Sea Creatures

I had to make this card on a short notice. In between trying to get 2 kids to nap, walking up and down the stairs, repeatedly. Glad I actually got it done in time. This was to go to an 8yr old boy, to whom we were giving the Planet Earth's Life DVD. This boy is fascinated by all living animals, including sea creatures. So the timing of Life's release was great.
Since this was to be for a boy, I didn't want to "pretty" it up too much. I decided less is more. I cut the sea critters using, you guessed it, Create-A-Critter! I don't even know why I bother to buy all these other cartridges. Haha.

I was rather proud of this card, since I got to use all scraps, aside from the card base.

Thanks, Chickie

I made this card intended to give to the acquaintance I mentioned earlier. I saw someone who made this card with a little notecard attached, so you can write in it. I thought that was a great idea, so I wanted to duplicate it. When I was done, I realized the little notecard does not close all the way very well. I decided to pull out the Slit Punch that I had only used once before, to help secure the card while closed. Well, lo and behold, the punch wouldn't work! Argh. For some unknown reason, it wouldn't punch through the cardstock. I thought maybe it was too thick (removed layers). Then, I thought maybe it needed sharpening (used foil).
Then I thought maybe it needed some lubrication (used wax paper). Nothing worked. Had to give up and settle for this the way it is.

Later, I decided to contact my friend/demo to see if she could call SU for me. Well, wouldn't you know it, SU said they would replace it for me, eventhough I was a few days out of their 90-day guarantee. I don't even have to send my bad one to them. Yeah, SU!

Anyways, regarding the card. I cut the chickie from Create-a-Critter cartridge (again). I just LOVE this cartridge. Did I say that before? LOL. I put a rhinestone brad in her flower. Isn't it cute? The oval scallop was cut from Storybook, along with the oval. The little flower inside the notecard was punched using one of my old punches. I decided it needed a little Stickle (glitter) on it. The paper is from DCWV's glitter stack.

Easel Card - New Home

Lately, it seems I can't make enough of New Home cards. New neighbors, family and friends moving to new abodes. So this will not be the last time you'll see me make New Home cards. I found this fun pack of papers at Joann's at clearance. It's just perfect for these cards.

For this particular card, I made it into an Easel Card. See tutorial here. You see from the second picture how the card stands from the side.

This card felt just way too simple. So I decided to add the ribbon. Now, I think I should have gone with the less is more look. Oh well. The ribbon is now glued on.

Oh, and you can't see this very well, but the NEW HOME stamp is stamped on an oval, popped up on a scallop oval.

New Home - More

Here's a couple more New Home cards I made earlier. At least the first one was an inspiration from somebody's blog, but I can't remember whose. Sorry! I don't remember if the second one was inspired by someone or I just decided to make it myself. Anyways, I love this stamp set. OK, I didn't know I loved it until AFTER I had placed my original Sale-A-Bration order earlier this year. After I got my order from SAB, I started to browse online for inspirations to use my new toys to make cards. Well, wouldn't you know it, I happened to see TONS of cards made with this stamp set. Well, what's a girl to do, since she didn't get this, and can only get it free with a $50 order. She had to put in another order of at least $50. This wasn't hard to do, as I was enabled by all these blogs I had looked at, to see what else I was, ahem, missing in my life. Haha.

So, here are a couple more cards made with the Good Neighbors set. This set was very cool in that you can choose the roof and building combination. I wasn't very good at the beginning, so the roof was a little lop-sided. Adds that hand-made charm, doesn't it? =)

Wedding

Once again, the wedding season is upon us. I don't personally have to give these out too often. However, my mother, the social butterfly, seems to be invited to a wedding at least once a month. So, per her request, I made some wedding cards for her to give out. Here is couple of versions.

The bride's dress is popped up by stamping twice and cutting out. It's embellished with a little bling. The white cardstock in the second card is run through the Big Shot for some visual effect. The sentiments are from SU's Well Scripted (Congratulations), Happy Moments (for you), Whimsical Words (Happiness Always) and Heard from the Heart (Wishes).

Shutter Card

An acquaintance has graciously given me a whole bunch of colored envelopes. I decided she needed to have a really special Thank You card from me. I love how the Tri-Shutter cards look. They're super easy to make. But do take quite awhile to embellish (well, if you had no idea what you wanted to do, then it'll take 2 days, like it did me. Ha!).

This is how it looks when it opens. Isn't it cool? You can see the tutorial here. My original inspiration was from Karen at Inky Images. Then more recently, this one by Adorable Annagrams.

Remember this pattern paper? I just absolutely LOVE this paper. It's got such great colors and fun pattern. I'll be so sad when I use up the two sheets that come in the paper pack. Maybe I'll have to create something with it and hang it on my wall. Hahaha. Anyways, the skunk was cut using Create a Critter by Cricut. The stamped sheep and the sentiment on top are from SU's Pun Fun stamp set.

Critters

I made this card inspired by Laurie Zoellmer. I used SU's Fox and Friends stamp set. I decided to color the animals and add some dimensions with the pearl and bling. However, I decided I just wasn't too happy with it. So I made another one.

This one was made using the Cute Critters stamp set from SU a few years back. Looks like it was a Sale-A-Bration set. Anyways, I popped the critters up using pop dots and the sentiment is flat on the cardstock base. I colored using a really fancy tool called the Q-Tip. I rubbed the Q-Tip on the ink pad and dabbed it on paper. I'm surprised at how this looks. It actually looks like chalk! I totally dig this. Don't be surprised to see this technique on future cards!