Cricut Circle BLOGiversary: Cuttlebug Challenge

Today’s project is another one from last week’s Cricut Circle BLOGiversary, which included the additional requirement of using the Cuttlebug machine (an embossing tool), together with the Cricut.  Using an embossing tool, such as the Cuttlebug, allows you to add dimension and texture to a cut.

The Challenge: Create a project of your choice using your Cuttlebug machine as the main focus. Your project must include at least 2 different Cricut Image Cuts.

This was a fun, albeit very time consuming, project for me.  Generally, I have an idea of what I want something to look like when it’s finished, and usually it works out well.  There are those times, though, when things just don’t turn out exactly as I had hoped.  Those are the “it looked better in my head” projects.  Thankfully, this is not one of those projects.

To create the wreath, I used the leaves from the Straight From the Nest cartridge (the 5 leaves are found under the Layer feature), cut approximately 225 leaves from 9 different types of paper (some printed with a design; some plain).  Once they were all cut, I sorted them into 5 stacks by type and assigned a Cuttlebug folder to each one, and all were embossed.

Once the leaves were embossed, I inked the edges of each leaf and lightly inked the embossed area to give it additional visual depth.  Then, all the leaves were spayed using Ranger’s Perfect Pearls Mists in Heirloom Gold.  While the leaves were still wet, I crumpled each leaf to give it additional texture and depth. 

To make the wreath easier to work with, I covered the entire thing in paper prior to placing the leaves on it.  I worked in a clockwise direction and began placing leaves onto the wreath, trying to vary the leave size, shape and color. 

Once the leaves were covering approximately half the wreath, I wrapped the ribbon around it to ensure sufficient space for the placing of the letters and then completed the process of adding leaves.  Four leaves were used as background for the letters to spell out “Fall”. 

I did not use all of the leaves on the wreath; approximately 40 were left.  I had purchased 3 candles for the mantle over the fireplace, so I embellished them with some of the remaining leaves.  I had intended to do this when I purchased them, so it worked out well.  Two of the candles had embellishments when purchased, so I incorporated those along with my leaves.  I also created a few acorns, which I ended up not using on the wreath, so they were added to one of the candles.

I am very pleased with the way the project turned out, and it is definitely better than I imagined it!