Monogram Birthday Card

I was thinking that Damask Decor and Letter Envy Cricut Cartridges were surely made for each other. Ummm... No, they are not. I found that out after I cut out all the pieces and put it together.  What a mess! Maybe my colors were all wrong... I had white cream, seafoam green, white, orange, pink. Maybe it was all the inticate cuts slapped together.  Maybe it was all of it together.  

I had to go back to the drawing board.  I knew two things: I wanted to make a monogram card and I wanted to use orange and pink.  The orange and pink inspiration was from Paper Craft Weekend Challenge. The colors were perfect because I wanted to make a birthday card for my sister-in-law in Naples, FL.  Orange and pink reminds me of cheery South Florida and the outfit my sister-in-law wore the last day we were in Naples.  I'm entering it in the monogram challenge from Bitten by the Bug 2.

Needless to say, I simplified the card and I think it is much better :)

I Used:
Letter Envy Circut Cartridge - L-s and layer feature + L
Imagine Blossom Cricut Cartridge- Pink cardstock for the letter L - it is the perfect pale, soft pink
SEI Mimosa glitter cardstock
Cuttlebug Folder - Musical Flourish
Imaginisce orange rhinestone
Pink stamp pad to ink the edges of the all the squares and the embossed rectangle
Pop dots
Tattered Angels Marshmallow mist for sparkles - ya gotta have sparkles for a birthday!

I found a way to shoot the sparkles from the glitter mist!  I had to angle it on my hand and then take the picture.

 

 

Words for me to remember:

 “Beauty of style and harmony and grace and good rhythm depend on simplicity.”

~Plato

I Love You Ardently Card

The fog finally lifted for me.  I made a Valentine's Day card for my husband that I am happy with.  I had stumbled across a post in Cricut Circle by Sara Andrews.  She had made a giftbag using the Teresa Collins Balck and White cartridge and I remembered: Hey, I have a bunch of color and pattern cartridges I can use!  So I pulled out on of my favorites: Audrey.  I even love the name - it reminds me of Audrey Hepburn. 

I Used:
- Cricut Imagine for the frames (part of the shapes that come with the Imagine) and printing the red damask background on the frame
- Audrey Color and Pattern Cartridge - red damask paper
- Microglaze to protect the ink on the printed paper
- Papertrey Ink - Simply Jane sentiment and Linen Impression plate
- Ranger Ginger Alcohol Ink
- Seam Binding
- Tattered Angels - Marshmallow Mist
-  Heart charm from my stash

The MicroGlaze helps protect the paper printed using a jetink printer.  It doesn't smear and a little goes a long way.

You can't see and I don't know how to photograph it but there are little tiny sparkles from the Marshmallow Mist.  I like it because it is subtle.

I puntured a hole on the bottom of the red damask frame and added the heart charm.  You can also see the debossing impression of the Linen Impression Plate.

I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life! --- and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.

- Elizabeth Barrett Browning, How Do I Love Thee?

Wrapping with Style

I came across a post by Die Cuts With a View that was like an Aha! moment.  The post showed books with bookcover made with DCWV paper.  They were so beautiful.  I figured I could use it as wrapping paper.  Here's my take:

I Used:
- DCWV Garden Partry paperstack
- Ribbon, flower and bling from my stack

It was easy and the results are beautiful I think and it adds an extra special touch :) 

Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not.

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Shabby Chic Birthday Card

Well, I wasn't supposed to but I bought the Simply Jane collection from Papertrey Ink.  I couldn't resist.  Just about anything Jane Austen calls my name and it is hard to say no.  The Simply Jane collection includes the stamps (with Austen quotes!), matching die-cuts for the stamps and cardstock with pages from her novels.  Swoon! :)

I used the cameo and frame die-cuts.  The paper in the background in is Melissa Frances.  I can't bring myself to use the Simpy Jane cardstock yet.  I'll get over that soon. ;)

I used Martha Stewart Doily Lace Edge Punch for the beige ribbon of paper that goes across the card.  The sentiment is from Simply Jane.

The most complicated thing - but worthwhile - was dyeing the seam binding.  I used equal parts Close to My Heart Soft Pink Re-Ink and Ranger Red Pepper Alcohol Ink with lots of water.  I am really pleased with the different hues of soft pink that developed so I will definitely use that combination again :)  The kraft colored button is also from Papertrey Ink and I sewed that onto the ribbon.

“There is nothing I would not do for those who are really my friends. I have no notion of loving people by halves, it is not my nature.” ~ Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey

Clean and Simple Birthday card

I wanted to make a masculine birthday card that wasn't too fussy and this is what I came up with. I figured it was time to pull out the Lifestyles Letterpress because the images are clean and simple. I used Lifestyles Letterpress Celebrations to make this card: the circles plate and the sentiment are both from the set. The dark brown ink I used is also from Lifestyles. I added a chartreuse ribbon (a little color wouldn't hurt... right?) and Voila! Here's a close-up:

God gave us the gift of life; it is up to us to give ourselves the gift of living well. ~ Voltaire


Live well today! :)