'Tis the Season - trying out some new items

Packages have been arriving at my house - I can be dangerous with a credit card and an internet connection!  Tuesday was a rather crazy day here.  I really didn't sleep much at all Monday night and then had some unexpected things come up (mostly good) and by the time I had a chance to check out my new arrivals, it was already getting late.

I just have to say - don't craft when you are extremely tired.  One bad choice can lead to another and then things can spiral out of control!  (I should probably add - don't blog when you are extremely tired!).   I thought I'd go ahead and share the card I made - despite some of the issues I had along the way.

One of the boxes that arrived contained my new 'Tis the Season cartridge from Creative Memories.  This cartridge won't be available to order on my CM personal website until November 1st, however, consultants are allowed to order one copy early to preview the new items.  I also ordered some of the holiday papers that coordinate with the cartridge.

Here are some views of the items on this new cartridge.  I find the color choices in the previews very odd and you just have to look carefully to see how nice the images are - the grey snowman and green bearded Santa are difficult to look at!  You can click on any of these images to see them larger.

There are two new lines of papers for the holidays - "Noel" and "Holidazzle." The first 25 images on the cartridge coordinate with the Noel line while the second 25 images are meant to go with the Holidazzle papers.

In addition to the basic images and layers, there are lots of great holiday phrases.  These are usually done in four layers and they would work for scrapbook pages or cards (though some of the more complex ones might not cut well at very small sizes).  There are also some nice borders on the last row.

 

There are two fonts on the cartridge.  Santa's Workshop is meant to be used with the Noel line and has some classic labels and frames on the extra keys.

 

Sleigh Ride coordinates with the Holidazzle line and has lots of great snowflakes on the extra keys.

 

Finally, there is a monogram feature with each font in a suitable shape - a scalloped circle for Sleigh Ride (Holidazzle) and a more formal medallion for Santa's Workshop (Noel).

The cartridge library on the Information tab at Cricut.com has not been updated for a very long time so I will try to take photos of my handbook to post so you can see the contents more clearly.

I chose one image that appealed to me and thought I'd make a "quick" card to try out the cartridge.  I used papers from the Noel collection.  While these colors are lovely and traditional they are a little too formal for me.  I think they will work better for scrapbook pages than cards so I'll try to do a few pages soon.  I made an A2 card base from Papertrey Ink "scarlet jewel" cardstock.  I also added a layer of ivory pearl American Crafts cardstock for the background and layered a piece of the brown paper from the Noel pack over the lower third of the card.  I did some inking on the edges of the papers and the candle.

One of my other packages that arrived was from Papertrey Ink and this large sentiment stamp seemed like a good match for the candle.  I stamped it with Versamark ink and then used some gold metallic embossing powder to create a shiny sentiment.

The flames seemed too dull in the plain red paper so I added some Stickles glitter glue in goldenrod and burgundy.

I added a few gems for the holly berries and then added some Stickles - and made a mess.  I thought the card was ruined but then I realized I could just cut another holly leaf layer to hide the mess!

When I recut the leaves, I skipped the red berries and just used the red gems to represent the berries.  I added a tiny ribbon and tied a bow around the handle of the candlestick.  It was very tricky to make the bow - you should always start with a fairly long piece of ribbon and then trim the tails.  The first piece of ribbon went flying in frustration but I managed to make a bow the second time around.

I tried putting various tiny gems and snowflakes in the blank area - and nothing looked right.  I decided to share the card to get some opinions from you all.  I usually don't do much second guessing when making cards - once again, crafting while sleepy can be dangerous!  Looking at the card some more as I type this post, I think that maybe a window cut would look nice behind the candle - so I may revise or redo this card.


I think I just need to stop and sleep - things will look better in the morning (or at least I'll have a better idea what to do).  I hope you have a great day!

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