Graduation Cards ~ Spring Up Style Cards

This is a graduation card I made for my nephew. He will be graduating from high school today and entering the Marines in a few months. I made the card base following a tutorial on Splitcoast Stampers for the Spring Up Card. It's called that because the card folds flat for mailing and then springs up when removed from the envelope. I did, however, use my Cricut Explore and Design Space to create the card base.

Following my design, the Explore cut and scored the base. I used the write and cut feature of the Explore to make the year and name. I used a square of black cardstock, a brad and some embroidery thread to create the cap and tassel.

I kept the front of the card simple {after all, it is for a boy}. And he's going to be more interested in the back of the card anyway! Where the card folds, a little pocket is created. I cut a smaller white square to write our "Congrats" on and used washi tape to add some money.

 This is how the card folds flat and what it looks like going into the custom made envelope.

This was such a fun card to make! And since I have the file in Design Space, I made another one. This time I embellished it with a paper doll using the Scrap Factory Doll Builder Program and a piece of patterned paper. Isn't that little graduation boy so cute? I used the Bobby hairstyle and the Grad Boy Suit and Diploma.

Congratulations to all the Graduates out there! Whether you're graduating from college, high school or kindergarten, you should be proud of your accomplishments!

Spring Up Style Card

I came across a great tutorial on Splitcoast Stampers for this fancy fold card. I immediately designed it in Cricut Design Space so I could cut and score the card base easily. I made a test cut in plain white cardstock and it was too good to toss. So after I made the graduation card that I was searching for ideas for when I came across the tutorial for the Spring Up Card {and those will be posted tomorrow}, I decided to decorate the test one!

I had been playing with the Explore and Design Space and the write/draw feature. I edited the image of my little Cricut Fairy's dress so that some of the lines were drawn with the marker and the outline was cut. When I made 50 of these little fairies for name tags for Circle Mania, I hand drew the detail lines. Having the Explore do it and then cut the image was so much easier! I grabbed a scrap of purple paper and cut it to size. Then I embossed it before adding it to the card base. I added a piece of coordinating paper and viola! My plain white test cut is now a pretty little card! But even though it will fold flat to fit in an envelope, I think she will continue to sit on my desk!

Cricut Design Space Quick Reference Guide

I can't believe I've found one of Cricut's best kept secrets! It's a Cricut Design Space Reference Guide and Glossary! It has 10 pages of info on Design Space in an easy to read, quick guide format.  If you'd like the PDF, follow this link:

Cricut Design Space Reference Guide and Glossary

Hope this helps some of you that have been struggling with Design Space or who are just learning to use it!

Hello Kitty Cart Giveaway Update

As many of you know, I was out of town when I reached 1,000 followers. I'm now home and planned to choose a winner today. But it has become somewhat of a daunting task to check all 300+ comments to make sure the person that commented is a blog follower! And, in going through the comments, I've noticed some people have commented more than once and some people commented by replying to someone else's comment. That makes it hard to use random.org to pick a number and then find the comment that number represents.

So, I'll be going through the comments, verifying the person is following my blog and writing the names on pieces of paper. Once that is completed, I'll draw from all the names for a winner. Check back on June 1 as I promise to have all of the verification done by then and will post the winner. The winner will then have one week to claim their prize.

*Sorry to delay choosing the winner but I want to make sure the winner actually followed the rules of the giveaway!

Happy Mother's Day

Here is a card I made for Mother's Days using the Scrap Factory Doll Builder program. It's so much fun to create dolls with this software! I cut the images with my Cricut Explore and used my cuttlebug to emboss the scallop circle. The scallop circle is from the Elegant Edges cart.

Wishing all the moms a Happy Mother's Day!

1000 Followers! Time to Celebrate!

Yippee! I have reached 1000 followers on my blog! To celebrate, I'm giving away this Hello Kitty Greetings cart to one of my followers who also commented on the "announcement" post. If you're a follower of my blog and didn't comment on the announcement post, there's good news. I'm currently out of town and won't be able to mail the cart out until May 19, so you have until May 17 to comment on the announcement post for a chance to win the cart. I will put all the names in a hat and draw a winner on May 18. Thanks to everyone who is a follower of my blog. I hope you continue to enjoy my paper crafting projects! :)

Memo Board for Teacher Appreciation

 I created this dry erase memo board using an 8 x 10 frame. I placed a regular sheet of notebook paper in the frame. Added an adorable paper piecing using the Scrap Factory Doll builder program and a ribbon bow. Viola! I have a great, inexpensive gift for Teacher Appreciation Day! The teacher can write notes on the glass and then wipe them off.


If you haven't heard about the Scrap Factory Doll Builder, read on. This software program allows you to choose a body, hairstyle and outfit and then it creates an SVG file! I used the Scrap Factory basic set choosing the Body1 style and the Sunday Dress outfit and the Scrappy Dew Seasons expansion pack for the Riley hairstyle. Once the SVG was created, I uploaded it to Design Space and cut the pieces with my Explore. It was so easy! And the paper dolls are so adorable!

And best of all, I'm now on the Scrap Factory Design Team! Yippee! So watch for more projects using this fun software program.