To Cricut or not to Cricut...why I chose the Explore

Hi all!

Stick with me - I do have a layout at the end!!!!

Anyone who has read this blog from the beginning knows I began as a Cricut girl, not just a mildly Cricut girl, I am talking hardcore.  I got a baby bug 8 years ago when it was the only thing out and there were just a handful of cartridges, found the Cricut message board and it was ON!  From there I began attending CHA (the craft & hobby trade show) and went to the Cricut launch parties - which in their hey day were mind boggling awesome!  I have every machine they launched and was an AVID supporter.  Then the Imagine hit the skids, software was tough to use and I began to focus on other things.  I still LOVE my Expression 2 and used it all the time the old fashioned way - straight from the cartridge.  I have also fallen in love with SVGs which could not be used with Cricut machines and so I had the Black Cat cutter.

Hubby knows I have been really keeping my eye on the latest and greatest from Cricut recently - the Cricut Explore.  There is a new guy at the helm and lots of turnover.  The Explore can cut SVGs (like EVERY other cutter on the market.)  After watching me fight with the Black Cat for 3 days he told me to go for it and he got me an Explore for our anniversary!  I had already gone to wanting one but with the Black Cat I had a hard time justifying the cost.  So I did and it is set to arrive in a week!  I am over the moon excited!  WHY?  I thought I would post about my reasons here and add to the fray over the Explore.  Cricut brings out STRONG feelings on both sides - stronger than most for some reason.  We were a close knit community too - which I loved and many of us originals still chat together in our own group on Facebook.  So I read both sides and decided to go for it.  Here are some of my own thoughts:

• It's Cricut - that means I can cut all of my cartridges AND SVGs on one machine.  I like the thought of having one machine - my craft room is so overcrowded!
• It can do Print & Cut - I never did get around to figuring this out on my Black Cat.  I wasn't really sure I would need it - it would essentially be making a sticker was my thought.  However, I found out the Explore will allow me to FINALLY use all of my Imagine carts again - the Imagine carts have some of my all time favorite artwork and can be broken inot printed layers so there is still some dimension - SOLD.
• A friend (old Cricut board member) Okieladybug did a review on the Explore's cutting ability - I was impressed with how much better the Expression 2 cut even intricate things, well the Explore appears to cut even better - small, intricate and precise.  Just like my Black Cat.
• I can cut alot more different materials just like my Black Cat - I can cut chipboard/cereal boxes for my mixed media pieces - OMG SOLD!  Do you know how much money I will save - I currently have a bunch of chipboard packs in my cart at A Cherry On Top - average about $6/pack for 2-5 pieces.  No need now!  I am excited to put it to the test for cereal boxes, wood veneer and even cardboard.  I will keep you posted.
• Software - this has been a sticking point for alot of folks.  The Explore can only cut using their exclusive software and only while connected to the internet.  The software is also not very robust and has some bugs.  While I understand why some people don;t like this, I decided for me personally, it wouldn't matter.  Again this is a personal thing.  I have never done a whole lot of designing of new files. I pretty much use what they are.  now I have hopes of designing and maybe I will but I have been using Make The Cut software for my Black Cat since it came out and feel quite comfortable with it.  I can use that for designing and then import it into Cricut Design Space to cut.  Of course this means I can't do any designing with Cricut Images and for now that's ok with me.  We'll see if future updates fix that but again FOR ME that is not a deal breaker.  Frankly I can't even think of ways I would change up the designs anyway so....I would like to see it have the shadow feature as that is my biggest complaint for alot of the images.
• Internet connection - I don't foresee this as a problem either - my internet is fairly dependable and if it is down it isn't for long.  I WILL keep my Expression 2 as a back up.  I don't ever take it to crops, etc. so that's not a problem.

When I ordered the machine I also got the deep cut housing and blade, extra mats and the new better German Carbide blade so I feel pretty set to go.  I hope to have lots more detailed info starting next week!

Meanwhile, I got another layout done!  I am on a roll for the start of February!  Hollyn had a surprise playdate Sunday afternoon and since I had done quite a bit of housework and Kevin was holed up in the garage I figured I would sneak up to my studio.

Here is the sketch I used - again I did not keep track of where I got it - I need to get better with that step of my organization process.

I HAVE to mat all of my pictures - have to.  So when using a sketch I print my pictures 1/4" smaller than the sketch so the mats are the size shown in the sketch.   I really struggled with this one initially.  Boys are harder to do layouts (and cards) than girls, especially once they are this old!  Papercrafting really is geared toward girly-ness.  I have 37 miles of paper and couldn't find anything I felt would be right.  Embellishments were also tough but I finally came up with something I liked and once I set to work it was a breeze.

The diploma and cap are from the Everyday Paper Dolls cart - notice no shadow UGH!  I also had to hand cut the green ribbon layer - I just cut the diploma again out of green and then carefully cut out the ribbon part so there would be at least a little dimension.

I didn't feel like there was much need for alot journaling so I kept it to just the deets!

A turkey day LO

Hey y'all!

How is everyone?  It's the usual wild and crazy shenanigans around here.  I am beginning to think I am the Queen of Plans-Too-Much :P  Before I get into anything I wanted to touch on a topic I mention here occasionally.  Y'all know I have been waging battle against depression.  More specifically getting a handle on NOT taking my meds.  The good news is - I think I might FINALLY be winning - as much as one wins that battle.  The medication seems to have finally left my system and I am stabilizing - which translates into almost no crazy lunatic angry bitch episodes

But it is still tough sometimes to navigate.  I used to read a blog called Hyperbole and a Half.  Along with a butt-load of other people.  She has been waging the same war and has returned after 18 months with a post about it - a follow up to her initial post about it 18 months ago.  Both are raw and so true - you can read them here - Hyperbole and a Half.  Meanwhile I am still going med-free.  Some days are tough but others are really good.  I know that it's possible there could be a better medication choice for me but I am not there yet.  A plus side - i have lost just shy of 20 pounds of the 53 pounds I gained while on the meds!

One last update for ya - our little foster kitten family - The Breads.  When they came to us Biscuit, the mom, was very scared and had a cold.  The kittens were small, especially Baguette, the runt.  We got Biscuit on meds and I was hand feeding the kittens to supplement what they got nursing and everyone started gaining weight.  Biscuit began to relax and was less scared.  BUT saving rescued kittens is not for the sqeamish or faint of heart.  The kittens got sick too, especially Bun, the little boy.  After a grueling routine of administering 4 different meds a total of 7 times a day and stressful eye cleansing routines we decided they were not improving as much as we had hoped and last night we took them to our emergency vet hospital.  Any positive thoughts and good vibes y'all can send to these poor little things is greatly appreciated!  I think my hubby has trouble understanding why I put myself through this BUT (and maybe this relates to my topic above) it is really important to me that i don't just live but that my life has meaning and this is one of the things that makes me feel meaningful.  To me a life that doesn't include doing something for some OTHER life besides your own and your immediate loved ones just isn't a worthy life.  And so our hearts are with our little furry babies and we are hoping they pull through.  And if one or all don't make it we will continue to put our efforts into saving tiny little fuzzy faces when we are blessed with the opportunity to do so.

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One thing that has been changing in my life is my studio focus - I started off as a scrapbooker and I am leaning back towards that.  Cards are great - smaller, easier to whip out and give a bit more instant gratification but I was beginning to feel wasteful since I have enough cards for 5 lifetimes!  Except kid birthday cards which you may see show up in a future post.  Scrapbook pages feel more useful to me.  Of course I still do the mixed media art work too!

Anyway I am slowly catching up and liking my system for doing so which you can read HERE.  This is a thanksgiving LO that haas sat around my studio half finished for ages!

I LOVED this paper pack from Close To My Heart - fall colors but not the typical fall colors.

I liked these pics because it was the first year Pezza really got in there and helped me cook!  Plus I hardly EVER have pics with ME in them!  This photo is not great - the pics are not actually that dark!

That awesome turkey is from Treasure Box Designs and cut using my Black Cat.

As always my sketch came from Page Maps - I couldn't scrap without them!  I am SO out of touch with scrapbooking and scrapbooking blogs though!

Do you have a favorite scrapbooking blog or scrapbooking challenge blog??????  PLEASE share it with me in the comments!  Especially ones using Cricut or other die cutting machines!

Scrapbooking - how I got organized to catch up

Hey everyone!

Ahhhhh monday.  I kinda like Mondays in a way.  New week, fresh start.  I think of all the things I am going to do better for the week.  Usually by Thursday or Friday I am thinking oh eff it I give up!  Maybe next week I can do it!  Hahahhahah!  It's like the New Year's resolution scenario but in a smaller scale.  I am very much a routine oriented type but having a small child with you all day can really make it tough to be that way.  So can Facebook, Pinterest, Google+ and Message Boards :P  It's like entering a time warp!

So speaking of New Year's resolutions...who is behind on their scrapbooking???  *hand waves wildly in the air*  When we hit 2013 I realized I was now 3 years behind and I do not like that.  I got into the card making and coping coloring and the scrapbooking went by the wayside.  Making cards is so much quicker and easier, little planning and instant gratification.  However I could now brighten someone's day every day until I am 200 years old with the mountain of cards I have made.  And it makes me feel guilty.  Waste of time, waste of supplies.  But scrapbooking has a useful purpose so I wanted to get back to it.  But how to catch up?  Now I know all about Project Life and checked it out when I was hanging out at my buddy Suzanne's (ScrapBitz).  I totally see the appeal but it is not for me.  Since I am no longer making cards I want the creative outlet of designing my pages and really "working" on them as a creative process.  Ok so how do I get caught up?  And how do I keep myself going?  I did not have such a hard time when I first began my scrapbooking journey.  I think when you get behind the task appears insurmountable!

Now one thing I do is print my own pictures.  I like to edit them myself and I like to size them anyway I want.  I use sketches RELIGIOUSLY, especially Page Maps sketches and those have pics of all shapes and sizes.  However this means there is alot of "prep" time involved when I scrapbook and I think that is the part that I get stuck on.  Or worse, I plan it out, find a sketch, choose and size my pictures and then forget so I have to start over.  Around the New Year y'all may recall I managed to get all of my 2010 pics scrapped.  I sat down and did it all at once!  And while it worked and I did it I wanted to make it a little less of a HUGE undertaking.  It is also difficult to scrap a large time period in a short time - I was wrangling with ALL holidays and ALL seasons at once.  I felt like I would never catch up with myself because I couldn't make time stop while I worked on everything I was behind on!  But I have come up with a new approach AND a way to organize that makes it doable so I thought I would share it with y'all.

First of all I decided to take it one month at a time BUT one month from all three years.  Or two.  So right now (for the crop I went to Saturday - good motivator - I am working on ONLY pics from January and February but from all three years - 2011, 2012 and 2013.  This makes for a much more manageable and attainable goal and it also helps because the themes of the pics and time of year is the same so I am only grappling with a few paper types and embellishments and such - winter, birthday, and a few other misc things - this time cake baking and a few cat pages.  Plus I am doing current pictures too, which I like because those are fresh in my mind.  I believe I came up with a total of 8 spreads - some 2 page and some 1 page.

Now as I mentioned, a huge part of this is the planning and there is nothing like forgetting what I planned to make me throw up my hands and quit because I don't want to re-do it!  So I came up with a method that I think is going to work really well.

1. Pick out your pictures.  In this day and age of digital pictures we take zillions of pictures.  Now there is no way you can scrap that nor would anyone ever want to look through them all.  When I download pics to my computer I have it set up to group them by date.  This way it's easy to just go in and look at all the pics from January of each year.  Within that folder I make a new folder titled pics to scrap.  I pick out all of my pics I really like and want to scrap and group them by layout.  Then I look at them to get an idea of how many there are, the orientation and think about what size I want them.  Are they all the same?  Is there one I want to focus on and others that are just support pics and can be small?  Put them all in their own folder within your "Pics to scrap" folder and title it what you want to call that layout.
2. Pick your sketch.  Then with that in mind I go out and find a sketch I like on the internet to fit them.  You can go to the Page Maps site, CK magazine, Pile It On challenge lists, Pinterst boards or just google scrapbook sketches in google images.  When you find the sketch you like save it to the same folder you put your pictures in.  Be sure to label it where you got it so you can give credit later.
3. Edit and re-size your pictures.  Now you have an idea of what size your pics need to be for your sketch so open them up and edit and re-size them.  There are alot of programs out there to do this so I won't go into that unless someone asks me to.  Re-save them back in that same folder so your layout stuff stays grouped together.  This is an important point for me because I am interrupted CONSTANTLY and that is why I am always forgetting what I am doing.  This way my stuff stays grouped and I can go back to it later.  If you have a lot of pictures in one folder and more than one sketch for them then group them together by the way you name them.  For example I had a bunch of kitty pics this time around.  So when I saved the sketch I named it "bubba sketch"  then the first picture was "bubba 1" etc.  Then for the next set of kitty pics it was "Bubba Pez sketch"  then "Bubba Pez 1" - this way the sketch and the related pictures stayed together in the file and I will explain why that is important in a minute.
4. Print your pictures.  Print out all of your pictures.  Again there are a number of ways to do this but since I like to make mine all sorts of weird sizes I find the best way for me is to print them myself.  I simply open a Word document, insert my pictures and print them off.  I have never researched it or anything but I feel quite sure this is not the cheapest way to do it but it is the way I do it because like I said - I want the size variety, I want instant gratification and if one does not end up looking quite right or needs any sort of adjustment I can fix it and print it off again.
5. Print your sketches.  This is optional.  I don't tend to bring my computer into my studio with me or if I do it is too watch TV on it.  But especially since I was going to this crop I needed to print my sketches.  I also know that one of my BIGGEST sticking points is I print my pics, print my sketches and then forget which sketch I wanted to use with which pics.  UGH!  Then a light bulb went on.  Remember how neatly we organized our files - the sketches and pics are grouped together because of how we named them?  Screen shots!  So I open up a second Word doc and then I take a screen shot of my file with my sketch and then corresponding pics right after it and save that in the same file.  Next I insert the screen shot and then I insert each of the corresponding sketches.  Ta da!  Handy reference sheet!  Print that out too.
6. Journaling.  At this stage you can even do your journaling.  Because you are working with a sketch you can usually get an idea of the size and space you have for your journaling and can type it up too if you are one who types it like I am.  However I found that alot of the sketches don't have measurements on them so it got harder to guess the journaling too.  I decided to leave this part until last.  Or it could be that this is my least fave part and I am just procrastinating....

Here is what one of my files looks like - the screenshot:

 By using the screenshot I can come back at any time and know what my plan was so I don't have to start over!  Now I just got to get in there and SCRAP!  I did far more talking than I did scrapping at the crop but I did get the basics of four layouts onto the page.  Now I just need to do finishing touches/embellishments and the journaling.  The other hurdle I am battling is that I can never seem to settle on papers.  And when I finally do settle on the patterned paper - I have no matching solid cardstock.  HOW IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE?????  I have 37 different shades of blue but none that match my new Bo Bunny Winter Wishes paper?  Really???!!!  hahahha!

Do YOU have any good tips for me on getting organized and catching up????  I would love to hear them!

"boobies" & middle schoolers....

hi all!

so, my fave news story of the day - a middle school boy had his breast cancer awareness bracelet taken away at the middle school my oldest and my hubby went to.  why?  because it was the one that says i love boobies.  of course the news was making it out to be an injustice - it wasn't disruptive, he wasn't disruptive, blah blah blah and even phrased their questions in the interview with him so that he could say boobies on tv several times.  ok anyone else out there raised boys like i have?????  i can tell you right now the word boobies will send them into ridiculous childish fits of hystericality.  (blogger is telling me that's not a word but i disagree).  heck my youngest boy and his best buddy have graduated high school and STILL find farting hilarious.  not to mention i would imagine that their behavior over the word boobies (which i picture them repeating over and over pretending they are just reading the bracelet) probably makes the nearby girls very uncomfortable.  what do y'all think???

in other news i am doing my monthly battle with an allergic reaction to the perfumey carpet powder the cleaning people insist on using despite repeatedly asking them not.  so for the last 24 hours it has felt like someone is repeatedly stabbing me in the brain through my eye socket over and over.  i even tried to cover the carpet in baking soda but nope the perfume powder won out.  awesome.

i DID manage to get a LO done - 2 pager even!  this is pezza's bday 2 years ago.  though to be fair i am not 2 years behind as i started skipping around so i am less behind but also less organized :P

she wanted aliens so that's what we did - the title piece was actually a centerpiece/sign from her decorations.

it started with the little aliens stamp set she saw in the SU catalog.  then i cut additional shapes from the Everyday paper dolls cartridge.  unfortunately they did not have layers or shadows but i did cut a couple of them twice and made my own layers with scissors.  i used glossy accents on the space ship window, the aliens helmet, and all of the eyes.

page 2

and a few close ups:

i think the little aliens are so stinkin' cute!  the ones on the title were colored with copics and the others i colored this morning with pencils - love my pencils!

pezza's school party is today and i have a few last minute things to do for her costume - so far it is turning out quite good!

pumpkin picking pezza style...

hi all!

we've decorated for halloween!  what do y'all think?  i am also trick or treating...trick or treating for the lost dog and cat foundation!  if you would like to donate CLICK HERE and be sure to put my name in the notes section!

we've also been getting ready for halloween around the house and this past weekend it was time to get our pumpkins.  now y'all remember the LO i already began creating...you know using SVGs and cutting with my new Black Cat?  you know all ready for fab pictures from a local farm with hayrides and lots of pumpkins?

well for starters i still haven't figured out how to cut it out.  i also didn't have photo paper to print any pics out OR ink in the photo printer either.  yea my whole i am going to get back to scrapping goal has been a bumpy ride.  i HAVE been very busy but it's all stuff for the magazine (which is our hugest ever!)  plus a secret project i have been working on for someone but i can't post THOSE pics until the person sees it first.  the good news is i did get comfortable with Make The Cut again and i am ready to cut my layout pieces...

but first we needed the perfect set up for pictures.

me: Pezza, do you wanna get your pumpkin today?
Pezza: YES!
Me: ok we'll go to the pumpkin farm
Pezza: NO.  i don't wanna get it there.
Me: oookkaaaaayy.  where do you wanna get your pumpkin?

wait for it

YUP...she wanted to get her pumpkin at target......

so being the dedicated scrapper i am (and totally determined NOT to waste the SVGs i have been working on)  i threw my camera in my purse and off we went...

pezza insisted that daddy pick out his pumpkin first from the bin of larger ones.  so as he is digging around i pull out my camera (remember we are in target) and i say hey honey, and this is what i get:

the look on his face says it all dontcha think????  let's just say he was thoroughly disgusted with me.

next pezza wanted to pick out a baby pumpkin from the other bin:

and...

at which point hubby is telling me how completely embarrassing i am.  honestly, i don't know how he can be surprised by anything i do after this many years....and yes, those are going on the layout.....

so trev got most of his stuff moved yesterday.  he will be back today for the rest and Pezza and I are going to go check out his place.  i have had a number of people comment that i must be sad but really i am not.  i mean this is the goal of parenting.  they are supposed to leave!  my mom gave me some excellent advice a long long time ago.  she said the goal of parenting should be to become as useless to your kids as possible.  i believe in this.  my job is to teach them how to live in the world on their own.  now i AM glad he will be close by so i don't have to miss him!  and to be quite honest we have plans for his room and bathroom - no shrine there in case he comes home NOPE!  a guest room and then we will have pezza take over his bathroom and move her out of ours!  she wants it to be decorated with frogs and ducks :)

so am i the only one who got their pumpkins at the store?  i feel like this whole have to make a trip out to the farm and spend an arm and a leg and make it a big production thing is kinda new.  i never remember doing that as a kid OR doing it with the boys?  is it just a novelty where i live maybe?  lemme know!