BBTB: Apples

Hi all!

I've got another layout down thanks to the Bitten By the Bug Challenge!  This week the challenge is to use an apple on a project.  I thought it was the perfect time to scrap Pezza's first set of first day of school pics - this is kindergarten.  

Unfortunately somewhere along the way (it has been FOUR years) I managed to delete the original pics and was stuck with these super small ones but if nothing else it sure gets her little spunky attitude across!

I used quite a few cartridges to get all the shapes I wanted - this is my favorite apple cut.  I still have a bit of trouble finding what I want - the dotted piece for example, I found searching for "banners".

The blue base is a Cricut image but the title piece is an SVG from Little Scraps of Heaven.  I did change the wording of the title in MTC.

I hope you can join in the challenge.  Even if you can't, head over to the BBTB blog and check out the great projects the other girls made!

BBTB - Thank you/graduation

Hi all!

We got to enjoy our first run at the local swimming pool yesterday.  Other than that we have been cleaning cleaning around here.  The clutter and toys get completely out of hand!  Once she is back at school tomorrow the house will be clear so I can get some cleaning done!

We are also winding down the school year here and our challenge at Bitten By The Bug this week is graduation or thank you so I have taken the opportunity to get my thank you gift card holders made.  I always give Starbucks cards out and Hollyn has quite a team due to both 3rd grade changing classes with all 3 teachers plus her gifted program.  So far I have 2 done:

I use this file ALL the time for gift cards.  I just change up the front - I might use a card sketch for my design and then I change up the focal cut depending on the occasion.  For these Hollyn picked a set of files from Little Scraps of Heaven called Bookworm in Training - there are 4 different bookworm pics.  There were so many tiny pieces I went against my steadfast rule of inking all my edges but I think it's still ok!

I use a cut from Fabulous Finds called card holder and the coordinating insert.  The striped layer is Stamped Border from Ribbons and Rosettes.  Then I use glue dots to attach the gift card to the insert, have Hollyn write on the back and then slide it into the holder.  Easy peasy!

Here's a screen shot of the file I use over and over again with a past design - this way it's always sized correctly and I just have to work on the focal part.  I also keep some various gift cards on hand for birthday parties in case I forget to get my butt out and get a gift for a party.  Now to get the other 3 done!

Swing by Bitten By the Bug and check out what the other team members have made for the challenge and then join in on it yourself!

Little love notes!

hi everyone!

have you all been enjoying your 3 day weekend?  ours has been humming along quite nicely with a well behaved little pezza.  she was off friday as well so we spent the day out and about - i asked her if she wanted to go to the children's museum and she said no she would rather chik-fila - um okaaaaay....  afterwards we spent some time roaming a book store so she could gather up some more chapter books - she has found several series she likes - most of them involving kittens as the main characters of course!    yesterday hubby took her off for a visit with his parents and giving me some uninterrupted peace and quiet (his dad seems to be recovering pretty well so far.)  i got quite alot done/caught up with - half way done with my mom's purse, my page in a circle journal i am participating in and even made my first booklet for my own circle journal i am doing with another group - i have made some folded pages into a book with a coptic binding - easier and funner than i ever would have thought! there is a wonderfully easy to follow two part video tutorial on you tube - Coptic Binding.  most of the girls are in ireland and i know several of them well and can't wait to see what they include on the pages!  so things were humming along smoothly and then it happened.

i got an urgent email from the kitty rescue i work with - 5 kittens, 1 week old, the foster mother found the momma kitty dead in the box with the kittens.  the vet things it was some sort of post pregnancy complication resulting in a stroke.  the foster mom works long hours and could not take care of them so me and 1 other foster have stepped up to see if we can save them.  they are a mess the poor little things.  the hardest part is that they need to eat and eat alot BUT they fight it with everything in their power.  i am a nervous wreck!  luckily i have a fellow foster coming over today who did two orphan litters last summer so she is going to give me a demo.  i did follow some of her tips and it is going better than it was at first but not as smoothly as i would like.  it has NOT been like the adorable videos you see on you tube with a tiny kitten happily sucking on it's bottle.  it is much more like my stubborn as hell breast fed only daughter clamping her lips shut and kicking and punching when we tried to convince her to take a bottle.  she wasn't doing it either!  i may be even more scarce than usual in the next week or so as we get them sorted.

i do have a couple little cards to share with you today.  i was asked to make some samples for Little Scraps of Heaven using a couple digi images they have for valentine's day.  i have always loved their cutting files and these images are super cute too!

both images are colored using colored pencils

however i did them in different styles - the one above is burnished

 

 

and this one is not - i left the rough texture to show through and also left a lot more white highlight area.  the background papers are mixed media papers i made myself - you know how i love to get a lil messy!

these are small scale - card size - but i like the look of them.  i may have to repeat them in my art journal or possibly a board!

and now i am off to try and get a few things done while the babies are sleeping before i need to do their next feeding!  if you are interested in learning how i color with colored pencil or want to learn more mixed media techniques be sure to head over to Color Me Creative and check out my classes!  Colored Pencil - Mixed Media

SVG learnin' time...

hi all!
have ya missed me?  sometimes i miss me too :P  entirely too much going on in my life.  luckily it's mostly good!  today, not so much... i had the fun of discovering a mix up with my account at the state tax dept and the froze my accounts.  WOW is that fun.  no problem, i talk to them, gather the papers they need and fax it over to them....again...and again...and again...while i am trying to get that to go through i decide it is REALLY time to get down to business on my scrapbooking.  i don't know if i mentioned it or not but i am the proud new owner of a black cat cougar digital cutting machine.  not that i don't love my cricut and all my cartridges but i also really love all the adorable SVG files i see folks using, especially my good friend Christine - you should check out her blog (but don't forget to come back here when you are done!)  so i have been cruising the likes of Little Scraps of Heaven, My Scrap Chick, & The Digi Bistro snatching up the cutest stuff to cut.  but FIRST I have to figure out how to do it.  i never understood people who were intimidated by their cricut and left it in the box but i have to tell you - i am a wee bit intimidated by my cougar!  not enough to leave it in the box tho!!!!!!!!  so it is sitting on my breakfast table...glaring at me...because i have been to busy with the latest issue of the magazine to get to work with him.  (i think he needs a name don't you).  i am not used to working this way but i needed to size my cuts so i laid it out in photoshop - i used one of the Oct Page Maps as my base:

from here i could just digi scrap it huh :P  but thats no fun.  well it is but not my plan for this one.  i spent the better part of the rest of the afternoon re-familiarizing/learning Make The Cut - i downloaded the updates and WOW - it is amazing now!  i have had it since the day it was announced.  so i have everything pretty much laid out...sort of...  now i have to figure out the cougar!  maybe tomorrow.....i do have to say it felt like ALOT more work doing it this way as opposed to grabbing a cartridge and cutting.  BUT i know alot of people prefer this method whether it's MTC or Gypsy or Cricut Craft room so maybe i will find it is easier when i get to the other side and only have to cut once and have everything i need just the right size.....now we just have to manage to get to a pumpkin patch and pick out some pumpkins!!!  you know BEFORE halloween....


Now you remember that fax i was sending don't you?  STILL not going through.  even called and got a different fax number.  finally i pull the printer out and look at the back...and there is the end of the phone cord glaring at me...not. plugged. in.  remember back in the day when life was less complicated.  phone cord plugs into phone jack right?  well in our house now we don't just have a few simple items.  the uinderside of my desk is a mass of wires everywhere - we have the laser printer, the all in one, the photo printer, the home server, my laptop, the router, the cable modem and somewhere is the direct tv hook up.  the phone jack is taken, i am not sure what's in it.  i plug it into the router - no luck.  i decide i am going to have to go old school - it has to plug into the next closest jack...in the kitchen...not close to the office... i find a long phone cord in the bedroom on the floor (no i don't know why).  it only goes to the foyer.  i am going to have to delve into hubby's drawer o'abandon cords.  YES - phone cord!  here is how it went:

no way i could get them all untangled so i gave up and just used it like it was.  but it WORKED!

hubby is coming back from PA tonight YAY!  i can NOT sleep when he is out of town and i just like it much better when he is home with us.

Anyone else use MTC here?  Anyone else design digitally FIRST and THEN cut - whether it is with MTC or a Cricut product.  ANY TIPS????  will i learn to love it?  are there any othe SVG sites i need to know about???