Sympathy Card

Hello hope you're having a nice Friday, we have a beautiful day here, we're about to take Ivy to the lake so that will be nice as always. I made a sympathy card for my friend Conny whose Grandmother died so I thought I would use the opportunity to make her a card on my Explore. I took a photo of the layers on the card to show how lovely and intricate they cut. The cards was from the Creative Holidays cartridge and were cut in lemon and baby blue (sorry about the light on the photo the only drawback to having a sunny day). I cut the label from Lacy Labels and then stamped in the middle. I used spray adhesive to glue all the laters together as it was so detailed. I showed Greg and he loved it, it turned out lovely. Thanks for looking, have a nice weekend.

Did someone say treat

Hello it's happy Thursday here the sun is shining and it's a lovely day. I'm about to take my one favourite person and favourite dog to the lake for a walk in the sun. Speaking of my favourite pup I have another page on Ivy for the mini album. This photo is so cute with her pink bow collar on. Ivy LOVES treats and will shake hands for them or jump for them and I love this photo so I decided to include it in the mini album.

I can't actually remember where most of my cuts come from sorry but the ones I do I will say. I cut the lacy rectangle from Elegant Edges. I think it started as a square but I squashed it into a rectangle, I cut this from dot paper. The banners were cut in two layers, I love the cute heart and paw print paper, that was from the Pets stack. The journalling card was from the Simple Stories SNAP dog collection I love it as it matches the photo well. The brown frame around the photo is from Small talk frames and tags. The little wooden bone came in a pack from Queen and Co, I got these off Ebay and lastly the "Pretty Girl" sentiment and clouds came from Miss Kate's Cuttables it was only 50c when I got it. I love that you can also use other SVG files from other places in the Explore so it gives you even more choice. Thanks for looking today.

Card using Cricut Explore

Hello I made this card last night and I wanted to try out one of the "make it now" projects from the Cricut Explore, I love how it turned out and it cuts detailed designs perfectly. Their card had a thank you sentiment but I changed mine. I used pink card for the card and then I used the write feature on the machine to write my sentiment with the black marker. I added centers to the flowers using a white gel pen. For the backing it's just a sheet of patterned lilac paper. Thanks for looking, have a nice day.

Teatowels using the Cricut Explore

Hello again I have had a try at something different tonight. Greg was busy doing some designing on our future house so whilst he was doing that I thought I would try out a home decor project using my Cricut Explore. I went to Joann's on Saturday and got some fabric and some heat transfer paper. I ironed my fabric onto one side and then used my Cricut to cut out 2 designs, I then peeled off the other layer of paper and adhered to my teatowel, I then ironed it again to bond it. I think they turned out very cute don't you? The Eat Up saying was actually from Baby Steps cartridge (I don't have this cartridge but I could access it from the library), the cutlery was from "From my kitchen" (again I don't have this but was able to access it). I had to practice a lot and I wasted some fabric and the heat transfer paper but it was not expensive. The tea towels were not expensive either they were cheapies from Target so we'll see how they stand up in the washing machine and how my bonded images go but I think they will be ok. I did notice too that the larger and less intricate the image the better when it's cutting out. Some of the areas of the cutlery didn't cut properly but that was easily fixed just with a craft knife. Greg loved them, hope you like them too.

Another Ivy page

Hello Happy Tuesday we had a lovely long weekend, the weather was perfect and I had the loveliest man in the world with me so It was a good weekend.
Today I had some time to play with my Cricut again so I made another page for Ivy's 8 x 8 mini album I'm making. This photo is one of our favourites, she was a pup and we took her for a walk to the lake, she was looking out at the lake in wonder, she's an angel.
I started with a piece of 8 x 8 white cardstock then I cut a piece of clouds paper at 7.25". I cut the font out using a font I got off the internet, it was quite fragile though so I decided to use the negative part (great suggestion from Greg) and I love how it looks. I matted my photo and the journal card (which I bought in a pack from Simple Stories SNAP dog collection) onto some dot cardstock from my mini DCWV Pets stack. The World globe is cut from Solar System on the Cricut Explore. Thanks for looking today.

Fathers Day card/gift card holder

Hello everyone Happy Friday, we have a long weekend coming up here and the weather is meant to be warm and sunny so looking forward to that with Greg.
I made this for Greg's dad as we normally do a gift card for Greg's dad so I thought a card and gift card holder in one might be good. Fathers Day isn't till September in Australia but I saw all the Fathers Day cards in Target yesterday and it prompted me to make this one and any excuse to play with my new Cricut : ).

I saw an idea for a holder online and I showed Greg and he gave me an idea for another spin on it and I love this idea much better (thanks hubby!). I started with a blue card from my stash, then in the Design Space I chose a rectangle and cut that in blue. I inked around the edges with blue distress ink. I then was looking for a pocket in the image library but couldn't find one so I searched under banner and found one that looked like a pocket. This was from "Something to Celebrate" and I then made it my custom size. I stamped Happy Fathers Day using a Verve stamp. I then went looking for a tie and collar, I couldn't find a pair I liked so I used two different images and split them up. The collar came from Tags Bags Boxes & More and the tie was from Simply Charmed. I cut these from scraps in my box. I then scored just near the top of the tie near the tie knot so the tie actually lifts up so you can get the gift card out, a nice idea isn't it? I then added some faux stitching around the pocket with a white gel pen. I hope Greg's dad likes his card and gift holder in one.

I'm going to Joann's on the weekend to get a few things to have a play with my Cricut next week, getting some fabric and iron on heat transfer fabric to make something..so watch this space.

Have a nice weekend.

Second Ivy page

Hello I have another page today for our Ivy album. I love these photos, especially the one Ivy snuggling in Greg's coat, she loved that!

My explore worked like a dream on this page as well. I used some greyish card for the base cut at 8x8. Then I cut a fancy layer from Elegant Edges just a bit smaller. For the font I used Rock Princess which is so cute, I don't have this cartridge so again it's great I have access to it in the Design space. I used a cute piece of bone paper for that, Greg got me a great little stack from Joann's for only $4 when he went to Boston, it's perfect. For the smaller font I used a font I got from the net and wrote snuggle cuddle and welded it together. I was really amazed at how well the Cricut cut such a fine font, It was pretty cool I could custom make my own little border. The heart cutout tag I can't remember which cartridge that was originally from. The cute paw print heart is from four legged friends and I used black enamel accents on the paw to make it stand out. I am loving using my new Cricut (as you can tell) and hope to bring you more things soon.

Adorable Ivy

Hello I've now made my first page with my Cricut Explore and I'm delighted with it. I did some pre designing of the pages recently it helped keep me happy whilst Greg was away and I can now just go and cut them out as they are already designed in the Cricut Design Space. I am making a mini album on Ivy and this is the first page of it when she was a teeny tiny pup. Isn't she adorable? I started with an 8x8 red cardstock background then a slightly smaller grey hearts background.

Now as I've mentioned before I have access to lots and lots of images with the Cricut Explore so i may not remember where they are all from but I will try. I am not sure which original cartridge the scalloped rectangles were from, but I cut one in red and one in green. For the Title this was from The First Few Years cartridge and this was in a green shadow then a striped layer. The little flag at the top was cut from Small Talk and Frames. For the "Ivy" title at the bottom, this was actually a font I got from a font website and imported it into the Design Space so yes you can import your own fonts as well and this was perfect as I specifically wanted a paw print title. I cut this in grey and it turned out cute. I hope you like my first page, I have to go now and see the star of my scrapbook page today, I will be sure to tell her all about it : ).

First card done with my new Cricut Explore

Hello Happy Thursday I am really excited today to bring you my first card using the fabulous Cricut Explore. I have only just started using it so still learning but it does so much and I"m looking forward to making lots of papercrafts and maybe some home decor as well.
I made this card for a challenge. I follow a lady on YouTube with her crafting video's and she set a challenge with a giveaway to make a birthday card for her son. I thought I would enter, you never know I might win : ). She said her son likes skateboarding so I chose that theme. I now have 1000's of images to choose from in the Cricut library, not just what is on my cartridges. So If I don't have the cartridge I can still choose from the Cricut library, it's fabulous! I chose the card for it's unusual shape, this was from Life's a Party. The Celebrate title was part of the card. The ovals were from Art Philosophy. The skateboarder came up when I did a search on it, it's from the "Dude" cartridge. I am totally amazed at how the Cricut can cut such fine intricate cuts. Each layer is clearly displayed so you know what to cut. There were lots of layers in this cut. I think the skateboarder turned out great. For the inside I cut an oval. Another great feature of the Explore is that you can write with it using the markers. So I chose a font and used my copper metallic pen and the Cricut wrote it for me, how cool is that? Thanks for looking today, I hope to start a scrapbook page next.

My new Cricut Explore

Hi everyone long time no post from me but this because I've been waiting for my new Cricut Explore that my lovely husband bought me for my birthday. It arrived this week and Greg set it up for me today, I can't wait to try it hopefully I'll have some time today. It looks like it's wonderful and does so much, so hopefully I will have some things to share on here soon. Have a nice day!

Hey There Cleveland

Hello I made this page yesterday, I found these photos in my photo box so I thought I would scrap them. This is of when we visited Cleveland in 2010, we had a nice time there mostly to watch the baseball and go to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. We also found a chocolate cafe and we had chocolate in Martini glasses with strawberries, that was a highlight of the trip : )

I started with some dotted cardstock from DCWV. For the almost the entire layout I used my Small Talk Tags and Frames cartridge that I got for my birthday, I love this one there are so many possibilities. It also made a nice change to do some frames around the photos with captions. I cut all the frames and captions with scraps from my box. I used a flair button as well as a chipboard arrow. I cut the Cleveland part of the title though from my Don Juan cartridge. I did my journaling on publisher. Thanks for looking and have a nice day.

Anniversary card trying a new technique

Hello everyone happy Tuesday, it's a nice sunny day here and we're going to get up into the mid-high 20s (celcius) this week, we are really looking forward to that after a slow start to Spring.

I made a card today for my friend Sarah in the U.K, she was very kind enough to remember my birthday and send me a card, so I thought I would make her an anniversary card for her first wedding anniversary coming up in a couple of weeks. This is my "what has old has become new again card" I tried out something new with this one. The card was a pre made A2 size card then I added a layer of script paper I had in my stash. I'll get to the background part in a moment. I used a strip of vellum (I'm glad vellum has made a comeback) and stamped using Versamark ink then embossing with silver embossing powder for my sentiment. I added a heart sticker that my friend Christina sent me for my birthday I added some more 3D dots to make it pop up. I then wanted to use some silver borders because also my vellum was buckling a little from the embossing and also because you can't use glue under vellum as it shows there was a gap so I fixed this with some silver borders I have had for a long, long time in my stash. I'm one for not following trends so much I just love to use what I have and if it fits it fits, I enjoy "shopping in my craft cupboard lol".

So for the background, I saw a technique using acrylic paint. So I started with some white card and then I embossed it with my Darice hearts folder through my Cuttlebug. I then got some Martha Stewart acrylic paints I had in my stash I mixed blue and silver glitter paint together then painted the entire piece. I let it dry whist I went and walked Ivy,. I then got my sanding block and sanded away, this gets rid of some of the paint around the hearts. You can do as little or much as you like. I liked how this looked, a bit distressed but modern. I also have another use for my acrylic paints : ) Thanks for looking today.

Taste of Chicago

Hello well it looks like I may be doing a few projects here and there until my new Explore arrives because it's supposed to arrive on or before May 19 and so far it hasn't shipped so here I am with a page. I thought I would do some older photos because I have been designing some new pages on the Design space with our birthday photos so I thought I would go back and do some older photos.

These ones are of the Taste of Chicago festival which happens each July, we went during our first year in Chicago, it was quite interesting, there was a lot of BAD food though (junk food) so we avoided that and just tried a couple of things, I tried a cookie and an Italian ice. I don't think we will ever go again though because we eat really healthy now but it was good to go during our time here. I used white cardstock as my base then I had this cute knives and forks paper from the DCWV Nana's Kitchen stack so it was perfect for this. I also had a page from that stack with little sayings you could cut out so the 3 blue sayings are from that, the other embellishments are various stickers. I also had some ribbon in my stash that I had for ages with the word ENJOY on it so that went on there too and a little tie of heart ribbon. I cut my font from Opposites Attract in the CCR and also sized the white scalloped rectangle in there too, that is from Elegant Edges. Thanks for looking today : )

Get Well Card

Hello everyone I know I said I wouldn't be probably making anything now till I get my Explore but I had a card I needed to make so I made an exception. I'm still eagerly awaiting my Explore I hope it comes this week, I keep hoping! But for now here is a card I made for my Aunty who is really unwell at the moment so I thought a Get Well Card was in order. I started with a spotted card then used my Clouds embossing folder to emboss a cloud background. on white card then I went over it with my blue distress ink. I went around each cloud with a silver gel pen. I cut the rainbow and sun from Create a Critter and then I used a Peachy Keen face stamp for the sun's face (really cute). I stamped a greeting and just cut that out. I put the sun and rainbow up on 3D dots. Inside the greeting I stamped was "sending you sunshine and laughter", I think it goes well with the little sun. Have a nice day!

just a note

Hi Everyone just a little note on my blog just letting you know I won't be making anymore layouts, cards or other things until I get my new Cricut Explore my gorgeous hubby got me for my birthday. It's due to arrive mid May but  maybe I'll be lucky and it will come sooner. I hope so because I can't wait. I've been playing around with the Cricut Design Space software designing some pages, it's so much fun, I love it. So once my machine comes and I've worked it all out I can just cut right away. The thing I love most about this machine is that you can use your own SVG files not just images from Cricut and also you can use different materials such as felt, leather, fabric, vinyl etc so it's all very exciting. I am missing creating in my craft room but I will be back soon using my new Explore. Until then bye bye!