Cricut? Where have you BEEN all of my crafting life???

All I have to say is WOW. Seriously...WOW. I don't even know WHY (besides the cost) I haven't ever seriously considered purchasing this thing until now. It made the job of cutting intricate shapes in all kinds of sizes a total breeze. My poor, poor punches are going to collect lots of dust now that I have this handy, all purpose cutting buddy! (I sound like an infomercial...I know) But it is really awesome.

I'm hosting a baby shower for my darling friend Jen today. She's due ANY MINUTE now and this is a rescheduled date from what should have been 3 weeks ago but we were all sick so we had to postpone.

But - in addition to making her baby announcements (so exciting!!) I made her this card to go along with the gift that I bought for her.

The outer petal envelope is pre-cut and purchased from The Paper Source. The other papers are SU! and Martha Stewart (ladybug). Everything besides the petal envelope (chocolate brown) was cut with my new Cricut Expression. The thing is just AMAZING. I told it what shapes I wanted and in what size and hit CUT! And VOILA! Just like that. It was TOTALLY worth the investment...10 times over! I added another layer of SU! River Rock anchored with a mini-brad in the top left corner so I'd have a space to write a message to my friend. As you can see it swivels out to the side to reveal the baby's monogram. Once I'd chosen my papers this card took me about 10 minutes to create. Seriously...10 minutes.

WOW.

Run...don't walk to your nearest ACM and pick up the Cricut Expression Bundle (comes with 4 cartridges and inks) for 368.99. (check their web site - it's listed there)

I hope that everyone is having a creative weekend!!