You're a Jewel

I'm not much of a card maker, unless it's birthday invitations.  But recently, while we were in NYC, my cousin and his wife watched our boys for a couple of days.  I wanted to thank her so I made her a card.

Not being much of a card person I needed something quick and easy.  And since I was making it for a girl I actually got to use girly colors.  Yay!

I used SCAL to cut a crown.  Since there were cut outs in the crown I also cut a blackout version in white to layer behind.  I thought I'd show you this shot of my computer because it lets you see how easy it is to figure out exactly how much paper you need for each cut.  Love that!

Here you can see the two papers I used to cut my crown.  The first time i saw someone lay out a Cricut mat like this (with multiple colors of paper) it was like a light bulb went off.  So I just had to share it with you too.

At some point I got two packs of these cards with my initial on it.  I don't use them much so I thought I'd just alter one for this card.

The crown was almost big enough to cover the M, but not quite.  So I took a pink sharpie and colored in the areas that might show.

And placed my crown on the card.  It is hard to see here, but the white shape was layered under the gold.  It peeks out a bit from behind the jewels.  And what kinda crown doesn't have jewels?  I had fun using some nice big bling on this one!

Ok, this here is my new favorite trick! Are you ready for this one?!?!  When I am making a title out of stickers I use my ruler to help me.  I stick just the bottom of the stickers onto the edge of the ruler and get them all lined up how I want them.

Then I stick the top part of the letters onto the card or layout.  Finally, I gently pull the ruler off the bottom while holding the top with my fingers. It's not perfect, but it makes it so much easier to get everything lined up just right.  I learned this trick from Noell Hyman over at Paperclipping.  She has so many awesome tips on her site!

And here is one last peek at the card I made for a jewel of a friend.



















Are you a card maker?  Have any fun card sentiments to share?  Someone done something extra nice for you lately?  I'd love to hear your thoughts!