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Sunday, October 30, 2011

Christmas Explosion Box

Hi.  I am very excited to share my latest project. An explosion box I made with the new imagine cartridge “Santa’s Village”.  This cart has some wonderful images that print/cut in multiple layers for a three-dimensional affect.  Here are some of the first cuts I made.


I had been planning an explosion Christmas box, as a gift to the grandparents (with photos of the kids) for a while.  I had my layers all cut (directions below) but was unsure of how I wanted to decorate until I saw this cart.  I noticed it on the Hello Thursday release, ordered it Friday and had it in my hands by Wednesday.  Since I had all layers and mats already cut, I didn’t get to use the cute patterns that came on the cart (although they would have worked), but the papers I had already chosen coordinated perfectly with the colors and images on this fantastic vintage looking Christmas cartridge.   

For the Christmas tree in the center I cut out six trees at 4 ½ inches (three of them are flipped images).  I scored all six down the center and alternated flipped & un-flipped trees gluing each half to a different half of another tree.  I made sure not to glue the base”skirt” of the tree; with those, I folded out to make a stand and wrapped fringed around it.  I added some stickles and a tiny tinsel garland to the tree and ta da – I love how it turned out!

Next, after gluing all my mats to the layers, I added ribbons, decorative brads, paper clips, and gems to spruce it up.  Then on the inner layer I glued the 3D images I had print/cut on my imagine.  

I real like the finished product.  Now I just need to add some picture of my boys, and I’ll have one gift down – that is if I can part with this – I really like it.   


Supplies Used
Cardstock (open stock) – dark olive green, dark red, soft yellow
Printed papers – Graphic 45(Christmas Emporium) and Simple-Stories (25 Days of Christmas)
Thumb tacks (large) - for feet
Handel/knob from Memory Makers (I think)
Generic ribbons, swirl paper clips, gems, and gel pens
Creative memories corner rounder, adhesive pop- squares, and glue dots
Martha Stewart’s and G-Studio inks
Martha Stewart’s scoreboard (must have tool)
Glue gun
A piece of decretive medal (jewelry salvage) for handle base embellishment
Tiny garland
Gold Stickles
1-inch square chipboard  for support under lid knob
Big bite crop-a-dile for hole in center of chipboard piece & metal embellishment
Snatas' Village Cart
Celebrate with Flourish cart
Cricut Imagine

Box Instructions
Start with 12 X 12 – score at 4’ and turn, score at 4” and turn (repeat four times)
--I say “turn” because on the remanding pieces this will be important to get the square center.
Second piece – use a 11 x 11 sheet – score at 3¾ (turn) and repeat four times (don’t forget to turn)
Third sheet – 10 X 10 - score at 3½ and turn (repeat four times)
Lid – 8 x 8 sheets – score at 2’ turn and repeat four times.

For the three base pieces you will need to cut out the 4 corners on each piece, leaving a pulse sign.  The corners you cut out can be trimmed and used at photo mats on another layer.

For the lid, only cut one side of the corner piece so it will fold in and glue to the next side of the lid. DO NOT cut out the corners altogether on the lid. 

Decorate and add photo mats before you glue centers bases together, as it is a lot easier to work with while they are separated.

I used three solid colors with four different coordinating patterned papers for this box. 

Hope you enjoyed this project. 
God bless & happy scrappin’


Sunday, October 23, 2011

Shutter/Tri-Fold Card

Here is a wedding card - it was a little late (by 6 months); so I made it a ½-anniversary card.



 I used Designer’s Calendar for the for the rings cut @ 1.7 by 1 and the “U2” (not to be confused with the band) was cut from Cursive 101 @ 1.2 by 1.4.  Both were cut in silver cardstock.  The harts were also punched from silver cardstock. 


For the gift card holder, I used my new die from Emma's “My Creative Time” Embossed gift Card Holder .  I Just Love her Stuff ! (see link on side bar).
                                                                                     The label and frames are from a spellbinder’s nestablities die set and  the sentiment typed.
Add ribbons, pearls, a gem and  Presto!

                                                                              I made a matching envelope using my Martha Stewart scoreboard and Friskers corner punch for the flap.

Don’t remember where the red floral paper came from - sorry.  The black and gray papers are both from DCWV La Crème Matstack.



Directions For the tri-fold/Shutter card:  Basically you take a 6 x 12 (or 5 ½ X 12) sheet of card stock and score it at 2”, 4” 8” & 10”.  Then you cut from the 2 inch score line to the 10 inch score (at 1 ½ inches in on each long side).  Then play with it a little bit and fold to your liking.  My measurements were a little different, as I wanted it to fit Emma’s Gift card Die.


Happy Scrappin’ & God Bless!

Friday, October 21, 2011

Don't Croak Grandparents Day Card

Here is a crazy fun Grandparents day card I made using that adorable frog/toad on Mini Monsters and the cute Dragonfly form Create-A-Critter.


 I was always forgetting grandparent’s day – and I was tired of getting scolded for it, but last year I remembered.  The front says “don’t crock” (also from Mini Monsters.)  Inside says, “…but mom finally remembered grandparents’ day”.  As you can see, I cut out faces of my boy’s and put it on the dragonfly bodies – The grandparents  loved it – with little picture of the grandkids how could they not?

Frog cut @ 5.7 by 3.5 and cuddlebugged his legs

Dragonflies cut @ 2.6 by 2.2 and 2.1 by 1.5 (I used double-layered velum for the wings and added stickles & smooch to the bodies).

“Don’t Crock” cut at 2.3 by 1.6 in two colors (hid contour for bottom layer)

The tongue was actually cut from a Give-a-Hoot boarder and stretched and cut to fit

I used some ink and hand cut the lily pad.

 Here are some similar cards I made at the same time.     




Happy scrappin’ and God bless!

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Halloween Goodie -- THIS MADE THE CHIRP!!!!

I made these treat boxes for my boys.

The Pillow Box:
I made these big enough to hold a large gift card and a small candy bar.  The bigger gift cards are 3½ by 5 inches, so I needed to make the pillow box at 9.5 wide & 8.5 high.  These were cut from the awesome Art Philosophy cart by Close to my Hear.  I folded on the long score marks and ran them thru the cuttlebug.  They needed to go thru twice to cover the entire length of the box.  



The Hand:
This was cut at 6.9 by 7.2 (this was elongated a bit).  And similar to a card I made last year using the same hand from A Child’s Year.  I used a raindrop and turned and wielded them in DS to make them look like sharp fingernails.  I painted the nails with smooch and covered them with Liquid glass ( I let dry over night).  Then I rolled and bent the fingers in a natural way.



The Label:
This decretive label was cut from a frame on Happy Haunting as was the phrase “Happy Halloween” and the letters.  I also used the liquid glass on the words & letters to make it look like fresh blood.  The frame was cut at 3.05 by 4.5 and base of the frame /back was cut at 3.38 by 4.5. 

Final Touches:
After gluing everything in place, I added various wiggle eyes with glue dots, a black ribbon topped with a blood red gem, and place box in hand - presto. 



Hope you like it.  Happy Haunting to you and all your goules have a safe and scary Halloween!

God bless!

Thursday, October 13, 2011

It’s my Imagines Birthday

Okay, so I have had my Cricut Imagine for an entire year now.  What is it like?  Let me start at the beginning….”imagine mood music taking us back thru time to August 2010.“ 

I hear about this wonderful new machine that not only cuts, but prints as well  -  I was screaming with excitement inside.   Okay, okay, Okay – breath.  Oh, the things I will be able to do with this bad boy!  I am constantly looking to find out more information about it.

What can it do?
When is it coming out?
How much will it cost?
How does it work?

 I can’t quit talking about it.  Telling my boys and my DH how cool this is going to be. I keep talking and thinking about all the possibilities.  I anxiously await the launch on HSN scheduled for 12:00 on 14 September.  As I am searching the web, for the latest info around 8pm on the 13th of September 2010, I find out the price and tears roll down my cheeks.  It will cost $499.00 – I can’t afford that, not with my allowance, until after the holidays – probably not till March.  My husband asks me, “what’s wrong?”.  I start rambling about how I thought the launch was at noon but it is at midnight, how I am tiered and that I can’t afford the new machine anyway, really just acting a fool. 

He says, “Oh is that all, why don’t you just go ahead and order it sweetie.  Make it an early Christmas gift.”  

Now I am really crying – what a dreamboat he is!  Kiss, hug, kiss, kiss, hug, big smile..  Okay, breathe again.  I order on-line before the launch so I can go to bed, I am so exhausted.  At about 11:30pm I am suddenly wide-awake and stay up till 1:30am and watch the launch of this baby to see it in action.  I am so excited. 

Does it work with Design studio (I need the big screen to see clearly)?  No, it’ll be better that DS.
Does it work with the gypsy?  No, not yet, but it will.        
It will eventually… and it will be mine and it is on the way!

Mean while, I go to a scrapbook convention for the weekend (awesome).  While I am gone, my early Christmas gift arrives.  When I get home the first thing I notice is that the box is so big.   
I open the box and praise & worship music starts playing in my head (oh that is actually my husband behind me being cute).  Okay, still can’t use DS or Gypsy (not that I use my gypsy anyway – the screen is too small).  I want to make something with it.   As the machine is too big for my craft table, I set it up in the game room on a card table and get busy.  Can I even remember how to use a cricut machine without the computer and Design Studio?  Let’s try.  I read the instructions and get started. 
Pretty simple after you get it calibrated and all. 

I can’t wield.
I can’t move things around on the paper.  
I can’t make my own designs. 
Hummmmm. 
Okay, it is not too bad for simple cuts, and the images are pretty cool all on their own. 

My first project is a thank you card for my sweet hubby who let me order this thing.
 
This cuts and patterns are all from the “Imagine More” cart, except for the words.

Cool – But I wish I could use DS with it.  It sets in the game room for a few weeks before I make room for it in my craft space.  I do not do much with it, but I keep checking the Cricut site to see when it will be compatible with other tools.  I wait.  I wait some more.  Finally an update and it works  with Gypsy – well, kind of – you can’t use patterns and colors with Gypsy,  only regular cuts like you would the Epression.    Umph!.  Wait.  Wait.  December – can’t really use my gift like I want to -yet.  Wait.  January – something will be coming out soon and it will be great.  Wait.  Wait.  Wait.  February – still nothing.  Wait.  March - they have something called “Cricut Craft Room” being tested that should be released to everyone very soon - April.  I play with the big machine a little and make a few things, mostly patterned paper.  I sure wish I could use my DS with it.  Here is April CCR? Nope - CCR not ready yet.  Wait.  End of April - Oh, yes; I get access to be a beta tester in CCR!!!!  What?  This is a pain in the you-know-what. 

CCR is so slow,
CCR has so many glitches,
It is so much waste of paper and ink because of all the bugs. 

But, I do get to play and it is getting so much better, surly by summer all the bugs will be worked out  May…Jun… wait. Wait for it.  Wait – still a pain and more errors than I want to mess with.  August,-- Oh Yeah! We can now do a work around and print multi layers as one cut.  September – oops that was a glitch – sorry, maybe in the future you can do a multi-layer image as one cut.  You have to load each cart in individually –pain, pain, pain.  Glitch, glitch, glitch.

Okay we are back to the present: 

CCR is still in beta and has lots of glitches.
The Imagine has gone on sale for as low as $299 I belive.
It will never work with DS
It has too much data for the color/print feature to work with gypsy without using up all the memory;
CCR still wastes a lot of materials because it makes new mistake with every update version (#66 now)

But……  I love this machine.  When CCR is finally working as it should, I will, at some point in the future, get to use this wonderful machine (that I paid too much for) to its full potential.  My only lesson I have here is DO NOT buy Provo Craft Items at Launch.  Wait until they have been on the market a few months and get them at a better price with all the bugs worked out.  Definitely buy them (they are super crafting tools), but unless you have the patience of a saint or money and time to blow, give them a few months (or a year) before you jump all in.   

Yes, I love my machine, just wish I would have waited till it was a better price and fully functional with a design program.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY IMAGINE -  When you mature, we will do more together – I promise.

                                                                                                    


Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Good Things to Come! (Sneak Peek)

Hello friends & followers.  I hope you all had a wonderful summer, and if it applies, a great start to a new school year.  My oldest just started high school and my youngest started intermediate (which was still elementary when I was a kid).  
Fall is certainly in the in the air; and that gets me feeling all crafty inside.  I have a ton of fun stuff I want to share with ya’ll (that is Sothern for “you all”).  I’ll be positing dozens of projects over the next few months.  I am sure you will notice that almost everything I do has something “Cricut” in it.  Yes, I officially join the Kook-coo for Cricut club.  But I do have the occasional item with no bugs in the mix. 

Why is this picture on it's side?  Use your imagination!

Here is a peek at some of the good things I hope to share in the coming weeks:  
  • More Cards
  • A Notebook cover my son designed   
  • Bulletin boards
  • My Cricut Imagine story  and first Imagine projects (it’s been a year)
  • My Fabulous Creative Keepsakes Convention (CKC) getaway
  • Putting together Cricut Disney characters
  • New layouts (layouts are my main reason for paper crafting) 
  • Two room makeovers (my craft room & my boy’s bathroom)
  • Banners and tips
  • Crafty gift ideas
  • Altered objects
  • A 3-D lighthouse that really lights up
  • Exploding boxes
  • Submission locations
  • And whole bunch more    
 As of this posting I have 11 followers and I want to thank all you for your interest in my blog.  Hope this finds each of you enjoying your life. God Bless!