CLB's Cricut Spot

Posters! again.

2011-11-10T18:17:00.001-06:00

So it's been a minute (again). I've got plenty to talk about, but first another rambling. I ran into a lady looking at a Cricut machine when a Joann's opened in my area, and she asked me if I had one. I told her I did and I said if you've got kids who do school projects, this is a life saver just for the sake of not having to cut your own letters and worry about drawing and spacing them. It really takes a lot out of the chore of doing one!

I really like crafts so I don't mind doing a poster anyway, but my thing is now that my kids are getting older I want them to do it, and me help not just do it myself. But what's great about the Cricut is it's easy to operate and kids can do a lot of it by themselves. So, we had a poster contest for 4-H and my oldest wanted to do one, so she came up with this idea. I was shocked to find out today that this won and will be going to county competition. She did this all herself, except the guitars which I had to fiddle with on Design Studio to get to the right height, but she did all the gluing and such. This was done with the Hannah Montana cartridge, which despite the name, really is a good one.

Nothing like justifying a new purchase......

2011-08-13T18:47:00.001-05:00

So, a Joann's Fabric store opened up last week around me. The first 3 days they were having a free $10 gift card for the first 100 folks. Now honestly, this was on a Thursday morning so I didn't expect that many people, but there was a line of folks waiting at the door. Oh well stand in line and see what happens- but I scored a gift card. Anyway, props to the crowd out there, it wasn't like Black Friday shopping, every one was cordial and nice and I'm not the type who shops in crowds period no matter what, but to be honest I didn't mind it.

Anyway, I had planned on purchasing some cardstock but to be honest, Hobby Lobby is better. But anyway, while looking I browsed the Cricut cartridges, and they were ALL on sale for $29.99 which is a bargain in itself, and I had my $10 gift card so what the heck. I picked up the Songbird cartridge and I think it's going to be a blast. Those birds have that cool retro 70s/Partridge Family vibe and I really like that, not to mention the font itself is awesome, and I needed another font cartridge but you can also put the lettering on flowers as well so that really gives me some ideas.

While I was also in there I talked to a nice lady and became a complete enabler and talked her into getting a Cricut. Seriously, if you scrapbook it's a must, but if even if you don't (I don't do much myself, heck I still have one page I need to do from last year's basketball season but I just haven't done it) but if you have kids that do projects or posters this really cuts down on the work.

Ah, a new school year- the smell of new pencils, notebooks, and....posters?

2011-08-13T18:39:00.001-05:00

So, off we go with a new school year and here we are with a poster project already. Not that I'm complaining, gives me an excuse to use my Cricut. This is probably a crappy pic, but it was taken with the ol 2009 phone I'm still using (and still going to use until it drops dead) but anyway, the letters were done with the Hannah Montana Cartridge. I know Hannah is out...but the fonts on this are great and there's not a whole lot of Hannah images on this so if you catch it on sale you can't beat the 6 fonts on this cartridge, which is mainly why I bought it. Anyway, I'll be a complete enabler here and say if you have kiddos that need to do any type of school projects, this makes doing the letters a real breeze and there's no cutting, measuring, drawing by hand, just cut them with the Cricut and go.

In my mind this was better.............

2011-08-13T18:35:00.000-05:00

So, had seen some of these online and boy were they cute, only I couldn't get the label off completely. Oh well, I went the lazy route and covered it with paper. I wish I had a pump style bottle instead of this one, that way it could be a bit more ornate than what I did this one. I'm about out of craft paper and ribbon to be honest, my kids have been in it and I swear I have about half a roll of ribbon left and it's Christmas ribbon. Hopefully I'll do some more of these later and get some better looking ones.

Yeah, think I'll stick with paper...........

2011-08-11T12:48:00.001-05:00

So, for months now I've been looking at bakerella.com and seeing all these cool cake pops that these people make, like Diet Coke cans and dogs, cats, and everything else, so I got the inclination that I could do it. Yeah, well here's my result. Didn't affect the taste of course, they tasted ok, but boy was that tedious and my brain was about fried by the time I did the whole pan of them. Think my problem was that I didn't get my candy melted quite enough so it looks rather blotchy. For me, candy melting is the scariest thing ever. I kept toying with my fondue pot because I kept thinking I was going to scald the bottom of the pot. Oh well, think I'll stick with paper..........

So, it's been a minute.......

2011-06-26T10:45:00.001-05:00

I honestly don't know why I haven't been crafting much lately. I guess you could say life happens while you are making other plans. But anyway, I had a baby shower to go to and had to take some food to, only I came home to realize my tray I was going to use was missing. hmmm. What to do. So for some reason I had some cake boards, so I just used my Cricut and used some vinyl cutouts and stuck them on there. Voila.

2011-05-06T20:20:00.000-05:00

So I needed a place to put granola bars, seems like we get down to one and it sits in the box forever. Anyway, I saved this Cascade box and covered it and put a donut on it from Slumber Party. Ok, I know a granola bar isn't a donut, but I guess you can think about a donut while you eat one?

I knew I would need that box.....eventually.

2011-04-04T13:20:00.000-05:00

So I have a tendency to save boxes, plastic containers that stuff comes in, thinking it might come in handy at some point and time. Sometimes I toss them all out, only to think later 'oh I wish I had that'. Anyway, I've gotten some really good coupons for drink mix envelopes lately, and I've stocked up quite a bit, and these little envelopes tend to hide everywhere in my pantry. So rather than buy a fancy box, this is a Cascade box I covered with paper and also put 2 cutouts on, from Hello Kitty. I'm thinking I may paint the lid also. You can take the top off this thing, even though it's a hinged lid, just jerk at it until it comes completely off.

Tie Dye

2011-04-04T13:07:00.001-05:00

I learned to tie dye as an Art class assignment when I was a senior in high school. Little did I know that this skill would ever be useful. I've tie dyed quite a bit since then, matter of fact when my oldest was in Kindergarten I did 20 tshirts for her class as their 'class shirts'. The kits they have now makes it much easier to do than Rit brand powder and liquid dyes of the past. I'd recommend using a Tulip tie dye kit, which has gloves, rubber bands, dye, the whole shebang in the box together and it's relatively inexpensive. Also, if you have a white tshirt with wording that's seen better days, as the one with wording on these pics, as long as it's 100% cotton you can tie dye them and give it new life.

Ideas.....

2011-03-04T06:48:00.001-06:00

So, a few weeks ago the Animal Shelter in my town said they needed dog toys. Well, you know how expensive they can be, so I did some looking online and came up with these, they are made from worn out tshirts. I cut them into strips, braided them, and knotted both ends. We were able to make 55 of these for the shelter. I found that cotton or knit material worked best.

Nothing like a science fair project.......

2011-02-06T21:50:00.001-06:00

So my kids are old enough to compete in the science fair, and nothing like a project to use my Cricut. Lettering was done with Hannah Montana cartridge.

Not Cricut, but a craft indeed.....

2011-01-17T21:07:00.001-06:00

I don't know if any of you out there have noticed that doll clothes are expensive. They're aligned price wise with people clothes if you ask me. I had bought some off Ebay, few off Etsy, and this other place called Emily Rose, but after a failed attempt to try to make some big, fancy, technical doll dress with sleeves, I finally found a pattern that's relatively simple and dummy proof. You know, those you can take a huge seam on and it won't make a big difference in the end. Total cost of dress - ribbon in dress- 99 cents, top, 61 cents, and peace sign bottom, $1.34, and I still have enough fabric left over to do another dress also. Sure beats a $20 doll outfit.

change is good....

2010-11-27T19:25:00.000-06:00

Ok, if you dig deep on my blog, you'll recognize this garland, only with a different cut on it. I did something different this year just to change it up. The candies are done with a paper pack from Hobby Lobby called Christmas pack or something, 2 different reds, 2 greens and a gold, and a nice textured white. I also did some Stickles on the sides of these candies. The cut is from Christmas Cheer.

It's been a minute....

2010-11-24T18:51:00.001-06:00

So, I've had this project in my mind for a while now, just haven't executed it. It's for a bridal shower, and the colors are pink, black and white. I thought I'd fill this with stuff like candles, plug ins, pot holders, stuff like that. The basket and ribbon came from Wal Mart, and I want to say the basket was less than $5. The scalloped circle is from Mini Monograms, then the lettering is done with George cartridge.

Can you can can?

2010-10-21T11:52:00.000-05:00

So, this is just a sample of 36 ( I still have one to go but have to eat a can of soup first) of the altered cans I made for my kids' classmates. I use a side cutting can opener (mine is OXO brand and I think I got it at Macy's) then I wash the can out in the dishwasher after I take the label off and you can fill it with whatever and then glue the lid back on and the recipient uses the pop tab to open the gift. I used clear Gorilla glue to put the lids back on and after gluing I put a heavy book on top of the cans to make sure they stayed down while the glue dried. These are filled with shaped rubber bands that I got in bulk over on ebay.

Back on this crate...........

2010-10-21T11:37:00.000-05:00

I'll have to be sure to post another pic once this thing gets done. At least I have the container part done just have to fill it now. For some reason Blogger only liked 3 of the pics on the other post and kept spitting this one back out. So I know you out there reading are wondering where the other side is. Here it is. Once again, done with Slumber Party Cartridge.

A crate that is causing me to dislike blogger at the moment.....

2010-10-21T11:12:00.006-05:00

So, normally, I totally 'email posts' to my blog. It just makes life simpler than dragging over here and posting. So, I have tried not once but three times to get this blog post emailed over here, and had 3 failures. So probably after this posting, the original blog posts will show up so I will have like 5.

Anyway, a few weeks ago I was asked if I had an idea for a basket for a silent auction at the school's fall festival. Sure, don't I always have an idea? I suggested a movie themed basket with like maybe a rental gift card or movies, popcorn, maybe some chips and candy maybe a canned drink or two. Then it was asked if someone would assemble the basket, and I volunteered. Luckily they used my idea.

So I knew I had to get a container of some form and that would be the hardest part to find one at a decent price. I had looked at Hobby Lobby and they wanted $13 for a frumpy popcorn bowl so I knew I could do better. I found this crate over at Wal Mart for $3. So the hard part was over.

I got all these images from the Cricut Lite Slumber Party Cartridge, all cut at 5 1/2. The hard part was getting them on the crate. First I sort of tied them on, but that wasn't good enough, so I then took hot glue and went all under them too. Good luck to whomever gets this basket who wants that stuff off there. The lettering on the TV was done with George Cartridge at 1 inch. My thoughts are to put red tissue paper then all the goodies inside.

Final lunchbox note entries....

2010-08-23T13:58:00.001-05:00

It's been a while since I've done a swap, I enjoyed myself but I'm just going to do maybe one or two a year because I don't want to take on too much. Plus, it gets too feeling like 'work' and not fun by the time I finish them sometimes. Anyway, my last two entries are for Sports and Animals, neither of which I wanted to make too gender specific, because I know a lot of girls play basketball and boys too, plus not everyone in this swap has a girl like me. So, the basketball cutout is from Cricut Basketball Solutions, which I think now is being discontinued. I was lucky enough to find mine on eBay (which I buy a lot there) so if you're wanting it, that's a good place to start. It retails for $39 so be sure not to get ripped off on that.

Ok, the dog one I did the shapes with the George Cartridge, then the dog came from Paper Pups (which I'm thinking is being discontinued too? Correct me if I'm wrong on that). I filled in the black areas with a a marker, just because it looked to plain otherwise.

Nothing like a last minute project

2010-08-23T13:53:00.001-05:00

I found out my kid's teacher was having a birthday about 2 days before it happened. Well, at first I said "forgettaboutit" but then I figured I could do something. So this is what I came up with. I had an empty Crystal Light container, covered it with paper (from HL) stuffed it with styrofoam, then painted bamboo skewers green (which took forever it felt like) and then cut the flowers from the George Cricut Cartridge. I recommend if you're going to paint the bamboo skewers, use a hair dryer to dry them that way the paint doesn't rub off while it's sitting on newspaper. Learned that one the hard way.

Working on Christmas Time.........

2010-08-18T19:41:00.001-05:00

So, bought all these things at Wal Mart except the paper! I am absolutely nuts about toile, and last trip to Hobby Lobby I bought all the toile paper they had, so I'm about out after this project so I need to raid HL again. Full size composition notebook, mini composition notebook, and a post it note holder that's actually a plastic picture frame. All this for $1.75. Used Modge Podge to adhere the paper to the notebooks, then put a coat over the paper as well so it wouldn't tear off easily. Ribbon was hot glued on and the letters are done with the Cricut George Cartridge.

Glam or a Sham?

2010-08-17T12:47:00.000-05:00

I'm very critical of my own work. Always have been. As I mentioned in the last post, I'm doing a swap, so for other people to see my work I'm uber particular. This lunchbox note swap is fun, but most of my ideas have looked better in my mind than when carried out. Take these nail polish cards for instance. I cut them as large as possible, but write anymore than the word hi on them and you're out of room. But there again, you don't need to write a whole paragraph on a lunchbox note do you?

So, I ditched the nail polish cards, and went on to Hello Kitty. One of the categories I'm doing for the swap is girly girl, which I thought would be the most fun, but for some reason has turned out to be the hardest. Eh, these cards are ok, but there again, better in my mind than when executed out.

I did a school one also, and these turned out ok, but something is missing about them that I can't quite pinpoint at the moment. I'm thinking if I back away from them for a while then maybe I'll have an idea on it later.

I have a pretty colorful brain don't I?

Swappin' for something to do....

2010-08-11T07:52:00.001-05:00

So, I joined a Cricut Messageboard swap so I could have an excuse to use my machine, not to mention my new Cricut Lite Cartridge Slumber Party. I haven't done ANYTHING all summer and I need to get back into crafting. So I suggested a lunchbox notes swap and someone started one up. One of the 5 categories I'm doing is food, so here's my first one. The black area is supposed to be like a ticket stub, that is off the cartridge Locker Talk, The popcorn is off Slumber Party, and then the red rectangle is off George. I made the writing and lines via my computer. I'm working on my second one and it's in the girly girl category, so hopefully have another to show soon!

Been a long time since I rock and rolled...............

2010-05-29T21:12:00.001-05:00

Well, it's been a while since I've crafted period guys! Seems like the time from January to about September I don't have much to craft. But I had a brainstorm several days ago in Wal Mart, I spotted these two $1.50 bottles and decided to trick them out. The scallop I did from Mini Monograms as well as the letter, and the circle is from that cartridge as well, but I used Design Studio to cut my own custom size.

Poster Contest

2010-03-12T17:47:00.001-06:00

So we haven't had much of an oppertunity to make anything lately, but this poster contest came up. The theme was "Bases Loaded, Let's Hit a Grandslam Against Litter". Yeah, I thought it was a tad too specific too, but this is what we had to work with. Took two tries to get this result, but here's what we came up with. The black things on the bases are trash cans, I really hope they look like trash cans, because that's what they're intended to be. The wording was done with the Cricut George and Basic Shapes cartridge, and I scaled all the lettering down with Design Studio on my computer, which by the way is a must if you need to do tiny lettering. The little trash cans are from the same cartridge. The dogs up at the top are from Paper Pups, and they are sitting in the bleachers, which there again to me it looks like bleachers, it may look like an envelope to some people. Anyway, we'll see if we win the $10 grand prize which mind you the winner is being chosen by someone dressed in a dinosaur suit- Trashasaurus Rex.

This is what 100 Chihuahuas look like.

2010-01-18T18:34:00.001-06:00

My oldest came home with a school project for next week, for the 100th day of school they were supposed to make a shirt with 100 things on it, and she chose Chihuahuas, since we have one. So, I cut these all from vinyl and made stickers, and then just stuck them on the shirt. As you can guess, the last 10 were hard to get on the shirt because we about ran out of room!

Glass blocks....

2010-01-18T18:31:00.001-06:00

I've been really wanting to do a glass block, so once the holidays were all done, I picked up a glass block at Hobby Lobby, and the lights inside I used are battery powered rice lights. First off, I'm not real satisfied with the frosted job I did on it, you'd think they'd sell these things already frosted for the trouble you go through to frost them. I first tried and opaque stamp pad but that really wasn't giving the look I wanted, and it was rather hard to deal with, so I tried Modge Podge, but if you look closely you can see all the brushstrokes in it. Oh well, I just covered it up with stuff so you can't really tell.

2010 workin' again...

2010-01-09T07:41:00.001-06:00

I had originally planned to take boxes of conversation hearts, wrap them, and make these ipods with them, but then I thought- no one eats conversation hearts, I mean to be honest they taste like chalk. So, I just cut a rectangle from the George cartridge and took the screen and wheel cutouts from familyfun.com and made a bookmark. I also made the tail, which is way easier than I thought it would be, and I got the directions from over at ehow.com.

Toile....again!

2009-12-20T08:28:00.001-06:00

As you know from previous posts, I'm really into toile. I have a friend who is really into it too, so what better gift than to make a toile set? The clipboard came from Wal Mart, as well as the plastic acrylic frame that serves as the post it note holder. The ribbon is also from Wal Mart. Paper is from Hobby Lobby, and the paperweight I got from Oriental Trading. The letter is cut from George cartridge using red vinyl. This turned out way beyond my expectations, and it was tempting to keep it for myself!

It's starting to feel a lot like Christmas.....

2009-11-16T12:39:00.000-06:00

Seems like every year we get earlier and earlier with the Christmas stuff doesn't it? Well, thought I would get started on some gifts. These are all two liter bottles filled with candy, and one is even a sugar free version. You won't believe how much candy is in there!

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Puppet Show!

2009-11-05T14:16:00.000-06:00

I got this done last week, but I'm just now getting around to posting it. I had noticed those wooden puppet show theaters were not only expensive, but took up a lot of room. I recently brainstormed this idea and got it done on Friday. The board is one of those science fair boards that you get at Office Max, which I bought the foam one so it was more expensive than carboard, but still only $14. Next up, I used fabric to cover it, which turned out to be the most expensive part of the project, 2 yards for $17. I glued the fabric on with Modge Podge, then on the edges I used the glue gun, and the ribbon was $2.97 and I glued it on with hot glue too. The letters were done with the Hannah Montana Cartridge and I did those with vinyl. Much cheaper and much more portable than the wood ones. Also, you can fold this up and stick it in the closet.

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flamingos in action, birthday cakes, and mummies.....

2009-10-30T10:44:00.000-05:00

So, finally got that flamingo pumpkin and here was our ending result. Weird part is I ended up doing the pumpkin part twice because for some reason the first one decided to rot from the inside out. Went to put the neck in and it was complete mush. Neither one of our pumpkin entries won, but oh well.

Also, last week in my coupons I saw how to make these mummy dogs using crescent roll dough and hot dogs, and since my buns had bitten the dust, and I happened to have hot dogs and crescents, I went for it.

My next project is a birthday cake and here is the cake board. I did the lettering using vinyl and the Hannah Montana Cartridge. More pics to follow later once I make the cake!

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Bat signal???

2009-10-14T12:46:00.002-05:00

Ever since I got the Cricut Home Decor Cartridge, this fleur de lis off of it has been showing up everywhere on here. My husband called it my bat signal, and then asked after decorating pumpkins one day, why don't you have one with that bat signal on it? Hmmm...he may be onto something!

That bowl I got over at Kohl's and it's actually a Food Network casserole dish, but I like it as a bowl myself. If you haven't seen that Food Network line over there- it's some really nice stuff!

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Pumpkins, one down, one to go and a surprise one!

2009-10-02T21:33:00.001-05:00

I know in my last post I was talking about some pumpkins we were working on for the fall festival at school, well we got the apple one down, still have the flamingo to go.

Also on my trip to Kohl's, I was actually looking for some toys for Christmas (sometimes they have neat stuff) and for some reason this little kit had Hello Kitty where you could put the metal parts into the pumpkin and I just had to have it. Besides, I had a cat one and the tail broke off this year so this could be my replacement.

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Changito and cocoa!

2009-10-01T16:31:00.001-05:00

I'm really into Changito. I had seen a post over on Splitcoast Stampers of someone making these so I thought this Changito image would be perfect. I blew him up 200% on my copy machine, then printed out oh 36 or so and then colored them. For the card, I just cut a regular sized piece of cardstock in half and was able to get 2 cards out of it. I was lazy and just used Scotch tape to tape the image on and the cocoa packet in it.

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Candy bars and a few works in progress.....

2009-09-29T20:18:00.001-05:00

So, both of my kids have birthdays around major holidays, but yet they still want to take something to school for their birthday. I tried to make it as simple as possible this year and I did candy bars. These are Hershey bars and they are wrapped with a 5 x 5 in. piece of paper that I sent through the Cuttlebug, then the design on top is Changito the Monkey but instead of stamping 21 images, I made a sheet of six then just printed them out using my copy machine onto cardstock then I colored them which cut down on the work. I also just used Scotch tape to put it all together.

Another work in progress I've got going on are two pumpkins. Each year the school has a pumpkin contest and so far the highest we've placed is honorable mention. This big flamingo neck you see is for the flamingo pumpkin (which the body is a work in progress) but I made the neck by paper mache. I used a coathanger for the base, then put plastic shopping bags around it, covered them with masking tape, then did the paper mache. The other shot is eventually going to become an apple (or let's hope so anyway). More on this pumpkin news once I get finished......

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The things you think of in the middle of Kohl's.....

2009-09-25T12:17:00.001-05:00

I had been wanting a little dispenser bottle for olive oil, and I noticed Bed, Bath and Beyond had some really nice ones. But, when I was in Kohl's I spotted this for only $4.79 and immediately I thought I could do something to it so here it is with black vinyl on it.....

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A gift for um.....myself?

2009-09-21T19:00:00.001-05:00

Originally I had made these coasters as a gift, but I goofed up the little wood tray that they all go in, and I needed some coasters, so why not? I kept them for myself. Besides, I'm a bit OCD about fleur de lis anyway. These I bought as a kit from Oriental Trading, and the background is done with wallpaper samples. The fleur de lis is done with gold vinyl.

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If you like it then you better put a lid on it....

2009-09-21T18:58:00.001-05:00

I'm all about a nice simple gift, and I have some cousins who are ages 1, 2, and 3 and all boys! So, I thought these plastic containers would be a good idea for them for Christmas and I'm going to fill them with various Play Doh items so they will not only have a place to store their Play Doh, but also know what belongs to whom!

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Pumpkins!

2009-09-16T12:12:00.001-05:00

Hi again! I thought I would share another item I am doing for Halloween, just using my Stampin' Up scalloped circle punch and taking glue dots and putting these on a peppermint patty. You can sandwich the patty between two circles, or just do one. For one, which I was putting 2 in an altoid tin, I left the back off because it fit much better. For another set, I sandwiched them because they were going loose into a bag. The face I just did on my own with a marker.

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'Ol four eyes.......

2009-09-13T10:17:00.001-05:00

I really wondered how I was going to label an eyeglass case. I thought it would look tacky with magic marker on the inside felt and thought it would bleed everywhere too. So finally it came to me to use some vinyl on the cases! Let me mention that these cases aren't very forgiving. I had a slight mishap and tried to peel the vinyl off only to take some of the material off the case too! So I just made sure to cover that back up with the vinyl. So, here's the result.

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Halloween stuff!

2009-09-08T13:42:00.001-05:00

Hi again! It's about time I got to work on my Halloween stuff, so this is a 2 liter bottle stuffed with candy and popcorn for my kids to take to their teachers on Halloween. How did I stuff it in there? Well first, take a 2 liter bottle, wash it, and remove the label. You can scrub on the side and get all the label off so you may make a smaller label than the original, but I just removed the label and kept it as a template for my label I made.

Next, take an icepick and make a hole in the bottle midway down, then cut a D shaped flap in the bottle, making sure not to make your flap bigger than your label. You may want to take a marker and draw one first. I then took some shredded paper and filled the bottom. Then, I filled it with microwave popcorn, Mini Twix, and a box of Jack o lantern Peeps. After I got all my stuff in, I stuffed more shredded paper at the top. Next, you tape your hole shut and I used two sheets of 12x12 paper to make the label.

The 'Monster Munch' is done in Microsoft Word and printed on colored paper. The name of the font is Halloween Spider. I put ribbon on the outer edges as well as the cap. The poem attached to the top says "We hear you're good with monsters, a nice and patient teacher, here's a little monster munch from one of your little creatures!"

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I have a disease, and the prescription is more toile......

2009-08-20T12:43:00.001-05:00

Here's the clipboard I finished up today! I also got it from Oriental Trading and they have these in several different sizes.

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Toile Power!

2009-08-20T12:06:00.001-05:00

One of the things I really love is toile in any shape, form or fashion. So this year, I decided to make a toile set for both of my kids' teachers. I still have a mini clipboard that I'm working on that's not in the pic- but that will come later! I made a travel mug, tag, and paperweight. All of these items I got from Oriental Trading.

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More Lunchbox Notes!

2009-08-13T11:52:00.000-05:00

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Lunch Box Notes!

2009-08-11T14:11:00.001-05:00

I joined a swap over on the Cricut Message Board for Lunchbox Notes, and this is one of the ones I have done- it says Surprise! We're going out to eat tonight! Then it has little lines you can write on it with. I did the lines and words with my computer and just printed it on cardstock, the yellow paper was done with my Cuttlebug, then the cutouts done with the Locker Talk Cricut cartridge.

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Dukes of Hazzard!

2009-07-05T10:56:00.000-05:00

It all started off with that mini mailbox from my last post, and it sort of sprung from there! The travel mugs come in a set of 6 and the tags come in a set of 12, so I happened to have them around, so I went ahead and made on of those too! I got the mailboxes, travel mugs, and tags from Oriental Trading, and the hardest thing to alter was the mailbox! I filled the mailbox and mug with candy.

I'm really hoping the boy I made this for likes this. I noticed at school this year he had an orange backpack with an 01 on it so I figured he had to be into Dukes of Hazzard. At least, I hope he is now that I've made this stuff!

Also, the memo board I made him too, and I really like these- it's so inexpensive only $3.97 at Wal Mart and they come in different colors and they make larger ones as well for a little more money. I like this one though it is just the right size to carry. It comes with the marker and magnets too!

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Been a While!

2009-07-04T19:33:00.001-05:00

Been a while since I did some Cricut work, but happy to announce I've got all my xmas stuff to alter purchased just about lack maybe 1 or 2 items and I spent only $60 on 7 people so far. Pretty decent, if I can now just get motivated to make all the stuff now.

Got a birthday party next week, and those Southerners out there my age may get this right off as to what this is supposed to be- but for those of you it doesn't click with it's inspired from the 80's Dukes of Hazzard and the General Lee.

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Finally made some stuff....

2009-06-10T10:33:00.001-05:00

I've kind of been on a hiatus from making stuff lately, but I got a big box from Oriental Trading yesterday so thought I would get some stuff made for Christmas this year- yeah I know I'm way ahead of myself, but I like to get it done then I don't have the stress of making it when the time comes. These little travel mugs came in a pack of 6 and I've got two decorated already and they are really simple to do and make a nice personalized gift. Of course, they're Hello Kitty.....

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Pic of the week.....

2009-05-15T10:02:00.001-05:00

Just one pic for this next blog entry, another thing I haven't tried before. I did a swap on the Cricut message board and one item was to do a shaker box. I had never tried one or for that matter even heard of one, so after a little researching on the internet I got some ideas. Mine are more like picture windows rather than shaker boxes.

The cow one the grass is made of parsley. You want to be careful when using food items because any type of smelly items like spices could get your whole scrapbook to smelling. To get the parsley to stick I just laid down some double sided scrapooking tape where I wanted it and then shook the parsley on it over the garbage can and then shook off the excess. The 'water' for the fishbowl is done with sugar sprinkles like you put on cakes and I did the same thing to get them to stick. For the clear 'glass' stuff I used one of those page protectors and was able to cut it on my Cricut on low speed and turned the pressure dial up on it and just make sure you've got it stuck to the mat really well.

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Trying new things

2009-04-30T18:53:00.001-05:00

I've heard of inchies, twinchies and trinchies, but didn't really know what they were. I had to make some for a swap and here's what I came up with. I also made this photo album, but not the actual photo album but the stuff on the front. I bought it over at the Dollar Store for like $2 and made the vinyl cutouts that are on it.

I also made a shaker box, but I didn't like it enough to put it on here- it's a goldfish bowl and I used blue sugar for the water.

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2009-04-17T11:25:00.001-05:00

I can't believe here we are at the end of the school year...almost anyway and I'm making end of the year teacher gifts. This school year has flown by without a hitch. Anyway, the bottles here are actually glass Orange Crush bottles from Wal-Mart and I tore off the label and cleaned them out and decorated them. Once it's time for giving I'm going to fill with M&Ms and cap them, and put them with the DVD tins that are in another entry on here. I certainly have kept the teachers outfitted with chocolate this year!

Next up, I know a couple of entries ago I had made a car monogram but the idea to put Hello Kitty on there popped in my head so here we are. :)

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More HK nation and my vinyl addiction...

2009-04-05T20:22:00.002-05:00

Wow, two entries in one day! I wasn't

finished with this stuff earlier so I couldn't post it.

First up we have a dry erase board that I bought for $5 and I put some vinyl on it as well as glitter. Next up we have a cup done with vinyl, and lastly a composition notebook I dressed up.

Really diggin' that dry erase board. Really inexpensive but doesn't look cheap and lots of ways you could dress it up too. Could cover it with paper and just use magnets.

Also, my other new addiction is vinyl- it's really helped me alter more and more stuff and it's so easy to use too no gluing, just take off the back and stick it on!

A new toy to play with...

2009-04-05T16:55:00.002-05:00

Guess what I bought a few weeks ago? A Cuttlebug. My main idea with this is to emboss my own gift bags, and the pic of the white lunch sack is what I embossed with it. You'll also see an awesome cheetah print paint can that I did for a swap, then the last two pics are of a paint can I got through a swap and all the goodies stuffed into it.

Cans, cans, and notebooks....

2009-03-25T11:18:00.003-05:00

Several things going on here! The thing with Hello Kitty on it is actually one of those black and white composition notebooks you find for like $1 at Wal-Mart. I thought it turned out really awesome, and it's simple and inexpensive too. I'm jealous of it- I did it for a swap but kind of wanted it for myself!

The cute puppy you see is for summer wishes paint can swap I did. Isn't he cute in his little floatie? I also got a chance to use some vinyl.

The last one is actually a can of pears that I opened with my safety can opener, cleaned and then filled with altered paper clips then I super glued the lid back on.

Here comes Peter Cottontail..

2009-03-11T17:11:00.002-05:00

Ok so the pic on the left is two candy bars that I wrapped and then used two flower cutouts to it and then added a pom pom center. I used my crimper to do the pink flower and cut it at 2 inches then the larger yellow one at 3 inches. I just used Scotch tape to adhere.

The second pic is sour cream containers and the paper has brown and pink bunnies on them and says Happy Easter but it's hard to make out. I first made a tube shape and then glued the sides and bottom, then crimped the bottom. Next, I filled it with individually wrapped candy and then used a glue dot to seal the top and then crimped it in the opposite direction of the bottom crimp. I cut my paper 5 in. x 5 in. but you could make these as large as you want, but I would suggest no smaller than this because it would be hard to handle. Two snack size candy bars can fit in here and has anyone noticed how expensive candy is? It was the most expensive part of my project!

Cookie Sheet Memo Board, Cans, and Popcicles!

2009-03-04T16:48:00.005-06:00

I'm really excited about this cookie sheet memo board- so much so I decided to blog about it rather than fix dinner- I mean we gotta have our priorities, right?

I had seen one of these done online somewhere only it was a round pizza pan, but I drug out one to try to do it and I could not get my crop a dile to punch through it. Woe is me. Luckily I remembered I had been on a cheap cookie sheet tip a few months ago and bought these gosh awful cookie pans (awful for cooking anyway) and decided to take one out of its misery and use it. Of course, you can't see how horrible it looked before hand because I didn't take a pic!

So, rather than leaving the thing silver I had just enough spray paint to do the ends as well as the very inside. Then I punched holes for the ribbon using my crop a dile and then I Modge Podge-ed the paper as well as the cookie sheet and attached it. Then, I also put a protective layer on top. Hot glued ribbon on the center where the paper meets and there we are! The magnets were about as expensive as the cookie sheet was originally- I got them for $2 at Wal-Mart. You will want to use a pretty thin and light cookie sheet to be able to punch holes in it as well as hang it.

Now onto the cans- I used a safety can opener for these and then the larger one there has 6 spools of ribbon in it and then I super glued the lid back on. You'll want to use pop top style cans only.

Then those popcicles there are a work in progress- they're eventually going to say have a sweet summer on them, but just haven't gotten there yet.

Meow, meow, meow

2009-02-28T22:10:00.003-06:00

I'm going to be completely honest and say I haven't ever seen 6 inches of snow before, but by golly there's that much outside right now, and that never happens down south where I am. Could be more out there and I'm just not figuring right.

So anyway, here's an idea I've been messing with for ages it seems like now- in my mind it seemed like a good idea but by gosh it sure is a lot more involved than what I realized. This is for next Halloween and what I did on the cut was rather than piecing the bow parts together I just filled it in with a paint pen. Then it's mounted on an altoid tin and the bottom I spray painted in which I made a big mess so I went around the side with ribbon to cover where the paint ran down the sides. So um yeah.....here it is- not the picture I had in my head though.

Also, I've done a paint can for a swap on the Cricut messageboard but not going to post it yet don't want my partner to see it yet. I did some Easter sour cream containers and also working on some summer stuff too. But since I am snowed in pretty much here and I'm out of stuff, those projects are on hold for the moment. Snow sucks.

Hello Kitty Nation!!!!

2009-02-14T21:21:00.002-06:00

I've really outdone myself this time with these lunchboxes. VERY tempting to keep them for myself, not that I would have anything to use them for. But these are awesome! They're for gifts, but I stashed them away from my kiddos so they wouldn't be pining for them.

These were surprisingly easy to do, especially the cutouts- the bigger the pieces you use on the Hello Kitty Greetings Cricut Cartridge, the better. I also have a little vinyl on the lunchboxes but you can't see the sides- I have some cupcake cuouts, and I didn't paper the sides since that will be the first area it's torn off so I just did the vinyl instead.

This week......

2009-02-04T13:29:00.002-06:00

Had a few things going this week. My youngest came home with a note asking us to decorate a box for her valentines. I was probably the only parent glad to see this note, so she picked out all the colors and the cuts she wanted, then I made another as well.

Next, I decided to get ahead and work on some things for later. I worked a little on Halloween stuff, and then I got on my Christmas stuff, and I made some cuff bracelets out of toilet paper rolls. I actually got the idea from Family Fun magazine only they used leopard print felt and had wild about you written on a tag for it, but I used Christmas paper and they turned out pretty nice. Then the card you see is just something random I came up with in my head.

Car Monograms, other stuff...

2009-01-26T12:28:00.002-06:00

Ok, what's going on? Well I know I said I wasn't that good at cards, but I started taking Paper Crafts magazine and got an idea for a card, so there's the first picture. It maybe took 10 minutes to do. The second picture is some bookmarks I made- we had gotten these free paper clips and they were rather ugly, so just spruced them up. Third pic is of a car monogram I made myself! I had gotten some free vinyl from printonit.com and had just enough to make this. It's only 3 inches tall but it is really cute, and you can take it off very easily- I goofed up my first one so I just ripped it right off and made another one. The scallop shapes on the bookmark and car monogram as well as the lettering is done with Mini Monograms, and then the little hearts for the flower petals I made with George.

So what if my typing looks like gibberish?

2009-01-14T13:41:00.003-06:00

Ok, I went to the dr. yesterday after having a tingling in my hands for several weeks when I push the cart at Wal-Mart. Turns out I have Carpal Tunnel in not only one, but both hands- thanks, Wal-Mart for putting tiles on your floor that cause vibration to the cart that my carpal tunnels don't like. Anyway, so I am attempting to type this with two wrist braces on. I look like I'm going to a bowling tournament. I'm trying to make the best of it though, even though they told me to take Advil and

my pain is worse than what advil can fix. Even driving has become painful.

So, last post I said I needed to make some cards, and this little flower pot is what we ended up sending Miss Tennessee out in Las Vegas wishing her luck in the Miss America Pageant. They were not allowed real flowers, so I did something with paper and nothing too ornate since it would have to go in a suitcase to come home and all the beading and such could come off.

I did a few more DVD tins this past week and I went ahead and ordered 6 more tins to do some more. I really like that project b/c it is easy and its something no one would already have. I've been using mine when I go shopping too.

Also, I did a gift bag that in my mind looked better than the way it came out, but still it looks pretty good. I also did a little tooth box out of a candy tin too.

Valentine's Day Stuff...

2009-01-07T18:55:00.003-06:00

Ok, I know it's a little early to talk about valentines, but I've already gotten started. This pic to the very left here is what I've made for my kids to take to school. The bookmark and card have Chihuahuas on it, and then the little ice cream shake there is actually a magnet that I made from a kit I got from Oriental Trading. Let me just say that those little hearts on it were a booger to get on too.

Anyway, the photos at the very top are teacher gifts- one day when we went to Sonic I was about to throw away the little paper thing that your drinks come in and it hit me that I could cover it an reuse it like I did the Starbucks containers. Only I like Sonic waaaayyy better than Starbucks, so no problem getting the containers. So, I covered them and then the little glass jars I bought at Hobby Lobby for like under $2 and I'm going to fil them with candy. There's one with a cat on it that says 'you're purr-fect' and then the other one has a squirrel on it and it says 'nuts for you' I made the animals with the Cricut Animal Kingdom Cartridge as well as the Chihuahuas. I just hand wrote the little saying on the boxes.

The next project(s) on my mind are a birthday card, and a card to send to Miss Tennessee to wish her good luck at the Miss America Pageant, but I'm not too good at cards really, so I'll have to look online for some inspiration.

Stuff, Stuff, and more stuff....

2008-12-27T20:28:00.002-06:00

Ok, got some more stuff going here- in addition to working on Valentine's Day stuff, I went ahead and got started on these altered DVD tins even though I don't have the 5x7 legal pads to stick in one side, but oh well. I think I'll give a few of these as end of the year teacher gifts, and save some for Christmas next year. I bought 10, so that's plenty for the moment.

Here you'll see the inside of the tin and I made a little paperclip to match it too, and then a little side pocket to put stuff in. The blank side to the right is where the pad goes. This one you are looking at is mine! I love that zebra paper and this would be great for the grocery since I have 9000 coupons stuck in my purse when I go along with a huge list.

That ribbon on the zebra print one is actually a sash that goes on a coat but it kept falling off, so I cut it apart and used it. Now you know why I save this stuff.

Nuthin' Special

2008-12-20T13:22:00.002-06:00

Ok this top photo is nothing special, but for some reason out there I couldn't find a dog photo album so I decided to make my own. Not really much into scrapbooking, but just made these frames here. The bottom one is some bookmarks I've been working on.

Fun stuff......

2008-12-17T20:01:00.002-06:00

Ok, here one of these pics you'll be able to figure out, the other, well not so much. The one on the left is another gift card holder I made and I must say I love the polar bear on it.

The picture on the far right is me taking a picture from my vehicle at Sonic. That thing on a red cord is an ornament I made. I found this blog that is an ornament drop- you make ornaments and them put them in public places as sort of a random act of kindness deal and it has a little blurb on the card that tells that crafters all over the world are making these ornaments for people to find and then you can go to this site:

http://ckornamentdrop.ning.com/profiles/blog/list

and then post where you found your ornament and others post where they leave them. I must say it was a fun and sneaky feeling to leave these all over town. I haven't taken a picture of all of them I dropped- most of them ended up in Wal-Mart Super Center, and really these weren't as impressive as other ornaments people are dropping, but had I found out about this about a month ago I would have brought my A game on it, but these are just ornament shapes with cutouts of snowmen and stuff on them. Most of them I have left in the toy department or kids clothing because you know- kids see everything. But maybe next year this will go on again and I can make some cooler stuff and take them with me when I do my out of town shopping. I do have to go to Walgreens tomorrow and then to my kids school for their Christmas program so I think I'll drop a few there. It's just fun to know I maybe brightened someone's day.

A little early for Valentine's Day....

2008-12-12T18:19:00.002-06:00

This is an altered Starbucks container of 4 bottles, and to be honest I wish I liked the stuff that originally came in the bottles because I sure do like making these. But, the coffee in there is gross! I drank about half of one of these then the rest expired so I dumped them. Anyway, going to fill these with candy and give them to a teacher for Valentine's Day. The saying on the front says Bananas for you!

Ideas....

2008-12-12T18:06:00.003-06:00

For those that I don't make things for- I had an idea today to make a gift card holder, which I had seen done on another blog as an ornament, and I made this little snowglobe here. I wish the pics were better because it really is cuter and much more colorful in real life. As you can see, I made the back where you can insert a gift card.

Totally getting ahead of myself....

2008-12-09T20:05:00.003-06:00

Ok, totally getting ahead of myself here, but I have some ideas for next holiday season (and yes I just said that) since I've got everything done for this season. For classroom gifts next year I want to take cylinder cans like Kool Aid and Crystal Light ones, cover them, and then put little items in them. So now you know why I started so early- it's going to take a year to get as many as I need. So, since I emptied one, I just had to cover it- just to see what I would be

getting myself into. It's pretty simple, and it won't be hard to cover. I made myself a template when doing this one so I wouldn't have to measure each time so cutting the papers should be a cinch. I figure I'll make each one different.

In other news- I had posted my mantle pics from a few weeks ago onto the Cricut Messageboard, and turns out they made the newsletter! How exciting. I thought that was really cool and totally unexpected for me. Considering I have been crafting with the Cricut for like a month or a little more. Sweet.

Running out of paper

2008-12-04T08:41:00.002-06:00

So, I had bought some birthday wrapping paper, assuming it would cover all my gifts, but what do you know that it ran out with 2 gifts to go. Annoying. Rather than drag out and get more paper, I decided to make my own. I just inverted some Christmas paper and then made cat and chihuahua cutouts and stuck a bow on it. Now, I wouldn't do this for anyone outside my house, but since these will be opened at home I figure what's the difference?

Back to blogging......

2008-12-04T08:36:00.002-06:00

Ok all, I've been on a short hiatus due to my laptop dying! I didn't know how to behave without a computer, but that gave me plenty of time to get some crafts done. I've actually started on next year's stuff, but I also got some other items done. I know I said I was going to do some wreaths, well these were $2 each, the pre lit ones turns out are not battery operated and I didn't have a place to plug them in!

2008-11-24T18:16:00.001-06:00

Ok here, thought I would post a pic of my mantle. I bought this garland over at Wal-Mart and it looked rather boring plain. I just made these cutouts and then glued a bread tie to the back of the cutout then twisted that on the branches. It's just paper, so if I ever changed themes I could just make a new batch. I decided to do a pre-lit wreath too, since my other wreath is so deep in the attic I can't get to it. Plus, the pre-lit ones are really cheap this year and I don't have one anyways.

Your treats are safe with me....

2008-11-22T21:17:00.002-06:00

These two I just randomly thought of last night when I looked at the glass jar. I had gotten the glass jar as a freebie for sending in proofs of purchase from 2 cookie boxes, only when I got it I realized I didn't really have a place to put it. So, I covered it and put little rawhide twists in it for my Chihuahua, Henry- who is the color of the Chis on the cans. In fact, I ran out of this color paper because I've been doing Chihuahua....everything! The other container is one of those yellow Nesquik powder cans- I always tear up the packaging to his Greenies and I thought they get stale me just rolling the bag they came in up, so I made this to hold them.

More Paint Cans!

2008-11-22T21:09:00.003-06:00

I finally got my last 3 paint cans done today. I must say these are much better than the first two I started with- I'm a lot more comfortable with the project now. I especially like the eyeballs on those lions. Anyway, even though I really liked doing this project, glad I got finished! 9 is a lot to do!!

Going nutty....

2008-11-22T21:03:00.002-06:00

I actually have a couple of entries tonight- I like to do them all seperate because too many pics in on entry is just too much to rearrange and such. Anyway, I got done with my nut cans, and I really think I like the reindeer one I entered earlier better than these two. I'm very critcal of myself though, I'm such a perfectionist and for both of these I had images in my head and when they didn't turn out exactly like I pictured them then I got a little down about it. But oh well, they do look pretty good I suppose, but something about that other brown one just stands out. I'm actually planning for next year and what I'm going to do- there's so many good ideas out there online.

Getting a lot done today!

2008-11-17T12:46:00.002-06:00

So, I had an idea when I saw this plain can of Planters peanuts below here. So, I picked up 3 cans today and this is my first try at it, and it went a lot better than I thought it would.

So, this is one of those plastic cans, and it has like one of those hand grips at the back, which made it really hard to cover since it was curved, but I ended up putting 3 strips at the back and then I covered the seams as best I could with the white ribbon, then I just stuck enough stuff on it that you really don't notice it. Pretty cheap gift for $5.12 isn't it? Still two more of these to do and gotta think up some ideas. I did this reindeer with the Cricut Christmas Cheer Cartridge.

Two in a row!

2008-11-17T07:28:00.004-06:00

Ok, so I had promised some holiday paint cans, and here they are- the top one here is filled with stuff from Bath and Body Works and then the next three are filled with Post-it-Notes, notepads, and candles.

Now, as I say, if you're going to attempt this, I'd suggest first making a template out of newspaper. I made 5 seperate sections, two for the bottom, then one for the front and pieced two small ones together for the area around the handle. Then at the seam where the two papers meet I just covered it with ribbon or cutouts. The 'happy holidays' on the can I actually wrote myself freehand with a Calligraphy pen.

Haven't blogged in a few hours.......

2008-11-17T07:09:00.002-06:00

Well, I haven't blogged in a few uh...hours, so I thought I'd show this card I made last night at the spur of the moment. I used Christmas Cheer cartridge and I made the envelope out of wrapping paper and my Kreate-a-lope envelope maker. I usually don't spend too much time ocard since people manly throw them away.

I have some other items to put on here too, but just for the sake of being neat and tidy I'm going to put them in another entry- just because I'm like that.

Altered Paint Cans, Pins on heads?

2008-11-16T09:23:00.007-06:00

Ok, so my first real project here I had seen on the Cricut Messageboard, which by the way is an excellent source for ideas (www.cricut.com/messageboard) so I went out on a limb and bought these gallon paint cans over at Home Depot and covered them and then I plan to put little stuff inside the can as well. Note these are horrible pics, but I was so excited that I actually completed these that I really didn't think about the background here. Anyway, right now I'm working on some holiday ones, but that's another blog post.

For those of you out there reading this and want to give it a try, I would suggest first measuring the can and then making a template out of newspaper and then putting it on whatever paper you'll be using. I happened to be able to attach the paper to the can using regular glue, but it was pretty thin paper. If you mess up, don't worry about it just make some cutouts that go strategically over the messed up places. I was able to make both of these cans with the cartridge George, which comes with the machine.

Ok, so back tracking a little here- I know in my last post I was talking about holiday stuff when I forgot that I had made these 'pins' for my kids' classes to wear for Veteran's Day. I used double sided scrapbooking tape to 'pin' them on, and when I picked my kids up some of the kids had these stuck to their heads, but the teachers were impressed that I made this. This was pretty simple, just took star cutouts in 3 sizes from the George cartridge and pasted them onto each other, and I had the yarn at home already so I hot glued some on the back.

Until the next episode..........

Oh Chihuahua tree, oh Chihuahua tree....

2008-11-16T08:47:00.004-06:00

Ok, so I've gotten a little OCD about my Cricut, especially with the holidays coming up. Seems like I find more and more stuff to do with the machine here lately. So, to get you in the Christmas spirit, I thought I would post our Chihuahua tree. I couldn't find any pink or for that matter Chihuahua ornaments at the store, so I just made our own, since we have a Chi. It's nice enough to keep up year round I think.....

Welcome to the blog!

2008-11-16T08:42:00.002-06:00

Welcome to my first blog post! I never really featured myself having a blog, but since I got a Cricut machine and I was sending out all these emails of stuff I made and spending countless hours doing so, I figured what the heck. Now I can spend countless hours working on my blog and you can come to me. Hope you enjoy!