A Sneak Peek at the Cricut Artbooking Cartridge by Close to My Heart

Where has the month gone? It has flown by since I got home from convention. Just a reminder that the end of the month brings the end of two really great specials. Don't forget that the Courage and Home of the Brave stamps sets are only available until the end of the month and the purchase of each donates money to the USO to support our troops. And the Work Your Workshop special, featuring the Workshops on the Go Canvas Kit at half price is only available while supplies last or until July 31st. So take advantage of those today.

And with that reminder out of the way, how about a sneak peek at the upcoming Close to My Heart Cricut Artbooking Cartridge? I got a chance to play with this cartridge in preparation for my convention class and it is fabulous. First of all, this isn't your ordinary cartridge. While it has all sorts of wonderful images, as every Close to My Heart Cricut cartridge does, this one has all sorts of layout and mini book themes! By setting the Cricut machine to the suggested dial size, you can use one key (yes, one) to cut out accents, borders, titles, overlays and more, all in proportion, to create the perfect scrapbook or mini album page. It's so simple! And by using real dial size and a little creativity, you can manipulate those images and overlays for all sorts of additional fun stuff.

So let's take a look at a card I made with the cartridge.

First of all, I cut the photo mat on the N key from Honey cardstock. I stuck with the recommended dial size on this one which is actually 11". Notice the photo mat is not 11" but rather in proportion with the overall 12x12 layout. This has a photo mat box for a 4x4 photo. It is a great size for a card as well.

Next, I cut the border shown here in various colors (Pacifica, Ruby, Slate and Black) because I wanted to use, not the border, but the arrows left over from the border. I also cut the larger arrow in Ruby and Slate.

I layered the arrows, including the arrow cut from the photo mat, randomly on a piece of white cardstock cut at 4 1/4 x 4 1/4", just a tiny bit larger than the opening of the photo mat.

I used the little arrow from the new "All the Details" stamp set and...

...I stamped it in Ruby ink to fill in any leftover white space on my white cardstock.  I then layered the honey photo mat over the white cardstock and mounted that on black cardstock on a card base.

There was a teeny bit of left over glue after gluing down the arrows so I used my handy dandy Rub and Remove Eraser to clean it up. 

After adding the Real Life from All My Details stamped in Pacifica ink I'm all done! I really like how this card turned out. Now I'm trying to think of a clever saying to put in the middle. Something inspiring to do with real life and directions... Any suggestions?

Happy Stamping and Scrapping!