Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all the wonderful Dads out there today!

Remember the Father's Day card I posted HERE? Remember I promised I'd show you the inside once we gave it to my amazing hubby and father of our two wonderful children? Well, it's Father's Day so we have given it to him of course. :)

First a reminder what the outside was..

Now here's the awesome inside...

All the cuts are done with my new Silhouette Cameo and purchased in 2 different files from the Silhouette Online Store. They were designed as cuts to be layered but I simply layered them on my screen and filled them with the colours I wanted then I just set my cut settings to cut the outline only. I used simple boxes behind the pieces to make them pop up (I forgot to take a side view photo for you of that but I promise to sneak the card back later today to grab one for you and will add it to the post). 

The table is just a pop-up cube with the front part cut away to form the table legs. The little beer glass is a piece of white card that I scored every 1/8" to make it look like a beer glass and then coloured the bottom part with my honey alcohol marker for the beer. I cut a "C" and attached it for the handle. 

The floor and wall is a piece of cardstock that is coloured with distress stains (Walnut and Victorian Velvet). These colours are very similar to the actual colours of our living room. 

I also just have to share a picture of hubby in his shirt that Michael made him at preschool. He's such a good daddy that he actually washed it last night so he could wear it again today. 

Big kudos to our sons amazing preschool as well! They always do the most amazing things with the kids for the parents. I received an awesome tote bag filled with handmade keepsakes for Mother's Day (yes I know I haven't shared that but I was very ill the day they had the get together at preschool and so I did not receive mine until the following week when Michael went back which I figured was too late to share with you then) and they had a great day for the Father's on Friday with an indoor picnic (it was raining), fun games like giving Daddy a shave with shaving cream and a Popsicle stick razor, potato sack race (which they ventured out in the rain for) and more.

Autumn with Art Philosophy Blog Hop

Welcome to our Autumn Art Philosophy Blog Hop!

Each month we are showcasing our amazing Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge which can be purchased exclusively through a Close to My Heart Independent Consultant.

It's the time of year where leaves are changing colors, temperatures are dropping, the days are shorter, and the holidays are quickly approaching. This month we will be featuring projects with an Autumn theme made using the Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge!

If you just happened to come to this blog, you should start at the beginning at Lucy's blog - Love 2 Create. If you came here from Lucy's blog - Love 2 Create, then you're in the right place!

I decided to create stencils to make my background using some of the leaf and branch cuts from the Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge. The images I used can be found on pages 34, 43, 56 and 62.

Here's a photo of my finished project:

I used the Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge in Cricut Craft Room to make a stencil for the background. I used Kraft cardstock and Colonial White. I used the Remarkable Wreath stamp set and stamped the wreath base in Chocolate ink and then inked the leaves for the wreath in Goldrush and then just tapped it randomly against the corner of my Barn Red stamp pad to give it a variegated effect. I then stamped the sentiment in the center using the Barn Red again.

I used my sponge daubers and the same ink colours on my background layer with the stencils I made (more info on how I did this below), you could also use the round sponge for this too. I popped my layer of kraft with my main image on it up on foam tape to give the card a bit more dimension.

If you want to skip my little tutorial on the stencils for the background then your next stop on the hop is Diana - Dianas Free Moments, although I'd love for you to scroll down and leave me a comment on what you think before you go. ;)

If you stayed to see my tutorial... Here's how I made my background:

I laid out my entire layout how I wanted it to look using the layers in Cricut Craft Room. It's great doing it this way since you can change your colours around and everything of your layers so you can really see how the end project will look. I also added a larger rectangle with 2 circles in the top corners on each of the leaf layers (I have kept these out of the screen shot because once you add these you can't see your leaves anymore and I wanted you to see how it looked all laid out so I have put this same rectangle and circles on a seperate layer in blue behind everything so you can see what I mean. I used this rectangle and circles to align my stencil correctly (which you will see in the step by step photos). You can see that I also put some branches around in a circle to symbolize the stamp I used.

I also cut one of those same rectangles with the circles out of it with the colonial white rectangle for my pattern as well. This allowed me to stick that down on my craft mat and then I could put my cut cardstock in the opening so I knew everything would line up exactly as it did on my screen.

 

Now I used the circles to line up my layer that was red on my CCR screen which was a rectangle with the circles and all the red leaves cut out of it, and then I sponged my Barn Red ink through the stencil, knowing it would end up in exactly the same place on my background as it was on my screen. I love this technique!!

Then I removed my barn red stencil and put my stencil from the yellow layer on lining it up with the circles again I then sponged my Goldrush ink through the stencil.

You can see my barn red one off to the side here after I removed it and my Goldrush one still in place but after I inked it.

NOTE: you do not want to rub your sponge dauber but rather use a stippling straight up off your stencil and then straight back down.. if you rub then you will distort your stencil.
Here's the finished background piece still in the placement holder after removing my goldrush stencil:

Finished project again:

The next stop on your trail of falling leaves is Diana - Dianas Free Moments

Products Used:



Here's the entire blog hop lineup in case you "fall" off the path:
Lucy's blog - Love 2 Create
Darla - Crafting is Contagious
Diana - Dianas Free Moments Go here next
Stephanie - The Quilted Scrapper
Amie - Mimi, Myself, and I
Jennifer - 4 Hearts Scrapbooking
Rebecca - Stamp and Scrap Studio
Kindred Hearts - It Makes Total Cents
Theodora - Celebrate Crafts
Arlene - Arlene's Creative Space
Amanda - Scraps Of Love
Priscilla - Priscilla's Paperie
Ginger - Ginger's Creative Cottage
Michelle - My Flights of Fancy

Happy Birthday Dejah and Carousel Rubber Stamps

Feel free to just go check out the pretty pictures, but if you're curious how this came about by all means read on... ;)

My cricut has really taken over my cutting/crafting time since I got my Art Philosophy cartridge and since I added the Artiste one to my collection well it's been even more so.

The fact that I teach cricut classes has really been my excuse for using it so much and ignoring my poor KNK Groove and my craftrobo.

 I did use my craftrobo when I did my couisins baby announcements (more on those in another post) because of the ease of the print and cut feature on it. My KNK Groove got used a little when I did some vinyl text for a business for their vehicle.

 Well... Carousel Rubber Stamps where I teach most of my cricut classes at was celebrating their 18th birthday and the owner, Dejah's birthday is the same week as the store (we'll just say she was 29 again). ;) They hold demo days every month where the staff and guest instructors go in and demonstrate different products or techniques and on the weekend around the stores birthday they always have a larger demo day with cake and extra special make n takes and lots of fun to be had!! In addition this year they took all the cards that were brought in for the birthday of the store into a draw for a gift certificate. Of course I saw this as the perfect opportunity to use my software cutters. I really wanted the card to somehow symbolize the store and the fun had there, so I found a site that has PDF eBooks of pop up card patterns, one of which was a 3D carousel or merry-go-round. Perfect!!

I purchased the eBook and opened my funtime software to import the PDF only to discover that it was a secured PDF and funtime would not import it... grrrrrrr..... oh well.. KNK Studio to the rescue!! I opened KNK Studio and imported it no problem! :) After cleaning up the file a little bit here and there I cut out the 28 pieces required to assemble the carousel. In case at this point you're wondering what site I got the file from it was amazingpopup.com .

I used my gold pen to edge every piece in gold and then put it all together (took quite a while to really figure it out as I somehow had it backwards to what it should have been using the directions and had to take it all apart and do it again). I then realized I hadn't really paid any attention to the size of this template as sized how it is in the ebook you would need a card that was 8 1/4" x 7 with the fold being on the 8 1/4" side, this means you'd need 14" paper for your card base... (at least if you wanted it to actually be hidden inside thast is). Oh well, my gold pen made a bit of a mess on the first one anyways (note to self use this pen more often or it doesn't work properly right away)... resized the template and cut to fit a card 6 1/2" x 5 1/4"  much better. I also used thicker cardstock this time so the pieces were a little more durable.

Now nobody worry, my son quickly claimed the first one after all the work I spent on it to display on his table in his room as "Mommy, I don't like this card... I love it!"

Okay so, second one complete, card base cut, decorate front of card, go to decorate the inside... gold pen explosion everywhere!! 1 year old daughter awakens from her nap, I bring her out sand of course she immediately puts her hands in the gold pen explosion and starts making pretty handprints all over!! Thank goodness for rubbing alcohol in a spray bottle as I was able to clean the floor quickly this way, and spray a paper towel to use to clean her up.

I look at the clock and ACK!!! the store is closing and my card isn't over there yet. Quick call to the store to make sure they're still there and she assures me that there are still a few people there at the store so they will be a little while longer there. I look at my blank inside of the card (with the exception of my 3D carousel) and sigh as there is no way I have time to decorate the inside with gold ink and some stamps now (considering I have no idea where the stamps I would think to use on it are at the moment).. Oh well, hopefully noone will notice as they'll be distracted by the carousel right?!?!

If you made it through all that wow, thanks for your patience and I seriously hope the laugh at my disaster was worth all that reading. LOL

Without further ado... here is what I came up with:

oh and yes you caught me... I did use my cricut and the new Artiste cricut cartridge and stamps that come bundled with it for the Happy Birthday banner sentiment. 

and a few different shots of the inside:

see my blank inside around it?? :(

..and from the top

What do you think? I  have to say I LOVED this one!! It won't be one I'll ever mass produce as it was VERY time consuming but as a stunning card for a very special person I will definitely do this again.

Happy Birthday Dejah and Carousel Rubber Stamps!!

September ARTISTE Blog Hop

Welcome to our September ARTISTE Blog Hop! Each month we are showcasing the amazing, exclusive ARTISTE Cricut cartridge which can be only purchased through a Close to My Heart Independent Consultant.

We don't want to scare you but Halloween is a little over a month away and we know you have to be thinking about what YOU are going to create for this spooky holiday! We decided to show you all the creative projects you can make using our exclusive Artiste Cricut cartridge. You will be hopping along our haunted trail of creativity - you never know what you will see next!

If you just happened to come to this blog, you should start at the beginning at Lucy's blog

Also, to help you get ready to start making your own Halloween projects Lucy has some blog candy for you! She is giving away a Moonlight Complements Dimensional Elements pack! That's two (2) sheets of Printed Dimensional Elements that you can use to create your own Halloween project! There is a picture of the blog candy on her blog. All you have to do to be eligible to win is to leave a comment on everyone's blog AND become a follower of Lucy's blog. (If you are already a follower, just let her know in your comment.)

Okay.. first I need to apologize. If you came to visit my blog earlier blogger apparently did not keep all the updates I did to my post so all you saw was a Christmas themed project. I'm sure you all had thought I lost my mind! 

The truth is I was working away on my project for this hop and looking through the handbook I got excited to try the holder you will see below and I wanted a bunch of cards to put in it so I pulled out my Pear & Partridge Workshop On The Go Cardmaking Kit and got working on the cards. I also didn't like the plain squares so as you will see below I switched it out for a shape from the Artiste cartridge as well.

Now.. 2 days ago I was going through the hop write up and editing my post for you all when I realized that I had completely ignored the hop theme "Halloween" so a complete re-do was in order! I edited the whole thing and re-scheduled it to post but apparently blogger really liked my Chrsitmas project as it reverted the whole post back to that. Good new is now I'm going to show you both today instead of saving the Christmas one for tomorrow like I was going to had blogger cooperated. :)

I decided I still wanted to use the same concept.. so I switched out the Pear & Partridge B&T for the Moonlight B&T. I embossed my card base and ran my cocoa ink pad over the embossing to highlight it and instead of using stamps I cut the phrase "Eek!" from page 76 of the Artiste handbook and I also added the spider (accent 4 with shift on page 77) cut from more of the same left over cocoa cardstock from the Pear & Partridge Workshop On The Go Cardmaking Kit, seriously I wonder how many more projects I can make from this kit?? I added some color ready seam binding that I died with the Olive stamp pad and eur"eek"a a Halloween themed project to share for you.

Here are some pictures of my Halloween theme card and holder set:

Now for more details on the shapes and to see what the Christmas themed one looks like and how easy it was to switch just scroll down and you can see my post that anyone that came this morning saw as well as you will find the hop lineup and your next stop at the end.

Let me know which one do you like best??

If you don't want to see the Christmas one and just want to be on your way to the next stop.. The next stop on the haunted trail is Diana - Dianas Free Moments and you're going to love what she has for you.

Today I used the Pear & Partridge Workshop On The Go Cardmaking Kit and essentially used the projects exactly as the workshop instructions that come in the kit say to.. except I found the plain squares for the focal images boring so I used the Accent 3 shape from page 61 of the Artiste Cricut Cartridge for 2 out of the 3 card designs in the kit.

 

I also added a little holder for all the cards using the paper left in the package after making all 15 of these cards, yep... you heard me.. there was paper left over and actually still is a bit left after making the holder.

For the holder I cut the Accent 3 shape on page 47 of the Artiste Cartridge from my left over Pear & Partridge B&T from this kit and the Accent 3 with the shift key on page 47 of the Artiste Cartridge from the left over Cocoa cardstock from the kit. I think I will embellish the holder a bit more... maybe add some ribbon and bling! :) What do you think?

I used the Cranberry marker to ink the "A MERRY LITTLE" on this card instead of cutting out a seperate piece and masking it and inking in the cranberry ink I just found this went faster.

I just love the stamp set that came in the Pear & Partridge Cardmaking Kit as well. It's so cute and versatile! It has 6 sentiments (one being that lovely one with the birds and filigree on it to be used as a focal image), 3 different present, 3 different ornaments, the string for the ornament, 2 partridge birds and a branch. I can see myself grabbing this set a lot.


Products Used:


The next stop on the haunted trail is Diana - Dianas Free Moments

Here's the entire blog hop lineup in case you get spooked along the way:

1. Lucy - Love 2 Create  Previous
2. Darla - Caution Crafting is Contagious You are here
3. Diana - Dianas Free Moments Go here next
4. Carolyn - Nuts 4 Scrappin'
5. Julia Hammond - You Can Create 
6. Wendy Kessler - My Scrapbooking Blog
7. Pam Stewart - I Candy Scraps
8. Carolyn Mendoza - Crafting With Carolyn 
9. Jennifer Kramer - 4 Hearts Scrapbooking 
10. Maria Woodworth - Maria's Paper Craft Place 
11. Kindred Hearts - It Makes TOTAL Cents
12. Ginger Morriello - Ginger's Creative Cottage 

Thanks for stopping by for some Halloween fun -- hope we didn't scare the creativity out of you! Muah-ha-ha!

August Artiste Blog Hop

Welcome to our August ARTISTE Blog Hop! Each month we will showcase a feature of the amazing ARTISTE Cricut cartridge which can be purchased exclusively through a Close to My Heart Independent Consultant (if you don't have one I'd love to help you out).

We're so excited to be doing this hop and we have a fabulous lineup with some very talented ladies. There will be lots of fun projects AND some blog candy!!!

This month we will be showcasing a different page from the Artiste cartridge! Did you know there are 700 images on this cartridge?? That's right -- 700!!!

If you just happened to come to this blog, you should start at the beginning at Lucy's blog - http://www.love2createitall.com.

If you want to take a look at the booklets that come with the Artiste cartridge here's the links for you:

Artiste handbook
Assembly Instructions

Well, we've been on vacation for the last 3 weeks (tomorrow is our last day, back to normal on Monday). We have done a lot of travelling and camping during our vacation which meant a very BORED 3 year old sat in the backseat prompting me to come up with more fun stuff for him to do while buckled in.

Besides the great mini-album cuts on the Artiste Cartridge and LOTS of other stuff there are a few puzzle cuts on there which of course got me wondering what I could make with that for my kids that wouldn't get destroyed...

Introducing my magnetic puzzles stored in a tin....

I had some metal containers I had picked up for 99 cents at a liquidation place as well as some magnetic sheets that have adhesive on top of them from the dollar store.

I printed off photos of my kids and stuck them to the magnetic sheets, cut it using my deep cut blade and the puzzle image on page 57 of the Artiste Cartridge (resized using Cricut Craft Room so I could pull it out of proportion and make it fit the picture better) and ta-da!!

You will see that the edges get a bit worn after handled by the kids so I might laminate the top next time... but other than that I am very happy with this project.

Thank you CTMH and my new Artiste cartridge for saving my sanity!!!!

The best part is that it stores in the tin and then you can open the tin up and use the outside of it to assemble the puzzle. I love toys that stay together.

I also posted a project using one of the 3D purses from the cartridge earlier this month here.

Now make sure you head over to Julia's Blog and see the eye candy she has for you!

Here is the list of all the talented consultants who are participating in this months blog hop:

1. Lucy ~ http://www.love2createitall.com
2. Darla ~ http://www.stampingunderdoctorsorders.blogspot.com <--- You are here
3. Julia http://youcancreatectmh.blogspot.com/
4. Theo www.celebratecrafts.com
5. Tina Gale http://tiggersscrapplace.blogspot.com
6. Stephanie http://www.quiltedscrapper.blogspot.com
7. Mandy http://www.mandydesigns.blogspot.com
8. Joanne http://josiesjoy.blogspot.com
9. Laura W http://scrappinsweetiesescape.blogspot.com/
10. Rebecca ~ http://blog.scrapprincess.com/
11. Maria Woodworth - http://mariawoodworth.blogspot.com
12. Judith Ashmore- www.grammiejudys.blogspot.com
13. Lisa Woodward~http://mycraftyspaces.blogspot.com
14. Laura Charko - http://koladesigns.wordpress.com/
15. Jennifer Kramer- http://4heartsscrapbooking.blogspot.com/
16. Eva Friesen ~ http://loveofcreating.blogspot.com/

Thanks so much for stopping by and hopping with us - we hope you LOVE all the projects we created!

July Art Philosophy Blog Hop

Welcome to our July Art Philosophy Blog Hop! Each month we will showcase a feature of the amazing Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge which can be purchased exclusively through a Close to My Heart Independent Consultant.
We're so excited to be doing this hop and we have a fabulous lineup with some very talented ladies. There will be lots of fun projects AND some blog candy!!!

Lucy Kelleher, our hostess and fellow CTMH Consultant, will be giving away a stamp set! She is giving away a prior Stamp of the Month set that can no longer be purchased called "You Are ...". (This stamp set has a $17.95 retail value). You will find a picture of the stamp set on her blog. To enter to win, you will need to leave a comment on her blog and on every stop of the blog hop. If you also become a follower of Lucy's blog, she will give you another entry .

This month we will be showcasing the "Card" feature of the cartridge. Did you know there are 100 different card shapes you can make with this cartridge? You heard me correctly -- 100!!! Now we won't be able to show you ALL 100 card options, but we will show you as many as we can.

If you just happened to come to this blog, you should start at the beginning at Lucy's blog - http://www.love2createitall.com/.

My project today uses the card feature key on page 47 (without the shift key) which is the 3rd row down 7th key over (going left to right) of the white image keys on your keypad.

First.. a close up of the glittery goodness!! :)

Here's what the whole card looks like from the front:

Now.. just to show you that this really was the card shape which has a cutout window in the middle of the front panel and not just a plain card with this stuck on it (and because I thought the picture looked really neat)... here's a shot of my card open in front of a window so you can see that you can see through it. :)

Here's how I achieved this look.
First I made my file in Cricut Craft Room so all the pieces would line up and cut in the correct spot as well as I was able to play with the colours to decide which ones I wanted to use.

Next I loaded my silver paper (the paper I used was Reflections cardstock from Michaels) and cut the card shape @ 5.5" using CCR. Then I took a piece of acetate which I had applied a piece of Scortape to first and with the mat still loaded in the machine i carefully lifted the cut card shape up on the side with the cutout and ligned up my piece of acetate with the acetate side on the mat and the tape backing facing up so that it would cut the pieces in middle of my acetate 9yes I could have just cut a bigger piece and put t in approximately the right spot since CCR shows you where on the mat it will cut but this way I knew exactly how much edge I would have on the acetate around my shape). I cut all oth the layers for the ornament and the label shape like the opening in the card front with my setting on 4 speed, 4 pressure, 4 blade depth and a mulitcut of 2 since the kind I used was BCT tape which has a very thick backing on the tape.

Now I had my card shape cut from the silver card and a solid square of acetate with adhesive on it and all the pieces cut out of the tape backing.

I removed the tape backing on the outer edge leaving all of the part you can see through the window cut opening of the card covered. and lined it up with my card from behind and stuck it on. now i just removed one section of backing at a time and applied my glitter to the exposed adhesive rubbing it on really well with my fingers and then using a shaving brush to brush away all the excess glitter.

I used my Say it in Style stamps (which is no longer available as of August 1 so make sure you order ASAP if you want this amazing set of sentiments) to stamp the sentiment in versamark ink and heat emboss with red tinsel embossing powder.

The next stop on your blog hop fun is Gloria Shirr so hop on over and see what wonderful project she has to share with you today! :)


Here is the list of all the talented consultants who are participating in this months blog hop:

1. Lucy ~ Love2Create
2. Darla ~ Caution: Crafting is Contagious!
3. Gloria Shirr - Purpleglo Creations
4. Laura Wolff- Scrappinsweetie's Escape
5. Eva-For the Love of Creating
6. Danielle ~ Little Bit of Scrap
7. Connie ~ Connie's Crafty Closet
8. Wendy ~ My Scrapbooking Blog
9. Joanne - Josie's Joy
10. Laura Charko - Koala Designs
11. Carolyn Heniges - Nuts 4 Scrappin'
12. Kindred Hearts (Penny) - It Makes Total Cents
13. Stephanie Feist- The Quilted Scrapper
14. Julia Hammond You Can Create

Thanks so much for stopping by and hopping with us - we hope you LOVE all the projects we created!

Cricut Craft Room Cartridge Font Tutorial

Today I have a video tutorial on how to use fonts in the Cricut Craft Room. I will show you 2 different ways to use the fonts from your cartridges as well as how to join the individual letters into words and getting the fonts shadow lined up and sized correctly.

July 100 Cricut Cartridge Blog Hop

For my card today I chose to use Fancy Frames, Heritage and Trim The Tree cricut cartridges.

I made an embossing folder with the Fancy Frames cartridge (the 3rd row 4th column button) at 5" Real Dial Size. If you're local and would like to learn how to make your own embossing folders I teach classes on how to do this, you can contact me for my class schedule.

I also cut the backing for this frame (4th row, 4th column) and embossed it with my homemade folder. After I dry embossed it I ran my gold inkpad over the embossing to highlight the embossing. I also used my gold Sakura pen to edge both the outside and inside of this frame and my card base (both inside and out). I attached thie embossed panel with foam tape for added dimension.

I used Trim the Tree and Cricut Craft Room to cut my ornaments out of some gold sticker paper (I used CCR because I wanted to take the guess work out completely of what size I wanted them and this allowed me to line everything up how I liked it and then cut.


I took this screen shot for you so you can see what I mean.

I also used the Heritage cartidge to cut the label for my sentiment. I stamped my sentiment from A1115 A Holiday CTMH stamp set in gold encore ink as well as distressed the edges of my label with the same gold ink. I attached the label with a couple star brads I had in my stash from years ago.
Here's a close up of the dimension the embossing gives this as well as the shine!

Next you should go to Miranda's blog: http://www.nanasscrapspot.com

If you get lost along the way here is the entire line up

Start http://mycricutcraftroom.blogspot.com

Heather Lynn http://heathernovinger.blogspot.com/

Lisa Carrier http://ourcraftingcorner.blogspot.com

Darla http://www.stampingunderdoctorsorders.blogspot.ca/ YOU ARE HERE

Miranda http://www.nanasscrapspot.com  GO HERE NEXT

Erica's Project http://ericasprojects.blogspot.com

Yvette http://gammascreativecorner.blogspot.com/

Christina http://cema1cema.blogspot.com

Jessica S http://jessicascraftshaque.blogspot.com

Candice http://stampinpearls.blogspot.com

Lucy http://www.love2createitall.com

Blog Candy http://ericasblogcandy.blogspot.com

GYPSY SCREEN WINNER!!

I'm here with a quick post to announce the winner of the gypsy screens. I will say that the first number drawn had not left a comment over on Karin's blog as well so was disqualified. :(

Now without further ado.... the winner is........

Kathy213 who said:

Kathy213June 5, 2012 9:46 AM

This is such a wonderful idea! Awesome! I am kind of new at the Cricut and Gypsy so this would be so helpful to me. What an awesome idea to put all these photos into a file that anyone can upload into their Gypsy. Thank you for the chance to win the download.
Kathy:)

Kathy, I just know you will love these!!
Congrats again Kathy!!

Gypsy screens giveaway!

Today I have some exciting news for you!!

Lucy Kelleher and I recently decided to team up to cover US and Canada between us respectively for Close To My Heart products. We also decided to send out a couple Art Philosophy cartridge bundles to some fellow bloggers to use and post their honest review - good, bad or indifferent :)

Karin Adamczyk of http://cricutdivablog.blogspot.ca/ is posting her first post today reviewing the cartridge and since this is very exciting for Lucy and I, we decided to do a giveaway for all those that take the time to not only read our posts but also read Karin's review of the fabulous Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge bundle. 

Karin sells "Cartridge Screens on Gypsy" which are essentially a collection of pictures of the backs of ALL the cricut cartridge boxes that you can load onto your gypsy (or on your laptop or any mobile device) and view in the photo application for a quick glance of each cartridge.  She also sells a PDF version of these called "Cartridge Screens on iPhone" which can be loaded onto any device as well, that is simply a PDF document version instead of a whole bunch of individual JPEG files.

SIDENOTE: For all of you who LOVE to participate in groups on FB... when you go to Karin's blog you should check out all the groups/pages she has. Karin has conveniently created a tab on the top of her blog called Facebook Pages and Groups where she has listed them all out by category for you. I'm sure she has one for you!!

Since we really didn't feel that a written description does justice to Karin's fantastic "Cartridge Screens on Gypsy" I decided to make a video for you showing you exactly what these are and how to load them onto your gypsy.    


Check out the video below:

 

EDITED: THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED

 

So HOW do you enter the giveaway??  
EASY!!
Follow the instructions in my video (HINT: you'll find out that there is ANOTHER giveaway somewhere if you watch the video)
or
If you don't want to know where to find the other giveaway just leave a comment on this post as well as a comment on Karin's first post about the cartridge here before midnight Eastern Standard Time June 7, 2012.

Can't wait to hear what you think and hope you enter our giveaway -- I just LOVE these screens. 


Come back and see me on Saturday for a Father's Day Blog Hop: Art Philosophy style!! :)

Art Philosophy Blog Hop

Welcome to the Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge Blog Hop.
All the stops along this blog hop will be show casing projects made with the very versatile Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge. If you are visiting from Amanda's blog then you are in the right place, if not, please go and start from the beginning at my team member Courtney's blog.

I always struggle coming up with new ideas for masculine cards so I challenged my self to make one for this and here is what I came up with:

Original Artwork c CTMH
Card design by: Darla Haverstock

I used the paper lace 2 cartridge to make my own embossing folder for the background (if you're local I teach classes on how to do this). I then inked the embossed panel by lightly rubbing the ink pad over the raised parts (I used Silver Staz-on ink). The bike image and sentimetnt tag is from C1483 Born To Ride and the sentiment tag coordinates with which is the 4th row 5th column of the white buttons on the keypad overlay and is cut at 1 1/2" (which it tells you right on the stamp set what size to cut it at). The "tire tread" strip is from the stamp set that comes in the Cruisin' Workshop on the Go kit (I love this one!!).

Hope you enjoyed my project today.

Next you should go to Connie's blog and see what she has in store for you. :)


If you get lost along the way here is the entire line up

1. Courtney - http://www.creatingwithcourtney.blogspot.com
2. Brandy- http://www.canadianscrappers.blogspot.ca
3. Audrey- http://scrappingwithscrappy.blogspot.com
4. Amanda- http://ajcreationsfromtheheart.blogspot.com
5. Darla - http://www.stampingunderdoctorsorders.blogspot.com  <---YOU ARE HERE
6. Connie - http://conniescraftycloset.blogspot.com  <---GO HERE NEXT!!
7. Stephanie- http://www.quiltedscrapper.blogspot.com
8. Erin - http://www.imcreaterin.blogspot.ca
9. Lucy - http://love2createitall.blogspot.com
10. Vanessa http://wwwpaperkraftsunlimiteddesings.blogspot.com/
11. Carol http://CarolLoftus.blogspot.com
12. Eva- http://www.loveofcreating.blogspot.com
13. Wendy K. http://www.myscrapbookingblog.com
14. Michelle http://www.myflightsoffancy.com/blog
15. Gloria - http://www.purpleglocreations.blogspot.com
16. Chrissy - http://www.chrissycurtiscrafts.blogspot.com
17. Ann Marie Lessner - www.creativeramblings345.blogspot.com
18. Michelle Degnan Powell - http://scrappinprincess-michelle.blogspot.com/

Valentines Décor and Gifts Blog Hop

Hi and welcome to the Valentine's Décor and Gifts Blog Hop.

You should have arrived here from the lovely Sylvia Solorio: http://bellascrapbookdesigns.blogspot.com , however if you happened here by chance you're in luck! There will be 20 stops full of great ideas, so grab a beverage and head over to the hostess' blog. Staci's blog is at http://preciousmem.blogspot.com/. The sponsor for this hop is Designs on Cloud 9 at http://designsoncloud9.com/ and she has offered us a $20 gift voucher for the GRAND prize. Head over to her Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Designs-on-Cloud-9/189551027737837 and show her some love. One lucky person who comments on this hop will be the winner of this generous prize. (One person from each stop will be chosen at random and we will then hold a random draw with those 20 people and one lucky person will win the grand prize).


For my project today I am sharing a bottle cap pendant I made (yes you read that right.. bottle cap). I used the CTMH Art Philosophy cricut cartridge for the roses and am slowly discovering a love of quilling as well so thought I'd do some quilled leaves on it.

I am also sharing the packaging I made for it which was also cut from the CTMH Art Philosophy cricut cartridge and the ribbon is from May Art. I am gifting a few of these for Valentine's day this year as well as making them with one of my cricut classes I teach.

Hope you enjoy and if you like what you see please come back and join me next week as I will be posting to my blog as well as the Creating with Art Philosophy facebook group (for my guest designer spot this month... yay!!) some cricut tutorials and projects!
Instructions are below.

Art Philosophy cut     Page Number        Special Key        Keypad (row-column)       Size
flower                          70                                 font                    5-10                              1"
favour box                    22                                font layeer         1-2                                 6.5"
You will also need (3) 1/8" strips 3 1/2" long of green cardstock.

Close To My Heart items used
Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge z1686
Liquid Glass z679
Tweezers z1382

Other materials used:
bottle cap
hand drill or nail
jump ring found in jewellery supplies OR magnet
black paint (optional)
sealer (optional)
magnet

Assemble roses (follow this video if you need help assembling) http://youtu.be/5qTp3zPKeyM
Roll green strips into coils and glue finishing end onto the coil to hold closed.
Pinch edges of each green coil to form into leaves.

Use pliers to turn edge of bottle cap backwards.
Use either a hand drill or a small nail to put a hole in the edge if using as a pendant.
Paint blottle cap black.

Fill cap with liquid glass.
Place roses and leaves how you'd like them on top of the liquid glass.
Let dry
Attach jumpring and hand on jewellery cord or chain for pendant or magnet to the back


Now head on over to Kimberly Pate: http://scrappingrookie.blogspot.com and see her wonderful project.

Also, I am a guest designer for INSIDE THE CRAFTERS STUDIO this month over at the facebook group Creating with Art Philosophy. I will be posting at least one project a week on Fridays there, and then will post it to my blog at a later date. Next month I will post it to my yahoo group as well but if you want to be first to see it you need to join us on facebook here at CreatingwithArtPhilosophy


In case you get lost along the way here's the hop line up:

Staci: http://preciousmem.blogspot.com
Ashley Glamourous: http://theglamoroussideofscrapping.blogspot.com
Lisa Peters: http://handmadewithlove-lisa.blogspot.com/
Audrey Dickinson: http://scrappyemt.blogspot.com
Karin Adamczyk : http://scrappercreations.blogspot.com
Anita Meadows Cannon:~ http://www.anitaandbugs.blogspot.com
Lucy Kelleher: http://love2createitall.blogspot.com
Michele Eickholt: http://chelescrafts.blogspot.com/
Kari Sanchez: http://purplefuntastickcreations.blogspot.com/

Sylvia Solorio: http://bellascrapbookdesigns.blogspot.com <---- YOU CAME FROM HERE
Darla Haverstock: http://stampingunderdoctorsorders.blogspot.com/ <---- YOU ARE HERE
Kimberly Pate: http://scrappingrookie.blogspot.com  <------ GO HERE NEXT

Liz Mullen: http://scrapiliciouslife.blogspot.com
Lisa Marie Lam:http://craftylam.blogspot.com
Janet Nagai: http://createatdreamscrapbooks.blogspot.com
Dena Jones: http://missdjones.blogspot.com/
Daisy Collins: http://tsunamirosedesigns.blogspot.com
Amanda Youlkis: http://a-prata-design.blogspot.com/
Nancie Brungard: http://alittlepieceofmebynancie.blogspot.com/
Tricia Colon : http://www.mycrazybubble.blogspot.com/

Birthday Rosettes card from Art Philosophy cartridge

LINK FIXED... I hope! Here's a video I made on how to make the card featured in the Art Philosophy handboook on page 9. This video also includes a look at one of my cheat sheets and how to make one of the rolled roses.

Enjoy!!

Legoman placecards

EDITING THIS TO ADD: Thanks to an online friend from many different yahoo groups we belong in together Trisha this is also now available in SVG and PDF. :)

These are the placecards I made for the wedding I'm standing in for my friend in Friday. The wedding is Lego and concert themed. The tables instead of numbers are bands and she did scrapbook pages of concerts they've been to so instead of sitting at table 9 you sit at table metallica and it's a scrapbook page with pictures of them at the concert and a little write up about it.


I made 88 in total and there are 7 different Legoman pictures. The top of the block is embossed with an embossing folder I made from a piece of cereal box. She's putting a couple little Lego block candies in each box as well.


Very happy with how they turned out!!

I have the file in WPC, DXF, KNK and .STUDIO so far...

Please do NOT share this file without my permission, however feel free to send anyone here to my blog to download it for themselves. For personal use ONLY!!!!!!

I may be able to convert to another format if you want it... just ask and I'll try.

Please do NOT share this file without my permission, however feel free to send anyone here to my blog to download it for themselves. For personal use ONLY!!!!!!

Please do NOT share this file without my permission, however feel free to send anyone here to my blog to download it for themselves. For personal use ONLY!!!!!!

Next class scheduled

Just an update on the cricut classes.
The next class is scheduled for May 28 @ 1pm at Carousel Rubber Stamps in Dartmouth. This will be the absolute beginner one again for those that missed it.

Also for the extra advanced people out there I have received a copy of Fairycuts software to teach those who might be interested. I Wouldve taught MTC or SCAL but MTC is no longer available for the cricut and SCAL is probably not around much longer for it. I currently use another program for my other cutters called Funtime and it is an almost identical program to fairycuts and I LOVE it!! Very user friendly, lots of features, tutorials, etc etc etc. If you were looking to get a 3rd party software I would suggest doing it sooner rather than layer as provocraft I'm sure will be suing fairycuts before we know it as well. A warning for it though, it is not sanctioned by provocraft which means if they win their lawsuits and those 3rd party softwares are taken off the market you will probably run into problems if you update your cricut firmware downthe road (which you need to do if you use Design Studio of the soon to be released cricut craft room as new cartridges come out and you want to use them withthe cricut programs or they wont show up in the programs). If you're not concerned about the ability to use new cartridges as they get released with the cricut software (you will still be able to use them in the machine alone) then you won't have any issues.