Game Grumps Birthday Card and Banner

It's my husbands birthday today and he loves watching Game Grumps on YouTube so I decided to make him a pop up box card and matching banner with the Game Grumps on.

I found the Game Grump heads of Arin and Danny online, along with Burgie, their logo and background. I used my Cricut Explore to cut out a pop up box and then print and cut for Arin, Danny, Burgie and the logo. 

I wanted to personalise it so after a quick internet search I found the font used by Game Grumps for their logo and downloaded it from DaFont and used Craft Artist 2 to make a happy birthday topper then I imported it into Cricut Design Space and used print and cut and then assembled the card.

For the banner I used the same images and used a banner shape already on the Cricut library. 

Not the best photo of the banner but light isn't the best there and the flash didn't really help. 

Just For You Mothers Day Card

This is the second Mothers Day card I made (following on from my previous post). 

Supplies

Kraft card cut to 7 x 10 1/2 inches

Kraft card cut to 4 1/2 x 9 inches

Sale-a-bration Botanicals just for you stamp set - Stampin Up

Ink pads in calypso coral and Bermuda bay - Stampin up

Embossing ink pad

Gold embossing powder

Gold cardstock - mine was embossed with chevrons and was part of a grab box from Hey Little Magpie

Pattern scrapbook paper - My Minds Eye

Shine On Speciality Series Paper (this is 12 X 12 Kraft card printed one side, foiled the other) - Stampin up 

All mixed up font - Cricut 

Pilot v5 black pen 

Cricut Explore

Bermuda bay cardstock - Stampin Up

Centura pearl cardstock in Snow White - crafters companion 

For this card I scored the large Kraft card at 7 inches so I had a 7 inch square with a flap that covered half the card.

I covered the inside of the card with scrapbook paper from My Minds Eye

I then covered the flap with gold cardstock (cut 7 inches by 3 1/2 inches), and then the Shine On cardstock which was cut 6 3/4 inches by 3 1/4 inches. 

I scored the other piece of Kraft card to make a 4 1/2 inch square card and stuck this in the middle of the inside of the larger card but so the crease of the card was on the right.

I added a piece of white cardstock inside just so it was clearer to write on. 

I then covered the front of the smaller card with gold cardstock.

I cut some Centura pearl card to 3 3/4 inchs and stamped and embossed the 'just for you' stamp, then added the flowers and foliage. I then stuck this onto the front of the small card.

To finish I added the sentiment to some Bermuda bay cardstock using the write function of my Cricut Explore and a Pilot V5 pen. I cut this down to 1/2 inch tall by 3 inches and then cut a triangle at the end to make a flag. I mounted this onto the gold card and cut round to make an even boarder. 

I love this card as it all ties together and is a little bit different. 

Finding Nemo Card

I made this card using the Pixar Cricut cartridge. After searching Pinterest for some inspiration I found a card with Squirt on and decided to make something similar as I wanted more of a scene, rather than just Squirt on his own.

I used a textured holographic paper which I got in a craft bundle which made a perfect background. 

This would have been a great picture for a frame too. The hardest but was putting the orange flowers in his back as it was so hard to figure out which one went where.

Poker Pop Up Card

Just before Christmas I had a voucher for Dreaming Tree who sell SVG files for use in electronic cutting machines. I purchased a few files including one for a Poker card which I thought would really suit my brother in law. 

I sat down Saturday afternoon to make it with my Cricut Explore, a new blade and a new mat (I didn't realise how blunt my blade was until I put the new one in)

The files were very easily to upload to Design Space but there were quite a few layers which also meant a lot of paper and card stock. 

And that's not all of it!

The instructions were really helpful for cutting the pieces. I then used the YouTube video on their site to help with the construction. It was pretty self explanatory but the video really helped with positioning. 

And this is the final card:

It took about 2 hours with all the cutting and layering. I also made the matching envelope. 

The only negative I would say is that it's hard to see the poker chips front the front (it looks more like a no entry sign front behind the queen) and also next time I'd used black card instead of the dark blue suggested. 

This file is usually $1.99 and can be found on 3Dsvg.com

Peace on Earth Christmas Card

I made this card on my Cricut Explore with the Tim Holtz metallic Kraft core card. It was a bit hard to use on my explore and I lost a crook. It was pretty hard to glue too but it looks nice with the gold and blue card. 

Homemade Christmas gift tags

I purchased by Christmas paper in October from Paperchase but didn't buy tags as I usually print sticky labels however this year I decided to make some tags with my Cricut Explore.

These tags were made using Print and cut for the main images (penguin and reindeer from Create a Critter). I then cut the back layer from Kraft card. I changed the back layer so it was a mirror image and added in 'merry Christmas' using the all mixed up font with a pilot v5 pen. 

I stuck the printed image to the tag using my Xyron sticker maker which really helped. I then punched a hole in the Penguins hat, and used some twine to thread threw. On the reindeer I experimented with the hold placement and each time it looked like is shot the reindeer but used the hole between its antlers. 

I love how these came out and they look great on my presents. 

Planner Stickers with my Cricut Explore

I purchased a Websters Pages planner a few month ago and as I have a lot of recurring appointments, such as hydrotherapy, my husbands guitar lessons, flea treatment for the cats etc I thought I'd look at making some planner stickers. Now there are two main reasons I chose to do this:

1. I didn't want to mess up my diary straight away with a spelling error
2. I thought labels would stand out more and I could colour code them (so I didn't need to carry around a stack of different colour pens)

I started listing all the recurring appointments I thought I might need in my diary:

• pay day (whoohooo)
• guitar
• hydrotherapy (ohhhh the hot water after a busy day at work to soothe my poor muscles!)
• enginner 
• medical appointments
• bank holidays
• my trip to Disney (in Disney font of course!)
• holidays (normal ones... not Disney lol)
• to do (in case I need to remember to do something important of a certain date)
• birthdays (so it stands out, I'll then writing their name next to it)
• vets
• bills due
• annual leave for Lee and I (as we don't always take the same time off) 

Anything else can be written in, or more stickers made up!

I did start making my stickers in Cricut Design Space however I found that it took forever as I was trying to make 52 of the same label at one time (ie for my weekly Hydrotherapy session) and my computer was soooo laggy, so I came up with a new idea..... I made them in Craft Artist 2! I used a flag shape and typed in the events. I then copied these out as many times as needed, and used the distribute function to space them out. I decided to make these on A5 sheets as the labels I wanted to use were A5 labels and I thought it would be easier with my Cricut Explore. In total I made 6 sheets of labels (50 on each sheet!).

 Once I had made my labels I exported them from Craft Artist as a PNG with a see through background so it would make it easier to set them up on my Explore to cut them individually. 

Once saved I uploaded them onto the Cricut Design Space and this took no time at all as all the work had been done in Craft Artist to set them up.

Each set of labels was set to 6 inches wide and 4.5 inches tall but although two sets would fit at a time on my A4 sheet, I had to do the print and cut separately for each sheet as I was using A4 sheets which had 2 labels per page but I did find a way in the end to use my whole sheet.

To do this, I print and cut one 'set' of labels at a time (by using the eye/hide button on Cricut Design space so that only one set of labels was showing at a time), and found that if I print and cut this, there was room to turn my label sheet around in my printer and print another set on the other half of my labels. Now there's probably an easier way (such as buying A4 labels) but this worked for me.

The labels I used were 5 star laser labels, which are comparable to Avery but I found them cheaper on Amazon (I use them for online postage) and on my first try I used the Cricut Sticker Sheet setting, however this cut all the way through, but I found that the paper setting cut it just fine (apart from the odd corner lifting but I just pushed these back onto the sticker paper after).

I'm really happy with how these turned out, and now I will cut them smaller so I'm left with smaller sheets of stickers, and keep them with my planner ready for when they decide to finally make the 2016 Webster Pages inserts available! 

Iron Man / Tony Stark Card

I made this card last month and forgot to post it on here. I made it for my Dads birthday using one sheet of red card, Cricut Vinyl and acetate. 

The iron man and Tony Stark image was found on Pinterest and I used my Cricut Explore to cut it.

I loved how it turned out. Due to the curved acetate front I made a box for it with my Crafters Companion Big Score. 

Pool card

My sister asked me to make a card for her boyfriends birthday and he loves pool and I knew I had a pool topper somewhere so I raised my stash. I found the topper in a set for men from Kanban but wasn't sure what to do with it as it looked a bit plain just on a plain background. I found a pool ball on the Cricut Explore design space but it had an 8 in it but I wanted a few different ones so I made my own pool balls. To do this I made circles 1 inch wide and then cut out a 1/2 inch circle out the middle. I then  made another circle of 1 inch and put a number in the middle. Once cut and stuck together they made perfect pool balls which I stuck round the card as a boarder/background.

I'm really happy how it turned out. 

Dimensional Art - 3D hedgehog cards on the Cricut Explore

When I was away last week I saw on a Facebook group there was a new cartridge in the Cricut subscription and on checking it out on my iPad I was so excited to see a hedgehog design!

The cartridge is called Dimensional Paper Art and can be found by searching the cartridges on design space. 

There is a wide range of designs from feathers and flowers to dinosaurs and hedgehogs. Some cuts are just the designs but there are also projects such as cards with envelopes.

I decided to make the hedgehog card with the 2 curled up hedgehogs. I have a selection of square envelopes so went into layers and deleted the envelope so I just had the card and made it 5 inches high to fit my chosen envelope. Due to this size I could cut 2 on a 12x12 sheet so that's what I did. Inside it has a cute sentiment of 'sending hedgehugs'. 

I cut the main card base out of a purple bazzill basics cardstock which was strange enough to stand nicely as a card blank.

I then cut the hedgehog design from Centura Pearl Snow White cardstock. It all went fine until the second design was cutting and then I kept having Bluetooth problems so decided to try another design for the 2nd card. 

My second design was the hedgehog with the flowers so I attached this to a circle the same size as the circle on the other hedgehog design (4.6 inches) and cut this out of thin card to see how it came out. 

I much prefer the double hedgehog design as the flowers pop out more and they might get caught going in and out the envelope whereas the hedgehog spikes are only small. To push the spikes up I used a pokey tool and pushed from the back. This took ages but gives a lovely finish.

I lightly brushed a sponge with Tattered Rose distress ink over the double hedgehog design so it just caught the edge of the spikes and I also put this round the outside of the circle. 

I glued the designs onto the cards ensuring I only glued around the outside. 

I like how these turned out and will be trying out some more designs in this cartridge soon (when I've solved the Bluetooth issue)

Cricut Happy Birthday Pop Up Card

I decided to try one of the Cricut Explore Make It Now projects as spotted a birthday pop up card which looked perfect for my father-in-laws birthday next week. It also gave me a chance to try out more of the cardstock I purchased.

The project was really simple to cut and used 1 12x12 sheet for the envelope, 2 12x6 sheets and a little scrap of white card (for behind the candles) and a little glue. 

It was really easy to put together but it was a tiny bit tricky folding the scorelines and I creased the A from Happy but it doesn't show too much due to the linen effect card. The card I used was from First Edition.

The only thing I'll do to this card now is add something to the front as its pretty plain if not but by adding a print and cut image I'm sure it will look perfect.

Engagement Card

My sister asked me to make an engagement card a few weeks ago and I completely forgot until today when she reminded me that she needed it this weekend. Luckily I had already designed it in the iPad to cut on my Cricut Explore so just had to send it to the machine to cut. All items are part of the Cricut subscription.

The card blank and mat layer are both the same cardstock (I seriously need some more coloured Centura pearl) but to decorate the cardblank I stamped it with red berry distress ink and then rubbed a ink sponge over which calmed down the colour of the hearts and gave a soft pink background. 

The heart itself was from a scrap of pink Centura pearl, and the black part is glittery black card. I drew round the heart with a black fine liner to make it pop, and added some Stickles.

The writing is done in a font called baby steps, and I used the rose Cricut antiquity pen.

Due to the iPad app I only spent 15 minutes in the study (cutting and glueing) which is so helpful as I had a little kitten wanting my attention (Chilli gets very jealous)

My first Brownie badge! Shoe box dolls house

I love making things and love a challenge. A few weeks ago my manager at work asked if I wanted to help her with a task they were doing at Brownies to make a dolls house out of shoe boxes. I was more than happy to help and she delivered the shoe box house to my car and that evening my mind went into overdrive thinking of all the things I had in my craft room and what I could turn them into for a dolls house. 

The shoe box house was made up of two boxes on top of each other and a lid at the side. I decided I'd make the side the entrance door, the bottom box a kitchen and living room, and the top floor a bedroom. 

The first room I started on was the kitchen as I used a Debbi Moore CD which had a 3D kitchen card box, by manipulating the graphics I was able to make a wooden floor, and 3D shelves. I then made a kitchen unit and glued it in place. I then went off on a tangent and made a vase and flowers from some beads I had and glued this to the kitchen units.

For the living room I just covered the walls using some DoCrafts scrapbook paper that had a wallpaper like print then made a sofa using my Crafters Companion Big Score board. The sofa was made up of 4 small boxes; the largest for the main body and seat, 2 identical small squares for the arms and a long thin box for the sofa back. I covered these with patterned paper then glued them together with my glue gun (so they dried quickly and firmly)

The light in this room was a mirror ball Christmas decoration (Rachel gave me it with the shoe boxes and said about using it as a light)

I then set to work on the bedroom. The wallpaper was some lovely Kaisercraft scrapbook paper with a poppy design. I made the bed by making a rectangular box, then made the headboard and bottom using a wrought iron shape with my Cricut Explore, but as I wanted it solid  I manipulated it so I only had the main outline. I cut two of the headboard and bottom so I could glue the card together to make it stronger. I got my sewing machine out and made a little duvet and pillows from Tilda fabric squares in my stash. For the duvet I put some wadding inbetween to give it a nice feel, and stuffed the pillows with toy stuffing.

I then made a set of drawers and used Craftwork candi as the knobs.

For the light I used some white glitter card wrapped round a circle to make a cylinder, edged it with a thin piece of paper that matched the wallpaper and glued some tigertail wire (from my jewellery making stash) for it to hang from.

My Cricut really came in handy with this project as I found a curtain shape with I used in each room and for the windows themselves I printed a countryside scene onto a4 and cut out views for the bedroom and downstairs. 

I showed my friend at work and she asked where the toilet was so I decided to add in a bathroom by the front door. As this was going to be in the lid I couldn't really use anything 3D as it would stick out so I found a picture of a toilet and sink, imported them into Cricut Design Space and used the print and cut feature. These were then stuck to the wall and I added in a toilet roll made of white ribbon wrapped round a paper clip (so it looked like a toilet roll holder) and some fabric wrapped over a paper clip (to look like a towel).

To separate the toilet from the entrance I made a partition using a thin piece of card.

I'm so please with how it turned out and so was Rachel. I earned a toy maker badge for my help which was lovely as I only went to brownies once and hated it as they were making straw dolls and o couldn't get the hang of it and I was confused about it all. I'd been to rainbows previously but didn't like that as it was just a lot of running round (which isn't great when you have Muscular Dystrophy).

The shoebox dolls house now has now gone to a good home, a colleague at works daughter now has it to play with which is lovely.

I always wanted a dolls house and a great uncle made one for me but died shortly after and his daughter decided she wanted to keep it so I never got it so it was lovely doing this and if I had the space I would love to get a dolls house and decorate it properly. 

Update the review for the Cricut Explore

I've now had my Cricut Explore for 2 months nearly and have had a chance to use a number of functions so I thought I'd post an updated review, especially given the fact Cricut have now announced a new Cricut Explore (although from what I've seen it just makes it wireless without needed a wireless adaptor, so not much difference.)

Firstly I have actually used this Cricut more than I used my Cricut Mini as the cuts are far superior. Even though it's bigger, I like the fact I can make it wireless so I've got more space on my desk when cutting.

I had a few issues when I first got it due to the mat being bent but having contacted Provocraft they kindly sent me out a replacement (actually 2 new mats!) after I gave them proof of purchase and my machine serial number. Brilliant customer service! 

I also ordered the heavy duty and lighter mats along with a scoring tool from a shop on eBay but after waiting 2 weeks it never turned up so they kindly sent out a replacement but had no more scoring tools (these seem to be hard to get hold of) but I managed to get one via Amazon.

I've not really read any guides or instructions for the Cricut Explore and here are a few things I have learnt while using it:

- When cutting Crafters Companion Centura Pearl card it won't cut cleanly on the cardstock or cardstock+ setting however on the glitter cardstock setting it does it perfectly as it does a double cut (ie it cuts once then goes over again)

- For print and cut items there is a maximum size for cutting depending on the web browser you're using. I found this out as I printed Donald Ducks boat out for a card so it was around A5 size, it printed fine, I put it in the Cricut and it scanned the lines then said it was finished and didn't cut anything out! On searching I found this http://content.provocraft.com/b/pdfs/explore_manual/10thingstoknow.pdf

- When adding text there is a filter to show only 'handwriting' styles of text so that when using a pen in your Cricut it won't just do an outline. There is a little triangle at the top of the text box and you can choose 'has a writing style' and then all the fonts which have an option to just do a line style font will show (this blog has a great section on it http://www.withglitteringeyes.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/alternative-handwriting-fonts-for.html)

I'm still learning new things while using the Cricut and managed to cut a cardblank, add in text on the front and back, then I crafted as normal and it gave a brilliant result. 

I also used the writing font to address an envelope and it looked so cool although I found that it didn't finish off an 'O' and instead left it like a 'C' which was odd so I had to write it in myself.

Talking of the pens, I have tried a few pens out now as I didn't particularly like the Cricut pen which came with the machine as you could see where the pen started and finished each letter. I also tried Crayola fine line pens which worked a bit better than the Cricut pen (and were only £2.50 for 10) 

However the best pens I've used so far have been Pilot V5 Needlepoint Liquid Ink Rollerball Pens. I brought 3 for £4.50 on Amazon and they fit perfectly and write lovely (see the heart card earlier in this post for an example). Although colours are limited in these I don't find a need for any other colours. It might be nice to have a white, silver or gold maybe to write on black card, but not necessary really. I used the pens on Centura Pearl and was wary that the ink may be wet, but it dried almost instantly (I would say instantly actually but I didn't touch it until it came out the machine)

I'm looking forward to cutting some fabric at some point in it and will post the results on here. I'm so glad I brought this, you certainly get what you pay for! I've got rid of my Big Shot and all my dies now as this does an amazing job and with the Cricut subscription I have access to so many images and cuts PLUS I can add in my own images to cut, the possibilities are endless. 

Vinyl Phone Case Decoration

Both my sister and I have Griffin Survivor iPhone cases as we always drop them (on the floor or in water) but they look boring and we wanted to jazz them up a bit. I used the silver vinyl from the Cricut Explore starter set and chose a Little Mermaid text design for mine from a Cricut cartridge, and my sister had a Tinkerbell silhouette I uploaded myself. 

The designs stuck well for the first day but then started moving and letters started coming off mine, and the wand on Laura's Tinkerbell moved too. I think it's due to the material used for the phone case as it's not got a completely smooth surface. I think a stronger vinyl may work better or if I used the vinyl as a stencil and then painted through it. Vinyl sticks fine to other phone cases, I just think our cases that have a problem with the vinyl. 

Oscar the Grouch Bin Lid

I got a new bigger bin for my craft room in Asda the other day and while sitting here playing with my Cricut explore I had the sudden urge to customise the bin. I used the duck tape sheets from the sample pack that came with the Explore and made an SVG file from a colouring page I found online. It was really easy to do and the only annoying bit was sitting there with the wedding tool taking out all the pieces of duck tape I didn't need (so fiddly!)

I used contact paper to transfer the image to the bin lid so he didn't end up looking wonky. All in all I'm really pleased with how this turned out.