Creative Xpress Blog

I would first like to say that I am so excited about all the new Cricut Cartridges that CX is now carrying. There have been so many added to the store in the last month. This month I chose the “Mother’s Day” cart to work with and I could not be more pleased with it! This is one of the Cricut mini carts, but boy is it packed with so many awesome features. Here in this tutorial, I will be showcasing a layout I made using about 85% of the Mother’s Day cart. Stay tuned for a Tips and Technique Tutorial from me, on another awesome feature from this cart that can be made for any theme. Supplies will be listed at the end of this tutorial.

Okay lets get started…

1. Start out with white cardstock as your background. Ink with brown ink.

2. Cut brown/dogwood 12×12 patterned paper by ¼ of an inch. Ink and add to the cardstock.

3. Using the light yellowish/green (Maize) patterned paper and the cricut “Mother’s Day” Cartridge. Cut out “Doily3” (The circle shaped doily) at 10 ¼ inches. Punch out all of the die cut center. Ink around edges and add it to the center of the layout.

4. Next, cut the pink flower (Maple sugar) patterned paper to 11×14. Ink and add to the layout.

5. Cut a strip (12 x ¾ ) of the “Cordovan” striped patterned paper out. Ink and add to the layout.

6. Using the bright pink patterned paper (Brandied melon) and the Mother’s Day cart, cut out the border die at 1 ½ inches. Ink and than back it with white cardstock, so you can see the holes show through white. Add to the layout.

7. Cut the brown/ Dogwood patterned paper (use the scrap piece you got from cutting the brown background piece) to 7 ½ inches. Add to your layout, over pink border.

8. Mat the photo with white cardstock. Ink and add it to the layout.

9. Next it’s time to cut out the beautiful flowers. Using the Sunshine/yellow patterned paper from the basic grey “Lemonade” collection (you can use any yellow solid patterned paper you have for this part if you don’t have the BG paper). Cut “flower4” die cut (double flower) to 5 inches. Cut two of them out. Ink both sides. Add adhesive and popdots than glue down to the layout on the top and bottom.

10. Cut single flower out (flower3) at 4 ½ inches using the same yellow patterned paper. Ink , add adhesive and pop dots then glue down.

11. Using the Plum wine and Woodrose patterned papers, Cut two (flower4) dies at 5 inches using the Woodrose (light pink patterned paper) and 1 flower3 at 4 ½ also using the Woodrose paper. Next cut two (flower4) dies using the Plum wine (dark pink patterned paper). Handcut them from the stems. Ink and add them over the yellow flowers on the layout.

12. Cut out 5 oval shadows at ¾ of an inch from the “Brandied Melon” patterned paper (bright pink). Ink and add to the centers of the flowers. Next, add the tiny buttons and chipboard circles to the centers of the flowers.

13. Using the label sticker, add it over the “Brandied Melon” patterned paper and cut out the shape of the label so the pink patterned paper acts as a mat. Ink and add to the layout.

14. Add the “Woolies” felt flower with leaves and stem over lapping the label.

15. Cut out the title “Mother” out of white cardstock using the (3DBnrLR1) die and the (3DBnrLR2) die at 1 ½ inches. Ink and add to the label on your layout.

16. Last, Add the corner chipboard piece on the upper right corner of the picture. Next add the circle sticker. Over that add the tiny button and you’re all done.

Supply List for layout-

03-3300   Bazzill white trio pack
03-1558    Basic Grey Indian Summer collection pack
03-1561    Basic Grey Indian Summer chipboard stickers
03-1562    Basic Grey Indian Summer Woolies
03-1565    Basic Grey Indian Summer Buttons
2000101   Cricut Mothers Day 2010 Cartridges
29-0300    Cricut Expression Machine
29-0386    Cricut 12×12 cutting mats
03-3956    We are memory keepers purple tab adhesive
03-4456    Term o web tape runner
03-4430    Chocolate and Blueberries Fluid Chalk Ink pads

 Thank you so much for looking!

 Nikki Hobbs

Tags: Basic Grey, Cricut, January assignment, Layout idea, New Mother's Day Cart

I could not get enough of the new Mother’s Day cartridge so I decided to do my Tips and Technique tutorial using it, to show you all one of the awesome features on it. This feature is the Coupon die cut book. This cart comes with a “complete” Coupon book that you can cut out and customize to your liking. You can chose just about any theme for it too. It is super easy to make and will make a great gift for a loved one, family member or friend.

1. Using the “Mother’s Day” cartridge and the “Russet” patterned paper, cut out the coupon book cover at 3 inches.
2. I flipped the “Russet” patterned paper over so that the paper was backside up on the cutting mat. This way when I cut the back of the coupon book, the holes on the book line up again. Cut the “Cbback” at 3 inches.
3. Next using white cardstock cut another “Cbback” at 3 inches. Ink the backside of it. This piece will be glued to the back of the cover so the cover print will be white (white writing).
4. Using the “squash” patterned paper cut two strips at 5x ¼. Ink and add to the top and bottom of the Coupon book cover.
5. Add the woolies felt sticker flower. Now add the stickers, ink the “Mom’s” Title. Using the flower3 button add the yellow (Sunshine) and woodrose patterned paper. Ink and add the flower to cover.
6. Next using the autumn glaze patterned paper and the “Cbpage” button cut out four at 3 inches. Ink each page.
7. Using white cardstock and the “CbpgLAYR” button, cut out four of them at 3 inches. Ink them. Add them t the center of each page.
8. Using white cardstock, cut out another “cbback” at 3 inches. Ink the frontside of it. Add this to the front of the back cover.
9. Next make out what you want each coupon to say. I printed each coupon phrase out and backed them with patterned paper. I used leftover Autumn Glaze. Fonts I used are Times new roman (at size 16) and English (at size 36). Both can be found on the web for free.
10. Next cut out four “flower4” dies at 1 ¾ of an inch, out of the yellow (sunshine) patterned paper. Ink and add to each page. Now cut four “flower4” dies at 1 ¾ from the plum wine patterned paper. Hand cut the flowers out, ink then glue to the flowers on the coupon pages.
11. Add the chipboard stickers to each page.
12. Last, add brads to holes to hold the book together.

Supplies used-

03-3300   Bazzill white trio pack
03-1558    Basic Grey Indian Summer collection pack
03-1561    Basic Grey Indian Summer chipboard stickers
03-1562    Basic Grey Indian Summer Woolies
03-1565    Basic Grey Indian Summer Buttons
2000101   Cricut Mothers Day 2010 Cartridges
29-0300    Cricut Expression Machine
29-0386    Cricut 12×12 cutting mats
03-3956    We are memory keepers purple tab adhesive
03-4456    Term o web tape runner
03-4430    Chocolate and Blueberries Fluid Chalk Ink pads

That’s it, an easy fun gift that you can make with this new Cartridge. If any of you make one of these, please share a link with us in the comments to your coupon book. We would love to see!

Nikki Hobbs

Tags: January Tip/Tech from Nikki

I love, love, love…. did I say love BLING!!!

Anything that sparkles I am a devoted fan.  This is one of the reasons why Stickles and Glimmer Mist make me so giddy and is a must have in my collection.  But along with this is my blow dryer.  Yes a little cheap hair blow dryer.  Stickles and Glimmer Mist can take a long time to dry.  But what I do is set my blow dryer on cool.  I hold my Stickled artwork down with a pen (not retracted of course) and dry away.  This cuts the drying time drastically down.  I do not use a heat gun because the heat is too hot and can burn or warp my paper.

On my last order from CX I got this adorable embossing folder. With two little boys I’m always in need of a new “boyish” embellishment.

I immediately thought of metal when I opened this embossing folder. I was wondering where I could get a thin piece of metal to try this out with. When I opened my can of Cherry Pepsi at lunch I had my answer!

I carefully cut my can apart so I had a plain piece of metal. BE CAREFUL the edges are VERY sharp. I would recommend a pair of leather gloves for this part!

Then I cut a template out of cardstock and traced around it with a sharpie. Then I cut it out with at pair of scissors. Don’t use your nice sharp scrappy scissors, it will make them dull. At this point you should have a nice square piece of metal.

Now all you have to do it run it through your Cuttlebug like it was a normal

piece of paper (using the A plate and two A plates).

I can’t wait to use this technique again…it’s so cute and SO cheap!!!

Creating Your Own Lace Cardstock

Do you love to use lace cardstock as much as I do? It’s so pretty to work with, and can be layered on top of cardstock or cut apart and used to enhance any scrapbook page. About the only “negatives” to using lace cardstock is that it can be a bit costly if you love to use (and collect!) it like I do, depending on the brand and intricacy of the design; also, you may not always find the specific color or texture you wish to use on your scrapbook page.

While working with the Mother’s Day 2010 Limited Edition Cricut Cartridge, I was excited to find several images that, when enlarged and cut at between ten and twelve inches, become a wonderful alternative to buying sheet after sheet of the “brand” lace cardstock – AND without the options provided by your Cricut Expression of being able to enlarge and/or minimize the size of the design, and being able to use any color and/or texture cardstock in your stash!

The two images I chose to share with you from the Mother’s Day 2010 Limited Edition Cricut Cartridge are the Doily 2 and Doily 1 images. I cut the Doily 2 image at  10” using red Bazzill Bling cardstock and the Doily 1 image at 11” using a lighter blue Bazzill Bling cardstock.

I was also struck by how especially lovely the Doily 1 image would look on your dining room table using white cardstock and serving as a possible centerpiece for a lovely bud vase with a single flower in it. And  if it gets ripped or torn, you can cut a new one in a matter of minutes! Or for added longevity, cut the image out on fabric!

I hope you enjoyed this tips article!

AnnaMarie Mondro

My assignment this month was to utilize the Designer Greetings cartridge and can I say that I absolutely love this cartridge!!!  I can’t believe the amount of images this cartridge contains.  It is definitely a must have in my opinion!!

There are so many options to creating with this cartridge and my mind was swirling with ideas once I started working with it.  I thought I would do a year in review layout to highlight specific events that happened in 2009, but when I saw the Kaiser wood album, I knew I had to create a year in review  album instead.

I first painted the edges of the Kaiser album to give it a nice finished look.

I then traced each interior page onto brown Bazzill cardstock as I wanted to use brown as the base of each page.  Then I traced the exterior pages onto BoBunny Double Dot Clover and Chocolate Dot.  All the pattern papers used in this album are from the Bo Bunny Beautiful Life collection, which is a gorgeous double sided collection which includes a sheet of printed journaling blocks, words, brackets, etc. that can be cut out and used in conjuction with these papers.  They are absolutely gorgeous.

COVER:

Cut “R” at 9 inches from cardstock in shadow feature, then again from pattern paper in normal font

Cut “EMEMBER”  and “2009″ at 1 ½ inches from cardstock in shadow feature, then again from pattern paper in normal font.   Carefully place the letters so they curve evenly around the top of the letter “R”.  Place the date along the right hand side of the album.

The word blocks in this collection are gorgeous, so I cut and matted one of the word blocks, then adhere it in the lower right corner, overlapping the “R”.

Since JANUARY is a busy hockey month, I wanted to reflect on my son’s playing.  I cut January from the Month key at 2 inches in both shadow and normal font.  I tore a piece of pattern paper for the right edge and  used a journaling block from this collection and stitched it to my base with the photo.

MARCH is the start of the next few months my son would love to forget!  During a school wrestling practice, someone fell on him and broke his leg, so he was relegated to a wheelchair for 8 weeks with a full length cast.  

March was cut with the Month key + the Rounded foundation key (which actually created an oval date).  To back this, I used the Calendar key + the Rounded foundation key and simply cut off the top edge.  Winter break was cut at 2″ and adhered to the journaling block.

I cut a piece of cardstock 4 3/4 x 5 1/4 to add as an extra page for the months of April and May.  I lined up the page between the middle two rings for extra stability.

APRIL was cut from the Month key + Script font in both shadow and normal font.  I added a bracket journaling card from the cut out sheet to mirror the look of the album.

MAY was added to the reverse of April and was cut from the Month key + script function key at 1 1/4 inches.  Wedding was cut from Events button + #9  at 1 1/4 inches.  

JUNE was individually cut at 1 1/2 inches in shadow feature.  The diplomas were cut at 2 inches from the Doodlecharms cartridge in black and white.   A torn piece of pattern paper was placed under the photo.  A second sheet of pattern paper was sewed to the left hand side of the page.

JULY was cut using the Month key at 2 inches in both shadow and normal fonts, then placed above the photo to seperate the two months.

To create an additional page for this album, I added another piece of cardstock for the months of October and November.  I added brackets to both sides to mirror the look of the album, cutting around them to achieve my look.

OCTOBER was cut from Script font in shadow and normal at 1 1/4 inches.    A foundation circle was cut to mirror the reverse side (and cover the brads).  GAME was cut at 1 1/2 inches from shift + #20 + Events key.

NOVEMBER  was cut individually at 1″.  I added a circle phrase from the cut out sheet and added my letters on it, adhering it to the page with brads (which were covered by a circle on the opposite side as noted above).  A journaling tag was added behind one photo with ribbon

DECEMBER  was cut at 2″ from the Month key in both shadow and normal font.  The Christmas trees were cut at 6 inches from shift + December + shadow and then run through the Cuttlebug D’Vine Swirls embossing folder which I lightly inked.  A star was cut from shift + December key + foundation key at 1 1/2 inches then added with pop dots.  A Bo Bunny brad was added to the tree for a little dimension.   Another tag from the cut out sheet was punched and added with a brad over the photo and journaling block.

Once all the pages are adhered, I used the Basic Grey filing tools to sand down the edges to give the album a clean look.  Rings were then added to hold all pages together.

 The beauty of this cartridge is that you have the ability to use pre set words (months, days, etc.) or cut individual letters to achieve so many different looks.

Supplies:

Cricut Expression

Cricut Designer Greetings Cartridge, Sports Mania Cartridge, Doodlecharms Cartridge

Kaiser Wood Album

Bazzill Cardstock

Bo Bunny Beautiful Life pattern paper

Bo BunnyDouble Dot cardstock

Bo Bunny Ribbon, Brads

Basic Grey filing tools

Machine stitching

Tags: Add new tag, Bazzill, BoBunny, Cuttlebug, Designer Greetings, kaiser

by Wendy Price

When I get a new Cricut cartridge, I love to flip through the books admiring all the great cuts and dreaming up the projects I’m going to create with them. Then I love to take a second look and find unique ways I can use some of the cuts. For example, did you know there are flowers on the Batman The Bold and the Brave Cricut Cartridge? Go ahead…I’ll wait while you go check.

Did you find them? Don’t those astericks <Batman6>font on page36 make great flowers! And how about the blade images <Binoc>Font on page 74?

Originally this Joker image was supposed to be holding a large gun, but I didn’t really think that would be appropiate on a kids birthday card. Instead I  trimmed the black cardstock close to the hand and found that it looks like a fist for holding something. Don’t be afraid to think outside the box and discover all types of great uses for those cut images!

by Wendy Price

This month I had the pleasure of working with Batman: The Brave and the Bold Cricut Cartridge. This cartridge is loaded with lots of fun images to cut for any superhero fan. From bobble head superheros to party decorations, this cartridge has it all.

title: the adventures of BATBOY

size: 12 x 12 inches

supplies used: Batman: The Bold and the Brave Cricut Cartridge, Cricut Rainbow Cardstock, Bazzill Raven Cardstock,   Bazzill True Blue

To help give the layout more of a comic book appearance, I edited my photos in photoshop.  After making a copy of each  photo,  I used the erase tool and was able to erase out the background in the photo to leave a white background. Zoom in and change the size of the erase tool to get in close around the subject.

Using the Gypsy, I welded the shadow for the title. The title was cut at .75 inches for “the adventures of” and 1.5 inches for “BATBOY”.

The bricks <3DJoker>Font create a great subtle background for the Batman images. I cut the bricks at a height of 5 inches. I individually glued the bricks on, staggering them to create a broken brick wall appearance.

The Batman images <Batman4> and <Batman7> were cut at a height of 5 inches. I found tiny detail cuts such as the eyes and accessories difficult to work with if I went too much smaller than 5 inches height.

Tags: Cricut

Making an envelope that fits your card perfectly can be a bit tricky. I know I’ve wasted many sheets of paper trying to get the fit just right.  My tip is to make the envelope first, then cut your card to fit inside.  It’s much easier to adjust the card size by a few tenths of an inch to ensure a good fit, than to guess the wrong envelope size  and start all over.

Cricut Sentimentals Shape and Card Cartridge: Stacy Armstrong

 For this months Design Team project, I created a fun butterfly card using the new Sentimental Shape and Card Cartridge.  The cartridge is full “noteworthy” sentiments, phrases, flourishes and so much more.  It is a true asset to the card makers Cricut library.

Time: 30 min

Supply List: 

Sentimentals Cartridge

Card Stock by Basic Grey

Nutmeg and Curry Bling It Rhinestone Dots by Basic Grey

DCWV 5.5×5.5  White Card Pack

Art Glitter Glue

Instructions:

1. Cut the shapes needed with Cricut machine and Sentimentals Cartridge. Start by cutting the green frame.  I used the Cricut Design Studio to make my green frame 5 x 5 inches.  Next cut two solid butterflies at 1.7 inches.  (Be aware that the right antenna at this size does not cut well.)  and one at 2.7 inches.  Now cut the overlay in a different color using the same settings.
2. Adhere the butterfly parts together and adhere the frame to the card.

3. Add the Basic Grey Bling to the butterflies.

4. Adhere the butterflies to each side of the card.

It’s that simple to create a beautiful card that any friend would love to receive.

Tags: Sentimentals, Stacy Armstrong