As promised.... Once Upon A Princess Project!

Alright, so I've been promising a cool project from my new cartridge.... Once Upon A Princess... Of course, I couldn't help myself and had to make a bunch of these adorable little girls!
I was trying to find a way to incorporate a bunch of them into Zoe's room decor, and I thought 'why not put them on a rope?! I used ribbon here.
I cut white and pink grograin ribbon into 18" pieces, and then tied them to one another.
I then taped (I know, old fashioned, right?!) the back of each princess to the ribbon at a tie.
To end up with a long ribbon with all the princesses on it. Of course, it's 11pm here, so Zoe's long past in bed, and I am not risking waking her little butt up to decorate her room!
I tried to do a decent close up of each princess.



Of course, since I laid them on the floor of my living room, they ended up with dog hair, and dirt all over them.

On some, I used my watercolor pencils to try and add come dimension or color. I'm not sure I'm happy with how they turned out.

This little rocker turned out as my FAVORITE!
Since I spent a good chunk of time making all of these, I'll get them all hung up on the ribbon in Zoe's room tomorrow and try to get a good photo up.

Enjoy!

Dawn

Once Upon a Princess Wall Hanging

Tonight I am going to be working on a Once Upon A Princess project for my little girl's room! I am super excited about it, and think it is going to be adorable, all I'm going to tell you is that it will be a border/wall hanging type thing, but I think you'll LOVE it! I already to, and only have the little bodies cut out!

I Think You're Cool, walrus card

I wanted to find a way to use my 'I think you're COOL' stamp, and didn't want to use the small penguin or polar bear that came with it. I thought that they were just too small! So, I chose to use the Walrus (W) cut from my Zooballoo Cartridge.

The walrus is cut @ 3.5". I cut the shadow layer with light brown, the main walrus cut with dark brown. I had to cut the 'layer' feature twice, once in white for this little guy's tusks, and the other in brown core color core'dinations. The only real inking and coloring I did on the walrus, was dot his 'whiskers' with a thin brown sharpie.

The paper I used was just a plain piece of gray cardstock cut at 6X8.5" to make a 6 X 4.25" card. The light blue bottom piece is cut at 2.5"X4.25", and the upper water type print is from a Sizzix stack, cut at 5.5"X 4.25" (maybe a little shy of that to leave a little border).

I chose to also add a piece to the interior of this card, and ink the edges. I used a light blue piece, but at 5.5" X 3.75" and inked around the piece with brown pigment ink. The ribbon is a white/vanilla grograin.

I hope you enjoy! Happy Mother's Day! I will try and get some projects up tonight using my new purple cow freestyle mouse and cutter! :-) I also have played A LOT with the Princess Cartridge today.... some sneaks coming from that too.....

Wanna Crop? Yesterday's goodies and projects!

Yesterday, I attended the crop that Elisa put on. It was in Arlington, so a little ways from home (like 25 minutes) but it was a blast! Other than packing just about my whole freakin' scraproom, and then having the frantic 'expressions, or create?' decision to make (I chose to bring my create) then realized I wished I'd brought my expressions.

Anywhoo! I was so busy having fun, that I didn't take even one photo! I brought my video camera, and digital camera, in hopes of catching some of the fun, but never got around to it!

The food was good, the prizes were great and the company was even better! I was so excited that during the raffle, I won a Purple Cow Freestyle Cutting Mouse which I played with yesterday there, and LOVE LOVE LOVE it already!I also won a chipboard book, which I chose to embellish and decorate while I was there. It turned out really cute as well!

My Once Upon a Princess Cartridge was due to show up yesterday in the mail, but I didn't want to sit at home waiting for the mail, so I decided to head out and lucky for me, soineone else had it so I got to play with it there.

There were a few stores there also, Scrapville, from Snohomish Station was there for most of the morning and I got this really cool ribbon/fringe holder for all my ribbon scraps and pieces. I got it all put together today and already love it.



Here are a few of the other pages I got done also.

Re Sticky-ing your cricut mats, a short video!

I know, a common video, but I knew I wanted to show my way of doing it... so here it is!




I'll get up some great photos from all the stuff I got done today/tonight at the crop I went to! I did some super cute projects and learned a lot of awesome techniques, especially with making things more vintage-ie. :-)

Onsie Shaped Baby Shower Invitations (video!)

I made some invitations the other day, that I just adored and decided that I would make my first video and do the editing required, converting and all that good (but time consuming stuff)

So, here is the video! I also stuck up some stills of the ones from the other day! Note that the invites made in the video were cut at 4". The stills are of the ones I made at 5.5".



And here are a few photos from the other set.

Videos, editing and project how to's

I am going to be taking some time and learning how to make and edit my videos. It seems a lot more complicated than I thought it would be, but I think, just maybe it can be done. I've got two videos for you guys, and I'm hoping I'll have my first 'how-to' video up at some point tonight or tomorrow morning.

Tomorrow, I am doing a crop from 9am-2am (yes, all day and then all night!) which should be a blast! Check out their blog here.

Western Photography

I took these photos when I was out at the barn one of the last few days. I always take my camera with me, and you never know what you're going to get with each day.
Sometimes the weather is just perfect for taking shots of the various things around the barn. This is the entry to the garden, above is just one of Kim's saddles that it gorgeous with all the leather work, I love how the lead ropes and tack in the back really add to the photo.
This is James, he is Beth's adorable little guy and couldn't wait for his mom and myself to be done working (cleaning stalls) so he could run around in his underwear and start puddle jumping.
He really wanted Zoe to play with him, so without asking mom (of course!) she stripped down to her underwear too, and changed her mind very quickly.

Once Upon A Princess & Home Decor on it's way!

For Mother's Day this year, instead of sending Adam and Zoe on a hunt for things they think I would like, we decided I could just take that money, and buy myself my mother's day gifts. :-)

Guess what I am getting? Once Upon A Princess, that's right! I got some feedback from Lauren, over at Lauren's Creative because I know she has the two that I want so badly (create a critter and once upon a princess) and asked her which she would get if she could only have one. She made a good point, that I do already have Zooballoo, so I have animals, and with a two year old little girl, who couldn't use a princess cartridge?! And, honestly- I am just DYING to make that castle!

I also have been collecting my Cricut Rewards points since I started my Cricut Journey, and had 600 or so in my account, before the newest addition arrives, so I decided to cash 400 of them in (and pay shipping of $8 + $3 handling) to order another solutions cartridge directly from Provo Craft. I chose Home Decor, because I love the bugs on it, and like that it has some words and good overall designs for anything.

I've also been having some issues with my Cricut Expressions sort of ripping paper instead of cutting it occasionally. It usually happens with thinner paper, so I didn't think it was the blade, and even with the pressure up and speed down it still did it. I was at Walmart today, and like normal I always have to browse through their scrapbooking section and saw they had Cricut Replacement Blades for $8- so I got some, and just installed a new one, and will let you know how it goes. Also, they have a Black Machine now, and I think from the looks of it, like it's only sold at Walmart. I also saw that they have 12X12 mats for $12, and just now looking, they are only $9 on their site! A killer deal, if I do say so, I saw them on ebay for about $14 and then add shipping, so it does work out to be cheaper. I'm not usually a fan of Walmart, with all the bad publicity about their treatment of workers, and how they make huge profits and whatnot, but honestly- it's a good price, and I'm a true, to the bone frugalista, so- yeah.

National Scrapbook Day Challenges

I wanted to get up a post, with all my challenges in the order they should be in for My Pink Stamper's National Scrapbook Day!

Challenge 1: Mother Dear
Challenge 2: Getting Scrappy
Challenge 3:Thinking Outside the Box
Challenge 4:Like you Least
Challenge 5: Teacher Appreciation
Challenge 6:Kid's Craft Too
Challenge 7: Hey Dad
Challenge 8: Love My Color
Challenge 9: Take Shape
Challenge 10: May Day
Challenge 11: Colors of the Rainbow
Challenge 12: Critter-licious

I am so proud of myself for pushing myself and trying things outside the norm for me. I am also so proud of myself for making sure I got to do every challenge. I did a lot of them on Saturday, and busted tail to get done in one hour with each one. I finished the last two tonight. They were the two most difficult ones for me, since I knew what Cartridge was my least favorite (and I was in no hurry to use it!) and I had no clue what to do outside the box. I hope you enjoy all the weekend projects. Tomorrow, I will be cleaning stalls at Horse Head Quarters, and will probably do some photos of the horses, possibly getting their farrier work done, or whatnot. I also have some beautiful western style photos from last week!

Chow!

My Pink Stamper, NSD Challenge #4

This is challenge #4 from NSD over at My Pink Stamper. This challenge was thought up by Robyn's design team member, Pam from Simply Pam. I love Pam's blog, and really like this idea!

I too have bought cartridges thinking they'd be soooooo cool, or useful and ended up totally not loving them. I can't say I hate any of them, but I could have better spent my money (like on the Tinkerbell Cartridge I used for this challenge).



It's definitely not a cheap cartridge, and I got it with the intentions of totally decorating Zoe's room in Tinkerbell (since she got her big girl bed, with matching Tinkerbell sheets, comforter, pillows and curtains. But, poor Zoe, because this lady right here made one cut from the cartridge, and after spending an evening assembling ONE 3 1/2" Tinkerbell for a door thing, I threw in the towel, and haven't used it since. Anywhoo, I DO plan on throwing her a Tinkerbell Party, for her third birthday so I've kept the cartridge with hopes of using it at least once more. This is what I came up with for the challenge. This is really the most simple cut on the whole cartridge, and this is also the first tinkerbell i've ever cut who's eyes don't look all nuts, and like she's been doing some sort of fairy dust all night long.

I am considering just making colored copies of this project as invitations. I know, it's cheating right? I'm sure Tinkerbell won't care!

My Pink Stamper, NSD Challenge #3

This challenge was posted by My Pink Stamper on National Scrapbook day, as the 3rd challenge of the day. The challenge was called 'Thinking Out of the Box', of course we all get into the habits of making things that are pretty similar to each other, and I especially get in a funk and start to make things that all end up looking alike. This one makes you stretch to try something new. Rowena, the pink stamper design team member who came up with this challenge, used plastic in her layout, I waffled on what I should do, since I do dibble dabble in everything (stitching, embossing, cards, layouts, etc) but have never used plastic in a layout. Convieniently, Adam had some old RC body material laying around. He said it was called Lexon, I think. I can tell you, it is NOT easy to emboss into. I couldn't get it to roll through my sidekick, so I had to pull out the big gun (my Sizzix Original!) and then used a cutting die to only emboss the image. I doubt I could have cut through it, not matter how hard I tried. I probably would have broken some of my machines, and honesty- so not worth it!

Anywhoo, after doing this one, I am glad I gave it a chance, but can say that my rating of this is meerly 'meeehhhh' which means mediocre, and I probably won't be doing it again.

Scraproom tour Video!

Hey everyone! I decided to do my first video, and since I am pretty unfamiliar with editing, made sure it didn't need any! Hope you enjoy! Let me know if you have questions!

Before watching, you'll need to go to the right sidebar, down a little lower and pause the playlist. :-) sorry if anyone gets a little motion sick!

My First Video!

Should be up tomorrow. We have had a video camera laying around and I haven't bothered to try it out. While- today I did! And after spending the last 3 hours making one short, nine minute video, then messing with it to get it to work in the computer.... I THINK it's uploading to YouTube as I type. It is going to take a while, so I won't get to post it until tomorrow before I head off to muck stalls, but I am super excited!

FYI: It is a tour of the infamous 'scrapshop'

My Pink Stamper, Challenge #2 Getting Scrappy

National Scrapbook Day was yesterday, and to celebrate over at My Pink Stamper, the wonderful Robyn, hosted an all day challenge. Ever hour, on the hour, she would post a new challenge. You were supposed to create something for the challenge, and try to do it in an hour!

I participated in most of the challenges, but did miss a few of the first ones, since we took a drive out to Reiter Road, in Gold Bar to look at terrain for an RC trip Adam is planning for him and his fellow RC'ers.

This card is for the Gettin' Scrappy Challenge. It could have worked for 'outside the box also' since I rarely layer this much or do any stitching, but I used all scraps (which isn't all that tough, since I probably have as many scraps as I do whole sheets of paper.) I also am keep it organized very precisely, if I do say so myself. I'll do another post on my organization of paper. It acually works pretty well for me.

I hope you enjoy the card, I had fun making it today!


I had Zoe with me most of the day yesterday, when Adam got the 'day off' to spend hanging out with the boys and building an RC track at a friend house, and then also spending time at the track helping the guys to get their new (used) cars running. Today, he took Zoe with him to the track this morning, so I could nap which I did. Then when I woke up I headed over to the track to play with Zoe and hang out with some friends, and one's girlfriend. We had a good time in the rain!

Canadian Nickle Scraps Create a critter giveaway!

Check out the blog here to follow, and share it, enter yourself for her giveaway and check out the blog hop while you're at it!

My Pink Stamper, NSD Challenge #12

This challenge is CRITTER-LICIOUS and I don't have create a critter yet, so I had to use what I had, and with photos of Zoe, when she was crawling in dire need of being scrapbooked, I decided to use the little bugger.

My Pink Stamper NSD Challenge #11 Rainbow

In this challenge, it was to use the rainbow somehow. Zoe gathered all the colors for me (as I asked her, and did have to help a little, but give her a break- she's two!)

My Pink Stamper, NSD Challenge #10 'May Day'

This was my version of Challenge #10- May Day. I didn't want to make another card, and I'm not feeling all that scrappy at the moment, so I think this turned out cute and will look good in a shadow box on the wall! Maybe in Zoe's room.....

My Pink Stamper NSD Challenge #9

This challenge is called 'take shape' and the challenge is to make a layout, card or something with a shape. I knew I wanted a card, and remembered that my Sweet Treats Cartridge, has a feature that can do a shaped card. LOVE IT!

The Ice Cream, is cut @ 11" I used the fit to page option on the card feature. All the coordinating cuts were then done at 11" also.

My Pink Stamper NSD Challenge #8

Challenge #8 is 'Love My Color!' I thought there would be A LOT of pink entries, well being that its a PINK stamper challenge an all. I like pink, but I LOVE teal!
For this whole card, I used only one sheet of Core'dinations Core Essentials Collection. The color is Deep Lagoon. The card base is 6X12 to create a 6X6 card, I then sanded the front. Using the other half of the page, I cut a bunch of various sized flowers with the Cricut. I believe it was with the Graphically Speaking Cart, because it was already in there! The Thank You is embossed with my sidekick, and a random sizzix embossing folder that I had laying around. Then sanded, of course! I used stickles on the flower, about every other layer and made it dry quick with my embossing gun. You can see I also did some stitching on the card edge with a blue about the same color, and a one a little lighter. I don't do much stitching, I tend to poke myself too often for it to be worth it, the only injury today was very minor, and lucky didn't leave any real marks.

My Pink Stamper NSD Day Challenge #5

This actually was only made with scraps, but also fits the criteria for the creating something to show your appreciation. I figured with all the scraps I have in my scraproom, I could come up with something more exciting for that challenge! Enjoy!

My Pink Stamper Challenge #7

Hey Dad! Is the theme to this one! With Father's Day coming up, I needed to get on it and make a macho card instead of the girly one's I would normally do!

My Pink Stamper MSD Challenge #6- Kids Craft Too

Over @ My Pink Stamper.com today, she is hosting a challenge every hour for NSD!

I did one this morning, before our little outing, and this is the one that I've been thinking about doing, and have the stuff to make, but technically based on the directions over on Lauren's Creative should take much longer than an hour; unless you're me, and that would be impatient, and owning an embossing gun (which I used between coats to dry the 'modge podge' which is really a solution of three parts elmers white glue to one part water.

It is a kid's memory game. I plan on letting my little girl, Zoe have them to play with once they're completely dry. Directions are here on Lauren's Creative.

My Pink Stamper, NSD Challenge #1

This is the post from http://www.mypinkstamper.com/2010/05/here-we-go-nsd-challenge-1-mother-dear.html The first challenge of the day is mother dear, love you so. I made this mini-book.