Pre-Cuttlebug Card & Recent Purchases

I apologize for my absence lately, things have been absolutely crazy lately with homework, papers, tests, chores, work, and trying to maintain a social life. I feel terrible that I'm neglecting all of your blogs as well as my own. :( On a brighter note I finally had time today to really put my Cuttlebug to use instead of just testing cuts and folders on scrap paper. However, there's still a few finishing touches that need to be put on the card, so today I'm going to share with you a card I made last week before purchasing my Cuttlebug along with some recent craft purchases I've made. 

I made this thank you card for my boyfriend's sister who gave me an unexpected, sweet graduation gift. I absolutely love the colors. :)

Here's what I used to make this card:

- Patterned paper (I forgot to write down the name of the paper, and then accidentally used the side with the label on the actual card itself, oops)

- Black cardstock

- Purple chipboard letters

- Gecko, Tahiti Blue and Pansy colored acrylic paint made by Ceramcoat

- Wood circle pieces

- Purple confetti for the corners of the card (they were supposed to be brads, but I didn't think the layout of the card through enough and there wasn't enough room on the black border for the entire brad to fit)

- Decorative scissors for the black border

- Lace corner punch made by Fiskars

- Elmer's glue pen

- Paper trimmer

This is the inside of the card before I wrote a message inside of it:

Last week I also took a portion of my graduation money and went on a mini shopping spree at Hobby Lobby and Michael's, I couldn't resist. :) Here's what I purchased, all on sale or clearance, of course. :)

This is an "aerial view" of what I purchased, I describe the products further and have closer pictures below:

I love buying things that can be used for any types of cards and will last me a while, and for 50% off I couldn't pass up this 180 paper pack. (I got it for $10 when it was originally $20). I love the bold colors and the patterns and know I will put it to good use on many of my cards. :)

This Petal Point Color Box was on clearance and was also the perfect size for my new word stamps. The stamps were also 50% off and have all the basic words I would ever need to use on the front of a card, and since my cards are usually small this was a great deal. 

In the top right-hand corner are the acrylic paints that I used to paint the wood circles on the thank you card. I also purchased pearl-like embellishments, blank tags that I have some creative plans for, and also lots of brads. They're hard to see in this picture, but I got a case of white, a case of pastels, a case of bold colors and a case of brighter colors. These were 50% off also. ;)

I finally bought an iRock! I've tested it out and it works great. On clearance on Hobby Lobby were white rhinestones, so I bought those to go with it. I plan on getting other colors very soon! Also in this picture is a container of decorative scissors that I got for $6 at Michael's and has some great patterns that I plan to use for borders. I also bought a lace corner punch made by Fiskars, which is what was used on the thank you card. 

And last but most definitely not least, I purchased some random 12 x 12 and 8.5 x 11 paper that I thought was cute and would provide some inspiration if I was ever stuck on creating a card. 

Thanks for bearing with me! My first Cuttlebug card will be posted tomorrow, and after that there's a lot in store for Made Especially For You. Thank you so much for all of your support, I'm off to view all of your amazing creations! :)

Ashley