Happy Monday - BBTB Challenge Stamp from Sweethearts Cartridge

Happy Monday everyone! I can't believe that this the last week in January already - I swear we just started this year and now we are almost a month into it! I remember thinking how slowly time moved when I was a child and now that I am a adult - I wish it would slow down!

So this week over at BBTB2 we were challenged by Marina to use the cute little stamp from the sweethearts cartridge that can be found on page 49. I have to admit - this cartridge is becoming one of my favorites - so if you have been holding out because you thought it was "just for weddings" think again it's a go to cartridge in my opinion.

I decided to keep it simple and allow the cut to become the base of my card. I had some of this sweet valentine paper from the MLYB line from last year that I decided to pull out and use up (I am trying to be better about using my supplies this year - it's either that or start building a house with all of my paper ;)).

The stamp and shadow layer were cut at 5 inches - this makes the perfect portrait size card - tied it off with some ribbon from Martha Stewart, threw on some bling by Heidi Swapp, and added a few hand stitches using my uniball signo pen.

Here's a view from the front:

Here's the View from the Side:

Thanks for stopping by today - I hope that you will head over to the BBTB2 site and play along with us - after all you know you wanna ;)

Have a super week everyone!

On a roll - Fun News :)

For those of you that are wondering if I am going to be posting a freebie this week -I have to sadly say I haven't had any time to get to it - but I am hoping to have something to share with you all next week. I am also thinking that in order to have more balance this year I will be doing 1 freebie a month (but a bigger one kind of like I did last week) - stay tuned because I am going to be working out all the details and I will be posting them soon :) Thanks everyone for all the emails & comments they make my day :)

I also have some fun "news" to share tonight - and before the week gets away from me I thought I should share :) I had another project picked up by Scrapbook Trends this week! I love their magazine and I am already off to a good year with them - since both of my submitted projects this month were picked up by them - makes me think I should create & submit more :)

Also, less than a week ago I submitted a little project that I made for BBTB 2 weeks ago to the "chirp" Cricut Newsletter - and low and behold I received an email back saying that I would be featured as the spotlight for this week! The newsletter is now live so if you haven't had a chance to check it out - please do (click here to be directed). I am super excited because I have never submitted to the Chirp before - starting to think I should buy a lottery ticket or something! LOL

Thanks for letting me share my fun news! Have a happy week everyone!

Happy Monday - BBTB Challenge and Hop

Gavin (my youngest little guy - he just turned 4) shared with me while we were cuddling Sunday night that Monday is he favorite day - oh really I said, why? I have to admit that I was thinking - oh you look forward to the BBTB2 reveals too? LOL! No he looks forward to Monday (as explained in his little 4-year-old way) because it's a Mommy day. My oldest 2 head off to school all day on Monday's and it has become our day to snuggle, play games, run errands and usually have a special lunch - just the 2 of us!

So what day of the week do you look forward to? I have to admit I too look forward to Monday's (I do enjoy my time with my little man) but it's also the day that the BBTB2 team gets to reveal what we have been working on all week!

This week was a super fun week because we were working with a sponsor - Expressions Vinyl (www.expressionsvinyl.com)! Can I just say WOW their vinyl is amazing! I was sent several colors of vinyl in the matte finish - and I have never worked with matte vinyl before and I am in love! I will definitely be placing an order - so if you are looking for amazing vinyl at a great price with great service - check them out!

Along with the vinyl I was the "hostess" this weekat BBTB2 so I picked out the cut a few weeks ago which came from the Child's First Year cartridge (loving this cartridge!) - it's the valentine boy and girl cut - this cut caught my eye since Valentine's Day is just around the corner and also because the first Valentine's Day that my husband and I shared he purchased me a picture of a little boy and girl holding hands that says "always and forever" - it still hangs in our house and I love it just as much today as I did when I received it!

Also, you might have read that I am a "bit under the weather" this week so Heather was sweet and gave the intro for me on the BBTB2 blog since I am on some major pain meds! At the first of last week, I took a fall down my driveway and I am on some serious pain meds because I have chronic back problems which causes me issues from time to time - and taking a fall - well it set me back a bit. Anyway, I am starting to feel better and am on the mend.

So back to the cut - I decided to use the cut on the front of an altered pineapple can that will be used as a gift to hold little valentine treats. I just love finding a new purpose for something that was just going to get tossed!

The little silhouette boy and girl was cut using matte brown vinyl that you can purchase from Expressions Vinyl.

Here's a look at my project:

The Heart was cut from a cut file that I shared last wednesday (be sure to stop by this week for some more freebies!) and angel wings were cut from the Indie Solutions Cartridge (in case you are looking for those). The pattern paper is from Pink Paislee! Gotta love pretty papers!

I also have a little card to share today that I will be sending out to a friend of mine that is going through some tough things right now :( This little stamp is a Penny Black stamp that I colored using my copic markers - I hate to admit it but I think I am finding that I have a slight addiction to copic markers! The sentiment stamp is from the {Stamps} of Life by Stephanie Barnard (if you are not a member you need to check these out - they are oh so cute and such a super deal!)

Here's a look at my little card:



Well I hope you are off to a super week everyone! Enjoy your Monday and be sure to stop back by my blog on Wednesday for another freebie!

Freebie Wednesday January 6th - and some Tooting :)

Today I have a couple of little freebies for you! Hey I am actually making deadlines this year (smile)- I guess you could say I am off to a great start (wink).

With Valentine's Day just around the corner (CRAZY I know). I have switched from the last of my Christmas Thank you cards to Valentine cards and gifts - for those of you looking for Valentine inspiration - stay tuned as I have a lot of fun things to share with you this month that I hope will get you in the creative mood!

So, this week I decided to make and share with my blogging SCAL friends a nested standard heart set (CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD the nested hearts) (if you are a fan of spellbinders dies then you know exactly what these can do!) that would be perfect and oh so fun to use for the next few weeks on all of your valentine cards and gifts! While my dies will not emboss, they are sized to fit perfectly inside each other - so you can use just one single heart or you could "nest" 2 together to cut a heart with a cut out heart in the middle! Also, since I am in the giving mood I created a few digital stamps for some projects I am working on and thought hey I could also share these as well with my blogging friends & readers! The digital stamps are in jpeg format so you can easily print them out using your word processing program or a program like photoshop - enjoy!

Here's a little preview of the digital stamps: (click HERE to download these digital stamps)

Monday I mentioned that I would share my cut file from this weeks challenge over at BBTB2 (if you missed the news about BBTB which is now BBTB2 - scroll down to my post on Monday to get the low down about the new BBTB2 site). This cut is not complicated in any way - but I thought I would share it so that if you are in need of a quick card - this can be a "go to" since all of the measurements are done for you ;)

Here's a preview of this cut for Design Studio users - this card requires the graphically speaking cartridge and also the accents essentials cartridge. (CLICK HERE to download this cut file)

Well now it's time for my "Tooting" it occurred to me today that I forgot to mention in the craziness of the holiday that one of my little projects was picked up by Scrapbook Trends for an upcoming idea book for the home! I am thrilled to be included in this edition that will be coming out in 2010!

Well everyone have a super Wednesday! and remember if you decide to download leave me a comment :)

First post of 2010! BBTB and a few other cards to share!

It's hard to believe that we are starting another year already - It just doesn't seem like 2009 should be over yet, anyone else feeling that way?

With a New Year comes a lot of new changes - and honestly I welcome them! I think if you have followed my blog for a while now you know that this last year (while I didn't share all the details) was a hard year personally for me. I am looking forward to starting fresh in so many ways this year! So here's to 2010!

Well, BBTB also has made some changes this year - Regina (the original owner) of BBTB has decided to step down and pass on the site so that she can focus on her own personal business The Cutting Café. Heather, a member of the BBTB has stepped up to take over the BBTB team and site - so there is now a new BBTB site called BBTB2 (click here to check it all out).

Today, I have a little creation to share which is the first challenge of this new site! This week Heather asked us to use the "In Style" cut from the Graphically Speaking Cartridge. This cut can be found on page 63, for those of you that like to play along during the week.

Here's my take on this weeks challenge:



Since it had been some time since I last created anything - upon completing this project I was inspired to create a few more cards ;) It felt good to be creative again!

I received the Sweethearts Cartridge for Christmas and I felt inspired by a couple of the cuts - I was wondering if I would like this cartridge since it's more "wedding" based but I have to say I am loving it!

Here's 2 more cards:






I am going to try to get back on schedule since it's the first of the year and I have a lot of fun things planned to share on my blog this year! So starting this Wednesday I will be sharing a "freebie" again! One of the freebies this week will be the card that I created for this weeks challenge over at BBTB2 - so it's a design studio freebie - which has everything shaped and welded - which takes the guess work out ;)

I hope you all are off to an amazing year!