Beware escaped Monkey's

Well it was a rough weekend. I worked Friday, Saturday and Sunday so I just had to treat myself. Yep I couldn't resist. The price was right and they were in stock. So Friday night after work I took myself to Micheal's and bought the new Every Day Paper Dolls cartridge for my Cricut. Took it out to show Katie when we got to work on Saturday and then we just had to play with it.

So we started with some Reminisce jungle print paper, added some cardstock, cut it all up and then.....


Added a herd of Elephants, a few Giraffes, we let the monkeys escape but the Zoo Keepers rounded them up again. We embellished all the pieces: some with Stickles, some with metallic creme chalks, and some with ink and markers. Let the fun begin.


We created this really cute Zoo layout. Pop dotted a few elements for added depth and took a good look to see if it was done. It was missing something. Now I see it. The figures look like they are floating. So we added grass to ground them. Yes much better.


We built 6 of these layouts. Every customer that passed through the store on Sunday commented on them. I probably could have sold all 6 if I'd had them done and priced. Told them all they'd have to wait till Tuesday. Sorry. We might end up making more of these little cuties.

Criuct Explorers!

Meet today's Cricutteers. We had such a good time this morning at The Scrapbook Zone. We played with the "Graphically Speaking" cartridge and glass etching creme. I had seven wonderful students in the class with me. Everyone picked a title for their frame and then we were off and Etching.






Some how, Jackie and Mary skipped out before having their photo taken, but I did capture their projects before they left. Many thanks to Marie, Terri, Pat Blanca, Maureen, Jackie and Mary for getting up early this morning and taking a "Graphically Speaking" adventure with me. Thank You ladies!

Cricut crazy day.

So I spent my day at work, trying to prep for the Graphically Speaking Explore the Bug Zone class. I decided we are making this layout and doing the glass etching 9x9 picture frame. So I needed to kit up 6 layouts. I picked a pretty paper loaded the cartridge, adjusted my settings for pattern paper and hit "Cut". Do you think things went smoothly for me today? Well let me tell you they did not.


This little ABC frame was just a bugger today. I kept getting little pockets of crunched up paper near the n's. And then the corner would tear when I tried to take it off the mat. Now I can't expect people to just go with the flow here and glue the torn pieces back into place. Nope I'd hear about it for sure, so I ended up cutting like 10 of these to get 6 good ones. I tried changing the blade, adjusting the blade height on the housing, messing around with the pressure and speed. In the end I think I figured it out, but my gosh did I need to go through all that.

We had Freaky Friday at the store today and we were busy! So Sheri and I ran around like crazy but got everything done. Boy was I glad to see Sue at 5:30. Bye Bye Scrapbook Zone I'm off for the night. Too bad I'm right back there bright and early Saturday morning. Lets pray the Cricut gods are smiling on me tomorrow and every thing goes smoothly for my class.

Ikea and Etch All

So what do you get when you combine Ikea and Etch All? A really fun home decor project using my Cricut and the Graphically Speaking cartridge. I won't keep you in suspense any longer here it is:


Now I realize everyone may not wish to use this title, so for class you will be able to pick you title and really personalize the project to fit your needs.

The first thing you need to have for glass etching is a wonderful product called Etch All, etching creme. It works on glass and mirrors. You also need adhesive vinyl.

After I picked and sized my title I cut it out of this lovely pink Quickutz vinyl. Why Quickutz vinyl you ask? Well it's what we had lots of in the store, so it's what I choose. The last time I etched I used Cricut vinyl, is there a difference? Not sure but I think the Cricut vinyl may be stickier. Is that a word? The QK vinyl shifted a bit when I was wiping the creme off so I had to work fast. You also want to make sure you have no air bubbles along your edges. If you do you won't have nice crisp lines.

When the vinyl is ready you just gob on lots of etching creme using a foam brush. Let it sit for 15 minutes, wipe off excess and return it to the jar, the rinse off the remaining creme under warm water and dry the glass.

Up close this is what you get. I cute title etched into your glass. It will be really simple to remove the layout and and change it. I'll just have to remember to keep the title in the same space as a design element in the future.

This will make really wonderful personalized Christmas gifts for Grandparents. And then each year you can easily change it out as the children grow. The frames are called "Clips" and are available at Ikea for $2.99 (apkg of 2). Quite inexpensive I think.

Now I did not use transfer paper but it's something I can see would be very useful, so I have a feeling it's coming out of the tube on Friday when I'm at work. I can use it for Saturday's class and make my life easier. Plus it may sell the transfer paper.

If you have a question on how this works please feel free to leave a comment and I'll answer the best I can.

New Cartridge Anyone?

I just had to have this one. And we got a couple copies in at the store. So guess what I used my 40% off coupon on? Yet the new Stamping Cartridge for my Cricut. Love it! It's just a solution cartridge which means not as many features but still one with some great images and phrases. The best, it was only $30 with my coupon.

So today I created this cute layout.



And my favorite image on this cartridge is?



Yep this cute little OWL! Isn't he just adorable? I made this guy about 5 inches tall and then ran him thru my Cuddlebug with the Flourish folder for a little texture. He's got some orange Bazzill bling as his shadow and some of the biggest "Gogglie" eyes I've ever seen. For some reason my boss bought eyes for the store in three sizes. She was going to send these back to Notions but now I think we'll sell them all.

So many options so little time to create.

Meet Katie my "Zone" partner in crime

Well I thought you'd like to meet Katie. She is my Cricut buddy at the "Scrapbook Zone" and my partner in crime. Between the two of us we teach all the Cricut classes at our store and love creating fun, exciting new projects with the Cricut.


So today at work we created this really cute 2 page spread as our "Pages 2 Go" kit that will go on sale on Monday.




I used 2 different cartridges to create this "Wildlife" layout. Animal Kingdom for the bear and title and Zoobaloo for the tree, grass and clouds. I love the layering features on this (Zoobaloo) cartridge. Now gluing the grass together was not such fun but the end result was worth it. If I only had to make one layout it wouldn't be bad, but I have to make 6. Yikes. Guess what I'll be doing all morning at work tomorrow? Yep you guessed it, gluing grass, trees, clouds and leaves into trees. But it's the small details that make the layout pop. Your photos can slide right in behind the grass. We pop dotted the title and the bear on his shadow for added depth.

I'm already planning next weeks kit, can't wait to share it with you.

Fabric and the Cricut!

Today was a Cricut project day and I explored cutting fabric with my Cricut. I've been reading up and it and was told to use Heat and Bond Ultra so off to JoAnn's I went. I picked up the Heat and Bond Ultra with a 40% off coupon and bought enough to last a good long while (5 yards). I also picked up a cute brown canvas tote bag to use in my sample. The fabrics I already had at home, but they are just "Fat Quarter" pieces I've collected.


Next I laid out my cuts on the Cricut DS so I knew how big to cut my fabric pieces. I then cut pieces of the Heat and Bond and ironed them on to the wrong side of my fabric.


(Note to self: place something under the fabric like wax paper. Then if the heat and bond is bigger you won't get it onto your ironing board.) Hold it in place for about 6-10 seconds, moving the iron around but making sure to cover everything well.


My first cut was with the paper backing on.


I got good results. The fabric stayed in place and cut all the way thru. I do want to say I used a brand new mat and blade. I felt maximum stickiness and sharpness were a must.


My second cut I didn't have the same results. The fabric moved off the backing and resulted in some bad cut spots. I fixed those with my scissors. Time to try removing the paperbacking.


Great results. Just make sure your placing the fabric down carefully on the mat. You DO NOT want air bubbles under the fabric.


GREAT results. Perfect cut images.


I placed the pieces on the canvas bag where I wanted them. I covered the whole project carefully with the piece of backing I removed from my last cut and ironed the pieces in place. Double check to make sure everything is adhered well and touch up any places you might have missed.


The finished project!


Would you take a class to learn how to cut fabric with your Cricut and make this super cute bag?

OH look it's my blog...

No I really didn't forget I had this blog. I've just been terribly busy. I've almost finished my living room remodel and I've packed to go on vacation. But I also found time to help Katie finish up our "Explore the Bug Zone" class for the Scrapbook Zone. Each month we will be taking a look at a different Cricut cartridge and finding out some of the interesting things you can create while using them.

First up "Walk in my Garden". Example one: a really cute card and envelope.


Example two: a gorgeous layout using large (6") flowers, their layers embellished with ink and markers.


Example three: Using the "Fit to page" option. Here I picked a flower and pushed the "fit to page" button. Look how cool it turned out. And yes I did use a piece of the new Basic Gray "June Bug" paper.


Example four: using the Design Studio program to creat mesh and a welded border.


And finally our chipboard mini book. Again we used the DS program and embellished it to the nines. I've showed this off before but it wasn't complete.


This class will be offered at the Scrapbook Zone 3 times this month. Once on a Saturday morning. We'll show you a whole group of things we created and you'll get to make a couple things and take home directions for the others. I hope you can join us.

Pelicans anyone?

Sheri asked for a page layout for next weeks Art bar and this is what I came up with. I wanted to teach everyone how to dress up a simple cricut title cut and personalize it and make it pop.


For the title I cut out the word beach and it had a Pelican attached to it. If you use the layers function and cut the Pelican parts in the same size you can add the details in with markers and cream metallic chalks. I simple black brad becomes the eye and adds definition. I cut all the layers out of the same "pebble" colored Bazzill cardstock but after chalking they look very different.


I needed to flip this shape to have him look into the layout and then flip the layers too. Same principles to add the details. The wing definition is a cut I used a black marker on to make dark. If I had been smart I would have used the Cricut markers before I made my cuts but I didn't, so I did it after, freehand.


I think it turned out cute and so simple. If you've enjoyed this post and would like to make this project for free, visit the Scrapbook Zone on Tuesday June 23. The Art Bar is open from 2-4 and 6-8.

A Walk in my Garden chipboard book

What a great way to start summer, a cute little gardening book. This book was entirely created with the "A Walk in My Garden" cricut cartridge and the Design Studio program. For the front cover we wanted the cut out so after experimentation we discovered the wheel barrow gave us the best look. We liked it so much we turned the cut piece into a decorative element. Each page has the shape welded to the squared base and then when we covered it we added the details.








This is one of the projects we are looking at introducing at the Zone. We want to start Exploring a different Cartridge every month. There are so many things you can do with the cartridges you already own. Be on the lookout for the next Scrapbook Zone Newsletter for all the details.

Cricut Creative corner?

Well when your boss asks you to come up with a Cricut project involving candles and a photo frame this might be what you get.


I needed to spice up the big candle a bit so I glittered the branch frame. I still think it needs a bit of pizazz! I might try flocking on the heart in the middle of Be Mine. Or maybe cut the Be Mine out of Bazzle Bling paper.



I really like the photo frame. The XOXOX will be cut out of vinyl so it can be removed if you like after Valentines day. The hearts are Bling and folded to add dimension. A photo of your Valentine would finish the project off nicely. We are offering the class for $25, you will get all the supplies to make each item as well as instruction on how we did it. I used Cricut Design Studio for much of the cut work. For people new to DS this could be a very informative class.

I hope it goes over well. We have a different project planned for each month. Katie and I had better get busy and come up with something really cool every month.

Cindy