The 700 shapes feature 3D flowers, boxes, and objects (oh, there's even a pair of baby booties - can you imagine these adorning the centerpieces of a baby shower?!), cards and envelopes, shapes, tags, a font, phrases. There are one-key themed sets to create the invitations, favors and decorations for a party (Halloween, birthday, Valentine's Day). Something I really love is that this cartridge is set up with linked keys, and those are designed to pair perfectly in relative dial size. If you select a 4 inch card and cut its coordinating envelope, the two will fit perfectly together (no fussing and recutting one or the other!). If you want a 3D box to stand 3 inches in height, you set your dial to 3 inches, and the finished product is that size!
I have already made two birthday presents using the new Artiste cartridge, both using the L-key mini album. (That's right...all the pages of the album are made using a combination of the L key, shift, and feature keys!) In the instruction booklet, it has in red by the back cover ("3D Object" feature, "SHIFT" + L) "3 in.", with an arrow to show that the finished album will be three inches in height if you select that. I made the first album using this standard. I was curious how "large" I could cut this back cover, using only a 12x12 piece of cardstock and the Fit to Page feature on my Cricut. The tallest this particular album (complete with front and back covers) could be is 4 1/4 inches. (Note: the back cover will ONLY cut if you select "Fit to Page", as it scoots out the side margins a bit. All other pieces were able to be cut by setting the size to 4 1/4 inches.)
I used the Dotty for You papers for the second (larger) mini album, which is for our niece's birthday. My husband leaves in the wee hours of the morning for a business trip within an hour of his sister's new home, so he'll visit her family while out there! And today I put together this album. (If I had been thinking far ahead, I might have had lots of stamping within the pages. But Riley is turning 7, and I'm sure she can create whatever she wants to see adorning her pages! Plus, this is a new cartridge...but it's helping me dust off my creative edge!)
Below is the outside of the album. You can see that it is about 8 1/2 inches wide too. It's a good sized mini album. I hope Riley has some fun filling it with photos and memorabilia! Oh...that rosette on the closure? That's one of several rosettes included on the Cricut Artiste. It cuts decorative edges, different shapes out of each one (this has beveled edges, two diamond cut-outs) AND scores with precision. Our B&T papers work great with this feature!
Here's the side showing all the cuts, each perfectly cascading. The shapes are sometimes so fussy, I would never cut them (the first), or so artistic (the second) I would fail. This photo also shows the underside of the rosette and my closure (these are thin craft magnets, but I'm just kicking myself for not having ordered the small hook-and-loop dot closures CTMH carries. I had magnets flying across the room from polarity issues when I was trying to line everything up! Plus I don't really like having magnets everywhere...perhaps that paranoia is old, but it's in me).
I wanted to show a couple of the pages opened/turned. My decision to use the front or back side of our B&T paper was partly just trying to break up the patterns when you look at the entire album. But in some cases, it made for a coordinated double-page spread!
I put some tags within the pages (adhered to the page, not just in the envelopes). This is one, and a little ribbon detail. This is actually hiding the backside of a brad that was used for the envelope closure on the back!
Here's the envelope on the back, with CTMH Baker's Twine in Outdoor Denim wrapping between the stitched button and the brad. I didn't want to use another set of magnets, didn't yet have the hook-and-loop dots, and had adhered this envelope before I devised the closure.
One twist of the Baker's Twine and the envelope opens to reveal more tags for journaling and capturing memories! Before I spend too much more time here, I should take my hubby the album so he can pack it for Riley! (If he forgets it, I can always ship it...we have enough time for that!)
Hope this helps you get excited to see this new product! The Autumn/Winter Idea Book is live as of today...check it out on my OBA and let me know if I can answer any questions about our new products!!
