Cricut Chihuahua Christmas

Hello - it’s Sis from Paper, Craft & Scissors with a Cricut Chihuahua Christmas card to share.

This card involved multiple cartridges, different patterns and textures, and of course, dimension.  To start, I wanted to make a card that was 5.25” square so I could mail it in a chunky card mailer that measures 5.5” square.

The base of the card is the fireplace from Joys of the Season.  I used Cricut Craft Room  (CCR) to size the fireplace for my card size.  Sometimes I will add a “card” layer to show my card base size so I am sure the cut is scaled correctly for the base.  Note:  I cut my card base layers with my paper trimmer -- I use CCR to check sizes.  In this screen shot, the card base is green and the fireplace cut is pink.  The fireplace was scaled horizontally and vertically to fit the 5.25 inch base.  

I cut a total of three fireplaces in order to get the dimension I wanted.  Layer 1 was the complete cut, layer 2 was hand trimmed to include the “legs and mantle only” and it was pop dotted on top of layer 1 and matched the depth of the fireplace “tile” layer which was also pop dotted to layer 1.  The center piece of the layer 2 was adhered, without pop dots, directly on the layer 1 center piece.  Layer 3 consisted of the hand trimmed mantle only and was also pop dotted.  The inside hearth (gray patterned paper) of the fireplace was hand cut as I wanted the card base to be a pale “wallpaper” and the inside of the fireplace a darker soot color.   I did not include the “fire” as I wanted to make sure the dogs were the center of attention.

The chihuahuas are from Pet Shop and are cut at 2.25 inches tall.  Their accessories are from Teddy Bears on Parade.  Using Cricut Craft Room (CCR), I sized the accessories to fit  the dogs and hide the unnecessary cut lines (contours).  Remember, you can size proportionally, or just length or width using CCR.  The dogs are attached to the fireplace “legs” with a pop dot and a double pop dot attaches the areas that are inside the “hearth”.

The screen shot below shows how I determined the size of the accessories using different layers in the CCR.  After getting the size right, I welded the accessories to the base layers, grouped each chihuahua individually and copied them.  I usually cut two base layers from a good quality card stock (like Papertrey Ink) in order to get things off on the right foot so that multiple layers are resilient and not droopy.  The chihuahua on the left hand side of the fireplace was flipped horizontally so the two would be facing.  I cut several extra accessories and adhered each directly on top of one another for dimension.  The "fur trim" is from a "Snow Marker" - after drying, you can create dimension using a heat gun.

The “outer layers” of the dogs were all cut from a French Vanilla card stock.  I used my Copics to add color and texture.  I added details with a Micron pen.  The jingle bell is attached to the reindeer antler's with baker's twine and glued to the back of the antlers.

The dog in the stocking is from Animal Kingdom (head only) and measures .85” tall.  I hand cut her legs hanging over the edge of the stocking.  The candy cane is from Joys of the Season.  It was so small that cutting the red piece was not worth the frustration of cutting so I added the red stripes with my Copic marker and then glossy accented it.  The stocking is also from Joys of the Season.  After cutting it and “hanging” it from the mantle, I decided it was too long.  So I trimmed the stocking cuff piece from the base, shortened the stocking by about a half inch, and reattached it.  

The mantle is decorated with a McGill pine punch and "lights" from a Darice trim.

And there you have it - a Cricut Chihuahua Christmas.  This was a special card for a stocking swap - so the three chihuahuas of the recipient had to be featured in the card.




Designed by:  Sis Patterson

Machines Used:  Cricut Expression

Supplies Used:

Joys of the Season, Pet Shop, Teddy Bears on Parade, Animal Kingdom

Papertrey Ink Cardstock, Bazzill Cardstock, and Recollections Cardstock

My Mind's Eye Christmas Wish 6" paper pad

Copics

Darice trim

McGill Pine Branch Punch