More exploring with the Explore

Since I am still in my free trial period (you get 2 free weeks of access to over 25000+ Cricut images when you buy the Explore-after that time you can buy a subscription) I am playing with lots of images from cartridges that I don't own....so beware.....picture heavy post. :-)

I am still exploring uses for vinyl and am totally loving it! I put a couple dragonflies on our glass door and they look so cute (no picture). Minnie has swiped at them a couple times from her cat tower thinking they were something she could play with. So far they are still stuck tight. :-)

On Monday, after work, we went and got new cell phones. Am I the only one that finds this both fun and infuriating. It is fun to get new toys to play with and pick one that has all the features you like but at the same time you are then dickering over the price, the amount of data...the hidden charges. Ugh! Sometimes I just long for the days of the phone hanging on the wall. But then how could I check Twitter while I am at the grocery? (just kidding, I never check twitter from anyplace but home.....I just don't care THAT much lol)

But to get back on track.....I had that new phone in my hot little hands for about an hour when I pulled out the vinyl and prettied it up. :-)

This cat image if from the Chore Chart cartridge and is about 2 inches tall. Notice how precise the whiskers are cut.

Now, I am one that when I get a new device like a phone or tablet, one of the first things I do is go online and order a vinyl skin for it. So, this was so much fun to create my own vinyl and make my phone unique to me. But for some reason I never put a skin on my iPad mini that I got last summer. I loved how my phone turned out so I grabbed the iPad and vinyl'd it up too!

The doily is from Edge to Edge and the monogram is from Miss Kate's Cuttables. I am still in awe of how the Explore can cut these doilies! The entire thing is only about 4 inches across and yet all those teensy pieces are cut perfectly. (and a nightmare to weed lol)

And as I think I mentioned in another post, hubby wanted something on the dishwasher so that he could differentiate between clean and dirty so I made him these...

We can move a magnet between the 2 of them.  :-)

Here is a closer look. The he is from the Barnyard Babies cartridge. I flipped one of them and I hand-cut the mud. 

But I cut paper and cardstock this week too lol

Because my free period is almost up, I cut out several images that I know I will use in the near future. I will doctor them up and assemble them later but here is one I completed yesterday. He is a puffin from the Seabirds and Shells cartridge. I colored on his details with Prismacolor pencils. I probably should have painted the white on his face but too late now lol  He is just a little guy, about 1 1/2 inches tall.

And finally, the Explore can cut SVG files. Yes, I know if you have the SureCutsALot program you could already do that. But I didn't. And I don't own a Silhouette so I have never played with SVGs before. I am finding tons of free images online and I love freebies!

Miss Kate's offers a freebie of the day so you have to go check every day but it is totally worth it!

This is her Pretty Bug from earlier this week. But don't worry, if you miss out on the freebie, you can still buy it from her for a very small price. 

I used a printed cardstock for the body (it was some sort of peeling paint looking thing lol) in what I think is a nice bug green. The wings were embossed with the Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folder and then I rubbed ink over them to highlight the dots. The base is another doily, from Edge to Edge this time cut at about 5 inches.  Isn't she cute? I was going to put her on a card but instead she now hangs over my work computer because she makes me smile.

But Miss's Kate's isn't the only place I find freebies.

Check out this adorable Pot Belly Bunny. He is the freebie of the week over at Little Scraps of Heaven.

The background paper was just hand cut in a rectangle and I used a corner punch to perk up the corners (nothing like doing it old school lol)
The text box was cut from.....hmmm.....hard to say, there are tons of rectangles out there but probably from George and Basic Shapes. I let the Explore do the writing for me. :-)

And one last picture. Hey, I warned you up front that I was bombarding you this week! lol

This was not a freebie but I still found him online from a site that does offer a freebie of the week. This is from the Cats Collection at Treasure Box Designs.

Sometimes I have a hard time resisting cats. Especially when they look at you like this! lol

All the shading was done with Prismacolor pencils. And her designs already have the 'cute' eyes cut-out, all you need to do is add the details. I liked that as I was assembling this on my lapdesk in front of the TV and really couldn't be messing with paint and water lol

My free trial period is almost up and I do not plan on subscribing (not when I own so many cartridges) so we shall see how it goes. It has been fun browsing the entire Cricut library thought! There are sooooo many images I never imaged they had. But I found myself drawn to things I already own so I think that is a good thing. But, if I do need something I don't already have it is nice to have the option of buying just that one image.

Until next time, have a wonderful week!

Gardening, Doodling and ATCs, Oh My!

Am I the only one that finds it facinating the way peas with grap hold of something to balance themselves?

Below are some macro photos of my sugar snap peas.

A recent lesson in my Creative Doodles class had us finding our signature character doodle.

I am still doodling Mignonette (Minnie) Here she is using Prismacolor pencils on black paper.

I call this Urban Minnie. lol

And ATCs!

I am still in the monthly ATC swap at BadBabies. This month we have a challenge. Use the postcard below in your ATC(s). This card is a hotel at Cannon Beach, OR. I cut it down and made 2 cards.

I sanded the postcard to get rid of the slick finish and then rubbed Distress Ink all over. The 'bathing beauties' are from the LunaGirl panorama images CD.

Same treatment of the postcard. Here I stamped the girl with umbrella (Tin Can Mail) on white cardstock then cut her out and glued her to the card.

Wood Thread Spools!

Happy Summer!

Let me start with, I love going to yard sales. You just never know what treasures you will find...or what junk you think you just can't live without! LOL And when that junk turns into something really cool--well that makes it all the more fun!

What am I rambling about???? Wood thread spools!!!!!

As best I can figure, they stopped putting thread on wood spools in the mid 70s. Then came the plastic and (oh the horror) styrofoam spools.

Last weekend I came across a shopping bag full of wood spools. Most still had their labels intact...which is great if you want to try and date them. It turns out most of them are from the 40s and 50s. Cool huh?!

I looked at that bag and then walked away. Geez, what on earth would I do with approximately 70-80 spools? But, as we turned to head back to the car, I just couldn't leave them. I grabbed that bag and handed over my dollar and waltzed to my car with the this thought running through my head....Good lord, where am I going to store these? And how the heck am I going to use them?

I sent my questions to Pam....she always has great answers! She bombarded me with tons of info on carving spools! Thanks Pam!!!!!

So, that is how I spent my week....carving spools! LOL Ok, I have never carved anything in my life. And patience is not one of my virtues. If a project takes me more than a couple hours then I don't want to do it! LOL So, I am not like all those others you will find online that hand carve every little detail and fine tune every line so that it is a great work of art you want to hang it on your wall and treasure forever. I am a "hand me my Dremel and lets see what happens" kinda girl.

Thankfully I like the rustic, primitive look. Hopefully you do too. :-)

Here is my very first carving. This spool is 1 1/2" tall and about a 1 1/8" wide carving area. Now, understand, when I did this one I had no 'carving' bits for my Dremel. I was totally winging it. LOL So, he is a bit rougher than the others. (I headed out to the hardware store the next day and bought several of the appropriate bits). Amazing how much difference the proper tools make LOL

Here is Santa #2. As you can see, a bit on the smoother side. LOL This spool (and all the others here) is only 1 1/8" tall and a 7/8" wide carving area.

Here he is, now complete with jute hanger, rusty jingle bell and a button.

Added this pic so you can see the size difference between my first and second Santa.

I paint them with acrylic paints then seal them with an acrylic paint-on sealer. I let that cure and then antique them with antiquing gel and once dry, another coat of the acrylic sealer.

I love how the antiquing medium brings out all my carving lines (even my flubs LOL) but also the grain in the wood.

Sticking with the Christmas/Winter theme, here is a snowman in a stocking cap....because I thought the ribs in his hat would look cool. :-)

And then I got the idea of a striped cat...but I used the carved lines to form the stripes. His body wraps around the spool...that little yellow tip on the left side is the tip of his tail. I think he is pretty cute.

And my last complete one is this Jack O Lantern. I wanted to use the grooves to create the lines on the pumpkin. I also experimented with carving out his eyes and some stars on the back. This pic shows him before and after antiquing. I am thinking of maybe next time doing a pumpkin (not jack o lantern) with the vine and a leaf attached.

Currently I have 6 spools sitting here drawn up waiting to be carved....a Santa, an angel, a witch, a Halloween cat, a bird and a wreath of holly. I have found that I can only do 1 or 2 in a carving session because the Dremel makes my hands all tingly/vibraty for a couple hours afterwards if I do any more than that LOL

Ok, off to make breakfast and out to the garage for some carving! Happy Summer everyone!

I haven't gotten around to downloading any photos lately although I have tons and TONS of zentangles done! And I did finally take some pics of my glass garden statues actually in the flower beds...but until then, please enjoy the following video of my little girl enjoying her favorite pastime.