Round Card

I love odd shaped cards so I was so enthused when Fantabulous Cricut Challenge had the challenge : card shape besides square/rectangle.  

This card was made from the Cricut cartridge Art Philosophy in lavender paper.  The front is also from Art Philosophy using the doily cut.  The center is stamped with Close to My Heart  stamp from the set Classy Doily Flair.  I used CTMH colored pencils for the yellow, blue and red.  Topped the stamped area with Liquid Glass.  I put the Liquid Glass on before gluing the doily to the card and it caused the center to bow up a little bit.  I took advantage of that and glued a small amount of cotton under the center of the bow.  The card looks like it is puffy.  Since this card has no sentiment on the outside, it can be used for any purpose.  I used CTMH paper for this card.  I made another similar to this,  but the paper was from Walmart and the cut was not nearly as clean.  I have found it's always worth it to use good paper for cards.  It doesn't cost that much more and makes a much nicer card.  As always, my CTMH is purchased from Katies Corner.

Halloween

I am having so much fun exploring my new Cricut Explore that I had to enter the contest on Exploring Cricut.  I used Cricut Design to get the images.  The tombstone and the witch came from Wrap It Up and the hand coming from the grave, the coffin and the pumpkin were from Happy Hauntings.

All were made from the patterns, but I did change the tombstone just a little.  The grass I rubbed on the Close to My Heart inkpad Ponderosa Pine and the background to the tombstones were touched to the CTMH ink pad Black,  Most of the paper is from Close to My Heart purchased, of course, Katies Corner.

I also put a strip of paper which measure the length and width of the sides of the tombstones behind the tombstones as I am going to put a little gift in each one and wanted more of a box.  This has no top to it so I will wrap the gift in orange tissue paper and set it in the box.

I made a couple of each image and am going to use them as favors for a party that will be just before Halloween.  I know that my friends will just love them as they all have a weird sense of humor and Halloween is their favorite secular holiday.

Truck

My grandson's birthday is coming up and I wanted to make him a special card to depict what he likes.  This was hard as he really loves his horse, but I have used horses for his past several birthdays.  He does love trucks and antique vehicles. He is also a senior at Purdue University in the School of Agriculture.   So I decided to combine the two for this card.  I used The Cricut Explore to cut the designs from the Cricut Design.  The cartridge names are:  Nifty Fifties for the truck, County Fair for the Barn and Winter Is In The Air for the trees.

I used mostly Close to My Heart Paper purchased from Katie's Corner.  Three different shades of green were used for the trees to show some depth.  I used the Cuttlebug with the CTMH Woodgrain Embossing Folder to make some texture to the grass.  For the driveway, I used course sandpaper.  I think that all the colors are obvious so won't list them.  I did put some CTMH Chocolate Ink Pad on the tree trunks to make them brown.  I also used the text Country Life for the Cricut design for the Happy Birthday.  Liquid glass was used to make it stand out.

I am entering this in Sentimental Sundays.

Fall

   Fall is starting here in Indiana.  It is cooler and the days are getting shorter.  Thoughts of Halloween and Thanksgiving are coming to life.

   I am a volunteer for an organization that sends birthday cards to their employees and boards.  They had been printing them on a computer and I thought that they looked cheap, so I volunteered to make the cards for each month.  I was going to keep them simple and quick to make!  I can make them all alike for each month, which makes them quicker.

   I thought the fall theme for Exploring Cricut would be perfect for November Birthdays.  By using my wonderful Cricut Explore, I cut out a cornucopia from the cartridge Celebrate wit Flourish.  There are 4 layers to it and I used Close to My Heart Paper purchased from Katie's Corner for most of it.

   The flower pot is from the cartridge Freshly Picked.  I cut off the flowers that were on it.  Cut it out of light brown paper and then colored with CTMH Sunset marker to get the color I wanted. The stems of the flowers are from Mother's Day 2010  also from CTMH. The blooms are from the cartridge Mother's Day Bouquet. I cut two for each flower.  Then after putting three on the eraser end of a pencil and folding down the petals, I placed one on each unfolded bloom that had a spot of glue in the center.  The wording came from Text on the Cricut Explore.

  I haven't put a verse inside yet as I am not sure just what I am going to say, but I plan on putting it on a pumpkin and gluing it to the inside.

  I'm also sending this to Bitten by the Bug 2 where the theme is Cricut cuts!

Purse

The challenge for Bitten By The Bug 2 this week is a purse.  My brother's wife is having a birthday this week and thought that this card would be perfect for her.  It was fun to make and took a little customizing.












I used Suburbia for the girl and Kate's A B Cs for the purse.  I got both from Cricut Design and cut them out on my Cricut Explore.  I cut one figure of the girl out of black and then the second figure with collar and button holes out of black.  I cut off the arms, legs and head from second figure, then glued a small piece of white under the button holes.  I cut the collar  from that and cut by hand out of white.  For the purse and flowers, I used light and dark pink, for the leaves I used light green.   The words "Stepping Out On Your Special Day"  I used the text from Cricut Design.  For "Happy Birthday" I used the stamp set Joyous Birthday Occasions in black ink.  Most of the paper and the ink and stamp were Close To My Heart purchased from Katie's Corner.

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!