Homemade Cards-A Special Touch

A Homemade Card, like ones I make with my Cricut Machine, gives recipients a special feeling, they know I planned ahead for their special occasion and took the time and care to create a greeting card just for them. I have sent out many of the cards featured in this blog and I get wonderful thank you's back, expressing how nice it was to receive a beautiful and homemade card.


Friday, April 1, 2011

Sorry this is so late today, A snowstorm and a vet visit seemed to take over most of the day.

While driving down the road this morning, through a snowstorm, I remembered that today was the first day of Fishing Season in my area.   I was thinking about all the fishermen and women who were excited for this day. And yes, there some of them were parked at a popular fishing hole.
In honor of this yearly event, I decided to make a Cricut Card with my Cricut Create, celebrating the time honored tradition that is the first day of fishing.
This really fun card to make was also easy to make. The fishing pole and large fish cutout both have multiple layers which, when put together, create an almost 3D image. And you can have fun creating this card, choosing the colors you want, make the fish sparkly with some of the fancier cardstock choices. Definitely try this one, it'll bring a smile even if the first day of fishing in the spring is a snowy one.

 Cricut Cartridge:

For this card I used one of my favorite Cricut Cartridges, specially made for use with a Cricut Personal Cutting Machine. The Simply Charmed cartridge is one of my favorites, it features cutouts for special events, holidays, and celebrations, pretty much whatever you wish to commemorate you will find on the Simply Charmed Cricut Cartridge.
Cricut Essentials Tool Kit
One of the handiest items I received with my Cricut Create is the Cricut Essentials Tool Kit and Accessories.  The Poking tool and Spatula have been so handy to have, for small holes needed, to move tiny pieces into place, and to remove cutouts from the Cricut mats.

 

Specifics:

The best weight of cardstock to use for this project is a heavy weight cardstock. The fishing rod has intricate parts, such as the fishing line.

Pressure: Max
Speed: Medium
Blade: #2
As you cut out the various parts for the fish and fishing pole, small circles will be created here and there, such as the center of the "word" part. Tiny little circles will also be cut, keep those to use as bubbles if you'd like. I thought it added a special touch to the card.
The large fish and the fishing pole were cut using a 3" size.  The cutouts are featured on page 41 of the Simply Charmed booklet.  There is another fish and fishing pole on that page which could be used in place of the one I chose.  I can't state enough how much fun this card was to make.  Give it a try, it's one of the most fun cards I've made.
Choose a colorful cardstock for the card background. This piece doesn't have to be thicker. Cut the cardstock to a 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" size to cover the card base.
I pre-arranged some of the pieces before glueing to make sure I had the cutouts done right.  Here I discovered I had missed cutting out the "no extra key" version to give me a Dark Green rod, lure, and fish face background.

  1. Cut 1 <Fish1>, Shadow key only. This creates a background piece with fishing pole, line, and the large fish. My color choice: Brown
  2. Cut 1 <Fish1>, Layer 1 key. This creates the fishing line, the fish body (fins will stick out after being layered) and the fish body accent. My color choice: Light Green.
Cut 1 <Fish1>, No extra key needed. My color choice dark green. The fishing pole, hook, and fish face will be cutout.
  1. Cut 1 <Fish1>, Layer 2 key. This creates the fish body with little fins that will stick out with other layers on top. My color choice: Medium Blue
  2. Cut 1 <Fish1>, Layer 3 key. This creates the Fish Face and Reel. My color choice: Light Blue
  3. Cut 1 <Fish1>, Layer 4 key. This creates the Cheeks, Mouth & Circle above fishing lure. My color choice: Pink.
Cut 1 <Fish1>, Word Key, Shift Key. This creates the shadow bottom layer version of "Caught Me". My color choice: Pink
Cut 1 <Fish1>, Word Key, No Shift Key. This creates the intricate top layer of "Caught Me". My color choice: Dark Green.
All the small dots created from the various cutouts can be used as "bubbles" for the large fish.
  1. Cut 2 <Fish1>, Layer 2 key. Size 1 1/2". This creates the Fish Body. My color choice: Pink
  2. Cut 2 <Fish1>, Layer 3 key. Size 1 1/2". This creates the Fish Face. My color choice: Medium Blue.
Optional: I used one of the small circles to put on the Fishing Pole Reel.
Optional: I cut out 4 tiny pink fish, Layer 2 key. Size 1/2".

Assembly

Cut out Fishing Pole pieces and glue to the card as follows:
Fishing Pole:
  • Shadow "Brown" pole and line.
  • No Other Key "Dark Green"pole and lure.
  • Layer 1 "Light Green" fishing line.
  • Layer 4 "Pink" circle above the lure.
Large Fish:
  • Shadow "Brown" fish background.
  • Layer 1 "Light Green" fish body with fins showing.
  • Layer 2 "Medium Blue" fish body, fins will peek out, then glue small light green fish body accent to the medium blue.
  • No Other Key "Dark Green" fish body. This color will peak through the fish face.
  • Layer 3 "Light Blue" fish face. Make sure to poke the fish mouth and eyes so the dark green will show through.
  • Layer 4 "Pink" cheeks and mouth.
Small Fishes
  • Layer 2 "Pink" fish body.
  • Layer 3 "Medium Blue" fish face.
  • Layer 4 "Pink" cheeks and mouth.
These fish are so small that the eyes and mouth don't cut out well; I drew the round mouth and eyes shading with a scrapbook pen.
Sentiment:
  • Word Key "Pink" background
  • Word Key "Dark Green" intricate sentiment
Tiny Fish and Bubbles:
  • All the small circles cutout while creating the bigger pieces I used as bubbles.
Printing:
I wanted to express a Happy Fishing Sentiment which I did by writing it in around the fishing pole and line.


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2 comments:

  1. Mimi! Thanks for following my blog! And thanks for also including the measurements! That's always needed. Wonderful card! I know exactly someone whom would enjoy a card like that.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you for following my blog Nati. I'm glad you liked the card.

    ReplyDelete

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