Wednesday, June 28, 2017

What Can You Do With Your Cricut Explore?

This post contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links.

I have had my Cricut Explore Air II for about 9 months now, and I haven't even begun to scratch the surface on all the fun things I can do with it. So Far, I have cut out some cute cards and die cuts from paper, and a few vinyl wall decals. But what all could I be doing?

First thing to note: Cricut Explore machines are not food safe, and cannot cut fondant or similar materials.

PAPER

The first thing I did with my Cricut Explore, was cut Paper. You can cut all kinds of paper... Standard, Cardstock, Vellum and Poster Board. This makes creating very easy. You can cut paper for cards, pendants, signs, school projects, planner pages, home décor... almost any project you can think of that uses paper.

VINYL

You can easily cut Vinyl - Standard, Premium, Dry Erase, and Chalkboard. Much like paper, you can create a never-ending supply of projects using vinyl, such as wall art, decals for windows, doors, mugs, lunchboxes, etc. Plus it comes in so many great colors. There are even three shades of Holographic vinyl too.

One other thing you can use vinyl for is cutting out stencils to use for etching. I have made a few items by cutting out the words or design in vinyl and using the negative portion of the vinyl images to place on my item as a stencil. Then I use the etching cream to etch the design on my item. We made some really cute beer steins for the High School Band Oktoberfest fundraiser. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of any of the steins before they were gone.

IRON-ON (HEAT TRANSFER VINYL)

One of my new favorite things to use my Cricut Explore for is cutting out Iron-on's for sweatshirts. You can create and design your own logo's and images to use on cloths or bags. I even put my intial on my new Cricut Bags (so I don't lose them when I'm at events with other crafters.) Using the Cricut Heat Transfer Vinyl (HTV) is so simple and the finished product looks amazing.

The HTV comes in a rainbow of colors. It also comes in foil and glitter too!

CRAFT MATERIALS

You can also use Craft Materials, such as Washi Tape, Craft Foam, and Glitter Paper. This adds amazing detail and depth to all your crafting projects. Upcycled Materials such as Chipboard, Cereal Boxes and even Aluminum Cans. How many cute uses can you come up with for these items? Cricut makes Washi Sheets so you can cut out whatever shape or size you want, not just strips anymore. Plus a ton of cute colors. My mind is spinning now.....

PLASTIC AND THICK MATERIALS

Explore can cut Plastic such as Stencils, Window Acetate and Silicone. It can even handle Thick Materials such as Leather, Balsa Wood, Magnet Materials. I haven't tried this yet, but sounds promising.

FABRIC

You can use your Explore to cut Fabrics - Felt, Denim, Polyester, Burlap, Canvas. The possibilities here are endless. If you're a multimedia crafter, you definitely need a Cricut Explore! Check them out HERE!

Cricut has a wonderful resourse page loaded with information to help you know how to cut all these things with your machine. You can find out everything from mat type to pressure or blade settings HERE.

I started a Facebook Group called CRICUT EXPLORE FOR NEWBIES. It is a closed group designed for members to be able to share projects and ideas, but also ask questions and get feedback from fellow crafters who are still new to Cricut Explore without feeling intimidated or overwhelmed. If you think this is something you could benefit from, or you might have ideas/tips or tricks to share, please join us.

Thursday, June 22, 2017

New Cricut Paper Available

**This post contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links.

Cricut has done it again!

They have just come out with new paper packets in wonderful new themes... Disney, Marvel, Disney Princesses, Hello Kitty, and a so many more.

Check them all out HERE!

These are just a few of the fun new papers:

Wednesday, June 21, 2017

New Spin on Old Techniques

Like the world of fashion, trends in paper crafting are always changing. One day it’s all about brads and buttons and the next it’s all about sparkles and shimmer!

Just because an artistic technique or aesthetic may no longer be “on trend” doesn’t mean that you can’t still use it. You just need to freshen it up!

To show you what we mean, we dug through our archives to find artwork created with some old-school techniques. We then asked our artists to create new artwork using these same techniques…with a modern-day spin!

They’ve come up with some amazing alterations to these techniques that will make your artwork amazing!

Old Technique:

Distressing the edges of your titles with ink. Remember when we did this for everything? Distress all the things!

New Spin:

Instead of distressing your titles, try stamping them using the rock n’ roll technique. It keeps your edges clean, which is the new trend, but just like distressing, it gives your titles dimension and color variation.

Old Technique:

Ripping and inking your edges, aka, making your artwork look like it’s 100 years old. And remember how burned edges were such a thing? Ripping and inking your edges with black ink mimicked that trend, which you can see on the card below.

New Spin:

Instead of inking your ripped edges, try leaving your ripped edges un-inked and inking your clean edges instead, using a color other than black or brown! The key is subtlety! You can see we added some faint pink inking to the edges of the pink paper here. It helps to add some depth to the paper without screaming “I’m distressed!”

Old Technique:

Stippled titles. Remember this one? You’d spell out your title with stickers, make a million little dots over the stickers with a marker, and then peel off your stickers to reveal your finished title.

New Spin:

Watercolored titles. Instead of stippling over your stickers with a marker, paint over them with a wide paintbrush and some watercolor paint. We used this technique with a “hello” sticker from our Springtime Complements to create the title below.

Pretty neat, right?

Just because papercrafting trends change doesn’t mean you need to throw out your bag of tricks. All you need to do is find a way to make your old tricks feel new again!

Which spin is your favorite? Tell us in the comments below!

Recipes

4 ¼” x 5 ½” Welcome Baby Card (Horizontal)

C1668 My Acrylix® Baby Bundle Stamp Set, X7219B Little Dreamer Paper Packet, 1385 White Daisy Cardstock, 1292 Crystal Blue Cardstock, Z2841 Glacier Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, Z2895 Lagoon Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, Z3189 White & Gold Ribbon, Z3247 Simple Chevron Embossing Folder, Z3285 Cricut® Flower Market Collection, Embossing Machine

Cricut® Shapes:

Flower Market

1″ Shift+Title (?) (p. 8)

1 ½” Shift_Title (R) (cut 4, p. 14)

4 ¼” x 5 ½” Happy Birthday Card (Vertical)

B1537 My Acrylix® Birthday Sparkles Stamp Set, X7219B Little Dreamer Paper Packet, 1385 White Daisy Cardstock, Z2840 Thistle Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, Z2896 Smoothie Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, Z3189 White & Gold Ribbon, Z3312 Gold Glitter Gems, Z3285 Cricut® Flower Market Collection

Cricut® Shape:

Flower Market

2 ¼” Flower-2 (7) (p. 7)

12″ x 12″ Hello Page

CC1219 Swirly Seashells Stamp + Thin Cuts, x7221B Prickly Pear Paper Packet, Z3254 Enchantment Fundamentals Paper Packet, 1385 White Daisy Cardstock, Z3146 Watercolor Paper, Z3271 Archival Black Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, Z3307 Springtime Complements, Z3216 White Twine, Z3089 Grey Enamel Gems, Z3132 Watercolor Paints, Z3188 Paintbrush Set, 3505 Watercolor Pencils, Z3285 Cricut® Flower Market Collection, Pen

Cricut® Shape:

Flower Market

2 ½” Flower-2 (7) (p. 7)

Wednesday, June 14, 2017

3 Ideas for Scrapbook Cover Pages

Every scrapbook album needs a front cover page and a back cover page…but sometimes it’s hard to know how to summarize your album! After all, you only have two pages, one at the front and one at the back, to explain what the entire album holds!

If cover pages have you stumped, don’t worry—we’ve got you covered! Here are three fail-proof ideas for creating amazing cover pages!

In Great Shape!

Attach a large shape to the center of your base page. Then position your title and photos over this shape. Even if you have multiple photos (there are have five here!), your page will still feel like a cover page because the large shape in the background creates a central focus. Pretty neat trick, right?

Easy As 1-2-3!

Simply attach three photos horizontally across the center of your page. Then add your title directly above or below these photos. Three is the key here! It’s a balanced number that draws the eye in.

Keep It Simple, Silly!

When all else fails, find a photo that sums up your album, and center it on your page along with a prominent title.

One fun spin on this approach is to center your photo but then place the title on the left side of your page, either vertically or horizontally!

Overall, the secret to creating a strong cover page is to draw the eye in to a central point with your pictures and title. If you keep that in mind, then you’re off to a great start!

And while you’re working on your cover pages, be sure to grab some albums because they’re on a great sale! For the month of June, you can buy one album and then get a second one at half price!

RECIPES:

12″ x 12″ The Woods Page

B1484 My Acrylix® Jennifer’s Hand Stamp Set, D1702 My Acrylix® Capture This Stamp Set, X7221B Prickly Pear Paper Packet, Z3254 Enchantment Fundamentals Paper Packet, 1385 White Daisy Cardstock, X5789 Sea Glass Cardstock, X5788 Raspberry Cardstock, Z2848 Sapphire Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, X7221C Prickly Pear Complements, Z3324 Prickly Pear Sequins, Z3132 Watercolor Paints, Z3188 Paintbrush Set, Z3167 Cricut® Artistry Collection, Sewing Machine, Thread

Cricut® Shapes:

Artistry

1 1/4″ (font) “Woods”

12″ x 12″ Let’s Go Back Page

B1484 My Acrylix® Jennifer’s Hand Stamp Set, X7221B Prickly Pear Paper Packet, Z3254 Enchantment Fundamentals Paper Packet, 1385 White Daisy Cardstock, X5789 Sea Glass Cardstock, X7221C Prickly Pear Complements, Z3167 Cricut® Artistry Collection

Cricut® Shapes:

Artistry

1″ (font) “Let’s Back”

12″ x 12″ Dallin & Sarah Page

X7221 Prickly Pear Paper Packet, Z3254 Enchantment Fundamentals Paper Packet, X7219B Little Dreamer Paper Packet, 1385 White Daisy Cardstock, X5788 Raspberry Cardstock, X7221C Prickly Pear Complements, Z3314 Black & White Dots, Z3167 Cricut® Artistry Collection, Sewing Machine, Thread

Cricut® Shapes:

Artistry

1 1/4″ (font) “Dallin & Sarah 2017”

12″ x 12″ Hello World Page

B1484 My Acrylix® Jennifer’s Hand Stamp Set, X7221B Prickly Pear Paper Packet, X7219B Little Dreamer Paper Packet, Z3263 Uptown Fundamentals Paper Packet, 1385 White Daisy Cardstock, X5788 Raspberry Cardstock, X5763 Smoothie Cardstock, X7221C Prickly Pear Complements, Z3257 Thin Cuts—Love, Z3167 Cricut® Artistry Collection, Sewing Machine, Thread

Cricut® Shapes:

Artistry

1/2″, 3/4″, 1″, 1 1/4″, 1 1/2″, and 1 3/4″ Icon-1 (k) (cut 5 of each, p. 28)

1 1/2″ (font) “Class of 2017”

Tuesday, June 13, 2017

My Cricut Door Project

**This post contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links.

The weather was a little bit cooler this past weekend, and I was fortunate that I was able to spend some time with my Cricut Explore Air 2, and work on a project. I had been wanting to use the vinyl and make a sign for our front door, but just hadn't had the time.

I started out by deciding on what my sign would say. Since it was going to be on the front door, I was deciding between "Welcome" or "Hello". I decided to go with Hello because it sounded friendlier to me.

That was the easy part... deciding on a color was a much bigger challenge. I held all the vinyl colors up to the door and didn't really care for any of them against the wood grain color of the door. I finally just chose the light blue because it matched the house (light blue with white trim.)

It was so easy to play with different fonts and sized to get just the right look for my door. Design space lets you see exactly what it looks like on the screen and easily change it to try different things. Design Space works on a computer or tablet, so I used my Ipad to create this project. Design space is a free download from Cricut, that allows you to link your physical cartridges to your account and use them to design your projects. Cricut Access is a membership (starting at $4.99 a month) that is used in Design Space to access additional Cricut fonts and images to use for your projects. Check out all the Cricut Access Memberships and Features HERE!

I really love being able to log into Design Space and create my projects anytime or place I feel like it (as long as you have wifi or internet access.) I can save the projects and then cut them when I get home to my Cricut Machine.

I forgot to show you the simple project I did about a week ago using the Cricit Iron-on Glitter. I purchased the new Cricut Shoulder Tote bag... which I absolutely LOVE! I know several people who already have these bags, and thought perhaps it needed a little personalizing, so I wouldn't lose it at a crop or event. A capital letter L should do the trick!

This is the Shoulder Tote Bag. I don't have the Machine Tote or Rolling Craft Tote... Yet, but I already have my L's cutout and ready to go on them. The bags are all on sale right now, so check them out HERE!

Friday, June 9, 2017

Do you want early access to the new CTMH Annual Catalog?

JOIN ME!

You all know that the new Annual Close to my Heart catalog will come out on August 1st... But did you know that consultants get it early? Consultants can order from it a month early!!!

Do you want to see all the cool new stuff and get your hands on products early? Join my team!

I will be attending a post-convention gathering to show the new products and consultants on my team can join me to see the catalog early.

Your $75.00 sign-up gets you a consultant kit with over $200 in CTMH product, plus a $50.00 select product credit to buy the products you want. What are you waiting for, who wants to Join Me?

Thursday, June 8, 2017

Cricut Beginning Of Summer Sale!!

**This post contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links.

CRICUT is offering Huge Savings during The Beginning Of Summer Sale!! Check it all out HERE!

Now through June 13th, Cricut is offering $20 off the Cricut One (now $149.99) and Cricut Air (now $179.99) Machines, and select Bundles for only $49.99 with code BUNDLE617 at checkout.

Cricut is also offering customers who spend $50 or more a $10 off code to use on their next online purchase.

In addition to the above offers, Cricut is offering 25% Supplies and an Extra 10% off Bulk Supplies! Cricut Access Members receive 10% off the sale price of supplies as well.

Now is the perfect time to stock-up on any supplies you need. I know I will be stocking-up on vinyl, iron-on and transfer tape, so I will have no excuse not to get started on my gift lists.

Wednesday, June 7, 2017

What's Going On In June?

What’s going on in June? Looking for Great Scrapbook Albums? We’ve Got You Covered!

Close To My Heart is serious about helping you preserve your memories with style. That’s why, throughout the month of June, you can buy one My Legacy™ album and get a second one at 50% off! For those of you who are new to Close To My Heart or who would just like to learn a little bit more about our unique scrapbook albums, this is the post for you! We’re going to cover all our bases today and tell you everything about the albums—and some of the awesome products we have to go with them!

We have two different styles of My Legacy™ albums. The photos above show our post-bound style. This style minimizes the gap in between your pages, so your scrapbook album looks professionally bound. The ends of the posts are hidden by the binding, and they feature easy-to-use handles for twisting open the posts and adding pages.

Here’s our other style: D-ring! These albums are a great fit for those who want to be able to add pages quickly and easily. Some people like to use D-ring albums for storing their pages until they finish an album’s worth, and then they move all the pages into a post-bound album for permanent storage—and with our buy-one-get-one-half-off sale, it’s a great time to try this approach!

Above are all the colors that are currently available in the post-bound style.

And here are all the colors that are currently available in the D-ring style.

Now the best part of any scrapbook album is what you keep inside, of course. And since we know the memories you want to preserve are precious, we offer high-quality top-load and side-load Memory Protectors™ to keep them safe. We also have some specialty Memory Protectors that can add a lot of variety to your layouts.

Up first are our divided Memory Protectors for pocket scrapbooking. We have five different styles to choose from—you can check them all out here. These make great additions to your layouts, like you can see above, or you can create an entire pocket scrapbooking album. We recommend using our D-ring album style with these Memory Protectors.

While we’re on the topic of divided Memory Protectors, we have to mention our Pocket Plus™ Memory Protectors. These only cover part of a page, so they are great for adding a few additional photos to your layouts. You can see how they really enhance a traditional layout in the before and after pictures above.

We also have Flip Flaps™, which are little individual pockets that come with an adhesive strip. You can attach them to both your pocket or traditional scrapbooking layouts. These come in a variety of sizes and create fun, interactive elements on your pages.

A few other noteworthy accessories….These are our spine expanders. When you have layouts with lots of dimension in a post-bound album, you can get an album that looks like this: <. That’s because the part of your protector that holds your page onto the post is thinner than your dimensional page. Placing spine expanders between the pages of your album helps to even out the space so that your album will look more like this: =. It’s a quick fix that makes a world of a difference!

For post-bound albums with fewer pages, we recommend these 1″ posts. These posts will slim down the spine and allow your pages to be held more snugly between the covers of your album.

Finally, add an identifier to the spine of your album with one of our label holders. These fit both album styles and are a great way to distinguish your albums from one another—especially if you have a lot together on a shelf!

Do you see what we mean about taking memory keeping seriously? We want to give you lots of options for preserving your memories! If you have any more questions about our albums, please leave a comment below. We’re happy to answer any questions you may have! That is all the important information to know about the CTMH albums.

And don't forget we have the Stamp Of The Month for June Also. This adorable Stamp D-size stamp set is available for one month only, for just $5, when you place an order of $50 or more in Close To My Heart products!

June is looking like a great month to stock-up on albums, and get the Stamp of the Month too. If you have any questions as you are preparing to stock up on albums, please leave a comment below and I will be happy to answer them for you.