Thank You Heart

I mentioned in my last post that Shaun's father has recently passed away. We've been off work the past couple weeks on bereavement leave, but our bosses at work (we work at the same place) sent us flowers on the second day we were gone, so of course I wanted to make a Thank You card for their kindness.

This is what I made:

This was a card that was available in the "Make it Now" projects from Cricut called "Thank you from the many colors of my heart". (I believe it is user submitted because I could not find a link to the image, but here is the card on Pinterest.) I changed it somewhat but it has the same feel. And you can't see it, but the heart does have texture.

Had I known that we would have taken the full two weeks' leave, I would have mailed it. Oh well, we'll just hand deliver it when we return. At least I am getting it shared sooner rather than (six months) later...

Monochrome Hearts and Flowers Thank You Card

When exploring some images in my Cricut's Design Space, I found a cute Thank You overlay with these hearts and flowers on it. Since I have occasion to use Thank You Cards somewhat frequently at work because of a recognition program we have,  and it's good to have them on hand just in case, I went ahead and made one with this image that I liked.

I just used whatever card layer scrap I had in my stash just to test it out, but once I cut it out with the Cricut, I really liked it, and decided to make a card with it right away.

Here's what I came up with:

A monochrome blue card. (The top layer looks white, but it is blue, I promise.) I really like how monochrome color schemes look for certain things, and this is no exception. I really liked it as soon as I made it.  One thing the picture doesn't show very well is that I took a file to the edges of the dark blue base, which gave it a very subtly soft-worn look that I really liked.

I ended up giving this to a coworker just a few days after I made it, and she really liked it.  (I think I am actually getting a reputation for my cards at work, too!)


I am really loving that having my Cricut is making it easy for me to be creative. That was one of my goals for 2016, to be even more creative, and it certainly seems like I am doing that. It's nice to be able to be inspired when I may otherwise not have ideas, but to also have something that is there but builds on my creativity. I love seeing what I come up with for it. :)

Cricut-Palooza! (Or, My first week of having a new toy.)

 Last week, My Cricut Explore Air arrived and I was very excited.

Since then, I have been playing with it and learning how to use it. I've made lots of random things so far and am getting the hang of it. This is my very first cutting machine, so I knew I would have a learning curve butI gotta say, I am hooked. :)
 

Reading instructions and learning how to use it.

Pushing the "go" button for the first time! How exciting!

 Here are things I've made with it so far:

Whee! Look at the machine go!

 The pride of the first project.

This was the card that came as a "starter" project with the machine. The software walked me through the whole process to make the card and what to do. I like that it was so easy to get it set up and running.

 I chose a snowflake to test the intricacy of how it can cut. Shaun and I were very impressed with it. This whole snowflake is only 2 inches square or so, as you can see by the measurement lines on the mat under it.  I used the pen to show size comparison, too. Of course, it snowed the next day, and we hate snow, so I joked that since the Cricut controls weather, I guess I'll make a thermometer showing 70 degrees...

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 With this, I wasn't sure what I wanted to make, but I wanted to see different sized objects, so I just stuck with a simple heart. I love that I can basically make things as big or small as I could possibly need!

 This is actually a mistake. I was trying to make simple card I designed. I thought by selecting "write"  for a certain layer and "cut" for a different part of it, it would cut out the black IN BETWEEN the silver writing so that it was both. I am still not sure how to do that part, but I know the option exists. Oh well, that's what experimentation is for, and I can always use the letters by themselves to make something.

 Here is a card I designed using a  blank pre-set card option that had the notches in the side, and used the write option to do the Thank You.

What thrills me is that you can use your own "system fonts" of fonts from your computer or that you download. I love that! I already used my fonts creatively by printing them, but now I can put it right on something with my Cricut, that is even more awesome!

 Some little speech bubbles I made with some shapes and some of my own fonts. I like that I can use the cut sentiments or the letters by themselves if I wanted.

 I had to test the "poster board" option. I cut some cereal box cardboard and just made whatever I had on the screen. This took me a few tries to get right, but once I did I was SOOO excited. I told my husband "see, I knew I was justified in keeping a bunch of random cardboard!"

Since I was getting used to the design software, and it's January and didn't have anything to decorate my desk with (I like to change the decorations every month), I wanted to make something fun for my desk. Here's the banner I designed in the software.

And I quickly learned how to place things so I can cut them all on one mat, instead of having to take everything off and replace it between cuts.  I was glad I could make that trick work. It's a big time saver when working with smaller items.

The finished banner. Not a great picture, but at least you can see the final thing.

 A card I made.  While at work, I randomly had the idea that it would be fun to make a card that says "you rock my socks" either as a Thank You card or just a greeting. So I uploaded a simple clip art image of socks and designed the card layer to be cut. I put some striped paper behind the socks, which, I have to say, works perfectly and looks like socks I would actually have. I put some other paper behind the cut out words, which I liked when I put it there, but now I think would look better if it were another shade of blue or maybe white since the rest of the card is blue. And I added the ribbon later. I was about to throw it out because it was just a scrap from the banner, but thought it would look cute, so just added it on. I like it.

And finally, something I was playing with today. I wanted to see how small I could make something. The smallest hearts are 1/4 inch each, and the bigger ones are 1/2 inch. I love that it can cut something that tiny. Which means, if I wanted/needed, I could technically make custom confetti. How fun!

I can't wait to try even more things! Those are the things I made just in my first week, I can just see how useful this will be to my crafting.  I am very excited.

Thank You Cards in a Snap!

A couple months ago, I saw these Cards in an Instant from Me And My Big Ideas (MAMBI) on sale at Craft Warehouse near me, and couldn't resist. Since I like to make cards, and wanted to make thank you cards, so I knew I would make use of them.

Here are the MAMBI cards themselves:

A fairly good selection-36 cards, of 6 different types. The multi-colored, Multi-Language one reminds me of one I designed and created myself (including looking up all the languages) early this year (maybe February?) that I realize now I never shared. But it just goes to prove that good ideas aren't always truly original ideas. That's OK. I still love the one I designed. (I will share that one in another post.) Anyway...here are the cards I have made so far with these:

 This one is much shinier than the picture lets on since the sentiment is on Foil Paper.

I just made this one tonight for a coworker and will give it to them tomorrow.  As you may know from looking at some of my cards (or almost all of these just in this post, haha), I really like distressed look for things. For this one, I layered it, but felt it needed....something. So I ripped the green card base but it still needed something, so I ripped the pink as well. Getting closer...Once I inked the edges, I knew this was the way it was always intended to be. Perfectly imperfect. :) The photo doesn't do the colors justice, though.

I love that with these, it makes the creative process easy. I can whip up a card using my materials in just a few minutes, but they still look professionally done (or so I am told) and they are still MY creativity shining through.  I love that you could give the same sentiment to two different crafters, and they'd come up with two different cards. I think I will be exploring more options like this in the future. I love that these are hand made in a snap. :)

Thank You Card

About two weeks ago, I received a letter from a friend that had some stickers that she had designed, and I wanted to make a Thank You card, and this is what I came up with. Though not the first card I made from scratch-as in not with card blanks- this was the first "Standard Size" (in terms of paper crafting, meaning 4.25' by 5.5") card I made. (As a side note, the other card I made from scratch will, unfortunately, have to wait to be posted because it is for a birthday in June and I have a policy not to post pictures of things until I know they've been received, so this blog will be somewhat out of order in the time frame of when things were made.)

The Owl is actually stamped in VersaMark, because I had *finally* bought some after being curious about it for quite a while, and once I started playing with it, I really liked the "watermark" look it gives, so just had to use it in a card right away.

Anyway, here is the Thank You Card I made:

 It was a very simple card, and very fast to make. But sometimes, simplicity says it all, and that's kind of what I was going for. I liked how it turned out, but I'm thinking I may draw a tree or something the next time I use this stamp. :)

Supplies:
-Blue Card Stock (which, by the way, the picture does not do justice to. It is more an easter-egg blue or sky blue)
-Decorative paper
-Owl Stamp (I believe it's just Michaels brand, but I'm not sure)
-Versamark
-Alphabet stamps from Studio G
-Purple ink from Rubber Stampede (either Primary or Romance collection, I can't remember)