Mickey Rainforest Cafe Layout - File Available

When I went on vacation back in March I was very lucky to get to meet up with some wonderful scrappy friends that I have talked to online for years. We met up at Downtown Disney and had lunch at the Rainforest Cafe. I was trying to think of how to tie the two together and this layout is what I came up with. I think it gives a good representation of the day. I also like how the Mickey's are looking at pictures on the layout.

Cuts in this file include -
Mickey 1
Mickey 2
Rainforest Cafe Title
Mickey Head Background

Of course if you only need one or two of the cuts you can still download the file and save them for later use.

FILE DOWNLOAD

lil Ladybug Layout - File Available

I bet most of you don't know that I have an obsession about ladybugs but I am hear to tell you it is true! *okie hears the gasps of shock fill the room*. Yes, *okie hangs her head and nods slowly* I know, I know...we all have our obsessions and I have tried to keep this one hidden but I am now admitting it in public to all of you.

Now that I have confessed in public I want to share a layout I have designed with of all things...LADYBUGS!! *okie cracks up laughing thinking about people rolling their eyes thinking okie is crazy or just plain stupid*.


Cuts include:
Title
Ladybugs
Leaves



Of course the other things are in the file as well if you want to use them, such as the rounded rectangle and use the other pieces as measurement.

FILE DOWNLOAD -

Gridiron Gang Layout - File Available

I have a ton of football pictures I need to get busy on scrapping and I will have more come next month so I thought I better get a few designed. This is the first one I have designed and I thought about the pictures I have and there are quite a few of Chuck and his teammates and I thought this one would give me enough for a few group shots and then a few smaller with one or two of him with his teammates.

Cuts in this file include:
Tiger background
Football field strip
Title

The ECU is included in the cut but it can easily be removed or edited in Make The Cut.

When I get ready to make this layout I think I will use brown Coredinations on the title and run the layers through my Cuttlebug using the tiny bubbles and then sand it to give it a "football" look. I have used that technique before and it does give it a nice texture.

Even if you aren't scrapping football pictures you might be able to use the tiger background cuts for something else.

FILE DOWNLOAD -
MTC - Gridiron Gang
SVG - Gridiron Gang

Relax and unwind - Layout

I think this is another one I can use to scrapbook vacation pictures. I am not sure which ones yet but at least I have a layout ready to cut! Since the main theme of vacation is relaxing I thought this was perfect. I started to go with a bit more tropical flowers but thought these were nice.

Cut in this file include:
Title
Flowers
Book plate
Hinges
Journaling box
Banner

I didn't use the texture feature this time. It uses a lot of space to do that and I thought I better start cutting back on space on my Google Drive.

FILE DOWNLOAD:
MTC - Relax and unwind

I Love Iced Coffee!

Especially in the summer time, it's great for when it's a hot Oklahoma morning and hot coffee just adds to the misery. I use to get a fantastic iced coffee syrup by Nestle but they stopped making it, or no one in my town sells it. I have always wanted to try to make my own but never did until Sunday morning.

I read a few recipes on the internet and then decided to just wing it.

OKIE'S ICED COFFEE MIX
Brew 4 cups of water with 12 scoops coffee

10 spoons of Sweet N Low (the spoon that comes with the package, or 10 packets)

4 Tablespoons of dark chocolate shavings

2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract

Add the Sweet N Low, chocolate and vanilla after the coffee is finished brewing. Stir until ingredients are dissolved. Poor liquid in a container and once cooled place in fridge to chill. To serve use equal parts of milk and Ice Coffee Mix and add ice...ENJOY!

My daughter use to love the Nestle we use to get and when I let her try this one she said "that has too much of a coffee taste". I told her "well that is why it is called iced coffee!". She said she prefers it more "syrupy". I think she meant sweet! HA HA

You Are My Sunshine Layout - File Available

Once again I have no pictures for this layout but I just wanted to design one using a sunburst cut. I found an example on Basic Grey Blog and just went from there. You know good and well I was not going to measure and handcut paper when I can design in MTC and cut with my Pazzles or Cricut.

Cuts in this file include those for the sunburst, circles and butterflies.

If you would like the letters for making the title you can contact me HERE. The title is done using the Samantha Script font that I worked several days on to get into a format where I could cut with my machines.

I think this will be a cute layout for some of my daughter's pictures when she was younger.

FILE DOWNLOAD - You are my Sunshine

Beach Layout - File Available

When I went on vacation in March my friend Karen and I were looking for a cruise to go on and after doing some research I found there was a quaint little place called Tony Macaroni's Conch Experience and they are famous for their Conch dishes. We based our decision on which cruise to take solely on this place! It definitely lived up to it's name and it was a wonderful experience for sure!

I decided to go ahead and get my layout ready in Make The Cut, and think I will do more this way. I find it easy to sit and design layouts without the pressure of having to cut them right away. Since I do have the layout design finished I thought I would go ahead and post the file. I am only posting in Make The Cut format this time because I am finding it too difficult to try and give instructions for those who use SVG files. Maybe that will encourage others to get the most awesome program Make The Cut!













The file includes cuts for the following:
Palm Tree, Beach Chair, Bucket and Bottles, Tiki Hut, Sun, Birds, Conch Shell, Waves, Title (but you probably don't want to use it).

FILE DOWNLOAD:
MTC - Beach Layout

What Do You Mean I Can't Do That?

That is pretty much what I was saying after finding out the wonderful Samantha Script font couldn't be used in Make The Cut. Well, the font could be used which included the regular letters but it was all the gorgeous swirly, flourishy letters that I wanted to have possession of! After some research it was found that I would need a program like Adobe Illustrator to open the "glyphs", which are all the cool letters and such!

I found a free version, and very old version, of Adobe Illustrator and thought "this will be a piece of cake". I even watched a video tutorial that Jin of Under A Cherry Tree did showing how to convert what you wanted out of AI into an SVG. Only one problem, my version was different and didn't work quite the same way. My friend Pam who is techie, you might know her from The Bug Bytes, tried to give me instructions but yet again my version didn't have the options where she was telling me to go. I finally was just playing around and gave up on doing the SVG and decided to do the whole capture thing with the snipping tool and import the letters into MTC that way when I started clicking on a few things and POOF I found the tools I needed to make the outline and export as an SVG. You talk about excited!

When got all the capital letters opened in AI I looked like I had a jumbled mess but I wanted to see if I could export to SVG format and if the letters were overlapping if they would be single once imported into MTC. 

This is what it looked like when I finally got it in MTC - a bit of a jumbled mess. I then had to figure out how I wanted to "organize" all the letters.

I finally decided to just leave all the letter's together and then put different ones on different mats. Some of the letters had a ton of versions while others only had a few. I forget how many mats I ended up with in the file but here is how they looked after I got them moved around and enlarged. Now I can quickly go in and see which fancy letter I want to use! So with a matter of copy and paste I will be able to use the letters to make words I might want.

The font file also included something called "swashes" I think it was and this picture are the words in that feature. There are some flourishes that go with it as well but I am too lazy to do a capture and post it. If you check the link at the top of the post for the file you can see all the features this font has to offer. 


Now the odd thing is I have no idea if I will ever even use any of these letters. They are a big thin and swirly to use on cards or scrapbook pages but they would probably work great with vinyl projects. I guess I wouldn't give up because I do not like to hear "you can't do that" *okie sits with a smug smile on her face and thinks 'I was not defeated'*. 

How to have Two Versions of Make The Cut

As most of you know I use Make The Cut software now, and have since last fall. I can't even begin to say how much I LOVE LOVE LOVE this program! I know many are wishing they were able to get the program to work with their Cricuts and those who haven't have gone on to other machines such as the Cameo, Zing, Pazzles (which I use) and other machines. One of the issues I ran into was that my older version of MTC that worked with my Cricut didn't have all the cool features of the updated version of Make The Cut. I couldn't upgrade my version because I would lose my plugin that made my Cricut work.

I finally decided to ask on the MTC forum if it was possible to upgrade somehow and while you can't upgrade the version you currently run and still be able to cut with your Cricut, you can install a newer version and have both versions running. What this does is give you all the cool features of the newer version and you can design in that, save your file and then open the file in the older version. I know it sounds like a lot of work to do that but honestly it isn't.

I've had a few questions recently about how to have both versions and I keep giving the link to this awesome video that will walk you through it. I thought others out there might not know about how to do this and I would share the link so you can update to a newer version while still having your version that works with the Cricut.

INSTALLING MULTIPLE COPIES OF MAKE THE CUT

Hope this helps!

For the Love of Minions!!

My friend Linda loves the Minions from the Despicable Me movies. She actually kept telling me I needed to watch the first one and I though it looked stupid but of course when I saw it I fell in love with it! It's one of my daughter and I's favorite movies now. Anyway Linda was wanting a minion file and I was busy with paperwork. She sent me a file while I was working on one for her, saying she was having problems. I finished up the one I was working on and then opened hers and simplified it for her.

This is the result of a collaborated work! I actually got my file from Grealish Greetings and then tweaked it so it would be easier for Linda to put together. She likes to avoid as many small parts as she can.

I can't wait to see what Linda makes with the Minions. She makes cards for Operation Write Home and that is one reason she likes to keep her files as simple as possible since she makes multiples of the same card and the less parts the better.

You can download the files -

4th Of July Parade - Layout

I don't know that I have ever attended a 4th of July Parade but I know there are many American's who do attend parade's and I thought I would design a layout for the occasion. I actually posted the picture in my Facebook group asking if anyone could use it and since there were several that said they could I thought I would go ahead and post it on here for download.

The gray squares are for picture placement but of course you can use whatever size you want and move things around. I think the ability to use the "texture" really helps to see how a layout will look before you start cutting anything.


Download File -


On a side note my daughter got our pool cleaned out and we got it up and running now so I might not be doing much crafting for awhile. I am getting a little pale and need to work on my tan *okie laughs since she finds herself amusing*. Our temps are suppose to get up to around 100 this week so ya bet your bottom dollar my fat butt will be in the pool cooling off after work.

Party Owl Night Long - Layout

The last layout I did I wasn't real happy with but by that time it was almost 2am and this was the best I could come up with at that time of the morning. My friend Tisha sent me some pictures of her birthday and I just really like the saying "Party Owl Night Long".

I think sometimes I would rather design stuff that actually cut anything out and put it together. I guess it just gives me a sense of accomplishment to design a layout or card and by the time I am done with the design I want to move on to something else instead of cutting the stuff out and using it.

This file includes:
Title
Branch
Owl


Download File -

Forever Family - Layout

This was the second layout I designed during my night of boredom and avoiding other things I could have been doing. My friend Carmen sent me some pictures of her most recent trip back home. I know she has a lot of Webster's Pages she needs to use up so I decided to so a design that would work well with that paper line.

The cuts for this layout include:
Title
Daisies
Lattice
Half circle
Half Circle scallop
Bookplate
Dragonfly

Download File -

Art Princess - Layout

I was a little bored last night and decided to post in my facebook group that I would design a layout to the first person who send me 3 pictures to design a layout around. I quickly had 3 pictures posted! I ended up doing a total of 3 different layouts and will post the other two this weekend.

The little girl in the pictures seemed to really love art and most of the pictures were of her drawing or showing her at work I decided to make the title "Art Princess".

Cuts in this file include -
Title
Scissors
Paintbrush
Glue jar

The ribbon and bow are just a suggestion but are in the file as well.

Download the file -

IT'S BACK! Pocket Card

First off - HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!! Hope everyone has an enjoyable and safe 4th of July!

Years ago back when I was coming up with a lot of original files in Design Studio I made a card that I titled "Pocket Card". I honestly couldn't come up with a better name for the card. I was limited in Design Studio with what I could do since you couldn't import images, no splitting and removing images, and some things just wouldn't weld together. But now with using Make The Cut life is much simpler. I was looking through some old files and came across the Pocket Card and thought I would try to remake it in MTC since I really did like this card. It didn't take long and things can be moved around a lot easier than back in the ol days.

Here is a screen shot of the file I made for the Pocket Card. I once again used the "texture" feature in MTC which I am totally loving but not loving having to go find textures to download and put in files *okie doesn't like time consuming work but thinks she is a glutton for punishment since she seems to have a lot of time consuming things she does*. 

The bottom base card doesn't need to be cut, it's just there to show how the flap has a cut for the front of the card, which will be easier to understand in the following photos.

One of the original Pocket Cards I made was a Halloween Card. I used several different cartridges to fancy up the card *okie wonders if fancy up is really a term but decides she likes it and will let it stay* and this card shows how versatile the card can be. You can do more than just put a decorative piece for the flap, such as using a cut on the flap as well. The file available has a "mat" for the flap too.

On the inside of the card I decorated one of the tags and left the other blank for a sentiment to be written on. It will also hold a gift card nicely. Even the little pockets can be decorated if you so choose.


The finished card when folded is the same size as a standard A2 card, 4.25" x 5.5" or at least close enough!




Download Pocket Card

All Scrapbook Steals...WOW!

My friend Carmen and I were having one of our infamous online shopping sprees last week and came across a fantastic deal on acrylic albums at All Scrapbook Steals. First, let me tell you about our infamous sprees. For a few years now Carmen and I have a habit of talking on the phone and perusing the internet for fabulous buys of scrappy supplies. We fill our carts up with what we want and then try and think if we really want or need the items. Over the years I figure we have bought "virtually" close to a quarter of a million dollars worth of supplies and by virtually I mean virtual world...we usually don't buy the stuff but dream of it. Luckily most places have the carts empty after you leave the site.

But back to this deal we found. Most of ya'll know I love to alter things...tins, frames, albums, basically anything that I can cover in paper. Well the price on these albums was AWESOME! They had the Scrapworks 6x6 tabbed acrylic albums for $1...yep you read that right! Of course we couldn't resist and had to "actually" buy some! I got them within a few days and I am quite pleased with them and can't wait to get busy on these. Last time I checked they still had some albums but the price is now $2.99 which is also a great price since these usually retail for about $10 or more.

When I alter things I generally like to have a template so it makes it easier to figure out any cuts I might want to make and in true okie fashion I made a template for these albums. I am sharing the file in Make The Cut format for anyone else who might have gotten in on the deal, or if you just want the template for future reference or *okie think she has a lot of or's in the water and then cracks up at her wonderful sense of humor* if you already have some and need a template.

I have been working on one of these using the Basic Grey Wassil 6x6 paper pad and I am really loving having the template! I am able to get my images cut to just the right size and can see where I want to place things on the page.

I guess you could use it for cutting your own little albums out of chipboard if you wished. So anyway, here is the file for you to do with what you will. 

Download file -
MTC - Scrapworks 6x6 Tabbed Album

Lollipop Holder - File Available!

I have heard about some dies that are available that are for lollipop holders and I thought that was a cute idea. My problem though...well why would I get a die and have to do one at a time when I have machines that cut paper and I could cut a whole passel of holders just with a push of a button!

Maybe it was a little more work than pushing a button since I did have to make the file. It's amazing what a trapezoid, circle and rectangle can make! I did a little extra work and made a mat for the holders and I also made a few different "buttons" and even one tag.

Oh and notice the nice "texture" layer I did on the file! I played around with Make The Cut the other night and figured out how to do that and it makes it nice so you can see more of how things will look when patterned paper is used.

Here is the front few of the lollipop holder. I used Stampin Up cardstock for the base since it is a good heavy cardstock but I think any good cardstock would work good. The pattern paper is some scraps of a Basic Grey Lemonade pad I had and when I say scraps I do mean scraps! So if ya do have some scraps laying around this might be a great project to use them on instead of just tossing them in the trash.

I threaded the ribbon through the holes and just tied a bow on the front to keep the lollipop in place.

I think these would be great for favors for class parties, showers, or even just a little "thank you" or "thinking of you" treat. I wanted to really come up with some clever sayings and get some fantastic things done with these to post but I was too excited to share the file to take my time and come up with something cute!

The file includes the pieces that are in the first picture.

File Downloads -

Cupcake Cherry - Group Card

**I got my scheduling wrong, yesterday's card was the last card we made but we made this one during the previous session**

One of the images that my clients wanted was a cupcake...well of course I have about 200 cupcakes to choose from *okie wonders if she exaggerates a little at times* but I wanted something new so I got to work with a clipart image and came up with a new cupcake cut for their cards. I fell in love with the fluffy looking frosting on this one.

I try to keep the cards fairly simple because I really don't trust my lack of patience in trying to help 6 people in putting cards together. One of the options they had this time was using either side of the double sided cardstock on the card mat, which by the way they do know what it is to mat a card now! LOL Most opted for the words but a few opted for the polka dot pattern.

They used the Stampin Up scallop punch and then I punched out the sentiment they stamped. The inside of the card has "celebrate one cupcake at a time".

You can download the file for the Cherry Cupcake below -

This was the last card my groups made and by this time I was doing a long sigh of relief! Like I said before I love doing this for my groups but it sure takes a lot out of me, not to mention a dent in my cardstock LOL.

While we didn't put a sentiment on the outside of this one I did let them each choose a sentiment for the inside and of course everyone one of them wanted a different sentiment and different ink color, so that did take some time to do.

On this last day I had there other 3 cards bagged up in a ziplock bag with their name. This way they could have all 4 cards together and if they dropped them or spilled something the cards wouldn't get ruined. Had each of them sign the back of the card and told them that way the receiver would know they made it. I think I need to get one of those "handmade by:______________" stamps for future card making sessions.

I am now looking forward to starting on some projects for myself but yet they are already asking about Christmas cards *okie smiles and laughs softly*, I guess they really do enjoy our little card making sessions!

Download the file -

Happy Birthday Balloon - Group Card

I'm posting the next birthday card my groups made during our little card making marathon. I took my computer with me one day and one of my clients helped me with designing this one. She told me how big to do the happy birthday and how many balloons to use, this particular client is also quite proficient with the Cuttlebug and gives a great tutorial to the others when we make cards.
 

Once again I did assemble the image pieces due to time constraints and while this was a fairly fast card to assemble they did get to choose their sentiment for the inside and that took some time since each client seemed to want a different sentiment on the inside. 


The files for this card include the cuts for the image on the card.

Download MTC file -Happy Birthday Balloon
Download SVG file - Happy Birthday Balloon

12 Card Kits - All Different But All The Same

I posted about never having too many supplies a few weeks ago in my I Am Able To Prove post and about how one of my clients wanted to make a sympathy card instead of a birthday card. I thought I should post a few pictures I got of the cards they made.

I am always amazed at the compassion my clients at the ICF/MR have for others, especially those who work with them and when someone they know feels pain they are the epitome of sympathetic emotion and compassion. While making the cards they did discuss their feelings about what happened but mostly the discussed how they wished they could help their beloved job coach during her time of grief.

They poured their love in each card they made and carefully chose each stamped image and gave reasons they wanted that particular image. They also were able to choose the sentiments I had printed for the inside of their cards. The lady holding the card she made told me "take my picture with my card" and I explained to her once again why I couldn't take her picture and she said "well here, I cover my face and it is okay". Don't ever let anyone tell ya that my clients don't know their way around confidentiality! I also promised to show her this post on the internet after I got it posted, which I will do in a few days.

Here is another close up picture, wish I would have gotten pics of all the cards but since they all basically looked the same you can see the basic idea with just a few. I took several Cuttlebug folders and they each used that on the mat of their cards.





Now a little side story about this card making event...
After all the cards were made I went to find the director of the workshop and couldn't find her. I went into the lunchroom to see if the lady that works in there could call and find out where she was as the cards were to go to the grieving mother that night. When I was showing the lunchroom lady the cards a dollar bill fell to the floor. I quickly looked to see whose card it was. The lunchroom lady said "you gotta put that back in there" and I told her "Well I wasn't going to keep the dang thing!" and we both laughed and then we discussed the compassion that was being shown. A few days later the lady whose card held the dollar bill came up to me and said "oh I put a dollar in my card. I wish I would have had a five, but that is all I had at the time". I inquired why she put the dollar in the card and she told me "I know she is going to have to be off work for awhile and she is going to need some money. I just wanted to help as much as I could". Talk about having to choke back tears, which seems to happen to me a lot out at the little place called McCalls Chapel School, I thought I wasn't going to make it down the hall before she saw tears running down my face. I went outside and composed myself and went and reported to the lunchroom lady what my client had said and guess what...she had to choke back a few tears herself!

Hip Hip Hooray! Card From Group

A few months ago I asked my groups if they would like to do some birthday cards. In the past we have done Valentine's, Easter and Christmas cards and I thought it would be nice if they had a few birthday cards on hand to give to others. I am not sure why I asked because I knew the answer would be a unanimous YES! I did agree to let them each make 4 birthday cards.

During one session we discussed cooperation and that is when we decided what kind of things they would like on their cards. This first card wasn't really thought up by them but I thought it was one they would like, well actually they did think of a birthday hat!

Since I only have an hour to for group I did assemble the hippo and hat before hand. Since I thought it would be nice to have some Stickles on the hat I figured that was another reason to assemble the image beforehand. We sure wouldn't have enough time to let those dry by the end of group. The group then put all the card mat, image and sentiment pieces together. They alsodid their own stamping.

I did punch the sentiments out so we could get them lined up most of the group members punched their raspberry colored pieces. We used the following Stampin Up punches -
Word Window
Modern Label
Scallop Oval
Large Oval

The file for this card includes the hippo and the birthday hat and it is available in Make the Cut and SVG formats.

Download MTC - Hip Hip Hooray
Download SVG -  Hip Hip Hooray

Joining Shapes to Letters - MTC Tutorial

I was skimming through the Make The Cut forum the other night and came across a post where a woman was having some problems with joining a shape to a letter. I of course thought it was a quick fix but it wasn't! I tried to boolean join *okie still really wonders what in the heck that means* and all the options for it didn't produce the desired effect. After trying several other things it finally dawned on me what to do...I know this might seem time consuming and complicated but it really does go fast and I am including pictures since I have a hard time explaining things.

Step 1 - Choose your letter and image, set objects to desired size and position. In this case I used the letter M and a baseball.

 
Step 2 - Click on the baseball (or object of your choice) and do a "break". After the images is broken then select the inside of the image, or guts if you will *okie cracks up laughing*. Now hit "copy" and then delete. If you are unable to get all the pieces then just do a "copy" and "paste in place" to a new mat until you have all the pieces removed.

Step 3- You should be left with the letter and what is now the base layer of the image.









Step 4- Weld the two objects together.









Step 5 - Now do a "paste in place" with the parts you deleted and weld together and POOF! You have your image and letter as one image. 








I am really not sure how Make The Cut works since I am fairly new to the program, all I know is that all the welding and joining options wouldn't work for me. The lady who was needing the help was able to quickly join her shape and letters with the instructions I gave her. Another lady gave some instructions about a "import to a raster image" which I have no idea what that even is but it might work more easily if you know what it is and how to do it. For me this method worked fine and really did go quickly!

Getting Use To The Pazzles!

I was so excited when I got my Pazzles and that excitement went away quickly when I tried cutting some things and a few times I almost cut through the dang mat! One of the reasons I wanted the Pazzles instead of the Cameo was because of the power, not realizing the very reason I wanted the machine was going to be a like a toothache when ya don't have to a bit of Novocain around!

With that said I would like to say I am LOVING the Pazzles now! It took me some getting use to because there is a very large range in the pressure, a 0-50 range to be exact, in the Make The Cut software cutting options. I finally started figuring out some of the settings and then I would forget them so I decided I needed to keep them recorded.

After just writing on scraps I decided to use my Stampin Up Tag punch, the large one to be more specific, and writing the settings on those. I do try to write the company name if I know it, such as Stampin Up, DCWV etc. The one that says "designer" would be papers like Basic Grey, Bo Bunny, etc. When I get more ambitious I am going to punch holes in the tags and add the tags to a ring or something so I can just flip through them. For now, they just stay stacked up on my crafting table where I can grab them easily.

Oh and thank you Tuki for asking me to post this! She wanted to "pin it" for future reference.

Battle of the Toilet Paper

Evidently this battle is one that is fought in many houses across the nation, and possibly the world *okie wonders if all countries have toilet paper holders*, you know the one....NOT PUTTING THE NEW ROLL OF TOILET PAPER ON THE HOLDER!

Last week I had posted on Facebook evidence that my daughter does not put the new roll on the holder. This is something that drives me up the wall...how hard is it to take the old roll off and pop the new roll on? Many friends on Facebook chimed in confirming that this travesty does occur in other households.  When I lived here alone *okie closes her eyes for a moment remember the sweet serene times she use to have in her house* there was always toilet paper where it was suppose to be...on the holder!

Of course  the only thing worse than the new roll sitting on the holder is when the roll is empty and there isn't a new roll readily available. To be honest, that does happen in my house as well...in both bathrooms! I swear I think the kids eat the stuff. I told them a few months ago that they were restricted to 5 squares per bathroom visit and then told them "WIPE AND FOLD, WIPE AND FOLD". They just laughed at me *okie gives an exasperating sigh* and I wasn't kidding.
 
Yesterday morning when I went to the bathroom I used the last of the toilet paper on the roll and instead of putting on a new roll I decided to leave a little note instead. I quickly went into my craftroom, grabbed a Post-It note and wrote the following: "Due to the planets lack of natural resources toilet paper will no longer be provided in this establishment. You may use your natural wiper (i.e. your hand). Please wash after each use!".

I knew this would either get a huge eye roll from my daughter or a huge laugh. I wasn't sure which and since I was leaving to go to the office I thought it best that I wasn't present for her reaction.

While at lunch with a friend I was going to read her something from my Facebook and I noticed my daughter had tagged me on a post and this was the result! Her note reads: Due to the daughters new job, toilet paper will always be provided in this establishment. We may all use the toilet paper instead of our natural wiper! You must always wash your hands! HA HA HA!!!

Of course I about fell out the booth at Applebee's from laughing at my daughter's response!

Some of you might remember what a rough summer I had with her last year when I had begun to think she had lost her ever loving mind but come to find out it was the effects of the Depo Provera shot she was on, and I think this goes to show how things have changed in a year. Last year my note would have caused her to go into hissy fits and this year she shot back at me with humor. While having her and her boyfriend live here might not always be the ideal situation at least I can say I enjoy my daughter, even if she doesn't always put the toilet paper on the holder!

Another Tumbler!

My cousin Lisa, who lives in Missouri, stopped through on her way home from Texas and I loaded her up on some vinyl and other crafty goodies. I also sent a few things home with her for her daughter Jessica who is also a papercrafter. Lisa bought my E2 from me last year so I am  hoping she will get into doing some great projects now that she is getting settled in to her new home.

While she was here we were discussing the vinyled tumblers and she said "oh you could make me one of those so I could have one to use at my new job". And...of course I did! I asked what kinda of things she wanted on it and she sells Scentsy so she asked for something that related and we came up with a great tumbler for her! It would have been better if  had some sage green vinyl but hey, I can't have it all can I? HA HA

It's always hard to photograph this dang things so I took a couple of pictures. Here you can see most of her name. The font Sister which is the font like Scentsy uses was used for her name. I can't remember the font I got the swirls from and the stars were from the ones included in the MTC program and I just skewed them to make them odd sizes.

When I was going through vinyl to box up and send home with Lisa I told her "you can't have any of my glitter vinyl because I don't have that much". But I did honor her with using a little of my fancy vinyl on her tumbler. I think she felt a little special...if she didn't she should have! HA HA!

The swirls were a little thin so I did a shadow layer to thicken them up a little. I also broke the original design up and just used pieces from the swirl image so I could just use what I wanted. Have I told you lately how much I LOVE Make The Cut? Well I am telling you now! I swear the more I use that program the more I fall in love!

Lisa was very pleased with her tumbler and I think she will use it with pride!

I Am Able To Prove

There is no such thing as too many crafting supplies!

Yesterday one of my clients at the ICF/MR came and asked if she could make a sympathy card instead of a birthday card for group today. I was so touched by the way she was expressing herself about her sadness for one of the staff members who lost a child to a drowning accident over the weekend and I told her I thought that was a fabulous idea. We were scheduled to make the cupcake birthday cards for today but after a lot of quick work last night we will be making sympathy cards that they can send to their very loved staff member.

I quickly realized that I am not use to working under pressure, nor do I like doing so, but I knew I needed to do this for my clients so they can express their caring to their staff.

Coming up with 12 different cards that needed to be alike was going to be a challenge for me. I didn't want all 12 to be exactly the same but they needed to assemble the same so the instructions can be clear and simple while we are doing the activity. I finally came up with a design I thought would work and my stamps that have been neglected were coming off the shelf. I can honestly say this is when having my stamps cataloged comes in handy! I was easily able to flip through and find the stamps I thought might work.

From the picture above you can see I used quite a few different inks, and boy was I glad I had so many colors to choose from! The use of the Stampin Up Color Wheel was a life saver since it saved a lot of time from trying to figure out what colors went together. I know Linda often thinks I am some kind of color genius but truth be told...I CHEAT! HA HA HA, but seriously...I do.

I went with a shape similar to the Stampin Up Top Note die and stamped each one differently. I did have to repeat some of the sentiments since I don't have a lot of sympathy ones. There will be 3 base colors, Chocolate Chip, Certainly Celery and Really Rust for the cards. The mats for the stamped images are So Saffron, Almost Amethyst and Mellow Moss...or at least something very similar.

I was able to use the Hallmark Card Studio software to print sentiments for the inside of the cards and luckily there were 83 to choose from in the sympathy category so each card will have a different sentiment on the inside.

I will make sure to take some pictures of their finished work and post for you guys to see and let you know how the did with this activity. I think it will be very therapeutic for them in several ways. 

When I was cleaning the tables off and putting stuff away that is when I realized how lucky I am to have so many supplies to choose from. If I didn't have all the stamps, ink pads, paper, etc at my disposal it would have taken a lot longer to figure out how to do these all differently but yet the same. So if anyone ever tells you "Hey you have too much stuff" then you just tell them "Nope, okie says there is no such thing as too much stuff and I believe her!".

Bra With A Bow - FILE DOWNLOAD!

I keep thinking I am going to be able to use some of the files I have been working on but I just haven't been able to find the time or the  motivation yet so thought I better post something so ya'll don't think I am a liar! This is the week we will be doing the birthday cards in group and I will be posting those files later for download.

I was playing around in Make The Cut one night and made this file. I wanted to make a thank you card that said "Thanks" and the inside "For Your Support. Or maybe a birthday card and say "I hope your birthday is uplifting". Since I haven't used the file and it is sitting there waiting to be used I thought I'd go ahead and post it and hope someone uses it! If you do use it please send me a picture so I can share it on here for others to see.

This was a simple one so I have the Make the Cut file and the SVG file available.

In The Name Of Science

I am one of those people who can get lost for hours reading tips on the internet...everything from how to repaint laminate furniture to keeping your skin looking young with ingredients from your refrigerator. The most recent tip I read was this morning and it was about how to repel mosquitoes with lime halves and cloves.

According to the information you just put cloves into limes that have been sliced in half and TADA! the mosquitoes don't come around. I don't know if this really works but it seems like a great waste of limes to me since they are more enjoyable in Margarita's! I have to admit the picture seems rather pretty and would look great on a patio table.


When I was growing up we had well water. Our water smelled of rotten eggs and most people didn't like to drink it. My family was use to the smell so it didn't bother us and after we got a new fridge with a water spigot so cold water came out we didn't notice the smell at all and besides I always thought our water tasted so much better than any other water I tasted when I would go somewhere. And to be truthful many of our guests loved the taste of our water as well. But what does this have to do with mosquitoes?

I can remember quite well the summer of 1980. We had a lot of company that summer. We hadn't been in our new house very long and many of our relatives lived in other states in towns or cities and they would come to visit and stay for a week or so. I always loved having company and relished listening to stories they would tell of their lives. Since it was summer we would sit outside a lot and of course there were flies and mosquitoes in abundance. I remember my cousins swatting at the mosquitoes constantly while my family and I would sit there in relative comfort, I say relative because it was summer and it was Oklahoma so you know it couldn't be totally comfortable. After noticing this pattern for awhile and asking around my mom came to the conclusion that our water, which went through a sulfur vein, kept us from getting bitten by mosquitoes.

Here it is summer time and I always swear I am going to get some sulfur tablets and take them and see if it works for mosquito repellent and I still have not done so! I think I will pick up a bottle this week and start taking them, worse case scenario is that it helps my arthritis in my joints, and see if it works. I am not going to tell the kids I am taking them and then I am going to see if the mosquitoes bite them more when we are outside. I will update the results at a later date. Oh and don't ya'll tell them about this experiment either or they will think I am being mean if it works and I don't get bitten like they do. If it does work I will tell them their sacrifice is greatly appreciated and it's in the name of science!

Remember The Elephant? It's Loose!

I am sure ya'll remember my post about the "Elephant In The Crafting World". Well it looks like someone decided to bring that elephant way out into the open and on the loose!!

Someone in my Facebook group posted they saw where a place called Tech Junkee was selling the CD that contains the files and low and behold I had to go there and see myself! BAM! There it was!

273 DIGITAL CRICUT CARTRIDGE SVG ADD-ON PACK

Can you say "OH MY WOW!"

According to the website it includes instructions and can work with other programs besides SCAL.  I am curious to see if Provocraft gets wind of this or if they are allowing this! I can't imagine actually allowing this but at this point who knows. Maybe they decided they would make more money this way.

I have been using Make The Cut exclusively since October and while I have not regretted one time getting rid of my cartridges I will say that I have a tendency to like Cricut images better than most of the SVG's out there simply because I think they are better quality and not always so "cutesy" like most sites have available. If Cricut did allow their new carts to be sold in SVG format I would likely buy one or two if it were something I liked.

So folks, leave a comment and tell me what you think of this situation!

Losing My

DOMAIN! Yeah that means this thing right here! A couple of years ago I decided to make the switch of changing my blog to just okieladybug.com without all the extra address. My friend Joy encouraged me to do so as she had changed hers and it was only like $10 a year which isn't bad. I have been on automatic renewal and haven't worried about it until I got an email that said my domain was suspended...EEEK! I forgot to update my credit card information back in mid-March, but considering I was on vacation it wasn't one of the most important things on my to-do list.

When I got the 3rd email about my domain being suspended I thought I better get in and rectify the situation before I lost everything I have done over the last 5 years...OMG did I just say 5 years? *okie is a bit shocked*. Anyway, I thought "I'll just log in and fix that real quick". It ended up being a 3 day adventure trying to figure out how the heck I was suppose to log in! I kept getting errors and "domain suspended" errors. You would think it would be a quick call and POOF it is fixed. IT IS NOT! Evidently if you have an account like mine it is considered "free" and you get no support other than a forum where not much information is given. I was finally able to find a user suggestion of going into an old email from Google and try one of the links in there when you first signed up for your domain. Luckily I don't throw away all my email and it was lost in there but found easily with doing a search.

Even after finding the link and getting logged in it still took me at least an hour to figure out where to go in the control panel and  update the information and then another 20 minutes trying to find out where to make sure I had the domain thing on automatic renewal!

During this whole process I kept thinking "dang it is this even worth the hassle" and then I remembered how much work I have done over the last 5 years and how it is easy for me to refer back to a project I have done and knew I had to keep at it until I had the dang thang fixed!

I am busy this weekend getting card kits ready for my groups out at McCalls. I have been promising them we would do some birthday cards and we would so this after school was out. I shouldn't have asked how many they wanted to do because they said 10, 6, 4 and various other numbers. I agreed on the 4! That means I have 48 kits to do but since I will go ahead and do some extra I will actually  have a total of 64 kits. It's gonna be a lot of work but will be well worth it since my groups really enjoy the activity. I'll be sure to post pictures!

Double Wall Tumblers - Dollar Tree

Recently my cousin Teresa called and asked what I was doing...nothing of course! So she came down to spend the night. She wanted to go to Dollar General and get some double wall tumblers for a Christmas project. We had made some for her grandkids at Valentine's day and they really loved them. We were able to find the tumblers for $2.50 each and she got quite a few so we could fix them up. When Teresa checked out the cashier asked her if she wanted her receipt and Teresa said "No, don't think I will be bringing anything back". Quick lesson...always get your receipt! I had told her about the glass cutting boards a friend of mine had done, I can't say who since they are gifts she has made, and we decided to go to Dollar Tree and see if they had any of the glass cutting boards.

After browsing around and not finding the cutting boards we were on our way to leave and what do we see? A basket full of double wall tumblers! Jokingly I told Teresa "I should just push the whole cart up to the checkout stand". Teresa quickly said "I can take those other ones back to Dollar General" and then we remembered she didn't get her receipt. Luckily my daughter works at the store and I was able to call her and have her dig the receipt out of the trash! I knew I wanted the blue ones for a project I will be doing later on this year. There was only one clear and Teresa didn't care what color she had. She counted out the ones she wanted and I got what I wanted and that left a total of 4 tumblers in the basket. We shrugged and decided to take those as well. So we managed to take every tumbler in the basket and put them in our basket, which we got a good laugh on that one. My lovely daughter had Teresa's receipt ready when we arrived at General Dollar and we were able to quickly get her money back, it saved her something around $20 I do believe.

I posted about the find on Facebook and my friend Joy, aka Happy Happy Joy Joy, promptly went to her Dollar Tree and snagged up some of the tumblers. She also made a post about some other cool finds at Dollar Tree that crafters can alter. You can see the post HERE.

Later on I showed Teresa once again how easy it is to do the vinyl in Make The Cut and we discussed the Silhouette Cameo. She has talked about them before and her daughter would love to have one for projects. We started looking around at the machines on the internet and she was able to find a good deal on a Cameo on eBay that even came with some vinyl...so she bought it! That reminds me I need to call and ask her if she got it yet since that was last weekend.

My friend Chelle brought her daughter over to see me a few days later, as Makaylah kept telling her she wanted to she me, and I made her a cup. Makaylah also kept trying to snag various ladybugs in my craftroom and Chelle told me that Makaylah loves ladybugs. I did let her have a magnet from my craftroom and my fridge and told her the other stuff was mine and she would have to get her own. That's when I rememberd the tumblers and decided to make her one with some ladybugs on it. Half way through she said she wanted a butterfly on there as well and I told her "too bad, you are getting ladybugs". I don't think she knew the difference.

I wanted to get a picture of the tumbler done but Makaylah promptly wanted me to put juice in her cup and then wouldn't let go of it for me to get a picture. This was the best picture I could get of the cup and I am lucky I got it! She really loved her cup and knows it has her name on it.

It's hard to tell in the picture but I did a shadow of her name and welded the ladybugs to the shadow and then did the top layer in lime green. Next time I will have to remember to take a picture before handing it to the recipient. Especially when it is a 2 1/2 year old toddler who loves ladybugs!