Mandie's Poinsettia Card

This year I've been procrastinating mailing off my Christmas cards. I have no good reason, just haven't gotten it done yet. But I am still finding so many beautiful cards to inspire me! Have you ever really looked at some of the extra features on your cartridges? Unless they are fonts, I generally ignore them. But something on the Winter Woodland Cricut cartridge caught my eye... the Card Feature! I used it to make this stunning card:


I've had this cartridge for over a year and have made a few cuts with it here and there but never really thought about using the card bases. I really didn't know where to begin. I thought it would be nice if the layers were made to fit the card bases but I didn't see how to make them fit.... or could it be as simple as cutting the card and measuring the design? Couldn't be that easy, right? Well, it is! I cut my card base from the poinsettia cut on the Winter Woodland cartridge at 5". Then I used my Scor Pal to score my card.


Then I grabbed my Tim Holtz Design Ruler to measure the height of the poinsettia in the center of the card. It was about 3 3/4" tall so I cut the poinsettia at 3 3/4" with Real Dial Size off. Well, I looked at the cut that was way too small and turned Real Dial Size ON and tried again. Perfect fit! The cut normally has a set of leaves with it that aren't on the card front so that is what happened. Anyway, I didn't toss that 1st cut, I decided to layer it on top of the other one after I distressed them both with the Tim Holtz Frayed Burlap Distress Ink. I also cut the center of the flower at 5" (Real Dial Size OFF). Before gluing anything down though I pulled out a roll of packing tape and some clear micro beads that I've had unopened forever.... you could also use glitter for the same effect. Now, laid my card face down on my Bazzill Splat Mat (make sure you have a non-stick mat and NOT paper under your card) and carefully tore a strip of packing tape (don't get your fingerprints on it) and stuck it to the back of my design. You will need 2 strips to cover the whole opening, one strip for each side. Then pull your card up and add your beads or glitter to the sticky part. I love the stained glass effect my transparent beads created here.


Once it's totally covered I used my Zip Dry Glue to adhere my large poinsettia flat to the card base. Then I used some Pop Up Dots to attach the smaller flower after bending the petals a bit for more dimension. Then I used the Pop Up Dots cut in half to pop up the flower center. Finally to finish off my card I used my Crop-A-Dial to punch a hole about an 1" from the top and bottom along the score line and tied a ribbon through the holes. The directions seem like a lot but it took me about 15 minutes to whip up this card and I think it is so pretty!

Shopping List:
Winter Woodland Cricut Cartridge
Scor Pal
Tim Holtz Design Ruler
Tim Holtz Frayed Burlap Distress Ink
Bazzill Splat Mat
Zip Dry Glue
Pop Up Dots
Crop-A-Dial