Cute and Foxy

I am slowly learning how to use my Cricut Explore Air 2...very slowly.

Luckily for me, there are a lot of crafters posting tutorials, tips and tricks and (best of all!) free SVG files for Cricut. I was immediately enchanted by this adorable fox design and was inspired to put it to use on at least two cards. The one above is the card I made for my eighth aunt's baby shower. I just modified the size make the fox cub. I also put together an engagement card for a distant cousin.

I love using paint chips for the variety of colours that they offer and the fact they come in small swatches so I am not wasting a large sheet each time.

Hopefully, when I am more comfortable using the design program, I can start designing my own images to share!

Is it not a beautiful piece of technology? ;) 

Sakura-inspired Cards

There's something beautifully serene about cherry blossoms. I do not even remember when and where I got this particular paper punch but this design idea has been percolating in my brain for the longest time. It was great for using up some of my paint chip scraps but it is a very labour intensive card. Every tiny flower has to be individually punched out and then glued to the card base. My intention is for these to be 'Thinking of You" cards and I am quite pleased with how they turned out. However, I am undecided as to whether this design looks better with or without the gold accents.

This is the process it takes to make this card: (I really enjoyed taking these in-progress shots!)

I decided to try adding gold accents to one of the cards and it is fascinating to see just how different the whole style of the card seems.

I am starting to get back into the crafting frame of mind. [Thanks to lots of encouragement from my husband! I think he's decided that this is the most likely way that my mountains of craft supplies will start decreasing....by being used. ;) ] Stay tuned for a few more of my projects in the coming weeks!