Sep 28, 2009

Did ya hear?

I can't believe I missed out on this for 3 weeks already. Cricut is giving away the Winter Woodland cartridge for 5 weeks in celebration of it being their 100th cartridge!! How cool is that of them?? They're finishing up week 4 now, so there's only one week left if you don't make it for week 4. All you have to do is post a reply on their message board for the appropriate week. Then, you have a second chance by posting the contest in your blog, like I'm doing here, right now, with this link: http://www.cricut.com/shopping/ProductDetails.aspx?id=361&s=1&sc=2. It's as simple as that, it's the winning that's the hard part. LOL!

If you're not participating, can you keep your fingers crossed for me then?
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Sep 22, 2009

Some more additions

So, a few people were asking what the pull out tag looked like from the Christmas page in the previous post. I went back & took a shot of the front, which the text has been embossed, & one of the pocket on the backside of the tag. The pocket is to hold the letter or a picture of it (whichever I might have) for her to see later on.

Front Side:

















Back Side with Pocket:

















This is a page I had to do for my Design Team assignment, which was to create a Christmas page using older non-Christmas paper. so I chose the 3 main patterned papers from Making Memories for this one. I'm not all that sure I like it, but I do think it's kind of pretty. I think it's the green that's not doing it for me.





Next are these cute little treat ornaments. I had just enough of a scrap piece left over from "The List" Christmas page in my previous post to create these 2 little folded ornaments that can hold a small treat, but you can make them a little larger, if necessary. I like the foil paper for these, because it makes them look more like an ornament. I just added some dimensional stickers to them & even came up with a cute little snowman that I created by using some button stickers by Reminisce. He's another one of those, "I don't know if anyone else has done this, but I thought of it on my own!" kind of ideas. *snicker~snicker~*





OK, I have to say that I have loved the vintage look of this scenery holiday paper from Bo Bunny since it came out! I think I could easily buy it all up! I think it sort of pairs up well with the snowflake paper from SEI. The colors are a little off, but not in certain lighting & it looks great in this picture together!






Then I made this sweet little box also from the Bo Bunny vintage paper. I simply cut it with the scalloped square shape from the Storybook Cricut cartridge & followed the box making instructions that I previously posted here. I made the little scalloped circle phrase using a Quickutz nested Flower die around a "Something Sweet" Just Rite stamp image. These would be very cute to put pieces of fudge in for someone that you just want to do a little something for.







And last, but not least, is this card I made up to display at my demo day at my LSS using the Just Rite circle stamps. There is a little trick to these stamps & I'm not totally sure I have it figured out, but I did find that when you are placing the stamp on the block, to get an even fit, you need to start from one side or the other & gently push it on going in the opposite direction. If you don't, you get little bumps that tend to get ink splotches in places you don't want, especially around the edges. I think the images actually need to be a bit taller to help prevent that, but that's just one scrapper's opinion...;) They're still very cute stamps & if you want to see some truly amazing creations, you need to check out their site: Just Rite Stampers.


So, that's it for now & these projects were sadly my last design team projects for The Memory Zone. They will be closing their store by the end of this year after 9 years of being in this community. I have met some wonderful people at this store & have made some truly amazing & gifted friends through them. It is with a heavy heart that I will have to come to say "good-bye" to my favorite store. It is a great loss.

God Bless & have a great day.

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Sep 16, 2009

Simple stuff, but fun!

I have had some very busy weeks here since school started. Gee, I thought I'd be able to relax, get some cleaning caught up...but NOOOOO, of course not! I've had funerals, illnesses, Endoscopy's, demonstrations, meetings, used sales, yard sales etc. to get ready for! I'm not even close to being done, but I have manages to get some projects done (thanks to needing some for demo day at The Memory Zone) & some wild hair inspiration along with design team requirements. Whew! It feels good when I get these things accomplished though, whether they're required or not.

Here is a Halloween page I did, because I was verbally "challenged" my a staff member at the Memory Zone to come up with something unique using the cool new die cut paper from Reminisce. Boy, did I think I was clever when I decided to cut it into 2 sections & make a 2 page spread out of it. Little did I know that Angela Ploegman, Design Team member of Reminisce , had already done a page almost exactly like mine! I went to see if someone there had used it in a different way, but my page was essentially complete at that point. I was disappointed that I wasn't the first to come up with the idea, but glad to see that great minds think alike! ;)

Mine is quite a bit different from Angela's, aside from cutting the die cut paper apart. I used Reminisce witches hat paper & used the backside instead for the background because I was looking for a gradient effect to look like a sunset. The paper wasn't exactly the way I wanted it to look, so I used Hollyberry Red Glimmer Mist at the top to give a more orangish-red hue. I love how it turned out! Then I used black Stickles on the moon to add a bit more of a subtle accent to it. Looks kinda cool in real life. I used the same yellowish-orange cardstock from the title behind the house & pumpkins to add a bit more "glow" & added some yellow stickles to the pumpkins faces.

Next, I created a shadowed effect with the new Quickutz "Halloween" 12 inch border title that I thought was so cool, I just HAD to have it the moment I saw it!!

The cute little font at the bottom is Jack Sprat cut at 1 1/4" from the Lyrical Letters Cricut cartridge. This page was so fun & easy to do, the hardest part was finding the pictures I knew I had somewhere! LOL!










This is sweet little tag or ornament that I made for my demo at The Memory Zone last Sat. I used the Flower Nesting shapes from Quickutz & the snowflakes too. I cut them from a turquoise sugared paper from Doodlebug. The snowman was stamped using the JustRite circle stamps in the Something Sweet stamp set. I colored it in with colored pencils & cut it out. I think it looks cute with the trendy winter colors of red, white & turquoise! This was the most popular idea at the demo that day.

















These are a couple of very simple treat/gift bags that I also made for the demo. I like to show people that you can make something that looks very cute, but very easy to make. These were a hit, but not quite like the snowman above!


































This was card I made using some older Bo Bunny Holiday paper, but I used the the stamped circle text as a background for the card. I think maybe the decorative swirls might have looked better, but what's done is done.




This was an assignment for my design team project. I was to use the fabulous new Christmas Time line from Reminisce in a layout. This line is just GORGEOUS!!! So much sparkle & shine, enough to put a gleem in any scrapbooker's eye! This line is a standout show stopper, so I tried to keep it a bit simple so as to not overwhelm & take away from this darling picture of my daughter holding her Christmas List before giving it to Santa. It's still a really striking page, if you ask me.

The little arched area with the date at the top of the page is actually a large tag made from one of the Present stickers in this same product line. I printed my journaling on it & then embossed it so that it would have a bit of shine & texture. The slickness of it allowed me plenty of time to add the embossing powder before the printer ink dried. Then, on the back of the tag, I created a pocket from one of the scrap pieces left over from the matting I cut. This pocket is intended to hold the letter, if I can find it, as I believe that I was able to retrieve it from Santa once he stored into his memory bank at the North Pole. If not, there just might be a photo of it somewhere also. You might not be able to see it in this photo (you can click on any of the images to enlarge them) but there is a red jewel that I used on the reindeer's nose.

Well, sorry that this is soooo long, but when I talk, I talk a lot! LOL!

God Bless & have a great day!
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Sep 10, 2009

Simple Paper Box with the Cricut

It seems that my simple box that I made with my Cricut Expression was liked well enough, that some were asking for instructions on how to make it.

So here goes, I hope I can make it clear enough, since I don't have video capabilities, so this will be with photos instead & I can't seem to be smart enough to get Blogger to work the way I want it to. I say that all the time, but it's true.

Here are the top & bottom pieces cut at 11" (or Fit To Page function) using the Storybook cartridge. I've used some older Scenice Route double-sided papers here.
















This is the reverse side of the Lid. I have placed the corner scallops at the 2" mark & used the cutting channel of my paper trimmer to score/emboss a fold line & I repeated this for all 4 sides.


































For the bottom portion of the box, I've done the same thing, only I scored all 4 of my fold lines at 2 1/8", using a ruler as a guide can help to keep the paper lined up better at the top & bottom marks.

You need the bottom portion of the box to be slightly smaller than the top for it to fit properly without causing it to flex.
















This doesn't show up very well here, but this shows where the score lines cross at the corners.
















Then, you need to take your scissors & follow the score line just to where it meets the cross score line.
















I can't explain clear enough how to cut the corners in the proper fashion, so you just need to see the photo below to maybe get a better idea of how to the cut the corners.

Then you fold them up so that the opposite sides are facing each other.


















I like to trim the corners a bit in this style because otherwise, I get a bit of uneven overlapping that just doesn't look appealing to me.

Then, I fold the paper upwards/inwards along the score lines to create the box shape.


















After that, I place adhesive just on the outside of the flaps.


















From there, I carefully line up the corners & stick the flap to the straight cut piece & repeat for all the corners.



































Here is the sticker sheet I used from Creative Imaginations for the quote. You could make lots of boxes with this one sheet!























Here is the completed box. The pumpkin/vine was created using the Happily Ever After Cricut cartridge, cut at 3 1/2" & layered with pop dots on the pumpkin. I then added Crystal Stickles to the vine. It's a clear stickles, but the glitter has a bit of a green sheen to it that brings out the color of the vine. The Harvest label is one I bought from Walmart either last year or the year before.



















Here is my daughter, Brooke, modeling the side view with a peak at the bottom, as well.


















This is a view of the inside too.
Paper Crafted box
















I hope this was clear enough for you to be able to make your own box. Play around with the design to make them smaller & add lots of fun stuff using your Cricut. I made this basic one to use up some older stuff I had on hand, but the possibilities are endless!

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Sep 8, 2009

What a week!!!

All I have to say is that I'm glad last week is over, but I don't think we're done yet. Ugh!

With the funeral for my aunt on Wed & all that goes with preparing for that. Next, hearing that my local scrapbook store, that I'm a designer for, will be closing by the end of the year was quite heartbreaking! I love that place & won't know how to deal with driving the distances I will have to go to get to the only other 2 that are left in the area. It makes me angry that oil companies & the stock market have created this economy & the oil companies are getting off free & clear. But, that's a whole other temper tantrum there.....

Then, to top off the end to an already bad week, we spent Sat. evening/morning in the Emergency room at the hospital in South Bend with our daughter, Brooke. She had an apparent allergic reaction to the antibiotics that she had taken earlier in the week. She woke up with what looked like flea bites or small spider bites in several different locations on her body & they itched. I found no culprit, but threw her pj's, sheets & blankets in the washer, just in case, and gave her a bath. As the day progressed, they got worse & I gave her some Benedryl. It helped with the itching & swelling, but she still had the red patches. I noticed her knees looking a bit larger too. We took her to the urgent care center first & the Dr. didn't know what was wrong, because Brooke wasn't responding to the treatment & a strep test came back negative. She told us not to wait to take her to the hospital & called the emergency room for us. If you can just imagine all the terrible things going through your mind at this point, you're thinking the worst & saying prayers, trying NOT to cry!!

Fortunately, all the tests came back with her being healthy & her symptoms were textbook for having an allergic reaction to the antibiotic she had finished earlier in the week. I found some information about this online, but when you're daughter has a rash that is spreading like wildfire over her entire body & her joints look huge & she can't walk on her own & barely gets herself out of the fetal position, you get worried & fast! We only became really concerned when the urgent care Dr. treated her for anaphylaxis shock & she didn't respond at all.

Today, she's home because she had an upset stomach this morning, so I'm afraid to give her another dose of medicine & yet I don't want her to be at school & start breaking out again. She's NOT happy about missing school, but now she's running a slight fever too. I hate disappointing her like that, but I have to do what I feel I have to do. We might be looking at canceling our Disney plans with all these medical bills coming in like they are. What can you do?

On a much brighter note, we went to watch the fireworks at the Blueberry Festival on Sunday evening & they were spectacular!! They have some that are so loud, they make the earth shake! I could do without those, as I worry about Brooke's little ears. I had her cover them with her hands, but you never know when the big booms are going to happen & her arms get tired after a little while. I never remember to take ear plugs or anything like that.

We also went on our first helicopter ride! That was really cool! Here is an view of the Blueberry Festival from the helicopter.

The pilot was even nice enough to fly over our house! That was pretty cool & Brooke could see her school too. Since you could only have 2 passengers on at a time, so Brooke rode with Dad & then again with me & her 2nd ride was free. That was cool too!

Well this was kind of long & maybe even a bit boring too, but I just wanted to share the roller coaster ride we had this past week.

God Bless & have a great day!

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