Cartridge Review - Thanksgiving Seasonal Cartridge - Winter 2010

  

CRICUT THANKSGIVING CARTRIDGE REVIEW

Hiya EVERYONE, this is ♥Carol♥ ... WELCOME to my Little Creation Corner!  Today, I’d like to share my review of  the many creative opportunities found on the Thanksgiving Cricut Seasonal Cartridge.  (BTW, this cartridge review can also be seen at the Wildly Whimsical & Creative Crafting Newsletter ... be sure to stop by there to see the wonderful creations posted there monthly.)

(Please click on images to view full size)

This cartridge is part of Provo Crafts limited edition Cricut Cartridge collection for the winter of 2010 and it is filled with 31 Thanksgiving/Fall sentiments and images. In addition, there are also some layering pieces that I’ve found work well even on there own (such as the leaves, acorns, pumpkins, etc.). Since this cart is a Seasonal Mini cartridge, it comes with the cartridge, keypad overlay and a small card that depicts the available images/sentiments … and does NOT come with a handbook.

Let’s take a closer look at some of the images available …

Now that we know what is on this special limited edition cartridge … what can you do with it? There are so many wonderfully creative opportunities? How about invitations for your Thanksgiving dinner or party? Maybe decorate the meals menu … or adding special extras to your Thanksgiving table, like decorating the napkin rings or candles, cutting appliqués out of fabric to make your own place mats, napkins and coasters for your glass ware, or how about adding personalized place cards for each dinner guest? Perhaps you’d like to make a wreath from cut leaves to hang on your door to welcome visitors, or a banner to dress up your home for the holiday? What a great idea to decorate a candy jar or personalize a bottle of wine, or even a gift bag with a small token inside for the hostess if you are visiting others on this special day … and of course, this is a fabulous cartridge for making Thank You notes when the day is over and making beautiful scrapbook pages from all the pictures of this fun occasion. Whatever your choice, you’ll be delighted with the adorable designs available on this cartridge.

Here is a Thanksgiving floral arrangement I made using cuts from this cart, and this was super easy to make (especially since I already had the candle and candle holder). I took a small sheet of gold metallic tissue and covered a 4”x1” Styrofoam circle, and wrapped an orange satin ribbon around the edge … placed the covered Styrofoam on the candle holder with the candle on top, then added some sprigs of autumn leaves. This gave it a nice autumn look … but to make it something special for Thanksgiving I added the Pilgrim silhouette to the face of the candle and an ornate leaf to the base to help balance the colors. Now that it’s done, I can’t help but wonder how it might look if I had used the turkey as the focal image on the candle, or maybe the cornucopia with a picture of our family in the center, or maybe adding the phrase “harvest blessings” around the base.

I will say this, it’s amazing how adding a simple Cricut cut to a floral arrangement can really dress it up and change the whole look … and with this cartridge there are some wonderful options to choose from!

As always ... thank you so much for stopping by for a visit at my Little Creation Corner.  If you have an extra moment, please leave a comment ... I love reading what you have to say.  Your opinions really make a difference and inspire me to keep creating.

Wishing you and yours a ...

Delightful and Happy THANKSGIVING!!!

Happy Crafting Everyone!
Hugz,
♥Carol♥
Little Creation Corner

Special Sweet Treat Presentation with a Cake Plate Wrapper

Greetings Everyone … This is ♥Carol♥ and I am so pleased that you are visiting me here today at my Little Creation Corner … I hope everyone is enjoying a wonderful week that extends throughout the Easter week-end.

Over at the Cuttlebug Challenge Blog, the Sweet Treats Thursdays design team are truly celebrating SWEET TREATS with some very special packaging for your delicious goodies. For today’s offering, I decided to make a cake plate wrapper … and in this case, it’s a wrapper custom made to match my cake.

Here is the Cake

(Please click on images to see full size)

To make the wrapper, I combined elements from two separate Cricut Cartridges, the First is the Heritage cart, for the scrolly flourish, and the second is the Paisley cart for the strawberry. The flourishes were cut at 2” and I cut two of them and welded them together in DS. I also used the “hide contour” feature in DS to remove the inner pieces of the ends (you may be able to see the faint lines of the removed sections in the image below). Because the perimeter of the silver cake pedestal cake plate is so long, I was unable to cut this in just one piece … however, I was able to match the flourishes perfectly by placing them end to end and securing them with glue dots.

As luck had it … I was able to cut 3 of the 2 welded pieces, plus one other single, and it measured perfectly to fit around the plate. Note: If you do not have the Cricut Design Studio program, you could also cut 7 of the flourishes and join them end to end (depending, of course, on the size of the cake plate that you are using.)

An Image of the Cuts using the DS Program

 

The flourishes were cut using a silver metallic paper (to match the silver cake plate). I also cut the strawberries out of metallic papers to keep the same paper theme … in this case, red and green. They were cut at 2 ¼ inches and were attached to the flourish with glue dots. This was actually very easy to do … and of course, I selected to adorn the flourish with those strawberries to compliment the cake.

So, how did I make this decadent chocolate cake? OK, no secrets here, I called on Betty Crocker for some assistance and used her yummy Devil’s Food cake mix … the Cake required 2 cake mixes because there are actually 4 layers. I even called upon Betty Crocker for help with the frosting … using two cans of frosting, one dark chocolate and one chocolate fudge. After the cake was frosted, I drizzled melted dark chocolate across the top. Believe me, this cake will give you a major chocolate rush! *grin*

I then topped off the the cake with little chocolate frosting nests to help hold those HUGE luscious strawberries and poured strawberry glaze over them. The strawberry glaze is easy to make too. Simply heat 1 cup of sugar, one cup of water and 1 tablespoon of strawberry strained strawberry juice until dissolved. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly, then add in 2 ½ tablespoons of cornstarch to thicken and a couple of drops of red food coloring. Spoon the glaze mixture over the strawberries … chill until ready to serve and enjoy!

Here is the cake covered with the crystal dome

(this cake is so tall, it barely fit)

It was actually very simple to make, and isn’t that beautiful? What a wonderful compliment that cake plate wrapper is for my delicious cake! Why not give it a try when you make your next cake? I think your family and friends will be very impressed at the lovely presentation.

Don’t forget to stop by the Cuttlebug Challenge Blog to see the wonderful creations made by the other Sweet Treats Thursday Design Team members … they have truly made some amazing projects!

I hope you enjoyed your visit here today and liked my cake plate wrapper … It was super easy and even fun to make. Please don’t forget to add a comment and share your thoughts, I adore reading what you have to say … I’d really love it if you would sign up to be a follower too, your visits make my blog so much more meaningful. As always … thank you for stopping by to visit me here at my Little Creation Corner.

Have a great day everyone, and HAPPY CRAFTING!

Hugz,
♥Carol♥

Limited Edition Cricut EASTER Cartridge Review for Sweet Treats Thursday

Hello EVERYONE, this is ♥Carol♥ … Welcome to my Little Creation Corner. As many of you already know, I am a member of the Sweet Treats Thursdays Design Team over on the Cuttlebug Challenge Blog.  Today, we are featuring a review of the EASTER Cricut cartridge and it's many creative opportunities.

This cartridge is part of Provo Crafts limited edition Spring Cricut Cartridge collection and it is filled with 29 Easter and Spring images. The beautiful images on this cartridge range from an ornate cross to eggs to lambs and chicks, bunnies, lacy doilies, word images, and shadows and layering pieces of many of the images too. This cartridge also includes 3-dimensional objects (basket, cupcake holder, box) that are great for almost any Easter or Spring project.

Let’s take a closer look at some of the images available (Please remember, you can click on any image to view full size) …

You'll find word phrases and images

(lovely flowers, and look at that beautiful cross)

And BUNNIES!

(how about making chocolate bunnies)

More Images

(How fun to make wrappers for your eggs)

More Images

(aren't these adorable)

Fancy Doillies

(lots of creative possibilities with these)

3-D Shapes

(basket, cupcake wrapper, pillow box)

Now that we know what is on this special limited edition cartridge … what can you do with it? There are so many wonderfully creative possibilities … how about making the pillow boxes and filling them with yummy treats, like jellybeans? Or, making cupcakes and decorating them with lovely cupcake wrappers? Perhaps putting egg wrappers around your own brightly colored eggs? Imagine cutting one of the doilies, folding it in a fan shape, adding a few silk or hand-made flowers and adhering it to the face of a greeting card, wouldn’t that make a lovely Mother's Day card? This cartridge would also be great for making baby cards or shower items. Or, perhaps you’d like to make an Easter Tree, like I have? Whatever your choice, you’ll be delighted with the adorable designs available on this cartridge.

Did you know ... The decorating of Easter Trees is a tradition that originated in Germany? When German settlers immigrated to the States, many brought with them their Easter tradition of decorating trees, which symbolizes the rebirth, renewal and resurrection. This tradition slowly caught on in America with its origin dating back to the Civil War, and has become a continuing tradition with many American families today.

When I was a young girl growing up, our home was always decorated with an Easter Tree. What a fun treat it was to help Mom make the decorations for the tree each year … almost as much fun as finding our Easter baskets filled with yummy goodies and stuffed animals on Easter morning.

Following in that same tradition, I’ve created an Easter Tree for our home made from some of the adorable images found on the Easter Cartridge. (Please stop by my blog for details and more Easter creations.) Try making one for your home too, it’s easy and fun … and don’t forget to invite the children to help. I know they would enjoy helping to create an Easter Tree as much as I always did.

Here are some close-up views to show the details ...

This tree stands approximately 18 inches tall.  It's decorated 100% using the Cricut EASTER cartridge ... all cuts were made at 1-1/2 inches, including the "Happy Easter".  The ornaments are all double sided with an identical image on each side - this is especially great since the ornaments dangle and spin, you never know which side might be showing.  (I love that I was able to use the "flip" feature on my Cricut Expressions to make these ... that way I could cut everything at one time.)  I added coordinating colored embroidery threads to hang the ornaments.  With a little hand doodling to some of the ornaments, my tree was done.  Now how easy is that!  ***grin***

As always, thank you for visiting me here at my My Little Creation Corner. I hope you enjoyed this review and my creative offering from the Cricut EASTER cartridge as much as I enjoyed creating and sharing it with you. Be sure to stop by the Cuttlebug Challenge Blog to see the many inspiring crafts created by the talented design team members that are posted there daily.

I hope you will take a moment to leave a comment, I love hearing your thoughts … your wonderful words keep me motivated. And, if you are not yet a follower, please consider this a personal invitation to join! Thanks again for stopping by!

HAPPY CRAFTING EVERYONE! ☺

Hugz,
♥Carol♥

Sweet Treats Thursdays - Mardi Gras

Greetings Everyone … This is ♥Carol♥ and I am so pleased that you are visiting me here today at my Little Creation Corner … I hope everyone is enjoying a wonderful week that extends throughout the week-end.


Over at the Cuttlebug Challenge Blog, the Sweet Treats Thursdays design team are celebrating Mardi Gras. By now, you've likely noticed a trend with me and know that I have to make a card … but with a theme like Mardi Gras … I just had to include a mask … in fact, I had to make two of them! These masks are to represent the King and Queen of Mardi Gras. I created them in Design Studio by combining shapes from the new Cricut Paisley Cartridge. I did miniature versions of the masks for the cards.

(Please click on images to see details full size.)

Follow along as I share how I created them …

First is the King’s Mask (Whoops, did you notice a little green feature was stuck to the fleur-de-lis?) …

This was created in by combining two shapes in Design studio, the crown and glasses from the Paisley Cricut Cartridge, and welding them together. I made the eyes by adding little paisleys and tilting and/or flipping them to get them into position at the right angles … it gives it a bit of an Oriental flair, don’t you think? There were several tick marks in these shapes, which I removed using the “hide contour” feature.

The paper I selected is actually a textured gold with bright glittery golden Swirls (Golden Swirl by ANW Crestwood), which was a little thin and would not hold it’s shape when attached to the stick, so I cut 3 additional heavy cardstock masks and glued them all together, one on top of the other, to give it stability. This worked great and gave a thickness similar to thick chipboard.

For the decorations, I cut the fleur-de-lis (found on the Cricut Stamping Cartridge), ran them upside down through my Xyron Sticker Maker, then covered them with purple and green glitter. I added feathers, a large purple one and smaller green ones. Whoa, what a mess … I’ve decided that I do NOT like working with feathers … I had feathers flying EVERYWHERE! I then covered a 12” wooden dowel with gold ribbon and attached it to the right side of the mask along with purple, green and gold ribbons and Mardi Gras beads.


Next is the Queen’s Mask …

This was created much the same way as the King’s mask, except that I used the princess crown and the glasses from the Cricut Paisley Cartridge. There was a slight gap between the bridge of the nose piece on the glasses and the bottom edge, so I welded an apple (from the same cartridge) into the center to cover the gap and give the nose bridge a slightly more curved finish.

With the Queen’s mask, I selected a butterfly and hearts to decorate the face … other than that, the supplies, embellishments and techniques used were identical to those used to make the King’s mask.


Lastly, the Card …

(Don't forget to click on any image to see details full size)

This was actually a very simple card to make … using the same basic steps to create the King and Queen’s masks, I made smaller versions from textured gold foil cardstock. The card is matted with green foil paper card stock and a textured feather paper. The edges are inked with a metallic gold (although it really doesn’t show much in the image). I popped the masks and sentiment, added gold ribbon, and the card was done. It’s not particularly fancy, but it does match the masks pretty well.

Don’t forget to stop by the Cuttlebug Challenge Blog to see the wonderful creations made by the other Sweet Treats Thursday Design Team members … they have truly made some amazing projects!

I hope you enjoyed your visit here today and liked my Mardi Gras projects … They were really fun to make, except for those messy feathers, of course! (*wink*) I hope you will take a moment to leave a comment to share your thoughts, I adore reading what you have to say … I’d also really love it if you would sign up to be a follower too, your visits make my blog so much more meaningful.

As always … thank you for stopping by to visit me here at my Little Creation Corner.  Have a great day, and HAPPY CRAFTING!

Hugz,
♥Carol♥

SHAPED CARDS - TUTORIAL

Greetings Everyone … This is ♥Carol♥… Thanx for visiting me here at my Little Creation Corner. Today I’d like talk about the various ways to make shaped cards. I’ve always enjoyed making shaped cards … there is something a little whimsical and unique about shaped cards and a nice departure from the standard square or rectangle shaped cards, that just makes them fun to do. I’ve been asked to give a class on making shaped cards and the techniques I use … and I thought you might be interested in learning about these techniques too.

So let’s get started … These are the cards I am going to be talking about … and we’ll go into the details as we go along. Oh, and by the way … click on any image to see the full size and a better view of the details.  (I used a different technique to make each card.)

Let’s start with the Dress which uses a partial adhering technique…

BTW … this card is featured this week at the Cuttlebug Challenge Blog where they are making creations utilizing fabric … take a moment to stop by there to check out the fabulous creations made by the other talented members of the Cuttlebug Challenge Design Team.

This dress was cut from the Forever Young Cricut Cartridge … for those with this cartridge, the dress is located on page 28 in the hand book. I cut the basic dress shape 3 times on patterned paper, and flipped one of those shapes. I then cut just the bodice of the dress in the gold metallic paper. To do this, I used my Gypsy (you could use DS too) and placed the lower portion of the dress off the mat so that only the top portion cut. But, you could also cut out the entire dress and simply snip off the lower portion.

I then gathered some material and attached it under the bodice … by the way, this is repurposed fabric that was actually wrapped around a bouquet of boxed roses that I received as a Christmas gift. I then attached the bodice over the top of the bodice on the base dress, wrapped a ribbon around the top and tied a bow … I left the tails of the ribbon long to give the dress more of an elegant “ball gown” look. I then attached the base shape to the flipped image and adhered it down (this was to give a clean finish to the under side).

Because it was difficult to keep the fabric in place, I attached some metallic gold braid to the base of the fabric and attached it to the base of the card. With the shaping flexibility of the metallic braid, I was able to give a rippled shape to the base of the dress (in real life it really looks amazing).

I then attached the top portion of the card to the bottom of the card by adhering the two pieces together at the bodice section only, and scored the card right at the ribbon line. Here is how the card looks opened up …

Next is the egg shaped card, which uses a hinge attachment technique …

This was very easy to make and this technique can be utilized on almost ALL shaped cards. I cut 4 eggs from the Easter Limited Edition Mini Cricut Cartridge. Two of the eggs were cut using the flipped feature. I placed two mirrored eggs side by side, lined them up evenly with just a small space between them (approx. 1/16 of an inch). I then placed a small strip (1/2 inch by 3 inches) of the same colored card stock between the two (almost like a little bridge) and adhered it down. Next, I adhered the two remaining eggs over the top of the first two, which covered all but a small portion of the hinge (or bridge piece). Next I scored between the two eggs and folded the card in half. Lastly I added the decorative top piece. Here is the egg open … see where the two pieces are joined together? …

Next is the Heart card, which utilizes a welding technique …

This card was perhaps the easiest card to make, but does require the use of either a Gypsy or Design Studio. For this card, I used the heart from the Calendar Cricut Cartridge, but any heart shape would work just as well. I placed two images of the heart shape, with the shadow feature, on my mat and moved them together so that they were just touching a smidgen, then welded them together so they would cut as one piece … super easy. I then cut two more shapes without the shadow, one in solid white, which I adhered to the inside of the card as a place to add the sentiment, the inside of the card, and one in patterned paper. I then added lace around the boarder of the patterned and adhered it to the top of the card. Here’s what the inside of the card looks like …

Lastly is the Owl card, which uses a swing technique …

This card was actually very easy to make too. I used the owl from the Sentimentals Cricut Cartridge for this card. I cut it out using the shadow feature 2 times, one in black and one in white. I then cut out the owl using a patterned paper without the shadow feature and placed it over the top of the black piece. Next, I cut out the owl’s features in different colored card stock … the outer eye part and the branch are in glittery gold, the inner eye piece and envelope were cut from a cream colored card stock, and the eye center, beak and feet were cut in a glossy black. Each layer of the eye, as well as the beak and feet all were popped with dimensionals. To adhere the top and bottom of the cards together, I used a brad. Since I did not have the proper colored brad, I colored it with gold embossing powder and heat embossed it so that it would match the rest of the owl … I really love the way this turned out … Isn’t he cute? *wink* Here’s a look at the card as it swings open …

(Remember ... Click on any image to see details in full size)

I hope you enjoy these cards as much as I did making them and sharing them with you. As you can see, making shaped cards is really easy to do and can be made different ways. Give it a try, I think you’ll have fun making a shaped card too. Please take a moment to leave a comment, I’d really love to hear your thoughts on this brief tutorial ... and if you are not yet a follower, I'd sure love you to join me. As always, thanx for visiting me here at my Little Creation Corner!

Hugz,
♥Carol♥

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♥

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♥

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