Crustacean Creation

Today's creation is a creative attempt to play along with Stuck on U Sketches die cut challenge to create a paper craft using a crustacean.  Now if you click on the highlighted link above, it will take you to their blog site where you will find the most amazing and adorable cards & scrapbook pages using crabs, lobsters, seashells, etc.  I have to admit, I too wanted to create something more along the alley of adorable and searched through all of my cricut cartridges to find a cute crustacean....and came up empty handed.  Well, that is except for the one I found on the Bucaneer cartridge for use in my Cricut Imagine machine.  I love my Cricut Imagine machine...it prints and cuts for me, and putting a card together with it is a breeze.  I have to admit that most of the reviews for this machine have not been favorable and many customers had to return theirs and have them repaired because it did seem to have many glitches.  That being said, I have been one of the lucky ones that has not had any issues...so I was really sorry to hear that they have discontinued the Imagine. 

Now I love the Bucaneer cartridge, but have to say that there is nothing cutesy about it!  It is pirate theme thru and thru!  So keeping in mind I would probably need a boys bday card sooner or later, here's what I came up with using a lobster crustacean die cut....

What could be more scary than a bearded, muscular lobster sitting on top of the pirates treasure chest you would like to open?  I know I'd be backing away...but somehow little boys are always thrilled with these pirate themed cards!

This entire card was printed off of the Imagine...even the background papers! (With the exception of the washi tape).  To soften up the lobster die cut I added some Garnet Glitter from the Martha Stewart collection.  I also cut a second image of his face and adhered it over the original cut with pop up dots so there was some dimension to the crustacean.  I also used pop up dots under the lobster so that it would appear that he is sitting on the treasure chest.  To make the treasure chest glisten, I used Gold Smooch and sprayed it all over (wish you could see it in the picture).  I once again aged the background paper edges with brown toned ink and sprayed them with Mister Huey's mist in Manilla color just to add some age and grunge effects.  The strip of black and white washi tape in the centre of the card is made by Queen & Co.  The "No Trespassing" sign and the birthday sentiment are also die cuts using the Imagine. 

Once all was assembled, my 7 year old son came to take a peek at the finished project.  He loved it!  With his approval in place, I guess it's good to go for the next Bday Party he's invited to!