Bon Voyage cards

As this school semester comes to an end, our school will say "see you soon" to 2 sweetheart students and their mom - they will be living in another country next term. They are special to me, and I'm making them cards before they go.

* This is a white 4x4 (fits A2 envelope!), with a grey 3 3/4" x 3 3/4" mat.

* The grey mat is stamped with Hero Arts Friend Definition in Milled Lavender, and the edges are ink blended with the same.

* The pearls in the upper corners are self-adhesive & lavender, from Recollections.

* The ribbon was sheer white, but I inked it with Dusty Concord. I hadn't yet done this with ribbon - love it!

* And last but not least, this chandelier, which I am in love with, is cut at 3" from the Summer in Paris cartridge. Cut out of DCWV paper from Pocket full of Posies stack.

^ Close-up of ribbon detail. I love this - I bet I will rarely use ribbon now, without inking it!

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2 of these -- one for each girl:

* This is a white 4x4. The bottom is punched with a fiskars border punch (sorry, I don't know the name).

* The rainbow heart and all its layers are cut from the Create a Critter cartridge, at 2.5" (+ shadow). Glitter paper is DCWV.

* Coordinating eyelets are The Paper Studio and I love them.

* Purple scrap inside card to emphasize border punch, and edges are blended with Tumbled Glass.

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I'd like to take a sec to talk about the cartridges I used for these cards, because they're 2 of my favorites.

First, Summer in Paris is one I bought back before I really got into using my Cricut. I think it was my third cart. ever - found it on sale at Archiver's. This cartridge is SO GORGEOUS, and semi- hard to find. All of the images are VERY intricate (so I wouldn't advise very small cuts). There are options for several 3d projects as well - this chandelier is one of them. The images are actually pretty versatile - there is a phone, hot air balloon, male & female silhouettes, bike, car, perfume, phrases, several Parisian landmarks, and more. It's not everyone's style, but if it's yours, I'd get it while you can. I love mine! You can read more and see the images here.

Second, how about that Create a Critter? This is BY FAR my favorite cart of my collection. It is filled with adorable animals, phrases, accesories and more. The card I've made here shows that there is a lot more than just critter layers on it. In fact, I love this cartridge so much, I'm tempted to write Provo Craft and suggest/ask if they have thought of coming out with a second one. I'm just sayin', if they can make a second Paper Dolls, there are tons more critters they could give us to create...You know it would sell like hot cakes.

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I want to give a big friendly THANK YOU to Sammye Jo at 62 Cards. She put a link of my blog on hers to get some followers for me. :) She does the most beautiful work - and right now she's doing 12 Days of Giveaways! You've gotta see her. :)

Gotta get to work now. Many thanks for reading!!

xoxo

Thank You & My Favorite Cartidge!

I have been so busy, and therefore neglectful of this blog. =p
Wanted to quickly post this card. I made this for a friend who was considerate enough to come and support me at my first craft show! I made this using my latest, and possibly favorite-ever cartridge, Create a Critter. All die cuts shown are from this cartridge. I love it!

Below is a close-up, where you can really see my OOPS - I put a piece of paper that was ever so slightly too small in the cricut for the die cut. I had to then piece together some paper to re-create the ear. I say there's no such thing as a mistake.. Or at least, I try to tell my inner neurotic self that... :)

I have had the opportunity over the past week or so to play around and create a few critters. I love this cartridge SO much! I am quite the animal lover so this comes as no surprise. :)

Well, ta-ta for now.. :)

Craft Fair

I am happy to write that my first ever craft fair was a huge success! I feel so blessed. I sold quite a bit -- much more than I had dreamed I would. In fact, after Night 1, I stayed up half the night creating more stuff to replenish what I had nearly sold out of. Unbelievable!

For the fair, I created Fabric hair/blouse pins, Christmas gift tags, All-occasion gift tags, mini 3d cards, and regular cards varying from Christmas, Birthday, and notecards. Rather than charging a booth fee, a portion of each person's profit was donated to UNICEF.

A huge thank you to my friends and family that made a point to come see my stuff. <3

I have to say, although it was nice to make some money, I really enjoyed hearing everyone's kind words about the projects I worked so hard on. My favorite part, though, was having little girls (many of them my students!) look bashfully at the floral hair pins I made. Many of their parents or grandparents bought them for the girls, so now I get to see them in use during school. Love <3

xoxo

I am in the midst of some possibly exciting news...

I may be participating in my first craft fair next month! It's coming up soon, so we'll have to see if I can get enough goodies completed in time... I have wanted to participate in this sort of thing for years, and have been encouraged - by at least one person...;) - to do so. My gosh, even if I only sold one thing, knowing that someone liked what I did well enough to want to pay money for it? That's pretty exciting stuff!

Tonight I created several things, my favorite of which is this happy, happy, happy birthday card.

- die cuts from cricut cartridge Home Accents (2 1/4 & 1 1/4 in.), white CS

- paint dabbers (lettuce & purple twilight)

- ink blended background (tumbled glass & wild honey)

- stamped images (int. and ext.) done in tumbled glass

- stickles on tips of die cuts (patina & fruit punch)

I've got loads more completed but they'll have to wait. :)

xoxo