Mitten Gift Card Holder

I KNEW I could do better than I did with yesterday's card, using that cute mitten from the 'Joys Of The Seasons' Cricut cartridge. I made this gift-card holder today and am much happier with the way IT turned out.  :-)

I even got to use kraft card stock, and lots of foam tape for this gift card holder which just fits into an A2 sized envelope. The kraft/white/plaid card stock is by Jillibean Soup. I was able to get  4 gift card holders from the one sheet -- and that is all I had. But that means I now have four items towards our Christmas Craft Sale stock!!!!   I used a Sizzix plaid embossing folder for the white mitten band, a Sizzix die for the snowflake and the tiny tag die is by Tim Holtz.

A gift card tucks right inside!
EDITED** to answer questions:
I cut two mitten shadows, scored the back side about 3/4" down from the top of the mitten, added glue above the score line and attached the two shadows together. They are attached just at the top of the mitten and the score line means the card opens nicely and looks good from the back - ie, no wobbly or buckled crease lines.
I cut it at 5.25, but just kept increasing the size on my Gypsy until I knew it would fit into an A2 envelope.
To cut the inside piece, I laid another mitten shadow off the edge of my mat (on the Gypsy), so only the bottom portion would cut. I had to fiddle with it once it was cut, to be sure that a gift card would fit in it ... kept trimming down the straight edge 1/8" at a time until I could easily slide a gift card in once it was glued down. You have to leave room for the glued edge! After punching the straight edge with a circle punch (punched half a circle) I textured it with the plaid embossing folder and glued it down on the curved sides.
Hope this helps!

Happy Friday - have a great weekend and thanks for stopping by today.

Mitten Christmas Card

So this is one of those cards that looked better in my head than it did when it was finished. I tried to be creative and should have just kept it simple.  :-)

The challenge at 'Bitten By The Bug 2' is to use the mitten from 'Joys of the Season' cartridge -- one of my favourite Christmas cartridges.  I think if the mitten had been bigger and I hadn't used the shaped base it may have been better. And I wish I'd popped up the snowflake on the mitten as well ... but once it was glued down, there was no moving it.

I was hoping to make several of these, but ... I just don't like it enough to do multiples. Ahh well ... it won't go to waste and it's always grounding to know that not everything you do will turn out perfectly.




Now for something non paper related ...


Thunder - it can make for a miserable dog in a lot of homes. Poor Sasha used to vibrate so hard we thought her heart might stop. She would shake and pant and DROOL and I found a Thundershirt really helped her. Last year, Brandi was affected by thunder as well ... so I  bought her a Thundershirt at our local Pet Planet this week.  I would HIGHLY recommend this easy to use pressure wrap for any dog that is bothered by thunder, fireworks etc.  The other night a thunderstorm rolled in. Before I heard the first peal of thunder - Brandi was at my feet, shaking and I knew what was coming. I got out her brand new Thundershirt, wrapped it around her - and she lay down & went to sleep. She was still aware of the thunder, but she wasn't freaked out and she wasn't shaking.

Once we went to bed, she still needed to be on the bed with us -- but I think that is more because that is what she normally does if she is stressed. She didn't need to be petted. She didn't need to lean on us - vibrating/shaking keeping us awake. She just curled up at the foot of the bed and went to sleep.

I have a Jasper/Cooper sized Thundershirt as well, and Jasper wore his for a bit last night. He runs around the house barking like crazy whenever there is a thunder clap. After his shirt was on, he got up and barked the first couple of times - but no crazy racing around. Then he just went to sleep.

Thanks for stopping by today!

July 2011 Ice Cream Card

I send my Mom an ice cream themed card every July ... and this is the one I made for her this year.  The sundae was Cricut cut using the "From My Kitchen" cartridge (I believe - I forgot to make notes) and I used a DCWV paper stack for all the layers. There is lots of shimmer and shine on this paper, and I added some Stickles for even more.  :-).  And yes, I used foam tape on this card too!

Thanks for stopping by today.

 

CFC 10 ... Shaped Card

 

So challenge #10 at Cas-ual Fridays (see sidebar for link)  is to make a Clean And Simple SHAPED Card.   I had to put my thinking cap on for this one, although now that I have looked through the amazing submissions I could have been more inspired had I done that earlier!  If you have a chance to swing by and see all the great shaped cards - do so. It's worth it!

I went with a Christmas card ... sized to fit into a #10 business envelope. The shaped card is Cricut cut from "A Child's Year" cartridge. I used the 'hide contour' feature with my Gypsy to hide the heart that would have cut out of the front as I wanted to add my own.  

The holly punch is by Emagination, and the heart is a Tim Holtz Sizzix die. Both are stamped with a background image (Stamps by Judith), edges are inked and doodling added with a brown pen. The heart was popped up with foam tape. I cut another bone shape slightly smaller, inked and doodled on the edges of that, then attached it inside with a red Merry Christmas greeting (DeNami Design).  The red envelope is stamped with a bone tree (Magenta) in hunter green, then the little bones were coloured with pencils. Totally a cute card to give a groomer, vet or dog care provider from your furry kid.  :-)

Originally I thought I'd add a smaller bone shaped panel to the front of the card, but when I decided not to I had a large bone die cut to add to my 'Odds and Sods' pile. Plus, I cut both heart shapes -- so I had an extra heart too. I'm trying to USE UP that pile, not add to it ... so I immediately put together this card to have on hand. Hope I don't have to use it for a very, VERY long time.

I was also able to use up a leftover piece of that digital cloud paper! (Digital Design Essentials)  The wings (Stampendous) were stamped with brown and coloured with Copic markers before cutting them out. I attached them to the back of the die cut heart after inking and stamping and doodling on it, then popped the whole thing up with foam tape. I loved the little tear drop gem (iRock) - it seemed fitting somehow. The words are by Technique Tuesday (Ali Edwards).

Thanks for stopping by today!

Sunshine Card

 

Here is another card made using pieces from my "Odds and Sods" pile. I had Cricut cut a sun for a different project, and figured since I was cutting anyhow to cut 4 of them. So three of them sat in my pile.  The white leaf embossed panel was also in the pile. I had brought home a new embossing folder and of course had to try it right away. I didn't want to just toss the test piece, so ... into the "Odds and Sods" pile it went.  

Considering I don't usually work with yellow, I was happy with how this card turned out! 

I inked the edges of the sun, stamped a background image on the center portion then popped it up with foam tape.  The word stamp is by Hero Arts (I believe).  I don't usually put words on the front of my cards, but notice that I have been on the last couple of cards. Strange!

I have an idea for one of the other challenges, so maybe will get to that later today. Meanwhile, the rain has stopped and I am going to walk the dogs in the sunshine.

Our DD and boyfriend went on a hike this weekend with Gregg and Jasper. I stayed back at the cabin so I could clean. Really! I vacuumed and shook out rugs and dog beds -- things that are really REALLY hard to do with a 'helpful' Sheltie.  I think it worked out great for all of us, and then I got to enjoy the pictures afterwards.

Thanks for stopping by today!

FTL148 Sketch Card

There is a new sketch up at the Clean And Simple Stamping Blog, and I actually had a chance to put together a card with it!  Here is the sketch:

I rotated the sketch, and added my sentiment below the center circle. I don't often put a sentiment on the front of my cards, but this one just seemed to need it.

I used my Cricut to cut the kraft card stock circles - they are about 1-3/4". The rosette was in my stash (I whipped up several of them one afternoon when I had the hot glue gun plugged in anyhow) as was the word tag. So this was really a quick card to put together!

I embossed the two kraft circles with a Sizzix embossing folder, then inked the edges to give them a little more definition.  My attachment to kraft card stock continues :-)

Instead of ribbon, I added a narrow strip of patterned card stock. It is from the same paper stack (by K&Co) that the rosette was cut from.

The sweet ribbon roses were in the bargain bins at Michaels. I bought several colours including the yellow and then wondered what I would DO with the yellow ones. Would you believe I have used over half of them already? And I don't DO yellow.  :-)

The little gems are also from Michaels.    


Thanks for stopping by today!

Summer Card

Challenge #82 this week at the Cricut Cardz Challenge Blog, is: 
For challenge #83 make a card with summer apparel or an accessory, using any cartridge and colors you'd like
 Hmmm ... I really wasn't sure what to do with this one. Especially since I haven't even USED my Cricut in weeks and weeks! However, a quick flip through the Kate's ABC handbook and I knew exactly what I wanted to make:

 I thought sunbonnets and butterfly nets are perfect apparel for a summers day! I cut this image at 3", but another time I would cut it larger and mount it on a 5x7" card. This one is an A2 card.

The sentiment stamp is by Hampton Arts, and I stumbled on it at Michaels. Actually there was a whole bin of them and I bought one of each one that appealed to me. For $1.50 each I thought it was a great deal and I have used a couple of them already.

That blue cloud paper? A digital paper from Digital Design Essentials. I printed it on regular computer printer paper just to see how it looked, and decided to keep and use it!

I have seen so many Cricut cut images cut from Bo Bunnies dotted paper and I love the look. Even bought a couple of sheets to use but was a little CHOKED at the price of each sheet and didn't buy very many. So ... I had a look through my older stamps and found some background images that will give card stock some pattern without the cost of the others. 

I also hoard Bazzill card stock, and save all but the tiniest scraps. This light green strip at the bottom of the card came out of the scrap bin. Love it when it works out like that.

Thanks for stopping by today!