Happy Birthday CX & Cricut fun....

I know. I know. I said I had some exciting news and then I disappear for a week. Well I didn't really disappear I've just been busy running around getting the kids ready for school. Someone needs to remind me next year that the day before school starts is not the day to begin looking for school shoes. I really dislike shopping and shopping with kids....hate it! Ok, enough about my lame excuses. My big news....

I made this years CreativeXpress Design Team!!!! I am so excited because I get to play with all those cool cricut cartridges. Love my cricut!!! Well I can't exactly post with out some eye candy, so how about a fun cricut project. As I mentioned a few posts ago, I had the pleasure of working with Grafix for a Scrapfriends review. Did you know that shrink plastic can be cut in the Cricut. Sure can! You just want to recut the plastic to be sure to cut all the way through it.

This pear is from the Home Accents cartridge. I cut the pear out of green, yellow, red and orange Grafix. I shrunk the pieces down in the oven. You can also use your heat gun. After they were cool, I sanded all the pieces, not only to give them a cool matte finish but also to compensate for any twisting and distortion when shrinking. Glue them all together, add a pin to the back and you have a cute pin.

For this next project I cut various circles out of the white Grafix using the Cricut. I shrunk them down and while they were still hot, stamped into the plastic leaving an impression. Fun technique! Be sure to check out the Scrapfriends site to check out all the Grafix reviews.

This weekend marks CreativeXpress's birthday! To celebrate they are having an awesome sale. Be sure to check it out. Lots of good stuff!

a little Grafix fun....

Recently I had the pleasure of reviewing Grafix Shrink Film for Scrapfriends. Fun stuff!!! My favorite project that I created, however, didn't even involve shrinking down the plastic. I simply printed on it and used it as-is to make these great durable tags for my storage totes. Here let me share...

I created my tags in Photoshop and printed them out on the white InkJet Shrink Film. Note: allow a bit of drying time. I didn't before I cut my circles and the ink smeared a bit. I simply punched holes, added some bling and of course it needed some gingham.

The green boxes that hold my pattern paper are just used priority mail boxes that I've cut the sides down on to fit. I added a strip of green cardstock and a plastic tag. I also printed about more smaller tags to organize my ribbon. I keep them all in those clear shoeboxes that you can pick up on sale 3/$1.

*I'm pretty sure I saved the file for the tags, so if anyone wants a copy to make their own just drop me an email and let me know. *

I have more Grafix projects and some exciting news to share, but they're going to have to wait till tomorrow. The kids are bickering, the laundry is calling, and I have a stack of half finished projects waiting.

someday....

I've been sitting on a little secret for a bit, but I'm pretty sure I can spill the beans now. I was recently asked by Scrapfriends to help fill in and do some guest reviews!!! I love playing around, trying out new products, exploring all the possibilties they may hold. So I am very excited to have the opportunity. I had the chance to review American Crafts Zing powders and Clear Stamps. Fun stuff!

I thought I'd share a layout that I did for the review. I was a bit stumped at first. Loved the designs of the stamps but then realized....hmmmm, I don't have any wedding photos. That might be a problem, LOL! See my husband and I eloped with the hope that someday we'd have that big wedding. We have NO photos! So instead I started looking and dreaming of everything I would someday want in a wedding. someday....

Here is a card I created with the one border stamp. One of the great things about clear stamps is that you can line them up to create custom pattern paper. Those circles are examples of that.

supplies used:

stamps: American Crafts

cardstock: Prism

other: watercolors, Cricut