Posts Tagged ‘Birthday’

• The One Where We Make Birthday Invitations

  Date: 2010.03.08 | Category: Cards | Response: 0

  

  Just paper and words...

  My daughter’s 8th birthday is coming up and what better excuse to craft than to make invitations!  My daughter loves to sit with me and help pick out the shapes and color schemes.  We started with plain colored cards (pre-made because who wants to measure cut, measure, and fold, when you can start with the fun part?).  We used my Cricut, which I purchased at Michael’s and it is one of my favorite investments.  Using the Wild Card cartridge, we cut out the “Event, Place, Date…” in a wonderful, shiny hot pink.  My daughter was jumping up and down for the shiny paper.

  When cutting the parts of the card (phrases, shapes, etc.) ensure the Real Dial Size is cut off and turn your size to the size of the card.  This will ensure the font is the correct size.  The Wild Card cartridge has saying for every occasion you can think of, except for maybe the “It’s Five O’clock Somewhere” occasion.  Maybe that’s everyday, which could be a good thing.  Then using the Stretch Your Imagination cartridge, we used the silhouette function to create the “icing” for the cake in different colors of the shiny paper, making my daughter extremely excited.  Funny how the attraction to shiny things starts so young.  Then I cut out a cake with no functions, which will serve as the background of the cake.  The Stretch Your Imagination cartridge, again has symbols for every occasion imaginable, but no martini glass.  Maybe, Cricut will take this as a hint.

  The best part about using the Cricut, is you can unleash all your creativity, there are no boundaries.  Boundaries are good, as long as I can choose when they exist and where they are.  When deciding on a color scheme, I first think of my audience.  If the gift is for my mother-in-law, it will be calm and many shades of brown, although she claims her brown bedroom is a green called “dried leaves”.  And what color IS dried leaves??  I digress.

  However, if the card is for my daughter, it can get very wild and sparkly in a hurry.  I guess she takes a little after her mother in that regard.  So my point here is always think of your audience, otherwise, you’re just crafting in vain, not that any kind of crafting is completely in vain.  If you are struggling to find creative color schemes, look in today’s fashion, jewelry, or home decorating magazines.  While you window shop, notice the colors, fabrics, and patterns that are put together.  You can always gather what is chic and hot from the latest Seventeen magazine, which I am now subscribed to thanks to my father-in-law.  If nothing else, it is educational, which is truly depressing at this stage in my life.

  

  Using the Silhouette and regular functions of the cartridge.

  Next I pull out my George and Basic Shapes cartridge.  This one could be my favorite because of the simplicity of the font.  I have used this cartridge many a times to make bookmarks, since I recently became an avid reader.  However, that is another blog.  I used the cartridge to cut out the number 8, since my daughter is turning eight.  I will use this to make the number 8 candle on the cake.

  Now, time to put it all together!!  I glue the “Event, Place, Date…” on the inside of the card with the Martha Stewart fine tip glue pen, you can purchase these at Michael’s or Wal-Mart.  This is an excellent tool when gluing small parts as well as glittering (which you will quickly learn I have a soft spot for).  To ensure the words are glued down well, close the card and rub with your finger over the words.  This allows you to apply pressure without moving your pieces!

  On to the front of the card.  I glue the background of the cake towards the bottom of the card, then glue the silhouette on top, again with my fine tipped glue pen.  Then I glue the 8 on top of the cake.  Now, when I cut the silhouette of the cake, it also cut silhouettes of candles.  Cut the flame of one of the candles and glue it on top of the 8, making a number candle.  This is why I love the Cricut, I can make any craft, my own creation.

  

  Ready to send!

  From here I get CRAZY, I will add glitter, buttons (which give a homemade feel and you can buy them in bulk almost any where and Wal-Mart has a very good selection!), stickers, etc. This is the part that truly gives the card character and makes it unique, so go wild.

  Today’s question of the day… What is your favorite Cricut cartridge?