Christmas card made by my son!

Last night my son asked if he could make a card using my Cricut. Well, I just about fell off my chair!  lol  He has a "girlfriend" in 6th grade and wanted to make her a special card for Christmas. 

If I may boast for a moment, my son, Michael, is 11 1/2 and he has the kindest heart.  It just warms MY heart that he wanted to do something for this girl that he likes.  Just so you know, I'm not big on the dating thing in elementary school and do not encourage it, as my son knows, but I do encourage him to have "girl" friends just as much as having "boy" friends because I believe it balances a person to have friends of both genders.  :) 

On to the card - He designed this card himself using my Gypsy.  Kids these days just pick up on electronics so easy!  I showed him a few technical things using the Gypsy and he picked the images and the paper and I help him cut everything out. 

The card is very simple, which is probably what I love most about it.  He added stickles on the snow flakes (Star Dust) and Glossy Accents on the "merry" part of the sentiment.  He also added a couple snow flakes on the inside of the card, which I didn't photograph since he had already written his friend a little note, and also added one snow flake on the outside of the envelope.  It just "tickled" my insides to craft with him and watch him be creative.  I am SO proud of him.

The sentiment is from the Cricut cartridge Celebrate With Flourish and the snow flakes are from Christmas (free with Gypsy update).

This will likely be my last post until the new year, so if you are reading this blog, have a very Merry Christmas and may you be blessed with love, peace and joy throughout the New Year.

Toodles,
Jude

12 Days of Christmas Color Challenge by MPS ~ Christmas Bell Card

Can you believe this is my third post today???  I can't believe it either!  ha ha!  The earlier projects I made this past weekend and last week and then today, My Pink Stamper challenged us to make something with the following colors: black, two shades of blue and two shades of pink. 

So, I wanted to make a Christmas thank you card for someone special and came up with the idea of a Christmas Bell Card.  I used my Gypsy to create the card. 

Goodies Used:

• The Bell is from the Gypsy update using the "Christmas" cartridge.  The bell is a shadow image, cut on black PTI cardstock.
• I duplicated the bell, only smaller, and used it on the inside of the card, which the picture doesn't show.  I used PTI Raspberry Fizz cardstock.
• The outside layer of the bell (same size as inside bell image) is cut on Basic Grey collection pack called "Perhaps".  I added some Enamel Accents to the dots on the paper to give it some dimension.
• The pink piece on the bell is cut from Raspberry Fizz, and then I stamped it with PTI Background Basics polka dots and then added Enamel Accents to the dots.
• The ribbon is cut on PTI Enchanted Evening (shadow) and the top layer is PTI Bitty Dot Basics paper and is mounted on foam tape.  I inked the edges of the ribbon with white ink and then added some doodling.
• The Sentiment is from PTI Signature Christmas.

Thanks for taking a peek!

Toodles,  Jude

PS  If you like, leave a comment and your blog address if you have one so I can come visit you!  Thanks again for stopping by.

FC Barcelona Soccer Jersey Card using Cricut

Oh My Gosh!  I have SO much making these cards.  In early November I made a Brasil soccer jersey birthday card for my son's friend birthday,  http://judestersworld.blogspot.com/2010/11/brasil-soccer-jersey-card-with-cricut.html (he's a soccer teammate) and now another teammate's birthday party was last weekend and his favorite professional soccer team is FC Barcelona so I had to make him a card too! 

The jersey is from Cricut Sports Mania - I have a template for the card using my Gypsy so it was super easy to make the second time around.  The only tricky part was cutting the smaller jersey in two colors and then cutting each color to make the dark red and blue strips for the jersey.   The number on the back (the actual boy's jersey number) is from Varsity Letter.  I just hand-cut the Nike logo and the FC Barcelona Crest and colored it with markers to simulate the real crest of the professional team. The birthday boy LOVED his card!

Thanks for looking!
Toodles,   Jude

Tinkerbell Cake, attempting to use the Cricut Cake Machine

Well, I don't think I've ever been so frustrated in all my life!  I bought the Cricut Cake Mini on Black Friday at Jo-Ann's for $99 and offered to bake a birthday cake for my neighbor's 3 year old granddaughter's birthday party.  It was very easy making the marshmallow fondant, but the hard part was getting the right consistency so that it would cut with the machine.  I designed everything I wanted on to go on the cake but I think maybe my border and some of the design elements were too intricate for the machine.  I also don't think it helped that I baked a double layer 9" x 13" rectangle cake for my first fondant cake - it was very hard to get the fondant to fit the size of the cake; the fondant needed to be at least 17" x 21" to cover the cake!  I can't help but wonder if it would have been easier to start with a round cake?!?!?!  That wasn't the only frustrating part though.

It took me four tries before I decided my fondant wasn't working, so I scrapped the fondant as I thought it might have been worked just a little too much and made a new batch.  I did see improvements with all the practice and then it finally took me 3 more times before I was able to cover the cake.  Whew!   I finally gave up on using the machine for the details that I designed.   I even tried buying Wilton's gum paste, which did work a little better with my machine but I couldn't stand the smell of that stuff so I threw it out!  It's down-right nasty smelling!  There is no way I would eat a cake that smelt that bad, so I couldn't possibly put it on a cake for someone else!

Finally, I gave up using the Cake Machine AND using fondant, and then added my design elements (albeit not as fancy) by decorating the cake the "old-fashioned" way - using royal icing!

Overall, I was happy with the end result of the Tinkerbell cake, but very frustrated with my machine.  It will be awhile before I tackle using it again.  :(

There were numerous youtube videos I watched with people using the Cake Machine and the making of marshmallow fondant, but it didn't seem to help me!  If anyone has any helpful hints, PLEASE let me know!  I love the concept of the Cake Machine but have not been lucky enough to have it work for me.

Below are a two pictures of the cake - (isn't the Tinkerbell candle adorable??)

Thanks for looking.  Have an awesome day.
Toodles,  Jude

Three Birthday Cards

Hey! Hope everyone is having a wonderful Sunday.  It snowed in the Milwaukee area of Wisconsin yesterday and we got about 4" of snow.  It's SO pretty with all the trees covered in snow.  The only part that isn't fun is driving in it, but the roads were cleared pretty quickly.

My son had a friend over yesterday and they played in the snow all afternoon.  I loved seeing them come in with their rosy cheeks.  I made hot chocolate for them.  :)  One of the many things I love about winter.

Yesterday we walked through our back property and cut down our own Christmas tree.  We live on 8.5 acres and it's mostly wooded.  The trees in the back are a little scrawny, kinda like Charlie Brown's Christmas tree, ha ha!  My husband insists our tree has character :) 

Now, on to crafting - I made a few cards in the last couple weeks so thought I would post for you to share in the fun I've been having.

The first card, the race car driver, was lifted from Mary at Cardz TV http://www.cardztv.blogspot.com/.  She did this card a long time ago and I thought it was perfect for my nephew who turned 8 and loves NASCAR.  The die cuts are from Everyday Paper Dolls and the sentiment was printed on white cardstock and then matted.

The second card below I did was also scrap-lifted from Jennifer McGuire. She is VERY talented and I'm a huge fan of hers. Here is her website ~ http://www.jennifermcguireink.com/  My version of the card was slightly tweaked with different colors etc. I LOVE how it turned out. My sister's birthday is next week so I'm mailing the card to her.  Hopefully she'll like it!

The card is all stamping and then I cut out the butterfly (which I used my Copics to color) to give it dimension and also sprayed it with "pearl" Glimmer Mist, then also added pearls.

Finally, the last card I did was for a birthday party my son was going to today (he's actually there now as I am typing!).  It's a very simple layout. The die cuts are from Stretch your Imagination (present), sentiment (Beyond Birthdays) and then I used Plantin SchoolBook for Will's name.

Sorry this is such a long post, but I wanted to share these pics before they got lost in cyberspace!  Thanks for stopping by to visit.

Toodles,  Jude

PS  Don't forget to leave a comment and leave your blog address if you have one so I can come visit you too!

TTC #128 with Emma - Cricut-less Challenge!

Hey folks! Thanks for joining me for Emma's Throwback Thursday Challenge Episde #128. You can find Emma's challenge by clicking on her blog - http://www.creativetimeforme.com/2010/11/throwback-thursday-cricutless-challenge.html 

The card I made was very challenging for me for a few reasons. First, this is the very first time I used my Janome Sew Mini (don't look too closely at the pics! ha ha!), second, I'm SO not used to making a card without using my Cricut/Gypsy.  I basically cut my teeth card making using the Cricut, so I don't have many stamps. And third, I used my Copic markers which are relatively new to me too. Overall, I'm very happy with how the card turned out.

Thanks for taking a peek!

Toodles, Jude

PS  Don't forget to leave a comment and leave your blog address so I can come visit you too!

Brasil Soccer Jersey Card using Cricut

O.M.Gosh !!! I had SO much fun making this card ... AND it was SO easy!  Don't you just love that feeling when you make something for someone and you KNOW they'll love it?!?!?!  My tummy gets butterflies when I have that feeling because I love making other people happy ♥.

The soccer jersey is from Sports Mania and the numbers on the back are from Varsity Letter.

Goodies Used:

• Base card stock PTI New Leaf (image cut in shadow and welded)
• yellow card stock DCWV (soccer jersey outside and inside)
• Doodled with green and blue Gelly Roll pens. (tried to simulate the Brasil soccer emblem)
• Stamp is PTI Signature Greetings
• That's it!  (oh, I did cut a piece of scrap paper to make the money holder inside the card)

Thanks for looking and sharing in with my fun!

Toodles, Jude

TTC #121 with Emma - Chocolate Chip Cookie Card

Hey, thanks for stopping by on this glorious day!  I can't believe the gorgeous weather we're having in the midwest and it's the second week in November! 

Emma challenged us this week (actually, the challenge was for last Thursday, I'm a little behind in my crafting and posting!) to make something from the cart From My Kitchen or anything food related, which I happen to have.  The cookie is on page 65 and I just hid the contour lines for the ginerbread man in my Gypsy. 

Who doesn't like chooclate chip cookies, right?  I certainly do, which is what inspired me to make this card.

Goodies Used:

• Dark Chocolate cardstock PTI (card base)
• Rustic Cream cardstock PTI
• Ribbon is from stash, American Crafts
• Inked the top cookie layer with Memento Rich Cocoa and Dessert Sand
• The sentiment I typed in Word and inked around it.

Super simpe and easy!  This card will be fun to give to my son for a "great job" reward along with some home-baked chocolate cookies.  My mouth is watering just thinking about it! 

Thanks for coming by to look. 

Toodles, Jude

TTC #111 with Emma - Basketball Layout

There I go again ... making lots of projects and just not posting!  Shame on me!  lol 

I have been busy making cards, which I'll post shortly, but I wanted to submit my Throwback Thursday Sports Challenge with Emma first.  Click below here to see Emma's challenge:   http://www.creativetimeforme.com/2010/10/sports-theme-throwback-thurschallenge.html   Above is my submission.  It's fairly plain, but be nice - I'm just get into scrapbooking again. :)

I've been playing "catch up" on my scrapbooking.  When I say "catch up", I mean that I started scrapping 10+ years ago and didn't get very far.  I scrapped about two pages and just wasn't happy with my pages so I stopped. I just couldn't get in to it.  BUT, now with having over one year of creating cards etc, I've picked up scrapbooking again and am really loving it!  It's so much easier now with all the inspirational blogs out there and all the products and paper that's available ... it helps having a Cricut too!

Rather than getting overwhelmed with all the pictures that I have to scrap, I started scrapping my son's sports teams.  I usually do a double layout, one side with his 5"x7" individual picture, including some some action shots that I've taken (if I can find some!), and then the opposite page with the team photo. 

Thanks for visiting.

Toodles, Jude

A simple blue "thanks" card

This card was SO simple.  Probably one of the simplest cards I've ever made!  Sometimes I find that I overthink when making a card and then it takes longer to pull everything together.  Do you every do that? 

I was in a hurry when I made this card - I needed something really fast .  I'm very happy how this card turned.

Goodies I used:

• card base is Papertrey Ink (enchanted evening)
• "thanks" was embossed with a Sizzix folder (a freebee from CHA)
• I chalked around the edges of the card and over the embossed "thanks" with Colorbox "Frost White"
• saddle stitch ribbon was PTI (enchanted evening)
• below the ribbon I embossed it with a Cuttleburg "dots" folder strip (not sure what you call them!)

Thanks for coming to visit me!

Toodles, Jude 

TTC #104 with Emma - Foxy Lady Card

I'm so tickled that you came by to visit me at Jude's World!

I've joined Emma this week for her Throwback Thursday Challenge, episode #104 http://www.creativetimeforme.com/. Isn't she just the best? I just love her enthusiasm and her warm and bubbly personality.

My project is something I made for my neice that will be celebrating her 17th birthday next week. I hope she likes her card! She's the sweetest girl ever.

Goodies I used:

• The Base card is Papertrey Ink (dark chocolate). I cut the fox (shadow) from Create a Critter and welded it with my Gypsy.
• The layers are paper from DCWV Fun in the sun Summer Glitter Stack. On the orange layer I used the Cuttlebug "Swirls" folder.
• I added google eyes, ribbon on the tail and a flower emblishment from my stash.
• Then of course lots of doodling!

It's a simple card to make, but fun for a young foxy lady!
Thanks again for stopping by. If you have any questions, feel free to email me at jpretli@gmail.com
Toodles, Jude
P.S. Don't forget to leave me a comment and if you have a blog address, please let me know what it is so I can come visit you too!

Gift box using Martha Stewart SB and Cricut/Gypsy

Hey there! Are you surprised to see me back so soon??!?!?! I am! lol

As I've mentioned before, I've been busy in the craft room, just not posting any of my creations. :)

I had fun making this gift box for our sweet neighbor kids' birthdays. They're brother and sister, ages 10 and 8, and their birthdays are one day apart. We don't typically exchange birthday gifts, but for the last two years I've baked them something special for their birthday and this year I decided to make a little gift box with individual tags and fill it with some cookies. They called tonight to say they loved the cookies! They're SO sweet and such great kids.

Goodies I used:

• Martha Stewart Scoring Board; I used 12x12 paper with the box measurements resulting in 5"x5"x3.5" (shows on the inside lid on the MS SB where to score). When I made the lid, I cut the outside edges back approx. 1.5" so that you could remove the lid easier and it also showed more of the patterned paper. I also cut out a center square in the lid and added acetate so you could see the goodies in the box, plus added some ribbon around the edge of the lid.
• I cut the tag from TBB&M, the sentiment (layered) is from Beyond Birthdays, and the balloons (layered and welded) are from Create A Critter.
• I used an old alphabet stamp for the name on the tag and clear embossed it; then inked around the edges with distressed ink (tea dye). I also stamped the background on the tag (which the pictures doesn't really show) with the "Old Letter Writing" stamp from Hero Arts using distressed ink (antiqued linen).
• I added brown eyelets to the tag (which you can't really see either!) and then added a green and brown bow with glue dots.

I'm pretty happy with my project, but even happier that the kids enjoyed the cookies! The cookies I baked were called Cereal Cookies. They have oatmeal, rice krispies and chocolate chips in them. Yummy!
Toodles, Jude

TTC #93 with Emma - Soccer Card

Sadly, it's been over a year since my last post. I've been so wrapped up in following other people's blogs that I've neglected my poor little blog. It's not that I haven't been crafting, it's just that I haven't taken the time to post my own creations. Well, no more! I'm going to make an honest effort to try and post at least weekly (hope I'm not being the typical over-achiever than I am. ha ha!)

Anyhoo, let's get down to the fun stuff, my post! Below is my creation to Throwback Thursday Challenge #93 with Emma over at http://www.creativetimeforme.com/. This card is for my son's friend's birthday party this weekend. They're good soccer buddies.

Goodies I used:

• Base card, white cardstock (9 3/8" x 6.5")
• Cricut Solutions Cartridge (frame cut in blue at 6.5", soccer cleat cut in blue at 2" and blackout in white at 2")
• Stickles: golden rod to write on birthday boy's name, his soccer number, and the laces on cleat; stardust used to outline the soccer ball
• Sakura Gelly Roll white pen
• stamps and ink: stars on card, soccer balls and alphabet name on envelope from an unknown stamp set I acquired a long time ago; Color Box "gold" pigment ink for stars
• Kraft card stock (JoAnn's value pack) for the envelope. I customized the envelope using the Martha Stewart scoring board. (Love it!)
• Corner chomper 1/4" for the corners of the card after I adhered the frame to the base card.

Thanks so much for looking and have a terrific weekend.
Toodles, Jude