Rose

My brother and his wife have an anniversary coming up and so I wanted to make something special.  Atlantic Hearts Challenge  had a very nice sketch that I thought would suit the bill.  I used the Cricut  Explore and the Designs Space to cut out all shapes.  I printed Happy Anniversary on the dark blue  in Silver pen.  I do love the Cricut Explore as I can print and cut out in the same step.  I used red  and pink paper for the rose and green for the stem.  

The rectangles are all the same design, just different sizes. The banners are a lighter blue and the background for the rose is white.  It is so easy to use the Cricut Design as I only need to type in what I want and several designs for that image come up and I can select the one that I like best.  All paper was from Close to My Heart purchased from Katie's Corner.  I used the CTMH The Giving Hand stamp set for my inside sentiment.  There is a lovely quote by Mother Theresa in this set.

leaves

Fall is approaching: the smell of bonfires, the rustle of fallen leaves and clean crisp air.  My favorite time of the year.  Of course, when the other seasons come around, I will say that they are my favorite time of year.  I complain about Indiana, but I love the changing seasons and wouldn't want to live anywhere else.

I was inspired by the beautiful creations at Curtain Call Challenge - Leaves.  Click the link to see them.

This card is made with The Cricut Explore and mostly Close To My Heart paper, ink and stamp.
The cartridges used were: maple leaf-Artbooking, other leaves- When I was  Kid, pumpkin-Pumpkin Carvings.  On the inside, I used a shape from Artiste in orange paper  with the message printed on a white square of paper glued on top.  The message is "Pleasant thoughts are sent your way with a heartfelt wish for a happy day" from the Right Words for any Occasion.  The stamp for the happy birthday was from the Joyful Birthday Occasions and in Topiary.

All CTMH papers, inks, and cartridges are from Katiescorner.  I'm told there are some great deals going on to celebrate National Stamping Month and 30 Years of Happy!

Happy B'day

This card is for Atlantic Hearts.  I have so many birthdays coming up in September and October that I hope that I can get all the cards made.  This card is made on the Cricut Explore using the rectangle frame from Close to My Heart Artbooking and the lace corner from Picturessque.  The center of the rectangle is made from the piece that was cut out of the rectangle only turned over.   I used  the Daisy White ink Close to My Heart  stamp Joyful Birthday Occasions using CTMH Inkpad Topiary.  I added rick rack and a lace butterfly. 

The Girl

I am using this card for Exploring Cricut and Bitten by the Bug.  It was so much fun to make, but more difficult that I thought it would be.  I do have the Cricut Explore and the design package and it took a long time to decide which girl and which dress I wanted to use.  The  girl is from Block Party, the dress from Formal Occasion and the  mirror is from Forever Young.    The lips on the formal girl were cut freehand.

I added a flower for her hair and sequins and glitter to the dress.  The straps of the dress and the tiara are made with rhinestones.  The background is striped wallpaper.  All other cardstock is  from Close to My Heart  through Katie's Corner.  The writing on the front is Mirror Mirror who is fairest of them all.  (Not enough room to include on the wall.)  On the inside is You Are Of Course.  Happy Birthday.  The Happy Birthday is from the stamp Joyful Birthday Occasions, and the color of the ink pad is Topiary.  

This card is going off to Bitten by the Bug 2 ~ Dressing Up and Exploring Cricut and More ~ Happy Birthday with sparkle!

Campin' Cowgirl

Since camping is the theme for this week's contest at Fantabulous Cricut Challenge, I thought that I would have to skip this contest as I would rather stay in a nice Holiday Inn with a pool than outdoors with the bugs!   Then I thought about my great-granddaughter and she talks about camping out at the horse shows.  She says that she gets to stay in the trailer with the horses!  Truth is Grandpa and Grandma have a horse trailer  with living quarters in the front and the horses are in the back.  They have a kitchen, air-conditioning, bedroom and bathroom; so it is not much of a hardship.

Great granddaughter's birthday is this week, so I made her a card to represent her on her horse at the show's campground.  I used the Cricut Explore Rearing Cowgirl from the cartridge YeeHaw.  

By the way, I have the yearly subscription for the Cricut Images and I just love it.  I don't think that there is an image that I could want that isn't there.  

I used Close to My Heart paper from Katie's Corner for the girl and horse:  black, saddle, sky blue, pacifica and colonial white.  Since my great-granddaughter has red hair, I traced around the hair part from the pattern on the colonial white, cut it out and colored it with colored pencils, blending oak brown and holiday red. (Pencils are old so may not be same names as now.)   I did the same for the cowgirl hat, but used sky blue marker to color the hat.  Exact match to the sky blue paper used in the shirt. I used a barn siding paper for the background.  I also put rhinestones on the hat and shirt.  

Thank you

The colors from Color My Heart, were perfect for the thank you note that I need to send.  Everything I used was from Close To My Heart and Cricut.  Color pencils for the sunset-pear-barn red. I used the floral stamp from A friend is...and the butterfly stamp from Love This Seasons and Nature.  The banner is from the Cricut-Close To My Heart cartridge Artiste. Of course my CTMH came from  Katie's Corner.  Just received my first order from the new catalog and am very excited.  So many great new things.

butterfly

My daughter invited me to her home to see and try out her new Cricut Explore.  I used it to cut out the butterfly card using Close to My Heart paper from the Balloon Ride Packet.  I used one reversed  butterfly shadow and one not reversed, put them wingtips to wingtips and welded them together.  I then cut one shadow in white paper to glue on the inside so that I could write on it.  I cut out the filigreed layer just a bit smaller from black paper and glued it to the front.  I also put rhinestones on the body of the butterfly.  I now have a very pretty note card to send to a special friend.

I loved her  Cricut Explore so much, I came home and ordered one for me.  I also ordered quite a lot of the new products from the Close To My Heart  Annual Inspirations Catalog  from Katie's Corner.   When everything arrives I am gong to have such a fun time!

I'm sending this off to Fantabulous Cricut Challenge ~ Bug Out!