Artfully Sent Monthly Challenge, Day Five

Today's project is a card that took me less than five minutes - it's so simple!

This card was actually a mistake cut - I meant to hit "Shift" before "Cut" and this is what I got... but add some washi tape, twine and a liner and I've got a great gift! So simple!

Hope you have a great weekend and I'll be back tomorrow with another project from the Artfully Sent Cricut cartridge!

Artfully Sent Monthly Challenge, Day Four

Here we are at Day Four! Are you enjoying the few projects I've shared with you? If not that's okay - there's a lot more to share so I hope you stick with me! There is so much on this cartridge that I'm finding a month may not be enough time ... but I've committed to a month (and only a month!) and I'm going to do my best to share the range of projects from this cartridge.

Today's project isn't a card - it's an envelope. Back when I married my husband, my mother-in-law and her sisters were making cards together and they made their own envelopes out of wallpaper sample books. It was a time consuming process because wallpaper can be thick and difficult to cut. But they had their templates and they did it - but they also had to cut out liners for the inside because of the ugliness and destruction of the glue on the backside of the wallpaper. Eek! It wasn't for me - I was quite happy buying my envelopes in bulk from Staples. But, I will admit, receiving a beautiful envelope in the mail was an event - it always meant love because I knew it could only come from one of three people. I can now hope to carry on that tradition because this cartridge makes a lot of different envelopes - all with their own liners! It's so easy! 

I selected a plain Jane envelope and liner to start with but there are scalloped edges, sleeve envelopes and more. But I lined it with some of my favorite B&T paper from the "For Always" paper pack (retired but there is a new PML pack that will match it!). This will surely bring a smile to whomever opens it!

Tomorrow's project is another card but you'll love how quick and stunning this one is!

Artfully Sent Monthly Challenge, Day Three

Yesterday I shared the first of two baby cards I made using the new Artfully Sent Cricut cartridge from Close to My Heart. Today, I'm going to share the second one.

This cartridge makes it so simple to make a beautiful card quickly. But it also features envelopes, PML cards and much more. I used a PML card to decorate the front of this card, added a few embellishments and voila!

This card is preset to cut at 4" x 6" so I changed the dial size to 5" so it would better fit a 5" x 7" card. As you can see, it's not exactly 5" x 7" but it does fit the 7" height of the card base.

I added a bow of the new Thistle ribbon and some silver Glitz (retired) to highlight the heart shape.

The drying time of the Glitz was the longest part of making the card, but tying that bow was a close second! :)

The inside sentiment was from the stamp set that came with the cartridge. There are lots of phrases to choose from and it's easy to mix and match. There are sentiments for every card occasion I could think of - all on one stamp set!

Yes, this cartridge is an investment BUT there is so much in this purchase to make it a wise investment. There are three D sized stamp sets that come with it plus a bundle of White Daisy cardstock. I'll be using another of the stamp sets on tomorrow's project.

See you tomorrow!

Artfully Sent Monthly Challenge, Day Two

Welcome back to the second day of my self-imposed monthly challenge with the Artfully Sent Cricut cartridge!

Browsing through the booklet that came with the cartridge, I noticed this 5x7 card and thought it would make a beautiful baby card.

I cut the first two "drafts" out of cardstock (doesn't work well with a dull blade) so I used Desert Sand cardstock and it went much smoother. I backed the inside cover with White Daisy cardstock  and colored in the negative space with the Shin Han alcohol makers to make the card pop. I then lined the whole inside of the card with another layer of White Daisy cardstock to hide the bleed-through of the makers. Because the alcohol markers layer so well, I colored the tree in then let it dry and colored it in again with the same color (Clay, I think) to give it a little dimension, skipping parts of the branches where there would be some highlights.

Since this is going to a friend who just had a little boy, I used blue on the bunting.

Come back again tomorrow when I;ll share a card I made for a friend who just had a baby girl.

Artfully Sent Monthly Challenge, Day One

Today is the first day of my month-long, self-imposed challenge to share with you one project a day that I made using the new CTMH Artfully Sent Cricut cartridge.

Yesterday, I shared with you a beautiful swing card I made using the Scaredy Cat paper pack but today I'm going to share with you a super simple card made with cardstock that came together in less than 10 minutes.

I made this card using Sweet Leaf, Chocolate & White Daisy cardstock, and the ShinHan alcohol markers. Each of the three cuts were made from the same key on the cartridge and they coordinate so beautifully, it's super simple to load up three mats with a cardstock sheet, and feed it through the machine without changing any of the settings (and no, I don't have the new Cricut Explore). It's all programed into the cartridge!

Once I assembled everything, I laid it out flat so that the front card was over some scrap paper and I colored in the tree branch and bird using the ShinHan alcohol markers (the scrap paper was to protect from any bleed through from the markers). I outlined the animals with a marker to provide a little definition.

Using the fun alphabet stamp set included in the cartridge kit, I stamped "Miss you Dear" in black archival ink since I will be tucking this into my hubby's go bag for deer camp in the fall.

Come back again tomorrow when I'll share another card I made for my hubby using this fun new cartridge!

Scaredy Cat meets Artfully Sent

Please forgive me, I got a little distracted this month. After a few months of waiting (for us consultants, it's been since July) the Artfully Sent Cricut cartridge is finally available!

To celebrate the release of the cartridge, I'm undertaking a self-imposed challenge: 31 days of projects using the Artfully Sent Cricut cartridge! (*breathe!*)

I found it so easy to work with this weekend that I made a few more cards than I really needed to make which is how this challenge started - what am I going to do with all these cards?!?

So, I will share them with you over the next few days plus all the new projects I am anxiously awaiting to make. But first... a sneak peek using the Scaredy Cat paper pack (because this month's challenge was using that one paper pack, ahem, oops!)

This is a fun swing card cut on B&T paper. Then I added a Slate gray cardstock to the right inside that was cut with "BOO".

I backed the letters with some scrap Kraft paper to give a little color difference and used the "Frightfully Fun" Stamp Set B1453 in Black Archival ink for the cute little ghost and sentiment.

See you tomorrow when I share another project from the new Artfully Sent Cricut cartridge!

What I'm working on this weekend

Since I was working over our anniversary a few weeks ago, my husband stole me away this weekend to this beach sans kids. Of course I brought some scrapbooking goodies along!

I brought the new Artfully Sent Cricut cartridge from CTMH so I'll have some fun projects to share with you next week!

Stay tuned!

Artistic Adventure Daily Recap - Day One

With all the excitement over the last few days, it's eerily quiet around the hotel tonight. Consultants can be found all over DisneyLand with their new Annual Inspirations in hand, post it notes and a growing list of new items to buy!

I've quickly uploaded and (badly) edited photos to share with you! Here's a quick intro to the new products. Over the next few weeks, I'll share more detailed information and artwork with you about specific products.

Brian Holman, VP

Brian, Monica and Kristine

Artfully Sent Cricut Collection

Five new colors - Pixie, Thistle, Flaxen, Canary and Glacier

Cut Above - precut card kits

Embossing powders

Snack time, Disney style!

A goodies winner!

She won a new Artfully Sent Cricut Collection

A new Score board!!!!

 

Designer Creations - preprinted treat bags and boxes perfect as they are or ready to embellish

Stay tuned, there's more to come!!! It's only day one! :)