Cricut Expression - A Comprehensive Guide to Creating with your Machine by Cathie Rigby

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday!

I am trying to find my creative juices today but first I need to find my scrap table. It was like an archeological dig, uncovering layer after layer of Christmas projects.

I did however find something that touched my heart today! I also believe it may have gotten some crafty mojo going.

This is where I found my wonderful surprise. I honestly had no idea of this acknowledgement and just came across it.

Under the caption of "Creative Cutting Inspiration"
is me along with some other fabulously talented people.
The hubs even pointed out that I'm above Martha Stewart in the listing! Okay, that's because she is under "Source Guide" but I don't want to burst his bubble and get all technical.

The author of this book is Cathie Rigby. She runs challenges on her blog, teaches classes, organizes retreats, plans cruises, writes Cricut how-tos and sells kits. Click on her name to pop in at her blog called Creative Cutter Room where there is plenty of info and inspiration.

I hope she comes across this post and feels like I do at this moment.

Happy New Year!

Day 12 of Holiday inspiration - gift card holder

Welcome to day 12!!!

I am still working on teacher/bus driver gifts. Here is a gift card holder. In Canada, we love our Tim Horton's coffee. So much so, that the Go Canada Cricut cartridge came with the following design.

I am going to have my son write on the coffee cup label.

Thanks for visiting! Yay! I completed 12 days!

Day 11 of Holiday inspiration - Christmas card

Welcome to day 11!

My kids have dug out my bin of felt given to me by my Grandma. They have been stitching up pieces of it making wallets and other items. (There are bits of thread and felt all over my house.) I tried to make a card featuring one of my daughter's creations but she wouldn't let me. Sooo, I made this instead.

The only Cricut cuts I have on this card are the moon and Santa's boots which are actually rain boots from Freshly Picked.

Day 10 of holiday inspiration - Christmas cards

I am so close to being done my Christmas cards! I made five of these yesterday. (For those that are keeping track, I am at forty cards.)

I knew I wanted to make a penguin family because my daughter is still so into penguins.

I used Create A Critter Cricut cartridge and then Paper Doll Dress Up and Everyday Paper Dolls for our accessories. The sentiment is printed on my computer.

This was such a quick card - no Cricut.

Two days left of holiday projects. Can I do it??? Please stop back in tomorrow for Day number 11!

Day 9 of Holiday inspiration - We wash you a Merry Christmas

As soon as I saw this idea on Pinterest, I knew I needed to use it. I always give out hand soap at Christmas and I do love a good pun!

Here is the link for the free printable!

Plum Adorable

I decided to create a hang tag with my Gypsy.

So easy!

I'm hoping to have more card designs for the 10th day of holiday inspiration. It's been busy around here with much shoveling of snow, caroling, Christmas Concerts and all the rest of the December things.

Day 8 of holiday inspiration - Quick holiday cards on the fly

One thing I have learned while reading scrapbooking blogs is that many crafters are creating on the go. Many are not nestled in their scrap rooms full of supplies with a cup of tea. They are pulling out paper while sitting in a hospital or their child's harp lesson.

This post is for all of you.

All of these papers are from one stack (DCWV The Winter Holiday).

I could have easily kept on going with this card-making.

Thank you for stopping in! I hope you can join me for day 9 of holiday inspiration.

Day 7 of Holiday inspiration - Subway Art

I have never made anything like this before! One thing our family LOVES to do in December is to watch our favourite holiday movies together. I wanted to create a decor item with our favourite holiday movie quotes.

I started out with a 16inch by 16inch canvas. I painted it cherry red just using the kids' acrylics.

With my Gypsy, I worked out the lettering. I just used random fonts. It didn't take very long to figure out this many quotes. (I googled the movie titles and then "quotes") I could have even added more!

Once my paint was dry, and my words were cut out, I mod podged them on.

The final step was one last coat of mod podge over the entire canvas.

Making this canvas, I did learn that I should have maybe used a t-square or laser level to place the words. They all looked straight at the time...

Can you guess our favourite Christmas movies?? Can you figure out a few of them??

Be sure to join me back tomorrow for Day 8 of holiday inspiration.

Day 6 of Holiday inspiration - Crafting with kids

Welcome to Day 6 of my holiday projects!
One reason *excuse* I have not been creating or blogging is because I am volunteering as a girl guide leader this year. My troop loves to craft/create/scrapbook/crochet. They cannot get enough of these types of projects. I have been busy this fall planning their crafty activities with the other guide leader.

Last Monday, we made some Christmas ornaments and holiday picture frames. The girls cut up scrapbook paper and mod podged it to an unfinished wooden frame. (bought for 97 cents at Walmart)

We put out holiday paper, buttons, twine, stickers and chipboard. With my Cricut, I cut out some festive words like "holidays", "Christmas" and "2012". I also suggest covering the table with newspaper as the guides used alot of mod podge.

I think these frames will be a lovely gift for the girls to give out this December!

Hope to see you tomorrow for Day 7!

Day 5 of Holiday inspiration - Hot Cocoa gift

Welcome to my day 5 of holiday projects. I'm trying to get my crafty and bloggy mojo back.
My kids like to give out little gifts to other members of their school staff. You know, the physical education teacher, school secretary, music teacher as well as their homeroom teachers.
So, we started putting together little hot chocolate packs a few years ago.

I think I am most proud of this years though because I designed it on my Gypsy. The only cartridge I used was George and Basic shapes. I manipulated the shapes until it formed a snowman hat.

Once you cut out your shape, you will need to score it in three places. I ran a line of adhesive along the bottom to keep the packet in. To open the gift, you untie the ribbon.

I think this is a quick, cute gift to make! Snow much fun!
Yay! I blogged five days in a row!

Be sure to visit again on Monday where I will have my 6th day of holiday inspiration!

Day 4 of Holiday inspiration - Santa card

There is a story behind this card. Our city has had its first IKEA store built. The store opened on last Tuesday with much fanfare, advertising and hype. It seems that everyone here is talking about it and shopping at the store. So, of course, I needed to put it on a Christmas card. I hope people see the humour in it.

This card was an easy one. You know, clean lines, like IKEA.
Santa is from the Jolly Holidays Cricut cartridge. The font is from Opposites Attract. The sentiment is by Scrappy Moms Stamps.

Day 3 of Holiday inspiration - angry birds cards

I love making fun Christmas cards! Christmas cards are a super way to get my crafting mojo back. My Gypsy is a great tool to create anything out of paper. Soo, this year I wanted to make some angry birds.

To create this card, I used the following Cricut cartridges - George and Basic Shapes, Christmas Cheer and Smiley Cards. Here is a screen shot of my Gypsy to give you an idea of how I design and cut.

I figured the birds could be knocking down Christmas trees. To make the trees, I just welded them together in a pyramid so I did not need to glue each individual one. I wanted to do the same thing with the eyeballs to make glueing faster as I knew I wanted to make at least 24 of them.

So, that is card design number one for me this year.

Be sure to come back tomorrow to check out card design number two. As of this this moment, I have 35 cards made. I am hoping to churn out another 20, and of course, post them here. *eek*

Thanks for stopping by!

Day 2 of Holiday fun and inspiration - a layout

This layout was a project for my children's scrapbooking classes last winter.

They all made layouts similar to this one using the Accucut machine and Tim Holtz dies in a Cuttlebug. We then inked the ornaments using the embossing folders. I used a circle punch to add in some extra photos.
This was a fun one for the girls to make.

Be sure to pop by tomorrow to see my first Christmas card of the season!

Day 1 - Gift card holder - 12 days of Holiday gifts and ideas

I have been such a slacking blogger lately that I am challenging myself to 12 days of Holiday projects! I can not believe how long it has been since I have posted anything... This is my holiday mojo kick start, if you will, and you are invited along for the ride.

Welcome to day number one!

This is a card/gift card holder.

You pull the ribbon and out comes the gift card.

Now for the deets.
The patterned paper is by Echo Park but it is from last year. I cut the rosette with the Ribbon and Rosettes Cricut cartridge.

Thank you for clicking by. Be sure to come back tomorrow for more holiday inspiration in the form of a layout.

Girly layout

This layout is all about my (sometimes crazy) daughter. All I did was play with scrap paper to put this together. I opened up my drawer of pink and had fun inking it all up using Vintage Photo. She loves the hidden journaling in the envelope and the popped up heart.

Have a great day!

Tropical cards

One thing that I love about making cards is that you can add so many different things to embellish them. My son is turning 12 this week. I made him this Survivor card because he loves that show!

I made this card with the Life's A Beach and Aloha Cricut cartridges. I tore, inked and distressed just about everything. I wrapped the torch in jute and added raffia as well.

I am entering my card for the challenge at Fantabulous Cricut.

Here is another birthday card that I wanted to look fun and "summery". Sooo, I added an umbrella meant for a beverage.

Thanks for looking!

Penguin Party

Warning - party post not a very scrappy post.

My daughter is still very much into penguins, for her birthday party all she wanted was a penguin theme! I decided to turn to Pinterest to help me figure this one out. Here are some pictures from her party. I found ALL of these ideas on Pinterest.

I was so happy to make these puffs. I found a Youtube video and was shocked at how easy they are to make. They are such an inexpensive party decor item! I also decorated our mantel with all the penguin stuffies.

I may have found this idea but it was my MIL who made this bean bag toss game.

My daughter loves to eat olives and hard-boiled eggs so I knew I needed to include some "penguins" in the menu.

This was the craft that the guests created. The clear ornaments were purchased at Michaels. We put glitter inside with hairspray and then painted the outside with acrylic paint.

I was so happy when I saw a penguin gift bag creation on Pinterest. I bought the black lunch bags at Michaels. I cut the face from the Create A Critter Cricut cartridge but I had to thin him out a bit with my Gypsy.
I am fairly new to pinning online and am so happy with how easy it was to collect ideas and make an inspiration board.
Have a great day!

Back to School layout

It may seem like I am super organized for back to school next week but if you look carefully at the layout it's from 2011. I needed to get this done before the 2012 pictures were taken!

These papers are all by DCWV and all of the school stickers are from Reminisce.

The countdown is on, 9 more days until they go back. We are quickly trying to squeeze out every bit of summer vacation we can!

Penguins and a baby card

Halloo! We are back from a summer road trip. Our family drove out west. We visited cousins for a few days, went to Drumheller, Alberta to tour the dinosaur museum and then we went to Calgary to hang out with some penguins. Our trip was wonderful!

That is my DD standing next to Tut, a king penguin. They seemed to gravitate to her, maybe sensing her love for them? Maybe because she is wearing black and white?

He even tried to follow us out.

Lastly, here is a new baby card for my hubby's co-worker. There are many cards like this on Pinterest and I had just purchased some clothes line clips soo... I had to scraplift this idea. Yay! I haven't made a baby girl card in awhile.
Thanks for stopping by!

Core Cards Creative Frenzy

I love playing with Core'dinations paper! I enjoy that it is so versatile for cutting, embossing, sanding, tearing etc, etc... Here are three cards that I have created using Core'dinations paper.

"Loonie for you." My daughter will be ten years old in two days. I wanted to make her a card with a loonie coin ($1) she could pull off and spend. To make this card, I started out at the bank looking for a brand-new coin. I chose an embossing folder that I thought my daughter would like and used the folder as the design for the rest of the card. I sanded all the layers after embossing them with my Cuttlebug machine. I cut the diamonds with my Cricut machine but you could cut those easily with any paper trimmer. I used a glue dot to attach the money so it will be easy to pull off. The cork heart is actually a coaster from the dollar store that I hand cut. The alphas are by Crate Paper, the Pretty Party collection. The lace and twine, I purchased by the metre at my LSS. We are all about the puns in my house so I think she will love it!

I really enjoy creating effects using the black magic paper. I thought that the red kind of looks like thick velvet curtains when you sand it and that the yellow looks like a light or spotlight. That is the basis for this card. I used my trimmer to cut out two rectangles for the side curtains and then a strip for the fringe at the top. I scored each piece of paper every 1/2 inch. I do not own a scoreboard I just used my scoring blade. (Santa, if you are reading this please note that it would be lovely to own one.) I folded the strips of paper along the lines and voila - a stage. I sanded the paper on the folds that stick out hoping that would add more dimension. I then cut out a 4 and 1/2 inch square of yellow black magic and sanded the middle, like stage lights. The stamped sentiment is by Anna Griffen. The card background is something I created with my Gypsy. I welded a rectangle with rounded corners with another rectangle with this pretty edging. An edging punch could substitute for this effect.

For my third card, I began by looking up an online tutorial of paper airplane folding. (Just google it. There are many tutorials.) I followed the tutorial and scored my white cardstock along the way so it would fold nicely. I then cut out a shape card using my Cricut and Gypsy machines. The Gypsy was to weld the two clouds together so they would make a shape card. The actual clouds are both from the Create A Critter cartridge. I sanded all of the cloud edges just using plain old sand paper from the hubs. I adhered the plane using two glue dots and stitched the tracks with white floss and a needle. The alphas are called "Teeny Alpha" by Glitz.

Thanks for looking!

Have a great day!

Olympic Excitement

Yikes! I have been an absent blogger this month. I have barely scrapped a thing at all. We have been too busy with a family wedding, a trip to the lake and time in the swimming pool. On the plus side, I will have tons of photos to scrap in the fall!

The London Games have just begun, my husband is watching the opening ceremonies. This just makes me reflect back two years. In 2010, our family was completely caught up in olympic fever! Canada was hosting and we felt part of it all. I took my kids one COLD morning and we got to see the torch run. This moment was amazing! I will never forget it and I am so glad we went. It was so cold that my camera had trouble taking the photos.

Later that day, we were able to hold a used torch from the run!

See the soot.

I also took my kids to The Royal Canadian Mint, where they had the olympic medals on display.

Of course, our family had an olympic celebration at our home! Each family member chose a food that they thought would fit the theme. My son chose onion rings.

Good luck to all the athletes! I wish everyone all the best during these games no matter what country you are cheering for!