What's that I see?

.....could it actually be the SUN?  It's been days since we have seen any sign of sunshine, and I sure have missed it.  I did hear on the news this morning that we might finally have sunshine this afternoon and it looks like they were right!!  Yippee!!

    I have had a really busy week and most of my time has been spent in my craft room working on new cards ideas and primarily following along in the 'A Cut Above' class, which sadly ends on Monday!   It has turned out to be one of the best classes I have EVER taken, and believe me I have taken many, but this was really awesome.  It's taught me so many new and fun ways to use die-cutting and embossing in my cards and opened up a whole new world of things I can do with my Silhouette Cameo.

   If you own a Cameo or have been in the market for one, I highly suggest you take this class if any when you make your purchase.  Actually, we there were a few crafters who took the class to find out, how a Cameo worked and to see if they would like it before they make the purchase.  And, it looks to me like everyone who did that is now looking forward to buying one of these fabulous die cutters.  I want to take a moment to say thank you to Jennifer McGuire, Kristina Werner and our special guest designer - Nichol Magouirk, for putting together such a fabulous class!   Well worth every penny and more!!

   For me one of the hardest part about these classes, is that 'withdrawal' kind of feeling you have when they end, and although I'm definitely feeling that way, I'm also very excited to be moving right on to a brand new card class that starts on Monday!!   It's the one I wrote about the other day - called Fold it, Pop it, Flip It, Zip It and it's being taught by the adorable and very talented Julie Ebersole.   This class is open to all and you can find more details HERE or over on Julie's Blog - Paper Truffles.

     Today, I'm stopping by to share a few of my latest projects and all of them were created in some way by using my Cameo.  I can't begin to tell you just how much I am now loving this machine and how many awesome new things I have now learned that I can do with it.

      This first card was created on Thursday, as is actually my take on a fabulous card that Kristina designed and shared with us in class.  I used the same basic design, but changed the colors and the sentiment and also added some different texture to my card with embossing.   The entire card was designed, cut and colored with my Cameo and I was able to pull in the colors that worked perfect for this week's Color Combo Challenge at 'The Outlawz".

     

   I have now learned how I can add this swatch image directly into my Silhouette program and actually use the coloring options to pull in the exact colors I wanted to incorporate into the card!   One of my favorite new techniques and one I'll use over and over.  Adding the polka-dotted background to the middle heart was another new technique I learned in class along with created the "Love You" sentiment directly on top of a label element, both created in the program!

   This is the card that I created using those colors in conjunction with Kristin's fabulous design!!  I also added extra dimension to my hearts by running them through my Cuttlebug in some of my new embossing folders.   

   Today, I created another card, this fun little Birthday card, starting with a pre-designed card that I bought in the Silhouette Store.  I edited the card to be a standard A2 Size and then also added my own sentiment, also a Silhouette file.  I then changed the size of the stars and created offsets for them so that I could use them in different ways on my card.  Once my design was fully edited, I was able to cut ALL the assorted pieces on one 12X12 Cutting mat.   I set up my mat with the card-stocks and colors I wanted for each element and that's makes it so easy to simply cut one and have everything you need.  

  My card base and Sentiment were cut from Hero Hues Mocha Layering Papers, as was my banner, which then flipped over to the white side, embossed in my Cuttlebug and edged with Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink.  The stars and card front were cut from Basic Grey and My Mind's Eyes papers, most of which are scraps pieces left over form other projects.   To finish the card I added some matching bling!!  

  And I have one last project to share today and this is one of my first 3D Craft projects that I created with my Cameo after being inspired by today's new Paper a la Mode Challenge at The Outlawz.   Our challenge this week was to 'decorate' a box and I knew right away that I wanted to create my box with one of the many box shapes available from the Silhouette Store.   

  I picked out the file I wanted to cut and then picked out one sheet of patterned paper that had been sitting in my stash.   I cut out my cute little box and found it was really easy to assemble with a little bit of Scor-Tape.  I then decorated the top with some pink organza ribbon along with ta beaded Stick Pin, I created with an assortment of white and clear beads.   I then added a small pink flower to the front and had this sweet little box.   I'm looking forward to making more fun projects like this and the best part is that there are hundreds of cool options, easily available in the Silhouette Store!!  WOOHOO!!

   Now I'm off to work on two more cards that I need to get done!  One more Birthday card, which I want to be extra special, since it's for my future Daughter-in-Law, Meghan.