Happy Birthday Dad!

Today, December 19th, is my dad's birthday! It was my turn to pick the challenge at BBTB2 this week, so of course I wanted to do something special for my dad's big day. I chose the candle from the Wrap it Up cartridge. Please go check out all the fabulous creations that my DT sisters have created, and post a link to your new project featuring this cut, or any other candle, and join me in wishing my dad a very special happy birthday!

Papers - My Mind's Eye
Candle - Wrap it Up (4.25")
Fancy scroll work - Storybook (3")

Melissa chose the challenge for BBTB2 this week, and she picked the mouse. My little guy is in the giving mood, handing up his gift for you. Come join us for the challenge this week, there are mice on a lot of different cartridges you can use!

Mouse and sentiment - Winter Frolic cart
PP - BG cupcake

Woo Hoo, Witchy Woman...

...See how high she flies.

Susan chose the witch from Happy Hauntings for this weeks challenge at BBTB2.
I love all things Halloween, so I really enjoyed this weeks cut.
Now normally, I'm an angel (cough cough), but I broke out my alter ego for this project :-)
Come join us this week with your witchy creation!

PP - BG Eerie, and BG Crude
Letters - My Little Shoebox
Charm - Frost Creek
Witch cut at 2.75"

What hill? I don't remember any hill.

Agnes chose the cut at BBTB2 this week and she chose the vulture from Life's a Party.

I will be perfectly honest here and tell you, I will be the big 40 this year, so that was my inspiration for my party set.

I started with the tombstone, which I cut at 11”, and then decided to perch the vulture on top (cut at 5”). The skulls around the bottom of the tombstone weren’t part of that cut. They actually are in the section with the pirate party cuts, but that’s another great thing about this cartridge, you can mix and match different embellishments. The wording was cut from Plantin Schoolbook, set at ¾”.

The next thing I made was the invitation. I cut it at 5.5”. The brackets are actually from the “RIP” cupcake topper, but I thought they looked great on here also.

And what’s an over the hill party without a couple of jabs at the birthday girl/guy? The glasses were cut at 4” and the favor/gift box was cut at 10 ¾”.

See Spot....Disappear

There was a stain on my son's carpet for over a year now. I have no idea what the stain was, but commercial carpet cleaners would not take it off. I made my own cleaner today, out of sheer desperation, to get this stain off. Well guess what. It worked. I'm amazed how something so simple could work so well.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Cleaner:
Take one tablespoon of Dawn dishwashing detergent (the original blue kind), and one tablespoon of white vinegar and mix into two cups of warm water. Apply this mixture to your stain using a damp washcloth. Rub until stain is gone. Rinse out your washcloth and dab area on carpet until it doesn't feel like there's any soap left. Take a paper towel and blot the spot to remove any excess moisture. Stand back and marvel at your clean carpet. :-)

How Corny!

That's me, corny. Especially with my blog post titles ;-)
Jeri picked the challenge at BBTB2 this week, and she picked any 3-D box from Tags, Bags, and Boxes. I used the cake slice box, but since the cooler weather has me in a fall frame of mind, I turned it into a giant candy corn. Come join the challenge this week, we love seeing your work.

Play Ball!

It was my turn to choose the cut at BBTB2 this week, and I chose the baseball from Life's A Party because I had my son's team pictures to scrapbook.
Come join the challenge this week. If you don't have this cartridge, you can use any baseball from any cartridge. You could win a blinkie for your own blog!

Cartridge - Life's a Party
Paper - Echo Park "Little Boy"
Stars - Pressed Petals Chip Chatter

Where's My Cape?

When I found out my assignment was to use the Superman cartridge, I honestly thought I would have a tough time coming up with a layout to use it on. But, when it arrived and I looked though the handbook, I realized there’s so much more to it than just the man of steel. When I saw the Supergirl cut, my wheels started turning. What mom out there ISN’T a supermom? We all need our own cape!

Sweetie Pie!

Krista chose the cut for BBTB2 this week, and she chose the pie from Paper Doll Dress Up. I modified the cut a little by making the top crust a lattice, and adding cherries that I made using a circle punch. Come join us this week and post your own pie project. We love it when you play along!

Cricut cart - Paper Doll Dress Up
Font - Minya Nouvelle 16
Flowers - Prima
Pearls - Queen and Co.

Three Dimensional Christmas ornaments, and a little tip.

When I saw the lacy cuts on the Trim the Tree cartridge, I knew I wanted to create something elegant with them. To make each ornament, I cut the background four times, and the lacy portion 4 times. I adhered each lacy part to each background part. That gave me 4 complete cuts. I took each cut and folded it down the middle. I then took all four folded cuts and glued them together back to back, with a ribbon loop glued into the middle. I dry brushed the stickles over the ornaments for added sparkle and shine.

I just love the versatility of Stickles. Depending on how you use them, you can get glittery dimension, or you can get an all over soft sparkle.

For dimension, just apply the Stickles straight out of the bottle, like this:

For an all over soft sparkle, pour a bit of Stickles out of the bottle, then dry brush the Stickles over your project:



Now you have two totally different looks, using only one product:

Betty Lou Layout

I love all things 50’s so this cartridge was a must-have for me! There are so many iconic images on this cart, I had trouble picking which ones I wanted to use, but when I decided to scrap a picture of my 57 Chevy, there was the perfect cut in the manual. This cartridge also has an awesome 50’s style font. That alone makes this cartridge worth having, the tons of other cuts are just an added bonus!

I started my layout by cutting two rectangles of the patterned paper and positioning them on my white background. Then I added the die cuts and title. I added the jewels in the corners because I just have to have some bling on almost every project. Lastly, I added the three stripes in the bottom corner because they somehow remind me of a car. (I don’t know how, but they do!)

A Sweet Card

This week's cut for BBTB2 was chosen by Maria. She chose the ice cream cone from Sweet Treats. Once again, I had to improvise because I don't have that particular cartridge. I used the ice cream cone from A Child's Year. Please come show us your new creations with this cut and you can win the BBTB2 Project of the Week blinkie for your blog!

Cricut cart - A Child's Year cut at 5"
Embossing folders:
Cuttlebug Divine Swirls and Cuttlebug Swiss Dots
Jewels - Doodlebug Limeade

Kid's Birthday Cards

Since my assignment was to make birthday cards for children, I knew I wanted to make them bright, cheery, and fun. I chose the dog and cat from the Create-A-Critter cartridge because they are so cute. I also used the dog dish and cupcake from the same cartridge so this little doggie would have a birthday treat. Since these were meant for kids, I didn’t want to make them too fussy. I stuck with simple shapes and bright colors, because that seems to appeal to children. (All cuts on both cards came from Create-A-Critter)

Mrs. Pinsonat's Penguins

Actually, it's just one penguin! Melissa chose the challenge over at BBTB2 this week, and she chose the penguin from Jolly Holidays. I don't have that cartridge, but there was a cute little penguin on Create-A-Critter. My little guy is Just Chillin' by his igloo. Come join the challenge this week, we love to see everyone's work!

Cricut cartridge - Create-A-Critter
Cut sizes:
Penguin and words - 1.75"
Igloo - 2.25"
Patterned paper - BG Dasher
Snowflake - Making Memories

Children's Invitations

I used the Old West cartridge for all of my cuts on both invitations. I love the great cuts on this cartridge and I knew they would make perfect kid’s invitations. On the Wanted invitation, I used the great cuts and fonts to make a “Wanted” poster for a western themed birthday party. I carried on that theme with the farm party invitation by using the great barn cut. When I saw those barn doors, I decided to make them actually open and find the wording inside the barn.

Winter Cards

For my winter themed cards, I used only cuts from the Joys of the Season cartridge. When I saw the snow globe cut, I knew I wanted to use it. Then I thought, what goes better in a snow globe than a snow man? This cute little guy also needed some snow falling around him, but I wanted some sparkle too so I used jewels as the snowflakes. For the joy card, I chose the elegant snowflake cut because I thought it went so well with the basic grey papers I wanted to use. I added some sparkle to the snowflake by brushing stickles over it.

Winter Wonderland Layout

For my assignment, I got to play with the Winter Frolic cartridge. This cart is jam packed with fun Christmas and winter themed cuts. When I saw the little boy cuts on this cartridge, they reminded me of my little boy, and I had just the pictures to go with them. I started my page by cutting the brown patterned paper to look like the ground, and placed it at the bottom of my page. Then using glue and the white flocking, I created “faux snow” along the edge of the ground. I cut the snowman at 3.25” and also covered him with the flocking. The sleigh boy was cut at 3.75”, and the snowball boy was cut at 4.75”. I cut the snowflake at 3.5” and added some sparkle with the glitter. The title was cut at 2” and raised with foam squares for dimension. I thought the mitten border was just precious, and I cut it at 1.25”. Whether you are scrapping Christmas photos or wintertime photos, this cartridge is a must have!

Creating a custom background

For this project, my assignment was to use the Wall Decor cartridge and Design Studio to create a background for a layout. This is actually much easier than it sounds. First, decide which image you want to use and what size you want it. Open it in Design Studio, and place as many as you want to use onto your virtual mat. Next, use the nudge feature to position all of your images so that they are touching one another. Make sure you check the "welding" box for each image, then simply cut it out.

I chose the butterfly image, set at 1.5 inches. I layered this over the mustard colored paper, which was over another sheet of black cardstock. Then I matted my photos, positioned them on the page, and added the flowers. The title was cut from the Home Decor cartridge set at 2 1/8". The orange scalloped border was made using the Accent Essentials cartridge set at 1", and then manipulated and welded together using Design Studio.

Sunny Days

Susan chose the cut for the weekly challenge at BBTB2, and she chose to use the "Sunny Days" cut. I used the one off of the Create-A-Critter cartridge for my card, which was made entirely of scraps. I'm bad about saving little pieces of paper, and never using them. I have quite a collection now, so I definitely need to thin the herd.
Come join us at BBTB2 this week. If you don't have a cartridge with this phrase on it, you can always make your own!

My first fabric project using the Cricut

I had the chance to work with the Fall Seasonal cartridge and my assignment was to make a tote bag. I was instantly drawn to the flamingo cut. I started by ironing Heat and Bond to the back of my fabric pieces. Next, I cut the white polka dots using the Accent Essentials cartridge set at 2", and cut the flamingo from the Fall Seasonal cartridge set at 11 1/2". Then I ironed them onto my tote bag. I added some pom pom trim around the top, and a pretty pink feather as his wing. It is so easy to make your own personalized tote bags with the cricut.



I have to admit, I was a little hesitant about cutting fabric in my cricut machine. I actually found out, it's quite easy! Just make sure you back your fabric with heat and bond to make it sturdier. Use a fresh blade and a fresh mat. I set my blade depth at 6, my pressure at 3, and my speed at 3. Also, use the multi cut feature set at 2, to make sure the cut goes completely through the fabric and the heat and bond. That's it! Easy enough, so don't be afraid to try it.

Over the Hill Party set

I had no idea how many fun cuts were on the Life’s a Party cartridge until I started flipping through the book. This cartridge is awesome for just about any kind of party! There are so many cool projects you can create with it.

I will be perfectly honest here and tell you, I will be the big 40 this year, so that was my inspiration for my party set.

I started with the tombstone, which I cut at 11”, and then decided to perch the vulture on top (cut at 5”). The skulls around the bottom of the tombstone weren’t part of that cut. They actually are in the section with the pirate party cuts, but that’s another great thing about this cartridge, you can mix and match different embellishments. The wording was cut from Plantin Schoolbook, set at ¾”.

The next thing I made was the invitation. I cut it at 5.5”. The brackets are actually from the “RIP” cupcake topper, but I thought they looked great on here also.

And what’s an over the hill party without a couple of jabs at the birthday girl/guy? The glasses were cut at 4” and the favor/gift box was cut at 10 ¾”.


When creating my tombstone centerpiece for my over the hill party set, the vulture gave me a bit of a problem. After I perched him on top, he started to droop forward. I came up with an easy fix for this. I simply cut two strips of cardstock, glued them together for strength, and adhered them to the back of my vulture and tombstone to act as a brace. No more drooping!

Flying High

Donna chose the flying bird from Florals Embellished for the challenge at BBTB2 this week. I made something a little different than my usual card this week. It's still a card, but it comes in it's own coordinating gift box. It would be a great "dressed up" way to give a gift card. Come join us for the challenge at BBTB2 this week!

How to make a shaped card with your Cricut

Making a shaped card is so easy with your cricut and design studio.

First, decide which shape you want to use. I chose the pear from "Joys of the Season". Next, place your pear on your virtual mat in design studio and check the welding box.

Now place a second pear to the left of the first one on your mat:


Third, check the Flip Shapes box for your second pear:



Now drag the second pear so that it overlaps with the first pear:


Check the Welding box for you second pear:


Now cut out your welded card and this is what you get:


Score along the welded spot and fold over:

Now you can make your own shaped cards with pretty much any shape you want!

Farm Fun layout, and a little tip

My assignment for CX was to use the Create a Critter cartridge. I was so excited to use this cartridge because it is FILLED with the most adorable critters of all types. I had these pictures of my son at the Old Farmer's Days festival, so they were just perfect for this assignment. I started my layout by cutting the animal print paper into a scalloped circle using the Accent Essentials cartridge set at 11.25". I cut the striped paper and adhered it to the right hand page, then adhered the scalloped circle on the left side. I placed my photos over that, then created my title using the Old West cartridge set at 2.5". Then came the fun part, the critters! Both the sheep and the chick were cut at 3". These were arranged over the silk flowers for contrast. The journaling tag and chunky brads were the finishing touches.


Many of your great Cricut cuts can be "lost" on your page if you are mounting them over patterned paper, or even a similar colored cardstock. A great way to make your cuts stand out is to mount them over a silk flower before mounting them to your page. It gives it great contrast and allows the eye to focus better on the cut.