Sure Cuts Alot

I just have to say how much I love my Sure Cuts Alot. For those of you who do not know what I am talking about and own a Cricut you need to learn more. It is software which allows you to create your own cut files with your computer and cut with your Cricut by connecting it with a cable. You also can cut any true type font you have on your computer, which basically means almost any font you have your Cricut can cut it, no more cartridges to buy. I have not tried to make any of my own cut files (SVG) but there are many out there which are very talented and post their files on their blog for you to download for free. Which leads me to why I am posting this, I have added a blog list of some great sites which have free SVG files. If I have peaked your interest please look into to this more, I would go into more detail but I am still very new at this, but I have played with it enough to know I love it and it was worth the sixty eight dollars I spent.

Merry Monsters and Jingle

The paper is a new paper called Jingle from Close to My Heart, you will be able to order it starting September 1st. I also used a new stamp set called Merry Monsters from CTMH. The stamp set is marketed as a Halloween set of four monsters though as soon as I say this monster I knew I had to turn his head into a Santa hat. I used olive ink for him and a water brush to apply the ink, I really like the variation it gives him. The fur on the hat is done with Liquid Applique, and I followed the directions on the bottle and let the Liquid Applique dry over night before I heat set it. What this does is give it a more solid puff instead of a bunch of bubbly puffs when you heat it right away. Just all depends on the look you are wanting. Another suggestion might be to use fun flock for the fur. I also covered his eyes in liquid glass, a tip from experience is to due this after you have heated the Liquid Applique. I thought about using this monster on a card with my children's pictures with a caption saying Merry Christmas from our little Monsters, though my kids are always angels LOL.

Look what you get when you play, Shimmer Paper

I wish you could tell what I did to the pictures, but you will have to take my word for it. I was playing with CTMH Create-a-Shade Pearl paint a couple of weeks ago, see I had shimmery and metallic paper and I wanted another plain piece of cardstock to match so I decided to play around and painted on a coat of Create-a-Shade to see how it would look. Well, it did not show enough of the navy color under it so I decided to add some rubbing alcohol to see if it would make it more translucent and it did but still not quiet enough. I used rubbing alcohol because it dries quicker and will not cause your paper to warp much. My next step went to a mister bottle almost filled with alcohol and a good squirt of Create-a-Shade and shake well then mist it on to your paper and wa la I now had shimmery paper and you could still see the design. The layout above I used it on all of the paper but the stripe since it already was purchased with that look, and you can barely tell the difference. A tip though is to practice misting to get the idea of how far you want to hold the mister from the paper and you may have to let it dry and reapply more. You can add a few drops of reinker to give a different sheen. I made gold with Creme
Brulee. The stamp set I used for the card was CTMH October stamp of the month Holiday Warmth along with Baby Pink and White Daisy cardstock, silver embossing powder. A money saving tip instead of using Ranger ink mister bottles I used empty hand sanitizer misting bottles which I found near the check out at Wal-Mart, a way to go green.

Christmas Already!

Yes, I have started making Christmas Cards. A week ago I received all of the stamp of the months sets for the next four months and when I saw Novembers called Around the Block the first thing I thought of was a house covered in snow. If you like this set you will have to wait until November to purchase it. The background paper is CTMH Aspen and I used Barn Red and Crystal blue to color the house. I like to mix Prisma Glitter and Fun Flock together to achieve sparkly snow, it is adhered with Liquid Glass. The saying I printed out on the computer but I changed the RGB code so it would print out in the Crystal Blue color. I hope this inspires you to start thinking about your Christmas Cards, next month Close to My Heart's new idea book comes out and it has some wonderful new Christmas sets.

Our Little Princess

It is hard to believe another year has almost come and gone, my baby is going to be Four. Last year was a princess party and I spent some time making that cake, not quiet how I wanted it to look but not bad for my first time building a castle all by myself in a day. I mean how many people can build a castle in one day, Home Improvement takes a week with hundreds helping. This year I am going simple, it is going to be My Little Pony and it will have a boarder with a little pony toy on top, and by request from the birthday girl it will be pink. If anyone is wanting to challenge themselves and make one I will be glad to give you do and don't do tips.

It's Your Day Stamp of the Month

First I must apologize for the blurry photo, when I have sun light I may try to take another. I made this last month but forgot to post it. I used CTMH August stamp of the month called It's Your Day. The colors used are Holiday Red, Clover Meadow, and Dutch Blue, in the photo you can not tell that I used red embossing powder on the happy and birthday stamp and while the embossing powder was still tacking I added Prisma Glitter then heated it a little bit more so it would stick. I thought it came out great, though I found if you heat it too long then the glitter will have more of a holographic look then sparkly. On the cake I painted on a thin coat of Create-a - Shade paint to give it a little shimmer, though you will have to take my word for it. Lastly I was doing my part on being green the pieces of paper a glitter pieces which came from the cover of a slab I purchased and I did not want to waste any thing glitter so why not use it on a card, wa la.

Coupons

If you are ever looking for Michael's or Jo Ann Coupons then check out this site http://mycricutscrapbooking.com/, she posts her coupons there for you to print out. She currently has a coupon for 50% off at Michael's, which I have already used twice this week and whats cool is this one is good until the 17 of August. If you have Sure Cuts Alot this is also a great cite for free SVG files.