Trouble Halloween Card and Adventures with Izzy

My Halloween card is made using my Expression and the Happy Hauntings cartridge. I used the mouse from page 55, the bat from page 41 and the word "trouble" is on page 50. Next, I cuttlebugged the cape and hat with Divine Swirls and used swiss dots on the word trouble and the mouse. So cute and easy. Next time, I will use my Imagine to flood fill some of the cuts.

Our cat Izzy is always getting onto trouble, especially in my craft room. Instead of a mouse, I should have made this card with a black and white cat. Here are some of my favorite photos of Izzy (Trouble) in my craft room or should I say her cat room!



Here is Izzy sleeping on my laptop. She refuses to be ignored.



She likes the TV off so she can be the center of attention.



Silly cat, she thinks her ears are invisible.



Izzy sleeping on my crafting table. I mean her cat sofa.

Stayed tuned for more Izzy and Jackson adventures. Jackson is our other cat. We were lucky when we rescued these two wonderful cats from our local shelter.

Thanks for visiting and have a wonderful day!

My Imagine and Lessons Learned

My Imagine was delivered late Thursday and it has been a rollercoaster ride. I put on my big girl Cricut panties and unloaded the box, albeit with some major anxiety. My dear husband (DH) arrived home and started to help with the calibration process. We calibrated it three times with no luck, but thanks to patience on the part of my DH ( by the way I have none) and this amazing blog post and video by More Than Favors we got the job done. Please take a minute to read this post on advanced calibration. It will save you some tears, I promise.

I thought I would share some of the lessons I learned the hard way!

Double check when you are using the load last feature with anything but a 12 inch by 12 inch paper setting. I did not double check the screen and now I have a permanent inked flower on my new cutting mat. Yikes.

Make sure that your cartridges are firmly in place. I couldn’t figure out why mine were not being recognized. Duh!

If you use thick glossy photo paper ( I used Kirkland’s professional glossy inkjet photo paper from Costco) be sure to increase the pressure to five and change the setting to glossy. Also remember to set the blade at 6. Also the drying process takes a little longer with glossy paper, so be patient. I wasn’t and thought there was something wrong with my machine so I tried to remove the paper. Bad move… I had to shut off my machine and start over.

I am still learning, but have grown to love my new Imagine. It is truly an amazing machine and the print quality is outstanding. Also it cuts better than my v1 or my expression. I know since I repeatedly tested the machines using the same paper and same cut. I am also thrilled that I figured out how to print a sentiment anywhere on a card or page.Check out this video if you want to learn.

Posted below are my first two cards.

For this card, I printed the layers compressed and then added a couple of clouds and pop dotted the bird. I like that I can choose to add only a couple of layers and still get a nice look.



For the inside, I used the square shape and flood filled with a paper from Just Friends. I made this card before I discovered how to print the sentiments anywhere on a card.



This card is printed using Nursery Tails and glossy photo paper. I printed the layers compressed and added a couple of butterflies. For the inside I reduced the size of the outside layer and flood filled the rectangle. I used the Wild Card cart for the sentiment, flood filled and cut. The coordinated digital paper makes life super easy. I wanted to weld the card together with my DS but instead I created a small card and glued it to the outside cut. It doesn’t look as professional as a welded card, but it works at least until the Gypsy software is updated.

How to print a Sentiment Anywhere on a Card or a Page Using the Imagine

My Imagine was delivered late Thursday and I love it! I wanted to use it to print a sentiment anywhere on my card or page so I came up with this workaround. The process is a little challenging, but I am hopeful future updates to the Gypsy will make this easier. In the meantime, I will be saving money on rubber stamps and avoiding cutting intricate sentiments. Now, I can print sentiments from my favorite cartridges anywhere on my card or page.

I will post a couple of projects tomorrow along with lessons learned so you can avoid learning the hard way. Enjoy the video.

New TPC Papers and Accessories

I picked these beautiful papers up at our local craft store, the Memory Trail and thought I would share them with you. Have a great weekend and stay tuned for an Imagine update!

Fab Five Friday

Welcome to another Fab Five Friday!

If you spend too much time looking for the perfect Cricut Image, you may want to visit Cricut Search, a site that helps you find the image that you are looking for. A special thanks to Joy from Obsessed with Scrapbooking for posting this link. Yahoo! I love this search feature.

I just discovered another fun challenge site. Whiff of Joy is sure to inspire you and the cards that everyone shares are amazing.

Live Love and Scrap posted the cutest diaper bag card video on YouTube. She used the Cricut to make an adorable and easy card.

Halloween Spider is a free font from dafont.com and would be perfect for Halloween. In fact they have several great fonts that are creepy and crawly and perfect for cards and layouts.

The Color Room features weekly layouts inspired by a different color palette. This is a wonderful site and you may want to participate in the weekly layout contest. Their photo wall has over 3,000 layout examples.

Thanks for stopping by and have a fabulously fun Friday!

Quick and Easy Christmas Cards with the Cricut

I am so getting a head start on my cards! Can you believe it? These quick and easy cards would be great to include in packets for Christmas gifts. Also they are super easy if you have a lot of cards to make. Thanks for visiting and I hope you enjoy the video.

BoBunny Meets the Cricut

I purchased the BoBunny Olivia card kit and found that it coordinates perfectly with many of the Cricut cartridges. It worked so well that I used the Cricut to decorate the inside of several of my cards. Maybe Cricut could partner with BoBunny to design a new cartridge for the Cricut and the Imagine. Just a thought! Thanks for visiting and stop in tomorrow to see more cards.



Below is the inside of the card made with the Cricut. I used Forever Young and Plantin and I think the papers and the carts work well together!







Below is the inside of the card using the Cricut. I used Storybook for this one.

Product Spotlight….. BoBunny Winter and Christmas Papers

I picked these up at our local craft store, the Memory Trail and thought I would share them with you. Have a great weekend!

Fab Five Friday

Welcome to another Fab Five Friday. This week’s Fab Five will feature a link to a brand new blog dedicated to the new Imagine Machine from Cricut and a link to a useful color matching site that will help you coordinate your scrapbook pages and cards.

If you have purchased or are thinking about purchasing the new Imagine from Cricut, you may want to visit these sites. Tammy, from Creative Critters Cricut Club has just started a new blog dedicated to the Imagine. Tammy is truly an expert on all things Cricut. Her blog is named Creative Critterz Imaginations and I guarantee it will become a must visit. There are so many new Imaginations cartridges that I can hardly keep up. Scrapbooking Grandma has developed a downloadable pdf file showing all the new color and pattern cartridges. I like this version as it is in one document. I also use the Cricut Imagine site but Scrapbooking Grandma’s is super handy!

Can you believe it… I just discovered Sherry Berry Studio’s blog? She is an artist that creates designs and illustrations for a variety of manufactured products. According to her bio posted on her site, you can find her art on fabrics, paper goods, home decor and seasonal products. Her blog is stunning and features an inside look at a talented artist that designed some of the new Imagine Cartridges.

Please check out this fun site recommended by a friend of mine. ScrapBook Dimensions has created a free downloadable wall paper calendar that you can customize using your own photos. There is a video tutorial that will help you install the wallpaper. Thanks again Dawn for sharing this with us.

Scrapbook.com features a craft friendly tool called Scrap by Color that helps you find the perfect color schemes and products for your projects. You can upload a photo to determine what colors to use in your layout or you can use the color wheel to pick out color schemes that are monochromatic, complementary, analogous, triadic and split complementary. Check it out, it is too fun and my description is far too complicated for such an easy to use tool!

Dawn from Dawn’s Stamping Thoughts just did a remake video of the waterfall card for Halloween. She makes it look soooooo easy that I am going to give it a try. I love her videos!

Thanks for stopping by. Please stop in tomorrow to see a video on the new Olivia, Noel and Winter Joy line from BoBunny. These papers and accessories are too cute to pass up. (Like I could ever pass up BoBunny!) Have a fabulously fun Friday!

Adhesives and More

I frequently get asked what type of adhesive to use when making cards, so I thought it would be fun to do a video on my favorite ones. There are so many excellent adhesives on the market, but these are my personal favorites. Thanks for visiting and please enjoy the video.

Baby Carriage Card

I watched this video by Ready Set Stamp and I couldn't wait to make this adorable card. I made a couple of changes to her design so I could use this card for either a baby boy or girl.

Thanks for visiting and have a great week!

Fab Five Friday Happy Halloween!

Welcome to the all Halloween Fab Five Friday. This week’s Fab Five will feature links to all things Halloween.

I am a big fan of Emma’s My Creative Time website. She has been celebrating Halloween for the past week and you are in for a treat. Click here for my favorite post, a cute candy corn treat holder. Emma is truly amazing!

Erin from Erin Lee Creative posted several fun projects including framed Halloween art, an adorable banner and a very creative card.

Popsicle Toes, aka Donna posted an easy to make Halloween door hanger using Cricut’s Mini Monograms cartridge.

If you love Peachy Keen stamps you will want to click here. Samantha Casey has created five bootiful cards and an adorable candy holder. I promise you will be inspired.

For a fangtastic treat bag using stamps, check out this YouTube video from ChicnScratch. This is on my must make list.

Thanks for stopping by and have a fabulously fun Friday.

Quick and Easy Ways to Tie Ribbon

I am so not an expert at tying bows, in fact far from it. So I decided to dedicate some serious time to learning how to tie a flat knot and bows for my cards. I watched every video and tutorial that I could find and thought I would share what I learned. Enjoy!

Halloween Candy Box

This candy box is made using a freebie paper piecing pattern from My Scrap Chick.Com. I used my SCAL program to cut this, but she also sends PDF files that you can cut with a scissors. Yahoo! If you sign up for her newsletter, you will receive a weekly free file. I noticed on her site that this file does not seem to be posted, but if you sign up for her mailing list you can get new fun files. Also be sure and check out her website, her files are amazing! And no I am not a paid spokesperson, I just love her products! Have a great week and be sure to check out this week’s all Halloween Fab Five Friday.

Product Spotlight-Halloween Papers from Best Creation

I thought it would be fun to do a quick product spotlight video featuring the new Haunted House and Trick or Treat Papers from Best Creation Inc. I am so excited to start using these papers. Can you tell I am working on my Halloween projects? Enjoy the video.

Fab Five Friday

Welcome to another Fab Five Friday. This week’s Fab Five will feature a link to a very useful commercial website and thanks to Custom Crops, a link to an in-depth interview with Tim Holtz.

I am a big Bazzill fan and I just recently discovered their website. Can you believe it? I love their matchmaker tool and find it extremely useful. Their site also offers interesting tutorials and you can even purchase a Bazzill app for your iPhone or iPod. Wow!

Annasari made an adorable paper bag baby album video using the Ella Blue paper collection. Her album is too cute! She is so calm and has a very soothing voice so her video also provides needed stress relief.

Custom Crops conducted an in-depth interview with Tim Holtz during the winter CHA show. The quality of their video is incredible as is Tim Holtz. If you want to learn more about Tim Holtz, you may want to watch. Thanks again Custom Crops!

Ali Edward’s redesigned her website and I think you will enjoy the new look. For oodles of wonderful layout ideas, be sure and check out her impressive portfolio. Ali is my scrapbooking hero.

Jak Heath’s blog is an elegant card blog that also features free downloadable paper. Click on her design tab and you will be able to download some gorgeous papers. I printed her snowflake paper and it is so beautiful.

Thanks for stopping by and have a fabulously fun Friday. Next week’s Fab Five is all about Halloween and you are in for a treat, and I promise there is no trick involved!