Mary's Challenge

The leaves came from a Recollections Zoo die cut shapes package that I showed you guys on a prior post.

Here is my card to enter in Mary's Challenge. I love to do challenges but rarely have time. In this challenge, we just had to use fruit in our card.  I KNEW THAT PRESERVES CARTRIDGE WOULD COME IN HANDY!!!

I love blueberries (blueberry jam, blueberry pie)....  so here is a blueberry card.  I didn't put a sentiment as (quite frankly), I'm not sure what sentiment goes with Blueberries.... "Hope you're not blue today?"

PS: Mary extended the time to extend the entries because of Blogger being down. THANKS MARY.   I was kinda bummed as my posting didn't go up Thursday as it was supposed to.

Amuse-bouche:

Today, I went to a local italian place to meet my friends for lunch.  The owner made a special vegetarian Cortini for me.  It has veggies and ricotta and mozarella.  It was yummy...  He put artichokes, mushrooms, garlic, bell peppers- and that marinara sauce is awesome.

Love you bunches....

Let's get to the card first and then those of you who like to read about my mundane life in So Cal can do so at the bottom:

For some reason, I really like the Preserves cartridge even though I have no clue why anyone would want a card with a mango on it.  I was thinking about how to incorporate it into a card for the Operation Write Home group....  VOILA!

I used a Jolee's punch that was on clearance at Michaels to make butterflies.  I used mini brads around the sentiment.

 On to my mundane life...

I've been super busy so I don't think I've had time to post about my latest investment (sounds good huh?... I invested in something.... as opposed to "I bought myself another toy.").  Custom Crops was having a sale... and I bought the Expression for $169. Now, PLEASE don't tell me that it's cheaper somewhere else. I've already been guilt-ridden for buying this... because I have several expenditures lined up for this spring/summer's budget:  Ipad2, Iphone5,....  What can I say?  I work hard... I play hard (well, by "play" I mean "eat" or "buy electronic toys").... 

To be honest, I was really annoyed that there are 3 cartridges that I have that can't be used to full capacity with a Cricut Create:  TBBM, Wild Card and Just Because. [Note: you can use them but just not make the envelopes for A2 cards as they don't fit on the 12x6 mat] 

I saw what  Christina   (I'm on a first name basis with her-- NOT!)   did with her carts using a big Expression and I decided... DARN IT!!! I want to do that too. (This kind of behavior is how those "name-a-city" Housewives became so annoying.)

SO, last night, my box came via UPS.  I got it opened but haven't had time to try it out because I had work to do and I still needed to get sleep from the last few days.

I also have realized that it's a bit bigger than I thought and I'm going to have to re-arrange my little studio area (haha, sounds so Artsy-Fartsy, doesn't it?) to make room for it.

But rest assured, one of the first few things I'm going to do is use the Wild Card or Just Because cartridge and make an ENVELOPE to go with a normal A2 size card!!!! 

Another card from the Preserves Cartridge

This is a general card that I made (I can add the sentiment later) from the Preserves cartridge.  I also used the Storybook cartridge to cut the circle and the scallop circle.

 The flowers came from an assortment of flowers and brads and pompoms for $.99 on the end cap at Michaels.  I used a pearl bling for the core.  The ribbon was from the $1 rack at Michaels (last year's bin).

A Sweet Card...

I had gotten the Preserves Cartridge and wanted to try it out. I then went to get some 'crafting thread' at Michaels and used my paper piercer so I could make 'stitching' on the card.  The sunflower was from Martha Stewart's sunflower embellishment (that I got at Michaels).