Thank You card

I consider my pup, Sophie, as part of my family.  It was important to me to find her a good groomer, because she is terrified of the groomer and I needed to know that she was in good, loving hands.  It took three times, but we finally found that right at her vet's office.  Everytime she sees Sophie, she acts excited- even if we're there for a vet visit instead of a grooming visit.  I always leave her a tip, but had been thinking for awhile that I should send her a thank you card to let her know how much I appreciate how nice she is to Sophie.

Well, when I took Sophie in for a trim two days before Christmas and she came home with a goodie bag full of rawhides as a Christmas present from her groomer, I decided it was fully time to get on that Thank You. 



The purple cardstock is Paper Studio (what a shock!) cut to the regular A2 dimensions.  I had just gotten a Cuttlebug for Christmas (I'm lucky to have a husband who supports my craft addiction...um, I mean hobby...) so I thought it would be a good time to test it out.  I got out my Spots and Dots Cuttlebug folder and ran it through on the Provocraft cardstock.  I thought it looked like bubbles from a bubble bath. 

I cut the dog, brush, and shampoo from Paper Pups.  As you can see, I cut the main image out in one color and then filled it in with other colors.  The orange, red, and pink pattern on the bathtub is patterned paper from the Classics stack from KI Memories; the rest is my regular Paper Studio cardstock.  I colored over the yellow and pink in the brush and shampoo with some Sakura gel pens to make them shine and colored in the dog's eyes with a Fiskars gel pen to define them better.

The "Thank You" was cut from Calligraphy Collection.  I love the fonts on that cartridge.

Inside, I glued in a picture of Sophie, in her Christmas bandana from being groomed, chomping away on the candy cane-shaped rawhide. 

Wall art

Using the Wall Decor and More cartridge I got for Christmas (thanks, mom!) I made these pictures for our stairway.  DH had 4 8x10 frames from college and we had been meaning to put something in them. All cardstock is Bazzill. I cut the key, tree, owl, and compass. I wasn't able to get a good picture, sorry.

Christmas Countdown

It took me until after Christmas, but I finally finished my advent calendar! It will be all ready for next year.  I have so many Christmas cuts on various Cricut Cartridges, and it seemed like a fun project that could last through the holiday season (and boy, did it!)

The base of the calendar is a cookie sheet (a large size, I can't remember the dimensions exactly).  I used two sheets of paper from the Paper Studio All Seasons 2 pack for the background.  I wanted to make the background look kind of like a present, so I accented it with some burgundy paper, which was from my stash.  It was a slightly lighter color on the other side, which makes me think it may have come from the Provo Craft cardstock that was part of my Cricut Essentials pack, but I could be wrong.  My husband drilled two holes in the top and sanded them down to make them safe, and I strung two pieces of ribbon through to hang it up.  One ribbon is a sturdy, silver ribbon with sparkles.  I'm pretty sure it was left over from my wedding.  The other ribbon was some miscellaneous burgundy ribbon that I thought would add to the effect of it looking like a present.  True story: I originally bought that ribbon to make a bell to hang from our back door so that Sophie can ring it to let us know she needs to go outside.  I probably got it from Hobby Lobby.

Next came the Cricut-ing part.  As I said, I used many cartridges.  I broke the pictures down into two rows at a time so I can go through and tell you where I got them.  My cardstock is almost all from Paper Studio, with some of the Provo Craft thrown in here and there.  I varied the cut size between 2-3 inches, depending on the cartridge.  It took a little trial and error, and unfortunately I didn't think to write down the sizes.  

Days 24-22: Lights cut from Create a Critter

Day 21: Gingerbread house from Stretch Your Imagination, circle from Accent Essentials

Day 20: Sled from Stretch Your Imagination, circle from Accent Essentials

Day 19: Tree from Winter Frolic, circle from Accent Essentials

Day 18: Ornament from Winter Frolic

Day 17: Presents from Winter Frolic

Day 16: Holly from Stretch your Imagination

Day 15: Cup from Winter Frolic

Day 14: Mitten from Simply Charmed

Day 13: Reindeer from Create a Critter

Day 12: Bird (I think it's a partridge in a pear tree) from Winter Frolic, circle from Accent Essentials

Day 11: Snowman and Snowglobe from Doodlecharms

Day 10: Ornament from Winter Frolic

Day 9: Snowflake from Accent Essentials

Day 8: Hat from Simply Charmed

Day 7: Gingerbread man from Smiley Cards

Day 6: Penguin from Winter Frolic

Day 5: Stocking from Winter Frolic

Day 4: Candy cane from Simply Charmed

Day 3: Mouse from Winter Frolic

Day 2: Star from Winter Frolic

Day 1: Jesus from Winter Frolic

Then I wrote the day on them with gel pen, two-sided taped a magnet on the back, and it was done!

Can I take a second to talk about Day 7's Gingerbread Man?  I don't own a gypsy, and I only joined the world of Cricut about half a year ago, so I was sad to find out that I had orignally missed the boat on Smiley Cards.  I love the little images on there and the silly faces, and this Gingerbread Man was one of my favorites.  When Cricut Craft Room was released to the public and the ability to download digital cartridges was announced, I was so excited that I could finally have access to Smiley Cards!  Yeah, $50 (plus tax, FYI) is kind of expensive for a cartridge that you don't physically possess, and I won't be purchasing the digital cartridges willy-nilly, but I'm glad I went ahead and got this one. It's really easy to use- you just design the mat in Craft Room, click "Cut." hold the mat in place, and it loads and cuts in one fluid motion.  You can choose to cut only portions of your mat or the whole thing at once, depending on how you've loaded in your paper.  It was great and I highly recommend it for cartridges like this one, that are only available that way, or for ones that are retired or hard to find in stores. 

I love you because...

I saw these here and there on Pinterest (I love you because), and thought it was a great idea.  In no way did I come up with the concept.  I just bought a cheap frame from Michaels and a piece of Bazzill cardstock and pulled out the trusty Cricut.  I cut the letters with Jasmine, and the heart from Paper Pups.  The line was just cut with my paper trimmer (I have two- a Provo Craft one and a Fiskars one).

It's not too inventive, since I scraplifted it, but I am afraid that my blog will become too card-heavy, because I am loving making cards so much, so I thought I would round it out a little by adding this. 

PS- The link that I posted up top was a link to search results of "I love you because" on Pinterest to give you a little bit of a taste of what was inspiring me.  I hope the link works.  :)

PPS- We ended up hanging it next to the door we come in from our garage.  It didn't stay on the baseboard heater.  That's just where I put it to take the picture.  :)

Various cards

I made this card for my husband's birthday. The cake is cut from Simply Charmed on Paper Studio cardstock. The patterned paper is from the Paper Studio All Seasons 2.  The ribbon is from American Crafts- I bought it from Hobby Lobby in a whole pack.  It's cut to the regular A2 size dimensions.  Sorry for the junky picture, it's from my phone.

Next, I have this year's Christmas cards.  Again, they were cut to the regular A2 size.  The snowman is from Winter Frolic.  All paper and cardstock is Paper Studio.  I made two versions, varying the green and red.  The inside (picture 2) was covered with regular white printer paper and stamped with black ink.  The stamp was purchased at Hobby Lobby.  I believe it was Stampabilities, but I could be wrong. 

Third up is a Thanksgiving card I made to give to my mom.  The turkey was cut from Create a Critter.  Cardstock was mostly from my stash- probably a lot of Paper Studio and I think some Provo Craft as well.  The background paper was from the KI Memories Classic Prints Paper Pad- I picked it up at Michaels for 40% off and I am so glad I did!  It has so many cute color combinations. As far as I know it doesn't come in 6x6 or 8x8, but if I ever see it you better believe I'll pick it up, because it would be great to have the patterns in a smaller scale, too.

Up last, and possibly my favorite, is a card and bag combo that I made for our nephew's first birthday.  I had been really inspired by reading various blogs that showed these kind of combos, so I thought I would give it a try myself.   We already had the multicolored bag around, and so I pulled out my cardstock (you know, Paper Studio) and my new Cricut Expression (yay Black Friday!!) and went to town.  I love that the little dalmation from Create a Critter had the number 1 on his fireman's hat, so I thought he was perfect for a first birthday present.  My husband seemed very impressed, so I anticipate that this may become a staple craft for me as we go.  That's ok- it was fun!

Happy Halloween (part 2)

Although we don't generally decorate for Halloween, I decided I wanted to make a Halloween banner to hang on our mantle.  I found an idea on Pinterest (from Obsessively Crafting) and made some tweaks to make it work for us.  Here's mine:

I made them out of paper without any backing.  I cut many of the shapes from the George & Basic Shapes Cricut Cartridge.  Their faces, for example, are cut from George at 4.5 inches.  All of their eyes, the pumpkin's eyes and nose, and the ghost's mouth are also cut from George.  The other paper pieces I cut myself.  I hung it with black ribbon and there it is!  Below are individual pictures of each Halloween character.

Happy Halloween (part 1)

I'm really enjoying making cards.  I decided one day to pull out my cricut and make a Halloween card to send to my mom and younger sister. 

 I cut the card to be 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 by cutting an 8 1/2 x 11 piece of Paper Studio cardstock in half.  The bat paper is cut slightly smaller, and is also from Paper Studio (the All Seasons 2 pack).  The bat and tree were cut using the Simply Charmed Cricut Cartridge.

The Happy Halloween sentiment on the inside was cut from the Lyrical Letters cartridge.

My mom and sister seemed to like them, and they were really fun to make!