Graduation Banquet - GEORGE & NEW ARRIVAL

I am on a committee at my church to help decorate for special events... right up my alley and I love it! We just had our annual Senior Banquet for our graduating seniors and their families and decided to go with the "Shoot for the Moon" theme.

I found these bags in the dollar section on Target... great, huh? It says, "SHOOT FOR THE MOON. EVEN IF YOU MISS, YOU'LL LAND AMONG THE STARS." I took this and ran with it. Started buying blue and yellow ribbons, buckets, napkins, wrist bands, etc.

And lots of yellow & blue paper...

I used my cricut expression to cut various sizes of stars from the GEORGE & BASIC SHAPES cricut cartridge... but this time I used my Cricut Design Studio. I could have used the FIT TO PAGE feature for my big stars and the AUTO FILL for my smaller stars, but I needed so many (20 lrg stars and 200 small stars) that I didn't want to waste any paper. With the help of CDS I could cut one big (11.5") star and then fitted various sized stars around the big star so I minimized my paper scraps. So... here is my cut file for the stars:

My adorable Sscrubby (means Supportive Scrapbooking Hubby) even helped peel stars off the cricut mats... it was alot of stars.

Then I did the same thing with blue moons from the NEW ARRIVAL cricut cartridge. I attached my moons and medium size stars to pipe cleaners (I wanted the stars & moon to dance/bounce) which I then attached to shish-ka-bob skewers (I twisted the pipe cleaners around the skewers and did not have to use any adhesive). I bought pots of real monkey grass at my local Home Depot and dropped them into the blue bags... stuck four stars and one moon in each plant and viola!... centerpieces.

I scattered the remaining small stars and moons on the tables around the centerpieces.

"What did I do with the large stars and moons?", you ask? Well... I strung them up with matching ribbon and had the youth group kids who were there helping us, hang them all from the ceiling over the tables.

I cut 10 moons and 20 stars for them to hang and it was just the right amount for a festive atmosphere.

The finished result...

Everyone really liked it and I was pretty happy too.

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL YOU CLASS OF 2009 GRADUATES!

Simple Graduation Card

Keeping things simple today!

Used the BASE CAMP cricut cartridge for this one... I really like that font, nice & clear with a little meat and no funky letters! LOL!

I used a printed paper that says, 'Congratulations' all over it and pop dotted the numbers up on the colorful blocks. See... simple!

My sentiment is printed inside. I printed two sentiments on my computer on an 8.5"x11" cardstock then cut it in half (at 5.5") and folded each at 4.25" to make two cards.

Congratulations to all those out there graduating! We, personally, have 11 graduates in our circle of family & friends! 2 college grads and 9 high schoolers! Yep... that's 11 cards to make... should be fun!

CCC - Animal Kingdom Cricut Cartridge

What fun we had last night!! LOL! I just love it when I teach a cricut class and I can see the 'light bulbs' just going off over everyone's heads! It's so cool! I play with my cricut all the time and it thrills me to no end to discover something new about it! I just have to share it in my classes! What?! Did you think I was the all-knowing cricut guru!?! My creative critters all do... but I hate to disappoint... there is still much for me to learn I am sure!

For example... I didn't know that you can simply see what size the FIT-TO-PAGE feature will cut an image without pressing the CUT button (then it calculates the size on the screen for a few brief... very brief seconds). And if you don't want to cut it right then, you have to hit the stop button quickly! Well, I discovered this past week that you can simply hit the OK button (located under the screen display) while the FIT-TO-PAGE or the FIT-TO-LENGTH buttons are on and an image is selected and it will calculate the size and tell you without cutting it out!!! Okay... everyone... give it up! Am I the last to know that? And does it actually tell you that in the instructions from Provocraft??! What...? Did you just say, "What instructions?!" LOL! Okay... I'm just cracking myself up now and getting totally off the post topic for today... so let me focus and tell you about our fun ANIMAL KINGDOM cricut class last night.



We made an animal mask using the cartridge creative feature HEAD and KEY53 (dog2). Cute and very simple, yet we used creative features from the cricut that most cricuteers have not used or even know how to use. The image is actually cut with much smaller eyes... but to make a it a mask we have to be able to 'see' thru the eye holes... right!? What is the first technique to pop into your head to make the 1" circle cut for the eyes? Use a punch? Well... ya can't... punches won't reach that far into the paper. Do it in your design studio software? Yes, you can do that, but there are many who are still not using that. Just use the CENTERPOINT creative feature that is in on the cricut expression. (sry baby buggers! I know you are saying "oh no! not another reason why I should upgrade to the cricut expression!") Many don't even know how to use this feature (no one in my class last night had ever even tried it). I think that the CENTERPOINT should have been named REPLACES ALL PUNCHES instead, because that is exactly what I use it for. With a cricut why would anyone even continue buying and using bulky expensive punches? (I can buy on cricut cartridge for the cost of two punches! And get much more for my money!) I used to use punches to punch out sentiments or journaling that I print from my computer... but now I just center my blade housing over what I want to cut and can use any solid image to cut it out! Any size! Get it?





For this project, I used the circle (Shift KEY20) on the GEORGE cartridge. I removed the eyes from the dog (sry... sounds worse than it is! LOL!) and reloaded my mat. I centered my blade housing over the hole where the eyes were and selected CENTERPOINT and the circle image and cut it at 1". The size is the dimension of the image, so the cut started 1/2" from where I had positioned my blade housing.

Well, maybe the video below will help... (first time for me to do this so please don't be critical!! I am a much better scrapbooker than I am a movie director/actor!)

Here are the instructions for the Dog Mask project, you can make a mask out of almost all the animal images on ANIMAL KINGDOM (some that have side profiles would not work as well). Can you imagine the fun children's parties you can have with these? Or just playday with the kids and let them make a home movie using their fun animal masks!? Oh... the possibilities! Leave a comment if you have any questions on using CENTERPOINT, I will be happy to explain if it is not clear.

CREATIVE CRITTERS CRICUT CLASS
Featured Cartridge: ANIMAL KINGDOM
Project: Animal Masks

Supplies:
Animal Kingdom Cricut Cartridge
9”x9” Chipboard (Cereal Box)
12”x12” white cardstock
12”x12” brown cardstock
1 – wooden paddle handle

CUT 1: BASE DOG MASK:
- Insert ANIMAL KINGDOM Cricut Cartridge
- Load lightweight 9”x9” (or bigger) chipboard

- Select the cartridge creative feature HEAD
- Select creative feature MULIT CUT
(select multi cut number in accordance to chipboard thickness)
- Select creative feature FIT TO PAGE (should cut 8½“)
- Select key 53 (dog2)… cut one… unload
- Insert GEORGE or ACCENT ESSENTIALS Cricut Cartridge
- Reload and position blade housing centered over dog’s eye
- Select creative feature CENTER POINT
- Select Shift key 10 (Accent Essentials) or Shift Key 20 (George)
- Cut size 1” (turn Multi Cut & Fit to Page off)
- Repeat for other eye

CUT 2: FOUNDATION LAYER DOG MASK:
- Load 12”X12” white cardstock
- Repeat all steps for cut one except turn MULTI CUT off

CUT 3: ACCENT LAYER DOG MASK:
- Load 12”X12” brown cardstock
- Repeat all steps for cut one except turn MULTI CUT and FIT TO PAGE off
- Select shift key 53
- Cut one at size 8½“

Assemble: Use black permanent marker to color in nose… pop dot it on
Glue all pieces together with handle between the chipboard base and the
white foundation layer.
Add spots randomly with permanent marker

HAPPY CRICUTING!

Vinyl Lettering - Restaurant Window

Ohhh... the things you can do with a cricut and some vinyl! Last night, I traveled up to Leonard, Texas (northeast of Dallas) to see a friend's new restaurant. As a "Congratulations-Grand Opening" gift I had offered to cut and hang the restaurant name & phone number on the front window of the restaurant.

I had advised Caren to order the vinyl from an online company called "Print On It.Com". You can purchase white vinyl at the local craft stores, but we wanted something that was going to hold up to washing it with glass cleaner and this vinyl is also very glossy, what you get in the craft stores (provocraft vinyl) has a mat finish. Print On It.com sells each 12"x 24" sheet for only $3.89 and if you spend $50 or more your shipping is free. Their variety of colors is really great! And if you don't want to work with large 12"x 24" sheets, you can purchase your vinyl in both 12"x 12" AND 12"x 6" sizes. This is not the first project that I have used their vinyl on and I highly recommend it. It took 11 sheets of 12"x 24" vinyl to make this sign.







I used the "Cuttin' Up" cricut cartridge for the font. The "BIG BOYS" was cut at 12" and the rest was cut at 10". I have to say that I had debated on just taking my cricut expression and making all the cuts on it alone, but then I decided to go ahead and pack up my laptop and take it too, so that I could use the Creative Design Software (CDS) for the cuts. And I am SO glad that I did! Not only could I preview the cut easier before cutting, but I was able to cut other smaller letters out of the negative space and lessened the wasted vinyl. Below, I was able to fit the word 'Open' in under the large 10" A... something I could not have done if I were using the cricut alone.







Ahhh... but what is wrong with the picture above? All the lettering was going on a storefront window... we applied it on the inside of the window to protect it from the elements, but it was being read from the outside! Which meant that everything had to be flipped! All vinyl is the same color on both sides... so in this case the sticky side was actually the front for this project. In order to 'flip' images with the CDS, you simply click on the little box in the top right corner of the screen that says "Flip Shapes".







If you are welding a word and you want the whole word flipped... enable the flip feature with the first letter, then while that letter is still highlighted, add each additional letter... the software will automatically flip & size them according to the first letter. Then you just use your nudging arrows shown below to overlap them. Make sure that the welding box is also checked before cutting.




I had typed in the word 'Open' and then clicked flip at the end... it flipped it, but not the whole word... just each individual letter. So, that is why it is important to enable the flip feature with the first letter AND spell the word backwards. That's hard! You have to really pay attention or you could spell it wrong very easily. I recommend writing it down and looking at it often, you will have less mistakes. I had three little helpers (daughters of the two owners) with this project...






... it was their job to make sure that I flipped every letter before cutting, because it was easy to forget (they did a great job!)






I decided to not use the transfer paper with this project and chose to just measure for my center points. Once I had the center points I started hanging the letters. I used a small amount of removable adhesive on the front (paper backing side) of each letter and arranged them directly on the glass. After we were all satisfied with the arrangement and spacing (and made sure that none of them were backwards) I then peeled the paper backing off of each letter and applied it. Using a brayer, one of my little helpers went behind me to roll out any big bubbles.





My friend and one of the restaurant owners, Caren helped by applying the 'restaurant hours' on an adjoining window...





Remember that these cuts were made out of the negative scrap space of the vinyl. We originally planned to put them in the corner of the large window sign, but decided to go ahead and center them on another window.





Well... I am not a professional sign maker, but I am happy with the results of this project and I think that the restaurant owners are too. However... I did make one little mistake... look closely at the picture below and you will see that I obviously did not FLIP the number 11 on the 7th row!! Neither Caren or I even noticed it last night (it was late! LOL!) But the good thing about vinyl is that it is not permanent and I can simply cut another '11' out the right way! Sorry guys!

Oh well... I plan on being at their GRAND OPENING on Friday, May 22, 2009 anyway, so I will be able to fix it then! If you are in the LEONARD, Texas area... stop by and give their bar-b-que a try! You won't regret it! Got any questions? Well... the phone number is right there! In big 10" numbers... so you can't miss it! LOL! Give them a call and wish them a happy GRAND OPENING!

Vinyl Art - Bullseye!

ROTFLOL! (for those who don't know that acronym... it's "Rolling On The Floor Laughing Out Loud"... and is appropriately used when LOL is just not good enough!)

I was just browsing the cricut.com messageboard (tons of wonderful info there!) and came across a fellow cricuteer, Michelle's creative answer to training her young son's aim in the bathroom!



I had emailed Michelle to ask permission to post her idea here on my blog because it is just too good not to share! She emailed back with the following:

"Absolutley!!!! I would love to see your blog also, would you send me a link!! thanks!!! FYI- my 6yo LOVES his target, EVERY time he goes I hear "I hit the target!" Thanks! Michelle"

So... thanks Michelle! Not only was I amused, but I was totally impressed with your creativity as both a mom AND an artist! And as a mom of two boys (now grown)... I can appreciate the 'need' for that creativity! ROTFLOL!

I don't think Michelle has a blog, but you can leave any comments or questions here for her OR you can find her on the cricut messageboard in the vinyl section here.

CELEBRATIONS Cricut Cartridge

Wow! This has been a busy busy week and I have fallen behind in my blogging! Last week's Creative Critter Cricut class featured the CELEBRATIONS cartridge. We used the "Set Paper Size", "Flip", "Blackout & Shadow" and "Autofill" creative features. 'Tip Of The Week' was using a brayer to really secure your paper to a sticky mat that is no longer very sticky. Brayer's are also great to use with vinyl, since most vinyl comes in a roll and wants to curl even after being placed on the sticky mats. Most of us scrapbookers who are also stampers will have one, so go dig it out of the stamping tote and keep it next to your cricut! It will keep your paper from 'popping' off while in the middle of a cut.

I would have to say that the CELEBRATIONS cartridge is a 'must-have' for everybody's cricut library! I mean... who doesn't have birthday pictures!? Or need to make a birthday card or tag? How about this one... cupcake picks!! So simple and yet so cute!

There are four different birthday hats on this cartridge. I cut them out in BLACKOUT to make them solid and then cut another one using both the BLACKOUT and FLIP creative features so that I could sandwich the toothpick in between two hats. The gift bag and tag were also done using this cartridge.

These gals have learned so much!

Sandy's sister, Paula came in from out of town to take a cricut class... thanks for coming Paula! And this was Jennifer's (below) first class with us... hope to see you again!

Everyone who took this class went home with the cupcake picks, a birthday gift bag & tag ready to use with a matching birthday card & envelope.

This cartridge has a great card feature... remember to always cut the envelope out first then match the size of your card to the envelope size. Go make some birthday cards & tags with this cartridge and then keep them on hand for those last minute gifts... surely, I'm not the only procrastinator who waits til the last minute! There is nothing I hate more than having to 'buy' a birthday card because I didn't plan ahead and make one instead! And what's funny, is that it is almost an insult to give a 'store-bought' card when everyone knows that I have all these really cool tools to make the cutest cards myself. So, I've learned to make some up ahead... like months ahead!