Birthday Card - and a winner!

While attending a conference some time ago, I won a door prize of a huge basket from Purdy's Chocolates.  (Their chocolates are AMAZING.) On one of the boxes of chocolates in the basket, there was a beautiful bow that I could not bear to throw out.  I kept it, but have never used it until now.  It was PERFECT for this card, and well worth the room it took up while waiting for just the right project!

I made this card for my husband's mother's 80th birthday.  I used a Cuttlebug folder for the embossed candles, which was done using a shimmery white cardstock.  The patterned paper is some loose paper which I bought at Michael's ages ago.  I bought quite a bit of the same paper!  I used my Stampin' Up border punch and then punched the corners with the corner punch from the same set.  I also added a pink pearl in each of the four corners.

I will enter this card at Practical Scrappers, where this week the challenge is to use ribbon, at Alphabet Challenge, where the letter of the week is U - for unused stash, and at the Corrosive Challenges Blog, where we were challenged to use some craft supplies that have had an extended life of unuse!

Fantabulous Cricut Blog Crawl Winner
Thanks again to all who participated in the Fantabulous Crawl Blog Crawl last week.  The winner of the Stampin' Up "It's the Thought" clear stamp set (chosen at random) is DtsArt!  DtsArt, please email me at smallbitsofpaper(at)hotmail(dot)com with your mailing address.  Congratulations!!
(You have until September 29, 2010 to claim your prize.)

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Fantabulous Cricut - Harvest Time

Happy Monday!  First of all, I'd like to welcome all my new followers.  I had such a delightful time with our Fantabulous Cricut Blog Crawl and enjoyed reading each of the comments that was left for me.  I DO have a winner for the blog hop, but I learned over the weekend that we are to announce winners on Wednesday.  My apologies regarding that (as I had noted in my post last week that I would announce them today.)

This week at Fantabulous Cricut, the theme is Harvest Time.  I'm not sure about your area, but it is certainly harvest time here in Ontario, Canada.  The days are getting shorter and much cooler, and the world is becoming a vibrant array of reds, oranges, yellows and browns.  It truly is spectacular.

In Canada, we celebrate Thanksgiving on the second Monday of October, so I decided to make a Thanksgiving card for the harvest theme.  At our family gatherings, we always sing the chorus of "All Good Gifts" as a blessing before eating.  (We sing the old-fashioned hymn version.  I did find an upbeat version, but it just doesn't sound "right"!)  I decided to use this chorus as the sentiment for my card.

I computer-generated the sentiment with WordArt.  I then used a Fiskars corner punch and inked the paper.  The frame and shadow were cut from Winter Frolic.  They are actually tags, but I removed the holes in Design Studio.  I ran the top layer through my Cuttlebug Diamond Plate folder. The cornucopia and much of its contents were cut from Speaking of Fall, but I used Doodlecharms to cut some more apples.  Everything is inked and layered.  I felt the card needed a bit more, so I added some leaves punched with a Martha Stewart punch and added some half-beads as well.

Thanks so much for popping by!  Please join us this week at Fantabulous Cricut with your own take on our Harvest Time theme!

(I'm also entering this card at Paper Sundaes, where the theme this week is to use Fall or Hallowe'en colours.)

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Make It Stop (Headless Snowman) Card

This week is WOW week at Serenity Scrappers.  WOW stands for "Week of Weather".  We have been challenged to create a project reflecting our favourite weather.  I actually did the opposite!

I HATE snow, but one of my dearest friends just loves it.  She has snowflake everything - snowflake towels, snowflake dishes, snowflake utensils, snowflake socks that she wears year-round, etc., etc.!  Whenever it snows, we blame her - and she's always swamped with "angry" calls during the first snowfall of the year.  I decided to make her a "threatening" card to drop at her house when the snow starts to fall this year.  I know she'll get a huge kick out of this. 

I used Winter Frolic for the snowman and all his accessories, which I glittered.  I used Design Studio to turn his smile into a frown.  The snowy mountains were cut with Zooballoo and run through the Cuttlebug, using a snow folder and a little butterfly folder (using only the little dots for the peaks).  The tree was cut from Christmas Cheer and I computer generated the sentiment.  I also added some little beads.

And now for the inside...

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Happy First Birthday Card

I haven't entered a challenge in ages and decided to do just that today.  I took the day off and did lots of crafting - some ATCs and some cards.  My nephew is turning one soon (I can't believe it!) and I wanted to make him a card.  Emma from My Creative Time also has a challenge out to use an older cartridge for a card (or layout).  I was playing around in Design Studio, looking at various modes of transportation and as soon as I saw the train on New Arrival, I knew that was exactly what I wanted to use!

I cut the train at 2 1/2 inches - cutting various layers in different colours.  I used Plantin Schoolbook for the number one, but manipulated it a bit in Design Studio to get the size I wanted.  I also used George and Basic Shapes to recreate the wheels - and created wheels for the shadow of the number one as well.

Yesterday, I learned of a great tip for making glitter paste from Linda at The Paper Boutique.  You can watch her video tutorial here.  In fact, she's got a number of great tutorials on her YouTube channel.  I followed her directions for glitter paste and used it for the number one.  I also added regular glitter glue to some other aspects of the train. 

I used an EK Success border punch for the grass (which I then ran through my Cuttlebug) and another EK Success punch for the photo corners.  Yet another EK Success punch was used for the little cupcakes which I placed on the train's cars.  I also used a Sizzix embossing folder on the two cars.  I felt that the engine needed something more, so I used a bit of matching cardstock, cut it to size, glittered it, and then glued it on.  Lots of the card's parts are popped too.

(By the way, if you have not yet participated in the Fantabulous Cricut Button Up for School Blog Crawl, there is still time!  I'm giving away a Stampin' Up Stamp Set on my post, so be sure to enter if you haven't already.  You have until Saturday night at midnight.)

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Fantabulous Cricut Crawl: Button Up for School

Welcome to Small Bits of Paper and the second "Fantabulous Cricut Crawl"...Fantabulous Cricut's version of a blog hop!

If you've come from visiting Leigh at My Scrappy Journey, you're in the right place! If you've just happened across my blog and would like to play along with our Fantabulous Cricut Crawl, start HERE.

In honour of Back To School time, we're calling our second Fantabulous Cricut Crawl "Button Up For School".  Each design team member will be featuring a button somewhere on her project.

Each design team member will be showcasing an original project which will feature a button AND a Cricut cut somewhere on the project. Make sure to check out each DT member's blog for some awesome inspiration! There will be prizes along the way at our DT members' blogs too, AND there will be a grand prize up for grabs at FCCB for one participant that submits a project meeting the the "Button Up For School" challenge criteria!  How fun is that?

I love to hide little treats in the lunchboxes of my loved ones (kids and husband alike)!  Last Tuesday was the first day of school for my crew, so I did a bit of baking for them, and decided to make things extra special by creating small "back to school" bags in which to place the treats.  For this project, I used Tags, Bags, Boxes and More to cut little bags using paper from DCWV's Spring Stack (even though back to school symbolizes the end of summer/beginning of fall).  The books and apple are an image that I cut from Hello Kitty Greetings using different colours of cardstock.  I then handcut an initial for each family member using scraps from the creation of the bag.  I placed a coordinating button above the initial and added some ribbon to the bag.  Everybody was thrilled to find their surprises at lunch!

I'll be offering a prize here on my blog.  All you have to do is leave a comment for this post!  If you are a follower, please leave a SECOND comment for an extra entry.  You have until Saturday evening at midnight (Eastern) to enter.  I will post the winner's name on next week's Fantabulous Cricut challenge post (Monday).

What am I offering?  I am offering an It's the Thought stamp set from Stampin' Up, which I received from my wonderful demonstrator, Mandy.  If you are in Canada, Mandy can help you with all your Stampin' Up needs (and believe me, she's fantastic).  Check out her blog at Kids' Collage. 

Now it's your turn! See if you can incorporate a button on your own "Button Up For School" project. Make sure to include a Cricut cut somewhere on your project!

Next stop... Joyce's blog, Passion for Paper. Go and see what she has in store for you today... And when you're done, make sure to link up your project to FCCB's Fantabulous Cricut Crawl post to be entered into the contest!

Happy Crawling!

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Fantabulous Cricut - Labour Day Challenge

Happy Labour Day!  I trust you are all enjoying a wonderful day off.  Here in Ontario, school starts up again tomorrow.  I hate that summer is over, but we've had such a good one with lots of family time.  Precious memories!

(Just an aside... In Canada, we love the letter "u"!  We use it in word's like labour, colour, honour, valour, savour, favour, etc.)

My sister recently had surgery to have part of her thyroid removed.  Thankfully, surgery went well and the cysts were benign.  She is recovering nicely.  For her post-op appointment, she asked me to make a card for the surgeon.  I thought this fit perfectly with our FCCB Labour Day Challenge!  Rachel sent me a picture of her surgeon, and I did my best to create a paper doll version of him.  Most of the images (including the hospital) were cut from Everyday Paper Dolls, but the hair and glasses were cut from Paper Doll Dress up and the grass was cut from Zooballoo.  I did have to trim the hair a bit!  I hand wrote Hospital, which was a big deal for me as I hate to hand write on my creations - plus, my dominant right arm is recovering from injury so my fine motor skills are causing me more grief than usual these days!

Come and join the fun at FCCB!  Your labour day creation can have anything to do with work - a particular job, a retirement, promotion, vacation from work, etc.  Just remember to create a new project and use your Cricut!

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Card Swap - Sympathy

I was asked to join my first card swap on the Cricut Message Board.  There were a variety of different themes, and I chose sympathy.  I always have such a difficult time creating sympathy cards and am looking forward to some inspiration from the others in my group when I receive my set next month.

I used cream and black cardstock to create the card.  The card itself is A2, as per the group instructions.  I cut a mat with the same cardstock, and embossed the top portion.  I scored two lines, and then left the bottom un-embossed.  I put a black ribbon around the mat, between the two score lines.  The flower was cut from Home Decor.  I did the shadow in black and used the same cream cardstock for the top layer, embossing it with the same Cuttlebug folder used for the mat.  I computer generated the sentiment and punched it with a Stampin' Up punch.  The shadow punch is also Stampin' Up.  I popped the flower and the sentiment and also added a couple of gems.  Then I did it again, and again, and again...!!

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