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!

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.

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!

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).

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

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.

Simple Birdie

The simple bird shape is quite popular these days. It appears in home decor, on manchester and also kids outfits so it is no surprise that it is also very popular with scrappers and card makers. First it was the owl haunting scrapper's pages and now the simple birdie. Cricut has one on their Wild Card cart which is pretty cute and I have used it myself on a couple of layouts. Someone requested a simple bird on a SCAL forum I am on and for a bit of relaxation I played around with some ding fonts to come up with these examples. Today was the first day back at work so I thought some Inkscape therapy was called for.



The fonts I used are 2Peas Urban Birdies and 2 Peas DW Girlie Girl

If you'd like the SVG file click HERE

Free Book plate SVG

Today I have some free bookplate SVG files for you. I had some cards to make and I thought I may as well make some new svg files at the same time. If you have SCAL you can cut these with your Cricut.





If you would like the files go here

Hope they are useful, leave a comment to let me know.

Ballerina SVG

I have been doing some layouts of my daughter's first ballet concert and playing around making some svg files. I haven't yet used any on the layout; I make, cut and then change my mind! Here is one of ballerinas in a row. I initially made it to replicate a line of ribbon on a sketch I had made, then I thought it would make a good page topper and it would, the only problem is these papers aren't really traditional ballet style and so the ballerinas looked out of place. If you would like the file you can find it here. ANd below is a screen shot of what it would look like on your Cricut mat.

Cricut Storybook Cartridge

Been a busy weekend and so I haven't had much of a play with my new cartridge but I did create this layout and I thought the "Once Upon a Time" title on the cartridge really suited it. Unfortunately the photo isn't that good.


I have been planning some layouts using the KI Memories Lace cardstock that we will be using in an up and coming Scrapaholics kit. Before I work on them though I have to finish a card order that I have. I made 8 cards tonight and so I should be able to finish the order tomorrow. I have so many ideas in my head that I want to try with the lace paper. I am planning to do most of the layouts of Lucy as one of my resolutions was to do 15 layouts of Lucy before the end of February - I haven't done one yet!!!

New Plans

It is with great excitement that we let you know of our plans for 2009: Scrapping Away will be heading into rural Australia and running workshops and day crops. We will of course continue with our very successful retreats but we are expanding to serve those of you who cannot get away from home for the weekend but love to scrap.

At this stage plans are a foot to hold workshops in Rutherglen, Wangaratta and Yackandandah and we are also planning 12 hour crops for Wagga Wagga, Holbrook and Griffith.

These locations are all within easy reach of home but we'd love to make it further afield too: If you would like us to come to your town please contact us. We would love to bring great Scrapbooking products and workshops to your community.

Our workshops in Albury and Balldale continue to expand with many people joining in the fun of learning about scrapbooking, creatiing stunning layouts, and meeting new friends.

Workshops are generally Scrapbooking techniques through Scrapaholics but other options are available such as: Card making, Making the most of your Cricut and Using Sure Cuts A Lot and Inkscape with your Cricut.

Email us if you'd like us to come to your town

How exciting!

In the mail yesterday I received my new Storybook cartridge. Now I am a SCAL owner I really do advocate designing your own images, using true type fonts and converting jpgs to svgs and not needing to buy cartridges but every now and then Provo Craft comes out with something I just can't resist. This was the case with Wild Card and now with Storybook. True I could make many of these images but the time it would take me would outweigh the ease of buying the cart. I was so excited to see the cart but also felt a little thwarted as I have a retreat on at Scrapping Away this weekend and so I immediately took the cart over there for them to use. My play time will come after the retreat finishes. keep a look out for the latest projects using the new cart!


I am still deciding whether to buy Graphically Speaking too as it looks very cool and again something that would take me a fair bit of time to create using Inkscape and SCAL.

I have also been playing with flock this week and have a fun layout to upload. The lighting isn't that great for taking pics atm though so I'll have to work on that tomorrow.

Back again

A simple scallop using Basic Grey Scarlet's Letter and black Bazzill

I feel as though I have been gone forever but in reality it was only a few days. Unfortunately my computer got a virus and so I was sans internet for a couple of days. I am happy to say I now have the green light and am bug free! What this meant was I couldn't upload my latest projects and my Wild Card projects. By without any further ado here they are.


I love this little present card and as someone at my crop said, "how cute would a layout look with these presents in varying sizes across the bottom?"


This monster is a cutie, I am not altogether thrilled with him though as I had to emboss him with my Sizzix and he was too big too fit. So I call him Examplar 1!


A great little birthday card and there are so many ways you could alter this card to make it special each time.

Divine gift bags

Challenge 12 is here and at this rate I may be done well before my end of year time line. However, once again I have been side tracked. I was all set to finish my day care mum's gift when Dan posted this gorgeous purse shaped gift box on his blog. I made one and showed my daughter and she immediately had the great idea of making these for her little friends. So here they are:




The svg file is available as this week's freebie on Dan's blog. I don't have a 12x24 mat and so these are cut on my Cricut using a 12x12 inch mat. This is the largest box you could cut on this size mat but it is a perfect size for a few chocolates. Make them for your work mates and put in some ferrero rocher chocolates or some home made fudge, make them for the teen girls in the family and put in some lip gloss or nail polish. A great file and a nifty little bag which is so easy to put together.

I have used a range of papers, we chose ones that were heavier weight papers. These are mostly Basic Grey and American Crafts, the Christmas one is Kaisercraft.

Now to find an equally cool box to make something for the boys she is friends with, anyone got any great ideas? Then I really must finish the gift for my daughter's day care mum!

Ahoy there

My daughter absolutely loves this local park which has some official boring name, after an ex mayor or some such. The first time we went there she christened it the 'Pirate Park'. Whenever we drive anywere in the vicinity of this park she asks if we can go to the 'Pirate Park' so this layout is for her.



The skull is from My Crafty Files and the font for the title is Windlass. I have only recently learnt about opening a true type font and using it in SCAL without actually installing it. Installing too many fonts really slows down your computer. Both the title and skull were cut on the Cricut using SCAL.The cardstock is Bazzill.

At times I spend hours on the detail in layouts but often I find simple is good. I have way too many photos to spend hours on every layout. This will mean project 9 is done!