Make the Cut (MTC), Cricut, Hunter, and an Owl

What a lucky duck I am! My grandson Hunter, 8, is visiting for two weeks and he's got a better grasp of the Cricut than I do! LOL - I love it! We've had rain for what seems like days on end .. dreary, drizzly, gray, poopy-droopy .. but when Hunter is here it's nonstop activity! One morning he'd never heard of a Cricut - let him play on the computer .. why not .. and had Make the Cut (MTC) open .. and by suppertime we had an owl all put together .. !

He found the file on the MTC Gallery posted by User 143 - I don't know how to thank this person but my little man had a ball creating this! Next I think his forest requires a branch for the owl .. and something about a monkey! Time goes so quickly .. especially with emergency problems like .. umm .. miniature golf, softball games, sno-cones, playing with the dogs, making boondoggle thingies, string art .. using coupons to shop at Michael's & Joann's .. video games .. playing with new little cousin .. it's rough! ;o)

My Pink Stamper - Cricut Expression Giveaway!

Wow! I'm way behind on blogging .. and projects too .. but this is something too awesome to let pass by!

My Pink Stamper http://www.mypinkstamper.com/ is giving away a Cricut Expression! The generosity of both Pink Stamper and Custom Crops http://www.customcrops.com/ is just amazing! ~ Both of these sites have lots and lots of information and ideas, challenges, and even followers ~ it's fun to just visit and absorb!

Follow the link:


and see for yourself! Aren't they awesome?

I'm a Little Pink Seahorse .. Whoohoo!

Pink Seahorse! Yeehah!

First of all, I can’t get over the lack of response to the Craft It Forward ~ a chance to get handmade crafts for FREE? Oh well, I know I”ll have fun with it!

I joined a new yahoo group called SCAL4Beginners .. and already learnin’ new tricks! There are some very talented Cricut users, card makers, and all around experts in the group willing to share their tips and expertise.

SCAL stands for Sure Cuts A Lot ~ a totally separate program available both online and in local scrapbook stores to use as an alternative for cutting options with Cricut machines. The fantastic thing about it is you can take different fonts and shapes not available on the ProvoCraft cartridges and design/cut to your hearts content. So, after completing the 1st Challenge (read all the help tutorials) I was itchin’ to try something. I’m really new to all the Cricut, Design Studio, and SCAL but hoping to learn as I go along.

The next challenge was to take a shape and learn by trying how to copy/paste in order to have two identical shapes, flip one of the shapes, line them up, and eventually weld them together as if joined to make one piece. In theory, I should be able to fold the completed cutout in half to make a card.

Well .. I kinda sorta was able to do this .. however it will never suffice as a card! I chose a seahorse shape (if anyone wants the file feel free to email for it) and with a few oops here and there I was able to get it to work! You’ll see in the picture where I forgot to take out the little piece where the tail/flipper things welded .. and my mat is SO sticky I don’t know if I”ll be able to get the poor little gal (pink has to be a girl seahorse, right?) off the mat but in the meantime I’m admiring the handiwork and thankful to the gals on SCAL4Beginners for putting this challenge up!

Simple things for simple minds .. now what is the next challenge .. hmmmmmmmmmm ..

Me and My Cricut!

Cricut Play Tonight!

Well fiddlesticks! Today went by so fast after getting home from work! Found a 12 x 12 tile in the garage (for what?) and was thinking about playing with the Cricut ~ cartridges are on sale at Michael’s .. if I play I might see that I NEED another one so play away!

For all the years that I can remember there was an embroidered saying on my Grandmother’s dining room wall – and it has always fascinated me. I don’t know how old it is but surely qualifies as ‘antique’ and I’m now the keeper of the saying. It was embroidered many moons ago, and it has a hint of a sparkle behind the embroidery material .. I always thought it was the light, the floss, magic .. something! Well, it is .. somewhere along the line there was a foil like paper behind the fabric that little bits of sparkle peek through!

The saying is so appropriate this time of year as Mother’s Day approaches ~ so even though I can’t possibly recreate the wonderful treasure I have from generations past .. I thought I’d take the saying and see if the Cricut, vinyl, and a piece of tile could come together somehow. Let me tell ya, the ‘weeding’ part of working with vinyl is harder than I thought .. picking out the itsy bitsy pieces to make the letters appear correctly! I can’t weed (won’t if I can help it) the lawn and here I’m choosing to weed sticky stuff!!

So .. after a couple disasters .. this is as far as I made it today .. to be continued ..

Yikes ~ what'll I say today!?!?

Oops! Where did today go?!?!

Beautiful day today! Sunny, 60ish, day off .. and no crafting at all! Great deal at Maggie Moo’s! Free scoop of ice cream to ward off the income tax blues .. LOL .. who cares by the time today arrives .. either we did the darn things or we didn’t but who in their right mind would turn down a free ice cream cone! Not me!!

Making up for my craft ‘fix’ now! Thank goodness for YouTube! This video I’m watching is more like a commercial for paint brushes .. but there is so much talent and I’m thinking .. gee .. if I cut out something on the Cricut .. put on a shirt .. can I do this?

Neat to watch ~ Fabric Painting ~ and now I’m going to watch some more! Is it really as simplistic as it looks? Hmmmm .. guess I”ll have to find out!

Picture share today ~ these geese are near my work every year .. and do they ever OWN the streets, sidewalk, grassy areas .. and quite often we have to totally stop our car as they go from this spot .. strut right across the street and we assume they are either attending the church there, or maybe just out for a stroll!

Cottage Capers ~ An Idea in Progress!

Welcome! It's incredible to me that I'm doing the 'blog' thing! Seems like 'everybody' has to have one so here I go ~ jumping on the bandwagon! Quite a while back, my friend and I said let's do crafts . . let's make things! You know .. get us a little cottage somewhere and create!

Well, that didn’t happen but we go back a LONG way and usually what one of us can’t figure out how to do ~ the other one can. So blogging is our latest adventure .. let’s see who can get one going and then what in the world will we do with it!

As I got started, I thought I’d lose what’s left of my mind ~ why am I doing this! All the neighbors are out mowing their lawns, planting flowers, cleaning garages .. and here I am thinking I don’t have anything to ‘blog’ about! How in the world did I get started on this .. where will it lead to .. and will it motivate me to create so I can share things? I sure hope so!

For me, in the latest craze I’m in, creating means Cricut! I had to have this machine, the Cricut Expression, and yikes! I get so wound up in all the blogs ~ and will have to add them to this too ~ that I snag this, and try that ~ to the extent I seem to have little ‘bugs’ running around thinking of ideas all the time!

With luck, I’ll figure this out and get a project on here once in a while ~ until then ~