gobble gobble gobble

I have really been on a Fall card kick lately. I used the new K and company Fall paper pad and die cuts to make these. (I could not believe how many of the die cuts they stuffed in that bag!I got it with a 40% off coupon at Mike's -what a deal! There is plenty to share.)I really want to start putting my autumn decorations out around the house but I think I might get in trouble with the guys if I don't wait at least until Sept. 1st!

Thanks a bunch

This card was built around the fun Sassafrass Lass die cut label. I used my Cricut (Walk in my Garden)to cut the wording, used the paisley Cuttlebug embossing folder for some background interest. Added some prima flowers and hero arts gems for some details. On the inside ,I used a Martha Stewart border bunch

Sorry that the pix are so dark-it's kinda overcast this AM.

So happy !!!

I am so happy to share that I finally made the CreativExpress design team! CX is a really special place to me-it is my on-line hang out (as evidenced by the # of posts that I have over there!)I have made so many dear friends there-it really is quite unlike any other online community that I know in that every one is so supportive of each other. So to now be a part of the DT is really meaningful to me. It's bittersweet too because I can so totally understand the dissapointment of the girls who didn't make it this year. I almost didn't try out again this year because I didn't know if I could take the rejection again if I didn't make it.All I can say is KEEP TRYING -it was my 3rd year trying and I know for 2 other gals it was their 4th year.

What's funny is for all my waiting around at home hoping for a phone call, when it finally came I wasn't there-I was stuck in a monster rush hour traffic jam in Anaheim taking my son home from a dr.s appt. They left a message to call back and I couldn't get ahold of them until they returned to the office in the AM!

And the cherry on the top of the experience is the fact that my Southern sister from another mother Stacy made the team too so we are getting to experience this together. She is a big Cricut nut too so we are totally looking forwards to getting in there and getting busy with our bugs!

So thank you CX and here's to a great year!

Just Duckie

I made this card 2 weeks ago for a challenge to do a baby card and use the cricut. I am embarrassed to say that I do have the New Arrival cart and have sorely under-utilized it. (Especially since the reason that I got it was to cut out those cute fashionable ladies and have never cut a single one of them yet!)

I picked up a small pad of this gorgeous DCWV paper at Joanns on a major shopping splurge- again it's labelled as being a nursery theme but I think that I will be able to use it for more general purposes.I love DCWV papers -they are SUCH a good deal.On that one shopping trip I got 3(!) of their stacks (This baby one, a high school one, and a Debbie Mumm Autumn/Chrismas one)

Home again

Tired ,sore, sun burned, and bug bitten... I guess those are souvenirs of a good vacation! It sure was fun getting back up on a horse. I hadn't ridden in at least 20 years. The Santa Ynez valley is really beautiful- just think of the TV commercials with the California happy cows up in the golden coastal hills- that's where we were.
I'll just post a couple of my favorite pix ( I took like 300!)

Back at the ranch.....

that's where we are heading tomorrow for our little summer quasi"stay-cation".No flying off anywhere exotic this year for us. We thought that we'd stay closer to home and when you live in California you do have a lot of nice options.
We'll be doing some fishing, riding, hiking,shooting, and boating. Some stamped images and a set of pens just might find their way into my bags too.
Happy trails until we meet again!

Copic Copy Cat

Here's a little card that I did using a $1 Indadinkadoo stamp from JoAnn.
I used my BIC Mark-it pens for coloring the bunny in and have to say that I am pretty chuffed with how he turned out. (Someday I really do need to try a Copic marker to see how they compare!) but for the price I am super happy with the BIC . I saw them last week at Costco for even cheaper than Staples- they were like $12 and some change for the big set.
PP- Making Memories,cs- DCWV ,Punches-Marvy Uchida, Ribbon-Michaels,unthreaded sewwing machine

Getting ready for Fall

Why is it about mid-Summer I am ready to just get it over with and move onto Autumn? It's my very favorite time of year and I have just been in hog heaven this past week snapping up lots of Fall papers that are just hitting the stores. These cards are made using the new K and Company Halloween card stock stack.( Of course I had to go back to Mike's the next week with my next 40% off coupon to get the Autumn patterned ones too)I really like how these papers are 2 sided-which works perfect for a card like this that is viewwed from multiple angles but it also gives you a lot of versatility for tweaking the same design for different looks.
I used the Paper Doll Dress Up cartridge with my Cricut to cut all the cute little embellies for these cards.They really were a lot of fun to put together. (I can totally see myself doing these again at Christmas with little elves,Santas, and reindeers!)

Antidote to a hot summer?

How about a dose of cool polar bear?!
Polar bear-Cricut Joy of the Season
Alcohol ink background (Ranger)-denim, stone washed, and silver mixative on glossy card stock
Blue card stock run through Big Kick with Snowflake cuttle bug embossing folder, I then rubbed pearlescent sky blue Brilliance ink direct to paper over it.
Ribbon- Joann
Eyelets-CTMH
Krylon silver leafing pen
Georgia Pacific white card stock
Tombow markers for the little details on the polar bear.

New Stamps

I got a box of new stamps this week- YAY!
I really like these heiroglyph horses-they are very easy to work with. They look great just stamped as is- no coloring or fussing needed.
They go great with the Winchester paper collection (which I have had for a year and had NOT used yet- shameful!)A very different look for me but I really like it.

blue birds of happiness

I cut these pretty little birds with my friend Nancy's Indie art Cart. on the cricut.
They are a surprisingly pretty element on such a decidedly NOT-PRETTY cart.!
I glittered the heart punch out by running it upside down through my Xyron so the adhesive went on the top of it and then poured on the glitter (Yeah Baby!)
I finished off the card with a nice swiss dot texture to the card front and some ribbon. Eh voila!

Punch and Scrunch

I was playing around with the flower punch that The Angel Company now carries and made this nice little posie. I punched the 2 flowers out of pink card stock. Then totally mashed them up in my hands, then smoothed them out again and rubbed some pink on them direct to paper. I stuck them together with a rhinstone brad from Making Memories and a little black flower from Petaloo. I really liked how it turned out.
For the card- I ran the front of the base thru by Big Kick with the paisley CuttleBug folder. And then mounted a strip of the black DoodleBug PP and pink Basic grey paper on it. Cut a decorative border with my ProvoCraft scallop scissors. The silver stickers are from Making Memories. And then finished it off with a little pink paper clip with a white and silver ribbon tie on.

variations on a theme

Here's 2 cards that I made yesterday.
I got the stamped images as swaps from the PIF group at SCS. For some reason the kittycat-a-bella images were all stamped cattywampus so that predicated the angle on the cards.
The pattenered papers are all from a great big stack of My Minds Eye that I got at Costco about a year ago and am still using.(Needless to say it was a great deal -and I split half of it w/ my friend Nancy when I got it and I still have TONS!)

Home Again

Wow- I go away for a few days and my blog still keeps chugging along- I see that I hit the 20K mark while I was gone- That's so amazing- thank you all so much for coming and looking at my stuff. It really does means a lot to me.

My stepmother passed away on Monday and I was in Arizona trying to help my Dad with the details of life.It's really good to be home again.

I did manage to pick up 2 Cricut cartridges at the Mike's sale last Sunday so I hope to be able to sit down with my bug sometime next week and get creating again and have some new projects to post here.

PS - we survived the earthquake just fine- just a few things toppled over and some pix went a bit wonky on the walls. The epicenter was actually on the hill right behind our house!