August 100 Cartridge Blog Hop

Welcome to Day Two of Erica's Craft Room August's 100 Cartridge Blog Hop!

You should have started at http://mycricutcraftroom.blogspot.com, if not, please start from the beginning. :)

Collectively, the design team uses over 100 different Cricut cartridges in their projects during the two days of this hop. On Sunday the new design team members will be announced and some have even made a project to share with you! How exciting!

As a special treat, enjoy 10% off of your total purchase at the Erica's Craft Room store. Use the code AUGUST to see 10% off your total purchase (no exclusions).

I used four different Cricut cartridges to create a card for today's hop. The cartridges I used were Elegant Edges, Stretch Your Imagination, April Showers, and Destinations. It always amazes me how many cartridges can be used to create just one card!

Sadly, I only have one photo of my card to share with you because I couldn't fix the poor coloring in the other photos. For some reason whenever I use colors like yellow and orange on a card, it always gives the background a yellow/orange tint. Still working on fixing that. :)

I cut the bicycle using the Stretch Your Imagination cartridge and cut it at 2" The flowers are cut from the April Showers cartridge on plain white card stock that I later inked with dark blue ink to match the blue on the bicycle and then layered. I used the Elegant Edges cartridge to make the flower border around the bicycle and used the Destinations cartridge to cut the white center. (Even though it has travel-themed images, it's still my go-to cartridge when I need basic shapes since a lot of them are backgrounds for the images). I believe the flower is cut at 3.5"

Next, you should visit Jamie's blog! Here's the entire lineup in case you get lost along the way:

MCCR http://mycricutcraftroom.blogspot.com/
Nanne http://nannes-creations.blogspot.com/
tess www.sassycricutcrafting.com
Jamie M http://craftygirl21.blogspot.com/
Janet http://janetscreativeworld.blogspot.com/
Mary http://Mary-fortheloveofart.blogspot.com/
Lisa Ch http://lisacustomscrapbooking.blogspot.com/
Ashley http://especiallymade.blogspot.com/
Jamie http://babyjaydensmommy.blogspot.com/
Melissa http://papershenaniganz.blogspot.com/
Erica's Projects http://ericasprojects.blogspot.com/
Marji www.fstampaholic.blogspot.com
Nadja http://nadjarobbins.blogspot.com/
Andrea http://creativedesignsbyandrea.blogspot.com/
Robin http://create-a-latte.blogspot.com/
Christina http://cema1cema.blogspot.com/
Jodie http://jodiesscraplab.blogspot.com/
Mona http://scrapbookingforjoy.blogspot.com/
Ava http://scrapbookdesign4u.blogspot.com/
Jessica W http://www.craftinandstampin.blogspot.com/
Blog Candy http://ericasblogcandy.blogspot.com/

Thanks so much for hopping by! :)

I Heart {ippity} Design Team Blog Hop

Welcome to the I Heart {ippity} Design Team Blog Hop!

If you are not familiar with {ippity} then you are missing out! {ippity} is a line of rubber stamps manufactured by the Unity Stamp Co. The {ippity} line is separate from the Unity line but has the same wonderful quality. It is marketed through Unity Endorsed {ippity} Chicks, reps for {ippity}. Heather is an {ippity} chick and would love to be yours! To order {ippity} just go to the Unity Website and on the left-hand side click {ippity} - Pick a CHICK & Order. That will take you to the {ippity} chick page where you can pick Heather Flaherty as your {ippity} chick!

If you have just happened to come across the hop, please start at the beginning at www.iheartippity.com. Our AMAZING design team has lots of inspiration for you, so you can get your hands inky and have fun with {ippity} and Unity Stamps!

For my blog hop project, I created a card using the Courage Is My Strength stamp set.

I had the perfect butterfly paper to use with the 'hope' butterfly stamp and was excited to try out the blue, orange, and green color combo for the first time!

Here's what I used to make my card:

- Butterfly patterned paper from Recollections

- Green polka dot paper from The Paper Studio

- Solid black and white card stock

- {ippity} butterfly stamp (colored with Prismacolor pencils)

- Tim Holtz Distress Ink (in tuxedo black)

- Black buttons and rhinestones

Heather is giving away a prize to one person who comments on all of the DT blogs, so get commenting! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

You should head over to Sherri's blog now to see her fabulous work! Here is the lineup in case you get lost:

Heather {ippity} Chick

Kristy

Jeannie

Amy

Emily

Gerry

Ashley

Sherri

Also, check out the I Heart {ippity} fan page on Facebook and like us there. Thanks for stopping by today!

Facebook Fan Page Link - www.facebook.com/PCAHeather

Pick a Chick Order Link - http://unitystampco.com/ippity-chicks/default.aspx

Digi Haven Back to School Challenge!

It's time for a new school year this week at Digi Haven! This week's challenge is a 'Back to School' freebie digi challenge.

Use any FREE Back to School digital Image. The image can be a forever freebie, limited time freebie or freebie of the month as long as it’s free for the duration of this challenge.  There are a lot of terrific forever freebie images on Elizabeth O. Dulemba's site that will work perfectly in this challenge.  Check out her free digital images coloring pages HERE. Please be sure to link back to the original artist or website on your blog.  This challenge ends on Thursday and the winners will be posted on Sunday.

I normally don't decorate the inside of my cards unless I know when I'm making them that I'll be giving it to someone. Otherwise, I keep them all and go back and embellish the insides later once I know who it's for. Although I'm not planning on giving this card to anyone, I chose to complete the inside of the card. After looking at the photos, you'll see why. :)

I used one of Elizabeth Dulemba's images to make this card (which can be found here) and printed it a bit too big. When I realized I wouldn't be able to do much embellishing because of the size of the image, I decided to make a smaller card (4" by 4") and turn it into a lunchbox note that I thought would be really cute for a mom to slip in her kid's lunchbox. On the inside of the card I handwrote 'Time flies when you're having lunch!' <3 Mom, to show the purpose of the card. 

Stop by Digi Haven to check out what other back to school freebies the design team found to use on their projects for this week!

Ashley  

Summer Color Challenge at Stamping with Dragon

This week's challenge at Stamping with Dragon is all about summer colors! The winner of this week's challenge will receive their choice of four images from Dragon's Lair Designs!

I used the Pool Fun digital stamp to make my summer-colored card:

I colored the image with my Prismacolor pencils and paired it with some fun, summery paper from Echo Park, and then added the pink crinkle ribbon off to the side.

We hope you'll join us for this week's challenge!

Ashley

Thursday Craft 'n Chat - Creating A Porcelain Effect

Good morning everyone! My name is Jessica, and I am from the blog Homespun Elegance. I am very happy to be linking up with Ashley to show you how to make your project shine! Acrylic spray can help any project take on a nice sheen, and gives it a porcelain effect!

First, I set the stayzon black ink on my background stamp. Some helpful tips; Push the ink pad into the stamp, not the stamp into the ink pad. I tend to blot the ink pad all over my stamp until I am certain that it is covered. Place a few sheets of printer paper (or lightweight paper) underneath the paper you are stamping. For the large background stamps, I use my Cuttlebug C Adapter and to apply even and a lot of pressure, I stand on the stamp. Peel off your stamp.   

Maintenence of stamps - If your stamp gets fibers in the crevices, it will not give the clearest image possibe. Baby wipes, though a good fix quickly, leaves fibers in your stamps. Try washing with mild soap and luke warm water. I lay image down on a paper towel to dry, with no blotting. This will give you a crisp clear image!

Spray with Clear Acrylic Spray, then cut to size once dry. I adhered the rhinestones on this project after spraying {Don't Spray after you adhere the rhinestones, it will make them dull}. It will take a coat or two, apply evenly and thoroughly. It will take on a porcelain appearance! Layer all of your peices for the card and adhere together

I stamped the sentiment on white cardstock and layered with the pieces from the layers in the card for the flag. Cut the tips with a square punch to shape the flags, and popped the top layer with pop dots.

Products used:

Pink by Design Damask Background Stamp

Pink by Design Definitely Defined Stamp Set

White, Red and Black Cardstock

Stayzon ink in Black

Large Acrylic Block

Paper Trimmer

Score Board and Bone Folder

Mini Rhinestones in black, red and clear

ATG adhesive

Matte Acrylic Spray

Square Punch
Pop Dots

Thanks again for stopping by, and thank you so much Ashley for allowing me to be a part of your Thursday Chat! I always love and appreciate comments and new friends on my blog @ www.homespunelegance.blogspot.com I would love to see your projects created by using these tools and techniques!! Please stop by and post them on my Facebook Fan Page at: https://www.facebook.com/Homespunelegance?ref=hl

Have a GREAT THURSDAY CHAT!
Jess

GoFish! Shape Challenge

GoFish is back with another fun, bi-monthly challenge! This challenge is all about shapes. 

Now, I'll admit that shaped cards scare me since I'm so used to and comfortable with regular square/rectangular cards. I didn't go out of my comfort zone and make a shaped card for this challenge (although I did for a future challenge for another DT I'm on, so stay tuned for that project!) but I did find a way to incorporate both circles and triangles onto my card. 

This photo has the most accurate lighting, for some reason when I use yellow the background of my photo turns yellowish and no matter what I do I can never fix it!

I love how fun and cheery the colors in this card are! The papers are from an Echo Park summer-themed paper pad, I can't remember the title off the top of my head. The flowers were punched with a 1" flower punch and then I used ink daubers to give them their color, and added a button in each of their centers. The triangular banner was created using a cut from the Destinations Cricut cartridge and hung on some pink and white twine, although it's hard to see the twine in the picture. The 'just for you' stamp is from my stash and I layered it with dark pink paper to match the background paper. I had a lot of fun making the card and was pleased with the result.

Head on over to the GoFish! Challenge Blog to submit your projects featuring shapes and see what else the design team has in store for you! And if you're not busy next Friday (August 10th) make sure to stop by Made Especially For You for a fun, back to school themed blog hop that the MEFY design team is co-hosting with the GoFish design team! 

V's Sweet Digi Challenge

Happy August! I can't believe it's August already, this year has gone by so fast! I feel like it was just Christmas and soon I'll be getting ready to make this year's christmas cards and projects. If only I knew where the time went! The good thing about the first day of a new month is that there's a new challenge at V's Sweet Ideas!

This month's challenge is a digi challenge and is sponsored by Bugaboo Stamps! Here's a bit about Bugaboo:

As if raising five children in the frozen land of the North was not enough of a challenge, Jodie Mackrell decided to dip her cold little Canadian toes into the world of paper crafting by opening an online store full of her illustrations. That was two years ago. Today Bugaboo Stamps is one of the leading companies in digital images, and we're still growing!  From seriously snarky to sugary sweet to sublimely soulful all the way over to the other side of the super sexy spectrum, you're bound to find all that you need and more to create your paper projects.  Jodie works very hard to provide New Releases and Freebies every week! 

 If your taste runs to rubber (and you know who you are), you can find Bugaboo Stamps at Totally Stampalicious. And finally, join the Bugaboo Stamps DT  for weekly challenges at Catch the Bug!

The design team was provided with a couple of digis to choose from for this month's challenge and I couldn't resist using this cute, crafty nut! 

This photo has the best lighting of the three

This has got to be one of my favorite cards I've made in a while! I love the color combo and the digi just makes me smile every time I look at it. I'm also in love with the banner, I love the effect they have on cards and really need to start making more! Below is a list of the materials I used to make the card.

- Dark turquoise card stock and patterned paper from the Recollections 'Bold Basics' paper pad

- 'Craft Nut' Bugaboo digi colored with Prismacolor pencils

- Craft scissors for the borders around the digi and the sentiment

- Turquoise rhinestones

- Heart stamp with black ink

- 3 tiny chipboard Maya Road banners

- 1/8" green Ric Rac ribbon

Thanks so much for stopping by today, I hope you enjoy this card as much as I do! Make sure to stop by V's Sweet Ideas to see what other Bugaboo inspiration the design team has created for you!

Ashley