All the Bags and Boxes

I have loads of questions from people wanting to buy the Tags, Bags Boxes and more cartridge, wondering how big the little bags cut. On the handbook, all you see is a bewildering number of strange shapes, and I have been meaning to do this exercise for ages, so last night I cut out all the shapes very roughly, and I have measured each one to give you an idea of size. This is the maximum size that they will cut on a 12 x 12 mat using the cricut expression

My scribbled writing looks like 3 1/2" on this photo. It cuts to a finished bag of 5 1/2 including the handle

With this box, cut two, one slightly smaller than the other. This makes a good size gift box, big enough to take something like a scarf.

I hope this helps some of you who may be wondering if this cartridge would be useful. Some of the boxes would make pretty wedding favours.
Oops, I've left one out, it's the inch bag, an open top bag that cuts to 6" x8"

Fantasy Fairy for Caardvarks and Pink Elephant

The theme on Caardvarks this week is Fantasy, and on The Pink Elephant it's to use pink, green and yellow on your card, so I combined the two and came up with this. I found the fairy image on the web, and coloured her in with copic markers. I used a leafy cuttlebug embossing folder to emboss some green vellum, and added a swirl cut from a printed transparency to the bottom. My aim was to make the card look ethereal and delicate. What do you think?

Shaped Card - cute Daisy May

I have just joined the design team on Cute Daisy May designs, printable stamps of the most adorable little girls you have ever seen. So I couldn't wait to try them out, the first challenge for me will be next monday, I will remind you all to pop over then. I copied the shape of this card from a store bought card that was sent to us - I love the scalloped top and just traced around it. I used a cuttlebug border embossing folder and cut some pattern paper for the centre piece. Daisy May was cut out and is sitting on the ribbon. I love her little dog, she reminds me of my friend Carol's little white ball of fluff, Molly.
The driving licence thing has been done, 'oh it's the Cashmores' they all chorused as we walked through the door. Eyes tested, photos taken and $42 later, we walked out - 'see you in six months' they called out cheerily. Unfortunately, yes.

I have an online friend (young enough to be my daughter), whose blog I visit regularly, she writes beautifully and always brings a smile to my face with the tales of her children's exploits. (check out today's post on her daughter's questions about where babies come from, hilarious). Anyway, she posted the loveliest little tribute to ME, I was so pleased. Do pop over, take a cup of coffee with you, and be prepared to smile. HERE she is

Life's a beach.........

So I have this new cartridge that I couldn't wait to try out. I made this card for one of Mike's sailing buddies. The card is 5 1/2" square. I added layers, then shaded them in a little with my copic markers. The anchor was cut at 2 1/2" and I hand doodled the chain. I stuck some navy corrugated card behind the aperture.

I can't tell you how much trouble this simple little card gave me. Everything went wrong, including dropping a black ink pad on the almost completed card. The inside sentiment reads....it's time for a gin and tonic. I know it should be 'make margaritas' but hey, I'm a Brit, we don't do margaritas, we do G & T

We were going to go and renew our driving licences today, but there is a real thunderstorm going on out there, so we are keeping to the house. We took our Florida driving test five years ago, although you can drive on a UK licence here, but when we bought our car the insurance required a US licence, so we have to go an renew it every time we come over. They cut up our old licence, take a new photo and we do an eye test. Because we are 'non-resident aliens' we can't go to any old test centre, we have to drive about 25 miles to a special place where they know what a British passport is. So they give us a piece of paper, the new licences come in the mail, usually the day before we leave for home, then we come back and they cut it up and the whole cycle starts all over again. It has become part of the routine of being here, we have found a great little diner for lunch and we know all the staff at the test centre by name. We may get an invite to their staff Christmas party this year :)

Happy Birthday for Colour Create

The colours on the Colour Create challenge this week are yummy chocolate, coffee and cream. This image is by Sarah Kay, coloured in copics, and the papers were dug out of my stash, so I haven't a clue who made them. The scalloped circle and sentiment are by Craftwork Cards.

Here in the US, it is a 'back to normal' day after the Easter weekend, which seems strange to us, as Easter monday is a bank holiday at home in the UK, and traditionally the first bank holiday after Christmas where the weather might be springlike enough to get out and about. So to all my blog buddies over there in the UK, have a great Easter monday, hope the traffic jams aren't horrendous and the weather is kind.

Celebrate - Whimsy Stamps Challenge

Today is the first challenge over on the Whimsy Stamps challenge blog. The theme is Celebrations, so here's what I came up with. I used very bright colours to the stamped image, and added some balloons cut with a Go-Kreate Boo Bear die. I added glossy accents to the balloons and a bit of doodling.

Happy Birthday Glamour Puss

Now for something different - not a bird in sight. This fabulous cat image is a fabric that my very talented friend Phyllis found - she always manages to spot really neat things. The fabric is WildCat Woman by Loralie. It's simple to use fabric on cards, cut roughly around your cat image, then swipe all over the back with a glue stick, I use the really strong embellishment glue. Stick the fabric onto cardstock, and taking a spatula or craft stick (I use the triangular thingie that comes in the cricut tool kit), smooth all the wrinkles out of the fabric. Leave to dry for at least 4 hours, preferably longer, that way you get a really good bond and the edges don't fray. When dry, cut out the image with a pair of sharp scissors, and use as you would any other image on a card. The paper is by Making Memories, and the sentiment was done on the computer. I added a bit of bling.

I hope you all have a wonderful Easter Day, don't overdose on the choccy. Me? I am still itching. Could I be allergic to chocolate? No, I'll stop eating something sensible like tomatoes for a day or two, see if that makes a difference, that way I can still bite the heads off the bunnies.

Happy Bird-day To You - for CCT and DaisyMay

The theme over on Cute Card Thursday and Daisy May Challenge blogs this week is pink and brown, so I was able to kill two birds with one stone - well, with one little bird anyway. The image is by Holly Berry House, papers are from DCWV Sweet stack, Martha Stewart heart punch, and the happy birday sentiment is an old one from stampin up, although he doesn't look very happy, I seem to have a lot of sad looking little birds on here at the moment. Sad but cute though. Flowers are Prima and the covered button in the middle is K & Co.

Yesterday, I started to itch, starting with my eyes, moving to my scalp, then my arms and legs. So there I was, scratching like crazy and no sign of a rash, but I assumed I had an allergy to something. I went to the pharmacy and bought some antihistamines. What does it say on the box? Consult your doctor if you have an allergic reaction to this product. WHAAAT? Right, so you are taking a little tablet to relieve your allergy, and you start itching like crazy in places that haven't been scratched before, that's okay, it must be the tablet you are taking to make it all better..............

From Owl Of Us - for Pink Elephant Challenge

This is my first time joining in with this challenge, but it won't be the last. Pop over to the Pink Elephant Challenge site and take a look, there is a tutorial for a fabulous gift bag card on there, must have a go at that one. My Funky Hand pal Carol is on the design team, happy 50th birthday Carol.

So the challenge is to use stamping, embossing and punches on a card. My stamp is by Judith, he looks a miserable little beggar doesn't he, but very cute at the same time! The sentiment stamp is by Stampin Up, I used one of the cuttlebug strip folders to emboss the side, and the lacy edge is a Martha Stewart punch. I don't know where I got the fibres, but it works well with this card. The papers are by DCWV - the Green stack, this is my favourite of all the new DCWV paper stacks.

Sale at Funky Hand and The Cutting Cafe

There is a sale going on at Funky Hand this weekend, pop over there are browse the fabulous CD's available. Shipping is free to anywhere in the world.

There is also a sale over on the Cutting Cafe site. Buy a download and get another or equal or lesser value FREE. These downloads are very reasonable, go over to the site to see the fabulous stuff that can be made with them

Easter Blessings - Magnolia and Wildcard

Two Tilda cards for you today. The first one is a stamped image I got in a swap with DawnyP, the sentiment is by great impressions, and I do know that there isn't an Easter Bunny to be seen, but this card is for little children and it was the only Easter sentiment stamp I have. The image was coloured with copic markers, and the papers are just scraps really from my box labelled 'I've been hanging around forever, please use me'. You can tell by the fancy stitching that I am back in Florida with my beloved sewing machine. I can thread it in about 30 seconds, unlike my little Janome mini at home which takes me about an hour of squinting and trying to push one of those needle threaders through the eye, let alone get the cotton through. The dots are some plastic type dotty things that I found hanging around in a drawer. One of these days I will set myself a challenge to use up every one of these bits and bobs I have cluttering up the place.

This is the oval cut from Wildcard. I cut it again in shadow in a darker lilac, to add a contrast to the inside of the card. Tilda is coloured with copic markers, and the sentiment was a home made rub on done on the computer.

House Mouse Card for Inspirational Card Sketches

I found a new card sketch blog - inspirational card sketches - and love following sketches, so used their sketch for this week to make this little card. The house mouse stamp is one that I borrowed from a friend and is so sweet. I like to think that the little mouse is kissing the bird better because he has lost a feather. The papers are by Magnolia and the scalloped card is by Papermania UK. The scalloped ovals are by Go-kreate
It has been COLD here in Florida for the past two days, not just a bit chilly, but really cold. I think it was warmer back in the UK before we left. The problem is I don't really have any cold weather clothes here, just one pair of jeans and a sweater, so I hope it warms up soon otherwise I will have to hibernate (or go shopping!)

Pretty Stationery Box - the Cutting Cafe

Over at the Cutting Cafe, Regina designed this little box, although it is meant to take notecards, I made it to hold a small piece of jewellry as a gift. It was so easy to make, just print out the box template onto your cardstock, and cut around the lines. Fold, glue and there you are.... The sentiment circle is from the Cutting Cafe as well, and of course the paper is my new favourite the Making memories poppy stack.

A big toot for my lovely boss over on Funky Hand, Anice. She won the small business retailer of the year award for Tyneside - huge congrats Anice, really well deserved. Keep a look out on the Funky Hand site for her fabulous new wordbook CD, and if you pop over there, there are lots of photos of Anice getting her award - just like the Oscars!

I heard today that I have a place on the brand new challenge blog design team for Whimsy Stamps. The first challenge will be published on the 13th April, so be sure to pop over and add it to your favourites, all ready to join in the fun.

Art Deco Style

I printed this using my art deco CD, and decided to keep her in the black and white, apart from her lips, which is the only colour on the entire card, bright scarlet, and looks quite startling in real life. I added silver gems to her dress, headress and some of the scrolls, and also added some glitter here and there. I shadowed around her with a cool grey marker to give even more depth. The border at the bottom is an art deco ribbon printed out from the same CD.

Poppy Birthday Card

This card is made with one of my new stacks of paper, I love every page, so you will be seeing a lot of splashy poppies on here. It's by Autumn Leaves and they had all sorts of yummy embellishments to go with it as well, how can you resist, especially when it's on sale. The sentiment stamp is an acrylic studio G. I don't quite know what the little tabs on the side are for, but it looks quite nice with the gems on there.

I am struggling with the time difference here, I feel wiped out at about 2pm, then full of energy at night, which makes no sense at all as the UK is five hours ahead, so I am merrily full of beans at 6am UK time. Since I don't sleep well normally, this is a double whammy for me. Those of you in the UK will be delighted to hear that it has been overcast and windy since we got to Florida, still nice and warm though.

A Cherry On The Top - for Daring Cardmakers

On Daring Cardmakers this week, the dare is to use fruit on your card. Yesterday I found these sweet stamps in the dollar bins at Michaels, and as luck would have it, one has a cherry on the top. The images were stamped onto a stripey paper and the bases cut out, then again onto white and coloured with copic markers, a lot of glitter and some gems. The sentiment is one from Craftwork Cards, my new favourite online store. This is one of those simple little cards that took forever to do for some reason.

So a quick foray into Michaels and Joannes has been done. Before I left home, I had made a pact with myself that I would not be buying anymore cardstock/paper until I used up some of what I already have. Here's why................................................

These are my paper racks in the garage where I work when I am in Florida. Looks like the contents of a shop doesn't it? So a very sensible decision on my part, to stop the buying of even more. How did I find myself outside Michaels then with a pack of 24 sheets of paper by Autumn Leaves, another 24 sheets by Mambi, and 30 sheets of cardstock. How did that happen? It just mysteriously hopped into my basket and I couldn't resist temptation. Then there was the 11 rolls of ribbon, all those cute studio G stamps, oh dear, not a great start to my resolutions.

Fun Decoupage Cards

I found these decoupage sheets at the NEC, and since I have a bit of a thing for decoupage at the moment, had to get them. They are really dimensional, and you make up the placing of the elements yourself. I messed around with the colours a little bit, and used SEI papers for both cards. In case you think I am incredibly organised, these are cards I made at home before I left.

I don't know what happened to the Easter bunny photo, anyway, he is here now. I feel a bit disorientated today, our renters had left the house immaculate, but for some strange reason have moved everything moveable to another place, so I keep opening kitchen cupboards looking for stuff and it's not there, books have been moved, framed photos, all in a totally different spot. How strange. They have had a lot of cold weather here in Florida this winter, so all my carefully planted oleander bushes have died, and the hibiscus bushes are just brown stalks, so I am going to have to do a bit of gardening. I have totally forgotten where all my craft stuff is kept (the renters probably moved that around too), so it will take me a few days to get back into the swing of things. However, I have spotted some totally delectable red gingham ribbon (what is it with me and ginham?!!) that I can't wait to use.