Cricut Art Nouveau Hummingbird Birthday Card

September 23, 2012 by 10 Comments

 

I wanted to make a card to enter in a couple of challenges and this is what I came up with.  The first challenge is Things that Fly in Nature over at Bitten by the Bug 2. The second challenge is Texture at Cooking with Cricut.

I made a 5″ x 5″ card and the patterned paper was all printed on the Imagine using the Country Carnival cartridge.  I love the paper selection on this cartridge and have been wanting to use the design that is on the background of my card for some time.  The reason I bought this cartridge is because of the paper — and the very cool font that it has.

 I cut the hummingbird (at 3″) from watercolor paper using the Art Nouveau cartridge and colored him with Copics.  This is only my second time trying to color with Copics, and I have lots to learn.  I discovered I don’t have enough green markers — I didn’t have enough in the same color group to do any blending.

After I colored the hummingbird, I used a crystal glaze (something I got years ago) to go over sections of his body to try and simulate the iridescence you see in their feathers.

Oh, dear — after looking at the close-up I’m not too sure I should be posting it.  My coloring definitely leaves a lot to be desired!  The circle behind the hummingbird was embossed using the Forest Branches folder.

I recently got the Art Philosophy cartridge, mainly because of the flowers I have seen so many crafters make with it. The roses on this card represent my first time using this cartridge.  I cut them at 2″ and 2.5″ using some Recollections paper from Michaels.  I inked the edges with Tim Holtz Fired Brick Distress Ink.  I used a quilling tool from one of my Cuttlebug quilling kits to roll up the flowers.  I was surprised at how quickly they went together.  The greenery behind the roses is also from Art Philosophy.

I wanted the sentiment to be subtle, so I stamped it in the upper right hand corner (using distress ink) trying to make it look like it is part of the print on the paper.  I added a couple of pieces of lace across two corners and used my sewing machine to stitch around the card.

For the inside of the card, the white area is a shape cut using Art Philosophy.  The corners are a 2″ square of vellum, cut diagonally, embossed with the Swiss Dots folder, and trimmed with lace sewn across the top edges.  I then secured them to the card by stitching around the entire piece.

I originally planned on using the vellum corners on the front of the card, but when I laid everything out, I thought they hid too much of the paper on the front.  So they got moved inside, which worked out fine because I had no plans yet for the inside of the card.

  • Cricut cartridges:  Art Nouveau, Art Philosophy, Imagine Country Carnival
  • Cuttlebug embossing folders:  Forest Branches, Swiss Dots
  • Copics
  • Vellum, scraps of lace
Filed Under: Art Nouveau, Art Philosophy, Bitten by the Bug 2, Card Challenges, Cards and Projects, Cartridges, Challenges, Challenges, Cooking With Cricut, Copics, Country Carnival, Cricut, Cuttlebug, Supplies Tagged With: , , , , ,

Cricut Create a Critter 2 Owl Witch Card

September 18, 2012 by 2 Comments

 

I was able to use my new Create a Critter 2 cartridge last night to make a card to participate in the latest challenge at Cooking With Cricut,  their Card Outreach Challenge.  The challenge is to make fun Halloween cards (no scary ones) for the I Feel the Love Project.

The “I Feel the Love” Project for September is to make Halloween Cards to be given to the kids who live at Casa Pacifica.   Casa Pacifica serves abused and neglected children and adolescents, and those with severe emotional, social, behavioral, and mental health challenges on California’s Central Coast.  Each year the facility has an amazing Halloween party for the kids. It is IFTL’s goal to send a card to each of the 70 children who reside there. (For more information about Casa Pacifica please visit their website.)
I laid out my card in Cricut Craft Room, cutting the owl at 3″.  The owl’s body was printed and cut on my Imagine, using the Bubblegum Stripes cartridge for the small purple stripes.  I did not use CCR for this step, as it still is not compatible with the Imagine.  I embossed the small tummy piece with the Cuttlebug Swiss Dots embossing folder.
For the owl’s eye, I hid the cut that forms the pupil in CCR.  On the mat in CCR, the circles look perfectly round.  But when I cut the eyes with my Expression, they did not come out round.   I had what looked like a cross-eyed owl.  So I took black paint  and a stylus (you can also use the round end of a paintbrush), dipped the stylus into the paint and then formed black circles on the white part of the eye.  Once the paint dried, I put a white highlight on the black dot.
I added a moon behind the owl, which is a circle that I also cut at 3″.  I embossed the moon with a new Cuttlebug folder I recently got, the bat folder from the Midnight Hauntings set.  The phrase was cut at 1″.  Because of the small size of the phrase, I cut it out of vinyl.  The Cricut easily cuts vinyl.  Vinyl is great for small pieces because it already has adhesive, so you don’t have to fuss trying to put glue on them.
I added Stickles to the band and buckle on the hat.
For the inside of the card, I lined it with a couple of pieces of patterned paper.  I cut the pumpkin treat bag and candy piece, also from Create a Critter 2, at 1.5″.  I cut the shadow layer from cardstock and the black and orange layers from vinyl.
The background paper and print paper inside my card are from a K & Company Halloween collection that came out a year or so ago.  I picked it up on sale and don’t remember exactly when I bought it.
  • Cricut cartridges:  Create a Critter 2, Imagine Bubblegum Stripes
  • Cuttlebug:  Midnight Hauntings embossing folder set
  • K & Company Halloween paper pad
  • Stickles
Filed Under: Bubblegum Stripes, Card Challenges, Cards and Projects, Cartridges, Cooking With Cricut, Create a Critter 2, Cricut, Stickles Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Wee Wee Wee!! Pig With Pinwheels Shaped Card

September 9, 2012 by 12 Comments

I wanted to make a birthday card for my sister-in-law and I wanted to create one that was very whimsical — and I hope I succeeded.  I enjoy making shaped cards and when I found the All Shaped Up Challenge on Bitten by the Bug 2, the idea for my card was hatched.

I love the pig with the pinwheels in the Geico commercials.  You can’t help but smile when one comes on TV, and I have been wanting to do something along those lines for while now.   I decided to make my pig a girly girl and give her a fancy party dress, complete with a birthday party hat.

I started laying out my design in Cricut Craft Room.  Unfortunately, the program still has issues and I ran into some of them while creating this card — and ended up wasting time.  I find CCR so frustrating at times that bad words will just start popping out of my mouth.

When I got ready to cut my card, Cricut Craft Room was down and I could not log in.  I kept getting a message that the program couldn’t connect to the internet.   I kept trying and after an hour or so, I was able to log in and cut my layers.

All the solid color cardstock is from Bazzill, except for the glitter cardstock on the hat — that is from Core’dinations. The patterned paper I printed on the Imagine using the Blast Off cartridge.

I used Create a Critter for the pig and pinwheels and B is for Boy, a Lite cartridge, for the “wee” words.  I welded them all together to form the base of the card.  I used the Swiss Dots folder and my Cuttlebug to emboss the words.  I found some eyelash-type yarn at Joann’s that I used for her dress, layering it so it looks like a fringe dress — reminds me of a flapper dress.  I added some pearls at the neckline and a bow on both the dress and hat.  I used Stickles on the center of the pinwheels.

The inside of the card features a computer-generated sentiment.

I hope this little piggy card brings a smile to my sister-in-law’s face.  I need to make an envelope so I can get it in the mail.  Since it is a over-sized card, I will probably send it in a padded envelope.

I am also entering this card into the following challenges:

Cricut Chirp Challenge #6 – Create a Critter Craft:  use any animal Cricut cut on your project

Scrappy Moms Stamps – Terrific Tuesday Challenge – Shape Up:  create a shape project

  • Cricut cartridges:   B is for Boy Lite, Blast Off (Imagine), Create a Critter
  • Cuttlebug:  Swiss Dots embossing folder
  • Bazzill cardstock
  • Stickles
  • Yarn, pearls, ribbon

Filed Under: B is for Boy, Bitten by the Bug 2, Blast Off, Card Challenges, Cards and Projects, Create a Critter, Cricut, Cuttlebug, Stickles Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

Showering Thanks Elephant Card

August 26, 2012 by 10 Comments

 

This week I was able to make a card to enter into two challenges.  The first is over at Bitten by the Bug 2 for their Elephantly Speaking challenge. The requirement is to use an elephant from any Cricut cartridge — we can chose any theme we want.

The second challenge is at Cooking With Cricut, and this week it’s pretty special because they are celebrating their 100th challenge.  They are doing a surprise thank you for their leader, Melin, and ask that you submit a thank you card to enter the challenge.

My card is approximately 4″ x 9″, made to fit inside a #10 envelope.  All the paper and images for this card were printed and cut on the Imagine, using the Hey Diddle Diddle cartridge.  The only piece I did not cut on the Imagine is the scalloped border across the top, which I cut on my Expression.  I laid that piece out in Design Studio, welding together three scalloped pieces from Accent Essentials to form the border.

My card features an elephant from Everyday Paper Dolls cartridge.  I colored all the detail on my elephant with Copics. The eye is actually printed and then I hand cut it out.  I got the free file for the eyes from My Scrap Chick and was able to resize it small enough to fit.

The title is what lead to the inspiration for this card.  I found it on the Everyday Pop-Up cartridge and when I saw it, I thought of an elephant spraying water.  The style of the lettering reminded me of a circus-type font, so I thought it went well with my little pachyderm.

The spray of water is from the Cake Basics cartridge and the individual drops of water and the water splat are from Everyday Paper Dolls.  I added some Stickles to the water.  I kept the inside of the card simple, using some more water for accents.

  • Cricut cartridges:  Accent Essentials, Cake Basics, Everyday Paper Dolls, Everyday Pop-Up
  • Cricut Imagine:  Hey Diddle Diddle
  • Copics
  • Stickles
Filed Under: Accent Essentials, Bitten by the Bug 2, Cake Basics, Card Challenges, Cards and Projects, Cooking With Cricut, Copics, Everyday Paper Dolls, Everyday Pop-Up, Stickles Tagged With: , , ,

Pull the Udder One, You’re How Old?

August 12, 2012 by 7 Comments

What a stressful weekend — and we found out the hard way that stress can have an adverse effect on dogs too.  About two weeks ago we found an abandoned kitten in our backyard, and it had a cold.  We started feeding it and even got antibiotics from the vet to give it.  We also started contacting every cat rescue organization in our area and always got the same answer — they could not take in any more cats.

Yesterday around noon we took Fifi, our 10 year old rescue Pomeranian/Chihuahua mix, outside.  She does not like cats but we thought she had been tolerating the kitten being in the yard.  The kitten was becoming tame and yesterday it came up to Fifi and started wrapping itself around her.  I could instantly see that Fifi was stressing out.

We knew something was amiss because Fifi had been having some digestive issues.  Seeing her reaction to the cat, I was sure it was coming from stress.  After that incident, Fifi refused to go back in the backyard.  She would only go out in the front yard, which requires us taking her out on a leash.

When it came time for Fifi to eat, she did not finish her dinner.  We started keeping a close eye on her.  About an hour later she threw up.  Around 1 a.m. we knew something was seriously wrong so we took her to an emergency animal clinic.  Fifi had intestinal bleeding and a temperature of 105 (normal for dogs can be up to 102).   They started her on an IV, antibiotics and gave her some medication for her stomach.

The dr. said it is not uncommon for small dogs to get so stressed out that it causes intestinal bleeding.  We were able to talk to our regular vet today (even though it is Sunday) and she suggested we have the cat out of the yard when Fifi comes home.  We are hoping we get to bring her home around 7 p.m. tonight.

Luckily the animal shelter is open today and we planned on loading up the poor kitten and taking it in.  Steve called a rescue lady that he had talked with yesterday (before Fifi got so bad) and when she found out we were taking it to a shelter she came over and picked up the kitten.

So the kitten stressor is gone and we hope Fifi will come home and be able to recover completely.  I will be taking her to see her own vet tomorrow and hopefully gain some insight to keep this from happening again.  This has been such a huge ordeal on the whole family — we were trying so hard to find the kitten a home.  I had no idea we were harming our dog in the process.  I so wish everyone would spay and neuter their pets.

OK, now on to my card.  I was able to put this together but wasn’t sure I would get it posted in time for the challenge I am entering it in.  Luckily I made it with a few hours to spare.

I made this birthday card for the On the Farm Challenge at Bitten by the Bug 2, which requires you to use any farm animal cut from any Cricut cartridge.  I selected the girl milking the cow from the Country Life cartridge.   My main reason for choosing this cut was that I had a sentiment stamp that I thought would be perfect with it.  The sentiment is from a set by Elzybell, who sadly is no longer making them.

I printed the checked background paper on my Imagine, using the Best Friends cartridge.  The fence and sun are from Pooh & Friends.  I printed the wood design on the fence, again with my Imagine, using the Snapshot: Nature cartridge. The girl milking the cow and the sunflowers are from the Country Life cartridge.  The thought balloon with the sentiment is from Cuttin’ Up.  All cuts, with the exception of those printed on the Imagine, were made using scrap cardstock. The girl and cow, sentiment and the flowers are popped up using foam dots.

And to show I learned something from this challenge, let me tell you about my cow.  She is a Brown Swiss.  The breed originated in the mountains of northeast Switzerland and was declared a dairy breed in the United States in 1906.  I’m not sure that the dark brown marking on her back is accurate, but if not then my Brown Swiss has a dark chocolate beauty mark on her.

After seeing the card assembled, it makes me wonder if there are many women working around cows who wear pink boots!  Well, my milk maid likes her stylish pink boots.

For the inside of the card, I printed another square of checked paper on my Imagine and added some sunflowers to the lower corner.

  • Cricut cartridges:  Best Friends (Imagine), Country Life, Cuttin’ Up, Pooh & Friends, Snapshot: Nature (Imagine)
  • Elzybells stamps
Filed Under: Best Friends, Bitten by the Bug 2, Card Challenges, Cards and Projects, Country Life, Cricut, Cuttin' Up, Pooh & Friends, Rubber Stamps, Snapshot: Nature Tagged With: , ,

Butterfly Kisses Baby Girl Card

July 18, 2012 by 1 Comment

 

 

The weekly challenge on the Cricut Circle Blog is a card sketch challenge and you must use at least two Cricut cuts.  I thought I’d make a card on my Imagine, since I haven’t made a complete project using the Imagine.

I decided to make a baby card,  even though I don’t know anyone who is having a baby right now.  But it will be good to have on hand.  Again, for no particular reason, I made the card for a baby girl.

I used the Cricut Imagine cartridge Nursery Tails for this card.  All the paper is from this cartridge, as are the pink socks and the Butterfly Kisses title.  I embossed the brown floral background and the pink contrast strip with my Cuttlebug.  I cut the images in layers and inked around all the edges.   I added some ribbon, attached the socks with foam pop-dots and added three pearls by the tag.

For the inside of the card, I used a Cuttlebug die for the “Welcome Baby” and the bib is from Nursery Tails.

This is a fairly simple card, but I like the way it turned out.

  • Cricut Imagine Cartridge Nursery Tails
  • Cuttlebug
  • Ribbon, pearls
Filed Under: Card Challenges, Cards and Projects, Cartridges, Circle Challenge, Cricut, Nursery Tails Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

So Happy For You! Card

July 13, 2012 by 12 Comments

OutForPublication

I think this is my first time making a card using the card feature on a Cricut cartridge.  I searched through the suns I had and found this cute shaped card on Something to Celebrate.  This is also one of the few times that I have used only one cartridge to make a card.

I cut the card base out of white cardstock and then started adding layers.  My colored cardstock is all from Stampin’ Up.  I added a layer of turquoise, three layers of the yellow/gold and two layers for the white cloud.  Inking was all done with Tim Holtz Distress Inks.

I used my Cuttlebug to emboss the sun, using a new folder called Charles.  It has a neat chevron pattern of small dots. I used Divine Swirls on the cloud and Swiss Dots on the pink “Happy”.  I traced the lines of the swirls on the clouds with Glossy Accents and sprinkled with Martha Stewart crystal glitter.  Then I used Glossy Accents around the edges of the cloud and sprinkled with MS coarse glitter.

  • Cricut cartridge – Something to Celebrate
  • Cuttlebug folders – Charles, Divine Swirl, Swiss Dots
  • Stampin’ Up cardstock
  • Martha Stewart glitter
Filed Under: Bitten by the Bug 2, Card Challenges, Cards and Projects, Challenges, Cricut, Something to Celebrate Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Graduation Card — You Rock!!

June 17, 2012 by 12 Comments

A friend’s daughter graduated from middle school a few days ago.  I wanted to make her a card that was not the average grad card — I wanted something a little funky and feminine.  I know she enjoys music, and just to prove how old I am, I have never heard of the groups she likes!

I decided to go with the phrase, “You Rock.”  I found the phrase on the Cricut Phrases cartridge and liked the bold design.  However, this particular phrase came with a lightning bolt at the end of it.  So to make it more feminine, I welded a rose from the Indie Art cartridge over top of the lightning bolt.  I also decided to make this a shaped card.

The fun part of this card was printing and cutting the layers on my Imagine.  I used the Floral Emporium cartridge for the prints and solid colors (excluding the black cardstock).  I love the bright colors and fun prints on this cartridge.  I used my Cuttlebug to emboss the bright pink print paper on the phrase and rose.  The grad hat was cut from Everyday Pop-Up cartridge.

I used pop dots on the grad hat, rose and the “you” on the phrase to add depth.

For the inside of the card, I printed and cut a greeting from the Imagine cartridge, Greeting Cards Inside & Out.

When I was laying out the card in Design Studio, I was trying to keep the dimensions so the card would fit into a #10 envelope.  However, this is a big card and ended up being about an 1″ too large either way, so I made a custom envelope for it.  Luckily the card was hand delivered so I didn’t have to worry about postage.

As I was working on this card, Bitten by the Bug 2 announced their latest challenge — the Rose Challenge.  I was so happy because I would be able to enter this card in the challenge.

  • Cricut Cartridges:  Everyday Pop-Up, Imagine Floral Emporium, Imagine Greeting Cards Inside & Out, Indie Art, Phrases
  • Cuttlebug
Filed Under: Bitten by the Bug 2, Card Challenges, Cards and Projects, Cuttlebug, Everyday Pop-Up, Indie Art, Phrases Tagged With: , , ,

Surf’s Up Card Using Cricut Paper Pups Cartridge

June 17, 2012 by 9 Comments

 

This is a card I made to enter in Bitten by the Bug 2‘s Water Theme Challenge.  The Design Team made some fantastic projects that provided lots of inspiration.  Donna, a member of the Design Team, makes wonderful shaped front cards and I have always wanted to try making one myself.  When I saw her card for this challenge, I decided it was time to give it a try.

The patterned paper is from a me & my Big ideas paper pad that I picked up at their warehouse sale a few years ago.  What a fun day that was — Erin & I brought home a car load of goodies! The solid cardstock is from Bazzill.

Besides not knowing what I was doing, all the welding proved challenging.  I laid out lots of shapes in Design Studio and welded them together.  For the card front, I welded a rectangle from George and Basic Shapes cartridge with waves from Life is a Beach, a sun from Mickey & Friends, letters to spell “Surf’s Up” from Mickey Font, and finally the little dog with the duck floaty from Paper Pups.  All these shapes I then welded to a larger rectangle to form the back of the card.

I cut out lots of layers, did some inking, and then applied them using lots of pop dots.  My card doesn’t have the depth that Donna’s cards have, but I am happy with my first try.

I added a piece of pattern paper to the inside, but I have to figure out where I will write a message.  The paper I used is flocked, so it is bumpy and will not be good for writing.  I liked the paper, though, because it reminds me of air bubbles.

  • Cricut Cartridges:  George & Basic Shapes, Life is a Beach, Mickey & Friends, Mickey Font, Paper Pups
  • Cardstock:  Bazzill, me and my Big ideas
Filed Under: Bitten by the Bug 2, Card Challenges, Cards and Projects, Mickey & Friends, Mickey Font, Paper Pups Tagged With: , , , ,

Strawberry Teapot Card — My First Easel Card

June 3, 2012 by 14 Comments

 

I made this card for the Kitchen Challenge over at Bitten by the Bug 2. Your project must be based on something you would find in a kitchen and have a Cricut cut on it.  I started out with all sorts of ideas but narrowed it down to a teapot.  I was laying out my design in Cricut Design Studio and thought it was looking pretty good.  I decided to try making an easel card, going for a floral, frilly teapot.

Then, a couple of nights ago I was checking out one of my favorite embroidery websites, EmbLibrary.com, and happened upon a strawberry teapot.  I kept looking at it and wondered if I could make something similar using my Cricut.  So I started playing around in Design Studio and ended up with this card.

I used Core’dinations solid cardstock for the base of the card.  All the dotted printed paper I did on my Imagine, using The Good Old Days cartridge.  I am really having fun using my Imagine.

The teapot I used is from Kate’s ABCs cartridge and I welded a strawberry from Preserves over top of the teapot, so just the spout and handle were sticking out beyond the strawberry.  I then welded an oval from George & Basic Shapes onto the bottom of the teapot, to form the base of my easel card.  Here is a side view of the card, so you can see how it stands up.

I cut a scalloped oval and doily shape from Lacy Labels to go on my base.  Through the holes of the doily shape, I threaded seam binding that I dyed using Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist.  Where my seam binding met, I tied a bow.  Here is a close-up of the base so you can see how I threaded the binding, and also how the three small flowers allow the card to stand up.  I used Liquid Pearls to add some dots on the doily.

I also used seam binding to tie a bow around the handle of the teapot.  I used Glossy Accents and Martha Stewart coarse glitter to add some sparkle to the flowers.

I made the tag using my Imagine and the Imagine More cartridge.  I am very happy with how it came out — it is my first cut and print piece that I have used on a project.  I changed the color on one of the layers and left off the sentiment that was on this particular tag.  I then took a Studio G stamp and stamped Happy B-Day on the front and tied it up with some twine.

And here is a picture to show you what the card looks like when it is flat.

When I finished my card, I thought it would be nice if I embroidered some tea towels using the strawberry embroidery design that inspired my creation.  I found a couple of blank striped towels that I thought the design would look OK on and proceeded to stitch them out.  So now I have a nice gift set to give to someone.

And, finally, I want to thank the wonderfully talented Design Team at Bitten by the Bug 2 for the prize that I won in the frame challenge.  My number was picked to receive the Smash Book prize — and I am so excited!  Thank you everyone at Bitten by the Bug 2.

  • Cricut cartridges:  George & Basic Shapes, Kate’s ABCs, Lacy Labels (Lite), Preserves
  • Imagine cartridges:  Imagine More, The Good Old Days
  • Core’dinations cardstock
  • Martha Stewart coarse glitter
  • Glossy Accents
  • Rayon seam binding
  • Liquid Pearls
Filed Under: Bitten by the Bug 2, Card Challenges, Cards and Projects, Challenges, Imagine More, Kate's ABCs, Preserves, The Good Old Days Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,
« Previous Page
Next Page »