Cricut 360° Blog Challenge #7 ... Old West

It's Friday, and you know what that means ... another Cricut 360° Blog challenge. This week we're headed out west to find our inner cowgirl!

For my card, I chose a digital image from Bombshell Stamps. They have great vintage images and I just love this cowgirl! I used PhotoShop Elements to change the line art color from black to brown, and then used Copics to color the image.  The patterned paper is from K & Company and the cardstock is from Papertrey Ink. The frames are from the Elegant Edges cartridge ... I used my Gypsy to size the frames to fit my card base. To make the tarnished gold frame, I cut the image from a cream colored cardstock, inked it first with Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink, then with a bronze color Ink Spot and finished with a spritz of Tattered Leather Glimmer Mist. I then ran it through my crimper to give it a some dimension. My image is pop-dotted and to finish, I added a little crochet thread and a metal star I found in a old jewelry box.

I added a computer generated sentiment to the inside of the card. It's a quote from Dale Evans ... it really brings back memories of watching Roy Rogers and Dale Evans on Saturday afternoon (I'm dating myself here!) and I thought it was perfect for my vintage style card.

Now it's your turn ... mosey on over to the Cricut 360° Blog and see the great projects my design team sisters have created. I hope you're inspired to join us this week.

Thanks for stopping by ...

Cricut 360° Blog Challenge #5 ... Transportation

Happy Friday!! Are you ready for another Cricut 360° Blog challenge? This week we're celebrating vacations and all the ways people travel to get to their favorite destinations.

For my project, I made an A2 size card from navy blue cardstock. Then I used one of the built-in shapes on my Imagine, filled with a pattern from the Buccaneer cartridge, to create the mat. The life preserver and the anchor are from the Life's a Beach cartridge ... they were also filled with colors from Buccaneer and cut with my Imagine. I added lots of inking, a spritz of Pearl Glimmer Mist and some doodling.

The sentiment is computer generated. I hand cut the banner, inked the edges and then formed it around a pen to give it a little dimension. 

I hope my little card has inspired you to join our challenge this week ... I'd love to see what you design.


And remember, we always have a weekly give-away.
This week's  prize is a 6" x 6" Basic Grey paper pad.

Thanks for stopping by ...

Cricut 360 Blog Challenge #4 ... The Great Outdoors

Wow, it's hard to believe we're already up to Challenge #4 ... time is just flying by. I've really enjoyed seeing everyone's entries ... they are a great source of inspiration for me ... thanks to you all.

 Are you ready for  more? I hope you'll join us this week because we're are going "Outdoors" at the Cricut 360° Challenge Blog.

One of my favorite outdoor activities is gardening, so I made my card with that in mind. I started with this sweet little image from Mo Manning that I colored with Copics. I wanted this image to be the focal point of my card, so I kept the mats and embellishments simple. The tools were cut from the Walk in My Garden Cricut cartridge. I cut the first layers from gray cardstock, inked the edges with Tim Holtz distress ink (Black Soot) and then embossed them with UTEE ... leaving the handle portion un-embossed. I cut the second layers from brown cardstock, spritzed them with Glimmer Mist (Tattered Leather), and then embossed them with the Herringbone Cuttlebug folder. Then I finished with some twine and a sentiment stamp from Pink By Design.

Hope you like this ... can't wait to see what you design!!

And remember, we always have a weekly winner ... up for grabs this week:

Thanks for stopping by ...

Cricut 360° Blog Challenge #3 ... For Parents

Once again, I am absolutely amazed at the reponse we had for Challenge #2 ... are you ready for Challenge #3 from the Cricut 360° Blog? Well, July 24th is Parents' Day and we're making projects in honor of moms and dads everywhere.

For my project, I started with a small, inexpensive frame ... the inside dimensions are about 4" x 11". I removed the glass and covered the backing with some patterned paper from Michael's. Then, using quick dry glue, I added  a crocheted trim to the inside edge.

I then selected word art from several cartridges and used my Imagine to print and cut. All of the papers were printed from the Imagine More cartridge. For each word, I selected a pattern and solid paper. Both printed and then cut at the same size. All the edges were inked using a coordinating Stampin' Up marker. I off-set the solid paper to create a shadow effect. Each word is pop-dotted ... they kind of look like they're floating! I finished by adding self-adhesive pearls to the background and the edge of the frame.

At that point, I thought it needed a little something else, so I decided to add a flower. I used the Mother's Day Bouquet cartridge and Imagine More patterns for the flower petals and leaves. Those were inked, as well, and I added a pearl, some crinkle ribbon, crochet trim and a little copper wire to finish. I'm really happy with this little flower. If you haven't tried making flowers with the Mother's Day Bouquet cartridge ... you're missing out!!

Here are the cartridges I used for the word art:

Family - Gypsy Wanderings cut @ 2.3

Together - Graphically Speaking cut @ 1.8

Forever - Home Decor cut @ 2.4

Love - Beyond Birthdays cut @ 1.4

Oh, I almost forgot ... everything was spritzed with Pearl Glimmer Mist ... for just a little sparkle!

Now it's your turn ... for our random drawing this week we have an Echo Park 'Dots and Stripes' paper pad. Good Luck!!

Thanks for stopping by ...

Cricut 360° Blog Challenge #2 ... Thank You

 I am so excited about the response we had to our first Cricut 360° Blog challenge! It was wonderful to see everyone's entry ... you all are seriously talented. After such a great first week, it's appropriate that our next challenge is to create a 'Thank You' card. The only rules: create a circle shaped card and, of course, use your Cricut. Here's what I came up with for this week:

I got my inspiration for this card from Michele Kovack. She is one of the design team members for the Circut Circle blog and she recently did a tutorial on using your Cricut to cut felt. The trick is to stabilize your felt with Heat & Bond or Wonder Under. Then you place it, felt side down, on your mat and cut using a deep cut blade. Two more tricks: tape the edges of the felt to your mat and keep your cuts simple. The felt will shift a little, so intricate cuts won't work well.  

So, to make my card I used my Gypsy and Elegant Edges to create the base out of a cream colored cardstock. Then I cut two mats, one from a peach colored cardstock (using the shadow feature) and one from a patterned paper.  The next layer is a doily that I inked with distress ink and spritzed with Glimmer Mist. The peach is from the Preserves cartridge, cut from three colors of felt. I did some embroidery stitches to dress it up a bit and added a button to the center. My little tag is from Tag, Bag, Boxes & More and my sentiment stamps are from My Pink Stamper (You're a Peach!) and Papertrey Ink (thanks). The felt and cardstock are also from Papertrey Ink.

So, there's your challenge ... I'm really looking forward to seeing what you all create ... and remember, we'll use random.org to select our weekly winner. This week the prize is a paper pad from Echo Park. Also, you just might be chosen as one of our weekly Top 3 and be entered in our monthly giveaway. Have fun creating!!

Thanks for stopping by ...

Tic Tac Toe Challenge & Cricut 360 DT Call

This card is doing double-duty ... I'm submitting it for the Tic Tac Toe Challenge on the Cricut Circle blog and also for the Cricut 360 design team call.

For the challenge, there is a Tic Tac Toe board with a design element in each of the squares. You get to choose a row and then incorporate the three elements in your project. I chose the bottom row ... use a flower shape cut, use a Cuttlebug embossing folder, and use the Imagine for your patterned paper. 

For the design team call, the requirements are to create a layout or card using lime green and a bug. Click here to find out more about this new challenge blog.

All the images were printed and cut with my Imagine, using the Blast Off cartridge. The flower pot is from Kate's ABCs, the flowers and leaves are from Mother's Day Bouquet, the butterfly is from Ashlyn's Alphabet, and the mat is one of the stock shapes from the Imagine.

For the butterfly, I printed a pattern on cardstock for the the base and then printed a solid color on vellum for the wings. I attached just the 'body' of the vellum layer to the base to create a little dimension.

I embossed the leaves with the D'Vine Swirl Cuttlebug folder and spritzed the flowers and leaves with Pearl Glimmer mist.

I love how bright and cheerful this is ... hope you like it, too!



Thanks for stopping by ...

Kate's ABCs Flower

This is a card I made for my friend Kelly.  It's a large card, 5"x7" ... I wanted lots of room for that flower. I used the Kate's ABCs Cricut cartridge for the flower. I cut the layers at 3.5", 3", 2.5", 2" and 1.5", spritzed them all with Juneberry Wine Glimmer Mist and then scrunched them up a bit. There's a pop dot between each layer, so the flower has a lot of dimension.  I added a self-adhesive pearl and finished it with leaves made using a Martha Stewart punch. The flower is layered over a a Bo Bunny chipboard swirl, a doily (inked with with Tim Holtz Antique Linen distress ink and Stampin' Up Champagne Mist shimmer ink), and a little pearl trim. 

On the inside, I used a Verve sentiment stamp, added a Bo Bunny chipboard flower and a self-adhesive pearl, and layered this over the little extra piece of doily that I used on the front of the card.

I'm very happy with this one ... it's perfect for Kelly! Hope you like it too.

Thanks for stopping by ...