Speaking of Fall Cricut Cartridge

I was overly excited this month to be working on my assignments because I was lucky to be creative with Cricut’s “Speaking of Fall” educational Classmate cartridge. I am an absolute Autumn fanatic who gets very anxious for Fall decorating, so I was more than anxious to put this cart to work, or should I say play?! I can see this cart being used in a variety of ways, but I chose to use it in designing an embellished title for a Fall themed scrapbook page, and for creating a cute festive garland to dress up a fireplace mantel.

Pumpkin Posing Layout

On this page, I first faux-stitched and matted my orange pattern before adhering 2 faux-stitched strips of plain red-orange (Ambrosia) Basic Grey cardstock onto the page horizontally. I used the top strip as a place-marker for aligning my title work, which were pieced together leaf and pumpkin letters using the layers and layers shadow creative features for the “Speaking of Fall” alphabet. Before piecing these all together and adding dimension with foam tape, I gave all the pieces a color boost with Glimmer Mist sprays.

I added my photos to the page and then completed the layout with a hand written journaling box, Basic Grey cardstock stickers and two pumpkin accents which were also cut using the SOF cart. The pumpkins were finished off by creating texture to them with the Houndstooth A2 Cuttlebug folder.

Happy Fall Autumn Garland

This garland was so fun to design and put together and it’s a project that can be easily created for most any holiday using a variety of other seasonal cartridges available. The “Speaking of Fall” cart has a creative feature which allows you to cut out leaf tag shapes with the letters of the alphabet already on them, so these garland shapes can be made in a snap! I cut out enough leaf shapes to spell out my garland sentiment of “Happy Fall” and these were all cut out at 3 ½ “ using cardstock colors of brown, yellow and orange. These were then all embossed alternating with two different textures… the “Pumpkin Harvest” and the “Autumn Type” A2 Cuttlebug folders. To bring attention to the texture details, I misted each leaf with Glimmer Mists. A solid leaf shape was also cut out to back up each of the lettered laef shapes.
 

I also created pumpkin shapes to anchor the garland on both eands and in the middle between the words Happy and Fall. These end pumpkins were cut to size at 5 ½ “ and the center pumpkin at 3 ½” and all were embossed with the “Distressed Stripes” A2 folder. I also created more color and shimmer to them with Glimmer Mists and wrapped natural and green raffia around the stems for embellishment. A piece of orange/rust rope twine was used to string the shapes of the garland. Spiral clips were used to attach and slide the pieces onto the rope twine. Last, sections of Double-Dot ribbon were secured onto the rope to create the stations between the pumpkins and letter leaves.

Happily Ever After Altered Frames

Need to make cute wall decor for your pincess’ room? Your little girl is sure to love this project. These frames are fun and easy to make with the Happily Ever After Cricut Cartridge and supplies from the Creative Xpress store.  The Doodlebug paper packs are full of rich vibrant color and texture which makes them perfect for any princess room.  I should warn you…this Cricut cartridge is so much fun, you won’t want to stop with just one frame.  You’ll want to make all 4…..and them some!

Instructions for making one Disney Princess Portrait Frame:

Prepare Frame:

First, paint sides of frame using a foam brush and  Kaiser white paint (03-4143).  You many need to apply 2 coats.

Next,  gather the supplies you will need to cover frame:  Richard wood frame (13-3952), Modge Podge (01-2756), a little bit of water to thin modge podge, foam paint brush, and a  craft knife (03-3472).

In a small cup thin modge podge with a little bit of water. Generously brush mixture over wood fr ame.  Place pattern paper over top of frame.  TIP: Use paper boner or brayer to smooth out any wrinkles or bumps.  When paper is dry trim  with craft knife (03-3472) and cut an “X” through the 6×6 opening.  Fold paper back, adhere with modge podge mixture and trim.

Use in from  Fiesta Clearsnap inks on edges and in corners to give complete color coverage.

Princess:

Choose the princess you desire to make for the frame.  Cut at 5.5 inches.  Use the Design studio to lay out the layered pieces on your Cricut mat or use the Mix and Match feature on your expression.   Emboss and chalk each layer as desired.   Starting with a black background piece, adhere all the layers together.  Past on 6×6 sheet of white cardstock.  Adhere white cardstock to wood 6×6  backing from frame.
Now, hang it on the wall and watch your little princess giggle and smile with delight at her new princess portrait!

Speaking of School Album

I love school photos. They seem to make my kid look smart and what Mom doesn’t love that! I created this mini album because it was so versatile and matched so many of my school photos.

I also thought it would be fun to create one for his teachers, for either Christmas or end of the year gifts.Letters from this cartridge could be used to spell the teacher’s name or to designate a study area in my son’s room (with vinyl on the wall!). I had a lot of fun using the cartridge, creating this fun little album.

To make the album:
Cut 2 strips of paper, measuring 4×12. Fold each piece of paper in thirds. Adhere them together by cutting a strip of 4×2 white cardstock, fold it in half and adhere each side one of the paper strips. 
To make the pockets, cut (6) 4×4 pieces of white paper and place behind each “page”.  Sew around 3 edges, leaving the top side open. If you do not want to sew, you can adhere 3 edges down, leaving the top side open as well. This will create a pocket page. You should not have a 6 page pocketed album.

Cut the following letters at 4″:
S from blue patterned
C from red patternd
H from yellow
O from red patternd
O from red patterned
L from yellow

and then cut the shadow at 4″:
S from red patterned
C from blue paterned
O from blue patterned
O from blue patterned

Adhere the letter with it’s corresponding shadow and adhere the letters to a page of the mini album, so you spell the word “school”.

Cut 6 tags at 6.5″:
3 yellow tags: pencil, apple and plain
3 red patterned tags: child, pencil and scissors

Adhere small photos to the tags. Tie a ribbon through the hole in the top of the tag and slip one tag in each pocket.

Cut a 1″x3″ piece of yellow cardstock. Adhere to the upper left of album. Place the blue sticker letters “happy” from the basic grey paper kit.
Cut a 1″x2″ strip of blue patterned paper and adhere to the middle right page. Place the blue sticker letters “days” from the basic grey paper kit.
Cut a 1″x1″ piece of blue patterned paper and adhere to the lower right page. Place the blue sticker letters “09″ from the basic grey paper kit.
Use the yellow apple and yellow star from the inside of the tags as embelishment. Place the yellow apple on the letter “c” and place the yellow star on the second “o”. Adhere as shown.

50 States Card Keeper

Instructions:

Don’t shoot me but there are only 5 more months until Christmas and what better time is there than now to get started on your home made gifts! This card keeper  is not only elegant but surprisingly easy to mass produce using your Cricut electronic cutter.

My assignment this month was to use one of the Cricut Educational cartridges and I knew that I really wanted to work with the 50 states cartridge  as it includes not only the states but their state birds and flowers as well.( With a last name like Peacock- I am all about those birds!)

These card keeper sets are very easy to whip up using coordinated patterned paper packs like these form Kaiser Craft ( but the CX store also carries many other sets that would work equally well to suit different style tastes such as Basic Grey or My Minds Eye).

To make the card keeper, fold a sheet of 8 ½ x 11 inch white card stock in half  on the longer side ( at 5 ½) , cut a small “V” shaped cut out at the base of the long side, and then fold up approx. 2 inches. Cover the keeper with the patterned papers, sponge black ink onto the edges. I cut and layered one of the state flowers on to the front for an embellishment. Punch a hole in the 2 covers and set eyelets using the Cropodile. Close with a piece of ribbon.

The cards are A2 sized white card stock dressed with pieces of the patterned paper, embellished with die cuts of the birds all done in black. Some have embellishments with ribbons or coordinating jewels.The inner label piece was cut with Story book and the sentiments are from Wild Card.

Stamp the corners of the envelopes with corner flourishes, bundle with the completed cards into the card keeper and tie the bow on the side for a lovely home -made gift.

Choo Choo Layout

Directions or Comments:

There are so many fun functions on the Learning Curve cartridge, but the train function is my favorite.  I have a family full of train buffs, so this function will be used again and again.  I cut my train at 1 ½” and mounted it on foam tape.  The railroad crossing sign is from the My World cartridge and is set at 4  3/8”.  The photo turns are from the Tags, bags, and boxes cartridge set at 1 ¼”.  I made the strip of striped paper that is rounded on both ends by using the Plantin Schoolbook cartridge.  I used a rectangle shape, stretched it to the desired length, then welded a circle on both ends using Design Studio.

If you don’t think you would use the train feature on this cartridge, think again.  You don’t have to have train pictures to use this.  You can use it for titles on layouts, or sentiments on cards such as “On the right track”,  “I think I can, I think I can”,  or “Little Caboose”.  It would even make a great wall hanging to teach children their A B C’s.

Triple Word Score Card

Directions or Comments:

The tile function on the Learning Curve cartridge is such a fun one to use!  You can make your own Scrabble type puzzles for just about any occasion.  Some examples would be “Christmas – Season – Joy”, “Birthday – Party – Laughs”, or “Halloween – Ghosts – Spooky”.  I created this tag card by cutting my tiles and letters set at ½”.  I mounted the tiles onto black cardstock for some contrast, then popped them with foam tape for dimension.  The paper from the Marrakech collection was perfect for a game board background.  I made the tag using the Tags, Bags, Boxes cartridge and cut it at 5 ½”.  The tile function is not only perfect for cards, but it would make a fun title on a scrapbook page.

Something’s Missing Card

Directions or Comments:

I really wanted to showcase the puzzle function on the Learning Curve cartridge, so I came up with a way to use every letter of the alphabet.  I cut my puzzle pieces at ¾” and then went around the edge with the green pen to really define the edge of the pieces.  I arranged them in a heart shaped pattern and then mounted them with foam tape onto the heart that I cut from the Plantin Schoolbook cartridge set at 4  7/8”.  The white scroll and the scalloped red square were both cut from the Storybook cartridge.  The puzzle function on the Learning Curve cartridge is great for cards and layouts, but it would also make great children’s projects.

Road Trip Niagra

Instructions:

We just got back from visiting Niagara Falls in Canada and I couldn’t wait to scrap these photos.  The Cricut Going Places cartridge has some wonderful things to use on vacation pages.  I used the large arrow frame, the road trip title, and the compass on this page.  Using the Cricut pens to make the compass was a whole new thing for me to try and I was so impressed.  It took me only a few tries to get the hang of it.  A couple of tips if you haven’t ever used the pens before:  load the pen first and draw your design, back the paper out next  BUT don’t remove it, then go ahead change back to the blade and make your cuts.  I started this layout by using a blue-green patterned paper for my base and then added a tan pattern to my center.  I found the tan kept my photos from fading into the background.  I stitched around the tan paper just because I like having a distinct edge on my layouts.  I added a few strips of striped paper across the center and layered my photos and accents over the top.  I either inked or sanded all of the edges for each accent on this page.  A few embellishments such as the ribbon and a brad in the center of the compass helped create a little dimension on this page.  My title and year were cut using the Stone Script cartridge and my journaling was done with a Dymo Label Maker. 

Don’t Worry Card

Instructions:

The Going Places cartridge has so many wonderful camping images that I knew I wanted to use one for this card.  I choose the camper and made three different cuts with it: orange, white, and black. I added the people in the windows by using the little man and woman symbols that can also be found on the Going Places cartridge.  I added a little foam square behind the door of the camper so that it would pop out just a bit.  I placed brads in the centers of the tires for an extra detail.  I found a perfect quote online and printed it on my blue patterned paper.  I added some green patterned paper to represent the ground and then I “stitched” around this without using thread in my sewing machine.  The flower behind the camper came with the Free Bird paper pack and I sanded around the edges of it for a little definition.  The camper was layered on top with foam squares. I finished it off with a little bit of ribbon…it just wouldn’t feel right to me without some ribbon somewhere!

Congrats New Driver Card

Instructions:

With a soon to be driver in the house, I thought this would be an excellent and quick idea for a card.  An easy one to stick a gas card inside on the day the license is earned.  The keys were made using the Cricut pens and Going Places cartridge.  I wanted them to have a distressed look so I experimented with my glimmer mists.  I did learn that it works better to use the mists BEFORE you use the Cricut pens.  The images show up much better and be sure to let your paper dry before putting it in the Cricut machine.  I wanted this to be a masculine card so the brown, gray, and black patterned paper was a great choice from the Kaiser Grunge Paper assortment.  I used my notch & die tool to add an interesting edge to the bottom of the card and I inked and distressed every edge I could.  I cut “Congrats” with the Wild Card cartridge and added a bow to it for just a hint of contrasting color.