Can't find the paper you like? Make your own!

Hey Ya'll,

Sassy Dude here from Cricut Couple!  Well, today is a very important day for a few different reasons.  For starters, today is my second day with projects using the adorable new Build a Valentine and Always and Forever stamps recently released by My Craft Spot.  It's also Sassy Tutorial Day on She's a Sassy Lady.  So... since the schedules crossed, I thought I would just lump it all together and share a simple thing that was lots of fun to create and that I am thrilled with the way it turned out.  I made my own background paper using the Build a Valentine stamps!

 This is the front of the card.  I made the background paper.  Very simple to do.  The trim is cut in black using the Cricut and the Martha Stewart Seasonal Cake Art Cartridge.  The floating hearts were punched using a Martha Stewart Heart Punch.  You could use your Cricut if you wanted to, but this was just very simple.

 I used Twine from My Craft Spot and ran it from the top of the mat to behind each of the floating hearts.  I added a little stickles to the edge of the hearts to make them stand out a little bit more.

 I stamped the sentiment on the inside and added an extra piece of trim to finish it off.

 This is the Build a Valentine set and the background paper.  I simply took a 12x12 piece of white card stock and stamped the heck out of it.  Hee! Hee!  I picked 4 colors of ink.  I used the solid heart stamp (larger) and stamped all over the page.  I then picked one of the conversation heart stamps for each colored heart.  I used black ink and then stamped over the hearts.  I didn't want them to be totally perfect, I wanted them to be off a little bit.  Perfectly imperfect.  Hee! Hee!

 Here is a closer shot so you can see how the paper turned out.  This was so much fun to do and I will certainly be doing more of this.

 For my second card, I had a lot of fun with this one too!  This is also from the Build a Valentine set.  I immediately had a frog in mind when I saw the "Looking for a Prince" stamp.  The frog and crown are from Paisley, The circles are from CTMH Art Philosophy and the thought bubble is from Phrases.

 I just popped all of the layers and added glossy accents to the eyes of the frog and on the hearts.

For the inside, I used three different stamps from the set to make the sentiment.  So simple!

Now, Kimberly over at My Craft Spot is giving one lucky follower their choice of one of stamp set.  You can choose Always and Forever, or Build a Valentine.  All you need to do is leave a comment and be a follower of Cricut Couple to qualify, so hop on over and leave us a comment.

Thanks so much to Sheila for letting me play today and Thanks to Kimberly for sharing these great stamps with the world and letting me talk about them on both blogs today.  We would love to know what you think of the projects today and we really appreciate you spending time with all of us today!  

School Projects

School projects are so much fun but even more so when 3 of us get together and mix in craft elements a Gypsy and a Cricut.... Now that adds up to a lot of fun!!! Meet my little Sydney, she is in first grade and needed to complete her school project on Spider Webs. Her teacher wanted to give the children an opportunity to feel different textures.

Well here I am after my Sunday nap with Sydney (don't laugh at my funky sleep hair). Every Sunday after church I change into my grubs and take a little nap and I love it after a hard week, you should try it as it is really refreshing. Oops back to the project Sydney was busy writing facts about webs on the poster board.

This is her Mommy, my daughter Jennifer helping.

The project was started with Sydney spraying glitter on the spider web. The big web had a heavy texture to it as it was made of felt and was actually a table runner that we stapled on the poster board. This made the web glisten. The two little black items on the grass are spiders from Doodle Charms.

Then Sydney got the white web material that you see all over during Halloween and spread that out to also apply to the poster.

The ribbon was also a black lace material woven in the shape of spider webs. Jennifer used my pink ATG to adhere the white webs to the board.

Sydney learned how to use the Xyron by running a spider through it and then we place a string on the glued area and covered it with the other side of the spider so that it had a front and back. In the photo above I am showing Sydney how to use tweezers to place the google eyes on it.

Here she is placing the little google eyes on him, she put two on each side.

Here is the poster almost completed. After looking at it she decided she needed a bug as she learned the purpose of the web is to catch bugs for the spider to eat.

Here is Sydney working my Gypsy Woman!!!

She used skittles for the top of the bug.

Close up of her beautiful face, she looked up just as I clicked.

Our completed bug! Isn't he handsome?

And Mr. Spider says yummy lunch is served!!! YUCKY!

We finished the afternoon off with some SPOOKY ORANGE hot chocolate with plenty of frothy whip cream on the top. It looked like a witches brew with the steam coming up!

Well I hope you enjoyed today's family project, we sure enjoyed having you in our home. Thanks for your sweet words of encouragement, I know Sydney will be thrilled with your comments!

Caught A Bug? Get Well Card Kit Give-Away

Here is another fun little card that I designed on my way to Myrtle Beach. I can never have enough Get Well cards so I thought I would make a couple of variations. I finally used my Tear Drops cart and I really like the font but after putting this together I decided that it is a little too frail for window cards for mike liking. I like something really sturdy. I showed this card to a couple of people at work and they loved it and reminded me that its not like it gets played with so it is just fine. In my family we pass those cards around for everyone to read so I want them sturdy! So I passed this around and the photo was taken after about 10 people handled it so I guess it passed the sturdy test! LOL

I had to do a close up for you on the little bug... so handsome and lumpy at the same time.

This is what the design looks like on my Gypsy Woman. As you can see I have everything separated for an easy cut that produces 2 cards.  You can easily adjust the mat to a smaller size and cut only 1 card if you do not have the 12x24" mat. Wen designing these cards I start with a window base of 8.5x5.5. I simply set the items in the window first and adjust to the size I want and position I want. I do kern and weld the letters together. After I have everything positioned and sizes adjusted, then I make a copy of the individual pieces and move the copy to the side. The next thing I do is group the items by touching 1 at a time and them weld them all together. It is very simple to do. Then after the card is made I make a copy of the card and position the two side by side to conserve paper. I then arrange the pieces in the color cuts I want and am ready to cut.

I took all the pieces, separated them and placed them in a little baggie. I scored and folded the card base. Remember if you have a window card draw the back to the front making sure the front is flat on you work surface to give it added support so it will not bend.

After I check to make sure I have all the card pieces I put them in a little zip lock lunch bag to make when I have the time.

I made sure that I had inked the edges of the sentiments paper before placing them in my zip lock bag for storing until I had more time.

The first thing I did was stickle spots on the little bug and set it aside to dry. I then assembled the balance of the card.

When that was dry I used glossy accents over the sticles to seal and give the bug dimension with little bumps on it's little back.

All I had left to do was adhere the little bug and viola the card is done. Now wasn't that easy. I hope you enjoyed today's project. 1 lucky person is going to win this card, all you need to do is leave a comment on this post (make sure I know how to contact you) by Friday evening 8PM CST on 8/6. Winner announced on 8/7 by 6AM!

Everyone is a winner at ShesASassyLady, here is your Sassy Caught A Bug Get Well Gypsy File and your Sassy Caught A Bug Get Well DS File to download.

So be sure to leave a comment and make sure I know how to reach you. I am always encouraged by your sweet - sweet words, they inspire me to keep scrapping and sharing things with you.

Road Trip Cards!

Well the Gypsy gives a whole new meaning to designing on the go! I designed many cute little cards while on our trip to Chicago last week and this is one of them. At first it was difficult getting in sync with the move of the truck but in no time at all I was having fun during the long stretches.  This is a quick photo of the comand center with My Gypsy Woman taking a little nap when I gook the wheel!

I sure missed everyone and will spend the next couple of days catching up to all the wonderful creations on everyone's blogs.... In the mean time a big thank you to Pam at Thebugbytes.com for graciously watching my blog while I was gone. She, Elizabeth and Becky all had wonderful designs that I hope you all enjoyed as much as I did.

After I got unpacked I started cutting and actually cut out 6 cards and bagged them individually to assemble when I had time.

So easy I just glued the layers together....

I even tried coloring in tires... and after putting on blog I straightened the coloring out as I noticed a few uneven spots. It just amazes me what I pick up in a photo that I miss in person... why is that?

We call this car "Red And Ready" in the car business.... just a little ad jargon.

Can you stand it? He looks so cute peeking out of the envelope doesn't he?

A little change of color and it looks like a girl giraffe!

Thank you for your sweet words of encouragement. Your sweet commets always inspire me.

 Be sure to subscribe so you don't miss a single post!

Sassy Sissy

Well this is my Stuck On U Sketch layout featuring my little Sassy Sissy! This is a design by Aymee Gandy (aka Southernbellescrapper). I just didn't feel like sticking to my zoo photos for this so I used one that is coming up in my book. This is my little Carissa, knick-named Sassy-Sissy for here spirited attitude.... don't know where she get it! My daughter had taken them for their yearly photos and while she was waiting for the photographer to take her photo, she got tired. So she leined forward and layed her little body down.... when he turned around this is what she was doing and he snapped the photo!!!  A blackmail photo for sure when she is a teenager! Along with her yearly pose, Heather purchased this cute photo too.

You know I used my Gypsy Woman to do the layout and it was sooooo easy.

After choosing the paper I decided exactly how I was going to position the papers. Then I progressed by completing one project at a time. First glueing the butterflies together using zig glue. Be sure to place a paper towel under your project to protect surfaces and clean up messes.

Then I added skittles for the body and rhinestones and stickles for the wings.

Finally I found some keys like Sandy at Details By Sandy uses on many of her layouts (which I just love). I tied it on the ribbon that I chose.  I also skittled Sassy Sissy.

Thank you for joining me today. I sure hope you enjoyed this layout.

I appreciate your comments and am always encouraged by them.