Rejoice Christmas Card with Cindy Loo

Hello everyone - it is a Bitten by the Bug 2 Monday with our weekly challenge kicking off my week of Christmas themed projects.  As most of you know, there is a "challenge" cut each week at BBTB2 which the Design Team must use in our projects.  This week's challenge cut is Flourish 3 from the Cindy Loo cartridge.  I have incorporated the flourish into my Rejoice Christmas card.

My base card was cut using one of two card options on the Cricut Circle cartridge, French Manor.  Each cut on French Manor has two card features - I chose the full image cut out card and selected this wonderful French Horn.  I created a French Horn base layer and using Cricut Design Studio - utilizing the "Hide Select Contour" option, I removed the inside cuts on the base layer horn.  I attached the base layer behind the green card front.  I also cut a top layer of French Horn, this time with the cut outs included and using pop dots, attached the horn over the green layer.  Between the gold and green layers of the horn you can see this week's challenge cut, Cindy Loo's Flourish 3, coming out of the horn in triple layers.  The flourish represents the music of the French Horn.

While at CHA last summer I purchased quite a few sheets of "peel offs".   I confess that I purchased peel offs in several colors and brought home peels for myself and my scrapping girl friends!!  I framed the front of the card using gold peel offs, both around the outside edges and around the plain green rectangle at the top of the card.  I added the gold peel off title, Rejoice, to the upper right front across from the flourish on the upper left..  Peel offs were also added around the mouth piece of the horn and the bell end of the horn. 

I added a scrap of lovely SEI Christmas paper behind the horn in the cut out area of the card.  I played with several color and a prints until I settled on this light blue and white print. 

The inside of the card has a white cardstock lining with a thin rim of green showing around the edges.  I finished the inside of the card with a strip of gold peel off under the signature area.

The front of the card was finished by trying a pretty silk ribbon around the horn.  I also used my Martha Stewart branch punch and added evergreen branches on either side of the bow knot, growing up the edges of the French Horn.

I really like this card and plan to duplicate it for a couple of friends to use.  I will be back tomorrow with the second of my Christmas week projects.

Spooky Boo Alice Card with Nesties

Only two days left until All Hallows Eve so my week of Halloween themed projects is close to winding up.  Today's card features some of the same elements that I have shared in earlier posts this week, Graphic 45 paper, Prima flowers, fun fall papers, and Halloween ribbons.  Of course the elements are put together differently making a completely new card.  I love that about paper crafting.

The main image of the card is from Graphic 45's Hallowe'en  in Wonderland line.  The image was cut out with a nestabilities, as was the cardstock mat behind the image.  The matting was embossed with a Spellbinder's metal embossing sheet before being affixed behind the top image.  

The base card is black (as is the matching envelope) with wonderful orange and cream print paper added to the front.  Atop the front paper I added an angled rectangle of lighter colored matting to create a bit of contrast between the orange background and the copper image matting.

I trimmed the Hallowe'en in Wonderland card and tucked it under the edge of the image and added a yellow Prima flower that matches the gold color in the image.  I added a row of lace and topped the lace with a fun Halloween "Spooky Boo" ribbon and bow.  A bit of black doodling around the edges of the card added a bit of interest to the edges..  Inside I added a square of smooth white cardstock to hold the Halloween message.

This card is one of my favorites of the season.  I like the simplicity and elegance.   I will be back tomorrow with a new project to share.  This project will be a surprise - for all of us as I have NO idea what I am going to make!!  I will see you tomorrow!

Delightful Challenges - purple, green, and black color challenge!

Hi everyone! It's almost Friday! YAY! And since it's Thursday, that means it's time for a new challenge from Delightful Challenges!  We are sponsored this week by Kut 4 U.  Our challenge is to use the colors purple, green, and black. I threw a few other colors in there, but for the majority of the card, those are definitely my main colors. I used Frankie Ridley along with the haunted house from the Halloween Accessory Set.

The fence is cut with my Cricut Expression from the Paper Dolls cartridge. I honestly can't remember if it was Everyday or Dress Up. See what happens when you use the Gypsy and don't have to dig out all those cartridges anymore? LOL! Anyway, I curved the fence out from the card, so they're attached to the card on both sides, and then curved out through the center of the fence.  Please be sure to visit Delightful Challenges to see what the rest of my talented DT sisters came up with for this challenge. And don't forget to hop over HERE to see the Digital Delights DT have come up with for today as well. Thanks for stopping by to see me today and hope to see you back again soon! Hugs!

Magnolia-licious Blog hop - Bats and Broomsticks!!!!

Woohoo!!!! It's time for another Manolia-licious blog hop! This month our theme is Bats and Broomsticks! I love Halloween and all the fun it brings. I love draping spider webs and creepy music and tombstones in the yard!! LOL! If you made your way here from the oh-so-talented Janiel, then you're on the right track. If not, then please head back to the Magnolia-licious Highlites blog to start at the beginning.  I don't want you to miss any of the spooktacular delights the design team has cooked up for you in their cauldrons!  I chose to use this adorable #398 Sitting Witch Tilda,  the cutest bat in the history of stamps #479 Bat. The tombston is also a Magnolia stamp from the So Spooky collection, but it appears it's not in stock right now. If you're interested, please just send Diana an email and ask her if she's got some on order. There are tons of fabulous Halloween stamps in stock and available right now over at Magnolia-licious!

Now for the FUN stuff! I'm giving away this cute Sitting Witch Tilda stamp along with the adorable bat stamp to one lucky person that leaves a comment on this post before midnight Friday night, Sept 24th!! One comment per person please, and I'll ship anywhere. Now it's time to make your way over to see the fabulously talented Mindy! Thanks for stopping by to see me today, and hope to see you back again soon! Hugs!

Papertake Weekly sketch week!

Hi everyone! Hope you enjoyed your weekend! I love long weekends, don't you? It's back to work today, but for three days only for me this week. On Friday I'll be enjoying myself with a weekend away with hubby over in San Francisco. But today, it's time for a new challenge from Dawny over at Papertake Weekly, and this week it's a sketch challenge! We're being sponsored by the fabulous Katharina at Whiff of Joy.

For my card today, I used this beautiful Magnolia stamp from Magnolia-licious. #301 Tilda with Umbrella from the Bon Voyage collection. I thought she was perfect for a shower card! She's colored with Copic markers and then cut out and popped up off the card front with dimensional tape. The frame she's on was cut with my Cricut Expression from the Storybook cartridge. There is no shadow feature, but using the Gypsy, I just reduced/enlarged the size twice with that little slider feature and voila, a shadow!

The DP are Basic Grey Porcelain line, and the cardstock is Bazzill.  I created the sentiment with my MS Word program and the flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts with some added diamond Stickles and a couple branches from a Martha Stewart punch. The panels are all machine stitched , and I added a bow made from May Arts silk ribbon and an umbrella charm. The center border was created using a Martha Stewart border punch.

Please be sure to visit Papertake Weekly to see the rest of the fabulous creations by my awesomely talented design team sisters, then we'd love it if you'd grab your paper and glue and join us in the challenge for a chance to win a fabulous prize from Whiff of Joy! Thanks so much for stopping by to see me today and hope to see you back again soon! Hugs!