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!