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Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Cup of Christmas Cheer-Die Cuttin' Divas Challenge #193: Shaped Card

Hello Creative Crafters! 

   Happy Thanksgiving Week! This week I am thankful for each and every one of you all reading this :) Crafting is such a wonderful hobby that has become a huge part of my life. I lost a very close friend a few years ago and suffered from horrible depression. Crafting has helped me come out of that, and I am finally productive and happy again. Those years of being so down really did a number on my body, and because of that I gained a significant amount of weight. Through much discussion with my family physician and the physician in my family (my husband), we decided that weight loss surgery is good route to assist me in my complete life overhaul. I have already begun all the steps needed to take me on this journey, including significant diet changes. Today, (Tuesday, Nov25th) I am having a surgical procedure to get me ready for the big surgery to come. I guess I am telling you all this because I will begin to share some of the process and progress on this blog. If anyone has any questions about my experience or what I'm having to go through, feel free to e-mail me. Thank you for letting me share the things I love with you all!

Now On To The Crafting!

This week at the Die Cuttin' Divas  the challenge is to make a shaped card (Don't Forget The Die Cut). Myself and my Design Team Sisters are using some UH-Mazing images from our sponsor for the next two weeks,StitchyBear Digi-Outlet. I'm not traditionally a Digi Stamper, but honestly, I might be a convert. It was so simple! Let's start at the beginning. The image set I chose to work with is called the "Cuppa Warm Pack" and it's created by Stitchy Stamps. I just love the variety in this image pack, it's as if each individual image is a different theme. I must confess, I was really thinking using digital stamps would be tedious, and complicated. Lol Not even close! I had the images sized and printed before I would have even found my ink with a traditional stamp. There was also another plus, that I didn't realize was even an option! I can color them on my computer!!! Now, you all may already know this, but I did not. It was (were? idk)  as if angels were singing. I LOVE coloring, I mean I REALLY LOVE coloring.(I take a coloring book on camping trips. For Real)  Sadly, at times, it can be time consuming. This sped up the process so much. My printer isn't a Rock Star, so the colors aren't as pretty as they could be, but I still love it! 


After printing the image the lines were not as dark as I would have liked them. (My black ink is running low) I used a black Sharpie to trace every line. I like the almost cartoon-y look it gave the image. I couldn't find my Glossy Accents, so I used a Glaze Gel Pen in clear to add dimension to the tree, marshmallows, and candy cane. 



I used a white gel pen to add stitch lines to my circular Shaped card base. I also used my Cricut Explore's Print then Cut feature to cut out this image. I added traditional brass colored brads to the sentiment I printed off of my computer. The papers used were some GP white cardstock, solid Paper Studio green cardstock, and patterned paper also by The Paper Studio from a Holiday paper pack. 



I really like how this card came out, I am definitely adding this design into my Christmas Card Rotation. I hope you all love it as much as I do! Don't forget to play along with us at the Die Cuttin' Divas this week in our Shaped Card Challenge- No Rectangular Cards(And Don't Forget the Die Cut). Happy Thanksgiving! Thank you so much for reading! Let me know what you think in the comments below :)

~Dusty Rae

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Thanksgiving Place Card- Die Cuttin' Divas Challenge #192

Hello hello!
 How have you all been? Sorry I missed last week. This time of year is so hectic. Today( the day this posts, Nov 18th.) My baby girl turns 9. I cannot believe she is 9! They truly grow up too fast. This past weekend we had a surprise party for her. She is the best person ever to surprise. It was a great time.
 
  This week at the Die Cuttin' Divas we are having a Thanksgiving Challenge. This year we are going to Arkansas to my mom's house, so I thought a table decoration could be fun. I did a little searching and ended up at SVGCuts. I purchased the "Thankful Cuties" collection. I decided to make a place cards out of the adorable little turkey. Using my handy dandy Cricut Explore made this project less than 20 minutes start to finish. I used some basic Recollections textured cardstock, homemade enamel dots, and a little brown ink from a WRMK Sweetheart Inker.



I am really having so much fun using SVGs, and the Cricut Design Space software. I know I go on and on about it, but I have truly rediscovered the fun in crafting that was beginning to fade. You all should enter your Thanksgiving projects (that include a die cut) at the Die Cuttin' Divas. I hope you stay warm and have a great week! Thanks for reading :) 
~Dusty Rae

Tuesday, November 4, 2014

Sweet Recipe -- Die Cuttin' Divas Challenge190: Recipe



Hello Beautiful People! I hope this November has started off well for you all :) We have had a stomach bug that will just not die, and the end of the soccer season was this weekend.  I love watching my kids' games, but 3 practices a week with 2+ games is wearing. I am ready to transition into the holidays. This is my very very very favorite time of year, and this Christmas we will be in Bryson City, North Carolina. We have quite a bit to look forward to, and I am so excited. 
November 2nd was one of my baby cousin's 21st Brithday. She is such an amazing person, and I wanted to make her card for this weeks challenge at the Die Cuttin' Divas. This week is Challenge #190 which is a Recipe of  1 Ribbon/Twine, 2 Pattern Papers, 3 Pearls/Gems and don't forget the die cut :)  I with my juvenile humor thought it was funny to play on the challenge of "recipe" with a cupcake. lol I still think it's funny. 

This was my very first purchased SVG file. I purchased the cupcake from Pixels and Company. To be honest, this wasn't the easiest website to navigate, but I found the image via a Google search and I just searched for "cupcake" in the store. I LOVE my new Explore, in case I haven't mentioned that. The papers I used are from Doodlebug, but I lost the cover of the paper pad, so I'm not sure what collection it's from. The amazing 3-D bow is from American Crafts, and all the remaining items are from The Paper Studio. 



There is a funny story with this sentiment. I had originally stamped with a stamp I had purchased from a blog that sells their own stamps. After a whole day, the scale of the sentiment was completely off. It was far too tiny. At that point I was really needing to get my photos edited, so I was in somewhat of a hurry. When this happens, I get out the handy dandy word processor and one of the many many fonts I have. I quickly grabbed a few fun looking fonts and printed the sentiment out in several sizes of each. Then, low and behold I had printed out in the exact same font that the original stamp was made with. lol. I guess that stamp was perfect for what I was wanting, it was just too small. I also hadn't realized that was how stamps were made. It makes sense, but I had never even thought about it. 



I'm usually pretty frightened by mixing patterns so closely, but I think it's fun.  She is such a fun person I think it will suite her well. This is my very first time using a card recipe, and all in all it was challenging and super fun. I hope you all decide to play along with us all at the Die Cuttin' Divas. I can't wait to see what you guys create :)  I will be creating a new Facebook Page for my blog, so be looking for that soon. Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think.
~Dusty Rae