Rock Princess Birthday Card

I had debated about buying Cricut's Rock Princess since it was released. I really liked the images but didn't think that I would use them enough to justify the price of the cartridge. Cricut recently put a lot of their cartridges on sale, including Rock Princess, so I couldn't resist adding it to my collection. I also should mention that Cricut has brought back the popular (discontinued) Paper Pups cartridge both as a cartridge and a digital download in the Cricut Craft Room. If you have wanted Paper Pups now is your chance to own it. It's uncertain how long Cricut will make it available.

Michelle's birthday is coming up soon so I wanted to use Rock Princess to make a fun card for her. To accent the card I cut individual skulls from some skull border tape that I found at Michaels. I added Washi tape across the top edge of the card. Washi tape is quickly becoming one of my favorite embellishments. While it looks rather unassuming on the roll, it really enhances a card. I have been using it for borders instead of ribbon. Another line of products that I really like is Memory Box dies. I used the DeLacie Border for this card. The best thing about Memory Box dies is that they can be used with any die cut machine that uses individual dies like Sizzix, Cuttlebug, etc.

Directions for Rock Princess Birthday Card:

Dark pink, light pink, black, grey, light tan, brown, and leopard print card stock
DCWV Tres Chic mat stack- grey striped card stock
Recollections Black and white print Washi tape
Recollections pink mesh trim
Recollections pink crystal self adhesive hearts
Recollections glittered skull tape
Pink self adhesive pearls
Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist- Diamond Dust and Pink Cherry
#4 flat paintbrush
Zots
Memory Box DeLacie Border die
Cricut Rock Princess cartridge

1.  Using the Rock Princess cartridge cut Ashley out of black card stock at 3 inches. Press shift and Ashley keys to cut the face, hand and knee out of light tan card stock. Press the Layer 1 and Ashley keys to cut the hair out of brown card stock. Cut the belt out of light pink card stock by pressing Ashley, Layer 1 and Shift. Next cut the scooter out of dark pink card stock (Press Ashley and Layer 2). Press Ashley, Layer 2 and Shift to cut the wheels and skirt out of grey card stock. Repeat to cut the skirt out of leopard print card stock.  Assemble the image, using the grey for the wheel covers and the leopard print skirt.

2.  Embellish Ashley's scooter. Cut one skull from the glitter skull tape and attach to the front of the scooter. Add dark pink heart shaped crystals to the center of the scooter's wheel covers. Add a small light pink heart crystal to the front of the scooter for a headlight. Highlight the wheel spokes with a grey colored pencil.

3.  Embellish Ashley. Use a dark pink colored pencil to draw in her mouth and add blush to her cheeks. Attach a small faux pearl to the front of her belt and two small faux pearls to her wrist for a bracelet. Shake Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist Diamond Dust and remove the spray cap from the bottle. Dip the #4 flat paint brush into the bottle, blot the excess Glimmer Mist on a piece of scrap paper, then lightly brush over the lens of the sunglasses and boot. Rinse the brush and dip into the Cherry Glimmer Mist. Brush the Pink Cherry Glimmer Mist over the scooter. Set aside to dry.

4.  Cut two DeLacie borders out of light pink card stock.using Sizzix or other die cut machine. If you have trouble removing the card stock from the die use the tip of an awl to lift the card stock from the die.

5.  Create a Birthday card using a greeting card program and the half-fold option. Score the card and fold in half.

6.  Glue one DeLacie border approximately 1/4 inch from the bottom of the card. I ran the border through the Xyron machine to create a sticker instead of applying glue to the border.

7.  Cut a background from the Tres Chic grey striped paper approximately 3 1/4 inches high by 4 1/4 inches wide. Round the corners with a corner rounder paper punch. Cut a piece of Recollections pink mesh trim the width of the background. Press into place approximately 1/8 inch above the bottom of the background. Attach foam dots to the back of the Ashley image. Place Ashley so that the tires of the scooter sit between the pink mesh rows (to simulate the lanes of a road). Cut 2 skulls from the Glittered Skull tape and place one skull in the upper right and upper left corners of the background. Attach Zots to the reverse side of the background. Place the background approximately 1/4 inch above the highest point of the border and 3/4 inches from the left edge of the card.  Press the background in place.

8.  Glue the second DeLacie border approximately 1/4 inch above the top of the background.

9.  Cut a piece of black and white print Washi tape the width of the card. Apply the tape approximately 1/4 inch from the top of the card. Embellish with 10 medium self adhesive pearls, evenly space across the length of the Washi tape.

Owl Birthday Card

One of the really nice things about owning the Cricut is having the ability to make personalized cards for any occasion. I like searching through my Cricut library to find the right image for my cards. I found this adorable little Owl on the Kate's ABC's cartridge and decided to build a card around him. When I create cards I very rarely have a clear vision of the finished project, I usually start with an image and go from there. I recently bought some pink Washi tape and wanted to use it in a project. I liked how it looked against the white card stock so I used the tape as the basis for my color scheme. Last night I had some new Memory Box dies lying on my drafting table and had cut the Melinda Corner image out of pink card stock. The corner was beautiful but didn't fit anywhere on this card, so I trimmed off the ends of the corner to use, under the edges of the mat, as accents.

Owl Card Directions:

Darice Washi Masking Tape-pink print
Recollections Faux Pearls
Yellow,light pink,medium pink, brown, green, and white cardstock
Yellow self stick crystals
Petaloo Floral Embelishments
Petaloo Premier Darjeeling Collection
DCWV All Dressed Up mat stack- black and pink dotted card stock
Martha Stewart Rose Leaf Paper Punch
Corner Rounder Paper Punch
Small black card stock oval
Cricut Kate's ABC's cartridge
Memory Box Melinda Corner Die
Tattered Angels GlimmerMist Diamond Dust
Zots and Foam Dots

1.   Print a birthday card on white card stock using a greeting card program. Leave enough room (on the front of the card) under the greeting for the card design. Score the card and fold in half.

2.   Cut a piece of pink Washi tape the length of the card and position it 1/8 inch from the folded edge.

3.   Load the Cricut cartridge into the Cricut machine and cut the Owl base layer at 2 inches out of yellow card stock.  Press the Shift and the Owl keys to cut the branch and eyes out of brown card stock. Press Layer 1 to cut the Owl body out of light pink card stock. Press the Shift, Layer 1 and the Owl keys to cut the leaves out of green card stock. Cut the eyes out of white card stock by pressing Layer 2 and the Owl keys. Press the Layer 2, Shift and Owl keys to cut the feet out of brown card stock.  Assemble the Owl.

4.  Cut a piece of black and pink dotted card stock approximately 5 1/4 inches high by 3 1/2 inches. Use the corner rounder paper punch to round the ends of the mat. Turn the mat over to the white side and place one Zot in the middle of the mat and one Zot in each of the 4 corners. Position the edges of the mat approximately 1 1/4 inches from the folded edge of the card and 2 1/4 inches from the top of  the card. Press into place.

5.   Cut a small oval out of black card stock, slightly larger than the Owl. I used a left over center from a die cut frame.  Put small foam dots on the back of the Owl, center on the oval and press into place.

6.    Cut the Melinda Corner out of medium pink card stock.  Cut the ends off of the corner. Place the ends under the upper left and lower right corners of the black and pink dotted mat and glue in place.

7.   Place a small pink flower from the Floral Embelishement at the bottom center of the mat.  Place a large pink flower from the Darjeeling Collection at the upper right corner of the card. Using the Martha Stewart rose leaf paper punch, punch three leaves out of green card stock. Pinch each leaf together lengthwise to make it curl upward. Glue the leaves under the large flower.

8.   Add small faux pearls around the oval black frame, and on the ends of the Melinda Corner. Add large faux pearls to the corners of the mat and to the Washi tape (at the top, middle and bottom). Add a small yellow crystal to the left of the oval frame and to the right of the Owl.

9.   Lightly spray the card with Glimmer Mist and set aside to dry.