Scrappy Halloween cards

My Circle Pal, Miz Esther sent me a pad of K & C Company Tim Coffey Fall prints. Oh my! The colors were rich and fun. So, today, I played. I wanted to use my Imagine in combination with the patterns and things I had. "No problem!" my Imagine says, "Let's play!" Okay, I went a little overboard on the sentiments....they are from my new Wild Card Cart...but I really like the pattern. I used the gingham check from Imagine More and the other colored papers are K & C. The digital stamp ghost is from KLM digistamps. I apologize that I can't find the originator of the pumpkin. If anyone knows, please let me know. Coloring was done with Copics, thanks to Miz Esther! Used the I-Rock to add just a little bling and raffia to make bows.

How to Print A Sentiment Anywhere on A Card or Page Using The Cricut Ima...

Imagine one more great idea!

Wow! There is so much to be discovered with the Cricut Imagine! Linda K (whose video preceeds this post)came up with this idea for "stamping" a sentiment anywhere on your paper. One smart lady, I assure you! I had to try it right away. Made a very quick retirement card with Imagine More. I used the base card as on the cart and layered the flower. The sentiment is from Wild Card, filled wth coordinating RGB color. As you will probably note I had a little trouble centering the sentiment, but it is my first effort.

Possibilities are endless when sorting through the scraps!

Imagine renewing t-shirts....

I played with iron-on vinyl today. The Imagine handles it like they are BFFs! The shirt posted is a response to a challenge to create something with butterflies. Butterflies and net are from Everyday Paperdolls, "soar" is from Cindy Loo. I used Avery Vinyl for light shirts. The patterns are from Imagine Best Friends. I will be posting directions this week. Added bling with my I-rock!

Until next time, sort the scraps and generate the gems!

Imagine texture...

I have been having so much fun with my Imagine! I am continuously amazed at how much less waste I have. For example, my recycling bag has very little in it today compared with every other weekend. And I have been cutting! I think that this sweet machine could be touted as "green!"

One comment that I've heard repeatedly is that the Imagine cuts are flat, without texture. While on my weekly shopping trip I decided that I had to experiment. So, I purchased 1 sheet of Bazzill Basic Diamond and Bazzill Basic Avalanche.  I wanted to compare cuts with those two against my Bazzill Basic matte and HP glossy photo paper. I used two patterns from Imagine more, 2 machine RGB colors and 2 Imagine More RGB colors; paper setting was on "matte".

# 1 is the Diamond. It is highly textured. It reminds me of linen. The colors seem lighter, perhaps muted by the paper' sheen. The pattern paper was less clear (but my sample squares are 1 1/2"!).
#2 is the Avalanche. It is softly textured, like rice paper. The colors are bright and the patterns reasonably clear.
#3 is the basic matter. Colors are clear, the patterns are clear.
#4 is the photo paper. Patterns are very clear and the colors are bright. It really is a whole different look due to the glossy texture.

I can only Imagine what using textured papers will add to using this machine! What do you think?

Imagine....

Imagine, spending time with my new toy! I have to be honest, I was beginning to loose heart. There were so many horror tales about the new machine! Was this baby exactly what I'd hoped for? I'm disappointed that my Gypsy won't link yet, I'm sad that I can't access some of carts and the mat lost it's stickiness. Okay, I admit if I had read the instructions some of my issues would never have surfaced. So, I plugged along, determined to fall in love. (Some relationships just take more time to take off.) And today, mine did!

I found this great video on You Tube, confirming that I could indeed do some of the things I thought I should be able to do, like creating a stamped sentiment with my I!
(I tried to embed the video without success, so here is the link:)
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mHU3KiTjMA

I had to try her ideas. May first card is created from a K&C Designer pad gifted to me by my Circle Pal, Miz Esther. (She's a gem!) I wanted something to coordinate, but different. So, I created the yellow layer on the I using a digital paper on Imagine More. I then cut it to the correct size with my paper cutter. The picture is a digital stamp from Squiggle Fly, colored with Copics (Thank, you Miz Esther!)

The absolute most amazing part is the sentiment. I used a sentiment from Simply Charming, filled it with one of the standard RGB colors coordinating with Imagine More. I used my cutter to cut the strip to fit.

Isn't that cool! I am sooooo excited! But wait! There's more.

I discovered that I have a wedding to go to this weekend. The card is made from Lacy Labels. I thought the red and black was elegant! I embossed the background on my Cuttlebug using Swiss Dots. All edges are inked in Silver. I didn't have the colors of paper that I wanted and my Imagine came to my rescue! This machine will be wonderful for 2 AM projects. I added some bling with my I-rock.

Take a good look at the inside of the black border. This is the inside of the card with its sentiment:

I wasted nothing. This is the inside cut from the border. I simply repositioned the block at the upper left corner of the mat and followed the video directions. This sentiment is also from Lacy Labels....just filled in and printed.

These scraps will definitely generate many gems! I Imagine tomorrow will bring more gems, too!

Trying to Imagine what I can do….

My Imagine came Friday! It was so exciting especially since I didn’t think it would be here before the 24th. So, today was Imagine day. I learn best by setting a goal for myself. Today’s goal was to see how much I could do with one imagine cart’s digital papers. This is how it went:

I wanted to use Lacy Labels from my Circle Pal, Miz Esther. I love postcard type greeting cards and the cart fit the bill. I chose my cuts, filled them with patterns from Imagine More (I think) and went to town. I LOVE this machine! First, I only had to place one piece of paper and this is what I got:

I looked funny, I thought, that was until I separated the cuts.  I couldn’t have been happier! Here are my first projects:

These cards are about 3” high…not very big and the cuts were perfect! Look at this one:

The lettering is tiny! And the music background is totally proportional.

I’ve wanted to try layering since I first heard about this machine. The cuts and papers are from Best Friends and the lettering is from Lyrical Letters.

The chair is dimensional and the arm comes out to welcome you in! Finally, I had to try Three Birds with the papers from Best Friends. I think it worked. I was most excited with the numbers of papers that I used and I never once had to go buy anything more. Wonderful!!!! My scraps are now becoming pieces of white paper….and they still help me generate gems – I can only Imagine how!

Challenges...

Lots of challenges in life aren't there? School, jobs and sometimes just life. Even message boards! The Cricut Circle board has weekly themed challenges. They are wonderful! So much talent on that MB and so willing to share ideas.

This weekend was "All for Fall." Originally, I wasn't going to take part. But today's events compelled me into the challenge. Someone very special had great news and I was lucky enough to share it with her! And this card was the result:

The whole event (including making the card) took about an hour! The papers were from my stash, most probablly Recollections. The leaves, cut in Recollection's Precious Metal paper, cut from the new Thanksgiving Cart as is the card. The font is found on Lyrical Letters. The embossing is a Cuttlebug folder. All was welded and designed in my little Rosie G.

The sentiment reads, "is sharing this season of your life with you! Congratulations!

My challenge to you: Fall into fall beautifully. Sort through the scraps and generate some gems celebrating this season in your life!

Circle around!

I've been participating in the Cricut Circle since it's birth last summer. All I can say is, "Wow!" I have met wonderful, creative people and have made many good friends (really!) I am not a joiner usually, but this called my name....and I am so glad! The Circle offers opportunities for personal growth in crafting as well as get togethers so that those involved can grow closer as a group of friends. Provo Craft has put forth a wonderful opportunity for anyone who chooses it. If you would like to know more email me and I'll be happy to answer any questions.

Getting to Know Rosie G with Gypsy Basics!

I love it when Rosie G. and I can spend a quiet evening together getting to know one another better. I know that there are many of you learning to love your little Gypsy. So, Rosie and I decided to help you along! Let’s all get down and get back to basics! 

Tonight, we made a border. Pretty simple, true, but it makes good use of many features that make Gypsy wonderful!

This basic border began as a simple cut from Gypsy Wanderings. Here’s what we did:

• Open a new file. Select the file from Gypsy Wanderings.  

• Tap the “Advanced Menu” and select copy and paste. Do this one time.
• Tap the “Basic Menu” tab and position the two sections.
  • Select the original border section.
  • Note the “Y” and “X” position numbers. Write them down. (I had X = 1.88 and Y = 6.06.)
  • Highlight the pasted border section. Tap the “Y” position. It will turn yellow.
  • Use the arrows and move the section to “Y” position 6.06. (It will most probably be the down arrow!)
  • Now use the left arrow to overlap the two sections slightly.

• Join the two sections.
  • Select one section of the border. Take care not to shift its position.
  • Tap on the “Join” button. It will turn yellow.

• Select the other section of the border. Tap the “Join” button it will turn white.
• Your sections are joined.
• Weld the sections.
  • Tap on the “Advanced” Tab.
  • Be sure the entire border is highlighted.
  • Hold the upper right silver button and tap to zoom.

 

• Select the “Weld” button.

• It will turn yellow.
• Tap the “Eye.” The cutting line will turn red.
• Deselect the “Eye.”

That is half the border. Now, all you do is select the welded/joined sections. Copy them and position them. Finally, join and weld together! The opportunities are endless for what you can create with these basic functions!

Until next time, sort through the scraps and generate the gems!

Links to Gypsy Stamps, too!

Here is a link for directions on how to let your little G stamp, too!:
http://shesasassylady.blogspot.com/2010/08/gypsy-stamps-too.html

I always say, when life hands you scraps....

Excitedly I went to post tonight and there was no blog! Un oh, the message is "a broken link." This does not look good for me since I've upgraded my phone to an Android and the phone people set up an account with Google that seems to have eaten all of my other information. So, my attitude: got scraps? Make gems. For the next week this blog will most likely be in a state of change! I do apologize to my followers.

Here is a picture of the Christmas tag that I wanted to post with directions. It was for a CMB challenge and was great fun! It is mostly from "Winter Frolic," but the snowflake is from "Christmas." The little girl is created with my technique, "Gyspy Stamps." I will be updating this blog with that instructional link within the week.

Until next time, thank you for bearing with me. And always remember: take the time to sort the scraps and to generate the gems!