Happy Easter! and CFC 96

After a lovely and busy Friday, today I have been trying to get ready for Easter dinner. Two of my sons + their wives, the grandchildren, mother-in-law, sister-in-law- all coming for an egg hunt and dinner tomorrow.  I made a carrot cake and while it was baking, made these little carrots for the place favors.  They were cut on the Cricut @ 4" (Artiste cartridge) on Close To My Heart Dotty for You and Buttercup card stock. Tissue paper edged with pinking shears was tucked inside and then I filled them with jelly beans.  They look so cute in the little basket! 

I am thrilled that it is spring break - a whole week to catch up in house/yard/craft room.  The Pacific Northwest is warm and sunny, the cherry blossoms are blooming, daffodils and forsythia can been seen around the block.  Life is good.
This works for the CASual Friday Challenge 96: Funny Bunny- anything but a card.

 

Paper Ribbons

http://www.cardsinenvy.blogspot.com/

The challenge at Cards in Envy this week was to use paper strips instead of ribbon!  I have admired the darling paper bows seen on other blogs, and  searched my Artiste Cricut cartridge for just such a thing.  It did take three tries to get the size I wanted, but I'm sayin' ...this is the easiest way to get that perfect bow :-)

The Deconstructed Sketch #94 is the ideal design for using my paper ribbon and bow.  What a great sketch!  I have two more cards lined up to make using this. It's simple and clean here with the new Close To My Heart Tommy papers.  The next card I'm trying with it uses floral paper and is sweet. This will be a go-to sketch for me.

Paper:  TOMMY (Close To My Heart), Outdoor Denim, Honey, White Daisy card stock
Stamps:  4 My Friend (CTMH)
Ink: Outdoor Denim
Tool: Artist cartridge (CTMH) , Cricut

Friday Mash Up 102

A triple challenge at the Friday Mashup, and I am waaaay out of my comfort zone.  But I tried all three anyway: brayer, sketch, + butterflies. Pretty wild looking result, but it was fun.  I used images and sentiment from a long-retired Close To My Heart set, Celebrate Life, Cotton Candy, Sky and Black card stock.

Song

http://casology.blogspot.ca/

It's been a while since I could play along with CASology, but when I saw the theme this week I hoped I would be able to steal some Saturday minutes.  I began to hum this tune and wasn't really sure it was an actual song.  I found a marvelous clip on youtube from the 1930 film for which it was originally written. The film's title was "Spring is Come" - perfect for this week.

The stamp image is from an older wooden stamp given to me by a colleague at school, and I embossed it in black. I had a tiny letter set but wanted some script...which I ended up doing freehand.  I masked the heart, sponged on some color, and added a few CTMH sparkles.

SSS 202 Sketch with a Springtime Spin

Sweet Stop Sketches has some great design team cards!  I kept my card simple, but there are some gorgeous and fun springtime cards to check out at their blog.
Right away I knew I wanted to use one of my From the Heart digis with this sketch.  I had printed the "Lazy Bunny" image, and was looking for an inspiration to get my Easter cards completed.
Inks:  Close To My Heart Grey Flannel, Pear, Cotton Candy, Hollyhock
Papers: CTMH Chantilly; card stock Baby Pink, Cotton Candy, White Daisy
Tools:  Fiskar's circle punches; Cuttlebug Swiss Dots embossing folder; corner rounder

FTH Sketch #9 Light the Way

This is an older image in the From the Heart collection of digis- and always a favorite of mine.  I love the ocean and visiting lighthouses.  This stormy scene still makes me feel comforted and peaceful somehow.  The sketch is one that can be used in so many ways.  I have another card I will post later this week using the sketch very differently. You can find the sketch and some marvelous inspiration here at their Delightful Inspiration blog.

Sweet Sketch Wednesday #197-67

 Sweet Sketch Wednesday   here  is being sponsored this week by A Day for Daisies www.adayfordaisies.com    This card uses their image 'Blossoms in a Cup' which I printed on Colonial White card stock, Twilight card stock and several patterns from the CTMH Clementine papers.  I cut each flower and the tea cup out. Before gluing everything down, I sanded and ink distressed.  The leaves were colored with CTMH Sweet Leaf markers.  The flower and buttons are also CTMH, lace is from my stash.  I used Twilight and Sorbet inks to lightly distress edges. 
 

Stella Meets Dr. Seuss!

Stella Says Sketch #132 Challenge here at Catch the Bug Challenge blog!  I've paired one of my new Bugaboo images  (first prize from the Gardening Nut card!!) with the current Stella Sketch.  The card stock is CTMH Lagoon, Honey and Cranberry, with a few Cranberry brads and some Baker's Twine. Just a sweet, fun card with a fantastic Seuss message.

Sweet Stampin'

Nothing better than boys I say!  Well, I have three fabulous sons and two darling grandsons, so perhaps I'm a bit biased.  So the Sweet Stampin' Challenge here was right down my alley.
The cute little skater is from a retired Close To My Heart set called Family Ties-Children, the sentiment from It's Your Day.  The paper is a brand new collection from CTMH - Later Sk8r.

 

The gears were cut using the Artiste Cricut cartridge, and I added two Pewter Durables to the gears, and black brads for wheels.  Lucky me! I get to play with the grandsons tonight.  It's a sleep over.

Green Thumb + SSS #131

The weather here turned sunny, and I have new gardening gloves!  Time to go outside and get things ready for spring. Whoo-hoo!  But first I had to play along with Catch the Bug challenges here. The March challenge is to create a card with the Green Thumb theme, and I have also used the Stella Says Sketch challenge.  I used a fun Bug digital image and sentiment, and paired it up with some CTMH Splendor paper  (retired). I used the CTMH Artiste Cricut cartridge to cut a grass border from Topiary card stock.  Now I'm in the spirit to go outside.

Perfect Fit Birthday

This quick and simple card uses Perfect Fit Frames 2 and Perfect Fit -Birthday sets.  I cut the frame from Ruby card stock using the Cricut Artiste cartridge. The card stocks and ink colors used are Outdoor Denim and Ruby.  Love the new chevron ribbon!
It's always good to have some guy-friendly birthday cards in the stash.

Focus on a Friend

Loving the new stamps available with the Spring-Summer catalog from Close To My Heart.
This fun stamp and sentiment are only $6.95.  Want one? Click on "Shop with Me' on the sidebar and search My Acrylic Stamps, Card Chatter- Focus on A Friend, A 1138.
I used some papers from a special campaign last year, Sunset and Lagoon, and a Buttercup card stock base.  The eyeglasses were cut from another fun set (I'll be posting cards using them soon), called Puns of Praise, and I added Liquid Glass to the lenses.  This will be a card we make at my workshop tomorrow.

Basket of Good Luck

At Designed2Delight - Delightful Inspiration from the Heart- here you can see the lovely basket digi collection. It is the stamp set for February's stamp of the month challenge.  I colored the image with Prisma pencils, and  paired it with an old Irish blessing.  The card stock is Close To My Heart Black and Sweet Leaf.