Be My Valentine

Here's a simple card for Valentine's day. I used Wild Card cartridge for the card base, Gypsy Wanderings for the scalloped circle and hearts and silhouette cut from A Child's Year. I used pink Stickles to accent the scallops of the card and the top heart.

Short and sweet, and simple! That's how I like my cards! I hope you liked today's feature.

I'm still struggling with my creativity....but I think the more I work at it, the stronger my "mojo" will become! I truly believe Creativity is a muscle....the more you use it, the stronger it gets!

Have a great Monday! Thanks for stopping by.

Koala-t hugs,

Cathy

Its Never Too Early to Start Being Creative

Today, I'll be posting someone else's work. My granddaughter turned 5 years old last week and for her birthday, she received a Hello Kitty Scrapbook kit from her Uncle Dave (my son). Kayla was very excited about it and was anxious to come to Nonnie's house (me) to work on it with her. The girls came to visit me today and after lunch, Kayla and I sat down to do her first page. We looked through the photos from her birthday party and of all the photos she could choose from, she picked one of her with her sister, Kerri. Kayla is wearing her Barbie dress up dress she received as a gift. Kerri wanted to dress up too, and is wearing her Snow White dress.

I showed a little to Kayla how to put the glue on the back of the photo, but everything after that, she did. She cut trim with the decorative edge scissors and glued it on the page, chose the stickers, the borders even the flowers (I had to show her how to use glue dots) She tried to use the glue stick to put the layout on the page in the book, but it didn't stick very well. I showed her double stick tape and we put the page in the book. She took the little gel pen that came with the set (she seemed determined to use a little bit of everything that came in the kit) and drew little pictures on the side borders - the one on the left side of the photo is her Mom!. She's still learning to write, so I wrote out the numbers for her to write the date on the page.

We had so much fun working on this layout together. I'm also so very proud of her first page! Hopefully, it will be the first of many layouts and creative projects we will work on together!

Thanks for letting me share!

Koala-t hugs,

Cathy

Trying My Hand at Cutting Vinyl Again

I've only tried vinyl once, so I thought I'd give it another try. Last weekend was my granddaughter's 5th birthday. I wanted to make something different for her.

I had a plain wooden box (which, by the way, was made by her father). I painted it with pink acrylic paint. I used brown vinyl and cut flourishes from Cricut Storybook cartridge and cut my granddaughter's name using Jasmine. I applied the vinyl to the box and was surprised how well it went on the box and how well it stuck. I was a bit concerned that it might peel up in time (or that little fingers might be curious about it) so I put two coats of an acrylic varnish to seal it.

My granddaughter loved it and she's already got it filled with her bracelets and necklaces!

I liked the way this came out so much, I just might make something for myself!

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great day!

Koala-t hugs,

Cathy

Family

Here's another page for my All About Me book. I always liked these photos. A professional photographer came to our house to take these photos. I was about 4 years old and I'm with my two brothers and my sister, either late 1957 or early 1958 (unfortunately the photo was not dated) and it was taken before the three youngest of my siblings were born.

Background paper is from the Rustic stack from DCWV. Photo mats are edged using Martha Stewart border punch.

This is a close up of a grunge paper rose I made, layered with two layers of Petaloo flowers.

The word "family" was cut on the Cricut, using Home Accent cartridge

Thanks for stopping by!

Koala-t hugs,

Cathy

Early Start on Valentines

I've gotten an early start making valentine cards this year. Here is the first to show.

A couple weeks ago, I received the Valentine themed Cuttlebug folders. I really love embossing papers for all my work, it really adds something unique to a card or layout.

The card is 5 x 7 in size. I used the Cuttlebug conversation hearts folder for this one, using white paper, and I colored the hearts in different colors using chalk. It was a bit easier and gave it a softer look using a cotton swab. This design is framed with scraps! Yes, I had cut out two different sized and colored scalloped hearts and when I saw the scrap, I realized I could use that too. The background of the card is embossed using a Sizzix embossing folder, used my brayer and red Tim Holtz Distressed Ink to color just the dots (boy, that brayer worked GREAT! I've always made a mess inking embossed images) The flower border at the bottom of the card was cut using my Gypsy Wanderings cartridge, my Gypsy and Expression. I added tiny pearls to the centers of the flowers.

I've got more Valentine cards to show and will be posting them over the next week or so.

Hope you survived Monday, thanks for stopping by!

Koala-t hugs,

Cathy

A (cold) Day at the Beach

I completed another layout for my "All About Me" book. Its taking me a long time, but I don't get to do scrapbooking all year 'round. I hope to get lots more pages completed before I start making things to sell at our craft fairs this year.

These pictures in the layout were taken at the beach. My mom tells me it was too cold for the beach, but they had planned it and Dad said "we're going". We probably took the bus to Montrose Beach in Chicago (we lived in the city and didn't have a car).

Using my Cricut Expression, I cut the sun out using Pooh and Friends cartridge, the clouds were cut using EveryDay Paper Dolls and outlined with gray Copic marker. Title was cut using Pooh Font (COLD) Jasmine (A, DAY, THE) and Opposites Attract (BEACH). Pail was cut using Joy of the Season (its the "Maids a Milking" pail with the legs cut off), beach ball and shovel from Everyday PaperDolls, all colored with Copic markers. Sand was created using Tim Holtz Distressing Ink.

Inspite of it being a cold day, it looks like we had a fun time!

Thanks for stopping by. Please leave a comment, I love reading your comments!

We're coming up on the last weekend of January. The month since Christmas passed quickly, but the sooner January is over, the closer we get to SPRING!!!

Koala-t hugs,

Cathy

Happy BIrthday Kayla!

Thursday was my granddaughter's 5th birthday and today, I attended her party. I can't believe how the 5 years passed so quickly!

I made 2 cards for her (one from me and one for my mom to give her).

THe first one is Snow White, from Happily Ever After Cricut Cartridge. I cut "Happy Birthday" from the Gypsy Wanderings cartridge and Princess was cut using Gypsy Font. The blue border was edged using Martha Stewart border punch and flowers are Petaloo Glitter flowers.

This next card was the one I gave to her. I created it using my Gypsy, welded the 5 from Don Juan to a rectangle making the card 5 x 7. Letters cut using Mickey Font, paper on front is DCWV Pocket Full of Posies stack. Inside paper from K & Company.

We had a fun time at Kayla's party and she was very excited opening each gift she received.

With all the news coming out of CHA of new products for the Crafter to expect in the coming month, its energized my creativity! I want to make sure I use up what I have so I can purchase some of the new products that will be coming out!

Have a wonderful evening!

Koala-t hugs,

Cathy

Love and Laughter

Ok, so I've been absent in posting on my blog. I have been busy though. I've been making cards and layouts and have enough to keep posting for awhile. I am going to make a very serious effort to post every day

Today, I'm featuring a card I created for my brother's birthday. He's been a stand up comic for many years and I wanted to make something creative and out of the ordinary.

Remember the Charlie Brown cartoons? He would do something dumb in class and they would all laugh at him and there would be these big HAHA's behind him? Remembering that, is what inspired this card.

Using my Gypsy, I designed this overlay, just using the word "HAHA" in different sizes and fonts to fit the front of a A2 size card. I think it took longer to create than it actually took to cut it out. The red letters popped over the black background. The greeting on the inside was "may your birthday be filled with Laughter and Love". He liked the card!

Well, my Mojo is back, I'm creating again (still a little slow, but still creating) and will be posting projects. My goal is to post something new every day! Wish me luck!

Thanks for stopping by.

Koala-t hugs,

Cathy

Twins!

Here's a card I made for the baby shower. I used Everyday Paperdolls cartridge for the baby carriages, Mickey Font for the word TWINS. For the background, I used one of my new embossing folders from Sizzix. I inked the edges of the white cardstock in pink and blue to match the colors I used.

My son and daughter in law liked the card so much, they asked me to make thank you cards for them.

Its been snowing for the past 24 hours and the temp is going to get very cold again. Great time for me to stay inside and be creative!

Thanks for stopping by!

Koala-t hugs,

Cathy

First Project of 2010

Happy New Year everyone! Having been a creative person for most of my life, I always like to look at photos of the projects I've created in the past year. With 2010 upon us, I hope to challenge and stretch my creative muscle and by doing so, I hope I am able to inspire all that visit my blog.

For my first project of the year, I created a centerpiece and favors cake for my daughter in law's baby shower held today.

Using my Cricut Expression, and the Tags, Bags, Boxes and More cartridge, I cut 20 little cake shaped boxes, using pink and blue paper. My son and his wife are having twins and know its a boy and a girl! I used the Martha Stewart drippy goo border punch for the frosting on the top layer of cake pieces. I cut the babies' names - Jack and Juli and put that on the top of the cake. The Centerpiece was cut with shapes from the Cricut Cartridge New Arrival. The word "twins" was also cut using New Arrival. I attached the shapes to pipe cleaners and I put them into a glass jar (which was nice that its shaped like a vase!)

Wishing you a happy and creative 2010!

Thanks for stopping by!

Koala-t hugs,

Cathy