Buggy

How's that for a title? I'm a little buggy, feeling worse today than I felt yesterday and staying home from work again. So much for making up time. I'm just hoping that I feel good enough to go tomorrow. Medicated enough to raise my head from my pillow earlier, I got a couple of cards made, which is what's really behind my title. I don't know why, but I don't have much for baby stamps, so I decided to put my Cuttlebug and Cricut to work.

The first card I made is for a little boy, as that's the one I need right now. The background was created with the Cuttlebug Baby A2 embossing folder, and the giraffe was cut out with the Cricut using the New Arrival cartridge. Choosing cardstock colors can sometimes be challenging when using the Cricut. Because this is a baby card, I wanted to keep my colors soft, and thus chose Buttercup for his body and Brown Bag for his horns, mane, and tail. Also, I cut the Buttercup piece out using the shadow feature because I didn't want his facial features cut. I wanted my giraffe to look like this giraffe. Sophie Harding is a favorite artist, and I particularly love Gerry Giraffe. Anyway, that meant drawing in his face and giving him some spots, which I pulled off with markers. I tied a bow around his neck, made a little charm with punches and a small Circle Window Charm, and mounted "Gerry" to my card front with foam mounting tape.

My second card is proof that I'm not always adept when it comes to selecting the right size for Cricut cutouts. If I wanted a 4-1/2 inch giraffe, I wanted a 4-1/2 inch stork, too. Right? No, I didn't want a stork that large but once I had him, I worked with him, making a 5 by 7-inch card. For what ever reason, I thought the baby would be proportional to the stork. She wasn't. If I'd used my first cut, it would have looked like that poor little stork was trying to deliver a 30-pound kid. I sized the baby down to 2-inches - a 15-pound kid! I used a stamp to give the baby's blanket a little texture. A lot of people chalk around the edges of their Cricut cutouts to give them added dimension. I've found that going around mine with a same-color marker is easier and accomplishes the same thing. With regard to embossing a larger piece of cardstock with the Cuttlebug, check out the No Time to Stamp? blog. Sharon is genius when it comes to doing amazing things with the Cuttlebug. While I like my giraffe card, my husband likes the stork. Actually, I think he likes the super-sized card cuz' it's more like Hallmark. LOL.

That said, I'm going to go take a bath and put some clothes and makeup on. I'm not going anywhere, but I'm thinking if I get out of my pajamas, I might feel better. Orange juice isn't working, so I'll try mind over matter . . .