Cricut Cat Homemade Valentines

I started to make Valentines with my daughter and then my son wanted to make his. This is what we came up with. He wanted a cat and he outlines all the features with a pen and used a stamp pad and Qu-tip to fill in the nose and mouth. He did a really good job. I usually don't get to make things like this with my boys, but sometimes I forget how much they like arts and crafts too.

School Inchie Swap

I joined a swap for 'School Theme Inchies' and came up with these. The edges are all brushed with a brown stamp pad to make them look a little rustic. I used my George Cricut Cartridge to cut out the star and the letter A. It was harder to come up with school inspiration because I do not have stamps or a school cartridge. I actually thought about this until the last minute and finally came up with this layout. I was happy with how they turned out and can't wait to see how the rest of the swap members did.

In all I made 200 inchies for two seperate swaps. I am glad I took the time to learn how to do inchies. I have joined swaps to learn different techniques and to be inspired by other crafters. So far I have learned a lot and really appreciate all the helpful people out there.

Kids Inchies

This was the first time I made inchies. I had read about them and saw a chance to join a swap. I had no idea what to make at first, but decided that since I had a little girl I should make little girl inchies. These would go on so many of my pages. I used the cricut to make the butterfly and flower. Then I used a tiny punch of my daughter's to make flower cut outs on the green paper and added pink to the background. It was a lot of work. I made 50 of each, plus a few extras. My thumb was killing me from the dollar store hole punch, but I love how they turned out.

Valentine Paper Doll Swap

I just got the Paper Doll Dress-up Cartridge for my Cricut. I love it. These dolls were made for a Valentine Paper Doll 3x3 Swap I was in. My five year old daughter helped me design them. She chose the dress, the paper for the dress, and the hairstyle and color. I love how they turned out. I had been making 4 inch dolls and decided that 3 inches is perfect for these dolls. I will start making all of mine in 3 inch from now on.

Cutter Blade too Dull

I have a Provocraft Trimmer for my scrapbooking. I liked it at first but now the blades do not seem to stay sharp for very long. I want to continue using it, but it is way to expensive to keep replacing the blades. I have decided to buy a trimmer with a self sharpening blade. I had never heard of that before. The cost is $50, but I have a 40% off coupon and should get it closer to $30. That I can afford. Actually I can't afford not to buy that.

What to do with my old trimmer? I should go on e-bay and sell it. I have other crafting items I do not need and did not like, so maybe I should set up an account and get rid of them. Don't get me wrong, the Provocraft Trimmer is not a bad trimmer, but I spend at least $12.00 a year to replace blades, if not much more. It just has been ridiculous.

I will post a picture of my new Trimmer when I get it and let everyone know how it works. If it was worth the money.

Recycle Toilet Paper Roll Scrapbook

Upcycle mini album
Originally uploaded by ThreadfulArt

I love that this adorable scrapbook is made out of toilet paper rolls. I just can't believe how great it turned out. I would love to make one of this and it is on my to do list for this winter. Not sure what to use it for yet.

Halloween Candy Favors

Halloween Candy Favors
Originally uploaded by callista1172

I am going to try these out for Halloween. I don't have a lot of Halloween paper, but I do have a lot of craft paper laying around the house. I am not sure what i will fill these with, but these might be what I give out for Halloween. We live in a dead end, so I won't have to make too many, but I like to make my treats special. If I had to give out a hundred or more I wouldn't bother, but since I give out less than 20 each year I can add a little something special to them. I am going to fill them with mini candies that are all individually wrapped. Nothing like candy corn or any other loose candy.

When I am done I will post a picture.

I have learned a lot lately about scrapbooking. I recently joined Cricut.com and learned about Inchies/Trinchies/Twinchies. They are one inch squares decorated with at least three layers of embellishments. I have not had a chance to try them out, but plan to as soon as I get some decorative paper to go with my disney cricut characters. The inchies can be as simple as letters layered and placed on a square. These are great for embellishing scrapbook pages and cards.

There is a great section on the Cricut website that is for swaps and requests. Everyone is committed to helping one another by sharing cuts from different cartridges. I have joined my first swap for Disney Characters because I have only gotten the Mickey and Friends Cartridge so far. This way I can get other characters from other cartridges, like the princess cartridges. We plan to go Disney this winter and I want to put together a scrapbook and maybe an autograph book for my kids to take with them. Another great thing about this is this way I get to make ten of one character, using the same shape and colors. If I made one of each character even on my cartridge I would be wasting a lot of paper.

As soon as I get around to finishing my swap, I will post pictures before I send them out.

Mickey Film Strip Photo Frame

I found this on my Mickey and Friends Cricut Cartridge and I am so excited. You can use it for so many things. Next year I want to put together a book for each kid to put their friends school pictures in and I want to use this in it. I would be so fun to have a movie theme for one of the books and label it something like "You are a Star".

This is cut out at 5 1/2 " tall by 11" wide. You can insert 4 - 3 1/2" by 2 1/2" pics. Perfect for wallet sizes, but I think I am going to scale it down to fit the pictures the kids trade.

Butterfly Cricut Diecut

I know this may seem like a very expensive hobby, but I own a Cricut Diecutting Machine. I started Scrapbooking last year and always wanted one. Since I never know what my hubby should get me for Christmas, I asked for one of these. Then I waited until a few weeks after Christmas for it, so I could get a better deal on e-bay. The store price is $189.00 and I was not willing topay that much. I ended up spending just over $100 with free shipping and not extra tax on top of that price. That is almost saving $90. Yeah. Since then I have been buying a few cartridges off e-bay when I can get a good deal.

My latest cartridge is the Disney Friends cartridge. I had always planned to buy it, but when a friend went to Disney I decided to get it early, so I can share my diecuts with her. Thinking it would only have Disney Characters on it, I was pleasantly surprised to see the extras it came with. It has tranes, planes, cars, and trucks. There are purses, lipstick, nailpolish, hearts and love letters. Bones which can be used for dogs, or halloween. Borders are a really nice accent.

Here is a post of the butterflies that came with the Disney Cartridge. I made them in green and yellow to accent my pink and yellow flowers. I plan to use them on a blue background page and maybe add clouds and a sun, which also came with the cartridge. This is the best buy so far.

Paper Bag Album

I have recently started scrapbooking. I had never planned to scrapbook because of the expense of it. I had to get supplies last year to help out with a school project and decided I would spend that much money again to scrapbook for myself. My original project was paperbag albums. I had to repeat the project again this year, but decided to spend much less. I think I have cut the cost in half. I will be able to complete 2 dozen books for just over $100, and that includes picture development. It still seems like a lot of money, but double that and you will be close to what it cost last year.

My first step in saving money was to make the albums myself. I spent $20 on paper bags, which I bought on-line at PaperMart.com. I split the cost with a teacher, who was making them for her entire class. There is a place about 45 minutes from me that sells these bags to businesses, but it was not worth the gas it would have cost me to go pick them up. You can buy these books already assembled on e-bay, but they cost a lot more than I was willing to spend. One thing I must say, is that making them myself, they will not be covered with a protective archival coating. This helps to proctect the pictures over time. Since it is just a school project, I was not worried about adding that feature. You can buy the spray at craft stores and protect your books if you choose to.

I punched four holes along the side of the bag and assembled them with 3 bags, instead of 4 bags, which is what you would buy on e-bay. That saved me five pictures for each bag, plus all the cardstock, glue and embellishments you may use. Not to mention my time.




Then I used the $.49 satin ribbon from Wal-Mart to bind the books together. I used 4 spools of ribbon for 24 books. I used a large plastic needle to sew the ribbon. Made it very easy.


>

Since each page needed a piece of cardstock, I found a 200 piece package of 8x8 cardstock at

Wal-Mart for $9.99. I bought 2 packages.

The cheapest picture development I can find is Wal-Mart for $.15 each. The picture quality is just as good as Kodak and I can get them done while I shop.

One problem I have run into with these scrapbooks is getting my cardstock to stick to the bags. I have found the cheapest choice is Aleen's Tacky Glue. It is a little messy, as you have to spread the glue with your fingers, but it holds very well. We used a few kinds of scrapbooking glue last year and it peeled off right away.