Pagoda Passion Card

I made this for our dear friends' daughter's birthday. It's amazing, we've known her since before she was born and now she is 19 and engaged! She likes oriental deco and I think she even has a kimono hanging on one of the walls in her room. I figured the Pagoda Passion cart would have perfect images to make a card for her. Hope she likes it.
Heres what I used: PC Pagoda Passion cartridge
DCVW, SU Ruby Red and Creamy Caramel papers
Cuttlebug embossing folder, Forest Branches
SU Classic ink, Ruby Red
Martha Stewart glitter marker, red
Recollections rhinestones
Offray ribbon, Sheerly Yours
Well, I goofed. While I was posting this I realized I used the wrong Kanji. I meant to use the one for "celebrate" but instead used "believe". I haven't written anything inside yet, so I'll just make this work!

It's been a busy December

Well, the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas just flew by for my family, as I'm sure it did for all of you. In addition to getting ready for Christmas, we also had my granddaughter's birthday celebration. She turned one on 12/16. It was so much fun, and she actually started walking at her party!
This year, my mother in law decided to pay us a visit, and my house is in no shape for company. It seems we always have some project we are trying to finish up around here. So, besides Christmas and birthday I also had to get our guest room put together. She arrived on Christmas Eve and it's been nice. She's enjoying seeing her great grandchildren!
Just after Thanksgiving, I tried to get a picture of my adorable grandkids to send out in our cards. It did not go well :)
We started out like this... Doesn't Carter look thrilled?
And ended up here. Don't worry, Gigi isn't hurt or anything. She just didn't want to be sitting there with her cousin!
Oh well, maybe next year. Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!
Maria

Happy Birthday Felix!

My son in law celebrated his birthday yesterday. We went out to dinner with them on Saturday to one of his favorite BBQ restaurants. He loves the transformers, but I don't have a stamp or cut for that, so I made this robot card instead. I'm so happy because it actually came out the way I pictured it. That doesn't seem to happen very often! You can't tell in the pic, but the embossed piece is a silver metallic paper. It looks really cool in person.
Technique Tuesday, Rocket Man Stamp Set
Stampendous (I think) sentiment
Cuttlebug embossing folder, Diamond Plate
Clear Tops embossing powder, Opal Silver Lining
Prisma color pencils
Silver Metallic paper from WalMart
Don't know who makes the blue paper, it was a piece left over from another project.
Thanks for stopping by and have a Happy and safe Thanksgiving!
Maria

My first challenge card

So I decided to try this week's challenge for the Cuttlebug Spot. The challenge this week was to use fruit and I immediately thought of this Just Rite Autumn Blessings stamp. The image was stamped twice and the center of one was colored with Prisma colored pencils. This was cut out using a small classic oval Nestability. Then the entire image with the border was cut using the next larger die. A scalloped oval Nestability was used for the brown mat. The red background was embossed with the Cuttlebug Leafy Branch folder and the corners were cut with the lg corner rounder punch from Hobby Lobby. The tiny pearls are from Recollections (don't look too close or you'll see where I moved them around!) The ribbon is from Offray. The apples were covered with Glossy Accents, but I don't think that shows too much in the picture.
Thanks for stopping by,
Maria

New blog title and some cards

First of all, in case you didn't notice, I changed my blog name. I think this one suits me better. Now I'm going to try to convince my son to design a cute header for me. I've hinted to him, but I think I'm just going to have to come out and ask for it!

Anyway here are some cards I made recently:

This one is for my mother in law. The flower stamp is from Unity's Oct. stamp kit of the month. The stamp was colored with Copic markers, which I am still an absolute beginner at, then cut with a classic oval Nestability. The printed paper is from K and Co. and the bottom was punched with the SU Eyelet Border punch. This punch was also used on a piece of white paper, which was placed under the printed paper. The happy birthday stamp is from Fiskars and was stamped with SU chocolate chip ink and then embossed with clear embossing powder. The rhinestones are Studio 18, from the $1 bin at Michael's. The ribbon is from Offray and the corner accents were done with a white Jelly Roll pen.
This next one is my mom's, who turned 84 yesterday!

This is actually the first card I've made using the Gypsy. The background is cut from Gypsy wanderings and the paper is K and Co. The flower pot and flower are from Pooh and Friends. The flower was cut 3 times and layered with foam tape. The pot was embossed using the Cuttlebug Tiny Mosaic Texture folder. The ribbon is actually a piece of white ribbon that was colored with a Copic marker. I don't know who makes the little butterfly, but it too was colored with a Copic marker. Here's a close up of the flower:
That's a lot of info for one post! Hope you enjoy them. Next I'll show you what I've been working on.
Thanks, Maria

Advent Calendar

I got the idea for this after seeing one in a Paper Crafts Magazine that was made using coin holders. I saw it and immediately thought of the SU treat cups. It took me a few days to finish, but I'm happy with the result. The main section with the holes was created in the Cricut Design Studio. I made the holes a little smaller than the treat cups opening and then had to do a little math and finagling to get them all to line up correctly. This was cut in the red card stock and a heavier paper (I used the back of one of my paper pads.) The charm feature on the George and Basic Shapes cart was used to make the doors (also cut out of heavier paper). Several different Christmas papers were cut with the SU 1 3/4" circle punch and used to cover the doors. After decorating them with all kinds of Christmas images including some Cricut cuts, Cuttlebug, various stamps, buttons, brads, and ribbons, they were attached to the calendar with small white brads. The treat cups were attached to the back. An eyelet was place in each of the top corners then wire was looped through these. Various ribbons were tied to the wire.
To make it a little more fun, I added some red circle cuts that were stamped with a variety of cute Peachy Keen faces to the inside of the treat cups.

A couple of the doors open, you can kind of see the PK faces.

The pic below is just a close up of some of the doors.

A side shot showing the Treat Cups

Here's Carter checking out the back. I think he likes it!

This was a lot of fun to create. I've got to make another now, so I can give one to both of my daughters. Don't know what I'll fill them up with either, but that will be fun to figure out too!
Thanks for stopping by,
Maria

Halloween Boxes

I didn't realize how long it's been since I last posted. Here's just one of the things I've been working on. The boxes were created by Joy at Christmas with the Cricut. She shared a cut.file to use with Design Studio. I'm going to fill them with treats and give them to the girls and their hubbies. I've got some more things to share including a bigger project I'm working on using the SU treat cups.
Thanks for stopping by!
Maria

Cricut Design Studio cut.file for box
Cricut Stretch Your Imagination cart
Studio G stamps
Best Design Inc paper
Stickles