BBTB2 BAUBLES CHALLENGE

Good morning

It's Monday and time for our BBTB2 challenge and it's my turn to  choose a theme this week. I asked the design team to create a project using a bauble/Christmas ornament using any Cricut cartridge and there are lots of Christmas cartridges with baubles to choose from!

I chose a bauble from the Very Merry Christmas Tags cartridge and used the bauble as an 'o'in the word JOY.  J and Y are from Plantin School cartridge and all are cut at 2 3/4". I used white ribbed card for the base cuts and silver American Crafts card for the shadow cuts. I have pop dotted for a little dimension. I added a silver ribbon bow and some turquoise gems to  the bauble to match the card base which is covered with turquoise glitter paper.

Please go and visit BBTB2 and see the gorgeous projects the DT have created this week and we would love you to join in our challenge and see your wonderful bauble creations!

Thanks so much for visiting and have a great week!

Julie xx

BBTB2 Circles

Hi
Today over at BBTB2 we're not having a challenge as such but are just looking at what we can create with circles and our cricuts!

I cut three circles 1 1/2" 1 3/4" and 2" using George and Basic Shapes cartridge in white card and pop dotted them on top of each other to create a melting snowman. I glittered the edges of the circles and added some red polka dot ribbon which I frayed at the ends for his scarf. His eyes and mouth have been made using different size hole punch waste and I hand cut a little orange triangle for his nose. Backing paper and greeting are both Papermania and I just added to crystals to the greeting to finish off.
Please pop over to BBTB2 and see what gorgeous projects the DT have created using circles this week,.

Thanks so much for stopping by

Juliexx

BBTB2 3D HALLOWEEN TREAT CONTAINER CHALLENGE

Hiya
This week over at BBTB2 the fabulous Jeri chose our challenge for us, Jeri asked us to create 3D Halloween treat containers using our cricuts and any cartridge.

Well with Halloween looming I took the opportunity to make a few as I have plenty of children calling  on Haloween so thank you Jeri for a great challenge this week!

I made the little square boxes by hand using a milk carton principle but scored and folded to make a square box front rather than a rectangle.  To decorate I broke out my Punpkin Carvings cartridge which I've had for at least two years and never used yet! I cut out lots of the punpkin face squares and Boo's in black cardstock, I love them!  I'll definitely be using this cart in the future. To finish I punched 2 holes at the top of each container and threaded some stamping up stripey ribbon through and tied little spider rings into the ribbon so that the children can pop them on when they open their box of treats!

We hope you'll join in with us at BBTB2 and get your Halloween treat containers made ready for when the children come calling we love seeing your creations and don't forget to pop over to BBTB2 and see the awesome treat containers the rest of thr DT have made

Thanks so much for visiting and Happy Halloween everyone!

Juliexx

BBTB2 'LITTLE BOY BLUE' CHALLENGE

Hi all
It's Monday and time for our BBTB2 challenge and this week's host is our lovely Suzanne who is so excited as she is expecting her first grandson any time now! In honour of his birth Suzanne asked us to create a project for a boy using the colour blue and our Cricuts.

I chose to make a new baby card.
My card is 6x6" and all papers are Making Memories. I used Wrap It Up Cricut Cartridge for the stork tag which is cut at 5" blackout in blue/green check and top layer in white.It's a boy is from Holiday Cakes cartridge and cut at 2 3/4" shadow in blue gingham and top layer in white.All ribbon added is Making Memories too and the little dummy embellishment is from Meiflower.co.uk. Everything has been pop dotted for a little dimension.

Please pop over to BBTB2 and see the adorable baby/boy projects my DT sisters have created this week and we would love you to join in our challenge this week to celebrate the impending birth of Suzanne's baby grandson!

Thanks so much for popping by!

Juliexx

BBTB2 'WINGED THINGS' THINGS THAT FLY IN NATURE CHALLENGE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Hi

 

It's BBTB2 challenge Monday and this week our awesomely talented DT sister Sandi Kelly chose a topic of  'Winged things' for us! Any creature with wings and there are thousands on your Cricut cartridges so we hope you'll join in too!

 

I chose to make a card using this  gorgeous doily from Cindy Loo Cartridge. The original cut has a scalloped edge so I took it into Design Studio and hid the edge using  'hide contour'  and welded to a square to create my card front. My card is 62 square and there is a blackmat then the lilac litter mat then the top layer is pop dotted for dimension.  A Happy Birthday rub on has been added and some lilac gems placed around the card.

 

Go and visit BBTB2 and see the most beautiful 'winged things' created by the DT this week and please join us as we love to see your wonderful work!

 

Thank you so much for visiting today

 

Juliexx

 

 

 

ANOTHER BRACELET!

 

 

 

 

Hiya

 

I made another bracelet today! This could become addictive lol! This one is made with black crystal rondelles, silver spacer beads and silver bugle beads and looks much prettier on than in the photo as all the facets of the crystals really twinkle :) so hard to photograph twinkles!

 

Must go make my DT card for BBTB2 now so I can settle down for the new series of Downton Abbey tonight! Can't wait!

 

Juliexx

 

 

SOMETHING A LITTLE DIFFERET FOR ME!

Hi
I've been dabbling in something new for me, jewellry making! Here are a few of my attempts! It's a new hobby for me, I don't think it will replace my love of papercrafting but I can do it whilst watching TV.
The first one I made was the black  crystal bracelet and earrings, then I thought I'd try a knitted wire and black crystal bracelet and finally I made this cha cha bracelet with glass pearls and crystals.
I'm really enjoying making these I hope you like them
Juliexx

BBTB2 BACK TO SCHOOL CHALLENGE

 

 

 

Hi
This week over at BBTB2 our lovely Brenda chose a theme of Back To School for us. Over here in the UK the children/college students start back at the beginning of next week. Don't get me wrong it's lovely to have them home for the Summer but it's always nice to get back into a normal routine when they go back!  :)

My card this week is very quick and simple, I used an apple from Give A Hoot Cricut Cartridge and the Back 2 School phrase is from Designers Calender Cartridge. My card is a shaped card measuring about 4" high by 5" and is a shaped card created by welding 2 apple shadows (one flipped) using Design Studio and white card. I cut another white shadow and adhered to my base card followed by a black layer, leaf layer in green and apple layer in red/white polka dot. All layers are pop dotted for some dimension. Back to School was cut shadow in black and base in white. I must admit I did trim off the end of the 2 as it crossed through the letter L of school and looked to me like it said Back to Schoot! so the tail end of the 2 just had to go! Finally the part that always takes me the longest, I love ribbon and probably have enough to open a shop but tying a bow takes me forever it took me about 20 minutes to get this one looking anywhere near presentable!

Please visit BBTB2 and check out the gorgeous Back to School projects The DT have created and we would love to see your take on our challenge this week too!

Have a great week all

Juliexx

BBTB2 VACATION CHALLENGE

inside of the card

Hi
This week over at BBTB2  our wonderful Carole chose the theme Vacation for our challenge.

When I was a chuld I loved nothing better  than spending our summer holidays by the seaside so thst was the idea for my card this week.

My card is about 8" wide and 4" tall and is actually a 'corner' cut from Straight From the Nest cricut cartridge and I just welded the base corner to the shift corner to make my card base. I cut another corner in orange and also a shift corner (which is just the plain shape hope that makes sense!) in acetate and adhered that on to my card followed by the corner, for the front I then cut one more front in yellow and just trimmed out the sun to add to the front of the card. The word days is cut from Just Because Cards cartridge using some stripey card from my stash. For the inside of my card I cur another shift corner to cover using some blue/white polkadot paper and tore some yellow card to depict the sand. The three children are from A Child's Year cartridge which seems to be my favourite go to cartridge at the moment! To finish off I added a few shell beads to the front of the card.

Pop over to BBTB2 and see the fantastic vacation projects the rest of the DT have created this week and join us in this lovely challenge, we would love to see your creations!

Thanks as always for taking the time to visit and hope you all have a great week.

Juliexx

BBTB2 CHALLENGE CHRISTMAS IN JULY!

Good morning

It's Monday again already and time for our BBTB2 challenge!   This week our wonderfully creative Jayne has chosen the theme of Christmas in July and as Jayne says 'what a great way to get a head start on your Christmas cards!'

I chose to make a shaped card this week and my card measures about 5 1/2". I used four colours of cardstock, white, black, gold and red mirror card. I created a card base by welding two shadow snowflakes at 5 1/2"  using Design Studio and Cricut cartridge Winter Lace, then cut 2 more shadows separately in gold mirror card and 2 base cuts in white. I adhered one gold shadow cut to the front of my card then pop dotted the second shadow layer followed by pop dotting the two base snowflake cuts on top for lots of dimension! The santa and little boy Silhoette cut is from A Child's Year cart (one of my favourite go to cartridges) cut at 3 1/2" shadow in red mirri and base in black and again pop dotted and added to the front of the card. The sentiment is a peel off mounted on white and black mats and pop dotted over a red organza bow and some red gems to finish off. Oh and a little white pom pom to Santa's hat! This is a quick and simple card the only time consuming thing about it is the gazillion pop dots between the layers but I do like a bit of dimension!

Please visit us over at BBTB2,  the design team have lots of lovely Christmas creations to show you this week and join us in the challenge and get a head start on your Christmas! We love seeing all your gorgeous projects .

Thanks so much for popping in today and have a great week!

Juliexx

PAPERCRAFT INSPIRATIONS

Good morning

It's a beautiful sunny morning here in Wales today! Fingers crossed Summer has finally arrived in the UK !

Just a quick post from me today, I am so excited,  my blog is featured in August 2012 issue of Papercraft Inspirations magazine. Mine is the picture of the yellow and black card  with bees. Hope you don't mind me sharing I am just soo excited I've never been in a magazine before!

Have a great Sunday everyone

Juliex

BBTB2 FASHION CHALLENGE

Hi

It's BBTB2 Monday challenge today and one of our newsest DT members Rebekah has chosen a lovely challenge for us this week. Rebekah chose Fashion as a theme so plenty of choice from  all the Cricut cartridges out there!

I made a card from the Art Deco but ended up making two as I couldn't make up my mind on a black dress or white!

My card base is 6x6" which I had to cut down by a quarter of an inch at the bottom as the frame is just short of a square.  Both the frame and the lady are from the Art Deco cartridge, frame cut at 3 1/2"and lady cut at 4 1/2". I cut both the ladies and all her layers  in black and in white in order to get the 2 ladies and just gave one a black dress and one a white. The shadows are cut in silver mirri for the lady in white and gold mirri for my lady in black. I added super glittery paper behind the frame in red and turquoise and matching gems to each card.

I bought this cart on a whim as it was on offer but now I've opened it and had a good look there are some fabulous cuts on it, so glad I bought it now!

Pop over to BBTB2 and take a look at the wonderful Fashion projects the rest of the DT have created this week and please join in we'd love to see your take on this week's challenge!

Thanks for visiting and have a great week

Juliexx

BBTB2 PATRIOTIC CHALLENGE

                                                          

Hiya

It's Monday and time for another BBTB2 challenge! This week's host is the fabulously creative Susan Edwards. Susan's theme for this week is 'Patriotic'and since July 4th is just around the corner hopefully you can join us in the challenge using your Patriotic creations you make with your Cricut!

Now even though I'm from the UK I always like to make a card for Independence day so I can wish all my US blogging friends a Happy July 4th!

On to my card, card base measures 6x6" and I printed (on to cardstock) red stripey paper and blue/white star papers from  Pink Petticoat colour collections downloads Stripes White and Vintage Stars White.  My star is cut using George and Basic shapes cartridge at 3.5", I then scored from each point of the star to make it look 3D. At the top of the card I used Martha Stewart deep edge punch Daisy Fan with white card. I added a lollipop stick to my star and tied three strands of red white and blue 3mm ribbon into a bow for decoration. The star has pop dots about four deep in the centre for dimension and stability and then glue dots at the points to hold them down. My sentiment is computer generated font is  Romantiques for 4 and the rest of the wording including Freedom  is using Carnivalee Freak Show. Another reason I love to use digi papers is that I can use colour picker on the papers on the computer in order to make sure my font colours match perfectly!  Finally I added some little star and little round clear gems to finish off.  (Ribbon,star and round gems and lollipop sticks all purchased from Hobbycraft)

Go visit BBTB2 and see all the fabulous Patriotic creations Susan and the rest of the DT have created for you this week and we would love to see your take on the challenge too!

Have a wonderful week everyone

Juliexx

BBTB2 BIRTHDAY AND PEARLS CHALLENGE

Good morning

This week's BBTB2 challenge is hosted by one of our lovely new DT members Stephanie who chose Birthday and Pearls as a theme for us.

Well, I was late posting my card as I thought I would try my Viva Decor Pearl Pen and as fab as it is  I needed to leave it overnight to dry!

My card is approx 9"x4"and I used centura pearl snow white card throughout.This card is lovely as it looks like it has a fine gold mist laid down on it, not that you can tell from my terrible attempts at photographing it ! I used Cricut cart Cake Basics for my Happy Birthday cut at 3"and cut one base and 2 shadows. I then used the Viva Decor pearl pen to cover the base cut with different sized pearls. What I love about this pen is that the pearls don't peak like meringues, they give a great pearl shape although I probably need a lot more practise! I adhered the base cut when dry to the shadow cut then pop dotted on to a second shadow which was then pop dotted again on to my card for extra dimension. Finally I used a martha Stewart flower punch for some little blossoms which decorated as well as covered up my little mistakes!  I added little turquoise gemstones to the flower centres to finish off.

Please pop over to BBTB2 and take a look at the gorgeous creations from the rest of the DT this week and as always we would love you to join in with the challenge and as it's a theme any cartridge can be used!

Thanks so much for popping in today, have a lovely week everyone!

Juliexx

BBTB2 GARDEN CHALLENGE

Hi
Today's BBTB2 challenge is once again hosted by our very talented DT sister Julia who has chosen the theme of Garden. I am loving these themed challenges as they give you so much scope and are actually making me explore my cartridges more!

 I decided to go with flowers and a clean and simple card, well I actually made three of them as this is the style of card I like to send!

My card base is 6"x4" and I used a gorgeous silhouette flower cut from Lyrical Letters. On the cart this flower is framed by a thin square frame so I hid contour with Design Studio and added and welded a wider frame and elongated the bottom so it would cut in one piece and I could add ribbon and a sentiment to it. I cut enough to make three of these cards, two black and one white and mounted them on to white or black card. I added some black and white stripey ribbon and used black and white rub ons for my sentiments. Finally I added gems in pink,lime and turquoise to finish off. The longest part of making this card was adding 3d foam behind the cut as they are delicate and fine but I think the dimension it gives the cards is worth it!

Please pop over to BBTB2 and see the gorgeous projects the DT have created, they are much more elaborate than mine! We would love you to join in too and you can use any cut from any cartridge as long as it can be found in the garden which gives you oodles of choice!

Thanks so much for visiting today

Have a fabulous week everyone and Happy Memorial Day to all my US blogging friends!

Juliexx

BBTB2 BAKERY CHALLENGE

Hi

Welcome to our BBTB2 weekly challenge. This week our wonderfully talented Julia chose the challenge and instead of choosing a cut from a Cricut cartridge Julia chose a theme and the theme is 'Bakery'. What a great idea as you can choose any cut from any cartridge to incorporate into a bakery themed project!

I love the cakes at my local bakery and have been itching to use this word cake from the Once Upon A Princess cartridge so this was the perfect opportunity!

My card is 6x6"and the papers are from DCWV Sweet Stack.  My cake is cut at 5 1/2" and I cut 2 shadows one in brown and one in pink/brown polka dots plus the base words layer in brown and layers in blue. I pop dotted the two shadow layers and pop dotted again on to the card for a bit of dimension. I added two rows of pink/brown ribbon behind the cake and finally lots of pink gems  to finish off.

Wait til you see the  projects over at BBTB2 that my DT sisters have created for you this week,  all I can say is YUM!!  Please join us in our challenge this week we always love to see your wonderful creations and as long as your project has a bakery theme you can use any cricut cart!

Thanks so much for visiting me today and I hope you all have a wonderful week!

Juliexx

BBTB2 ICE CREAM CHALLENGE

Good evening

It's Monday and time once again for our BBTB2 challenge and our hostess for this week is our lovely Penny. Penny asked us to cut an ice cream from any Cricut cartridge. Thank you Penny it's lovely to dream of the Summer with all the miserable weather we're having in the UK at the moment so I really enjpyed the challenge!

I decided to make a card using the chill label from From My Kitchen cartidge. I welded the 2 oval shadows together to make my card base I can't remember what size but this is quite a big card measuring approx 5"x8" I then broke open my Sweet Treats cartridge (I've had this cartridge since it was released  so about 18mths ago maybe more and I just HAD to have it at the time and this is the first time I've used it lol!!! I bet I'm not alone in this obsession how many have to haves have you bought that you have yet to use?  :) ) and cut shadow and layers of this yummy triple ice cream I think at 3 1/2" pop dotted and added to the side of my card so that the bottom of the cone balanced thecard for standing. I added  some embossing to my ice cream and chill is also pop dotted for dimension. Then finally some buttons ( lovely big bag of buttons from the new value range at Hobbycraft they were a bargain!)  and a little white tag  which I chalked and added some pink ribbon and stamped with an ancient happy birthday stamp from my stash!

Please pop over to BBTB2 and drool over the yummy ice cream projects the rest of my DT sisters have created this week and we would love you to join in our challenge too.

Finally we have some new Design team members so welcome to all we can''t wait to see your debut creations in May!

Juliexx

BBTB2 BEE/LADYBUG CHALLENGE

Hi
It's Monday and time for another BBTB2 challenge! This week our wonderfully talented Krista chose the theme and as you can see from the title of this post she asked us to use any ladybug or bumble bee from any Cricut cartridge.

Last week I was attempting the balloon challenge and my Cricut just wouldn't behave so I gave up! So this week armed with a new blade and a new mat I decided to challenge my Cricut to this quite intricate little bee! It didn't disappoint it cut these bees out beautifully! I'll let you into a little secret though and this was a tip from my workmate Stacey I used a Sizzix Eclipse blade and mat which both work with the Cricut beautifully and as Hobbycraft no longer stock Cricut but sell The Eclipse and accessories are a great alternative!

Anyway on to my card, the card is A5 in size and I found this Honeycomb digital paper as a free download online ( so sorry I didn't save the site so apologize that I can't give credit for this) I used this to cover my card then added MS deep edge Trellis border punch in black card along the folded edge of the card. I then cut a thin strip of the same black card and wound round some topaz coloured gem garland ( bought a while back from Hobbycraft sale) which I thought looked like drops of honey and adhered to the side of the card atop the border. My little bee family are cut at 2" x3  1 3/4"x2 and finally I cut 1 at1 1/2". The biggest bee is layered 3 times then the second twice and the last one just a single layer so they look like they are fluttering on the page.  Finally a rub on for the sentiment.

Please pop over to BBTB2 and have a look at the gorgeous creations the DT have made this week and as always we'd love you to join in the challenge too!

Thanks so much for dropping in today and hope you all have a lovely week!

Juliexxx

BBTB2 CINDY LOO FLOURISH

Hello
It's Monday and time for our BBTB2 challenge and this week I had the honour of choosing the cut. I chose any of the flourishes from the Cindy Loo cartridge. I love flourishes and think they add such an elegant touch to any project.
I made a shadow box card which is really easy to do. I cut 2 pieces of ivory card at 7x5" then scored the short ends at 1/2 and 1 inch which are then scored, folded and adhered together and you have your shadow card ready to decorate, Before adhering the card together I adhered a piece of backing paper (from Papermania Book Print pad of paper) cut at 5x5" to the inside of the card and cut my aperture using a circle nestability.  I cut 5 nestie circles for the roses and handcut them spirally (haha is that a word ??)  and used my cuttlebug quilling tool which makes it so eay to wind the paper to make these little roses. I used a tonic butterfly punch to punch 2 butterflies in the same paper which was the leftovers from the lovely lilac paper I used on last weeks card! I cut 3 flourishes which are flourish 2 from Cindy Loo at 1 1/2" in black American Crafts cardstock and added them behind my roses. Finally I added some lilac gems to finish.
Please pop over to BBTB2 and see the gorgeous cards the rest of the DT have created this week and we would love to see your creations with a flourish too!  Don't worry if you don't have Cindy Loo cart you can use a flourish from any cart and there are lots of beauties on many of the Cricut carts to choose from!
Thanks so much for visiting today and have a great week!
Juliexx

BBTB2 WELCOME CHALLENGE

Hello
It's a beautiful sunny day here in Wales today!
It's time for our BBTB2 challenge and this week our wonderfully talented Theresa chose the theme/cut. Theresa asked us to create a project using a cut with the word Welcome from any Cricut cartridge.
I chose Welcome Spring from the Phrases cartridge which has turned out to be very fitting with the lovely Spring day we have today!
My card is 6x6" and the backing paper is a lovely glittered lilac paper from the new Papermania Fairies of Little Venice Paper pack. I cut the welcome Spring at 3 1/2" in white then the little bird in lemon and I then cuttled him with Cuttlebug Swiss dots embossing folder, he is pop dotted for a little dimension too and I coloured his beak,feet, cheek and eye with promarkers. I added some lilac and pale green gems to the phrase and finished off with some pretty lemon gingham ruffle ribbon.
Please pop over to BBTB2 to see the gorgeous creations from the DT and we hope you can join in with the challenge oooh and we have a sponsor this week so there will be a prize for the challenge winner as well as the winner blinkie!
Thanks so much for popping in and have a great week!
Juliexxx

BBTB2 GARDEN BOOT/WELLY CHALLENGE

Hiya
It's time for our BBTB2 challenge again and this week one of our wonderful DT leaders Carole asked us to use the garden boot from Nate's ABC cartridge although you can use any boot from any cartridge if you haven't got Nate's ABC
I don't own this cartridge so decided to use Paisley and made a shaped card by welding 2 boots together using DS. This was such a quick card as I was short on time this week and being the procrastinator that I am posted this by the skin of my teeth!
I just cut all the layers and pop dotted them and added a few gems and a computer generated greeting.
I hope you'll pop over to BBTB2 and check out all the cute boots the DT have created this week and we'd love it if you joined us in the challenge!
As always thank you so much for visiting
Juliexx

BBTB2 SWEETHEARTS TAG

 

Hello

It's Monday and BBTB2 time!  This week our wonderfully creative Shelly chose the cut for us and asked us to use any of the tags from Sweethearts Cricut Cartridge, thanks Shelly I never realised how many gorgeous tags are on this cart!

An easy peasy Valentine tag from me this week! I found this really pretty tag with all the heart cut outs on the cart and cut it twice, once on flip, then I cut a solid tag also from the same cart using the plastic shell packaging from one of my new cartridges (all cut at 5")(you could use clear acetate I just thought I would recycle some of my packaging!)  The red and white polka dots is printed from a Pink Petticoat cd. By flipping my second heart tag cut I  could then sandwich the clear plastic/acetate in between and have perfect little heart windows, this was adhered with two layers of foam in between. I then added my sentiment with black glitter letters I and U and a clear gem heart in the centre of three of the heart 'windows', I also placed another heart on the reverse so back or front the tag says the same! Some  ribbon and more gems to finish off a really quick and easy tag for a Valentine's gift!

We hope you will join us in the challenge at BBTB2 this week and if you don't own Sweethearts you can use any tag from any of your cartridges and don't forget to check out the fabulous tags the rest of the DT have created this week!

Thanks so much for popping in

Juliexx