Hi Everyone,

From the amount of postage I do to Queensland it is clear it is the craft capital of Australia. In the USA it is Utah, in Australia it is  Queensland.

If you are in the Brisbane area and want to learn how to use your Cricut and get the most out of it we have great news.  The wonderfully talented Tereesa, from our design team, has teamed up with her good friend Shelley and her home workshop to run classes for cricut users.

The first one is teeing off the Saturday and is designed for those of you who either have not got it out of the box yet, or have got it out and stared in bewilderment thinking “where do I start?”

Classes will progress in level and can be catered to your needs so please check out Tereesa’s blog Up late 2 Create for more information.

Diane, also from our Design Team, is in the CHA show in Chicago at present Check out Diane’s blog, Capadia Designs for all the gossip and new releases from CHA. Diane was one of the chosen few to get a peak at the new Cricut Imagine – as well as a voucher to receive one when they are released in September! I must say she is so deserving …but how jealous are we? I will console myself with the fact that Jane and I have just booked our plane flights to LA for CHA in January and Tereesa is also coming. We are hoping to meet up with Enfys and Diane as I am  desperate to have our photo taked under the Hollywood sign. Watch out USA – here we come.

If any of our USA sisters out there have recommendations for holiday rental accomodation not too far from the LA convention centre we are keen to hear about it. We are looking for at least a 3 bedroom place from 27th January to 4th February 2010.

To finish off here’s a short video of some invitations Sophie and I made for her party last week – check out her impromptu song at the end!

Cheerio, Mandy

Three cards from me today, showing you how versatile the Serenade cartridge is (rumour has it that Mandy has these in stock, so don’t walk, run…………….this is one fabulous cartridge

For the first card, I wanted to replicate the new Tim Holtz birdcage and bird die, and this cut is almost identical. I used papers called Dill Blossom by SEI. The cage was cut at 4″, and the bird at 2″. I knotted some vintage lace with organza ribbon for the bow.

I used the rainy clouds for this next one, the umbrella was  cut from Everyday Paper Dolls. I dotted some dew drops around to look like rain…… the inside sentiment is a simple ‘get well soon’.  The sentiment is a stamp by Inky Antics, and I added a bit of detail to the brolly with a pink pen from the Cri-kits neon set

I left this one blank, it falls into my category for ‘endlessly useful cards to have hanging around ready for any emergency.’  I put a dab of glue in the middle of the flower, and sprinkled it with slate blue micro beads

So there you go, I hope you enjoyed your peek at Serenade,  one of those cartridges that folk have been dying to get their hands on for ages…. and it’s worth the wait.

Hugs, Enfys

Well it’s been an even busier couple of weeks than usual here and finishing Sophie’s wall decor has been put on hold as we have prepared for her birthday and a flurry of parties she has attended.  My cricut machine has not been so busy in a while.

Not including the wall decor in the last couple of weeks I have made 5 princess crowns from Once upon a princess, 6 party invitations using Sweet Treats, a Glass etched plate using Life’s a Beach, trimmings for the party treat bags and 5 personalised chefs hats, which will be featured here today. Watch out for the rest of the items over the next week.

I am really not happy with the quality of these videos and am trying to work out what is causing them to be so gainy so please bear with me. If anyone has any ideas I would love to hear them.

Thanks for all your great comments on the Monday Makeover series, and my beautiful Pinky. I am glad to see I am not the only one who thinks she is adorable. She does enjoy getting involved and is very keen on being featured on film.

One of the comments on last Monday’s video came from one of our lovely regulars, Flowerdisco, who pointed out last week you can tap on the little eye icon on each layer of your design in the Gypsy to hide that layer. this is a very handy feature when working with multi page designs. What you can actually see on the messy gypsy screen in last weeks video, however, is not the other layers but the contours that have been hidden on the actually layer in view so that those contours do not cut. When you “hide selected contour” it never totally vanishes, just in case you want to reselect it and “unhide” it. I hope that makes sense

Have a great week, Mandy

Hi, Today I thought I’d demonstrate another fun feature on the Freshly Picked cartridge. Each image on this cartridge has a frame with a matching cut along the bottom. I have chosen my favourite flower for this card – pink tulips.

The tulip image has all the layers to make this gorgeous planter box full of tulips. This has been cut at 2″, and I have embossed the outer layer with Tim Holtz Woodgrain. I’ve also added a couple of cute little glittered butterflies to soften the lines of the planter box.

Here is a close-up of the framed border. I’ve used white with pink background paper behind the tulip box, and  pink with white background for the cut border.

I have sized the overall frame at 5″, and with the Gypsy, it is duplicated and flipped. After using the hide contour feature on the back section, the two pieces are then welded together before cutting. Below is the card when it’s open. I’ve used a small tulip bouquet stamp for a subtle background on the front of the card, and added a couple to the edge of the pink inside the card. The pink area also makes a great area to write your sentiment.

I’ve used these cute little tag punches with thread wound around the side to finish the card.

This cartridge is definitely one worth looking into.

Luv, Tereesa.

Hello, On this card I have featured the font that is on “Wall Decor and More“. It has beautiful flourishes, which give an old world feel, I think!

A vintage button , some old lace , ribbon and pretty papers all add to the theme of the card.

A cuttlebug embossing folder was used to create the little roses on the fifty.  It was cut at 2.50 in.  using double mates card stock.

Bye for now

Tracey

Hi, Freshly Picked again – I love it. Today I thought I would try something a little different and made this 3D gazebo.

I’ve used the DoubleMates Morning Mist for the base layer; and the Gazebo, shadow and all layers are cut at 2 1/2″. I’ve used the Gypsy for this design and imported 6 shadow images onto the mat. As both sides of the gazebo differ, I’ve flipped every second image, then slightly overlapped the edges before welding together.

To make it easy to join the ends of the gazebo, George & Basic Shapes was used to add 2 rectangles – sized at 1/2″ - to weld to one side (you can just see them on the right side of the photo below).

As you lose some of the image when you overlap, I have cut an extra 3 single pieces of the shadow and adhered them to the 1st, 3rd and 5th gazebos on the row. These are also sized at 2 1/2″.

All layers were then cut and adhered – making sure the pieces for the 2nd, 4th and last went under the top shadow pieces.

I have added rhinstones and extra glitter to the main 3 cuts as they stand out more. Below is a close-up of the layering where you can see the overlapping shadow piece..

A view from the top …

By adding a vase of flowers to the centre, it has become a cute table centrepiece.

Hope you like it.

Till next time, Luv, Tereesa.

I love the border feature on the Wall Decor and More cartridge, (in fact I love the whole cartridge very much!)

I wanted to use the sailing ships border, we have quite a few friends who sail, and I am always on the lookout for an idea to make those difficult birthday cards for men

The waves were made by tearing a white core DCWV cardstock, and the boat border was cut first in black, then in white, I simply coloured in bits using my marker pens

The sun was cut from Wild Card, and a birthday message circle popped in the centre

I’ll be back soon with another idea using these borders, Until then, happy crafting x

Drawing on inspiration from our Gypsy Challenge Winner – Tracey, I have drawn around the scallops of my design with the CRI-Kits pens…

I have used the scallop from A Child’s Year….

From the outside to the inside, with measurements in inches on the Gypsy…

1st scallop is cut at 9.67 inches

2nd scallop is drawn using Metallic Green CRI-Kit pen at 9.40 inches

3rd scallop is drawn using Metallic Green CRI-Kit pen at 9.16 inches

4th scallop has been cut using Fancy Pants paper from the Kraft Kuts collection at 8.47 inches….

The gorgeous owl is from the Storybook cart, page 34, cut at 2.39 inches using Double Mates cardstock Perfect Plum side 1, and the Black Metallic pen to add his details on the Cricut - the googly eyes were a present from my wee Granddaughter, she saw them in a shop and thought of me!!!! LOL

The word Family is from Heritage cart, page 39, and cut at 1.31 inches using Double Mates Heritage side 2….

The flower stem is from Stretch Your Imagination, page 75, cut at 5 inches using Double Mates Morning Mist side 2, with a large flower folded twice and placed under the ‘flower’ head – love this look….

The leaves in the four corners are from Storybook, page 35, cut at 2.65 inches using Double Mates Creamy Cocoa side 2….

All the papers on the layout are from the Fancy Pants Collection ‘Krafty Kuts’

Enjoy….

Jane xx

Hi Everyone,

Here is my latest makeover video, featuring special guest helper Pinky.  I have used  Wall Decor and More and hide select contour feature on the Gypsy. Enjoy! Mandy

Hello, Today I have a birthday card to show you that features the flower from “Wall Decor and More” which id this weeks featured cartridge at Scrappy-go-Lucky.

I decided to layer the design four times to add a little more interest.   The flower was cut at 2.50 in…….the first layer I cut the flower design which has the flourish on it. The next three layers I cut using  flower shift. I curled the edges of the flower then stuck them all together,  a pretty button and pearl in the center complete the design. The card size is 4×6 in.

The frame around the flower is from “Story Book” It has been embossed with a cuttlebug folder. Happy Birthday is written on the sheet music, a little lace and some stitching make a simple but pretty card!

Bye for now

Tracey