Random Ramblings of a Scramping Addict

More about Art Philosophy Cricut Collection

I told you a couple of weeks ago, that debuting in the Autumn/Winter 2011 Idea Book was the exclusive CTMH Art Philosphy Cricut Collection.  I posted a quick video, and gave you a brief introduction, but today I wanted to take a bit of time to tell you a bit more about it.  You see, just as I expected, I've received a few questions on this topic!

First off, let's have a look at the whole collection so you can see just what is included in the Art Philosophy Cricut Collection.
First and foremost, we have the Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge, that contains over 700 shapes which coordinate with Close To My Heart stamp images.  Any stamp you see featured in the Autumn/Winter Idea Book that has a 'red oultine' around it, has a coordinating 'cut' on the Art Philosophy cartridge.  The shapes range from the relatively simple circles and pendants, to the fabulously complex lacy motifs, borders and tags.   You'll even find elegant rosettes and several other 3-dimensional objects on this cartridge!  The creative possibilities are absolutely endless! Here's a quick peak at all of the shapes.

Next, in the Art Philosophy Cricut Collection you'll find three (3) 'D-Sized' My Acrylix Stamp sets.  These stamps sets are exclusive to the Art Philosophy Cricut Collection and cannot be purchased separately.  The sets are called: Art Philosophy Tags, Art Philosophy Celebration, and Art Philosophy Seasons.

Lastly, although tricky to see, in the very back of that first photo are your three (3) 9" x 12" sheets of chipboard shapes.  These shapes work in tandem with the shapes on your cartridge.  Simply cut your desired shape from a cardstock or B&T Duo of your choice and adhere it to the coordinating chipboard piece for added dimension.  Additional chipboard Dimensional Elements can be purchased from the Idea Book as you 'use up' the ones that came with your cartridge and there are additional coordinating Dimensional Elements shapes as well.

Think holiday tags.....cut your cardstock using your Cricut machine, layer on the coordinating chipboard element die cut, and stamp a coordinating image on top.  You'll hae all of your tags ready to go in no time and all, and with no scissors required!  You Gotta Love That!

Here's a few other quick FAQs

Q   Is the Art Philosophy Cricut Collection compatible with Cricut Design Studio?
A.  Unfortunately not yet, but this is expected in a future Design Studio update.

Q.  Is the Art Philosophy Cricut Collection compatible with the Gypsy?
A.  Yes

Q.  Do I need the 'large' Cricut machine to cut the shapes on the cartridge, or will the smaller one suffice?
A.  Some of the 3D items (like the boxes and totes) are too large for the 6" x 12" Cricut mat - but everything else should be fine.

So hopefully that clears up a few questions, but remember, I'm here to help so if there is more you need to know, simply ask away.  Either leave me a comment here on my blog, or contact me by email at [email protected] and I'll get back to you with an answer as soon as I can.

For now, I'll leave you with a quick pic of a page that was created with the help of the Art Philosophy Cricut Collection......can you tell which elements were Cricut-Cut?

Patchwork Pandemonium

I am so thrilled that I actually completed my Patchwork Pandemonium project from my Buffalo road trip last weekend to see Tim Holtz - and in less than a week!.  I swore this wouldn't be a UFO (unfinished object) and I made good on my promise to myself and it's done!

I may decide to add a bit more stitching here and there, but I'm loving it!  This was my favourite class of the three I registered for.  As I said before, if you ever have an opportunity to take one of Tim's classes, run, don't walk to the registration line - they are worth every penny!

Did you attend the Buffalo class?  Have you completed your patchwork?  I'd love to see it!  Leave me a comment and a link and I'll check it out!

Back from Buffalo

Well, I'm back from Buffalo and had the most amazing, awesomely creative weekend taking classes at Buffalo Stamps and Stuff with Tim Holtz!  Honestly, I'm still on a high!  His style and his techniques, products, all of it are so creatively freeing.  There is definitely no room for perfectionism there.  I was only scheduled to take 2 classes initially, but lucky for me I was able to get into a third class at the very last minute - and as it turned out this was my absolute favourite of the three.

Saturday morning's class was Tim's Journey Journal.  Here is my finished project.

With painted Grungeboard covers, pages made from the Shabby Vintage paper stack, Journaling Tickets and plastic sleeves, and embellishments from the Idea-ology line - it is just too cute!

On Saturday afternoon, we created another mini-album (Generation Grunge), working again with Grungeboard for the cover, and used Grungepaper for the inside pages.  Instead of paints, this time we covered the Grungeboard and Grungepaper with paper from the Lost and Found paper stack, sanded and distressed all the edges (loads of sanding here) and embellished with die cut grunge, paint, and more Idea-ology metals.  Here's a peak at my finished book.

On Sunday afternoon - the third class I took (and my personal favourite) - Tim instructed what he calls Patchwork Pandemonium.   This is a series of Grungeboard pieces in varying sizes that are distressed with a multitude of techniques and then pieced together like a quilt. We used paint, distress inks, sandpaper, metallics, distress Stickles, and more.  This was truly an all-in-one kind of class, and was definitely worth every penny.  I'm not ready to share my creation just yet as I haven't finished adding all of my metal embellishments.  I will though for sure - and soon.  This is NOT one of those projects that will sit unfinished in my craft closet (you know the UFOs that we all have) that's for sure.

All in all I had an incredible weekend - had great fun, laughed lots, got dirty (you know the inky fingers), ruined a pair of pants (from getting multi-medium on my butt of all places), ate lots and slept little and so much more.  I am so glad that I had this opportunity to learn from Tim Holtz himself.  As you all know he is an incredibly creative man, but he is also an amazing instructor.  Anyone that can keep 100 crafters on task has some serious talent.

Thank-you to Sharon and the staff at Buffalo Stamps and Stuff for bringing Tim to us and organizing such a fantastic event....and here's the man himself.

 

My First Acrylic Album Project!

Lucky me!  This weekend was certainly a crafty one for me.  I spent time craftin' with my sister on Friday night; I worked on an acrylic album, and she worked on a canvas wall collage.  Then, on Saturday, I spent time with my Mom and we made a thank-you gift for a gal she works with who has gone above and beyond recently to help her out. Sunday, I started working on a baby shower gift, and some thank-you cards - and worked on a scrapbook layout. Phew! What a creative workout!

If I had to pick one project as a favourite though it would definitely be the acrylic album.  I bought an album kit at Scrapfest a few weeks ago, and finally took the time to put it together.  I had never worked with an acrylic album before and when I saw this kit by Ninabrook Designs I just had to have it.  The featured colours were perfect, and the embellishments varied - a combination of self-adhesive chipboard, rub-ons, some metals and a little bit of bling.

Here are some additional pictures of my finished pages.

As the week goes on I'll hopefully share some of my other recent creations so be sure to pop back in to check them out.  If you're a Facebook fan, you'll also want to watch my business page for details soon to be announced regarding a mega-craft sale 'extravaganza' coming in July.  If you're local, you won't want to miss this event for sure!

Your Rock! My Creations Memory Keeper

So I'm still playing with the You Rock papers and the stamps and embellishments included in the You Rock Workshop on the Go and it is too fun!

This weekend, I finished up my very first My Creations Memory Keeper - and suffice it to say there will definitely be more of these projects in my future!  The My Creations Memory Keeper boxes measure 10" x 9 1/2" x 3" and are made of a sturdy chipboard material.  You can paint them, stamp of them or like I did, cover them with paper.  They are folded flat for shipping and storage and are only $8.25 (Cdn.).  These are pretty impressive actually - in fact even my husband thought they were pretty cool!

Here's a look at the top of the box.  The photo was a professional shot taken in the fall of my son in his hockey gear.  I absolutely loved the photo and knew I just needed to find a fabulous way to display it.

Photo credit: Michael Zajczenko (www.mzphotos.com)

I used a whole bunch of embellishments on this one - buttons, chipboard, the new 'Rockin' Top Coats, ribbon, stamps and ink.  I just love the fact that I could add a ton of dimension to the layout on the top of the box since I didn't have to worry about it getting squashed in an album, or in a frame.  I painted the chipboard swirl and letter with CTMH Creat-a-Shade Pearl paint which unfortunately doesn't photograph well but is tinted with a combination of Crystal Blue and Outdoor Denim reinkers.  I brushed the paint on the 'J' and got a reasonable smooth result, but decided to stipple on the swirl to give it some texture!  Here is a better look at the embellishment bundle.  The circle chips are sponged with Plum Mist ink (I swear they're not pink!  LOL!)

As I said, I will definitely be doing more of these Memory Keeper boxes and in fact my daughter has decided that this is the craft we'll be doing at her birthday party in a couple of weeks - so that should be loads fun to see what the kids can come up with!

Holidays in Hand - Displaying my Prompts

I took a little break from my advent calendar project to get myself caught up on the first few days of the Holidays In Hand course over at jessicasprague.com.  I had been reading the daily newsletters and assignments and of course checking in on the class gallery and forums, but hadn't taken any time at all to actually do any printing, or to get creative.

This is the first of 2 big projects for this course (the second will be the actual album work which will be completed throughout the month of December.)  This piece involves a series of prompts, one for each day of December that are deigned to hang or stand somewhere in your home where you'll see them every day.  The plan is that these prompts will provide you with ideas for capturing the stories of THIS holiday, and also to connect to your stories of holidays past.

Each prompt card includes suggestions for:

• What to write.
• What to photograph.
• What to Do.
• What to Make.

I had a bit of a hard time deciding exactly how and where I was going to display my prompts, but since I'm in a use what you have on hand and avoid buying more supplies kind of mood, this is what I came up with.  It will be displayed (I think) on the table in my entry way.

The prompt cards were designed by Jessica, and I printed them in the 5.5" size.  Then each card was mounted on coordinating cardstock (I used a green, a red and a light tan).  The album which I had in my stash, is by American Crafts (the D-ring style).  The idea is that each day I will change which prompt is displayed on the front. I just love these little albums, and I loved that for this project it would sit on the table like a wedge because it wasn't completely full.  I opted to go the album route because I wanted to use the page protectors as pockets to store recipes & lists that I might need to complete each prompt.  This would keep everything handy in one place.  The page protectors can also be used to store journaling cards/notes upon which I can record my thoughts temporarily until such time that I can transfer them to the final Holidays in Hand album.

I covered the album with a very festive digital paper by Crystal Wilkerson that she so graciously provided to the Holidays in Hand class for free.  It is also part of her December '09 Paper Collection that can be purchased in Jessica's online store.

Here's a look at the album inside - I created a title page using yet another free digital element - a tag from Liv Estaban's Holidays in Hand tag pack that she designed exclusively for this class.  Just to add a bit of interest, I embossed the green background using a Cuttlebug folder, then added a bookplate & rubons to identify the year.  The 2 fonts are available at dafont.com and they are Inked God and Jane Austen.  I can't take the credit for what I think is are incredibly appropriate font choice as one of my Holidays in Hand classmates studio {k} chose them for her project which was posted in the HIH Gallery.

As a final though, you may recall that I was trying to decide whether or not to complete Ali's December Daily project in addition to this one.....Well, I've decided to just focus on Holidays in Hand this year.  After seeing what all is involved with Jessica's system, there is some overlap in these projects and I'd like to do this one well, as opposed to trying to take on too much all at once.

Until next time.

Kaiser Craft Advent Calendar Part 4

This is a multi-part article.  Follow these links for Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.

So now that I'm fully assembled - I can start decorating.

The calendar kit includes 25 boxes and they are packed flat.  This means they need to be assembled.  They are pre-scored so assembly is a cinch - you just need to decide what type of adhesive to use.

I actually took a no-glue route, but I talked to a couple of friends and they both recommended using something super sticky like Dazzling Diamonds (SU) or Liquid Glass (CTMH).  Taping the boxes doesn't seem to work.

My no-glue choice:  I've said it before, I'm a lazy crafter - so instead of gluing my boxes together, I opted to wrap patterned paper all the way around them and rely on the paper to keep them in shape.  Of course this only works if you plan on wrapping the paper like I did, and you will need glue of some kind for sure if you're planning only to decorate the front.

Here's how I did it.

Cut strips of patterned paper to 4cm x 18cm.
Adhere one end of the strip to the back of the box.
Using a bone folder, score the strip (using the box side as a guide to score line positioning) and adhere to the next side.
Repeat scoring and adhering until the strip is wrapped all the way around.
Use a strong bond adhesive like red line tape or glue dots to stick the remaining end to the back of the box.

The trick to making this work is to be sure to adhere the paper to all sides as you go around.

I used the following two patterns to cover my boxes plus a little bit of another glittered paper by Best Creation Inc (not shown)

• Rejoice Words Paper (Flair Designs)
• Snowy Serenade Overture (Bo Bunny)
• Unknown Glittered paper by Best Creation Inc. (not shown)

These pics aren't the best - and it especially doesn't do justice to the Bo Bunny design (which is absolutely gorgeous) that has a nice glittered shine to some of the areas.  Actually - in these pics they don't even seem to match all that well.....but you'll have to trust me - this will work.

Once I had the box covered, I used my Coluzzle knife (and mat) to cut out the half-circle at the front of the box.  The half circle acts as a finger pull.  Unfortunately I didn't take any pics of the covering process since I did it while watching TV.  Sorry.

Nonetheless, it's that easy.

Next, I decorated the chipboard numbers.  I considered a couple of different things here - ink, paint, markers etc. but settled on using Glimmer Mist by Tattered Angels.  The Glimmer Mist was super simple to apply - just spray and let dry.  (Just remember to spray inside a shoe-box to avoid damage from overspray! There tends to be a lot of it!)  The Glimmer Mist dries quick and looks awesome.  This was a great choice.

Next, I glued the numbers on....and voila!  I used a liquid glue by UHU to adhere them.  I'm not generally a fan of liquid glues, but this sticks really well, dries pretty quickly, and I like the applicator.

Here is a sneak peak at my progress so far.  My next and final post will be the complete reveal, with the centre section all decorated.

To be continued..

KaiserCraft Advent Calendar Part 3

This is a multi-part article, follow these links for Part 1 and Part 2.

So if you've been following my progress, you'll know that I've got my KaiserCraft advent calendar, unpackaged, sanded and painted.

Next Step:  Assembly

This stage of the project took me just under an hour I would guess.  To complete the task, you'll need a hammer, some wood glue (remember this part) and a block of wood to hammer on.  You will recall from my photos that the calendar goes together with a series of tongue/groove joints.  The base (or back) of the calendar has a bunch of slots in it, and each of the pieces (sides and shelves) has tabs.

I recommend figuring out exactly where each piece is going to go (it's not hard) before you start putting it together, since they do fit pretty tightly.  If you make a mistake, it is possible to get them apart, although it is a bit tricky.  More advice:  Don't hammer directly on your MDF, since it's tough but not all that tough if you get my drift.  The last thing you want is to get this far and crack a piece.  You may also wish to use wood glue to give you some additional security.  I didn't initially, but found out after the fact that it would probably have been a good idea (keep reading to find out why).

I started first by securing each of the longer pieces that formed the outside and inside frames, and then moved on to securing the small dividers.  It is at this stage that good, thorough sanding really pays off.  Remember that 'nub' that I talked about yesterday?  Well, if you don't get it off completely (or at least almost), these little dividers won't fit or will cause the outer and inner frames to bow.  Not nice.  So check your 'nubs' and make sure they are all gone.

Once I had my calendar fully assembled (or almost), it looked like this.

I had one piece left over - a long skinny one.  I didn't know at first what it was for, but I went to KaiserCraft and found out.  It's for the very bottom of the unit - so that when fully assembled it stands flat on a table.  If haven't put it on yet - so it's not in the picture, but trust me, it could very well be necessary.

Once I got this far, I realized that wood glue probably would have been a big help.  See my corner - it's not quite lined up.

So depending on how picky you are - this may or may not suit you.  For me, I didn't like it - so I decided to try and fix it up a bit.  Now, since I didn't want to disassemble the whole thing (I'm lazy), I thought I would try sneaking some glue in and around that joint to try to tighten it up.  I used painters tape and a clamp to help me hold it tight while the glue dried.  It worked fairly well, and I'm comfortable with the end result, but I would definitely recommend using the glue as you go method - it would be much easier.

This is when I also realized that the long skinny piece would actually be quite handy.  Once the frame was all 'squared up', it no longer sat quite as straight.  I know it sounds odd initially, but this is because the the back of the unit is slightly larger than the outer frame, by design.  When the frame was left to it's own devices, it compensated for the slight difference I guess and bowed down in the front (which evened out the stance).  After I had squared up the frame though - it no longer bowed, and thus the stance became uneven - know what I mean?).  So, you may need this piece, or you may not - that just depends on how picky you're going to be about getting everything completely square.

So now that I have my calendar frame fully assembled, the fun part begins --> assembling and decorating the drawers.

Stay tuned for the next installment in my adventure to see how I did this.

Labels: Anything But a Card, holiday ideas, Kaisercraft Advent Calendar, MDF

KaiserCraft Advent Calendar Part 2

To read Part 1 of this article click here.

So as I mentioned earlier - this little gem of a project came with NO instructions for assembly.  This was a bit intimidating at first, but I quickly realized that it wasn't that difficult.

Basically - if it looks like it should be snapped apart - do it, and if the piece looks solid, leave it that way.

Now, on to the next step --- Sanding.

Due to the way this was packaged, once you snap all of your pieces apart you'll be left with a bunch of extra 'nubs' that need to be removed.  If you don't remove them, not only will you calendar not sit properly against a wall (if you decide to hang it), but also, it just won't fit together snuggly.  To remove them, you should first snip them off with a craft knife, and then sand, or file down what's left.  Trust me when I say if you skip the snipping part, you will be sanding for a really really long time (there are way too many nubs to remove)!

The picture below will hopefully help you understand what I mean.

I actually took that photo before I had snapped those pieces apart, but I think it's still clear.

To sand down the nubs, I used a hand-held metal file that I found in my husband's tool box.  I don't actually know what it's intended use is, but it worked great on this project!  I initially tried regular sandpaper, but found it was really tedious.  The metal file worked much better.

Up to this stage I had probably spent just over an hour unpackaging, snapping and filing.  Now it was time to paint - so I laid all of my pieces out like so.

It was right about now that my husband came home and saw me doing this on our dining room table.  Let's just say he was unimpressed -- but c'est la vie.  It was the only surface around that was large enough to spread out all of the pieces.  {I was careful, I promise.}

Since I knew I wanted to paint it brown -- I initially reached into the craft cupboard for some brown acrylic paint.  Bad choice.  I am NOT a good brush painter, and I quickly realized that there were WAY too many pieces for me to fiddle around with.  So instead, I went to the basement, and got out the extra wall paint that we had used last year in our hallway (brown of course), grabbed a small roller and tray and started painting.

Because the MDF tends to absorb the paint, a good 2 coats was required to get even coverage, and of course because I wanted to paint both sides of each piece, this took a while due to the drying time.  One caution here.  You can see that I covered my work surface with newspaper.  In retrospect, this wasn't all that smart.  Plastic of some kind would work better.  Since I'm a bit of a messy painter, some of my pieces (actually a lot of them) ended up sticking to the newspaper after I had painted side one.  Once they were dry, and I went to flip them, I found this out.  As a result, some bit of newspaper did get stuck to the undersides - newspaper which I tediously peeled and picked off so that I could continue painting.

Finally though.....here was the fruits of my labour -- a whole whack of MDF board that was now Brown instead of the unfinished tan that it was when it arrived here.  I think I would have had a bit bigger sense of accomplishment had I painted them Red.  While I knew that it would be worth it in the end, at this stage, it seemed like an awful lot of effort had gone into this for what really was a marginal change in appearance.  But again....c'est la vie.

Here's a pic of the painted pieces.  I took this photo when the second coat was still wet, so you'll have to trust me for now that it did dry a bit darker than this.

To be continued.....

A Cool New Project: KaiserCraft Advent Calendar {Part 1}

On the weekend, I snagged what I think is a very cool project kit that is just perfect for the holidays: The Advent Calendar from KaiserCraft.  It is part of their 'Beyond the Page' line - which I had never seen before.

If you're not familiar with it, this kit was released at CHA this year and contains pre-cut MDF board that when assembled looks like the picture on the right.  That photo is taken from the KaiserCraft website.  Now, I admit, that photo isn't all that exciting if taken at face value, but all of you crafty people out there will surely agree that this little gem has a ton of potential to become a really rockin' altered art piece.

Because this was more involved than most of the projects I take on (like cards or scrapbook pages), I thought I would take some pics along the way and chronicle the process right here on my blog.  So starting from the beginning.....

Here's a pic of the materials as packaged:

As you can see, the packaging is extremely basic - with all of the pieces stacked and shrink wrapped.  There are definitely no frills here, but you do get a picture of a completed sample calendar - which is cute for sure.  You can also see that they have included a sheet of chipboard numbers (zero thru 9).  I haven't checked them out yet, but I would image that you have just enough to complete the calendar as shown - it doesn't look like there are many extras, if any.

Next after unwrapping the package, and laying out all the pieces, here is what you'll see. (I took this with no flash and the lighting was poor, so please excuse the 'yellow' hue.)

Very very quickly I noticed there was one very important thing missing.......INSTRUCTIONS!  Can you believe it?  You've got a pile of MDF shapes, and no idea how to put it together.  Aye yi yi.

Are you excited to see how this all comes together?  I am.

Stay tuned for more updates as I progress through the assembly.