Cricut Tips

I love my Cricut!  As a crafter there are 2 things I've never been very good at: 1) stamping  and 2) fussy cutting.  It has never stopped me from doing either, because what's the fun in it if there isn't a challenge?  Thankfully my Cricut keeps me from messing up too many images while being challenged ;)

You can love your Cricut too!  Here are some tips:

1)  You need to buy this:  Glue Pen

     This puppy will save you $$$$ by allowing you to reuse your cricut mats.  When the mat has lost it's sticky, scrape off all the little bits of paper.  Then very liberally apply the glue pen glue all over the mat.  Let it dry and wah-la you've got a new mat to use.  And this glue pen will give you tons of applications so don't worry.

2)  Know how the Cricut will cut

 

 This is the handbook you get with your cartridge. If you turn your handbook to the right:

 

This is how it will cut- the top of the handbook like how you load the paper into the machine.  

Also, the inch measurement you put on your dial will be how tall the image is (so in the case of the flipped handbook the size will be from left to right)

3) All letters are the same keys on different cartridges

So for my Close To My Heart cartridges: Art Philosophy has shapes listed on the keypad, Artiste has letters on the keypad, and Artbooking has letters.  When I want to cut out letters on the Art Philosophy cartridge, I just stick the Artiste (or Artbooking) keypad on (NOT the cartridge) and type in the letters.  You just have to make sure on the side buttons you have already selected "font".  So much easier than searching through the handbook!!!

4) Learn how to use Cricut Craft Room

Learning the Cricut Craft Room is a blessing!  It will save you paper and you can transform your images into different images with it.

Here is a link for a tutorial: (video is below too)
 Cricut tutorial

For the Artbooking cartridge, the images on a key are linked together for whatever size is listed in the handbook.  If you want to cut an image a different size you will need to select "real dial size".  But if an image is layered it won't work.  So unless you want to go through a lot of paper trying to find at what dial size your layered image will fit, you can just go to Cricut Craft Room and perfectly size it.  

Cricut Craft Room is FREE.  You will just need to connect your cricut to a computer in order to cut.

  5)  You can extend the life of your mat and paper by cutting in "portrait" mode

If you are always cutting just how it loads that means that the right side of your mat will wear out faster.  Loading it portrait mode will cut from the left side of your mat going across the top instead of down.  This is also good if you have a section of your paper that you want to cut that is going the wrong direction for you to be able to cut any more loading it normally.

Hope these tips help you!  There are a ton of cricut tutorials online that I'm sure teach you even more, but these tips are the ones that have really helped me a lot and I use them all the time.

Happy Autumn Card

Happy Autumn!  Well, it's not here yet, but I still love everything pumpkin!  This card will be in a workshop coming up so stay tuned!  This card is 5x7.  Here is what I used to make this card:

Cricut Artbooking
Happy Autumn stamp set
Sweet Leaf cardstock
Colonial white cardstock
Desert Sand cardstock
Desert Sand ink pad
Olive markers
Honey makers
Autumn Terracotta markers
Ruby markers
Blending pen
Prisma glitter
Wood embellishments
Jute ribbon
liquid glass

I have not mastered the blending marker technique but I have to say it still turned out pretty good!  It was so much fun using the new Artbooking cartridge!  I don't know if you can see the glitter or not, but it's behind the overlay.  I use the "lazy scrapbooker" technique where you run your tape runner down in a few stripes and then pour the glitter over your tape.  It works really well and you don't have to wait for glue to dry ;)

So I realize I didn't originally give details about how to cut this- I cut the overlay with Artbooking at about 5 inches.  The pumpkin was harder because when you cut it at real dial size the overlay won't fit.  If you know Cricut craft room I suggest you use it ;)  I cut the background at 2 3/4" and the overlay pumpkin at 2".  And I cut 2 backgrounds- one in Sunset cardstock and one in colonial white so I could color it with markers.  It doesn't fit exactly but it doesn't really matter because only a little part shows through. (This is where CCR would be beneficial).  The leaves are also cut in colonial white so I could color it in with markers.

Hope you can bring in Autumn in just a fun way as I did!

Flower Thanks Card

Supplies needed:
Laughing Lola paper
black shimmer trim
colonial white card base 
colonial white cardstock
Happy Autumn stamp set
Perfect fit- Thanksgiving stamp set
Geometric Background stamp set
Black bakers twine
Lagoon ink pad
Outdoor Denim ink pad
sponge daubers
Wishes Card Making book
Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge

I love the new autumn stamp sets!  And I love to try and use things a little differently.

This is pretty easy to make but here are some tips:
For the multi-colored flower I stamped the image in the lagoon then used the sponge daubers to "dab" some of the outdoor denim ink around on the stamp.  Then I stamped the image on a 3" circle cut with the Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge.  I love the sponge daubers!  Not only do they keep the ink from getting all over your fingers, they can be used to distress, make mutli-colored images on your stampes, and blend colors on your already stamped images.

The "thank you" is from the Thanksgiving stamp set, but you could really just use any saying stamp you want.
 
This card design was taken from "Wishes".

Happy crafting!

Autumn Layout Workshop

Come to my house Saturday September 28th 10am to make this gorgeous layout! We'll learn a new technique to make these beautiful fall flowers that will make your artwork pop!  

Cost: $10 for a 2-page layout.  If you'd like to purchase the Huntington My-Stickease to use for the sayings and the Rosewood mini-medley for extra bling these will coordinate perfectly with the layout.  

If you would like you can combine this workshop with the Spin Cards workshop (5 cards for $15) for a discount!  $22 for both of these- offered the same day.

Please rsvp by Sept. 15th!