OWH 4th of July Party-Challenge #2

Usually I'm not fond of making cards with puns on them, but I didn't know what else to do with this one.  The challenge was to make a card with a fishbowl on it.  I used the Life's a Beach cartridge. 

New stamps to play with

I LOVE clearance sales, and that's how these funny little characters ended up at my house.  (I don't care if they are old and out of style, I think they're cute.)  And once I play with them a little more, and get used to them, they'll make nice cards for our soldiers to send home to their sweeties.

front

inside

front of tri-fold

middle of trifold

It never ceases to amaze me the way photos turn out. Sometimes they don't show the detail and look washed out, other times they pick up way more than the naked eye normally sees. The 'greens' look much more blended in real life than they appear in these pictures. I guess THAT"S why they make photo editing software.

The stamps are by Stampendous. 

HAVE A SAFE AND HAPPY 4th EVERYONE!!!

Red, White & Blue- Again

There is a story behind this card, (isn't there always?)

This digi image is by Bugaboo and this exact very one was one of the first digis I ever downloaded and colored. Well, being a newbie to the world of digis I made lots of mistakes, one of the main ones being I printed the image too big, so after I colored it I just threw it in a box (which I now use to keep all my stamped images) and forgot about it. I don't DO challenges very often and I've never entered one at Bugaboo, but since I'm on a roll this week with challenges I thought I'd go ahead & enter over there too. The card I posted a couple of days ago would have been a better choice, but it didn't have ribbon on it, so of course I had to make another and what do you think was waiting on me in my digi box when I went to pull one out? Yep....
So, it's only appropriate that I use my first Bugaboo image on my first Bugaboo challenge. End of story.

Digi by Bugaboo Stamps
Sentiment by Hero Arts
Ladybug button (?Wal-Mart or Hobby Lobby?)
Ribbon & Paper from my stash
"Swiss Dots" Cuttlebug Embossing Folder
P.S. Like I said, I printed the image way too big, so this is a 5x7 card.

Let's try 3 for 3

I'm about an hour early to actually say 3 for 3 (3 posts in 3 days) but hey, considering I haven't been posting much at all for the past couple of months, cut me just a little slack OK?
I don't know what has gotten into me, but not only am I posting again, I'm entering a few challenges. I think it's getting comments from y'all that's got me revived and revved up. Comments and encouragement are as good as any prize to me. (Unless it's a Grand Calibur that is....sorry, but I really want one of those. lol)

Not much of a recipe for this one, I just used papers from my stash, the digi is from Bugaboo Stamps, the sentiment is from Hero Arts, I used my Copics and Spellbinder Lg. Hexagon Dies and the embossing folders are Cuttlebug "Swiss Dots" and the plaid one is by Sizzix.

I think this will be a record for me, I've never entered a card in more than 2 challenges at a time, but I think this one will qualify for 3, maybe 4. (I gotta make it good because Lord knows when I'll enter another one.)

Thanks to all of you who've left me comments the past couple of days- you are the BEST!
And now,
I hope you don't get tired of me saying this because I truly believe it is true....
Make it a good day for someone else...it'll come back to you

Challenges:
Fantabulous Cricut #66
Paper Playtime #49
Scrapbookaholic by Abby #8
Craft Us Crazy #11

Birthday Wishes!

Happy Birthday to my baby girl! This isn't her card, but since it's her b'day I thought I'd post a card appropriate to the occasion. I made this card a couple of months ago and for the life of me I can't remember who the digi is by. I'll have to go back thru my files and see if I can find it so I can give the artist their due credit.
I'm blaming "baby girl" for my not crafting much this past month. I don't know if I've posted this already or not, but she graduated college and got engaged. I have been up to my elbows in wedding stuff for the past few weeks-- BIG TIME! (Short engagement & a destination wedding on top of that. Let's not make it hard on mom, please!) Well, it's all coming together pretty well at this point, fingers & toes crossed, and they did decide to set the wedding back a month,from August to September which helped. I know it'll be here and over before I can blink my eyes. That seems to be the way everything works with kids. One day they're a tiny little baby in your arms and the next thing you know they're getting married. Sigh.....
Have a great week everyone, and as always....
wishing you Sunshine & Smiles, Love & Laughter!

I've about forgotten how to post

I saw a picture of this type of card which I've never seen before. I don't know what it's called, do you? The middle part "flips" when you open it.

There were no instructions on how to make the card, just a picture, so I figured it out on my own, but I really would like to find a good tutorial on how to make them....if I just knew what to call it!

I don't usually write recipes for my cards but if there is something you want to know please just ask and if you know of a good Youtube tutorial for this kind of card please let me know. Thanks!
I'll be back tomorrow with another post. Gasp! I haven't done one in 2 weeks & here I'm doing 2 in 2 days. Maybe I'm on a roll....NAaaa.

Back in the saddle

I haven't made any cards in a couple of weeks so it felt good to make this one. It's for one my friends whose Dad passed away last week. I'm going to wait to send it to her next week-- after the dust has cleared so to speak. You know how it is the days right after the funeral, so much going on and so many people around and then boom! nothingness.
I don't think I've ever made an "inside out" card like this with the pattern of the paper on the inside of the card, and I finally used my MS butterfly border punch that I bought back in Feb. but have never used and I used my new Viva Pearl Pen. So that's 3 "firsts".
While I was making this one I got an idea for another, so back to the craft room I go. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

I just previewed this post and realized that the sentiment on front is crooked. WHY I didn't catch that when I was making it is beyond me, but I will go fix it right now. (I was just too lazy to go fix it and retake the pics....pitiful, I know.)

Wishing you sunshine and smiles, love and laughter.

I'm melting!!!!

Hey everybody,
It has been so hot here this past week that I have just basically shut down. The last week in May and we had temps around 100 (which becomes 110 with the heat index, and I actually heard someone say that the heat index got to 114 one day.) Holy cow!!! It's only June 6th. What are were in for this summer?!
I haven't been making any cards lately, but I did print up a bunch of digis that I started to color tonight, so maybe I'll get something going in the next few days. I probably shouldn't even post these but I haven't posted a card in so long I feel like I'm might get banished from blogland if I don't do something. These were just some of the cards that went in my box to OWH last month. I didn't want to post them then so I don't know why I am now other than I just wanted to have a reason to say Hi to everyone. Hope everyone has a great week.

Tuesday Tips-Mickey Mouse Head Embossing Folder

I missed posting last week for Tuesday Tips, and this is one I said I would get out several weeks ago, but just haven't gotten around to it. I sat down to write out the post and when I went to insert the pictures (which I took back in March and had already put on the computer) they have magically disappeared. I wish I could blame this on blogger but I can't, so I'm posting without the step by step pictures. Please feel free to ask me questions if something is unclear.

Making the Mickey Mouse Head Embossing Folder:

Decide on the size you want and make the folder itself. You can use poster board, or even cereal boxes. Most Cuttlebug folders are roughly A2 size (4 1/4 x 5 1/2.) I did make the Mickey Mouse Head folder a little larger, but not so large it wouldn't go thru the Cuttlebug.

I made my design Layout of all the little Mickey Heads with my Gypsy, but have also used Design Studio as well. I lay out the first row of images and then just cut and paste it over and over, but alternate the spacing of each row.

I will mention that poster board seems to cut cleaner than cereal boxes for some items so you may want to play around and see what works best for you and for whatever images/designs you are cutting. Also keep in mind that the thickness of the material you cut is going to make a difference in the depth of the embossed impression you get.

Cut the images with the deep blade housing set at the deepest setting and cut two or three times depending on the thickness of the material you are cutting.
Your folder is going to have a "positive" side and a "negative" side that when closed up fit together like a puzzle.
I start with the "negative" which is the larger piece and is what all the little Mickey Heads were cut out of. Lift this piece off the cutting mat (leave the Mickey Heads adhered to the cutting mat for now) and securely glue this to one side of your pre-made folder. Once this is secure you can start adhering the Mickey Heads to the other side of the folder. I do this by very loosely putting them back in the holes they were cut from one row at a time, carefully apply glue just to the backs of the heads & then close up the folder pressing down to make the heads stick to the opposite side. Some of them may stick down in the holes they were cut from instead of on the opposing side but a straight pin works great to pry them out of the hole and then try re-sticking them. Repeat with each row.

These are examples of the embossed images from two of the folders I have made. I just used scrap paper. You obviously will get a nicer result when using better paper.

I have also used the embossing folder kit by ProvoCraft but can NOT highly recommend it. This lattice folder is an example of one of these folders.

Wishing you sunshine and smiles, love and laughter!

Pre-colored digis- you can't get any easier than this.