Double Happy Birthday

Our little neighbors turned three this month.  We have triplets and twins in my husband's family and it is fun to have another set of twins living right up the street.  I made their birthday cards using the Artiste Cricut cartridge which is available exclusively from Close To My Heart Consultants.  My friend Melanie Brown (of Courtney Lane Designs and Everyday Cricut) is a consultant and she would be happy to help you with any questions. 

 

I browsed through the handbook and started choosing some shapes.  This cartridge has some very nice welded phrases and word art and the "Birthday Girl" and the "years old" were perfect for my card.  I used Design Studio to help me see how things would look and to take the guesswork out of sizing each piece that I would be cutting for the cards.  I used a total of nine cuts from the cartridge.

 

Here are all of the pieces for one card, ready to assemble.  I'll give you a list of the cuts and sizes to make it easier:

The card base is on page 57 of the handbook (card function, shift) and I cut it at 5.5 inches.  The purple cardstock is from Martha Stewart.

I found a shape that worked to layer on the card on page 77 of the handbook (card function, no shift) and I cut it two times at 4.5 inches (the dark pink silk texture cardstock is from American Crafts and the pink design for the inside of the card is by Martha Stewart).  I cut another of this shape at 4.75 inches (in green Core Couture glitter cardstock from Core'dinations).

The "Birthday Girl" phrase and the tiara are on page 69 of the handbook.  I cut the "Birthday Girl" base at 2 inches from  American Crafts white pearl cardstock.  The letters "G I R L" (also at 2 inches) and the tiara (at 1.5 inches) are cut from DCWV Dazzle paper in silver.

The "years old" phrase is on page 70 and I cut it at 1 inch from the same American Crafts dark pink cardstock that I used on the front layer.  The number "3" is cut at 1 inch from the dark pink cardstock and the "burst" shape behind the number 3 is on page 44 and was cut at 2.25 inches from the same white pearl cardstock that I used for the phrase on the front of the card.

Whew! - that's a long list of cuts but it was really quite easy and quick to make the cuts once I figured things out on the computer.  I did not cut from the computer but simply used it to figure out the correct sizes for all of the cuts.  You can also do this with the Cricut Craftroom program.  If you are using a Gypsy, you would probably just go ahead and cut from it after determining the sizes.

You could cut the "Birthday Girl" and skip the top layer for a different look.  I wanted to tie the tiara and the words together so I added the sparky letter layers.

I sized the tiara to extend over the edges of the mat shape and then hand trimmed the sides before adhering it to the green layer.

There is not an actual shadow layer for the shape that I used so I cut it at just 1/4 inch larger to create the contrasting line of green color and add more sparkle to the card front.  You can get away with this for small increments but if you cut a significantly larger shape the proportions will be off a bit. 

I lined up the tiara on a straight line in the pink textured cardstock and also measure the distance from the side points with a ruler to keep the tiara level on the shape.  I didn't save the dot for the "i" because I knew I wanted to add a gem sticker for the dot.

One large foam dot would have been fine to raise up the burst shape with the number three, however, I wanted to use three dots since it was a third birthday card (crazy, I know!).

I could have taken this a step further and added a circle with a pin behind the shape so it could be taken off and worn for the big day (a few ribbons attached to the medallion would make the pin even more festive).

I tied some sparkly sheer ribbon around the fold of the card - this helped to hide the "tick marks" that I usually eliminate by checking "weld" when I am using the software or the Gypsy device. 

A little purple gem finishes off the card front.

I put the cards in large envelopes that are meant for an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of paper folded in half.  This left plenty of room for the bulky card.

It was fun to look through the Artiste handbook and find so many pretty things I could add to my cards.  As I looked for the images I wanted to use, I was once again amazed to see how much content is included on this cartridge.  This is definitely a cartridge that you can use over and over again.  It is sold only in a bundle with three stamp sets and three sheets of chipboard shapes that coordinate with the cartridge cuts.

Remember, the deal is even better now for the bundle.  You can get the cartridge with the three included stamps sets and three sheets of chipboard shapes for $99 and then add both the stamp of the month for $5 and then the National Stamping Month double stamp set for another $5 - so for $109 (plus tax and shipping) you can get the cartridge, three sheets of chipboard and six stamp sets!  Melanie will be happy to answer any questions you have before you order - you can contact her through her blog, Courtney Lane Designs HERE or her website HERE.

Melanie has an additional special offer for the month of August.  If you buy the Artiste bundle through her, she will put your name in a drawing to win a brand new Cricut E2 machine with purple end caps.

The days are getting shorter and it is a bit cooler.  I wanted to share this photo of the beautiful sky we saw over our neighborhood on Tuesday night - fabulous colors!

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