Practical Scrappers - Border Punches

This week over at Practical Scrappers we are challenging you to dust off some of your unused border punches and get crafty!  Border punches have to be one the least expensive ways to dress up your paper projects.  I mean, you only have to buy them once and you can use them over and over and over and...well, you get the point.  Did I mention how much I love border punches?  I also love the fact that I can cut all sorts of different borders using my Cricut as well...and if you add the Gypsy into the mix, well you can come up with all sorts of groovy ideas...  kinda like this retro-feel card I did for this challenge (see there is a REASON I said that word... "groovy", well, that and I am kinda of stuck in the 70's myself)... hmmm, did we even say "groovy" in the 70's??  Heck I don't know...but here's the card just the same.

To pull this card together I used patterned paper from My Little Shoebox and combined it with matching cardstock from Papertrey Ink.  The pearls are from Hero Arts.  The layered scallops I cut using Plantin schoolbook and the Gypsy and a Fiskars border punch finished off the purple mat.  With my Nestabilities die I cut the tag and stamped it with a Papertrey Ink sentiment.  The butterfly is the Martha Stewart Royal Butterfly punch.

Okay, now that all the deets are out, why not go and visit Practical Scrappers, take a gander at the other Design Team creations and then join us in this week's challenge.

Magoo's Pillow Boxes

Magoo over at Design.Create.Inspire designed this darling little pillow box (with score marks no less) using the Gypsy and provided a free download at her blog right here. Thank you so much Magoo!  I made these pillow boxes at Valentine's Day for my family and filled them with candy (I used red paper and stamped hearts on it).  This time I created these cute boxes using some of My Little Shoebox patterned paper that you can buy right here.

I cut the flowers using the Walk in My Garden cartridge and the mini tags from Bags, Tags, Boxes and More.  Then, I tied each of the boxes up using Papertrey Ink ribbon. I stamped the sentiment using the Hero Arts Happy Day stamp set with Ranger's Adirondack Ink in Coffee (this is my favorite color to use when I stamp sentiments! I punched a hole in the center of the two flower layers and attached the tag and the flower together using brads from Basic Grey and then used a Pop Dot to adhere the flower to the ribbon on the box.

Bitten by the Bug2 Challenge

This week's cut for the BBTB2 challenge is from Disney's Hannah Montana cartridge. Using the Rock Star feature it is the 4th row, 9th button from the left, "Ready to Rock".

When I first learned about this challenge I did not own this cartridge, but ... I do now!  This gig at BBTB2 is costing some bucks ... on the other hand, I'm also growing my Cricut library by leaps and bounds and ya know.. you never can own too many Cricut cartridges... right? (Now I just need to buy more shelves to store all the new carts!).

Anyhow.. enough yapping.  On to the inspiration piece...

Okay, so here's the deets:  Just about everything you see is Dear Lizzy and American Crafts with the exception of the thread and the white ribbon that I found in my stash.  I pulled out a Martha Stewart border punch to add some interest to the blue paper I used as a mat.  My Gypsy got a work out as I welded a tag from Sweet Treats (my go-to cartridge for tags!) to the Ready 2 Rock graphic's shadow.  I also cut the "2" out a second time to add to the bottom of the layout.  The photograph is from 1984! (I told you I was way behind in my scrapbooking!! LOL)... Actually this is a picture of my oldest daughter when she was two, rocking in the maple rocking chair my father bought for me when I was pregnant for her!  Thus, I found it quite appropriate to use this photo with the graphic Ready 2 Rock (get it, 2 years old... in a rocking chair)... bahahaha.

Now don't waste any more time reading this silliness and get on over to the BBTB2 blog to join in the challenge, will ya?

Mojo Monday Week 123 and Cricut Cardz Challenge

This week I combined two challenges into one card using Mojo Monday Week 123 Sketch (the round one) and the Cricut Cardz Challenge #10 that challenged participants to create a Valentine's Card using only the colors, white, black, lavender and green.

At first I found the color challenge difficult, I just didn't feel those particular colors blended well...until I remembered my DCWV Latte Cardstock pack (12 x12 sheets). Then, everything came together color-wise. I also used one 2 inch piece of lavender from a Recollections paper pack (Butterfly Wings).

The base of the card I cut from the black cardstock out of the DCWV Latte pack. Using the Wild Card cartridge (via my Gypsy), I selected the Blackout feature and cut the Doily base and sized it to 10.58 x 5.53. I then scored and folded the card in half. Next I cut three circles from the George cart using the Gypsy in white, green and lavender.  I sized the circles to 4.68 x 4.37.  I ran the green and lavender circles through the Cuttlebug using the swirls embossing folder. I cut the lavender circle down to 2 inches (as seen on the card) and cut a section from the white circle as well.  With a Martha Stewart edge punch I created the scalloped lace on the white piece.  I used Gypsy font to create the word "love" fusing each letter together before I cut it out in black cardstock.  I used my Cricut marker (black) in the Cricut to write "My" with Gypsy font on the 1 3/4 inch circle that I cut from green cardstock and backed it with three more 2 inch scallops cut with my EK Success scallop circle cutter in lavender, black and the lighter lavendar from Recollections.  I tied it up with lavender ribbon I purchased at Wal-mart and added three medium pearls from Papertrey Ink.

Mojo Monday Sketch Challenge 122

I was anxious to get to work on Mojo Monday's Sketch Challenge 122. Even better, for the first time I also decided to incorporate Challenge #16 at Just Us Girl's (JUGS), which is a color challenge using burgundy, vanilla, blush and gray.

To craft the card I used gray and pink cardstocks from AC and Papertrey Ink. My patterned paper is from the paper pack, Totally Girl by My Mind's Eye. I embossed the burgundy paper with my Cuttlebug and also used some white ink to jazz it up a bit. The flower wheels were cut using Gypsy Wanderings I layered them to make them nice and thick and then added some Hero Arts bling.  The sentiment was cut using the Wild Card Cartridge.  (I have yet to get the color just right when I attempt to photograph my cards, even when I edit with Photoshop...but I'm working on it!)

My daughter worked on a card for the Taylored Expressions challenge #98 while I worked on this card... I love when we work together on papercrafts!

Mojo Monday 120 Contest

Finally, with the help of my Olympus E410 SLR camera... a photograph of my entry for the Mojo Monday Challenge.  This is their first for 2010...and my first entry in a challege ever! 

I made this card with the help of my cricut, gypsy and paper/card making supplies that I had onhand.  I should have written down the "recipe", but I was so worked up about my whole camera thing, I failed to do that. Next time, for sure!

There is still time to enter this particular contest/challenge so if you are interested go here.

I look forward to entering lots more card and scrapbook challeges, now that I finally figured out how to take the dang picture!