Another Monday for Exploring Cricut and More

Welcome!  I've been trying to use cuts that I've never used before from my Cricut cartridges.  As I thought about it, I realized that the Forever Young cartridge has a lot of stylized flower cuts that I've never made use of.  Here's what I did.

The flowers were cut at 1, 1 1/2, and 2 inches from the Forever Young cartridge.  The sentiment was cut at 1 1/4 inches from the Cricut Paper Lace 2 cartridge.  I really like the look of this and also the 'Happy Birthday'.  The corner in the lower left is my favorite from the Cricut Picturesque cartridge, cut at 1 inch.  The striped background piece was created with an Impression Obsession cover-a- cartd stamp.  I like how the card turned out.  I think I'll made more like this.

I'll have another card made from cuts I hadn't used before when I post my next blog in 2 weeks.  Don't forget; next week will be another chanllenge at Exploring Cricut and More

In the meantime, keep checking in with the daily design team projects for inspiration.
Happy creating.
Rae Ann

A Useful Sketch for Exploring Cricut and More

Welcome.  A couple of years ago I saw a YouTube clip about making a composition notebook into a craft inventory book.  I adapted it and included sketches and samples of cards I liked (my own portable pinterest).  As I looked through it I decided to use one of the sketches to create an easy backdrop for all kinds of cards.  Here's the Get Well card I made.

 



For this sketch you need 3 compatible papers - here it's the one with circles, the one with varied stripes and the solid across the bottom.  Any kind of 'divider' can be used between the top and bottom - a ribbon, an edged strip, even a straight strip.  A scalloped circle, which I cut from Cricut's Forever Young cartridge, looks good in an accent color.  The inner circle and the strip seem to look good when they are the same color.

At this point, any focus design and any sentiment can turn your card into the theme of your choice.  I cut a spray of flowers from the Cricut Cindy Loo cartridge in white and used markers to color the flowers and greens.  Since this greeting was so centered I added the bling to fill in the space.

This is a great recipe for lovely cards.

I hope you like this idea.  Please continue to visit Exploring Cricut and More each day for ideas from our design team and, don't forget, there will be another challenge next Monday.

Happy creating.
Rae Ann

Teen Cards for Exploring Cricut and More

Welcome back.  Today I have two cards I made from the Cricut Paper Doll Teen Scene cartridge; each figure was cut at 4 inches..

To put this handsome guy in context I used an idea from the All Sports cartridge to place the green 'field' on the card.  Then, I found the accessories I wanted in the Everyday Paper Dolls cartridge.  In the Teen Scene cartridge the player is wearing his helmut.  I decided to have him holding it so his face could be seen.  A birthday sentiment is inside.

The pretty miss this is intended for is into fashion so I thought I'd just put a couple of things to represent that.  I used the Forever Young cartridge to create the tiny purse.  The sunglasses in that cartridge came out way too large so I went to Everyday Paper Dolls and found eyeglasses for one of the outfits and that worked out just fine.
Because I hadn't used a background paper the card was looking very dull - somethng missing - so I added the dashed lines around the edge and then around the squares as well.  It made a big difference.

I haven't used the Teen cartridge much but it worked out very well for these cards.  Thanks for stopping by to see them.  Take a peak at Exploring Cricut and More each day for ideas and inspiration and join us next Monday for another challenge.

Happy creating.
Rae Ann

A Card and Some Jumbo ATC's for my day at Exploring Cricut

Hello, I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday week.  The hot weather is moving into my area these days so there is going to be a lot of staying at home.  The last time I did that I caught up with projects for the monthly swap group I belong to. 
Here's a card for the theme 'Wheels'.  I only slightly modified the card from the Just Because cartridge.

The next are jumbo ATC's with the theme, 'Manly'.  A jumbo ATC adds an inch to each side.
These came from the Art Deco cartridge, (although the word came from Forever Young), and the All Sports cartridge.

Thanks for stopping by.  Please continue to visit Exploring Cricut everyday to see more of the wonderful things that can be done with Cricut.  And, join us next Monday for a special blog hop.  Hope to see you there.
Happy Creating.
Rae Ann

Die Cut Flowers - Paper Playtime Challenge #69

I enjoyed making this card.  Take a look and then I'll give you details.

From the bottom up:  The checked area is actually duct tape.  There were some fancy designs and colors on sale and I knew it would look good in something like this.

The 'basket' is woven using a craft yarn I bought at A.C.Moore.  It's like a loosely crocheted tube that flattens out.  I wove it around a piece of cardboard.  (I saw a card where someone used twine to create a basket look.  I'm sorry I don't remember who.  But, that was my inspiration.)

I wanted to do something non-Flower Shoppe.  All these flower cuts are from the Cricut Forever Young Cartridge.  I mixed colors and shapes and even stamped some print on a few.  Then I added pearls and rhinestones as centers.  All the leaves and curls were cut from Cricut's Picturesque Cartridge.  Everything was distressed with Tim Holtz's vintage photo distress ink.

If I remember correctly, the 'hello' sentiment came in a set of Papertrey stamps.

Other flower die-cut entries can be seen at Paper Playtime.

Thanks for looking.  Happy creating.
Rae Ann

Vintage Boudoir Inspiration at The Shabby Tea Room

I love looking through you tube videos for ideas and I've seen some step cards with decor like little dressers.  I knew I wanted to do something like that when I saw this challenge.  I used the Cricut Forever Young cartridge for the dress form and hat.  Here's the result:

See other entries at The Shabby Tea Room

Happy creating.

Rae Ann



Runway Inspired Challenge ric#3/Simon Says Stamp Challenge - Something New/ Cooking w/ Cricut

This was the inspiration photo .

I saw the card that Jennifer Rzasa of Our Change of Art made and that's how I found this challenge.  This one really caught my fancy.  I love the visual texture the stripes make as the fabric folds different ways.  That was my inspiration for this.  I wanted some 3D shaping to play with the stripes.

Believe it or not, the glitter glue I used was CLEAR and that is black paper.  I couldn't believe my eyes.  Who would've thought?  It was fun planning and making this card.

See other entries at Runway Inspired: http://runwayinspired.blogspot.com/2012/01/ric3-gareth-pugh-spring-2012.html

I am also entering this in the Simon Says Stamp Challenge  http://www.simonsaysstampschallenge.blogspot.com/ and
Cooking with Cricut Challenge #67 http://www.cookingwithcricut.com/2012/01/challenge-67-something-new.html.  The sentiment is the only stamped element; the colored pearls are a new item for me.  I found packs of various colors in a clearance display and now I love using them as accents.  The cricut cuts are the flower center from Forever Young and the stem and leaves from Picturesque.

Happy creating!
Rae Ann

Holiday Challenges: My Sheri Crafts, Fantabulous Cricut, Cardz TV #96, Robin's Creative Cottage, & Whimsical Designs

When I saw the theme for the My Sheri Crafts Challenge, (click here:), make a decoration, I started thinking of all the ways I would like to decorate in my small apartment.  While scanning the net I found a sample of a tee pee card and I knew that would be perfect to place on display as a decoration.  The video of how to make one is by thenorsugirl; :here is the link:

I had a lot of fun making this.  I used a variety of cartridges:  Forever Young, Graphically Speaking, Simply Charmed and Forever Young.  I have lots of glittery embellishments:(Robin's Creative Cottage theme, Let It Sparkle) paper with shine, glitter ribbon, shiny packages, glitter glue, metal brads, sequins.  And, (Fantabulous Cricut theme, A Holiday Card) the sentiment, of course, is Merry Christmas.  For Cards TV (Say It With 'S') there are stockings on the fireplace.  With all the things on this card it is quite appropriate for the Whimsical Designs theme of layers.

Here are the 3 sides of the card:

I am also entering this card in
the Fantabulous Cricut Challenge click here,
the Cardz TV #96 Challenge click here, 
Robin's Creative Cottage Challenge click here. 
Whimsical Designs Challenge click here.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I am.

Rae Ann