Cricut Circle Blog Weekly Challenge #20: Love Notes Challenge

"Valentine’s Day is just a few days away and we thought it would be fun to challenge you to put your scrappy skills to use by creating an extra special note for someone you adore. It can be a friend, your mom, a lover, your child, a neighbor . . . anyone! Your project must include a heart and embossing (we want to see you incorporate those Cuttlebug embossing folders). Project must also contain atleast 2 Cricut cuts to qualify.'

Here is my Love Note:

Letters and heart were cut from Storybook using the base and shadow features at 1 1/2". Using Design Studio I used the following Cricut cartridges and changed the dimensions to fit:  French Manor for the postage stamp (BirdStmp) cut at 4 x 5 1/4"; George and Basic Shapes four retangles (rctngl1) cut at 1 1/2 x 2" and four cut at 1 5/8 x 2 1/8". 

I embossed the stamp cut using the hearts embossing folder from the Love Language combo and the patterned rectangles using Divine Swirls.

Paper is from my scraps.

Cricut Circle Magazine Challenge: My Sweet Valentine

"We want you to create a fun Valentine’s Day Project. It can be anything from classroom treats to a gift for your sprecial someone!

Please use at least four Cricut cuts and include something edible in the design (even if it’s just candy inside). "

I saw this really cute heart box in the Valentine isle and knew this is what I wanted to make for this challenge.

When I got home I searched cricutsearch.com for the heart box and came up empty so the real challenge was recreating it in DS.  I thought this would be fairly easy.  At first I tried cheating by using of all things, hearts.  After many practice cuts I decided to go back to basics and pulled up my George and Basic Shapes.  Here's my box laid out in DS.  (HeartboxRita.cut)

Cut and scored box:

These photos give you a better idea where to score the box:

For the box fronts I chose cuts from Cindy Loo and Sweet Hearts.  The hearts are from Cindy Loo, Heart-s cut at 4" and at real size.  From Sweet Hearts I chose the monkey, puppy and kitten cuts and shadows cut at 2 1/2".

I cut two of the puppy and kitten so I could just use the heads, the monkey has a separate cut for the head.  I went over the features with a thin black Sharpie and added a little pink chalk on the checks and insides of the ears.  Cuts were assembled, I pop dotted the heads, and attached to box cuts prior to folding along scored lines.  Heart shaped gems added to give it a little bling.

I used Value Pack 8 1/2 x 11" red cardstock for the boxes, K&Company patterned paper from their Super Paper Pad and scraps for the critter cuts.

Here are the finished boxes:

Very happy with how they turned out and now that the cut file exists, very easy to make.

Cricut Circle Blog Weekly Challenge #19: Whatevah!

"“Whatevah!” is a phrase a lot of parents of teens hear around their house on daily basis. We thought we’d take that phrase to heart for this next challenge. What we’d like you to do is use WHATEVAH shape you would like, but be sure to repeat it three times on your project. Project must also include spray ink and must be newly created for this challenge."

Here is my "Whatevah" entry:

In a close-up of the butterfly you can see the shimmer of the spray ink.

Cricut cartridges used were French Manor for the stamp cut at 1 3/4" and Designer's Calender for the butterfly cut at 1".

The butterflies are inked with purple and black ink.  For the spray ink, I used a Ranger spray bottle and filled it half way full with water.  I added six drops of Tim Holtz's Sail Boat Blue Alcohol Ink and two scoops (little scope tool in Cricut tool kit) of Forever Blue Perfect Pearls.  I sprayed the butterflies and the stamp cuts.

The butterfly background paper is from my scraps.  I cut three 1 x 1 1/2" rectangles and ran them through the Cuttlebug using the Textile Texture embossing folder.  Using white ink I dabbed it over the embossing.

For the card background, I used K&Company "Floral Stamp" embossed vellum.

Well, I'm a little dingy tonight.  My brain just isn't quite working.  For some reason I thought by posting to my blog I would magically be entered into the blog challenge.  When I realized it, I missed the deadline by a few minutes!

Cricut Circle Blog Weekly Challenge #18: Back to Basics

"For this challenge we want you to go “Back to the Basics” . . . by using ONLY the cartridge(s) that came with your machine or Gypsy! You must use THREE cuts on your project (the complete title or words counts as one cut). We can’t wait to see what you come up with!"

For this challenge I used the sketch from AllisonF's Snow Day Challenge posted on the Circle MB.  No, I didn't have a snow day but I loved the sketch she picked and thought it would be perfect for the pictures I was trying to scrap for the blog's weekly challenge.

Here's my take on the sketch, it is modified for a 8 1/2 x 11 layout.

George and Basic Shapes was the cartridge that came with my machine.  For this layout I cut "COUSINS" at 1", heart1 and circle at 2", flower2 in various sizes 1/2" to 1" using DS to shrink them.  I created a butterfly by welding two 1" heart2 with the oval2 and a circle shrunk to fit.  Two 1" silhouette heart2 were cut for the wings.

Patten paper is from K & Company super paper pad and the solids are from my scrap bin.