Love Bugs for the Love Bug in your life!

With Valentine's Day sneaking up on us, I thought that a few cards to mail out for the occasion would be the perfect excuse to play with my new Cricut Expression 2 (a must for any dedicated crafter, you will not regret this purchase!)

For the "Love Bug" card I used the Simply Charmed cartridge. The bug is very simple. I highly recommend using the Cricut Craft Room.  Laying out a design is MUCH simpler. The Craft Room is free and can be downloaded at http://www.cricut.com/home/craftroom.  This allows you to set up your design on your computer, multiple layers at a time. You can click and drag, rotate, and re-size with ease.  When ready to cut, you simply connect it to your machine, load the mat, and cut as usual.  It even allows you to SAVE your project for future use. I used the Craft Room Essentials to cut out the squares behind the bugs. As a college student, I am on a budget, as most of my fellow crafters are. I purchased packets of 8x12 Valentine's themed paper in the dollar section at Target. I also decided to add ribbon, buttons, and jewels to spice up my cards. Get creative with the odds and ends laying around in your craft room. 

*Cricut Tip* Layout multiple, smaller pieces of paper on the mat to cut out a variety of bug colors at once.  This save you a lot of time.  Simply line up the paper with the grid on the screen to the mat.