elegant card set

hi all!

so i anyone else thinking about new year's resolutions?  i rarely make any but this year is different - i actually have a number of them.  they are more like goals for the year i guess.  maybe some of both. i have been exercising regularly and want to continue - which for me is huge because i am so NOT a fan nor have i ever done it :P  i was more active once upon a time but not an exerciser for the sake of exercising.  however i am determined to put a stop to the weight gain if the last several years!  i have been doing weights with hubby downstairs in his gym and while i don't like the actual working out it IS nicer doing it all together.  pezza goes down their too and has some baby weights - she is hysterical down there.  she has been going in the weight room with daddy since she was very small and she is quite comfortable in there.  bubba comes too and hangs out with us.  i also want to learn to do more on my computer with photoshop, in design and my wacom tablet.  we have soe family financial goals too that we will continue to work towards (which means continuing to watch my spending - BLECH!)

of course i will continue to make it a priority to spend time in my studio!  today i wanted to show y'all a set of cards and tags i made for my MIL - i was very pleased with how they turned out:

hopefully she was too!

It's so easy to put one of these together - I started with the Damask Decor Cricut Cartridge - i have been itching to try some of the cards and tags on it and had not had time.

Next I picked out a 6"x6" paper pad i wanted to use.  I gathered some solid cardstock to match the colors in the paper pad and this way i knew all of my items would coordinate nicely with each other.

For the first 2 cards i chose the card creative feature.  This cuts out a beautiful card front in any size you want.  I knew i would be matting mine so i cut them at a slightly smaller size.  i could also cut out the card base but since these were both just plain rectangles i did not do that with the cricut - it would have wasted paper.  but there are shape cards on the cartridge too.

Next I made one using the main shape and it's layers.  every shape on this cartridge is gorgeous and they make incredible embellishments!

this last card uses the silhouette creative feature and is also very striking.  I wanted these cards to be clean & simple without any bulky embellishments so all i did was ink all of my edges and then i added a few glittered skittles or pezabling accents.

the cartridge also has a tag feature which i used for these.  the best part - see the two tags with the blue die cuts - that is one cut - i used the positive AND the negative of the cut to create 2 tags!

i packaged them up in a clear box - i purchased a big stack of these years ago from clear bags i think.  i tied the box with the same ribbon i used on the tags.

i am really anxious to make some more of these - i loved playing with the shapes as well as mixing and matching all the coordinating elements.  who knows maybe i can sell them on etsy!

lotsa {christmas} cards

hi all! 

(weird - my post posted itself all on it's own while i was typing....i apologize if you have to read this twice.)

hi all!

we had a great time at the cookie exchange party tuesday!  hollyn loved playing with all the kids and i loved seeing friends i don't see nearly often enough these days.  we came home with some yummy treats of all kinds and we also did an ornament exchange which was really fun too.  apparently this is not a new way to do things but it was new to me - everyone had numbers.  when it was your turn you could either pick a wrapped ornament from under the tree OR steal someone else's ornament they had already unwrapped!  too fun!

then yesterday we got together with some folks at the skating rink - wednesday morning they have a session for littler kids with push toys and ride on toys and bikes and such.  we used to go alot but the rink was closed down for quite awhile for major renovations.  i tried to get pezza to bring her bike to practice on a nice flat area but she refused.  instead she chose to bring a baby and a doll carriage (WTF?) and spent the entire time trying to get a turn on other kids bikes cuz she wanted something to ride.  unfortunately some were not interested in sharing with her so it was a whole lot less fun than the cookie party :P

also went for my third chiropractor visit - my headaches are improving some but when they hit they sure hit hard!

and in the midst of it all i made 7 more xmas cards to show you!

I used my ALL TIME favorite cricut cartridge and my Imagine - Snow Angels.  i love EVERYTHING about this cartridge - the colors, the patterns, the images, the shapes.  i got this after christmas last year and couldn't wait to make cards with it but i was having a lot of trouble callibrating my machine.  it's still not quite right but good enough to make the cards if i turn off the borders.

I chose all of my main shapes and then edited them so they were 3.5" and separated into layers.  this way i could stack the layers with foam tape after inking the edges to give the cards some depth and dimension - much more interesting than the flat one layer image!

after doing my main images i worked on my patterned papers - SO EASY with the imagine because they are all on one cart and totally coordinate!

i did not print out entire pages, which is an option on the imagine.  there would be too much wasted paper and ink that way.

instead i chose a 5"x7" rectangle from the stock shapes on the imagine and then added various patterns to it - i printed 7 altogether, 1 for each card. 

my cards are 5.5"x4.25" so i knew a 5x7 piece would give me plenty to cover the card front.

the extra i cut off was perfect for a smaller panel on the front of each card!  i ended up with VERY little waste!

next i dug around and found perfectly matched cardstock to use for the card base, the mat for the smaller panel and the nestie mat for each ornament - i rarely print solid colors.

i used a different edge punch on each mat and a different nestie on each as well and then put it all together!

this was a fun and relatively easy little project to do - it was somewhat assembly line since all of the measurements and the layout were the same without the boring monotony of making a bunch of cards exactly the same.

what do y'all think?