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.

Mickey Birthday Card

Brittany loves Mickey Mouse so he was the perfect choice for a birthday card for her. I decided to contrast the bright colors of Mickey and Pluto with a softer aqua and grey palette. I didn't add the white to Mickey's eyes because I was trying to make him look more like Steamboat Willie (the first Mickey).



Directions for Mickey Birthday Card:

Cricut Mickey and Friends cartridge
Cricut Classic Font cartridge
Sizzix Textured Impressions Valentine Set #4-Hearts & Dots
Light aqua, dark aqua, white, green, purple, yellow, red, light tan, pink, light grey and dark grey card stock
My Minds Eye Glitter Stack- aqua glitter dotted card stock
White lace edging
Gold self stick beads
Martha Stewart branch paper punch
Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist pearl mist
Recollections Boutique Fleur Mulberry Paper Flowers-available at Michaels
Foam Dots

1. Fold a piece of 8 1/2 inch (21.59 cm) by 11 inch (27.94 cm) light grey card stock in half lengthwise. Crease it with a bone folder.

2. Using the Mickey and Friends cartridge press the Mickey and Pluto key and cut it at 3 inches out of black card stock. Press the Layers:Face/White key and cut Mickey's face out of light tan card stock. Press the same key and the shift key and cut the eyes and gloves out of white card stock. Press the Layers: Outfit/Tongue key and cut Mickey's pants out of red card stock. Press the same key and the shift key to cut the tongue out of pink card stock. Load yellow card stock into the Cricut and press the Layers: Shoes/Ribbon/Hat key to cut Pluto's body and Mickey's shoe. Press the same key and shift to cut Pluto's collar out of purple card stock. Assemble Mickey and Pluto.

3. Cut Happy Birthday at 1 1/2 inches out of dark aqua card stock using the Cricut Classics Font cartridge.

4. Cut a piece of light aqua card stock 4 1/2 inches (11.43 cm) long by 3 1/2 inches (8.89 cm) wide. Place the card stock in the Hearts and Dots embossing folder and emboss it. Attach Mickey and Pluto to the embossed card stock using foam dots.

5. Cut a piece of dark grey card stock 3 3/4 inches (9.53 cm) wide by 4 1/2 inches (11.43 cm) long. Spray it lightly with pearl Glimmer Mist and let it dry. Cut a piece of aqua glitter dotted card stock 5 1/2 inches (13.97 cm) long by 3 3/4 inches (9.53 cm) wide. Place the dark grey card stock at an angle and glue to the aqua glitter dotted card stock. Use foam dots to attach the embossed card stock to the grey/aqua layered card stock. Place a gold bead in each corner of the embossed layer. Glue image 1 3/4 inches (4.45 cm) from the bottom of the card.

6. Center Happy Birthday over the image and glue in place.

7. Cut the white lace edging the length of the card and glue just under the front edge of the card.

8. Attach a foam dot to the back a peach colored mulberry flower. Position the flower at the lower left edge of the card and press in place.

9. Punch 2 branches out of green card stock using the Martha Stewart branch paper punch. Glue the branches under the edges of the flower.

Winnie The Pooh Birthday Card

My husband surprised me with a Gypsy for my birthday. I couldn't wait to get it out of the box and start designing. I quickly found out that in order for the Gypsy to be useful I had to update the firmware and link my cartridges to it. This took most of the afternoon. Now I was ready to start designing.

I decided to try using images from two different cartridges. I chose Winnie The Pooh, a scalloped oval and a butterfly. Since I wanted my images cut out of different colors I needed to use the Layer tab (one layer for each color of paper). Next I wanted to cut my scalloped ovals in two different sizes. The first oval was to be cut at 2 1/2 inches and the second one was to be slightly larger. I entered 2.75 inches for the height and the Gypsy sized the width proportionally.

I love the Gypsy. Not only does it have a lot of design capability but it's small enough to take anywhere. I took it with me to the doctor's office and designed a Christmas card while sitting in the waiting room.



Directions for Winnie The Pooh Card:

Medium blue, parchment, yellow, red, orange, green and black card stock
My Mind's Eye Home Glitter Book for the blue and white dotted card stock
Sheer blue ribbon
Prima Flowers Roses-orange and blue
Martha Stewart Rose Leaf paper punch and Scalloped Doily border punch
Tim Holtz Tea Dye Distress Ink
Greeting Card Program
Platinum Stickles Glitter Glue
Green Ink

1. Using a greeting card program and parchment card stock select the half-fold card option and print Happy Birthday on the top portion of the card. Print the verse on the inside right of the card. Fold the card in half and crease.

2. Using the Gypsy and the Pooh and Friends cartridge, select Winnie The Pooh (with his hands behind his back) and transfer him to Layer 1 on the mat screen. Select Layer 2 and the Gypsy Wanderings cartridge and tap the Shift key to select the scalloped oval. Transfer the image to the mat screen. Select Layer 3 and repeat this process for the oval. Next select Layer 4 and transfer the butterfly from the Gypsy Wanderings cartridge to the mat screen.

3. Place the yellow card stock on the Cricut mat. Tap the Layer 1 key and select a height of 2 1/2 inches for Pooh. Link the Gypsy to the Cricut. Load the mat into the Cricut using the Load Mat key on the Gypsy. Tap the Cut key. Unload the mat and remove the image. Repeat the process using the red and black card stock. Glue the yellow Pooh on top of the black. Take the red Pooh and cut the red shirt out. Glue it on the yellow Pooh.

4. Place the blue and white glitter card stock on the Cricut mat. Tap the Layer 2 key, set the height at 2.5 inches and then tap the Cut key. Using the Gypsy load the mat into the Cricut, tap the Cut key and cut out the oval. Unload the image and place the medium blue card stock on the Cricut mat. Tap the Layer 3 key and set the height to 2.75 inches and cut out the image.

5. Using the Layer 4 key and a height of 2.5 inches cut a butterfly out of black card stock and then orange card stock. Cut the wings off of the orange butterfly and glue them on top of the black butterfly. Cover the wings lightly with the platinum Stickles. Set aside to dry.

6. Punch a scalloped doily border out of parchment card stock. Cut the border to approximately 3/4 inch. Lightly distress the scalloped edges of the border with the tea dye distress ink. Position the cut straight edge of the border along the open edge of the card and glue in place.

7. Position Winnie The Pooh slightly off center on the blue and white dotted oval and glue in place. Center the blue and white dotted oval over the medium blue oval and glue in place. Position the medium blue oval slightly below Happy Birthday and glue in place. Cut the wire stem off of the blue rose and curl the wire stems of the orange roses around a stylus or pen. Pull the stem slightly to elongate it and trim to desired length. Punch two leaves out of a scrap of green card stock. Ink the edges of the leaves with green ink. Position the roses along the lower right side of the oval and glue in place using a hot glue gun. Glue the leaves under the edge of the roses.

8. Tie a small bow with the blue sheer ribbon. Position it slightly under the oval and glue in place.

9. Glue the butterfly to the left of Happy Birthday.

10. Lightly distress the edges of the card with the tea dye distress ink.

Hello Kitty Birthday Card and Gift Wrap

Recently I have become a Hello Kitty fan. I love using Hello Kitty to decorate cards and packages because she is so cute.

Brittany's birthday was coming up and I couldn't find any gift wrap that I liked so I decided to make my own. I bought some plain pink wrapping paper and sheer white wire edged ribbon at my local craft store. I used my Sizzix Hello Kitty Ladybug die, Build A Lilac die and Martha Stewart Ladybug craft punch to make the decorations for the package.

Brittany loved the gift wrap so much that she opened her gift and then re-wrapped the empty box and sat it on her desk.


Directions for the Hello Kitty Card and Gift Wrap:

Greeting Card Program
White, Yellow, Bright Pink, Pink, Black, Lavender, Green and Red Card Stock
Pink Patterned Paper
Pink Gift Wrap
Wide White Sheer Wire Edged Ribbon; 1/2 inch wide sheer white ribbon
Sizzix Hello Kitty Ladybug and Build A Lilac Dies
Martha Stewart Ladybug Craft Punch
Craft Wire
Pastel Flower Shaped Brads


Gift Wrap:

1. Wrap gift box with pink gift wrap.

2. Tie the wire edged ribbon around the package and make a knot to hold it in place. Tie a simple bow.

3. Using the Sizzix Build A Lilac Die and lavender card stock cut 4 petals. Assemble the flowers using two petals per flower. Use pastel flower shaped brads to hold the petals together.

4. Glue the lilacs to opposite corners on the top of the package. Add two leaves to each lilac and glue in place.

5. Using the red card stock and the Martha Stewart Ladybug paper punch make 10 ladybugs. Punch 10 ladybugs out of the black card stock. Assemble the ladybugs and glue to the package. Glue a ladybug at opposite corners on the top of the package and one ladybug on each side of the ribbon on the sides of the package (refer to photo for placement).

6. Using the Hello Kitty die cut Kitty several times using the white, yellow, bright pink, black and pink card stock. Cut Kitty again using the pink patterned paper. Assemble Kitty. Add the pink wings and the pink patterned paper flowers. Cut a 6 inch piece of craft wire and fold it in half. Attach the wire to the back of Hello Kitty with tape. Attach Hello Kitty to the bow so that she sits in the bow.


Hello Kitty Card:

1. Use the greeting card program to generate a birthday greeting on the front of the card and a verse on the inside. Use the half-fold card option.


2. Cut a piece of pink patterned paper approximately 4 inches wide by 6 inches long. Cut a piece of 1/2 inch sheer white ribbon slightly wider than the width of the patterned paper. Glue the ribbon across the bottom of the patterned paper. Tuck the ribbon ends under the paper edges and glue in place. Tie a small bow and glue it to the ribbon. Glue the pink patterned paper to the white card stock.

3. Using the Hello Kitty die cut Kitty several times using the white, yellow, bright pink, black and pink card stock. Cut Kitty again using the pink patterned paper. Assemble Kitty. Add the pink wings and the pink patterned paper flowers. Glue Hello Kitty to the patterned paper.

Birthday Cards

October is always a hectic month for me because we celebrate my Husband's and my daughter Michelle's birthdays five days apart. In order to get the birthday cards finished in time I have put my Halloween projects aside.

Here is the card that I made for my Husband used the Mini Monsters cartridge because I wanted a unique and fun birthday card. Michelle is such a fashionista especially when it comes to shoes. I decided to go with a shoe theme using the Cricut Forever Young cartridge.






Directions for Monster Birthday Card:

Light orange dotted ribbon
My Mind's Eye Home Paper Pad- Orange dotted paper
Medium purple, lime green, black, white and gold card stock
Forrest Fun Dew Drops by The Robin's Nest
Cricut Mini Monsters and Beyond Birthdays cartridge
Card Making Program
Bone Folder (optional)
Foam Dots
Hot Glue Gun

1. Create and print a birthday verse on a half fold card using white card stock and the card making program. Fold the card in half and use a bone folder to crease it.

2. Cut a 1 1/2 inch Happy Birthday out of purple card stock using the Beyond Birthdays cartridge.

3. Using the Mini Monsters cartridge cut a 2 1/2 inch monster out of purple card stock. Using the 2 1/2 inch setting press the Layer 1 key and cut the monster's body out of gold card stock. Press the Shift and Layer 1 keys and cut the ears and stomach out of lime green card stock. Using white card stock and the Layer 2 key cut out the eyes and the base of the mouth. Press the Layer 2 and shift keys and cut the pupils (eyes) and mouth. Assemble the monster.

4. Cut a piece of orange dotted card stock approximately 3 1/4 inches wide by 5 inches long.

5. Attach the Monster to the orange dotted card stock using foam dots. Center the orange dotted card stock on the card and place it approximately 3 inches from the top edge of the card. Glue it in place. Glue Happy Birthday approximately 1 inch from the top of the card, centering it above the orange card stock.

6. Arrange the pale green, pale blue and orange Dew Drops to look like ballons and attach them to the right and left of Happy Birthday using a hot glue gun.

7. Tie a small bow using the orange dotted ribbon and glue to the bottom of the orange dotted card stock using a hot glue gun.


Directions for the Michelle's Card:

Cricut Forever Young Cartridge
White, red, turquoise, gold, purple, lime green, cream, pink, brown and black card stock
Orange dotted ribbon
Greeting card program
Tim Holtz Tea Rose Distress Ink
Tattered Angel's Pearl Glimmer Mist
Adhesive gold beads and rhinestones for embellishment

1. Using the greeting card program select a half-fold card and type Life is Full of Important Choices on the front of the card. Generate a verse and add it to the inside of the card. Print the card on white card stock.

2. Fold the card in half and crease using a bone folder.

3. Using the Cricut Forever Young cartridge cut ten 1 1/2 inch shoes using black card stock and Heels 1. Press the Shift key and cut 5 pairs of shoes using the various colors of card stock. Use lime green and the Layer key to cut leaves for the flowers. Load red card stock into the Cricut and press the shift and Layer keys to cut flowers.

4. Assemble the shoes by gluing the colored card stock on top of the black shoe base. Embellish with the card stock flowers and beads.

5. Using the Forever Young cartridge set the Cricut dial to 3 inches and cut Model 1 out of cream card stock. Press the Shift key and cut the dress out of black card stock. Press the Shift and Layer keys and cut the top out of pink card stock. Cut Model 1 again out of brown card stock. Cut off the hair from the image that you just cut and glue it to the cream layer. Glue the black dress over the cream layer and the pink top over the black top. Add gold beads to resemble buttons. Use a black marker to color in the Model's shoes.

6. Center the Model on the card and glue in place. Glue the shoes around the Model. Glue one shoe to the left of the greeting.

7. Dab a foam sponge in the Tea Rose Distress Ink and dab it around the Model's feet.

8. Spray the card lightly with the Pearl Glimmer Mist and let it dry.

9. Cut a length of the Orange Dotted Ribbon slightly longer than the card and glue it along the outer edge of the card.