Happy New Year! And some crafty resolutions.

Just a silly little tag for all my crafty friends. I used Celebrate with a Flourish, Car Decals, and TBBM.

I hope everyone has a Happy New Year. I look forward to all the great projects and ideas for 2011. Not to mention all the new products and tools that will find their way into my collection this year!

I have decided to make a few New Year's Crafty resolutions.

1. Participate in the Use What You Have Challenge for January and February.
This is a challege posted on the Cricut Circle MB to not buy any crafting supplies during the month except adhesives, blades, and inks. I think mats are included in the approved buying items. What you can't buy is any Cartridges, Paper and Embellishments. You must only shop from your stash. Which give the amount of shopping I have done over the last few months, shouldn't be too hard.

2. Use a different Cricut Cartridge every week. I am going to challenge myself to use all those cartridges that have made their way into my library in 2010. I am going to just put the names of all my cartridges in a bowl and pull one out every week and make myself use at least one cut from that cartridge.

3. Post more often on my blog. As I make those projects, using the cartridges from my challenge, I will post them on my blog. I am going to shoot for posting a few times a week, and at the least once a week.

4. Participate in more of the Circle Blog and Magazine Challenges. After all that is one of the perks I pay for in my Circle Membership.

A small list to start me going in the right direction this year. I hope by posting this here to give myself some accountability.

Best to you all.
See you in 2011!

Jan

Another Jolly Holidays Card

I just love this cartridge! The cuts are so cute, but some of them have some pretty small parts.

The snowman is cut at 3.24", and let me tell you those stick arms are TINY at that size. I dropped one on the floor and could not find it, so I had to recut them! LOL

The tree paper is by My Minds Eye, Wonderful Winter stack. The green, brown, and pink cardstock is by the Paper Studio. The white cardstock of the snowman is from DCVW's adhesive backed 12 x 24 stack. The red cardstock is Poppy Parade by Stampin' Up. The sentiment stamp and tag punch are also Stampin' Up. The ribbon is from Michaels.

I used the Cuttlebug Swiss Dots and Sizzix Diamonds embossing folders on the hat. Cotton Candy Stickles and gems completed the snowman.

Jolly Holidays Christmas Card

Here is a Card I made using the Jolly Holidays Lite Cartridge I picked up at Walmart on Black Friday. I went to Walmart at Midnight to get this cartridge and I am really glad I did. It has so many cute images on it.

I just love this little house cut with Santa diving into the chiminey!

The House was cut at slightly over three inches. I used Pearl Glimmer Mist on the white paper before I cut it out so all the white has a slight shimmer to it. After I cut the images I used some Frosted Lace Stickles on the edges of the roof and window snow for some extra sparkle. I used a glittery gemstone for the doorknob.

I used bazzil solid cardstocks and American Crafts Christmas pack for the Polka Dot paper.

I used a Fiskar's punch for the white trim on the bottom. The polka dot paper is cut at 3", and then I embossed a 3/4" strip of the red with the Divine Swirls cuttlebug folder and layered it right on the edge of the polka dot paper.

The sentiment stamp is one I picked up from Archiver's. It is inked with Color Box ink in Robin's Egg and a Crimson Lake LePlume marker for the word joys.

I made 15 of these cards to send to family and friends. Tomorrow I will post another card I made using this cartridge.

Imagine Snow Angel Card

Here is a Christmas card I made using my Imagine Snow Angel Art Cartridge.

Card Base is smooth carstock from Archivers.

I printed and cut the layer images on page 2 of the Snow Angel Cartridge. I inked the edges of the base layer and used some thinner dimentionals between the layers and to attach it to the card front.

I also flood filled the top note shape that comes stock in the imagine library with a pattern on page 43 of the Snow Angel Cartridge.

I used Brown Zing embossing powder on the sentiment, and finished the card off with some brown ribbon.

My Countdown to Christmas Project

I saw a project like this in the Stampin' Up Holiday Mini Catalog, amd I thought I could make one myself.

I made four sets, one for our home and one each for my sister, and my two cousins.

Cutting, scoring, and folding 100 boxes was a little time consuming, but I hope that we all will get many years use out of the sets.

I used Tags, Bags, Boxes and More for the box. The boxes were cut at 7.75" I used my Gypsy to hide the original holes on the sides and placed in smaller ones. I then strung a piece of gardening twine for the handle.


I used DCWV's new 12 x 24 stacks for the paper on the fronts: Adhesive Backed Pattern Stack cut into 2" squares and Adhesive Backed Texture Stack cut into 1.5" squares. The numbers were cut at 1.25" from Designer's Calendar.

My daughter thought that the back sides needed something as well, so I cut random Christmas and Winter icons and put them on the back sides. The cuts were from various cartridges, cut at the biggest size in order to fit on the 2.5" box side

Cartidges used: Create a Critter, Chrismas Cheer, Winter Frolic, Doodlecharms, Winter Lace, Christmas Solutions, and my Imagine Snow Angel Cartridge.

The completed boxes were hung from some more Garden Twine using mini clothes-pins, and I made bows with jingle bells for the corners and center support hooks.

My Ornament Won!

I am so excited that the Cricut Circle Magazine Staff chose MY ornament as the winning entry in the November Ornament contest.



Thank You Cricut Circle!

Here is the original post.

Light Up Xmas Ornament

Here is the Ornament I made for the Cricut Circle Magazine Xmas Ornament Challenge.
I used an inexpensive light up necklace as the lights on the xmas tree. The Tree cut is from the Christmas solutions cartridge. I cut the main image, the shift layers and a blackout feature. Then I decided where I want the lights to go on the tree and used a punch to make holes for the lights to go through. I then taped the string of lights in between the main layer and the blackout layer. I finished the tree with a little wrap of sparkly fiber.



For the window scene, I used the Window cut from the same cartridge. I used my gypsy to stretch the image out a little to give it some more width. I then cut the image three times, once in dark brown cardstock with the window panes, and twice without the windows panes; one chipboard and one acetate. I adhered the acetate layer to the back of the brown cardstock layer. I used stickles on the acetate for the snow.



For the landscape scene, I also used the cottage from the Christmas Solutions cartridge. I added sparklyfluff to the snow cuts on the roofs and surrounding the cottage. I used the Divine Swirls Cuttle Bug folder for the snow covered hill. The moon and cloud cut was from Dreams Come True.



I attached a string to the top back layer to hang the ornament on the tree, and I taped the battery compartment from the necklace to the back of the ornament.

Celebrating Creativity Monthly Challenge.

The Cricut Circle Blog's first monthly challenge is to make a project about celebrating creativity. I chose to make a 12 x12 layout using one of my favorite Creativity..."Do something Creative everyday."

This layout uses a number of cartridges. Jubilee's Runt font for the do something and everyday. Plantin Schoolbook for the creative. Storybook for the flowers, and Imagine More Cards for the butterfly. I printed the butterfly twice, and trimmed one down for the top layer. I added some tiny gems on the wings.

The Creative was printed on the Imagine. Each Letter was flood filled with a different pattern and then printed and cut. The flowers were also flood filled using Imagine patterns. The pewter charms were from a scrapbooking set I received as a gift.

All patterned paper was printed using the Imagine, both Imagine More Cards and Better Together cartridges.

Clear Halloween Card

Here is a card I made for a weekly challenge on the Cricut Circle Blog. This weeks theme was use something clear, so I made the entire card base with Acetate.

The Gate, Tombstones, Moon, and Beware were all cut from October 31st Seasonal Cartridge. The Grass was cut from the Easter Seasonal Cartridge. The happy halloween stamp is from Stampin' Up. I also added a few star shaped gems.

My Cricut Circle Bracelet

Here is a photo of my Circle Bracelet. We received the charm bracelet with the green charm for joining the Circle. When you attend a meet-up you are given a blue charm. I have been to three meet-ups so far, and I had received three blue charms so I altered them to say the location of the meet-up and the year, so I will always remember where each charm was from.

I used ink jet transparency paper, and Diamond Glaze dimensional Adhesive.

I printed the State/date on the transparency film. Then I cut it to fit the back side of the charm. I glued it on with the Diamond Glaze. After the back dried, then I put a coat of Diamond Glaze on the front to seal in the ink jet printing.

The white charms were buttons I received from the first meet-up at CHA. I used my Fiskars craft drill to drill the holes in them after I removed the pin shank. Then I attached them to the bracelet using jump rings.

French Manor Card

Here is a card I made for the first Cricut Circle Weekly Blog Challenge.

The challenge required at least two cuts and the use of Jewels or pearls.

I used the Screen cut pn pg. 54; the Birdbath cut on pg. 40; and the Victoria cut as well as its layer feature on pg. 48.

I used three light blue sparkle tiles on the birdbath as well as three star shaped gems around the basin.

French Manor Wall Art

Here is a project I did for a Cricut Circle Contest using the French Manor Cartridge.
Here is a close up of the peacock. I cut the tail layer twice, once in blue and once in green. I then used stickles on each layer for a little sparkle.

Fall Step card

Here is my first attempt at a step card. This is for a weekend challenge on the Circle board. I used ZooBalloo for the tree, Doodlecharms for the basket, the rake was made using Handman's shovel and Going Places fork. The swirl was cut using Calligraphy. The grass was cut from the Easter seasonal cart. I welded two together using my gypsy.

Happy Hauntings Tombstone Banner

Here is my first attempt at making a banner. All cuts were from Happy Hauntings. For the tombstones, I only used the base and first layers and the grass. Any detailed layer was left off. The tallest tombstone was cut at 8 inches, and the rest were sized using my gypsy so they were close in height. The monsters were all cut at approximately 4 inches in height. I used the Vampire font.

It was fun to make, and I love the way the tombstones look instead of a plain shape for the background of the banner, but given the width of bottom of some of the tombstones, I think that the next one I make will have some kind of small spacer inbetween each tombstone.

Bison Burgers Layout

Here is a layout I did for a weekend challenge. I used ZooBalloo for the Bison. It was actually a Yak cut and I trimmed it down to look like a bison. I used Cuttin' Up for the font, and Block Party for the rest of the cuts.

Cricut Cake Machine and My First Cakes

I won a Cricut Cake Machine at a Cricut Circle event. A Cricut Cake machine will cut frosting, gum paste and fondant that you roll out thin and adhere to the cutting mat with shortening. There are claims that you can cut any food item that can be affixed to the mat, and fit under the rollers. I have seen samples of cookie dough and pie crust cut with the cricut. The instructions with the machine even say cheese! (I am not too eager to try that yet)

I did not think I would want a Cake machine, but now that I have it, and have played around with it, I must say I LOVE it! It takes practice, thats for sure! Many of my cuts didn't turn out the way I wanted them to, or were just too fragile to be handled. That being said, I did enjoy playing around and when I messed up, I just re-rolled my material and tried again.

I have NEVER made a Fondant covered cake before. My 15yo dd rolled the fondant out for my first cake and I did it for my second cake. It looked and felt like it was really thin, but when we cut into the cakes, it was actually pretty thick. That is definately something I am going to have to practice on.

Here is my first cake: I used the Happy Hauntings cartridge for all the cuts. Everything was cut using pre-colored Wilton Fondant.

















Here is my second cake. I used Lacy Labels for the flowers and leaves, and Cake Basics for the swirls. The flowers were made from gum paste and the swirls and leaves were cut using fondant.

Cricut Cartridge Challenge

So I have been challenged by a fellow blogger to list all my Cricut Cartridges and then make and post a project using each cartridge I have. It is going to be quite a bit of work, but fun work at that. As I add cartridges to my library, I will add them to the list as well.

My Cricut Cartridge List

1. 50 States
2. Accent Essentials
3. Beyond Birthdays
4. Block Party –Lite
5. Cake Basics
6. Calligraphy
7. Camp Out -Solutions
8. Celebrate with a Flourish -Lite
9. Celebrations
10. Christmas –Solutions
11. Christmas Cheer
12. Cuttin’ Up
13. Designer’s Calendar
14. Destinations
15. Doodlecharms
16. Easter –Seasonal
17. Fabulous Finds
18. Forever Young
19. French Manor
20. George
21. Give a Hoot
22. Going Places
23. Graphically Speaking
24. Gypsy Font
25. Gypsy Wanderings
26. H20 –seasonal
27. Handy Man –Lite
28. Hannah Montana
29. Happy Hauntings
30. Home Accents –Solutions
31. Home Decor –Solutions
32. Independence Day –Seasonal
33. Lacy Labels –Lite
34. Life’s a Beach
35. Locker Talk
36. Love Struck –Seasonal
37. Mini Monograms
38. Mother’s Day –Seasonal
39. My Community
40. New Arrival
41. Nursery Rhymes
42. Once Upon a Princess
43. Opposites Attract
44. Paisley
45. Paper Doll Dress Up
46. Plantin’ Schoolbook
47. Printing 101
48. Pumpkin Carving –seasonal
49. Rock Princess
50. Songbird
51. Stand and Salute
52. Stamping –solutions
53. Storybook
54. Stretch Your Imagination
55. Sugar and Spice –Lite
56. Summer Vacation –seasonal
57. Sweet Treats
58. Tear Drop
59. Tie The Knot
60. Very Merry Tags- seasonal
61. Wedding –solutions
62. Wild Card
63. Wildlife –Lite
64. Winter Woodland
65. Zooballoo

Cricut Circle Calling Card Book

I made a small book of all the Circle cards I collected at CHA last week.

I took 3.75 x 6" treat bags and cut them down to 4.25 inches. Then I cut a piece of Recollections Cardstock to 3.75" x 2" and scored it at 1". I inserted the calling card in the pouch, taped it shut and then taped the folded cardstock over the opening to give it strength. I cut a stiff piece of chipboard for the back for support. I then used my Crop-o-dile and punched two holes in the top for binding. I used two o-rings and some older ribbon to complete the book. I can open the o-rings and add more cards as I collect them. I look forward to adding more cards to my book.

Circle Event and CHA Supershow

Morning! I am getting ready to leave for the CHA Supershow today, and the first official Circle event. I am excited to meet my fellow circlets and to learn all they have in store for the circle. Then its off to shop, mingle, and craft! I hope to have some exciting pics to share tomorrow! Have a great Day!

Cricut Circle Calling Card

The Cricut Circle requested that members make Calling Cards, to share and to use for drawings. Their only requirement was that they be 3x3.

I made the Circle Logo using my Gypsy to weld the circle from French Manor and quotation marks on George for the antennae.

I used the Mermaid tag feature on life's a beach sized to fit inside the circle.

I colored the mermaid using Colorbox ink, LePlume II markers, and Sakura Gelly Roll star pens.

Imagine Gala Entertainment

This is the entertainment from the Imagine Gala, a performance Artist. He painted these pictures for us, while his DJ played music. It was amazing talent. I loved it.

I love Love LOVE Provocraft!

I was lucky enough to receive an invite to ProvoCraft's Imagine Launch Gala last night. It was quite the party. There was fantastic food and drinks, an airbrush artist painting body tattoos, and ProvoCraft employees were giving out all sorts of glow necklaces and other glow jewelry.

This was the warm up to the big reveal.

We saw a video about the Imagine Machine. All I can say is WOW! This machine prints and cuts. You can print out your own patterned paper. You can add patterns to cricut artwork, and then print/cut it out. It works with existing cricut cartridges and new Imagine cartridges. It offers so much customization to your projects.

We also watched a video showing the winners of The Next Big thing contest. Boy those are some amazing families. ProvoCraft even brought them here to the Gala.

They entertainment for the evening was a performance painter. He painted 5 huge pictures that was choreographed to music played by his DJ. It was amazing.

After the entertainment, they announced that they had gift bags for all invitees. and everyone invited was getting their own IMAGINE MACHINE!!!!!

I was so shocked! I am so excited to be getting one of these great machines. Thank you ProvoCraft!

Here's a what was in our gift bags; A T-shirt, sunglasses, one of the new cartridges, and the voucher for the Imagine.

A Work in Progress

Here is my first post! I am still working on getting my blog set up the way I want but I am excited to get things going.

I am currently working my Scraproom makeover, and when it is complete I will post pictures. All of my supplies are still packed up or spread throughout the house. I miss crafting, and can't wait to get back to it.

CHA (Craft and Hobby Association) Supershow is next week and I am really looking forward to it. This will be the first one I attend and I am dragging my 15 yo DD with me. We are only attending on Friday, and we are signed up for a class taught by Fiskars. I look forward to learning new techniques, and sharing them here.

I am also attending the Cricut Circle Imagine Launch Event on Tuesday the 27th. I will take lots of pictures and share on my blog all the new and exciting things I learn there.