Kate's ABCs and Playtime

I had some creative time today and was able to make a couple of cards. I used my Cricut and Kate's ABCs cartridge as well as the recently released DCWV stack called Playtime. I bought this stack mainly because it's different than any stack out there right now. The designs are printed on kraft cardstock. So, the colors are much more muted. I was thinking the kind of vintage feel of Kate's ABCs cuts would work well with the muted colors.

Here's what I came up with:

This first card was inspired by this card on Sweet Delights Paper n More. I'm not sure what she used to cut the card base as I can't find it on the Kate cartridge. But, I think my idea works okay. I cut this image at 3 1/2 as any smaller and my bug was having trouble with the cuts. I tried finding a frame to put around the vase, but it didn't look right, so I decided to punch the corners with a Martha Stewart corner punch, stamp with a sentiment from Hero Arts' Share Laughter stamp set. My Vineyard Berry pad must be in need of a reinking as it sure didn't show up very well, did it? The pattern paper is from the Playtime stack.

My second effort with the cartridge and Playtime. I'm not sure I'm totally pleased with how it looks. I like the muted colors of the pattern paper, but I don't have the right colored cardstock to keep the muted look going in the girl. Oh well, I tried. It's a little hard to tell, but there is yellow in that plaid. There really isn't any room for a sentiment, so I left it off.

I was hoping to incorporate some lace on these cards, as I came across a great find (well, 3) at the thrift store this morning. My only purchase, actually. They had several bags of lace. The bags weren't on sale, but I had a feeling if I'd waited until next weekend when they'd go on sale, they'd be gone. So I bit the bullet and paid full price(which totaled $7 for the three bags I chose). When I got home and opened up the bags, I was totally happy that I'd "splurged." Those bags were stuffed, and I do mean stuffed, full of all kinds of lace, crochet trim, eyelet lace and ruffly lace that you find at the fabric stores. I didn't take a picture(and really should have), but it looked like a mountain of lace when I pulled it out. Hee, hee. Some of it is very different than I've seen (the cashier even commented on how neat some of it looked) and once I figure out how to use it and show you,  you'll understand. Even the ecru colored trims seemed to overpower this pattern paper, which is why I decided against using any lace today.

Thanks so much for stopping by! I hope you are having a great weekend so far.