and the bees

i laughed on sunday when i read flowerdisco's post to my blog saying i have been "busy as a bee", i turned to my dh and said "how does she know i am making this card".

the colour combo i love, i had it as my bedroom decor as a young adult.  the paper with the bees and the hives reminded me of this beautiful bee from home decor and this stamp i was eager to try.  the paper is glossy so when i did the heat embossing at the last moment, the heat gun nozzle hit the paper and smeared the embossing so... i made the bee bigger than originally planned as i did not want to waste the paper.  i cuttlebugged the bee both layers with the swiss dots folder as this card was made for the store manager at michaels.

long story short, i was embossing the snowflake for the "packing tape" technique and something did not feel right...you know, you can feel it. yupe, cuttlebug broken, me sad, call to store, bring it in if no exact replacement, would give me 20% off the model they do have.  i needed this replaced, it is my favourite tool for card making.  saw the manager, saw they had the exact model, sad to see broken one hit the bin but was almost speechless and excited like a child on christmas morning when i walked out with the replacement.  priceless!

let me tell you about the birds and...

i have made a slight adjustment to the design layout...meaning i screwed up something and tried to hide it .  this bird just needs a sentiment added hmmm!  have to wait for the occasion.  the cutfile is here http://www.customcrops.com/article_info.php?articles_id=61 

a cherry on top!!!

daily grace creations have graciously passed on this award to my blog!!! i feel so honoured and a little embarassed as so many people post daily and i tend to blog in "fits and starts"*(another curious saying... where am i coming up with these words and phrases i am not even certain about?).

well, i will accept the award with the grace it was given...now the rules are

1.thank the person who sent it to you

my sincerest thanks to peggy and donna, for visiting my blog

and caring enough to look around and comment.

2. copy award to your blog.

in this post and my sidebar

3. List 3 things you love about yourself.

• 
  
   I love the memories of the laughter of my family
• 
  
  I love to make papercrafts as an expression of my artistic self
• 
  
   I love that I have support and encouragement from andrew, even if it means checking kijiji for supplies!
• 
  

4. Post a picture you love.

for many reasons and many memories

5. send the award to 5 blogs you love.

it's a real challenge

flowerdisco

cute and some

okieladybug

bits of paper
capadia designs

please visit these blogs and marvel at the talent and kind hearts that these women incorporate into their creations. the blog world is full of caring and sharing individuals and my list does not reflect all those that give me encouragment, inspiration or technical tutoring but it is a small way to give recognition to others.  please visit, it's worth the effort.

*Noun 1. fits and starts - repeated bursts of activity; "they worked in fits and starts"

burst, fit - a sudden flurry of activity (often for no obvious reason); "a burst of applause"; "a fit of housecleaning"

Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2008 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.

i love men...snowmen!!!

and this is one of my favourite cricut snowmen as he is so ...round? clean? simple expression?  i don't know exactly but i have about ten of these guys in my stash now, using various scraps for the background, trim and ribbon bits.

i was sly like a fox...

when i used design studio to create these shaped cards.  i followed the instructions of susan bluerobot at http://susanbluerobot.blogspot.com/2008/04/how-to-make-stand-up-shaped-card.html up until step 19 as i just really wanted to try out this technique.  as i was successful in creating a shaped base card, i went back and cut out the the body detail.  added a polka dot bow to one and a polka dot collar with metal charm on the other.  used wild card to create the complimentary envelopes. 

i often find if i have a created a card and no standardized envelope will work, wild card will have some shape that will fit most anything.

a little bling...

was added to the bug on the belly band of this "gift card" card just to get it a little "pop" on the pink skull and paisley card stock.  the cutfile was from http://meflickcricutandmore.blogspot.com/2009/03/tri-fold-gift-card-holder.html.  so many gifts are now gift cards and it is nice to have a variety of ways to present the gift card as we know "presentation is everything"!

seeing the positive in the negative...

i am a frugal crafter, so before i through out a scrap of paper, i examine it to determine if there is anything that is salvageable of the design or of the paper.  in this instance, there was a complete card front just waiting for glitter, my favourite embellishing technique (of last week...  i have already moved on and done some heat embossing to a few cards).  to complete this card, i added after photographing, holly leaves to the base of the antlers and a tree in the background, perhaps i'll heat emboss a sentiment!

painstaking·ly adv.

i made this elegant card from  http://www.customcrops.com/article_info.php?articles_id=116 that i glittered using the xyron method of putting the image face side into the xyron so the adhesive is on the front, then peeled off backing and applied glitter.  important lesson learned, really burnish around the letters before removing the backing because the glitter covers every bit of adhesive so...i spent some time with a safety pin painstakingly (what does that word really mean???) cleaning around each part of each letter and each element of the snowflakes (one is inside)!!!  someone special is getting this card for christmas.... my mom, i know she won't see this posting.

pains·tak·ing (pnztkng)  adj.  Marked by or requiring great pains; very careful and diligent. See Synonyms at meticulous.
n.  Extremely careful and diligent work or effort.
painstaking·ly adv.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

yes! i used it in the right context, just sounded odd... pain and stake, there was no pain involved and stake???  uhhh, the english language and the ramblings of someone who has had no sleep...

sweet nothing (in the card pocket, yet)

here i have created a twin to the original purse except i did not use the cuttlebug (how did I miss that step!)  now that i have "mastered" this card, i will be making a few more using some elegant patterned papers!   the link to the original is here http://www.customcrops.com/article_info.php?articles_id=64

bobby jack dreams of bananas!

http://cricutsoftcuts.blogspot.com/2008/10/bobbyjack-monkey.html

i had purchased these background papers at a scrapbook warehouse sale over a year ago waiting for the right project to present itself and after exploring some of the cricut cutfiles that are available for download at various sites, i found "bobby jack"  and had to go about making a few. 

just "lovely"

http://okieladybugsscrapnmore.blogspot.com/search/label/CRISS%20CROSS%20CARD%20-%20double%20cut#axzz0xognRHhZ

these are two beautiful cards thanks to okie's cutfile including the pictorial instructions!!! and some sei gorgeous paper and embellishments i received from melaine at http://courtney-lane.blogspot.com/ 's blog candy.  these cards just look and feel so "lovely"

great boy

had to make the counterpart of "sweet girl", using papers from my seven year old stash, it may even be older!!!

sweet girl

again graphically speaking, i used the positive and the negative cut to maximize the usefullness of the lettering.  i also glittered the "sweet girl" with martha stewart glitter, it looks so sparkly!

u r priceless

this card was made of scraps from another project (yet to be posted) and the tag from graphically speaking. i think this sentiment can be used for any occasion.

had to do it!!!

while continuing to explore graphically speaking, once i saw this image i had to vinyl it on my water bottles...

some cards make themselves...

while i was exploring images using design studio, i found this one from graphically speaking and knew that in my stash, i had this paper for about seven years!!!  again just needed the right project ... it's about "time" i used it!

okie lady bug has some cool cutfiles

http://okieladybugsscrapnmore.blogspot.com/search/label/Buckle%20Card#axzz0xchPfvd0 this is the link to the cutfile for the buckle card and here is the buckle card

the sentiment reads "keep hope alive"

there is no trick to using a child's year, only the treat of creating a good looking card

i really didn't need a cutfile for the witch as the images on a child's year are very easy to use.  it was the background cut that  looked interesting as i imagined using the cuttlebug to emboss the haunted house as a backdrop to this trick or treater.  i now see that i should have used black fun foam for the pop up dots or added black marker to disguise the pop up, perhaps i can make a touch up.  here is susan's cutfile.

 http://www.customcrops.com/article_info.php?articles_id=113

not a cuttlebug...

this time it is very delicately embossed paper that i bought at m's on sale maybe seven years ago...but it is so pretty, and i did not want to just use it up, lol!!!  crafters know!  i used a cutfile to create the scalloped lace edge http://ecdesignstudio.blogspot.com/2010/01/border-punch-cut-files.html . i think it adds a complimentary finish to this card. 

simple and effective

these cards are simply cuttlebug embossing, rub on stickers and with the snowmen a few martha stewart snowflakes from the liquidation store.  thsi is why i love to have the cardstock cut and ready for when the mood or the wet weather hits, so i have something i can accomplish in a quick minute or two or three, you know how it gets when you are in your craft space, time has no meaning!

more news from the pumpkin patch...

yes, i have some orange cardstock left after making the pumpkin wedding favors (see here http://longlivescissorsandpaper.blogspot.com/2010/07/meanwhile-in-pumpkin-patch.html ), so...i have to become inventive and use this shade of orange to bring greetings of happy birthday and cheers to friends and family.  just remembered i have five birthdays in the beginning of september, guess what card they will be receiving? i have used the cuttlebug folders for the embossing and for the word borders, this cutfile http://ecdesignstudio.blogspot.com/search/label/border%20punches

deer, deer, deer

having trouble with the visual of this card, it does appear that i have prepared rudolph to mount on my wall!  don't know what to do about the facial features, perhaps lashes and blush may give it the shy look???  well, here's the link to this cutfile where donna  has given the deer a better expression!

http://www.customcrops.com/article_info.php?articles_id=276

i am so interested in becoming a swinger...

http://jamielanedesigns.blogspot.com/2009/09/cricut-cut-file-swing-card.html this is the link to one of the easiest cards to make and delivers a lot of impact!  here is a couple of versions

shortcut through the woods

http://www.customcrops.com/article_info.php?articles_id=171

this link is to the cutfile and the inspiration for this card.  however, i did not go to the complete effort that the original designer, susan  did, as i am just experimenting with different ideas for cards, so i took a shortcut!

flying high!

a child's year has so much to offer for any occasion, i will be exploring more. here is the link to the cutfile http://www.customcrops.com/article_info.php?articles_id=101

cute!

that's not a word i use a lot but this cartridge just appealed to me and i had to do some serious searching to find it.  after some concern about ordering it online at a site that had mixed reviews, i got it after checking out... kijiji!!! yes! for some reason that sounded like a better idea than an online source! must have been the heat that got to my brain... i had to go to another city and meet in a parking lot at  a tim horton's  and look for someone to arrive with a cartridge under her arm!!! i can't believe i was that interested in this cart but i guess i was or maybe it was the sense of adventure and adrenalin and obtaining this elusive cartridge. seriously i bought it for font. 

ho! ho! ho! hold it! it's not december 25

it's only august 25!  but i am searching cartridges looking for christmas imagery as i have no funds to buy the new cartridges coming out and i just know i'll find plenty.

packing tape and glitter, oh noooo!!!!

here is the link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45fVLW0GTTc&feature=player_embedded

here is the result!!!

finishing touches!

had posted the base cards previously, now have dressed them up with embossed backgrounds and embellishments.

whimsical?

using a new cuttlebug embosser and die cut, all in one!!! love these images, just because...

beware of pop out gift card!

jamie lane from bits of paper generously fixed the downloadable link so i could create some "gift card" cards. thank you jamie!

http://jamielanedesigns.blogspot.com/2009/11/cricut-cut-file-pop-out-gift-card-card.html

...

diaper cards...

patterned papers...

money cards...

and more, oh my!

i wanted to post to my blog so that my followers can see that while i do not post each day, creativity abounds in my studio!  well may not abound but it happens in it's own way.  i am not one to just start one project, i start many and eventually complete all.  this summer i spent time getting cardstock cut to size for the envelopes i have, embossing card fronts to finish later and preparing patterned paper cards to embellish in the future and also layering images to put on backgrounds later, and more!

i am laid off during school breaks and that is when i have time to go through my favourites and select projects or techniques that i want to try and "just do it"!  that is why the flurry of different creations.  some i have used design studio cutfiles and others are just a new folding technique or patterned paper i haven't tried before.

i will be back when i finish these cards and share where the inspiration or cutfile was found.

...studioh

scorpal...

...in studioh

cuttlebug embossing...

meanwhile in studioh

sock monkeys, angels and cards, oh my!