BasicGrey Wisteria & SU Easter Card

Happy Easter! I have had a fun and fabulous Spring break with my family. I left for NC last Sunday with J&K (my daughters) and spent time with my Supreme girlfriends. I miss them all so much! I recognized what a magical group we were from the time we named ourselves "The Supremes" in September 2002. It was difficult to leave them when we moved to VA almost 6 years ago. I am the youngest in our group (age 43) and Martha the oldest (age 78). Martha passed away peacefully March 17. If anyone could have beaten lung cancer, it would have been her :) I missed her funeral the previous week, but Sharon, Kaye, and Dianne filled me in. We laughed and had such a great time together last Monday & Tuesday. We stamped & packaged over 500 cards for the troops, ate out together, and took field trips to Hobby Lobby & a local scrapbook store, and we shared our favorite Martha stories...we laughed so much, it was just as if she were with us.

Wednesday I drove home, did laundry & re-packed.

Early Thursday a.m. Doug & I went to my parents' house in MD to see my nephew. He is such a sweetie, and he has a special bond with our girls. We left the girls off at my parents' house in MD then went to Gettysburg, PA for a mini getaway. Doug brought his bike & I rented one. We rode our bikes around part of the battlefield and into town too.
Then we took a Segway tour of Gettysburg. This was our first time riding a Segway. It was so much fun! The tour is ~3 hours. We might just plan our next vacation around a Segway tour. We picked up the girls at my parents' house yesterday and had our Easter dinner a day early. We (mostly) unpacked last night. Today we ate breakfast @ Wegmans then did major grocery shopping; we needed eggs to dye! They are cooking now, and I am working on loads of laundry. It is a really relaxing Easter Sunday. Perfect.

I hope your Easter/Spring Break has been equally lovely :)

Be Inspired #77 - Pop Up

It's Wednesday again...time for another Cuttlebug Challenge! The theme this week is pop-up. I decided to make a wiper card. The gemed tiara pops up when the card is open. On the left-most panel I used the Provo Craft Just My Type embossing border. It coordinates perfectly with the next panel of designer paper.

I had so much fun making this card. I used my new 6x6 Cosmo Cricket Early Bird papers. I think they are yummy. Other supplies: Bazzill card stock, red linen card stock, cream card stock, DRS sentiment stamp, A Muse tiara stamp, Hero Arts gems, and SU! ribbon & border punch.

Check out other ideas on this theme at Cuttlebug Challenge blog. I promise you will be inspired! I hope you can join us :)

Cuttlebug Be Inspired #76 Challenge

My design team sisters have succeeded once again to mesmerize me with their talents. This week we were challenged to create Easter projects by stamping an image. I thought my stamped image worked well with the Provo Craft Cuttlebug embossing folder Birds & Swirls. Our challenge this week is for you to choose one of us as inspiration for your creation. Link your project here at Cuttlebug Challenge blog.

I made a pop-up card. It reads, "Happy Easter To One of My Favorite Peeps."

Supplies: memento ink pad, copic markers, all papers and ribbon by SU!, "Happy Easter" stamp by Inkadinkado, stamps by MFT, black brad from my stash.

Are you still here? Leave a comment, then go to Cuttlebug Challenge blog for inspiration :)

Be Inspired #75 - Spring Project; use flowers!

It is Cuttlebug Challenge blog Be Inspired Wednesday! Our new weekly challenge: Spring project; use flowers. I used Provo Craft Cuttlebug Flowers dies to create my purse "clasp".


Here is my purse when it is opened all of the way. Do you see the pockets on the left and right side? (I used a circle punch to create notches.) You can see blue scallops in there...


This is what the scallop circles look like when pulled out. I used my Provo Craft Cuttlebug Flowers dies again on the corner of the journal block. This little purse is just waiting for photos. This makes a nice gift.


Here is the back of the purse. I learned to make a project like this one from Sue. I fell in love with the beautiful Parisian Breeze textured designer paper and I knew I wanted to make a purse card with those papers and the corduroy brads and coordinating ribbon.

Head over to Cuttlebug Challenge blog now to get an eyeful of fabulous ideas. I am heading there now to see what my uber-talented DT sisters have created!

Teacher Survival Kit teacher gift

Valentine's Day was practically a non-event due to all of the snow, snow, and more snow. There was no school on Friday, February 5 - Monday February 15th (President's Day). As a result I did not get to use the sweet treat cups and the Valentine's M&Ms I had originally planned. Next year! I opted for an idea by Jana, my DT sister, posted here.

I purchased this DMC floss organizer (could be used for brads, beads, etc.) and some Easter candy and filled the container for all of my daughters' 2nd grade teachers to share.

The paper is by Abbey Road, a freebie that came with my latest order to eclectic paperie. The woolie butterfly and button are BasicGrey the flowers are K&Co. and prima. I cut the letters using my Pazzles and Bazzill card stock.

Before I gave it to them I kept opening and closing the lid just to smell it :)

Be Inspired #74 - Envelope Challenge

My envelope

Our Cuttlebug Challenge blog challenge to you this week is to match your envelope to your art. I have a brief tutorial at the end of the post, but let's look first (feel free to 'oooooo' and 'ahhhh' out loud, okay? Thanks!)
(LFL*, this challenge has you written all over it!)
The top of my envelope slides off. You can see the top of my card peeking out.

My coordinating card and envelope.

I used my Provo Craft Cuttlebug Morroccan Screen embossing folder for my envelope and card base. The decorative papers, dies, and chipboard pieces are...can you guess?...wait for it...yep, BasicGrey. These are from the newly released Origins collection. My two favorite companies together...Provo Craft and BasicGrey. I think Cuttlebug works with everything, but you know how I love BG!

My envelope tutorial:
I used an envelope (4 3/4" x 6 1/2").
1. Lick and seal the envelope. Turn sideways and cut at 1 7/8". I cut a piece of BG 1 7/8" x 4 3/4" to cover one side. I adhered ribbon (by Prima; I found it at Michael's last week.)
2. Cuttlebug emboss the bottom half of the envelope. This shrinks it just a bit so that the top half will slide over it and not buckle.
3. Make a card to coordinate. My card measures 4" x 5". The brown embossed strip on my card is Core'dinations card stock.

*LFL is lovely friend Lauren of ...all the GOOD blog names were taken...

Now it's your turn, but first you may want to check out the inspiration here by our guest designer, Kimber, and my DT sisters :)

Be Inspired # 73 - Cracked Glass with UTEE

Have you visited Cuttlebug Challenge blog recently? My friend, Deanna, told me about it ~a year ago. When I was invited to be on the design team, I was ecstatic. I have watched Maggie (Cuttlebug Challenge blog owner), continuously make improvements to the Cuttlebug Challenge blog. It has evolved into so much more than a challenge blog! It is a teaching and inspiration blog. I enjoy it because: I learn so much from my DT sisters and Maggie, I am also challenged to try new techniques, and I get to dust off and use products from my craft room that I have not used in a very long time.

This week's challenge had me blowing the dust off of my UTEE (ultra thick embossing enamel) aka Amazing Glaze. It is a heat embossing powder. I have used it only once before and I have a one pound container. This is what my friend, Leslie, refers to as S.A.B.L.E. (Supplies Available Beyond Life Expectancy).

My card: I stamped a pear with bleach onto eggplant card stock (I love this color so much, yet I rarely use it...) Then I chalked the image with various chalks.
To create cracked glass effect: Ink up the image with VersaMark watermark stamp pad, then applied UTEE and heat emboss. Repeat 2 or 3 times to achieve desired thickness. Place in the freezer for 1 or 2 minutes, then carefully bend the image to create cracks.
Helpful hints (what I learned):
1. I am a wimp when it comes to touching anything hot. I lined a small box with aluminum foil, then dropped my UTEE image in the box to heat emboss.
2. When I bent the image too much or left it in the freezer longer than 2 minutes, the cracks were larger and chunks of UTEE fell off. I re-inked with VersaMark and re-applied the UTEE. No problem.
3. Use bright and vivid colors in your image. The layers of UTEE will dull the colors.

Other supplies:
ProvoCraft Cuttlebug Floral Screen embossing folder, Making Memories brads, Rubba Dub Dub fibers, Fiskars border punch, and SU Teeny Tiny Wishes sentiment and oval punches.

I am going to hop over to Cuttlebug Challenge blog Be Inspired # 73 now. I hope you have time to enter! I get inspiration from my DT sisters and you as well :)

Happy Wednesday!