Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Christmas Card Using Cricut Paper Pups


For this card, I chose a standard A2 size using a 5.5" by 8.5" of plain white card stock for the base and a green matte cut at 5.25" by 4". I used the first image in the Cricut Paper Pups cartridge and cut it out at 3" once in a light brown using the blackout feature and once more in black using the regular cut. I also cut it out a third time in white using the shift image in blackout and cut off the "Hi" sentiment. I figured out an easy way to properly position the eyes. I use the piece of the dog's face (the negative space) and fit it back into place. Using my pointed Zig two-way glue pen, I put two dots of glue through the holes where the eyes should be using the piece as a stencil, removed the piece and stuck the eyes on where the glue remained. I don't know why I've never thought of that before. (Insert forehead slap here.) I used some brown chalk to give some depth. I also used the Christmas hat from a different cut on the same cartridge and used a frame as well for the sentiment, which is from a Stampin' Up! set. I added a piece of ribbon and some dimensional adhesive and voila!



Thursday, November 1, 2012

Stampin' Up! Storytime Suite - Giveaway

If you are as passionate about paper crafts as I am, you most certainly have heard of Stampin' Up! Recently, I received samples of their Storytime Suite for review on my alternate blog torontoteachermom.com. They have also offered up a Storytime Suite prize pack valued at $70 to give away to one of my Canadian readers. I would be happy to have you stop by and enter for a chance to win!
With Stampin' Up! Storytime products, teachers can easily enliven any school supplies and create do-it-yourself flash-cards or cute notebook labels. But they are also great for parents as well. The stamps and designer papers are perfect for writing thoughtful notes to teachers and classmates, and they make it super easy to add a personal touch to any project. The Storytime Suite is available on stampinup.ca, along with a myriad of other fabulous craft supplies.
I have included a couple of photos of greeting cards I made using the Stampin' Up! Storytime Suite. If you like what you see, I invite you to see some more examples of my work as featured on Listen to Lena.

Sunday, September 30, 2012

Personalized 1st Birthday Card, Safari Theme

 

At the request of a co-worker, I created a safari-themed birthday card for a little boy who was turning one. I wasn't quite sure of the layout but I definitely knew that I wanted to use the Cricut Create-A-Critter cartridge since you really can't go wrong with any of those critters. I decided to do a Google image search for inspiration and found this cute safari invitation on Handmade by Odette as well as this safari-themed card on Wickedly Wonderful. Aren't they adorable? Anywho, this is my take with a personalized twist. The palm tree, sun, monkey and giraffe are from the Cricut Create-a-Critter cartridge. The grass cuts are both from the Cricut Paper Doll Dressup cartridge and I also used the Cricut Pooh Font Set. I inked the edges with brown ink for the animals and sun, and used both green and brown ink along the edges of the palm leaves and grass. I gently bent the palm leaves to make them pop out a little and added a random button for the coconut. I also used some pop dots to add some dimension.


Thursday, September 27, 2012

Personalized 65th Birthday Card


This personalized 65th birthday card is a full-size card, approximately 5.5" by 8.25". The lettering is and numbers are from the Cricut Storybook cartridge. The large butterfly is from the Cricut Home Accents cartridge and embossed using the Cuttlebug Swiss Dots folder and my Big Shot. The smaller butterflies, which are my favourite, are from the Cricut Indie Art cartridge. I inked many of the edges using brown ink and also inked the raised dots on the butterfly to make them pop. The ribbon is from the dollar store along with the adhesive gems.


While I do like how the card turned out, I realized I'm not a big fan of the large butterfly. I think I would have like the one on the Cricut Stamping Solutions better. Oh, well. I made this at the request of a co-worker and she was happy with it. So that makes me happy, too!


I cut out the second butterfly in different sizes to find one that fit well so I ended up with three extra butterflies. I decided to use them to embellish the inside of the card and the outside of the envelope.


Monday, August 27, 2012

Embossed Sympathy Card


On the heels of the embossed bridal shower card I recently posted, I am sharing with you today another simple embossed greeting card. I made this one last spring when a colleague at work had lost a grand-parent. This was the first time I had used my Spellbinders Impressabilities in the Flourish design. It was actually given to me by a dear friend as a little thank-you for helping out with her handmade wedding invitations. I had never used anything from the Impressabilities line and had to play with my Sizzix Big Kick before I was happy with the outcome. I found I had to add a couple of extra layers of card stock in between the plates in order for the embossing to stand out.


The sentiment was computer-generated. I use Microsoft Word for all of my CGS (computer-generated sentiments) and for this one, I created two text boxes using different fonts and overlapped them. This can be done by changing the formatting of the text box layout to either Behind Text or In Front of Text and playing around with it. I also increased the text size of the letter S to give it more style. The grosgrain ribbon was recycled from a friend at work who always saves ribbons and other interesting items for me to use with my handmade cards. I think the solid colours is nicely off-set by the delicate embossing making this sympathy card respectfully classy and elegant.

Embossed Sympathy Card

Friday, August 17, 2012

Embossed Bridal Shower Card


If you have a manual die-cut machine such as the Cuttlebug or the Sizzix Big Kick, you can use embossing folders to create simple but elegant cards. Here is a bridal shower card I made last month for my cousin's fiancé. The size of the card is a standard A2. I used my Sizzix Big Kick along with the multi-purpose platform set at Tab 1 as well as a pair of cutting pads. For the embossing, I chose the Cuttlebug D'Vine Swirls A2 embossing folder. All you need to do is place the paper within the folder, sandwich the folder between the two plates and place on it on the platform. Insert into the Big Kick and rotate the handle to emboss. It's quite simple and I love adding texture to otherwise plain card stock.

To make it pop and give it a bit of an antique feel, I took a pad of white ink and lightly rubbed it against the raised surface. Then I added a flower using a flower brad to some pink polka dot ribbon from Michael's and taped the ends of the ribbon on the back of the brown embossed card stock. The sentiment is from Stampin' Up and the adhesive gems are from the dollar store. 

So there you have it. A card that is fairly simple to make yet elegant and unique!

Bridal Shower Card

Sunday, July 22, 2012

Retro Baby Shower Card - Cricut New Arrival



Baby Shower Card - Cricut New Arrival, Uploaded from the Photobucket iPhone App

Here's a quick little baby shower card I threw together using some retro coloured design paper from Die Cuts With a View Glitter Stack, which I've had for a long time. I never really felt inclined to use this particular pattern before but I felt bold enough to make use of it. I figured, since the gender of the baby was unknown, it was neutral enough. And so, I resorted to using the super cute crawling baby from the Cricut New Arrival cartridge and added a shadow to it. The face is hand drawn and I used chalks to add the rosy cheeks and dust the edges to gift it a bit of depth. I used a lot of dimensionals and some ribbon from the dollar store. The sentiment is from Stampin' Up. The size is 5.5" x 4.25".

11114de7, Uploaded from the Photobucket iPhone App

Saturday, June 2, 2012

Personalized Baby Shower Card Using Cricut New Arrival and Storybook


'Tis the season to have babies, or so it seems. I don't believe I have announced it here on my craft blog but my brother is now a proud daddy of a beautiful baby girl. It brings back so many memories and I just absolutely love holding her and kissing her chubby cheeks! A co-worker is also expecting and recently attended a baby shower for a former colleague who is expecting her first. She asked if I could make a personalized baby shower card and of course, how could I refuse?


I love how it turned out and think it's much better than my most recent baby shower card in brown and blue.

Monday, May 7, 2012

Thanks a Bunch! Strawberry Thank You Cards


Thanks a bunch Cricut card

In honour of Administrative Professionals Day, I made up a couple of thank you cards for the two lovely ladies at my school who go above and beyond on a daily basis. I chose to make a couple of strawberry thank you cards in light of the warmer weather we've been enjoying lately. The size fits a standard A2 envelope and I used the Cuttlebug Victoria embossing folder. I re-used some ribbon and added pop-dots from the dollar store to add some dimension. The scalloped and rounded squares are from the New Arrival cart and the strawberry is from the Indie Art cart.

Saturday, February 18, 2012

Chicken Birthday Card Made From Reused Gift Box


This weekend, my daughter went to a birthday party for a friend who turned seven. Her friend has developed a bit of a thing for chickens in recent months so my daughter insisted in chicken-themed card. I went with the chicken cut from the Cricut Animal Kingdom cartridge and for the first layer, I used the bottom of an old Gymboree gift box that I was saving for just such an occasion. Then for the second layer, I used a plain white and used a distressing ink to shade the edges. What I used for this technique was an old rag pressed into the ink pad and then applied to the white card stock. The rag doesn't absorb the ink all that well but it's the best I could do.

Once all the pieces were cut at 4", I glued them on using a Zig two-way glue pen.

Cricut Animal Kingdom Chicken

For the base of the card, I used the gift box bottom since it was such a cheerful orange. By the time I squared it out properly, I was left with a card base that measured 4" by 5". I added a layer in brown followed by a layer in white which I covered in blue ink using a rag to give the appearance of sky. Using the Cricut Paper Dolls Dress-up cart, I cut out some grass at 1". I then used some adhesive foam squares from the dollar store to apply both the grass and the chicken and to give the card some depth.

Cricut Animal Kingdom Chicken

Overall, this was a fun card to make and I love how it turned out!


Cricut Animal Kingdom Chicken Card

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Robin Birthday Card Using the Cricut


For this card, I based it on this beautiful Songbird design by Mrs. B. I used a floral pattern paper from a Die Cuts With a View designer pack as the base and simple patterned blue paper from the same pack for the robin. The size of the card is 5 1/2" by 8" and the size of the marquee, from the Cricut Storybook cartridge, is 6 3/4". The robin is from the same cart and it is 2 1/4"I used the shadow option for both using dark brown card stock. The stick is from Cricut Doodlecharms and was cut at 4 1/4". The sentiment is from Stampin' Up and the reused ribbon was from a gift I had received a while back. I adhered the marquee using pop dots from the dollar store. I also used a Zig 2-way glue pen for the bird and twig, and of course, my lovely pink ATG gun for the rest.


Oh, and I finally used my Tim Holtz distress ink along the edges to give a bit of an antique look. I didn't have any craft sponges on hand so I found an old rag and used that to apply the distress ink. It served a dual purpose since I also used it to wipe any ink that got on the counter top.  I really like how it turned and had to stop myself from adding bling. I still feel like it's missing something though.


I had an extra robin shadow so I used it on the inside and cut out a green flower from the pattern paper.
Inside Robin Birthday Card

Anyway, I need to get to bed. Happy Groundhog Day!



Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Penguin Christmas Cards Using the Cricut

Last month, the vocal music teacher at my school asked if I could make some Christmas greeting cards for her. So I googled 'Cricut Christmas Cards' and she saw one that caught her eye. It was a penguin card by Olive Juice Studio that used sheet music, snow flakes and a big, bright ribbon. I don't have the Winter Frolic Cricut Cartridge yet so I had to make do with what I had.

Cricut Penguin Christmas Card

I chose the cute penguin on the Christmas Cheer card and the snowflakes from Joys of the Season. The penguin was cut out at 3.5" since I chose to make cards to fit an A2 envelope. I really should write down the sizes but I'm pretty sure the snowflakes were cut out at 1 3/4" and 1", then decorated with icicle Stickles. The sentiment frame was from the Wild Card cartridge and I believe that was about 3/4" on Real Dial Size. The stamp is by Stampin' Up and the ribbon from the dollar store. Using white card stock and my new HP Photosmart eStation All-in-One Printer, I made a copy of some Christmas sheet music and used it for the penguin.

Cricut Penguin Christmas Cards

Even with the original design as inspiration, I still had a hard time with this one. It just wasn't coming together as nicely as I had hoped. I feel like I should have added some snow hills as a background.

Anyway, hope you all had a wonderful holiday and a happy New Year!