SMASHBOOKS

Wow! These books are super nice and the paper they use is amazing. It is so nice and thick and sturdy! They came today at work and I showed my co-worker who fell in love with the Lime Green one! I got Orange and Lime and I must say the Lime is absolutely gorgeous inside and out. I am a bit sad about the lack of coolness to the papers in the Orange one... bummer.

I got a ton of accessories and can't wait to play the You-Tube video for my daughters and give them their stash to do what they want with them. My one daughter is heading to College and the other to 11th Grade. I think these no rules type scrapbooks are going to be so much fun for them to look back on years from now.

My RI Pennant that never made the trip :(

Yes, I actually did a contest and then did not get it in the mail on time. Poo-ey. I seldom get to enter and my darn car had to break down and since I was sharing a vehicle I could not get to post office. I just found out my car is done and it has been 1 month! BUT, before this 1 month fix the week before they had it for a week for an alternator. So now after an alternator and a temperature gauge and a blown head gasket---I really hope this car earns it's keep! Poor thing sat for 7 years not being driven so this will happen.

Two Cards for my Cousins!

I actually have a third card, but forgot to take a picture of it!! Silly me.
I just got some cool new Tim Holtz distress stamps. I think I have every color now.

I also broke down and ordered two Smashbooks. Yes, I know I could make my own but I really loved the Lime Green and Orange ones. I am giving the Lime Green to my daughter. I ordered a ton of the supplies in duplicate and I will show her the video on them to give her ideas. But what better way to track her 11th grade year in school. I love that it's disorganized!

Great Trip !!

We went to NJ/ NYC for my Daughters Sweet 16. She did not want a big party for her Birthday she wanted a Cake Boss cake and a purse.

We went up Monday Aug 1st and stopped by the Bakery on our way to the hotel and it was over a 2 hour wait and after the traffic we sat it that was just too much. So we grabbed some Falafel and Rice with Taboulie and went to the hotel.

We arrived at Carlos on August 2nd at 6:05 am. We got parking directly in front of the bakery and we were second in line. We met some nice people including the Officer that guards the shop in the a.m. And the really HOT prosecutor that was about 6 ft 2 and in a nice suit. She picked out a cake from the display and we got a lobster tails and she got a cupcake. Sweatshirts were all sold out in her size. No one from the family was there. Just worker bees :(

We left there with wonderful parking advice from the prosecutor and went up one street to park on Second Street and walk to the Path to take to NYC. We arrive in Chinatown by 8:30 and it was barren. Once the shops started to open the streets started hopping a little. We made some "deals" and Kendall got the purse that she wanted for her birthday and I even managed to stumble onto a gorgeous find for myself. It was exciting and scary! We ate near Madison Square and walked down the entire Times Square area. It was a great day and by 2:00 pm she was exhausted! We headed back to the subway and to the Path to our car. Luckily traffic back home to RI was minimal and rather quick run.

Her Sweet 16 included: Of course a handmade card from me, a pandora bracelet with 4 charms Sweet16, cupcake for trip to bakery, purse for trip to NY and cheer megaphone for her sport in school, a coach purse, the trip and the cake boss cake. Her sister gave her 11 presents the day before the trip!! So she was well spoiled. My last baby, my last Sweet 16. Very sad for momma!

Kendall in front of Carlo's

Her Cupcake!! She also got a cake that we took home... Yummy!

Wearing her Pink RayBans with her coach purse on the side and sipping a colorful drink at lunch in Times Square.

The Card I made her. The inside was also done!

Ahh the fun continues.......More Cards!

As I said, busy season for Bdays and Cards!!

                                                This is my take on a card in the Cricut Magazine
                I don't have a scallop edge cutter so I used small bottlecap and traced it and cut it out

                                             I love making this cupcake !! It's my new Favorite

Sweet 16 Cards

This is going to be a busy year of Sweet 16's !!

I designed these on my Gypsy and cut them out on my I.  The one card with the green 'sweet' I did a little old school with my Quickutz hand tool. 

The background paper on the cards is Bazzill Canvas Texture printed off the Imagine Yummy Cartridge.  All of the die-cuts are also Yummy.  I just love this cartridge! 

Martha Stewart Super Fine Glitter, Glossy Accents and Imaginesce jewels for accents.

Enjoy!! Leave a comment if you have time.

Card #1 for Laura

Card #2 for Tiffany

First YourStoryPhoto Project

My Daughter had some friends over this past Saturday to hang out and get ready for a Sweet 16 Party they were all going to.  I grabbed my camera for some shots of the girls all dolled up and decided this would be a great little photo book!  I was hoping to get some pictures of the girls at the actual party but after "stalking" as my daughter put it 5 of her friends profiles on Facebook no one had any pictures of the party up yet.  Really?  Because these kids have their smartphones glued to their hands so I was shocked not to see pics on Facebook. 

Since I only had 11 pictures I mounted them all on cardstock and it filled the book nicely.  I would say the little 4x7 covers hold 23 4x6 photos by themselves or 12 on cardstock very nicely. *24 if you put pics front and back on the cardstock*

Images are from Imagine Better Together. 

 

Baby Card

This is a card I made for my Brother and Sister-In-Law for the birth of their beautiful baby girl.  I love this paper that I found, it's so feminine.  The dress and the circle are from the Imagine Nursery. 
I used the negative on the inside of the card.  

Imagine/Gypsy Update!

Hello!
I did the updates and they went through without a hitch!! The updates were long and the process to add the Imagine Carts to the Gypsy took a little bit of time also but they are done!!

My calibration issue is fixed and I am so super excited that it cuts like it did before the first update ruined my calibration. 

This project is simple but I did it with the Gypsy and the Imagine!! My girlfriend picked me up at my house and whisked me away to a night out of the house. She pushed me in the wheelchair and we played a little slots, grabbed some food and went to play Bingo!! It was so nice of her.  I made this card this afternoon to Thank her!

 I used the Xyron to glitter the saucer, the hearts, the large background and the hearts.  I used glossy accents on the "a latte" part.  I used a background paper from blossom or Lori's Garden (can't remember which) to layer it on, on top of the cardbase.  The picture quality is a little off since I could not use my flash in my craft room because it washes everything out.

Cool Beans......

Well, I created my banner!! Cute huh!  

I sold my Lori's Garden cartridge on Ebay because even though the artwork was very pretty it printed very muted and pastel.  I'm not a huge pastel person so with the proceeds of that one cartridge I bought.....Imagine More Cards, Imagine Yummy and Imagine Better Together, Imagine Audrey, Imagine Mr. Frosty, Imagine Snow Angel, Nate's ABC's, Sweet Treats and  Imagine Blast Off. Definitely worth selling the cartridge for.  If I ever want it back when the price drops I can always re-buy it.  But I doubt that I am going to miss it since I have plenty of carts with trees, birdcages and butterflies. 

My circle cartridge for the third quarter came the other week and it's called Everyday Cricut.  I love the phrases on the cartridge!! I did sell Shall We Dance, but I am going to keep this one.  I have not seen the next cartridge and I am hoping it's Amazing.  

Hopefully I will be able to get down to the craft room soon.  I had my daughter bring up my Gypsy and cables so I am hoping to update it for the new Imagine update this weekend.  They promised to have it up by Friday, but it was not there on Friday.  I have not checked yet today-- *fingers crossed*  

Sweet Valentines

Awwwwww, My husband snuck down into the craft room with the help of my 15 year old DD and made me a card for Valentine's Day!! So sweet.  My daughter made some for her friends also.  Which means, as I am sure you all know, that I had to go down later and assess what inventory was used up and clean the adhesive off my scissors with Goo-Gone along with my counter!! But it was worth the clean up!! (Will add the picture)

I did finish my training and my Certificate is on the way!! Since I am having foot surgery on March 1st I am unable to do the classes in March at Michaels but I will start teaching in April on Wednesday nights!!  Yeah! She said I can redo the Storyboards, they will provide all supplies and set up demos to bring more students in to the classes!  I guess I will be keeping my Cricut Everyday Cartridge after all as that will make nice signage for posters explaining the Cricut machines. Oh and they get all the cartridges for their crop nights--pretty cool I will have use of all of the cricut cartridges..I plan on taking some paper and making some cuts from the carts that I don't own! 

Life Before Cricut

One of the circle members posted asking what we all did before Cricut.  In honor of their 5th Anniversary.  So here are some pre-cricut layouts.  I did have a Quickutz hand tool that I used at that point in time.  The alphabets were sooooooo expensive that I only have 1 alphabet and it was a mini one. 

It's fun to look back. I wouldn't change a thing on these layouts.  I love them for who I was then when I made them and I love watching the transitions of pages. 

I got my Kate's Kitchen Cart !!

I know I am a little behind on the cartridge but I cannot allow myself to purchase them unless they are at a bargain price.  After waiting and waiting I pounced on EBay and got it at a rock bottom price with free shipping!

I wanted to use the Hot Chocolate scene because it's so cute!! I also got my Peachy Keen PK-493 Everyday Character Fact Parts today so I used them to give the cocoa cup Eyes. I used Glossy accents in various places, glittered with the ultrafine Martha glitter on the steam and used embossing powder on the stamped words! The mat blue of the design was printed on the Imagine and layered over We R Memory Keepers Kitchen Cards (I've had them for years--very retro looking.  The inside is decorated also with the Imagine paper to match. A little IRock bling and a Ribbon and this card is ready to fill out! 

Cricut Monthly Challenge Project for January!

For this month’s challenge we would like to see you scraplift one of the projects you have seen us present here on the blog. It can be anything! And feel free to add your own creative twist to the project. Project must be newly created for this challenge and should include the following elements to qualify.

• Use 2 or more Cricut Cuts on the project.
• Use a project you have seen on the Cricut Circle Blog as inspiration for your project.
• Use products from atleast two of our Sponsors (click on the “Sponsors” along the top of the page to see a list of manufacturers).

I chose to do the project: 

RAIN, RAIN, GO AWAY RAINY DAY MEMORY GAME by Charity Hassel

 

The two sponsors that I chose to use were Bazzill Paper and Imaginisce IRock Tool for bling. The beautiful paper colors I chose were: Blackbird, Vibrant Blue, North Sea, Guacomole, Stonehenge, Ruby Slipper, Passionate, Piglet, African Daisy, Mexican Poppy, Turquoise, White Bazzill colored with my Imagine More Art Cartridge for Rules card. I blinged the top and side of the box and all of the Jukebox card with clear crystals.  I used glossy accents on the cards black areas, Martha Stewart ultrafine glitter on the poodles leash (what poodle would not have a sparkly leash!).  I inked a few edges.  It said to add our own twist to the project so I used the Nifty Fifties cartridge because my husband's birthday is tomorrow (card below on earlier post) and we love the fifties!  Since it is a monthly challenge I decided to use a shape for my cards.

Recipe:  Find a nice box.

I put a homemade divider in the box and then measured both insides to make the cards to fit the box. 

The cards are cut at 4 1/4 x 2 3/4

The designs on the back of the cards for matching are 2 1/2 x 3

I cut 14 Black Shadow Jukeboxes in Blackbird

I cute 14 Blue Shadow Jukebox with the Image Flipped in Blue

Glued those images back to back and trimmed any excess showing

I cut all 14 of the jukeboxes layers and used the xyron X for all the small pieces and assembled those.

I cut 2 of each of the pictures for the matching game

I then put bling on the jukebox.

I used Cindy Loo for the design on the box.  I cut the design at just under 6x6 in Yellow and in Blue.  I used  the blue on the top and only used the "tear out" throw away pieces of the yellow for the sides of the box.  I used the clear rhinestones on all 3 sides of the box and on the top.  

The top of the box has a doily in the center that is layered over pink with the words 1950s Memory game layered in yellow and red.

I love the little pocket on the inside to hold the Rules card!! It makes it more authentic to have a Rules card I believe.

I saw some people put how many "cuts" they made.  Uncountable! 

I hope you enjoy my twist on this scraplift.  I really enjoyed challenging myself to complete this!!