All of my graduations are over! Woo-hoo! I still have a cousin's graduation party this weekend, but I won't be able to make it, and I'm ready to drop the card/gift in the mail. And I've got one more order for a graduation box, but other than that - no more graduations cards or gifts! Woo-hoo!
The point of that was to say that maybe I'll be able to be a little more reliable about posting on my blog again. My husband even told me last night that I better post more often if I don't want people to quit checking it ... I think he was mocking me, but I'm going to take it as legitimate advice! Thanks Brandon!
I've been thinking about writing this blog for quite a while, but obviously never got around to it. And no, to my family, this isn't about my mother's dog (my brother and his wife got her a dog for Christmas and she named it Cricket, just to clarify).
This machine seems to be getting more and more popular, and there are more and more variations of it. Everywhere you look, it seems like each company has it's own version of the machine. The one I have is the Cricut by ProvoCraft. I actually have the Cricut Expression - which is my opinion is the best one to have, of the Cricuts, because of all the extra options you have.
I don't use my machine near as much as I should, but hopefully when I get back into scrapbooking for myself I'll be able to get some more use out of it. But for now, I will just have other people come over and keep using it! ;)
What prompted this post is that last Wednesday night I made some signs for my sister-in-law for her high school graduation. I was very pleased with the way they turned out, especially the little paper doll graduate. I've got to say, that could be one of my favorite cartridges (Everyday Paper Dolls), even though I'm quite partial to the Sports Mania one, also.
Other things I have done with my Cricut are titles/images for scrapbook pages; die-cuts for cards; die-cuts of scrapbooks-in-a-box; a decorative 12"x12" paper, such as a basketball court (see ones I have for sale at B Inspired!); die-cut packs to sell (at B Inspired!); making vinyl signs for the library and a friend's mom's house; helping make signs out of contact paper for the Chamber for the WhiMsy event; letting a teacher friend make decorations for her (and others') classrooms; cutting letters for name frames; and much, much more!
There are no limits to what you can do with this machine! Whether you want to use it just to add a little extra to your scrapbook pages or to make envelopes for your handmade cards or to decorate you house or classroom, it can be done!
One of my favorite aspects to the Cricut is the Design Studio. It is a software program that you load on your computer and you can design your page - it is fabulous. You can put images from any cartridge that you have access to (you actually have to have the cartridge to cut it out) in any design on your page on your computer, and then it cuts it for you. You don't have to select the image from the overlay on your Cricut or try to line up all the images by using your machine; you can just use the computer. It's fabulous! And what a paper saver!
For those that live in the area, I have included a list of the following cartridges I have access to. Some of them are mine, that you could borrow, others are ones that friends own that you could come over to my house and use.
A helpful tip: if you've ever used a Cricut, you know that the mats required to run the paper through the machine lose their stickiness relatively quickly. In the beginning, we all bought new mats. But my friend Judy has figured out that out you can actually spray your mats with quilt basting spray - and it will make them sticky again. Just keep spraying any time you need to! But it still helps to have at least two mats, so you can switch them out when you're cutting - especially when you're cutting a lot, so you don't have to wait to peel the images off the only mat you have before cutting more.
See pictures below of images of Cricut cut outs I have used and my friend Kristi has used on her scrapbooking layouts.
Just a thought - could you imagine how much stickers of each of these would cost? And with the titles, you don't have any random letters left over that you'll never use! And you don't have to spend a ton just to get that special sticker, you can just make it yourself with paper!
Please contact me if you have any questions - or just to tell me your favorite cartridge!
Happy Thursday!
A Child's Year - Accent Essentials (solutions) - All Mixed Up - Alphalicious - Animal Kingdom - Baseball (solutions) - Beyond Birthdays - Blackletter (solutions) - Camping Out (solutions) - Cars (Disney) - Christmas Cheer - Cuttin' Up - Designer's Calendar - Everyday Paper Dolls - Fabulous Finds - George and Basic Shapes - Graphically Speaking - Home Accents (solutions) - Indie Arts (solutions) - Keystone - Locker Talk - My Community - My World - New Arrival - Old West - Opposites Attract - Paper Dolls Dress Up - Plantin Schoolbook - Serenade (solutions) - Sesame Street Friends - Snow Friends (solutions) - Sports Mania - Stand and Salute - Stone script - Stretch Your Imagination - Sweethearts - Tear Drop - TinkerBell (Disney) - Very Merry Tags (solutions) - When It's Cold Outside (solutions)
Signs for my sis-in-law's graduation!
Trust me, the paper doll looks just like her, down to the orange flip flops!
A layout from my wedding album (a work in progress!)
I think I did a pretty good job recreating the bride and groom to look like my husband and me!
I think I did a pretty good job recreating the bride and groom to look like my husband and me!
Another layout from my wedding - you can cut out any shapes in any size with this machine! And you can use the cut image and the negative ...
I used the circle to cut out the biggest circle I could out of my piece of paper. Some people would say they could do this by hand - but not me. I can't even cut a circle well when I have a pattern!
These layouts are different ones from the scrapbook I am working on from my high school trip to New York City and Washington, D.C. I used different images for embellishments and then letters for titles.
Layouts from a baby book I made that I offered as a workshop.
The rest of these layouts are from my friend Kristi's scrapbooks for her kids. She does such good work! And don't the little die-cuts add so much to the layouts? And how easy, too. LOVE the Harry Potter paper dolls (ask if you want pictures of the whole cast of characters)! And what about that Saints snowman?
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