Bingo! Wonderful Wednesday Cricut Challenge

 This week's Wonderful Wednesday Challenge is a Festive and Fun Bingo.

 I chose the vertical line in the centre of the grid for my card today.

I used flowers (cut with the Cricut and rolled), ribbon (around the layer on the card) and embossing (on the card).

I used acetate to make the card and embossed it with the Cuttlebug, I rounded the corners to remove the sharpness.

The layers were cut using the Cricut then edged with Victorian Velvet distress ink.

The flowers were rolled then the petals were rounded to provide some additional shape to the flowers. I added some distress ink to these as well. The leaves were die cut from hand made paper.

I made a bow with my bow maker and attached it to the ribbon.

Please join us over at Crafting with Cutters this week for this challenge and pick up the freebie for the week as well.

Festive and Fun Bingo Terrific Tuesday Challenge

Today's Terrific Tuesday Challenge over at Paper Crafting World is a Festive and Fun Bingo.






The project needs to be done according to a Bingo line.

I chose to do the diagonal line from the top left - Embossing, Die Cut, Ink.

The image I used is the Snowman image from Paper Crafting World. I printed it in colour after adding the Merry Christmas greeting to the bottom.

I used a rectangular die to cut the image out and ined the edges with Weathered Wood Distress ink before removing the card from the die.

The red layer was embossed in the Cuttlebug then layered onto white card. I added some ribbon to these two layers then attached the image layer.

On the base card, I embossed two lines at the top and bottom of the card, then added a strip of gold peel-off in the centre of the double lines.

Please join us this week for this fun challenge and pick up the freebie digi stamp as well.

Crafting with Cutters Cricut Cartridge Showcase

Back again with another Cricut Cartridge Showcase for Crafting with Cutters!

This week, I have put together a number of projects I have made using the Tags, Bags, Boxes and More 2 cartridge. I have used it so much since I bought it a month or so ago and I can see that it will be used a lot more in the future as well! I use this cartridge with the Cricut Craft Room which makes it really easy to size your project and make your layers.

When you purchase the cartridge, you also get a handbook showing each of the buttons and cuts, and another book showing how to make the boxes up. The pictures are a little small, but are reasonably easy to follow. A must with this cartridge is the embossing tool that is used in place of the cutting blade. This tool makes the score lines for your project, which are on a separate layer. All you need to do is place the embossing layer on top of the shape you are cutting and fit it to the same size, then, when you cut, tell the computer which layer you are "cutting".

For each button on the cartridge, there is a box (cut in one piece for 12 x 12 mat users), two box sections (for smaller mat users), a tag with a layer, a card, and one or two phrases with layers.

On to my projects!

This is just a basic box, believe it or not! The box can be found on P59 of the manual that comes with the cartridge (design no 32).

I cut the box then I designed and cut the fancy edged squares for the top and bottom of the box. I used one of Melin's beautiful swirly hearts designs for this.

I also made some swirls to go around the edge of the lid. You can see them peeking out from beneather the ribbon. 

To finish the lid off, I embossed the square centre part of the additional die cut with the swiss dots folder then added some die cut flowers and leaves to finish it all off. The flowers have little pearl bling in the centre of each one.

I fell in love with this cute box. It is found on page 56 (No 29) of the handbook.

I cut the box, then covered the front skirt piece with  black lacy paper and real lace trim for the top, adding a little black trim in the join. Lace and ric rac were added to the bottom of the skirt piece.

The sentiment was stamped and die cut then added some pearl bling to finish it off. 

Not only does this cartridge have loads of boxes in various shapes and sizes, it also has phrases and tags that you can use. For this card, I used the phrase on page 41 (no 16) to make a Mother's Day card. I cut the phrase and a layer, added some faux stitching and bling then attached to my card. 









Christmas is coming, all too fast, and this cartridge has some cool Christmas stuff as well. This card uses the phrase on page 48 (no 22) that I cut, embossed then layered on to a base card. Die cuts like this make Christmas Card making simple!

 Finally, we all need tags for attaching to gifts and this cartridge is full of tags. Each of the boxes on the cartridge has a tag and phrase with it so you can mix and match.

This snowflake tag can be found on page 47 (no 21). I cut it from white card then embossed it with my snowflakes folder. I added some embossing ink with the brayer, just so it caught the raised parts of the tag then heat embossed it with psychadelic embossing powder. The tag was then layered on the pale blue background, also cut from the same button.

The Christmas tree tag can be found on page 48 (no 22) and I used the same techniques as for the snowflake tag, using different coloured embossing powders and an embossing pen instead of the brayer.


This cartridge is so versatile and has so many different uses. If you don't already have it, you really should think about getting hold of it.

CWC Wonderful Wednesdays Challenge

Today, Melin over at Crafting With Cutters, has set us a challenge to make Treats only! 

So, back to my trusty new Tags, Bags, Boxes and More 2 cartridge to find a cute little box that I could make as a treat box.

We don't go in for Halloween so much here in New Zealand, so I decided to make a box that could be used as a gift box, rather than one for sweets at Halloween.

I cut my box (number 28, P 55, TBBM2 handbook) from a sheet of A4 card then another from a sheet of patterned paper to make the decorative panels on the sides and top.

The panels and the sides of the box were edged with vintage photo distress ink before making it all up.

I made a gerbera flower and swirls to go on the top of the box to finish it off.

The photo quality is not as good as I would like but I had to use my iPad to take the pic. Thank goodness for editing software!

PCW Terrific Tuesday Challenge - Candy Treats

It must be getting closer to Halloween because the themes seem to be all about treats at the moment over at the Terrific Tuesday Challenges.

Today's challenge is about Candy Treats - no cards or layouts are to be seen!

For the challenge I used a new cutting file from Melin at Paper Crafting World which is a cute little box with a zig-zag edge and a handle.

I cut the box from a 12" square sheet of cardstock then decorated it with some die cuts from my new Spellbinders lattice set and ribbon on the front and back of the box.

To finish it off, I added some flowers in Autumnal colours made with a Tim Holtz flowers strip die. 

In this picture you can see that I made the handle zig zag using an edge punch. It matches the top of the box nicely.

I added a strip of ribbon to the handle as well.

Do go on over to the Paper Crafting World challenge and have a go. See some of the lovely projects that other DT members have done.

Halloween House

A while ago I made this Halloween House from the Elmhurst Hollow SVG kit created by SVG Cuts. I realised that I had never blogged it so it is right in time for a couple of challenges that are up at the moment.




I used my Cricut to cut out all the pieces and dry embossed the roof pieces with the Swiss Dots folder in my Cuttlebug. Used distress inks to edge the bits and pieces that make up the house. The bats are flying from pieces of clear acetate and they look really cute!

I have placed battery operated coloured tealight candles inside the house to show how the light comes through the vellum windows.

We don't really celebrate Halloween here in New Zealand, but it makes a great talking point when we have visitors!

I am entering this in the following challenges:

Aly's Crafty Challenges - It's Halloween





CC101 Facebook group challenge that has the theme of Anything Goes Holidays!


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Cooking with Cricut Wonderful Wednesday Cricut Challenge

 Wednesday again (at least it is in the USA still!) and time for another Wonderful Wednesday Cricut Challenge over at Cooking with Cricut. The theme today is Pumpkins and circles or dots.

I used my Cricut and the Tags Bags Boxes and more 2 cart to make this cute little pumpkin box with a handle.

I cut the pumpkin shaped box in brown then cut the top layer in orange. I used a brown Cricut pen in the machine to draw the lines on the top layer for the pumpkin before embossing it in the big dots CB folder. I edged the layers with vintage photo distress ink then glued them to the box.

I cut the tag and swirls with the cricut and stamped the tag using letters from a stamp set and a cat face stamp from Tanda.

This would be so cute to fill with Halloween goodies for trick or treaters - but we don't really do Halloween here in NZ!

Hop on over to Cooking with Cricut to see the other projects from the lovely ladies in the DT. While you are there, check out the DT call for the 25 Days of Christmas.

Terrific Tuesday Challenge- Pumpkins and Circles

 Today's Terrific Tuesday challenge over at PCW is to use pumpkins and circles or dots. There is a great cutting file freebie of a pumpkin on the challenge blog as well so head on over there to claim it as soon as possbile!


 My card for this challenge was made using a digital stamp from PCW of a scarecrow boy sitting on a pumpkin. I coloured it with Copic markers then cut it out. It was mounted on the background card with foam pads.

I had prepared the background by using two different papers then stitching them to the card using a sewing machine. The ribbon was added before attaching to the base card.

The sentiment was stamped (using a stamp from a set I have forgotten the name of) with wild honey distress ink then edged with the same ink as well as rusty hinge. I added some orange card candy to the corners for my circles or dots!

This is the freebie cutting file that you can get from PCW this week.

Look forward to seeing your entries to the challenge!

Some Lovely Stash!

Look at this lovely stash I just got from Gina K Designs! It was posted on 10 October and arrived today. That is fast from the USA!
Two of the sets were freebies from the sale they were having a couple of weeks ago. Great value and thanks Gina K Designs. Can't wait to try them all out.


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Design Team Call

Melin, over at Cooking with Cricut, has posted a design team call for a 25 Day Christmas Crafting showcase.

It will be a great showcase opportunity and the bonus is that you can also get access to all of Melin's wonderful cutting files and digi stamps to be found at Paper Crafting World. 

Please hop on over to Cooking with Cricut here to check out the DT call.

Pink and Sketch Challenge at PCW

This week's challenge is to use the sketch provided for a card or layout and to use the colour pink, in recognition of Breast Cancer Awareness.

I chose to use the card sketch for this challenge.

I used a grey card for the base and added a pink layer that I cut using deckle scissors and edged with London Fog Memento ink.

The focal image is a digi from PCW called Mother's Day Roses and actually came in the pinky sepia tones which worked perfectly. I cut it using a spellbinders deckled die then edged it with Victorian Velvet distress ink while it was still in the die




I die cut 2 white circles and the label for the sentiment and trimmed the sentiment tag to fit the bottom part of the card. The stamp is from a Gina K set and it was stamped with London Fog Memento ink.

I used a pink ribbon and a grey spotted ribbon for the centre of the card.

The finishing touches were the sprigs punched in grey card and the rose at the side of the sentiment.

Hope you enjoy this week's challenge over at PCW!

COOKING WITH CRICUT Colour challenge

Today we have another colour challenge over at Cooking with Cricut.

The theme colours were quite autumnal with a touch of pale green and we had to use string or twine.

This is the card I did for the DT this week.





I used two digi stamps from Melin's Paper Crafting world and laid one on top of the other (using PNG) files, then printed it and cut it out.

The card and the top layer were cut with the Cricut using the Everyday Pop-up cards cart. I added faux stitching around some of the edges. The sentiment was cut from the Preserves cart and using the Cricut Craft room, I made a shadow layer for it as well.

Pop on over to www.cookingwithcricut.com to check out the other projects from the DT.

Thanks for looking at my blog this week.


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Terrific Tuesday Colour Challenge

Today's challenge over at PCW is a colour challenge, using all the colours shown in the swatch here as well as string, twine, hemp etc.

Putting these colours all together proved to be a bit of a challenge but I managed with the help of a lovely digi image from Melin at PCW.

I used pale blue for the base card and made a gatefold card. That ScorPal is such a great tool!

I added a layer of cream that I embossed with my favourite swiss dots folder.

I cut the image and the backing card, the sentiment and its backing card with Spellbinders dies and edged the image and sentiment with antique linen distress ink.

I finished it all off with a bow made from natural coloured raffia.

I think I managed to cover all the colours in the swatch reasonably well!

Pop on over to join the rest of the team at the PCW Terrific Tuesdays Challenge and leave some lovely comments for the girls! Thanks for looking here as well.

Market Fresh Mondaze Cartridge Showcase

Today's Market Fresh Mondaze Cartridge Showcase  over at Cooking with Cricut features the Everyday Pop-up Cards cartridge.
I bought this cartridge a month or so ago and have been playing with it a bit since then.
There are some wonderful ideas on the cartridge, both for pop-up cards and flat cards as well as some great words and images that you can use on different types of projects.

The first cards I made with the cartridge were all done using the pop-up features. Each of the images has a number of different layers associated with it, some have more than others. There is usually an image with a layer and shadow, as well as a phrase, phrase layer and pop-up. Some images have 2 different pop-up layers and you can choose which you want to use. Each image also has a card which you can cut to the size you want. All the cards have different edges to them.

This card has a cute little plane that pops up when you open it. 

 I loved the images for this one and it lends itself to adding extra texture. I did this by embossing the box layer and adding a ribbon. The flowers were glazed with Kindiglitz to make them sparkle.

I also added some texture to the background by embossing the base layer and using a die cut scalloped oval which I added some shading to with distress ink.

 For the inside of the card, I used the pop-up phrase, which is multi-layered. To make the letters stand out, I added some faux stitching to some of them

 This note card was fun to do. I cut the bird and added some texture to his wing by embossing it with my favourite swiss dots folder. The card has a wavy edge so I cut it three times in different card to get a layered effect on the edge.

 The inside of the card has a little bird inside a bird cage that pops up when you open it.

After I tried using the the pop-up features, I decided to play with some of the images and do some creative things using the Cricut Craft Room.

For this card, I took the owl image and made it into a shaped card. Then I cut the top layer using the same image and added the various layers.

I inked the edges of the shapes with distress ink and added a little die cut heart with a stamp on it.

For my last card, I used the butterfly image and cut it at 2.5" using matching card for the upper and lower layers of the butterfly. I then placed the card layer on the mat and added the shadow butterfly in the centre of the card.

I added toning card to the back of the hole cut in the card then layered the butterfly on top of that after folding the wings upward slightly to give some dimension. The bling was added to the body of the butterfly.

I found this cartridge to have some great ideas for projects, not just cards, but images for layouts as well. You are only limited by your own imagination!

I did find it a little frustrating that there are not clear instructions included with the cartridge for putting the pop-up pieces together. There is a PDF available at the Cricut Support website with some indications of how the pop-ups work, but it would be great if there was more detail with it. You can do a class on-line but that has a cost.