Happy Easter Trifold Card

When I saw this card on the Paper Creations by Kristin blog, I was instantly smitten! I thought it was absolutely adorable and I really wanted to make that card. Unfortunately, I don't have the svg files that she used in my stash and it would have been way too pricey for me to buy them for one card. So, unless the site has a super awesome sale, I'm out of luck on those for now. 

BUT, I do have a Cricut and I do have some cartridges with some similar style cuts, so I sat myself down and searched and by trial and error along with a SplitCoastStampers tutorial on how to make the card base, I made my own version of this card. I'm pretty tickled with the end result. 

I took this shot to show how the card folds so if you wanted to mail it, it could fit an envelope.

I used cuts from Create a Critter, Create a Critter2, Doodlecharms, and Simply Charmed

Most of the cuts are in the 1 1/2 to 2 inch range.

I had fun searching for most of the images, but that bottom center panel was giving me fits. I couldn't find a bow that I liked, which is what the inspiration card had. I cut a swirly thing, but it didn't match the feel of the rest of the card, so I pulled it off. Then I thought I'll just tie a bow, but I didn't like that either. As I was searching my ribbon, I came across a spool of the wired little pom-pons that I picked up at Christmas time, but never used. Hmmmm....those could be little bunny tails! I suppose it might work better if I added circles underneath, but I liked it on the pink ribbon. 

The letters for Easter are from a font on my computer called Showcard Gothic. I printed out the word in the size I wanted, then I cut out the letters. I put them backwards on the piece of cardstock and traced them and cut them out of cardstock. I could have used Make The Cut and the Cricut, but to be honest, I'd been working on this project most of the day yesterday and I was getting tired. It was easier for me to sit and do this over lugging my machine to the computer and hooking it up and cutting, then lugging the machine back to my craft space. LOL

Add a little inking around the edges, some white gel pen dots and bling here and there and it was finished.

All in all, this took a lot longer than I'd planned for, but I think the effort was worth it in the end.

Hope you are having a happy weekend so far.

Thanks for stopping by! 

*Ü*

Spring Happy Birthday Card

Hello!

I had some time to play in my craft spot yesterday and decided to case a card I'd seen on the Scrapping Cookie blog last Sunday. This card. I loved the colors she used and it was pretty straightforward to recreate, well, mostly.

I used DCWV's Cotton Bloom stack and some Coordinations cardstock. Joann's had a special last weekend 5 sheets for a dollar and I decided to see if I could replace similar colors with some that I'm running low on in my stash. I'm not running low on this color, which reminds me a little of Autumn Terracotta (CTMH), but I felt like this was a better solid to go with the colors in Cotton Bloom. The dark orange color is the smooth version of Coordinations and the lighter orange is their canvas textured. I think the smooth stuff is a smidge thin, but it works decently. I think my blade for my trimmer needs to be replaced though.

I really like how this card turned out. Thanks to my inspiration card. Love the crafty folks who generously share their creations!

I used the Create A Critter cartridge for the cutouts. And that's where my mostly straightforward comment comes into play. There are days when you craft that everything goes smoothly and your project comes together easily. All's right in your crafty world. And then there are days like yesterday for me. I have a pretty new blade in the Cricut and a pretty new mat as well (both new within the last week or so). But, for some reason, the machine was cutting like I didn't. Grrrrr. My paper was shifting on the mat, the blade was dragging a little and pulling the paper at the corners. It even cut through one of the flowers! But, I muddled through and got a good cut on the flowers.

I should have stopped while I was ahead at that point and called it a day, but I had another card idea I wanted to create. And it just wasn't going well. More paper shifting, more messy cutting. And more frustration building for me. So, I quit. I cleaned up (which is somewhat of a feat, as when I'm frustrated, I usually just leave in a huff). There were other things I could have worked on, but in the mood I was in, more projects would have ended up in the trash can, so it was better to just stop. Isn't it funny how sometimes the crafty mojo just up and leaves on a whim? LOL

We'll see if I get a chance to try again sometime today. But, in the end, I really like the card I was able to eek out and hope you do too.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope the crafty mojo works in your favor!

Cricut Cards

Hi again,

For these cards, I used the Cricut. Two are inspired by cards I've seen around blogland and one is my own idea (such as it is)

This card was inspired by one found on Paper Daydream here. I thought the whole card was fabulous, but I really liked her use of fun foam to make the flowers! Such a neat idea. Unfortunately for me, I don't own a die that I can use to cut the foam. I  have punches, but the foam is too thick to insert into the punch(I tried). I don't have a deep cut blade for my Cricut either(which means I can't cut a flower using the machine). So, after being a little bummed that I couldn't replicate her flowers with the foam, I put my big girl panties on and just used cardstock. LOL There's some more of that lace trim I used on the other card I shared here. I cut the frame with the Cricut (Lacy Labels cartridge) and the card ended up sitting on my desk while I tried to figure out a sentiment for it. In the end, I stuck with a pretty traditional looking Happy Birthday from CTMH's For Every Occasion set. I inked the Happy only and stamped it, then I inked just the Birthday and stamped it. I like the cheery look of DCWV's Nana's Kitchen paper.

Next up is a cased card from the September Ninth blog here. I just really liked the whole look of the card. Here's my attempt

Initially I cut out the card and the mats. I didn't have the solids in the Sweet Nectar (K & Co) at the time. I've since picked up the solids pack, so the rest of the owl is cut with those papers. I don't have any face stamps, so I used googly eyes and my pen. The "twine" is orange and white pearl cotton twisted together. Not sure of a sentiment I want to use, so I left it off for now. I like the happy feel of this card. I used Paisley for the owl and Lacy Labels for the card base and mats.

And finally, here is a real fishy card.

Michaels is in the middle of a big reset in their papercrafting area. It appears that they are bringing more and more product with their house brand "Recollections." This week, I believe all of that brand is on sale 40% off. I've been running low on some cardstock colors (from CTMH) and have been trying to find some similar colors to replace with. So, I was interested in seeing if the Recollections brand of paper would work. While there, I wandered around to check out the new stuff. I just loved these fish brads. I thought they were adorable and figured I could find or create a fish tank to have them swim in. The Create A Critter cartridge has a nice fish tank and it became the home for these little guys. The card may require some "surgery" as I don't have any fish sentiments and I tried to handwrite the fishes part. I don't really like it at all, unfortunately. I do like the tank, though! Sweet Nectar paper pack is my go to pack right now. I just love the colors in it. 

Well, that's it from me. Several of these cards have been half finished up til now and I had some time to get them completed, so I figured I'd go ahead and share all at once. That's just how I roll, I guess.

Thanks so much for stopping by. I appreciate the visit and hope to have more to share with you soon.

Happy Spring!

Well, I know it isn't spring yet (although it sort of feels like it lately), but I've made something that will help celebrate spring when it does arrive. The idea is NOT mine at all. I found it on a blog yesterday and fell in love with the whole idea. That I own the main Cricut cartridge that was used to create the scene made me giddy. The mastermind behind this idea is a super creative gal named Tamara and she blogs at Happy Life. Crafy Wife. When you click on the link, you'll see her Summer version of the same idea (and yes, I totally want to try my hand at that one, too). My jaw dropped when I saw it and I think I said, "Oh. My. Gosh." In the post she references her first effort here. I clicked over and my jaw dropped again! This is the one I have copied. Take a look around her blog...oh boy, I love what she creates and I've added yet another blog to my reader. This type of papercraft project just makes my heart sing. I love cutesy and I'm not going to ever deny it. 

I used the Create a Critter cartridge for just about everything you see here, with the exception of the flower and the words. The flower is from Lacy Labels and the letters are from Tear Drop. While I adored the papers Tamara used, I don't own any of that line of paper. I do have that DCWV's Cotton Bloom stack and that's primarily what I used. I added a few pieces of solid cardstock here and there where needed. Oh and a couple of pieces of polka dot paper from Nana's Nursery stack. When the girls wandered in to see what I was up to and I showed them the pictures I'd printed off her blog, they both told me it was the most adorable thing they'd ever seen and were very excited that I was going to try to create it. I took LOTS of pictures. Hope you don't mind. Enjoy!

 Amy's favorite is Mr. Sun. hee, hee. I thought I'd curl the wire around a pen to make it a little more interesting, since I can't hide it. Tamara used grass from a cartridge I don't own. And I wasn't about to go out and buy it (even though it IS on sale) just for the grass. I was pretty tickled to see something in CAC that I could use.

 I just loved the way she made the flower. Jessica thinks the little dragonfly is her favorite.

 You could definitely fly a kite here today, it's kind of windy.

 Hello, happy little turtle.

 This little worm is so cute. Please forgive the bad gluing job I did on the grass.

 I added the ladybug on my own. I just thought she was adorable. She's cut at one inch and is still pretty big, but I thought she'd look cute tucked in the grass.

 Hello sweet snail and happy frog!

It wasn't until I started putting this together that I realized I made the butterfly the same color as the flower. Oopsie. It still looks okay, right?

Sigh...I'm just tickled to have found and been able to create such a happy little scene. Thanks for looking! And thank you, Tamara for sharing this wonderful idea!!

Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope you've had a lovely weekend and are ready to start another week.