Tuesday, January 26, 2010

DINNER INVITATIONS for CHA

Greetings everyone … This is ♥Carol♥, I hope you are all having a great week, and for those that are feeling the effects of the winter weather, I hope you are staying safe and warm. Thanx for visiting me here in My Little Creation Corner.

I was honored to be invited to make samples for the 2010 Winter CHA Craft Super Show in Anaheim, California.  Today I’d like to share those dinner invitation cards with you. These cards were on display at the Provo Craft/Cuttlebug area at the 2010 Winter CHA Craft Super Show in Anaheim, California.  Both cards were made to feature the Cuttlebug, the Cricut Expressions and Cosmo Cricket, Farmers Market Patterned Papers (which BTW is an excellent quality double-sided printed paper). My assignment was to make Dinner invitation samples.

The first card is a dinner invitation with a formal or informal theme:

The Card Front:

(Note:  Please click on any image to see details full size)



The Card Center:





The verse is my own and reads:

Things are ready
We’ve set your plate
We’re going to have
A time that’s great

So set your clock
And mark the date
You’re expected
Don’t be late

Supplies Used are as follows:

Cricut Cartridges From My Kitchen and Sentimentals
Cuttlebug embossing folder Swiss Dots
Cosmo Cricket, Farmers Market patterned paper
Misc. Solid colored card stock and Foil Card stock
Misc. Gold Ribbon and pre-made bow
Brown Ink
Adhesives: Glue Glider Pro, glue dots, Zig 2-way fine tip glue pen and dimensionals


The Second card is for an informal Barbeque Dinner


The front of the card





Another front view
(This shows the red foil in the Grill to represent hot coals)





The inside of the card




(Remember:  Click on any image to view details in full size)


The inside verse is my own and reads:

We’re going to have a Barbeque
A feast for everyone
With lots of food and fun to share
Sure hope that you will come


The supplies used on this card are as follows:

Cricut Cartridges From My Kitchen
Cuttlebug embossing folder Swiss Dots
Cosmo Cricket, Farmers Market patterned paper
Misc. Solid colored card stock and Foil Card stock
Yellow Satin Ribbon
Black and White Signo UniBall gel pens
Martha Stewart Boarder Punch
Adhesives: Glue Glider Pro, glue dots, Zig 2-way fine tip glue pen and dimensionals


Just a side note: although I did receive 3 sheets of patterned papers from the Cosmo Cricket Farmers Market line, which were used to make these cards, I did not receive any additional papers for my own personal use, nor was I paid to make these samples. All other products used, including solid colored papers and foils, ribbons, bows, boarder punches, markers, Cricut Cartridges, Cuttlebug embossing folders, etc., were my own and purchased by me.

I invite you to stop by the Cuttlebug Challenge Blog to see additional fabulous projects made by other incredibly talented designers on display at the 2010 Winter CHA Craft Super Show.
I hope you enjoy these invitational cards as much as I did making them and sharing them with you … feel free to leave comments, I would love to hear what you think. As always, thank you for visiting me here at my Little Creation Corner. HAPPY CRAFTING EVERYONE!

Hugz,
♥Carol♥

Thursday, January 21, 2010

LOVE STRUCK Projects Using the Cricut Cartridge Doodle Charms


Greetings everyone … This is ♥Carol♥, I hope you are all having a spectacular week. Thanx for visiting me here in My Little Creation Corner. Today I am sharing the details of my “LOVE NOTES” creations which were designed for the Cuttlebug Challenge Blog.

As most of you know by now, I am a Design Team member on the SWEET TREATS THURSDAY Team at the Cuttlebug Challenge Blog. This special team of designers will tantalize your taste buds with a delicious selection of yummie creations using their favorite crafting tools (Cricut and Cricut Cartridges, Cuttlebug, YourStory, YuDu and the Gypsy). I’m very pleased to be included with this wonderful team of talented crafters as a Design Team Member. I hope you’ll pop over and take a look … and be sure to check back every Thursday as the SWEET TREATS THURSDAY Design Team will be presenting fun new crafts, tutorials and/or other helpful hints and tricks to help keep you inspired.

This Week’s assignment was to use our Cricuts and the Doodle Charms cartridge to create a set of projects. We were instructed to use not less than 2 cuts from the DC cart, but were allowed to use as many as we liked. I selected to use the Mail Box, Hearts, and the Dragon Fly … but as you will see here … I also used cuts from the new Limited Edition Mini Cricut Cartridge, Love Struck.

My “LOVE NOTES” projects …

The Card
(Please click on any image to see Full Size)



The Envelope



The Card and Envelope Set



The Mail Box



The Project Trio




Supplies Used:

Cricut Expressions

Doodle Charms Cricut Cartridge
Love Struck Limited Edition Mini Cricut Cartridge
Patterned Paper and Card Stock from S.E.I. Chacolat Paper Pack
Metallic Silver card stock
Pink Lace & Pearls Ribbon from Wrights Creative Classics
Textile Texture Cuttlebug A2 Embossing Folder
Jumbo Java Dew Drop Chalk Ink
Adhesives (Glue Glider Pro, Zig 2-way Glue Pen, Dimensionals, Glue Dots)

The Card - measures 4.25x5.25 inches and fits beautifully in the envelope.  I Made the base card out a wine colored colored card stock, placed a pink card stock mat on top (4x5 inches) on top and inked the edges in brown and added another mat of patterned paper (3.75x4.75 inches) on top and again inked the edges in brown.  I then ran the entire card face thru the cuttlebug ... the size was a perfect fit to do this and gives the card a beautifully embossed surface.  The mailbox was cut at 2.5 inches.  The dragon flies were cut at one inch and have three layers, one of card stock, then patterned paper, and then the dragon fly body ... I folded the wings up to give the card some extra dimension.  The letters were computer generated and matted to the wine card stock.  All embellishments, except the lace and pearl ribbon, were placed on the card using dimensionals to add extra visual interest.

The Envelope - was cut from the Love Struck cartridge and was cut "fit to page" which was a perfect fit for the card.  It's cut from the same patterned paper as the card face.  I added a strip of card behind the heart cut outs to give it extra interest ... but added the strip of lace and pearl ribbon, which helped coordinate the card and envelope together beautifully.

The Mail Box - was cut out of patterned paper and was cut at 11.25 inches.  Again, I used the Love Struck cartridge for the mail box.  I added a silver mail box flag and attached it with a mauve heart brad, then added a small mauve colored bow, and a heart from the Doodle Charms cart.  I also added the same lace and pearl ribbon around the mailbox that I used on the card and envelope.  The letters and dragon fly were both cut at 1.75 inches. 

WOW, was I ever amazed at how easy both the mailbox and envelope were to cut out and put together.  If you do not yet have the Love Struck cart, I highly recommend it ... there are so many beautiful and intricate cuts on this cart.  Here's a look at all that this cart has to offer ...


(Click on Image to view full size)


I hope you enjoy these projects as much as I did making them and sharing them with you … feel free to leave comments, I would love to hear what you think. As always, thank you for visiting me here at my Little Creation Corner and don’t forget to stop by and check out the creations made by the other talented Sweet Treats Thursdays Design Team members at the Cuttlebug Challenge Blog

HAVE A GREAT WEEK EVERYONE!


Hugz,
♥Carol♥

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Sweet Treats Thursday - Review, Cricut Cartridge PAGODA

Greetings Everyone … this is ♥Carol♥ … Welcome to My Little Creation Corner.

As a Design Team Member on the the Cuttlebug Challenge Blog, Sweet Treats Thursday Team, I was asked to do a review of the new Cricut Cartridges, PAGODA.  (Please visit the Cuttlebug Challenge blog to see the initial review).  I'd like to share a more detailed review of that cartridge for you here as well.




(NOTE:  Please click on this, and all images, to see in their FULL size)


This cart is filled with a wonderful selection of images, with the key features on the cartridge being as follows...




Base Feature Images (characters like lanterns, dolls, kites, dragons, birds, trees, dragon flies, fish, flowers bridges, fans, umbrellas, teapot and cup, chopsticks, kimonos, and much more)

Base Shift Feature (layering pieces for the base images)





Kanji Feature (images of each of the Kanji characters)
Kanji Shift Feature (shadows for the Kanji characters)





Kanji Tag Feature (the Kanji character in various tag shapes)
Kanji Tag Shift Feature (which are the backgrounds for the Kanji Tags)





Kanji Word  Feature (which is the English translation of the respective Kanji character on it’s respective key in a rectangular tag style)
Kanji Word Shift Feature (which is the respective Kanji character that will fit nicely in the word tag)




Kanji Tag Feature (which are the various images in a variety of tag shapes)
Kanji Tag Shift (background pieces for the tags)




Card Feature (rectangular shaped cards with the images in them)
Card Shift Feature (circular cards with the images in them)





Shadow Feature (shadows for the images)
Shadow Shift Feature (shadows for the Kanji characters, this shadows the shadow of the Kanji Character Shift shadow – virtually a 2nd shadow for the Kanji characters).






Before I started writing this review, I wanted to identify exactly what a Kanji was, and which Asian culture it represented, so I called Provo Craft directly and asked the question. I was told that this cartridge is Chinese, however, it is also part Japanese. Are you as confused by that explanation as much as I was?  Well, I couldn’t stop with that, so I looked it up on line at Wakipedea, and this is the definition I found …

Kanji (help•info) (漢字?) are the Chinese characters that are used in the modern Japanese logographic writing system along with hiragana (ひらがな, 平仮名), katakana (カタカナ, 片仮名), Indo Arabic numerals, and the occasional use of the Latin alphabet (also known as Rōmaji). The Japanese term kanji (漢字) literally means "Han characters".

Still confused, I looked it up in the dictionary, and this is the definition I found …

“a Japanese system of writing that utilizes characters borrowed or adapted from Chinese writing, a single character in the kanji system”

Now this I could understand! *grin* But the really important thing to say is the images are absolutely adorable. I love that you can use the images, the Kanji character, and the English translation all together.

One thing I will note is that trying to figure out the meaning of each Kanji character is, was a bit of a challenge. I discovered that they are actually all in the cartridge handbook.  To see the English translation, look on the Kanji Word Feature Key. But, just a warning, the image in your handbook is extremely small … so pull out your glasses, or your bi-focals, you just might need them. If you have a Gypsy or the Design Studio program, you can enlarge this image so that you can read it easier.

I really do like the wonderful options on this cart … it offers a delight blend of whimsical images mixed with delicate intricately detailed images as well. Combined with the Kanji characters and the English translations, you have an opportunity for endless creative possibilities to make a wide variety of crafts.

Here’s a sample I made this morning that mixes the Kanji character for “friend” and the English translation … I teamed it together with one of the Cuttlebug embossing folders from the new Asian line to make this greeting card …



another view




To make this card, I used the following supplies ...

Cricut Cartridge Pagoda
Cricut Cartridge George Basics Shapes
Cuttlebug Embossing Folder (from the new Asian set)
Cricut Design Studio Program
Ribbon (Offray, pink flora)
Prima Fabric Fancies Flowers
Core'dinations Chocolate Box card stock
S.E.I. Patterned Paper from the Chocolat Paper Stack
Pink card stock
Small Bronze Brads
Sanding block
Pop Dots
Glue Glider Adhesive
Zig 2-way fine tip Glue Pen

This card is similar to a Joy Fold card and to make it, I followed these steps.

1)  Cut Patterned paper to size 8.5x11 and fold in half for card base.
2)  Emboss the Asian Lady on Coredinations Chocolate Box card stock, then sand lightly to bring out the pink background color.
3)  Trim around the embossed image and mat onto pink card stock and trim around the image again.
4)  Using Design Studio, place the "friend" Kanji word (from Pagoda) on the mat using a 2x3 inch size, add the Kanji character (size 1.5") inside the rectangle then welded a rectangle (from George) to the right side of the tag and stretched it so that it extended another 3 inches.



5)  Scor the tag at 2 inches and adhere the right 3 inches of the tag backwards to the inside right edge of the card.  Fold the remaining 2 inches over the front face of the card.
6)  Adhere ribbon vertically along the left side of card and attach brads to flowers and adhere top of ribbon.
7)  Adhere the Asian Lady, using pop dots, over the ribbon.

Although there is not an image of the inside of the card, the right side of the card is matted with the brown card stock, the pink tag "friends" tag opens up to a pink color to add the sentiment, and I added a pink shadow to the brown Kanji "friend" symbol that was cutout from the front tag and placed it next to the inside sentiment.


I hope you found this review both helpful and informative. Please feel free to leave a comment, I'd love to hear your thoughts. I hope you’ll take a moment and stop by and visit the Cuttlebug Challenge Blog to see this review in it's condensed form as well as all the other wonderful creations to be found there.

As always, thanks for stopping by and visiting me here at my Little Creation Corner.

Happy Crafting Everyone!

Hugz,
Carol

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Special Announcement - Sweet Treats Thursday

Greetings everyone and HAPPY NEW YEAR, I hope 2010 is starting off on a happy note for all … This is ♥Carol♥ … and today I’d like to share a special announcement. Over at the Cuttlebug Challenge Blog, a new team of creative designers have come together to form a design team called SWEET TREATS THURSDAY.

This team of designers will tantalize your taste buds with a delicious selection of yummie creations using their favorite crafting tools (Cricut and Cricut Cartridges, Cuttlebug, YourStory, YuDu and the Gypsy). I’m very pleased and excited to be included with this wonderful team of talented crafters as a Design Team Member. I hope you’ll pop over and take a look … and be sure to check back every Thursday as the SWEET TREATS THURSDAY Design Team will be presenting fun new crafts, tutorials and/or other helpful hints and tricks to help keep you inspired.

Our first assignment was to use our Cricuts and the Doodle Charms cartridge to create a set of projects. We were instructed to use not less than 2 cuts from the DC cart, but were allowed to use as many as we liked. I selected to use the teddy bear and the heart … but as you will see here … I used several other cuts as well.

The Teddy Gift Set Trio …




Supplies used for this project were:

Cricut Expressions
Doodle Charms Cricut Cartridge
White and Pink Card Stock
Kiwi Embroidery Paper – Pink Gingham Check
Pink Gingham Ribbon – width sizes 1.25 and .50 inches
Darning Threads – Pink and White
Small Pearls
White Doodle Pen
Adhesives
(Glue Glider Pro, Zig 2-way Glue Pen, Dimensionals, Glue Dots)
Wrapping Paper



The Card and Envelope
The card measures 5”x 6.5”

(REMINDER … Click on any image to see full view)





The Photo Frame

The Photo frame measures 17”X10”, but the little frames on each side of the main picture
measure only 1.5”x2”, so each of the Doodle Charms cuts were made at a 1” size or less.
The cuts are embellished with hand doodling, pearls for eyes on the critters
and small bows on the hearts that are ½” or less across.
I also added small gingham bows to accent the main picture opening and then
tied a nice big bow around the frame.










The Gift Package

When I went to wrap the gift, I discovered that I didn’t have any paper that would
match the set, so I used a solid color wrapping paper that I had and
turned it inside out so that I was using the inside (white) as the wrapping.
To accent the package, I cut little 1” teddy bears and hearts,
embossed them and adhered them down with glue dots.
I actually like the way this turned out and plan to use this trick again in the future
whenever I don’t have the exact wrapping that I need.
Whoops … I see that the teddy bear tag did not make on the package
before the picture was taken.





All three items were super easy to make, and the great thing is, they were actually very inexpensive to make too!

I hope you enjoy these projects as much as I did making them and sharing them with you … feel free to leave comments, I would love to hear what you think. As always, thank you for visiting me here at my Little Creation Corner and don’t forget to stop by and check out the other creations at the Cuttlebug Challenge Blog.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

Hugz,
♥Carol♥