Tips and Tricks by Karen – Using Design Studio to change your cuts

February 8th, 2010

The cuts on the Cricut cartridges are all incredible, but sometimes you need to change a cut to make it work for your project.

My project used the wreath from the Joys of the Season cartridge on the lid, and around the bottom of the box.


But, in order to be able to slide the bottom wreath over the box, I needed to get rid of the leaves on the inner edge of the wreath. First, open the wreath cut in Design Studio:


Then, right click on the inner edge of the wreath, and click on “hide selected contour”:


Next, I inserted a circle from the Accents Essentials cartridge and sized it to fit precisely over the inner edge of the wreath. (as seen by the red dashed line in this screen shot). Make sure to click the box on the upper right that says “Welding”:


Then, you simply cut your shape, and there you have a perfect wreath to slide over the box:


DT Project – Very Merry Tags and Box by Karen Pinsonat

February 4th, 2010

Karen Pinsonat

November 2009

Title:  Warm Wishes Box and Tags

Very Merry Tags Assignment

Time to complete: 2.5 hours

Approx. time to scraplift:  1.5 hours

 

Directions or Comments:

I wanted to create a project that would make the perfect Christmas gift for those hard to buy for people on my list.  Who can’t use gift tags?

I started my project with the tags.  I cut the tags out of green, red, and white cardstock so they would go with just about any Christmas wrapping paper.  I cut them at 3” and finished them off with a piece of ribbon.

For the box, I started by painting it red.  Next, I covered the top with the patterned paper.  I then cut the wreaths with the Joys of the Season cartridge set at 6 7/8”.  I embellished the wreaths with the jewels to make it look like berries.  The tag on the lid was cut at 4” and covered with the glitter for added sparkle, and mounted with the foam squares for dimension.

Now I have a perfect gift, inside it’s own pretty container.

 

Tag Box

 

Box and Tags

 

Tags

 

Filled Box

Comprehensive Product Supply List:

29-0300   Cricut Expression machine

2000051  Cricut Very Merry Tags Solutions cartridge

29-0448   Cricut Joys of the Season shape cartridge

29-1351   Chipboard round edge box, small

00-9994   Christmas Mistletoe paper pack by Making Memories

03-4951   Mistletoe Deco Pins by Making Memories

03-4150   Red Acrylic paint by Kaiser

40-1629   Greens and Black Cardstock by Cricut

36-8255   Red Monochromatic by Bazzill

36-8252   Green Monochromatic by Bazzill

03-3326   Bazzill White

73-6349   Ladybug Sugar Coating Glitter by Doodlebug

73-5341   Ladybug Jewels by Doodlebug

73-5630   Ribbon Boutique Crème by American Crafts

36-5169   Vintage Hip Trims Gracen by Making Memories

83-0007A Cadenza Allegro paper assortment (green velvet ribbon)

03-4439   Adhesive White Foam Squares by Therm O Web

 

 

 

Tips and Tricks for Kaiser’s Advent Calendar

February 3rd, 2010

Today I’m going to share with you a few tips for creating one of these great advent calendars from Kaiser. They can be found in the CreativeXpress store and sell for $25.99.

unassembled-avent-calendar1

  • When you receive your advent calendar, you may notice that a very important key element is missing…the instructions. Don’t worry, its simple enough to build even without instructions, but just in case Kaiser has a PDF available on their website with complete instructions.
  • Begin by cutting all your wooden MDF pieces apart as close to the edge as possible. MDF is easy enough to cut that I was able to use my craft scissors on it. Next you will want to sand down the “knubs” left behind. I used a power sander, but you can use sandpaper or even an emery board.
  • Before you do anything else, test build your box. You will notice that the outside edges are different sizes to allow it to fit correctly. It is much easier before you paint it to test it out and make sure everything fits nicely.
  • I thought it would be easier to paint the pieces first, rather than trying to get a paint brush into those tight slots for the drawers. Seemed like a great idea, except that MDF is a wood base. It can possibly swell a bit after you paint it. Also I’m not the neatest painter. OK, actually I’m a really messy painter and I had so much paint in the joints that it took me a bit of sanding time to get it cleaned up.
  • Depending on the color you choice, you may want to give it a base coat first. I base coated mine with primer and then gave it two coats of Kaiser’s Spearmint paint.
  • When building it many of the pieces are a snug fit, but I used wood glue to ensure that it would stay together through the years.

rows-and-rows-of-drawers

  • I gave all the chipboard boxes 2 coats of Kaiser’s Lime Paint. Once the chipboard is dry, glue the sides together with a liquid glue. I found Tombow’s Mono Multi Liquid to work great.
  • Give the chipboard numbers a coat or two of paint. To add a bit of shimmer, I painted a wash of Stickles.
  • All that is left to do is adhere the numbers onto the chipboard boxes, fill your boxes with lots of goodies and enjoy!
  • And lastly, the most important tip…don’t wait till November 30th to start creating your box. This was such a fun project to work on, but one that definitely required a lot of drying time in between steps.

Have fun creating and customizing your own Kaiser Advent Calendar!

Counting down the days…

February 2nd, 2010

I was very excited to get to mix the adorable images on the Winter Woodland Cricut Cartridge  with Kaiser’s Advent Calendar  this month to create a holiday keepsake.

finished-advent-calendar31

 1. The first step is to build the box for the advent calendar. In a later post I’ll share some tips and tricks to make construction painless.

2. Stamp snowflakes on a sheet of cardstock  (8.5×8.5 inches) with Kaiser Merry Christmas Clear Stamps in Versamark. Emboss in white embossing powder. Ink edges with Antique Linen Distress Ink (Ranger) using an Inkssentials Tool (Ranger). Mat with darker cardstock and adhere in box center.

3. Cut tree at 7.25 inches. Cut snowmen at 6 and 5.25 inches. Assemble all the pieces to create a winter scene. To create depth to the layers, use 2-4 layers of Thermo Web Foam Adhesive Squares. For the snowman because they were such a distance from the back of the box, I cut a piece of thin chipboard and scored it/folded it to create a square. I glued this behind my snowman and adhered him to the box with it.

snowpeople

4. Cut sentiment at approximately 5 inches. Add a bit of red Stickles to the letters. I replaced the snowflakes with snowflakes from the When its Cold Outside Cartridge. Mat on brown cardstock. Be sure to turn off the “real size” when making cuts.

sentiment

5. Paint and construct chipboard boxes. Paint chipboard numbers with two coats of acrylic paint. Add a wash of Stickles and adhere numbers to boxes.

drawers

6. Create ornaments using Winter Woodland and When its Cold Outside Cricut Cartridges to fill the boxes with. To create the 3D snowflakes, cut 3 snowflakes at 1.5 inches from the When Its Cold Outside and Winter Woodland cartridges. Score down the centers with the Inkssentials Paper Creaser (Ranger). Use Tacky Tape to hold a piece of embroidery floss in the center, while you glue the snowflake halves together. After glueing all three together you’ll have a 3D snowflake. You can further embellish them with beads.

7. When creating the pairs of mittens or skates, be sure to also cut mirror images of the cut. Adhere embroidery floss between shadow and image to create dangling pairs of skates or mittens.

 
skates1colorful-snowflakesholly1snowflake-tagmittens3d-snowflake1

measurements: skates (1.75 inches), snowflakes (1.5 inches),tags (1.5 inches), mittens (2.5 inches)

peace

8. Cut “peace” and two shadows at 3/4 inches. Adhere embroidery floss between the two shadow cuts.

joy

9. Use the same technique to create “Joy” but cut at 1 inch.

10. The last step is simply to fill your boxes with all the handmade ornaments and place the boxes in the advent calendar.

Seasonal Childrens Wall Art featuring Cricut Everyday Paper Dolls

January 28th, 2010

I have a confession to make- I am a 40 something year old woman with a college aged son and I love to make paper dolls! I don’t know what it is about the lil cuties but I could just eat them up.

My project this month features the Cricut Everyday Paper Dolls cartidge.

cx-epd1
I used a sheet of white textured Bazzil card stock as my base foundation upon which I placed 4 squares of varying shades of blue card stock cut @ 5 1/2 inches square.
I cut 4 paper dolls out @ 4 inches. I used the black out function as I like to draw on my own faces with markers.

spring-detail
The Spring square features the doll “SprngB”.
I enhanced the cut by doing some outlining of the cut details with a white gel pen. I added tiny white buttons to his top and even gave him some tiny shoe laces for added dimensional interest.

summer-detail
The Summer square features the doll “SumerG”.I got a little creative with her swim suit by adding some additioanl polka dots.I also added ribbon and a flower to her sun hat and some white brads to her funky little beach bag.

fall-detail
The Autumn square features the doll “FallG”.I used some embroidery floss in her pony tails and did a little black pen doodling on the leaves to add some unique accents.

winter-detail
Lastly, the Winter square features doll “WntrB”. I jazzed him up with a real pom pon atop his ski cap and added some clear glaze over his snow googles.
To ground all of the dolls in their squares, I cut out borders at 1 inch from the borders featured on page 77 of the hand book (except- the summer sand border is from page 41-”accessories 3″, set real dial size ON and cut @ 1 inch.)
When mounting the dolls onto their squares, I popped some of the details pieces up with foam mounting tape to give additional visual interest.
To complete the squares I cut the “Spring Summer WInter Autumn” words @ 1 inch using the Gypsy Wanderings cartridge that is pre-loaded on the Gypsy device.

Cricut Designer’s Calendar – Chipboard Vacation Journal

January 27th, 2010

cover2

Creative Express Supply List:


Cricut: Expression, Design Studio, and Deep Cut Blade
Cricut Cartridges: Designer’s Calendar, From My Kitchen, Tags, Bags, Boxes, & More
Ranger Distress Inks: Tea Dye and Old Paper
Tattered Angels Glimmer Mists: Bubblegum, Coffee Shop, and Pearl
Bo Bunny Chocolate Double Dot Ribbon
Basic Grey: Indian Summer Paper Collection and Notch and Dye Set
Bazzill Fourz Cardstock: Pink, Brown, White
We R Memory Keepers Large Warm Metal Grommets
Making Memories: Liquid Glue, Tool Kit II, Great Escape Pins
Therm O Web Zots (small single dots)

Other Supplies:
Chipboard (I like using the back of old desk top calendars), sandpaper, ball chain, large album rings

Introduction:
I originally planned this journal to take with me on my recent trip to England. I planned to fill the journal with pages taken out of a composition book and then handwrite about each day of my trip…however; my husband surprised me with a little Net book computer that had a wonderful travel journal template already installed. I was able to print each of my daily pages in a size that would fit my already finished journal cover. The computer program was a great time saver because I could add my photos to it too. Once I printed each page, my journaling and photos were already there and everything was ready to be added to my book!

Instructions

Cover:
1. To begin the chipboard cover for this journal, open up Design Studio and select the suitcase image from the Designer’s Calendar. Stretch this image so that it is 7 x 11. Don’t worry if the luggage tag extends over the mat because this will get cut off. Cut two of these out of chipboard using the Deep Cut blade. Set the blade to #6 and use a slow speed to cut.

2. Change the deep cut blade back to your normal blade and cut four more luggage images out of cardstock and patterned paper. Remember to flip your paper over for two of the images. After you have cut these shapes, sand the edges of the patterned paper and ink the edges of the cardstock with Tea Dye Distress Ink.

3. Cover your chipboard with patterned paper on one side and cardstock on the other. Be sure to match up the front and back before you adhere your paper…there is a difference in the luggage shape.

4. Next, cut out the word vacation using the Designer’s Calendar. To figure out what shape works best I added the word on top of my luggage image in Design Studio and then stretched it to a size that I thought looked good. I then copied the word to a new page and was ready to cut. I like using the technique a lot in DS because you can easily see what sizes will work for your project. Cut the word out of patterned paper and then sand the edges.

5. I placed some ribbon on my journal covers and then added some old photos of London that I had. I adhered the word Vacation over the top of these things and then added some stickers from the Basic Grey paper collection. I tied a ribbon knot and placed it over the title and then stuck a pin through the knot.

6. The holes for the Album rings were made 1 ½ inches from the edge and ½ inch from either side of the ribbon.

7. The luggage tag was cut from the Tags, Bags, Boxes, & More cartridge. I hand wrote my data on the tag and added it to the handle of my luggage with a ball chain.

8. I also added a small triangle of cardstock to the inside of my cover to create a pocket page for any little mementos.

pocket
Daily Divider Pages:


1. The daily divider pages were cut using the From My Kitchen cartridge. I again used my DS technique of placing an object inside of another to figure out a good size. I went back to my journal cover and placed the recipe cards inside of it, then stretched them to a size that would fit inside the cover. Copy these to a new page. On that new page, flip one of the cards so that you have two different end shapes and one center shape. You may want to open up another page for the center card and copy it twice…this way you may cut multiple images out of the same paper. Cut as many dividers as you need. I was gone for a week and I also wrote about getting ready for my trip so I needed 9 divider pages.

2. Use the DS technique again, this time using the recipe cards as your guide, figure out the size of the weekday words, calendar grids, X’s, numbers, and the word December from Designer’s Calendar and place each of these on another new page. If you wish to cut these from different colored cardstock, copy each to different pages. Be sure to save your work in a file. You may not be able to finish this all in one day!

3. I wanted to add a little distress to these dividers so I sprayed each of the calendar grids with a mixture of glimmer mists. I used 3 different colors to get the effect I wanted. While I was waiting for these grids to dry, I inked the edges of all my other items with the Tea Dye Distress Ink. After everything had dried, I assembled them onto the dividers. I made a different divider for each day and showed what day it was on the calendar with an X and then a number over the top. I rounded the bottom corner of each divider using the Basic Grey Notch and Die set.

4. To punch the album ring holes on these dividers, I placed one on the journal cover and marked where the holes should be. I punched the holes in one and then used this as a template for the rest of my dividers.

divider1
Journal Pages:

1. I used my computer for all of my pages. I custom set the page size to 5 ½ x 9. This is the size that will fit in the journal. I cut white cardstock in that size and then just printed each page.

2. When I went to punch holes in the pages, I found that they were quite close to the edge. I decided to reinforce each page by running a 1 inch strip of paper down the back and adding grommets to each hole.

3. I thought the white pages looked a little stark so I distressed each page by inking them with Old Paper Distress Ink. I added each page to the proper part of my journal and drew a deep breath. I was finished and had a wonderful album to remember my trip!

journal-page

Tips and Tricks by Jen – Using Chipboard with Cricut)

January 26th, 2010

     This is the time of year that I like to think ahead about restocking my chipboard supply.  I have found that the very best chipboard to use in the Cricut is from the backs of calendars.  With the New Year starting very soon and calendars often being given away, this is the time to stockpile chipboard.

     When using this chipboard in the Cricut, just tear off the monthly pages and cut the chipboard into usable sizes.  I often trim larger pieces into 12 x 12 sheets.  The larger sizes are great to use for creating your own chipboard albums.

     Once you’re ready to use your chipboard there are a couple of tricks I’ve learned that will make this a successful experience.  First thing you should have is a deep cut blade.  Set that blade to a depth of either 5 or 6 and use one of the slower speeds.  Next be sure to use a brand new mat.  I’ve found that if the mat is not very sticky then the chipboard will slide around during the cutting process.  With these basic tips you should be cutting your own chipboard albums and accents in no time.

 

Janee’s Tips & Tricks

January 22nd, 2010

When using a shape cartridge that’s secondary feature has a font but the overlay just shows shapes.  It is a lot easier to use an overlay from a font cartridge to type out your letters.  This short cut will definitely save you time instead of flipping through the book searching for what shape matches what letter.

Bringing Your Die-cuts to Life, Step-by-Step!

January 5th, 2010

As scrapbookers and crafters, we are sometimes challenged with how we can make our pages and projects more interesting to the eye… how to make them stand out in a crowd perhaps!  I have found that using diecuts is one such way to do so, however diecuts themselves can be very flat and yes, at times boring.  Which then results in yet another challenge… how to dress up those non-dimensional and unappealing diecuts to make them more exciting and bring more attention to our projects?

Here I’d like to show you how to breathe some life into your diecuts with some easy tips and techniques for shading, embossing and transforming flat diecuts into brilliantly textured accents! 

There are many supplies that can be used, but there are a handful that have been tried and true for me when I like to transform my dicuts.  The following list is what I used  for embellishing and enhancing my diecuts in my most recent CreativeXpress design team project, “Maryland Blue Crabs” scrapbook layout:

  • Of course, a diecut machine to cut out accents.  I used the Cricut Expression machine with Cricut cartridges.
  • A variety of inks for shading.  I used ColorBox Cat’s Eye inks by Clearsnap.
  • A variety of ink sprays for color boosting and enhancing.  I Love using Glimmer Mist sprays by Tattered Angels.
  • Desired embossing machine and texture folders/plates for creating dimension and texture.  My preference used her was the Cuttlebug machine and embossing folder.
  • Any other embellishing supplies to accent and create details to your diecuts.  I used Kaiser Craft Pearl Strips, and cut cut the pearls off the strip one at a time to add as eyes for the crab diecuts. 

Here I will show you step-by-step how I transformed my plain white crab diecut into a crab with character! 

diecut-plain-11

The first step I do is to create some shading to my diecut to provide a more dimensional look.  I like to do this with inks by rubbing the edge of the inkpad along the ares of the diecut where I want to shade to create an appearance of a more rounded surface.  Here I first shaded with the Robin’s Egg Blue ink…

diecut-shading-21

You can then go in with another ink color if desired and layer with it to create more depth.  Here I layered with a light sand color from ColorBox inks called, Dune…

diecut-shading-32

Next, I like to enhance the ink colors on my diecut further to give more intensity.  I have found that spray inks such as Glimmer Mist from Tattered Angels do just the trick!  To boost the colors of my crab diecuts here I have applied a combination of the Riptide and Marshmallow mists to enhance the blue-sand colored inks and to add a great shimmery appearance to the surfaces as well…

diecut-glimmer-misted-42

Now comes the fun part of adding texture to the diecuts to give them a more, “sophisticated” look… to give the cuts personality and character!  What I did here was to look back and study my actual photos that I have of the Maryland blue crabs so that I could get a better idea of the crab’s texture.  I then looked through my collection of Cuttlebug folders to determine which texture would be best for the crab diecuts.  I decided that the “MESH” texture would be the most appropriate for achieving the dimension and texture I was wanting for my crab diecuts…

diecut-embossing-52

Finally, all that’s left is to add final embellishing details, and for this step you can do as little or as much as you want… be as creative as you want!  For these diecuts, all that was really left for me to do was to add emphasis to the crabs’ eyes.  I cut out the extra layers for the eyes with blue cardstock using the Cricut and then finished with tiny pearl accents.  Another perfect way of adding extra dimension to diecuts is to adhere them to your projects using a double-sided foam adhesive tape as I have also done here.  Now my plain-Jane white cardstock crabs have turned into marvelous Maryland blue crab critters in just a few simple embellishing steps! 

diecut-finished-62

I do hope that you have enjoyed this tutorial and perhaps next time you too will be inspired to take your diecuts to another level of color and dimension!                                                                :) Andrea

“Maryland Blue Crabs” Scrapbook page featuring “From My Kitchen” Cricut Cartridge

January 4th, 2010

maryland-blue-crabs-layout-final2

 This month I got to design my scrapbook layout for the CreativeXpress Design Team, by using one of Cricut’s latest and greatest cartridges, “From My Kitchen”.  Looking through the image content, I was elated to find a cute crab image which immediately spurred me to finally pull out a bunch of crab themed photos that I’ve been holding onto… just waiting for the perfect design idea to strike!

I first pulled colors from the photos to decide on what papers to select for my layout.  Because of the blue hues of the crabs and the fact that the crabs turn orange in color after they are steamed and fully cooked, I knew I really wanted to play up the blue and orange color combo.   Kaiser Craft’s “Off Shore” paper assortment in the CX store works perfect for this combo!   I also paired the Kaiser papers up with the Bazzill “Artic Trio” cardstock pack featuring 3 shades of complimenting blue.   I took the orange patterned paper (a 12×12 sheet) and cut it down to (2) 6×12 pieces to use on the top two portions of my layout.  These were adhered to my cardstock bases and faux-stitched on the top edges.   Then I selected the graphics print from the Off Shore collection called, “Swell”, and cut (2) sections, 4.5×12, and I used these to span across my two pages on the lower half.  I also faux-stitched on these edges. 

Now that I have the basics of my layout design down, I concentrated on creating my fun embellishing for this scrapbook spread.   The Cricut cart, “From My Kitchen” had some great image cuts that I could use to play up my theme.  I used the pot and the crab for my focal accents.  I cut the pot out onto the darker blue in the Arctic Trio Bazzill pack at 5″.  I then cut it’s layers out onto the lightest blue and white cardstocks.  I embossed the pot with my Cuttlebug Diamond Plate folder to emulate the texture of metal.  I then cut out my crabs and I had so much fun creating the detail for these accents!  I made 5 crabs, each cut out at 3.5″ and all were shaded with inks and Glimmer Mists and embossed with the Mesh Cuttlebug folder.  I then added tiny Kaiser Craft pearls for the crab’s eyes.  Here you can see some close up detail photos of my fun accents cut using “From My Kitchen”…

crabs-in-pot-detail

 In this detail photo above you can see the wavy looking water accent.  This piece was cut from a sheet of the 12×12 Kaiser Craft’s Off Shore paper that includes journal tags, accents and borders.   This accent reminded me of  hot rolling water in a pot, so that’s how I used it!  I added some dimensional medium and fine glitter to highlight the piece and added it to the boiling crab pot!  The crabs were added to the pot with dimensional foam tape on the backs to provide dimension, as well as the pot’s lid that the crabs are holding onto!

blue-crab-detail1

My title for this layout was done using cuts from two other Cricut cartridges.  First, the Maryland state shape and the word were both cut using the “50 States” cart… the state shape cut at 10″ and layered with a shadow and blackout , and the state name cut at 1.5″ and layered with a shadow.   The second half of the title was cut using the “Lyrical Letters” font cart.  I cut the word “Blue” at 1.5″  with the Loop Dee Loo font function, and the word, “Crabs” at 1.5″ with the Connected font function… each letter also cut twice for a shadow effect.   Now with all my accents and title cut I could finish designing my pages by matting and placing my photos.  I printed out my journaling on the computer,  and adhered the journaling and photos to my layout.  Before adhering the pot of crabs to the second page, I misted the orange background a little with some Golden Terracotta Glimmer Mist.  I finished my layout by adhering the title work and accents. 

Thank you for taking the time to visit the CX blog and for following along with this project design! 

Supplies used from the CX store include:

  • Cricut Expressions machine SKU: 29-0300
  • Cricut “From My Kitchen” cartridge SKU:  29-1054
  • Cricut “50 States” cartridge SKU:  29-0394
  • Cricut “Lyrical Letters” cartridge SKU: 29-0708
  • Cuttlebug machine SKU:  37-1051
  • Cuttlebug “Mesh” embossing folder SKU:  37-1151
  • Cuttlebug “Diamond Plate” embossing folder SKU:  37-1910
  • Rich Rustics ColorBox Cat’s Eye Queue by Clearsnap (Dune) SKU: 03-4340
  • Surf’s Up ColorBox Cat’s Eye Queue by Clearsnap (Robin’s Egg) SKU:  03-4343
  • Tattered Angels Golden Terracotta Glimmer Mist SKU:  03-3679
  • Tattered Angels Riptide Glimmer Mist SKU: 03-3619
  • Tattered Angels Marshmallow Glimmer Mist SKU: 03-5050
  • Kaiser Crafts Off Shore Paper Assort. SKU:  80-0389
  • Bazzill Arctic Trio Cardstock pack SKU:  36-8225
  • Tools Embellishment Distressing kit  SKU: 36-0427
  • Kaiser Crafts Basic Pearl Strips SKU:  03-4978