Birthday Wishes

July is a busy month for birthdays - I have one good friend who shares my birthday today and a couple others who are two days before and two days after, plus one more in another week or so. My one friend had the coolest birthday date this year "07-08-09" (and at 12:34:56 a.m. it was 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9 !).

I was wrapping her gift in some heavy, glossy and very pretty pansy paper and I decided I'd like to make the card match - I don't think I have ever made a card with wrapping paper but...why not? I simply cut a piece at 5.25 x 4 inches and centered it on an A2 card. I cut the sentiment in green glitter cardstock with my Cricut using the Wild Card cartridge.



I cut the "Make a Wish" and the star for the inside from the same green glitter cardstock using the cuttlebug "Birthday Wishes" embossing and die set.



The card looked pretty with the wrapped present (I didn't put it in an envelope).

The weather was beautiful today and I had a very nice day. Thanks to all of you who sent cards or birthday wishes via emails and comments or message board posts. Tonight I went to dinner with my husband and then we shopped the "trifecta" (there is a Michael's, an ACMoore, and a Joann's within about a five mile radius from the restaurant where we ate). I got more paper (yes, I needed that!), a border punch (on clearance with a 50% coupon so it ended up at $3.50), and a deep cut blade for my Cricut - 1/2 price at ACMoore. I hadn't been shopping for several weeks, so it was fun to check and see what was new in the stores.

After we got home we had "Birthday Watermelon" instead of cake with our younger son and his girlfriend.



I just had to share the card our son made for me - I hope you like it (!) It is a folded sheet of paper and the photo above shows the front...



and the inside - too funny!

The island isn't quite finished - the top still needs final fitting and painting and we have some drawers to put together, but I hope that by the end of the weekend it will be all done. I'll share pictures once I get completely "moved in."

I am doing the Happy Dance! The update for Design Studio has been released and is available to download from the Cricut.com site now! Here is a LINK to the page.

I have downloaded the update and I will be very busy this weekend! Tomorrow is Graduation in our town and we have several parties to attend so I will be trying to get some designing in between all of the festivities. I just wanted to make sure to let you know to go and get the update so you'll be able to use the new cartridges.

We are headed into Boston for dinner and a concert now but I may try to sneak in a cut or two when we get home - so check back later in the evening!

I did the file for the cut pictured above very shortly after I started using Design Studio - there are two versions - one with diplomas and one without. Here are new links to download this design if you'd like to use it. I moved the files from MediaFire to 4Shared - you need Alphalicious and Beyond Birthdays to cut this title.

Doing the Happy Dance (with diplomas)

Doing the Happy Dance (no diplomas)

Happy Mother's Day!

By the time most of you will be reading this post, Mother's Day will be over. I hope you had a lovely day. Today I thought I'd show you a quick and easy way to make a card - it's all about the paper!



I chose a piece of 12 x 12 paper from this DCWV stack. There are often beautiful papers in these stacks that I know I will not end up using for a scrapbook page - so they become card ingredients!



Here is the full sheet of paper I chose. I wanted to use the glittery roses. I was making a large card - an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of cardstock folded in half - so I knew that the width would be five inches (allowing a 1/4 inch border all around). I cut the sheet of paper at a bit beyond five inches to be sure I wouldn't cut off the pale pink rosebud on the left of the cluster, then I trimmed the right side to be exactly five inches.



I used the same strategy for the top and bottom cuts, knowing that I needed to end up with an eight inch tall piece and adjusting the cut so the dark pink rosebud would be at the top of the paper. I also cut an 8 x 5 inch piece of the patterned area of the cardstock for the inside on the card. The photo above shows the remainder pieces after I made all the cuts.



I wanted to keep this card very simple and let the glittery paper do the work for me. I added the word "Mom" from the Beyond Birthdays cartridge cut in white glitter card stock.



Above is a close up view of the "Mom" on top of the largest rose (it is very pretty in real life but difficult to photograph effectively). When cutting glitter cardstock you need to use multi-cut of two or three to be sure that it will be cut cleanly.



For the inside of the card, I used the Martha Stewart cornice border punch to create a decorative edge. I worked from the center out on each side. The corners did not turn out with an attractive overlap - so I improvised and used some leafy fronds I had cut from the Storybook cartridge for another project - these covered the uneven corners very nicely.



The phrase "You're simply the best" is from the Wild Card Cartridge. I cut it from glitter cardstock and used Design Studio to adjust the shape to fit my card perfectly.



Even though I carefully saved the dot for the "i" and put adhesive on it - when I went to assemble the card it had disappeared. I ended up using my trick of dotting the "i" with a little gem (I am sure I'll find that dot stuck to something else soon!).

So there you have it - a quick and pretty card (and you even have a few bits of the original sheet of paper left over which you could use for another project or to decorate the envelope).


A note about the Design Studio classes - our first two classes are full - we are sorry if you weren't able to reserve a spot but we will be scheduling more classes and will post them soon. We will continue to have classes as long as there is interest and the dates and times will vary in the hopes that one of the sessions will work for everyone who wants to attend a class.

JenC and I are excited to welcome our first students to these introductory lessons and we will also schedule some classes on different topics based on the topics you are voting for in the poll on the "Let me Show you How to Do that" blog.

Another Easter Egg Card

Here is another Easter Egg card that is quick and easy to do - you just need to allow a little extra time for the Stickles to dry!



I used the Beyond Birthdays cartridge for the aperture card and inserted the element from the Storybook that is highlighted in the screen shot above. I adapted the original circular element to work as an oval.



Above you can see the plain cut after I removed it from the mat.



Here is the card photographed standing up so you can see the lace effect of the design. This reminds me of the ornate Ukranian Easter egg designs.



To make the design "pop" I added a piece of contrasting cardstock behind the egg cutout. This was cut from a mat stack at 3.25 x 4.5 inches (which is simply the mat cut in half).



I used my Creative Memories Petal Multi-Maker to punch the corners and also used my corner rounder to finish the corners. This punch can be used in two ways - you can punch the full flower seen in the photo of the upside down punch above...



...or you can insert the corner of your paper into this slot on the side of the punch and punch just three petals. If you are interested in this punch, and you don't already have a CM consultant, you can see more information about it on my CM personal website - here is a LINK to the page.



I then inked the edges with some silver ink for a bit of sparkle.



I used my Creative Memories Precision Point adhesive on all the lines of the cut and, when it had dried to clear, applied the contrasting mat to the inside of the card.



Above you can see the inside of the card, ready for a note, stamped sentiment or more embellishing.



I used Stickles, this time in the "Crystal" variation of the clear colors - it has a blue/green tone that coordinates nicely with the liner color. To avoid "overstickling" I did the center, the middle ring of the design and the outer oval.



I added more peel-offs (from Agnes in Scotland - thanks again for sending these!) and as a final finishing touch, placed a "gem" in the center of the egg.



Here you can see this card with the card I posted yesterday - I think I have started a series!



You may find that the Stickles and the adhesive can cause the center to be a bit "rippled" due to the moisture in both products. If your card is not flat enough to suit you, wait until the card is completely dry and then put it under a heavy stack of books or magazines to "press" it - a few hours should do the trick!



This is an A2 card and will cut on the 6 x 12 mat. You need the Beyond Birthdays and Storybook cartridges to cut this file.

Easter Egg Card

With a Little Bit of Luck!

Today I finished up several of my swaps and got them off to the post office. I can't wait to be able to share them once they have been received by the other members of my groups. With a "little bit of luck," I'll finish the rest tomorrow and everything will be in the mail!

I have been receiving a lot of questions in the past few days and I thought I'd answer a few of them here in case any other readers have the same problems or questions.



One question was about the tape I used to do the glitter on the cards (here is a LINK to that post). It is called "Scor-tape" and you can order it from the Scor-Pal company - here is a LINK to their store website and here is a LINK to the Scor-Pal website. It is similar to the "red liner" tape you can find in some large craft stores but much more economical - Scor-tape is sold on 27 yard rolls and, as an example, the 1/4 inch size costs $4.80 (red liner tape typically comes on 5 or 6 yard rolls for about the same price). I highly recommend it both for glitter and for keeping boxes together firmly.



Another question was about my ATG (adhesive transfer gun). I recently purchased this from The Tape Depot for $25 -here is LINK to the website page for the ATG50. I find the gun easy to use and, once again, it is more economical to use a system like this - particularly for cards and projects that require lots of adhesive. The gun does not come with tape so you will need to order the rolls of tape separately - if your order totals $50 or more you will get free shipping. I still use my Creative Memories tape runner for scrapbooking.



A few people have commented that they have had a problem cutting the bunny candy holder - (LINK to the post) when they go to add the detail cuts on the second page, the entire bunny head is cut. This one has me baffled. I have checked my file and downloaded it from the file sharing site and it is correct and cuts properly.

I wonder if perhaps these people have not updated to the latest version of the software. When you open the program it should say 1.0.21104.0 in the loading screen or, if you have the program open already, you can go to the "Help" menu and check to see the version by clicking on "About" at the bottom of the list. You can download the update from the Cricut site - here is a LINK to the page



With St. Patrick's Day just around the corner, I wanted to share this adjustable "Good Luck" design again. I created it shortly after the August '08 update to the software, when I first discovered how to make adjustable designs. Here is a LINK to the original post and I have another variation that I will try to post tomorrow - I just haven't had a chance to test cut it yet. This file uses just the Storybook cartridge and can be cut on any of the machines since it is an adjustable design.



I also cleaned up the file for the butterfly aperture card from a couple of days ago so I could share that with you today. The file will cut two A2 cards on a 12 x 12 mat or one A2 card on a 6 x 12 mat (for baby bug and Create owners). The cartridges used are Beyond Birthdays and Graphically Speaking.

I have a few more swaps to finish tomorrow and then I will be all caught up!

Butterfly Aperture Card

Good Luck (A)

Butterfly card

Today was just one of those days! I was very tired from the birthday party weekend, the daylight saving time change and meeting our son's bus in Boston after midnight (but it's great to have him home for a week). I was working on my swaps (there are some interesting things that I'll be able to share soon) and I decided to take a break to cut a card I designed last year shortly after I got the Graphically Speaking cartridge. It snowed again today and I really need some Spring! So I decided to cut a card with butterflies.



But the fates were against me! On my first attempt to cut the card, I did not preview the design and make a silly mistake...since I had added two elements inside the frame, I needed to "burp" the design and I had neglected to do that - you can see the result above!

So, remember, if you are welding inside a frame and add more than one element to the design inside the frame, you need to "burp" the design by selecting the frame and then clicking "copy," "delete," and "paste."



Here is a screen shot with a quick reminder about "burping."



So - I tried again. This time the design previewed fine and I was starting the cut when I remembered that I had been using multi cut for one of my swaps and I wanted to cancel the cut so I could turn off the multi cut option. I must have clicked the OK for Beyond Birthdays without inserting the cartridge in the midst of doing all this. I then turned off the multi cut and tried the cut.

This was my second error - once you skip a cartridge for a design you have to close and reopen Design Studio in order to cut that particular file again using all of the cartridges. So the cut produced two pairs of pretty welded butterflies but no card and no frame! (the photo was taken after I cut the cards with my trimmer).



The third time was the charm! I closed and reopened Design Studio, previewed the file and saw that it was correct, made sure multi cut was turned off and inserted each cartridge (Beyond Birthdays and Graphically Speaking) as the program asked for it.



Finally, I managed to cut the card I had designed! I love the look of the opening but it isn't very practical if you want to write inside the card. So I cut a piece of cardstock to fit - just covering a bit beyond the edges of the aperture.



Here is the card with the backing added - I used my Creative Memories Precision Point Adhesive to attach the insert to the card - it is perfect for jobs like this with all the delicate bits that need sticking down.



This photo shows the insert from the inside when I held it up to a strong light. I didn't have any opaque pink vellum on hand so this is just normal cardstock.



Above you can see the inside of the card. I inked the edges of the insert with a shimmery dark pink ink to help it blend in with the patterned paper. This was double sided paper with a pretty butterfly sketch pattern on the inside.

The card still needs some more detailing, and I will try to finish it up tomorrow. The lesson I learned? Crafting while tired can lead to many mistakes (so I am off to bed for a good night's sleep!) - I'll clean up the file and post it tomorrow too.

Custom Name Cards

I have two or three new designs in the works but today I needed to finish up another project. I was asked to make some notecards as a gift for a woman called "Janice". I used the same format I did for the monogram aperture cards (here is a LINK to that post with detailed directions).

The card base with the opening is from Beyond Birthdays and I used my new Calligraphy Collection cartridge for the name. This is the first time I have used this cart - I really like the various fonts it has with lots of different elegant looks. Here is a screen shot showing the font I used. The shadow feature makes it a bit sturdier for removing from the mat after cutting.



I cut the basic cards from various colors of heavy cardstock and then cut liners to suit from patterned paper. The lining is attached in the same way as the lining on the leaf card I posted a few days ago. If the name you are using has an "i" or a "j" be sure to keep track of that pesky dot! I saved the off cut to use as a guide to placement of the dot on the "i" as you can see in this photo



Here you can see small photos of each - the patterned paper is from the Debbie Mumm collection. I have a lot of her quilting fabric that I always thought was too pretty to use so I forced myself to start cutting up the paper and use it!









The link above tells you how to do this with your own name or initials and using whatever font you like. I am not posting the file but if your name happens to be Janice and you would like it just send me a note!

Here is a sneak peak at another personalized card - details coming in the next few days...