First EVER Shape Card

So, I have seen others do it and wondered many times if I could!!!  I was able to take the Heart Shape from the Smiley Cards cartridge loaded onto my Gypsy (Thank You Very Much ProvoCraft for this wonderful cartridge) and create a shaped card from it.  I then cut the layers out as well as one extra shadow heart to adhere to what is my card base!  I am really happy with how it turned out - not bad for a first time if I do say so myself!  I also used some pink and white Stickles to add some shine.  BTW, if anyone knows of any Stickles tutorials please send them my way.  So I know this is not child care related but I really want to improve my card making skills this year so you might be seeing more cards on this blog but I will also post some projects for child care kiddos too from time to time. 

Going Out on A Limb Here....

There are 2 design team openings at My Pink Stamper and thought I would go out on a limb here and submit a bulletin board idea I have for Valentine's Day to be used in my family child care home.  I love the phrase "Hearts Will Fall" with the hearts falling off the tree.  I used the Stretch Your Imagination cartridge and cut my tree to 11 inches wide and 23 inches tall.  The tree I used had a center cut out that I removed using the hide contour feature on my Gypsy.  The hearts were cut from the Create A Critter cartridge at 3 1/2 inches. The wording is from Lyrical Letters welded on my Gypsy and cut also at 3 1/2 inches.  The cardstock is all from Joanne's open stock selection or from the Paper Company packs they carry.  This is the first ever I have submitted anything I have made with my Cricut or Gypsy so please be kind....

Have not been around much....

Sorry for not posting much but my Cricut has been collecting dust I hate to say.  I do have one art project I need to post for you but first I wanted to share what I was able to do tonight in a matter of about 10 minutes.  I used a plain green card I had from a plain card box that I bought somewhere last summer with assorted colored cards, some awesome self adhesive ribbon that I found at Joanne's a month or so ago for a $1 a roll and then my Jolly Holidays cartridge I got at Walmart on Black Friday.  Enjoy!!

Today's Task Did Not Involve the Cricut :(

Well, today my child care kiddos did the wreath art project I posted last night.  All of them turned out really nice! 

Today, I am sorry to report that I did not get any Cricut time but I promise you I have a project we are starting tomorrow you will love! 

Instead of Cricut time today I worked on taking all my Audio book on CD's and transferring them to my computer so I can load them onto my 120gb Zune!  I did the same thing a few years back with my child care children's music collection (all 100+ CD's) and it really saves on not only time but having to flip though all those CD's...now they are all in one convenient little spacing saving place!  :)

Holly Leaf and Berry Paper Plate Wreath

The Holly Leaves were cut from a previous art project that I had used in years past but this time I traced a single leaf, scanned it to a JPEG format then pixel traced the image in the Make The Cut Software.  One the image was transferred to Make The Cut I then set up my Cricut on screen mat to have a full page of leaves before cutting out several pages of leaves.  The Holly Berries are nothing more than 3/4 inch circles cut from the George and Basic Shapes cartridge - 196 circle can fit on one 12x12 page if using this size. 

As soon as I figure out a place to "store" my Make The Cut and Gypsy files that I saved for the art projects I will get them all uploaded and post an update so all of can save time and have the files available when you need them. 

Reindeer Art Project - 11/30/2010

Today's child care art project...we had the kids glue the eyes (both pieces) and the nose onto the reindeer.  The reindeer head was cut from the Doodlecharms Cartridge and sized to fit an 8 1/2 x 11 inch piece of brown cardstock.  The white oval part of the eyes were cut at 2 1/4 inches; the black circle 1 1/4 inches and the nose at 1 inch...all these pieces were cut using the George and Basic Shapes cartridge.

Introduction

Hello and welcome to my blog!  I want to take the time to introduce myself so here it goes!  My name is Colleen and I am a full time family child care provider to up to 14 children.  I also have 3 children of my own who range in age from 16 to 9 years.  I was first introduced to the Cricut Expression about 18 months ago when I was looking for an easier way to cut out art projects for my child care children.  Since then a whole new world has been opened for me!  Since that time I have obtained over 50 cartridges and even a Gypsy.  And while I am no expert on this machine at all I do try!  Many of the things I cut out are for my child care children's art projects so I will post them here as well any cards or other project I attempt to make!  I hope you enjoy your day here!