Tall Ships

This weekend we went to see "Pirate Ships"...OK, actually Tall ships, but close enough... WE THOUGHT. The boys were very upset when we got there and informed us that (In my sons angriest tone) "they are NOT pirate ships!". Why? No flag. We solved the problem by telling them it was too dangerous to fly the flag in port- they would get their treasure looted - so they had the flag hidden away. How long to we get to make up stories for our kids? Eventually they are going to be on to us. I actually love to make up stories, so having children has been like a creative outlet for me. We love to make up stories before bed, but I'm sure that these other little tall tales are going to catch up with me soon. I guess I'll just enjoy the moment and worry about reality when they force me to.

A couple of cards.....

I will not buy any more stamps

I will not buy any more stamps

I will not buy any more stamps

I will not buy any more stamps

OK, BUT have you SEEN the Penny Black stamps? They are so stinkin' cute! I don't normally go for cute, but these are cuter than cute, which makes it OK. My new frog stamp is called jump for joy, I'm going crazy with it. It was way too expensive for a single stamps ($12) but I HAD to have it, so now I must make 12 cards to justify it...I'm nearly done :) And then there is Northwoods stamps, I love those. I only wish I could get them to look like they do on the web site....practice I guess, or magic, or enough wine to think that they look like the ones on the web site. I've actually had the Northwoods one for a while and didn't want to ink it (so it still feels new to me) At least this one I got on clearance - LOVE those clearance racks at the Craft Outlet.

Summer Popsicle Card with Cricut DS

This is a "cased" card (thats the nice way of saying copied), I originally saw a similar card in PC magazine, I think they had "Enjoy" stamped on the front instead of using as an invite. At the time I had doodlecharms but I had to cut the base by hand (GASP), thankfully we have DS now so with a quick push of the button (pattern below if you'd like it) you can make a fun summer card or Popsicle party invite. I added some ribbon, glitter and chalking for fun. Stamps are from Stampin Up! Enjoy!

Popsicle card

Sticks are glued between base and insert, be sure to use a strong adhesive, I used that red sticky strip (glue dots don't work, I tried and that last year and it fell apart ).

Explore Racehorse Falls

This is a totally digital page. I actually made the first one with my cricut in mind and planned to add a title from Home Accents, but then I found that it just wasn't needed. My background paper (ferns) was actually a photo of the ferns on the trail, then I put the opacity at 50%. The berry is also from the trail. We set off to do a geocache, which we didn't find, but we had a wonderful day together.

Cricut Card Topper 2, Floral Glitter window

This is a simple card topper, but I'm including the pattern anyway-no sense reinventing the wheel. It is from George, although when I cut it also asked for Home Accents - not sure why, maybe my cricut just likes that cartridge - The first card is done with the topper "as is", center stamp is from Stampin Up, and I used crystals in the flower centers, and after stamping the center cutout, I put it on pop dots. The second card I made into a glitter window below, stamps are from Stampin Up and My Favorite Things. It looks faded in the photo, but its quite sparkly in real life. The second page of the pattern includes the frame for the glitter window, which is conveniently they same width as packing tape. If you would like to make the glitter window then here's what ya' need to do:

1. Delete the inner most rectangle from the first page of the .cut file. It will still cut one rectangle for you to stamp on and then put back. If you are sure of your skills you could eliminate the second rectangle too and stamp directly on the card topper, but I figure its easier to re-cut a new center piece should I have stamping issues, then to re cut the whole thing.


2. Cut the frame (second page of .cut file) in contrasting color


3. Lay a piece of packing tape (sticky side UP) on your work space and lay frame on top, trim excess tape (I've made it the same width as standard packing tape to make it easier)


4. Cover sticky side with fine iridescent glitter -I use Stampin Up dazzling diamonds


5. Adhere glitter window over your stamped image - VOILA!

Here is the file: flowertopper.cut

Card Topper #1, Fall mesh

A couple months ago I saw an ad in PaperCrafts Magazine for card toppers and knew I had to make some with my cricut. I put it on the "to make someday" list - which is long and gets forgotten - but when everyone started making the meshes I decided it was time to revisit the idea. This is the first one I've made - I have another in the works (maybe for tomorrow if I'm lucky). These will be designed to fit on an A-6 Card, because thats the envelopes I have. To use this card topper you will need:

1- Cardstock base, 6.25 inches by 9.5 inches, fold in half (card size is 6.25 by 4 .75 inches)

2- Cut mat (optional) slightly smaller than mesh for contrast (mine was 6 by 4.5)

3- Cricut with DS, Doodlecharms and Home Accents, pattern below

I have inlcuded extra leaves in the pattern for either adding with dimentional pop dots on top, or for decorating the inside of the card. Enjoy!

leaf topper.cut

Cricut Mesh Challenge : Back to School

Woowza, this took more time than I thought it would. I sure hope some of you can use the file. After I put it all together I realized I had forgotten the base for the apples, so now my leaves are black, oops. I'll have to go back with a gel pen but heaven only knows where they are right now, so it will have to wait. Final size is just under 12 x 3, carts are Pl Schoolbook and doodlecharms. Cut file is below. When you layer, I suggest doing busses, backpacks, apples, letters, starts - in that order. Thanks for looking!

back to school.cut

Visiting the ZOO

This scrap page didn't come out as I'd hoped, but I'll save a red0 for when I'm caught up (when is a scrapper ever caught up?) It was a good chance to use the Lifted photo biggie from Scrapgirls and to finally use my zoobaloo cricket cart for something other than bookmarks. I'm having a hard time with size since I moved to hybrid scrapping. I love the 8 x 8 because I can print at home and because the 12 x 12 books are just too overwhelming - pulling out a 12 x 12 seems like today's equivalent of Grandpa pulling out his box of slides - but with 8 x 8, I feel like I have no room for journaling if I have more than one photo per page. I think the trick will be doing 2 page layouts. I am also having a hard time with layering "papers" so this page has no layers (people for a passion for paper NEED layers). I need to practice to get comfy with that, I also need to sit and scan some of my paper so I have something to layer with. I used real brads and ribbon in this one, I won't be doing that again. The other thing I like about digital is that I can have fake buttons, brads, clips and staples (I use mounting tape for my die cuts for dimension, but they are still not "bumby" like brads and buttons), plus you can match color. It will drive me crazy every time I look at this that the brads are summer yellow and the giraffe is saffron. The photo of the boys in real life is much better, it was really a cute picture of them and makes for a good memory, which is the important part of the page :)

Little Boys, Big Trucks

Before I can start on my current pages, I decided I needed to finish this one I started AGES ago. I actually finished it, then took it apart when I thought I was going to red0 all my pages digitally, then put it together again when I decided I wasn't redoing all my pages. Crazy. Then it took me forever to get final touches done because I had to wait until I could find yellow thread for my sewing matching...and wait for an available spot for my sewing machine on the craft counter (there was a spot specifically made for the sewing machine but the cricut fit there nicely for quite some time). The stamps are Stampin Up and the letters are cut with SCAL and chalked. I love this picture of the boys because it is so "boyish" with their big trucks and dirty jeans. They are so cute, I don't even care that they were digging up my Lilly bulbs.

Is this vacation over yet?

Our boat (middle) from the top of the cliff where we risked our lives trying to find a geocache

Man, what a busy couple of weeks. Is is just me or is vacation a lot of work? Love having hubby home but all the family fun has been exhausting....after this vacation is over (tomorrow), I need a break. We started his vacation with a trip to the zoo. We had wanted to take the boys for their birthday but June-uary weather had postponed that. Most the animals were napping and the kids were far more excited about the play area then the animals. I could have save $70 and stopped at a park, everybody would have been happy, but I did get a good photo out of it (I'll post scrapbook tomorrow). Next was cruise to the islands, it was supposed to be 5 days but engine problems brought us back early. We did get one nice day on the first island (scrapbook page will be up soon), it was beautiful that day and the boys loved playing on the beach. We tried doing a geocache but half way there we turned back. Two little wandering boys and a LONG skinny trail running one foot from a giant cliff, not a good combination. The boys were very disappointed that we didn't get to go to the TollyCraft rendezvous we had been promising (they had been talking about the pool all week) so after a very rough ride back to the marina, we took them to the community pool where we encountered the pool police. We left shortly after getting there. Give a teen a whistle and a lifeguard shirt and they think they own the world - I think I know a good place for that whistle. Later that day we noticed that the bug bite on my sons foot had gone from little to ENORMOUS turning his whole foot purple, so I guess it was good we were home to take him to the doctor. He's fine now, it went down after a couple days of discomfort. Next was a camping trip, 3 days and two nights at a local park. That was fun, kids had a great time at the beach and they learned to ride their bikes with no training wheels (another scrapbook page in the works). On our second night we had an amazing lighting and thunder storm like none I've ever seen. Had I been at home I would have loved this, however.... being out camping, all I could think was that a tree was going to catch fire and fall on top of the motorhome. By morning the place was soaking wet and with mud getting quickly tracked inside, we opted to head home early.....AGAIN! Today is the last day of vacation, not sure where we are going, but I'm sure I'll be home early. Tomorrow I will start in on the piles of laundry and housework I neglected while I was having all this "fun". Then I'm taking a break to scrap all those great photos!