Cruise Birthday card

This is my first LAB (Life's a Beach) card. Can't wait until it goes on DS - I guess I'm just a DS snob. This is for my father-in-law. He's a huge cruise fan!

365 days around the sun...

I know this card has been done a million times before, but I put the "Earth" spin on it - I usually see it with the sun on it. The world is cut with turquoise card stock and I used light green vinyl for the continents. The cut file is in the right hand column.

Check this out EARTHLINGS...

I had a great time making these alien cards for my son's friend.

He is having a UFO/Alien party. All of the cuts are made from glossy vinyl. The sparkly paper is Crayola Stardust Sticker paper I had around - perfect background I thought. The alien cut files are in the right hand column. Click on picture for a better view

Thanks A Latte Mugs-Cards

I just had to make a mug shaped card with "Thanks a Latte", now that I have been using vinyl to add words to the outside of my cards. I went a little overboard making sooooo many of them. The card cut file is in the right hand column. I used George for the design and the "steam" shape comes from the coffee cup in beyond Birthdays.

New Cards made with Vinyl

I finally managed to make cards with vinyl. It's a great use for my vinyl scraps. Since I like to cut the shapes with lots of details and delicate cuts, I have to use the transfer tape. The problem is that the tape was sticking to my cardstock and ruining the cards. BUT, I finally found a great transfer tape from H&H Sign Supply (Clear Choice - Medium Tack, Clear Tape) and it does NOT stick to cardstock - VOILA! If you want to buy this transfer tape, click on the green text to the right of this post. If you like my cards, please comment at the bottom of this post...

I pre-printed the "With Thanks..." and used a vinyl dragonfly cut and small flower embellishment. The cut came from SVG Cuts Blog:
http://svgcuts.com/blog/

I pre-printed the "With Thanks..." and used a vinyl bird on branch cut and small flower embellishment. The bird cut file is in the right hand column.

I pre-printed the "Hope Your Birthday's..." and used the owl cut in black and outline cut in white vinyl. The owl and owl outline cut file is in the right hand column.

I cut the Aloha out of black vinyl and mounted it on light blue cardstock with black adhesive buttons in the corners. Cut file is in the right hand column.

Used glossy black vinyl and a cut from the Wedding Cartridge. I used the "hide" feature, so none of the accents cuts would show.

I pre-printed the "With thanks..." and used the bird house cut in brown vinyl. he birdhouse cut file is in the right hand column.

Lots of work- Plaques

I mades these plaques for a craftshow my sister is doing. I used vinyl to cover the Dollar Tree plaques, then added my designs and ribbons!

Awareness Ribbons

There are lots of questions about making an awareness ribbon with the Cricut. I have 2 versions. I like making a really soft ribbon with the "&" sign in George. Here are some pictures of cards I have made with this cut. And you can use the shadow feature as well to make the shadow of the cut. Another is a cut you can use if you have SCAL. The SVG file is shared in the right hand column as Awareness Ribbon 1.

SCAL version- .svg file in right hand column

Saint Patrick's Day Plate & Irish Soda Bread Recipe

Here is my St. Patrick's day plate. I used PDDU for the pot and coins. I used SCAL for the shamrocks, but there is also a cute one on PDDU. I am using this for school treats on St. Pat's Day - I'm sending in Irish Soda Bread. Here is my recipe. It is a great time of year to try it. It's so good right out of the oven with BUTTER, or toasted the next morning.

Irish Soda Bread

3 1/2 cups flour

3/4 cup sugar

1 1/4 cups buttermilk

3/4 stick melted butter

1 cup raisins

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 Tbsp baking powder

caraway seeds (optional)

Put all dry ingredients in a bowl including sugar and raisins, make a well and put in buttermilk and melted butter. Mix only until dry ingredients are incorporated. Split into 2 balls. Place on a greased baking sheet. Bake @ 350 50-60 minutes.

I add turbinado (cane sugar) on the top before baking I have also added cranberries and pecans instead of the raisins I do not use caraway seeds because it is more kid-friendly.

Matching Vinyl to my art...

I wanted to do an above mirror wall decoration, but I wanted it to match the art in my room. I did this by taking a close up photograph of the corner fleur d lys and putting it through Inkscape and SCAL to get the exact shape match. Since my gold vinyl is not wall safe, I placed it on black Wall pops as a shadow.

Making your own shape from a photo: photos work best when they are either black or on a black background. Upload your photo from your camera. Open Inkscape and click File-Import-find your photo, click on it . Click Path-Trace Bitmap-...(In the Trace Bitmap Window click Update then OK.) In the original window click Path-Break Apart. Then Click View-Display Mode-Outline. If there are any stray marks, click on them and then click delete on your keyboard until all that is left is the design you want. If you make a mistake and delete something in error, just click Edit-Undo. Normally you don't have stray marks if you are importing clip art of another graphic, but since photos are detailed, you may have to do this step. Once it is the way you want save the file. Then you can open SCAL- click file-Import SVG and find your file and CUT.

Cub Scout Centerpieces

I was volunteered to do the centerpieces for a Cub Scout banquet. The theme is CIRCUS. I used a little Cricut, but I thought I'd share. The first one is a balloon bouquet. Each balloon has the name of the scout and the other side has a picture of a clown (all done in vinyl). I used a coffee can filled with sand as a weight. I punched holes in the plastic lid and just tied them through the holes, then put the lid back onto the can. I coordinated the base with the same clown.

The other centerpiece is a candy bouquet chock full of goodies. (The boys will get the goodies when the banquet is done) I used PC Crafter clip art "Just clowning around". Cut out a circus character for each scout and the leaders. Of course I had to vinyl the bucket.

No Soliciting Signs

Just a new set of signs I've made! Cut files are in the right hand column

Some new welcome signs

I've been making some new WELCOME signs. I think they would make great hostess gifts. I used the precut oval plaques form the Dollar Tree, covered them in vinyl and put my saying on. The cut files are in the right hand column. I put gromets in the pre cut holes and glued them in. They are hanging by leather cording.