Cupcake Gift Card Holders

This week's challenge at My Craft Spot is "Gift Card Holders".  I haven't been in my craft room for almost two weeks so it was nice to pull out my papers and glue and get to work!  In fact, I was having so much fun that I made two gift card holders!

I used Doodlecharms for the cupcake image (using the shadow feature) and removed the candle at the top.  I inked everything and ran the bottom through my crimper.  The top was embossed with D'Vine Swirls.  I also cut an image in white (non-shadow) to go inside the card.

For the top of my cupcakes, I added little doilies made with My Craft Spot's Tiny Doilies metal dies, stamping them with a sentiment from the Stampin' Around Spring set.  Using both sizes of the Small Alphabet metal dies, I created a little flower for the middle of each, topping them with a coloured pearl.  I created the blue card first and had really wished I'd popped the doily on it so did that on the pink card.

Inside, I stamped each card with the "Sweet birthday wishes" sentiment from My Craft Spot's Birthday Wishes. When I affixed the cupcake wrapper, I adhered around the sides and bottom only, creating a little pocket just perfect for a gift card!  I finished everything off with Sky Blue and Raspberry Truffle crinkle ribbon (from My Craft Spot) and three more pearls on the left of the "icing".  

Please head over to My Craft Spot to see the other wonderful gift card holders!  I won't be in my craft room for a while as we are heading out for a camping trip for a few days this week - and will be doing the same for the next few weeks!  I'm looking forward to spending time outdoors with my family.

14

Personalizing with My Craft Spot Small Alphabet Dies

Today I am showcasing an incredibly easy project over at My Craft Spot and am sharing it here on my blog as well.  Using the new Small Alphabet metal dies, I ran the letters of my name and the small and large butterflies through my Cuttlebug with Cricut vinyl.  I then adhered the vinyl to my iPad mini and voilà, it was personalized!

Here's a close-up of the vinyl as well as the Small Alphabet metal dies that I used for this project.  (They are upside down/backwards to show you the cutting edges.  My Craft Spot dies cut with a clean, smooth edge every time.)  It took only minutes to complete my project - and now I've got a personalized iPad with a bit of a feminine flair to it.

For those of you with young children, the Small Alphabet metal dies are a must for labelling.  Instead of buying stickers, you can use the dies to create as many labels as you like - and never run out of a particular letter (or be left with letters you do not need).  I have also labelled a number of my youngest son's items, including his electronic gadgets.  So far, the Cricut vinyl I have used has stood the test and stays put!

Check out the My Craft Spot Gallery for more ideas using the Small Alphabet metal dies.  Have a wonderful day!

13

Christmas in July

It's Christmas in July at My Craft Spot!  I have to admit that I am totally and completely in summer mode so really struggled to get into the Christmas spirit for this week's challenge.  Having spent the past three summers working on my Masters degree, it's an absolute delight to have this time off!!  Anyway, I always enjoy using Jolly Holidays so finally decided on a fun Santa card.  As I was designing it, my husband came into my craft room with a little Joseph.  I'll explain:

I collect nativity sets.  Last Christmas, I got a tiny little set with figurines no more than one inch high.  I was worried about the cats and the little pieces, so I put this particular set on the top of a bookshelf.  Apparently, that didn't seem to bother our mischievous black cat and she somehow managed to climb to the top and knock off the majority of the set.  We found all the pieces except for Joseph.  Quite disappointed, I substituted a shepherd in Joseph's place, praying I wouldn't be zapped by a lightening bolt for making Mary something that she's not!!  Anyway, as I was designing my Santa card, my husband found Joseph!!  I felt it was a sign from above that I needed the focus of my card to be on the real story of Christmas so changed direction altogether. 

I used Inspired Heart for the nativity silhouette, cutting the top layer from a beautiful musical score paper from Recollections "The Ballet".  I used this same paper for the mat.  The gorgeous silver doily was created with the 4" Lacy Doily metal die from My Craft Spot.  I used George and Basic Shapes for the frame and added some silver photo corners cut from an EK Success punch.  

After inking my layers, I assembled the card, popping the silhouette for some added dimension.

I finished things off with a double bow created using some luscious Cranberry crinkle ribbon from My Craft Spot.  I topped this with a tag cut with the My Craft Spot Tiny Tags metal dies and stamped with a sentiment from the My Craft Spot Mistletoe sentiment stamp set.  Finally, another double bow was added with some silver thread looped through a silver eyelet.  (I'm a bit disappointed with the photos.  The metallic silver cardstock that I used simply refused to cooperate during its photo shoot.  This card really does look quite pretty in real life!)

Please head over to My Craft Spot to see the rest of the fabulous projects created by my talented design team sisters!!  You have a week to link up your project for a chance to win this week's prize.

I am also going to link up my card at Exploring Cricut and Crafting When We Can as they are also having Christmas in July challenges.  I also discovered that Cut It Up is having a Christmas in July challenge as well - AND they are giving away a My Craft Spot Merry Christmas stamp set as a prize!!  What a great opportunity for everybody to take part in a few challenges this week - and get a head start on Christmas!! 

15

Little Cards for Camp

I'm so pleased to be sharing today's project over at My Craft Spot today.  Last week, my youngest was off at camp and I had such fun creating these little cards for him so he could have a little bit of love from home each day!

Each of these cards was made using Create a Critter - for the card base and the critters themselves.  I used a Darice embossing folder for the clouds and a Fiskars punch for the grass.  The snow border and flakes on the penguin card were made with a Martha Stewart punch.  All sentiments are from My Craft Spot. 

I used Alphalicious to create envelopes for each of the 3x3 cards.  Each one has a stamp punched with the My Craft Spot Postage Stamps metal dies and stamped with a variety of stamps from the My Craft Spot Postage Stamps stamp set.  The border, images, flourishes, sentiments and cancellation stamps are all from this set. I had so much fun adding a little something extra to each of the envelopes!

For the horse card, I used a sentiment from the NEW Down on the Farm set.  (The sentiment is actually "HAY there neighbor" but I just used a portion of it for my card.)

For my sheep card, the "Love EWE" sentiment is from Cute Critters. I also added a bit of embossing to my little sheep.

The "Have a Beary happy day!" sentiment is from the NEW Tiny Tags 3 set.  These sentiments coordinate perfectly with the My Craft Spot Tiny Tags metal dies.

I realize that the penguin card is a bit different from the others in this set I've created, but my little guy LOVES penguins - so I couldn't resist!  I created the "You're cool!" sentiment by combining two stamps from Build a Valentine.

The fun sentiment on this squirrel card is from the NEW Tasty Treats set.  I also used some Cuttlebug embossing folders on the acorn and stamped the face with a Peachy Keen stamp.  I originally had another squirrel on this card but the face looked terrifying!!  A quick return to the Cricut to cut another squirrel and a Peachy Keen makeover seemed to do the trick!

Finally, the sentiment on this fun cow card is from the Cute Critters set. (My husband liked this one the best when I showed him the set.)

Thanks for popping by!  Have a wonderful day!

16

Clean and Simple Summer Card

I had some free time this morning so spent it in my craft room - with two challenges in mind.  My dear friend, Rhonda of Scrap Happens with Rhonda, is having a summer challenge.  Another sweet friend of mine, Bobby from Bits and Pieces, is forever creating the most fabulous clean and simple cards.  Earlier today, I saw her project for CAS-ual Fridays and wanted to enter this week's Hunger Games challenge - as we're all fans of Hunger Games here.  Well, it would seem that I have great difficult with clean and simple projects as I look at my card and think it needs more - lots more!! For clean and simple though, I'm happy with it!

I used Stampin' Up for my ink, cardstock and spinner arrow.  The circles around the arrow are from My Craft Spot's Lacy Banners metal dies.  The little banners are from the NEW My Craft Spot Tiny Banners and Topper metal dies set.  The sentiment is from My Craft Spot's Tiny Tags stamp set and the little images (flip flops, Adirondack chair and heart) are from the NEW Stampin' Around Summer set from My Craft Spot.

12

Card for the Crossing Guard

Welcome friends!  I'm delighted to be showcasing a project at My Craft Spot today.  As those of you who have been following my blog for a while know, each Christmas and end-of-year, I make a special card for my son's crossing guard.  School ended last week, and this is the card my little guy gave to our favourite crossing guard!

I had such fun making this one!  I used Just Because Cards for the popsicle cuts and Going Places for the STOP sign.  The little hat on my green popsicle is from Everyday Paper Dolls.  I used a letter "k" from the new My Craft Spot Small Alphabet metal dies for the cap, as my son's school name begins with K.  (I did cut off part of the letter to make the hat look a bit more realistic - at least as realistic as I could for a smiling popsicle wearing a ball cap!!) I used the same metal dies to create the little flower for the purple popsicle, layering the two sizes available on the set and adding a little gem to the middle. The orange popsicle has a bowtie made of Lemon Tart baker's twine (available from My Craft Spot) too.

Each face was stamped with a Peachy Keen stamp and chalk was used for the rosy cheeks.  I also added some faux stitching around the card and around each popsicle (including the imposter STOP sign!) with a white gelly roll pen.  Freckles were added too!

I finished things off with a little sentiment label created by combining "You're" and "cool!" - two stamps from My Craft Spot's Build a Valentine stamp set.  I also added a little brad from my stash and layered a little gem in the middle for a bit of extra sparkle.

*I am also going to link up this card for this week's Peach Keen Challenge: Anything Goes.

16

Happy Canada Day & MCS Blog Hop Winner

Happy Canada Day!!

Thanks to all of you who took part in the My Craft Spot Release Party Blog Hop and left me such wonderful comments.  I enjoyed reading each and every one!  After a visit to Random.org, I'm excited to announce that the winner of the NEW Tasty Treats stamp set is #29 - Sukie of Scrappin Dhilly.  Congratulations Sukie!!  Please send me an email with your contact information so we can get your new stamps out to you.  You have two weeks to claim your prize.
smallbitsofpaper @ hotmail . com [remove spaces]

3