The End of March Madness

With March Madness coming to a close, there is no better time to create a basketball card! My son was at a basketball clinic all day today and then came home for 30 minutes and turned around to go to basketball practice! So you can imagine basketball is pretty big around here. One of my son's travel team teammates is having a birthday party party this week, so I decided to create this basketball birthday card.  I specifically chose the black and white striped paper reminded me of a referees uniform! It is so much more masculine than the cards I usually make, so I am proud of myself for going outside my comfort zone!

 

To create the card, I used the Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge for the banner and the border. The basketball is from two of the layers on the basketball image on the Cricut Best of 2008 cartridge. Here is a side view so you can see that the banner is added with 3D Foam Tape. I ran the orange ball through the Cuttlebug with the Swiss Dots folder to make the texture more basketball-like. I sponged the edges of all of the layers and embellishments. I used the Close to my Heart "Celebrate" stamp for the first time and used Cocoa ink for the softer color. The little metal basketball is a brad I have been holding on to for a while. I thought that added just the right finishing touch!

Bye bye for now...Panda Hugs!

J-

Glitter Panda

I am entering this card into the following challenges:

Mojo Monday Sketch Clallenge #235 (see sketch below)

  

Use it Tuesday Challenge #28 - Uninked Stamp - I used the Celebrate stamp that came with my CTMH Cricut collection (I also used the basketball brad I've been hoarding, the striped Recollections paper I have had but never used and my go to plain card stock that is taking over my dining room!)

Celebrate the Occasion - Challenge #57 - Child's Birthday

Fishing you a Happy Birthday!

Yesterday morning, I came downstairs to find my almost 9 year old, Cubby, watching TV. I am slightly embarrassed to say that he is usually indulging in a Spongebob episode that he has already seen 1000 times. Yesterday, however, he was watching Sports Center! I don't know why, but the idea of my baby watching sports on TV made me exceptionally emotional. I know it seems silly, but they REALLY do grow up quickly.

If you follow my blog (or stop by from time to time) you probably remember my friend who inspired me to begin my "Year of Holiday Cards" project. Well, her birthday is tomorrow and I felt it only appropriate to make he something special to celebrate. I decided that she would be the recipient of my very first easel card. With the help of an online tutorial by Splitcoaststampers, I was able to complete my task!! Thanks to them for the easy to follow instructions! I don't have a stamp that works with a fishy birthday card, so I came up with "Fishing" You a Happy Birthday! I printed it out from my computer and cut it out with my Recollections scallop punch. I thought it looked lonely as one layer, so I added two more scallops behind it in a staggered arrangement, and that also served to let the easel card rest against it.

Panda Hugs!
J-

Recipe

Easel Card Base

Piece of plain purple Recollections card stock 4 1/4" x 8 1/2" - score at 4 1/4" and 6 3/8"

Fold in half and then fold the small section in the opposite direction

With the small section up, add adhesive and attach a 4 1/4" x 4/14" card from the top of the section

 

The video from Splitcoaststampers helped me to understand exactly what to do, so definitely check it out! 

Top card

I cut the frame for this card from the SEI Crafts Couture stack at 4 1/4" and used the same cut I did for my Shadow Box Card.  The fishbowl and fish are both from the Cricut Create a Critter cartridge. <Fishbowl> is the shift cut and I set it to 2" and used layers 1, 2 and 3 on the shift as well. <Fish> is cut at 1" and it is the regular cut. I used layers 1-3 for this as well. I added Stickles to the middle of the fish to make it stand out. The sand layer for the bowl was cut with the the glitter paper in the Mariposa mat stack. After I assembled the bowl, I added the fish with a pop up glue dot and then the bowl was added to the card with pop up glue dots as well. I added 2 sizes of light green Recollections crystals to look like bubbles coming out of the fish's mouth. Finally, I added three Recollections pearls to the card for an extra touch.

Bottom card

I added a white square cut at 4" x 4" and a lavender on top cut to 3 3/4". After I added the white, I taped a piece of Offray 7/8" Sunburst Rainbow ribbon to the lavender piece and taped it with Scotch tape under the piece. Then I used adhesive to place it on top. I added the 3 scallop sentiment on top of it using dimensionals.

I am entering this card into the following challenges:

Getting Cricky with K Andrews - Argh Matey! Use a Pirate or Fish
Birthday Sundaes Challenge #46 - Birthday Card with Sentiment
For Your Inspiration Challenge #25 - inspired by the water and the round domes on the buildings

Birthday wishes

It has been QUITE a while since I last posted.  I was very sick, but am happy to report that I am FINALLY on the mend. In the middle of being sick and trying to make sure my children and my students were taken care of, I had to plan bunny's 6th birthday party. I am looking forward to sharing some of the little touches that made it super special! In the mean time, here is a post I started a month ago and never got out. It is short and sweet, but will hold me over until I can post some of my exciting new ideas!

Last month, I met my best friend from college for dinner in honor of her birthday.  What I love about my friend is just how easy it is to spend time together, no matter how long it has been since we last saw each other.

I decided to play with my Cricut Wild Card cartridge to find a fun card for her. I came up with this idea using the Doily card and I pulled the word wish from one of the other cards on the cartridge. The envelope was made using the fit to page feature and it cut at 5", so I cut the card at 4 3/4" to ensure it would fit in the envelope.

My first attempt at the wish sentiment was too small, but I realized it would be the perfect touch for the envelope, so I added it and then re-cut the word "wish" just a little bit bigger. The card itself was cut using Recollections, Precious Metals, Silver card stock and coordinated very nicely with the envelope paper. My friend LOVED the card, and the smile on her face just reinforced my belief that handmade is always best!

Cricut Wild Card Cartridge Review

Hello all! Sorry to have been away for so long, but with grades due at the end of the school marking period and Thanksgiving with the family, things around the house have been hectic.

Since it's been a while, today seems like an EXCELLENT day to start my new "Review Day" feature! From time to time, I will review something new and exciting that I have added to my crafting repertoire. You may have noticed that I LOVE the Cricut Wild Card cartridge. This is my current go to cartridge for all things card related.  I love that you do not have have to measure and cut to gt perfect cards every time.

My favorite cards on the cartridge are the "doily" and "pinwheel" cards. These are buttons 21 and 20 if you number your booklets starting at the first image.

Mixing and matching with the sentiments is very easy, but you have to play with the sizes. For example, the "doily" card is cut at 5 1/4" on fit to page using an 8 1/2 x ll" piece of card stock, but the "wish" sentiment had to be cut at 13" to fit properly!  Keeping an info card in the cartridge box can be helpful so you do not have to repeatedly remeasure these components.

Below, you will find just a few of the many cards I have created with this cartridge. Most of these have been featured on by blog!! Hope you come back again soon!!

When You Wish Upon a Cupcake Card

I just stumbled upon the "Just Us Girls" Blog and was intrigued by the shape challenge (109) posted this week. The challenge was to use this picture for inspiration:

Looking at the shape for the challenge, I couldn't help but picture a triangle of icing on the top of a cupcake. I picked up the Once Upon a Princess cartridge and cupcake two was the perfect shape!

The doily design under the triangle reminded me of the Cricut Wild Card cartridge doily card and that is what made the entire project come together for me.

I cut the Doily card at 5 1/4" as the base and then added the "triangle," Once Upon a Princess Cartridge - Cupcake 2 - Button and Shift - 3".  The circle and burst on top came from the Classic Font Cartridge - Circle - 1"and Burst 1 1/4" For the burst on top, I made 4 and attached them together by punching a hole through them all and using a Recollections glitter brad to connect them. Then I bent up the edges to give dimension. I hand cut the little flag banner and then cut the word "wish" from the Wild Card cartridge (button 5 - Trifold Card - Shift on Phrase feature) at 13 1/2".

The finishing touch was a dimensional to make the burst at the top stand out, and a touch of Star Dust Stickles to add some bling to the word "wish." I am very happy with the card and can't wait for an occasion to give it to someone! I hope you like it too.