Stand and Salute Cricut Cartridge Is Perfect For A 4th of July Scrapbook Page

With the 4th of July just around the corner, I wanted to use the Stand and Salute Cricut cartridge to make a scrapbook page.  I have been rubber stamping for the past couple of weeks and it sure feel fantastic to use my Cricut Expression machine again.

We will be going to a friends house for a BBQ on the 4th and you know that I will be taking pictures to capture the fun.

The best part of the 4th for me is watching the firework display in the evening.  It’s funny, I am petrified of fireworks when I am close to them but from a distance, they are beautiful.

So using my Cricut Expression machine, I cut the fireworks image and made it in three different sizes and also cut the image of the Statue of Liberty.  Growing up in New Jersey the firework display was over the Hudson and watching it on television they always showed the Statue of Liberty in the distance with the fireworks above.  And seeing it in person was just unbelievable.  The roar of the crowds Ooooooooh’s &  Aaaaaaaah’s, bands playing music to go with the fireworks, great friends to share the evening with, what else could one ask for, it was fantastic!

I love those memories but let’s get back to the scrapbook page, so after cutting the fireworks, I added some glitter to each using Martha Stewart fine glitter, for that extra sparkle.  And for the wording I made polka dots using red and blue markers from ek success and for the white the Martha Stewart opaque marker.

When I print my pictures depending on how many, I will use either the small wallet photo size or maybe even the thumb print size to just put around the page.

I want to take this opportunity to thank all of the Military Men and Women all around the world who keep me and my family safe everyday.  I can’t thank you enough for all of your dedication and courage.  God Bless each and every one of you.

Tags: 4th of july scrapbook layout, 4th of july scrapbook page, cricut, cricut expression, cricut expression machine, ek success markers, martha stewart glitter, martha stewart opaque markers, scrapbook layout, scrapbook page, stand and salute cricut cartridge

Using the Cricut Gypsy Wanderings Cartridge for a Great Scrapbook Page

I want to share this picture with you.  As you may know, this is my favorite time of year.  I decorated my dining room table with some fall things and next thing I knew my really cute orange cat decided to be part of my table centerpiece.

So besides decorating for the fall season, I just finished an order of Christmas cards.  They came out really good and I know that my friend who ordered them will be really pleased.  Now I need to continue on this path and get a lot more Christmas cards done.

But, today is Saturday, a day when others have a day off from work and want to “play”, well I wanted to play too, so I got out my Cricut Gypsy and I did just that.   This machine makes creating so fun & easy.  I just cut out some pumpkins and cool color leaves from the Cricut Gypsy Wandering cartridge, and am going to put together a quick scrapbook page and add this picture of my centerpiece.

Here is how I did it.

First I picked out the leaves that I wanted to cut and arranged them on the Gypsy screen.

Then I arranged the paper onto the cutting mat in the same places as shown on the Gypsy screen.

Followed the prompts on the Gypsy to load the paper, and to check all the pressure settings, and pressed cut and it started cutting out the images on my Cricut Expression.

When it was done the Gypsy prompted me that it was done cutting and what would I like to do next.

I unloaded the mat, took off the leaves, and as you can see one of the black shadow leaves had its top cut off since I didn’t have the image aligned correctly on the mat for the size paper that I loaded. Oh well, I’ll cover it up somehow.

The final page looks pretty good ~ I just have to print my picture and add to this scrapbook  page.

This was so much fun to make ~ Thanks for letting me share this with you.

Make it a Great Day and don’t forget to leave time to Craft!

Tags: cricut cutting mat, cricut expression, cricut gypsy, cricut gypsy wanderings cartridge, scrapbook page

What Stamp Ink & Stamp Pads Should Be Used For Your Rubber Stamping Needs?

I received some questions regarding what kind of stamp ink and stamp pad that I use.  And it all really depends on what I am making.

Here is a picture of just some of the stamp pads and stamp ink refills that I own and use in my rubber stamping projects.

My Stampin’ Up spots are all the dye ink classic stamp pads and the larger ones are the pigment craft stamp pads.  I also have a few Versa Color dot ink pads also, which are pigment ink.  If I showed them all to you there would be a huge pile so I just wanted to show you that I have them both.

There are several differences. Dye stamp ink absorbs into the paper where as pigment stamp ink sits on top of the paper and does not absorb. Pigment stamp ink tends to be thicker than dye stamp ink and is often preferred for scrapbooking because pigment stamp inks are more resistant to fading than most dye stamp inks.

Just remember that I am not a stamp ink expert, these are just the facts about ink.
Dye Ink (Classic Stamp Ink)
•    Dries quickly – you should be able to stamp your image and run your hand over it within moments and not have smearing
•    Wonderful for making handmade greeting cards
•    Not as expensive as the Craft Pigment Ink
•    No matter what color you use, you will not see more than a watermark if you stamp a light color ink onto dark paper.
Pigment Ink (Craft Stamp Ink)
•    Does NOT dry quickly – will smear if not heat set or let dry for a few minutes.
•    Recommend above classic ink for scrapbooking because it won’t fade.
•    This is the perfect ink if you are embossing, since it does stay wet longer your embossing powders sticks to it perfectly for you to heat set with your heat gun.
•    You can use a light color ink to stamp on dark paper and see the image well.  This adds a whole new world of things you can do!
The one I tend to use the most when doing my rubber stamping is probably the Craft Pigment ink.  I am a custom greeting card maker and love to emboss, so this is the perfect stamp ink for me.
I can also say that I have a few favorite manufacturers of stamp ink and stamp pads.  I love Stampin’ Up because they have various stamp inks & stamp pads in both dye and pigment inks and that match there papers.  My other favorite is Color Box, I think mainly because they are sold in my local crafting stores and are easily obtainable when needed.
Now this is just me but I also like the Craft Pigment Stamp Pads because they are made of a soft foam and when rubber stamping, I feel that I get better ink distribution than when I use the Dye Stamp pads that are made of a hard surface, that doesn’t budge.
If you have further questions just leave a comment!

Make it a Great Day and Don’t Forget to Leave Time to Craft!

Tags: Rubber Stamping, stamp ink, stamp pad, stamp pads

Using the Home Decor Cricut Cartridge to Make an Elegant Wedding Album

Creating an Elegant Wedding Album

Last weekend my husband and I attended a wedding. Have you ever been at a wedding and once you saw the bride you thought that you were in a fairy tale and met Cinderella?

Well that is how I felt at this wedding. The bride was so beautiful that I could not stop taking pictures. So what I decided to do was to make a wedding scrapbook for her to remember her fairy tale day.

I didn’t want to take away from her beauty so when I created this wedding album, I wanted it to be elegant. So I choose the Home Décor Cricut Cartridge just because of the beautiful lacy scroll work that it had. It added the perfect touch that I was looking to achieve.

Make it a Great Day and don’t forget to leave time to Craft!

Tags: cricut cartridge, cricut cartridges, cricut expression, home decor cricut cartridge, wedding album, wedding scrapbook

National Scrapbook Day a Success!

I hope that everyone had a great National Scrapbook Day. I accomplished what I set out to do and which was to complete one album. Here are a few pages of the Easter Scrapbook Album that I would like to share with you.

I wanted the pages to have a nice spring look so I gathered up all the April scapbooking ideas I could. Some of our family from the East Coast joined us in the great southwest for the week of Easter and I wanted to capture in this scrapbook everything that we did in one week. My niece is in these pictures with us and her fantastic smile will put a smile on anyone’s face.

I also got creative for the last page of my scrapbook and did what I call “A Week in Review”. I wrote down just a little one line caption of what we did each day, and then added some embellishments to coincide with what we did.

I feel good about accomplishing what I did and we now have an Easter Scrapbook that we can enjoy forever. What did you do on National Scrapbooking Day?

Make it a Great Day and don’t forget to leave time to Craft!

Tags: april scrapbooking ideas, easter scrapbook, National Scrapbook Day, National Scrapbooking Day