Birthday Layout with Echo Park Paper and Cricut Imagine

It's my turn to post today over at the Cutters Creek blog, so here's what I shared:

I am just loving the new A Boy's Life collection from Echo Park Paper!  It's really helping me get some pictures in my scrapbooks, and this time I decided to work on some older pictures I've been neglecting.  The best part is that the colors in this collection work so well with a lot of things you probably have in your stash.

I even pulled out my Cricut Imagine (which I've also been neglecting!), since I was documenting a birthday party, and there wasn't much in the stickers that would work for that.

I printed & cut my title image from the Imagine More Cards cartridge.  I sanded & distressed all of the layers.  Then I inked the bottom layer using an ink pad in my stash that darkened the blue enough so that it would better match the papers.  I popped up all of the layers using the ASI Kool Tak clear foam squares.

These journaling circles were printed & cut from the Imagine More cartridge - they are the notebook paper centers of a flower.  The distressed feel of both the Imagine More and Imagine More Cards cartridges are a perfect match for this collection.  I popped the circles up also, because of the ribbon bulk, and added the "a perfect day" sticker from the collection.

Lastly, I added a banner using stickers from the collection and a white gel pen.  One additional item to note:in order to match the distressed feel of the papers, I used a white core cardstock and sanded it all over with fine sand paper (220) to lighten it in spots.

Items available at Cutters Creek:

• A Boy's Life collection, Echo Park Paper (NEW)
• Brown distress ink of your choice, try Tim Holtz Distress Inks by Ranger
• White pen, try Inkssentials White Pen
• ASI Kool Tak clear foam squares
• ATG Adhesive
• Cricut cartridges (by special request - just ask!)

Other:

•  cardstock with a white core (I used Close To My Heart)
• hole punch (I used the Crop-a-dile) and eyelets
• coordinating ribbon (I used American Crafts)

Thanks for coming by today.  Be sure to check out the Cutters Creek blog too - there's a great design team with lots of ideas using your favorite products!

Animal Magnetism - Cricut Circle Weekly Challenge #21

This must be a record for me, 3 posts in a single day!  But I had to play along with the Weekly Challenge at the Cricut Circle Blog.  Here are the details for this week:

"This week we have been paying tribute to the critters in our lives and now we want you to do the same! For this challenge your project must include something related to an animal. You can create your project for or about an animal, include an animal cut, use animal print, etc. Project must also contain atleast 2 Cricut image cuts to qualify.

This challenge is open to Cricut Circle members only."

And here's what I came up with:

I haven't used my Imagine nearly as much as I could since I got it.  I think because I didn't shell out the cash for it, it's not always at the top of my mind.  Plus, I have so much paper in my stash that I just love to use with my Expression.  But, I've been wanting to do more with the Imagine More cartridge that came with my machine, and this cow fit the theme for the week perfectly!  The background paper is also from that cartridge.  I used the pre-loaded shapes on the I for the squares and the clouds, using the color palette from Imagine More to color them in.  (It was SO nice to whip out a card in ten minutes without worrying about matching things.)

I cut the squares in both blue and green, then tore off a piece of the green and layered it on the blue.  The cow head is popped up with adhesive foam.  And my sentiment is stamped with a phrase from the More Punny-licious set from My Pink Stamper in Chocolate ink from Close To My Heart.

Imagine More

I have another little Cricut Imagine project for you today.  My 14th wedding anniversary was Tuesday, so I made my hubby a cute card from the Imagine More cartridge that comes with the machine.  One of the Bonus items that comes on the cartridge is a multi-colored envelope.  I thought it would make a great card instead of using it as an envelope.  I used the fit to page feature to make a standard A4 size card (approximately).  I scored the folds on my Scor Pal.  Then I used the image with a bird on a branch and separated it into layers, with relative size set at 3.5".  I adhered the layers together onto the center panel of the envelope card (the white side), popping up the little bird using foam squares.  Finally, I used my Calligraphy Collection cartridge to spell out hubby's name, and filled it with one of the patterns from Imagine More.  I used my Quickie Glue pen to adhere the letters to the outer flap.  Here's what my card looks like: