Go Ahead - I Dare Ya!

I challenged myself to a challenge.  As I noticedmy "scrap bin" overflowing with paper pieces, of different shapes and sizes.  I must admit, I have to figure out a better way to organize my scrap bin!  Any suggestions will be taken into consideration!  Anyway, I closed my eyes and reached into the scrap bin and pulled out a piece of paper.  "I have to use this."  So, then I thought:  "Why not just go back in there and see what comes out!"  So I closed my eyes again and reached in...  and then again...  So I decided I would use all of those pieces to make a card.  I have a little drawer that I keep all of those pesky, but loved, Cricut cuts that weren't the right size, or color for whatever project I was making.  I thought, why not, right?  So I blindly picked one of those out as well...  VERY SCARY!!!!  I was a little nervous and thought that some people might not like what comes out of this little project!  But, it was a mini adventure in the realm of my craftroom, all picked by feel, not by looks.  It didn't turn out too bad!  The only thing I allowed myself to do was to stamp something and use a pen, and trim the pieces with my paper trimmer to get them the correct size I wanted..  No inking, nothing else!

So, if you are like me, and have tons of scrap little pieces, please challenge yourself to choose blindly what you will create with!  It's kind of exhilerating and petrifying all at the same time!  I hope you like my "Scrappy Card!"  I think that is what I am going to start calling these...  Scrappy Cards!  If you make a Scrappy Card, please please share it with me!  I would love to see it!  You can email me at creationsbym1014@yahoo.com. 

By the way, I think the Scalloped Circle is from Storybook. 

Thanks for peeking!

Mary

HAP-BEE BIRTHDAY!

This was totally not my intention for this card.  What I was trying to do was make one of those lovely shaped cards (inspied by the wonderful individuals on the Cricut MB), and for whatever reason, I didn't weld it correctly on my Gypsy.  It was a little small for a shaped card, but I decided to use it anyway!

This is what I came up with!  The Bee is from Just Because, the letters are from LL (two different fonts), and the flowers and flower pot I threw together.  The flowers are made from 1" circles and small pointed ovals.  The yellow sticking out is just little strips of paper I cut with a good 'ol pair of scissors!  I hope you like!

Thank you for looking!

Mary

A Major Disclaimer...

I am not a college sports fan for the most part.  I do not ike Basketball, I am more of a football fan, then when it comes to football, I prefer the NFL to college football.  I do not endorse any team specifically.  I am not one of those fans who pushes their beliefs/team spirit on other people.  I am not badmouthing any sport, any teams, or anyone who is a fan of the sport.  I could never do it, and don't feel like I can judge others negatively who do like certain sports.  It's all a matter of personal opinion!  That being said...

I live in Kentucky.  HUGE Basketball following around here!  Between the University of Kentucky Wildcats and the University of Louisville Cardinals, it is all out war pretty much around here in March!  They don't call it March "Madness" for nothing!  :o)  I work in radio...  we air every football and basketball game for both Universities.  I sit in an office just outside the sales area.  ALL day, EVERY day (at least is seems lately), all I hear conversation wise in what we call the "sales pit" is UK this, and UofL that.... etc, etc, etc...  yadda yadda yadda...  You can imagine how many times my eyes have rolled sitting in my office!  But that's ok...  I keep my mouth shut, and smile, and move on.  I have pretty much learned to tune it out! 

So imagine the little hairs on the back of my neck, and the goosbumps that followed when a gentleman that I work with said... "Can you make a UK notepad-thingy for me to keep in my studio for notes and such?"  (Yes, he said, a note-pad thingy.)  It went against everything I was thinking in my mind, but I said "yes."  I donot want to be affiliated with any particular team, just because I don't want people saying "you'll make a UK, but not a UofL?"  You either choose sides around here, or stay out of it!  I choose to stay out of it...  even my husband is a UK fan...  as you can imagine... I CAN'T WAIT FOR BASKETBALL SEASON TO BE OVER!

Nonetheless, after my little rant here, I have made a UK journal.  I looked up the logo online and hand cut the letters, and drew the wildcat paw prints.  No copyright infringement intended.  No Cricut used here, just layered the blue and white paper.  I little silver pen-ing and that's it!

P.S.  To stay neutral, when anyone asks me who I root for in the game of college sports, I simply say.. Go Irish!  I had a brother who went to Notre Dame.  That's my safe house!

Thanks for looking!
Mary

A Poem {and Ramblings} of a Scrapper

by: Mary


What inspires one to add
a ribbon here, a button there.
Is it the thrill of a challenge
to participate in one,
or perhaps challenge yourself

Tough decisions to be made
greens, blues, yellows,
paper: patterned, geometric,
whimiscal, solid... tougher
than to decide that night's dinner

I have so many cartridges...
but I need more... they need to come out with
one that has...  I don't even use that one that much... I'll use it now...
but it has... I think...  there it is...  oh but look at that...
that font is nice... I could do a monogram... with that one paper I had...

Hours wasted away
your mind in a happy place
surrounded by stacks, bins,
drawers... full of paper,
yet there is need for more

Bling or Brad...
Round or Square...
Card or Craft...
Pop Dot or Glue...
what if I put that here and that....

OOOH!  I remember I saw on the MB...
that color combination, would be perfect... I need to use my scraps...
but which cart, LL, PP, PS, CL?  I am looking
for a flower, perhaps a tulip...  I like that bird... that's a pretty tree...
I have to change papers.. again.

So many ideas, so little time,
Cooking, Cleaning, Working,
Laundry, little ones need some love, too!
Abigail and Scout need to go outside..
instead of napping under my craft table...

I need some music,
to craft along with and possibly
inspire another creation,
a Happy Birthday card, a crafty gift,
all made with the heart, made with love

I can do two cards tonight... maybe 3 if I hurry...
make a decision, Mary... I had saved on my Gypsy a deisgn...
Weld. Cut. Glue.  This is perfect for... oh wait - Birthday next weekend
Gotta make a... embellishments? {now, which paper should I... sigh}
I love my hobby.

I really, love, my hobby.

I Believe in Angels!

I know - another journal!  A guy that I work with is dating someone who has changed his life!  He has been baptized now, and I tell him he had the devil knocked out of him!  He asked if I could make one of my 4x4 journals with angels or something like that.  She collects Angels and her favorite color is purple (a lot of people are purple fans, huh?) This is what I came up with!  This angel wing is from Indie Art, and the name "Dawn" is cut from LL.  I hand wrote "I Believe in Angels."  On the inside cover, I cut out a small cross from IA as well.   
Thanks for looking!
Mary

Thank you for all you do!

I was asked to make a Thank You card by someone I work with, for someone else I work with... does that make sense?  She is a very simple, but classy kind of gal, so this is what I came up with: StoryBook for the image, cut twice and pop-dotted for layers; Cuttlebug dotted forlder with an overlay of Cuttlebug "Thank you."   I like how it turned out!  I was nervous about wether or not doing two different cuttlebug folders on the same piece of paper would work or not.  Would my entire image flatten?  Would both images not be crisp enough for what I wanted?  But it turned out alright!  I like how the white gel pen made the "Thank You" pop!  It just stands out!  I am kind of proud of this one!

Sorry, the pictures are a little blurry... don't know what happened!  oops!

Thanks for looking!

Mary

Happy Birthday!

This is a Happy Birthday card I made using one of the Marquee cuts from StoryBook to make the actual shape of the card.  The letter stickers I had picked up on clearance some time ago, and thought they would go well with this project!  The inside letters "Make a Wish" are made from a cutting folder I have for my cuttlebug.  I really like how this turned out!  There is A LOT of inking on this as well!  :o)  I love to ink!  Ha!

My Very First Tri-Fold Card!

So here it is - my very first Tri-Fold card!  I am SO excited about this one!  I hate to say, maybe because it's so girly?!?!  SO, not my style, but I am loving it! 

I made this for my niece, Anna Faye, who had tubes put in her little ears this morning.  She is doing well, but thought I would send her a bit of mail!  :o)

So, the funny thing about these scraps, is that they are all from my dear SIL's bridal shower!  The tags and all!  We threw her a tea party for her bridal shower, and used the tags as name tags, and decorated flowers, and things like that!  I must say these came in quite handy when wanting to put together this card for Anna Faye.  I wonder if her mom will remember these items? hmmm...  Oh well...  and the circle continues!

The Tags are from PS cut at I believe 2.5" and then the frame was cut out with it, and the flowers were cut from SYI with the different features included as well.  I am going to write on the tag on the left hand side as well as the two empty squares on the right!

I love how sweet it is!  Perfect for my little Anna Faye! 

Hope you feel better baby girl!  Love you bunches!

Thanks for looking everyone!

Love,
"Auntie M"

A Little Cricut - A Little Quilling....

This card was so much fun to make!  Unfortunately it's a sympathy card.  A lady that I work with lost two of her Aunts within a few days time, and seemed down in the dumps (rightfully so).  SO I thought I would make her a card!  Her favorite color is purple, so hence all the purple.  I cut out the branch on Storybook (forget page number but it was the letter "Z" in the book.  :o)  It was cut at 3.34 inches, and the Thinking of you was cut from WC at 5". 

And then, there was Quilling!  This is my first quilling effort on a card.  I have made daisy etals, and things of that nature, but I really just wanted some flower buds on a branch for this card.  Nothing too fancy.  The inside is the same patterened background paper on the front with a plain white square attached for what I wrote to her.

I hope you enjoy!

Thanks for looking!

Mary

Black and White Mini Tag Card

Perfect little size to put on top of a gift or alongside some flowers! 

The tags are cut out from Plantin SchoolBook Cricut cartridge.  I used some scrap black and white flower paper for the ends, and used a charcoal colored brad to fasten the two tags together.  The tags "spin" open to the area to write a little sentiment.  The stamp was a gift from my SIL, and I stamped it in black ink, then went over the image in a sparkly black ink gel pen.  It's hard to see the tiny sparkles, but they are there!  :o)

Thanks for looking!

St. Patrick's Day!

In honor of my favorite holiday, I made St. Patrick's Day cards!  Easy, but I like simple designs sometimes.  And after a morning at the CKC fair on Saturday, my brain was in complete overload, and I had to go simple... for now!  This cars is a 6x6 piece of cardstock folded in half, so, 3x6

The shamrock is made out of hearts from PS cut at 1" pop-dotted the outside edges to make it stick out, and used a piece of green bling I bought at the CKC fair. 

I used the sizzix square embossing folder, and lightly sanded it to expose some of the white core.  I then colored the exposed areas orange. 

The inside is inked with green ink, and the sentiment is hand-written.  In the four corners I drew a 4-leaf clover and a few little orange dots. 

I love the simplicity of it all, and love how it turned out!

LOVE YOU A LATTE

I made this card for my first challenge that I am entering.  The challenge is on the Cricut MB link here:  http://community.provocraft.com/Cricut-Community_postst58858_RAQ-s-3-9-Card-Sketch-Challenge---EVERYONE-WELCOME.aspx

The challenge is to use one (or all) of the sketches as inspiration for you card, layout, whatever you'd like. 

Since this is my first challenge, I must admit I am a bit nervous!  I hope this is something the other crafty individuals who participate in these things will like/enjoy.  I used a combination of the two sketches below:

I used the folded corners plus the mat on the first sketch and the charm on the second sketch.

This is my result:

The charm is a coffee mug cut from Gypsy Wanderings, and I used a small gage wire to attach it to.  I fastened buttons onto the end of the wire, and then sewed the utton onto the paper with some off-white thread.  The folded corners are pop-dotted to add a bit more dimension, as well as the coffee mug. 

The sentiment is hand-written.  There's a lot of inking!  The inside just has some off-white paper, inked and one of the flowers from the patterned paper on the front is cut out and adhered to the corner.

I like how this turned out, I don't know if this is completely following the challenge 100% since I didn't stick to any of the original designs 100%, but the designs did inspire ths creation!

Thank you for looking, and I hope you enjoy!

Mary

More Journals!

So this is the bulk of what I have been up to lately.  I so enjoy making mini-journals!  They are so much fun!  Most of these are 4x4, some are 3x6.  They are filled with regular copy printer paper, so nothing special there!  There are Cricut cuts on every single one of these!  Let's see if I can break them all down:

Far left:  Dragonfly is from Gypsy Wanderings (GW), and Circles are from I believe StoryBook.  The punch is not Criicut however.

Right:  The dress is from GW and wrapped with ribbon.  The "dream" is cut from GW as well.

A little inking on both!

Far left:  The tree is cut from "Just Because Cards, and stamped with a butterfly and daisies, and added brown ribbon. 

Right:  The mug is from GW, layered, and inked.  I used the same edge punch, and then above it, is written "live... love.... coffee..."  What else is there?  This book is 2x4

Once, again, all are inked around the edges.

This one is very simple but I love it!  The little bee is just soooo sweet  He has so much personality.  The bee and his little home are from Sentimentals.  When I received this cartridge, I couldn't get my mind off of these two images.  I love them!  A little yellow ribbon and done!

No inking on this one!

bzzzzzzz....

Let's try this side!  The flower is from Cindy Lou.  i love all the flourishes on that cartridge!  The bloom is from CL I believe as well.  Kind of drawing a blank...  I will look it up and correct if necessary!

This one - inked...

For this one, I wanted to go a bit more masculine, but it ended up being rather geneirc, for either female or male!  Orange is my favorite color, so I just love this!  The Stars are cut from GW, and the "wish upon a star stamp is on loan from my SIL. 

... just a little orange inking on this one!

On the left:  We have the same "Dream" sentiment as used earlier (b/c I love it so), and kept that one simple with a little inking and a border punch. 

Right:  Another favorite!  The ladybugs are from ___  okay, I am losing it!  I have been using so many different cartridges lately, they are all kind of running around in my head!  I will fix!  Wanted to kee this simple, black white and red.

A little inking on these!

I made these for a friend I work with two little boys.  One is into guitars, the other into CSI kind of stuff!

Left: The guitars are from Indie Art - no inking

Right:  ??s from every differeny font I could find that were distinctly different.  The magnifying glass I welded 2 circles, and a Capital "I" to make.  The caution tape was made with the banner from Stand and Salute (trimmed a little) and welded the words "CAUTION" with Plantin School Book.
A little light blue and dark blue inking on this one.  You can't really see it but inside the magnifying glass is a light fingerprint...  if anyone asks... it's mine!

Another favorite...
The background is Black Magic paper, Cuddlebugged, and sanded to expose the blue.  The same paper - opposite side for color matching - was  cut in a 3" circle.
The butterfly is from Lyrical Letters, welded together.
Now, the cloroing on the butterfly was a little difficult.  I didn't have paper to match quite how I wanted - so I made my own.  White paper, with glue smeared accross it. I "shaved" some chalk with my fingernail and blended the colors together till I got what I wanted.  The white dots didn't show well with my white gel pen, so a toothpick and some white acrylic paint dd the job!  I love this one!

These were requested by a gentleman I work with who has 3 little girls.  He wanted princess themed journals for his daughters.  Since I know how little girls can be, I wanted them to be the same, but a little different.  The crown was cut from StoryBook.  Jeweled brads were added to the crowns, lots and lots of ribbon.  I tried to keep it sweet, since these are little girls we are talking about! 
These are going in their Easter Baskets!

Pink, Green, Threaded Thank You Card

I love how bright and cheeful this card turned out!  The cut is from I believe Cindy-Lou, and I added pink dots, and some floss to it.  I basicallt cut random snippets on the frame and took my white cross-stitching floss and wrapped it around in no particuar order.  I like how random it turned out to be, and breakes up the hot pink.  I pop-dotted the image, so that it would stand out even more.  The "thank you" is a rub-on in pink. 

For those who know me, I am usually not a Pink kind of girl.  I have never really liked pink, but I have to say, it is really growing me!  So, this is completely unusal for me to use that much pink in a card!  I am ind of proud of myself for that!

Thanks for looking!

Mary

A Hi-Heeled Hello!

I made this card with some pretty retro funky 70's flower paper, but I love the way it turned out.  The hello is a Cricut cut from "Wild Card,"  and the open-toed heel is a stamp that I had, but had never used before.  It's very girly, but I love how it turned out.  The emobssing is a Cuddlebug dot folder.

Thank you for taking a look!

Mary