Have you met The Paper Pumpkin?

I have been a fan of Stampin' Up! for years....YEARS!  I love the quality of their products. Their cardstock is one of my favorites for use in the cricut!  It cuts very smoothly and is a nice weight.

Probably about a year ago...ish...they started The Paper Pumpkin which is a kit that comes to your home every month! :)  YES! Delivered right to your door in a cute little box!  If fact, it has such appeal, the mail carrier asked me one day what came in that cute little box and why was she delivering so many of them on her route? :)

The kit comes with just about everything you need to complete a project.  You only supply your own scissors, tape runner (although the kit often includes dimensional dots), and clear block for mounting the stamps.  
But the stamps, the paper/cardstock, a color cube and any additional embellishments (mini clothespins, sequined rickrack, etc) are ALL PROVIDED!  They are pretty quick and easy projects that are cute and fun!

Admittedly, after the first couple of months, I was ready to bail on the program.  I didn't think that the materials always met my high expectations of Stampin' UP! products.  My consultant encouraged me to try for another month or two because she said that corporate was really listening to the feedback they were getting. She felt that some changes were coming.  Well, as if on cue, the quality of the kits improved so much!!!  The variety in the kits improved as well as the selection of materials...it wasn't just all cards.  

This is the September Paper Pumpkin!!!  

THE KIT INCLUDES: 
* Six burlap bags in total (3 stripe and 3 polka dots), 
* Boo-tiful Bags Photopolymer Stamp Set
* Tangelo Twist Classic Stampin Spot ink
* 1 sheet of die-cut tags
* 2 sheets of patterned die-cut tags
* 1 sheet of black stickers (the little crow, bat, skull and tree are stickers but the same         images ARE included in the stamp set!)
* Small bag of mini clothespins
* String of orange sequins(2 yds)
* Black Baker's Twine (7 yds)
* Stampin Dimensionals

I didn't complete them all for the photo because I don't have the treats to fill them yet. :)  It was a quick and easy project that is really fun!  Who wouldn't love to get one of these little bags full of treats?

The cost is $19.99 per month but there is a price break if you order 3 months at a time or a year at a time.  For the monthly subscription, it bills on the 20th of the month and arrives within a week. (that seems to depend on the USPS...at first I was receiving it the same day that the email said it shipped...but now I receive it 3-5 days after the email.)  Regardless, it comes in plenty of time for whatever holiday or event the theme matches.

HAPPY CRAFTING!

Cricut Sale at Menards Stores

BIG SALE at Menards.  For those who don't know Menards, it's a hardware store with a little of everything else...as evidenced by the fact that they also carry cartridges on occasion and machines.

For those of you looking for a Cricut Expression Machine (not Expression 2), Menards has them for $129.99 - $30 rebate for a COST OF $99!  Wow - that is certainly a deal.
The rebate is a mail in rebate.  Double check before purchasing to see if it is a cash rebate or a store credit rebate.  Not an issue if you live near a Menards but if you are not near one and order online, you want to know you going to be able to easily use your rebate.

The following cartridges were available (in pretty large quantities) at my Menards in Illinois.
The yes or no following the name indicates if that image set IS part of the Design Space subscription or if it IS NOT.  
If you have the subscription, you may only be looking to add to your image collection with cartridges that are not part of the subscription.

PRICE - $9.99 EACH Cindy Loo - yes
Designer Calendar - yes
Independence Day - yes
Live Simply - yes
Phrases - yes
Sentimentals - yes
Snow Day - yes
Sweethearts - NO
Trim the Tree - yes
Winter Wonderland - yes
ZooBalloo - NO

Non-Crafty Weekend

This was a non-crafty weekend with good reason!  We had the opportunity to go visit my youngest at college and we took it!  So great to see him!

I have played with the slice feature on the design studio to see how it worked but did not create anything I wanted to cut out.  

On Friday, I made an awesome birthday card for my mom...but I forgot to take a picture of it before I gave it to her DOH!  I utilized the print and cut feature.  I used a basket from Cricut images (I have the subscription and so I don't pay enough attention to which cartridge the image is from...I'll work on getting better at noting that!).  I then found some cute tulips that were popping up from some grass.  I grouped the two together with the tulips behind the basket so the grass didn't show.  I then found some vine-like plant with little flowers on it.  I copied it and added 3 of those hanging down over the sides of the basket.  Adding even more flowers I found, I added 3 flowers (same flower - just three different sizes) on one side of the basket handle and 1 larger version of it near the other.

I duplicated many of the flower images (not the vines) before I grouped the basket and original set of flowers together so I could flatten them.  I print and cut that image and it was really cute!!  I then cut out the duplicate flowers I had made and popped some of them up from the basket to give it dimension.  I mounted the basket on bright yellow cardstock.  On the inside I attached a Happy Birthday cut from the Circut library.  I also added a small bird with a flower in its mouth (print and cut).

Since I was seeing her to give it in person, I made it pretty large without worrying about having to fit it into an envelope.  

Print and Cut is going to be a great feature when you want to make a very detailed image without having to do all the layers.  The vine I used was really cute and if I were using it for a scrapbook page border, it would be large enough to easily handle assembling the layers.  But for the size I needed, it would have been a pain to deal with the really tiny pieces.

I hope to make a Halloween banner this week and some other fun Halloween decorations!

See you soon!

Things I'm learning about Print and Cut :)

I was curious to see what the print and cut can do and so I did a little bit of experimenting.  I wanted to know if the print and cut would work by putting images onto different shapes and cutting out the background shape only.

Here are my results.

I wanted to print an image onto the scallop and have just the scallop cut out.  This would be great for so many projects (especially when time doesn't allow for the piecing together of many layers).  The difference between these two images is that one used a "printable" image (the Haunted House) and the other used a regular cutting file. (Both are from the Cricut library.)

For the haunted house (a printable image), I put the house to the front so it was visible on the scallop and then I grouped them together.  I did not have the option to flatten the image as it was already flattened as a printable.  I then printed the image.  When I put it into the Cricut, it cut the house image.  It was asking for a reinsert of the mat to then cut the scallop.

For the candy (a layered cutting image), I moved the candy to the front so it was visible on the scallop and then grouped them together.  I then flattened the image and hit go.  The image printed and when it went through the Cricut, the scallop was cut and not the candy.

I'm not saying there isn't a way to get a printable on another shape...I'm just saying that I haven't figured it out yet. :)  

Print and Cut is HERE!!!!!

The print and cut feature for the Cricut Explore was released in the wee hours of last night/this morning. :)  I was on my way to bed when I saw a post the post, "It's here!"  So I had to sit back down and play.  Sadly, my printer was not cooperating!!  I know, right?  I was so bummed!!  Being that it was the middle of the night, what could a crafty girl do?  Go to bed and pop up bright and early to call customer support.  After an almost 30 minute wait (grrr), Ariel was able to fix whatever was ailing my printer.   I was seeing that there was a printer setting error as the printer was 'seeing' & printing the calibration sheet as 6 small photo sized pages.  (That's not going to calibrate anything....)  Turns out that some mystery setting "Air print" was not allowing the full capabilities of the printer...she made some adjustments and VIOLA!  The moral of the story is that it works now!!  So not only was I able to calibrate my machine but I was able to take the print and cut feature for a test drive.

Next week, my dear hubby and I will celebrate our 25th Wedding Anniversary.  So, I printed and cut some images for a card.  I'm so excited about this feature that I am showing you the elements and not even a finished product!! :)

I had seen some great tutorials about the print and cut feature but one thing that I hadn't seen demonstrated was the ability to change the colors on the images.  I figured it had to be possible...why would that be restricted?  But I hadn't seen it yet so that was part of this first test cut.  I made the groom's bow tie and the bouquet royal blue. (yep - that was my color!)  I changed the color of the bride's hair, too.
Easy enough to do...just make the changes as you normally would when setting up your layered cuts BEFORE you click "flatten" on your screen.

BTW - the images were printed on Stampin' Up white cardstock!  It took the ink well and cuts cleanly.  Stampin' Up cardstock is among my favorites for use in the Cricut.  I'll look into some heavier weight paper for the printer but the stuff I have now is rather thin so I opted to use the cardstock.

For Cricut Explore owners - HAVE FUN!!  The calibration process is pretty painless and the prompts on the screen walk you right through it.  Just remember that after you change the setting to paper for the calibration sheet, change it back to cardstock (if necessary).  I had to do a re-do because I didn't change the setting!!  But that was user error - the Cricut did exactly what it was supposed to!

Now - GO PLAY!!!

 

Let's Get Started!

Let's Get Started!!!

I love to do paper crafts: scrapbooking and card making! My favorite machine is my Cricut Explore.  I'm amazed with everything it can do.  I enjoy sharing my projects and am enjoying all the crafty blogs out there!


Here is the first project I am posting.  It is a birthday card/gift tag for a special little friend who turned 4 today.  I used all Cricut images.  I will have to post later which ones I used - the Design Space is closed for updates so I cannot double check the cartridge titles.

 

I'm so excited about the updates the Design Space is undergoing because that means that PRINT & CUT is coming soon!!!  (tomorrow I believe!)  I thought it was today and hopped out of bed this morning and headed right to my machine.  But - not today!

Here are two other projects that I recently made.  The svg files I used are from www.svgcuts.com - the Haunted Mansion collection.  They are fun projects and the video tutorials are great!  

I sold my first creation!!  It was one of the pumpkins.  My customer wanted a similar pattern for the pumpkin but requested the black chevron for the pumpkin's hat.  DOH - I didn't take a picture of it.  I was so excited to get it to her that I didn't think of a photo until after the fun pumpkin was out the door.

Thanks for checking out my projects!!  Stop by again!
Elisa