The Bug and I: Another Card

I needed a birthday card and my Cuttlebug included a perfect birthday folder. This is another guy card which have always been a challenge for me because I like to add all kinds of stuff. But I kept it pretty simple.

I used DCWV paper ( a brown herringbone pattern) layered with embossed metal and the focal point of the card is an embossed present. That’s one of four mini folders that came with the Cuttlebug. The metal was already embossed ( bought it at a craft fair) but I’m pretty sure it was also done using “the bug” so going forward, I can make more. Mwaaaahhhhhhh
Here’s the center of the card close up:

Layered on another piece of the metal, on top of a scrap of the brown herringbone.
The whole thing is on a plain white card. Other embellishments:

K&CO self adhesive scrapbook borders and strips of self adhesive pearlized diamond thingies from one of my dumpster dives in the clearance bins at Michaels. $.99 for the whole package!

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PEACE

OK I'm a little out of control and Mr. Chocolate is afraid I'm going to hang a banner on him. But  since I was compelled to buy both packages of those Jolee's snowflake stickers I used for my Vintage-y Music-y ornaments, I couldn't just let them sit there right? 'Course not. So what surface wasn't yet adorned with a banner? A mirror in our bedroom! And since it came from the great Barn o Pottery, I decided to do a PB-esque banner.

To the craft cave! Oh did I mention I've been to Starbucks? Cut out the letters to spell PEACE on my Cricut using a metallic pewter cardstock. Cut out ovals using the same cart ( Plantin Schoolbook) from a vintage cream cardstock. Cut out slightly bigger ovals from white. Ran the white ovals through:

my 5" XYRON. This is a very versatile size XYRON if you're looking for something to put on your Christmas list. Glued the letters to the cream ovals using this which is part of the superfantabulous Elmer's/XACTO giveaway I won from Craft ENVy. It's a double sided glue pen with one side for wet bonding and the other for dry bonding! Oooh la la.

This allows better control of adhesive to things like letters because it works just like a pen. Some people go all squibbly over shoes or clothes. I go all squibbly over things like this. OK shoes and clothes too but I'm just sayin'.

Pulled the backing off the bigger ovals and stuck the smaller, lettered ovals on, then added one of the snowflake stickers to each letter:. You'll have a sticky edge left. I poured silver glitter on that, then attached to a cream ribbon using glue dots:

These stickers are REALLY detailed!

And here it is strung across our  mirror:

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A "Banner" Crop of Gratitude with Tute

OK I've gone a little overboard on the banners. I think I'm done because I really need to be working on some more stuff for the craft show I'm doing later this month but I decided to do one more banner so here 'tis:

It's hard for me to get a good shot of the whole thing so here it is broken down into two parts:

Here's the tute:
Create letters of varying sizes ( you could use varying fonts too but I used the same one)

Print out on lightweight cardstock. I used cream. Cut out each letter and adhere to slightly larger black panel.
I used my Cricut (Accent Essentials cartridge) to cut out scalloped edge squares of patterned paper but you could use a large punch or decorative edge scissors to do to the same . Adhere to black cardstock:

Adhere your letters to your prepared panels using foam dots. I put every other letter at an angle because...I did ( you thought there was a plan?).

Grab some clothespins. I bought a ton when one of the Dollar Stores was going out of business. Use your patterned paper scraps to cover one side of your clothespins. Grab some embellishments. I used paper flowers, buttons, and adhesive rhinestones:

Plain clothespin, paper to fit, paper flower, button, completed pin ( OK minus rhinestone but you get the gist)

Once all of your clothespins are assembled, line them up and take a picture cause they're cute:

See, there are the rhinestones

Tulle has become my new favorite banner hanging thing. The rolls of it they sell with the wedding stuff not the kind on bolts in the fabric store. It's inexpensive, sturdy and and plus it's tulle. What's not to like?  Clip your letters to your tulle ( I roll it out as I go along so I know how much I need) and you're done! Here's a close up of one of the letters:

OK this is mostly because I am playing around w/ settings on my camera and figured out my color accent thingy

I don't know how to attach it but I did make a pdf of the letters so if you would like it, just email me.

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Some Cards...

My first crafting love is cardmaking and my addiction is paper. I'm not a paper snob; I love everything from expensive handmade papers (especially Japanese Washi papers) to "ordinary" copy paper. Old paper, new paper, you name it I love it. I get giddy whenever JoAnn's or Michaels has scrapbook paper 4 or 5 for $1 and the cashiers always ask me: "What are you making" and I usually have no idea at the time. I just know that you can't have too much paper.

I'm in intense card mode from about September through December (Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas... for a list that goes from about  15-20 people for Halloween  to 60 or so for Christmas ). January slows down to a couple of birthdays, then February is Valentine's day and birthdays and the March / April picks back up with Easter, Mother's Day, Father's Day etc. with birthdays and other occasions sprinkled in. So Summer is not a big card time for me but I like that because in those other "high production" times, I'm usually using the same papers / colors etc. and while I put love into each card, when you're making multiples it's not the same as making one for a single purpose.

I got a Cricut Expression for Christmas ( I love you Mr. Chocolate!) and that's opened a whole 'nother box of crazy for me. 

Here are a few recent ones:

BIRTHDAY BOY 

 This is a card I made for my Nephew's birthday. I had fun using the "Doodle Charms" cartridge to make the seahorses and just tore ( did I mention I love , love, love tearing paper?) the yellow and white panel mounted on the aqua. The letters are "wave" alphabet stickers I had that spell out BIRTHDAY. And even though he's a boy, I'm addicted to self adhesive rhinestones so those are what I used for the eyes.

FATHER'S DAY

Since we had a rainy Memorial Day weekend, it was a good time to work on some Father's Day cards. I always have a hard time with "guy" cards and only have a couple "guy" stamps,  but I loved this vintage bicycle from The Graphics Fairy and thought it would be good for Father's Day so I imported it into PrintShop ( I have Adobe but I am useless with it) , created the sentiment and printed out using the business card option since I was making multiples. I added a bronzy-brown dot of Stickles glitter glue to the center of each wheel to match the papers.

GRADUATION

 

This last one is a graduation card I did for a friend's daughter. She's graduating from HS and I liked the idea of discovery so I used my "Graphically Speaking" Cricut Cartridge to make the word jumble, and mounted it onto a panel with some handmade silver scraps ( because we never throw out scraps right!) and blinged it up with some rhinestones. 

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