Farewell Cricut FANatics and a final Project Tutorial

By Debbie O'Neal of www.scrapmequickdesigns.com

 

Well Cricut FANatics, today is the last posting day on the blog. Sniff, Sniff. I know how you must be feeling as my heart is heavy today too.

 

It has been my privilege to host this blog for you and I want to thank everyone for visiting us here to get your Cricut inspiration.  I also ask you to join me in sending a big thank you out to my other two administrators Rebecca and Amy for assisting me with hosting challenges and blog admin advice. You ladies were a joy to work beside.  

 

And a really really really BIG THANK YOU  to all the Cricut FANatics Design Team members, past and present who have so inspired us with their Cricut creations.  The variety of projects we have had posted is truly astounding and goes to show how the Cricut products really push our creativity in new directions. I encourage you to follow the individual designers on their blogs to keep the inspiration coming to you.

 

As mentioned before, I will NOT be deleting the Cricut FANatics blog.  Please continue to use the blog as a reference. The database of project posts is searchable and you can use the labels list to quickly find projects for inspiration.  The blog will stay up as long as Blogger allows it to do so.

 

As far as myself, I will still be crafting and continue to post all kinds of die cut projects including Cricut on my website at www.scrapmequickdesigns.com and welcome you to follow me there for inspiration.  When you stop by, please leave a comment to say hello !  I also have a die cut focused  Facebook Group "Crafty Cut Ups" and I invite all of you to join us there for more crafting fun too !

FINAL CRICUT FANATIC BLOG PROJECT - MAKING A CRICUT MINI ALBUM TUTORIAL 

 

I wanted to leave you all with one last Cricut Project Tutorial to inspire you.  One of my all time favorite cartridges is the Close to My Heart "Artiste" cartridge.  There are so many amazing things you can do with this cartridge.  I LOVE all the fun mini albums and decided to make one for my final Cricut FANatics project. It was hard picking but I finally decided to use the mini album on page 59 in the image book/page 37 in assembly instructions.  It is recommended you make your mini album no less than 3.8" tall/wide. I decided to make it an even 4" to fit my photos a bit better.

 

1. First thing you want to do when making a mini album with your die cut machine, you want to pick a good quality double sided patterned paper to add some pizzaz to your album.  I love the heavy quality of the paper in the amazing Teresa Collins Collections and decided to use the Everyday Moments Collection I had been hoarding :)

 2. Take a few minutes to decide what order you want to use the patterned paper. Don't forget there is a front and backside so be sure and check to make sure the patterns look nice on both sides together.

3. It's important to give some thought to which paper you are going to use of the front and back cover of the mini album.  Give a little thought to the way you may want to decorate the front cover to give you some idea of what might look best with what you have in mind.

Here I selected the dark blue pattern to be the front and back cover for my book. The bird paper is the B side of the same paper so that becomes the inside of the front and back cover.  (and yes, I realized After I cut the paper that I should have made sure to turn the paper on my mat so the inside design was horizontal but it still looks fine to me ).

 

4.  Cut the inside pages according to the diagram in the Cricut manual. I cut all the pages at 4", same size I cut the cover. As you can see, the pages automatically cut out at the right size without adjusting each page manually to get the graduated sizes of the mini album pages.  Cool, right?

 

5. Layer the inside pages in the recommended order according to the assembly directions on page 37 within the back and front covers.  Add book binding rings to hold it together. 

6. Now for the fun part...DECORATING THE MINI ALBUM ! One of the great things about using a collection pack is that they generally come with embellishments of some kind that make decorating your mini album super easy !  For this mini book I used the stickers and die cut pieces that were in the collection and a few little embellishment gems from my stash.  And my trusty Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher, ATG and some foam pop dots.

 

7. Start out decorating by selecting which of the embellishments you want to use for the front cover. Nothing is worse than using all your matching embellishments on the inside and running out for the cover...yes, I am speaking from experience :)

 

Here I layered some stickers on the binding edge and across the bottom of the cover.  Next I decided to use the circle flower cardstock piece on the rounded flap of the album cover as part of the closure  feature. To do that, I adhered it to the rounded flap so that it hangs off the edge as shown towards the center of the front cover.  Next, I added the label sticker in the center of the front cover, then layered on top with a foam pop dot the Every Day Moments cardstock piece, placing it so that the Circle Flower piece would tuck under it just slightly to hold the mini album cover together when closed. To finish the cover off I added a rose shaped pearl cachabon to the flower center, a bit of yellow/white twine a the bottom edge and tied some crinkled seam binding ribbon to the top binder ring.

   

 

8. Decorate the inside pages using the selected embellishments of your choice. Think about photos you may want to use, add some places for journaling spots along the way and embellish to your hearts content to get the look you want in your mini album.

 

Here are some pictures of the inside of my album to show off ideas of how to decorate the inside of this particular Cricut mini album. I added the tabs to top of some pages with my tiny attacher stapler, layered stickers and journal spots on others for variety.  I like to add in journaling cards mixed in with some of the pages to add more interest to the overall book.

 

I have photos picked out to put in here to make myself a little reminder book to stop and enjoy the Every Day Moments of my own life.  Unfortunately I didn't have time to add them to the mini album before doing this post. But rest assured, this one will be used.  I hope this tutorial inspires you to create your own mini album using some of the amazing shapes found on the Cricut cartridges.

 

Well, I think I have dragged my feet long enough about ending this last post. Time to say Farewell Cricut FANatics and thank you for the fond memories we have made here at Cricut FANatics Blog !

 

Hugs to you all,  happy die cutting !  Debbie O'Neal

 

 

My Last Post for Cricut Fanatics ~ A Heritage Layout

Hello everyone! It’s Angie from Angie’s Paper Passion and I’m so sad that our beloved Cricut Fanatics Blog will be closing after tomorrow, so this is my last post as a Design Team member. I have been very happy and honored to have had the chance to share my projects here along with these other very, very talented designers. I’d like to thank Debbie O’Neal for starting this blog and all of her hard work to keep it going. And this leads me to my layout today. This layout is completely scrap lifted! I first saw this LO when I first met Debbie – at Provo Craft Demo Training back in the Spring of 2010! I had always wanted to recreate it and felt this was just the right time. (Debbie, can you believe that this blog is a year old? And that we’ve known each other for over three years?!?! Boy does time fly!)

So here is my Heritage layout:

Since I’m a new Grandmother, I felt it was important to document my Grandson’s ancestry on both sides of his family. I had researched my family history many years ago but now I needed to find out more about my Daughter-in-law’s family. So after she gave me the names of my Grandson’s great-grand parents I created this layout for him. I am going to frame it for his bedroom wall.

I used the same cartridge, Heritage, and the same paper from DCWV. The one thing that I did change was the tree image but it still came from the Heritage cart. I typed up all of the family names in Word and placed them in the frames under the cameos and they contain my Grandson’s parent’s, all four Grandparent’s and all eight great-grand parent’s names. I know that he’ll really appreciate this when he’s older!

I hope that you will still follow me at my blog Angie’s Paper Passion where I will continue to post all of my crafting & Cricut projects and where I hope to continue to inspire others in their crafting pursuits!

Thanks again to all of you for visiting and to Debbie for bringing us all together!

Cricut Info and Other Supplies Used:

Designed by:  Angela Cromwell

Cricut Machine Used: Expression and Cricut Craft Room

Cricut Cartridge Used:  Heritage

Other Supplies Used: DCWV patterned paper, American Crafts cardstock, foam dots

Happy Crafting!

Angela

Butterfly Theme

 Hello There,

I'm sad to say this will be my last post on this blog. I've really enjoyed sharing my cricut creations with all of you. I invite you to visit me over at Ink-spirations. Butterflies make me think we are always changing and evolving....

The base of the card is 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 folded. Butterfly image cut at 2.5" and then glittered. There are dimensions between the green background and the navy blue background. Pearls on the butterflies and the half fans at top of card.

Pattern paper cut using Imagine and All Wrapped Up.

Butterfly bookmark cut at 5.5" and laminated. Butterfly on gift bag cut from Home Accents at 6".

The Hersey Kiss butterflies cut from Stampin' Up double-sided pattern paper. No glueing needed for assembley. Directions can be found at Qbees Quest. Really easy to make.

 

Yvonne

 

Designed by: Yvonne Balmer - Ink-spirations

Machines Used:
Expression 2, Cricut Imagine

Cartridges Used:
Sophie - card (Feature key card 2)
Sophie - bookmark (Feature key bookmark)
All Wrapped Up. Green cardstock and pattern paper.
Home Accents - Butterfly on gift bag

Other Supplies:
pearls, Stampin' Up designer paper, white gift bag, glitter, dimensionals, laminator, Hersey Kisses

Divine Wedding Card

Hi fellow FANatics!  This is Erika from http://ekittyscraps.blogspot.com/.  I have another cricut project to show you today and here it is!

I used a 5 x 7" ivory card that I already had.  To cut the oval out of the gold cardstock, I used the Easter 2010 cartridge.  I cut out the regular easter egg at 5 inches.  The trick to this cut was to set the blade on your mat at 3/4 inches over and 3/4 inches down.  This is so you have enough cardstock to make the frame.  (I did see this trick on another site but I am not sure who it was-they made an Easter card with a cross and lillies on it).  I left two inches on each side of the egg and cut down my 12 x 12" paper to match my card.  Sorry I didn't use measurements. I have about an inch on each side of the egg.

  I embossed my gold mat with a 5 x 7 folder from Darice called Argyle Diamonds.   

I used Divine Wedding to cut the Bride and Groom image on page 38.  I used orange for the background color, the tie and on the bouquet since this is the main wedding color.

I embossed the skirt using the Cuttlebug D'vine Swirls folder and added some bling. I pop dotted the skirt onto the bride image.

The flower trim was sprayed with Heirloom Gold-several coats and dryed with a heat dryer.  I sprayed one coat of pumpkin spice/perfect pearls gold spray/water mix on my craft mat and pushed the trim through it and dryed again.  There are You Tube vidoes on how to make distress inker sprays if you are interested.

I glued gold rings and silver bling on my card.  I added my wedding rubon to some vellum and distress inked the edges of the vellum, frame and bride and groom image.  I also pop dotted the Bride and Groom image.

I hope you like my card and Thanks for stopping by.

Supplies used:

Cricut Expression

Cricut Cartridges: Divine Wedding and Easter 2010

Cuttlebug & D'vine Swirls folder

Darice Argyle Diamonds 5 x 7" folder

Tim Holtz Trims (flowers/roses)

Tim Holtz- Vintage Photo Distress Ink and Pumpkin Spice Distress Reinker

Ranger: Heirloom Gold Spray and Perfect Pearls Gold Powder

Kaisercraft Forever Rubons

Gold Rings and Silver bling

Vellum

Paper: Gold, Silver, Orange, White and Black 

pop dots and glue

Train Picture Frame

Happy Saturday Cricut Fanatics!  This is Rita from Rita's Paper Obsession.

Today I wanted to share a picture frame I created for a picture of my husband and our nephew.  We went to the train museum and I wanted to create a keepsake for our nephew.

I selected the train from the Carousel cart and used Design Studio to layout the frame.  The train image is 8 inches.  The window was too small for my picture so I used the hide contour and placed a 3 inch square from George & Basic Shapes in its place.  I cut this out three times on blue, green and red pattern paper and twice from chipboard.

Next using the shadow function, I welded a rectangle to the bottom of the image to give me a flat surface.  I cut this out of black pattern paper and chipboard.

For the frame back, I used the welded shadow/rectangle and used the vertical frame back from the Fancy Frames cart.  Again using the hide contour function I hide the rectangle utilizing only the stand portion of the image.  I cut this from chipboard.

To assemble, I glued the red train to a chipboard cut and the blue train to the other chipboard cut.  I hand cut the smoke stack and light off the blue train.  From the green train I hand cut the top of the smoke stack, the roof of the train and the cow catcher.  I cut circles from George & Basic Shapes to match the size of the wheels and I created a window frame by cutting a 2 3/4 square inside a 3 1/2 square.  All pieces were inked with Versa Magic "Jumbo Java"

Finally assembly of the frame, layer the train on to the shadow leaving an opening to insert the picture.  Adhere to the frame back.

The frame looked a little plain so I doodled some and added a number cut from the Lovely Floral cart.  The numbers represent the date we went to the museum.

Thank you for stopping by and allowing me to share with you this weekend.  It has been a pleasure being a part of the Cricut FANatics blog.  Happy Cricuting!

Designed by: Rita Poteat
Cricut Cartridges Used: Carousel, George and Basic Shapes, Fancy Frames
Cricut Machines Used: Cricut Expression
Project type: Home Decor

Princess party

Hi all it's Terri from www.scrappinwiththebug.blogspot.com.

So a fellow scrapbooking friend of mine ask me last year to make the decorations again this year for the Miss Downriver pageant. This is actually part of the whole Miss America Organization. She told  me it was a western theme and the colors were pink, brown. I told her about the fun paper from Carta Bella Giddy Up girl. It was perfect!!

She wanted a banner and also some table decorations. So I made several items for the little princess party which is hosted the day before the actual crowning of Miss Downriver and Miss Downriver outstanding teen.  The current Miss Michigan normally is in attendance and the girls have a BLAST. They truly are all little princess and just a delight to be around.


The banner is cut from Birthday Bash using the triangle and shadow banner.
The letters are also from Birthday Bash

The cowgirl boots are from County Fair
The horse is from Create a Critter
The crowns also from Create a Critter

I will say I'm sad to see this blog go and want to thank Debbie, and all the other designers and admins who made a great attempt to keep this going. May all you enjoy your next ventures in the crafting industry!!!

Hope you all have a great day and have enjoyed the blog.

Terri

21st Birthday Card

Hi Everyone, It's Melody from MelodyLaneDesigns.com I made another 21st Birthday Card. I used Pack Your Bags for the drink and Velum for the glass, I cut 2 pieces and put the pink paper and half the straw inside between the 2 pieces of velum so they look like they are on the inside of the glass.

 I used purple foil paper from Walmart and adhearded it to purple metallic paper and then put it through the Cuttlebug with the swirls folder. I show it all in the 1st video below.

 I made the rosette by just cutting 1.5" x 12" glitter paper and used an edge punch and then scored every 1/4" I cut the 21 from Cricut Alphabet and then cover in glitter. I show completely in the second video below.

Check out the videos, the first one shows the embossing and drink.

The second one continues the card showing the rosette, 21, and the stamping.

Thank You for checking us out!

 

Materials Used:

Cricut Expression 2 Machine/ Cricut Craft Room

Cricut Cartridges: Pack Your Bags, Cricut Alphabet

Cuttlebug, Swirls Folder

Martha Stewart scoring board

edge punch

Foil paper from Walmart, Metallic paper from Recollections Vellum, 

white glitter paper from Joanns

glitter ribbon, purple glitter

pop up squares

glue gun, ATG

CHRISTMAS IN JULY

Sorry this is late, I forgot to click publish so it stayed in draft form and didn't post on the 19th....

 

Hey there, it's Freda from CannCreate Designs back with a little Christmas Holiday Cheer for you.  I  try to have a Christmas in July party at my house every year where I get together with some of the crafty members of my family and we make items that they can recreate at home  and give as gifts.  When I first started this we did it in late November/early December and they complained that they didn't have enough time to make the presents  for Christmas so we moved it to July.

I've been scouring Pinterest for ideas, any possible craft was pinned into my "Christmas in July Ideas" board.  I am writing this in April and I decided to make Snowmen gift boxes for each of the ladies.  Each box will hold an ornament for their tree. 

Okay, here goes....Today I am sharing a Snowman Giftbox using an SVG pattern I purchased from a company called My Scrap Chick .  They sell patterns for most cutting machine software formats and even in PDF for printing and hand cutting.  This Winter Patio Pavers pattern is their paper version of the patio paver blocks that people paint and make decorations out of.  There is also a card file included that matches, maybe I'll get time to make cards too...

First I cut out the files and sort the side pieces to the top and bottom of the box.  (the top side pieces of the box will be the two pieces with the 1/2 circle cuts in them.  To sort the top/bottoms inside/outside pieces you can stack all 4 cuts...the largest one will be the top/outside piece where the face/buttons go.  There will be 2 pieces that are the same size...one of those will be the inside of the top, it covers the area inside of the box top where the tabs are glued. The other will be the outside piece of the bottom.  The smallest piece that you have left will be the inside of the bottom, it covers the glued tabs on inside of the box bottom.  Clear as mud???  I'll try to explain in the pictures as you're assembling....  Be sure once you have sorted the pieces to separate them into the Top and Bottom sections, only work on one section at a time and keep them separated.  You might even write lightly in pencil on an area inside that will be hidden which pieces are which...if that will help you to keep them sorted.



Fold side pieces on the score lines, also fold tabs towards inside.



  

Note the slight size difference in this picture of the top inside and outside pieces...



We will assemble the sides first...I prefer that the end pieces without tabs be towards the inside of the box so I put glue on the inside of the tabbed piece and placed the untabbed piece so that it would be inside...wish I had taken pictures of that step....anyways you should wind up with a shape like this (bend the piece where the head/body join out so this shape is formed), I don't think it matters too much which side the untabbed piece is placed...just personal choice.

Now, making sure that you have the top outside and inside pieces and the side pieces with the 1/2 circles cut in it...apply glue to 3-4 tabs as illustrated below....



Using the top outside piece (the largest piece)...align and glue the tabs that have adhesive on them.  Hold each tab in place for a few seconds for the adhesive to set before attaching the next piece.  Work your way around the "bottom" of the snowman before gluing the head area tabs down.  You should have a piece like the one pictured below:

Now get one of the 2 same sized pieces, apply adhesive to the back of the piece (if you are using liquid glue do it sparingly and only around the outside edges to minimize waviness on your snowman top).   Apply this piece to cover where the tabs are glued inside.

Assemble the box bottom in the same manner...using the remaining pieces.  Your boxes should fit together like this:

Ink/Chalk in light blue or gray around the edges of the top of your box(the piece with the 1/2 circle cuts in it).  I prefer to chalk the "cheek" spots instead of using the circle cuts in the pattern, and also used black mini round gems by Recollections for the eyes.  Remember that you are going to be adding a ribbon to the area where the head/body join, so leave enough room below your  "Cheeks" so the ribbon doesn't hide your facial features.   Don't assemble your face and button pieces until after applying the ribbon.  Ink/Chalk the edges of the buttons, nose and stars in brown.  It's not pictured here, but I added little red "bling" dots to the stars-you can see them in the photo at the beginning of the post. 

Next tie your ribbon around the neck area of the snowman, turn the snowman around and cut the ribbon in half on the back side.  Apply adhesive to the back of the ends that you just cut.  Center the knot on the front of the snowman and bring the adhesive sides around to the inside of the lid to hide the ends.

Now add your face and buttons to the top of the box, and you're good to go...I hope you enjoyed this little "Christmas Break."

I must say it has been a pleasure to share my projects with you...I'm sure I'll see you all around on the blogs.  Thanks for stopping by,

Freda

Designed by:  Freda Cannon 

Machine Used:  Cricut Expression

Project Type:  3D Gift Box

Products Used:  MTC Software; Winter Pavers file from My Scrap Chick; White cardstock with a few pieces from my stash; Assorted ribbon from my stash of swap items, Recollections Mini Round Gems from Michaels, Queen & Co bling.