My Cricut Imagine is Yummy-licious

Supplies:  Cricut Imagine image;

Echo Park "Life is Good" background papers;

DCWV card base;

My Pink Stamper "Yummy-licious" sentiment)

 Hello, my Bloggie Friends!  I have not been able to craft (or type...any activity with my arms forward) for a week now due to a pinched nerve in my upper back. My doctor said I could now resume normal activities as much as I could tolerate, but no heavy lifting or carrying.  My dh has been terrific doing the grocery shopping, cooking, and dishwashing.  I am typing this post, but resting my arm when the tingling becomes too uncomfortable.

Since our move to our new home last Spring, I have been able to keep my craft room neat and organized.  I unpacked my craft room in April and for nearly six weeks I cleaned up my supplies after every card, LO, or project.  Wahoo!  Then in early June, I hit a creative road block.  There were piles of papers and supplies on the floor surrounding me and on my work table...cards that just wouldn't come together.  Since then I have slowly worked those piles, so now the only mess is confined to my work table.  I actually made these 3 cards last month and photographed them, but I had not blogged them.                                                                        

 These last two are also Cricut Imagine images and DCWV card bases with a little twine and crinkle ribbon.

It was fun playing with my Cricut Imagine and using up some really old stash (DCWV card bases), and it was a relief to create a few cards and then put the supplies away...no more piles on the floor :)

Happy Sunday! 

Cow's it going?

  Cow's it going?  I am amazed at how fast the summer is going.  We had fun at our annual family reunion/beach trip last week, but we are happy to be home and playing with my papers and stamps.  I used two My Pink Stamper stamps on my card.  The cute cow is from "Moo-ey Doodles" and the sentiment is from "More Punny-licious."  I stamped both stamps with My Pink Stamper "Darkest Night" black hybrid ink and used card stock from this month's "Moo-ey Doodles" stamp kit.

Check out this kit:

All for just $25

Sold exclusively at Shop Pumpkin Spice

  The My Pink Stamper design team has rocked this kit...did you see all of the samples last week during the monthly My Pink Stamper blog hop?  I was awed and inspired...and there are more samples today on the My Pink Stamper blog.  Check 'em out!  I'm clicking over there now :)

Supplies:

paper:  My Pink Stamper Moo-ey Doodles kit & My Mind's Eye On the Bright Side-Two

tools:  i-rock tool and i-rock gems by Imaginisce

Cricut cartridge:  Everyday Pop-Up Cards (tree cut @ 3")

border punch:  grass border by Martha Stewart

Core'dinations Pinterest challenge

  Are you addicted to Pinterest?  There are so many pins I enjoy:  books, organization ideas, and especially craft inspiration.  I especially like to go to the projects boards for my favorite paper companies, like Core'dinations "Hard Core Projects."  

  Ellen's Hard Core challenge is to head over to Pinterest, pick something that inspires you, and create!  I chose this pretty card by Chris Millar as my inspiration:

  I chose to add 3 gems instead of a stamped sentiment, but the basic sketch is there.

Once again I went with my most loved collections:  Core'dinations Whitewash and Nostalgia.

Happy Sunday!

Core Die Cut challenge

  I combined my Nostalgia Core'dinations collection and my Whitewash collection to enter Andrea's Hard Core Crop Die Cut challenge.  I used both sides of the Whitewash paper (middle tree right side and the sentiment stamped on the wrong side.) Core'dinations embosses beautifully and allows the color core to show through.  I lightly sanded after embossing for more contrast.

  There is still time to enter!  Check out the details on Andrea's blog for the die cut challenge and the Core'dinations blog for all 14 challenges.

Supplies:
paper:  Core'dinations Whitewash collection and Nostalgia collection
embossing folders:  Cuttlebug "Swiss Dots" and "Herringbone"; BasicGrey "Eskimo Kisses"
sentiment stamp:  My Pink Stamper "Winter Treats & Sayings"
twine:  My Mind's Eye "Happy Go Lucky" Together
gems:  Say it in Crystals
ink:  Impress "Bottle Green"
die cut:  EKSuccess Tree

Happy Sunday!

Moo-chas Gracias My Pink Stamper and Shop Pumpkin Spice

  Moo-chas gracias to Robyn and Denine, of My Pink Stamper and Shop Pumpkin Spice respectively, for putting together fun and fabulous monthly stamp kits.   The July stamp kit is called "Moo-ey Doodles" and includes card stock, My Pink Stamper "Texas Chocolate" brown hybrid ink, and the My Pink Stamper "Moo-ey Doodles" stamp set.  This kit is udderly delightful!  The kits sell quickly every month, so be sure to get yours today.

  I also used Echo Park "Paradise Beach" papers and My Mind's Eye burlap trim, also available at Shop Pumpkin Spice (links embedded.)  My vinyl alphas are Thickers.

  Please click over to the Shop Pumpkin Spice blog for more MOOvelous creations.

Krafty Christmas

  I am thrilled to be guesting at Jingle Belles for challenge #15:

red OR green, but NOT both!

Think about other Christmas color combos you enjoy:  red and aqua, red and purple, green and white, green and gold...just NOT red and green together.

For my card I chose red, kraft, and aqua.  I used a My Pink Stamper "Biggie Christmas" sentiment, Echo Park "a walk in the PARK" papers, Imaginisce i-Rock gems, red linen card stock, and SU ribbon.  The presents are cut @ 3" from Cricut "Birthday Bash", p.43.

I began making cards using greeting card computer software back in the 1990s.  Oh my, how far I have come!  A few years later, I was introduced to rubber stamping, and I began to make all of my holiday cards.  My very first stamped card looked like this one, that I revamped a little by adding twine, a button, and a tag:

In the beginning all of my cards were stamped in black ink and were the focal point of the card…not that there is anything wrong with that!  I slowly started buying other colored ink pads, then a few years later using patterned paper.  No more stamped backgrounds!  That was time-saving and fun.  When I started blogging five years ago, I was amazed at the talent that was out there.  I still follow those same fabulous paper crafting ladies, and a couple hundred more :)  Many of those uber-talented ladies did not stamp AT ALL.  I thought, "that is cheating!"  I am eating those words now.  I won a Cricut Expression and I have become addicted to die cutting.  Often times I use my Cricut and stamp only my sentiment.  But when I sit down to create, I do not consciously think about using the Cricut OR stamping unless there is a specific stamp I want to use or a specific image I want to cut.  I have an idea and go with it.  I have been wanting to cut these presents, and that was where my inspiration came from.  I also love red/aqua Christmas cards, so I went in search of aqua papers.  And I stamped my sentiment :)

I hope you will join me, Stef and Lauren for this challenge that will run until July 25.  Link your creation to Jingle Belles Challenge #15.  I am anxious to see what you create!  Enter as many times as you would like, but please follow the challenge rules...no serial linkers :)

Hard Core Crop Happy

  Did you see that Core'dinations is having its first Hard Core Crop?  There are 14 challenges to choose from; you can enter each challenge more than once, but you can not combine challenges.

  There are quite a few challenges that inspire me, but I chose to start with Jennifer Edwardson's "Strip It" challenge:  use strips of Core'dinations card stock.  I cut strips of Tim Holtz Kraft-Core Nostalgic Collection, embossed, inked in black, and glued each strip to fit in the rectangle of black card stock.  My base card (barely visible) is the same Core'dinations as the tan strips in my sunburst, layered with glitter card stock.  I embellished with a 3D sticker for my sentiment.

Supplies:
paper:  Tim Holtz Kraft-Core Nostalgic Collection; black card stock; glitter card stock
Cuttlebug embossing folders:  Polka Dots & Swiss Dots
3D "HAPPY" sticker:  My Mind's Eye Lost & Found Two


Will you join me?  Soooo much fun :)

Pennant Shape Cards

   I am smitten with banners and pennants on cards.  When ProvoCraft came out with the "Pretty Pennants" cartridge, it went to the top of my wish list.  I have some cricut.com credit, and I purchased the cartridge with my credit a couple of weeks ago.  My cartridge arrived right before the derecho storm that took out power in our region.  We still have a gas range so I could cook, but unfortunately my Cricut is not gas powered ;)

   A guy friend of mine recently had to put his beloved dog to sleep on Monday.  Cody was a 12 year old lab that had a wonderful life.  My friend wanted to thank his vet, his girlfriend, and the vet that put Cody to sleep.  Their love and support have meant so much to him during this difficult time and he asked me if I would make 3 "thank you" cards for him today.

  Masculine is tricky for me, especially mini mass-production.  I went with my strength and kept it simple.

Supplies:
paper: Echo Park "Style Essentials" Runway collection; kraft card stock
sentiment:  My Pink Stamper "Girlie Doodles" (yes, my masculine card has a girlie stamp LOL)
jumbo eyelets:  SU!
ribbon:  from my scraps jar

I hope you are staying cool!  I am ready for some autumn weather.

My Pink Stamper July hop - Moo-ey Doodles

  Welcome to the July My Pink Stamper blog hop!  You should have arrived here from sweet Missy's blog, if not, please start at the beginning on Robyn's blog, My Pink Stamper.

  Have you herd?  My Pink Stamper has a new set of images and sentiments called "Moo-ey Doodles."  Both of the sentiment stamps and that adorable cow came from "Moo-ey Doodles" stamp set.  I love cows and I have quite a few cow-themed decor in my kitchen.

  You can purchase the My Pink Stamper "Moo-ey Doodles" stamp kit tomorrow, sold exclusively at Shop Pumpkin Spice.  The ink I used is My Pink Stamper "Texas Chocolate" brown hybrid ink, which is also included in the kit.  The papers and hot air balloon sticker are Echo Park "Sweet Day" and I used Twinery cappuccino twine.

Please hop along to see more moo-velous creations!  Here is the entire lineup:

Robyn

Tracy

Shelley

Roberta

Renee

Missy

                           June  *you are here*

Julie

Helen

Edna

Cristi

Chelle

Angela

Andrea

Courtney

Now MOOve along to Julie's blog!

I'm Guesting at Jingle Belles!

  I am thrilled to be guesting at Jingle Belles for challenge #15:

red OR green, but NOT both!

Think about other Christmas color combos you enjoy:  red and aqua, red and purple, green and white, green and gold...just NOT red and green together.

For my card I chose red, kraft, and early espresso brown.  I used paper scraps from my November 2011 Artful Delight kit.  I found the ric-rac in my ivory/brown ribbon scraps jar.  I wanted to add "Noel" for my sentiment, and I went in search of some dark brown alphas.  I found some alpha tags by Rusty Pickle in my stash and used a circle punch on the tags to create my sentiment.

I hope you will join me, Stef and Lauren for this challenge that will run until July 25.  Link your creation to Jingle Belles Challenge #15.  I am anxious to see what you create!  Enter as many times as you would like :)

Sweet (birth)Day

  I am in love with this pinwheel patterned paper from Echo Park's "Sweet Day" collection...all of the papers and the popsicles sticker are from the "Sweet Day" collection.  The My Pink Stamper "Sweet Goodness" sentiment is a perfect match too, do you agree?

I mounted the yummy patterned papers on early espresso card stock and the loopy border is a Martha Stewart punch.

  Don't forget to Shop Pumpkin Spice for all of your paper crafting needs :)

Happy Thursday!

Sweet Day is delightful!

  Welcome to the July blog hop for Shop Pumpkin Spice!  If you are coming from my wonderful friend Court's blog, you are in the right place :)

  I used Echo Park "Sweet Day" papers and stickers and my My Mind's Eye "Happy Go Lucky" Together twine matches perfectly...both of which are available at Shop Pumpkin Spice (links embedded.)

  My card was inspired by OWH bonus sketch:

  Please hop along with us.  You will love the lovely projects made by my talented DT sisters, as well as Denine and little Pumpkin:

Court

                             June  *you are HERE*

                         Saundra **next stop**

Carissa

Lezlye

Diana

                                    Shop Pumpkin Spice (Denine and Pumpkin)

Thank you for hopping with us at Shop Pumpkin Spice :)

Oh, Happy Day!

   Today is a happy day!  After the storm that wrought havoc along the east coast last Friday, we felt fortunate to have only lost phone and internet...but on Saturday we lost our power too.  My friend, Amy Sheffer, regained her power on Sunday and invited us to dinner and the use of her bathroom so we could shower.  It was divine!  At night we camped out in our basement, where it was less humid and much cooler.  This week dhDH (dear husband, Doug Houck) showered at work and the girls are in summer school, so they enjoyed air conditioning.  In the mornings I drove to a local coffee shop to make use of the wi-fi to catch up on email.  Yesterday I was anxious to ask Amy for use of her shower again, but then our power came back on around 2:30pm!  dhDH and I worked feverishly getting our bedding, snacks, books, magazines, etc. that we used in the basement back upstairs and in its rightful place.

  I don't think I have ever been so eager to be able to wash dishes, wash clothes, and to flush toilets!  The funniest part to me was trying to make cards without the use of my Cricut or to be able to peruse challenge blogs for inspiration.  I don't always use my Cricut nor do I always need a challenge blog for inspiration, but I think my issue was knowing those things were not available to me.  I could still crank my Big Shot :)

  I love this July Artful Delight sketch!  I think my card works for this challenge, but I took some liberties with the vertical strips (left-justified in my card.)  I adore Simple Stories "Summer Fresh" collection.  The 6x6 pad, all of the Bazzill card stock, and twine I used were included in the June Artful Delight card kit; only the white card base and that lone navy Making Memories snap came from my stash.  I also used an MFT scallop die for the vertical strips.  They are actually the scraps from my sailboat card!!!  Good use of scraps, eh?

I am also entering my card at Paper Playtime Die Cut Creations:

 #78 Red, White, and Blue colors plus add a Die Cut 

Happy 4th of July!  Stay safe and have fun.  We are celebrating with a crab feast and fried chicken :)