New Cricut!

My new Cricut Expression finally came!

Right on my birthday, too. I was excited to get started but still lost on where to begin. I ordered quite a few cartridges to start, which means I made quite an investment and must make this machine worth it. The pressure is on to create a lot of projects. 

The Expression came with:

Accent Essentials and Plantin Schoolbook

After much research I also ordered:

Create a Critter

Wild Card

Storybook

Floral Embellishments

Give a Hoot

Once Upon a Princess

After more research I also got online and ordered:

Cindy Loo

Stretch your Imagination

3 Birds on Parade

Winter Woodland

Art Philosophy which is exclusive to Close to My Heart but I got mine on Ebay

So I am starting myself off with quite a stock in my opinion and am still scared by how much I invested. I will have to recoup some by selling goods at craft shows, so this better work out.

I already picked up quite a bit of paper from Michaels at a sale last week. I got an arrangement of pads and stray papers. I still feel like I could buy a lot more. I need some more solid colors. The paper is what makes the piece beautiful.

My first attempt at learning is not exactly perfect and would get thrown away except it is my first cut. I chose a little raccoon from the Create a Critter cart.

I decided to research more online to get ideas and start again today.

I am much happier with my project today, but my main issue is adhesive. I am not using the right glue. So I found a blog with the top 5 adhesives and ordered a few more supplies today. Top on the list were Zig pens which are perfect for small projects. I also ordered a used Scotch ATG 700 off eBay for larger projects. Again I was surprised at the prices on all the supplies. You may have to cash out your retirement to afford an investment in scrapbooking and cards.

My project today is this cute Thank You card. I got much of my ideas from a picture on Pinterest.

I started with making the card from Page 69 in the Wild Card cartridge at 5 ½. Then cut the butterfly from Create a Critter at 1 ¾. It took a lot of experimenting to get the butterfly the right size for the circle. I tried 1 ½” then 2” before finally getting 1 ¾”. There may be a simpler way, but for now I am using Trial and Error. The flowers are also from Create a Critter on the Hedge Hog page and I just printed a few different small sizes. The Thank You is cut at 1” from the Storybook Cartridge with a shadow. I did not use a lot of embellishments on this card because I am still experimenting with cutting. When I get the hang of that I will start adding ribbons, glitter and jewels. I did add jewels to the flowers though. I like the 3d look so will start adding that in. All of the paper except the brown cardstock came from a paper pad called Enchanting by KI Memories.

I also created another card that I was really happy with until I decided to add some embellishments to it. Big mistake experimenting on the actual project and not a scrap paper. When will I learn? I have heard that glimmer spray adds a nice little touch but it destroyed my card! I may have sprayed to close or too much or not shaken enough but whatever it was, was wrong, so until I practice some more I will not be using glimmer spray on my cards. Don't do what I did!