Want to Win a Cricut E2??

In about 24 hours, Home Shopping Network will launch the Provo Craft Fifth Anniversary Expression 2! Almost everyone in the Cricut world is anxious to too see the E2 in action. The ladies at Everyday Cricut are giving away a brand spankin' new E2! If you would like to get in on the fun, go to:

http://www.cricutholiday.com/

so you can find out the many ways you can have a chance to win the new E2!

I can't wait!

Have a great day!

Koala-t hugs,

Cathy

Fifth Anniversary of the Cricut Challenge

Happy Friday everyone!

This year, the Cricut celebrates its 5th anniversary, and in celebration, Provo Craft has released the E2, a new version of the Cricut Expression. The launch date is April 26 on Home Shopping Network.

As part of the celebration, Provo Craft had a contest to win an E2. Entries were to be a Birthday themed 12 x 12 layout, made with Cricut and our choice of cartridges.

I'm not one to do challenges, but I thought I would give this one a try. The first layout was quite challenging, the ideas were difficult to come by, but once I got started, I was able to complete 3 layouts (we were able to enter a maximum of 3). Five winners will be selected and many will be selected to be shown on HSN Tuesday.

Here are my entries. I've seen some of the others so far and they are fantastic! So many creative Cricuteers out there! I would be happy if mine are shown on HSN during the day of the launch.

This one was made using the Imagine. Using the Yummy cartridge, I cut the woman holding the cake and the flourish corners, border and "Celebrate" The photo mat sized to fit a 4 x 6 photo and the photo mat was cut using Elegant Edges (my FAVORITE Cricut cartridge), printed on the Imagine. Background paper is embossed Core'dinations.

This one was fairly simple. I cut balloons from the Celebrations cartridge, using various papers. Font is Zooballoo, "5" is from Mickey Font. Photo Mat is from Elegant Edges. Papers from Core'dinations and Die Cuts With A View.

This was the first one I completed and took the longest. I used the following cartridges: Elegant Edges for the photo mat and oval mat for the cake, Paper Lace for the font, Martha Stewart All Occasion for the banner flags, cake cut using Smiley Cards, and "5" candle from Sweet Treats. Papers from Core'dinations and Paper Studio.

Good luck to all the entries! It will be fun seeing all the different Layouts celebrating one of our Favorite Bugs - Cricut!

Have a wonderful weekend! Happy Easter and Happy Spring to all!

Koala-t hugs,

Cathy

SPOTLIGHT ON: PAGODA, Part 2

Here is another card I created using Pagoda. A truly unique cartridge with lots of potential.

I cut the screen at 5", at this size, it fit the width of an size A2 card. Flowers were cut at 4". I didn't put any greeting on this card, as it would be great for any occasion.

Tomorrow is Hello Thursday at the Cricut message board, where they show new cartridges. Its always fun to see the new cartridges that are coming out, even if I don't buy any, its always fun to see them.

Have a great day! Thanks for stopping by.

Koala-t hugs,

Cathy

SPOTLIGHT ON: Cricut PAGODA Cartridge

I purchased this cartridge for the Kanji characters on it, but discovered some really beautiful shapes on it.

This card is made with glazed cardstock that I inked to bring out the design. The fan was cut with the Cricut and the Pagoda cartridge. Happy Birthday was cut from Lacy Labels .

The next week or two will be exciting in the Cricut world. Thursday this week is Hello Thursday - where Provo Craft announces new cartridges. Next week, the Expression 2 will be launched on HSN in celebration of the 5th anniversary of the Cricut. I'm very excited about this updated version of the Expression. Later in April or early May, depending on how the beta testing is going, the Cricut CraftRoom will open up to all. Its a on line software to design and create to cut to our Cricut machines. I'm excited about all these happenings!

Hope you are having a great week. Its been gloomy and very rainy here...we even had some snow yesterday. Lets hope we have a nice day for Easter and that it won't be long before we are enjoying the blooming trees and flowers and warm, summer breezes!

Koala-t hugs,

Cathy

Making Unique Papers with the Imagine

This is part two of my experiments making my own paper designs using white glazed and pearlized papers that are on the market these days. Yesterday, I showed you the results I obtained using these papers with inks and glimmer sprays.

Today, I am showing the results I obtained using my Cricut Imagine and these same papers.

When the Imagine debuted last summer at CHA, the demonstrators talked about using glazed papers. I went on the hunt for these papers and found them at Archivers. Made by Bazzill, its their famous textured cardstock with a glazed design on the paper and at $2.00 a sheet, it was more than I like to spend on paper. I was anxious to try out this method so I purchased a few sheets in white and cream colored sheets.

These first examples, I used Colorbok white textured cardstock (on the left) and the example on the right is the Bazzill glazed cardstock in the cream color. I liked how the colors looked deeper, the green/blue seems more intense too. Once I printed the papers in the Imagine, I took a cotton round and rubbed the ink off of the glazed areas. It did blur a bit on the edges of the paper along side the glazed design. I liked the way it turned out.

Here is another example, using the same papers (but the Bazzill glazed is on the left side) Its kinda cool how the glazed design shows and the deeper colors of the printed design.

Here is a close up of two more examples. Both of these papers are from the SEI pearlized paper stack. The design you get depends on how much or how little glaze there is on the paper. The paper on the left is mostly glazed and the swirls are the areas that retained the print of design from Imagine. The one on the right retained most of the printed design from the Imagine, as the glazed area was smaller. You can see the little flower designs on the paper.

Here is another photo, of the above papers.

Here is a layout I created using these papers. Both are from the SEI Pearlized stack and printed using the full 12 x 12 printing method on the Imagine. I used Cricut Cartridges Cindy Loo cartridge for the frame and the scalloped circle for journaling; Pagoda for the Kanji symbol and flower, and Gypsy Wanderings for the word Journey.

I hope you enjoyed today's feature. I enjoy creating these papers and look forward to creating more!

Happy St. Patrick's day!

Koala-t hugs,

Cathy

Making my Own Papers

No, I'm not cutting down any trees, but I am using different methods to give me a wider variety of paper colors and designs.

I recently heard about some unique paper called Color Me. Its where you can use inks to create your own color paper with a design already printed into the paper. Since I'm impatient and couldn't wait for this paper to arrive, I thought I'd do some experimentation.

In my paper stash, I had a package of White Elegance from s e i. Its a white on white paper,described on the stack as "pearly foil papers". I had made a wedding book with this paper and had some larger pieces to experiment with.

I first tried Distress Ink with a cosmetic sponge and applied it to the paper. Now, I'm not the greatest when it comes to inks (or anything messy for that matter) But I was happy with the results. Here are some of my experiments.

I received a different effect with each patterned paper I used. I have always loved the watercolor colored papers and designs and that is what I was going for. The paper would soak up the ink more in the "unglazed" areas of the paper and depending on how much or how little was on the paper is how light or dark the paper became. I did use a clean cotton square to rub the ink into the paper and to remove the ink on the glazed areas. All these are great for future card backgrounds

I used glimmer sprays on the next three examples. I was not very happy with these, as they (I used Luminart Radiant Rain) have a high water content and will warp the paper. If I want to use these, I will need to flatten them out. The effect is ok, but I really liked the inks better. I had more control over how much ink and where I wanted it and the ink didn't soak up the paper like the spray did. Because of the high water content, I only used one color on a card.

Then I attempted to do an entire page. I used Bazzill's fairly new Glazed Cardstock. This one is white with white glazed images. On this particular sheet, its cupcakes. This is how it came out.

Pretty cool, eh? This will be great for a birthday layout for one of my granddaughters book.

So, with all the inked papers I had, I was able to create a few cards.

The first card was made with images from the Cricut Pagoda cartridge and the greeting was cut using Paper Lace.

I also used Paper Lace on the circle design with greeting.

Hope you enjoyed today's features. I love creating my own colors of paper and I'm anxious to find more papers that I can use with this method.

Tomorrow, I will show you the papers I created using my Imagine!

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Koala-t hugs,

Cathy

Monochromatic Birthday Card

Time to get back to crafting! Hi all! Hope you are having a great Monday. I appreciate all that have been visiting in the past month when I've been AWOL from my blog. I'm back and hope you all continue to visit.

Today's feature is a card made with several layers and one of my favorite papers - Core'dinations. I used this paper for the background, embossed with a Sizzix folder and sanded a bit to bring out the dots. Cricut Cartridge Cindy Loo was used for the open scalloped circle and its shadow. The shape is the circle design with the deer (page 69 of the handbook) and I used the Gypsy and the Hide Contour feature to remove the detail in the circle and just leave the open scallop design. The top circle with the greeting was cut using Cricut Cartridge Paper Lace - which is one of my current favorites!

I tend to go for less is more and like the simpler cards.

Thanks for stopping by! Hope to see you soon.

Koala-t hugs,

Cathy