The Cutting Cafe-Joy Clair Stamps Collaboration!

Welcome to a very special Cutting Cafe Inspiration!  In April we're collaborating with Joy Clair Stamps and using some of their fabulous stamp sets along with our favorite Cutting Cafe files!  One of my very favorite fairly new files is the 3-D Shadow Card and I knew this Wild and Free stamp set from Joy Clair would be perfect to use along with it!

I love this 3-D card because it appears like a plain old flat card from the outside and then when you open it the shadow box "pops" up to reveal whatever 3D creation  you want to add to the inside!

I used all of the images from the set along with some of the dies in my stash to create this cute scene... and even cuter if you wiggle the front open and closed a little it looks like they're actually moving!...lol!  Just a pleasant surprise that I didn't expect!  This would be a fantastic set to decorate a travel journal don't you think?  But this card would be for someone setting out on an adventure!  Or just for fun... 'cause these two are SO cute!  And the set contains lots of great sentiments too.

That's a lot of layers!  I did add some twine to mine because I used quite a bit of popup tape, but it still lies pretty flat and would be easy to mail.

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  Be sure to check out the Cutting Cafe Blog on the 21st.  Comment there for your chance to win three files of your choice!  And then check out what everyone else has made for Anything Goes!  You'll see a bunch more Cutting Cafe-Joy Clair goodness and we've been sharing throughout the month too!

I'm playing along over at Word Art Wednesday which is Anything Goes!  I'm also linking up at Die Cuttin Divas Animal Cruelty Awareness Challenge.  You should check them out!

Come back tomorrow for a special National Tea Day celebration!

Cutting Cafe Inspiration - Shadow Box Cards!

Welcome to this edition of Cutting Cafe Inspiration!  Today we're playing with the Shadow Card File and I've used that and lots more today!  Lots of photos because it's almost two cards in one...lol!  I decided to go with a bit of a St. Patrick's Day theme...and Regina has a bunch of files in the shop that are good for this... you can find some of them here and a bunch more here!!

And for the Shadow Card itself, the wow is on the inside!  This card is so cool because it lays flat when it's closed but then you get this great pop up shadow box when you open it!  I used papers from the Authentique Charmed paper pad that I purchased last year... you may still be able to find one... if you do, pick it up because it's fantastic!

I started with the Lucky To Know You Overlay... I resized it so that it would fit inside my scalloped die cut background.  I got super lucky that it fit inside the stitched frame as well!  It gave me plenty of room to add some wider popup tape to create a shaker!

I used a few dies from my stash as well to decorate using "lucky" as the theme... and lots of sequins from my stash from all kinds of places!

Another cool thing about this Shadow Card File is the window pieces also come in a Circle shape (which has cool circle shaped sentiment frames!) and a heart shape.  So many possibilities!  Perfect to add a shaker on the inside if you wanted!  There is a fantastic video that you should watch before you start... so helpful and made this quite easy to put together.  You can find that at the bottom of the page where you'll find this file... right here!

I used a sweet sentiment from the Authentique paper pad... perfect wish to send to a friend that you are Lucky To Know.

And a view so you can see the depth this adds!  I can't wait to see what you create using this file!

I'm playing along over at Simon Says Stamp's Work it Wednesday... it's all about Green and Gold!  I've got that covered!  And I'm also linking up to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge which is No Stamps Allowed... I didn't use any... not one!  I'm also playing along with the Doodles Paper Playground #showmeyourshaker contest on Instagram!  You can find info about the contest on their blog here!

That's me for today!  Be sure to head on over to the Cutting Cafe Blog to see what my teamies have created for you today and comment there for your chance to win one of three files of your choice!  And please be sure to tag me should you use this file so I can see how you use it!

Thanks so much for visiting today and I hope to see you again soon!

Happy Mother's Day

My mother has been specifically instructed to not check out my blog until Monday.  She says that's just fine because she'd rather be surprised by her card (assuming it was a card I was hiding from her).  I made her this shadow box for Mother's Day and am entering it in both the Heart2Heart Challenge for this week and the Fantabulous Cricut Challenge for this week.  Both blogs had a challenge to make something for your mother.  I've been frantically working on this the last couple days because my mom lives in Arizona and I have to get it in the mail tomorrow.  Priority mail will get it there by Saturday, right?  I hope so.  If not, she'll forgive me... we are both habitually last minute so we understand each other.

I used the Olivia paper packet and the "Together" is from the stickease.  The sentiment is from Family Love.  I cut the flowers, leaves, and flourishes from the CTMH Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge.  I used various CTMH and non-CTMH bling for the centers of the flowers.  I used all of the flat flower cuts on the cartridge and cut them at all different sizes; distressed them and crinkled them and randomly put them together.  I love these flowers because they are both dimensional and easy to put on a scrapbook page.  The butterfly is from the Just Blooms collection.

With this post is an early Happy Mother's Day to all of you... you may be a mother to little ones, furry ones, and/or the men in your life...lol!  Enjoy your day because you deserve it!

Music Gives

This is a birthday gift for my son's girlfriend. It will go in a shadow box. The flowers are from the AP cartridge as well as the flourishes and leaves. I used one of the Sonoma papers for the background, old old Life Is Music and Butterflies stamp sets and on the bamboo paper I used Universal Backgrounds (one of my all time favorite sets). Lots of bling later, this is what I got. I'm hoping she likes it.