Jinger Showed My Layouts on HSN!

Well, I didn't win the contest, but Jinger showed my layouts during the first airing on HSN. Check out this video ... my layouts are the 4th and 6th shown. Provo Craft received almost 500 entries. They were so impressed with the response they added five more categories. They gave away 10 new Expression 2 machines. How cool is that? Thanks to Provo Craft for sponsoring such a fun contest and congratulations to all those who won ... your layouts were fabulous!!

A Happy 5th Birthday to Cricut

Provo Craft is having a layout challenge to go along with the launch of their new Expression 2. The launch is scheduled for  April 26th on HSN. They're giving away 5 of the new machines and also showcasing some of the entires. The challenge was to create a 12"x12" layout with a birthday theme, and you could enter up to three layouts. I decided to give it a try ... here are my two entries:

For this one, I used my Imagine and the Elise cartridge to print the patterned paper and the cream colored paper for the squares. I embossed cream colored squares with the Number Collage Cuttlebug folder. The lettering is from the Lyrical Letters Cricut cartridge ... sized and welded with my Gypsy. The cupcake is from the Simply Charmed Cricut cartridge. I crimped the wrapper and pop dotted the layers.

And for this one, I used Gypsy Wanderings for the 'Happy Birthday' and Plantin Schoolbook for the '5'. The 'th' are stickers from American Crafts and all the patterned papers are from Stampin' Up. It's hard to see in the pictures, but there's lots of stitching and I used a Martha Stewart border punch on the mats. I finished with some ribbon and lots of buttons.

I've only done a few layouts and wasn't really sure what I was doing, but for the most part, I'm happy with the way these turned out. I have little expectation of winning, but I really did enjoy making these ... and who knows, maybe I'll get to catch a glimpse of one of them on HSN.

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Simply Charmed ... It's Your Birthday!

I recently sold some of my cards ... yah for me! A friend asked if I would make a couple of birthday cards for her to give to her mother and mother-in-law. I made six, to give her a choice, and she pick three ... this was one of them.

I used patterned paper from Echo Park, cardstock from Stampin' Up, and a flower from the Simply Charmed Cricut cartridge. I dressed the flower up a bit with some doodling and I used pop dots between each layer. The sentiment is a stamp from Verve Stamps. I stamped it using Versamark ink and then embossed it with white embossing powder. To finish, I added a little blue ribbon. Simply and fun!

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Tulips ... It Must Be Spring!

Tulips are one of my favorite flowers and these cuties are from the Create a Critter Cricut cartridge. I used my Imagine to flood fill them with patterns from the Blossom cartridge. I inked the edges, added glitter and pop dotted the flowers. The next layer is a paper doily that I inked with Antique Linen and Peeled Paint Distress ink and some Stampin' Up Shimmer ink. The scalloped layer is from the Paper Lace Cricut cartridge. I flood filled this with a pale yellow to match the tulips and then inked those edges, too. Finished it with a satin ribbon and a little pearl trim.

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A Card for Sweet Grayson

This is one of my all time favorites ... I'm so pleased with how this turned out. A sweet little card for a sweet little baby boy on his Baptism day.

I used cardstock from PaperTrey Ink to make the 5.25" square card base. The patterned paper is from Echo Park and is a very pretty, pale seafoam green ... that layer is 5" square. The white layer is 4.75" square and I embossed that with my Cuttlebug and the Polka Dots folder (it's one of the larger 5"x7" folders). I also rubbed a little soft green chalk over the embossing ... it's very subtle, so it's hard to see in the photos. The cross is from the Wedding Solutions Circut cartridge, cut at 4.5". I cut base layer from the patterned paper using the blackout feature. The top layer was cut from a white textured Bazzill paper.

                                      

The little lamb is from the Paper Doll Dress Up Circut cartridge. It was cut three times at 3". The first layer was cut from a medium shade of gray cardstock. The other two layers were cut from white cardstock. For the white layers, I used the hide contour feature on my Gypsy to eliminate the cut for the ear. On one of the white layers, I trimmed off the face, tail and hooves. On the other white layer, I trimmed off everything, leaving just the body. I ran this layer through my Xyron and then covered it with white flocking powder. To finish him, I used a black gel pen to color his eye.

The butterfly is from the Create a Critter Cricut cartridge, cut a .75". I cut two of the base layers from the medium gray cardstock, then one 'layer 1' from a light yellow cardstock. The 'layer 2' was cut from a seafoam green cardstock. Then I cut two more of the 'layer 1s' (one flipped) from the green cardstock ... I adhered the flipped one on the back of the top butterfly and the other one the top of the bottom butterfly. When I put the two butterflies together, I only adhered the bodies. This made a cute little 3D butterfly, and really, it's much easier to make than it sounds!

Now here's a look at the inside ... the sentiment is computer generated. I layered this over more of the patterned paper and added a few self-adhesive pearls. I really enjoyed making this ... hope you like it too!!

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A Belated Birthday Card

Here's another quick card I made using my Imagine. All of the papers and images are from the Imagine More Circut cartridge. I cut everything using the layers feature and I cut an extra flower so I could pop it up. The card base was made with cardstock from PaperTrey Ink and I added a few buttons, some twine and a sentiment from Verve Stamps. I'm still amazed at how quickly you can create a card with the Imagine!!

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My First Imagine Card

Okay, I caved and bought the Imagine during the sale at Cricut.com ... wow, what took me so long!? I am so going to enjoy this machine.

This is my first Imagine project. After I set up the machine, and did the calibration and the update, I wanted to see how it would work with the original Cricut cartridges. I grabbed the cartridge that I had sitting on the counter and picked an image ... this is what I came up with. This image is from the Country Life cartridge and the patterns are from the Imagine More cartridge. I used a Peachy Keen stamp to add the smiley face on the sun.  The background paper and the cardstock for the card base were printed using the Hopscotch cartridge. (It's hard to tell from the picture, but the color of the card base matches the color of the clouds.) To finish,  I added the green cardstock, punched with a Martha Stewart border punch, a double-sided ribbon and a little bling. Quick, easy and fun.

I spent an afternoon playing with my Imagine and made several cards. I'll post the others over the next few days.

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