My Weekend Project - Little Red Table

After I moved two month ago I decided I wanted some sort of theme for my kitchen and I thought something along the lines of French Country, actually the idea came from a the GRAPHIC 45 FRENCH COUNTRY MATCHBOX PROJECT that I did two years ago. The previous renters left a really hand island because they didn't have room for it and it was painted red and with red being my favorite color I knew that was going to be the base color for my kitchen. I have been slowly trying to figure out what else I could do with the kitchen and over the weekend completed a little wall area that I am quite pleased with.

Right after I moved I was in Home Depot and they were having Diva Day and one of the projects was a chalkboard and I thought "why the heck not" and knew exactly where I would put it in my new kitchen. Most people stained their chalkboards but I decided to paint mine. I used Behr paint and chose the color Allure. My friend Wendi was there and she was staining her chalkboard with some ebony stain. Just out of curiosity I rubbed some of her stain over the paint and loved the effect. Oh and you can see the island over on the left of the picture. I kept wondering what I could put under the chalkboard to make that little area look complete and then one afternoon after work I stopped in Goodwill and saw this little white table and knew that was perfect and the price was only $4.99! I did know it would have to be painted to match the chalkboard. Oh the dog in the picture didn't come from Goodwill, he was suppose to be my daughter's dog but I quickly became his primary caregiver and now she can't have him, but that's another story.

On Saturday I decided to get busy on the little table and I couldn't find my good paint brush and ended up using a crappy paint brush for the first coat of paint on the table. I knew I was going to have to do more than one coat and didn't think it would really matter too much for the first coat. I ended up taking pictures of the different stages because my friend Carmen wanted to see how it was coming along. After I got done with the first coat I really did wonder if it was going to turn out how I wanted and thought back about how different my chalkboard looked from the first coat to the finished project and so I kept my hopes up.

After the second coat of paint I knew it would be okay and I also knew it was going to look a lot differently after I got the stain on. It was at this point Carmen asked me about the little engraved swirls and I told her that for the theme of French Country I might paint them with gold paint. I knew I had some in the craft closet somewhere. 

I spent Sunday doing two coats of ebony stain on the table and painting the engraved areas with the gold paint. I really think it turned out nicely and I absolutely love, love, love the color!

Here is a picture of the table completed and in place under the chalkboard. It looks quite excellent in that spot and they compliment each other nicely.

If you notice the chalk art on the board please don't judge it harshly. It was my first attempt at chalkart and I used some cheap Prang chalk. I've never even attempted chalk art until I did that and I told Carmen "ya know it was really quite relaxing". I do have some Chalk pens ordered so maybe I can do some more art that will look a little nicer. I'll keep ya'll posted on that.

Inventory and Organization - Embossing Folders

Today's organization topic is embossing folders! So many of us love to use the crafty goodness of embossing folders but there is always the issue of how to store, how to find and knowing what we have! A few years ago I decided to make a cutting file for my folders so I could organize them easily and just last week I decided I needed an inventory. Luckily I haven't ever purchased one I already had but I have benefited from some generous people who did buy duplicates and were kind enough to send me the extra they had purchased *okie is always humbled and grateful for people's generosity*.

The screenshot of the inventory list shows how I do have them broken into different categories. I have all my A2 and 5x7 folders in a list together and if it was a set, such as Honeycomb, I have them in the main list and then labeled it in the C column. Since I have several different brand of folders I added that in the D column since so many companies have folders that are the same theme. 

You can download the inventory list, Embossing Folder Inventory XLSX and edit for your own use, and once again you will need Microsoft Excel to use the list.

Here is a picture of my folders. I keep them in a drawer in my Ikea Expedit unit and in the picture the drawer was pulled out so I could get them organized. Instead of using my lovely cardstock to make the file folders for them I pick up file folders from Dollar Tree, they come 10 to a pack, and make the folders out of them. If you don't mind the crease of the folder being on one of your folders you can get 3 out of one file folder *okie wonders if that even just made any sense*. In this picture my 5x7 folders haven't been completed yet but they are now.

I have reposted this many times and will once again post the link, if you would like to make the folder you can download the cutting file in either MTC or SVG format at this location - EMBOSSING FOLDER STORAGE.

 

I also wanted to show you why I make a "folder" for the folder. As you can see in the picture I actually emboss the folder so I can easily see what the pattern is when paper is embossed with the specific folder. Sometimes it is hard to tell what the pattern might look like and now I can easily see the design and not have to second guess if I might want to use that pattern.

So there ya go...now you have no reason not to get your embossing folders organized and inventoried! I think this will be the last of my posts with inventory lists for a little while. I go through spurts of getting organized and I think I'm done with this spurt...but then again who knows I might just decide to get my craft closet organized!

Inventory and Organization - Graphic 45

One of my favorite lines is Graphic 45 *okie hears someone in the back say "DUH" and throws a bottle of Scotch Quick Dry Adhesive at their head and wonder if the nipple will stay on the bottle when it hits the intended target* and my friend Carmen recently found papers from several of their collections at Tuesday Morning and sent me a box full of paper. For those who don't know, Carmen is one of my BFF's and lives in Houston and has access to many things I do not and she is generous and kind enough to pick up things for me quite frequently. I always try to send her money for such said shopping excursions but she make me pay her in cards and other items I make. Anywho...yes I meant anywho, she went to another Tuesday Morning and found some other sheets from those collections and couldn't remember what all she had gotten the last time. Luckily my paper was still out on my table and I was able to quickly go through them and let her know what we did and didn't have. I knew at that moment it would be so much easier if I had a list and went about making a spreadsheet inventory.

Last year on Black Friday I got a Brother P Touch PT-D200 for $10 and I absolutely love that thing! I order the refills off Amazon because they are a lot cheaper than getting them at Staples or other stores, I'm thinking about half the cost if I remember correctly. I also ordered the cord because it is not very economical to keep batteries going in this thing. There are a lot of options for fonts, sizes, etc in the label maker and I sometimes forget what settings I used for labels. The reason I am telling you this is in the next paragraph.

The first line that says "Labels for collections" is actually just a reference for me in case I need to make new labels in the future. 

As you can see I have the collection name in the first column and then the name of the specific sheet. You may wonder why I did that for the Graphic 45 and the reason is that when you get the paper at Tuesday Morning it comes in packs of 20 of the same sheet so I have multiple sheets. And NO, I am not so OCD that I am going to count the sheets and put that in there but of course if you would like to do so there is column space for it. 

If you would like this file you can download it here - Graphic45 Inventory XLSX

Here is my Graphic 45, or at least part of it, in my Cropper Hoppers. I have divider between each collection and they are in alphabetical order as is each individual sheets. I will be able to easily add to the inventory and put the paper away now and know exactly where to find the collection. There are a few of the collections that are in packs and those are inventoried as such in the list. 

Tomorrow I will be posting my embossing folder inventory and will share the file for it as well. Now go get to organizing!

Inventory and Organization - Punches!

So a lot of you know that I have an addiction problem, okay I'm likely addicted to many things, but organizing has to be one of my favorite addictions. There is just something about having things in their proper place that makes me happy! I still need to get my closet in my craftroom organized better but that is for another day *okie thinks week is more like it*. What I have been working on is my punch inventory, paper inventory and organization and updating my embossing folder inventory and organization.

I will start out with my punches first since that is what I did first. Back in 2007 when I got my first Cricut, the baby bug, I would see people post about paper punches and I thought to myself "well I have a machine that cuts paper...I don't need no stinkin punches!" and I will admit that smug attitude didn't last long after I got my first Stampin Up punch. What I learned about punches is that they are readily available, easily portable, quick and can use the most minuscule of scraps accurately...something my Cricut wasn't capable of doing. And so began my love affair with punches!

Before I moved I was always able to keep track of what punches I had because they were on a wall and I could quickly look and see what I had but during my move I had to make a Stampin Up order and all my punches were boxed up for the move which lead to me accidentally ordering a punch I already owned. This little experience made me think I should really have an inventory I can quickly refer to with the name and company that makes the punch. As for the duplicate punch, luckily my friend Carmen didn't have that one and it is now added to her collection.

I made a file in Microsoft Excel and now have all my punches listed alphabetically, size if needed, and company that sells the punch. I did have to ask on Facebook if anyone knew the names of a couple of them because I didn't remember and couldn't find the name. Of course within no time I had the answers I needed. I did add a preface to some of the names such as Butterfly and Christmas that you can see in the picture but also with edge punches, which are in the list but not the picture.

This is a screen shot of the file in Excel. I am sharing the file if you would like to edit it and make your own but remember you will need Microsoft Excel for the file to open and work.

PUNCH INVENTORY XLSX

Here is a picture of part of my punches. I made labels for the ones I wanted names on so I can see what it is and compare it quickly to my list. I didn't label the obvious ones like the basic shapes.It will be nice to have the name as well for when I make projects and use a particular punch and want to post it in a supply list.

Put a Nipple On That Bottle!

First off let me apologize to all the mothers out there who have babies on bottles. There will apparently be a shortage of silicone nipples starting immediately...now for the rest of the story.

My friend Linda posted a Youtube video NO PLUG GLUE TOPPERS FOR PAPERCRAFTING in the OCC group on Facebook with this fabulous idea of how to keep your glue bottles from clogging and of course after watching I knew I had to try it! The premise of the idea is that you use a silicone baby bottle nipple and it keeps the glue from drying out, which is one of my pet peeves, and also allows you to apply a thin line or thick line of glue. I generally have to dig out the glue from my Scotch Quick Dry because of this and I also hoard the old style bottle because it has the smaller tip *okie wonders what freakin idiot decided to change the bottle tip and would like to give that person a HUGE smack upside the head* and the new bottles have a tip that, well to be honest, isn't worth a chit because it is just too big!

After watching the video I made plans to stop by Dollar Tree, as my friend Pat mentioned that they carried the said nipples, the next day and pick up a package. My Dollar Tree indeed had them and there were 3 nipples in the package. It is suggested that you look for the 0-3 month silicone nipples but the ones I got were marked 0-3 years. The opening of the nipple needs to be small. I knew I already had mounting foam *okie wonders how many watched the video and how many are scratching their heads right now wondering why the heck okie would need mounting foam* so I didn't need to get any of that. Okay, for those that are wondering about the mounting foam, it is to wrap around the top of the bottle so the nipple will stay on, actually you wrap twice around the top of the bottle.

It didn't take long to replace the tips with the mounting foam and nipples but my skepticism was more about how it would do to keep the contents from drying out and being easily usable for the next time. Since I did these yesterday I couldn't wait to get up and try them out this morning to see if the glue dried out or not.

I thought I better use a black piece of cardstock so the lines would show up clearly and as you can see from the photo it worked great! I just wiped the tip of each nipple with my finger to get rid of the dried dot at the top, it is suggested you leave a small dab to help the glue from drying out, and it was good to go. How much glue you get depends a lot on how much pressure you use and how fast you move to make your line. I actually think it is easier to make more uniform sized dots with the gloss accents, which is on the left in the picture, and it was easy to get different sizes. Also one thing I noticed is that when I was doing dots with the Scotch Quick Dry there was a larger dot at the end of the nipple but I was able to just dab the end to the paper for very small dots...that will be extremely handy!

Now I need to see if there are any other adhesives hanging out at my house that need nipples! If you are tired of your glue drying out then just put a nipple on that bottle!

Cricut Explore Review 6 - Glitter Vinyl and Design File Available

As we all know by now I am never easy on my reviews and this one is no different. I had found some small ceramic dish things at my local bargain store for a dime, I think they might have suppose to been used for coasters or something. When I saw them I grabbed all 14 of them and even though I didn't know what I was going to do with them I figured for $1.40 I couldn't go wrong. I posted in my Facebook group Old Cricut Community about what should I do with them and a couple of members suggested making Ring Catchers that sit next to the sink and that inspired me to do a glitter vinyl review of the Explore.

The flat inside diameter of the dish is only about 2.5" and I had to think of what might look good as a design. I wanted something clever and different than just monograms so I could make some to have on hand and not be so personal. During a Google search I found the "When I said 'I Do' I didn't mean the dishes" and thought it was perfect for the wording. During my search for images of rings I came across the silhouette that I used. I know it looks big in the picture but you will believe how small it is in the next picture.

And before anyone asks, yes I did the design in Make The Cut and then exported to an SVG to upload in Cricut Design Space *okie still has no intentions of learning all the ins and outs of CDS since she is quite proficient in Make The Cut*.

I know different types of vinyl cut differently and I wanted to test how delicate glitter vinyl could be cut so I opted to use it for the silhouette of the hands.  I was on the phone with my friend Carmen when I was cutting the glitter vinyl and I said a few cuss words and then said "I hate this damn machine!" and she asked if it messed up on me. I told her "NO! It cut those tiny little lines perfectly!". Carmen said I should be glad since I wanted it to cut good and I told her "Yeah but I'm trying to find something it can't cut!".

When I told her I needed something to show how fine the lines where and that I had nothing to compare it to she asked if the lines were as small as a tick mark on a ruler. I quickly grabbed my metal ruler and told her "yep, pretty much!" and we concluded that would be perfect for showing the true size of some of the line. If you click on the picture and view it larger you can see the detail a lot better. 

MY HONEST OPINION: The Explore went beyond any machine I have ever seen used or tried in cutting the most intricate and delicate design using glitter vinyl.

If you would like to use this design you can download the appropriate file below:

MERRY CHRISTMAS...The Angel Tree Story Tradition

I've recently picked up some new readers according to the stats on this thing and those new readers may not know that my Christmas tradition on here is not to write a long drawn out post but instead I share the same post every Christmas. Now my faithful readers know that my daughter and I have had some rough years *okie cringes at some of the memories* and while we will always have our mother daughter relationship we are beginning to transcend into and enjoy the closeness of friendship. Shiane is now 23, living with a roommate, working a great job as a surgery orderly at a hospital and finding out what it is to compromise and hopefully finding her true happiness *okie still thinks it would have been faster if she would have just slapped that happiness right across her daughters face a few times*. 

This story, my dear readers, is one of a little girl who melted my heart with her compassion and giving to another....

THE ANGEL TREE CHRISTMAS STORY

When my daughter turned 8 years old she had gotten birthday money from relatives,  probably a total of about $40. We went to Wal-Mart so she could spend her birthday money. I had decided we would go to McDonalds to get a bite to eat first. There was an Angel Tree in front of the McDonalds there in Walmart.

My daughter asked what it was and I explained to her that it was for children whose parents couldn't afford to buy them Christmas gifts. I told her let's go eat and she continued to look at the names on the tree.

She grabbed my hand and said "Mom look, this little girl only wants some clothes and a barbie doll". I think she thought it impossible that a child would want mostly clothes.

I looked and noticed the only toy on there was a Barbie, I think the child's age was about 5.

My daughter looked up at me with pleading eyes and said "Moma would it be okay if I spent my birthday money on this angel?"

I couldn't speak as a piercing warmth shot through my heart. I was fighting tears, as I am now remembering this moment. My daughter looked at me and said "I won't Moma if you are gonna be upset". I told her "hang on a minute" while I continued to fight back the tears and choked to find the words I wanted to say. I knew I would just bust out crying if I said much more. After a few moments and a couple of deep breaths I composed myself I told her "baby if you want to spend your birthday money on this little angel then I will match you dollar for dollar".

We went to eat and my daughter kept looking over the list of items from the angel she had pulled off the tree. After we got done she was so excited to go and buy for this little girl. I did as I promised and matched dollar for dollar, plus another $20 because daughter thought the little girl needed some things to go with her barbie doll that she picked out for the little girl. My daughter even said "you don't have to buy me anymore gifts Mom, just spend it on her. Santa will bring me stuff anyway".

We got the shopping done and took it to Customer Service where my daughter informed the lady to "make sure it is wrapped pretty". My daughter spent every last dime of her birthday money that day on someone else.

I can honestly say that on that day I had never been more proud of my child and still am to this day for her unselfish act of giving up her birthday money to make sure some little girl got her Christmas wishes.

Glass Cutting Board Designs

I remember when I first got my Cricut and I was so hungry for cutting different things and back then the only way to make your own was to weld shapes together. We weren't able to trace images and designing was tedious and time consuming work in those days. I would spend hours manipulating shapes to get new designs and would feel a since of accomplishment every time there was something new to cut. Now days there are many programs that help us with this and of course I still am totally in love with Make The Cut and prefer it over any program that I have tried. Right now they have the program on SALE for $58.36 and personally I think it is worth every penny and then some. The great part is that anytime there is an update you are not charged for a new version like with SCAL and other programs.

One of the most fabulous things about MTC right now is the ability to design and export your design into different file types, the one most popular is the SVG format which can be used with the Cricut Explore. To be honest I have only used one image out of their library and when I was asked to do my review I informed Provocraft that I didn't have any cartridges but I had plenty *okie thinks probably thousands* of files I can use in SVG format and import into their Design Space program.

Last year I spent quite a bit of time tracing images for glass cutting boards. My cousin and I had decided we wanted to make a few and we wanted plenty of designs.

Fast forward to this year and there are a lot of new people to the world of cutting machines. I know in the Design Space Facebook group people are going crazy about the little cutting boards from Dollar Tree and are looking for designs. I should have thought about posting these earlier but it just dawned on me that someone might want to use some of these so I am making the file available. Of course you will have to resize for your own use but each design is made to fit on either the round or square cutting board.

DOWNLOAD FILE:

Cricut Explore Review 5 - Cutting Vinyl

Thought I better get this posted before I get busy making more projects for Christmas *okie looks at the calendar and panics a tad see that Christmas is only a week away*. I actually could have written the vinyl review before but I kept making things for gifts and then would be like "CCRRAAPPPP! I can't post that!". Last night I decided to try and cut the Grinch file because I needed a gift for Dirty Santa at school today and figured it was as good as any for the review.

I found an 8x10 inch frame at Goodwill for 99 cents and was a little apprehensive about trying to cut the file at this size, which was actually 7.25 x 9.25 inches. I knew some of the lettering was delicate but then also I thought it was perfect since I am trying to put the Explore through it's paces. I have read that some folks are having a tough time with vinyl and to be honest I think most of them are using Cricut vinyl, which I do find inferior to the Oracle and Avery that I tend to use. It seems to be too rubbery or something and I have seen it tear and snag where I generally get crisp cuts with the vinyl products I have around my craftroom.

Even though vinyl is a lot easier to cut when doing delicate work than most paper I still wondered how the settings on the Explore would handle the different vinyls I used. I actually used some Avery, Oracle and then some kind that said graphic film on the back and I'm not sure of the brand. I didn't change the settings for any of the vinyls and they all cut beautiful. I will say that on another project I did use the custom setting for glitter vinyl and it worked perfectly. 

Ignore that my Grinch is a little off in placement. I did the mirror image so the vinyl would be on the inside of the glass instead of the outside and I need to work on my skills of layering backwards on glass.

Now where I thought there might be problems were on some of the letters that had very small cuts on the interior of the letters and also some small *okie wonders what to call them because all the sudden her brain isn't working properly* I guess finger like projections on the ends. I actually smiled at one point because I thought one of the interior cuts had messed up but when I weeded the piece it was fine *okie is still bound and determined to find a fault in the Explore's cutting abilities*.

MY HONEST OPINION: I am quite impressed with the built in settings with the Explore and the setting worked perfect every time no matter what brand of vinyl I was using. The precision of the cuts, no matter how small is splendid. At no time did the blade go through the carrier material which is a problem I would have with my Pazzles and Expressions. Each and every color was cut flawlessly with a kiss cut and there were no places where I had to take a craft knife or scissors and complete a cut.

Crafting and Shopping!

Well I don't have any files to post, not that I haven't made any but I just can't post them because they are for gifts and that would ruin Christmas! I got a project done on Friday that I had planned to do a vinyl review on concerning the Explore and then I realized "DUH YOU CAN'T POST THAT BEFORE CHRISTMAS!". I will say that the Explore cut vinyl extremely well and the vinyl setting is really nice to have built in. I also cut some glitter vinyl which I found the setting in custom settings and it cut it perfect as well. I will still try to get a project to post and a full review done.

I had my company Christmas dinner Friday night and I took my friend Nancy with me. She has been sick for about 3 weeks  now and was finally feeling a little better. During dinner I looked at her and she didn't look too good and she said that all the sudden she felt sick so we left early. I really didn't mind, her health is much more important.

Saturday my friend Linda and I went to Oklahoma City to do some Christmas shopping. Neither of us bought much but I did get a few things that I was looking for and couldn't find somethings that I wanted. We at lunch at Ted's Escandido Cafe which is awesome! We hit Michaels and left with nothing. At Hobby Lobby I did get what I needed to make a gift and I also splurged on myself and bought a Santa since I hadn't gotten one this year. Usually my friend Karen gets me one but since I didn't have my party and she didn't come visit this December I had to buy my own LOL.

Yesterday I spent all day messing with a design for a gift and it literally took me all day! I kept changing how I wanted it and then when I did get it done I ended up ripping it off and starting over. I did like the end result and I will say it is a glass block with a light but I can't say of what because then the recipient will know what they are getting for Christmas. I think I might be too much of a perfectionist when it comes to designs and tracing images because I like nice clean lines and I spent hours cleaning up lines and such on that design.

I am hoping to get some sugar cookies baked this week so me and the girls can decorate them next weekend. I really had plans on doing some yesterday but like I said that project took me all damn day and that ain't no joke! I still haven't cut the Grinch file yet and I want to find a large picture frame to put it in. Guess I might go to Goodwill or Salvation Army and see what I can find there.

This is going to be a busy week since I have a doctor appointment, party at school and working on more Christmas items but hopefully sometime this week I can make design a file or two and post for download. I have no idea of what but most of the time I never do!

Grinch Christmas Means - Vinyl Project

So last night I was going to work with some vinyl on the Explore for my next review and wasn't sure what I wanted to do. I looked through my files and started playing with a Grinch file and a quote file I had and came up with a new file. I posted it in the Design Space Facebook group to see if it could be read and my friend Jackie pointed out that one word was hard to read so I went back and edited the file and it did work a lot better! THANKS JACKIE!

A few people said they would pay for the file and I had to giggle to myself because obviously I guess there are a lot of folks out there that don't know I very, very, very rarely charge for files I make! Anyway I thought about charging but then quickly decided to make this file free as my Christmas gift to my readers! So many of you guys and gals have been with me for over the years and have shown such loyalty even when I was on my hiatus from crafting that I thought I should show my appreciation! You really have no idea how much it means to me to have people stick with me even when I was gone for months and months!

I did import the SVG file into Design Space, it imported just fine so it should be ready to use once you download the file and then upload into the program and of course as always I have the MTC file available as well.

So to all of you MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM ME TO YOU! And thank you so much for always being there to read all my dribble even when I have no files or projects to offer.

DOWNLOAD FILE:

Cricut Explore Review 4 - The Dreaded Scallop Circle

For folks who have been around for awhile will immediately understand the "dreaded scallop circle" and why it was so dreaded by all of us who wanted nice neat scallop circles but they seemed to be unobtainable! When I got my first Cricut, the baby bug, it cut wonderful scallop circles and didn't have a problem with the ones I designed in Design Studio *okie wonders if she needs to explain Design Studio but then decides not go down that road* but once I got an Expression and started using it the scallop circles were WONKY! If you cut them large enough, usually over 4 inches or more then the scallops weren't too bad but anything smaller and the scallops were all lopsided. Matter of fact I sent back two Expression machines for just that reason. I finally kept the third because I gave up. When I started working with the Pazzles I was excited thinking I would have perfect scallop circles and while they did cut better than what the Expression did I still had slightly lopsided scallops. Matter of fact I even invested in Scallop Circle punches so I would have perfect ones.

Now fast forward from those days to the present crafting day where I thought "OMG! I NEED TO TEST AND SEE HOW SCALLOP CIRCLES CUT WITH THE EXPLORE!" and so I did. I, being the fiendish person I am, chose the dreaded Stampin Up Coredinations cardstock that so many people had problems cutting. My Expression or my Pazzles never cut that stuff very good, especially when it was smaller cuts. It always seemed to rip or tear *okie still thinks there was some kinda degrading in the SU Coredinations since the regular Coredinations seemed to cut very nicely* and cause much frustration.

I opened Design Space and put some scallop circles on the mat and sized them to different sizes and was almost bemused at the thought of "I got this machine now...scallop circles and Stampin Up Corediantions cardstock! TAKE THAT PROVOCRAFT!". I got the circles ready to cut and loaded the mat watching it with a sneer on my face *okie thinks she probably looked like some mad scientist sitting in front of the Explore* just waiting for the scallops to be lopsided and the cardstock to tear!

My sneer soon turned to a grimace as I watched the blade cut through the cardstock like it was butter and the scallops were PERFECT! I think I might have yelled "SON OF A BITCH...NO F'ING WAY!" as the machine finished up cutting the images and as I unloaded the mat I kept looking closely for errors...which I did not find!

Every size cut perfectly! I set a 3", 2 1/2", 2", 1 1/2" and 1" scallop circle to cut and everyone of them were exquisitely impeccable! How could that be? No way did Provocraft finally make a machine that could cut breathtaking scallop circles on crappy cardstock! I stared at the delicious goodness of scallops and even thought about substituting them with some wonky ones but then I remembered I promised to give an honest review *okie curses herself for being an honest Injun*.

Just in case you wonder if your eyes are deceiving you I took a close up of the 1" scallop circle so you could see how perfectly it cut.

MY HONEST OPINION: I am BEYOND IMPRESSED with the Explore's ability to cut perfect scallop circles at every size and especially since I purposely fed a cardstock in the machine that generally doesn't cut well on other machines...even *okie takes a deep breath and exhales slowly, closes her eyes and just says it*.....my beloved Pazzles!

Teachers Change the World - Vinyl Project

I gotta stay out of that Facebook group or I am never going to finish reviewing the Explore. Someone asked for some help with tracing an image and I was able to get it in Make The Cut and well...you know the rest!

DOWNLOAD -

Grandma & Grandpa's House Rules - Vinyl Project

Once again I saw something in the Facebook group of Cricut Design Space that someone was wanting and I thought "I can do that" and told them I would give it a try. I tried to keep it as true to the picture that was posted but I did have to change a few fonts and adjust them to what I thought might cut better.

I think this would be a lot of weeding and not sure how well it would do on smaller projects such as glass blocks as someone suggested but I think it would be nice for a wall quote or if you had a larger canvas, I'm thinking the ones larger than 11" in length. The picture is kind of small since it is a screen shot of the image but the letters are a bit more clear and crisp in the file.

DOWNLOAD BELOW-

Cricut Explore Review 3 - Intricate Cuts and Vellum

So many of us love using vellum and those who try to cut it know the horrors of ripping and tearing and the crying that comes along with ruining that ever so beautiful and expensive divine goodness. And with that out of the way vellum was the next thing I wanted to try and cut!

I decided to upload an image that was available this time instead of importing one of my thousands of SVG files I had because I wanted to see how easy it was to use one of their images and...it was easy. I thought I would see if I could find something to cut that I could put in a clear ornament and thought about a snowflake but then when I saw the design I used I thought "oh yeah, let's see if that machine can handle that design at 2 1/2"! I just knew I had the correct design to finally show some limitations of the machine.

My first cut I had chosen the setting of parchment in the custom settings since what I was cutting isn't true vellum and is actually called translucent sheets, not even sure what that means but it is exactly like vellum but I wanted to see what it would do on that setting. It did cut but didn't cut all the way through.

I reloaded the mat and changed my setting to vellum and this thing cut like a champ! The tears and blemishes you see are not because of the machine but because of my errors in getting it off the mat, I kinda forgot how careful you have to be with this delicate material.  I should have put the ruler up there so you guys can believe what you are seeing, the image was set at 2.6 inches, so just a hair over 2 1/2" and it cut FAB U LUST LEE! Once again I was disappointed because I could say "AH HA! YOU CAN'T CUT THIS" *all the sudden okie has MC Hammer's "You Can't Touch This" playing in her head*.

I guess I will go ahead and find something to decorate the top of the bulb but here is the image I cut out in a clear bulb. I did have to use a stick to straighten it out once it was in the bulb but it turned out really nice and it does look better in person *okie looks and notices she can see her fingers and camera in the reflection and is suddenly glad she wasn't craftin nekkid when she took this picture*.

 

MY HONEST OPINION: I am IMPRESSED with how well the machine cut this delectable material! I think I will be looking forward to working more with vellum since I know the Explore can do such a wonderful job with it. Vellum is something I have always loved to use but dreaded at the same time but not anymore!

So I can kiss you... FILE AVAILABLE

Someone in a Cricut Design Space Facebook group I joined had posted a quote of "So I can kiss you anytime I want" wondering what font it was. Of course I immediately recognized it as the Samantha font, some of y'all might remember all the time I spent converting that font set! Well since I was in the mood to do a file I thought I would give it a shot.

Of course I had to do the file in Make The Cut but was able convert it quickly into an SVG file so those with other programs can use it. I think I will be converting almost every file I make in MTC into SVG format from now on since I am really liking the way the Explore cuts. I do see limits in the Design Space software but as long as I can design in MTC and then upload the SVG into Design Space I think I will do just fine.

DOWNLOAD BELOW -


Wow two posts in one day! This reminds me of the good ol days when I was constantly making designs and posting them! *okie grins a little and winks* Told ya I was back!!!

Cricut Explore Review 2 - Intricate Cuts and Cardstock Thickness

I have seen pictures of small cuts the Cricut Explore made and most of those were from examples given by Provocraft so of course me being me I was skeptical about how well it would do for a consumer and I figured that would be one of the first things I would try. I will say I am able to make some pretty intricate cuts with the Pazzles but do have problems with paper tearing or blade dragging at times so I wondered if the Explore would do better.

One of the last designs I did was a layout design of Happy Fall Y'all layout, and there is an SVG file available for that design, and thought it might be a good one to test out due to the eyes of the crow and the intricacy of the vines on the pumpkin in the design. 

I first cut the little crows and I was dreading it due to having worked with the Tinkerbell cartridge in the past and having so many issues *okie vividly remembers wanting to grab that little fairy by her ankles and shaking every bit of pixie dust from her evil little body* with the smaller things, specifically the eyes. Actually I ended up drawing the eyes in with pens due to not being able to get good cuts from them. I will say I was watching the blade with a magnifying glass *okie suddenly wonders why she keeps a magnifying glass in one of her spinners and where the thing even came from* just waiting for the cuts to mess up but as you can see from the picture....THEY CAME OUT PERFECT! I thought it might be helpful to lay a ruler next to the cuts so you can see for yourself the size of those cuts.

Okay so I was impressed with the eyes of the crow but next came the delicate swirls of the pumpkin and I just knew the Explore would mess up on them but once again...PERFECT! Some parts of that vine are less than an 1/8" and it cut them like a champ! 

Another test I wanted to do was about the settings. I used 4 different cardstocks on some of the cuts, some that I have problems cutting with other machines, some that were very thick and some that were thinner and I never changed any of the settings and each time they cut just perfect! 

Tomorrow I will post the finished layout so you can see the project completed.

MY HONEST OPINION: The Explore cut the intricate designs with no problems and much better than any other machine I've tried even when I tried different cardstocks without changing the settings of the machine. This was another test that did IMPRESS me with the ability of the machine.

The Search for The Skirt

I had full intentions of getting ready another part of the review for today but instead I did other things in the house and then my daughter called wanting to know what I was doing and the kids ended up coming over and staying until at least 2am, not sure what time they left but I will explain that later.

For some reason I can't put presents under the tree until my Christmas Tree skirt is in place, dunno why but that's just the way it is with me. My daughter didn't find it in the totes with the other Christmas things and I knew I had washed right before I moved and I even remembered folding it. I told her about my dilemma of not being able to find it and she kept suggesting places it might me.  I had put it somewhere so I would I remember where it was...guess we know how that turned out. So began the search for the skirt! I spent hours searching the house and garage for that dang Christmas tree skirt. 

I ended up organizing part of my garage and breaking down some boxes. I got the box with my camping gear opened and found homes for those items *okie sees the puzzled look on some people's faces*, yes I did use to go camping...A LOT. I hauled two more of my totes of Santa's in the house and found spots where they could be displayed and ended up hanging some Christmas pictures. I moved my silver wire shelf to the garage since I really am not sure what to do with it yet, watered my poinsettias, swept the kitchen floor *okie thinks she really needs to teach the dogs to wipe their feet before coming back in the house* and of course all the time wondering where I put that damn skirt but it still boiled down to no Christmas tree skirt! I had about decided that those mean, evil little gnomes that everyone loves posting on my Facebook wall had snuck in and stole the damn thing!

My daughter and her roommate Sabrina, who so far seems to be the sweetest thing and funny as hell at times, came over with some wine and wanting to play dominoes. I had told my daughter I really wasn't any good at dominoes and I haven't played since probably college. I did use to play Mexican Train dominoes during our summers when we use to go to the lake all the time and always enjoyed it. Shiane and Sabrina sat in the kitchen as I continued my search for the Christmas tree skirt. I did find a box of snowmen decorations that my daughter had started collecting and set those out for her. I also found my terry cloth heads for the Shark steam mop and asked the girls if they wanted it and they said yes. I use my Hoover Floormate now instead and didn't need the steam mop any longer. I searched my closet, the guestroom closet and even reorgainzed a few things in there, the craftroom closet and every damn tote in the garage and still couldn't find the elusive skirt! Finally as we were standing in the kitchen, which I love by the way, I decided to go check under the guest room bed. I remembered putting blankets in a plastic bag contraception and putting that under the bed so just maybe...

I looked under the edge of the bed and saw the bag of blankets but didn't see anything else and for some reason I thought I should get on my knees and look and lo and behold under the bag of blankets there was another plastic bag contraption and it had two Christmas table clothes, my Christmas bath towels and the Christmas Tree skirt! I yelled at the girls "I FOUND IT! I FINALLY FOUND THE DAMN THING!" and I didn't see my daughters reaction but I am quite sure it got a head shake and an eye roll followed by a smile. I get that reaction from her quite often and one day I will have to ask her what it means but then again I might not want to know. Immediately I got the skirt and started putting it under the tree and that was a bit of a challenge because Wonka, my daughter's dog who I have now claimed since I have been his main care giver since she got him when he was only 6 weeks old *okie thinks there might eventually be an ugly custody battle in the future*, decided he wanted the skirt for himself. I sat in the floor and put his huge head between my hands and explained to him ever so sweetly that if he so much as laid one toe of his huge paw on that skirt he would be living in the garage the rest of his damn life and I think he understood because he left it alone after that. I had wrapped two presents earlier and was able to finally get them under the tree!

By this time my shoulder and neck were killing me and I knew I needed a muscle relaxer. Oh for those who don't know I was in a bit of fender bender on Monday and I will have to write a post about that one for sure in the future. My daughter poured me a glass of wine and I took a muscle relaxer and we decided to play dominoes. We waited for Chuck to arrive so we could begin which he did within a few minutes. Of course I had to announce to him I found the Christmas tree skirt. The kids and I played a game of dominoes, which by the way I won, and then Chuck's friend Lamares called and Chuck went to pick him up from work and bring him over. I have tried to get the kids to play Mexican Train dominoes with me several times and my daughter offers but it isn't any fun with just two people, and the kids usually don't want to. Last night they decided to appease me and play the game and I think they really had a lot of fun. I know we all laughed through the whole game. Well we didn't get to officially finish the game because after several hands my wine and muscle relaxer were kicking in, but by this time it was around 2am or so I can't be sure of the time due to my medicated and wine induced state, and I was ready for bed. The kids said they would clean up, which they did a good job because when I got up this morning the kitchen was all in order, and off to bed I went. 

So you see while I didn't get to work on a review of the Cricut Explore I did get to spend some wonderful time with the kids and I wouldn't trade that for anything in the world!

Cricut Explore Review 1 Calibrating Print And Cut

Okay first off I want to be completely honest with everyone about this whole Cricut Explore review thing and how it came about...because as we all know I am very honest with my readers and I don't want to stop being that way anytime soon. I was contacted via Facebook by the CEO of Provocraft and during a brief conversation he asked if I would be willing to review the Explore and I told him I would be willing to do so. I also told him that I only give my honest opinion and he said that is what he was wanting. Of course in my little smug mind I thought "yeah I bet!" but he did seem sincere about wanting only the most honest of opinion from me. So before anyone asks...yes, I was sent the Cricut Explore, I did not purchase the machine. And before anyone jumps to conclusions if that would effect my opinions and review the answer is NOPE *okie thinks she should have said hell no actually but figures people will read that in the NOPE anyway*. No matter if a product is purchased by me or sent to me I still review it fully and honestly and give my opinion. Now that is out of the way let me begin with my first review.

The first thing I did was hook up the machine as directed and I had some problems getting my computer to recognize the machine but that could easily be a problem with my USB port as I have problems with my thumb drive at times as well. After getting my computer to recognize the machine I was ready to set up the print and cut, from now on will be referenced to as PNC. The instructions were clear for the most part and the only problems I had with that was I was out of ink in my printer and had to install new cartridges. 

I got my piece of cardstock printed and loaded in the machine and was ready for it to do it's thing. I watched it with curiosity waiting for it to do some kinda jerk and bump terrible cutting thing but it didn't. It made quite a bit of noise with beeping and moving around and cutting little lines. To be honest I thought it was kinda cool how it jumped from one registration mark to another. 

 

I remember it said something the process might have to be repeated and I was understanding why after I looked at the cuts and unloaded the mat from the machine. As you can see in the picture the little square in the middle is not cut very well and is off center. 

If you look at the cuts along the numbers and letters they are much like when you add new cartridges to a printer and have to calibrate it.

I was afraid I would have to repeat this process like 20 times before I got it to calibrate right but I was in it for the long haul and got ready to repeat the process.

After printing another sheet of cardstock and loading in the letter and number that had the best cut in the middle I actually got a good cut and to be honest I was like "OMG! It's centered perfectly!". You might need to click on the picture and make it larger to see what I'm talking about it being centered.

Next it was time to try to PNC an image and me being me I didn't want some simple image I wanted to test this baby's ability to cut something difficult. Of course the software warned about using complex images so that didn't deter me but instead challenged me! I chose an image of my niece's caricature she uses for her real estate business.  She had asked me sometime ago if I would be interested in making some cards for her to use when she sells a home and she wanted the caricature used and I never could figure out how to get a nice clean cut of it with Make the Cut and the Pazzles so I never did. This failure with what I was use to using was the exact reason I chose the image I did.

I got the image printed on some cheap Walmart cardstock, which never cuts nicely in any machine I've tried, once again testing the bounds of the Explore and set about cutting it.

This is the image after it was printed and then cut, at this point it is still on the mat. I was giving it a good look over and wondering if even the smallest of pieces were cut neatly and smirked a bit thinking "yeah it probably screwed up somewhere or cut jagged on the cardstock".

As I lifted the outer cardstock off the mat the image left on the mat seemed to have clean cuts. How could this be? I used the crappy cardstock? This can't be happening! As I continued to remove the outer cardstock I looked for errors and couldn't find any...no jagged or torn edges, no irregular cutting lines...it was...well...PERFECT!

Now you can see a slight lighter edge along the left side of the image but notice it is equal all the way around and I think it part of the shadow on the image.

MY HONEST OPINION: The calibration was simple to do and even though I had to repeat the process the software clearly informed me I might have to do so in order to get the machine calibrated correctly. I am truly impressed with how well the machine was able to cut accurately around the difficult image I chose, especially with me using cheap cardstock that generally tears with other machines. So over all I am IMPRESSED with the Explore's ability to do print and cut!

Oh Christmas Tree Oh Christmas Tree

I didn't get to play with the Explore last night due to the kids coming over. My Goddaughter Amber and I had started watching American Horror Story Freak Show series before I moved and last night was the first time we were able to catch up. Thank goodness I figured out the DVR and can record shows! Also my daughter had texted me and asked if she could come over and put up the Christmas tree so needless to say my evening was filled with time with the kids...but that is a good thing! I cooked dinner for the kids, we had Garlic Shrimp Pasta, Chicken Alfredo, Garlic Bread, Breadsticks and Salad *okie wonders if she should tell that the pasta and bread were from the frozen food section but decides to let everyone think she has become a master chef over the last 6 months*. I made them eat at the table and told them "no cell phones at the table". I really enjoyed listening to them have conversations about various things and the good thing was that most of the people they talked about I was familiar with and that lets me know I'm doing something right because even though they are young adults I am still in tune with what goes on in their lives.

The Christmas tree I have was procured *okie is suddenly impressed with her vocabulary with using the word procured and then feels sad remembering she is easily impressed* at my local bargain store a few years ago. My daughter and I were in there looking around and came across this tree and I liked it because it was slimmer than the one I had and it also already had the lights on it. I think I paid a whole $20 or $30 for it and then come to find out it was an almost $400 tree from one of those home shopping network places. The lights at the very bottom on one side don't work but we just put that side toward the window and it's not noticeable.

I love, love, love Christmas trees! I love to see all the decorations and could browse pictures of trees for hours. There are so many different ways to decorate a tree but every year ours is decorated with the same ornaments. Each of our ornaments has a story behind it and my daughter and I can tell you about each one. When Shiane was probably in 1st grade we started going and picking out ornaments that were alike but just a tad different and then writing our name and the year on the bottom or back of the ornament. One day when she has her own tree she will get her ornaments for her tree. It gives me so much joy to look at my tree and see the ornaments because it's not the ornament that means so much but the memory behind each one. I have some from friends, some that I made, some that we bought and all the ornaments that Shiane made me when she was little. My tree will never look as gorgeous as the ones in the magazines, nor will it be one that makes people gasp with admiration but the truth is the most expensive ornaments in the world would never be worth more than the ones I have on my tree because mine is filled with love and fond memories that gladden my heart and make me smile.

My New Craftroom

As promised I am posting pictures of my new craftroom. I think I would have been too overwhelmed to get it done if it weren't for Carmen! When I did move she said I would have it all set up before she got here and I told her "I ain't touchin that damn thing until you get here!" and I was true to my word. We actually had to empty it out before we could set it up. 

This is what you see when you first walk in the room and let me tell ya I am loving the color!! I think it is called Cajun Spice or something like that. The room was already painted this olor when I moved in. Carmen and I tried a 6 foot table but then decided an 8 foot was better and would give me more room *okie thinks we always want more room* for my machines, work space and spinners, which you can't see in this photo. As you can see I still use my Napa Valley Cassette organizer for my stamp pads...totally love that thing! I had found another one at Goodwill a few months back and snatched it up for Carmen and she was able to take it home with her *okie wonders if Carmen got hers hung up yet*. The black drawer units hold different embellishments, tools, etc. I think I need to relabel the drawers now though since they are no longer correct.

When you look to the right at the door this is what you see, my workspace table that Carmen brought to me and before anyone asks it is from Ikea *okie so wishes she had an Ikea close* and my big Expedit unit that holds the majority of my 12x12 paper. On the right hand side of the picture you can see some of the shelves I have on the wall and there is a better picture of them further in this post. There will eventually be a doorway put in to the right of the blue office chair that will go directly into the dining kitchen area. This will be convenient for when I am cooking and crafting...because we all know how much I LOOOVEEE to cook *okie wonders if people will pick up on that sarcasm*. The white drawer units under my work table has my themed paper in them. I wasn't sure how I would like the TV up that high but it doesn't seem to be too bad and doesn't hurt my neck looking at it, which is what I was concerned about.

Here is a better picture of my work area. I have my 8.5 x 11" cardstock behind my work area and with the huge closet I have I was able to free up the 6 cube unit and right now I have my Cuttlebug in one slot and then various items in the other cubes. I opted to put my Bygel bars for my punches above the cube units because it seemd the best place for them. Obviously I can't buy any more punches since I am out of space...oh wait I do see space for maybe two more on the top rod on the far right hand side!

This is the view from the corner by the Ikea unit. I was able to fit the white shelves I used in my old craftroom next to the door and then under it I have my sewing cabinet with my heat press on top of that. Never mind the tools on that table right now, I am keeping those handy while I am still trying to arrange things. To the left of the shelves is the door to the closet. The closet measures approximately 4x8 feet so it has a lot of room for storage and I will post pictures of it AFTER I get it organized a bit more. Carmen and I put up a Closetmaid wire shelving unit in there so I could have good storage space and it is going to work nicely.

Oh and BTW, the leather black curtains were already in the house and I decided to keep them for two reasons...first it will help block out sun from fading my paper and secondly it make people wonder what kinda kinky shit is going on in my craftroom! *okie falls out chair laughing* So there ya go...that is my craftroom now and I am loving it! I will make sure to post pictures of the closet once I get it arrange in a half way decent manner.