The great outdoors

Hello, everybody! I'm so sorry I haven't posted anything in the last couple of months. Things have been kinda crazy around here, but I've recently completed a few projects and will be posting them in the next few days. Thanks for being patient with me. Hopefully you'll enjoy these projects. I've been on a photo mosaic kick, and it's really helped me get some pictures down on paper. This first one is called "The great outdoors" and I used some pictures I took here in southern Arizona. I used Bazzill cardstock for the base, the black squares, and the title. The title was cut using the Cricut Expression and the "Opposites Attract" cartridge. Thanks for looking!

l o v e wordbook (Cricut Expression 201 project)

Okay, as promised to the students in my class...here are the page-by-page pictures of the word book we made in the Cricut Expression 201 classes on January 23 and 25. For those of you who are seeing this for the first time, this is a word book that spells out "love." I really like the look of the premade word books that are out there, but altering them is not always that much fun. So, I designed a word book that incorporates the Cricut Expression. For the base of the book, I used chipboard that was cut with a paper trimmer. The book is 6" tall, and there are five pages. The page widths are 2", 4", 6", 8", and 10". The patterned paper that covers the chipboard was also cut with a paper trimmer in the same sizes. The remainder of the cuts you see were cut using the Cricut Expression machine and the Plantin Schoolbook cartridge. The patterned papers are American Crafts, and the cardstock and brads are Bazzill. Ribbon is May Arts, "xoxo" stamp is Studio G, and the two corner stamps are Heidi Swapp. All were stamped with black Staz-On. The binder rings are from OfficeMax.

Here is a picture of the back side of the cover and the "L" page.

Here is the back side of the "L" and the "O" page.

Here we have the back side of the "O" and the "V" page, showing one of the corner stamps.

And here is the back of the "V" page, showing the other corner stamp, and the "E" page.

This was a fun little project to design and teach. Please feel free to post any questions about the book or cut sizes. Thanks for looking!

"Hoppy holidays" spring card

In my most recent card class, I taught various types of pop-up cards. I knew I wanted to include a "spring" card, the name of which has nothing to do with the season, and everything to do with the fact that when you take these babies out of their envelopes, the top part "springs" upward. I wasn't sure what I wanted to put on my card...until I found this cutie-patootie frog. He's part of a very cute set by Hero Arts, but I immediately knew he was the one for my card. I used Bo Bunny Double Dot papers in red and green, plain white cardstock, Staz-On black ink, Stickles, ribbon, computer-generated text, Rain Dots, and the word window punch from Stampin' Up! I cut the white circle behind the froggy with my Cricut Expression and the Plantin Schoolbook cartridge. I cut the red scalloped circle using the Mini Monograms cartridge. I also tried my hand at paper piercing. It was my first time doing both paper piecing and paper piercing. I think I like them both...

Here's the card:



Here is a close-up of the adorable little froggy. I love him! I stamped him onto the green double dot and onto the red double dot, then paper-pieced the red scarf onto the green frog. I then used Black Diamond Stickles on his eyes and on the black dots on the scarf:

Close-up of the "hoppy holidays". I printed the computer-generated words onto the red double dot paper, then used the word window punch. I used two little red Rain Dots on each word.

Here's a close-up of my first attempt at paper piercing. Not too shabby... :)

SWEET envelope album...this may be my favorite project EVER!!!!

I am so in love with this project! This is a minibook I created using envelopes adhered to one another in an accordian fashion. I created this envelope album for my Cricut Expression 201 class at Pages In Progress. Everything you see (minus the ribbon, of course) was cut with the Expression. All cuts are from the Plantin Schoolbook cartridge, except the word SWEET on the front cover, which is from Storybook (thanks, Lorena!) The double-sided patterned paper is the "Color Me Pink" line from 3 Bugs In A Rug. The colored cardstock is Bazzill (colors are Red Hot and Parakeet), and the white is just the Georgia-Pacific cardstock that you can buy by the ream at Wal-Mart. The white pen is Marvy's Gel Excel. I used my Scor-Pal for scoring all the envelopes. Leave me a comment with your email if you'd like a cut list with sizes. Here is a picture of the front cover:
Close-up of front cover:
Here is the front of the envelope album all stretched out:
Here is the back of the album, showing how the top flap (the smaller of the two flaps) is attached to the envelope above it:
Here is the first page under the front cover. Each page has a rectangle on the front of the envelope for a picture or journaling. The corners of this rectangle must be rounded with a punch (or by using a cartridge with a rounded rectangle on it). For my class, I try to keep all the cuts on one cartridge, since I know that people who have the Expression will have Plantin Schoolbook. Inside each envelope is a larger rectangle for a picture:
Second inside page:

Third inside page:
Fourth inside page:
Fifth inside page:
Sixth, and last, page:

Love 2 travel

Here is a mini-book that I taught today in my "I love Cricut Expression 201" class. All cuts from chipboard, patterned paper, and cardstock were made with the Cricut Expression and the Plantin Schoolbook cartridge. Patterned travel paper is Love, Elsie (by KI Memories), cardstock is Bazzill. I love this paper and the colors, and I think it turned out really well. Here is the front cover:
Here are the inner pages: