Hope your Birthday is so good you can taste it!

Hey everyone, this is Kimberly and I am so happy to be here to share this card with you! (Thanks Sheila!) Be sure to stop by my My Craft Spot, for more fun projects and vidoes and a new challenge with prizes every Monday!

This was such a fun card to make! 

All of the cuts come from the Wrap it Up cartridge - one of my favorites!

I love the cupcake card on the wrap it up cartridge, but I wanted a different candle, so I welded a new candle over the original. The shape card and layers were cut at 5" (height) and the candle I added over the top was cut at 3.35" (height)

I also wanted to add a yellow patterned 'cupcake wrapper' to the front of the card.  I scooted the cut off to the side so as not to waste paper and put my patterned paper upside down on the mat.  Then I trimmed the edge with my paper cutter.  (This is the yellow piece on the front of the cupcake)

I also wanted chocolate brown on the inside of my cupcake card so I cut it once from white cardstock (right side of gypsy mat) and once from brown (left side of gypsy mat) Then I trimmed the brown on the fold line.

So, here is my cupcake card base.  I cut off the candle. :)

Here is the brown for the inside of my card.  I stamped the Happy Birthday with embossing ink and then heat embossed the white embossing powder on top.  I LOVE that you can curve clear stamps on the acrylic block before you stamp! Click HERE to see all of my new clear stamp sets!

I added a little faux stitching with my white gel pen and adhered it to the inside of my card.

For the pink frosting, I first adhered the red candle and then added glossy accents (smeared with my finger) and then sprinkled Martha Stewart tinsel glitter on top.

I inked the blue patterned paper candle with Bazzinks Splash ink.

For the yellow cupcake wrapper, I first stamped the sentiment and then inked the edges with Ochre Chalk ink and doodled with a white gel pen.

The stamped sentiment comes from Inside & Out Stamp Set #2.  This set has sentiments for the outside of your card  . . .

. . . and a matching sentiment for the inside!

Time to build our cupcake!  First add the frosting and candle base.

Next, I added the blue patterned paper candle.

Then the flame and the cupcake wrapper.

This would make a cute card all by itself, but I wanted to add a little more.

So,  I added pop it squares

and adhered it to a standard A2 size card.

Now for the tag!  The 'Eat Cake!' sentiment comes from my Inside & Out Stamp Set #2.   I stamped it on pink card stock, cut it out by hand, and matted it twice.  Then I used Cherry Red Bakers Twine to attach it to the candle.  

Come join this weeks challenge at My Craft Spot for a chance to win one of my new stamp sets!

My First Digital Happy Birthday Card Made In Dallas

Well I finally made my first digital cards. I actually downloaded them and placed them on card stock in my office during my lunch. I found this cute little stamp at Tiddly Inks it was one of their freebies. Then I used my little Crayola Crayon Markers that I picked up for $3.99 and colored them in. I have to admit that it was very difficult as I had so few colors to choose from! I think I just may invest in some better markers for the future!

When I got to Dallas I used my glossy accents on his little nose and the balloons and let it dry overnight. I used my Creative Memories oval cutters to cut out 'Bo' and the scrap papers was little paw prints that Melissa had left over from one of her beautiful projects.  Then I was ready to put it together.

See how easy that was. I really like how you can make a card this fast and it looks really adorable.  I learned a lot making this card. I decided that I like the background filled rather than today's oval which is what you saw yesterday. I thought I had to cut it out so it was really great having Melissa there for the next card to show me how to make this adorable card look even nicer! I am showing this as you need to know we go through learning processes also. That is the beauty of having a blog to learn from, But even better you could have a friend to show you the ropes. The beauty of the learning process is you still have wonderful cards to give to the people you love. I gave this to my daughter in law for her birthday as she loves dogs and I knew she would just love this card.

I sure hope you enjoyed today's post and you learned something you can use. Thank you for your sweet - sweet words of encouragement. Your comments continue to inspire me.

We Have A Winner!

Congratulations to: Shari said...

 I LOVE this card, it is beautiful. Also, what a great way to challenge yourself while having fun at a swarm/crop. LOVE IT and would LOVE to win it.
syoung6987 at aol dot com

for winning this GEORGOUS card kit designed by Pam at The Bug Bytes with instructions from me! You will love this versitile little card. All you need to do is send my you name and address to ShesASassyLady@hotmail.com and I will get your kit out to you! ENJOY and be sure to give Pam a Big Thank You!

Working With Nestabilities - At The Dallas Stampede

Isn't this just too cute? I am at the Stampede in Dallas Texas and Melissa is teaching me how to use Nestabilities. After using these and seeing the wonderful results I can't believe I have never used them before! I love the embossing after you have made your cut as it has such a wonderful finished look to it.

This is also my first attempt at digital stamping, and this is the 2nd card I made.... tomorrow you will see the first. This cute little stamp is a Freebie at Tiddly Inks and I would highly recommend that you give a Freebie a try as you may get hooked! I even bought a couple after trying the freebie and it was very reasonable. I just downloaded the file to my computer and from the Microsoft Word just hit Insert Art, then from file and it went right on my sheet. I then sized it, copied and place it on the sheet and printed it on card stock it was so easy. Melissa at Melissa Made suggested I use Power Point but I don't have that at work so I used what I had on my lunch hour. Easy.

Now don't laugh but all I keep at work is a set of Crayola Markers that cost me a whole $3.99 and I used those to color little 'Bo' in! Hey, it worked so don't laugh it just goes to prove you can use what you have without spending big bucks!

With a little help from my friend Melissa I am able to cut and emboss my first card. Click HERE if you want a chart for your CuttleBug Plate positions and thank Melissa for here generosity as she let me share with you! This little video will show you how it is done.
This card turned out so nice, I just love it. As a matter of fact I printed 4 more little Bo's to color and print as I need more Birthday cards.

This last video is just me finishing the card.... you see I didn't have this awesome paper but Melissa came to the rescue with that gorgeous Echo Park paper and it is just perfect for this card!

I hope you enjoyed today's post and learned something.... I know I sure did! And a big thank you to Melissa of Melissa Made for all her wonderful help. Tomorrow you will see the first card I made and you will see why she was so willing to help..... boy was I in trouble! this card is so nice and I thank Melissa for that!

And thank you for your sweet - sweet words of encouragement. Your comments continue to inspire me to share with you even if I am learning from someone else!

Digital Coloring and Cricut Cuts

Confession time…I am lazy. I absolutely love the look of colored images, but just don’t have the time to do it well. So, I resort to the many gorgeous digital images available on-line. Printed on any of my Cricut cuts, gives beautiful results in no time!

Ingredients:

• 
  
  Digital Image
• 
  
  Lacy Lables Cartridge
• 
  
  Assorted Cardstock
• 
  
  Ribbon
• 
  
  Home printer

The Recipe:

First choose the image! There are many sources for purchasing color images; Lettering Delights and PC Hug Club are two examples. However, do not forget clipart and image searches! Just be sure that the image is copyright free or for personal use only before you proceed.

I did a Google : Image Search : Spring Flowers. The selections was amazing!

Amongst the many, I found this graphic, perfect for my needs:

The indicated picture is a thumbnail (a very small representation). In order to have the clearest print, click on the picture. You will connect to the host website. Here you will find information about downloading, copyright and developer. This particular graphic is copyright free and downloadable; if you would like it, click here. Save the picture to the hard drive of your computer.

Cut:

• 
  
  neutral cardstock 4 1/4 x 11. Fold in half to create an A2 card.
• 
  
  light background square 4 x 5 1/4.
• 
  
  From the Lacy Labels Cart, choose two shapes and their shadows:
• 
  
  neutral paper: actual size 3 1/2
• 
  
  accent paper shadow: actual size 4
• 
  
  sentiment foreground: actual size 1”
• 
  
  sentiment shadow: actual size 1-1/4”

Ink all edges.

Download the file “Axis,” a graphic file that can be opened in any graphics program. Click here to download.

In your graphic program, open "Axis.jpg” and “spring flowers.jpg”. (I use Photoshop Elements 7.) The files appear at the bottom of your screen.

 

Left mouse click, hold and drag the “axis,jpg” to the main window of your screen. (wrong file…I apologize!)

Add a layer to your graphic.

Be sure your new layer is highlighted; drag and drop “spring flowers” into this layer. It will appear on top of the axis.

Highlight the second layer; “handles” will appear around the graphic on this layer only.

First size the image. Note that there are white margins around the entire image. You can size the image by using the boxes in the corners, or you can resize with accurate dimensions.

From the menu select Image : Resize: Image.

To be sure that this graphic fits on your 4” cut, select Constrain Proportions and size the height to 3. Select OK.

Using the handles as guides, center the graphic horizontally and vertically over the axis.

Save this file as”Springflowers_1”. Send to your home printer. This creates the base for printing on your cut shape.

Audition your cut object by laying it over the printed image. Does any part of the graphic peek out? If not, center your cut. Lightly mark with pencil.

Turn the cut image so that the wrong side is up and place small rolls of invisible table at the top, bottom and sides.

Turn the cut over, tape down and center the cut once again over your image. You should see none of the printed image. Return the preprinted page and cut to the printer. Take care that the page is placed correctly in the tray for duplicating the image on the cut. (My printer requires that I place the preprinted image/cut face down in the tray.)

BEFORE you cut, return to PSE. You do not want the axis to print the second time. In PSE, select the “eye” to the left of the layer, turning the layer off; in other programs you may have to temporarily delete the axis image.

Select print.

When the print menu opens, be sure that the Scale of your image is 100%. There should be no axis visible! Send to your printer.

When your graphic has printed, remove it from the background template.

Mat this image and complete the card as desired.

I hope you enjoy pairing your home printer with your Cricut as much as I do! Until next time, keep sorting the scraps and generating the gems! Nonna

A PRETTY TOILETRY HOLDER? OR..., A STATIONARY HOLDER?

Hello, everyone!  It's Audrey again -- thanks to Sheila having me back!

Several weeks ago, I went on an out-of -state visit with a friend and we stopped at a hotel along the way for some much needed rest.  While there, in the bathroom of our room, I was inspired for this project when I paid attention to how the towels were fan-folded and then focused on the fancy combination holder for the coffee/tea; I guess inspiration can come from anywhere...lol!  Anyway, I combined the idea of the folded towels and the beverage holder, and here's what I came up with:

It's a toiletry holder (but it can also be substituted for a stationary holder and the back can hold pens/pencils)!!!  For mine here,I've added a bar of soap, a towel, and -- in the back -- a small bottle of bubble bath.  Here's a picture of the back:

Supplies needed to make this project::

• 1 - 6" x 12" sheet of  your preferred cardstock
• 1 - 8" x 6" sheet of same or coordinating cardstock
• 1 - 6" x 5" piece of chipboard (with enough coordinating paper to cover the roll)
• 1 - toilet tissue roll cut down to 3"
• 1 - 6" x 4.50" piece of heavy chipboard (with enough matching paper to cover your chipboard)
• Strong adhesive of your choice (I used Crafter's Pick "The Ultimate")

Starting with making the soap holder:  With the 6"x12" sheet of paper, 12" side across the top of scoreboard, score at::  .75", 1.50", 2.25", 3", 3.75", 4.50", 5.25", 6",  and  6.75" (this is every 3/4th inches); the final score will be at 8":

With the first fold being a valley fold, start mountain and valley folding up to and including the 6.75" scoreline (do not fold the 8" scoreline yet).  Once all the folds are done, run glue along the bottom of the first bottom valley  fold:

With a finger in the middle of the folds only, fold and bring the inside ends together (see picture below);  then glue to create a seamed fan-fold:

When the ends have been glued together, the seamed fold will protrude on the inside so, in order for your soap to fit easily into it's holder, cut away as much access paper as possible:

Now, add glue to bottom of the 6" scoreline area and glue this down to base of the cardstock aligned with the 6.75" scoreline:

Next fold the fan-fold up into an upright position and fold the 8" score line towards you (valley fold) to form the soap holder.  It should look like this:

Put the soap holder aside for a moment and move on to the towel holder.

For the towel holder the 8"x6" cardstock is scored only once at 5", with the 8" side across the top of the scoreboard.  Fold at the 5" scoreline  and set this aside for now also.

Now, before the 2 holders are put together the back wall of the soap holder first needs to be secured so that it will stand in place on it's own (otherwise the back wall will be floppy because the cardstock isn't heavy enough to support itself).  To do this, take the 6"x8" chipboard and with the 6" side across the top of the scoreboard, score at 2" and fold.  Next, grab the soap holder;  take the chipboard and align it with the middle back wall of the soap holder; slide the  2" end of the chipboard beneath the back wall of the soap holder then glue the bottoms together.  The remaining end of the chipboard is then glued to the back wall of the holder (see picture below for chipboard placement).  Once the chipboard is glued in place, take the towel holder and glue the 3" scored end to the bottom of the soap holder.  Your holder will look like this:

Finally, cover the remaining 6" x 4.50" piece of chipboard (this will be the base for the entire holder) and the tissue roll with coordinating cardstock.  Glue the covered chipboard to the bottom of the holders aligning the front ends.  The remaining inches will extend from the back of the holder (see picture below).  This base will provide additional stability and security to your holder.  Now take your tissue roll and glue this to the back wall of your towel holder and to the bottom of the covered chipboard base:

Now the holder is done, all that's left is to decorate and embellish any way you'd like.

For my holder, I added a fan-fold to the top of the tissue-roll  holder holding the small bottle of bubble bath to complement the fan-fold on the front of the holder; added some Stickles around the edges; inserted my toiletries, added a metal leaf to the front and flat-backed marbles for feet.  The holder is all done!!!

Remember the useful idea I mentioned earlier that this holder can double as a stationary holder; swap out the soap for envelopes, stationary for the towel, and drop pencils/pens in the tissue-roll holder on the back!!!  Or maybe you can think of something else -- let me know!!!  Have fun with it!!!

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you like my little project!