Pina Colada Cards

The holidays are over and it is time for the seniors' card making class to begin this week. I decided to go bright and hopefully this is well received. The cards use the Pina Colada ranger from Kaisercraft, it is one of their paper lines from the Q1 launch. As the Q2 range is now available it was a great opportunity to clear out these papers. I love the bright colours of these papers but to me they suit a lovely tropical holiday layout and as I haven't had any tropical holidays since the kiddies came along it is great to be able to use them for something else. I am really happy with how the cards turned out and I think this colour combination is totally rad.

Spellbinders Foil and Cuttlebug

How cool is this?

Had a play with the Spellbinders premium foil on some layouts and as I had a piece left I made a card with it. I totally love the effect of the Cuttlebug embossing folders on the foil. It is such a striking effect. Will certainly use this technique again.

Had a great deal of fun with this month's Scrapaholix kit. I wanted to make sure I used a lot of photos on my layouts as I am being inundated with photos these days, guess that's what happens when you have 2 beautiful children. LOL! I love the effect of the Ranger Liquid Pearls on the My Mind's Eye papers and I had fun playing with different effects using Coredinations paper. I crumpled and sanded the cardstock to add dimension. I also completed a third layout with the kit but as yet I haven't decided on a title for it.

Titles are cut with the Cricut using SCAL

Flower Soft

Been playing with Flower Soft tonight. Working on a cute little stamped card using Flower Soft Heather and a new Stamp It stamp that arrived earlier this week. Have to organise my cards for my last card making class of the week. Think I may get a Christmas card into the class this week as before we know it the Jolly man himself will be here and I never seem to get enough time to make my Christmas cards. If only I had bought the Polar White Flower Soft I could use it on my Christmas Cards to liven up Santa's beard!

Will post some photos when I get a minute.

If you are after some vid demos about Flower Soft, there are heaps on You Tube, this is one of the best

Cuttlebug cards

I made these cards this week using my Cuttlebug Embossing Folders and some Coredinations Whitewash cardstock and Chatterbox Papers. I love the effects you can achieve with the embossing folders, it is like having another patterned paper. The scallops are all taken from the Cricut Storybook Cartridge.

Now I really must work on my cards for my class this Thursday. I am thinking a cherry blossom svg with flocked flowers for one of my cards. Hope it turns out well.

DIY SVG files

I have been searching the net for inspiration for some cards for my class this week and I came across a very cool site called iDiY There are templates for everything on there - boxes, bags, labels, fonts and dings etc. All are in pdf format and so would be great for converting into svgs and cutting. Get on over there soon, that's where I will be tonight. Meanwhile think I have decided to use masks and glimmer mist to create backgrounds for my cards and may play with some digi stamp images or just make my own.

Birthday mesh

We have had a crazy time around here, birthdays, the start of a new school term, sick kids etc all on top of the usual run of the mill chaos. I have been playing a bit with SCAL 2 and it is a vast improvement - still not adequate to replace Inkscape though. I decided to create a mesh for my daughter's birthday page. I made a mini mesh for her card and thought I'd do her birthday scrapbook layout with a mesh too. Here's a picture of my creation. Let me know if you'd like it.

Kaisercraft Scrap your Summer Competition

Have you heard? Kaisercraft has a great new competition called Scrap your Summer

While freezing here in southern Aust let's remember the warmer months and scrap some sun drenched beaches, or tropical pools! The idea of the competition is to scrap your summer photos using the new Kaisercraft Offshore or Pina Colada range. Check the blog for detail: http://www.kaisercraft.net/blog/scrap-your-summer-competition/

Wall Vinyl

I have been wanting to do some wall quotes or decorations for months but I haven't yet found a good (reasonably priced) source of vinyl. I have some scraps that I got from a sign maker though and so I decided to have a play and do some designs on my daughter's wall. As my scraps were quite small I was fairly limited but I am happy with how it turned out. This sits above my daughter's pillow.



I just used the Storybook Cartridge for this one but now I have started I can see so many possibilities using SVG's I have downloaded!

Kaisercraft Pina Colada and Child's Play

Today is an important day as it marks the point at which I have now completed a layout with each of the Q1 paper ranges! Note to self - no trumpet fanfare! I am happy with how these layouts turned out as to tell you the truth. . . the papers didn't excite me at first. Having said that I love the pages I've created and now I can see heaps of ways to use these ranges.

The font on the Snow Angel layout is one of my favourites, it is called 1BeanSproutDNA and it is a freedownload. I especially like the way it is easy to weld in Sure Cuts A Lot.

Cricut Gypsy

I see Cricut has a new product nearing launch. It is called a Gypsy and it is a hand held unit. The idea seems to be planning designs on the go and then hooking up to your Cricut to cut. At least I think that's the idea! The specs I have found are listed below:

Features:
Size – 8” x 3” x 1.5”
Weight – 11 ounces
Screen Size - 4.7”, 16:9, 480 x 272
Stylus Length – 3.75”
Storage – ~4000 Cartridges, 10000+ Designs
Battery Life – 4 hrs cont. 18 hrs int.
Compatible with all Cricut Machines and Cartridges
Weld, size, slant, rotate, stretch, preview
2 Full content cartridges preloaded


Benefits:
No computer required
All CDS functionality on-the-go with no PC
Interfaces with CDS when connected to a PC
Stores All Content
Stores All Overlays
Stores All Manuals
Stores CDS Projects

The website they have up at the moment (Rogue Gypsies) is a tad unusual, the premise being that 10 of the Gypsies have gone missing and they've sent a kind of bounty hunter after them. As I said a little unusual.

I will be keeping a close eye on this to see if it is really worth getting excited over. At the moment I kind of can't see the potential but am happy to be wrong.

Dinosaur SVG border

There's a Challenge on the Craft Edge website to design an ABC border or frame svg file. I like to keep my Inkscape skills current by creating random files and so I jumped into this challenge. Hope someone can use the file. It was fun playing around with dingbat fonts. I probably should have done some princess icons instead as I am planning to do some vinyl wall decorations for my daughter and also some freezer paper t-shirt stencils and I am pretty sure princesses will be the theme and pink the colour! Maybe that's why I chose dinosaurs for this project.



DinoABC border file HERE

Kaisercraft Loire Valley and Duchess

Managed to spend some more time creating last night, and I had a ball with the Loire Valley Range. I was really pleased with how this one turned out. I love the paper but wasn't really sure I had the right photos to use it. So I decided to focus on the reverse of the papers and OMG I love how it turned out. Inspiration came from Pagemaps



I also played with the Duchess Range. Now I know most people upon seeing the range will have it pegged for heritage layouts. I know very few people who do heritage layouts and so I decided to use it for a general kid layout. I was happy with how this turned out too. It has made me look at the entire range in a new light.



This leaves me two ranges to play with. Now I love Pina Colada but really don't think I have the photos to suit. I'd love to have some cruise photos (PO cancelled our cruise in '04, haven't quite got over that yet!!) but I haven't so not sure what I will do with this range. Again think I will concentrate on the reverse of the papers. Child's Play isn't my favourite release but I am sure I can come up with something. Watch this space!

Kaisercraft Offshore Range

If you haven't checked out the new ranges from Kaisercraft then get on over there asap. There are so many gorgeous papers in this release. I rhink my favourite is Offshore, or maybe Penny Royale but then again Loire Valley is stunning - what a hard choice.

Here's my first layout created with the Offshore range. We live inland and so beach visits are rare for us. Thankfully the Offshore range suits baths photos too.



I really loved the layout in the Kaiser magazine that Melissa Kennedy did with the Penny Royale papers and so I scraplifted it and then took it one step further turning it into a double layout.



Now what should I work on next? I have a layout half finished using the Duchess Range so perhaps I will try my hand at Pina Colada.

Twilight free svg

I have to admit to an obsession, I love Twilight. I have read all the books and I have watched the movie too many times, I am listening to the soundtrack now and I have even read Midnight Sun (the draft version available on the net) a couple of times. I know I have family that would disown me for this and I know it's a teen story but I can't help it. So I am flying my Team Edward colours with this svg release! There's the Cullen Crest and my Team Edward banner ready to cut with your Cricut.

Wordbooks

Everyone, everywhere seems to be into wordbook albums at the moment. I have cut a few but I am not really into mini albums and off the page items that much. But I have found a great use for wordbooks and that is as cards. I made two for a friend of mine and we were both thrilled with how they worked out. As I have made them I thought I may as well share them. So if your name is Cheri or Sharriee it is your lucky day! Will post a picture of the Sharriee card tomorrow - I hope! I have had sick kids all week so I am amazed I managed this entry
Sharriee wordbook
Cheri wordbook

Kaiser Q1 Launch

Just got home from Geelong and the Kaiser Q1 launch, All I can say is wow! The 10 hours of driving was definitely worth it. These papers are awesome, embellishments match each range perfectly, Kaiser has come up with the best packaging and therefore storage solutions. You are not going to want to miss this launch on July 1. There is definitely something for everyone whether you are a working on heritage, cruise, beach, baby, friends, family etc etc layouts. If you are into card making, beyond the page or home decor then there is something here for you too.

If you haven't had a look at the sneak peek then what are you waiting for?

Mark this date on your calendar as these items will go fast.

There is also a great competition on at Kaisercraft to win the new paper ranges. Check out the website details Day one of the competition is today so you only have a few hours left to get your entry in.

Scrapbook kits with SVG files

I have been working on some card kits and scrapbooking kits lately. These are kits with a twist as they come with original svg files. The first layout is below.



The kit comes with a selection of different shapes, book plates and the scalloped frame. I actually cut about 10 shapes and bookplates (customers get all 10!) but when it came to putting it together I only used a couple. The title is cut using 2 Peas Bad Atititude font.

Now I am working on the kit for next month with a stash of new svg files.

BTW - getting excited - only 5 more sleeps til Kaisercraft Q1 launch

Netballer Free svg

I was asked to make a card for a young girl who had experienced a hard time. I didn't have much to go on except that she was in to netball. I searched the net for a netball file that I could cut on my Cricut but was unfortunately disappointed and therefore had to make my own. I pretty much had to start from scratch with this one, so while it is very basic I was thrilled with the image once cut with the Cricut.

If you'd like the file leave me a message

Card Elements

Can't believe I have been gone so long! That's what having a busy life does to you. I have run 3 All Day Scrapbooking Events in 3 weeks as well as teaching 3 card making classes and then there's the usual family and work life! As I have been so busy making cards recently I have put together an SVG file of useful card embellishments.

If you would like the file I have it available on Media Fire HERE

ANZAC svg files

This weekend will be spent remembering those who have given their lives and those who have given their loved ones for our freedom. I have taken Emily to ANZAC marches each year of her life and tomorrow will be no different. We will head off for the 8:30am march in Albury with both girls. I look forward to being organised enough to start taking the girls to the dawn service each year too. To commemorate the ANZACs I have made some ANZAC svg files. I haven't done a scrapbooking layout of our yearly pilgrimmage to the march and I really should as it is part of our history and part of the girls' story and therefore belongs in their album. If you would like these files please leave me a comment.

Mumma Bushka again

I had another glorious day of scrapping, oh how I wish that were true! LOL! After taking my daughters to swimming lessons, dropping them at daycare and cleaning half the house I squeezed in another hour or so of scrapping. The truth doesn't sound nearly so exciting does it. Anyway, I finished the second page of the layout I uploaded yesterday. It uses the Kaisercraft Mumma Bushka range.



The title was cut with my Cricut and Sure Cuts A Lot. I would love to tell you which font it was, I'd love to remember which font it was as I am really happy with how it turned out. I have tried searching but I have over a thousand fonts that cut well and it could be any one of the scripty ones. The great thing about SCAL is you are never tied to a few cartridges or dies.

I still have to cut a title for the Fun Fair layout. Things move slowly here!

Kaisercraft Mumma Bushka

I had a chance to scrap today and it was great to do exactly what I wanted. I love the March Kaisercraft papers and have been using them a bit lately.



This is one of the two lay outs I completed using the Mumma Bushka range. It is part of a two page layout but the second page still needs a title on it. Perhaps it will be ready for uploading tomorrow. I am also working on a layout using the Kaisercraft Fun Fair range but it is a complete rip off of one of their Design Team layouts - it is so gorgeous I couldn't resist. Again may upload tomorrow.

I also used the ink resist technique to complete a layout for a friend. I won't upload it here as she hasn't seen it yet but here are a couple of others I did using Heidi Swapp Invisibles and Heart Mega Masks.

SCAL

As you will see from my blog I spend a lot of time using SCAL, in fact it would probably be a challenge for me to make a scrapbooking layout, card or OTP item without SCAL these days. If you are interested in purchasing SCAL email me. I can give you tutoring in setting up your SCAL and also get you downloading fonts and images in no time. I use Inkscape extensively and therefore assistance is altering and designing images comes as part of the SCAL package when you purchase from me. SCAL is so popular at the moment with copies flying out the door each week. It is the best decision you will make if you want to use your Cricut machine to its fullest potential.

Spinner card fun

It is school holidays and that means some time for me! Yes you read right, being a teacher means in school holidays my 2 are in childcare for a couple of days each week. Yesterday I made spinner cards. This is my first attempt at spinner cards and after hand cutting one I made an svg file so the Cricut could do all the hard work!



No pennies here so these are made with two 5c pieces, think I'll have to find some buttons to replace the coins as I am going to be poor at this rate - they really are quite addictive. These two are made with Kaisercraft papers (K-Bots and Fun Fair).

Onesie card

A good friend of mine just had a baby boy and I wanted to make a special card to celebrate the event. I decided this was the perfect opportunity to make the Onesie card that someone on the SCAL Yahoo group shared. I have a template myself and have been meaning to convert it but you know what they say about a bird in the hand and all that. I also really like that this card has a pop-up word in the centre. I used Kaisercraft Lovestruck Sweetheart for the inside of the card and Bazzill for the actual card. I embossed it with my Cuttlebug Embossing folder. I am really thrilled with the effects you can get from these. I feel the temptation to buy a few more, particularly Swiss Dots as I love the look of that on cards for every occasion.

Kaisercraft Cupcake Album

I am thrilled with how my cupcake album is shaping up. I am not quite finished but I think the svg files I made really complement the Kaisercraft Sugar Sugar Range and how could I resist their gorgeous cupcake album.

The title was cut using the Cricut and SCAL, as I used Coredinations papers I embossed the title using my Cuttlebug embossing folder. I love the effect of these folders. To get a fabulous result remember to lightly sand the embossed image.


If you like the party hat file check out my earlier post http://scrappingaway.blogspot.com/2009/03/party-svg.html for the free download


This has to be my favourite page, she's a great subject which of course helps but I also love the candle. I posted the svg two weeks ago for free download http://scrappingaway.blogspot.com/2009/03/football-season-and-more-party-items.html



What a poser!

Thomas

We are off to a 4yr olds birthday party on Sunday and I wanted to make a special card. He is a real Thomas the Tank Engine fan and so I made an svg of Thomas to adorn his card. I have cut Thomas out and am really happy with him, now to make the card. Tomorrow I have plans to make a fair few cards as we have a number of April occasions requiring cards and I also need to put together a mini portfolio as I have been asked to teach a card making class for the next term. I can't share Thomas on here but let me know if you'd like to use him :-)

Heidi Swapp Invisibles

I just received a box containing the new Heidi Swapp Invisibles, and these are so cool. They are kind of hard to show you as they are white card with clear embossing on them. The idea being the white embossing resists ink and therefore after inking the page you are left with a stunning pattern. These really are a great new item, they aren't like anything of seen before and I like that :-)

These invisibles papers will be used with Heidi Swapp Mega Masks in our April Scrapaholics kits, so I will definitely be planning my sample layouts this weekend. Hope to post them early on next week.

If you would like to have a look at the Heidi Swapp Invisibles check out this You Tube video. Heidi Swapp Invisibles

Football season and more party items

What? I hear you say. Well in Aust. this is the first weekend of the true football season and to celebrate I have a football title. Now don't get me wrong, I have no interest in football, in fact I honestly couldn't care that it is football season. Truth be told a friend asked me to make her an Auskick title and I thought there may be a few people out there who could use it. I say a few as I know my Aussie audience is small :-)



I have also converted a few more party items, if you would like these svgs leave me a message and I can email them to you. It is Earth Hour in a very short time and that means the computer is going off so I don't have time to load them onto Media Fire. Will get back to that soon.

Party svg

I must have parties on the mind at the moment. I woke up at about 3 this morning thinking of making a party hat svg. I guess we do have 2 birthdays this week and a few of my friends have kid's birthdays this week too. In a spirit of birthdays and giving I am giving the svg away for free. If you want the SCUT or don't know how to seperate this svg in Inkscape just drop me an email. If you don't know about SCAL and Inkscape and how they make your Cricut so much better, have a read through the blog and if you still are unsure just email me and I will happily give you the low down.

Click here for the free file

Party!

It's nearly my birthday and I am having a scrapbooking cocktail party! Should you drink and scrap? Oh well, we will start with the scrapping and the drinking will come later. The perfect thing is that we are having it at my retreat house and so we can either scrap all night or have a sleep when it all gets too much! How good is that!

On the menu we have strawberry daiquiris, lime margaritas and Mexican food. I made up invites in the shape of a margarita glass and I have also made a word book for the party pics. Now just to catch everyone in the next week to hand out the invites.




The picture isn't the best sorry. If you'd like the file it is here. You will need Inkscape though as I havn't seperated it all out.

Kaisercraft K-Bots

I had the chance to play with a sample from the Kaisercraft K-Bots range on the weekend. I haven't any robot related photos to do a scrapbooking layout so I used it to make a card. I wish I had robot pics as this paper is delicious. The robot images look fabulous cut out and mounted with foam mount on boy cards. the colours are a mix of muted blues and some more vibrant yellows and oranges. I can't wait to see the fantastic layouts that are sure to appear in galleries all over the net in the next month.

I also used my Sure Cuts A Lot program to cut an aperture thank you card. The aperture was designed in Inkscape and cut on the Cricut using SCAL. Lucy is one this month and she has received a fair few presents (Fisher Price has been doing a roaring trade!)so I made up a set of thank you cards. While they all have this aperture cut from blue Bazzill each one is slightly different.



If you'd like the aperture cut I have loaded into my Media Fire account and will be available for download for the next week.

If you are in Australia and are interested in buying SCAL drop me an email as I am a distributor. I provide hints and tips to get you started, can walk you through the set up process and am available if you have any questions.

Where does time go?

Since returning to teaching this year the days seem to simply fly by. I promised some medical images and I did work on these and I even cut them but haven't had two minutes to myself to do any creating and as such I haven't made any cards yet. I have put them on Media fire so you can cut them yourself and maybe one of you will show me what you make with them! Have fun creating. I had foot surgery today and so I could do with a card myself! I will be off my feet for the next couple of days but don't know that I will get much achieved as my two youngsters will be home with me and no doubt demanding of my time.

If you have SCAL and a Cricut you are set to make some fabulous get well cards or sickness/hospital visit scrapbooking layouts with these files

Click on the links here if you'd like a stethoscope, bandage/bandaid and get well soon title

I have a house word book that I have been working on lately that I hope to be able to share soon, all I need is the time to make my sample

Sometimes life is a blur

What a week it has been, I feel like I went missing in action! What with working 3 days teaching and then having a class Fri night at Rutherglen and a day crop at Wagga I didn't really have time for creating.

I did manage to get this layout completed at Wagga, good thing too because it is one of the 3 I will teach on friday in Albury. I love the versatility of the KI Memories Lace cardstock. I have used it with the following techniques: painting, glittering, chalking, and glimmermisting. I have cut it in strips, cut the odd flower off the sheet, and also used it as a block. It can be used as a frame, a photo mat, a page border, a page accent or a strip. If you have a Cricut and Graphically Speaking cartridge there are a heap of lace options on there, there is also one on Wild Card. If you have SCAL the sky is the limit as you can make as many these as you like. Or if you are seriously lacking in toys there are plenty of companies making selling them ready made.



I am working on some get well cards so stay posted for some medical type svg files in the next week.

Ric Rac svg

I have been making a few design elements for scrapbook layouts lately. I started with ric rac thinking it would be easy but it really wasn't. I am thrilled with how it turned out though. I had to create a grid over my design in Inkscape in order to have each 'wave' the same height and length. I am sure there is a way to adjust the grid already present on Inkscape but I don't know how, if you do please let me know. I have used the ric rac on a layout that I will be teaching next week.



I imported this into SCAL at 1 inch. It looks like real ric rac!

Another Wedding card

I ended up making a very similar wedding card for the second card. This week I have been a bit ill with tonsilitis and this has seriously affected my creativity. I feel in need of a break but I am in the midst of two very busy weeks. I quite like the white on white for this card. Again it is the cake off the Wild Card cartridge, cut at 5.25inches, the flowers are Kaisercraft and they have been spritzed with Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist in irridescent gold. I inked the edges of the cake an two of the flowers with a magenta chalk pad.

Wild Card Wedding Cake

I was asked by a friend to make a couple of wedding cards. I didn't want to simply duplicate the last card I made, I prefer to make each card an original. I decided to use the Wild Card Cartridge and I am really happy with how this turned out. I cut it at 5.25inches and I inked the edges using a stipling brush and a chalk inkpad. The flowers are 3 layered paper flowers from Lu Lus Scrapbooking and the bling is Heidi Swapp. I love the look of the flowers but didn't want to go over board and so I only added the four, it was very tempting to just keep adding them. Now to work on the second card.

Not a Valentine

I managed to get a bit of creating done today. With tomorrow being Feb 14 it would be easy to claim this as a Valentine's card but we don't really do Valentine's Day and it really is just coincidence that I have been playing around with a heart. I plan to have this as one of my make and take projects at February and March Scrapping Away events.



The hearts were all cut using the Cricut and SCAL The paper is My Mind's Eye Wild Asparagus "darling" polka dot/brown

Mascot

It is my school swimming carnival today, I don't work Thursdays though and taking my two girls to the pool with nearly a thousand teens just wasn't appealing. I did however make a mascot on my Cricut for Clark House. Our mascot is a Cougar and I searched the net for one and then spend about an hour altering it in Inkscape. I am really happy with how it turned out.



If you'd like the file you can get it here