Gerber

 I have been scrapbooking all last week, so my card making got put on hold. But today I’m back to my regular summer schedule, so I made a card for three challenges: Atlantic Hearts, Cupcake Inspirations, and Use Your Stuff. I liked the daisies on the cupcakes, and the mood board from Use Your Stuff. So I played around with my Cricut and found the Gerber Daisy cut from the Flower Market cartridge. I used Tulip, Ruby, and Hollyhock cardstock. I also used my lace punch to make a border with the green cardstock. I think it is New England Ivy.

Materials used:

Cardstock: White Daisy, Honey, Tulip, Ruby, Hollyhock, New England Ivy, Garden Green

Stamps: To My Bestie

Ink: Tulip

Other: Flower Market Cricut cartridge, Martha Stewart lace punch (not CTMH)

CAS Sunset

 I had 5 challenges today I wanted to incorporate into one card. What do you think of it? The sketch is from Tuesday Morning Sketches, the CAS theme is from CASology - windy, and colors are from CAS Colors and Sketches. The other theme from Paperminutes is balloons. The last challenge is a technique challenge from Shopping our Stash - ink blending.

The colors I chose are Vineyard Berry, Sapphire, and Gold (plus a little Canary yellow to blend into the gold). I picked a hot air balloon Cricut cut from the Artiste cartridge for the balloon theme, and made it flying through a sunset sky for the “windy” theme. The sunset was made by blending inks from stamp pads with sponge daubers. I used a white-on-white layered cut to maintain the white space of my CAS card.

It’s been raining all day, so excuse the dark photo. I tried to get a better one:

Materials used:

Cardstock: White Daisy, Sapphire

Stamps: To My Bestie

Ink: Sapphire, Vineyard Berry, Canary, Bamboo pigment ink 

Other: Gold Glitter paper, Gold embossing Powder

Gnome Christmas

 I figured out how to make this Christmas card using this sketch from As You See It, the “From our gnome to yours” theme from Winter Wonderland, and the colors from the Color Dare. I think it turned out ok. The 4 squares I chose for the color dare challenge were Candy Apple, New England Ivy, Avocado, and Flowers.

I also want to enter this into the Christmas card challenge at Double Trouble.

Materials used:

Cardstock: White Daisy

B&Ts: Berry Christmas

Stamps: Gnome Garden, Very Merry Christmas, A Wonderful Season (Art Philosophy)

Ink: Candy Apple, New England Ivy

Other: Tri-Blend markers- light green, Dark red, ice grey; black marker 

Bear Christmas Card

 Here is a Christmas card I made with the sketch from 52 Christmas Card Throwdown. I added a polar bear for the mammal theme from Just Us Girls. The theme at Addicted to CAS is Grid, and the theme at Less is More is Emboss, so I embossed a grid using the subway tile embossing folder.

I colored my polar bear with the new tri-blend markers from CTMH.

Materials used:

Cardstock: White Daisy, Pear Fundamentals

Stamps: Got Snow?

Ink: Intense Black 

Other: Tri-Blend markers - dark red, light green, ice grey (Spectrum Noir)

Dancing girl set

 Here is a set of cards I made for these challenges:

Freshly Made Sketches

Tuesday Morning sketches

CAS Colors and Sketches

Color Throwdown (Blue, Purple, and White)

Simon Says (Anythig Goes)

Paperminutes (dancing theme)

I decided to make a different card for each of the three sketches, but with the same theme and color scheme.

Materials used:

Cardstock: White Daisy, Mink, Bluebird, Pacifica Fundamentals

B&Ts: I Heart Us, Kaleidoscope 

Stamps: Childhood Portrait, Candlelight Garden, Sending Smiles, Springtime Wishes

Ink: Gypsy, Pacifica, Bluebird

Other: Cloud embossing folder (not CTMH), Just Blooms, Epoxy Bubbles

Patriotic Flowers

 Independence Day is coming up on the 4th of July, this Monday. I really love the way my patriotic card turned out, especially the use of the flowers for the Use Your Stuff challenge. It’s not something I would normally think of!  The colors and stars was the theme from Cupcake Inspirations. I used the sketch from Atlantic Hearts, and I’m linking it up to Double Trouble for the unique backgrounds challenge. For my background, I stamped the flag and the sentiment, “Land of the Free.”

I colored my flowers by using the base and shade stamping method. The stamps on this set come this way, with backgrounds that line up perfectly to color in the image. The shading comes in the outline stamp.

Materials used:

Cardstock: Mink, White Daisy

Stamps: Beloved Bouquet, Home of the Brave

Ink: Candy Apple, Bluebird, Intense Black

Pineapple person

 I showed my daughter the pineapple Cricut cut, and she said, “Why does the pineapple have sunglasses on?” I showed her the inspiration photo from Just Us Girls and we had a good laugh that the pineapples looked like people. I even put a flower in it’s “hair!” I used the sketch from The Paper Players, rotated, and the code word, grid, from Addicted to CAS. I made a grid from a journaling box by drawing vertical lines over the horizontal lines.

I finally was able to open my new Cricut and get it set up in Design Space. Last year a lightning strike destroyed most of our electronics, including my Cricut expression. I used the insurance money to replace it with the Explore Air 2, because that way I could link up my cartridges. This pineapple was cut out with the Artistry cartridge. I don’t get much crafting time during the school year, and I mainly stick to knitting. But this summer, I have carved out an hour or so for paper crafting each day, so I’m happy to finally be able to use my new Cricut.

Materials used:

Cardstock: Black, White Daisy, Garden Green, Sunkiss Yellow

B&T’s: Calypso

My Stickease: Calypso

Other: Subway Tile embossing folder, Artistry Cricut Cartridge