not so new tool

Now that I'm only working three days a week I have a little more time for myself and my hobbies. I have a huge list of things I would like to try or accomplish. First on my list? Use my Cricut.

For the past year my poor little Cricut has sat and collected dust in my scrap room. I rarely plug it in unless one of the boys has a school project. My mother received the bigger Expression for Christmas and hasn't even used the thing yet despite purchasing A LOT of cartridges. Feeling guilty about hers and mine, I vowed to start to use the machine regularly.

I jumped on the internet and researched what other scrappers were doing with their machines. I had heard of SCAL but wasn't really sure what it did. SCAL stands for Sure Cuts A Lot a software program that works with your Cricut. It allows you to cut any font loaded on your PC plus clip art imported as a .svg file. You can see a comparison of SCAL versus Circut Design Studio here.

After doing my research, I went ahead and purchased the program (at 10% off after reading a message board post!). I took me about 15 minuets to load the software and update drivers. After about 5 minutes - and I'm not kidding - I was able to cut this title using a font off of my computer!

The software is really easy to use. I promise. Being able to use any font or dingbat I want is incredible. The software allows you to see what size you are getting before you cut. I always had a hard time knowing what the final width would be. I love the fact that I can "weld" the letters together. Although it is a little bit harder to learn, the software will allow you to import .svg clipart and use that as well. There are lots of ways to create .svg files. Many people use Inkscape. I use Adobe Illustrator so creating .svg files was a snap. The Bouncers title is the font "Howser" with a basketball clip art welded in the middle.

Since purchasing this last week, all I have been doing is making cuts with it. I even called my neighbor over and made her let me cut titles for her for her next crop.

If you want to learn more about SCAL, there are many user groups like this one you can join to learn. Watching videos on youtube is also a great way to learn about cutting vinyl, etching glass, or cutting fabric with your cutter.

Now that the Cricut has been dusted off, I really hope to start using it's great potential in my scrapbooking and other crafting. If you ever need any help getting started, please feel free to contact me!

Laina

Looking forward to a WONDERFUL day with friends, cropping into the wee hours of the night. A great way to start off Spring Break, if you ask me!! I plan on having a ton of fun making pretty photo cards (as seen above) for Teacher Appreciation gifts all day long...

Among other things, we will be attending our first MLB game of the year this weekend, making these, hosting the family for Easter, and dog sitting this coming week. I'm looking forward to my mom staying with us and to a mini getaway at a local waterpark for a couple of nights too. My fingers are crossed that the week will be relaxing and enjoyable with the kiddos home.

Have a great weekend, friends!

Easter Greetings...

We find ourselves in the middle of Holy Week, Passover began last evening, and this Sunday many of us will gather with friends and family for more celebration and time together. Hi, this is Jamie, and I got Easter. Easter is celebrated in my home in this neighborhood. Thanksgiving and Christmas are celebrated elsewhere, so I took over Easter years ago. It is a wonderful time to serve the foods of Spring that we love and celebrate the renewing time that it is.
We feast on the traditional offerings of ham, scallop potatoes, fresh vegetables and the like. Along with that fare, there are a few dishes saved just for the occasion of Easter.
One of those raved about essentials is Spinach Berry Salad. This is served with strawberries and toasted almonds, and I would love to share it with you.

Spinach Berry Salad
2 bags baby spinach
1-2 baskets strawberries; sliced
2 ounces sliced almonds, toasted
dressing (as follows)

In blender, combine until blended:
½ cup sugar
2 T sesame seeds
1 ½ tsp dried minced onions
1 T poppy seeds
¼ tsp paprika
¼ tsp Worcestershire sauce
¼ cup cider vinegar
Slowly add ½ cup vegetable oil while blending, until mixed and thickened.
Toss with spinach, berries and almonds. Serve.

There is another Easter tradition that I prepare and it’s dessert. Well, it’s one of many desserts found on the table on Sunday. This one is Berry Trifle, and oh! is it a favorite.

Berry Trifle
1 cubed cake (this can be a packaged pound cake, I usually make a sponge cake homemade.)
1 10 ounce package frozen blueberries
1 10 ounce package frozen raspberries
1 10 ounce package frozen blackberries
1 5 ounce package instant vanilla pudding mix
½ cup milk
1 14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk
2 cups whipped cream (yes, the real thing!)
chopped almonds, optional

Mix berries together, no need to thaw yet, and set aside.
In a medium bowl, combine pudding mix, milk, condensed milk and 1 cup of the whipped cream, stir well.
Place half of cubed cake on bottom of large trifle bowl (any round serving bowl will work; the trifle bowl makes a great presentation).
Layer half of the berries on top of cake. Layer half of the filling on top of the berries.
Repeat all layers with rest of ingredients.
Sprinkle top of last filling layer with chopped almonds.
If you prepare this dish about an hour before dinner, the berries will thaw in the bowl, and juices will run beautifully down the side.
Enjoy!

And a beautiful Easter celebration to you and yours.

This is where the magic happens...

Happy Wednesday ladies! Colleen here, hoping everyone is well and enjoying your week!

Since everyone has been posting about their scraprooms, I thought I'd share a bit about my space. I am new to the wonder that is a scraproom. We lived in a small two bedroom house in Atlanta, and my scraproom was actually a small little space that I carved out in the dining room. Actually, here's a pic from long ago...this is our old dining room. See that trunk?

That right there is my old scrap space... Yeah, I started out small. Don't worry...I quickly outgrew that space. I had that thing jam packed and we stopped eating at the dining room table years ago.

Now we are in a new place and I have a room all to myself. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it yet. I've only been in it since December, and I sorta feel like a goldfish that was in a small bowl but newly released into a pond...I am still swimming in that little circle and haven't been able to spread my fins and swim in a larger space.

Here's my new room. I'm still unpacking some, and trying to get organized.

I did buy an expedit shelf from Ikea (although I have no idea what to do with it yet), and I put all of my ribbon in these great big glass cookie jars. I moved my embellies out of some accordian files that I had from Cropper Hopper and I put them on my new clip it up that is just wonderful. Everything is on here including stamps!!

Of course, I don't think it really helps much with keeping me organized and neat, because this is what my scrap table looks like on any given day:

Pathetic, isn't it? I say this...creativity doesn't happen in neat areas.

What I really want is some cute storage ideas. I'm thinking of getting this book for ideas.

A friend of mine has it and she loves it. She says I can borrow it anytime, so I think I will do that when school is out at the end of the month.

I have my eye on one of these to sit on my (soon to be cleaned) table top:

Isn't this perfect for those everyday things like my tombo, signo pens, and my rotary cutter?

And I really want to get one of these to display my latest pages (ie. those pages that I'm too lazy to put away in their albums)

It is coming along, and I'm gradually swimming in a larger circle. Any suggestions?
What is your favorite organizational item?
What is on your must have list?

kids crafts

hi ya'll, emily here! i was perusing the web for some fun craft ideas for my kiddos and found some great stuff over at marthastewart.com. here's a few things i'm hoping to try with the kids! these crafts are so cute though, you really don't even need children in order to make them :) have fun, and i'd love to see any of your kid craft ideas!

make these fun bunny envelopes here.

learn how to make these cute piggies here.

you can learn how to marbleize eggs here.

More Easter Decor...

I hosted a mother/daughter cookie decorating party recently, and set up a small snack station for the party.
My daughter and I made chocolate covered marshmallows and covered them in sprinkles, jimmies and dots. SO fun--and super easy. We simply put two marshmallows on a sucker stick, dunked in melted chocolate and adorned. Target had strawberry marshmallows in pink and we used those. (They also have carmel flavored in light brown--I'm saving those for yummy smores soon...)
It was nice to see neighbors that have been in hiding all winter once again!! I plan on doing a cupcake decorating party before school lets out. Maybe it will be for Mother's Day or something like that...
Have a great day friends!

Preparing for Easter

I finally got around to putting a few decorations up this weekend. It is fun to change out some of the old and usher in some of the seasonal...
I made the big fake Easter bunny the centerpiece of my dining room table this year. Put him up on a cake pedestal, and he greets guests as they arrive into our home. Got him last year at Kohls--and it looks so real (but it is heavy plaster, believe me.)
Two of the 4 pots of grass are on a moss table runner. Everyone that comes in runs their hands over the grass. So pretty!! You still have time if you haven't planted yours just yet--GO FOR IT!!
Our kids all have their own Longaberger basket for Easter. We do a "Wild Goose Chase" where they have to figure out riddles and look for clues to their baskets. Last year, one was in the dryer and another was in the trunk of our van.
I've been baking cookies and freezing them like a woman on a mission...
My niece is turning one in a week, so I made these for her party...
I use royal icing and buy it by the bag at a cake supply shop. Easy and FUN...
I bagged a bunch up for guests on Easter too. These are 6" cello bags purchased in bulk...
I'd love to see your decor and what is fun and new with you for the holiday too! Feel free to post a link--sharing is a good thing!!

ETA: My cookie recipe: (No kidding here.) I go to GFS and buy the frozen sugar cookie dough, thaw it out and add about 1/4 Cup flour to 12 cookies and roll it out and cut. Tip: keep the dough cold so the cookies don't puff up when you bake them. I also use parchment paper so I don't really transfer the cut out shapes--I roll the dough directly onto the parchment and transfer the whole thing to a cookie sheet. I have tried several other sugar cookie recipes, but I don't love any of them as much as I do the GFS ones--there is a hint of almond that is just divine. I also enjoy a firm but SOFT cookie--not crispy. I'm no Martha--I love sharing shortcuts--and hearing them too!!

Frosting: I use the powdered royal frosting in a package and add water and food coloring paste. You can find royal icing powder at any cake/candy supply store, or craft store for that matter. You will want it the consistancy of toothpaste. I use pastry bags to pipe it out, making sure to edge the cookie first and go back in to fill in the dam. It is wet, but dries in about an hour, and it dries smooth. I know you can also make your own using this recipe too. Tip: Make sure you don't use any metal when working with royal icing, and that you cover any unused icing with a wet towel while you're frosting the other cookies. This will prevent it from drying out. I also let the cookies dry overnight before bagging them up to harden properly.

Cookie Cutters: I have collected them for years. I especially love these and these, both of which I used this year.

Please let me know if you have any additional questions! Thanks for all the sweet comments today--you all put a smile on my face. :)

Have a wonderful Monday, all!!

Easter Decorations

Easter is just around the corner, hi everyone, Tina here and I finally got out my Easter decorations, and like all the other holidays I always find some of my favorite decorations are the hand made ones.  These ceramic pieces are ones that I painted back in the late 80's and early 90's and I still love bringing them out each year.

The clay pot was one of my more recent crafts.  I painted the clay pot with crackle paint and then drew and painted on the face.  The ears and carrots are made from foamies. The ears were white foamies and I sponged the gray on and outlined them with a pen.  The carrots are glued to skewers so they would stand in the pot.

Happy Saturday to all...

a little challenge for you.

i want to challenge all of you out there to do a multi photo layout.
all to often i stick to one maybe 2 photos.
so my challenge to you is to do a layout that
has AT LEAST 6 photos on it.
i used this months kit on mine
and i used TWELVE photos.
a huge challenge for me as i am usually
a one photo a layout kinda girl.



now lets see what you can do!
show us your work by leaving a link
in the comment section!

happy scrappin!

April's Project Kit

I've been playing around with the April Project kit. Special thanks to Colleen who provided me with most of the cupcake photos and recipes...I love how this turned out!!
Go figure--another banner. I can't help it. They make me smile! Not a great picture--but it says, "All things grow with love."
I've also discovered embossing templates are fun when used with acetate. I actually used clamshell packaging from stickers for this card below. Such fun--and oh, the possibilities!!
The email newsletter went out yesterday to the folks who purchased this kit, but I also wanted to add an alternative suggestion. Instead of doing the cupcake mini book, you could easily turn the chipboard cupcake shapes into a banner--and then use the photos of cupcakes as birthday notecards!! How cool would that be?? I also managed to create 3 layouts with this kit, in addition to all this. Not bad for $20, eh?

Don't forget to stop on over at the WIP Gallery to see the awesome creations from the DT this month. I love what they did with the kit this month--they are the BEST bunch of ladies around!! And be sure to stop over and say hello to Jamie--she created two more nuggets to share...

Have a super day all!!