Monday, August 30, 2010

Took Kit Review

I recently received the CGull Pink Tool Kit for use with my Cricut die cut machine projects.  I was so excited to get this since I only had the Cricut Spatula.  And of course, since it is PINK , I am doubly excited !!!

The Pink Tool Kit includes:
*Pink Leatherette Case with Magnetic strap
*Bone Folder
*Large Scrapper
*Small Scrapper
*Hook Tool
*Scoop Hook tool
*Small Scissors
*Stainless Steel Tweezers
*Wide Blade Spatula
*Narrow Blade Spatula
*Exacto Knife
*2 Exacto Knife replacement blades

It arrived sealed in one of those blister packs which I thought was nice.

The case is a nice true PINK color and is made of a Leatherette material.  It has a lighter pink nylon binding trim and is stitched in place.  The CGull logo is a soft plastic piece that is stitched on.  The case is held together with a magnetic closure and works great to keep the case closed as intended.

The inside of the case is a hard grey foam and holds all the tools in place. 
When I flipped the case over when opened everything stayed in just fine.
You can see in the picture above the layout of the tools included.  The quality is good and similar to the original Cricut tools.  I like the fact that it has two different size scrappers and spatulas.  
The little pair of scissors is sharp and will come in handy to snip those cuts that need a little help.

The quality of all the tools is very good and similar in weight and style to the original Cricut tool kit tools.
The green tool in the picture above is the original Cricut Spatula.  As you can see, the blade of the green spatula is a little larger and angeled to be flatter.  The pink spatula blade is slightly smaller is angled up a bit so it doesn't sit completely flat.  It works just fine when I tried it and is sturdy like the green spatula.

I am very pleased with my new  PINK Tool Kit.  I know I will be getting a lot of use out of these tools. 

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Houston Cricut Circlets SWARM !!

This past Saturday evening, I helped host the first ever Houston Cricut Circlets Swarm.  Provo Craft is hosting some swarms (meet ups) around the country throughout the year but I just couldn't wait for them to get around to us, so I decided to host our own mini swarm to kick things off for those living in Houston area.

Here are some pics of all the fun we had. As you can see, I brought some props for us to use to show our Circut Circle Spirit!

There were 14 delightful ladies who joined me. Everyone was so talented and willing to share their knowledge with each other. Our swarm embodied exactly what the Circle is all about...a community of sharing of knowledge and support of each other and our craftiness.
Standing Row L to R: Milissa, Yvette, Vanessa, Pam R, Demita, Margi, Kelly 
Sitting Row L to R : Pam L, Kristy, Debbie (we had a few that didn't make it for our group photo but joined us later)
  

 And of course it wouldn't be a get together with friends if we didn't bring snacks to share.
L to R: Kelly, Alisa,Margi, Pam, Milissa
 And Margi WOWED us all with her Cricut Circle Chicken Salad - YUM!

A few of us made gifts for each other.  I made these Circlet Composition books for us to keep track of all the great info we share within the Circle.  And that cute little bug eyed squishy ball is our Houston Circlet Mascot !  Isn't he CUTE?

Pam Ramesh aka The Bug Bytes MB Name

Vanessa AKA TXScrapper MB Name 
Milissa AKA Mili MB Name

 Yvette  AKA Gamma MB Name
 Demita  AKA Momsidsquid MB Name
 Debbie (me) AKA ScrapHappyDeb MB Name

 I am sorry I didn't get close ups of everyone but hopefully the other ladies will have pictures to share of the others. 

Looking forward to getting to know my Houston Cricut Circlet friends better over the coming months :)

*Encase you are wondering what is a Cricut Circlet, the Cricut Circlets are members of a club that Provo Craft host for people who use the Cricut electronic die cut machines and other product line items.  It has a message board community where we can meet in cyber space other people who share our passion for crafting with the Cricut.

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Take a Peek at My Scrap Oasis

As most crafters know, your scrap space needs to inspire you AND most of all be user friendly.  After several incarnations of my space in various locations over the years, after trying many ways of organizing all the tools of my scrappy craft and after many purging and buying of organizers, I think I may have finally become comfortable with my latest Scrap Oasis. It is certainly not cutesy like I had in the past (mainly cause I share the space with DH and he doesn't 'do' cutesy) and I have recylced many items from other craft spaces or from around the house so it is a hodge podge but I love it and feel comfortable in there.
Take a peek and let me know what you think.

Here is my Scrap Oasis.  It is in the large bonus room I share with DH.  My part of the room is 10 1/2 ft X 11 ft.  The table is an old oak kitchen table which seats 4 to 5 scrapper friends comfortably.  The Burgundy and Gold curtains in the back ground hide a small storage area in this room for miscellaneous stuff...There is also a large 50" screen tv to the left in this picture for tv and movie watching.  The globe you see in the foreground is sitting on DH's desk where he does his hobby, Geneology Research.  We love spending time together in this room.

My Scrap Oasis is divided into stations.  These cabinets are my "CREATIVE INSPIRATION"station.  The cabinets on the bottom hold my craft magazines and books, my punches, my cuttlebug & folders, my xyron machines. On top I have a bunch of different project and storage holders.
Continuing around to the right of the previous cabinets, is my "CRICUT/RIBBON" station. On the shelf is the snapware container that holds all my cricut carts (I recently switched to this storage...just not enough room to display all my cart boxes) and so far I like it. And I LOVE hanging all my ribbon on the shelf underneath.  I will post more about my handmade ribbon system in another post. Above the shelf are three 12X12 clip boards were I post some of my LO's.
To the right of my cricut station is my "Get Messy" station.  I have all my inks, glimmer mist and paints  and acrylic stamps here.  My hubby made me a great extra large flat shelf area to give me plenty of room.  Ihave a large craft mat and my stamping pad there.  The blue cd holders have cd cases with all my acrylic stamps.  The light blue tin bucket holds my various acrylic blocks. And the little tin buckets on top of the cd holders have my copics, distress ink applicators, paint brushes, etc.  The big wooden tower was reclaimed from a neighbor's trash and I use it to hold all my paint daubers, glimmer mist, speciality paints, paper towels, stickles and cats eye ink containers. At the very top I have displayed the projects I made at CE last year.

Underneath the "Get Messy" Station is my "Paper & Kits" Station.  I have everything sorted into various baskets that hold 12X12 Generations plastic paper storage holders.  Some baskets are sorted by MFG, some by THEME, some by KIT CLUB and some by PROJECT KITS I made myself.  This makes it really easy for me to find things.  The Generations holders are slightly expandable which I love. I can add not only paper but also embellishments that I bought to use with that paper or for a particular project.


                                       
The shelves next to the "GET MESSY" Station is my "MISC STATION.  Starting from the top shelf...it holds large paper trimmers, MS Scoreboard,and some extra albums. The shelf below has containers of all my various bling, my thickers and rub ons. The next shelf holds containers with different kinds of journaling blocks and pieces of epherma like tickets, images, etc. I also have my heat gun and ribbon iron here.  After that are containers that hold large embellishments, small trim pieces, gaffer tape,doilies, etc.  You can see my cardstock on the next shelf.  I have it sorted by type and colors using cropper hopper paper holders turned on their side for easy access. There are also two containers of rolled ribbon and trims.  The final shelf has 12X12 boxes that contain holiday theme items...Valentine/Love, Easter, Halloween, Thanksgiving/Fall, Christmas, etc.  
                                           
Around to the right of the shelves is a walkway and then a 1/2 wall.  On this wall I have my "SMALL EMBELLISHMENT" station.  The shelves hold jars of buttons,brads, pins, snaps eyelets, clips, etc.  You name any small embellishment and I can find it in this section. Underneath the shelf I have bagged all my Prima Flowers and hung them on rings by type/colors on hooks I mounted on the wall.  It works great and makes it easy to find just the flower(s) I need to add that perfect touch to my projects.  This area is just right behind that chair I sit in while crafting so it is very handy.

And I am sure you spotted my IPOD player on the top shelf...I MUST have Scrappy Music to get in the creative mood :)

Well, I could go on and on and show you more hidden storage I have in there but will save that for another post.  Hope you enjoyed the little mini tour of where I spend my creative time. 

Sunday, August 1, 2010

I'm Bananas About You 2

I was flipping through some photos this morning and ran across an adorable picture of my hubby and granddaughter monkeying around the pond when we went to the ZOO this spring.  Just seeing these pictures brought back a flood of happiness!  Seeing these two having such fun together brings me such joy. 

I made this layout to post for the Cricut Circle Weekend Challenge.  We were asked to make something using papers from our stash that we had been hoarding.  I have been hanging on to these really cute monkey papers - the yellow has bananas on it and the green says oooh, aaah...from Reminisce.  The button paper is from Recollections and the die cut red and white paper is from Cosmo Cricket's Hello Sunshine 8X8 paper pad.  I even used some yellow die cut letters from Reminisce I had also been hoarding. 

The adorable monkey and banana are cut from the Create a Critter Cartridge. I just love this cartridge...so many cute shapes on it. 

Have a wonderful Sunday afternoon everyone!

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