Color Challenge!

We have had a couple of nice days here in Southeast Idaho. It rained a little bit yesterday and the sun has really helped us start to thaw out a little. For the first time in months, the driveway is completely cleared of snow/dirt (snirt) and you can even see bits of the lawn in some places. Things will be a muddy ugly mess soon for sure. I am really looking forward to the spring colors and the first sightings of buds on the trees and the spring flowers poking up out of the frozen tundra!

The OWH blog Stars and Stamps has offered another fun color challenge and I was excited to try my hand at a colorful card based on this photo. I love the reds and purples!!!

I cannot tell a lie - I totally stole this next technique from a card that I saw on display at Robert's Crafts the other day. Robert's is closing at the end of April. Did you know??? Dooooom!!! I am really upset about this. But anyway, here is my card, and a quick tutorial for trying the technique - which is really fun.

*disclaimer - this card won't be appropriate for the troops, because of the glitter. . . but I can't make ALL glitter free cards, you know? I just can't stand it!!!



The first thing that I did was to collect my papers - I used the Easter 2010 Cricut Cartridge to cut this cute egg and scalloped background.



Next - I used what I will call the Tape Technique - I applied strips of scotch tape to the back side of my egg. I trimmed around the egg with scissors to cut off any overhanging tape. The important part is to make sure that all of the little window areas are covered completely. It also helps to apply the tape with the paper down on a non-sticky surface like a cutting mat or a piece of wax paper - something that the tape will not stick to.



Next, I used my doodlebug glitter to fill the little window areas. The glitter sticks to the tape quite nicely! I found this little tool to apply the glitter to the tiny areas - it's a skin tool actually - I believe that I got it from Avon for a dollar or something crazy - it has a teeny tiny little spoon at the end. Spoooon! I think that this is a zit tool . . . so I will call this the Glitter Spooning Zit Tool Technique. Maybe I need a video about that?

Finally the layers were all completed and I matted them together. The glitter-on-the-tape technique is really fun and it actually makes a really neat little stained-glass appearing embelishment. It would be fun to make a card with this kind of thing as a window, so that the light shines through the tape and glitter - try it - you will see what I mean.

In other news - the CDC will be meeting at my house on Monday the 8th at 10am. . . we will be doing Spring / Easter / St. Patty's day cards - can't wait to see you guys!

Mr. Tigger is doing well and has been sleeping a lot. When he isn't sleeping, he has been hanging out by the back door. He has been eating well and he even played with Steve the Ferret a little bit yesterday. We keep hoping that he will do well - so far, so good!

New Tut :)

What I love best about making cards, or scrapbook pages, or whatever, is that it gives me a sense of inner peace and calm. I get a sense of accopmlishment and everything just feels. . . good! It is a great thing that I am able to find peace and good feelings like this, because they also help to carry me through the not-so-good times. Sadly, like today. In the middle of my Monday Paper Engineering , we recieved some bad news about our good kitty Tigger, who sometimes co-stars in my videos. Not by my choice of course, he is a camera hog and likes to make random appearances. :) I think that he always has wanted to be a YouTube pet star!

I had just dropped Tigger off to the Vet this morning to have his teeth cleaned. He has had some dental problems of late, which most of the CDC can attest to. Sorry about the kitty dragon breath, ladies! Come to find out, Tiggers issues were due in some part to a bad tooth - but he has a massive tumor in his jaw. We ran around the options with the vet - which include a CAT scan (no pun intended) surgery, and even things like a trip to Colorado to the Veterenary Oncology clinic. Wow . . . just wow. The tumor takes up all of the left side of his lower jaw. For now, Tigger is home and is recovering from a tooth extraction and a good dose of anesthesia. He seems to be his good and normal self and we are going to watch him for now and see where life takes us. We love you, good kitty Tigger and we wish you all of the best. What a good furry friend you are!

And here is what Mom worked on, while all of the boys were away today. Enjoy!




Ahh, here are those measurements for the panels, if you want them too.

The card base is 5.5 x 12"
Score the card at 4", 6.5", 9", and 10.5"
Measure in 2"
Cut the card as shown in the video!

The panels are as follows:
Back panel - 5.25 x 3.75"
Middle panel - 3.25 x 2.24"
Front panel - 5.25 x 1.25"

If you are cutting Cricut embelishments, the 1.5 inch size works great for border embelishments!

The side panel (can be placed to the right, or the left, depending on how you fold your card) measures 1.75 x 3.75"

If you try this card, I would love to see what you can come up with. :)