Ribbon, ribbon everywhere

This week over at Creative Critters Cricut Club Tammy is showing off ways to store ribbon.  I thought it was only appropriate for me to share my way.  I have been doing this for over a year now and I really love it.  The great thing is my Not so secret Sister form the cricut messageboard stores hers the same way, so we can send each other ribbon and it will easily fit into the others storage system.  So I got these boxes that you can pick up just about anywhere, the clear plastic ones with dividers, then I got some floss cards from the embroidery section of my local craft store and started rolling.  I like my ribbon to stay put so I put a bit of adhesive on each end of the ribbon.  Then the OCD part in me decided that I better organize it in ROYGBIV order.  Don't know what that is?  It's all the colors of the rainbow.  Say it with me, Red orange, yellow, green indigo, violet.  Then I put neutrals, black and white at the end.  I started with just one of these boxes and now have three of them.   

More scrap cards and a castle

Are you guys sick of my scrap cards yet?  I am beyond determined to get rid of the pile.  So I made another 20 cards today.  I am getting a bit bored of this sketch though so I did do some searching and came up with a few fun new ways to use my scraps so you should be seeing those soon. 

After completing these, I decided to play some more with the Cricut Expression that I brought home from the demos.  I have to mail it back this week so I have been trying to get some use out  of it before I have to say goodbye.  I also have the once upon a Princess cartridge on loan so my daughter and I made this, which she promptly filled with her finger puppets.

Layouts

I have been busy making cards for awhile now and I have fallen behind on scrapping pictures.  But of course typical me, instead of working on the pics that I am behind on I go and print more recent pictures to scrap.  With Father's day happening recently I had gotten in the mood to scrap some more masculine type stuff, no flowers, and no fuss.  So first up is a layout from our early father's day.  Most of you know that i recently concluded my last roadshow as a cricut demonstrator and my last show took place over Father's day weekend.  So my hubby got his presents the night before I left which also happened to be his softball night(hence the uniform).  The large background shape was modified on my Gypsy from the Storybook Cricit cartridge.  The scallop border is also from the Gypsy and is actually just a bunch of letter Ds turned sideways and welded together.  The title is from Old West.  This next layout is from our annual trip to our friends ranch for Memorial Weekend. All the cuts here are also from Old West.    I used the Die Cuts with a view Summer dream cardstock stack for all the paper here.  Both Layouts are from sketches found at pagemaps.com.   

I did a few more cards last night.  These were also done with scraps leftover from previous projects.  These scraps had all been cut down to 6x6 squares andf stashed with the rest of my full size paper.  The watermelon is from the Doodlecharms cricut cartridge and the sentiment is from Just Because Cards.  I added some Liquid Glass to the seeds and as you can tell I took the picture before all of them were completely dry. 

I also made these with papers from the scrap stash.  The white was full sheets, butt everything else was scraps.  All the cuts are from the Zooballoo cartridge which is probably the one I use the least.  I did weld the words together on my Gypsy.  I also used the Paisley embossing folder from Cuttlebug for the top two and the Heart Blocks folder for the bottom two and changed the sentiment because I felt it worked better with the hearts.  I added soem Blaxck diamond stickles for the eyes and inked the paper after the embossing was done. 

Lots of goodies

Well I made 36 more of my scrap cards.  I won't bore you with every single picture.  Here is a sampling. 

This little gem is for a sketch challenge over on Jitterbuggin challenge blog.  I saw it and immediately knew I needed to make this little guy.  I had done a larger version of him on a scrap page quite some time ago.  This was so much easier to do now that I have my Gypsy.  I placed all the pieces on the mat and added my scraps of paper and cut it all out at once.  This is another easel card which I thought fit this card perfect, I can't believe i waited so long to try these.  My nesties were used for the large scallop circle, the red and blue and Wausau cardstock and the white is American Crafts, brads and ribbon are from my stash.  I also decided to enter this card here .  I love the 4th of July and I love this color combo!!  In fact I love it so much that I needed to make another card with it since all the paper was still out.  I have been wanting to get the Independance Day cricut cartridge ever since it was released, but I really haven't had any spare money for it.  When I was gone last week demoing the Cricut at Costco, I stopped in a Walmart there and saw it for $19.  I almost got it, but talked myself out of it.  The images really are not my style, I just want it because of my love for the holiday.  The cut I like the most is the banner(I don't know what it's actually called, but the half circle decorative banner things).  Well while designing something else on my Gypsy I came across a similar cut on Old West.  I was so excited!!  I don't own this cart, but my niece does and she graciously allowed me to put it on my Gypsy since she has no intention of getting one, she hardly even uses her Cricut.  So this card was born.

I added some white gel pen stitching and some scallops from Plantin schoolbook and I think t is beautiful.  I designed it late last night and just could not wait to cut it out today, I am still so excited that I found this cut!

Do you all remember the Faux stitched flower card I made.  If not, then check it out here.  Well that was a card to be sent to my swap partner in the Handmade Journal Swap over on the Cricut Message Board.  I thought that I would also share with you the journal that I had made, but I was waiting for her to receive it.  Now that she has, here it is.  This was a composition book that I had picked up quite awhile ago when they were on sale for a quarter a piece(must have been back to school time).  The scalloped border was made on my Gypsy and the flower is from Sweet Treats cricut cartridge. 

This is a close up of the other goodies that I made to go along with the journal.  The jumbo paper clip which could be used as just that or as a bookmark, and a magnetic noteclip.  I'm not sure if you can tell, but I ran out of the brown paper with the pink spots, so I took some plaion brown cardstock and my pink gelly roll pen.  I wish I had taken a picture of the inside of the journal.  I had covered that as well and added a little pocket for her to stick notes or receipts or whatever. 

Costco Roadshow and some hotel room crafting

Well I just returned from my very last Costco roadshow...tear, tear...This one was about 3 hours from home so I was staying at a hotel.  I wanted to work on some projects in my hotel room so I wouldn't be too bored.  I took only my paper scraps, some adhesive, and my embellie and ribbon boxes.  I didn't even bring a paper trimmer.  But I picked up an extra we had at the store, and went to work.  I used up my scraps and some digi stamped images that were in my paper stash.  Once I used those up I made some cuts at work.  I ended up getting 30 cards made.  Some of these were made in duplicate so I didn't take pics of every single one.

 

As you can see in some of the pics, I started to do them all following the same sketch.  I was determined to tame my scrap folder, so i went through and took all the smaller pieces and trimmed them down to fit this sketch.  So now I have a pile of scraps as well as some leftover cuts from work that I plan to use to make more of these super easy cards.  Whatever I don't use, I know the kids will love to play with.

And I also thought I would post a few pics of my display at the cricut booth. 

And a close up of the sign I made to advertise our last day of the show.

This is all made from Storybook, using the markers to draw the Marquee shape.  Apparently the sign helped.  I sold 6 Expressions and 2 Gypsy's in the last day as well as a few of the essentials kits and 3 pick cartridge bundles.  It was the best sales day of all the days I worked!

Dad's Day

I got a call today that my hubby was nominated for our church's annual Father of the Year award.  It is exciting news.  Unfortunately I won't be here on Dad's day when the official announceent is made.  I am off to work at my last Costco Cricut Roadshow, and since it is three hours away I will be staying at a hotel while I am there.  In the meantime i wanted to share my hubby's gift with you.  He has been in need of a new fishing pole and had even taken the time to choose one, but hadn't purchased it yet since money is tight.  The kids and I decided to surprise him with it(he thinks he's not getting anything because of our current budget woes).  I made this card and altered bottle to go with it.  The bottle is one I pulled out of our recycling stash and in it's previous life held delicious Snapple Tea.  I added a band of paper and a tag cut with my Gypsy and the Alphalicious cartridge(using the hide contour feature to jide that pesky hole and a fishfish cut on my Gypsy from the Everyday Paper dolls cartridge and some ribbon and filled it up with his fave candy: Jolly Ranchers Sours.  the card was made on the Gypsy as well.  I took that same fish from the tag and welded two of them together(I flipped one first).  On both pieces, I used the Hide Contour feature to hide all the lines.  On the top layer I cut the same fish but did not hide the lines and on this layer I welded the word "Dad" and cut the layers for it.  I then drew in the lines and added soem faux stitching to match the paper I used.

Update: I entered this in a few challenges, and like a bonehead, forgot to follow some very simple rules.  At the Cuttlebug Blog we were supposed to do a Father's day project and use our cuttlebugs.  Makes sense to me and i had planned to emboss the word "DAD".  I thought about it so much that I thought I had actually done it...oops.  So I snagged this back from my DH while he was at work yesterday and carefully peeled off the letters and ran them through my Cuttlebug, shadow and all.  What do you think?

My first Blog award

My good friend Sandy from Ukiah chose this award for me.  As you can tell she has a great sense of humor.  The rule is that now that I have accepted the award I must tell you 6 truths about myself and one lie or vice versa.  Here goes:

1. Even though I was born near Los Angeles, my family and I are huge San Francisco Giants fans
2. I used to have a huge crush on Tony Kanal (from the band No Doubt) and have met him a few times.
3. In high school and college I competed in beauty pageants
4. My first job was scrubbing mats and the trampoline at a gymnastics school
5. I do not like going to the beach
6. I have been papercrafting for 12+ years
7. I love country music

And now comes some more fun.  I have decided to pass this award on to 5 more people(who get to send it to 5 more and on and on).  I hope you will visit all my picks as they are all very talented and have some amazing work posted on their blogs.

1.  Christina at  Christina's Creative Corner
2. Sandy at Cricut Green with Envy
3. Stephanie at Crafty Teacher
4. Iva at Iva Rai's Scrappy Blog
5. Crystal at Crafting for Caitlyn

Sugar Sweet Paper Treats

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Well here it is, my very first project for my very first design team.  Over at Sugar Sweet Paper Treats we were issued a challenge to use "sewing" on a project.  Well I was excited until I heard that.  I don't have a sewing machine and I hate to hand sew.  But I was determined to come up with something fabulous.  And then I remembered one of my favorite techniques.  I love to use faux stitching with a pen.  And one technique that I am super in love with is making my own background paper.  One way I like to do this is to use my scraps to punch squares and make a paper quilt to be used as a background.  I decided to share a little tutorial on my project.   

Start out with some squares(you can punch these out or use a die cutting machine or cut them with your trimmer), any size will do.

Next adhere these squares to another sheet of paper.  I prefer to use white cardstock but anything will do.  I always use a liquid glue to make sure all my edges are stuck down real good. 

Now take a fine tip marker and draw some dashed lines to simulate stitches.

Next trim down to fit your card and adhere.  I used an easel card (tutorial found at http://www.stampinmoments.com/easel-card-tutorial.html).  This custom paper could also be used in any die-cutting machine to make your own custom embellies.  I have used this technique and cut it with Nestabilities and the Cricut machine. 

 Cut a piece for the inside of the card and add a solid color as well.  Add more stitching and some ribbon.  As this is an easel card I also added some buttons and gasp actually pulled out a needle and thread.  I still can't believe I actually did that.

  Add a border and some ribbon.  This border was made on my Gypsy to resemble the Fiskars Apron Lace punch, but any one will do. 

Next add your die cut.  I cut this flower on my Gypsy from the Sweet Treats cartridge.   Then I added lots of faux stitching.  Because I was trying to use up scraps for this card I have a little piece of the brown shadow missing.  Don't worry, we will fix that later. 

I actually have some more goodies that go along with this card but as they are for a swap I can not post them just yet.  Check back with me later.  as soon as my partner received her goodies I will post the rest.

I added a bow and strategically placed it over my boo-boo and there it is.  My very first easel card and my very first project for the design team at Sugar sweet Paper Treats.  if you have not checked them out, come play along with us at http://www.sugarsweetpapertreats.blogspot.com/

cricut demo projects

I worked on a few projects while I was working at the costco demo this last weekend.  the first is this adorable owl card and matching envelope from the wild Card cartridge.  I have the original Cricut at home so I have not purchased this cartridge.  I had so much fun playing with it on the Expression.  paper is DCWV Summer Dream stack that my co-worker had purchased(I will be using this card as a display piece at our next show) and I used some smooch paint and liquid glass for his nose and added some google eyes to complete the look.  The next project was a 4x6 post it note holder.  One of the girls in my Nost so secret Sister group over on the Cricut message board had sent me some goodies for winning a guessing game and included was this cute bumblebee notepad.  I picked up my Gypsy and did a keyword search for bees and found the adorable bee from the Just Because cards cartridge.  I used that and the matching sentiment fromt he same cartridge

End of the Year goodies

It is that time again.  the end of the school year, which around here means lots of goodies to make.  This year I had two teachers and an aide to make presents for as well as a class of graduating preschoolers and some future 3rd graders.  I made explosion boxes for the two teachers.  Otherwise known as a scrapbook in a box, these are always popular with the teachers at my son's school and since my daughter's teacher is a good friend, I decided to make one for her to.  I did not use any Cricut on these and I can't remember where I got the instructions as I have been making these for three years, but google it and you are sure to find plenty of info. 

I also made goodie bags for all the students.  I designed these on my Gypsy with the Storybook cartridge for the base shape and Locker Talk for the grad cap and george and Basic Shapes for the Stars.  All the paper was from my stash and is a random assortment.  I made 16 of the grad ones and 20 of the stars.

And for the aide in my daughter's class I made this post it note holder with her name on it.  Paper here is Cosmo Cricket