Happy Birthday You Old Bird--Wild Card Cart

Happy soggy Tuesday--Here's a card set I made for a challenge over at The Pink Elephant . The challenge was to use the color black, hardware and distressing. This was so right up my alley. I love -love- love all three of these and had alot of fun playing with this cute little owl cut from the Wild Card Cricut cartridge. Come on over and play along this week with everyone and take a gander at all of the DT and participant's wonderful creations for this challenge. Enjoy!!!

Here's the set

Wild Card cart: owl-- 4 1/2"

envie--5"

I used feathers, Kaiser rhinestones, Making Memories metal photo turns,Westrim crafts for the eyes. For the nose I used Tim Holtz metal sprockets, an orange brad and a pearl. The metal star, arrow, chain and ribbon holder are from unknown. The stamped owl is from The Paper Company and saying is from Inkadikado. I also embossed the eyes with the Cuttlebug dots folder. Paper is from DCWV.

Here's a side view....

This is just a simple envie. I just added some embossing and more rhinestones.....

Well have a wonderful day. Oh, the verdict is back on my truck. It's a timing belt. Almost $900.00 worth of timing belt....uggghhhhhhhhh!!!!!! Sooo sick of bills like this....Hugs from Charm City

Halloween and Christmas Sets

Happy Monday everyone. Well maybe happy for some, but my morning took a turn for the worse. I was working earlier and as I was driving, my truck just totally stopped. Shut down. No warning or anything. We just had her (Betsy, that's her name) in the shop a week back. Thought everything was a-okay. Good to go. You know what I mean. But nope, this morning she decided she didn't want to go any farther. I was out in the country, dark, deserted, and alittle on the chilly side when she decided to quit. (This sounds like a story for a novel..lol..) So I had to call DH and he came and picked me up and she got towed into town ( a couple hours later though). So needless to say, I have no wheels right now and it really bothers me. You ever get that feeling? You just want to go somewhere when your car is in the shop? I get it everytime Betsy's in there. Anywhoo, That's how my morning has gone so far. Not a good way to start the week off. And not another bill from the shop. We are really not liking the bills from them lately. We just got DH's van out this past Saturday. He had a shock break last Friday. Had to replace both and that was a heathy bill. DH thinks it could be my fuel pump. And from what he says that's a really big bill. Not one we are going to be liking. On a lighter note, here's a couple of sets that I made this past weekend. One is for Christmas this year to add some goodies inside the box. And the other is for Halloween. The Halloween card is an easel card. I just had to finally break down and make one. The are really cool looking so I had to give it a try. Not hard at all to make. I'll add all of the deets to them below the first photo. I am so proud of myself. I actually have all of what I cut out and the sizes this time...Enjoy!!!

Card: is 4X4

Paperdolls cart: castle-- 2 1/2"

tree--3 1/2"

ghost--2"

stars/moon--3"

Storybook--dare letters--1"

Martha Stewert fence and doily punch

Shaker Box:

Tags Bags and Boxes cart: cut shaker box (pg 122) with the window @ 6 1/4"

Paperdolls cart: ghost--3"

stars/moon--4"

This set is nothing fancy, just a quick put together trying to play alittle.

side view

Merry Christmas Set: I am so sorry for the color in this set. It looks so much prettier in real life. I embossed the background that isn't showing up much either...

Card: Winter Woodland Cart:

branch--2 1/2"

bird--2 1/2"

Box: Winter Woodland, Storybook and Tags Bags and Boxes carts

Box: match1 (top) 8 1/4" (TBB)

match1 (bottom) 8"

branch--1 1/2" (winter woodland)

bird--1 1/2"

trees--4"

marqu1--3" (storybook)

Sizzix embossing folder--Martha Stewert leaf and doily punches

Well that's all I have for today. Have a great week..Hugs from Charm City

The Pink Elephant Sketch Challenge

Happy Thursday..well as happy as we can be here in our house. DH just got back from the doctors and he's been diagnosed with the flu. But not the H1N1 flu. Thank goodness. But nonetheless, the flu. The dr gave him meds for our little one and myself cuz' he said we are going to get it also. What a bummer. I am not up for this flu season crap. On a lighter note, here is the project I made for The Pink Elephant sketch challenge over at their site. You should hop on over and play along. I was playing with the Tags Bags Boxes and More Cricut cartridge and made the matchbox. I had one hell of a time trying to get this cut right to. I went through so many sheets of cardstock it isn't even funny. But I ended up figuring it out and I have so many extra cuts that I need to figure out what to do with them. I received my first book today in the mail from the circle journal swap. I love it, and I can't wait to do my pages in this book for her. I have so many things swarming in my head I just don't know which way I want to go with it. Her theme is Season's. And we all know I love Fall but I also love winter as much. Both seasons are very fun and nature is so beautiful. So we'll see... Here's this week's challenge

This is the set I made..I used the sketch on both the card and candy box

The witch and quote stamps are from Staving Artist

the tree and crooked path are from Stamp Scapes

and the bat is one of those foamies that come in a pack from the craft store

I colored them in with Prisma pencils

I used the TBB cricut cart --match1 cut at 6 1/4" and match2 cut at 6"

the witches leg stamp and spider sticker are from Recollections

the happy halloween stamps are from Inkadinkado

buttons are from Basic Grey and those little circle mirrors are from the craft store

the shell that the witches leg stamp is in are 2 2" circles, made slits into them and rolled the corners up. Turned the bottom one upside down. You can see a better view in the next photo..

here's what it looks like when the drawer is pulled open

Well that's it for now. I have to run for now. It's bedding day and the dryer has shut off. Gotta keep it running...lol...have a great day..Hugs from a very Sunny Fall Day!!!!

Another Beautiful Fall Day

Happy Monday blog land. I have so much to show you today. I have been really busy working on my circle journal book to get it off and into the mail, that-that's all I really have been doing. I did however find some time to make a couple of cards that I wanted to share. I wasn't able to do any challenges, but I will be able to participate again here this week ( I have missed them). Everyone is back to school/work and I get to play some during the day. Have you heard about the H1N1 virus going around? I forgot what they call it, but it's not good. It's a form of the flu but really bad. I know 3 people (1 adult and 2 children) that have it. And the 2 little ones are friends of our little one. Playmates. So needless to say, I really am scared about this thing. They showed on the news about 3 weeks ago that a 14 yr old girl died from it. She just thought she had the flu. When they finally went to the hospital, they admitted her and the next day she passed away. It's a real epidemic here. I hope that everyone is healthy in your little part of the world. I know we are trying to stay that way here. My first cards are one for Halloween and one for Thanksgiving. They both turned out abit busy for me. I hope you enjoy... You can click on the photos for a better view if you would like... here's the deets for this card camp out --outhouse at 5" storybook--marquee1 at 6 1/2" --boo at 2" --crew at 3/4" I actually cut the letters out onto yellow cardstock and used Distress ink (Marmelade) to shade and color. The monsters on the inside are from Recollection/Mike's Here's one I made for Aunt Rene to send her in the mail. I can't remember where the squirrell cut came from but I'm thinking it was from Dreams come true. Sorry...I made the tree using MS leaf punch. The greass was from Paper Dolls and the Marquee1 was from Storybook... I'm participating in a circle journal swap that Betty (the scrap happy witch) put together. I am so thrilled with this as I have always wanted to do a journal swap for the longest time. My theme for my book I chose sketches. I thought this would be great inspiration to have here on my desk and be able to flip through it. I posted my book below. I just hope that it's ok and not to lame. I kind of took it to a travel book. Across the miles kind of thing. I have an elastic closure that will keep it closed that I forgot to show. It goes over top of the door knob on the right side. I wanted to make my own book so I cut up manilla folders and made the book.

here's the welcome page. I used Going Places Cricut cart to cut all of the cards out at 2" for everyone to add a photo and name to corrispond with their numered page. I also used the possitive and negitive numbers from Plantin Schoolbook to number the pages and little cards. Nothing like using up both, huh...lol..

just a view of the sign in...

here's the sketch that I made for the book. It's really lame though. Each page has a smaller page one to add your sketch photo and web address where you got it from. I thought this would be great to see the sketch and how you made you card/layout.

the first fold out of the card

view of it open. I left the side one blank at to use it for journaling. Then a DUH light went off. I'm not sending this card. Hello Nancy, what were you thinking....lol...

This is how I did the web address. It was longer than the page was, so I added a fold and a little rhinestone to be able to open it.

here's the back page. I thought it would be kind of cool for everyone to sign their name in the location of where the book traveled in the order that it traveled in. Kind of a second sign in location. I hope they don't mind. I used Going Places Cricut cart again for the North America cut at 6".

and the back of the book. Another N.America cut at 2"

here's what it looks like standing. It's a warped book, but that's what I really like. I use liquid glue to hold my pages down since there are no protectors on my book. That's where the warpedness comes in.

Well I hope the others will like my book. I so can't wait for us to get this going. Mine will be going postal here in abit and I can't wait to get my first book to work on. Well that's it for now. DH just walked back in the door feeling lousy and our little one just text me saying she's not feeling well either. Looks like my day has changed already. Have a great week ahead bloggers. I have a feeling we are in for a sickness storm here. Wish us well.

Hugs from a beautiful sunny day in Charm City!!!!

2S4Y and C4C6 Challenge

Just a quick post tonight. I am off to bed here soon. I've been up since 1:30 a.m. and am very tired. I wanted to get this card I made for Laura's sketch 36 over at 2S4Y . I have missed playing along with the sketch challenges lately and wanted to make sure I did this fun one. Here's the card I made. I used Heidi Grace's Halloween papers along with Quick Kutz embossed spider webb--Cuttlebug dots folder---and a 2" circle (8 of them to make the flower) origami flower and used black glass beads for the center. I also added black rhinestones as little accents. This is a card for the C4C6 challenge over at Crazy for Challenges. The challenge was to do a Thankful/Thanks kind of card. I used the stamps from Inkadinado and added some glittler glue to them. The saying was from Inque Boutique. This is so not me, but you know, I really like the simplicity of it. I've been working on a circle journal book lately and I'm almost finished so I can send it off this week to the first person. I am sooooo excited about this swap. I have always wanted to do a swap like this but could never find anyone who wanted to do it. The theme for my book is none other than "sketches"...I thought this would be such a handy tool to have on my desk to get inspiration from. I can't wait to see what everyone else has come up with. I'll post my book sometime this week. Well, have a great Saturday evening and I'll see ya soon!!!! Hugs from Charm City

Here's some cards from WCMD (weekend)

Happy belated WCMD everyone. I have tried to post a couple doifferent times here but got side tracked with family things. I was able to hang out at the Classroom over at Ellen Hutson's site. They had some really great tutorials and challenges. I wasn't able to make all of them but I did love the tutorials for the ones that I wasn't able to make. Thank you so much Ellen and your team for such inspiration. The first five cards posted below are what I made for the challenges. The last 2 cards I jsut made to use up some older supplies. If you get a second take a gander over to the CLASSROOM and check out the tutorials. You won't be disappointed. I am so sorry for the colors. I just could not get a good photo of the cards. I tried a few different things and still no good. You can also click on the photos to get a better view of each card if you would like. This is for EHWCMD2-sketch from Susan Roberts ---I used some shaved ice on the star and glitter glue. EHWCMD3--This was, I have to say my favorite tutorial from Becky Olsen. It was so right up my alley. She used the sticky back canvas and did a transfer technique with paper. I ammm so getting me some of that stuff. I did however use muslin to hand cut the scallop and made it into a flower. I just picked this stamp up and realy like it. I thought this would be kind of cute for a secret admirer card ...what do you think? EHWCMD4--puttin on the Glitz from Julia Stainton---another new stamp that I thought was just the cutest. I really wish you could see this in real life. She just sparkles and has such attitude.

EHWCMD6--color challenge by Sharon Harnist--here is used some Tim Holtz grungeboard stars and added some diamond dust with a couple of silver bells to make a little jingle.

EHWCMD7--Holiday card challenge by Debbie Olsen--and yet another new stamp that I thought was just to cute to pass up. I used some rhinestones for the halo and some flower soft on top of the grungeboard wing.

This was just a throw together. And wouldn't you know, this is our little one's fav. card...lol..

Have you ever wondered how to use those 12X12 sheets of paper that has pre-printed designs on it without cutting it all up? This was from the Martha Stewart pack. It's not the best, but I think it turned out ok. Alot of black glitter glue and some fabric dots along with the border punch from Martha's collection to.

Well that's it for now. I hope everyone was able to take some time out this past weekend to play and make some cards. Until next time have a great sunny fall day from Charm City

What a Beautiful Day

It is such a beautiful fall day here in Charm City. I have my windows open and am feeling the fall breeze rolling through our home. I just love this time of year. My feet, fingers, hell my whole body doesn't swell up...lol...anyone else feel like this? This is the time of year that I can actually go shopping for clothes and get the size that I really need and not have to worry about what size I need if it's so hot outside and my body swells. I just LOVE FALL!!!! Not to mention all of the beautiful colors that fall brings. With Halloween just around the corner, then Thanksgiving and then Christmas it means that this year is almost over. Can you believe that. Where has this year gone already. We only have a few weeks left before Christmas and I haven't even started my shopping, not to mention cards. Well, I just made one card but that's it for now that I posted below. I have been missing in action for a little while. I have to say, I have been on this audio book kick right now. I took our little one to the library a few weeks back and have fallen in love all over again with it. Normally, I don't go to the library. Our little one normally goes with her older sister or a friend. But on this day I took her. While I was there, I signed up for my own library card (at which I haven't had one in like forever). But then I decided to go and take a gander at the audio books since I'm in my truck quite abit. The first book I took off the shelf I just had to have. It's called Lethal Legacy by Linda Fairstein. It's the last one in the series of about 10 books. It was awesom. Take a gander over to her site. She does a video about this book and see if you like it. What I like about her series is that she brings history about New York City into her books. So you're getting a history lesson as well. Here's her addy Linda Fairstein Legal Legacy . I have since taken out all of the rest of the series except for the first 3 books. The library doesn't have these. So I need to find these so I can complete her series. If you have any audio books that you are fond of I'd love to hear about them. I'll be on the look out for some more soon. Now onto my crafting...the layout posted below is one I did one morning. It's a modpodge of products that have no rime or reason. I also posted a couple of cards and even a book. You can click on the photos for a better view...

I made the above card using the new Winter Wonderland Cricut cart. I left the greeting blank for now. Sorry for the coloring to. I just couldn't get this right this morning.

I made this card a few months back but never posted it here. I had made a card box that used this same card design but this is just a little different from those.

here is the book I made back in 2005 for CK's contest to be on their team. Heck, I don't even remember what it's called anymore or if they still have the contest. I don't think I have publicly shared this book and thought I would here on my blog. I have to say I am very fond of this book. It was the last time I made a trip back home to Michigan and I am feeling the itch to go. It's so me. Just what ever I thought the photos were saying to me at the time is how I decorated the pages. Each one is numbered and at the end of the book I have tags for each page that has my journaling to corirspond to each.

Thanks for hangin out with me this morning. I hope everyone has a lovely day. Hugs from a very beautiful Charm City.....