Updated Storage

Happy Holidays!

I hope that everyone has had a marvelous holiday season so far. Hard to believe that there's still a holiday to go before it's all behind us for another few months.

Finally, I was able to sit down this weekend and cut out the revised storage boxes for my Cricut cartridges. And I'm SO happy with the outcome!

I take my cartridges to crops and share them with friends who have their own Cricut machines. When they return the cartridges, they're never sure where they go. (Yes, I do have tendencies of OCD and keep them in alphabetical order.) I added a back so that I could label the boxes. Now, all of us will know what belongs where.

Here's the whole set for ZooBalloo.

And the top layer of cartridges filled. Doesn't it look great!

If you are interested in the .cut file for the new boxes, click here. This file was done on the Expression (Christmas present from my husband and my uncle!), but it would be easy to convert for use on one of the other bugs.

If you're looking for the dividers or tags, see my post from August 24.

Thanks for checking in.

My wish is that you and your family have a safe, healthy and happy 2009! Happy Cricuting!

Jill

ABCs of Baby

My friend Kay got me started making ABC books for a few gifts that I needed for some special little ones. I made three in one weekend along with three of us organizing another for six of us to make for a mutual friend. That was a whirlwind weekend!

Although I included capital letters in the file, we used some of the glitter chipboard letters that Michaels carries. I'm sorry I don't remember the brand. Otherwise, all letters were cut on the Cricut along with some of the embellishments.

For this project, I ran my letter and embellishment papers through my 5" xyron before cutting. I placed my paper on the mat with the xyron side up (upside down to what you would think) and flipped my letters on the software mat (so that they cut backwards). That way everything already had adhesive and the paper stuck to the mat for cutting. This was much faster and easier than cutting and then running all of those letters through the xyron. AND I didn't have those adhesive buggers all over my books!

My books did not use the same words for all of the letters. It just depended on the child/family as to what I used. You can google "abc album ideas" to get some great lists. I put the sizes on one tab of each letter type I used to help you customize your project. The books we did were 8 x 8 and 9 x 9. And you'll want to add the child's name as the title page only says "ABCs of" right now.

The mothers who have received these gifts have been absolutely thrilled! I'd like to make a Christmas book, but that will probably be a project for next year. There are so many things you can do with an ABC album.

Here's the cut file.

I used Cuttin' Up for the font. All of the other cartridges used were for embellishments. You can change embellishments to match the cartridges that you have. Have fun and please let me know what you come up with.

Poinsettia Mesh

We had a mesh swap several months ago and I opted to work on Christmas. Since December has arrived (can you believe it's already here?), I thought it a good time to add it to my blog. If you followed the thread at the time of the swap, you may already have it.

The first 3 pages of the file are strictly for viewing the design. I would not cut those pages. Leave the mat alone after cutting the mesh and hit load paper. This will take the mat back to where you originally started. Then go to the border page and cut it. This will clean up the edges of the pieces that are in the non-cutting areas. You'll have to work with the leaves (cut green) and blooms (cut red or pink) to get them in the right places after cutting as some of them are trimmed off to fit the pieces trimmed off on the mesh.

I love the design and was very pleased with my trial cut. When I cut one to use, I think I will cut it either with the mesh in gold and the blooms red or the mesh in silver and the blooms in either pink or blue. And, of course, I'll have to add stickles.

Here's the cut file. Enjoy!

Jill

Sand Castle Card

I made this card for Maddy's first birthday in June. (Well, this is actually a remake as I didn't have time to scan it before we left for her party.) I shared the cut file with the Cricut messageboard soon after I designed it. However, Ladyscrapper tried to use it recently and something has happened to the file. It is totally unusable. Yikes! I hope this doesn't start happening to other files.

Sooo, I created the file once again. I think this one will be better anyway.

Of course, the pink layer will actually go on the front. The palm tree is designed to cut off so that, when attached, it will look like it is behind the castle and not through the middle of it. And the coconuts go on the tree instead of falling onto the castle.

A number can be added to the flag on the pink layer to personalize it. I tried cutting her name into the same layer, but it worked better to cut the letters out and attach.

I hope someone can put this to use and enjoy. Here's the cut file.

Easter Placemats

Hello once again! Yes, between busy, lazy and not feeling too great, it's been a while.

One of the Cricut message board members is currently hosting a placemat swap using Design Studio. As I was too late for the Thanksgiving and Christmas deadlines, I decided to work on Easter. I came up with one using bunnies. Then I decided that some might prefer to go more religious and did one using crosses. Of course, that lead to the possibility of not liking one font over another. I ended up with one file with two designs and two fonts so that the creator could decide for themselves.

Here's the cut file for anyone interested. I hope you enjoy. Oh, the basic shape and the print Happy Easter are Plantin Schoolbook; bunnies are Doodlecharm; crosses are Wedding; and cursive font is Jasmine.

RFTC and Awareness Ribbon

Wow! Where does the time go? I've been busy the past several weeks working on the Komen Arkansas Race for the Cure, cropping with friends, working on some projects, going to Dallas to help celebrate a friend's new marriage, and I'm not really sure what else. Anyway, the Race was yesterday and things should get back to normal around here. The question is, what is normal?

I have a few things to share with you after I get them cleaned up, but I wanted to go ahead and share the awareness ribbon I designed. There are several versions out there, but none of them were what I wanted.

The theme for our Race this year was "This one's for the girls" and they used paperdolls for the artwork. At our first committee meeting, we were given a paperdoll to decorate and cut out for our name tags. Well, I wasn't happy with a couple of crayons or markers for my creation. I brought mine home, recreated the doll in DS, cut her out on my Cricut and started decorating. When complete, I took it to the Komen office for lamination. They loved it and asked me to make some for them. I cut all of the pieces with extras so they would have choices and made them put their own together. Not a good scan, but here's mine along with the original.

We have a Pasta Party the night before the Race and their committee always comes up with some great ideas for the table centerpieces. This takes place outside near the river, so there's always at least a breeze and sometimes more depending on the weather, so they have to come up with things that won't blow away. This year they decided to put some of the paperdolls on long popsicle sticks in flower pots painted in this year's Race colors (brown, pink and a deeper pink). When Ashley said that they were going to be cutting out all of these paperdolls, I offered my services. Then we came up with some other ideas. Of course, we wanted a pink ribbon, so I finally sat down and designed one I would be happy with and would look good with the others. Ashley decided on the 3 colors for the dolls, darker pink for the 15s (our 15th race) and pink ribbons.

And now that you have suffered through the whole story, here's the cut file. It was created with George and Tags, Bags, Boxes and More. George alone would make the ribbon, but the center would just be a tiny hole.

Razorback Fans

GO HOGS! I've designed two word books perfect for Arkansas Razorback fans but have not cut either one yet. The first one (on the left) uses George for the pages and Base Camp for the letters; and the second (on the right) uses George for the pages and Jasmine for the letters. Not sure when I'll get around to working on one of them but thought someone out there might be able to use them. Here are the cut files using Base Camp and Jasmine. Have fun!

And GO HOGS GO!!!!!!!

Bride Book

I thought I knew who gave me the idea for this project, but I can't find the post on the message board. They made a name book for BRIDE and used a princess for the I. I scraplifted their idea with a different princess. If this was you, thanks so very much for sharing your idea.

My nephew (actually double cousin's son) got married a few weeks ago. As his beautiful bride is a fellow scrapbooker, I thought she would enjoy filling this book with memories.

Other than the parts on the princess, I used Bazzill for the the solid papers and Doodlebug Design for the pattern paper. Although it does not show well in the scan, the dress is a swirly textured paper and the necklace and crown a silvery vellum I bought at Hobby Lobby. Otherwise, the princess was made with Close to My Heart papers. The pages were made using George, Jasmine for the letters and Happily Ever After for the princess. I had a horrible time with some of those tiny pieces, so I ended up using my pens to make the eyes.

I hope Alaina enjoys it. I gave it to her with a few matching embellishments along with scraps of the paper used for matting, etc. Here's a scan showing all of the pages. And here's the cut file for anyone interested.

Thanks, Amanda!

A special thanks to Amanda K for her kind heart! Thanks to her sharing storage space, my files are available through a direct download. Amanda has also been helpful in getting me started with my blog. THANKS, AMANDA!!!!!!

Be sure to check out her blog.

Wizard of Oz - Tin Man

JenW of the Cricut message board has a daughter with Down Syndrome. They are part of a new theater group, Angels on Stage, and their first play is Wizard of Oz. As a fundraiser, the kids are making angels. Jen wanted to make the characters of the play into angels and put out a plea for help with her project.

What better way than to use our Cricut Design Studio and the Paper Dolls Dress Up cartridge. Jen asked each person willing to help to design one character as a 5 inch paper doll. By the time I read the post, everything was spoken for except the Tin Man. I went to work on him, and here he is. I'll post another picture when I cut him out and get him assembled. I wanted to get the cut file to those who have been asking for it.

We're sending the cut files to Jen. She will cut the pieces and the kids will put them together. Won't they have fun! I'm sure they'll have a very successful event.

Cricut Storage System

My first project to actually design something with my Cricut and the Design Studio software was a storage system for my Cricut cartridges and their overlays. It was getting rather cumbersome to take everything to crops. I needed a system to get them out of the boxes but still protect them.

Thanks to other members of the Cricut message board, I discovered that the Snapware Ribbon Dispenser was a perfect size for the overlays and the additional tray would hold the cartridges. However, I did not like the idea of the cartridges jiggling around all over the place. I tried several different things to hold the cartridges in place but wasn't happy with anything. I finally decided to design my own little boxes.

Of course, that led to designing dividers for the overlays and tags to identify the cartridges without taking them out of the boxes. The boxes, dividers and tags were cut with my Cricut from colored file folders. I felt that the file folders would hold up to use better than cardstock. The tags are attached to the cartridges with ribbon by removing the top screw in the back of the cartridge, tieing the ribbon to the screw and replacing it.

Here are the cut files for the boxes and dividers. The boxes file was created using George and Basic Shapes; the dividers file uses Fabulous Finds and George. The tags are cuts from each cartridge. I have them divided into 3 different files: Tag 1, Tag 2 and Tag 3. I do not have a cut for all of the cartridges. You can design your own, but this will give you an idea.

The ribbon dispenser holds approximately 35 overlays with dividers and the shorter tray holds 45 cartridges in the boxes. I've been using this system since February and have been VERY happy with it. It's now so much easier to take my Cricut supplies with me--and SO much lighter. To the left is a picture of the system all put together along with an extra tray holding Stickles, paint and some of my Cricut tools.

Beginnings

OK, I have no idea what I'm getting myself into. I don't really have anything to say, but I've been looking for an avenue to share my Cricut cut files and other projects. Other people have been so helpful with their knowledge and sharing their files. I may not be as creative or know as much, but I hope maybe I can help someone out along the way. As soon as I figure out how to share files, I'll get a few posted so that my blog won't look so bleak. In the meantime, at least it's no longer blank. :o)