It’s Time For Our 2011 Handmade Christmas Cards using Joys of the Season Cricut Cartridge

Time has been flying since we moved.  Getting adjusted to the new town and even the new time zone for us has been exciting.  But with all of the great distractions, it is time to get started and make time for getting creative and to make our handmade Christmas Cards.

This year I need to incorporate our new address along with a Christmas theme.  So I decided to make a Christmas ornament using the Joys of the Season Cricut Cartridge, and a We’ve Moved rubber stamp from PSX. (I just wish this stamp had two cats in the window to represent my two boys).

Now deciding what color to make the ornament and back panel.  I choose………. Christmas green and red (how appropriate – LOL)

I used the Cricut Expression Machine to cut the ornaments.  Then I used a Cutter Bee paper trimmer to cut the red back panel.

Some other supplies that I will use is Copic Sketch markers, Elmer’s permanent dot runner, pop dots, natural polished hemp rope, Memento tuxedo black dye ink, and some sea shells from our beach (if you don’t have a beach near by, then you can always purchase shell online or in a craft store).

I printed our address on blue cardstock and used an oval paper punch from punch bunch to cut them out.  The reason why I had to do that was the space that the stamp provided was way to small for our address and if I did write that tiny, no one would have been able to read it.  So when I stamped the image on white cardstock I just masked that part of the image so it wouldn’t stamp.   Then to add some dimension I used a pop dot to raise the address from the card.  The finishing touch was attaching the sea shell with the hemp rope along with our inside message.

Wishing All Of Your Dreams Come True This Holiday Season

Merry Christmas Everyone

Tags: Copic sketch markers, cricut cartridge, cricut cartridge joys of the season, cricut expression, cricut expression machine, elmer's permanent dot runner, handmade christmas cards, Handmade Greeting Cards, joys of the season cricut cartrige, memento dye ink, rubber stamps, tuxedo black memento dye ink

Moving & Organizing Your Craft Room in a New Home

Hello all of my crafting friends ~ I know that it has been awhile but I am back and ready to have some fun.

I have a new “craft world” I moved from the high desert in New Mexico to now living on an island in Florida and loving it.  I really forgot how much I love the ocean.  The sound of the waves is so calming and also gives you time to reflect on what is really important in ones life.  Well at least that is what it has done for me.

Anyway, the moving of the old craft studio to the new one has been very exciting.  When I was packing up the old studio, I found things that I forgot that I had or didn’t even know that I had to things that I knew was time to give away.  My girlfriend who is also very crafty works in a large company with alot of crafty people so I gave her scrapbooking magazines, card making magazines and even hard cover books of different kinds of crafts that I knew that I would not need and would be of help to some other crafter.

I do have to say that being organized really helped alot.  And also having the white cubes scrapbook organizers/furniture, are the best for having to change the shape and size of each work station to accommodate a new space.  It took a couple of moving things to different walls but I think I figured it out (for now at least)

I made a workstation just for my Cricut Expression, Gypsy and accessories, and when the rest of my cubes are delivered I will do the same for my Cuttlebug and all of the accessories that go with it such as my embossing folders.  I also have some of my rubber stamp ink pads on the carousel from Stampin’ Up and as you can see the base for this Cricut workstation is storage containers with drawers  for some of my rubber stamps and rubber stamp supplies.

Believe it or not I still don’t have all of my scrapbook cubes or all of my supplies they are on a second shipment from our move.  I can’t wait for them to arrive so I can finish organizing everything.

The natural light in this room is great and it’s also good that I have some lamps around too.

Well let me get back to setting up so I can start making my notes to all of our family and friends with the new stamp that my hubby got me for my birthday.  It’s a We Moved stamp.  I will show it to you in the next post.

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

Tags: cricut, cricut accessories, cricut expression machine, cuttlebug, cuttlebug embossing folders, organizing craft supplies, rubber stamp ink pads, rubber stamping supplies, rubber stamps, white scrapbooking cubes furniture

Making Handmade Easter Cards Using Rubber Stamps ~ Copic Sketch Markers & Cricut Expression Machine

Ever since I went to my local rubber stamp convention, I have so many new ideas for handmade cards.  And the best part is that it is not costing any more money, since I have all the supplies.  I am using all of the stamps that I have already owned but am using them in a totally different way.  I went from just stamping on cardstock to making 3D images.

So here is a bunch of supplies that I have used to make this Easter Card.  Rubber stamps from Stamps Happen Inc, and Stampabilities.  Memento Tuxedo Black Ink, Cutter Bee Scissors, Martha Stewart Punch Around the Page paper punch, Cardstock and alot of Copic Sketch Markers.

I also used my Cricut Expression machine to cut out the border grass from the Plantin Schoolbook cartridge and also used the Pooh and Friends Cricut cartridge for the small patches of grass.

The template was used to cut (with X-Acto knife) small lines and then folded to make a 3-D platform.  It took awhile to get the folds just right, but it was sure worth the effort.

It was so much fun coloring these stamped Easter eggs, then I cut them out and added them  onto the card.

I almost forgot to tell you.  I wanted the front of the Easter card to be really simple since the inside had all of the fun stuff .  So all I did was stamped Happy Easter on the bottom corner and then I used some Easter egg ribbon from Bobbin Ribbon, that I wrapped around the card and made a bow on the front.  That’s it really simple.

Look how cute this Easter card came out.  This little chick is so adorable.

Happy Easter Everyone!

Tags: Copic sketch markers, cricut expression machine, handmade easter card, martha stewart border punch, memento tuxedo black ink, plantin schoolbook cricut cartridge, pooh and friends cricut cartridge, rubber stamps, stampabilities rubber stamps, stamps happen rubber stamps

Cricut Card Idea For A Birthday Card That Will Make You Smile

My Godson’s birthday is this week and I need to make a handmade birthday card for him.  I wanted to use my Cricut Expression machine for this card.

After looking though all of my Cricut Cartridges, I decided to use my Gypsy and the download cartridge called Smiley Cards.  There is an image of a present that has the cutest smiley face, and I know that it will make Tyler smile when he opens up this card.

What I did to put some “bling” on this card was used some Stickles (cotton candy color) on the cheeks and mouth to give this smile a little shimmer.  I also used two rubber stamps.  One is from Inkadinkado with Tyler’s name and the other is the Happy Birthday rubber stamp from Hero Arts.  The ink that I used is Memento and the color is Paris Dusk (dark blue).

I just think that this cricut card idea turned out fantastic.  Making handmade greeting cards is the way to go!  Wishing Tyler a Very Happy Birthday.

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

Tags: Cricut card idea, cricut expression machine, cricut gypsy, download cartridge smiley cards, hero arts rubber stamps, inkadinkado rubber stamps, memento dye ink, rubber stamps, smiley cards cricut cartridge, stickles

A Rubber Stamp And Some Copic Sketch Markers Make the Perfect Father’s Day Card

I wanted this years handmade Father’s Day card to have a special meaning.  My husbands parents have alot of bird feeders on there lake front property and they love to see all the beautiful birds that come to the feeders.  They also have bears that frequently help themselves to the bird food.

So for this years card I used the House Mouse rubber stamp and colored in the image with Copic Sketch markers.  I then layered the image onto a solid piece of cardstock and layered again onto a very soft piece of cardstock that brought all the colors together.

Now how does a bear come into this Fathers Day Card, well here is the inside of the card.  I computer generated the saying but then I cut out a bear with my Cricut Expression machine using the Animal Kingdom Cricut cartridge.  Well I had to crop the inside since when I took the picture it had our mushy sentiments inside but this is what is said:

Wishing the Best Poppa a Very Happy Father’s Day!

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

Tags: animal kingdom cricut cartridge, Copic sketch markers, cricut, cricut cartridge, cricut expression, handmade father's day card, hous mouse rubber stamps, rubber stamps