Cricut Challenge 22: Old West..."Ride 'em Cowboy!" (Cricut 360 Challenge #7)

I'm waaay behind on my scrapbooking...but that's ok.  I never make it my mission to get caught up...I make it my mission to enjoy the process and in terms of that challenge I am ALWAYS successful!  Some layouts take an hour or two...some take longer.  I actually went to a crop once and spent 8 hours on a layout....seriously!  It wasn't any award winning layout when I was done but I loved it and had the greatest time working on it.  That's how I am...I'm about the process...I'm not a crank it out sort of gal...
:)

Back to my personal challenge of using all my Cricut Cartridges on a project....(and btw if you look to the right sidebar you will see all the things I've posted on my blog and I have more than 22 projects posted BUT I didn't start my personal challenge until after I'd already posted some projects!).  Of course, I am going out of order a bit...skipped down to the "o's" (Old West) for this project.  And this is entered in the Cricut 360 Challenge #7 to use the Old West cartridge on a card or layout.

This is one of the older cartridges... it doesn't have a ton of image layers but it does have a couple of cute western looking fonts.  I picked this cartridge up fairly recently at Michael's when they were having one of their super duper Cricut cartridge sales.  I think I got it for $9.99!

So here is a two page layout I did of LMM (Little Monster Man...previously known as AG...Adorable Grandson).  He still maintains a good amount of AG in him...but the LMM is definitely there, too!  Of course these photos were taken before he morphed into LMM! Actually LMM has entered into the Terrible Twos.  Remember those days???  Actually, he is a fun, funny, loving, smart little boy but is trying to exercise some independence and do things HIS WAY! LOL!!! Just getting him in his car seat is a challenge because he wants to do it HIS WAY!

Back to the layout...we took LMM out to the barn one day and set him up on one of the horses out there for his first horse ride.  My daughter is a horsewoman so I imagine there will always be horses in this little boy's life. 

I really like bigger images on my layouts and cards...don't like seeing dinky things that get swallowed up.  This was as big as I could make the horse without swallowing up my photos! :)  Another tip is to "ground" you items...don't have them floating off in space.  Here the horse is "grounded" by the grass.  I loved the banner feature, too, and thought it worked perfectly with this 2 page spread.

I also used Accent Essentials to cut the large scalloped mat and Lyrical Letters to cut the banner.  I loved what those extra layers added to my layout.  Yes...I love layers!

And now LMM just needs a cowboy hat!

(He has boots, of course!)

Cricut Challenge: #3 Accent Essentials with Fabric Flower

Today I worked with the Accent Essentials Cartridge, some fabric, and a sheet of clear acetate.  (You'll have to look close to see the acetate in the picture below...the card is slightly open and the embossed purple cardstock is on the inside of the card.)

It is an older cartridge...probably one of the first shape cartridges I purchased.  I think I purchased it because I loved all the flourish images in it and I have used it several times...althought not in quite a while. 
Interestingly...there are some basic images but many of the creative keys are non functional...you basically get the shape and a shadow and that's about it.  Still there are some cute things on this cartridge.

I decided I wanted to try my hand at cutting fabric on the Cricut.  I purchased some cotton fabric pieces at Joann's and ironed some fusible webbing to it.  I read several tutorials and watched some videos as well and most said to place the fabric on the mat with the fusible webbing up and the fabric against the sticky part of the mat.  I made sure I used a new blade...put my speed on slow...my blade pressure high and the depth at the maxium.    I cut several flower shapes in different sizes from the Accent Essentials cartridge and glued them together with a hot glue gun.  I had bought some acetate at Michael's today...first time I'd seen an entire pad of acetate in the scrapbooking section...the brand was "Recollections" which is Michael's own brand. 
I wanted to use the acetate so decided on a card...put some embossed cardstock on the inside (which I embossed with the Thank You Cuttlebug folder).  I secured the fabric flower to the front and tied some Stampin' Up ribbon near the top.  The Many Thanks sentiment is from Paper Trey Ink Fillable Frames 1 and was punched out with the SU word punch. 

I thought it turned out nicely and really didn't take long to make!