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!!!