CFC100 - Tic Tac Toe Challenge

Whew! What a busy weekend! You can see from the shadows and glare in this photo that it was late in the day before I was able to take a photo of this card that was finished on Sunday, although I started it Friday!

This design is simple but was a feat in learning some neat tricks on my new Portrait. See below for details if you wish.

This card is for this week's CASual Fridays Challenge - or should I say challenges, because you can create your own challenge by playing tic-tac-toe as follows:

I chose Polka dots,  Square and Birthday.

I filled the negative circle cuts with pink mirror card, silver mirror card and silver glitter card (they are actually slightly behind the black panel, although they look even with it). The Paper Smooches sentiment is embossed directly on the white cardbase.


Here in Canada it's Music Monday today. There's an organization that chooses a song that every school in Canada learns (at least the ones who sign up) and then we all sing it (theoretically) at the same time, outside our schools to fill the skies with music and remember the importance of Music in Education.

This year the song was co-written by Ed Robertson (Barenaked Ladies) and Chris Hadfield (Canadian Commander of the International Space Station - and he can sing - here's a link to the video if you're interested) - it's called ISS (Is Somebody Singing) and is about how earth houses all of us and what a different perspective it is from space. It has a Major Tom feel, so it appeals to the Bowie fan in me. Anyway, I'm heading to Kate's school to accompany the 450+ kids and teachers while they sing it (yes, we're rolling the piano outside!) It's very exciting!

I hope you enjoy your day!



Portrait Details:

It's been fun learning how to use the Portrait - the software is so much easier to use than the old Cricut stuff that I had (I never tried their Craft Room or Design Studio, although I did have a Gypsy). I think it's because it's on your computer, full screen.

 I started by drawing one dot (draw an oval while holding down the shift key), copied it 16 times and placed them loosely in rows. I then used the 'align left', 'space horizontally', 'space vertically' and 'centre to page' tools in the 'Align Window' (in the top right corner) to create a perfect 4x4 grid of dots. Then I deleted the second lowest row of dots and drew a rectangle (if you hold down the shift key, you'll get a square) for my sentiment. I then grouped everything together and rotated (use the 'Rotation Window' in the top right) it slightly so that it's on a slant. Here endeth the Portrait lesson, but if you want more detail, just let me know!

That Time of Year

It's getting to be the time of year for graduation cards (for my friend who's daughter is graduating from St. Francis Xavier University). I used my Silhouette Portrait to cut the numbers and the background and used the same hanging-over-the-edge idea as Tuesday's Mother's day card.

It's also the time of year for year-end teacher celebrations and gifts. I'm in charge of the Teacher/Staff year end lunch. Here's the invitation. I had to make 45 of these pretty quickly, so I went hybrid, printing the words in The Urban Way font and then stamping Papertrey's brush strokes and adding the sketchy L'il Inker stars. I like that it looks hand written. (if my hand writing were that neat!)

PDCC180 - Splashy Magenta

Another Silhouette Card for this week's Play Date Cafe Challenge:

This combination is perfect for a card full of high drama and glamour! This card is made with a Silhouette cut. Actually, it's several. I created a 4" square and then I placed the flower 3 times on the square, with petals hanging over the edge. I cut it out in white, so that the black petals show through. Then I coloured the white centres magenta, glued them back into place and then put a ball of magenta stickles on top for sparkle and texture. I couldn't decide where to put a sentiment, so I decided to leave it until I'm ready to use the card - I can either leave it blank or add something appropriate at the time.

Have you noticed anything different about MASKerade? Over to the right, is a list of the pages on my blog. On each page there is a current view of one of my Pinterest Boards. This is SO. COOL. It updates itself each day when I pin my latest card to one of my boards. So if you ever wanted to see all my latest cards in one place, you can just click on the list. You'll stay on my blog and see the latest 30 cards (if I have that many), but you'll have the opportunity to hop over to Pinterest to see even more if you choose! Thanks so much to my friend Kelly Griglione for taking the time to post her oh-so-easy-to-follow instructions on how to set that up. (have you seen her birdcage? Go check it out - that girl is seriously AWESOME!)

On the home front, both my kids are away all weekend. For the first time in 14 years, Michael and I have the house to ourselves! Wow!