Cricut Expression :)

Hi everyone! On Monday I received a long awaited package from Custom Crops. I ordered a Cricut Expression a couple weeks ago and was so excited when the thing came in the mail to go pick it up at the post office.

If you don't know what a Cricut is, it is an electronic die cutting machine. The Cricut cuts pretty basic shapes but there are ways that you can make the basic shapes way more interesting and creative.

I made this 3-D flower by layering and curling various shapes. I used 2 flowers and curled up the edges with a pencil. The middle is some random shape cut in yellow for the spiky bit and again in green for the center circle. The leaves are a flourish cut in half.

Keep checking back for more posts on the Cricut!

Birthday

Hi everyone! I have been really busy and sick lately so i apologize for the lack of posts. I am really going to try to do at least two posts a week from now on. Anyway let's get to the crafting. Last week was my birthday so I wanted to share the invitations and goody bags I made.



Above is a picture of the invitation. I made a pocket and a tag using S.E.I. black orchid paper. To pull out the tag I used a prima flower and a button. The 14 stamps were from Recollection's double elegance clear stamp set.

Here's a picture of the tag pulled part way out. The lighting looks weird in this picture but the flower is orange I promise. On the back of the tag is all the party info.

I made the goody bags match by using the same paper as well as the same colour flower and button. The kraft bags were from the crafting section in Walmart. As you can see there is a blank blue spot. I was planning to write my friends names on them but I forgot.

Lent is Over

For the last 40 days I haven't bought any art supplies. This is because I gave it up for lent. Now that Lent's over I went to Micheal's for a little splurging. I bought some items I probably wouldn't have normally bought, like prima flowers and an expensive paper pack. In Canada the prices on craft supplies are really expensive so i only go shopping with a coupon or with some saved up money. Luckily for me there was a 30% off your entire regular price purchase at Micheal's this weekend.

I bought this bouquet of white roses. They were a great deal because they were $5.99 instead of $10.99. They're just like prima flowers but a ton cheaper. You get 20 flowers for 5 bucks instead of 5 flowers for the same price. The only thing you have to do is pop them off the stem. You can even snip the leaves off to use in projects.

These flowers are really easy to colour. If you have glimmer mist this job's really easy. But I don't have any glimmer mist around where I live. I have come up with a more affordable solution. To make your own "glimmer mist" follow these steps:

- get a spray bottle and fill it with water

- squirt globs of acrylic paint into the spray bottle

- close the bottle and shake

- spray onto paper to test the colour

- if you want more colour repeat step 2

- now spray onto your project

I also got a big bucket of buttons. The problem is the container they came in wasn't able to reseal. I decided to put them in this rain forest cafe glass that I decorated.

I also got 2 ribbons, the island pastel prima tin, and the s.e.i. 8x8 black orchid paper pack.

I don't usually buy the prima tins because they are $12 but since they were 30% off how could you resist? I really love these colours and you get so many flowers. The only problem is that its hard to get them back in the tin.

I also got some felt. This I have started to cut up to use with my alcohol inks. This is a great deal because the felt refills for the inking tool are like ten bucks. This sheet of felt was 50 cents.

I got this big thing of brown acrylic paint because I go through brown paint like there's no tomorrow. Oh and I also picked up some tape runner. After forty days I had like nothing left.