Lori's Garden, Cute as a Bug challenge and a WINNER!

And the winner of the red, white and blue cricut crawl is... Jaime at scrappin2babygirls!! Woo hoo! Congratulations!!  And thanks to you all who participated in the Cricut Crawl! 

Now on to some scrappyness...

I have this pile of photos on my desk that I really want to put in a scrapbook and yesterday I was inspired.  There were 3 pictures of my sweet daughter that really captured her wonderful spirit but they were unrelated and a bit different in their style.  I would need to use papers and embellishments that would create a thread between them.  I perused through my cartridge handbooks and stumbled upon the Cricut Imagine cartridge “Lori’s Garden.”

Flip, flip, flip... and then I was on page 10 and this beautiful poppy jumped right off of the page.

This would be my focal point embellishment that all the other decorative elements would need to work around.

Since the Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog was having a challenge called “cute as a bug” I searched for a garden bug that would qualify.

Ah-ha! I found a butterfly on the same cartridge that was a perfect match to my flower and the coloring of 2 of the photos.  Alrighty – I had a concept, a color palette and a theme.  I just had to pick my papers, create a design, select embellishments, a title and then commit to the final product so I could adhere it all down.  Yikes.  That is an awful lot to tackle!  But I remembered that Imagine cartridges include papers and embellishments from the same palette so a lot of the footwork was already done!

This does not show all of the beautiful artwork on the cartridge.

I printed out patterned rectangles from page 41 and 42 and then started tinkering. It took a while for me to commit to the final design but when it was done, I was really happy with the page.

If you have an Imagine, you may fall in love Lori’s Garden.  At first look it may look frilly and it might seem like it won’t match your regular scrapbooking/ card making style.  But if you don’t focus on the shabby chic (I love it but I didn’t think it would work with my 10 yr old son and 7 yr old, daughter), you will see that there are plenty of modern images too.  And what is so great about Imagine cartridges is that you can print and cut the image as a single image or print and cut bits of the completed image and layer then to give the final artwork dimension.  This also means that you can use those bits by themselves and/or leave them off of the final image.

Next we a list of all of the images and phrases on this cartridge with their page numbers.  If you find any errors in the spreadsheet, please let me know so I can correct them. If you would like to share this information on your blog, instead of copy and pasting this info, please paste a link to my site. The spreadsheet below is saved as a JPEG but you can download a PDF version of Lori's Garden here:

Cricut Imagine Cartridge, Lori's Garden Table of Contents 

Stretch Your Imagination Cricut Cartridge Table of Contents

I want to meet the designer who came up with the concept for the Cricut cartridge Stretch Your Imagination.  The artwork is so much fun and inspiring.  Every time I look at the graphics I feel a little whimsy sweep over me.

You can see the playfulness come through in other artist's work too.  Take a look at this adorable card by cuddlebug_fan at Leirad's Corner. Her work is impeccable, the detail is wonderful, but the wonky baby carriage makes the card totally fabulous!

 

And look at this card by Jeri at Bug 'n Me Creations. Jeri added some super cute details like the white dashes on the spider legs and thematic embossing.  On it's own it would be darling, but those long legs are fantastic and take the card to a whole new level!

This card by Jaqui J at Creative Today is absolutely marvelous.  The stretched babies are as fun as fun can be, turning embellishments on a plain white card into a playful little dance of baby fun.

This cartridge has a large variety of images in regular and stretched sizes as well as a card, frame and a silhouette.  

You can see that all of the holidays and seasons are covered as well as a number of decorative elements including tags and swirled silhouettes.

Lets take a look at a page from the handbook.

In this example, there are 2 primary images- a "2-pumpkin" character and a stretched "8-pumpkin" character. Both of these images have a layer, a silhouette, a shadow and a blackout. 

At the bottom of this page is a jpeg with a list of the words/ expressions and a list of the images on the cartridge. The list is sorted alphabetically and has the page number for each line item.  If you would like a pdf of this information, you can download it by clicking here: 

  

STRETCH YOUR IMAGINATION PDF

If you find any errors in the spreadsheet, please let me know so I can correct them. If you would like to share this information on your blog, instead of copy and pasting this info, please paste a link to my site.

Cricut Cartridge, Simply Charmed Overview

The holidays are at my heels and I have been off the grid with lots of projects and family time.  Thanksgiving came and went in the blink of an eye and now we have Christmas coming up fast.  I am very involved in the Holiday Gift Shop at my children's school, so all of my creative time has been dedicated to the bazillion details that make this event so magical.

That said I apologize for neglecting my blog and especially for failing to post a cricut cartridge comprehensive overviews for so long.  Today I am presenting the fun and broad ranging cartridge, Simply Charmed.  This was one of the first cartridges I purchased with my Expression and I definitely put some miles on it.  It has such a variety of images that I was able to rely on it for a good amount of time before I started investing in more cartridges. 

In this blog entry we will take a look at all the images and phrases on this cartridge.  We will discuss the cartridge format and there will be a table of contents PDF for you to download.  The table of contents contains all of the images or phrases included on the cartridge and their corresponding page numbers.

These are all of the images you can create with this fun cartridge.  There are 2 images per key on the overlay/ page in the handbook.  The first primary image can be retrieved by selected its key on the keypad and the second is cut by adding the shift key.  Each image is paired with a coordinated counterpart.  The bride and the groom, the moon and a star, pizza and a soda and Santa and a chimney are all examples of the pairings.

One of the greatest features of this cartridge is the number of layers it includes.  The more layers, the more dimension and variety in color.  Below is page 61 from the handbook which is related to Thanksgiving.

If we follow the color scheme as laid out in the the handbook, this is how the image is organized: We are looking at the turkey for this example which requires the shift key.

The primary image is the base and it is cut out in white.  All of the additional layers will be stacked on top of this aside from the shadow which will go underneath. The reason white is best for this base is because when it is fully assembled, the leg bones will not be covered by other layers and will appropriately be white.  The next key is "Layer 1" (with shift) which cuts out the drumsticks. "Layer 2" cuts out the body of the turkey. "Layer 3" cuts out the plate the turkey will rest on.  "Layer 4" will cut out the bed of lettuce that lays on the plate under the turkey.  Take note that the lettuce has a "plate shaped" lip on the bottom.  You will adhere your plate on top of this lip for proper placement.  The order of layering will look like this:

• primary image
• the body (there are slight cuts to indicate where to adhere the legs to the body)
• the drum sticks
• the lettuce
• the plate

The final "layer" to the image is the shadow which you would place under the layered image to make the die cut pop which is especially helpful if you are putting it on top of white or patterned paper.

The last feature on this key/ page is the "phrase" which includes 1 layer for dimension (also known as the shadow.)  Below are all of the phrases included with this cartridge.

To view the entire handbook in pdf format, click here.

Below are a few examples of what you can create with this cartridge.  These samples and the card at the top of this blog entry were created by Jordan at CuteCuteWorld. Isn't her work adorable?

Last but not least, here is a list of all of the images and phrases on this cartridge with their page numbers.  If you find any errors in the spreadsheet, please let me know so I can correct them. If you would like to share this information on your blog, instead of copy and pasting this info, please paste a link to my site. The spreadsheet below is saved as a JPEG but you can download a PDF version of Simply Charmed here: 

SIMPLY CHARMED TABLE OF CONTENTS PDF

 

Comprehensive Overview of Cricut Cartridge, "Life's a Party"

Cricut has a whole line of Project and Events cartridges that offer specifically themed party decorations and elements.  What I love about the "Life's a Party" cartridge is that it offers a variety of different party themes, a nice selection of projects plus a font!  In this cartridge overview we will take a look at:

• a sample view of the cartridge images
• a list of the various themes this cartridge can work with
• a look at all of the cards offered on the cartridge and a PDF reference sheet download
• a look at the font and a PDF reference sheet download
• a look at all of the phrases offered on the cartridge and a PDF reference sheet download
• a look at all of the projects offered on the cartridge and a PDF reference sheet download
• a look at a few handbook pages with photos of completed projects completely assembled
• a link to the PDF of the handbook
• a spreadsheet with a list of the images, words and phrases, cards and projects with their pages numbers including a link to download the PDF version.

Above is the sample sheet that is on the back of the cartridge box.  Below is a list of the various party themes included on this cartridge which include coordinating cards/ invitations, phrases, cupcake wrappers, scrapbook pages and 3-D projects.

Party themes includes:

• Birthday/ celebration
• Princess
• Rock Star
• Pirate
• Outer Space
• Zoo or Animals
• Sports
• Over the hill
• Baby shower/ New baby
• Bridal shower/ Wedding

First lets take a look at the cards included in this cartridge:

 

There are 5 cards for each theme which can be used for invitations, greetings and thank you notes.  I created a quick reference sheet so I can quickly look through my options when I need a card. You can download a PDF copy of the Life's A Party card reference sheet by clicking the link below.  If you would like to share this information on your blog, instead of copy and pasting this info, please paste a link to my site:

LIFE'S A PARTY QUICK REFERENCE PDF

Next, lets take a look at the font that comes with the cartridge.  I use this font all the time.  I love its playful tone and weight. It is perfect for scrapbook page titles, cards and banners!

 

I have a hard time judging how a font will look as a word unless I see the letters next to one another so I created this Font Quick Reference Sheet. You can download a PDF copy of the Life's A Party Font Reference Sheet by clicking the link below.  If you would like to share this information on your blog, instead of copy and pasting this info, please paste a link to my site:

LIFE'S A PARTY QUICK REFERENCE PDF

This cartridge also offers a category (creative feature) called phrases although many of the cuts in this category are images rather than words.

 

You can download a PDF copy of the Life's A Party Phrase Reference Sheet by clicking the link below.  If you would like to share this information on your blog, instead of copy and pasting this info, please paste a link to my site:

LIFE'S A PARTY PHRASE QUICK REFERENCE SHEET

Believe it or not this cartridge also has a variety of projects including gift boxes, crowns, hats, glasses and scrapbook pages.

 

You can download a PDF copy of the Life's A Party Project Reference Sheet by clicking the link below.

LIFE'S A PARTY PROJECTS QUICK REFERENCE PDF

There is also a cupcake wrapper and topper for each key on the cartridge that coordinates with the primary image. 

 Here are a few examples of completed projects:

 

 

 

 

To download a copy of the Life's A Party handbook visit the Cricut website here.

 

Last but not least, here is a list of all of the images and phrases on this cartridge with their page numbers.  If you find any errors in the spreadsheet, please let me know so I can correct them. If you would like to share this information on your blog, instead of copy and pasting this info, please paste a link to my site. The spreadsheet below is saved as a JPEG but you can download a PDF version of Life's A Party here:

LIFE'S A PARTY TABLE OF CONTENTS & PAGE #S PDF