HLMS Cricut challenge Day 1

I will be honest coming out of the gate, it will most likely be next year before I do any of the other challenges Cori at Hey Let's Make Stuff has up.  It is not because of difficulty!  She does an amazing job of choosing differing levels of projects so even the most basic crafter can feel like a rock star.  She give very detailed directions and has always been quick to answer if you email a question.  I just have a billion of items sitting in my craft room as a wish list.

This card was so cute and easy...ish.  I can be honest and say that paper is 95% the trouble.  Fine cuts are hard, especially on black paper.  I shredded over a dozen cuts of the cable before tossing my hand in the air and just hand drawing it on.  The bulbs are a genius use of scraps.  The svg comes set as a 5x7 but I resized the card to an A2 4x5.5.  That said, I could get 2 cards from a 12x12 instead of one but again, fine cuts can be tricky.  I made the mistake of using heavy white cardstock, so next time, I need the thinner cardstock for a cleaner cut.  

TIP: Stampin Up cardstock will often shred or flake into layers if the cuts are ultra fine.  Same for cheaper bulk papers like the Recollections black stack from Michaels.  

I strongly suggest a new blade or sharpen your blade with some aluminum foil.  The foil helps keep gummy stuff and small shreds of paper off the blade.

In the end, it still turned out super cute.  I may end up making a stack of these for next year.  Thanks for looking!  April