Pink Stampers Color Challenge

Here is my layout for Pink Stamper's newest COLOR challenge.

The challenge is to create something using Teal or Blue, Green, and Brown.

I have created a two page layout using the following Cricut
cartridges: Mickey Font, Create A Critter, and B is for Boy.

~ SHELL ~

Christmas Cards

Here are some Christmas cards I made over
the weekend for my Husband's co-workers.

My Expression Is Here

Yay! I got my Christmas present early- my new designer Cricut Expression in Canary. I love the color- I was torn between the aqua and the canary, but I decided the aqua might clash with my other blue, while yellow would be a nice contrast. The only version I love more is the elusive "Peppermint" Cricut Expression. The two cartridges that came with it seem to be pretty good- Classic Font looks a lot like Times New Roman, and has some cute little shapes that look very versatile. I especially like the little apples and flowers, and it looks like you could make paper argyle with the diamonds.


Classic Font


See? I think you could cut argyle with these. Too cool!

The Lite cartridge it came with- Playtime- has a lot of cute little kids, somewhat like Paper Dolls. This is the first Lite cartridge I've owned, so I'll see if I like it. I can say right now that I think the plastic case is actually better than the cardboard one that comes with the "full" cartridges.


Playtime. It looks like Paper Dolls in the Create-a-Critter art style. The grumpy little boy on the "time out" chair is my son (^_^)

My husband and I played around with the Expression last night, and as I suspected, Design Studio works well with the 12x12 format. My only small gripe is that it is a little harder for me to judge size by looking, since the mat shows up smaller on the screen.

Now- here comes the best part- I got it for less than the Blitz price on Black Friday! I bought it off Ebay, and with shipping, it came to just about Blitz price. Then, I received a discount of $10 and got $10 in Ebay bucks for trying the new Bill Me Later service. Add to that the $35 in profit I made from selling the Create I got from the Pink Tuesday sale at Custom Crops, and I ended up paying less than $120 for an Expression and two cartridges!

There are some good deals to be had on Ebay. You have to be careful, of course, but if you shop around you can find honest sellers who are willing to make good deals. I don't know what I would do without it!

Four Cards/ Design Studio Initial Impresions

Thanks to Custom Crops' Pink Tuesday sale, I was able to obtain a copy of Cricut Design Studio for only $20. I have Sure Cuts A Lot, and I was interested in using the additional features Design Studio offers for Cricut cartridges, especially welding.

The first thing I noticed, and I have seen evidence of it across the internet, is that Design Studio is a little glitchy. They have a new version to download off the website, which I had to do immediately after installing (and then uninstalling) the software so that all of the updates would show up. That being said, after I did that, all of the cartridges showed up properly, and the software worked smoothly. I do find it mildly irritating that Provocraft will only allow you to use the software on one computer at a time.

The interface for Design Studio is very similar to Sure Cuts A Lot, and therefore is very easy to use if you have used that software. I am not sure which came first, but one is clearly modeled after the other.

As far as the functionality is concerned- I love it! One of my major complaints with the Cricut has always been "guesstimating" the size and placement of the elements. The sizing is so counter-intuitive - one example that comes to mind is the pie on Simply Charmed. The piece of pie will cut at about twice the size as the full pie on the same setting, because the cherry on top of the full pie will technically take it up to the dial height. On Design Studio, you see it as it would sit on the mat, so you never have to guess at what the finished product will be. I also love being able to move elements around on the mat to take best advantage of the paper, and of course I love being able to stack elements like I did on the cards above.

I bought a Cricut expression on Ebay, and should be taking delivery of it any time now. I think the Expression will really allow Design Studio to shine- imagine all you could cut on a 12x12 page if you could drag and drop elements where you want them! You could even do a whole layout at once that way if you wanted to use the negative images from your cuts.

So in all, my initial impression of Design Studio is favorable. I love having the same flexibility with my cartridges that I do with my true-type fonts and SVGs on Sure Cuts A Lot.

More Cards...

These are cards made from the new K & Company
pack of paper that Kitty and I came across while at Michaels.
The pack of paper was actually on sale for 1.99! AWESOME deal!!
36 double sided BEAUTIFUL pages!

Birthday Cards

Inside of card:
Sweet & Delicious Wishes

Inside of card:
I can't believe you are that old!
No... you are not old... you are a classic!!

Nerdy Bird Becomes Baby Bird

I finished my Nerdy Bird chipboard album from the class we took at the convention. One of my cousins recently had a baby, so I decided to make it a little baby book. I was a bit worried if I could pull off the baby theme with the Nerdy Bird paper, but paper this cute just seems to work for anything! Add in a little Simply Charmed smiley pie, and you just cant go wrong. A big hat tip to Darby Bowler, the creative mind behind the original album concept.

Cute-ology

Pet Layout

Farm Layout

ScrapStation Alpha Complete!

Well, mostly complete. I still need to put up new curtains and knobs on the cabinets, but it is all functional. I think it looks great, and I hope it works well. A big shout out to my husband and Shell's husband- they did the installation on the cabinets and the counters.



My bug and my paper storage. Paper storage makes SUCH a difference.



It is so convenient to have the printer in the same room. Under the counter, I have my rolling plastic carts. Yes, those ARE pieces of framed Sassafras Lass paper on the wall. What can I say- I'm a SL fangirl (^_^)



The husband trying to look cool.




It took some creativity, but they finally figured out how to mount the countertop without any supports on the floor (I want to rip the carpet out at some point).

More Cards

Happy Halloween! Here are the cards I made for Shell and Anndell- more vintage clipart, gems,and Target paper. Shelly made me this cute birthday card- I just had to post a pic! She used Sassafras Lass' Nerdy bird paper. You know she's a real friend when she uses Sassafras lass on your card (^_^)

Feline Playful's MEGA Giveaway

Oh My Goodness!
Check out Karen's MEGA 500 followers
blog candy giveaway at Feline Playful.
Ends November 5th

Coupons for the week of Oct. 24, 2010

Stampin' Moments BLOG CANDY GIVEAWAY!

Check out Andrea's Stampin' Moments
for some really fun blog candy... ends Nov. 1st!
This has been opened to everyone including
those without a blog. So check it out!!!

MPS Live Color Challenge

Robyn over at My Pink Stamper held a live color challenge...
in 30 minutes create something using Pink, Purple, and Green.
Here is what I came up with. I just recieved my new
Rock Princess cartridge so I decided to cut the rose from it.
Not very fond of these colors together but I tried.
This has got to be my 3rd fave cart!!