The Lindy's Stamp Gang Nantucket Starburst colour shot set arrived today. Yeah! Unfortunately, the weather affected me so badly I couldn't even twist a top loose, let alone fill the container with water and begin to play. I learned the other day this particular collection isn't about glitz; rather, the soft shimmer. This is perfect for the purposes intended. Next batch will be all about the glimmer and glitz. Hopefully the weather and extreme temperature changes won't keep me from enjoying the little things in life tomorrow and I can find time to play with the colours. At least the temperatures will be a bit more bearable throughout the weekend.
It may take another three weeks before the first I am Roses package arrives as they originate and ship from Taiwan. In the meantime I've began playing with the Flower Shoppe Cricut Cartridge. Though the flowers come out pretty, there was "something" missing. After watching a few videos I believe that missing something is my fear of manipulating the paper overly much once cut and inked, which took the potential of something great into amateurish attempts. There's at least twenty pounds of paper in this room - excluding the premium papers - and I'm still too stingy to let loose and have fun with new creations. Perhaps this is common to new crafters, but probably has more to do with my more conservative nature. I've watched a few videos specific to the cartridge and learn more each time. It's a shame there's no group in the area specific to Cricut.
The function of every tool in the Cricut tool kit was readily apparent except for the spoon looking thingy. I finally found a use for it! Having lost the embossing tool purchased in the earliest days of card making, getting the flowers to soften and curl was a bit of a challenge. This Cricut tool and a variety of metal crochet hook sizes does a great job. The spoon tool (for lack of a better description) works especially well for petal embossing in the sizes I'll most use.
The box of scrapbooking goodies came in much earlier than anticipated. I immediately passed most of the materials to my sister after she got to play with some of the stamps and inks. She's been scrapbooking for a much longer time than I, and makes stunning pages, but has never incorporated stamping into her designs. Now hooked on the concept, I donated most of the stamps and inks that came in to encourage her new skills. But not all! Some were much too precious to let go. In the end, we fairly well split the box down the middle.
On to more skill sets and advancing in others!
Showing posts with label cricut. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cricut. Show all posts
Friday, September 7, 2012
Thursday, August 9, 2012
Scrap-lifted
This layout is one I virtually lifted from the page of another artist, NMscrapper. The paper was on hand (or maybe I ordered the paper after seeing the original layout) and a store accidentally sent me the chipboard pieces - really! - and I immediately knew which photo belonged on my version.
I'll readily admit the original looks far better than mine. (Better photography, to begin with!) But the similarities are striking.
I was particularly proud of the pleated flowers I made from scratch... my first. I recently bought a Cricut cartridge, Flower Shoppe, that handily allows me to create the yellow roses found on NMScrappy's page. I'm still working with the cartridge, but this demonstrates the progression of skill acquisition over time. Today, I would have copied the yellow roses and applied them to the LO.
I created this layout when cutting very pretty paper still seemed rather sinful. I learned after this paper could and should be cut, which cracked the barrier that kept me from opening the virgin G45 stacks. Although I loved the paper line, Printery, I didn't realize it came from Prima Marketing. Had I, I probably never would have used it. It's just good that it did.... plus, I still have more of the paper to hoarde.
 | |||
| Adaptation of original layout featuring my mother, 1953 |
 |
| Scraplifted from NMscrappy, posted on Scrapbook.com |
I'll readily admit the original looks far better than mine. (Better photography, to begin with!) But the similarities are striking.
I was particularly proud of the pleated flowers I made from scratch... my first. I recently bought a Cricut cartridge, Flower Shoppe, that handily allows me to create the yellow roses found on NMScrappy's page. I'm still working with the cartridge, but this demonstrates the progression of skill acquisition over time. Today, I would have copied the yellow roses and applied them to the LO.
I created this layout when cutting very pretty paper still seemed rather sinful. I learned after this paper could and should be cut, which cracked the barrier that kept me from opening the virgin G45 stacks. Although I loved the paper line, Printery, I didn't realize it came from Prima Marketing. Had I, I probably never would have used it. It's just good that it did.... plus, I still have more of the paper to hoarde.
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Lots to Cover & So Many Photos
We're back from vacation and there's much to cover in this post.
EDIT: Picture Revised. The original photo posted reference a haul from last week. This photo was the one intended for this area. Apologies from the author.
Several items ordered before we left arrived in the mail today. I referenced a vintage stamp, paper, postcard company a post or two back, the order shown to the left. The order was a sampling of some of the many products available and not surprisingly, was happier with some items more than others. The various stamp sets are perfectly suited for several projects I'm due to begin in the coming weeks. The little boy alpha stickers will quickly disappear. The postage card/journaling tags will slowly find secret spots as other projects evolve. I'm not sure how much the baby book chipboard stickers and chipboard pieces will actually end up in the Graphic 45 Little Darlings mini-album I begin work on this month, but with product in hand I'm now certain the colours match perfectly. This was more luck than anything else. The Flower Shoppe cartridge from Cricut also arrived and this one will save over $100 within a day of work. These cartridge offers endless dimensional flower combinations that, for under $20, cost about the same as one standard punch of this type. My deepest regrets, EK Success.
Charms are used extensively to decorate the outside binding of mini-albums; a charm bracelet for a book, as it were. During each major phase of the vacation I bought several charming (ahem) charms representing that event; and, other pieces I thought might come into use down the road. The dinosaur charms are precious! I plan to use these within the Texas vacation mini as tag danglies. I'll post pictures of how they're used once put into pace. The cute little pot bellied pig will be seen again in the upcoming mini album project using the Graphic 45 Olde Curiosity Shoppe paper collection. Unfortunately, the gift shop at the Japanese Gardens didn't have a koi charm of any sort, which was a major disappointment... the quest will continue.
Next are the photos of the book's layout almost naked, before attaching the vacation photos and other memorabilia inside. I've flipped at a breakneck speed through most of the pictures we took and can already tell I'm going to add a few more pages to the album. I suspected this would be the case, and planned accordingly, but waited until knowing exactly what we had before committing to the work. (See post: TP & Thinking, June 26th, 2012) Those, of course, aren't represented in this showing because they are still locked in my head and scattered throughout various parts of the scrapbooking room.
School starts back this week so I'll have many hours each day to devote undivided attention to several upcoming mini-album projects. The baby book, the boy's younger years, and two identical copied-to-the-letter Old Curiosity Shoppe albums - one for here and one as a Christmas gift. The album I plan to shamelessly copy - not once but twice - is shown on YouTube here. Almost needless to say, but said, is that all the paper lines will come from various Graphic 45 collections. Does the company sell stock? If so, buying in could prove a solid investment.
I promised to cover a whole bunch. Delivered, with a smile. Blessings!
PS... The vacation was positively awesome. We had a blast.
 |
| Crafty Secrets & Cricut Haul |
Several items ordered before we left arrived in the mail today. I referenced a vintage stamp, paper, postcard company a post or two back, the order shown to the left. The order was a sampling of some of the many products available and not surprisingly, was happier with some items more than others. The various stamp sets are perfectly suited for several projects I'm due to begin in the coming weeks. The little boy alpha stickers will quickly disappear. The postage card/journaling tags will slowly find secret spots as other projects evolve. I'm not sure how much the baby book chipboard stickers and chipboard pieces will actually end up in the Graphic 45 Little Darlings mini-album I begin work on this month, but with product in hand I'm now certain the colours match perfectly. This was more luck than anything else. The Flower Shoppe cartridge from Cricut also arrived and this one will save over $100 within a day of work. These cartridge offers endless dimensional flower combinations that, for under $20, cost about the same as one standard punch of this type. My deepest regrets, EK Success.
 |
| Butterfly, Turtle & Potbelly Pig charms |
 |
| Dinosaur charms |
Along side the need for a quick buildup of paper and fabric scrapbooking flowers, I've also found my charms collection miserably lacking.
Charms are used extensively to decorate the outside binding of mini-albums; a charm bracelet for a book, as it were. During each major phase of the vacation I bought several charming (ahem) charms representing that event; and, other pieces I thought might come into use down the road. The dinosaur charms are precious! I plan to use these within the Texas vacation mini as tag danglies. I'll post pictures of how they're used once put into pace. The cute little pot bellied pig will be seen again in the upcoming mini album project using the Graphic 45 Olde Curiosity Shoppe paper collection. Unfortunately, the gift shop at the Japanese Gardens didn't have a koi charm of any sort, which was a major disappointment... the quest will continue.
 |
| July 27th, 2012 |
I couldn't resist posting one of my favourite photos of Martin feeding the koi during our visit to the gardens. The fish practically climb out of the water for their kibbles. The little guy's mouth is wide open waiting for him to drop in the pellet. Is this a great shot or what? I love it!
Next are the photos of the book's layout almost naked, before attaching the vacation photos and other memorabilia inside. I've flipped at a breakneck speed through most of the pictures we took and can already tell I'm going to add a few more pages to the album. I suspected this would be the case, and planned accordingly, but waited until knowing exactly what we had before committing to the work. (See post: TP & Thinking, June 26th, 2012) Those, of course, aren't represented in this showing because they are still locked in my head and scattered throughout various parts of the scrapbooking room.
 |
| Front Cover |
 |
| Inside Front Cover |
 | |
| Japanese Garden Pages |
 | ||
 | |
| Museum Pages - Info Bundled, Ready to mount |
 |
| Self-descriptive |
 | |
| Family Photos & Small Pocket Page |
 |
| Flip Page Details |
 | |
| Glen Rose - With Back Inside Cover |
( How nice it would be to quickly figure out how to neatly arrange the photos, but this is a first and it's late! :D
Oh, well)
I'm particularly proud of this mini-album because, although I've learned many of the techniques from other great scrappers, the layout, paper combinations, and design are 100% mine... no scrap-lifting involved.
School starts back this week so I'll have many hours each day to devote undivided attention to several upcoming mini-album projects. The baby book, the boy's younger years, and two identical copied-to-the-letter Old Curiosity Shoppe albums - one for here and one as a Christmas gift. The album I plan to shamelessly copy - not once but twice - is shown on YouTube here. Almost needless to say, but said, is that all the paper lines will come from various Graphic 45 collections. Does the company sell stock? If so, buying in could prove a solid investment.
I promised to cover a whole bunch. Delivered, with a smile. Blessings!
PS... The vacation was positively awesome. We had a blast.
Monday, April 30, 2012
Progress Steady Now
I'm almost to the point where I can begin constructing pages for the mini-album. I shiver with a girlish nervousness simply thinking of sitting down and beginning the first page.
I own a fair collection of Cricut cartridges; like everyone else, there are the go-to favourites. There's still so much uncovered possibilities in these cartridges; options available that have only been skimmed. For instance, I tried to make a card and envelope from one of my cartridges, and the effort was a miserable failure. This was in the early days with the Cricut, when getting the image I selected was magical. A few more hours under the belt, and I'm looking at some of the functions best left alone until now.
In the upcoming (and future) project, there are dozens of tags and envelopes to make. Though willing, the thought of constructing all these by hand, with only a limited supply of "hard" dies was painful. I pulled a dozen or so cartridges out to look at again and found (duh) that there were literally thousands of possibilities with the Cricut. The amount whittled down to three primary and a couple more secondary cartridges to work with. More interesting to discover was that some of the cartridges contained complimentary images to others.
Martin, at the least bit of prompting, hung the six-foot wire rack today. The hope was to transfer all the punches from the the shoe bag to the new rack.. He had no sooner packed the electric drill before I began moving punches. The result? Ugly. This will never work for what I imagined. Never. Had it been in the closet I could have lived with a little bit of ugly, but this is front and center of the entry into the room. Aaack! Instead, I've began loading the rack with "pretty" items taking valuable closet space. Such as: tatting thread, glass jars with colourful contents, all the bright colours of glitter and stickles, Tattered Angel bottles, etc. That takes care of the short shelves, but the wider spaced shelves on the bottom half stay empty for the time being. In the meantime, most of the punches are scattered between the table and closet floor.
Decisions, decisions... The SSD Annex hosts another 75% sale Tuesday through Friday this week. The scope of the 75% off is rather limited, but 10 sheets of name brand, heavy weight paper for $1.00 is worth the trip. There's more, but won't know what until getting there. Now it gets tricky. TM also brings out a new line of products at 66% off this Tuesday. The problem is money. Martin generously offered $50 split between each sale, because I'd already spent my allowance. What he may or may not realize it how hard it is to walk out of either for less than $60. I could be extra sneaky and take him with me! He's worse than I when it comes to, "Oh, you could really use this. Right?" Yes, I think so is the only reasonable reply. Honestly, there's not much more in supplies I need for now, but the hunt is highly addictive.
Time to wrangle up the punches!
I own a fair collection of Cricut cartridges; like everyone else, there are the go-to favourites. There's still so much uncovered possibilities in these cartridges; options available that have only been skimmed. For instance, I tried to make a card and envelope from one of my cartridges, and the effort was a miserable failure. This was in the early days with the Cricut, when getting the image I selected was magical. A few more hours under the belt, and I'm looking at some of the functions best left alone until now.
In the upcoming (and future) project, there are dozens of tags and envelopes to make. Though willing, the thought of constructing all these by hand, with only a limited supply of "hard" dies was painful. I pulled a dozen or so cartridges out to look at again and found (duh) that there were literally thousands of possibilities with the Cricut. The amount whittled down to three primary and a couple more secondary cartridges to work with. More interesting to discover was that some of the cartridges contained complimentary images to others.
Martin, at the least bit of prompting, hung the six-foot wire rack today. The hope was to transfer all the punches from the the shoe bag to the new rack.. He had no sooner packed the electric drill before I began moving punches. The result? Ugly. This will never work for what I imagined. Never. Had it been in the closet I could have lived with a little bit of ugly, but this is front and center of the entry into the room. Aaack! Instead, I've began loading the rack with "pretty" items taking valuable closet space. Such as: tatting thread, glass jars with colourful contents, all the bright colours of glitter and stickles, Tattered Angel bottles, etc. That takes care of the short shelves, but the wider spaced shelves on the bottom half stay empty for the time being. In the meantime, most of the punches are scattered between the table and closet floor.
Decisions, decisions... The SSD Annex hosts another 75% sale Tuesday through Friday this week. The scope of the 75% off is rather limited, but 10 sheets of name brand, heavy weight paper for $1.00 is worth the trip. There's more, but won't know what until getting there. Now it gets tricky. TM also brings out a new line of products at 66% off this Tuesday. The problem is money. Martin generously offered $50 split between each sale, because I'd already spent my allowance. What he may or may not realize it how hard it is to walk out of either for less than $60. I could be extra sneaky and take him with me! He's worse than I when it comes to, "Oh, you could really use this. Right?" Yes, I think so is the only reasonable reply. Honestly, there's not much more in supplies I need for now, but the hunt is highly addictive.
Time to wrangle up the punches!
Sunday, April 22, 2012
Too Much Time
I somehow injured myself Thursday afternoon, and am still on the mend as of Sunday. There's not much to do during recovery but sit in the most comfy chair in the house; a chair that, by happenstance, resides in the craft room. (Bed rest can become quite painful after long stretches.)
And so, stuck in the craft room all weekend long, I spent the time trying new techniques; which has paid off handsomely... and organizing project where possible.
I completed the rooster/shot reminder page. There's a few areas most would call mistakes, but since it's not going anywhere but the inside the house, they remain as is.
At long last, I played with the chipboard available from my considerable cereal box collection. Pre-cut chipboard costs unimaginable pennies at the craft stores. I have Cricut, Cuttlebug and many Sizzix Bigz dies on hand. Both Cricut and Cuttlebug claim the ability to cut light weight chipboard, but until now, I've never put either to the test. The Cricut worked wonderfully. It requires a very stick mat and three multi-cuts. The selected image came out crisp and clear. The same goes for the Cuttlebug. I shouldn't've doubt, but the tendency to protect the equipment overrules challenges. I've also saved a fair amount of "white" chipboard from Sweet-N-Low packages that will finally be put to great use.
I also picked up my tatting materials, neglected for months now. Surprisingly, it all came back quite easily! The reason for review stems from the desire to use homemade lace on the mini-album planned. How sweet a touch this offers. Fortunately, I have the perfect pink, green, cream coordinating threads already on hand, but will need to search for baby blue and yellow; a far harder challenge than imagined. I can knock out several inches of lace in under an hour, so now I have something to do when there remains not an iota of creativity in store.
Loosely related to tatting was beading again. This, too, will add a personal touch to any layout in mind. Gosh, the only skill not put to use was using a floor loom to weave a carpet or something. :)
On to organization...
It only took a month, but every single scrap of paper bought at the 75% clearance sale last month is now put away and sorted. This took much, much longer than should have. But the exercise proves need for more storage solutions.
An essential tool for any scapper would be a clear pocketed, hanging jewelry bag hanging in a closet of or the back of a door. Small rubber stamps, bottles of embossing powders, ink pads, small packages of bling, tatting shuttles, ribbon scraps, and any number of small crafting items fit nicely in these relatively inexpensive bags. Target has a line of very sturdy organizers, and during a sale make them down-right cheap. At present, I only have one, but will pick up several more over the next few months.
After reading the post, it's scarey what gets done when my body is up to task!
And so, stuck in the craft room all weekend long, I spent the time trying new techniques; which has paid off handsomely... and organizing project where possible.
I completed the rooster/shot reminder page. There's a few areas most would call mistakes, but since it's not going anywhere but the inside the house, they remain as is.
 |
| Cute & functional medication reminder |
At long last, I played with the chipboard available from my considerable cereal box collection. Pre-cut chipboard costs unimaginable pennies at the craft stores. I have Cricut, Cuttlebug and many Sizzix Bigz dies on hand. Both Cricut and Cuttlebug claim the ability to cut light weight chipboard, but until now, I've never put either to the test. The Cricut worked wonderfully. It requires a very stick mat and three multi-cuts. The selected image came out crisp and clear. The same goes for the Cuttlebug. I shouldn't've doubt, but the tendency to protect the equipment overrules challenges. I've also saved a fair amount of "white" chipboard from Sweet-N-Low packages that will finally be put to great use.
I also picked up my tatting materials, neglected for months now. Surprisingly, it all came back quite easily! The reason for review stems from the desire to use homemade lace on the mini-album planned. How sweet a touch this offers. Fortunately, I have the perfect pink, green, cream coordinating threads already on hand, but will need to search for baby blue and yellow; a far harder challenge than imagined. I can knock out several inches of lace in under an hour, so now I have something to do when there remains not an iota of creativity in store.
Loosely related to tatting was beading again. This, too, will add a personal touch to any layout in mind. Gosh, the only skill not put to use was using a floor loom to weave a carpet or something. :)
On to organization...
It only took a month, but every single scrap of paper bought at the 75% clearance sale last month is now put away and sorted. This took much, much longer than should have. But the exercise proves need for more storage solutions.
An essential tool for any scapper would be a clear pocketed, hanging jewelry bag hanging in a closet of or the back of a door. Small rubber stamps, bottles of embossing powders, ink pads, small packages of bling, tatting shuttles, ribbon scraps, and any number of small crafting items fit nicely in these relatively inexpensive bags. Target has a line of very sturdy organizers, and during a sale make them down-right cheap. At present, I only have one, but will pick up several more over the next few months.
After reading the post, it's scarey what gets done when my body is up to task!
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Stuff
My husband began a new diabetic medication, though while not insulin, does require two injections each day. He handles the morning dose just fine, but not so much with the pre-dinner shot.
I've decided to venture beyond scrapbooking proper and make a cute little 9x9 framed page to hopefully prompt his memory before dinner. Going all out, I'm working with colours and sizes never used before. It should do the trick; if not as a visual reminder, then as new splash of colour in a very monochromatic kitchen.
When I first began using the Cricut I counted a well-cut image miraculous. I stayed very, very basic with the cuts, and came to the point of frustration where I almost decided to sell the kit and kaboodle. Time and practice has refined enough to get the image I want every time. There's enough confidence to now have fun and play around. And... I no longer fear cutting the pattern on 15 different pages to get the results desired. The differences between the first successful cuts and what's put out today is remarkable! While still plenty of room to improve, it ain't half bad.
Thus far, I've given the mini-albums a mile-wide divide between them and me. No way, never going to happen! (That pesky word: never) Finally, at long last, I saw one of these, putting to great use the beautiful Graphic 45 paper. To put it simply, I was awestruck. This is what scrapbooking is all about!
Graphic 45 Mini Album at YouTube. I am going to shamelessly copy every little detail demonstrated in the video. I'll practice all the different techniques on less expensive paper, so maybe there will be two in the end... maybe three or twenty before getting it right?
During a total mental meltdown last night, I created a list of all the scrapbook paper/card stock packs. The list includes the manufacturer, size, dominate colours, coordinating accessories on hand, and special features such as maps, stamps, tickets, etc. There were almost 50 packs accumulated thus far... this is on the frightening side of paper obsession. This list does not include single patterned, themed papers, or special bonuses like vellum and transparencies. There must be a totally different approach to the 7 inch stack of primarily unsorted paper. Perhaps tomorrow I'll inventory the paper kits on hand; another 5 inch stack I've lost the ability to instantly recall. Stamps will have to follow at some point soon; just trying to think of the most effective way to accomplish/organize the system.
It doesn't get any simpler than this, but the dowel rod was finally hung in the closet (amazing dead space remains!) with three evenly spaced curtain rod support screws. Most ribbons fit on the rod, but a couple more spools will necessitate another row.
I ordered my first Cricut Cartridge since December. It was on the list and at the right price. What's up with eBay charging as much, or more, for these cartridges as can be bought in stores? I wouldn't have nearly the collection if most of these were bought at (usually) less than $20.
At long last, I want to offer praise to our Lord Jesus for answering a prayer thought unanswerable. Well, I knew He would! The answer came in the form of yet another miracle, but my God always does it in style. Thank you so very much, eternal praise for your faithfulness.
I've decided to venture beyond scrapbooking proper and make a cute little 9x9 framed page to hopefully prompt his memory before dinner. Going all out, I'm working with colours and sizes never used before. It should do the trick; if not as a visual reminder, then as new splash of colour in a very monochromatic kitchen.
When I first began using the Cricut I counted a well-cut image miraculous. I stayed very, very basic with the cuts, and came to the point of frustration where I almost decided to sell the kit and kaboodle. Time and practice has refined enough to get the image I want every time. There's enough confidence to now have fun and play around. And... I no longer fear cutting the pattern on 15 different pages to get the results desired. The differences between the first successful cuts and what's put out today is remarkable! While still plenty of room to improve, it ain't half bad.
 |
| A Cricut Rooster |
Thus far, I've given the mini-albums a mile-wide divide between them and me. No way, never going to happen! (That pesky word: never) Finally, at long last, I saw one of these, putting to great use the beautiful Graphic 45 paper. To put it simply, I was awestruck. This is what scrapbooking is all about!
Graphic 45 Mini Album at YouTube. I am going to shamelessly copy every little detail demonstrated in the video. I'll practice all the different techniques on less expensive paper, so maybe there will be two in the end... maybe three or twenty before getting it right?
During a total mental meltdown last night, I created a list of all the scrapbook paper/card stock packs. The list includes the manufacturer, size, dominate colours, coordinating accessories on hand, and special features such as maps, stamps, tickets, etc. There were almost 50 packs accumulated thus far... this is on the frightening side of paper obsession. This list does not include single patterned, themed papers, or special bonuses like vellum and transparencies. There must be a totally different approach to the 7 inch stack of primarily unsorted paper. Perhaps tomorrow I'll inventory the paper kits on hand; another 5 inch stack I've lost the ability to instantly recall. Stamps will have to follow at some point soon; just trying to think of the most effective way to accomplish/organize the system.
It doesn't get any simpler than this, but the dowel rod was finally hung in the closet (amazing dead space remains!) with three evenly spaced curtain rod support screws. Most ribbons fit on the rod, but a couple more spools will necessitate another row.
I ordered my first Cricut Cartridge since December. It was on the list and at the right price. What's up with eBay charging as much, or more, for these cartridges as can be bought in stores? I wouldn't have nearly the collection if most of these were bought at (usually) less than $20.
At long last, I want to offer praise to our Lord Jesus for answering a prayer thought unanswerable. Well, I knew He would! The answer came in the form of yet another miracle, but my God always does it in style. Thank you so very much, eternal praise for your faithfulness.
Friday, March 23, 2012
Ca-rot Top
I've been wanting to scrap this page for a long time now. The only problem is the quality of the picture. The back lighting from the bathroom window probably caused the extreme shading of the photo. This is really disappointing, but was done before I began working on my photography "skills." Don't think the same mistake would be made today, or at least would hope not.
The page is about a silly idea we came up with after cutting the top of a carrot that had greenery left in place. The thought was that if we planted it, we would have a nice carrot at then end. It got really bushy and healthy looking for about 2 months, but suddenly wilted. The time was right for my helper to harvest. After a hefty tug, all that came up was a green bunch of wilted leaves. No carrot. No roots. The whole episode turned into a very fun memory... hence the desire to document the event despite the lousy photo.
Entering contests on CSI.com's site has opened me up to using colours in a way I might not have thought before. I still lack real courage, but this is a learning process!
About six months ago I stumbled upon an adorable pet-themed paper pack on sale. The pages were absolutely adorable, but until this project I had no clue where to use the paper. Now unleashed, there's many, many projects that come to mind using this paper. This is how it goes with most all the paper pads bought along the way. As a side note... although the camera doesn't capture it, the rabbit is actually flocked.
I created the flower and carrot sign for embellishments. The banner in the top right and the title located at the top left are commercial products. The carrots are the crowning achievement on this page. I used the Cricut to cut the shape, but the paper I wanted to use wasn't large enough to accommodate the full shape I had to start with, so in the end had to trace and manually cut the actual cutout onto paper originally planned for use; all done with very satisfactory results. I then generously inked the carrots and leaves, and if I don't say so myself, did an excellent job on shading.
The most demanding aspect in presenting scrapped pages into digital images is capturing the true colours. For that, I'm still experimenting with lighting techniques. Too much light and the photo turns out washed; too little and all is dimmed (as in this case). I believe setting up a shoot in diffused sunlight works best. I may have found the solution for taking perfectly square photos for cropping. There is an adapter to the tripod that extends an arm that in turn holds the camera directly over the center of the subject. The centering is most critical for cropping; any deviation in angle distorts captured lines. These devices run anywhere between $35-60, but Martin thinks he can build one for under $10. The question at that point is when he'll have time to get to do it. I'll give him two months after the promise, but if there are no results, it's off to the store for the extension bar.
The page is about a silly idea we came up with after cutting the top of a carrot that had greenery left in place. The thought was that if we planted it, we would have a nice carrot at then end. It got really bushy and healthy looking for about 2 months, but suddenly wilted. The time was right for my helper to harvest. After a hefty tug, all that came up was a green bunch of wilted leaves. No carrot. No roots. The whole episode turned into a very fun memory... hence the desire to document the event despite the lousy photo.
Entering contests on CSI.com's site has opened me up to using colours in a way I might not have thought before. I still lack real courage, but this is a learning process!
About six months ago I stumbled upon an adorable pet-themed paper pack on sale. The pages were absolutely adorable, but until this project I had no clue where to use the paper. Now unleashed, there's many, many projects that come to mind using this paper. This is how it goes with most all the paper pads bought along the way. As a side note... although the camera doesn't capture it, the rabbit is actually flocked.
I created the flower and carrot sign for embellishments. The banner in the top right and the title located at the top left are commercial products. The carrots are the crowning achievement on this page. I used the Cricut to cut the shape, but the paper I wanted to use wasn't large enough to accommodate the full shape I had to start with, so in the end had to trace and manually cut the actual cutout onto paper originally planned for use; all done with very satisfactory results. I then generously inked the carrots and leaves, and if I don't say so myself, did an excellent job on shading.
 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| My Carrot Job |
The most demanding aspect in presenting scrapped pages into digital images is capturing the true colours. For that, I'm still experimenting with lighting techniques. Too much light and the photo turns out washed; too little and all is dimmed (as in this case). I believe setting up a shoot in diffused sunlight works best. I may have found the solution for taking perfectly square photos for cropping. There is an adapter to the tripod that extends an arm that in turn holds the camera directly over the center of the subject. The centering is most critical for cropping; any deviation in angle distorts captured lines. These devices run anywhere between $35-60, but Martin thinks he can build one for under $10. The question at that point is when he'll have time to get to do it. I'll give him two months after the promise, but if there are no results, it's off to the store for the extension bar.
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Inventory Building
One of the best ways of building a paper supply quickly is to buy paper packs. These packs range in paper counts between 24 and 80; the larger the number, the more papers there are to choose from. You can also figure the higher number packs will probably contain paper; the lower the number, the likelihood of card stock contents.
What's best about any pack, whether paper or card stock, is that papers within that pack will always coordinate. Probably the most important consideration while building an inventory
Most packs of any count run about $20. I never pay for anything full price. Hobby Lobby, JoAnn's, Michaels, regularly put these on sale for $10. Regularly means between twice a month, but certainly once each month. (I can't vouch for scrapbook specialty shops because we only have one (boo) in our area and they are so pricey I can't afford to shop there very often; and when going, only hit the 50% off table, but drool at the rest!) Most often when the paper packs are on sale, the racked individual papers are included in the sale. However, there's no guarantee you can get more than one project out of each page later down the road. I do often buy these papers for accent pieces needed from time to time. Since the already packaged packs are still on the shelves, I can go down the aisle with the pack at home and pick out coordinating sheet papers.
For the first year of scrapbooking I tried to take advantage of as many of the sales as possible. Buying one pad at a time feels as if it takes f-o-r-e-v-e-r to build an inventory. I'm more fortunate than most since my husband is very supportive of my hobby, and allows a generous budget with most of the "extra" money that comes into the house. In a one year period I managed to purchase 27 paper packs in as many moods and themes as possible; some of the packs in places never believed to carry scrapbooking supplies, and usually for pennies on the dollar.
For those with a Cricut, or similar machine (now that there's different brands out in the market), an important consideration when buying paper is how well it stands up to the rigours of automated machine die cutting, and to a lesser extent when using an embossing machine. An inferior paper will never stand up to detailed cutting with the Cricut. Going about it the wrong way, I ruined pounds of paper trying to put it to purposes it clearly isn't designed. That's never the case with superior grade paper and card stock. It takes some practice to figure out what works and what doesn't. I can assure you the rack paper at Hobby Lobby will not stand up to the test!!! I wish I had kept a list of which brands work the best with the Cricut, but not yet. Off the top of my head I can vouch for K&Company, Graphics 45, and We R Memory Keepers, and Creative Memories among others not so close to immediate thinking.
The last word about paper probably should go without saying. I keep ALL my scraps organized by colour. I don't know how many times when looking for a particular colour I've discovered papers from different packs coordinate with another. I "try" to indicate on the cover of the packs when this happens, but that's another organizational weakness.
This year March is National Scrapbooking month. I'm hoping some of the specialty on-line shops (that normally only have bi-annual sales) come out with special discounts during the next few weeks. As the motto goes: more bang for the buck!
What's best about any pack, whether paper or card stock, is that papers within that pack will always coordinate. Probably the most important consideration while building an inventory
Most packs of any count run about $20. I never pay for anything full price. Hobby Lobby, JoAnn's, Michaels, regularly put these on sale for $10. Regularly means between twice a month, but certainly once each month. (I can't vouch for scrapbook specialty shops because we only have one (boo) in our area and they are so pricey I can't afford to shop there very often; and when going, only hit the 50% off table, but drool at the rest!) Most often when the paper packs are on sale, the racked individual papers are included in the sale. However, there's no guarantee you can get more than one project out of each page later down the road. I do often buy these papers for accent pieces needed from time to time. Since the already packaged packs are still on the shelves, I can go down the aisle with the pack at home and pick out coordinating sheet papers.
For the first year of scrapbooking I tried to take advantage of as many of the sales as possible. Buying one pad at a time feels as if it takes f-o-r-e-v-e-r to build an inventory. I'm more fortunate than most since my husband is very supportive of my hobby, and allows a generous budget with most of the "extra" money that comes into the house. In a one year period I managed to purchase 27 paper packs in as many moods and themes as possible; some of the packs in places never believed to carry scrapbooking supplies, and usually for pennies on the dollar.
For those with a Cricut, or similar machine (now that there's different brands out in the market), an important consideration when buying paper is how well it stands up to the rigours of automated machine die cutting, and to a lesser extent when using an embossing machine. An inferior paper will never stand up to detailed cutting with the Cricut. Going about it the wrong way, I ruined pounds of paper trying to put it to purposes it clearly isn't designed. That's never the case with superior grade paper and card stock. It takes some practice to figure out what works and what doesn't. I can assure you the rack paper at Hobby Lobby will not stand up to the test!!! I wish I had kept a list of which brands work the best with the Cricut, but not yet. Off the top of my head I can vouch for K&Company, Graphics 45, and We R Memory Keepers, and Creative Memories among others not so close to immediate thinking.
The last word about paper probably should go without saying. I keep ALL my scraps organized by colour. I don't know how many times when looking for a particular colour I've discovered papers from different packs coordinate with another. I "try" to indicate on the cover of the packs when this happens, but that's another organizational weakness.
This year March is National Scrapbooking month. I'm hoping some of the specialty on-line shops (that normally only have bi-annual sales) come out with special discounts during the next few weeks. As the motto goes: more bang for the buck!
Friday, January 20, 2012
Peach Keey Stamps
I've wanted a Peachy Keen Stamps stamp set for months now. Today (ta-da) I purchased my first set. (Now to wait forever to them get to the house.) This site has to be the best collection of face stamps available.
I ordered the original set, which is a good start. I also bought an acid/lignum-free white pen to colour in the eyes.
But, oh, how much more they've put out; human, animal, Halloween and many more faces in every size and expression imaginable. They've even come out with die sets with two different face stamps per die... and they are adorable!
I can only imagine it would take a small fortune to own all their products. I'll have to be very selective with my inventory. I think I'll stop at the assorted face stamp set and one assorted animal face set. Or more. It depends on my mood. (I did put a set of acrylic block set with the rounded grips in my wish list for next month's order. All are currently 90 degree edges.) They even have stamp sets that coordinate with various Cricut cartridges. Along those lines, MyPinkStamper.com has designed word stamp sets that compliment Cricut cartridges, but I've yet to buy from there, either. To own fully integrated Cricut cartridge, word and face stamps is a dream come true.
When I receive my next allowance payout I am 100%-positive-sure buying a border template set from Kiwi Lanes.
________________________________________
Over the past several days I've filled my time by finishing scrapbook pages and have created a few more. There's no feeling like putting a page in the scrapbook knowing there's no more work to be done.Here is one of the latest pages:
Now that I'm getting the hang of photographing the 12x12 pages I'm sure to post more!
*** Whoopie: My new Spellbinders Edgeability set arrived in the mail today. :D
I ordered the original set, which is a good start. I also bought an acid/lignum-free white pen to colour in the eyes.
I can only imagine it would take a small fortune to own all their products. I'll have to be very selective with my inventory. I think I'll stop at the assorted face stamp set and one assorted animal face set. Or more. It depends on my mood. (I did put a set of acrylic block set with the rounded grips in my wish list for next month's order. All are currently 90 degree edges.) They even have stamp sets that coordinate with various Cricut cartridges. Along those lines, MyPinkStamper.com has designed word stamp sets that compliment Cricut cartridges, but I've yet to buy from there, either. To own fully integrated Cricut cartridge, word and face stamps is a dream come true.
When I receive my next allowance payout I am 100%-positive-sure buying a border template set from Kiwi Lanes.
________________________________________
Over the past several days I've filled my time by finishing scrapbook pages and have created a few more. There's no feeling like putting a page in the scrapbook knowing there's no more work to be done.Here is one of the latest pages:
Now that I'm getting the hang of photographing the 12x12 pages I'm sure to post more!
*** Whoopie: My new Spellbinders Edgeability set arrived in the mail today. :D
Sunday, January 8, 2012
2011 Inventory: Cricut
I'll post scrapebooking inventory from time-to-time. These lists will also help roughly document what year a product was purchased. This will also serve as a guide for organization should we move again.
The following Cricut Cartridges were all purchased during 2011:
Photo with some overlap between;
The following Cricut Cartridges were all purchased during 2011:
Photo with some overlap between;
*(F=Font) * (E=Envelope) * (C=Companion/Cricut Lite)
- A Garden of Words (F)
- An Ocean of Words (F)
- Animal Kingdom
- Beyond Birthdays (E)
- Christmas Villiage (C)
- Cindy Loo (E & F)
- Country Life (F)
- Doodlecharms
- Dinosaur Tracks (F)
- Florals Embellished
- Freshly Picked
- From My Kitchen
- Give a Hoot
- Going Places (E)
- Locker Talk (E)
- Mini Monsters
- My Community
- My World
- Nursery Rhymes (F)
- Paper Doll Dress Up
- Pooh & Friends
- Preserves
- Printing 101 (F)
- Robotz
- Soccer (C)
- Sports Mania
- Spring Holiday (C)
- Thanksgiving (C)
- Wall Decor & More
- Wrap It Up
Expecting to only purchase 10-15 cartridges throughout 2012.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)