My Photogenic Nephew

This layout is of my nephew when he was 2 years old.

I am way behind in my scrapbooking because I only started this hobby about 3 years ago. My oldest is now 35, my daughter is 25, and my nephew and niece are both nearly 20 so I have a lot of catching up to do.

This shouldn’t be a problem because I have plenty of supplies and enjoy this hobby immensely!

For this layout, I cut rectangles and distressed all the edges. Then I turned down two corners and held them in place with brads from my stash.

The camera is a MFT die.

I cut the word “My” in the title with the Type Candy cartridge, joining the letters together in Cricut Craft Room. The word “nephew” was cut with the Tiny Treasures cartridge. I used some Making Memories felt letters for the word “photogenic”.

I stitched around the edges of the layout with some straight and zig zag stitches.

Below is a video that describes the layout in detail:

Here is a cartridge review video on the Tiny Treasures cartridge:

Designed by: Karin Adamczyk
Cricut Machines & Tools Used: Cricut Mini, Cricut Craft Room, sewing machine
Cricut Cartridges Used: Type Candy, Tiny Treasures
Other Supplies Used: Lime Twist collection by My Minds Eye, decorative brads, button, twine and vellum

Get well soon

A dear friend of mine had open heart surgery this week. Everything went well and I hope to be able to go see her this weekend.

She loves purple so I always make her purple cards. This one is no exception.

My plan was to fill the front of the card with hearts from the Don Juan cartridge so I had to come up with a way to place the papers on my mat so I could avoid having to run the mat through my Cricut many times to get all the cuts I wanted.

I decided to use a large square punch to get consistently sized shapes so I could place them in a way that would allow me to design my project in Cricut Craft Room so I get all of my pieces with one trip through the Cricut.

Here you can see how I placed the squares on my mat.

In the video below, I explain how I made the images match up in Cricut Craft Room.

Thank you very much for coming by today. Please be sure to follow our blog. We have lots of new designers who have many wonderful projects to share with you.

Pack Your Bags cartridge review

I have uploaded the cartridge review video for the Pack Your Bags cartridge.

Cartridge List Updated

I have just updated the cartridge list with the two latest announcements: Boho Graphics Iron-on and Brooklyn Iron-on.

I have also marked all the cartridges for which prepared handbooks are now available via CricutBooks.

The latest cartridge review video is uploading to YouTube and I will post the video here as soon as possible.

Handbooks on your tablet

Do you wish you could bring all your handbooks with you on your tablet when you go to a crop, a friend’s house, or on a long trip? Do you wish you could scroll through those handbooks without all the pages at the beginning of the handbook that you have to go through to get to the images and overlays?

Screenshot from my iPad

Now you can!!

Just join the CricutBooks list at YahooGroups and you will receive links to the handbooks by e-mail as they are prepared. Many have already been prepared, but you won’t miss out on them. Just check the Messages section of the group site and search for the handbook you need. Just search for the cartridge name. If it isn’t found, it hasn’t been sent yet.

If there is a particular handbook you need for an upcoming project, write to me via the list and request it (just post a message from the site). I will work on requests in the order they are received.

 

Tiny Treasures cartridge review

I will be posting cartridge reviews on Wednesday and this week I am starting with the Tiny Treasures cartridge from Creative Memories. Please watch the video below.

I have also posted a follow-up video that shows the images in the handbook clearly.

 

A Kid’s Life

Two page layout spreads are my favourite of all because I usually have quite a few pictures for a given story.

This layout is no exception. While all this happened on the same day, my mom, sister and nephew were playing in different locations. The first page shows them at a playground and the second page shows them at home, in their backyard.

I used some ready-made embellishments on this page, but I also cut out several pieces with my Cricut.

The scalloped border on the left side of the first page was cut with Plantin Schoolbook. I was at a crop when I worked on that part of the layout so I used my Gypsy to weld three pieces together to fit the length of my paper and cut it with my Cricut Mini.

Indie Art is the cartridge I used for the decorations on the sides of the layout.

I used Locker Talk to cut out the words “hangin out” on the 2nd page. This portion I did at home after the crop so I used Cricut Craft Room on my Mac and my Expression 2 to cut it out.

The paper series I used was Lime Twist by My Mind’s Eye.

If you would like to see more of my work, please visit my blog at ScrappyDIVAblog.com or my YouTube channel.

CricutDIVA Design Team Announcement

I am so happy to finally be able to announce the design team!!!

We have a lot of WOW projects in store for you. Please subscribe and then hold on to your seats because we are going to blow you away with the beautiful things we DIVAs can create with our Cricuts.

Our team

Lori Apgar

I am married and have three dirty, stinky boys aged 22, 18 and 7. We live in Nebraska, just outside of Omaha, in a town called Papillion. I am a baseball mom and spend most of my spring and summer sitting in the bleachers cheering loudly!!! My husband has coached each of our boys at some point for a total of 16 years.

I started crafting when I was young in 4H, but I really started paper crafting when my oldest was little. I made cards for a while and started scrapbooking when he was seven and the middle son was two. Neither really appreciated my books and my interest fizzled a little bit.

Right about the time the Cricut came out, I found out we were expecting again. I have been going crazy ever since–mainly scrapbooking, but I also make cards, gift bags and home décor projects. I sold my baby bug and bought an Expression.

I currently have my Expression, a Gypsy and the Imagine. My creativity skyrocketed when I realized the potential my Gypsy had!!! It also helps that my youngest loves his “chapter” books (scrapbooks).

I dabble in jewelry making, crocheting, knitting and painting, but my passion is paper!

Visit my blog at http://scrappinmystressaway.blogspot.com/

Mary Montecalvo

My name is Mary Montecalvo and I have been a wife for 40 years, mother of five and grandmother (Mema) to eight. I live  in the small town of Sutton, Massachusetts in New England, right in the central part of the state.

I got started in paper crafting back in 2007. My daughters bought me my first Cricut (the Baby Bug) for Christmas and they unleashed my creativity!

Wow! It is so hard to pick what I enjoy the most because I enjoy it all! I guess I would have to say I enjoy layouts since they spark wonderful memories and next would be mixed media for home décor projects.

I have the original Expression, an Expression 2, Cricut Cake, Imagine, and Gypsy in addition to my original Cricut. I also have the Yudu, Card Maker and Your Story.

I also enjoy sewing. Currently, I am designing doll clothes for the AG dolls for my grandaughters and have even found that my Cricut comes in handy for making embellishments!

Please visit my blog for more info.

Beth Mooney

My name is Beth Mooney and I live with my significant other, Jason. We have three great sons named Jake, Chad and Blake, a wonderful daughter-in-law named Jesie, and two granddaughters, Addy, who is five, and Taylor, who is four. They are usually the subjects of my layouts.

I live in Clarksville, Arkansas

I got started in scrapbooking on a rainy fall afternoon in 1999. My cousin did scrapbooking and had told me about it. At the time, I did not want another hobby. I’m very crafty and already had lots of things going, but I had nothing to do and went to WalMart and bought some paper, adhesive, stickers, decorative scissors and an album. The horrors of those 1st pages!!

At Christmas, I started making cards and found that they are so much fun! My main thing is still layouts, but since I bought my E2, I have created several home projects in addition to cards and pages. I like to consider myself well rounded, but when I get a little bored doing one thing, I try something else for a bit so I don’t burn out.

I have the E2, a personal Cricut, that I keep in our RV so I can craft while camping, and 2 Imagine machines.

I also crochet a bit, refinish furniture and decorate wreaths. It seems like everything revolves around paper crafts now though!

Visit my blog at http://theseareafewofmyfavoritethings-beth.blogspot.com/

Sierra Heath

My name is Sierra Heath and I am from Virginia.

I am a stay at home mom to a wonderful little girl. I also have the most wonderful and supportive husband that makes sure I get time to craft. Being creative is my therapy.

I have been scrapbooking since 2006. When I started out I was making 6×6 albums for our family of our wedding with a ruler and exacto knife. My best friend then introduced me to the paper and all the different supplies that I could use. Within a year I was hooked and got a Cricut by the following Christmas. I now own over 30 cartridges and have made over 10 scrapbooks. I want to keep expanding my crafting talents.

My favorite type of paper crafting is making layouts. I love preserving memories so I can share them with my family and friends. I also love making them for gifts. Some of my favorite “can’t live without” embellishments are circle brads, paper flowers, rhinestones and ribbon.

For my layouts, I use a Cricut Expression 2, the Cricut Craft Room and the Cuttlebug.

I also enjoy furniture painting, decoupage, card making and drawing.

My blog is at http://creativemindedmomma.wordpress.com/

Ann Bacon

I have been married for 26 years to my wonderful husband and I’m the mother of two grown children. We live in Las Vegas, Nevada where the summers are really HOT! I work as an Instructional Coach in a local elementary school. With 30+ teachers and over 750 students, my days are busy and never boring!

I got my start in paper-crafting in 1999 when I was invited to a D.O.T.S® party. I was in love with rubber stamps and paper! I hosted my own party, the company became Close To My Heart®, and I became an Independent Consultant. The rest is history.

I love making cards, scrapbook layouts and all sorts of 3-D items. I currently use my Cuttlebug and Expression in my crafting.

In addition to paper-crafting I enjoy reading, gardening, and haunting thrift stores, antique shops, and estate sales. I love finding treasures that can be refinished and/or repurposed.

I am excited to be a part of the CricutDIVA Design Team and hope you will stop by my blog to see my latest creations and projects!

Please welcome this fabulous team and subscribe to our blog so you don’t miss any of the fun projects we have lined up for you.

Camping at Higley Flow

I worked on this layout at an all day crop yesterday. We have this crop monthly in a huge Golden Age Club where we have so much room, we could each have two tables of our own. It’s absolutely my favourite crop location.

The layout is from a camping trip my husband and I went on with my brother and his family to celebrate his birthday in 2011.

We had just gotten Percy, our Cocker Spaniel a couple of weeks before the trip so we were brand new dog owners at the time. He will turn 2 this month. How time flies!!

I used the Cricut Campin’ Critters cartridge to cut out the tree.

Cutting shapes from photos

I posted a follow-up video to show how you can use the Centerpoint function of your Cricut to cut circles or other shapes from photos.

The main thing to remember is that your shape will be cut based from the center of the photo. If you want a 3″ circle, your center should be half the distance of the size of the shape. In other words, from the center, the shape will be cut 1.5″ all around for a total diameter of 3″.

Three of the cartridges you can use to cut circles are George and Basic Shapes, Plantin Schoolbook and Don Juan.