What bugs me..Circle blog Weekly Challnge #28

Hi all! Todays's post is a layout I made to enter into the weekly challenge over on the Cricut Circle Blog.

Weekly Challenge #28: Creepy Crawlies Challenge!
The Challenge: Create a scrapbook page about the things that bug you. Use a bug somewhere on your project.

Well, what really bugs me is dirty dishes left in the sink. Bleech! I don't consider myself to be very OCD or anything, I just don't get leaving a big stack of yucky dishes in the sink. That is what the dishwasher is for. Actually it was very hard to leave the dishes in the sink long enough to take the picture! LOL


This is another double duty project, as it uses another one of my monthly challenge cartridges, Paisley. I cut the Bee and the little lady bugs from the Paisley Cart. The Bee was cut at 4 in. I added some stickles to her wings and antennae ends. I then free cut some "hands" for her to hold her dish and dishrag. Her Dish is just a couple of circles using some punches I have. Her dishrag is a scrap of ribbon. The apron is from the Nifty Fifties cartridge. I used my Gypsy to size the apron to fit the bee better. It was cut at 2 in. I then trimmed off the top of the apron by hand. I added some stickles to the apron as well.


The little ladybugs were cut at about .75 in. I used my gypsy to hide the contours on the ladybugs wings because the cuts were going to be so small. I just used some stickles to make her dots instead.

I cut the sink and dishes from the Chore Chart cartridge. The sink is cut at 3.71 in. I left off the extra top layer of the sink as I really like the little blue dotted paper. I did add some stickles over the "water flow". The dishes I sized to fit in the sink.
The title was cut from Cuttin' Up. The lower case letters are cut at 1 in. The word BUGS is sized at 1.25 in. I used my cuttlebug embossing folder, Swiss Dots, on them.

I pop-dottd the word Bugs as well as the sink itself and the apron on Ms. Bee.

All the patterned paper is from DCWV Flower Shower Sring Stack from last year. The solid cardstock is from my stash, I think it is Bazzil textured. Finishing touches included inking most edges with Colorbox chalk in Charcoal and some Divine Twine in Green Apple.

It was alot of fun to plan a layout on a subject I wouldn't normally consider scrapbooking in the first place. It makes me want to do more "out of the box" scrapbooking inthe future.

Thanks for visiting.

Have a Great and Crafty Day!

Jan

My new Yudu, and my first not-so perfect shirts.

Hello All!

Last August, I went to the Circle meet-up in Wisconsin. At the meet-up we used the YUDU machine and made shirts and tote bags there with the Circle Logo on it. I was immediately smitten and I had flashes of all the fantastic things I could make with the YUDU. This was the beginning of my obsession with getting a YUDU. It took a while to convince my hubby that I needed this machine. He wasn't really buying it, but when I found out that Michaels was having a special on the YUDU for 100 bucks...well he finally gave in. Yipee!

So I parked my booty outside Michael's a full 30 minutes before they opened on Thursday, just to be sure that I got one! I laughed all the way home from the store on the super high you only get when you know you scored a great deal on a toy you really wanted!

Well fast forward 36 hours after coming home with my new treasure and some of my euphoria has worn off. Sigh..

Well I watched the entire DVD that came with the machine as well as numerous videos on YouTube. I felt like I could attempt a project. I was scared of using the emulsion sheets because they are pretty pricey, so I tried to use vinyl.

WELL...that didn't go so well. My vinyl's adhesive wasn't strong enough to stand up to the ink.

OK..Second attempt with a different vinyl...NOPE...

Okay, for my third attempt I used one of the emulsion sheets....ummmm... NOPE, and let em tell you..THAT HURT! Wasting an entire $10.00 sheet of emulsion because I didn't have the screen wet enough. I figured out that I didn't have it adhered to the screen well enough, so it just washed right off. I have since learned that my screen needed to be much wetter than I had it the first time so....

Attempt #4...Second and last sheet of emulsion. It appears that I correctly adhered the emulsion and burned my image on it OK. At least mostly OK.

I attempted to pull a screen onto some scrap material I had and the ink bled all over. I think the material was not absorbent enough for the ink to stick to it to well. When I tried to pull another screen on the back of a old tshirt, the image came out better, but there was some haloing effect in certain areas that had bled in the first attempt. I think, now that the screen had extra ink on the material side from the first attempt, so I washed offthe screen and re-dried it in the machine.

Well over an hour later, and I again tried to make a shirt. The same thing happened, but to a lesser degree. I have come to the conclusion that my emulsion wasn't perfect and some of the edges are loose. I pulled a few shirts as a trial and I am only getting a small halo effect in the loose areas. Luckily these were meant to be sleep shirts anyway, so the girls don't really care, but I obviously need to practice some more.



My friend, Missie, over at Created By Missie, also just got a YUDU and she used an outdoor vinyl to make her screen, and it worked perfectly, so I have ordered some GT5 Vinyl and as soon as it arrives I will be trying that technique.

Also as I was washing the ink off of my screen for the second time, some of the Emulsion was starting to peel up, so it really cinfirmed that the emulsion wasn't on that great.

I will say, my first attempt was very much a let down, but I am certainly not giving up on screen-printing just yet.

I welcome any tips or techniques anyone has to offer, as I am beginner, but I really want to make the most of the YUDU.

Thanks

Have a Great and Crafty Day

Cricut Circle Blog Challenge- Kids Artwork Books

Cricut Circle Blog Weekly Challenge #27: Make a Game Plan.

Basically it is to draw and use a Sketch in a project. I have been wanting to try making my own covers for books using the YourStory Machine. So I drew a sketch of how I wanted to layout the cover and then I designed it on my Gypsy.


First of all I made my cover using thicker cardstock. I made the binder edge 2.5 x 12 inches long, and the front and back covers are 9 x 12.

I scored the strip at 1" and 1.5". Then I folded it to make a flat book back edge. Hindsight...Next one I will add a score line at .5" for the book to open at.

I filled the inside of black strip between the two score lines with a generous amount of hot glue. I then let it cool.

Then I glued on my covers. They were cut at 9" x 12". I used regular glue NOT hot glue to attach the covers to the binding.- Hindsight...Next time I will make the entire cover out of one sheet of cardstock and then cover the "binding" with a contrasting piece of paper.


Then I pulled out my YourStory and warmed it up. I carefully lined up some of my daughter's artwork and placed it into my homemade cover.

I then stuck it into the YourStory and hit the bind button.

After the YourStory did its stuff, I pulled it out and let it cool, then I was ready to decorate it.

I used Locker Talk for the icons and Cuttin' Up for the font.
The Kindergarten was cut at 3.24". The Glue, Scissors, and Crayon are all 1.82"
The Letters are cut at 1.24"

Most paper used was DCWV Adhesive Backed Stack as well as using up my scraps for the smaller layers.


I hand cut the glue spill and added glossy accents to it to give it some shine and look like real spilled glue.

I love having double duty for projects. Here this is going to be my entry into the blog challenge and it also uses one of the cartridges I chose for my own personal April Challenge. One down..seven to go! :)

I feel really glad about finally getting this project done. Now I only have to make these for my other girls...

Well off to craft some more.

Have a Great and Crafty Day!

Jan

Stampede Wooden Boot

A Dallas Stampede Swag Bag goodie was a wooden cut out of the boot from the Old West Cartridge. I thought I would share with you all my decorated boot.

I cut the boot from Old West at 8 inches, but I hid most of the cuts on my Gypsy. I used some Cowgirl themed pattern paper I found at Michaels as well as a sheet I bought at the Stampede in one of the stores.

I cut the toe and strap layers from Bazzil Bling.

I also cut the Dallas and its shadow at .92 inches and Stampede was cut at .73 inches. Both were cut from Old West, in brown smooth card stock and the top layer of Dallas was also cut in Bazzil Bling.

The Date was cut smaller than Stampede, but I forgot to write down the exact measurement.
I inked all the edges of the boot cuts as well as the words using Chestnut Roan Chalk ink.

The Circle Logo was cut from Cricut Everyday at 3.2 inches. It was also cut in Bazzil Bling. I sized down a Picture of Missie and I in our hats and stuck it inside the circle logo. I then pop-dotted it up.

Here is a picture of the back side.


I plan on printing out a couple more photos from the Stampede and putting them on the back side. I am waiting to see if some of my roomies have a picture of all of us together, as I neglected to take one! LOL

Thanks for stopping by...

Have a Great ans Crafty Day!

Jan

April Cartridge Challenge Picks

Okay...Back again for my third post of today, and then I am all caught up!

I picked the CArtridges I am going to use for my Cartridge Challenge for the month of April:

Here are the lucky picks!

Birthday Cakes
Cupcake -Lite
Designer's Calendar
Hello Kitty Greetings
Locker Talk
My Community -Classmate
Paisley
Summer Vacation -Seasonal

I have also added that I want to use my Imagine more, so I am including using my Imagine at least once during the month as well.

I hope all of you are challengeing yourself as well. I have to admit, I am using cartridges that I don't always want to, and sometimes it is a struggle to find a use for some of them, but I am happy to be working on my goal of using all my cartridges at least once.

Good luck to all in meeting all your challenges.

Have a Great and Crafty Day!

Jan

Birthday Princess Placemat

Here is todays second post...A placemat I made for my niece's upcoming 2nd birthday Party. I made teh mat 6 x 12 as it is going on her high chair.

I used twinkle toes for the "Princess" as well as her crown. I tried to make her as thin as possible as I am laminating this and too many layers buckles up the laminate.

I did add some tulle for a skirt to make her fanicier. Hopefully that will lameniate ok. All papers used were scraps from my stash. Probably Bazzil or Recollections cardstock. The patterned background paper, I think came from a Target dollar bin pack from last year or so.

Birthday Princess was cut from Birthday Cakes.

For the sparkle I used Turquoise Stickles. Let me say, that I have a love-hate relationship with my Stickles. Today it seemed like I had to stick a pin in the bottle after every little spot I put on the letters. I was cursing the stickles when I was done. LOL


I store them upside down, as it is...If anyone has a secret to keeping your Stickles from clogging up...please let me know!

Thanks and have a Great and Crafty Day!

Jan

Chore Cards and why I love my Gypsy

Well I am finally back after being really sick with a rotten bug. I have never been so tired in my life. Glad that its past me now. I fell behind in my projects while I was laying on the couch groaning...so today I am going to have three posts.

First off..Chore Cards. I specifically bought this cartridge to make some signs for around our house to remind my youngest daughter of some bathroom etiquette.


After I made a few bathroom signs, I decided to cut out some of the chore symbols that we use in our house frequently. These cuts are so cute, but I confess that if I don't have the trifold right in front of me when I am assembling the cuts, I am at a loss.

For instance: the toy box card..I had NO IDEA what that toy was other than the ball. I had to whip out my magnifying glass and look at the trifold just to determine that it was in fact a toy car. SHEESH..Getting older stinks. LOL
Anyway...I really like the cuts on this cartridge so I think I may cut out some more.

SIDE NOTE:

...I almost exclusively use my Gypsy when cutting anything out with My Expression. Even if I am only cutting a simple shape. I love that you can place your image anywhere on the mat. I save so much more paper than using the material saver button on the E. I place all my images and then use pieces of paper cut down to a size just big enough to cut the image. Here is a picture of one of my mats going into the E for 4 of the cards I made today....
I set it all up, place all my paper and then only have to load the mat once and cut all the images I need. This is how I do most of my projects. I feel that I may spend a few extra minutes getting a cut set up, but then I have all the cuts done for an image all at once. (Unless the image is too big to fit on one page) I feel its more efficient in my time and certainly in my materials.

Well off to craft some more..I have lots of catching up to do! :)

Have a Great and Crafty Day!

Jan