Be the “Light” of the party!

May 12, 2011May 12, 2011 | thefrugalcrafter Lindsay Weirich

When I came up with my new Party Lantern set I knew that I was going to have fun with it. The thing I love about it is that it’s quick to make and so fun and there is very little waste. I can cut 2 lanterns from one sheet of 12×12 cardstock using my Cricut machine and SCAL software:

But then I can take the leftovers and make invitations, cupcake toppers and place cards!

So, do you want to know how to make these? Well it is so simple, you get all the directions and scoring guides on the printable templates in the kit and you can cut the templates out with your die-cut machine too. Here are some step by step photos to help you out:

Gather Your Supplies-You Will Need:

Here are the kits I used on this set. I die cut the lantern templates with my Cricut and SCAL software but you can use MTC or fairy cut if you prefer. There is a plain lantern in there too so if you want to put your own custom shape in it you can (like maybe a monogram letter or a heart or whatever.)

I printed the diamond pattern from this kit, I was able to fill the windows on 3 lanterns with the paper I printed on one 8.5″x11″ sheet of vellum. I get plain white vellum in a 50 sheet pack at JoAnns (The Paper Co. brand) for about $10.

And for fun I cut a cupcake wrapper from this free set, YAY, freeeeee!

This set qualifies for the following challenges: ABC Challenge – U is for Underneath(we see the underside of the lanterns in the tutorial), Crafty Creations, Digistamps 4 Joy , Penny’s Paper-Crafty andSisterhood of Crafters – Let it Shine (the lanterns shine al right;)

BTW, how do you like the blue backdrop? I just repainted my kitchen yesterday a fabulous bright blue…I’m thinking that’s a good enough reason to have a party, don’t you?

Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

5 Photos you should take this Easter!

April 21, 2011April 21, 2011 | thefrugalcrafter Lindsay Weirich

My favorite holiday to scrapbook is Easter. I love the frilly Easter dresses, brightly colored plastic eggs, fresh flowers popping up out of the ground and pretty pastel candy! this feast of springtime color is perfect to capture in photos. Before you head out (or host) this years Easter Celebration here are some photo tips for you!

Tip 1: Don’t Pose…Compose!

When photographing kids capture them being kids, chasing after eggs, playing and having fun. Check out this photo I tool last Easter of my nephew. My sister set him in frount of her flower garden and let him play and I got a great natural shot!

Don’t forget the candid action shots too:

Of course when you do have the family together and all dressed up it is a great time to…

Tip 2: Get a semi-posed family photo!

Tip 3: Do some still life photography:

Notice the photo of the baskets of eggs only, this after the hunt photo make a perfect embellishment for the page. Also consider taking photos close up in macro mode of jelly beans, easter grass and other candies for nearly free scrapbook embellishments and they will be authentic too!

Tip 4: OK this is a scrapbook tip-try kraft colored paper for your scrapbook pages, it looks great with pastel springtime shades (see above photos) a swipe of pastel paint adds a nice touch too and best of all you keep the focus on the photos!

Tip: 5-Photo the Pre-Easter Events.

This year I bout a Spin-an-Egg (Target/ $5) and we used that to color our eggs, what fun, get a photo of the pretty colored eggs:

Note: If I had to do it over I would have taken the photo outside with no flash 😀 Sometime your photos are not perfect but you should still scrap them, that’s what is important. You kids will not care that the lighting isn’t perfect, they will be glad to have the memories. Here I took a bunch of egg dying shots and used a egg-shaped puzzle template to make this page. Also I saved the egg-dipper and used it as an embellishment!

Here are some of the digital products from Lindsay’s stamp Stuff I used in the above pages and some other springtime goodies:

And some freebies for you!

These projects qualify for the following chhallenges: Amber’s Crafts and Stuff, Creative Belli, Creative Card Crew, Creative Craft World & Papercraft Star (recycled egg-dipper on last page), For Fun Challenges, Paper Pretties, Sisterhood of Crafters, and Going Grey With Scrap-Creations (digistamps)

Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

Well, Hello Dollar Days!

March 15, 2011March 14, 2011 | thefrugalcrafter Lindsay Weirich

I’m downright giddy, it’s dollar days at Lettering Delights and that means that all fonts, papers, doodlebats (I love these for cutting with my Cricut and SCAL software), graphic and clip art sets are on sale for a buck! And all of their new SVG sets are on sale for $2 a set and mini albums are just $3! Here I used the new Balloon Fun SVG set on this card:

But wait, you can save more! Early Bird savings from March 15-March 18th. Save 10% on a $15 purchase or more with code: InBloom. Save 25% on $35 with code: BiggerBloom.

How about some freebies too? Yeah, I thought you might like that 😀 Sign up for a free account and get over $40 in free product including the set of SVG cutting files shown below. If you already have an account, you will find the new product available in your library.

PLUS Sign up for the newsletter and get 9 free fonts-boy that was easy! And you get $5 off if you refer a friend who signs up for the newsletter. You’ll both receive a $5 coupon good on any purchase of $15 or more. Their newsletters are really fun too and they usually have a nice juicy coupon code inside 🙂

Don’t miss Dollar Days at Lettering Delights, this is the time to stock up! Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

Got Spirit? Well, Let’s Hear IT!

February 17, 2011February 17, 2011 | thefrugalcrafter Lindsay Weirich

S-P-I-R-I-T!!! {Yes I used 3 exclamation points!} The days are getting warmer and I am thinking about Spring! I walked the dog this morning and actually broke a sweat-usually I am freezing my buns off and gripping my coffee mug for any additional warmth I can find LOL. This has got me thinking about baseball, all 3 of my kids play (heck, they can make up half the team 🙂 ) and so I decided to scrapbook {gasp-yes I scrapbooked} last years photos. I used the SVG artwork bonus from my new Baseball Party SVG & Printable kit:

I used a shape collage software to cram in all of those photos-it really takes the brainwork out of putting photos on a page and let’s face it, not all of the photos we take need to be enlarged but it is still nice to be able to include them 🙂

The baseball party kit includes all of the layered die cuts for decorations, crafting, cardmaking and scrapping but also it has die cuts for cupcake wrappers and toppers, drink flags, party hats, invitations, favor bags and the fun and festive bunting/banners that are so popular these days.

But that is not all, there is also a full size printable kit included that has printable sheets (that you can add text to if you like) of all of the SVG templates plus water bottle wraps and more! These are full color printables and I squeezed as much as I could on each sheet to save you money, time and supplies. Here’s a look:

This kit was so much fun to design that I decided to make a little freebie set to go with it:

I think it would be fun to print out the sheet of name tags on sticker paper so the kids could wear them on their shirts. Especially if you are having a baseball theme party at a park or sports arena, that way you can easily identify kids from your party 🙂

Attention Dollar Deals!

Have you checked out the dollar bin at MyGrafico? Every week I will put a few older sets on sale for $1, they will go on sale Wednesday and be on sale for 1 week only. Check out this weeks Dollar Deals! Get them while you can because they will be back to regular price next week! Be sure to check each week for new Dollar Deals!

Now lets see what the Lindsay’s stamp Stuff DT has made for us this week:

phew, that was a long post! Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

40% off everything today only! {Happy Valentine’s Day!}

February 14, 2011February 13, 2011 | thefrugalcrafter Lindsay Weirich

Let me be the first to wish you a happy Valentine’s Day! I love Valentine’s day, I always have, I mean what’s not to love? Also since it is February 14th that means that this (the shortest month of the year but in the North it feels like the longest!) is half over and I don’t know about you but I am ready for March to roar in and bring with it some spring! This has been the snowiest winter I can remember-and living in Maine that says something! Anyway, back to Valentine’s Day, here are some gifties for my peeps:

I wrapped the presents in this beautiful birdcage paper (dollar spot at target, it will be cheap tomorrow LOL!) and made some quick tags using my Cricut & SCAL software and the SVG files in the A Little Lovin set from Lindsay’s Stamp Stuff….

Did I mention that EVERYTHING in my shop is 40% off today only!?! What are you waiting for? SHOP 🙂

I hope you have a wonderful day with your loved ones, I can’t wait to see all of the lovely Valentines my kids will bring home from school today and I hope they enjoy the gifts from me…

Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

New FREE Cricut software and SVG freebies too!

January 30, 2011 | thefrugalcrafter Lindsay Weirich

OK, the biggest deal in crafting is happening now, the CHA Winter show. I heard-tell of some new software that Cricut is releasing to work with all Cricut models-even the Imagine-and it is 100% free and online. I do not know when it will be officially released but I bet this week. I found my info on the Cricut Facebook Page, I “liked” it so I will catch any news on the new program, gotta love free!

As you know I am a Sure Cuts a Lot girl! I love SCAL and being able to design my own die cuts as well as cut my computer fonts. I’ve told you many times that I love using the fonts and doodlebats from Lettering Delights, and I’ve also told you that they design many of Cricut’s cartridges. Well now they are in the SVG business and they have like 40 SVG sets for sale! Cool huh? and many are 40% off right now so check out all their new SVG designs!

They also have a free Monster love bundle up for grabs, download it now while it is free!

Don’t forget you can cut these cool SVGs in Sure Cuts a Lot (SCAL) software that is also on sale right now! These will work with Make the Cut software too BTW 🙂

227_font_home — All these sets are 40% off!

I’m gonna play with some of theses new SVGs today-inbetween helping DS with his pinewood derby car-it’s sure to get the creative juices flowing! Till next time happy crafting!

PDQ cards!

December 19, 2010 | thefrugalcrafter Lindsay Weirich

Pretty. Darn. Quick. I decided that I needed some more handmade Christmas cards, there always more people you think of after you send out your first batch so I made some extras{22 to be exact} and I did it in less than 2 hours! How you ask? With a little help from my Cricut machine & SCAL2 Software:

I cut the scallop twist cards from my Envelope Bonanza SVG set {2 on an 8.5″x11″ sheet of cardstock} out of kraft cardstock, Then I arranged the mittens, hat {from the Winter Wear SVG freebie} and 2″ circles to fit as many as I can on a mat in SCAL2 and I cut that from 3 different pattern papers. I cut all of the card bases first because they cut very quickly, then while I was waiting for the sheets of hats and mittens to cut I scored/folded and stamped the card bases. Then it was a matter of gluing the die cuts to the cards. Easy Peasy!

PDQ card tips:

Use hot glue, it is quick, cheap and adds a subtle dimension to your cards, best of all you can’t fuss with it, one it is stuck, it’s stuck, move on 🙂
If you have time ink the edges of your die cuts for dimension, if not skip the ink {and the guilt!}
Use clear bags to mail your cards in. I used 3″x5″ clear self sealing bags from Uline, I love these because I can mail cards in them, package cards with envelopes for sale in them and they are FDA approved food safe so I can package yummy treats in them too! And they are pennies a bag! Using them as envelops as a fun touch of whimsy to the card as well. No worries about having a matching envie either!

pdq_cardsinbox — Here are my cards in their plastic bags/envelopes neat and tidy! I will leave them in this box near my mailing supplies so I can pen a quick note when needed.

So, are you wondering how much it cost the frugalcrafter to whip up these cards? With the envelope each card weighs in at about 5 cents a piece! I used 3 sheets of pattern paper (from a stack of 180 sheets bought on sale for $10-DCWV), 11 sheets of 8.5″x11″ cardstock (50 sheet pack bought on sale for $2.50-The Paper co.), 2 hot glue sticks (.20) other than that I used a dollar bin stamp and an inkpad. The envelopes were about 3 cents a piece. Using die cuts saves you $$! [Let’s justify out Cricut Purchase shall we} I must say that I got the paper at JoAnns and the Die Cuts with a View stacks cut really well in the cricut and do not snag like some other bargain paper does.

Here is a look at the Envelope Bonanza template set:

Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

Witches Welcome, a Freebie and 40% off!

September 23, 2010September 24, 2010 | thefrugalcrafter Lindsay Weirich

Howdy! Boy, I am in the Halloween spirit! For the past two weeks I have been listing to a Stephen King audio book (Bag of Bones) while crafting and I think it is beginning to affect my work:

I made this set with my Cute Halloween Digital stamps and the Fun Favor SVG set and guess what? They are on sale along with EVERYTHING in the Lindsay’s Stamp Stuff shop for 40% off today (Thursday) only!

***Sale in the Lindsay’s stamp stuff Shop extended through Friday night at Midnight****

Holy cow, what a sale! Here is a close up of the sign, I bought a blank sign at the Dollar Tree, covered it with pattern paper using Mod-Podge then added the images that I colored with my copics and cut out with hot glue:

The crinkle ribbon I made with seam-binding and spray ink, The black has a cool shimmer because I used my homemade glimmer mist on it. Tip-If you are in a hurry when making crinkled ribbon use your heat gun to dry it, it makes it crinkle more in fact! Thanks to Cheryl for the glimmer mist on black tip!

Check out these favor boxes, they were made in minutes making them perfect to do for a classroom full of kids. Here’s how to make them:

Open SCAL software and import the round box file from the Fun Favors SVG set.
Click on the text tool and choose the font DB Jack-o-Patterns (which is on sale for $1 at Lettering delights during their dollar days sale and it is the same as the pumpking carving cricut cart, score! You will see other Cricut Look-a-like fonts there too if you poke around a bit!)
Click on a face and slide it on top of the highest round part of the SVG template, resize if needed. click on another jack-o-lantern face and drag it to the bottom circle and rotate it so it is upside down, resize if needed and cut.
Assemble the box as directed in the kit with hot glue or tape. fill with treats and enjoy!

I love that you can use Sure Cuts a Lot software with almost any font and SVG file to cut virtually anything you want with your Cricut machine, truly awesome!

Thise projects qualifies for the following challenges: Aly’s Sunday Challenge (sparkle & glitter-gimmer mist on the ribbon, rhinestone an the witch, metalic cardstcok on boxes), Cowgirls Sunday Challenge (anything but Square), Creative Card Crew, MySheriCrafts Paper Playtime (fall), Spoonful of Sugar (anything goes) GingerLoft (Halloween), Totally Stampalicious (3 ribbons) and wild orchid (Ribbons & Bows)

Here are the sets I used today:

Here are 2 new sets I released this week:

and now what you’ve all been waiting for…the freebie, click the pic to download.

Now let’s see what the rest of the Lindsay’s stamp stuff team has been working on today:

Cheryl Gorka DT Coordinator

Remember the 40% off sale is today only at Lindsay’s stamp stuff, sale ends Thursday at Midnight, a great chance to save on brand new sets and stock up on ones you may have missed. Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

Fun Favors and a Freebie!

September 16, 2010September 16, 2010 | thefrugalcrafter Lindsay Weirich

I have been getting ready for my daughters’ birthday party all week and today I want to share the favor boxes and cupcake wrapper I made. I used the Pretty Favor SVG and the Alice ATC collage sheet sets which are both 30% off thru Friday along with everything else at Lindsay’s Stamp Stuff:

favorandcupcakewrapper — I cut the favor box, banner and cupcake wrapper with my cricut, to see the entire banner please check out yesterdays post.

The favor boxes were cut with my Cricut MAchine and SCAL software (on sale $15 off!) using the SVG file in the Pretty Favor Kit (printable versions are included in the kit too if you don’t have a cricut) and they were so quick to make!

morealicefavors — The best thing about these boxes is that they cut quickly. I get two 4"x5"x1.5" boxes from a 12"x12" paper. A bit of hot glue and the box is done!

I simply cut out and assembled the boxes, added fringe or flowers made from crepe paper party streamers and images from the Alice ATC collage sheet kit. This project qualifies for the following challenges: Crafty calendar (blue and flowers-the gift bag in the tip photo), Our Creative Corner6 (fun with folds-folded, pleated, fringed crepe paper), Paper Take Weekly (inspiration-top photo), Pocket Full of Poises (flowers), Practical Scrappers (buttons), Scrappekammeret and Southern Girls Challenge (anything goes), Scrappy Frogs (make your own flowers-on the gift bags in the 2nd photo)