Pear Card

(Lyrical Letters Cartridge)

Instructions:

The Lyrical Letters cartridge has several great images to use for cards.  I chose this pear image because it makes me happy!  I cut it at 6” real dial size and covered it with the glitter for some fabulous sparkle.  The sentiment is also from the Lyrical Letters cartridge and was cut at 2”.  I used a trio of eyelets for an added decorative element along the bottom.  This cheery card would brighten anyone’s day!

Halloween Card

(Lyrical Letters Cartridge)

Instructions:

The Lyrical Letters is such a great cartridge to have because it has many greetings on it, in addition to the very versatile font.  I chose the “Happy Halloween” greeting with the accompanying spider to make this card spooktacular!  I created the pumpkin shaped card by using the pumpkin from the PDDU cartridge and welding it stem-to-stem using Design Studio.  Then I cut a slightly smaller pumpkin out of my patterned paper and adhered it to my card.  The web is from the Wild Card cartridge.  I cut one web at 5”, and then cut it apart to use at two different spots on my card.  The green ribbon was used to simulate the vine of the pumpkin.  I used a tiny square of mounting tape under the spider to make it seem like he was really suspended on the web, and the jewels are there just because they are so much fun!

Mardi Gras Layout

(Lyrical Letters Cartridge)

Instructions:

I wanted this page to convey all the fun and excitement of Mardi Gras.  I chose the lilac, bumblebee, and limeade paper packs because the traditional colors of Mardi Gras are purple, yellow, and green.  After cutting my papers in various sized strips and adhering them to my page, I used the Joys of the Season cartridge to make my beads along the top.  I believe those beads were designed to be a Christmas tree garland, but they worked perfectly for Mardi Gras beads!  The title letters were cut using the Lyrical Letters cartridge and were mounted on the frame shape from the Storybook cartridge.  I used the Fleur de Lis from the Accent Essentials cartridge as my accents because the Fleur de Lis is a traditional symbol of Louisiana, and especially New Orleans.  All of my elements were mounted on foam tape for dimension, and trimmed with lilac jewels for an extra touch of bling and fun.

BEACH BABE Layout

(Life is a Beach Cartridge (29-0707) by Cricut

Instructions:

My friend’s granddaughter loves the beach and is the happiest when surrounded by family and friends all summer long.

Use Truffle as the base of the layout.

Cut background paper 11 ¼” x 9”.

Cut 2 strips of pattern paper 1 ¼” x 11 1/4”,  adhering one strip to the top and one to the bottom of the layout with machine stitching.

Cut “B” at 5 ½” and remaining letters at 3”.

Emboss the letters with D’Vine Swirl embossing folder.

Cut bathing suit border from Cinnamon Stick with fit to page function (resulting in 3 ½” cut).

Cut bathing suit layers from pink at 3 ½” and run the pieces through the Swiss Dots embossing folder.

Ink edges.

Adhere bikini border to layout, then adhere bikini pieces.  Add pop dots and jeweled brads to bikini tops.

Die cut shells at 3 ½” from Truffle.

Die cut matching layers from Cinnamon Stick.

Run each through the Distressed Stripes embossing folder.

Ink edges and adhere to the layout.

Double mat photo with pattern paper and Truffle cardstock.

Create journaling box with Truffle and pattern paper and ink edges.

Die cut “N” and “2008” from Truffle at ¾” and adhere as shown.

Mermaid Birthday Card

(Life is a Beach Cartridge)

Instructions:

I wanted to use the Mermaid, but not necessarily in a beach format so I can up with a birthday card.

Create card base or use pre-made card.

Cut brown cardstock slightly smaller than card front.

Cut pattern paper slight smaller than cardstock.  Ink edges and adhere to cardstock.

Tear a second sheet of pattern paper to fit card front, then run it through the Happy Birthday and Tiny Bubbles embossing folders.

Ink over embossing and adhere to cardstock.

Cut Mermaid at 5” from brown cardstock, pink cardstock, cream cardstock and pattern paper.

Use the pink cutout for the Mermaid.

Using the brown tail, gently fold for a little dimension and ink the scales.

Using the brown hair, run it through the D’Vine Swirl embossing folder.

Run flowers through the Tiny Bubble embossing folder.

Add a little ink to her cheeks.

Assemble card, using brads for the flower centers.

Beach Chair Card

(Life is a Beach Cartridge)

Instructions:

I wanted to create a feeling of relaxation with this card.  It was so much fun to create this card.

Using the beach chair with Square card feature at fit to page, cut four cards from Truffle, Cinnamon Stick, Swiss Dots and My Minds Eye Grow papers.

Use the Truffle card for the base card.

Cut My Minds Eye card in half, then trim it to fit the front of the base card.

Ink the edges and adhere to base.

From the Cinnamon Stick card, cut a small square border to fit around the card.

Run the border through Cuttlebug Script embossing folder.

Ink edges and adhere to the card.

Cut out the chair from the Swiss Dots card.

Run through Cuttlebug Distressed Stripes folder (be sure the stripes are vertical).

Ink all edges while gently folding the chair to create some dimension.

Add pop dots to the back of the chair and adhere to the card front.

Cut “relax” at ¾ inch and attach to one of the tags included with My Minds Eye kit.

Attach to card with a brad.

Add a piece of cream cardstock to the interior of the card.

My assignments for the month of April were to create a layout using the new Ranger Distresssing Embossing Powders and two distinct cards using new Acrylic Stamp and Store stamps from Bo~Bunny.

I love to incorporate stamping into my projects and even though I rarely heat emboss with powders, it is an enjoyable technique to implement.

“Impression” Layout

The photo I chose to work with for this page carries a lot of weight of emotion for me and I definitely wanted that all to come across. The use of the distressed embossing powders in combination with some dry embossed cardstock and textured embellishing worked perfect to show-case the focal photo.

I also high-lighted my page with chipboard title letters which I cut out using a Cricut font from the Lyrical Letters cartridge. I then handpainted the letters brown and then stamped them and heat embossed with the delicate Tattered Rose colored distressing powder. I completed my page design with a scrunched ribbon accent from Bo~Bunny double dot ribbon and a floral accent cut and dry embossed using the Cuttlebug machine.

“Family-Home-Blessing” Card

 I wanted to make this card to send for any occassion. I came across the sentiment in a “Country Home Accents catalog”… where it was used on a wall hanging. I thought it would be nice on a greeting card embellished with die-cut and stamped accents to represent a country home-spun design.

This card feature s a house accent (Cricut Lyrical Letters cart.) and girl and boy accents (Cuttlebug), all cut out of generic chipboard and stamped using Bo~Bunny ornamental images.

“Hang in There” Card

I was inspired to create this card from a Cricut “sun” die-cut that I had leftover from a previous project. One of the larger Ornamental images from the Bo~Bunny stamps had a section that reminded of sunshine rays and I thought the sun die-cut would be perfect stamped with this image. The other smaller stamped images reminded of tree branches so I incorporated a bird and branch accent onto the card as well, using the Wild Card cartridge. The card was finished of with some inking detail and a spattering of the antique brass glimmer mist spray to mimic the glistening of sunshine!

Cherry Good Wishes

Instructions:

The bright colors with black accents and the cherry images from the Lyrical Letters cartridge seemed the perfect match for this all purpose card.  It reminds me of Mary Engelbreit’s work.  The center of my card is actually a journaling block from the Splendor paper kit and I added the perforations to it using my Crop-a-Dile. The sentiment is one of the great standard sayings that can be found on the Lyrical Letters cartridge.  I layered my cherries with different patterned paper and cardstock, then finished it off with a little embroidery floss bow.  

Warm Thoughts

Instructions:

When I saw this coffee image on the Lyrical Letter cartridge, I just knew I had to use it for this assignment.  I’m a big coffee drinker and love anything related to it.  The colors in the French Flea Market kit were perfect for this card.  The brown, blue, and green are a great color combination to use.  I made the base of the card and my coffee cup image out of the same color cardstock and then layered my patterned papers so that they would draw attention to the image.  I layered the image onto coordinating paper and attached a border from the French Flea Market kit.  I added some stitching to give the card a clear edge and some visual interest too.  Of course, I had to have some ribbon on here and thought my bow would be a perfect place to add the card’s sentiment, that I hand-wrote on a tiny tag.

Cute Lil Bug

Instructions:

The inspiration for this layout came from the cute little hat that Sally is wearing.  I layered several different patterned papers for this layout’s base.  I wanted to use colors that were found in the photo.  My lady bug border and individual bugs came from the Walk in My Garden cartridge.  I cut them out from patterned paper, colored the heads, punched out the spots, and then layered black cardstock below them.  The flower circles came from the Wild Card cartridge and I added coordinating patterned to the centers.  The file folder tab was an embellishment in the Bloom paper kit.  My title work all came from the Lyrical Letters cartridge.  If you don’t have many font cartridges, then this one is a must have for you.  It has six different fonts on it!  I had a hard time just choosing the two that I used on this layout.  I ended up using the Loop Dee Loo and Italic Monoline fonts.  I think these two fonts look great together.