Scrapping Around With Ann

Gingersnap (Challenge)

2011-06-03T16:02:00.000-07:00

I haven't done any cards for awhile...I had to step back and regroup and get my mojo back. This week the challenge at Cooking With Cricut is a Gingersnap Color Challenge. We were given a selection of colors and had to use at least two colors. This assignment was easy to do, because the color choices were so easy to work with.

I was at a garage sale and picked up a Cricut Cartridge called Crocs Rule. It had some cute images on it. So I decided to use it for my card. I chose the Croc in the hammock strung between two palm trees. Instead of making a card I decided to make a postcard (4 X 6). I had several plastic envelopes left over from my Fabric Art Postcard Swaps so thought it might be fun to do a postcard rather than a card. My grand kids will soon arrive to spend several weeks with me at the beach. So this card was made with them in mind.

Here is my card:

The lettering on my card was done with .Make The Cut and cut with my Cricut

Cupcakes

2011-05-14T15:34:00.000-07:00

I've never been a successful baker....NEVER! cupcakes are no exception! They always seemed to be trying to escape their paper cup wrappers. (My daughter learned early to volunteer her mom for the paper products and never the baked goods.)

So this challenge I almost passed...if you can't bake a cupcake then it is likely you can't create a card with a cupcake. My limited Cricut cards had no cupcake images so I decided to create a cupcake that reminded me of my past cupcake attempts. After drawing the image and scanning it into Make The Cut, I was able to cut out "my type of cupcake" with my Cricut.

I used a new source of paper...the free paint chips that you get at the local paint stores. I chose the large chips while picking out my new "papers" and found that the Cricut cut out my images great. Next time you are shopping for small colorful papers check out the paint store. They have samples of shiny, glittery, flat, and textured paint in every color you can imagine. ( WARNING: Martha Stewart's chips don't work very well...there is a plastic coating on the back that the Cricut doesn't like.)

I cut two background pieces...one black and one white. I wanted the white layer to be glittery so that it would look a little like icing with sprinkles. I also put a candle on my cupcake as I wanted to make a future birthday card to use. After gluing my masterpiece together it reminded me of a cake...and it also brought back memories of sliding icing, and that wonky look that all my baking seems to possess.

My sentiment in case you can't make it out... "RUOLDER?"

So I am pleased, I've still got my magic baking touch even using a Cricut! Enjoy my Version of a Cupcake

Challenges Entered:

http://www.cookingwithcricut.blogspot.com/

http://blog.clubrubydesigners.com/challenges/time-for-a-sweet-challenge-crd006/357/

My Edgy Bunny

2011-04-18T14:04:00.000-07:00

This card was made for the following challenges at
1.   http://fantabulouscricut.blogspot.com/
2.   http://scrappyfrogschallenge.blogspot.com/2011/04/hoppy-easter.htmll
3. http://ecpchallenges.blogspot.com/2011/04/challenge-36.html
4.   httphttp://cookingwithcricut.blogspot.com/2011/04/c-2
5   .html://myshericrafts.blogspot.com/2011/04/my-sheri-crafts-challenge-53-bunnies.html
6.
http://cookingwithcricut.blogspot.com/2011/04/cwc-challenge-26.html

With a few more day until Easter...bunnies are on my mind. Not the cute fluffy sweet kind, or those chocolate sweeties...I am thinking of another kind of Bunny. A Bunny with style, attitude, and a little edge. A bunny who knows who he is and also knows that he has an important job. I got so taken with my bunny I had to make two...twice as much style and twice as much attitude. I also added some sunglasses to add to their overall look. The card came together quickly. The hardest part was gluing the thin black cut sections to the thin white shadow.

I cut the bunnies as one piece and then recut using the shadow feature. My bunny started out as a piece of clipart...that I altered and added too. It was designed in the Make the Cut Software and cut on my Cricut. The sun was designed by using the shapes and then stretching and pulling it via make the Cut. It was cut twice .

The grass was hand cut, the butterfly was cut from some scrap paper. The "dyed eggs" were some little plastic buttons that I found in my button box, I added the words "you make me smile" because they did just that. This card will be given to my older neighbor with the little Treat Basket that I have fixed up for her.

Here is my card:

My Money and Pink,Green and Yellow Challenge Card

2011-04-13T10:54:00.000-07:00

The stars lined up right on this challenge card. As soon as I saw the challenge on, http://www.cookingwithcricut.blogspot.com/ I had an instant picture flash through my mind........this week's challenge had to do with (Cash in your Stash) or Money in Honor of Tax Day (April 15th). That day has always been a downer day for me...as it seems I always owe more taxes than I have already paid even when taking zero deductions. The folks on Cooking with Cricut encouraged us to use stuff from our stash that we hadn't used in over a year...since I am new to scrapbooking...everything I own is new...and I have a stash so to speak but it is on my Wish List!

I really used my Cricut Cutter on this one. My pig was cut out from a MTC file that I made myself from a free clipart. My lettering was also cut using my George Cartridge that came with the Cricut. My money was taken from a clipart of real bills. In case you can't tell they are 1000 dollar bills. (Wish I had a piggy bank with a few of those in it.)

I was also able to find another challenge that my card would fit with a little play on the words... in the http://fantabulouscricut.blogspot.com/ challenge you had to use pink, green and yellow. They called their challenge and Blog Hop, Spring Fling. Not only did I relate my colors to their challenge...I think that April 15th means we are "Flinging a lot of dough up to Washington" so......my pig is pink, my "BAM" Burst is yellow and my money and background are green. I hope my card is a match!

Here are the pictures of my card...back to my good camera, too.

Here is a close up of my pig face. Tried to show the pain of being violated to pay those taes on the 15th!

And this is a shot from the side to show how I did the money.

April Showers Challenges

2011-04-09T14:56:00.000-07:00

This week the Cooking With Cricut Challenge deals with Spring Showers or anything with water. The site Fantabulous Cricut also had a challenge dealing with an umbrella so my card met two challenges. I was able to purchase some cut files from Lettering Delights for $2.00 at their big sale. My little cat with the umbrella was in one of those sets. I thought he was a "p-u-r-r.- fect" match for both challenges.I added a few touches to the cut file and here he is playing in the rain. My good camera's battery is dead so had to use phone camera. Sorry!

PUN Challenge

2011-04-03T15:09:00.000-07:00

Another great challenge at Cooking With Cricut....this time create a card or scrapbook page with a pun or a funny saying. After googling for puns and silly sayings that would match up with my Cricut Cards (2)...I didn't come up with anything at all. I was coming to the conclusion that I might have to pass on this challenge...but then the old song Poetry in Motion popped into my head with a play on "poetry"...changing it to POULTRY...I could see a bunch of chickens moving and grooving out by the henhouse ...ever try to find a dancing chicken image? Very few exist! So after some disappointing searches...opted out of dancing and grooving...and decided they could be in motion ... by just RUNNING. (and that's how my card came to be.)
I used a outline of a chicken, took it into Make The Cut and stretched it, pulled it, and got him to run. I was so impressed with the Cricut Machine because it was able to cut my chickens' skinny legs with out missing a claw! After making the chickens I realized that to get them all on the card they also had to be jumping while running. That's where the fence came in.
I am really pleased with the way it came out...this was a really great challenge. If you click on card image you can get up close and personal with my chickens. If anyone would like to have the MTC file of my chickens I would be happy to share. Here is the link:
http://www.4shared.com/file/4eaCxaI9/c_hicksthree2.html

Mary's Bunny Challenge

2011-03-27T18:24:00.000-07:00

I love Cardz TV videos. Mary does such a nice job explaining how she does her cards. This past week she did a bunny card each day. She used different bunnies from the Cricut Cards and a cute chocolate bunny from a digital stamp. I had to try my own hand at a bunny card...and ended up making two bunny cards and have prepared cuts of 4 other bunnies for future cards. My collection of Cricut Cards is limited so I had to make my own bunnies...as my cards were bunniless.

My favorite card was my 6 bunny card as I learned how to weld with the software Make The Cut. I also liked my saying on the card...it came to me in the middle of the night.

My second card, I used a applique pattern that you sometimes find on penny rugs for my rabbit...I wanted a simple rabbit and this running rabbit is simple!

(For some reason my camera is not "playing nice" this evening but images have to be uploaded by midnight so sorry for the poor images. you can click on the image and get a close up.

Lambs and Lions

2011-03-24T08:38:00.000-07:00

This week the Challenge at Cooking With Cricut is to make a card with either lambs or Lions. This week I decided to put to use all of the card ideas that I have learned from all of the wonderful folks who take the time to share both their time and talents making videos of their techniques.

I used Make the Cut to do my sheep (she once was a lamb, guys) and my little blue bird. I found the lamb on a copyfree clipart site and I just drew the bird as I wanted it to be as simple as the sheep/ then turned the drawing into a cut. The sheep was such a easy cut but he ended up with so much personality. I wish i had some of that flocking powder that some folks use...he would have been really cute with "wooley fur." I even used ribbon! (Bows I am not ready for..did the simple one) I did multi layers of papers.. I used glitter and those foam pop up dots on the bird and the base of the sheep. I even welded my letters in the word Spring. So far I think this is my best card yet. I also used a sketch plan from Sketch Saturday. This sketch was from a couple of weeks ago.

Time Challenge

2011-03-14T13:31:00.000-07:00

Cooking With Cricut Challenge this week ties in with the Daylight Change that took place Saturday Night.......You know Spring Forward an Hour...Gain an hour of Daylight Lose an hour of SLEEP!. It will take my old body at least a week to get use to the change. The main qualification was the piece had to have a timepiece or a relationship to Time.
With limited Cricut cards ...I had to resort to my own cut file...I found a hourglass on a free clip art site and made my own cut image. I also went online and found a saying that would go with my hourglass. Since I just turned 67 ...this saying is really meaningful and very true. time waits for NO ONE! If you click on the picture you can see it up close.

Saturday Sketch

2011-03-07T15:28:00.000-08:00

I think I have found a blog that will really help me develop my card making skills. Saturday Sketches provides a sketck that you need to follow. So the design element is there...and all you have to do is to use your creativity to create the card. I love it! Here is my card...the sketch had lots of circles..made me think of gears...

Simon Says Stamp Challenge

2011-03-07T10:30:00.000-08:00

SAD NEWS: I missed THE DEADLINE for this challenge so didn't get to enter...but I still enjoyed the process!

On the Simons Says Site their challenge for the week was to show off your newest stamp in a stressed project using a design map.
I purchased an odd box of craft stuff at a recent garage sale, which contained the neatest stamp I have ever seen. It was rough cut out of gray rubber, had no name on it and so I can't tell you where it came from, (But I certainly would love to know as I would like to purchase some more from that Designer.) It was dirty so I had to clean it up and also had to back it. This challenge happened just at the right time for me...Here is a close up of the stamp:

I stamped it on circle that I punched out with a Cuttlebug. It was stamped in black and then stressed with some Tim Hotz Ink. I tried crackle paint on it but it really didn't do much cracking so I lightly sanded it. I loved having a map design to follow as I am new to card making.

Here is my finished card:

I got on a roll after making this card and made a second one using my favorite mermaid stamp. I didn't use the map...just did my own thing. Again I tried the crackle...no cracks on this one either.

Seeing Double

2011-03-06T17:08:00.000-08:00

This week the challenge at Cooking With Cricut was to create a Double. It was double colors of cardstock, double print paper, double embellishments, just double everything. It sounded easy but I found it not as easy as it sounded.

I made my first easel card which I really like the concept that the card comes with its own stand. I used white and black as my two colors of cardstock. I used scraps of printed paper a green and a orange, that were in a scrap bag of paper I picked up at Michael's. My two embellishments were a ribbon and a charm. I also used a heart cut out on my cricut. It was from the George shape collection. My stand has some letter buttons that spell out LOVE and act as a ridge to hold the card easel in place. My picture was from a magazine that I cut out. Since it was everything doubles...and I had my woman picture...I attached another woman looking back on the back of the clear charm.....so double ladies too

POP UP, SWIRLS AND STRIPES, OH MY

2011-02-25T17:18:00.000-08:00

This week I got alnost too cocky...I tried to make a card that would meet Four different Challenges. Creating the card wasn't the problem...but remembering where the challenges were located so I could link back to them and also submit my card to be considered was hard because I had bookmarked the sites, but also had bookmarked so many other sites with great card making information...so it was really hard to find my bookmarked challenges.

I have never made a Pop Up Card ( http://thecuttlebugspot.blogspot.com/ ) . I love Swirls...so this challenge was a must. http://thestampmanchallenges.blogspot.com/ and also Cooking with Cricut http://www.cookingwithcricut.blogspot.com/ was doing swirls. I Just purchased some paper with stripes so had to enter the challenge at http://simonsaysstampandshow.blogspot.com/ whose theme was stripes.

My oldest grand daughter is going to the Caymens with friends for Spring Break. I wanted to make a funny card that still would carry a serious message to be careful and not do anything foolish that might get you in trouble.
I used a "revised" cut from the Life is a Beach Cricut Card.The little scuba diver needed to become a girl. The shark also came from the same card. The inside message was a tongue in cheek way of saying be smart and be careful.
The front of the card allowed me to use my embossed swirls and my stripes. I made the rosetta with striped paper after seeing the sample on Cooking with Cricut. It was so easy. I had fun making this card.

The Front of CARD

Close up Embossed Swirls and Striped Rosetta

Modified Diver from Cricut Card Life is a Beach

Inside of card with my "message" for my grand daughter.

Embossed Gateway Card

2011-02-20T07:43:00.000-08:00

This week I found two challenges to enter. I don't see how some folks can enter so many challenges and make their card or page fit all of the categories and then they are able to post so quickly...hopefully one day in my future I can learn how to be so creative and make so many matches. This week I am entering, the challenge at Cooking with Cricut. Their challenge is to emboss. Emboss I can do.

My second challenge was it had to be a gatefold card. This challenge was at The Cuttlebug blog. They also had a link to a wonderful tutorial on gateway cards.

My pictures aren't the best this week because I had to use my Iphone rather than my camera. I had misplaced my good camera's digital card and after a day of searching finally realized I had left it at school where I am taking a digital camera workshop. I can get it back on Tuesday. It really is frustrating to be getting so absent minded.

My card is done on a sheet of double sided paper which looks old and faded. I fell in love with it. My closure is a cut with my Circle Spellbinder dies and then using a single thread of floss I wrapped the piece to give it texture. The flower center piece is a punch out that I had in my stash. I used two different embossing folders for the sides of the card and then highlighted the embossing with a little ink.

The inside of the card has a punched arounf the edge piece for writing my message, I haven't decided what kind of card this will be so will wait to add my message. The card is 4 1/2 by 8 1/2/

My gateway card wants to pop open. I used a bone folder to give the sides a good crease and even the added circle doesn't seem to weigh down the card into submission. Perhaps someone can share the secret to making the card lay flat. You can see the texture and the thread wrapped circle. I even used some ribbon. I did try to wrap the ribbon to the back as I had seen others do on the videos, they used tape to hold the ends. When I tried that, my front had a very wiggled ribbon and when I tried to glue it down, the glue made stains on the ribbon...so I covered those up with glitter.

Here is a close up of center. I used a gell pen to outline the flower so that it wasn't so flat.

The is the inside of the card, This area will be used for my message. as you can see my gate fold card wants to close...probably because I have creased it so hard trying to make it lay down flat.

Tag Challenge

2011-02-15T10:57:00.000-08:00

I'm getting braver and decided to enter a Tuesday Tag Challenge at Kart Crazy and the Tag Challenge at Simons Says . I love tags and they seem like the perfect surface to embellish. They don't take long to make, they are fun to share and can be hung on almost anything. They are also fun to collect and share. I used stamps, tissue paper old photos, and my cricut to cut the tag shape.

The front of my Tag.

Back of my Tag.

That blob-ee looking spot on the back seemed to catch the light wrong when I took a picture, here is a close up of that area so that you can see it really isn't blob-ee.

TOO MUCH RED

2011-02-13T17:51:00.000-08:00

I got to participate in two hops this past week...one was a Birthday Hop and the other was Something Sweet Valentine Hop put on by Cooking With Cricut, It was really great to be able to visit blogs and see the projects that they had created. My problem...was that I found myself spending too much time at each blog because I was going back and reading older entries or I was book marking the blogs so that I could follow them. The Something Sweet blog hop had so many ideas for Valentines...I just wish that it had happen earlier so I would have had time to try out some of the great ideas. Since my mind is old a long with the body...was afraid I wouldn't remember so did some screen shot saves and put them in a folder for next year.( Now hopefully, next year I will remember where the folder is.)

This week I am entering my card in two contests. One ia the weekly challenge at Cooking with Cricut, a card made with hearts and flowers. The other, the Cooking with Cricut , was the Something Sweet Challenge that had to do with the Hop this weekend.

My entry this week fit both challenges.

I had a paperdoll stamp that you stamp and then join all the pieces. I used that but did not use brads to join the pieces...just used glue. I colored her in with colored pencils. Her hair is floss that I glued on. Her wings were from another stamp, and of course there is glitter on them. She might look a little naughty rather than sweet in this shot, but she really isn't.....she even has a tail stamp that can turn her into a mermaid.

She is holding a heart that was cut with the Cricut and then backed with felt and then I added a stamp. The heart was cut on a paint chip that I got from Home Depot. Her fabric flower wascut on the Cricut also, and then was roughed up around the edges with sandpaper, (not sure my Cricut likes fabric) and then I used a pop dot to make it stand away from the card. If you click on any of the pictures you should be able to get a close up of the details.

The SHADOW Challenge

2011-02-04T14:08:00.000-08:00

This week's challenge at Cooking With Cricut was to create either a page layout or a card that contained a shadow. I used my Splish Splash Cartridge and chose the octopus to do as my main focus. I figured that with eight legs to choose from I certainly could create a shadow with those legs. After playing around I just cut a dark blue extra layer for the shadow using the Cricut. My backgrounds are cardstock and a scrapbook page, since I picked them out of a "On Sale" bin at Michael's I do not know who designed them. My stamp is From the Heart. I had to add glitter and a couple of jewels for his eyes.

Here is another shot that shows the whole card with the borders along with the matching envelope.

Here is a close up of my envelope corner.

I really had fun with this challenge and I am enjoying all of the other card makers blogs. I am learning so much and also finding out that there are lots of "toys" out there that I want!!!

New Blog for a New Purpose

2011-02-02T14:26:00.000-08:00

I decided to start a new blog to keep my two art forms separate. This way those that are into scrapbooking and all that goes with it will not have to wade through my fiber art ramblings.