Cricut Lite

Oh, my goodness. Have I been living under a rock? How is it that 24 NEW Cricut cartridges were announced almost a month ago and I missed it??? Must be because these new cartridges are going to be sold exclusively at Wal-Mart. Trust me, it's worth putting up with Wal-Mart to get your hands on some of these cartridges.

Here is the link to see images of all the new cartridges on Cricut's website: Cricut Lite Cartridges

As the mother of 2 young boys and a cupcake baking fanatic, it was easy for me to choose my top two favorite cartridges: Cupcake Wrappers and B is for Boy.




These Cricut Lite cartridges fall somewhere between the standard cartridges and the Solutions cartridges. Each features 50 images and have the option for shadows and layers, but no other extras. They will retail for $39.99 each. Best part? We can hide our cartridge purchases on our grocery bill! Ha!

Take My Picture

Clean lines are what make this layout appear so pleasant, in my opinion. I am not one of those trendy scrapbookers who is able to combine 37 different elements on one page surrounding just one photograph. I think in straight lines and tend to keep things simple. This is what works most often for me.


This layout, featuring Basic Grey's Green at Heart Collection is perfect for scrap-lifting! Anyone can copy this layout! The patterned paper is all from the collection pack, I used American Crafts textured cardstock for the title (cut with my Cricut) and journaling. To give the flower sticker a little bit of dimension, I cut the flower at the stem and attached it to the layout with a pop dot. A white gel pen and a ruler allowed me to add "stitches" around the orange block with ease.

A Day in the Life

Small chipboard albums make such great gifts. Here's a sample of one for an upcoming workshop that I'm hosting. The inspiration for this album came from the Lucky Stars stickers by Scenic Route.


This album will hold 10-15 small photos. I've tucked tags behind three of the photo mats to allow room for additional photos or journaling.


The patterned paper is all from Scenic Route's Garden Grove line. The colors are bright and gender neutral making this album perfect for capturing a day in anyone's life. I plan to fill this album with pictures of my boys on any typical day--playing at home, enjoying a playdate with friends, running errands with me, etc.

Ouch!

First, let me apologize for this awful photograph. I cannot take a decent photo of a 2-page layout spread to save my life. Anyone have any suggestions? Do I have to buy a scanner if I want decent images of my layouts? Probably.


The other day I spent hours finishing all but one of my unfinished layouts. Yay, me! It felt great to have a stack of completed layouts when I was done. My husband just kept making fun of me because all of the photos were from 2007 and 2008. That's my style though: scrapbook whichever photo(s) appeal to me at that moment. There's no pressure to scrapbook in order and I KNOW that I will never scrapbook all of my photos.

All products used for this layout are from Scenic Route's Liberty Kit. Scenic Route's papers are double-sided and super thick. Love this manufacturer and am still bummed that they've closed their doors.

I have many more completed layouts to share soon and at least one or two more showing off my boys' in their battered state. Ultimately I am confident that we will fill at least one scrapbook, if not more, with layouts of them wounded. Boys will be boys.

Deal of the Day Sale

June is a busy, busy month! For those who aren't already on my mailing list or a fan of our Facebook page, we are offering a Deal of the Day sale every day during the month of June. Yay! Today's Deal of the Day is Cosmo Cricket's Joy Ride Kit--on sale for $8.50, regularly $14.99.




Also, my laptop broke a couple of weeks ago (the motherboard has shorts in 3 different locations) and I am currently without photo editing software. Boo! I also have to share a computer with my husband. *Gasp* Once the laptop is replaced I will share all of the projects I have recently completed including a chipboard album, a handful of cards and some layouts that have been lying around half-finished for months!

New Cricut Cartridges

Eventhough I still have unopened Cricut cartridges in my craft room, I still find myself drooling over and "needing" a couple of these newly released cartridges.


Cindy Loo Cartridge. Are those cupcake wrappers that I see at the bottom??? Adorable and reason enough to convince me to buy this cartridge.


This family themed layout is from the Oh My Crafts blog and was made using the Cindy Loo cartridge.


Freshly Picked Cartridge. Celebrate the beauty of your backyard garden! This cartridge is filled with a variety of gardening odds and ends ranging from tools to gloves to seed packets. You will fall in love with the garden themed words, signs, and frames on this cartridge.


Toy Story Cartridge. With Toy Story 3 coming out next month, it is no surprise that Provo Craft jumped on the opportunity to release this cartridge. My boys are obsessed with Toy Story so I will likely purchase this one too!


The Cricut Cartridge Organizer is the the perfect way to store those valuable cartridge sets for quick and easy access! Organize up to 16 cartridge cases for easy display and organization.

How do you store your Cricut cartridges? I have mine stacked precariously on a shelf, but I see a few of these cubbies in my future.

New Release from Basic Grey

Basic Grey has recently announced two new collections to being shippin mid- to late-June! These playful and sweet Oliver and Olivia collections are sure to be a welcome addition to your scrapbooks!

I can guarantee that both of these collections will be joining my own personal scrapbook paper collection.

I'm Back!

Oh, my goodness! Things have been especially crazy around my house recently, but everything seems to have calmed down just a bit. My semester is finally over which means that now I have TIME to spend crafting again. Yippee!!!


I'm mostly finished with the above mini album, but I still need to order prints and add the journaling. I am ashamed to say that I am over a year behind in ordering prints right now. There just aren't enough hours in my days.

The mini album uses Scenic Route's Ashville line which is currently 30% off at my online store! The patterned paper is double-sided and quite thick. Because of this, I didn't feel the need to mount the paper to a chipboard album. Instead, I folded the sheets in half for weight (and to make pockets) and connected them all with metal jump rings.

I'm off to go work on my next unfinished project. I must have at least 15 semi-completed layouts and 5 half-finished mini albums. Oh, my!

15-Minute Layout

Maybe 30 minutes--15 minutes to choose the elements and prep the page and another 15 minutes re-arranging those darn paper strips so everything is even.


We have countless pictures of our son in his exersaucer laughing and smiling. Rather than scrapbook a bunch of almost identical pictures that don't really tell a story, I chose my favorite for this layout. Now I feel perfectly okay leaving the remaining photos in their plain $2 photo album.

This was a very simple layout. I trimmed 1/2" off two sides of the white textured cardstock and mounted it to the navy blue textured cardstock. The patterned strips of paper are from Scenic Route's North Shore line--Benson, Cross Step, Duck Dive and Sunset. The buttons are from my stash of random buttons and Cosmo Cricket's Joy Ride Button Pack.

I very rarely journal in my own handwriting, but Scenic Route's White Line Background Paper makes it so easy AND reminds me why I am so sad that this company has decided to close.

And the winner is...

Comment #108: Rebecca Blomer said...
Oh, and I figured out how to follow the blog, too. You know I am already a fan on FB. :)

March 22, 2010 10:48 AM

Thanks to random.org!!!

Operation Write Home -- Bloghop!

If you are not yet familiar with Operation Write Home, this awesome organization collects handmade greeting cards from crafters all over the United States and ships them to troops overseas for them to use to write to their families back home.


If this is your first stop in today's bloghop, please take the time to return to the start of the hop HERE.

Welcome! The new Kioshi line from Basic Grey has been calling my name since it arrived last week. The colors and patterns are perfect for spring! I used four different patterned papers as well as chipboard embellishments from the Kioshi Collection for this all-occasion card.

My reason for making cards for OWH is simple: I would love my husband to send me cards when he is deployed so I am sure that there are many other family members who feel the same way. I especially love to include Any Hero notes with each package as I want to do my part to make sure that every service member knows his/her sacrifice and devotion is very much appreciated.

Here's a picture of my hero and I from his commissioning ceremony a few years ago. He has proudly served our country for the past 13 years and is currently training away from home to prepare for an upcoming deployment. Love you!


Now time for some Blog Candy! These are a few of my favorite things--Tombo liquid glue, American Crafts envelops, brads, buttons, glazed brads, paper frills and chipboard!!! To enter to win, just leave a comment. Easy! If you follow the blog, leave a second comment and if you decide to become a Facebook Fan, leave yet another comment. The winner will be chosen using random.org on Monday!


If you'd like to help by making some cards of your own and sending them to OWH that would be great! Keep in mind that the deadline for Mother's Day cards is April 1--this is the date that they must reach the shipper.

Next up is Lori's Purple Giraffes. I LOVE Lori's card. She has included a step-by-step video demonstrating how she made her card. I need to learn a few techniques from Lori!

Basic Grey -- ALL on Sale!!!

Just in case you have not yet signed up to receive my promotional newsletter, I wanted to let you know that our entire stock of Basic Grey is 20% off through March 24. This includes the brand NEW Kioshi & Green at Heart Collections.


The Kioshi Collection is sophisticated in design, yet I think it will also be perfect for all of the upcoming spring and Easter pictures we are all sure to take.


A crafter can never have enough buttons on hand. Am I right? The lovely pastel colors in this button pack coordinate perfectly with the entire Kioshi line.


The Green at Heart Collection is described as fresh and fun. I could not have said it better myself! These colors and patterns are making me very impatient as I wait for the grass to return to green and the flowers to bloom locally.


Flowers and cute little critters are the highlights of this chipboard sticker pack.


This is my favorite new stamp set! The Tree Hugger Bitsy Stamp Set is too cute and I think some thank you cards have just been added to my weekend's to-do list.

Happy Day

Finally! I had the chance to dive into one of the new paper packs from Cosmo Cricket. It was difficult to choose which collection to open first, but I finally decided to go with Joy Ride. This simple card was made using one of the Cut-Apart Element Cards, a thin strip of patterned paper and the coordinating Joy Ride Buttons. The felt ric-rac is by American Crafts and just happens to match perfectly!

Junior Clipboard

Here is another project using the Junior line from American Crafts mady by Michelle! In my opinion, one can never have too many altered clipboards! You can usually find these for a dollar at any office supply store. Add some patterned paper (Mod Podge is the perfect adhesive for large surfaces), ribbon and you have yourself a finished project in under an hour.

Lunchbox Notes

In celebration of National Craft Month, Fiskars is featuring a new craft everyday. Check out today's Project of the Day featuring these cute Lunchbox Notes.

Next week is my spring break from school so I hope to accomplish some serious crafting on my week "off"...it's never really time off as the mother of two. I can't wait to tackle my stacks and stacks of photos and put some of the new Basic Grey and Cosmo Cricket kits to work!

A Roaring Good Time

The birthday party is over (yet my house is still full of balloons and dinosaurs)! Time was not my friend in the week leading up to the party so I was only able to complete about 1/2 of the projects I had planned. AND, my silly husband forgot to take pictures of some of the things I did finish. Oh, well.


I purchased a pack of solid color party hats from Party City once I found that colorful digital kit mentioned in the previous post. My handy Xyron 510 was the perfect tool to apply adhesive to the dinosaurs that I cut out to embellish the hats.


Photoshop is my friend, but I am FAR from an expert. I figured out how to make this simple panel using the digital kit. This made customizing the basic goodie bags super simple!


The balloons attached to the chandelier in our dining room remains my favorite birthday party decoration to date! How cheap and easy is this? Blow up some balloons, tie some colored curling ribbon to the balloons, attach to the light fixture and you're done! Festive and pretty for about 50 cents!!!


The birthday boy wearing his party hat and covered in frosting. The perfect way to end a party!