Two more calendars

I am still on my calendar making kick. After years of imagining making calendars, and collecting supplies I am finally doing it.

I have been asked a number of times to share how I am making my calendars...I am working on doing a quick video about them. They are so simple, since they really are just a scrapbook page with a calendar instead of a photo. (I really think that last sentence just explained it all. Do I still need to do a tutorial?)

 

Loving my gypsy

Got the new Cricut Gypsy...it is proving to be quite a fun new toy. I love being able to design while I am commuting to work. And best of all...no more arguing with my hubby about getting access to MY LAPTOP to cut with my cricut. I made a number of things over the weekend and never once had to take MY LAPTOP away from him. Peace in the house....nice!

Here are a few things I made using the Gypsy Wanderings cart that is installed on the Gypsy.

Some creativity before chaos

My scraproom is currently in shambles. My DH is rearranging and cleaning it for me....what a sweetie. But right now it looks like a cyclone hit it. I always hate cleaning, because it makes such a mess. No before shots...I am far too embarrassed. But I will share the after...I have a card catalog that I love as my main storage for my supplies. I managed to snag one when we were getting rid of them all here at work.

I have a major project to do by this Saturday, so hopefully this restructuring of the craft room will be done by Friday, so I can spend the day working. I did manage to get two layouts done before my husband got busy.

Birthday Cards

Two cards I made for my mother in law and my grandma for their birthdays. I made them to fit in a business size envelope, so they are basically 4x9. I used a bunch of older, yet very lovely papers...had to add primas of course...and used my Glamour Girls Crafty Secrets stamps (these are great by the way) and some Brillance ink in gold. The ink is so pretty it has a sparkle to it.

supplies: paper - K&Co, Me & My Big Ideas, Cosmo Cricket, Daisy Ds; Embellishments - Prima, Autumn Leaves; Stamps & Ink - Brillance (galaxy gold), Crafty Secrets

Scary Picture (of my halloween card)

I made this card for my monthly Cricut messageboard card swap. I totally spaced that it was due and had to hurry at the last minute and pull something together. Ironically, I cut those black swirly things at a crop in July in the hopes of being ahead of the game. So much for that.

I am not even sure which Cricut cart I used to make this card. The little black swirly thing in the back was cut on my cricut. If I try to guess it would be Storybook, Home Accents or Home Decor. I am probably wrong on all fronts. Oh well. I took the picture on my camera phone - which sucks as a camera.

I am happy I got to use the Studio G halloween stamps, I got last year on clearance at AC Moore, along with my trusty EK flower punch, bic markits, 7gypsies journaling stamp and Sakura metallic pens.

Window Shopping

Been scrapping more than shopping these days, although I did manage to do a page and a half over this past weekend. I am also working on favors for my mother in law's upcoming birthday party...so I guess I have been crafting, just not taking photos of my work. I will have to rectify that soon and share. But since I am here at work, in my down time all I can really do is shop. So I thought I would post a few things I am drooling over and hope to own sometime soon.

1 - The Gypsy. This is my Cricut dream. I cannot wait for the day when I don't have to lug my laptop and all my carts with me to a crop. It is bad enough lugging the expression.

2 -7 Gypsies calendar stamps - I have something bordering on obsession with calendar stamps. I keep buying them, and of course I have yet to make a calendar. Obsessions rarely make sense. These 7 gypsies ones are so lovely. I don't know why I have not bought them yet. I just like to stare at them. (And their new papers are gorgeous as well)

3 - Cricut Calendar Cartridge - speaking of calendars, this is a cartridge I had hoped they would make from day one. I cannot wait until it finally hits the shelves. Maybe then (hopefully) I will actually bite the bullet and make a calendar.

4 - Prima - Prima is like a thief in the night, roughing me up and taking all my money. With every new release my pockets get lighter. I cannot resist all the pretty. Their new stuff just seems even more gorgeous than the last. I swear this is cocaine. Cocaine in crafty form.

5 - Webster's Pages - so pretty I just want to wrap myself in it. I love love love...this line.

A long time coming

I haven't done a page of myself and Joe in so long. I think the last ones I did were wedding pictures. Could be because there are very few pictures of us in existence where we are both together. This one took far too long, but I think it came out pretty good.



supplies: Flowers - Prima; cardstock - Bazzill and CTMH, stamps - Inkadinkado and 7Gypsies; pattern paper - CTMH; ink and markers - CTMH and Sakura, diecut paper - KI; ribbon - offray; brads - oriental trading; tools - Cricut (wild card cartridge)

A few cards

My monthly card swaps on the Cricut board.

Border Swap for Splitcoast

I had to make "page candies" of specific themes for my swap partners. I did soccer, dancing, and baby girl. While I got some nice wedding ones in return.

Finally getting a chance to update

Been forever...but finally getting a chance to get back to my blog. Luckily I still have been finding the time to create in my absence. That is always a good thing.

Supplies: tons of Primas, MME patterned paper and embellishments, swirls and leaves cut with Cricut, Inkadinkado stamps, Anna Griffin stamps, coredinations card stock, ribbon, buttons, and brads by Colorbok

Finally had a chance to do a layout

Well I was totally swamped at work with the end of the semester looming and RU Day...so I spaced on the Cricut Team Challenge date. Don't you love the human brain? Where a 26 could be confused for a 29...sigh. Well my submission was too late to help my team, but I am posting it anyway. I think it came out pretty cute.

Supplies: Cardstock: American Crafts and Wausau; Pattern Paper: Making Memories, KaiserCraft; Embellishments: American Crafts, Prima, Petaloo, Oriental Trading; Stamps: Autumn Leaves, Anna Griffin, Marcella by K; Inks & Markers: Colorbox, Copic Sketch, Copic Spica, Sakura Gelly Roll, Glimmer Mists, EK Success; Tools: Tonic Edge distresser, Cricut (carts used: Home Accents, Wild Card, Graphically Speaking)

More Crafting for work

I am starting to think I work for Michaels. Student Appreciation Week has rolled around again, so we are giving out the goodies. Every year I try to create something cute for the students. This year I am a little lacking in the cute department. I think I am fried from all the RU Day stuff, but I should at least earn an E for effort. Little brown bags filled with candies, with a simply cute topper.

Cards for Boys - the biggest challenge of all

In my ongoing attempts to challenge myself creatively, I chose to make 20 boy birthday cards for another swap on the Cricut board. What should have been a simple endeavor turned into a full out production. I really am clueless when it comes to making things for males. I am so tempted to slap a flower on everything I make.

So after too long brainstorming. I finally came up with a super simple design that really should not have taken me so long. I used one of my all time favorite PP - cosmopolitan by Making Memories and cricut carts - Going Places and George. It took a bit to actually put the cards together because I used pen work on each of the titles for the card. That is the most embellishment I could muster without using a flower or a rhinestone.

Cricutting for Work

Who would have thunk it? The Cricut is actually coming in handy for my job. We are having a community day at the university and all the departments are planning exhibits and activities. We are using Cricut with SCAL to make titles for the display boards at our tents. I actually had to roll my machine into work the other day. LOL

But you know really in the most basic form, this is what the Cricut is for, making signage and displays. So it makes sense that I am using it. I know schools have used them for bulletin boards and such, so why not a university? It just makes me feel like I really made a good investment when I bought these machines.

More Disney Card Candy

Mulan and Tinker Bell

Disney Swaps

I am doing a Card Candy Disney themed swap on the 2peas board. I chose to make card candy for mickey mouse (mouse ears), Tinkerbell, and Mulan. It has been quite a challenge because I am not a Disney fan at all. But I really want to force myself to think outside the box. I love making embellishments so I thought this would be fun..and it has been...for the most part. So here is my first set...

I really started using my Cricut alot last year when I started doing campaigns for my board (CMT - a fansite for Daniel & Chelsea on Days of our Lives). I wanted to make cutesy little things to make our voices heard - so to speak. So it all started with the penguin. I cut like 50 huge penguins from Christmas Cheer (or was it JOTS?) and made them hold a sign supporting our "cause". I heard they were a hit. The actress who plays Chelsea (Rachel Melvin) even remembered the penguins many months later when I had the opportunity to meet her.







Anyhoo....I guess I have a soap to thank for helping me really embrace my Cricut and use it to its capacity.

Love/Wedding Card

I am part of an ongoing monthly card swap on the Cricut board. The theme for April is wedding so we had to make wedding cards. I came up with one design and then modified it to work for my swap. I used the Cricut design studio software to weld the word LOVE together and the flourished rectangle is from Wild Card. I think I like the original better, but it didn't work well for mass production.




supplies: version 1: paper - DCWV and Wasau, bronze Perfect Pearls, flowers and leaves- Prima, pearl - Kaisercraft, stamps - Close to My Heart & Studio G, die cuts - Cricut, marker - bic mark-its. version 2: paper - MME, Bazzill, Wasau and DCWV, pink Perfect Pearls, stamps - Close to My Heart, die cuts - Cricut, markers - bic mark-its & copic spica.

Cricut Tag Box

I participated in a challenge on the Cricut board where I had to use a tag from any cartridge to make something. Simple enough, yet when forced to use a specific cut it always seems harder somehow.

I decided to combine my brainstorming of cute packaging for Student Employment Week at work with this challenge. I came up with a little box made from tags. I think for my students I will try to find a more unisex pattern paper and embellishment, but for the board challenge I went with the tried and true flower. I think it came out pretty cute. Would make a nice little shower favor or something.

Ok so I made this box with tags from TBBM, frame from Wildcard (I think) and floral swirl from Home Accents. Dimensions - 3"w x7"h

other supplies: Copic Spica pen, Pebbles Chalks, Wasau Metallic paper, MME pp, AC cardstock, Prima flowers, colorbox chalk ink, Rusty Pickle button, waxy flax from ctmh, Studio G stamps, and marvy uchida mini scalloped rectangle punch - oh and my trusty scor-pal...

This past weekend I was at the Wyndham in Plainsboro for Simply Cropping's spring crop. Had a great time. I actually got a tad bit accomplished, including the tags for my swap on the cricut board and some cards. Better than normal.

I have gotten two new fixations of late. First is embossing powder. The thing that started it all. My first scrapbooking related project was embossing apples on my wedding invitation with red embossing powder. After that experience I was pretty much hooked on paper crafts. Now that I have been leaving my heat gun plugged in, I have been using it more - to emboss.

My second new thing is working with watercolors. When I learned that the company that makes Twinkling H20's was going out of business I was suddenly stricken with the notion that my opportunity to use watercolors in my crafts was fleeting. So I scoured the net for info about these paints and I stumbled upon something else. The Niji watercolors are so shimmery and so affordable - on like 4 bucks for a 21 color set, that I am completely sold. I am sad that another company is biting the dust, but I don't think I will be investing in any Twinkling H20's before they are gone. I am enjoying my Niji set too much.

I made these tags for my Cricut tag/inchie swap. I was trying to go for a vintagey feel. I used the Home Decor Cartridge to make the flower which I painted with my watercolors, then outlined with copics and bic mark its and then added Tim Holtz Distress Stickles. I also used some bronze Perfect Pearls to get that goldish color in the flower centers.

A New Year, A New Start

I am going to pretend that I have not posted on this blog in over a year. I am just going to begin anew and fresh.

So 2009 started very creatively for me. I spent time in my craft room working on some new projects. It was a nice way to ring in the new year. I hope that this year will be filled to the brim with creative endeavors. I vow to make more time for that this year.

So today is my sister's birthday. She is 20. I made this topper for her present last night. I drew and hand cut him. I was inspired by this blog that Zippy from CMT shared with me. I think he came out cute.