Erica's July Blog Hop: Birthday Reminder Book

July's 100 Cricut cartridge blog hop Day ONE

     

     Welcome to Erica's 100 cart Blog Hop! Here, each month, the DT showcases 100 different Cricut cartridges. We hope to inspire you and to take another look at the cartridges you already have or to peak your interest on one you may not yet own.  If you have come from Sarah's then you are in the right place If not then you want to start at the beginning so you don't miss a thing! Here's the line up in case you get lost along the way:

Start http://mycricutcraftroom.blogspot.com/

Jenn Lorist http://www.jennspapercrafts.blogspot.com/

Shelley http://shelley-scrapbookingforfun.blogspot.com/

Kathy S http://3spoileddogs.blogspot.com/

Teresa http://www.createenjoyshare.blogspot.com/

Kathy Jo http://skrappindiva.blogspot.com/

Doris P http://mybugandmecreate.blogspot.com/

Janet http://janetscreativeworld.blogspot.com/

Jenny R http://myimagitivity.blogspot.com/

Bunnyfreak http://digipage-blog.everything-digital-scrapbooking.com/

Erica's Project http://ericasprojects.blogspot.com/

Lisa Ch. http://lisacustomscrapbooking.blogspot.com/

Ashley http://especiallymade.blogspot.com/

Ava http://scrapbookdesign4u.blogspot.com/

Sarah http://craftingwithsarah.blogspot.com/

Mary http://mary-fortheloveofart.blogspot.com/

pattie http://www.sweetpsscrapbooks.blogspot.com/

marji http://www.fstampaholic.blogspot.com/

samantha http://www.samanthascricutcreations.blogspot.com/

Blog Candy http://ericasblogcandy.blogspot.com/

     For my project I used Designers' Calendar and the Imagine cartridges Snapshot Everyday and Yummy. I have a really useful and practical project to share with you, a Birthday Reminder Book. Since we have 5 adult children and their spouses (or girl friend) and 8 grand kids plus 4 wedding anniversaries, it can be hard to keep everything straight. That's not to mention the fact that that our oldest son and his family are in Florida and one of our daughters and her husband are relocating to California after 3 years in Hawaii. So let's get right to the details.

     Isn't this just the perfect size? It only measures 2.5" x 4.5" so it is perfect to slip in your pocketbook. First I started with some pieces of chip board. the cover is the balloon paper from Snapshot Everyday on page 3. I used the Imagine shape 3x5 that is built into the Imagine machine and print and cut a totally of 4 pieces. I used 2 for the outside covers and 2 for the inside. After I adhered them to the chipboard, used the Round it All by Zutter to round the outer corners and punched the binding with my Bind It all machine. You can find these great tools at Erica's Store. She has great prices and I have given you the direct link to the Zutter page but please take a few moments to do some shopping while you are there for some of the wonderful crafting supplies Erica carries. Oops, I digress, lol.

     After the cover was all dry I decided to ink the edges and much to my chagrin, I had some ink splotch where I really did not want it to go. No problem. You see the spotted balloon? I gave it a touch of Avocado liquid Pearls to cover the mistake. I decided to do it on the back cover as well so it looks like it was intentional! 

     I didn't want to use a cupcake since this is really for all sorts of celebrations so I used the present from the Imagine cart Yummy.This image is found on page 19 and I cut it at 2". I kept all the layers combined for this project.I inked the edges with Distress ink Worn Lipstick and added some smooch to the flourish on the present and more Liquid Pearls on the bow. Will you just look at all those envelopes, lol. I found these pkg. of mini envelopes at Michaels and they are just perfect for this project. Hmm, I wonder what is inside?

     I started by cutting the flaps off the envelopes and used a circle punch to cut out a little tab.The months were made by using Designers Calendar. I started with black card stock and the boxed feature. All were sized @ 1.25". This is a fabulous way to use all those small scraps of left over paper. I just glued the boxed month on scraps of colors and then cut them down by hand. It is best to punch your holes first so you can center the words correctly.

     I love using the CCR and my imagine together it makes a project go so much quicker. first i used a tag from Art Philosophy @ 3.25". Still in CCR, I added another mat and added the names of the months sized @ .75". This way when you go to print and cut, I use the separate layers option and print the months first, then cut the tags. I did want a lined area to write the dates in so I used George and Basic Shapes to cut a rectangle @ 2.75". The rectangle I used is on page 112 rectangle of the handbook. Boy did I use a lot of scraps on this project just look at the different tags, lol!

     After adding an eyelet to each tag I went through my stash of ribbons and brads to finish them all off. Here is a sample of a few of them:

     I hope you have enjoyed my little project. I plan on making more of these for Christmas presents to go along with the card boxes I am making. Be sure to leave a comment on each of the blogs in the hop this week end for a chance to win some goodies. Did I say goodies? How about I give away some blog candy? I will be giving one lucky follower a set of Pink By Design Stamps "All In The Family". This is a "Pay It Forward" I received from Erica. I was sent this extra set by mistake but asked  Erica if she would mind if I gave it away. Of course she said yes, lol.

     Next stop along the hop is Pattie http://www.sweetpsscrapbooks.blogspot.com/ be sure to hop over and see what she has created just for you.

    

Thank You Card

     Good morning ladies. I hope you all had a wonderful and productive weekend, I know I did. Mondays at My Cricut Craft Room the Design Team shows you projects made with either The Imagine, E2 or CCR. This week I used the CCR and my Imagine to create this simple Thank You card.

     I used the new Greeting Cards Inside Out cartridge for the Imagine. The base is from My Minds Eye "Out & About" premade cards. I bought this pack several years ago and hadn't found a project to use them on until now.

     I used the image on page 25 and opened it in the CCR. I chose the ribbon @ 5.25 wide so it would automatically fit on my 5.5" base and sized the circle Thanks @ 2"" high. This way I was able to center the image where I wanted it on the "ribbon" and then welded the two together.Let me show you how I did this:

     The top image is the preset with the Thank you circle on the end. When I selected this one I clicked on the edit group and at the top chose to not weld. This separated my two images. Now I was able to change the size of the ribbon and circle as well as the color. I was then able to place the circle where I wanted it. You could also rotate the circle  180 degrees if you wanted to place the image vertically rather than horizontally.

Once I had my 2 images centered where I wanted them I just welded them together.

     Now I just grabbed a doily I had hanging around but thought the new image was rather lost so I used the scalloped circle on the Image and filled with the same color but sized it @ 2.5". After a little inking I just glued everything together and tried out some Candi bling I just got in. These little gems are awesome! Believe it or not they are made of paper which makes them really light so easier on the postage but they truly are beautiful. You can purchase them through Erica @ http://www.shop.ericascraftroom.com/

     Well that's it for today. Be sure to checkout what the rest of the Design Team has to show you over at: 

 http://mycricutcraftroom.blogspot.com/. I hope you have a great week.

Your My Checkmate

       Today the Design Team were to make a Valentines' Day card or use Distress Inks on their card.
         I chose to make both a "Love" card and use distress inks for a truly masculine card. After you see the details, be sure to check back at My Cricut Craft Room and see what the other members have to show you.

     I started with an easel card out of card stock. Since the card is 4.25" I used my Imagine to choose a square from the Imagine More shapes @ 4" and cut my first mat from charcoal card stock. I cut my background paper @ 3.75". I used the Vintage Papers pattern cart to have the background paper of chess pieces. Next I used Tim Holtz' paper distresser to rough up the edges and then inked with Pumice Stone ink.
     Now the fun begins! Using recollections colored core paper pad I cut the horse head @ 1.5". This image can be found in the Ornamental Iron cart under Font 1, it's on page 66. I also used the shadow feature. I flipped the shadow cut since it was a double sided card stock and the colors matched perfectly.
     The pawn can be either the one on page 64 or 65. It is a finial! I then used a cuttlebug folder. You can use any one that will give you a pounded metal look. After dry embossing the pieces I sanded them lightly with a sanding block and then inked with Antique Linen for an antiqued look.

     You can see how the inks really give a distressed look especially if you do some embossing.

     The tag was also cut from the Imagine More and layered. I pulled out some Just Rite stamps and made my own sentiment "You are my checkmate". I also had some rub ons and added the sentiment from Elizabeth Barrett Browning. A few gems for the corners and I am done. This card is perfect for Valentines' Day, Anniversary, Birthday etc. I think this is a keeper. Do you give your special guy cards? I'd love to know!

The Shadow Box

     Warning this post is image laiden, lol!!! I wanted you to get the full affect of this project. This used to be a black shadow box however it just didn't go in this newly painted room. I wanted a rustic, weather worn look so I sanded the box, painted it with some white paint. Once it was dry I sanded off several areas and then distressed it.
     The pictures were updated from our recent trip to Florida and several weeks later for our youngest grandson's birthday party. In some ways the pictures involve water.

     I have been collecting sea shells on our many trips to Florida. I am so fair that I burn and get over heated quickly so the only way I survive at the beach is by constantly moving and keeping my body in the water! Some of these shells are from St. Pete Beach, some from Shell Island and some from Venice Beach. This last beach is amazing. The water is a bluish green and the setting reminds me of the Caribbean.
     The shells are adhered with a glue gun and took quite a while to lay them out. I only went around the outside edge. Believe it or not I didn't have enough shells to frame the individual photos!
     I wanted to frame the outside edge with some sort of roping but couldn't find what I wanted so I made my own. I had a skein of cotton yarn so I measured around the frame and added 4 times the length to account for the braiding. I love Beacon's 3-in-1 glue. It grabbed beautifully on this project.

     I even added some shells to add some dimension near the pics.

     This is a sign for the nesting turtles near Venice Beach. Besides the incredible view at this spot you can have great fun sifting for shark teeth. That's right: shark teeth! Next time we go back I'll have to keep some for myself instead of giving them to the grand children. All the ones we found are black!!! I also used a Tim Holtz bottle to add some sand. Please stop me before I get carried away. Hope you enjoyed your visit. As always don't be afraid to leave a comment.

Little Chickie!

     This is the final Easter card I had using, what else, my Imagine and Celebrate with Flourish. For this card I cut the chick/egg image from Celebrate With flourish cart @ 2". I used the relative size so all layers match up nicely and used the Blossom color palette for all the layers. What's so nice about this is how well it all comes together.
     Once again I used scraps that were hanging around on my craft table so this card came together rather quickly. I wanted a more elaborate look to this card so I used my cuttle bug on the egg and did some distress inking on the chick. After looking at it for a while I decided to hand draw in its little eye.
     The tag is a spellbinders that I used the Just Rite Stamps for the saying "happy easter". I finished off with some creative charms gradient gems. There you have it!!!

Easter Basket Card

     How fun is this! I really love making cards with my Imagine. I used the Celebrate With flourish cartridge for the Easter basket @ 2.5". For the layers on the image I used the Elise imagine cart but the background square was an image from Paper lace using the Elise cartridge for the printed paper. How cool is this?
     What is so great about the Imagine is that I can select all my layers in relative size ( so I know they are all going to size together neatly) but I can go back and color each layer separately using a palette that co-ordinates well on that particular cart.
     I like to have my embellishments pop so I embossed the basket with my cuttlebug and then inked the edges. The eggs have glossy accents on them to add dimension to the eggs. Of course you have to add some prima flowers, gradient gems from creative charms and then some ribbon.
     Finally I use some new tags from Spellbinders and added my sentiment using Just Rite Stamps for the "happy easter". Quick and easy without wasting time looking for paper.
     You can purchase this card in my etsy store.

Sweet Strawberry Card

     I really love my cricut Imagine! I just made this quick birthday card using the Everyday cartridge for the Imagine. The 4.25 x 5.50 card base is cut from the Plantin Schoolbook cartridge and the strawberry embellishment from Celebrate With A Flourish cut at 2.5". I dug out a white Martha Stewart label to brighten up the embellishment. After adding some ribbon and some Martha Stewart glitter (love this stuff, lol) a quick stamp and voila, it's done!

Dress Form Card

     My best friend and I always exchange birthday gifts and her special day was yesterday. Ok so she is not the foo foo or glitzy girl (I am, lol!) but she loves anything I make. I just love my Imagine and the circle exclusive cart French Manor. I made a card using the dress form for my daughters birthday in October, but I haven't really used the card feature on any of my carts yet. After doing this card I think that is going to change!

     First let me start by saying I had been a little disappointed in the cuts I got with the I. Don't get me wrong it cuts more intricate details better than the expression. That being said, the cuts were a little off even with the calibrations.So I finally did the advanced calibrations and now they are right on.
     I cut the card base with a height of 5.50" which gave me a perfect A2 card. (4.25" x 5.50"). I used the relative size button and then cut the separate dress form. I also cut a 3" dress form to use on a tag. The Elise cart has a really pretty palette so I chose a printed pattern for the card itself and kept the card insert from white card stock. I chose the gray for the dress forms and sprayed these pieces with Tattered Angels granite mist. The background has a gorgeous Donna Salazar stamp of lace that I stamped with Ranger milled lavender. The embellishments are: a strand of pearls, prima flowers and a scrap of ruffled elastic.

     I have a lot of velum sentiments so I grabbed a scrap of white card stock and a nestabilities label and voila a classy inside. I forgot to hide the score marks on the card and figured what the heck, the slits are already there so a grabbed some "Foo Foo" fine yarn and tied it with a bow.
     It's about time I put some of my on line classes knowledge to work. I grabbed some alcohol inks and a shipping tag to make my background. Remember that 3" dress form I cut along with the card? Well I added that to the tag along with a fabric flower I made.

     My friend absolutely loved it!!

Yudu Card Shop Is Here!

     After much anticipation, I received my prize package with my Yudu Card Shop last week. I was so nervous that it took me 4 days to get up the nerve to try it! I'm such a chicken!!

     What on earth was I nervous about? This is such an easy machine to use. I only had to watch the video once ( a record for me!). I decided to use gunmetal Yudu paint rather than the black that came with the card shop.I love this look. The gunmetal paint has a nice shimmer to it that also gives a hint of metal to the birdcages.
     I used the Provo craft card stock which gives a nice texture to the card images.It is so quick and easy to use the Yudu that I did 5 cards in about 2 hours start to finish. I also was able to change it up a bit.

     I just made sure I had all my card stock cut and ready to print before hand. Each piece is cut @ 4.50 X 6.50. Once the image was printed I just put them aside to dry while I cut a border strip for the bottom and used a Martha Stewart punch. On the video Jinger put the ribbon around the card but I chose to add it to the border. I also decided to use pop dots on the tag and added a bow that is adhered with a glue dot. I also added some stickles for the jewels.
     Of course no card is complete unless you add something to the inside. I used Spellbinders fancy tags cut from the same paper as the outside and added a little sentiment.

     Don't you just love these sentiments? They are from a stamp set of sentiments by Lauren Meader @ My Time Made Easy.
     I really think this card shop is a valuable addition to my crafting supplies. It is particularly great if you are planning on making multiples of a particular design. You can always change it up by adding different tags or sentiments. For example I used the birdcage design but on different color card stock and a birthday sentiment on one and a thanks on the other.
     If you plan on doing your own designs you cannot burn your designs into emulsion film since this version does not have the light and also there is no fan for drying. I do have the Yudu that has all the capabilities and have burned several screens but have not tried them out yet. (Still chicken on my own designs). However, I burned the images at night and the card screens dried without using the fan and were good to go in the morning. They are a smaller surface so dry quicker than the regular screens. I do want to try cutting a design from contact paper and see if this works. This certainly would be cheaper than using emulsion film. I'll let you know how it works out since I have some wedding cards to design!

Harry Potter Birthday Banner

Cricut Expression 2 Blogger Bundle

Wild Thing

     I'm back with another challenge I decided to do. As a member of the Cricut Circle, we are giving the opportunity to enter into some weekly challenges. This weeks was to do something using animals. This put a fire under me since I have several baby cards to do to welcome 2 beautiful babies Cohen and Collin. No they are not twins but cousins born several weeks apart, lol.

     My niece has a wild animal thing going and she and her husband love raccoons. This was a no brainier to use for the challenge and get a card done! I really LOVE how this came out. The reason is I love this paper for the raccoon. Its from DCWV the Safari Chic stack. Sometimes the die cuts look too "cutesy". This paper actually looks like fur! I cut the image from Animal Kingdom @ 3" and the phrase "wild thing" is from Zooballo @ 3/4". The stamp is one I had but wanted to keep with the "woodsy" feel so I inked it with Tim Holtz distress ink in Vintage Photo and embossed with TH embossing powder. Just added a few white dots for the eyes and some imaginisce gold dots for a little bling!

 

I really am trying to use up my scraps so I just added some scrap strips to the inside. Oh I forgot to mention, the background paper was a sheet I had stashed away. It was perfect for this woodsy look. Don't forget to leave a comment and tell me what you think!

Return To Bermuda

     Another challenge, yeah! The Cricut Circle Blog has both weekly and monthly challenges. The monthly challenge is the one where I submitted the "I Love Candy" shirt. The weekly challenge required you to use Baby ( Brads, Aqua, Butterfly and You). They were right with this challenge to require you to use a picture of yourself. We are the ones who take the pics but rarely do a layout of our self. I chose a picture of our trip to Bermuda back in 1999. We had gone there for our honeymoon so returned 25yrs. later with our youngest who was 11 years old at the time.
     I started with this beautiful paper by K&Company, Que Sera fera stack. This is such a beautiful aqua color and goes well with my pic.I also love this paper from Recollections I got @ M's. It's a colored core and is sand able! All my flowers were cut from Tim Holtz floral die but embossed with various cuttlebug folders and inked with distressed inks by Ranger. The centers have either rhinestone brads or mini picture type brads. If you look close the bottom center flower has a butterfly on it!
     You also needed to use cuts from your cricut so I went back to my library and pulled out one of my favorite carts Base Camp. I cut all the letters @ 1" and used the blackout, shadow and regular features. The frame was cut using Lacy Labels @ 4". I used some natural raffia so I could hang the words Bermuda on it.
     My journal ling tag is cut from Spellbinders Labels but the journal ling tag was stamped with Donna Salazar" new tag. Can I just say how awesome her stamps are? They are lightweight and stamp beautifully.

     I finished this off by adding glossy accents on the red flower for dimension and painted some petal areas with Creative Inspirations Garnet paint. The butterfly is also K&Company. I was going to make my own but the colors in this were perfect. The above picture is shot at an angle to give you an idea of the details on this LO. I really have to start doing more layouts.

Creativity Begins Here!

    This months challenge for the Circle members was to make something expressing your love of creating, this is what I came up with.
    I had wanted to make something for my craft room and like many of you, I have an abundance of supplies. Sometimes I forget all the neat products I own so I decided to make a wall plaque to use as a creative jumping off point.
    First I used some wall vinyl and made the word "Creativity" using gypsy font cut at 4". This is such a beautiful font with intricate detail in the fonts (so creative, lol). Then I used my gypsy to weld the words "begins here" using "Opposites Attract" @ height of 2.25.
   Now for my Creative Board. Where do I begin? First I used a 12"x12" piece of printed paper and adhered that to same size chipboard that was painted on the back side. I then made a glimmer mist using Distress Inks and Perfect Pearls. Once it was dry I distressed the edges with my Distrezz It All and inked the edges then punched the top edge with my Bind It All.
The creative ideas was cut also with Gypsy Font using both shadow and upright feature. I used both solid card stock and print and reversed them for top and bottom of board.
The dress form was cut @ 3.50" with the French Manor cartridge. For this cut I used Grunge Paper by Tim Holtz and used his black dabber paint . I finished the "dress" with a small prima flower and small rhinestone. It is adhered to a spellbinders oval that is embossed with one of the folders from the Asian bundle using my Cuttle bug, of course the edges were inked!
The small velum envelope with tag was a perfect way to showcase my brads. It was cut using Fabulous Findings@ 2.48x 2.32 for the insert. I know the lattice was cut using French Manor but I can"t remember the details of my butterfly. (I cut and stickled it a while ago and found it in my stash while doing this project, lol.
I have been taking classes at My Creative Classroom so I had to incorporate a few techniques. One was the memory frame that is stamped "Laugh" and uses alcohol inks for the background. I used Plantin School book in for my "vintage" flowers that were cut @ various sizes and has a rhinestone center.
The Just A Note was cut using Imagine More and then inked. I finished the whole project off with some Jolee embellishments (paint tubes, apron, palette etc.) and of course some beautiful ribbon.
Although this project was a lot of work, every time I look at it I smile so I guess it was worth the time and effort. I hope this has somewhat inspired you!
                                                               
                                                                     
                                                              

Fun Flock Lion

   I just love this card! The challenge for the week @ Cricut Circle Blog was to create something with rich fall colors. The palette was gray, orange, burgundy and brown. You also had to use at least 2 cuts and add texture. That's right at my alley!
   I started with my French Manor cartridge and cut the lion "door knocker" out of tan and chocolate brown card stock. Then I ran it through the xyron both side. After layering the pieces I added fun flock for the lions mane and chalk for his features, and a small piece of metallic gray card stock for the mouth and eyes.
   The medallion is also from French Manor. I used the negative pieces as well to accent the greeting.
   The base of the card is layered with tan, brown and orange card stock. I embossed the top piece with a folder from the Asian bundle and ran it through my CB. The greeting is from a M's stamp in the dollar bin and layered on burgundy card stock.

 

French Manor

   What a wonderful cartridge French manor is! I finally got around to using this and boy does it help you get creative. First I started with my cricut Imagine and chose my background paper  using Imagine more cart and used Plantin Schoolbook for my card base. I love to use PS for cards because I love the dotted lines on the bottom. I also cut the frame from Imagine More but then added Tim Holtz crackle paint to the frame and distress it. The card base was distressed with the Distrezz It All for a nice grungy feel.
   Bet you can't guess where the curtains came from. Ok, it's from Paper Doll Dress Up. Yup, I used the headress layer with pig tails cut at 4" and cut them apart to make them look like curtains with a swag. Since I cut them out of glitter card stock I guess they don't look too much like hair huh?
   Next I got to use grunge paper for the first time. Oh do I love this stuff!!! The Imagine cuts it like butter and really makes the details stand out. I did the same with the "mirror". The dress form was painted gold with Ranger dabbers but the mirror was cut in black with the print and cut feature on the Imagine. For the mirror I covered it with foil tape.
   I finished it off with prima flowers, pearls for a necklace and of course a touch of ribbon and MS punch for the leaves. I know the person who is going to receive this is going to LOVE it!!!