Cuttlebug Challenge #29 - Mom's Day card

So this challenge came at the perfect time. I actually had the perfect idea for a card...inspired by a design in last month's "Card magazine". Yesterday I turned this design into reality, creating a thank you card for my husband's grandma. Today, though, I used the same design to create a super sparkly floral MOTHER'S DAY card.

My inspiration was a card punched with various flowers and backed with ribbon. Those of you who know me probably also know that I love creating, but am not into all the work. (If that "easy" button from the commericials actually worked I'd be the proud owner of several!) Anyway, what could be simpler than punches backed with patterned paper?! It provided a similar look to ribbon but without the work.

With the last Cuttlebug challenge I discovered a new technique which I just love. Instead of embossing each piece, I run my layered creation through the machine all at once. I wouldn't recommend this if you have a super-thick design, but the above card has about two layers of cardstock and it ran through perfectly. I love it because the embossing is more defined too.

Card info:
I started with a 4 x 5.25 inch white cardstock scrap (by Georgia Pacific) and randomly punched out parts with my Martha Stewart flower punch (by EK Success). (This punch features all three flowers so for the two flower portions I lined up the punch with the edge of the paper so that the large part didn't get punched.) I selected some other papers - two patterned (pink-Making Memories; yellow-Basic Grey) and one textured cardstock (by Diecuts with a View). I cut these papers down to fit the punched shapes and adhered using regular tape to the backside of the card. Then the Cuttlebug came out. I ran the whole piece through - layers and all and actually ended up using the debossed side of the paper for the front of the card...no real reason except that I thought it looked nice (Floral Fantasy folder). I took some of the punch outs and used tiny zots to attach to the front of the card and accented with mini gems. You'll notice I peeled up the edges of the small adhered flowers for added dimension. I also added a larger gem to the four large punchout flowers for flair (gems by Kaiser Crafts). The final step was the layered greeting and butterfly. I used the oval and matching scallop templates from Spellbinders to cut the greeting tag. The "Mom" stamp (by Amuse) was stamped directly to the white cardstock using a Staz On pad. I used 3-D dots to pop up the greeting also. Finally, I punched two butterflies (Martha Stewart by EK Success) from the yellow pattern. The top butterfly was glued to the bottom one using a glue dot so that only the body was attached allowing me to peel up the wings to create more dimension. And it absolutely couldn't be complete with some bling (row of gems by Hero Arts). To finish, I backed the white piece with a layer of teal to offset from the white card base.

As for the matching envelope, I used a standard white A2. I cut a block of the textured cardstock and added a scallop strip to the top (border punch by Stampin' Up!). I accented with the same floral diecuts as used on the card. (Tip: Instead of using glue to attach the diecuts, I ran a strip of the patterned yellow through my mini Xyron machine to create a "sticker". I then punched the images and peeled away the backing. Permanent and ready-to-go!) I then added a faux envelope seal by cutting a circle and scallop shadow with Spellbinders templates. Finally, I added a layered butterfly. Also, all pieces were run through the Cuttlebug with the Floral Fantasy embossing folder prior to be attached to the envelope.

To enter your design in the Cuttlebug challenge, click here for more info!

Home Sweet Home Challenge!

Finally a day off and a little extra time for fun! Visiting Dawn's blog, I saw a super fun challenge on the Cuttlebug blog and decided to play along. So here's my version of the "Home Sweet Home" challenge. Visit the Cuttlebug blog for rules/instructions.

Wanted to use fun & bright colors for this challenge. Used three embossing folders - script, bird/vine, and bubbles for the accent pieces. Also snuck in a Cricut accent from the Don Juan cartridge (the house). I love that the Cuttlebug is so versatile and CAN BE used with Quickutz. I'm quite the collector of alphabets and love that one manual diecut machine can truly use them all!

Supplies:

Paper - (yellow) Worldwin; (teal/red) Diecuts with a View; (black) Rooney Printing; white (Geogia Pacific)

Other - (mini metal key) Tim Holtz; (red brad) Imagincse; (teal brad) Making Memories; (yellow brad) Karen Foster Designs; (black rickrack) Joann craft; (red dot ribbon) American Crafts; (scroll diecut, embossing folders) Cuttlebug; (diecut letters - Metro) Quickutz; (brackets & house diecut - Don Juan) Cricut; (scallop border punch) Stampin; Up!; (scallop square) Spellbinders

Thanks for looking!

Fun with Border Punches!

In my opinion, the best two inventions for card making have been 1) the Cuttlebug embossing folders and 2) border punches. Cards are so simple and easy to make with these two tools! Love them both! Yesterday in an effort to get my mom more into stamping and cardmaking I did a "class" at her house and made these two cards. She's a beginner and we completed both cards in about 35-45 minutes. I wanted to use a variety of techniques including stamping, punching, embossing, and diecutting. See descriptions below:

Above: So simple and for any occasion! When I make cards I tend to start with a base, but not the actual card base (i.e. the green piece above). I do this so that if I add brads or other embellishments, I can attach them and the recipient doesn't see them in the inside of the card. I started with the green piece and ran it through the Cuttlebug with an embossing folder. This is a white-cored cardstock as you can see above where I got a little overzealous and peeled away the top layer. Oh well...it adds originality! Then I stamped the floral in purple and punched with a circle punch. It's hard to tell in the photo above, but I added stickles to some of the pattern for a little glitz! This piece goes on top of a scallop cut - the entire piece is popped up with 3-D foam dots. I added the punched border to the bottom and overlapped with a piece of white cardstock - I thought this added a different look. Unfortunately, the text weight shimmer paper I used for the border doesn't show up as well as I had hoped, but I really liked this glittery addition too. Finish it off with a greeting tag and some ribbon and brads.

Love this cute wedding card. This design could easily be modified for any wedding colors for personalization. Simply adore the stamp set by Cornish Heritage Farms! Stamped the cake in black and adorned it with gemstones and a floral topper. You could easily add colored gems, if desired, or a heart brad at the top instead of the flower. The oval was diecut and embossed using a Spellbinders oval - LOVE THESE! A scalloped oval was cut to outline. For this image, I added 3-D dots below the white oval to pop up from the red outline. I stamped the "congrats" stamp directly on the card basis. The shimmer silver metallic was embossed using a new Spellbinders metal template. The image isn't as defined as with the Cuttlebug folders, but I love the subtle design. I punched a border using a Martha Stewart punch and added a line of ribbon for extra flair. This piece - the silver, black border, and ribbon are all on one piece which I then adhered to the front of the card. I use this technique so that I can wrap the ribbon around the back and tape it rather than trying to adhere it to the front of the card.

I would LOVE to see your border punch cards too! If you have made one or feel like you are up for a challenge, leave a comment along with the link to your card to this post. Spread the word! If I receive ten links, one randomly selected person will win a card kit which everything needed to make the two cards above - everything stamped, cut to size, and ready-to-go! Good luck and send me your links!

Premade Bliss!

I love creating. I love making. But I also love premade. I would even venture to say buying some things premade saves a little money. For instance, the flower I used below came from a set by K&Company. This is a three-piece paper flower complete with a cordoroy brad. I'm sure the pack of six flowers cost me around $4, but -trust me- those jars of flowers are $7-8 and textured brads...you're talking $3-4 for a 10-pack. Money is definately not the main reason I buy premade though. I love using embellishments like this as a starting point - for color or texture inspiration. On the page below I started with the paper butterfly and worked backwards to find papers and other accents to match. It was just the inspiration I needed!

Every now and again I would like to feature products on my blog that people buy but never use. Maybe it's because you're not sure how. Or maybe it's because you need an example to follow. Well, here it is. Feature #1 for "Usual product, Unusually used". I love cardstock photo frames. Shimmery, textured, patterned...all of them. But I've personally always found it difficult to use them for the typical purpose - framing photos. So here I used them as accents. Really, they are the perfect way to showcase other aspects of your page too - papers, accents, titles.

"Bunny Ears" - by Laura Leland - 04/25/09

Supplies:

Paper - (white cardstock) American Crafts; (brown cs) Worldwin; (green cs) Close to My Heart; (green floral & brown dot) Chatterbox; (textured pink-peach) Basic Grey;

Accents - (photo frames) My Minds Eye; (brads-plain) Imaginsce; (bunny brad) Doodlebug; (flower) K&Co; (chipboard swirl & "e") Bo Bunny; (ribbon) American Crafts; (paper butterfly) Prima

Tools - (scallop circle diecut) Spellbinders; (swirl embossing folder) Cuttlebug; (Date and Title diecuts) Lyrical Letters - Cricut; (scallop border punch) EK Success

The kid in me LOVED coloring this!

So I got these stamps from Stampin' Up! Super cute messy outline greeting stamps and have been waiting to use them. On Sunday (during my little card-making session), I finally broke them out! I love the versatility in stamping them in any color or in black and then coloring in. So fun. Great stamp set to match with patterned paper of your choosing too.

Just thought I'd make a simple card. Stamps, markers, a few tools and done.

Supplies:

Paper - (purple cardstock) Diecuts with a View; (white cs) American Crafts; (teal cs) Close to My Heart; (black cs) Papercut; (red dots) Scenic Route

Other - (markers) Close to My Heart; (oval scallop/plain) Spellbinders; (scallop border) Stampin' Up!; (brads - red) Doodlebug; (brads - purple) KFD; (diecut accents) Cricut Don Juan cartridge

Tip: I noticed that many of the shape diecuts on the Cricut cartidges are amazingly versatile! Perfect for home accents, scrapbook pages, and cards. Here I used a "snowflake" diecut as a fun birthday accent.

Love is in the air!

My cousin just announced the date of her upcoming wedding. There was no engagement party and so I felt it was about time to send her a congratulations card. I didn't want it to be over-the-top wedding themed so I went with a nice love theme instead. I think these stamps are meant for a valentines day card, but they worked perfectly.

I absolutely knew what patterned paper I would use...this fabulous spring cloud paper (with shimmer!). I stamped directly on the background. It dried immediately since I used the Staz On black ink pad...using a dye or other pigment ink could have resulting in smearing due to the glossy quality of the paper. I colored the plane in using stamping markers and highlighted the greeting with the markers as well. Some brads and a scalloped border were added for good measure. Fun, cute, fast.

Supplies:

Paper - (red cs) Worldwin; (white cs) Georgia Pacific; (blue dot and cloud paper) Reminsce; (text weight metallic) Paper Cut

Other - (plane and greeting stamps) Amuse; (black ink) Staz On; (stamping marker - red) Stampin' Up!; (border punch) Fiskars; (oval/scallop oval diecut) Spellbinders; (brads) Karen Foster Designs; (diecut machine) Cuttlebug

A Card-Making Sort of Day

It seems to me that Sundays like this one - cold and rainy - are absolutely perfect for making cards. Doing laundry, sweeping the kitchen, vacuuming...that can all wait for another day! Sundays are traditionally the day my husband and I head out to my parents for the afternoon (visiting and supper) so I packed up a few bags worth of supplies and off we went. I brought my new toy...a Cricut Create to show off. I had always promised myself not to buy one, not to get sucked up in the hype. But there it was...on sale at Michael's and under $200. And it was mine. Did I mention they have an AWESOME sale on cartridges right now too - $40 each! Anyway, I brought the new gadget out and showed it to my mom (she sooo wants one now too). And the cartridge that came with it, "Don Juan" has absolutely fabulous phrases for cards, i.e. Thanks below.

Nevermind that I bought these stamps several months ago at Picture This - they're still very cute and begged to be used. I used the idea on the packaging (sort of) for a card by layering the stamped images with scalloped and plain-edged circles cut from scrap patterned papers. This type of card would actually work out perfectly for just about any occasion. Really liked how the bright colors and design turned out. Yep, a card-making sort of day...more images to come this week of my creations from Sunday.

Supplies:
Paper - (white cs) American Crafts; (black cs) Paper Cut; (green pattern) My Minds Eye; (yellow and orange patterns) Scenic Route; (teal pattern) Basic Grey
Accents - (green and orange brads) Queen & Co.; (flower brads - white and teal) Making Memories
Tools - (diecut machines) Cuttlebug and Cricut Create; (Don Juan cartridge) Provo Craft; (scallop/plain circles) Spellbinders; (stamps) Hero Arts; (ink) Staz On; (border punch) Stampin' Up!; (flower punch) Martha Stewart; (corner rounder) EK Success

A quick card!

Just enough time and energy for a quick card tonight.

Went out to dinner last night with one of my oldest friends and found out she and her husband are having a baby! How exciting! Getting home I decided I oaught to send her a quick card in the mail - just a bring a little joy and sunshine to her day.

Today I made it. I based the card upon a sketch from a previous CK magazine. I love to use scrapbook sketches for card-making too! Check out Becky Higgins' column in CK - each month she creates one card based on her sketch. Super cute! Anyway, pulled together scraps from my table...yes, these were all papers already out and cut up. Stamped this fun pregnant lady and colored in with markers. Added a doo-dad or two and done.

Supplies:

Paper - (white cs) Georgia Pacific; (teal cs) Bazzill; (teal dot) Reminsce; (pink) My Minds Eye; (yellow) Scenie Route

Other - (pregnant woman stamp) Amuse artstamps; (square scallop punch, scallop border punch, congrats stamp and markers - blue/pink) Stampin' Up!; (marker - yellow) Studio; (metal star) Colorbok - $1 at Joann's; (ribbon) Michaels; (oval and oval scalloped) Spellbinders; (corner rounder) EK Success

Hint: I love to buy my 8.5x11 white cardstock at Sam's Club. It comes in a huge pack - like 250 sheets - for under $10! Why spend more?!

Bits and Pieces

Another page with bits and pieces...this and that...fun and more fun! I love to search my supplies for perfect accents. It's like shopping again! I created this page based on another page by Elizabeth Kartchner...I love the way she incorporates shapes and color into her layouts. They always turn out so stylish and fun! Anyway, working on creating some pages for a scrapbook for my mom. Similar plan as for the mother-in-law: I'll create a page for major holidays and gift them to her.

I have about a million pictures from our trip to Las Vegas a couple of years ago, but didn't have the time or want to put in the effort to scrapbook them all. And since I wanted to make ONE page, not many, I decided to go for a more generalized concept - what a vacation should be. The journaling features many of the mishaps and adventures from this vacation in particular, but pretty much sums up all of our silly, dysfunctional Leland-family vacations.

I love the idea of the angle! It seems to add just the right flair. I also like to concentrate on 4-5 main colors for the page. As you can see the pictures didn't offer much inspiration. However, I remembered from the trip the abundance of the Southwestern colors: the blue sky and turquoise jewelry, the orange rocks and sun, the green evergreens in the mountains, etc and brought these colors in. I also just love my Spellbinders diecuts and notice that I use the circles and scalloped circles over and over...these sets are definately a GREAT BUY!

Supplies:

Paper - (turquiose) My Minds Eye; (white) American Crafts; (orange) Scenic Route; (green) My Minds Eye; (yellow) unknown; (orange) Stampin' Up!; (brown transparancy) Hambly

Accents - (chipboard circle words) Scenie Route; (felt flowers) Prima; (sun diecut) Cosmo Cricket; (deco eyelets) We R Memory Keepers; ("happy" plastic) KI Memories; (chipboard "L" and "4") K&Company; (chipboard "what a" and "should be") Heidi Swapp; (foam "family vacation") American Crafts; (cloud paper border) Sass-a-fras

Tools - (marker) Slick Writer by AC; (circle/scallop circle diecuts) Spellbinders; diecut machine (Cuttlebug)

It's a Colorful World

Gotta love these colors! How fun are these bright colors? I love the new line by Cosmo Cricket (Snorkel)...it's so bright and fun and summery! You can find it RIGHT NOW at Picture This too! Anyway, decided to start a holiday tradition for my in-laws by making a scrapbook page featuring one of the kids or grandkids for each holiday. My mother-in-law doesn't scrapbook, but I still think she appreciates the effort.

Found one of these pictures in a stack she printed for us and the other is one I took while babysitting. (This is my niece, Emily. Isn't she super cute?!) I was inspired by an absolutely adorable page made by Elizabeth Kartchner - check it out here. Since the colors in the photos were all over the place, I decided to use a paper with a lot of color too. Kinda bold, but I think it works.

Supplies:

Paper - (black scallop) Diecuts With a View; (white) American Crafts; (yellow hearts) Sass-a-fras; (stripe) Cosmo Cricket

Accents - (red buttons) Walmart; (green buttons) Oriental Trading; (teal buttons) K&Company; (yellow plastic buttons) ATD; (floss) Karen Foster Designs; (glitter chipboard flowers and butterfly) Paper Crush by Colorbok; ("happy" chipboard and "Emily" sticker letters) American Crafts; (lined stamp) Inque Boutique; (white embossing powder) Stampin' Up!; (journal box) Cosmo Cricket; (brads) Making Memories; (ribbon) May Arts; (rickrack paper border) Doodlebug

Tools - (border punch) Martha Stewart

Hippity Hoppity...

I'm not a huge fan of "theme" pages. Sure, I scrapbook the holidays and birthdays and events, but not the same way as others. As with my other pages, I try to stick to the basics as far as supplies go - patterned paper, flowers, flourishes, buttons, brads, etc. In reality, I'm actually kind of boring since I use the same things all the time. I guess using them in different ways and seeing the different textures and colors is the only way I get around this and keep things fresh and fun.

This page took me about 1 1/2 hours. And that's pretty typical. I mess around with the accents and photo placement a gazillion times before adhering anything down. And usually I end up with a completely different page than when I started. For example, I started the page above with a yellow/white pattern and 3 6x4 inch photos. I knew I wanted the accents and photos to be arranged in a circle, but things just weren't coming out right. So, I cropped a photo and added another (after noting there was room since the photo was smaller). I also realized the yellow looked best right behind the pictures since they are a tad bit dark and found a brighter red/pink background instead. I was all about the felt flowers no matter what. I added gems and plastic swirls to form the circle. And I love these letters because they are fuzzy - matched the flowers and just felt Easter-y. Sure liked how it came out!

Supplies:

Paper - (red/pink dot, light yellow dot, red dot) Scenic Route; (yellow pattern) K&Company

Accents - (paper border) Sass-a-fras; (straight lines of gems) Hero Arts; (curved lines of gems) Heidi Swapp, (red/pink/plain yellow felt flowers) KI Memories; (yellow flower w/ gems) K&Company; (plastic swirls) Bo Bunny; (rhinestone brads) Making Memories; (5-stone brad) Creative Imaginations; (felt letter stickers) Doodlebug; (journal box) My Minds Eye

Tools - (marker) Slick Writer by AC; (scallop and plain circle diecuts) Spellbinders; (border punch) EK Success

No more snow! We want SUMMER!

Been too busy lately BUYING to actually do a scrapbook page...thinking about doing a little creating tonight though. From a past photo session I pulled this page - a classic. I love the design - so simple, so easy, so fun.

You could really create a page similar to this one but with more photos, less photos, two pages, etc. I think it would make a super 2 page layout too...one page full of pictures and patterns (wall-to-wall with no white space) and then one page like the one above. But anyway, just wanted to share this to remind everyone that summer will come...eventually. Love those late summer afternoons and evenings - BBQ's, drinking with friends, enjoying a camp fire. Such good times.

***Laura's quick tip: Something I learned a LONG time ago - to add quick dimension and texture, just add a little ink! I buy those round yellow sponges (i.e. from Michael's art department) and cut them into wedges. Snap the lid shut on your ink pad and press in to create a small pool of ink in the lid. Flip it open and dab the sponge in it and rub/apply to page. Love this!

Supply Listing:

Paper - (white) Bazzill; (patterned) Mod by Autumn Leaves

Accents - ("BBQ" title) Sticker Studio; (ink) Archival Ink by Ranger; (date stamp) Stampin' Up; (pen) Slick Writer by American Crafts

P.S. Didn't realize until now there were NO embellishments on the page. Just punched circles and photo corners from the patterned paper. Seriously...how easy is that!

I Wanna Rock!

A little rock and roll...Okay, I was never a real fan of classic rock (I am getting there though). My husband, then boyfriend, IS. And he's totally obsessed with Styx! In many ways, it closely parallels my obsession with Keith. But anyway, we thought of making a fun weekend out of concert trip to Chicago. Stayed in the suburbs, but drove downtown for the big show. It was pretty neat - right on the lake. Thank goodness it was fairly warm out for a fall night! We had a blast and even though the pictures didn't turn out the best I wanted to make a scrapbook page.

As you can see, I used mostly smaller pictures. You'll note that even if your picture is fuzzy as a 4x6, it may be clearer as a wallet. I also wanted to include some memoribilia on the page: the ticket and a bumper sticker I bought at the show. I found a cool Basic Grey paper (the garbled green/blue) that I thought just rocked..and was perfect for such a page. Kept the colors matching for the rest of the page...I appreicated the ticket was in blue (which matched) and the pictures and sticker in neutral colors (which match anything). Most of my journaling is hidden on two tags "tucked" into the page. This is a perfect idea when you want to journal more but just don't have the space! I just really liked how this one turned out. A keeper.

Supplies: Paper - (grey pattern and blue/green garbled) Basic Grey, (black cardstock) Rooney Printing, (white cardstock) Georgia Pacific Accents - (file tab) KI Memories; (ribbon - stripe & stitch pink/black) American Crafts; (black stitched) May Arts; (sm star eyelets) Doodlebug; (sm letter stickers, silver brads) Making Memories; (ghost stars) Heidi Swapp; (staples) craft supply

My Little Family...

My little family... Sometimes I feel a bit left out with all the pages everywhere of "real families" - mom, dad, and junior. But scrapbooking as single person (or as a married person with no children) can be fun too! I mean we're still a family right?! Below I included my little family (minus the current addition...Chowder, my new kitten). Again, this page was inspired by my favorite artist...Ali Edwards. See her version here. This page offered me the opportunity to try out some of my newest purchases...the EK Success curvy cutter, Martha Stewart border punch, and Cosmo Cricut diecut letters. I also incorporated some classic Basic Grey papers and used my Wishblade for a quick, custom title!

Some of my favorite things...mini bio's about everyone in the family. It may be a bit cheeky to write from the cats' perspectives, but I think it's cute! Also, love the personalization the page offers....in an instant you can see who and what it's about. Plus using the dates gives you a time reference. I definately think it would be fun to update/recreate this page on a yearly basis to show how people and things have changed in your life. Maybe look for a 2009 one to come....

Supplies:

Paper - (white) Bazzill, (patterned) Basic Grey

Accents - (chipboard scrolls, corners) American Crafts; (chipboard tag) Heidi Swapp; (gold snap) Making Memories; (diecut letters - 'FAM" & initials) Cosmo Cricket; (rub-on branches) Heidi Grace; (staples) craft supply; (ink) unknown

Tools - (diecut machine - lettering "MY" and "08") Wishblade; border punch (Martha Stewart); (circle cutter) EK Success Curvy Cutter