Happy Birthday with Summer School Challenge at Cut It Up Blog

If you are like me, you have a bucket list of techniques you want to try.  In fact I have a Pinterest Board just for that purpose.  So, when I saw this weeks Cut It Up Challenge:  Summer School:  Follow a Tutorial, I knew I had the perfect excuse to give one a try.  Here is my entry for the challenge using the Stamp TV Black Magic tutorial you can find here.  I can't get over Gina K.'s colors, but she has much better colored pencils than I do.  I had to try this technique because it reminds me of the folk painting I see at our favorite cottage in Palisades Park:  Balgownie (just south of South Haven, MI). The cottage is one of the oldest in the park and actually has the carriage house under the sleeping porch.  I sometimes wish that the folk painting will never painted over there.  

Along with my bucket list of techniques, I am in the midst of reorganizing and redecorating my craft room.  As I am working I have come across many items I had to have and haven't used.  I may have to use this challenge as a jumping off point and share my technique attempts...

One supply I have, are the flip card dies from Sizzix, and I needed a 5 x 7 card, so I pulled out my Anna Griffin Fantastic Flipcards cartridge.  If you're wondering what a flip card is, see the photo above, where the card has folds and cut outs that add dimension and interest.  I used an Anna Griffin die cut for the happy birthday sentiment.  

Supplies

Anna Griffin Fantastic Flipcards Cricut Cartridge

Anna Griffin Die Cut (Happy Birthday)

Cricut Machine

Black Card Stock

Silver Card Stock

Green Card Stock

White Pigment Ink

Colored Pencils

Mon Ami Gabi Green pearls

White Gel Pen

CTMH Tickled Pink Promotional Stamp Set (Daisy Flower)

Inkadinkado Wellspring Stamp Set (Flourish)

Joy Page with Creative Embellishments

Every time I see a page on Instagram or Pinterest lately that I love, I find it has an item from Creative Embellishments.  So, I checked out their site and did a little shopping for myself.  The order came quickly and had a few extra embellishments for free with my order.  I am trying out for their DT because I love their products so much!  Here is my first page with one of their chipboard circle embellishments.

Supplies
Rhonna Farrer Autumn Leaves (Red & White Paper)
Creative Embellishments Berry Wreath
Martha Stewart Snowflake Border Punch
Want2Scrap red rhinestones
Sparkle Burst Brad Karen Foster
Good Cheer Falling Snow by October Afternoon (Snowman paper)
Joys of the Season Cricut Cartridge

Step Outside Your Color Comfort Zone!

Yellow can be a difficult color to craft with and I don't keep a lot of yellow in my stash.  But one of my favorite perennials is my yellow tree peony (photo below) and I thought I would like to try an Anna Griffin card for Mother's Day with this yellow flower as inspiration.  I used Anna's Lovely Layered Cards Cartridge again and will put my sentiment inside.  Once again the darkest yellow needed some umph with distressed inks to pop and I didn't want to use a cream neutral with the yellow, so I added this small scale dot by Stampin' Up.  I am going to enter this one into the Fantabulous Cricut blog Mother's Day challenge as I see that you can enter 3 times.

Mother's Day Challenge Entry

Have you ever visited the Fantabulous Cricut Challenge blog?  It is a wonderful source of inspiration and ideas for the Cricut machine.  They have reached a milestone of 300 challenges and have a great prize this time.  So, I am in on the challenge 300:  Mother's Day!
My card is made with Anna's Lovely Layered Cards.  Even the sentiment is from that cartridge.  So easy to cut and put together with fabulous results!  And I'll give you a great tip when you don't have enough contrast in your three colors of pink card stock try to sand the lightest color pink (hopefully it has a white core like mine) and add some darker distress ink to your darkest pink paper to make your flower pop.  I have two boys and therefore don't keep much pink paper for scrap books.

Happy National Scrap Booking Day!

Happy National Scrap booking Day!  I have been enjoying my Anna Griffin planner for making my quotes to live by album.  This one says, "A skirt should be tight enough to show you're a woman, but loose enough to show you're a lady."  The green flower is Anna Griffin, the pink corduroy button is Stampin' Up, the pink flower is Mon Ami Gabby, the scissor and tape measure are Lori Whitlock For the Record2, and the pink patterned tag is Crate Paper.  The Burda Style card is some ephemera a got from a craft event at the Burda sewing pattern booth several years ago.
I am entering this is Queen and Co's National Scrap booking day Challenge # 2 Flowers on their Facebook Page.

Sunday Share with Anna Griffin

Every Sunday, I make sure to visit Anna Griffin, Inc. Facebook page and check out the Sunday Share.  I am always inspired by the beautiful cards and scrapbook pages!  This week I shared three cards myself.  Above is a get well card I made with Anna Griffin products.  
I think that each AG item is actually from different card kits, or products and they all coordinate!  AG card kits are so generous that I have lots of extra items to make new cards!  I cut the doily with a die.

Spring Page with Flower Market Cartridge

I have always loved Lilly of the Valley flowers, perhaps because they bloom around my birthday.  Add my love of these flowers, my new CTMH Flower Market cartridge and a challenge at Fantabulous Cricut blog and a page is done.  I am entering this in the Challenge #299 Spring at Fantabulous Cricut Challenge blog.  
The butterfly and Easter Eggs are Anna Griffin dies from a card kit.