Fancy (but simple) cards for Friday

Today is Friday - my last day as Guest Designer for the Everyday Cricut  blog.  It has been a busy week with so many projects going on (and a few more "secret" ones that you'll find out about soon!).  Be sure to visit Everyday Cricut and leave comments on each post this week in order to have a chance to win some of the great giveaways Joy and Melanie are offering this week.  There are Cricut Cartridges (Serenade, Destinations & the Spring mini cartridge bundle - Love Struck, Easter & Mother's Day) and also Claire SEI paper pack and embellishments.  There is also a great prize package from The Original Scrapbox in a special multi-blog giveaway.

Fridays are for fancy cards on the Everyday Cricut blog.  I created these cards with Design Studio and all of the details are in my post on Everyday Cricut - here is a LINK to the post.  Despite my best efforts to convince every Cricut owner that they need Design Studio, I know that some of you do not use the software.  So I made some alternative "Simple Fancy Cards" to share.

These are ultra simple cards to make - the "fancy" comes from the choice of cardstock and the jewels.  All three card toppers are on the Lyrical Letters cartridge - one of the hidden treasures on that cartridge which also has seven different fonts (add it to your list if you don't have it yet!).

The images on this key are proportioned to fit an A2 card perfectly.  If you cut them at 5 1/4 inches you will get a nice layer for a card with a thin border around the edges.

For the first card I used the Core'dinations gemstone cardstock for both the card base and the layer.  Here is the plain card - very pretty, just like this.

To ramp up the "fancy" factor, I simply added some gems.  It is difficult to see in the photo but there are five light purple and three dark purple gems.

Here is the location of the second card topper.  This is my favorite and it is one that I discovered shortly after I got the cartridge about a year ago.  Here is a LINK to my first post about the cartridge when I was "forced" to use it with the machine alone since it had not yet been added to Design Studio.

Here is the "plain" version of the card - not so "plain" since I cut the top in white glitter cardstock.

Adding blue gems (the complementary color to orange) makes the card really sparkle!

The third topper is located as shown in the screen shot.  It does have a bit more room for adding a stamped sentiment right on the card front.

I made this a horizontal card - here is the plain version.  This time I cut the layer in  DCWV "shimmer" cardstock.  This cardstock is pretty but it does have a white core and there are a couple of tiny cuts in the design which have a tendency to show the white.  I solved this by flipping the image.

This is the slightly embellished card.  I used gems and a vintage brad from Creative Charms for the accents.  Here is  a LINK to the page with the vintage brads. I removed the legs of the brad and adhered it with a foam square to fill in the empty backing.

These cards are so quick and simple to make but they still have the "wow" factor - thanks to the lovely cardstock.  These three cards were made with the large center sections of the 12 x 12 sheets of cardstock that were left over from the Easter Egg cards I posted on Monday.  I have to say that the Core'dinations gemstone cardstock is now a favorite and I hope it will be on sale again soon since I have used a fair bit of mine up this week - with very happy results.

If you were new to my blog this week - thanks so much for visiting and I hope you will stick around even when I am no longer the Guest Designer for Everyday Cricut.  I do not have sponsors for regular giveaways on this blog  but I occasionally do a blog celebration to mark a milestone.  I do love to get comments and I try my best to answer any questions readers send me.  I hope you find it worthwhile to visit and that I can help you be a bit more adventurous when you are crafting with the Cricut!   Have a great weekend!

(the link to download the "fancy" card I shared on the Everyday Cricut blog is here)

Filigree Oval Fancy Shaped Card

The Flowers that Bloom in the Spring.....

Today I stepped outside and saw this very welcome sign of Spring - there are crocuses blooming in our front flowerbed!

Just a few clusters have started - one dark and one light purple.

This makes me very happy - I  like Spring and Fall better than Summer and Winter!

I hope you have been able to see all of the posts I have made on the Everyday Cricut blog as Guest Designer this week.  It is a little hectic posting in two places!  Today I shared this layout.  The file is available to download at the bottom of this post but you should read all of the details in the post on Everyday Cricut to help answer any questions about the design.

I also made four more "leftovers" cards.  These are great for little notes and so much fun to make.  Here are a few more details on each card.  I really like the Core'dinations gemstone cardstock and I don't want to waste any of it!

 This color blocking card has a 5 1/4 x 1 1/2 inch yellow strip, a 2 1/2 x 1 1/2 blue strip and a 1 1/2 x 2 inch pink strip.  They are placed flush to one another on the card front and the green circle at the intersection is punched with a 1 1/4 inch punch.  The butterfly is from Creative Charms and the flowers are offcuts from the Easter Egg cards I posted on Monday.

 On this card the patterned paper is a leftover from the boy and girl images on the scrapbook layout.  It is 2 x 3 3/4 inches.  The pink negative of "thanks" is a "leftover-leftover" from yesterday's egg card and is 2 x 2 1/2 inches.  The butterfly is again from Creative Charms.

 Another color blocking card - the blue strip is 5 x 1 1/2 inches, the orange strip is 1 1/2 x 2 inches  and the yellow is 1 1/2 x 1 1/4 inches.  This time they are evenly spaced with with areas between.  (I need to add a bit of adhesive the the orange piece - it wants to curl up off the card!).  The butterfly is from Creative Charms.

This was the most fun to make - I used the scraps from cutting the eggs for the layout and reversed the colors on the letter placements.  The rectangles are 2 x 2 1/2 inches (and the flower is from Creative Charms).

I hope Spring is arriving wherever you are!

Searching for Eggs Layout

Exciting News!

I told you a few days ago that there are lots of exciting things happening this month - National Craft Month.  One of the exciting things for me (and I hope for you too) is that I will be the Guest Designer all next week on a wonderful blog - Everyday Cricut.  Joy (aka HappyHappyJoyJoy) and Melanie asked me a while ago if I would be "Ms March" and I was happy to accept.  Fortunately, I am finally starting to feel healthier and I have spent some quality time today finishing up designs and making samples.  I can't wait to show you some of the fun things I have up my sleeve!

Here is a tiny sneak peek...

I start on Monday but you should definitely go check out the Everyday Cricut blog right now - they have some fantastic giveaways going on and you need to enter right away - winners will be announced on Sunday, March 7th.  You can get all of the details at THIS POST  - there are NINE Cricut cartridges, some great paper and embellishments, a BLUE CUTTLEBUG machine, and a Cuttlebug Storage binder for Cuttlebug folders.


Our younger son arrives home for Spring Break tonight - I am hoping he will help me with one of the projects for next week....now what could that be???  Have a great weekend!