Miss You Card

Today's card is "Miss You". I used a Magnolia Stamp that I received in an image swap or a RAK. I am not sure which now, but she is so cute. I wish some of the details showed up better in my pictures. Her boots are nice and shiny. I used glossy accents to make them shine like real rain boots do. Her wings and basket have a little sparkle as well from Stickles glue. These papers are all kit left overs, so I am not longer sure who the company's were. Of course, she is colored using my Copics!

I hope you enjoy her as much as I enjoyed making her!

Cutter's Creek Make it Mondays Challenge

I am the new design team leader at Cutter's Creek, and I started a new challenge called Make it Mondays. Each challenge will give all participants a chance to win prizes! The winners will be chosen randomly, and all of the rules are on the Cutter's Creek Design Team Blog . Please come check it out!

To qualify each entrant must upload the Design Team Entry Blinkie & Store Blinkie:







Here is my project for this week's challenge:



I think this is my all time favorite card I have made so far. I am loving the clouds and the clothes. That apron reminds me of something I would find in Granny's kitchen! It was a lot of fun to make, and I can't wait to try some of the techniques on other projects.

Items used that are available at Cutter's Creek Store:

Everyday Paper Dolls Cartridge for the Cricut
Copic Markers ~my new love~ LOL
We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper
Glue Glider Pro
Beacon 3 in 1 adhesive
Glue Dots
Inkadinkado Stamps
Prism (Bazzill) White Cardstock

Cloudy Day Card

This card reminds me of those great fluffy clouds I use to love to watch as a kid. My thanks to Kristina Weaver who gave me the jumping off point for this card.


I love the fluffy clouds. To get the effect, I dry embossed the paper with my Stampin' UP Texturizing plate (polka dot). I then covered them with embossing ink using my embossing pen. I sprinkled a combination of white and diamond embossing powder over my ink marks, and heated the inks up with my heat tool. I cut the clouds out using my Sizzix Clouds 2 Die.


I layered them onto my cardstock. I cut pennants out of scrap of papers I had in bowl on my desk. I added those to my card using foam tape for dimension. I added my accents with my white gel pen.


I couldn't resist make a boarder using my threading water punch. I added a coordinating cardstock under the scallop to mimic grass.



I am very happy with it, but I already have "new idea" for this card. There are so many possibilities! I hope you like it!

Grandpa's Birthday~

Yesterday was my Grandfather's 85th birthday. We gathered at a local buffet that he really likes for dinner with my parents and John and Betty. I don't know how to explain how John and Betty are related ~LOL~ I am always bad at that. They are my aunt's mother and father in law. Whew, that wasn't so hard afterall.

You can tell my grandpa loves when I am always taking pictures!



After I got my grandpa's present I realized I didn't have a box for it, but I did have a few of these Victoria's Secret pillow boxes from Christmas. I went to my Cricut for assistance! I cut these images using my From My Kitchen Cartridge, and then colored them with my Copic Markers. I think it turned out really cute, if I do say so myself.


One more picture from the dinner. I love that they brought him a balloon bouquet!


Happy Birthday, Grandpa! We love you!!

Flower Pot Card

Today's card is a Flower Pot Card. It was made using a single flower punch for the flower and the leaves. I loved that it was fairly simple to make, but it looks more difficult.

The flower centers are twinkle jewels and I used my Copic Markers to color them a little more vibrantly. My flowers were made from scraps from other projects. Next time I think I would also ink the flowers and not just the pot.



I hope you like today's card. Leave me a message if you make one of your very own! I would love, as always, to see your version!

Sweet 16

For Day 11, I made this sweet 16 birthday card. The side flap of this card actually a removable bookmark. I used my perforation blade on my cutter to make it easy to remove. I thought it would be a fun birthday reminder.


The dimension is hard to see on the "16" but I used Sakura Souffle puff pens to make the polka dots. I embossed the papers using my Sizzix plates from Stampin' Up. They have such great patterns. I cut the "top note" for the sentiment using my Cricut Home Decor cartridge. The stamps are becoming a quick favorite of mine from Inkadinkado.



I highlighted the cupcake using the Copic Spica pens. There is a bit of sparkle on the cupcakes.



I hope you enjoyed this card~ Please post if you make one like it. I would love to see your interpretation~

Before and After

Today was a mini-day of beauty. I went and got my hair cut and styled today. I thought it would be fun to do some before and after pictures. So I did!


This is before make-up ~LOL~


At the hair dresser before she started:


After ~wooo hooo~ I love it. I wish you could see the great curls better!


After at home ~yup, I am happy with my "new" hair!

The 7th Peep

Today I went out to feed the chickens and collect eggs. While I had the coop open to get the eggs, little Miss Hailey ran into the chicken coop and down the chicken run! She was my 7th chicken! She loved hanging with her Peeps so much that she didn't want to leave.

I ran into the house to grab my camera. It was a "kodak" moment as they use to say.
Here is my 7th Peep:



I think what she really wanted was the old banana I gave to the chickens. Hailey love bananas. She is our little monkey girl.


Pugsley couldn't figure out how his silly sister got in with the chickens. He kept walking around trying to see where she made it in. He just knew she needed him.



It took a while to convince Hailey to leave the her Peeps, but she finally decided dinner was more important than hanging with the chickens.

Hi Cupcake!

Today's card is an easel card. Great for sending to anyone. I love these cards because they are so easy for the receiver to display. Don't we all love showing off beautiful cards when we get them?

This is my entry for Day 10 in the card challenge. The papers are all from DCWV Garden Party collection. This is one of my favorite collections. I love the vintage feel and all of the beautiful glitter! The solid cardstocks are the coordinating neutrals. The stamp set I used is Hello, Cupcake from Inkadinkado . I found it on clearance -- even better!



This card was really simple to complete, but it does look complicated. I love that in a card!



I hope you enjoyed this card. If you make one yourself, please post a link in the comments field. I would love to see your interpretation.

Day 9 - Altered Art Gift Card Holder

For today's challenge, I went for something a little different. I used an old clam shell package for a gift card holder. I scrap-lifted the idea from an item I saw using containers for gift card holders.

I think this was a holder for eyelets or brads originally.

I used papers from Stampin' Up. I just cut a paper slightly smaller than my clam shell and rounded the corners. I stamped my "Make a Wish" sentiment on cardstock and highlighted it with chalk and cut it out using my scalloped circle punch. Those two pieces are inside the clam shell case.
For the outside I stamped one of my favorite cupcake images on Prism cardstock and colored it with my Copic Markers. To get some texture for the icing I used the Sakura Souffle puff pens in pink and white. I sprinkled them with some pink iridescent glitter before the inks dried.

I punched out the cupcake using my circle punch (approximately 2") and then punched my cardstock out in a slightly larger circle and then scalloped circle. I used alternating sides of the Stampin' Up designer series cardstock.


I hope you enjoyed this card. I would love to see any variations anyone comes up with on this idea. I think it is great for recycling!

Tonight's Card ~ Thanks to Hailey!

Tonight's card is a bit different. The idea came from a Stampin' Up tutorial on YouTube (click here) by Inkitupwithjessica. I really liked the concept, and this is my take on that card. I am not sure if you can see them, but there are three small pearls as the flight pattern of my butterfly.


Hailey says she is the creative genius tonight, so here is a picture of her at my very messy scrap desk. Wow, I really need to get back to work on my organization plan!



Enjoy the card ~from the Boxer Brats team and Puggles, too!

New Chicken Tractor:

This is where it all started. Six little baby chickens purchased last march. They were so cute, and so little. They did grow fast, though! We had our first eggs by July/August.


Back to the subject: Chicken Tractor.

I know you are saying, "Gosh, Laura, what the heck is a Chicken Tractor?" Okay, maybe your response is more colorful than that. LOL

A chicken tractor is a mobile chicken coop that you can move around your yard and/or garden areas. The chickens "work" by scratching the ground, eating the bad bugs, and fertilizing the ground all at the same time. Do you know how much bags of chicken poop cost at the farm supply store? LOLI have been researching online for months trying to figure out something better for my six chickens. I really didn't think I could build their house, runs, pens, etc., but I surprised myself and with the help of my parents and my husband, I have created several now over the past year.I am happy with the chicken coop. I am going to make a few changes to the inside, but I am pretty satisfied with what I did. It isn't a masterpiece but it is very solid and serves its purpose. I just need to get it painted.

The first chicken "pen" was so very white trashy for lack of a better term -- no offense to anyone, but it is the only sort of politically correct description I can thing up right now. It was PVC pipe stretched with chicken wire, and it was about 6' tall so I could walk inside to change their water and feed them. It looked like an eyesore in my backyard, but it was functional. After about 8 months in one place, the chickens had definitely eaten every bug and blade of any weeds or grass. In fact, the area started to become a toxic wasteland.


I got the bright idea I would just go "move" it. Well, enter me with fibromyalgia and a knee injury out trying to move a huge pen and chicken coop. Yup, you guessed it. Disaster! The pen collapsed, but the house was fine. I finally got some help to move the house to a new location, and then I set about building a new pen that wasn't so offensive to look at. Home Depot here I come! I went with wood over PVC pipe this time for strength and because I thought it looked better. I went with a much lower pen this time, and made a door on top to access the feed and water. WAY better!Next I build a portable smaller version that I could easily move around the garden and yard. Now the girls can work all day, and then go home to "roost" at night. I think they love it. I went from 1-2 eggs a day to 3-6 eggs per day. I am averaging 4 right now. Not bad for so few chickens.


It is difficult to see the smaller tractor in the background. The longer one in the front is actually their everyday pen. I made a door for it, so they can go in and be moved about the yard. When their work is done, I move them back over to their house. I have two small water and feeders attached for when they are "on-the-job". I did the same thing with the smaller tractor.

I think I am going to go try to find some small wheelbarrow wheels to add to make it easier to roll about my very uneven property.I must introduce you to the Puggle Crew. Hailey and Pugsley are my official Chicken Rustlers. Whenever one escapes, they quickly corner and put a paw on the offender until I can come pick her up. It is rather humorous. I am so glad they are gentle with the chickens. I think they believe it is a really fun "chase-me" game!


The Rewards~ These were some of our very first eggs. Trust me this is the part that the dogs love the very best! They go crazy for their chickie eggies, as they are known around here.


Doesn't the new set-up look much more professional? I never made mitered corners before, and I didn't even begin to dream it would turn out so nice. We definitely are loving what my husband has named our "Pawseeland Eggs".

Winner!!

Vicki,

You were the only one interested in the stickers, so they are yours! I will contact you to get your mailing address!

Enjoy!

More Butterflies~

Here is my creation for today:


I am on a butterfly card kick I guess. Let me know what you think!

I hope you Dance~

Here is another card I created for our Every Day Card Challenge over at the Yahoo group Scrappin-n-Chattin. I love this butterfly sticker! Hope you like this card. I would love to hear your opinions!

Feminine & Masculine Cards

The Butterfly Card was made with SEI papers, and a $1 stamp from the Michael's Bargain Bin. I love the glitter and glitz of the background paper. I stamped the sentiment on plain white cardstock with Memento Cocoa Brown Ink. I inked the edges with a Creamy Brown Cat's Eye Chalk from ColorBox. I cut some butterflies from the patterned paper to accent the sentiment. For the accent piece I cut a butterfly from the patterned paper and inked the edges using the same Creamy Brown chalk. I layered that using glue dots on other coordinating papers.

I love how it turned out.



For this card I wanted a more masculine feel. These papers are also from SEI. I used a Sketch by my friend Abby over at Scrappin-n-Chattin' group on yahoo. I inked the edges of my patterned paper strips using Chestnut Roan Creamy Chalk Inks from ColorBox. I used another $1 stamp from Michael's for the sentiment, and I stamped it on the coordinating cardstock from this line. I used my Making Memories Slot Punch to cut the ribbon slit in the card fold. I used Scor-Tape to secure the ribbon then tied it with coordinating twine. I used my Copic Markers to fill in the parts of my stamped image that didn't stamp well. I inked the edge of the stamped image with my Chestnut Roan chalk, and then mounted it on a coordinating cardstock sticker using a pop-dot. The epoxy accent is also from SEI. I like this for a great simple masculine card.