Friday, September 30, 2011

Dave's B-day Card



Today's project is for Dave's Birthday, another keep it simple card. I guess the details don't show up very well in this photo, can't hardly see the border on the bottom of the middle or the panels on the bottom. Aw well, it looks much better in person. I just love red and black together specially with gold mixed in. I've used all Verve stamps on this one and the border punch is from EK Success. I've used copics to color in the flowers. I used Cricut to cut the tag from the Tags, Bags, and Boxes Cartridge. All the paper is from DCW.....plain black CS, red CS, and a patterned red from open stock for Valentine's Day. I've used some Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Fired Brick) around the tag and finished off with some gold and red ribbon I got at a yard sale and some hemp twine to tie on the button (from my old sewing stash). Then I added some gold pearls from Studio G. I stamped some little swirls on the inside panels on the bottom and then used 2 coats of high gloss clear EP to give them a Tile look, which you can't see in the pic, take my word for it, it's there!

I was a bad girl and ordered the new Cricut Expression 2 off of HSN last Tuesday, Lord love the Flex Pay option or I would never have afforded it! The CS operater said that I would receive it on Oct. 6th......but it came in today. I don't normally order from them since I can usually find it cheaper on the internet somewhere, but it was a pretty good price and they threw in an exclusive Cartridge ( Art Nouveau) and the sampler Cartridge Spring Fever Holiday. I have most of the images on the Spring Fever Cart on other cartridges so I don't imagine I will use it much, but the Art Nouveau has got some beautiful artwork on it that I imagine will end up here on a project or two! It comes preloaded with 2 cartridges, Cricut Alphabet ( a nice font and some cute images) and the Essentials, which I don't have so it's all good. The new electronic keyboard has a lot of new features that I'm really excited about, is in color and allows you to do some editing right there, plus allows for mutiple size cuts on the same mat. Kind of like combining the Gypsy with the Expression. I also like the option of running both the regular cartridges as well as the Imagine cartridges.....it doesn't print but you can cut out the images. I don't have any Imagine cartidges since I don't have the machine, but if I happen to come across any............They also threw in a Wifi attachment not normally included with the machine so I can get in on the updates they have planned in the future......Oh yeah, it is fully upgradable!!!! Now all I have to do is find some space where I can put it ........ooops, have to do some rearranging. It won't be available on retail shelves for a couple of months.....they had a limited release back in July for their anniversary, but this one has a few newer features than even that one....and it retailed at $499, I got this one for $329 so I guess it was a good deal, will find out when it hits the shelves. Oh, and another cool thing about it is......no more keyboard overlays! A nice feature for those who cart them around for crops and such, one less thing to pack. I even got the little booklets for the preloaded cartridges.....bonus! Enough for now...Stamp Happy!
Posted by Picasa

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Clay's Card




I made this for my Uncle, who is doing a little time in the hospital, I've used scraps from some fall papers I have hanging around, so I don't know the maker! The leaf is from Spellbinders Shapeabilities and I used a brown Copic marker on the reverse side to get a shadow of the veins, then used Tim Holtz Distress Inks to give it that fall color ( starting with Peeled Paint in the middle and bringing in some Wild Honey, Spiced Marmalade, Fired Brick and Vintage photo from the outside). The Smile is from a Fiskars set and I embossed it with Fall Oak Tinsel Embossing powder from Creations Unlimited. I finished it off with a little bling from Studio G. Real simple but it's for a guy so you gotta keep it simple! The inside I finished off with some very colorful paper with fall leaves on it and printed out the sentiment on vellum and overlaid it on the paper. I think it turned out well. I will be taking this over to him later this afternoon to see how he is doing.
Posted by Picasa

Saturday, September 24, 2011

Shannann's Card

Outside

Inside



I haven't been around for awhile, my Sister has been having some serious medical issues and I took a trip to spend some time with her. My obligations piled up while I was gone! This is a card I did for my sweetie's daughter. Not really fancy but I just had to play with my "Songbird" cartridge from Cricut for the inside flowers (which hides a money pocket). The clouds are my first attempt to draw and color clouds, I watched a tutorial but I didn't have the right colors.....the sky is too bright and the grey accents in the clouds are too dark.....but I gave it a try. I'll have to order some more Copic's soon so I can try again! Don't know if you can see it but the flowers all spell out Happy Birthday. The outside looks like it might need a little something and I wracked my brains trying to figure out what but since I was working on a tight time schedule, I had to give it up. Stuck some puffy butterflies and a dragon fly from K & Company on and called it good. Still........if anyone has any suggestions PLEASE leave me a comment, I may do something like this in the future since I really like the Verve stamps I used for the sentiment and the design on the medallion. Be happy....have another card to post so be on the lookout!
Posted by Picasa