Inspired by a song - Tonight

Welcome.
I found an intriguing challenge; design a project based on a song.  At the same time, another challenge proposed a sketch that I knew would work with my idea.  Here's the result.

The song I selected was "Tonight" from West Side Story.  Here's the sketch:


I imagined the skyline (from Cricut's Paper Doll Dress Up cartridge) as a good substitute for the grass.  I like the idea of the moon with a halo.
At first I tried alcohol inks on the black paper but, of course, they didn't work.  It did put in some blotches that textured the sky.  The stars are the silver metallic medium for the alcohol inks.  I used the end of a toothpick to dab the dots on.  I'm quite pleased with how it turned out.

I'm entering this in the Paper Play Sketches challenge and the Cardz 4 Galz challenge.  Please, visit both these blogs to see the inspirations they contain.

Thanks for stopping by.
Happy Creating.
Rae Ann

A Sparkling Birthday Challenge at Exploring Cricut and More

Welcome to our challenge week.  Create a birthday card, layout, or paper project that contains sparkle or glistter.
Here's what I did.

'Sparkly' made me think fancy so I decided a formal occasion would be the way to go.  I used a pre-cut center stem card that I bought at the Paper Cut booth at a show.  It makes it so easy.  I used my Cricut and several cartridges to make this.
Paper lace 2 -- the phrase 'Happy Birthday', cut at 1 1/2 inches;
Paper Doll Dress Up -- the top hat, cut at real size 1 1/2 inches and the gloves, cut at real size 1 inch.
Simply Charmed --the champagne bottle, cut at 2 1/2 inches; the glasses cut at 1 1/4 inches; balloons cut at 1 1/2 and 2 inches; and a bunch of confetti, cut at 2 inches.

Materials used included a glittery paper from the DCWV Safari Kids pack, and Ranger's Diamond Glitter Glue pn the balloons and confetti.  For my solid papers I like to use the Recollection brand papers from Michael's.  A couple of rhinestones finish it off.

It took a while because I had to re-cut things to get sizes I liked, but I had fun making it.

Please, add your sparkly project to our challenge at Exploring Cricut and More.  We love to see the variety of responses to our theme.

Thsnks for stopping by.
Happy Creating.
Rae Ann

Another Easter Card for Exploring Cricut and More

Hello!  I saw a cute Easter card on the internet that used Thumper as the bunny in an Easter card and I loved it.  He is so cute.  I decided to come up with my own version.
I am still a cricut user;  Thumper came from the Disney Classics cartridge and the flowers, grass, hills, and even the egg, were accessories I found in the Paper Doll Dress Up cartridge.

In this pose he looks like he's pushing the egg or holding it up.  I think it came out really cute.

I think I cut Thumper at 3 inches and the egg at 2 1/2 inches, real size.  The egg was an accessory to the animal costumes. The flowers were with the hula girl.  Since 1 inch real size would've been too large I imagined that I was cutting a girl at 4 inches and the flower accessory came out like this.  The patterned paper I found in my stash made a great egg.  I couldn't resist adding some sparkle to jazz things up.
Thanks for stopping by and please continue to check out Exploring Cricut and More every day for design team samples and on every other Monday for a fun challenge.

May all of you be blessed this spring and re-vitalized in this time of New Life.
Happy Creating.
Rae Ann

Crafter's Choice Challenge at Exploring Cricut and More

Welcome, again.  For this crafter's choice challenge at least one pattern and solid cardstock must be used.  A sentiment stamp I haven't used was the inspiration for this card.  With a sentiment about wishes I had to make a genie.

The card itself is pre-cut and scored from The Paper Cut, a vendor that was here at the Heirloom Productions RubberStamping and Paper Arts Festival last weekend.  The genie and her accessories are all from Cricut's Paper Doll Dress Up.  You can't see her cute bare midriff because I folded her arm to make it look more like she is holding the lamp.  She was cut at 3 inches; the genie lamp was cut at 2 inches; and, the genie's bottle was cut at 2 1/2 inches.  The cityscape was cut at 1 1/4 inches.
Other Cricut cuts were from Paper Lace 2 (the rounded rectangle behind the genie), designs from Picturesque (cut at 1 inch) and the sentiment base (cut at 1 inch) from Phrases.

I added some gold glitter to her hair decoration and her necklace, some diamond glitter to the bottle and 2 little purple gems to the sentiment.

Even with the card all ready to fold it took a bit of time to put this together.  It was fun.

Please join our challenge with YOUR CHOICE (with at least one pattern paper and cardstock) and post it at Exploring Cricut and More.  Visit everyday to see all the great ideas our team comes up with.  I look forward to seeing your entry.
Thanks for stopping by.
Rae Ann

St. Patrick's Challenge at Exploring Cricut and More

Hi!  I'm back.  It's taken a while.  It really felt good to be creating again.
For this challenge we were asked to create a card, layout, or paper project for St. Patrick's Day, including at least one shamrock.

I didn't want to do a leprechaun again so I started looking for a copy of the Irish Blessing, "May the road...".  Instead, I found this one which I really like.
The rainbow and pot were cut on my Personal Cricut at 2 1/2 inches from Simply Charmed.  The shamrocks are 1 inch and they came from Paper Doll Dress Up.
Please, join our challenge this week and show us your creativity at Exploring Cricut and More.

Have a great week and happy creating.
Rae Ann

My Day at Exploring Cricut

Hello!  It's been a slow week for me; the heat is taking all the 'oomph' out of me but I do have some cards to share.  A neighbor asked me to make some birthday cards for her grandsons, ages 3 and 5.  Here's what I did.
The first one is from Teddy Bear Parade. The letters for 'Hi' came from the Suburbia cartridge and the 'Happy Birthday' came from Create a Critter.

 The second card came from Paper Doll Dress Up.  I accidently cut the female cape but I liked the flowng look of it and kept it.  The 'superhero' sentiment came from the 3 Birds on Parade cartridge.

Cricut makes doing birthday cards so easy.  There are so many themes to pick from.  I hope you like them.
Have fun creating and, please, continue to check out Exploring Cricut each day for inspiration from out design team.
Rae Ann

It's My Day Again

Hi!  Welcome to my Monday at Exploring Cricut.  For today's project I was thinking of the wedding invitations that are making the rounds as June approaches.  I've wanted to use the gazebo on the Spring Cottage cartridge for a while now and this gave me the perfect reason.

 

I had fun with this.  The gazebo, as I said, is from the Spring Cottage cartridge.  The couple are from Paper Doll Dress Up.  The leafy vines are from Holiday Cakes and some glitter glue in red suggests flowers or berries.  The doves and "Congratulations" are also from the Holiday Cakes cartridge. It's hard to see in the photo, but touches of glitter are added to the bride's veil, headdress, and bouquet, and on the doves' wings.  The sparkle really livens it up.  This card came out so "cutesy" it makes me laugh.

Keep visiting Exploring Cricut for daily inspiration.  On May 6 we will be having a Mother's Day Blog Hop and hope you will participate.  See you then.

Rae Ann
Happy Creating.

It's a New Challenge at Exploring Cricut

Welcome to our newest challenge.  For this one we ask you to create a card, layout, or project that contains AT LEAST one button, two cricut cuts, and 3 colors of paper, with an emphasis on SPRING.

I created this step card.  Flowers were the first thing that came to mind, especially tulips, and then I thought of flying kites.

The button is the decoration in her hair.
I used cuts from 5 different cartridges:
     the girl is from Paper Doll Teen Scene
     the tulips are from Spring Cottage
     the fence is from Paper Doll Dress Up
     the grass and kite are from Everyday Paper Dolls
     and, the phrase "flying HIGH" is from 3 Birds on Parade.
Most of the papers are from Recollection packs.
The kite is on a piece of wire which I attached to the backs of the cuts with Glossy Accents.

I really like how it turned out.
I can't wait to see what your project will be.  Go to Exploring Cricut to see what the rest of the design team has done.  Then, enter your creation, too.
Have fun creating.
Rae Ann

Luck of the Irish Challenge at Exploring Cricut

Hello, everyone.  We have a new challenge startring today at Exploring Cricut.  Make a card, layout, or papercraft using a shamrock for St. Patrick's Day.  Here's what I came up with:

The leprechaun is from Cricut's Paper Doll Dress Up; the shamrock is on that same page.  This is the first time I've used my Peachy Keen face stamps.  Isn't he cute.  The sentiment was cut using the Phrases cartridge; the flourish came from Picturesque.  I used vintage photo distress in to lightly edge the leprechaun.  On the shamrock I used the metallic gold from Ranger.  The papers, lace, and green rhinestones were found in my stash.

I can't wait to see what you do with this theme.  Join us at Exploring Cricut for this week's challenge.

Happy Creating.
Rae Ann

Kiss Me I'm Irish

This might be my one and only St. Patrick's Day card.  I'm not big on celebrating this day but this idea was too cute to pass up.

The frog prince is taking advantage of the opportunity!  He's cut from cricut's Create a Critter.  The hat and shamrock were found in Paper Doll Dress Up, and the lettering is one of the fonts from Suburbia.  Bling for eyes, lips drawn in for kissing, and a few glittery shamrocks drawn in completed the image.
I'm entering this little guy in the following challenges:
Paper Playtime - Anything goes
Bitten By The Bug2 - Use a shamrock
Scrappy Frog Challenge - Use green
Craft it up and Link it up at Craftin Desert Divas - Anything goes

Click on the name of the challenge to visit and enjoy seeing all the entries .

Happy creating.
Rae Ann

Looking Forward to Sunny Days at Exploring Cricut

Welcome to my day at Exploring Cricut.  The weatherman, today, reported below normal temperatures to continue with heavy cloud coverage over the next few days.  I'm ready for some sunny days so I made this card.

I started out using the circle and scalloped circle idea for the background of a focus image but the combination of these 2 paper made me think of a sunflower and the card took off from there.  The sunflower circles came from cricut's Graphically Speaking cartridge.  The fence was cut from the last page of Paper Doll Dress Up.  The sun and bird both came from Create a Critter.  The bird was cut at 1 inch; isn't it cute.  The bow made of twine was the finishing touch.

Please stop by Exploring Cricut  each day for some great ideas from our design team.  Watch out for our challenges and please join us.

I will also be entering this in the Craft It Up Linky Partry at Craftin Desert Divas where the theme is 'anything goes.'
Have a sunny day.
Rae Ann

You Did It! Card

I was busy last night.  Here's another card I got made.  Our Creative Corner has a challenge to use woodgrain and a button on a card.  Woodgrain, hmmmm?  I happened to have a beaver ready from the cricut Create a Critter cartridge and I found woodgrain paper in my stash.  Eureka!

 



I imagined this little scene and found pieces for it in several carts.  The tree stump, believe it or not, is the cavegirl's dress from Paper Doll Dress Up.  The leaves on the stem are from that, too.  The clouds and the grass are from Everyday Paper Dolls.  The beaver and the fallen part of the tree are from Create a Critter.  The flowers are pieces of stickers from my stash, except for the one he is holding -- that's a button.  It's one of the cutesy buttons from Dress It Up; it has a shank on the back and instead of breaking it off I added the twine which evened the back to make it easier to glue down.  The sentiment was made on a Brother labelmaker.  Some distress ink and a leaf touch-up with colored pencil and it was done.  I really like it.

 

Please visit Our Creative Corner to see all the entries.

 

I am also entering this card in the Die Cuttin Divas challenge - Anything goes.  Visit that blog by clicking here.

 

Happy creating.

Rae Ann

 

 

 

An Unusual Christmas Card for DL.ART's Linky Party & Go Fish Challenge

My chiropractor loves Hawaii so I made this card especially for him.

I used an accessory key in Cricut's Paper Doll Dress-up cartridge to make the palm tree.  I cut it once in each color and pieced it: sand, trunk, and foliage.  Around the trunk are colored lights from the 'Deck the Halls' page in the 3 Birds on Parade cartridge.  I cut it at 2 inches to get the lights small enough.  Of course, the little hula bear is from the Teddy Bear Parade cartridge.  She's on a home-made wobble so she can really hula.  Luckily, the internet provided the correct spelling for 'Merry Christmas' in Hawaiian.  I'm tickled with it.

Please go to DL.ART and Go Fish Challenge Blog to see more entries.

Happy holidays and happy creating.
Rae Ann

I'm Finally Back with some Halloween Cards

It's been a long stretch but I've finally gotten back to what I enjoy.  I decided to try the tri-shutter cards for Halloween.  Here's what I came up with.  There's 10 of them.  I hope you like them.
Rae Ann