Valentine's Day Banner

From Valentine's Day Banner

Since my Cricut has a permanent home now, I decided to use it to make a Valentine's Day banner! It was a quick, fun project using 3 of my cartridges. Sort of plain and simple, but I like it!

Cricut Play

This is my first project with the Cricut Design Studio software. It's nothing too fancy, but it was fun to make and it gave me a little more practice with the CDS and my Cricut. And I got to use my new Jasmine cartridge, too! I love that I was able to cut this whole thing in one swipe by putting two colors of paper on my mat and arranging the cuts accordingly. The Cricut is so nice because once you have designed your cuts, you just sit there while it does all the work! It really is pretty amazing.

My favorite thing about the banner is the glittery letters...

I intended to have the letters just plain white (because the mat would show through the letter cut out) but when I ran the letter panels through my Xyron I discovered that the adhesive stretched across the letter openings and made them sticky. Instead of de-tacking them one by one I just poured glitter over it and voila! I have glittery letters with no extra effort!

I don't know what my plan for the banner is just yet, but I will probably try to hang it in Eliana's room somewhere. I have plans to make more banners, too. I want to make larger ones for birthday or baby shower decorations - wouldn't they be cute??

Cricut Design Studio - Product Review

A number of months ago I purchased the Cricut Design Studio software to use with my Cricut Expression. I found it for a good price (though I have since seen it on clearance at Joann's for much cheaper!) and was excited to have it. I delayed installing it on my laptop, since it had overheating issues and I was sure CDS would be too much for the sick laptop to handle. A month and a half ago or so I finally got a computer down in my craft room (woohoo!) and just recently I got a new laptop that doesn't overheat and shut down several times a day. So last night, for the first time ever, I pulled the Design Studio out of the box and installed it on my computer in the basement!

I played and cut with it some last night, just a little bit. There are some HUGE advantages to using the CDS software over just your Cricut. First, you can see exactly what you are cutting and where, so there's no guesswork as to paper placement on your cutting mat. That is wonderful! You can really make the best use of your paper by arranging things where you want them and making sure that they line up just right on your paper. You can stick down several different papers in different places on the mat and design accordingly so you can make all your cuts at once from a few different papers. You can also weld letters together to make words, which is great! That's a feature I plan on using a lot. Actually, I plan to do all my designing and cutting from the computer now, since it is so much easier than using the touchpad and screen on the Cricut!

Unfortunately, just in my first hour of playing with the CDS software, it's obvious that there are some areas that could use some serious improvement. It would be great if there was a way to erase lines you didn't want cut, or to fill in frames that you've made so they are just solid blocks. Right now I can't figure out a way to do either. There are also a few things they could do to make maneuvering the cuts on the mat a little easier. But all told, it's pretty good.

So far I'm enjoying playing with it. I made my first real "project" with the Cricut and Design Studio today, so hopefully I can get pictures of it up soon. It's pretty simple, but I did it all in one cut, and I'm pleased with how it turned out. And that's always good, right?

And now for something completely different....

So here is one of my first attempts at a layout using my new Cricut Expression! Everything was cut with it, including the scalloped paper. It's very different from my typical scrapbooking style, but I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. It seems I'm not quite out of the shabby chic world yet. It keeps creeping into my projects! But that's fine. Soon enough I'll move on to my next "look" and it'll all be good. As I told a friend this morning, it's a good thing I don't scrapbook chronologically or it would be very clear what phase I was in when!

Don't forget to check back tomorrow for a new challenge - It's Wild Card week!!!

TODAY...

Let's talk about today, shall we? First off, we started the day by driving to Billings to celebrate my father-in-law's and brother-in-law's birthday. I realized on the way out there that it is also Eliana's 18 month day. We got a late start, and the road conditions required that we drive slower than normal, so we got to Billings late. Before we met up with the family for lunch, though, we stopped by the new Hobby Lobby.

Hobby Lobby... aren't those just beautiful words?? We've had one in TX forever and every time I've been back since we moved away I have to go to HL and shop. It's just so much better than Michael's! *sigh* I've longed for the day when we, too, will have a HL. Bozeman doesn't have one yet, but Billings finally does - that alone warrants the 2+ hour drive over there! Anyway- that's amazingly wonderful thing #1 about today.

While at HL, Leif got some mats cut so we can hang pictures in our basement. I was over in the seasonal and scrapbooking sections snatching up new colors of flocking powder and Cuttlebug dies. I also learned that the Billing HL carries QK dies. Sweet! Didn't get any, though.

While Leif was over in the framing section he gave me a call and said that.... he was standing there looking at a display of Copic Markers! Now, I have been drooling over these silly markers since I started reading Debbie Olson's blog. That woman is amazing!! And dangerous to read.... she has sold me on more things (like Copic Markers and PaperTrey Ink sets) than anyone else! But I digress.... so I ran (almost literally!) over to the framing section and ooohed and aaaahed over the markers. Now, Copics are not cheap. They're like $6 per marker. But HL was having a sale and I got them for $4.50 each! Jackpot!! I will go back at some point and get more once I know exactly what colors, etc, I need for better blending, but I got 8 to start with. A couple blues, a couple pinks, a brown, a gray, a light yellow, and a peachy/pinky one. The blues and pinks blend well, and the gray compliments the others nicely. But I will be back - you can almost bet on it. That is, if I don't decide to join Gina K's copic marker club first.

So... Copic Markers in hand and a huge smile on my face, I made my way back to the scrapbooking section. I picked up a few cool American Crafts papers (that I can't get at my LSS and were on sale 12x12 for 5/$1!!) and headed over to the foam and acrylic stamps section. And there, to my delight, I saw this:


It's a way cool Autumn Leaves stamp set (by Katie Pertiet) that I once saw online and liked. I don't like to pay shipping, though (I'm a cheapskate like that!), so I didn't get it. I haven't seen it anywhere since until today! You know that went right into my cart... $15 gone so easily, LOL! But I'm looking forward to using it and coloring it in with my Copics!

We left HL and ate lunch with the family at Texas Roadhouse. It was fun. It's always disappointing, though, when I stop counting calories for a day so I can just enjoy a meal out for a special occasion. I split a meal with Leif - we shared a Caesar salad, steak, chicken, and I got a baked potato. Here's the disappointing part - I gave myself no calorie restrictions and ate the glorious food ... until I realized that my stomach has shrunk and I can't eat nearly as much before I'm full now! It's a good problem when you're trying to lose weight. But it's sort of disappointing when your potato fills you up and a lonely piece of delicious chicken is still staring you down. *sigh*

Oh - I forgot to mention that I came *thisclose* to meeting a fellow blogger, too! Julie Koerber was attending a demonstration with my mother-in-law just a couple blocks away from us! I would have loved to pop in and meet her, but the framing at HL took much longer than we expected so it didn't happen. Maybe another time. In the meantime, she'll have to settle for a little cyberspace "HI JULIE!!!" and a little visit from those of you who head on over to see her work!

Whew! So with full bellies and goodies in hand, we headed back to Bozeman. The roads were clear, the views beautifully flocked, and we made good time. We pulled up to the house and what did I see on the porch??

MY NEW CRICUT EXPRESSION!!!!

It arrived! I wasn't expecting it until Wednesday, and am oh-so-excited!! That baby went right down to the basement (amidst the mess!) and went to work right away, LOL! There are lots of tricks I'm still learning, but it's easy to use and fun to play with. I've made a bunch of little bags and a couple scrapbook pages so far... and I'm sure a TON more playing to come!!! Even if the whole HL/Copic/Stamps excitement hadn't happened, this would have made my day! As it is... today is that much better!


And so I share with you this layout I made of Ellie today. The pictures were taken exactly a year ago, on the day she turned 6 months old. The corners were cut with the Cricut, the title and journaling block stamped with the Frolic set, colored with my Copics (except for the yellow - I actually pulled out my brayer for that!! I don't think I've used my brayer in a couple years...). This layout is the culmination of an amazing day all in one! Lots of fun and it's one more layout done.

Well, it's been a good day, so I'm going to go back to my playing. Happy scrapping!!!