Where does the time go....

I Can't Believe It's Nearly The End Of August!!!

 

Truly folks, where has the time gone?  I know I've been busy, but WOW... time has slipped by again.  Is anyone else realising that the older you get (and therefore the less time you have on this planet), the quicker the times seems to fly by?

 

I'm still crafting, but it really is in 'spits and starts'.  The caravan park is nice and busy (good for anyone who values their job, in this time of uncertainty), with the main six weeks coming to an end.  And for once... what a great summer!  Yes, at last, we have had one, and this weekend is set to be another scorcher! At last the kids know why, us adults have been moaning that the "summers aren't what they used to be".  Its been wonderful to see children able to play outside, to see them enjoying the swimming pool and we've had to re-fill the sand pit yet again! (If the caravan owners swept up the sand and put it back in the sandpit instead of the bin... we'd be ok LOL).  But back to the crafting...

 

I recently bought the 'Fabulous Finds' Cricut cartridge, I'm so looking forward to having a play with this one.  I managed to get it for a song (always an added bonus), so it didn't break the bank and I needed a crafting fix!

 

My 'Little Box of Cards' has recently been getting low on children's cards, so I knocked up a couple of cards to add to it (for those little emergencies).  The first one is a quick 'all-rounder', made using the 'Just Because' Cricut cartridge and a load of scraps from my growing pile...

 

 <--- inside

 

The second is more of a 'boy' themed card... again very quick (not a lot of time spare at the moment... you know!).  This time using the 'Boys Will Be Boys' cartridge (LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this cartridge). Pirate hat and sword are 'popped' to stand out a bit.

 

 

 <--- inside and envelope

 

Sorry about the poor quality pictures, but... TOUGH.  I don't have enough money left, after buying my crafty goodies, to then invest in a decent camera!  I'm afraid my phone will have to do!

 

Challenges...

 

CRAFTIN DESERT DIVA'S - #13 - 'Anything Goes'

 

CARDZ TV - Go-to Galz Linky Party #2 - 'Pop It Up or Make It Wiggle'

 

 

 

HAVE FUN CRAFTING (and enjoy the weather... while it lasts!)

 

 

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Hello April...

Well I've finally got around to posting... its been a busy few days.  Easter is now over, disco, bingo, scavenger hunt and egg hunt all being a great success, even if the weather did its utmost to put a spanner in the works!

 

Being part of the tourist industry, we rely heavily on good weather to draw in our customers... what can I say?  If its not snowing, the east wind is blowing up a gale!  It is bitterly cold here (rain we're used to... this cold?  We are not!). Needless to say some of our customers stayed away... tucked up warmly in there little houses instead of risking frost frozen caravans with no water ('cause it had frozen, and no amount of heating was gonna make it run again!).  Anyway we did have the 'die-hard' intrepides, who simply weren't prepared to miss out (water or no water), these wonderful people braved the cold, and helped children find eggs; managed to collect various obscure items on their scavenger list; danced the night away and shouted 'bingo' with the best of 'um!  Thank you one and all for keeping me in employment!

 

My son also had his 22nd birthday (celebrated by his sister and I going shopping  and lunching- WITHOUT HIM!), he didn't seem to mind though as I treated him to a take-away indian meal.  He said he'd rather stay home and tackle the giant Lindt bunny I bought him for his birthday present.

 

The Grand National was run yesterday (well done Auroras Encore! 66/1 winner), so the sweepstake needed to be organised (which I did NOT win).  Its my step-father's birthday, so later today we will be celebrated with a family meal out... can't wait, carvery here I come!

 

As you can read, I've not had a lot of time to craft (but I have managed to squeeze in the odd fix, here and there), I thought I'd just give you a quick up-date and post some pictures of the mini cards my daughter asked me to make, she wanted four cards (2 x boys, 2x girls) for the children who are leaving her care (nursery), to start school, here's what I came up with...

 

...with handmade envelopes!

...'BOYS WILL BE BOYS'  Cricut cartridge

...'ONCE UPON A PRICESS' Cricut cartridge

 ...'CREATE A CRITTER' Cricut cartridge

...'BOYS WILL BE BOYS' Cricut cartridge

 

 

I have some more things to show you, but they will have to wait until I have a little more time, I'm off to bed now... so nightie, night xxx

 

 

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Boys Will Be Boys IV

'MY Cricut Cartridge Alphabet'... Number Four

 

Released in September 2010, BWBB is one of those cartridges you return to again and again.  It has lots of boy-themed images (naturally), but also two great fonts. 

       

 

 

The Creative Features are:- 'layer', 'arrow font', 'block font', 'phrase', 'phrase layer' and 'shadow'.  The images are everything little boys could wish for, bugs, worms, snails and sports, although many of the images can be made girl-friendly with the simple use of girly colours and papers.  I love the 'shift layer' feature (circle or square block background), I think it makes the image one that can 'stand alone', particularly good for cards, but I think this cartridge really comes into its own when its used for scrapbooking, especially the fonts.  The cuts are very simple, which makes this a great cartridge for beginners.   There are also some embossing folders available out there for this cartridge (and the Robotz cartridge) called 'Cuttlebug Companion'.

 

My View... one of the best out there, both for scrapbooking and card-making, the images are bold and very versitile.  You will never be without an idea with this cartridge in your collection, especially if you make anything for children.  Your biggest problem will be... deciding what to cut first.

 

My Verdict... just go and get it.  It is definately in my top five!  Love it, love it, love it!!!

And just to prove that, it may be called 'Boys Will Be Boys' but that doesn't mean the girls can't get a look in!

 

I managed to use up aload of scraps doing this (pat on the back, please). The aeroplane is cut at 2 3/4" and the sentiment says.. "You're Just PLANE Cute", the edges are inked with Tim Holtz (victorian Velvet), I think my ribbon is a little skew-wiff, but what can you do? I'm not perfect! Another one for my niece's birthday, at this rate she'll have a box full!

 

Challenges:-

 

FANTABULOUS CRICUT - #150 - 'FCCB's Fun With Puns'

 

PAPER CRAFTING INSPIRATION - CWC #123 - 'Things With Wings'

 

CELEBRATE THE OCCASION - Ch. #101 - 'Girl's Birthday' ~ must use pink

 

CRAFTY CARDZ CHALLENGE - Ch #126 - 'Make a Wish' ~ make a child's birthday card

 

 

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Alphalicious II

The Cricut 'Font' Cartridges come in orange boxes, 'Image' Cartridges come in blue boxes and 'Classmates' Cartridges come in green boxes. There are some exceptions to these colors, when the cartridge is exclusive to certain companies. Recently new cartridges have been released that have a variety of coloured covers. You'll need to check the front to see if they are marked "Art" cartridge. That means they are mainly "image" cartridges.  'Solutions' Cartridges only have about 50 images on them. 'Seasonal' Cartridges only have about 25 images on them. Neither Solutions, nor Seasonal Cartridges have handbooks with them.  Cricut 'Cake' Cartridges can be used with any Cricut machine, not just the Cricut Cake.

So here's the second of 'MY Cricut Cartridge Alphabet' -  'ALPHALICIOUS', this is a font cartridge and is designed by rob and bob studio.

 

     

 

The creative features are:- 'short stack', 'crown tag', 'matchbook', 'crest card', 'shadow' and 'short stack shadow'.  The font styles are great, very modern in design and the different creative features make this a pretty versilite cartridge.  The 'matchbook' feature is really good for something different, particularly if you like to put small gifts and/or sachets into your cards.  I also like that there is both a 'card' and a 'tag' feature.  As well as this, there are some phrases towards the back of the booklet, although I think it would have been nice to include some kind of 'love' phrase.

 

My View... as font cartridges go, this is a good one (it can be difficult to make a card using ONLY a font cartridge unless you are making something very simple), but I come back to this cartridge time and time again when I need an alphabet. 

 

My Verdict... if you get it, I have NO DOUBT that you'll use it!

 

 

 

 

This is cut using the 'card' feature button (p.121) with 'ALPHALICIOUS', I love the shape of it.  Here I have used it for a 'love' card but I think it would work particularly well for a 'halloween' card.  The dogs are cut using 'BOYS WILL BE BOYS' and the hearts are from 'ACCENT ESSENTIALS', the flowers are from my stash., with added sparkle (stickles) of course!

 

Challenges...

 

PAPER CRAFTING INSPIRATION - #122 - 'Love Your Pet'

 

A CARD A DAY Blogging - Tuesday

 

CRAFTY CATZ - 'Dies and Punches'

 

PIN AND TACK - #6 - 'Anything Goes' - "Spark Your Creativity Now!"

 

CARDS TV - #125 - 'Critter Cuties'

 

FAB 'N' FUNKY - #159 - 'Flower Power'

 

HECK OF A CHALLENGE - ' Love Is All Around Us...'

 

ALLSORTS CHALLENGE BLOG - #195 - 'Animals'

 

THE PINK ELEPHANT - TPE 188 - 'Anything Goes'

 

 

 

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Two For One

I wanted to enter into this weeks challenge at 'Fantabulous Cricut' and I also needed to make a card for a five year old boy... can I incorporate the two?  This weeks challenge is called 'Queen of Hearts', you can see my dilemma... can I make the little boys card masculine enough whilst still adding the required hearts?  You judge...

 

 

The cute little robot is from the BOYS WILL BE BOYS cartridge (cut at 3") and the heart is from DOODLECHARMS cartridge (cut at 3/4").  I actually love how it turned out the red and dark navy cardstock (hopefully) make it manly enough for a little boy.

 

This will be going into -

 

Fantabulous Cricut Challenge # 147 - 'Queen of Hearts'

 

A CardA Day Blogging - Sunday

Paper Crafting Inspiration - 'Hearts to You' - # 120

 

 

Thanks for stopping by...

 

 

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Rain, rain go away...

Not having a great day, I'm feeling a little bit down, perhaps its the weather.  I know we British talk a lot about the weather , but that's because we NEVER know what we're gonna get! Yesterday was a lovely bright Autumn day, cold but dry and fresh... today... well today is WET, very WET.  The roads are flooded, the caravan park is boggy and even the poor birds are bedraggled and too scare to venture onto the feeders!  And as for me, I had to pick up some shopping and visit the doctors and by the time I got home I needed to visit the doctors again for the pneumonia I picked up on the way home!

 

Anyway enough moaning, I think I'm turning into a grumpy old woman!  I made a cute little card late last night using the 'Boys Will Be Boys' cartridge and my Cricut, I hope you like it.  Paper Playtime are doing an 'Anything Goes' challenge so I'll be putting this little lovely in.

 

I hope your day is a good one...

 

 

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OMG... OMG... OMG!!!

Ebay Update...

Did I get a bargain? Yes, I do believe I did.  I am now the proud owner of another cricut machine!

 

My little 'create' machine has been relegated to the occasional use, as its had to move over (darling) for the new (old, as in second-hand) 'expression'. Ohhhhh but its a work of art! Well no, its not going to win any prizes for beauty, but I think it is adorable! It crafts, need I say anymore? and besides they say beauty is in the eye of the beholder!

 

But I haven't got to the best bit... oh no, the cartridges that came with it! I have since hibernated in order to get better aquainted!  Believe it or not there were 14 of them, yes you heard me right F-O-U-R-T-E-E-N of them!  Wow!  There is even some Disney ones!!!  Maybe a bit complicated for me... but hey ho, I'll have a go.  Watch this space!

 

 

 

In the meantime... look at these two little cuties I did for my niece and nephew... yeah that is my lemsip in the background.  I have managed, however, to pass 'The Cold' onto others, although none of them seems to pleased with my generousity!  (apart from the tissue companies, of course).

 

 

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