Card for my Sweetie

It is SO hard for me to make cards for men for two reasons:

~ I can't make a card without it being 'pretty'
~ I don't think men really care about cards

But I still make them for family members and of course, for my sweetie.



For this I used the Cuttlebug dotted embossing folder, and Stampin' Up for the sentiment. The blurry image below is to show the dimension of the focal point.




This card, by Nichole Heady, was my inspiration. It's the perfect man card...pretty but not too fru-fru.

Card using "Just Because Cards"

Okay so I'm super excited to tell you about this card. I used a feature on my Gypsy that I JUST learned about and I'm gonna bust. Jerry, I'm bustin! The feature turns off certain cuts in an image. That's right...you heard me. You can actually make the machine ignore certain things that it would normally cut. It's on the 'advanced' tab and the icon looks like 2 right angles.

From the Just Because Cards cartridge, I put the "Bee Happy" stencil image on my mat. If you aren't familiar with this image, it is an oval with the words "bee happy" cut out of the center. I also put the phrase "happy" from the same cartridge on my mat. Sized both to the dimensions I wanted.

I didn't want the card to say "bee happy" but I still wanted to use the oval, so I turned off the bee happy cuts. Then I moved the word "happy" onto the oval and centered it, then welded it. The result is what you see on the card.

To grasp how fabulous this feature is, let me tell you a little story. I needed to cut out about 25 baby dresses. The only cartridge I had at the time would cut out a dress but also had bloomers that I didn't need. So, to not waste paper, I had to sit with the machine while it cut the dress and then press the cancel button before it started cutting the bloomers. Yep, x25. How tedious! The whole point of having an automated machine is so you DON'T have to babysit it, right? So you can see how the 'uncut' feature would have saved me a ton of time.

Maybe I'm the last person to learn how to use this feature...I mean I don't even know what it's called, but do you realize how many more options you now have? It jacks up the number of things you can make by like a bazillion percent. Okay raise your hand if you want to marry your Gypsy. Am I the only one?

Stay pretty!

Baby's 1st Birthday Banner

This is not my original idea, but it was FUN to sort through pictures to make.

Sunburst Card

This is basically a copy of a card I saw on the cover of one of the card or paper crafting magazines. Can't remember which one. But anyway, here is my version.

Bathroom decor

Our bathroom is decorated with beachy typed items. I thought this picture of Brooklyn would work well framed in the bathroom. It's her first school picture. Well, daycare picture.

This canvas mat used to hold a beach photo print and was purchased together. We decided not to frame it because it would take up precious wall space.



I used Spellbinders dies to make the seashells. I love how the dies cut and emboss but to use the dies for stenciling in color...didn't work so well. Not for me anyway. My sand dollars are a mess but since it took me forever to finish all the pieces, they stay.



I dressed up the starfish with diamond stickles. Also added this to the chipboard letters, although I haven't yet mastered how to capture the sparkle of glitter in a photograph.

Awe, my first project entry.

I made this for my sister for her birthday....



Inspiration came from this.

The picture frame cost $1...and it's matted??? Get OUT! (Dollar Store)

The flowers and leaves are die cut (Sizzix dies run through the Cuttlebug.) I love using patterned paper for leaves & stems.

The centers are cardstock coated with diamond Stickles and covered with thick layers of Glossy Accents, then pierced to look like buttons.

"happiness" is stamped on the bottom of the mat (Stampin' Up.) Usually I'm a sloppy stamper but I had one chance to get this right and *WOOT!* it came out perfect. Yay me. And there's so much dimension

It's pretty simple but I think sis will love it. I know...no real spectacular or new techniques used to make this. I thought it was neat because it's my first paper-craft wall hanging. I have ideas to make another similar project for a friend's bathroom. Can't wait!