Teddy Bear Parade Doctor Card

The Cricut Lite Cartridge Teddy Bear Parade is so adorable, I couldn't wait to use it on a card. I made this one for my husband's birthday. The cartridge comes with a basic teddy bear and a bunch of outfits and accessories; it's just like dressing up a paper doll. I chose this one because my husband is an anesthesiologist (the x-ray accessory isn't really apropos in regards to his job but I thought it was too cute to leave off).

I really like the funky background paper by K&Company. It was a bit difficult maneuvering the paper to get the "loved" arrow to point to the teddy bear but I think it added a nice subtle message. I used Spellbinders Nestibilities to mat the teddy bear and added a bit of Distress Ink to match the teddy's uniform before removing the oval piece from the die.

Papertrey Ink Tiny Tags Birthday Card

I made this card for my sister's birthday with a tags set from Papertrey Ink. Although I like some of their products, I don't like their return policy, which will probably prevent me from ordering from them in the future. You have to pay for return shipping on returns and they likely won't replace it if it is a die (I don't know about stamps).

Papertrey Ink does not stand behind their products. I have a faulty die, returned at my cost, but they sent it back with a note saying there was nothing wrong with it even though it won't cut cleanly through card stock unless I shim it so much I can barely get it through the die cutting machine (I have a Sizzix Big Shot Pro). This is just wrong. I sent the card stock I was using with the returned die and asked them test it with the die; it came back ripped - they couldn't even get a clean cut. I have two other similar dies from them that require no shimming at all. There is definitely a problem with the die. Unfortunately, they will not replace it.

For tiny tags, I highly recommend Taylored Expressions Designer Mini Tags dies, and/or the regular Mini Tags dies, along with Many Minis - Occasions stamp set or Many Minis - Holidays stamp set, or Stephanie Barnard's minitags2cut stamp and die set.

 The Cupcake background stamp is from Hero Arts.

I colored parts of the cupcakes in the background with Copic markers to match the rest of the card. For the tags, I used Tim Holtz Distress Inks in Spun Sugar (lightest pink), Worn Lipstick (middle pink), Barn Door (red), and Black Soot. The crystals are by Swarovski, flat back Elements from my local craft store. The little pearls I had ordered through eBay; besides crafts, they are also used to decorate finger nails.

Chalkboard Birthday Card

This is a card I made for my friend Saige's birthday. It is the first time I tried the "chalkboard" look. I used a piece of specially coated black card stock from the Chalkboard Stack by DCWV. It acts like a chalkboard so I could have written and drawn designs with chalk. I may do this in the future but for this card I wanted to use some small clear stamps from my collection. To make the chalkboard grungy, I first tried smearing around some white ink with my finger but it was coming out too strong so I used actual chalk. I initially tried to line up the stamps inside the shape (Tim Holtz Styled Labels by Sizzix) but ended up stamping them one at a time since the stamps had too much extra around the designs to make them stamp closely on the acrylic block. I used StayzOn ink in white.

To line the edge of the shape and to draw the balloon string, I used a white marker pen. I am still looking for a good gel pen (I have some on order); most of the ones I have tried skip or make a line down the center where the ball is located. If anyone has a suggestion for a good white gel pen, please leave me a comment!

The candles were both stamped and cut with a combo cupcake set from Spellbinders and Hampton Art that I bought at Michaels. I stamped them with Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black ink and colored them with Copic Sketch markers. The two shades of blue card stock are from Bazzill Basics. I'm not sure from which pack I got the background design paper (sorry!).

Elegant B&W Christmas Card

I made this Christmas card for my friends Michelle and Earl. I wanted to use my recycled clear plastic packaging (I have far too much of it collected since they don't recycle this in my area yet). I inked the edges of the plastic and stamped the flourishes with white StayzOn ink. This was done on the back side. I wanted it to look like wind blowing around the snowflakes. The snowflakes were all done using Martha Stewart punches. I added Stickles to some of them to make them sparkle. I also added Swarovski crystals (from the jewelry department of my local craft store) both under the plastic and over (next to sentiment). The crystals under the plastic help to hold it up. I also hid 3-dimensional tape beneath the sentiment and under the snowflakes.

I cut the paper ribbons by hand. The patterned papers are from a 6x6 pad of Christmas paper by Teresa Collins, used for the black paper ribbon with white snowflakes and the rose, also with snowflakes but in reverse. To cut the rose, I used the Gardenia die from Quilled Creations. The bottom two ribbons are under the plastic, while the one with the stamped sentiment is on top.