Had a BLAST at a Cricut Crop Yesterday!

I got to meet some really nice ladies yesterday at a Cricut Crop I went to  hosted by Lori Brodnax.  It was so much fun with demos and door prizes and great food and wonderful crafty inspiration from everyone!

Lori asked me to demo the Cricut Cake and the Gypsy for the ladies. I was a lot of fun. A couple of people had bought the Cricut Cake machines and needed some help figuring out what they were doing wrong.  Hopefully my suggestions work for them...they seemed very happy with my suggestions.

I was also glad I was able to de-mystify some of the things the Gypsy can do for people who already own them but don't use them much.  Now they are Gypsy fanatics and enjoying the power of  the Gypsy. 
Plus I think I inspired a couple of people to buy a Gypsy as well :) 

Unfortunately, I was so busy making new friends, eating, laughing, creating and demoing that I completely forgot to take any pictures of the crop even though I had my camera with me. Bummer.

However, I did want to share with my new Gypsy fanatics some directions to make the Stylus fob they were admiring on my Gypsy.  

Note: If anyone wants a Stylus fob and doesn't want to make one, contact me at doneal16@gmail.com .     I do sell them and can customize one for you in whatever color beads you prefer.

This is an exampe of how the beaded fob looks when completed.  As you can see, it only takes a few beads.

Sorry for the dark picture...we are having thunderstorms here and it is very dark outside. 

This is a bit better picture I took on a good light day of my Stylus fob with my Gypsy.

Here are some simple directions:
I used the bead-a-lon beading WIRE (not the plastic stretchy one) that found in the jewelry department in any craft store. I picked one that wasn't the thinnest but not the thickets one either. Remember you have to slide the beads on the wire so that should guide you in which one to get.


I cut a length off that is about double the size I wanted the beaded part to be. Then folded in it half so you have a loop on one end and at opposite end is left open for now. Now you need to thread a jewelery crimp bead over both of the wires on the open end. Pull the crimp bead up towards the loop until it is about 1 1/2 inches from the top of the loop, then crimp (squish) the bead flat.

Next you thread your beads and findings on the rest of the wire. Remember to put the beads through BOTH of the wires. Once you get the beads and findings on there the way you like them, then add another crimp bead on the open end of the wires. Make sure you crimp it well so the beads don't fall off! If any of the wire is left sticking out on the end, I just snip it just below the crimp bead.

I added a little piece of gossamer ribbon to the top of my fobs just above the first bead on the end with the loop.

To use, just thread the loop through the hole on the top of your stylus. Waaaalaaaah!!!

You can make these for your Stylus and even make the loop larger and use on your scissors.  They are great to identify your stuff at crops and add a little bling to your life too!

Look What I Have Been Up To Today !

I am getting ready to go to a Cricut scrapbook crop tomorrow and take my Expression with me so I  decided it needed  a little something to identify it as mine.   I would hate for her to get mixed up and go home with wrong person :)

So I dug out some pink Vinyl and used the Elegant Cake Cartridge to make beautify my "E".

The two shades of PINK look great together. And yes, that is BLING on there too!

It just wouldn't be mine without the BLING, right?

And of course I couldn't just stop there....So I did a few more items for good measure.

Well. I couldn't stop myself.  My Cuttlebug was feeling left out so of course I HAD to give her a little love too.  Then my Pink Cricut Tool Set started to whine about feeling bare, so I had to include her of course.

And then wouldn't you now it, those darn Cricut Cartridges started demanding that they get some bling too and so.....

 

What do you think?  Will everyone know that these are mine ?  LOL

Happy Labor Day !

Around here Labor Day is for spending time with friends, enjoying some bar b que and crafting  ! May not be your perfect long weekend but it sure is mine.

I got my new 3Birds Cricut Cartridge and found some perfect images to inspire this layout that captures the spirit of the weekend.

I used the 3Birds cartridge for the adorable barbque bird and his amazing grill.  

I hope you can see the shiny red metallic paper better in the picture that I used for the cowboy hat, the apron and the top of the grill. And I like the added touch of the bakers twine on his chefs hat.

 Plus I couldn't resist making one little cowboy bird since he seemed so perfect with his little hat and boots.

The font on 3Birds is so cute ...it has these little bird feet as part of each letter. I used my swiss dot cuttlebug folder and embossed the letters for added dimension.

AND THE CRAFTING DIDN'T STOP THERE........ 

Part of being in the Cricut Circle is getting to meet new friends. Provo Craft asked us to create some 3X3calling cards to exchange with other Circle friends. Here are the cards I made to represent me..I just had to add "my crown" too!

 I found this great pp with various shades of pink circles on it...so perfect to represent the Cricut Circle.

 AND You just have to swing the cover image over slightly and find my contact information. I made 140 cards and can make more as the Circle grows and I meet more people.  How fun is that !!!!

Hope you found something to INSPIRE you over the weekend too !  

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. 

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.

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. 

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!

My Adorable "little" Mistake

For being part of the Cricut Circle group, we get an exclusive Cricut cartridge every quarter.  This quarter we received "French Manor" which has gorgous french inspired images.  I have been meaning to use this cartridge all month but as I mentioned before, we have been a bit busy at our house this month.  Tonight I decided no more excuses...those dishes in the kitchen can wait....it was time to create a little project to show off the beautiful details of this cartridge.

 

I have to be honest...it didn't start out to be an adorable "little" card ...I kind of forgot to move the size dial larger. However, sometimes a mistake isn't really a mistake, it is an opportunity, right?
 
This little card is more index card size than a normal card might be. It was cut at 4 inches.  I did the base card layer with blue card stock, then cut the same base card cut again but in the yellow swiss dot. I then cut the bird cage OFF the yellow layer and then adhered the frame that was left of the yellow card base over the blue card base and adhered.  Next I cut just the bird cage in black cardstock and layered over the blue cage.
 
TIP:  The black layer cage needs to be cut 1/4 inch smaller than your card base so it fits better.  I cut this one at 3 3/4 inches so it fit over the blue card cage layer better. It left just a slight blue shadow around the edges which I think worked well with it.   

After all this layering, then you see a yellow swiss dot framed card, with a black cage with slight blue shadow and a blue bird. 

To make the blue bird stand out more, I used a blue glaze pen and covered it so it now slightly shiny.  And added a black eye with a black glaze pen.

To the black bird cage, I added mirrored studs using my new iRock tool.  Love that thing...it was the final perfect touch to the cage.

I backed the image with some Basic Grey paper I had in my stash to add a little more color. I then lightly inked around the edges of the card with Peeled Paint distress ink just to make it pop a little more.

I kinda like my little card....what do you think of it?

July Catch Up Post

Lots happening in July...obviously so much so that I didn't make time to blog.  Shame on me!

Let's give you a little run down on what was going on this month and maybe you might forgive me for not blogging...okay, I know there is no real excuse not to blog....teeheee.  Promise to do better.

Well obviously, we spent some time celebrating 4th of July.  In fact, we had THREE celebrations. 

My Dad 's birthday is 4th of July and he turned 70 this year.  Happy Birthday Dad! We had the family over to celebrate with barbque steak and all the fixings...Yum !  Love you Dad!  

Bianca and Nicolas insisted Grandpa wear the Silly Birthday hat...I think it looks good on him, don't you?

Some close friends of  ours throw a huge 4th of July party every year since we can shoot off fireworks in their neighborhood.  This year was no exception and their were tons of kids of all ages and lots of friends hanging out having a good time.  Plus really great potluck food! The fireworks show is always interesting as it is usually all the kids outside watching their dad's try and put on a fireworks show....they did a fantastic job. Well the exception of the firework that tipped over and scared the heck out of the spectators :)  Luckily no one was hurt.

The following night we were lucky enough to celebrate with some other dear  friends and we went and watched the incredible fireworks show downtown.  I just love fireworks, don't you? Unfortunately I forgot my camera so I don't have incredible pics to share...you just gotta trust me on this one.

I kept Bianca the following week and we had a great time taking in some of the sights around town.  One day we went to the Johnson Space Center with my brother and nephew and enjoyed ourselves immensely.
And we went to the Children's Museum...I really don't know why they call it a children's museum since I had a great time playing there too :)  Oh, does that mean I am just a big kid..GUILTY as charged!

Bianca (on the far right) loved being a part of alive science show at Space Center Houston.  In fact, she asked the lady after the show how she could get a job like that!  Love that girl...always thinking ahead!

Let's see what was next...oh yeah, the Creating Keepsakes Convention was here in town and my daughter Crystal and some of her friends came to town from Dallas to go with me.  We had a lot of fun.  And I was glad to have Crystal and Winston here since it has been a while since they last visited.  Luckily the little mini flood we had drained off quickly and Crystal as able to travel back to Dallas the next day.  It actually rained 3.5 inches in only 45 minutes right over our neighborhood...flooded the streets and took 2 hours to drain off.  I haven't seen that much water on our street in a looooooong time.

Then of course, we had to take Bianca one night to go see "Lois" the Corpse Flower at Museum of Natural Science and History.  Lois became a mini celebrity as the city waited patiently for her to bloom and give off her stinky aroma and beautiful plummage.  Alas, we went at 10:45 pm at night (yes the museum had special hours just so Lois adoring fans could come see her), but we only smelled a faint rotten food odor....not the rotting flesh odor that had been predicted.  It was fun having a little mini adventure and going to the Museum at night.  We only had to wait 45 minutes in line to see Lois for 10 minutes.  Yes, we are a bit silly at our house.

Below is a picture of Michael and Bianca admiring Lois, the Corpse Flower.

We hosted a birthday party for our daughter Heather for all the family at our house the following weekend.  The barbque was great and everyone had a wonderful time.   Heather has decided it is time to stop mentioning the actual # of years old but I am glad she still wants to celebrate with family :)

You may have noticed that we have a BIRTHDAY HAT at our house that we force, I mean ask, the birthday person to wear...it is another silly thing we do in our family. 

Last weekend on Friday night we helped give a party to celebrate a 5th Degree Black Belt for Michael's Sensi, Rick.  It is quite an accomplishment and we are really proud of Rick for achieving this feat.  Again, we had great food and enjoyed hanging out with friends.

Then for some insane reason, we decided on Saturday to do on a 15 mile Bike Ride in 98 degree heat in the middle of the afternoon.  Boy, was that H-O-T !!!  It was the bike ride that did me in, it was the heat.  What can I say, I live in the Air Conditioning Capital of the World and I am NOT afraid to use it !!!

On top of all this I managed to fit in a few Cricut Demos at Michaels.  I have gotten pretty good with the Yudu machine now if anyone needs help silk screening :)  We have  full month of demos scheduled for August so I will be Cricuting again soon.

Okay, I am tired just reading about all that we did this month.  So long for now. I promise to be back soon to post some creative projects I have been working on this month. 

Hope your summer is going along smoothly and you are making time to enjoy good times with family and friends.

A thousand things to say to catch up....

I can't believe I have neglected my blog for so long!  Life has been so crazy for me lately , I just didn't have the time or energy to post here but that changes as of today! You see,  I have been struggling with a job I had come to hate and it was really bringing me down.  So, with love and support of my DH, I quit my HR job and will now have more time for blogging, crafting and creating! Yippeeeee.  I will be searching for ideas on how to create a job to earn some cash doing what I love best....crafting and teaching.  So if you have any ideas of what you would like to see me do, please share!

I have also been doing the Provo Craft demos every Sunday at Michael's since May.  It has been fun and I do love sharing my crafting passion with customers.

This job last until end of June. We are waiting to hear if the schedule will be extended...keeping my fingers crossed on that.   So far I have been demoing the Cricut Cake, the Expression, the Gypsy and this coming week I get to demo the Yudu.  Getting some hands on with all of these products has been fun.  Plus I have met so many really nice ladies that are part of the Cricut Demo Army that share the same crafting passion.  The talent in this group is off the charts and so inspiring!

Plus I have been busy with all the High School and College Graduation Parties of  some of our friends kids and our best friend's 25th Anniversary party. I did get to be a little creative with packaging up their gifts....and yes, I used my Cricut to create  these customized gift bags.

Joan got an amazing scholarship and  is going to Notre Dame...yes, she is a brilliant girl !  I did her bag in ND colors...the green on the bottom left says "Go Irish"!  She was so thrilled when she saw this bag.  Plus the gift inside of a Vera Bradley laptop bag...in you guessed it...blue, yellow and green !  Good luck Joanie...hard to believe you are going off to college...seems like just yesterday you were a little girl.

And Kristen got a scholarship to Houston Baptist University.  She loves Pink so I couldn't resist creating her a big PINK gift bag with her initial on it!

And I did create a gift bag and 25th Anniversary Plate to celebrate our best friend's Bob & Anne special anniverary. DH and myself used to double date with these two in high school so we all go back a loooooooong way !  Wishing them at least another 25 years more of wedded bliss! 

So you can see that I have been a very busy girl.  Still no excuse... I will do better posting and sharing creative ideas that I hope inspire you so stay tuned !

NSD Done Right !

Ok, first you may want to know what is NSD, right?  Well it is only one of the most IMPORTANT days in a scrapbookers life....National Scrapbook Day of course !  LOL

Ok, for those of you who didn't have May 1st written down on your calendars to celebrate this auspicious day...I have a few pics to share of what I did to celebrate with my scrappy friends.

We started the day off bright and early by going to By Designs Scrapbook Boutique. One of our favorite PINK PLACES on earth !

LtoR: Jill, Debbie, Michelle, Alisa

We started off by doing their three fabulous Make N Takes created by their design team.  We had so much fun playing with some new products. 

Here is one of the projects we did.

And of course we couldn't resist doing a little bit of shopping too! See, we even left some for you :)

We then went back to my house for a lunch of homemade taco salad and strawberry shortcake for dessert....So no pics of that, cause WE ATE ALL OF IT !  Yum !!!

We spent the rest of the day enjoying each other's company and scrapping.  And like I said earlier....It was NSD Done Right !  Hope you got to spend your day finding INSPIRATION with your friends too.