BBTB2 Challenge Tags or Gift Bags

Hi all!

New challenge over at Bitten By the Bug 2 - Tags or gifft bags - OH I do love to make tags!  And with a Cricut it is so super simple.  There are literally THOUSANDS to choose from!  I decided to make some Christmas ones:

It's super simple to just choose a tag and then choose an image to put on the front.

Of course I am feeling quite accomplished at the moment, having gotten a jump on Christmas and have a whole slew of them in the middle of working on in Design Space but I guarantee you I will promptly forget all about them or think oh I have LOADS of time and next thing I know Christmas will be 3 days away and I will be panicking :P

The other BBTB2 design team members created some great projects too so head over there and take a look!  Then make one yourself and upload it to our challenge!

BBTB2 - Sweet Challenge

Hi all!

We have a new challenge up for Bitten By the Bug 2 - Sweet.  This can be interpreted in several ways - sweet treats for birthdays, sweet designs for a baby, etc.

I chose to make a birthday tag with this fantastic ice cream cut.

Both the tag and the ice cream came from the Sweet Treats cartridge.  I love the tags on that cartridge!  I used the current card sketch on the Tuesday Morning sketches for my tag front.  I dug out my old SU corner rounding punch for the corners of the polka dot paper I put on top of the tag base.  Three little brown glittered skittles and a big brown bow balanced it perfectly I think!  Pink and brown has always been one of my favorite color combinations.

I gave the whipped cream on top an extra special touch by covering it with white liquid pearls and some pink microbeads.

When I was making the first tag I came across this little party hat on Sweet Treats and decided I should make a second tag as well with the same layout.  I envision this one being for a boy's gift so I wasn't sure I wanted to put the brown bow on it - haven't decided what I will put instead.....perhaps some curling ribbon when I add it to the package.

I hope you'll join in the BBTB2 challenge and show us YOUR projects!

I was also inspired by the following challenges:

• Tuesday Morning sketches
• Ooh La La Creations - Birthdays
• Tag You're It 
• Aud Sentiments - Birthday
• Southern Girls - Favorite Color Combo
• Through the Purple Haze - Use a tag
• Shopping Our Stash - Punches or dies

BBTB - Birthday Challenge

Hi all!

We are gearing up for another exciting trip - Canada/Niagara Falls with 2 of my oldest and dearest blogland/Cricut friends Ann and Catherine (Silly Skittles if anyone is still here from back in the day.)  The shenanigans are pretty extreme when Cat and I get together - Can. Not. Wait!

This week's challenge at Bitten By the Bug is birthdays.  Hollyn had a birthday party to go to so I made a little tag for the gift:

The Phrases cartridge has some great double layer tags - I use them quite a bit.  To get the little border across the bottom I made a duplicate of the top layer of the tag and positioned it on the border I chose and then used the Slice feature to get just what I wanted - so easy!  The cute little balloons are "Balloon Bouquet" from Miss Kate Cuttables.  It originally had 4 balloons but I used Make The Cut and cut it down to 2, took away the string and bow and then re-made a shadow that fit just the balloons.  A little embossing folder on the tag base and she had a cute little tag for her friend's gift!

Head over to the BBTB blog and see the other great projects and then make one to add to the blog!

BBTB - Twins

Hi all!

Pezza and I are in for an extremely exciting week - we are making the long, nerve-wracking drive up north to see Drake (my oldest), Dianne (DIL) and finally meet my little grandbaby, Julian!  He is 9 months old already!  It is incredibly tough being so far away but I know they are happy living up there.  Y'all will probably be seeing future scrapbook pages featuring this little guy!

This week's challenge on Bitten By the Bug is twins - you must include 2 of something in your project.  How easy is that to come up with something?  Pretty WIDE OPEN so come join us!  I ended up not going with my original idea when I spied this cut while scrolling through for something else:

So cute and SO EASY - it is all one cut from the Picturesque cartridge.  I decided to jazz it up a bit though by embellishing the 2 dragonflies.  Here is how I made them so incredibly sparkly.

When you load the cut into Design Space you will have 2 items - the blue background and the green dragonfly cut out.  I duplicated the dragonfly cut out so I had 2 of them.

Next I carefully snipped the 2 dragonflies off of the border by hand - quick and easy.

To make them so sparkly I first stamped the wings with my Versamark ink pad, then I used a dry brush to brush on Primary Elements Artist Pigment Powders.  If you are not familiar with these you need to be!  The colors are vibrant and beautiful. In addition, they have mica sparkle mixed in that is out of this world.  I used several colors on the wings.  I sprayed them with a product called Workable Fixative to make sure the powder did not rub back off.  (You can also use hair spray.)  Then I used Stickles (color is Patina) along the bodies.  I ran the background through an embossing folder for added interest.  Glue the dragonflies in place and add ribbon through the hole and you have a fantastic gift tag!

Be sure to stop by the Bitten By the Bug blog to see what the other design team members have created - they always amaze me!  Then join the challenge and post YOUR design for us to see!

Gift sets

Hi all!

Is your weather as schizophrenic as ours?  I was wearing shorts in February and March and this weekend it was SO cold!  I was planning on getting my veggie garden in since I missed it last year and it hasn't stopped raining long enough to get anything done!  The local store had seedlings out over a month ago - I don't know that there is anything left to buy now!

I wanted to post some little gift sets I made for my closest mom friends, I don't know what I would do without them!  I worked for the last 8 months at our local quilt shop which I have been shopping at for years and I saw some great fabric that I just HAD to use for my friends.  I decided to make them each a set of 2 potholders and made some big gift tags like my Mother's Day cards to go with them - easy to do in Design Space.  I just kept the flower design, popped in some tags and cut:

In addition to my paper crafting I absolutely love to sew/quilt!

I made 5 of each style - I have 2 other friends in mind for the last 2 sets.  The first style has this amazing wine themed fabric on the bottom and a strip of fabric with corks across the top.

The backing fabric is pretty awesome too!

The second potholder is beer themed - I couldn't decide between 2 different ones so I used both.  Then down the side I added some peanut fabric.

They were a hit!  Do you have any other hobbies in addition to paper crafting?

BBTB - Springtime Birds!

Hi all!

I think it just may finally be spring here in the DC area!  Mother Nature seemed a bit uncertain as to what season she wanted to do.  Pez and I spent the morning doing our best to weed the front flower beds - we are being over-run by some kind of insistent ground cover UGH!  Hoping to mulch tomorrow to see if I can keep it at bay.  I have been thoroughly enjoying being able to hang out with friends and neighbors on the front porch in the afternoons after school.  I have been extremely lucky - there are several other neighbors with girls the same age as Hollyn and the kids all love each other and so do the moms!  Yesterday school was out for a teacher work day so we gathered the girls (5 in all) got ice cream and then did homemade avocado face masks - so cute!

I am posting my first OFFICIAL Bitten By the Bug challenge project.  The challenge is perfectly timed - in celebration of Spring we are asking you to make something using birds.  I have a second gift tag for you to add to my stash:

Once again I designed the whole thing in Design Space, once I was happy with it I picked my papers and hit cut!  Another Studio G stamp sentiment finished it off.  (Anyone here still remember the Pezabling from my old store?  That's the 3 pink flecked square embellishments at the top.)

Isn't the little bird and banner sweet?  I used the following cartridges:

• Banner/bird - Birthday Bash
• Tag base - Christmas Kitsch
• Border - Elegant Edges

As always, I inked my edges with Tsukineko tear drop inks - it really gives everything a "finished" look.

I hope you join us and submit a bird project!  Just CLICK HERE for BBTB.

Party chick and a new announcement!

Hi all!

Poor poor neglected old blog!  But I am hoping to resuscitate it and hope there are a few people who might still read it or perhaps new people may come upon it and stick around.  Why you might ask?  A couple of things came together and the timing was just right.

Life has thrown me a slew of curveballs recently and in addition I went back to work part time in September.  Needless to say there has not been alot of crafting going on BUT I quit my job last week, cleaned and organized my craft room and had been getting back to using my Cricut to get some layouts done and try to begin catching up on all my pictures.  Imagine my excitement when my old friend Susan (from the original Cricut message board days) contacted me and asked me to be a part of the design team over at Bitten By The Bug!

I won't "officially" join the team until next weeks challenge but I thought I would play along with this weeks - "music to my ears" challenge.  I have been an avid Cricut user since the first machine came out and now use a Cricut Explore which I LOVE.  I really like making gift tags to use when my daughter, Hollyn (Pezza for those of you who may be reading from the old days) has a birthday party to go to.  I began by going into Design Space and simply typing Music into the search box and a cute tag came up with a music note cut out at the bottom.  You can also find it on the Winter Frolic cartridge.

I thought it would be just the thing if I added a little party chick singing Happy Birthday To You.  You can find the little chick on the Once Upon A Princess cartridge.  I used the musical note cut out as an additional embellishment - bonus!  Design Space makes it so easy to layout the whole project, cut it quickly and then put it all together.  This way I can play with the design (while watching tv with the hubby - we're going through all the X-Files seasons) until I am pleased with the whole thing and everything is sized right.

The tag itself is about 5".  The sentiment is from an old Studio G stamp set from back in the day when I was the Studio G $1 stamp queen (anyone here remember those?!)  I still love them!

One thing I love to do with the tags is use foam tape to "pop out" some portion of the tag.  I did this with the little chick.  I really hope some of you play along with the challenges!

Party Tag

Hi all!

Just a quick little post for ya today.  Pezza had a party to go to so of course I wanted to whip a little tag for the gift.  Not long ago I got a super cute little 6 x 6 paper pad for just this occasion - Doodlebug Sugar Shoppe.  And SO easy with Design Space and the Cricut Explore.  I simply went on Design Space, chose my images, laid them out the way I wanted and hit GO.

It's a lively tag just like it's recipient!

I used a pink Viva Decor Gloss Gel pen for the little dot accents.  The coolest part is that the little girl's mom is a scrapbooker who has just recently wanted to get back to scrapbooking.  We have been getting together to scrapbook and even went to the recent crop I mentioned last week together.  Anyway, people always talk about being upset when they make cards and tags for people and they just get thrown away after the event. It doesn't really bother me personally BUT when the mom saw the tag she said she was going to keep it and use it in her scrapbook.  The best part is that the paper collection is current so I sent her the link to get the whole collection.

I am hoping to do some more cereal box die cuts for a few projects later this week but I will also be busy with a new pregnant foster cat!  Our last little foster kitten from the previous litter, I call her Squid, is leaving today for her new home and Momma Chai will be coming tomorrow.  They think she has 2 kittens but it could be 3.

Twinkling Tag Tutorial

Hi all!

We are currently hiding from the flu over here.  Kevin has been down for 3 days now and sick as a dog!  He has been banned from the rest of the house and is stuck upstairs in our bedroom and his office.  Jessica is due to have her baby Christmas Eve so she could have it any day now and I really don't want her to have flu too!  NOT good for the baby.  So when he goes in the bedroom I Lysol the hell out of the office and when he is in the office I Lysol the bedroom.  He started Tamiflu yesterday so hopefully the rest of us will escape unscathed....

Despite the constant Lysoling I HAVE had some time to play my studio and I have a little tutorial for you using Twinkling H2Os!  It WAS going to be a video tutorial but I lost the cord that connects to my laptop so that was out!

These tags are also for the following challenges:

• ABC Challenge - Y is for Yuletide
• All Crafts Challenge - Anything Goes - no cards
• Craftin' Desert Divas - Christmas
• Fantabulous Cricut Challenge - Anything But A Card
• A Crafty Mess - Traditional Christmas Colors
• Pile It On - Anything Goes Christmas

Now let me show you how easy it is to add some sparkle to your projects!

You'll need to gather a few things - this technique is done using gorgeous shimmering Twinkling H2Os - ever heard of them?  Gorgeous pots of hard cake watercolor paint with LOADS of shimmer and beautiful color.  Start by adding some water to the Twinks you will be using - I use a syringe or dropper and just make a bit of a puddle and then let it sit while you gather other things.

This will work best on watercolor paper - mine is cold press so it has some texture which I like.  Cut it to the final size you want to use on your tag or card.  You will also need a focal piece - die cuts work nicely, 1-2 background stamps and a soft neutral color like the Sahara Sand VersaMagic Dew Drop from Tsukineko I used here.  You will also need a paintbrush and fresh clear water.

We are going to begin our background with the Twinks.  The puddle of water should have softened the paint into a nice goopey puddle sort of the consistency of honey or slightly thinner.  If it is super thick add a bit more water.  Before you add paint to your paper use your brush and wet the paper with clear water.  Then add Twinks, a little at a time, in a loose stroke-y fashion where you wet the paper beforehand.  Some areas will be darker with more paint and others will be lighter and more watery.  Play with the amount of paint and water until you are happy with the look.  Use both paint and water sparingly, if you get too much blot with a paper towel.  At this point you can also mist the paper with water and the Twinks will fade even more around the edges for a watery loose look.  The shimmer will be more noticeable where the paint is thicker.  Let dry or use a heat gun.

Now take the ink pad (this is why I really LOVE dew drops) ink up your background stamp (the music in my example) in spots, not completely and stamp it on to your DRY paper.  If you have a second stamp (the pine tree flourish) ink it up and stamp it too.

 And that's all there is to it!  Simply add your focal piece/embellishment/die cut and you're done!  Below is another one I made using ornaments and one in blue using snowflakes.

The camera doesn't quite catch the immense sparkle but you can catch it a little bit.

I love my Twinks!  Do you have some you need to pull back out and put to use?  If not then I highly recommend them!  You can get them on Amazon!  If you try this technique out do come let me know - I would love to visit your blog and see it.  Tune in tomorrow - I will be posting some cards using this same technique!

Birthday Knight

Hi all!

Well what a crazy last couple weeks!  We have had my mom in town, driven up to New Hampshire to see Drake, Found out we are having a second grandchild in Spring and Pezza started SECOND GRADE!  Now I can have a bit of time to myself and see if I can't get my house back in order from the summer and spend some time crafting, sewing and doing some artwork!

Pezza's friend Jake, across the street, had a Knights themed birthday party and I needed a Bday tag as I am all out so I immediately thought of the Paper Dolls cartridge.  I can still remember the thrill of purchasing that particular cartridge.  I had not had my Cricut very long and I only had 2 cartridges.  The Paper Doll cartridge was an AC Moore exclusive and came as 1 of 4 in a bundle.  And those were the days when you had to pay full price for carts so that 4 pack cost a bundle!  Those were also the days when my entire paper crafting shenanigans fit on a card table and small plastic bin underneath it.  MY how things have exploded, but I digress.  I scrimped, I saved, I dreamed and then I splurged!  O. M. G. my husband is going to KILL me is all I thought so I had it stashed away!  Those were also the days of the Cricut Message board being insanely active and the best place ever to be on the web.  I love the friends I made there and still talk to some of them today!

It's a pretty simple tag as I was in a rush - I am the queen of never-plan-ahead but isn't he just so cute?!?!

I used some silver shimmery paper for his armor and gave his sword a blue pearl handle with some Liquid Pearls.  Of COURSE the sentiment is a $1 Studio G Stamp - also a throw back to those early days when I first started paper crafting and the product that started it all when I had the online store.  I still have sets I need to sell :P  Maybe this will be the year I can get some of my old inventory posted on the FB garage sale sites.

I am thinking I may have to challenge myself to do a slew of tags the way I did those cards for my mom (which she loved BTW.)  I did have fun with them....

And here is Pezza on her first day of second grade yesterday - MY she is getting big!  She was a baby when I got my Cricut!

Party time!

Hi all!

Hooray for weekends right?  So last week I had put a post up on Facebook lamenting how every day I say "Tomorrow is sewing day.  I am going to sit and sew."  I have a backlog of sewing projects I really want to accomplish -  TWO quilts, a wall hanging, a purse my step mom has requested, fall/Halloween table linens, American girl doll clothes - the list goes on and on.  So in the comments my (awesome) neighbor says "You jut have to drop Pez at the bus stop and go in and do it."  My cousin says "What's stopping you!"  So I think "That's it!  Tomorrow I'm doin' it."  So what's stopping me?  I will do laundry while I sew so that I am still accomplishing something and just DO IT.  Here is how the day went

• Begin cutting out purse pattern
• Go to put my laundry in the dryer, hmmmm the load that's in there is not dry....I could have sworn I started the dryer twice already....I start it again.
• Discover I am out of interfacing - now I will need to drive out to Leesburg to get some (we live in a small rural town.)
• Go back to put the next load of laundry in the dryer....CLOTHES ARE STILL WET!!!  Now i KNOW i have turned it on...Holler for hubby who is working from home.
• Begin dryer assessment.  No heat.  Commence dryer dismantling...which then involves dryer insides cleaning

Disgusting!

• We will need a new heating element.  So that means calling around to find it.  Good news, found it.  Bad news, now I am not only driving to Leesburg for interfacing but also ALL the way to Sterling for the element - about 45 minutes away.
• While I am in Sterling I think Hey, I can stop by that nursery I really love and check for the Sempervivum Pezza has been begging me for.
• Plant lady is apparently lonely since the Spring rush and decides to educate me on EVERYthing you could EVER want to know about succulents.  Interesting but I AM TRYING TO SPEND THE DAY SEWING.
• Hubby and I were going to do lunch but now I am running late and he got a meeting put on his schedule - how about I hit the drive thru on the way home.
•  I roll up to the drive thru at 12:32 along with every other human for MILES around.
• I get home, eat my lunch, I have about 1 hour left before Pezza gets home, phone rings.  It's my good friend Amy (Pickled Paper) whom I haven't talked to in ages and SO miss her!  We talk and talk and then it's time to go meet the bus.

And this is how my EVERY day seems to play out UGH!  Though my day interrupting event yesterday involved picking up two itty bitty kittens to spend a couple days with me to recover from surgery before heading to the adoption center at Petsmart.

As I was squealing over them in the back room at the vets office I said "You would think after having rescued DOZENS of babies I wouldn't swoon over babies anymore but it just never gets old and the vet (BEST VET EVER) says "Nope, it NEVER gets old!"  These two are probably some of the best kittens I have had come through here.

But to be fair I do squeeze a bit of playtime in here and there and today I have a quick and easy birthday tag to share.

When I was cutting the circle elements for the layout I posted yesterday I thought HEY that would be a great birthday tag!  A Studio G $1 stamp is perfect in the center!  (If you missed that craze I do still have a few of the spring sets available.)

Once again I used foam tape to pop a couple of the layers up for added dimension.  I really think it's key to how nice the finished tag looks.

And now we are off to the party!

I am enetering this in the following challenges:

• Papertake Weekly - Make it Sparkle