2014 Calendar - May

May, 2014

May for Mother's Day, of course - and they always say, 'April showers bring May flowers!'  I keep wanting to use that quote.  Maybe next year.

I like using a single flower as an accent, and the rhinestone flowers I collected throughout the year - as I do for many of the little touches on the calendars.

May is pretty special in our family.  3 birthdays, Mother's Day, and Memorial Day - it gets very busy, but always lots of fun!

Commissioned Project - Signature Book

A little over a month ago, one of my colleagues came to me about putting together a signature book for one of our very special teachers who was chosen as our Teacher of the Year!

I work with some of her students, have been in some meetings with her and know exactly how fantastic she is!  SO.....  after my normal amount of 'thinking time' for a big project like this, and one false start, this is what I came up with.

The main theme is Spring and along the way  incorporated some of her personal likes/activities.   My Cricut got a good work-out on this project.  Almost every page has Cricut cuts, lettering, and lots of goodies.

 On the front cover I used my Cuttlebug quilled flowers with some lettering from the Plantin Schoolbook cart and lots of inking and Stickles!  If you look closely, you should see the 'fade' inking with 3 shads of pinks.

 I discovered that she is crazy for OSU, and you'll see it incorporated around the book.  The inside cover will be used as a dedication page from the staff.

 Here's another variation on the spring theme with Stampin' Up flower trim, Cricut cuts, and a flower border I found at HL.
*As I was working on the project, I sent out an email to my colleagues looking for some words they would use to describe her and incorporated them into the pages, either cut with different Cricut fonts or stamped and added to the pages.

 These two pages include Stampin' Up doilies I inked and a stamp set with the framelits dies to cut the words.  The Iris stamp comes from another company using the tole technique of layering.  I stamped 5 of these, colored and layered them.

 Here you see another one of the descriptive words from colleagues, a flower border, and a Cottage Cutz die I bought in Tennessee when we were traveling.  I also layered this one, inked, and used the Stickles!

 This page was originally going to be butterflies, bees, and ladybugs, but it seemed WAY too busy, so this is what I came up with.  LOVE these bees!  So pretty!

 Just an OSU page!

 Here we have yellow daisies with blingy centers, white doilies, one of those adjectives, and a fork bow!

 Our campus has a sister school in China with which we have visit exchanges!  Every year they bring students here in October, and we take a group of students in early May.  She's been lucky enough to go to China with this project and will go again, I'm sure!!

This is the last page of the book....  she and her husband are travelers!   Found that out at one of the meetings, and I just had to include it since we are big travelers as well.  AND of course, some more OSU.

I hope you've enjoyed my take on a signature book.... a very specialized signature book!

Cricut Cartridges used:  1.  Walk in My Garden, 2.  Plantin Schoolbook, 3.  Lyrical Letters, 4. Calligraphy Collection, 5.  Pagoda, 6.  Sentimentals
All ink:  Stampin' Up.

2013 CD Case Calendars - March/April

 The next two months bring March and April.

This year, March is quite a busy month as Easter comes VERY early!  Easter this year is on the last day of March!

 The flowerpot is embossed with a wood grain folder, then inked.  The bleeding heart flowers probably grow all the same color on a plant, but I really liked the idea of the 3 colors.  They are cut from one of my oldest and most favorite Cricut Cartridge, Walk in My Garden.

Hello ladybug!  Do you see him there?  I know my friend Melissa will love it!

 April is traditionally where Easter falls, and I purchased this stamp while traveling over Spring Break.  Those bunnies are so adorable!  They are water-colored with my Stampin' Up Watercolor crayons, and I added some diamond Stickles to give the bunnies some sparkle. 




Please leave a comment. Thanks so much!

2012 CD Case Calendars - My Annual Project/Gifts

Here are the next 3 months for the 2012 calendars.

I like to use the small Studio G stamps I got a few years ago to highlight the holidays in each month.

I also used the Ultimate Crafter's Companion to make the double bows on the April calendar, and Mom used it to tie the bows we put on the June calendar.



I really LOVE the Walk in My Garden cart. I use it so often and love the larger flowers as a single focus.


Here we used vellum to cut the flower pieces and stickles to highlight the flower center.


I am posting the next 3 months this afternoon!

Your comments are always appreciated!

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Birthday Cards and more...

Happy Birthday Mom!!!
Yes, a little late, but I will be seeing her soon, so I told her she had to wait for her cards... but it will be well-worth her waiting!! :)

The inspiration for this card came again from Jeannie Phillips. She's an amazing card designer from Alabama - and had some beautiful card designs on her blog.
All the background papers and cardstock are from Stampin' Up. I do love the Martha Stewart punch that makes grass!! Perfect for a flower pot base. :) The flower cut is from Walk in My Garden.



Stampin' Up has come with some new (AWESOME) punches!!! The center flowers here are from the Triple Blossom Punch. I used Daffodil Delight and Concord Crush for my colors... I do love purple and yellow together!! The ribbon is also 5/8" satin in Daffodil Delight. Rhinestones seemed the perfect addition for the flower centers.



Your comments are always appreciated!

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Set of Commissioned Cards... Graduation, Thank You's

So what do you do when your nephew is graduating, your husband requests a graduation card, and the school colors are brown and white?? BROWN AND WHITE!!! Who has such colors as school colors!!!!
After some serious thought, this is what I came up with... simple, because it's for our nephew... and in brown and white.
It's a pretty straightforward card, except I used a bookmark tassel I'd purchased for making bookmarks, cut it down, and popped two circles to hold the tassel. I also added two rhinestones to the front for some interest.


here's the inside view of the card.


This is another requested card from our librarian at school. She needed one for someone who was quite artistic. I loved this layered look so much! I used Pacific Point, Black and Vanilla carstock for this card... Pacific Point ink, and the Elements of Style stamp set.


I saw this card on Jeannie Phillips website a LONG time ago... and always loved it!! I needed a card for a horticulturalist, and thought this would be perfect. I used the first cut from the Walk in My Garden Cricut Cart to cut the daisies - making many, many layers. The one daisy in the inside is a little darker yellow cardstock. All pieces are matted and inked with Early Espresso and Black. The leaves are inked in Wild Wasabi and Early Espresso.

I'm not so sure I want to give this one away... it's really something in person!!


Here's the interior view... you can see a little of the flower inside as well as the identical matting from the front. Gotta LOVE the ladybugs crawling on the leaves!


Your comments are always appreciated!

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A Year of Cards - Plus

This is the set of cards (minus one) that will be in the Stationery Boxes I'm presenting at the Craft Fair for sale. It includes all the major holidays (in my opinion), 2 birthday cards, and a sympathy card. Some of the cards have little extras: cut-out areas, stamped coordinated envelopes, and ribbon accents. A few of the cards are blank inside for you to write your own messages, and some have sentiments already included.

The plus for this Year of Cards included in the Stationery Boxes are coordinating gift tags, and thank you cards as well as a place for notes, stamp storage, and pen storage.

I think the Thanksgiving, Christmas, and the Mother's Day card with the tulips and butterfly are my favorites.

Please enjoy!!

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Mom's Birthday Card

Mom LOVES flowers, and always has her garden full of them... so in addition to getting flower cards for Mother's Day, she also gets one for her Birthday. Plus, her very favorite flower of all is the orchid!!

I cut 3 sets, and used the one that didn't fit on the outside for the inside of the card. It actually worked quite well... one of those happy accidents!

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Stationery Box Set for Mom's Birthday!

When I made my sister's birthday gift (a stationery box set), Mom requested one for her birthday too..... so here it is!! The colors are different for this theme, but worked so well with the sunflowers and brown and yellow!
The inking is all the Pearlescent Cinnamon, a Brilliance ink.


an inside view



I bought 3 sets of the Sunflower Shapeabilities (Nestabilities) so I'd have lots of options for different sunflowers on the cards - there are 6 different cards with sunflowers and a few with bumble bees in the set!!


This is a Cricut sunflower from the Walk in my Garden cart.


Instead of sending this home to Wisconsin, Bennie and I drove up to surprise Mom for her birthday! Only my sister knew we were coming, so it really was a GREAT surprise. Plus, Mom really loves the box!!


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Mother's Day Cards for 2009

This is a series of 3 Mother's Day cards I made this year. My Mother-In-Law requested that I make a card for MY mom from her. Yes, a little unusual, but it makes her happy. This first card with the tulips is the one I made because it's different than the one we were sending to my MIL.

I have a previous post back to the Cricut Messageboard regarding this tulip card - it's not my original idea - scraplifted from another Cricuteer. I do love it though, even though it takes some time.

The ladybugs were cut at 1/2 inch and are the perfect size for these flowers! The butterflies are two Martha Stewart punches layered and trimmed to match.

This side view of the card shows the darker green shadow behind the lighter green leaves and stems.

The Happy Mother's Day is a cut from the Wild Card Cart! Gotta LOVE the photo corners - Okie turned me on to those - she does amazing things with them. They're from the Jasmine Cart.

I can't begin to tell you how much I LOVE these daffodils! This card I made twice - one for my Mom, and one for my MIL. Same butterfly punch from Martha Stewart, just in another color.

Another side-view showing the darker green shadow behind the flowers to add dimension.

I added some doodling after I took the picture to add just a little to it.

I hope you enjoy these. I LOVE them! Never thought I'd get as much use out of the Walk In My Garden cart as I do... I guess you just never know.

Happy Mother's Day!!


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Birthday Card for a Dear Friend

I am just enjoying these flower borders from Walk in My Garden!!!

This is a birthday card for my friend Barb... it's made with some cloud paper as a background, the Hyacinth borders - 3 of them with some Stickles and Ranger Liquid Pearls for accents. I also added some of those adorable little 3/4 inch ladybugs just 'cause they're so cute!

The scroll corners come from Storybook, and I inked and heat embossed the Birthday Wishes - it's a Stampin' Up stamp I received recently. Gotta love that quality in their products!!!

I used 2 of my other Birthday stamps on the inside.





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Happy Birthday to my Aunt

This was another card I saw on the Cricut Messageboard. It was so gorgeous, I had to try my hand at it. It really is a cute card! Even my husband liked it, and he is my "most severe critic".

In these pictures, I'm not so happy with the glitter and will fix it before I sent it out.

Click HERE to see the original card.

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