Friday, January 27, 2012

Love is in the Air...Blog Hop!

Welcome to my blog and to the Love is in the Air - Valentines blog hop (hosted by Paulette from Around the Block with scrapalette)! You should have arrived here from Sukie's fabulous blog, Scrappin Dhilly! If you need to get back to the beginning, click here to go to Around the Block with scrapalette.

My project for the hop is a teen inspired Valentine's frame for my daughter to give to her boyfriend for Valentine's Day.



I started with a very inexpensive plastic frame from Micheal's ($3.99) and then used vinyl and bling to decorate it! (Here's the before picture of the frame.)



I used the cricut cartridge Sophisticated for the black frame, cut in black vinyl. And then the heart with wings is from the Love Struck cartridge. I used a dark pink vinyl for the background layer and then a lighter pink vinyl for the detail layer.

I then added some bling and I was done. It was a very easy project!

Thanks for stopping by on the hop. Your next hop is to Renee's incredible blog...I came, I saw, I created.

Happy hopping!

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

My Sweet Valentines!

For my January project for My Pink Stamper I made a scrapbook layout!


This layout uses leftover scraps from my project below. I didn't want to throw out all the colorful pieces leftover from cutting the labels...so, I thought I'd use them to create a colorful layout. I know these aren't your typical Valentines colors...but...I like that it's different.

The photos are of my son and daughter when they were younger.

The font is from an older cricut cartridge called Printing Press. I'm trying hard not to forget to use my old favorite cartridges...even though we have so many fun new cartridges out now. I love all the crazy mismatched font shapes in Printing Press.

Materials Used:
Cricut Cartridges - Printing Press and George & Basic Shapes (for the Hearts), the colorful circles and strips were leftover scraps from cutting labels using the Art Philosophy cartridge
Patterned Paper - Kraft (The Paper Studio), Colored (Recollections), White (American Crafts)
Sentiment Stamps - My Pink Stamper (Love is from the Flowers & Friendship set, Sweet is from the Sweet Goodness set, and Hugs & Kisses is from the Lunchbox Thoughts set)
Buttons and Twine to embellish

Thanks for looking!

Friday, January 13, 2012

Pinkalicious Blog Hop!

Happy Friday the 13th...and, welcome to the first Pinkalicious Blog Hop of the New Year! You should've arrived here from Courtney's AMAZING blog, Court's Crafts! If you'd like to get back to the beginning of the hop...just click here: My Pink Stamper!

My 'clean slate' project is for a large whiteboard calendar at my office. My job is very technical...so, the calendar is filled with scribbled on technical information...dates, deadlines, milestones, etc. (I'm sorry I can't show you a picture of it...some of the information is confidential.) I'm finding that some of the 'FUN' information is getting lost in all the 'technical'.

What I've done is to create a variety of fun, colorful labels that we'll be able to use, and reuse, on the calendar to highlight some of the fun things.



'Celebrate' and 'Party Time' can be used to highlight events...but...they can also be used as a fun way to celebrate milestones that are accomplished and when deadlines are met. 'Birthday Goodies' and 'Enjoy' will help identify special days when treats have been brought in for the team.

Materials Used:
Cricut Cartridge: Art Philosophy for all the labels
Paper: American Crafts White Cardstock, Recollections Patterned Paper
Buttons, Ribbons and Twine for embellishing
Sentiment Stamps: My Pink Stamper - School Days and Yummylicious

Thanks for hopping along! You're next stop is to Carissa's wondeful blog - Sprinkled with Glitter!

Saturday, January 7, 2012

Cricut Circle Challenge...Using Cricut CraftRoom

I've had this idea for a home decor item I've been wanting to try...so, when I saw the challenge to use the new Cricut CraftRoom design tool...I knew it was time to try it!

I love using the CraftRoom! It uses similar features of other graphic design types of software so it hasn't been too difficult to figure out. And now, with WiFi on my E2 machine...it's even more wonderful to use. I love that I can wirelessly send my CCR designs directly to my cricut!

My craft space is set up in my dining room. And, I've repurposed an old tv cabinet to hold my paper so that it doesn't fade in the sunlight. Since I'm always facing the end of the cabinet, I thought I'd use this challenge to add some creative inspiration to that space.



Using layers in CCR, I was able to create three 12x12 word collages to cut in vinyl and adhere to the side of the cabinet. I used a few different fonts to add a little variety and then added a couple of flourishes to the sides.



Below is what the CCR file looks like with all 3 font layers visible (looks like a mess!).


But, CCR makes it easy to turn off the different layers so you can clearly see what you're working on. Below is just the 3rd layer visible.



I really like how it turned out on the cabinet. Using CCR to line it all up, along with the ability to use text boxes, made this a fun and easy project to do. I know I'll be using CCR a lot more now!