Weekly Challenge #1: Ooh, La La! French Manor! Cricut Circle Blog

Got back from my trip to Upstate in the mid afternoon. Did some errands and chores and found some time to craft. I wanted to make sure I entered the first weekly challenge at the Cricut Circle Blog. If you haven't checked it out its an amazing blog, with tons of ideas and inspiration. Only been up a week but I can tell its going to be great.

So I finally got to use my French Manor cartridge. Its the first time I've had a project to use it for. This is why these challenges are going be great, it will help make me use stuff I haven't or in a new way. Sorry about the qualities of the pics, my camera is MIA so using my iPhone camera.

Here are the supplies used:

Cricut French Manor Cartridge

Sizzix Damask Embossing folder

Close to My Heart Opaques Licorice Adhesive Gems (found here)

Post-it Craft Paper: Black & Lipstick

Brilliance Starlite Black ink pad

Martha Stewart Onyx Glitter

Inkadinkado Blending Chalks: Metallic

Creative Imaginations Super Seal Acrylic Spray

The card is standard A2 size. I cut the chandelier at 3inches and merci at 1 1/2 inches. 3M sent me some of their new Post-it Craft paper to play with and use with the Cricut. To cut it, I had pressure at 4 and blade depth at 4. This cut through the cardstock and the backing. The Post-it craft paper is adhesive backed and repositionable.  Because the cuts were intricate I wanted to make sure I got a clean cut. For larger shapes I belive a kiss type cut would work well to just cut through the cardstock and leave the backing uncut.



To get the glitter to adhere to the cut I did a flip cut to the chandelier. This way the adhesive side had the shape the way it is in the handbook. I sprinkled the glitter on the die-cut and pressed down on the cut with a brayer (with a piece of paper over the cut so not to get glitter all over the brayer). This helped secure the glitter to the shape. This worked out so well. A great way to use this cardstock. Make sure and use ultra fine glitter like the Martha Stewart brand, I had initially tried to glitter it with Making Memories glitter (because the black was already open) but this glitter, although tiny, is still chunkier than the Martha glitter. It didn't adhere as well and left some unglittered white areas. Which actually looked pretty cool, like a distressed glitter, but didn't want that look for this card so maybe another time. After I got it glittered I used the Super Seal to help seal the glitter so it wouldn't flake off much. If you haven't gotten this sealer and like using glitter you need this spray. It dries super quick and really make a difference. The glitter barely flecks off. I bought it at a scrapbook store, but I see they have it at Joanns now.

(Sorry this image isn't the best)

After I cut the merci I chalked it with the metallic chalk. You can't tell well in the photo put it gives a nice shimmer to it, very subtle, but noticable. I just picked these up, I can see myself using them a lot. The chalking of the cut was super easy because since the cardstock is repositionable you can stick it down on a scrap piece of paper and then add whatever you would like, maybe inks, chalks, glimmer mists, ect. Once done you get lift it up and add to your project. It was much easier than doing it the other way of holding it with one finger while you inked or distressed. My hands were a lot cleaner, and you could use it as a mask or stencil very easily. Will be trying that out soon with the Post-it craft paper.

I embossed the carstock with the embossing folder, worked very well, and inked the top of it to make it stand out more. The cardstock is also whitecore, so could be sanded also.



The last thing I did was add the adhesive gems, but they look more like pearls to me (so this meets the challenge requirement) and added dimensional adhesive to the chandelier before I added it to the card base. 

This was a fun project to do. Made me think and complete a project that I probably never would have done, but I ended up really liking it. I hope I win the $25 store credit to Cricut.com lol.

So far I have really liked using the Post-it Craft paper. Will be featuring some more projects with it soon. I would like for them to bring out some more colors and have it available in 12x12 sheets. Right now only 9x12 is available. You can find it at Joanns store or online at Joann.com. Here is a link with all the papers available there.

Joanns Post-it Craft paper

I know I have seen it AC Moore, nit sure at Michaels or Hobby Lobby.

Thanks for stopping by and please comment and follow if you like. Any questions I can always be emailed at astoriacrafter@gmail.com