Daylight saving time is here, that means that spring is just around the corner and boy howdy am I ready! I thought I would get as jump start on the Easter season by crafting a little chick and basket with my Cricut and SCAL software and of course sharing them with my blog readers. Don’t you love my dainty spring colors?
Paper: MAMBI, Eggs: Accucut, Flowers: Sizzix, Chick and Basket my Design (download below)
Dainty, Ha! I live in a part of the world that is perpetually grey (or blindingly white) 5 months out of the year so I crave the COLOR! I’ll have to work on the dainty thing I guess 🙂
I used spray adhesive to cover the chick with yellow fun flock. TIP: Before using your flock shake it in a larger jar to fluff it up a bit then pour it over your glue. Do this over a sheet of paper so you can dump the leftover flock back in it’s original jar. It’s amazing how much flock they pack into a little jar!
This is a 5 1/4" basket!
As you can see you can cut a fairly large basket from a 12″ sheet of paper.
The chick SVG includes 2 wings and 2 legs that are not attached but if you want to attach the legs or delete them you can do so in inkscape, I don’t mind a bit 😉 I also think this would make a cute rubber ducky too!
I made a smaller basket in Design Studio using the George cart and the 6″x12″ mat. You will need it resize each shape to make a larger box (yes, I know it’s a pain, maybe one day PC will include a select all feature.)
Do you have a spring project to share? Well if you do you could win $50 worth of clear stamps! Check out the Pink Persimmon blog to see how. Have fun with your spring projects and till next time happy crafting!
As an all knowing and experienced (yeah right!) Cricut user I get asked questions about the bug all the time.
Stamps: Inkadinkado, Martha Stewert Crafts, Die Cuts: Cricut: PDDU
One oft-asked question is: “What are your favorite cartridges?”
I mainly use Carts with my small cricut (6″x12″) and use SCAL and my computer with my expression, That said I had the Cricut Personal cutter for 2 years before I got my Expression and I found the following cartridges well worth the money (on sale of course LOL)
George: It came with the machine, although I’m not crazy about the font it has a lot of great shapes and you can use it with the free trial of design studio to make a ton of stuff or download lots of free cut files for boxes and such made with this cart. I have many George freebies on this blog and check out my blogroll for other designers with George freebies. I only had George the first year I had my cricut, I wanted to make sure I would use it a lot before I invested more $$ in it.
Base Camp: A nice classic Serif font, very similar to Plantain Schoolbook that comes with the Expression, I’d skip it if you have PS
Opposites Attract: It had a full san serif block upper and lower case font and a full cursive font that can be cut upright or stretched out. Very versatile. I newer would have giving it a second look but my friend let me use hers I I loved it!
Zoobaloo: A full upper and lower case font that looks like handwriting, and the cutest little animals you ever did see, lot’s of bang for your buck!
Those are my most used carts but her are a few more I like:
Paper Dolls Dress Up: If you are a school teacher or you have small children you will get a lot of use from this, it’s cutesy, but it has a lot of shapes. I think it would be fun to cut the dolls and clothes out of magnet sheets to make magnetic paper dolls! I used this for the above example.
Storybook: My friend Kristin brought this cart to craft night a couple of weeks ago and it is just lovely. The accents and flourishes are so pretty and versatile and the font is gorgeous! I may put this on my “wish List” especially since Kristin (and her cartridge collection) is moving away next month, wahhhh!
All Mixed Up: It’s just a font, nothing fancy, but it is fun and I like it (but I don’t have it) there is a very similar font you can cut with your cricut if you have scal called Dreamed About You and it is free!
If you have the Expression I recommend adding Tags, Bags, Boxes & More to the list. I would also invest in a 12″x24″ mat to cut some of the bigger boxes. Ive had this cart for a while but didn’t get much use from it until I got the Expression.
Tips: Speaking of mats a blog Reader Linda Mac told me that she maker her own embossing folders (like the Cuttlebug ones) with her cricut. She buys the think flexible cutting boards from the dollare store and uses them just like the embossing material that cricut sells, she also uses these cut to fit her machine instead of buying the Cricut mats. Great tip Linda!
Whether or not to upgrade? If you bought the cricut when it first came out you have the 6″x12″ cutting capability. I must say that I can do most of the stuff I want with the smaller model, the exception being larger vinyl lettering and boxes, so ask yourself if you really need that capability before you upgrade or shell out the extra cash for the big “E”. There are some extra features on the “E” that are great like auto fill and centerpoint but since I use it with my computer mainly it doesn’t matter.
And what about Making Memories Slice? My Niece just bought this die cutter. Pros: It’s cheaper: Reg price is $150, the font/shape disks are half the price of cricut and since hey are stored on an SD card there is probably capability of designing your own files. Its small cordless and lightweight, perfect for a on the go crafter.
Cons: You can only cut 4″x4″
My niece loves it and says it works great. The perfect die cutter and carts is different for everyone so do your research and you will find the right one for you! I’ll have a cricut/scal freebie for you tomorrow, until then happy crafting!
Nor am I a rub on girl. I hate to run out of E’s, L’s and M’s and having to settle for the font and color they come in. Give me my stamps, computer and my die cut machines and I am a happy camper! Actually I use both of my die cut machines in this project but we will get in to that later.
The fabulous Melissa over at the Rubber Cafe sent me some wonderful goodies to work with this month including the Marrakesh paper pack by Basic Grey. The stamps and papers are so lovely and I did not do them justice but I thought I’d shave my first attempt with them because I think there are some fun ideas here you can use!
A fun quick project with my new Rubber Cafe goodies!
I love the fun bright summery colors and busy patterns of the Marrakesh line and The same day they came in the mail I got the new issue of Scrapbooks Etc Magazine and I was flipping through and saw an ad for the paper. Well, in the ad were the cutest little paper flowers and a website address where you can download a .pdf template so you can make some! How nice of them! Of course I converted the template so that I could cut a TON of them out using my Cricut Machine and SCAL software. sorry I can’t share the file because it is copyrighted but you can snag the template at the basic grey website, and you can read my tutorial on converting .pdf files to .svg here so you can cut it with your Cricut if you have Sure Cuts a Lot software. I had so many flowers left over I made these cute paper clips:
So cute and easy, why not make a bunch!
The Basic Grey paper was sturdy enough to use without chipboard. I simply hot glued (yes, I love my hot glue gun!) the clip to the backside of a flower and glued another on top and layered on more. The hot glue makes it extra rigid too. I did not come up with this idea, I saw it at Splitcoast stampers, they had a nice tutorial but at post time it was unavailable 😦
As for the other die cut machine I used my Big Shot to cut “hello” out of black self-adhesive fun foam with Sizzix Original alphabet dies (the thick ones.) The cool thing about the font I have is that you get a positive and negative letter so no waste, and it’s a time saver too!
The beautiful stamp on the card is the Small Swirled Butterfly by the Rubber Cafe. the nice thing about this design is that it comes in 3 sizes, I can’t wait to try the large one, it should be fun to color! Speaking of color I used a blender pen and Pebbles chalk to quickly color the image, I love how quick and easy this method of coloring is but if you have a cheap blender the tip my wear down and dry out. To remedy this take a pair of sharp scissors and trim the brush end at an angle (note: I am talking about the water-base marker blenders like the LePlume, don’t trim a waterbrush!) to restore the point. to re-ink my blender pen I pulled off the plastic at the fine tip end and squeezed in a couple of drops of clear embossing ink and put the end back on. You can also work some of the clear ink into the brush end buy squeezing out a couple of drops and scribbling the brush in it.
Thanks for reading my LOOOONG post! Have a great weekend and until next time happy crafting!
Time to pick the winner of the Creative Cuts & More Blog Hop blog candy. I used the random number generator at random.org and here is what it picked:
The 5th comment wins!
Congratulations Meg! I’ll email you to get your address! Thanks to everyone who left comments and participated in the hop! It won’t be the last one! I be back later today with more crafty goodness, until then happy crafting!
You have until tonight at Midnight to Sign up for Creative Cuts and More Blog Hop Blog Candy! You need to sign up on Monday’s post to be eligible. If you missed the hop you can start at the beginning at the Die-Cut Diva blog and see all of the projects the CC&M designers have been working on and sign up to win different prizes at each blog but you’ve gotta do it tonight to win!
A lot of stamps on one small card!
Keeping with the “lucky” theme here is a quick St. Patrick’s Day card. I used a free vintage image from Vintage Image Craft, Kraft Cardstock from Stampin Up!, Corner flourish stamps from Magenta, Dollar stamps from Studio G, a frame stamp from Rubber Stampede, shamrock stamps from Inkadinkado and a die cut label from Creative Cuts & More. The cool thing is that all of this stuff was already laying on the craft table leftover from other projects! Love that!
I’ll pick a winner of the blog candy tomorrow good luck and happy crafting!
My little sister is PREGNANT!!! YAY! I wanted to wait until she was a little further along before I mentioned anything so she could tell everyone (Mom already took care of that LOL!) She got to hear the baby’s heartbeat today I’m so excited for her! Here is a card I sent her last week:
I cut the pregnant lady with my cricut and the New Arrival Cart, i used Sure Cuts a Lot (SCAL) and the font Angelina for the title. Pattern Paper is by Basic Grey…speaking of Basic Grey I just got the new Marrakesh line of paper in the mail from the Rubber Cafe, OMG it is Gorgeous!!! I also got a bunch of new TRC Stamps, I can’t wait to play with them. I’ll have new samples up in a few days. The Border punch I used on this card is also from the Rubber cafe, it is by Fiskars and it embosses and punches, very slick!
If you arrived here as part of the Creative cuts and More Blog Hop scroll down to Monday’s post where you can see all the new CC&M wedding samples and sign up to win a flocking kit!
Yes, the time has come! Today you can sign up here to win a flocking kit and tacky tape die cuts from Creative Cuts and More. We are having the blog hop to show off the new wedding products from Creative cuts and More! Many of you are visiting my blog from Lila’s, weren’t her projects Fabulous! If you missed any of the previous designers on the blog hop you can start at the beginning at the Die Cut Diva blog, that way you can sign up to win ALL of the prizes we are giving away! You can leave a comment to win until Thursday at Midnight, we will announce all of our winners on Friday!
All of the cards and boxes that CC&M carry are pre-scored, not perforated, so you get an easy to assemble, elegant looking project! The best part is that they can be made ahead of time so you aren’t stressing out and rushing close to the big day!
Dress and tux box: Accucut available at creativecutsandmore.com, stamp: Autumn LeavesCard: Accucut available at creativecutsandmore.com, Stamps: Inkadinkado, Inque BoutiqueCard: Accucut available at Creativecutsandmore.com, Stamps: Inkadinkado, Autumn Leaves
Now that you have seen my projects (and signed up to win my blog candy) hop on over to see what Pam has in store for you, more beautiful projects and different blog candy to win! If you missed any of the stops on the blog hop you can got to the Die Cut Diva blog to start at the beginning, be sure to sign up to win at every blog because we all have something different to give away, oh and if you put a link on your blog mentioning this blog candy and linking to me you will get 2 chances to win…yeah, I’m swell like that!
Could a flocked bunny on a card be any cuter? Well, Maybe if it were eating a cupcake, but that just might be too cute to stand! I’ve had a box of flocking in my craft room for about a month and I just couldn’t make myself use it although I desperately wanted to. What held me back was the thought of using glue to hold my flock then waiting for the glue to dry, ugh. I need my instant crafting gratification! Then I saw that Creative Cuts & More has many of their die cut shape available in Killer Red Tape (including this adorable bunny) Yay! It is so easy to use the sticky die cut adhesive to attach flock, glitter, micro-beads or foil! Oh happy day!
Supplies used: Bazzil Basics Black paper, Small Antique Label, Small Rabbit die cut in Tacky Tape, Queen&Co die cut felt, Doodlebug flock in white, Pink smooth cardstock, Piercing bug (EK Success) for faux Stitching, White Gel Pen, Prismacolor Colored Pencils, Acrylic Paint (Delta) and hole punches for edging the card and Dollar Stamps by Studio G (I got them on sale for 60 cents at AC Moore!)
Tip: Buy a value pack of clear rhinestones then color them with a Sharpie or Mark it to match your project as I did here:
Flocking is easy! Simply peal the backing off of the adhesive shape and press it on to your cardstock. Rub over the die cut with your fingernail or a bone folder and peel off the other backer. Sprinkle with flock (you may need to do this a couple of times to get it really coated) dump the excess flock back in the jar and roll over the design with a CLEAN brayer or just press the flock into the tape with your fingers to be sure it stays put. It is so cool, you can’t help but touch it!
So you probably want to try this for yourself huh? Well you can! Tomorrow all of the designers from Creative Cuts and more are having a blog hop, we will be unveiling (no pun intended) the new wedding products from the shop and you can leave a comment to win different prizes from each of the designers! I’ll have a flocking kit up for grabs but all of the designers will have a different prize so you will have to check them all out! It all starts tomorrow!
Thanks for stopping by and enjoy your Sunday and as always happy crafting!
