Happy Birthday Cupcake

Happy Wednesday, everyone! Here's a card I made not too long ago using the Straight from the Nest Cricut cartridge. I'm not a "bird" person, so to speak, but Provocraft has put out some adorable bird cartridges (Straight from the Nest, 3 Birds on Parade, Give a Hoot) that not only have cute birds (owls, chicks, etc), but a bunch of other great images that you might not expect to find. I went a little crazy with the Stickles, as you can see but I think it added that little extra bit that makes you want to eat the cupcake ;) The only trouble with using Stickles is that, particularly in humid climate, you have to let them dry forever--I usually let it sit out overnight. I also got to use my new-ish simple scallop punch from Stampin Up--so much easier than those edge scissors that I used to use.

Thanks for dropping by and have a great day.





Materials:
Cardstock: Stampin Up, Recollections, DCWV (glitter)
Paper: Little Yellow Bicycle - Sweet Love Collection (cherry), American Crafts misc
Cartridges: Straight from the Nest
Punch(es): Stampin Up Scallop Punch
Embossing Folder: None
Embelishments: Stickles, Ribbon by Papertrey Ink
Stamp(s: Old Hero Arts stamp, I think

What I worked on this weekend...

Since it was my birthday weekend, I decided that I would avoid work and chores and devote oodles of time to crafting. That began with shopping, of course. I visited 2 brick and mortar craft stores and more than a few online retailers. I didn't get into too much trouble, especially since I was fortunate to get a bunch of Amazon gift cards, but I did do some damage. I didn't take a picture off what all I bought yet because I immediately began working on this:



Yes, it's an Easter basket. How retro, right?

What's special about it?

When you open it up...

It's an exploding box!


I purchased the pattern from Kathy at Paper Phenomenon, and love it! See Kathy's gorgeous one here. I definitely have more work to do as I could not find a bunny or a chick to decorate the top with anywhere! (I didn't try particularly hard, just at a dollar store and a grocery store, but I didn't expect it to be quite so difficult). Also, I haven't made any tags or dolled up the pages, let alone thought of photos. The designed wrote the pattern and offered a kit (which sold out, unfortunately) for a Ustream class sometime next month. Once I figured out what I was doing with the pages, it was a breeze. Thus, I may make another basket during her class, once I finish this one, of course. It also could definitely be made with envelopes, so I may try to figure out that rendition out on my own.

Stay tuned...

Hello Kitty Spring Cards

Happy Friday, everyone!

One of the spiffiest parts about moving back to Hawaii, aside from the scenic beauty, is that my birthday is a state holiday! Well, my birthday's tomorrow as is Prince Kuhio's, so today's the state holiday. That means much less traffic and I can roll into work just about whenever as our office is technically closed.

Here are the other two rainy day spring cards I made a couple of rainy Saturdays ago. You may remember that after never much caring for Hello Kitty while I was growing up, I fell head over heels for this cartridge, even though some of the cuts are tiny. But with my Tweezer Bee tweezers, I should be in good shape. You may recognize the background paper on one of them as from my Hello Kitty Valentine's Day card and the other is scraps from Christmas.







Materials:
Cardstock: Stampin Up, Recollections
Paper: Little Yellow Bicycle - Sweet Love Collection, misc Christmas paper
Cartridges: Hello Kitty Greetings
Punch(es): MS Garden Gate
Embossing Folder: None
Embelishments: Stickles, Ribbon by Papertrey Ink
Stamp(s: My Pink Stamper Happiest Moments

Happy Spring Ducky

Hi all,

Here's super simple card I made to celebrate spring. The day I made this card, it rained buckets all Saturday so I made this card and two more that you will likely see later this week. I used my all-time favorite cartridge, Create a Critter for the ducky, and found the umbrella on the Cake Basics cart. The grass is from Straight from the Nest, but there's a bunch of grass cuts out there. It's an A2 sized card, so images at cut in the 3.75-4" range. Then I used the Swiss Dots embossing folder to make what looks a little like rain drops. Enjoy!



Materials:
Cardstock: Stampin Up, Papertrey Ink, Recollections
Paper: American Crafts - Christmas Reindeer Games collection (Green)
Cartridges: Cake Basics (umbrella), Create a Critter (duck), Straight from the Nest (grass)
Punch(es): None
Embossing Folder: Cuttlebug Swiss Dots
Embelishments: None
Stamp(s: My Pink Stamper Happiest Moments

Be Yourself Butterfly Card

Yikes, I had no idea that it had been over a month since my last card. In case you were wondering, I survived the Hawaii bar exam. Results won't come in for another couple of months, but at least the matter's out of my hands now. I was able to do a little crafting the weekend after, and a couple times since then, but I just didn't get around to posting. I'm not sure what order I will post in, but I will make sure I share all the cards I made soon. Here's one I made on Saturday for my Auntie. It's very simple, but allowed me to use some of the new toys I've gotten recently, namely the dew drops, Straight from the Nest cartridge, and a new Martha Steward punch. I had a little trouble working with different qualities of cardstock. It took me several times to cut the butterfly swirly layer because the thin cardstock kept tearing. Then when I switched to the thicker blue cardstock, which I believe is Papertrey Ink, my edges weren't clean. I think it might be time to change the black on my Cricut (now where did I put those extra blades...?). Nonetheless, I think it turned out cute enough. It's an A2 card, and I believe the butterfly is cut at 3.5 and the doily at 3.75".









Materials:
Cardstock: Stampin Up, Papertrey Ink, Recollections
Paper: American Crafts, I think it was a summer collection
Cartridges: Basic Cakes (doily), Straight from the Nest (butterfly)
Punch(es): MS Swirling Lace
Embelishments: Dew drops (Scrapadabadoo), flower brad (Target)