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.

Feels Like Spring...

Hello and Happy Friday to you! I hope you've had a great week and are ready for a fun and relaxing weekend. Boy, the week definitely flew by for me. I've been tackling a few not so fun, but much needed projects around the house this week. Our bathtub surround got a good scrub and the pantry got a much needed purge and straightening up.

Today I was able to head into the craft space and work on a couple of cards. The weather has been very spring like this week and I do believe that has influenced what I decided to work on today. Well, that and a very cool card idea I discovered on a blog I discovered this morning called Creations With Christina. Specifically this video showcasing a card/tab feature on the Paisley Cricut cartridge. Yes, I'm still having lots of fun with the Cricut. So, if you were hoping for a stamped project, I'm sorry, this doesn't have any. I am hoping you will like it anyway. *Ü*

Here's what I created:

What I learned is that there is a card/tab feature on this cartridge. And this cut I can actually DO on the baby Cricut. I had to cut it at 4 1/2, because any larger and it would be too long for my mat. I thought the fold and closure was fun and different:

I'll bet you could use this as the front of the card, but Christina's video showed how you could cut the card and the cutout of the butterfly that would fit perfectly. I never paid much attention to this in the booklet as I know cards are tough to cut the right size on my size bug. Isn't this a fun card? I used Berry Sweet(K & Co) for the pattern paper and Kiwi and Bubblegum (CTMH) cardstock. I ran the Bubblegum through the Cuttlebug and sanded the dots to get the white. Gosh, I haven't done that for a long time! The flowers are Prima (from Alanna...thanks again sweetie). The glittered brad is from Paper Studio at Hobby Lobby (If I remember right) and the ribbon is CTMH. I pop dotted the circular piece and varied from my inspiration card by adding the Kiwi as the background. I just didn't like the white. Then I added some pen stitching. I had a blast creating this. 

But wait! I had fun on the inside, too!

This cartridge also has a "button" feature. I felt like dressing up the inside (being inspired by Christina's card), but I didn't want to add more bulk with a flower/brad combo. So, I cut the same butterfly shape as a button at one inch, then at 1 1/4 inch using Kiwi. I love how it turned out. A nice, finishing touch, I think. And this would still fit in a standard envelope. Whoo, hooo!

I had the cutout butterfly from the window and wanted to use it. Christina showed another cut that is actually a nice envelope, but the cut (to allow the card to fit into) is too large for my Cricut. So, I set out to create a standard sized card. 

Here is what I ended up with:

I used the button feature again and cut the pink butterfly at 3 inches. So, I layered the pattern butterfly on top to see if it would look good and I really liked it. After cutting the mats, I felt like it needed something. Then I remembered some doilies I purchased a while back and keep forgetting I own. I'm very happy with the final look. The butterfly probably could use some more bling, but sometimes keeping is super simple works, too, right?

So, that's it from me for today. I thank you so much for stopping by and I hope you have a wonderful start to your weekend.