The challenge for this Bitten By the Bug 2 is to use something new.  If you haven’t been to their page, go check it out and add your own take on the challenge in the links.

I used a new cartridge for this card.

During Black Friday this past November one of my crafting sites had Cricut cartridges bundled with mats on special and I decided to get a few that I didn’t have.  I have a huge collection of cartridges but hadn’t purchased any for over a year, but they were a great price, so I decided I could use a few more, lol.  One of those cartridges was Anna Griffin’s Elegant Embellishments.  Anna Griffin has some beautiful cartridges.  The image of the butterfly along with the word from the cartridge.  I decided it would be neat to have the butterfly kind of flying off the front so I used the base layer of the butterfly along with with a basic rectangle shape to make a card base.  Placing the butterfly at an angle in the top corner, I used the slice feature and took away the part above the butterfly, then used the weld with what remained to put it back together.  The pretty double sided papers from a DCWV paper pack called Lilac Lane matched the elegance of the cut.  The base had a perfect two sides so that it looked like the butterfly was going from a garden into a starry night.  It is fun to get a new cartridge and be inspired by the images on it.  Even if they are not releasing new cartridges, there are still some wonderful old ones available out there.  Try a “new to you” one. – Denise

I have joined the design team for Bitten by the Bug 2 found here.  Projects are made using our Cricut machines and I  am super excited.  There will be a new challenge every two weeks.  You can add your link for each challenge on their post.  The challenge for January 6 is called Tick Tock and the you must use a clock or part of a clock in the project.

The cartridge called Folk Art Festival has a cute cuckoo clock in it, so I started there.  This cartridge also has a lot of border cuts in it, so I chose one that fit with the design of the clock. and kept only one of the three layers.  I flipped it horizontally and sized it to be 4.25″ wide.  That made the height 1.2″ high. Using basic shapes, I made a card base 4.25″ x 9.8″ (11 minus 1.2)   I placed a border design from the cartridge to the bottom of the rectangle and welded the two together. I did add a score line 5.5″ down from the top, but you could also do that manually.  Placing the cuckoo clock on Design Space showed that a vertical sentiment would fit better, so that is what I did.  This same cartridge also has a font including a writing font.  (Some of the older cartridges had tons of things on them). I wrote the sentiment and then separated the letters arranging them vertically.  Design Space is also great in that you can center things like the letters and distribute them evenly. Cutting that on double sided paper by Carta Bella allows the design to show up.  I used a Cricut fine point pen to write the sentiment in dark blue. The cuckoo clock has five layers plus a base.  Putting all those layers together made the clock thick like a chipboard element and really adds dimension to the card. It allowed me to use a cartridge that I don’t normally use and it was fun. – Denise

This past August my sister-in-law’s mother turned 90. She is a very sweet lady and I helped with some decorations for her party.  One of the things I did was to make a 3D 90.

The pattern for these letters came from svgcuts.com. My Cricut Explore does a great job cutting them out. Mary is such a wonderful designer and has videos on how to put her creations together. You really need that when working with something like this. The curved letters are the most difficult and of course mine were both curved. The flowers and leaves are stamps from Heartfelt Creations and come with a die to use in my  Cuttlebug. There are dried beans inside to give it some weight to stand up correctly.  – Denise