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Cartridge Showcase: Spring Holiday Cards



Welcome to Cooking With Cricut's Cartridge Showcase.   Chef Debbie has taken over the blog today is sharing with you some beautiful projects she has made with Cricut's Spring Holiday Cards cartridge.

Create cards, envelopes, and boxes with the Spring Holiday Cards cartridge. This festive cartridge contains images for Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, and Easter. Mix and match card fronts with backgrounds to create fun variations on your projects. Use this cartridge to create unique and engaging designs for every occasion. The versatility of this cartridge will surprise even the most imaginative crafters.  Includes cuts for 30 spring themed cards as well as envelopes and boxes.

So without further ado, here's Debbie . . .


I purchased this cartridge last Spring on a whim when I just happened to see it at Michaels on sale. I have used it several times since then and it has only been Spring once, LOL.

My most recent project is using one of the treat boxes and a card that I altered in Cricut CraftRoom. I bought my friend an iRock and some gems as a thank you gift (she is loaning my son her son's lacrosse gear which is saving me at least $300). The iRock itself will not fit in the box but the pack of gems and a few pieces of dark chocolate candy (her favorite) will fit perfectly!

  
I cut the box (the very last box on the cartridge) at "fit to page."  I then took the card and took out the words using hide contour and then cut the card at 4.1 x 3.1.  I stamped "Thanks" using my Big Thoughts stamp set from Pink By Design with Versamark and embossed it.  Then I cut a white piece of paper to fit behind the rainbow.  I glued it on and then used my snow writer pen to make the clouds.  I could not decide what to do with the rainbow so I just decided to color and go for a faded look, I did try to emboss the rainbow but it did not turn out that well using marker, I will have to experiment with that a little before trying that again.  I added some white stitching with my gelly roll pen and some bling for the eyes.  Lastly, I added a few blingy hearts along the top of the box (oh and I put the gems and candy inside).





Since my husband loves beer, and I got him a beer of the month club membership, I used the card on this cartridge that has a beer on it.  I have used it on several occasions, usually altering it for the occasion.  I did this one using a Pink By Design stamp for his birthday card.  Here is a picture and here is where you can find the original post.




I also used this cartridge last Spring for an Easter egg hunt/party invitation. I made invitations for the neighborhood kids, the picture looks like they were green and red but they were a nice spring green and pink. I printed the invitation details on the green paper then attached the pink paper on the other side and stickled it up. The entire post can be found here.





I also used this cartridge for St. Patrick’s Day last year (although we are not Irish we love to celebrate it). I made a two-sided card for my hubby because I could not decide on which card to use :).  Here is one side:





And here is the other side:



The post on these cards and other St. Patty’s Day goodies can be found here.

I actually ended up doing two St. Patty’s days posts last year, LOL.  I used the cartridge to cut the cute Shamrock’s using my Imagine (so I could flood fill it green) and ironed them onto t-shirts for my girls. Here is one of the shirts and
here is where you can find the post.



Lastly, I used this cartridge for Valentine’s Day last year (and plan to use it again this year!). I used it to cut the little cards that my boys gave out (simple and just attached a pencil), I also used it for the little containers I made for my kids.  I also used it for the card I altered and gave to my husband. Here are some pics and here is where you can find the original post.









Great projects, Debbie!  Please make sure you stop over at Debbie's blog and let her know how much you enjoyed her Cartridge Showcase! 

Make sure you stop back in at CookingWithCricut.com on Wednesday for our weekly challenge and on Thursday for Chef Jill's cartridge showcase.  Have a great week!

~ CWC Design Team

QQ & Spellbinders Sneak Peek #3

Good morning crafty friends,
It's Melinda here and today I am sharing my two projects showcasing the new Quick Quotes One Fine Day paper and embellishment line. It will be debuting along with the other new lines we have showcased at CHA.

Along with the fabulous new Quick Quotes lines, we are also showcasing the Spellbinders Grand Calibur and dies.


Here is my first project. I created this box and love bug using several spellbinders dies. The bottom and top are from the square petal top box Spellbinders die set. I used paper from the French Quarter Quick Quotes paper line. I saw the original idea from one of the Spellbinders Design Team members.
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I used another piece of paper from the Sumer Samba paper line from Quick Quotes. You cut the piece of paper to 8.5 inches and then scored it at 2.5 inches.
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Here are the additional Spellbinders dies that I used to create the little love bug. I really wanted to create something “different” with my dies.
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For the body, I trimmed one of the larger pink ovals and then trimmed the two ribbons down. I adhered them to the black body and then trimmed and inked them with some Maraschino Cherry Chalk Ink.
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I assembled the rest of the love bug and my Pebbles, Inc. Dry Decorator chalks and white gel pen to add some finishing touches. If you would like to create a face like this, you can check out my faces tutorial: HERE
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Here is a side view showing the paper panels from the One Fine Day Paper Line.
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I used the following products

SPELLBINDERS PRODUCTS
LF-012
S4-110
S4-112
S4-137
S4-324

Quick Quotes Products
French Quarter Paper for the base and top
Summer Samba Paper
Maraschino Cherry and Amaretto Chalk Ink.
Other Products
Pebbles, Inc. Dry Decorator chalk
White gel pen, black fine tip pen
Trimmer and scorer
Various adhesives.


Here is my second project. I created this layout using nothing but Spellbinders dies and more of the beautiful One Fine Day paper.
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Here are the dies I used to create the little Giraffe. Once again I really wanted to think outside the box with the dies.
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Here is the finished Giraffe. I just trimmed the brown ovals at varying widths and heights to create his "spots"
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Here is the completed Lamb. Unfortunately I didn’t take a photo of the pieces separately. But I can tell you that I used my Scalloped Ovals, Scalloped Heart and Classic Ovals Dies to create this little cutie!!!
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Here is a pretty medallion die I used and layered it with a die from the Sprocket set and one of the cute little medallions from the square petal top box die.
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Here is a close up of the frame.
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Close up of one of the borders and another medallion.
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Close up of another one of the medallions.
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Here is one last view of the entire layout.
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Spellbinders Products
S5-048
S4-218

S4-137
S4-324

S4-203
Classic Frameabilities
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LF-010

Quick Quotes Products
One Fine Day Paper

Other Products
Pebbles, Inc. Dry Decorator chalk
White gel pen, black fine tip pen
Trimmer and scorer
Various adhesives

I hope you enjoy these projects and are inspired to pull out your Spellbinders and your beautiful Quick Quotes products and start creating! As always, thank you for allowing me to share.

BLOG CANDY ALERT
If you head over to the Quick Quotes blog today and leave a comment on my post, Quick Quotes will be selecting one random entrant to receive the Summer Samba set...one of the new sets they are debuting at CHA!!! CLICK HERE to go and leave your comment!























Winners Announced


Welcome to Cooking with Cricut
Today we would like to announce the winner of Challenge
#68- Photo Inspiration.  The winner of the Top Chef prize was chosen by Random Organizer.

The winner is...Lisa- A Mermaid's Crafts
Congratulations Lisa:)

Lisa designed and created this beautiful shape thank you card using the Elegant Edges Cricut cartridge.  You can "pick up" your top chef button on the left column and proudly display it on your blog.  As the winner Lisa will receive her choice of digi stamp or cutting file from Papercraftingworld.com

Lisa, please contact Madison at FunkyCards @Charter .net (no spaces) within two weeks to claim your prize.

The Top Three Chefs were chosen by the Cooking With Cricut Design Team. You can "pick up" your top chef button on the left column and proudly display it on your blog. 

Amy- Redheaded Crafter

Tonya- Itty Bitty Ladybugs

Scrappy Happy Mommy (SHM)- SHM

Winter Warmth: For this week's challenge, we are asking you to think of all the ways to keep warm during these cold days.  From mittens and scarves to hot cocoa and more, let's see what you can create this week:)  Once again you have until next Tuesday at midnight to post your projects.  One winner chosen at random will receive his or her choice of digi stamp or cutting file from Papercraftingworld.com.

Have a wonderful day!


~Madison - Prize Coordinator

Cartridge Showcase: Princess Party



Welcome to CookingWithCricut.com and today's Cartridge Showcase! 

This is Chef Jen and I am "hijacking" the blog today to share with you some  projects that I created using the Cricut Events Princess Party cartridge.  This cartridge will allow you to create a party fit for your little princess. From castles to crowns to frog princes, the Princess Party cartridge has designs perfect for invitations, decorations, and party favors. 


One of our nieces just celebrated her first birthday and her parents decided they wanted a princess party and asked if I would help out -- knowing full well that I can't resist a good party or one of our sweet nieces.   Melin was kind enough to loan me her brand-new cartridge -- Cricut Events Princess Party!  And boy, have I given it a work out!

The first thing I created with this cartridge was the party invitation.



This cute gate-fold invitation has many layers, but is so worth the effort!  The glitter adds a nice princess-y sparkle.

Up next was a birthday banner and this cartridge has a great pennant shape.  I cut two different sizes and then added text from the George & Basic Shapes cartridge.  The crowns are also from the Princess Party cartridge.



This cartridge also has a cupcake wrapper and a cute little crown that can be used as a topper.


All of the birthday girls and boys receive onesies or shirts from their Aunt Jen (the girls also receive tutus)!  I used the tiara and the word "Princess" from this cart and made Kylie a sweet little onesie using the freezer paper technique.


Here is a picture of the birthday girl modeling her outfit.  Isn't she a cutie-pie!



I also used the crown from this cartridge to decorate some clothespins for a photo "time line."




I made other decorations for the party using the Disney Dreams Come True and Happily Ever After cartridges.  The princesses are about 11" tall.  Kylie's parents are going to frame them after the party and use them to decorate her room.


The Cake Guru at our house made the cutest "Smash Cake!" It has the crown cut from the Princess Party cartridge using the Cricut Cake machine.  The little placard at the bottom was cut out of paper using letters from Cake Basics, Cindy Loo and Calligraphy Collection cartridges.


The final piece of this perfectly pink princess party was the cake.  We used several elements from the Cake Basics (turret and castle toppers) and Tags, Bags, Boxes & More (doors and windows from the rounded top tag cut!) cartridges.  This is the second time we have used our Cricut Cake and I am still amazed at how easy it is to use.  The key is getting your fondant rolled to the correct thickness and then letting it sit for awhile to dry out and stiffen.  The little flags were cut using the Princess Party  pennants -- I welded two together so I could fold them in half around my"flag pole."


Another very successful birthday party for one sweet little girl!  And yes, we spoil our nieces and nephews . . . that's our job!!  I hope you have enjoyed today's showcase!  If you'd like more details, please stop by my blog (check out the party hat and "glass" slipper decorations made using this cartridge, too).

~ Chef Jen

P.S.  Thanks again, Melin, for loaning me your cartridge!