting in the corner of my living room.

This old rocker with the broken springs and the tell-tale squeak when you rock has traveled hundreds of miles back and forth singing babies to sleep with its own lullaby and comforting old people as they took their ease, perhaps sitting near a sun filled window.

It is a sturdy chair, not soft and yielding, but sensible in design, made to soothe a fretful baby and last until his old age.

Although the cushion has been reupholstered, worn thin by the many people who have used the rocker, the wood itself glows with the patina only old, good, wood possesses.  It is almost as if the wood had stored part of the radiance from the babies' smiles and is barely able to contain it.


When my son was born, my mother-in-law, Thelma, gave me the rocker.  It had been given to her by her mother-in-law when she had her first child.  It must be a wise old chair by now because Thelma rocked seven babies in it.  It seems to know just the right creaks and squeaks to lull a baby into a peaceful sleep.


My son, Gene, and I have spent more hours together in this chair rocking, eating, playing and reading, than we have spent doing anything else.  It has wide arms which are perfect for resting your elbows on while reading a story book to a child and rockers sturdy enough for an energetic boy to play see-saw on.


It has now become an all purpose chair for our family while we are in transition.  One wide arm is now used to hold a cold drink for my son while he sits with one leg thrown over the other.  The creaks and squeaks unwind my husband after a hard day's work and sometimes they put him to sleep too as he sits with his feet propped up reading the paper.


We have no babies, for now, to cuddle and rock to sleep or any old people to rest in our chair.  But it sits ready, waiting for our old age and our next generation and it gives me the feeling that it will always be there.


A lot of changes have occurred since this was written in 1984.  Of course my son is grown and I spent many, many hours rocking his daughter in this chair.  My husband and I are now the "old people" who use the chair.  Our newest grandchild will be born in two months and the chair is ready to be put into service again to rock another baby.

Simple Card Sunday

The image is from a set of Studio G stamps I purchased right after I got my Cricut three years ago.

Today I just felt like doing something really simple!  So, I stamped off a few images and colored them with my Promarkers.

Smashbook

Greenbean did a post on the Cricut Circle message board about Smashbooks.  I'd never even heard of them until I read her post.  And, like Greenbean, I'm NOT a scrapbooker.  After watching this video I decided to make my own Smashbook to hold all the cards that Fred's received while he's recuperating.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9oV9akW-fo   ---- link to the instructional video

 View of all the pages.  I have divider pages--no tabs on those yet!--colored copy paper pages, graph paper, lined paper, double sided cardstock and the pages that she gives a link to download and print inside.


I printed her pages on white cardstock and just cut them to size.

 One of my favorite patterns is CHERRIES! So that's what I used for the front cover.

 Obviously, front and back covers.

 This is one of the pages that you can print using the link provided in the Youtube video.  This one says "notes and quotes".

I inserted these sheets of lined paper just behind the page shown above.  If you ever see my status updates on Facebook, you know that I collect funny quotes and sayings.  Now, I have a cool place to keep them written down.

 This is another of the pages I printed and just added a library pocket onto.

 Another pocket on a sheet of double sided paper that Okie and I found at Tuesday Morning a while back.

This is a sheet of Heidi Grace cardstock that I made one of the pocket pages using the instructions in the video.

So, mine's pretty much a Plain Jane for now.  I'd love to "trash" it up like the ones I've seen online but truly don't know where to start!  LOL!  But, it will be handy to jot things down in and tuck things into that I want to keep!

Just the cutest card, ever!

Everyone probably knows this by now, but, my husband fell off a ladder while erecting a 40 x 60' tent for a local bluegrass festival.  He fractured his right hip and foot and is at home recuperating and doing really well.

Shirley, aka Okieladybug, put a post on the Cricut message board and the Old Cricut Community page on Facebook to make people aware of this and we've received several beautiful cards from the people on there. Fred and I both appreciate the gesture!

In today's mail, there was a Priority Mail envelope which I assumed had some cards inside that I would include in my next shipment out for Cards for Soldiers.  Imagine how surprised I was when I opened it up and found several sheets of stamped images for me to color, a sweet note to me and this wonderful card for Fred.

Linda Bonlin, hugabug on the MB, sent this card.  I can only imagine how many hours it took to design and make it!  We both absolutely cracked up when we saw it.

I wish you could see it in person!  There is so much detail on it and it fits our situation just perfectly!  Notice the banjo, guitar and fiddle!  The little signpost is so cute too!  I'm sure the expression on the woman's face is just about what mine would have been, had I been there when he fell, too.

The red ribbon on the right side looked like a cute embellishment, until I gently tugged on it......

It's a SLIDER!  The woman moves across the card with her net extended, ready to catch the guy!  How cute is that? 

Thanks again, Linda.  This will be a great keepsake for us!

House Cleaning Poem

 My friend, Carol Neal, sent this to me this morning.  Pretty much explains my housework routine!


*The Cleaning Poem*

*I asked the Lord to tell me
Why my house is such a mess.
He asked if I'd been 'computering',
And I had to answer 'yes.'*

*He told me to get off my fanny,
And tidy up the house.
And so I started cleaning up...
The smudges off my mouse.*

*I wiped and shined the topside.
That really did the trick...
I was just admiring my good work.*
*I didn't mean to 'click.'*

*But click, I did, and oops - I found
A real absorbing site
That I got SO way into it...
I was into it all night.

Nothing's changed except my mouse.
It's very, very shiny.
I guess my house will stay a mess...
While I sit here on my hiney.*

Winning Sentiment

This is the sentiment that Melissa Allore sent to me to be used with this stamp.  I think it's absolutely perfect for the image!

Things got a little hectic around here right after I received the sentiment.  It totally slipped my mind until I found the stamped images on the worktable this afternoon.  This is what I came up with:

Since no one has worn hosiery like this since the 50's I wanted to do something with a vintage look.  The paper came in a stack of vintage prints.  I added some Prima flowers with Liquid Pearl centers--which are pink but look yellow in the photo.

Thanks again, Melissa!  Hope you're enjoying using the twine!

Just a Note card

 Printed the sentiment with my computer, used a SU punch for the hearts, ran all the embellishments through the Cuttlebug and inked the hearts.  Tied on some baker's twine.  I used shaped scissors on the black and just ripped the tan paper by hand.

This is the original card.  I'm concerned that the buttons I used may be too thick for post office machinery so I may have to keep these for my personal use instead of sending them to Cards for Soldiers.

It was inspired by a card I saw online by "Biggan".

Color Charts

I use Hallmark card making software to print my sentiments and clip art images for my cards.  It seemed like every time I wanted to print some text in a color to coordinate with the paper I was using, it would take me multiple tries to get the right shade.  So, today, I finally made myself a chart of the default colors available in the software.   I can customize them too if they're not dark enough, etc.

  Right after purchasing my Promarkers, I made this chart to help me select colors.  I just set up a page in Excel and colored the boxes beside each name.  I did one for my Stampin' Up markers too.

Being able to see what the colors of the printer ink look like, I was able to get a pretty close match to some Martha Stewart ink that I used to stamp the flowers on this simple card.  The stamps are SU, God's Beauty set and I used Old Olive cardstock.

Dawn Griffith had a card like this on her blog this morning.  It's a good example of how a simple design can be used for a variety of cards by just changing the sentiment you choose.

Another Embossed Flower Card

 I used black embossing powder on red cardstock for the rose. 

The leaves are from the rose on Walk in My Garden.  In order to save paper, I placed the rose with the flower portion hanging off my cutting mat on the Expression so only the leaves and stem would cut.

The background was Cuttlbugged, MS punch for the edge and I printed the sentiment myself.

Neither picture shows the colors of the paper correctly,  the background is Moss Green from SU, the rose is a true red and the leaves and mats are black.   My camera makes it look like grey background paper and a pink rose!

In this photo, you can see the embossing on the rose.

This card was cased from "Lionsmane" on Splitcoast Stampers.

Embossed Flower Card

The flowers were stamped with Versamark Ink onto SU cardstock and embossed with white embossing powder.

I stamped the leaves and colored them with Promarkers and printed the sentiment on my computer.

Star Quality Card

 Blue background was embossed with Cuttlebug;  George was used to cut the stars;  Sentiment printed in card making software;   Added some baker's twine and stickles

The red stars are pop-dotted for dimension.

This card was based on one I saw online.

Lacy Labels Card

Lacy Labels was used for the sentiment shape.
The coordinated paper is from a huge stack by Recollections called Bright and Basic.
The butterfly is from a set of dollar stamps I found at Michael's.
I used Stampin' Up chocolate chip ink for the stamped images, added a little bling and some ribbon.

Wishes Card

A Child's Year and Lacy Labels were used for the Cricut cuts on this card.  My "it's too dull now to even use anymore" Martha Stewart punch was used for the border pieces. 

I did ink the edges of the butterflies and then used a Paper Studio stamp for the sentiment.

Martha Stewart border punches are now off my shopping list.  The lever handles don't work nearly as well as the EK Success ones!  And, in my experience, using the MS punches on cardstock dulls them way too quickly when compared to the EK Success brand.

I ruined too much paper trying to get the edges punched cleanly and finally managed to get enough borders done for a few cards by using card stock instead.

Tags, Bags, Boxes and More Card

Splitcoast Stampers provided the inspiration for this card.

It's been a long time since I pulled out my Tags, Bags, Boxes and More cartridge to do any cuts.  I used Design Studio to re-size the tag to fit the stamps I used.

The birds are a Hero Arts stamp, the flowers are SU Sweet Summer stamps, the words are Paper Studio stamps.

It's not really clear in the photo, but the bow is tied using a dotted organza ribbon and a pink gross grain. I found a package of the tiny safety pins in my sewing supply drawer and used that to attach the tags. 

Then I put pop dots behind the bow and tags to hold them in place.

Mother's Day Bouquet Card

I used Design Studio to "hide contour" on some of the petals on the base flower, Promarkers for the dots, added a button and some twine in the center.

Martha Stewart border punch and added some ribbon.  I cut 1" off the card front and stamped the image at the bottom edge of the inside.

The Mother's Day Bouquet cartridge is still going to be a challenge for me!

Oklahoma Springtime Weather

DH managed to get onto the patio yesterday afternoon with his walker.  He had just gotten settled into the patio chair when hail began to hit the patio roof.  Within 5 minutes, this is what we had on the ground!

If he hadn't made it inside, he'd have been pelted with hailstones about 1" in diameter!

Mother's Day Bouquet Card

I just got the Mother's Day Bouquet cartridge, and for the life of me, I can't seem to figure out how to use the flower images.  When looking at the information online, it appeared that the cuts could be layered to make more dimensional flowers, but I'm just not seeing it yet! LOL!

There's not a thing wrong with any of the shapes on this cartridge.  I think the events of this past week have really thrown me out of the crafting mood!  I seem to have lost my mojo!

 This was my first attempt with layering the flowers.

 These are better.  I cut 3 sizes and used a tool handle to give the petals some shape and inked the edges.  The flower centers were made with a SU Bitty Punch.

The yellow and white card was the one originally in this post.  Then Blogger had some problems and so I had to re-post this.