Saturday, October 15, 2011

Update

Hey everyone! I just wanted to update you on what's been going on in my neck of the woods. First and foremost, my son is responding well to his chemo treatment. He is getting a little sick with each treatment and is having to take his college classes from home using the Internet. He tried so hard to physically make it to class. Where his white blood count is so low too it's really not a good idea for him to be around a lot of people. He could get sick very easy and it could be catastrophic to him. One little cold or flu to one person could land my son in hospital. He is taking it one day at a time and is keeping his sight set on the light at the end of the tunnel. He will be cured of this once again but just needs to go through the hell of treatment to get there. I started working at Michaels in September. I was job hunting and I thought maybe I should work somewhere that interests me. I went online to fill out application and I saw they were opening a store close to my home. I filled out the application for that store. It is so cool to be part of the whole process of starting the store from the ground up. I helped with stocking shelves. I also got to play with the cricut to make display projects for the classroom and make signs to put up around the store. One night while working on signs, I was cutting paper with a guillotine paper cutter, I trimmed the tip of my finger off. What a nightmare! It took about two weeks to heal enough so I didn't need bandaid. I was the very first incident report for that store. Once the store opened, I was given the position of sales associate. I love that position. I get to greet people, ask them about their project, and they ask for my advice and opinion. I love to talk about crafts!! I also work the register too. I was really scared at first but I am getting really good at it now and am even training people on it now. I have done demos of products. I grabbed a free project from the yarn section and made a crochet chain link scarf. I have only 6 hours this week so I made the scarf and also got my jewelry teaching certification. I figured since I was going to be home a lot this week I might as well put it to good use! So now I'm certified to teach the jewelry classes. I want to be certified to teach everything! I'm an overachiever like that....lol! It also seems like its going to be fun. Now I'm better equipped to help a customer when they have a question about jewelry. I haven't worked outside the home in 14 years. I've been raising my kids and learning crafts for the 14 years. I love working at michaels. We have the best group of people working there. I love being able to make someone happy. I love being able to save them money with sales and coupons. It seems like I am taking everything I hate about the other michaels I used to go to and making it better at my store. My boss is the best too and the managers. That makes a big difference when the people who run the place love what they do and want to make people happy. I also learn from the message board about people's problems that they have when they shop at michaels. Each employee needs to come up with a tip or suggestion to make the store better and more successful and most of mine come straight from the customers. They are not afraid to say what's on their minds. I do have more hours this week. To tell you the truth I missed the place. I even brought my kids in this week and they got to do a make and take and I got to say hi to my coworkers who I have missed. I hope to be posting some projects soon. I have a cricut cake project planned for the end of the month. Have a blessed day! Heather

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Son/family update

I just want to thank you all so much for all the love and support you have give to my son and my family! My son has had his second session of chemo on Friday and is taking it amazingly well! He is (so far) doing so well that he plans to go to stick with starting back up at college on Monday. He has talked with the college about his health situation and they are so nice and accommodating to him! They r letting him take his classes from home on the Internet. He is feeling so good that he is planning to attend the classes on campus. He is surprised at how well he is feeling this time around. I have got to say that I have a feeling that it has to do with all the prayers and thoughts and positive energies sent his way! He just has this strength and attitude I haven't seen before. He is truly my hero!

Another update: the economy has definitely effected my husbands roofing business and it has been very slow the past few years and has reached an all time low since he started his business 16 years ago. Now that my youngest has started school we have decided that it's time for me to get a job and contribute to the household financially. I applied to a number of places with no call backs or anything. Then I got to thinking that I should work somewhere that would interest me and be a positive way to reenter the working world. I wanted something that would make going to work a happy thing. So--I went to michaels.com and filled out an application for their new building that hasn't opened yet. I got called back the very next day and had the interview on Friday. I was hired on the spot and I start this weekend! It's awesome cuz I get to see it from start to finish what it's all about with stocking the entire store, assembling shelves, grand opening! I feel like I'm having a new baby...if that makes sense at all. I got a new project to focus on. I am not going to be making much money but I will at least be able to help a little bit with the bills. We are currently having a hurricane and maybe it will bring with it some roofing work. My husband works closely with insurance companies to get insurance to cover costs of roofing disasters.

My baby starts school for first time tomorrow, my sick son starts college tomorrow too, I start job this week too--some good things are happening for us! Thank you all for being here and seeing me through! I will update if anything changes!

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Her son

Hello blog peoples I am the son of the woman that does gemini paper crafts.Since she has left her computer at the moment and left her account open I thought I might aswell post something because I have nothing to do at the moment and as she just said a minute ago she has won $150 on cricuit.com!!

I won!!!

I can't believe it. I got a private message from someone on the cricut messageboard stating I should go check the blog cause she thinks I won $150 to cricut.com. I guess it doesnt count for my spending ban.

My last buy

I really mean it this time. I am not going to buy another thing for myself till after christmas. I have decided to make my last purchase a big one. I am going to buy the close to my heart bundle with the cricut cartridge and the coordinating stamps and stuff. It really is a great bundle plus I get to try out close to my heart product. I love the cartridge. Its so versatile. I love the 3d flowers that are on it too so it saves me from having to buy the flower shoppe cartridge. I plan on ordering it probably next week or week after. I only make $100 a week babysitting and I really stretch that baby out week to week. The cartridge included in this bundle is Art Philosophy and it has a little bit of everything! The only question is what is the best deal and who to purchase from. I don't know anyone here in maine to buy from so I am looking to the Cricut Circle messageboard for people to buy from.

Happy crafting,

Heather

Ok--stupid me!--I forgot to photograph my son's cards we made for him so I have to wait till he gets home from hospital probably tomorrow or next day. My hubby brought them to him and said he enjoyed them all. My 5 year old daughter can't write or spell yet so I just let her scribble on the card and then I translated it below where she wrote. It was so cute.

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Sad news

It seems like we were just celebrating my son being in remission from his cancer. He has another cancer tumor in his mouth again. He went for a MRI yesterday and they immediately admitted him to the hospital and are starting chemo. This poor kid was first diagnosed with throat cancer when he was 17 in 2005. He had chemo and radiation and got rid of it. The cancer came back with a vengeance last August in his jawbone. He had surgery where they removed his jawbone and they used his leg bone to rebuild his jaw. He had chemo following his surgery. This time the tumor regrew in the same place as the last one, in his jaw/mouth. They don't think surgery is necessary and that chemo will be enough. Please pray to whatever higher power you believe in that my young son, 23 years old, will be rid of this cancer for good this time. My family prays that third times the charm! Just within the past two weeks he signed up for college classes. He was going before but was sick with cancer. He thought he was passed all that this year so signed back up. He was so excited to be moving forward with his life. The college was so nice to him and accepting and accommodating. He just wants a normal life, a healthy life. He someday wants a family too. He is so great with kids and loves to play. He is so giving and generous and smart. He is my hero and I am so lucky to have him in my life. I am making some cards for me and my other kids to make for him and I will post them here for you all to see.

Have a blessed day and hug your loved ones!

Heather

Monday, August 8, 2011

wedding mini album

PAPER HAUL

I saw on somebody's youtube video there was paper at tjmaxx and marshall's for $5.99 so I went to marshall's yesterday (Sunday) and bought what was left of paper. I also bought a new video camera last week which makes is soooo much easier to upload videos to youtube so look out for more videos to come.

Blogger makes it so easy to add videos from youtube too. Gotta love it!!

Monday, August 1, 2011

Cool storage tip

This one comes from a friend of mine. She and her hubby make jewelry and this is how they store their beads. They have a bulletin board hung up on the wall and have the beads all separated into little baggies. They are put up on the board with tacks. I saw this and i thought it would work with small scrapping supplies too: ribbon, beads, eyelets, brads, even carts. Placed in an easy to access area. This friend of mine has a cricut expression that i sold to her when i got my imagine. I also gave her a bunch of carts with it. She has had it for months and never used it. So i finally went over the other day and showed her how to use it. She is totally addicted to cricut now. She made a project for a baby shower gift and she got a lot of compliments. I love that now we share the love of cricut. I also taught her a bit of cricut craftroom this weekend too. I used my account to show her how to use it. Im hoping that craftroom will be open to all very soon. I cant believe how long its taking them. The worst part is that it seems like they take less time testing products they sell just so they can release it and make money, but now they have something free with not too many bugs and they r taking forever to release it. I hate to be negative but once in a while i have to jump on that bandwagon.

Have a great week crafters!
Heather

Sunday, July 31, 2011

mini album project

I am working on a kathy orta inspired mini album. It's wedding themed and I'm using DCWV paper. I am drawing a blank on the name of the stack. I used the duck tape for the binding and a cool clasp. I will do a video when I'm done. I can't wait to show you all the finished project. It's a gift for my cousin who is getting married in September. Just wanted u all to know what i've been working on.

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Joann.com order

A month ago I ordered some stuff from cricut.com: 12" embossing borders and quilling kits for cuttlebug. I finally decided to try the quilling kit the other day for a project. I didn't realize that I needed a 12" c plate for them I only have A and B plates. So off I went to the three area craft stores for the long C plate. None of the stores carry the long plates. I went to joann.com and used my coupon there. I ordered the 13" c plate for the cuttlebug. While I was on the site I checked out the sale items. There were copic markers for $3 and since I don't have any and i totally love markers and the copics are totally popular I ordered 8 different colors. I just chose 4 colors I like and then I chose a color close to each of the four for shadowing technique. I can't wait for my order to come in about a week. I would like to do a video on the quilling kit. I am babysitting 3 kids this summer and I am having them decorate tshirts. I had them go through my cricut books and pick out a few images each of what they want on their shirts. Tonight I cut out the images in adhesive vinyl. I will also make a video of the kids painting their shirts and I will show what they look like after. I made two shirts a month ago and they came out beautiful so these should be pretty easy to do--although I will be letting the older kids paint their own shirts hopefully it will go smoothly.

My grandson has come home from the hospital after being in the NICU for a month after he was born. He has lung issues and that caused him to no eat. He is strong and healthy now he just needed a little help to get him started. I havent seen him since he was two days old and I can't wait to see him. I will post a pic of him when I get one.

I hope all of my followers and their loved ones are having a fun summer and are in good health!

~Heather

Saturday, July 2, 2011

Bday card

I used rock princess for heart and create critter for phrase and back layer i used imagine to print papers and cut from cartridges for both cards. I used blossom imagine cart for pattern and coordinating colors.

Create a critter card

Friday, June 24, 2011

Rock princess

My cricut.com order came today and rock princess was in it. I used the font to make a poster for at the end of the road for my daughters grad party. I used the heart font and used paper from JT imagine cart. I will include pic in next post. I have to send it from my iphone.

Friday, June 17, 2011

My new grandson

I have a new grandbaby! He was born last sunday 6-12-11. He weighed 8.9lbs. My daughter had to take medicine throughout her pregnancy for an illness and now the baby is in the nicu for another week due to withdrawals. He is fine otherwise he just needs a little help for a bit. His name us JJ and he is the sweetest angel. I was there to see him be born and i even cut his cord. His father is a bit of a sissy and cant handle that kind of stuff...lol! I havent been to see JJ for a few days due to him being in the nicu i cant bring my little one in and she is always with me. I will post a pic of him in a bit.

Heather Dumond

Sent from my iPhone

New buys

I hit it big with the lottery this week. Well big for me. I never win anything either. The most I've ever won is $500 ten years ago. I won $1000 on a lottery raffle. I have already spent most of it at cricut.com of course! I finally bought rock princess and create a critter. They were the cartridge and cuttlebug companion bundles. I ordered some cuttlebug borders and some quilling kits for the cuttlebug. I also renewed my circle membership. I took advantage of the early renew special. I am going to need new ink for the imagine one of these days so I was going to order the ink and paper bundle but it was sold out. I check what was in rewards and sure enough there is ink in the rewards for 500 points. I only had enough to get one but when my new carts come in or the points from membership activate I will have enough for the one ink. I can't believe how long the ink lasts. I also moved my scrap area to a room now. I will need to get a space heater for this room in the winter but I like that my stuff is all in one room and it's private for when I do videos. My imagine is still upstairs with my computer but I am going to put my cake down in the room. I will do video showing all my stuff I bought and my new room.

Happy scrapping and happy summer!!

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Painted cricut imagine

I removed the end caps and the front tab thing and spray painted them with purple valspar perfect finish spray paint from Lowes.

Wednesday, June 1, 2011


Craftroom and cricut imagine

My first attempt at cutting with my imagine using craftroom software was not successful. It would print but not cut. The imagine would spit the paper out the front after printing. I think its a driver problem. I am using windows vista operating system on my computer. I sent my feedback to provocraft hopefully this gets fixed soon.

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Card with glass etching

My moms birthday was today and i made her two wine glassed with dragonflies etched on them. I got dragonflies from doodlecharms and gypsy wanderings. The card has the cuts of the etched dragonflies. Super easy and quick!

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Resticky mats

Apply 1 or two thin layers to cricut mats to make them sticky and let dry completely before using mat. This works especially good on the crappy non sticky imagine mats.

Monday, May 16, 2011

joann haul 5 15 11

This is the entire video. I dont know why it takes so long to upload videos. It took about four or more hours for this one to upload.

Check out this video on YouTube:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioi4wy-aky8&feature=youtube_gdata_player


Heather

Sunday, May 15, 2011

More mini album

Inside card

All items are from imagine more. Spread your wings item separated into layers and some pieces were deleted and not cut. I added dash lines around butterfly.

Card

My daughters high school graduation card. Thats right i got one going out and one going in this year! This is a 5x7 card. I used wrap it up cart for graduate and cap. Imagine preloaded shape behind it with loris garden pattern. Stamped sentiment from dollar bin at joanns and heat embossed on white cardstock. Shape behind it is from loris garden along with pattern. Stamped images on base of card and colored in with pigment ink markers. Dash outlines are from zig fine tip marker. White dots on cap are from my new white paint fine tip pen. The plaque behind congratulations sentiment has been inked and attached to card with yellow brads. I chose these colors cause school colors are green white and gold. Go Bonny Eagle Scots!!

Envelope

Used rubberstamps for background. Jt imagine cart for wings and plaque. Cindy loo for alyssa letters.

Canvas picture for my mom

This is an 11x14 canvas frame. First i painted entire canvas with blue acrylic paint mixed with gesso. I added a few touches of purple acrylic paint to add a little something extra. I made some 3-d paper flowers using shapes from george cart. I varied the sizes and layered them and connected them with a brad. I roughed up the edge of each layer with the edge of scissors-distressed. I inked edges only then i sprayed with my homemade glimmermist and crumpled them carefully. I let them dry completely before assembling. Then i added glass effects too look like water and stickles for sparkles. I added elements from loris garden imagine cart. I ran some twine i got from dollar tree around frame which also doubles as a hanger. There are also cuts from straight from the nest. I cut a square from loris garden with the script pattern on it, inked the edges and curled the corner. I used gel medium to put the things on the canvas which holds very well. My mom likes dragonflies so i added some dragonfly brads to the scene.

More mini album

Words are from birthday bash and apple is from doodlecharms. The bottom page is her pic from that day and her nametag they gave her.

Mini album

I cut this shape from mini monograms i think. Then i cut holes with crop a dile and used metal rings to bind. I decorated the rings. Every page is cereal box covered with patterned paper. I wanted a sturdy album because its my little one's book about being five. It about all the things shes going to learn and do when shes five. The first thing in there is her kindergarten screening. This is when the teachers find out how and where she will fit in to a certain classroom. Also how she interacts with other children and the teachers. They thought she went to preschool because she was so smart and well behaved. Nope she always been at home with me and they told me to keep up the good work. Its so nice and rewarding to hear things like that. Some good came from all the hell i've been going through...haha!! She had so much fun and is looking forward to august when she can begin kindergarten. The letters when im 5 came from birthday bash and sofi came from cindy loo. The fence is my new fiskars punch from joanns.

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Yardsellr.com

I am selling wrap it up, and cuttin up on yardsellr.com my name is heather graham dumond or you may be able to do a search for the item.

Sunday, May 8, 2011

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Cricut Cuttin Up Cartridge


End time: May 5, 2011 6:37:28 PM EDT


iPhone URL:
Cricut Cuttin Up Cartridge

Browser URL:
Cricut Cuttin Up Cartridge


Download eBay Mobile



Heather Dumond
207 730 0956
Sent from my iPhone

Cricut Wrap It Up Cartridge


End time: May 10, 2011 10:06:38 AM EDT


iPhone URL:
Cricut Wrap It Up Cartridge

Browser URL:
Cricut Wrap It Up Cartridge


Download eBay Mobile



Heather Dumond
207 730 0956
Sent from my iPhone

Handmade Mini Album


End time: May 10, 2011 10:18:48 AM EDT


iPhone URL:
Handmade Mini Album

Browser URL:
Handmade Mini Album


Download eBay Mobile



Heather Dumond
207 730 0956
Sent from my iPhone

Handmade Mini Album


End time: May 10, 2011 9:59:20 AM EDT


iPhone URL:
Handmade Mini Album

Browser URL:
Handmade Mini Album


Download eBay Mobile



Heather Dumond
207 730 0956
Sent from my iPhone

Saturday, April 30, 2011

With cover

More ribbon pix

Storing ribbon

I did this totally by accident too. I places the ribbon on the empty cd spindle on my desk and it fit perfectly. I am going to fill it up and then to keep them dust free i will put the spindle cover on it. Isnt that neat!! I hvent seen this before.

Friday, April 29, 2011

Card for a friend

Inside says "i've been tinking about you". I really miss my friend so im sending a card her way. I used patterned paper for the background but used shapes from imagine to cut. Tink is colored and cut with imagine. Tinks black background layer is black cardstock cut with imagine. I decorated wings and pom pom on shoes with stickles.

Saturday, April 23, 2011

just saying hi

HI--this week on the 19th my youngest girl turned 5. Where do the years go? Seems like I just brought her home from the hospital yesterday. I had a bunch of family over for a party. This week is also vacation week from the schools. So I had a heck of a lot of kids here all week and I got no crafting done. Not true--I calibrated my imagine and I had to do the advanced calibration and it took a long time. I also ordered two more carts--JT and imagine more cards. I probably won't be buying anymore for a while since I'm supposed to be on a spending ban. I have been busy getting my machines to work right alone and together; my imagine and gypsy. I've spent some time asking questions on the messageboard. So far the only problem I still have is getting my gypsy to open an older imagine file. The new files I make will open just not the first ones I made. Oh well, no big deal. At least now my imagine will cut with the gypsy. It kept restarting and not cutting when I wanted to cut with my gypsy. After updating both machines it works now. By the way it was snowing today. I'm glad I got out and played yesterday while it was in the 60's. Happy Easter everyone!!

Friday, April 8, 2011

One more thing

Another great thing about imagine carts is that all the colors and papers are coordinating which i am aweful at myself. Now i have a coordinating genius machine....lol.

Goodnight!

Imagine stuff

I have to say that the imagine carts are so cool and beautiful. I didnt think i wanted or needed on when it first came out and wasnt impressed. The more i saw done with it and saw the art and patterns really started to perk my interest. Wow when that price dropped last week it was like a gift to myself almost. I sold my old espression for $150 and sold some other carts and they paid for the imagine!! I have been beta testing the cricut craftroom software and cant wait for the full cuttable version. If you havent had the chance to use it, you are going to love it. It blows design studio away!! They say its going to be free too. How cool is that. Especially with the money we spend on their products. They said in a press release that we r going to be able to use our own images--maybe svg!! Ive been collecting and creating svg so i hope this is the case. CCR starts up way faster than DSS! I love being a beta tester and i would love to do it for a job. I told my hubby that i think i found my calling to be a tester and technical help person. I love figuring out technical stuff and i love computers.

Last post today i promise
Goodnight everyone!
~heather

Imagine first time use

So i thought since i did the initial setup on the imagine that it was all updated and ready to work with my Gypsy--not. I needed to connect it to my computer and run cricut sync. This was a bit confusing and took some time to do. A few times it said to restart imagine on cricut sync but imagine wasnt off so i just left it alone and do its thing. This is a big part of the updates is just being patient and waiting. There is a point where u do need to power on the imagine. I think i even restarted my cricut sync. I wish i wrote this when it was fresh in my mind. There was a point where my computer asked to insert disk to install device driver. There is no disk to put in. I said to locate on internet. I dont think it foumd it online. But i think once everything ran it course the driver was installed automatically anyway i think when i restarted cricut sync. After that i made sure my gypsy was all up to date and it was. Then i connected my gypsy to the imagine to load my carts. Connect gypsy to imagine with cord. Open imagine app on gypsy. Click manage carts. Click add. Plug cart into imagine and wait for it to load images on imagine. Then click ok or next on the gypsy. It should then start the progress bar on G. It takes a few minutes or more to add cart. Complete process until all carts are added. I did a quick project to test it. I had to plug cart into imagine to cut and push go on imagine to print and cut. So as far as i can tell the imagine carts dont get permanently limked to gypsy like other cricut carts. I am not totally sure about this but nowhere says that they are permamently linked.i asked on the messageboard. I may have missed something but im pretty sure thats all the stuff i did.

Imagine mat tip

The mat that came with the machine wasnt sticky at all. I was really upset. It at least was sticky enough to calibrate and setup the machine. After i finished setting up the machine i called customer service. I love provocraft customer service. A few years ago i bought a bad mat and they replaced it. They really stand by their products. Okay so CS told me i needed to activate the adhesive on the mat. I soaked it in hot water for a few minutes and then let it air dry. Then I used my spatula to rough up the surface. He said to use scraper but i dont have one. Then i put it aside for day or so. When i used it tonight it worked like a dream. I am so happy!! Although i did order more mats in the meantime in case it didnt work. I guess i needed more mats anyway.

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

just got my imagine

My carts came too. I have a short video opening the BOXES of the imagine.

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Ready for spring?

This is my youngest daughter...of six. I don't know why but she loves rain boots and rain coat. She loves playing in the the rain with her umbrella. She wears the boots all year long. I will definitely have to make a layout about this. We r totally ready for spring here in southern maine. We still have 3 feet of snow in our yard in some places....uggghhh! Talk about a long ass winter. We are supposed to get 6-12 inches of more snow on friday. Im hoping its an April fools forecast.

spending ban

After all the purchases I've been making lately, I am on a spending ban for an indefinite amount of time. That means more creative time!! I posted my two canvas pictures on etsy. My etsy name is, of course, geminipapercrafts. I used the circle exclusive french manor images on them. Have a great day everyone!

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Imagine carts

I ordered from cricut.com. I don't usually order from them as their prices are usually very high. I checked a bunch of sites and compared them to cricut.com and they were very close in prices. When I went to checkout I got free shipping automatically no code or anything. I am not sure if there is a special going on or not but I thought it was way cool. I also got my circle discount. I ordered blossom, yummy, lori's garden, and nursery tails. I am totally broke and not buying anything for myself for a long time. My birthday is in May so this all is my early birthday gift to myself. Yay ME!!!

Imagine is on it's way and family update

So my awesome hubby let me charge the imagine on his credit card. It should be here by friday the latest. Maybe I will share a video of me opening and testing it. I would like to try out my new tripod for my camera. I have all my cricut circle cartridges listed on ebay. I sold one and the others are being watched so I am pretty sure they will sell.

My oldest son is, again, cancer free. Or so they say "remission".  He will forever be disabled though due to the surgery he had on his jaw. The muscle and nerves to his left arm were cut and damaged during surgery. Now he is in pain constantly and cannot move his arm a lot. He went through help getting his mobility back in his arm, but it didn't improve. He is young and I'm sure he will adapt. He is in good spirits and is almost back to normal healthwise and putting on some weight. We spent some time together today posting all his old collectible shirts on ebay after I posted my stuff. It was great to have some quality time just the two of us. I taught him a thing or two on ebay and photobucket. I am also a web designer so I have tricks up my sleeve to avoid ebay fees. I think he really enjoyed spending time with me.

Good evening everyone,

Heather

Saturday, March 26, 2011

Selling cartridge

I am selling cricut circle exclusive cartridge pop-up neighborhood on ebay. My ebay username is geminihg77. I am going to be selling some mini handmade albums soon too. I am trying to get money to buy the cricut imagine. Now that it works with the gypsy I am ready to buy it. I am also selling my Expression to my friend. I also have other cricut circle carts I would like to sell to, but they have already been linked to my gypsy. Let me know if you are interested in any of them. I will sell one for $40. I have been completely busy the past two months working on projects. My mini albums took up a lot of time. I didn't realize they were going to take so much time to make. It makes me so sad to sell them so cheaply for all the work that goes into them, but its got to be done.

Saturday, February 5, 2011

Paper flower

I was making paper roses with scalloped circles cut from mini monograms and i got an idea for a different flower with the circles. I put like five circles together and punched hole in center with big bite and put brad in center to hold it all together. Then i snipped at each petal. Then i used tweezers to roll each petal to center. Then on the next layer i rolled until i came to first rolled layer. I repeated process until the last layer was only a small curl. I adhered leaves from serenade cart. I will put ink and stickles on it to finish it up. Underneath the flower is my new box of 24 pitt markers..im so excited i just love them!

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

hydrangea flower

gypsy file using carts different from kathy's http://www.mediafire.com/?y2yf6dse8u7a5zc

4 petal flower file for mini roses

I went to Kathy Orta's class last night and it was all about flowers. Well my favorite flower was made using the Paisley cartridge which  I don't have. It was made using a 4-petal flower which I couldn't find in any other cartridge. I made one using 2 hearts and spent a long long time last night recreating Kathy's files with one's I made. Well I ended up deleting all my work. So sad. So anyway I decided to take advantage of sure cuts a lot and Inkscape to make this flower. I opened up the paisley cartridge in design studio on my computer and located the flower. I copy and pasted it into Paint program and cropped the flower. I copy and pasted it into inkscape where it can now be saved as a .svg file which I then opened into SCAL. This took me no time at all. No where's near the time it took me last night to make it with hearts. So anyway I have the file here free for all to use as you would like. http://www.mediafire.com/?0uyu47c6op3zr4w I hope this works. Let me know if there are any problems with the file. You can find Kathy's gypsy file at paperphenomenon.blogspot.com and her ustream video is at paperphenomenon just search it at ustream.com. I will be including more flower files as I create them. The hydrangea will be the next one I do.

Monday, January 31, 2011

I am so mad!!

I went to michaels today for a special they were having on their canvas. The advertised item i wanted was the 10-pack 8x10 artists loft super value pack canvas frames for 14.99. Come to find out my M's doesnt carry it. I wish i could order it from M's website but they dont sell things there. Just thought i would vent. Thanks for listening i know some of u understand my pain.

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Finished booklet cover

I used shapes and phrase from once upon a princess. Yellow words are psychedelic font cut with scal. Dress, key, and butterfly circles were also cut with scal. Gear and circles are from indie art. I used a white gel pen and my pitt brush markers for pen work. I love the pitt markers they dry so fast and dont smudge. I am left handed and smudging is a big problem for me. Im glad i found a good marker. I just cant say enough good things about them.

Another booklet cover

Its not yet finished but i wanted to show what i have created so far. This is for my little girl which is why i went with a funky color scheme. I used watercolor paper for the base. I used my watercolor pencils to draw the funky swirls of color. Then i used a waterbrush to blend them in. I took my new diamond background stamp. Then i used tim holtz antique linen on the edges.

~Heather

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Scal

I finally got sure cuts a lot. Here are some of the cuts i made just testing it out. I also wanted to let u all know that u can cut paper with the cricut cake. I used the cake blade too and it cut cardstock awesome! So i have the cake hooked to my computer upstairs and i have the expression downstairs in my scrap area. I am so happy to be expanding my scrap possibilities!

~happy scrapping!

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Altered notebook cover

My son asked me to make him a sketch book. I jumped at the opportunity!! I used indie art for the cuts: skull, gears, parental advisory, hardcore. I used heavy glossy gel medium to adhere everything and covered entire cover when complete. I had to make it durable for my teenager. I used my new crackle stamp for the edge. I used plain really old dictionary paper on the top with self torn edges. I figured the grungier, the better. I used patterned paper for the rest.

~Heather

Monday, January 24, 2011

Unfinished mini album



Here is a mini album i made tonight in about two hours or more...time flies when you r playing. I assembled it and put the cover on it. I will post another when its done. This is a great album for using your scraps of paper. One of my goals this year is to use my scraps. I have so many great scraps too. I think it will be easy for the ones i want to make a bunch of these as gifts. I learned this book from kathy orta's youtube and really detailed instructions on her ustream channel i think its paper phenomenon. She's also got a blog. If you want me to post my instructions just leave me a comment requesting it. I have written down instructions on how i did it and any changes I made from what kathy did.

~Heather

Sunday, January 23, 2011

my daughter making clay hearts

She loves to craft with me. She also likes to sing while crafting and I caught her on video singing about crafting with her mom--me! We made a bunch of clay items last night to use for scrapbooking and other projects. Last week I made the clay leaves for a project and now I'm obsessed with making clay objects for my projects. I made a bunch of clay stuff last night and my youngest daughter helped. I think that crafting is awesome because it is something I can do alone and something to do with others too. It's great family therapy.

Pitt pen picture

Saturday, January 22, 2011

New favorite marker

FABER-CASTELL PITT ARTIST PEN (BRUSH TIP)

I have tried lots of pens and markers for journaling, stamping, coloring stamps etc. I came across these at michaels and decided to give them a try. They don't bleed through the paper and are waterproof and fade resistant and most importantly: acid free/ph neutral. They are pigmented drawing ink. I researched them vs. the copic markers and these were better than the copics when others compared them. I havent tried copics myself i just couldnt bring myself to spend that much money. These markers are a bit more than i wanted to spend but i could get them locally and it turns out that i love them and i thought i would share it with you. One big problem i have with markers is that they would smudge on photos. I tried these on photo paper and they didnt smudge. They took little to no time to dry. They dry fast which is another reason i love them. They are called Faber-Castell PITT artist pen ( i have the brush tip ones). I found some online for under $2 a marker. I have six right now and i will buy some more when i get more familiar with them. I can also use a coupon at the stores to buy them which is even better!!

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Pictures on my wall

Disregard the ugly cord. These are hung in my entry way.

Canvas shadowbox video

I am not good at video recording and reading at the same time...lol..these are so much more beautiful than the pictures and video shows.


Canvas 2 picture

Monday, January 17, 2011

Canvas shadowbox 2

I will post video of them. I spent a few days on them. I am so happy how they turned out. I will explain how i did them in the video. I got the canvas frame idea by watching roxyfur youtube video about mixed media canvas.

Shadowbox canvas frame

Inspired from roxyfur and yolibean.

Finished leaves

More leaves

I painted the ink onto the clay. It took a long time just painting them.

Clay leaves

I am working on a super project and i wanted to share this with you before i finish the project. I needed some leaves and i was going to use paper leaves but instead i am going to use these. My kids have the day off today and i babysit three kids as well. They wanted to play with play doh so i decided to use clay and cut out the leaf shapes. After i baked them and then i inked them with colorbok cats eye ink both green and brown to give some definition. I am going to adhere these to my project using a gel medium. The clay i used is polymer which needs to be baked for it to be hard.
~Heather

Friday, January 14, 2011

My pink stamper blog hop project

I completed the hop. I decided to make this because of the hop assignment. It really pushed me into action. I made this chain for valentines since it right around the corner. I cut the pink hearts from wedding cartridge and layered it. I then cut two squares from george. I inked it with pink and stamped and embossed both papers. There are hearts all along the chain. I will add more as we get closer to V day. I just wanted to at least get a start for the pink stamper blog hop.

Ribbon necklace for daughter

I love ribbon and i found these cool end cap things that worked perfect with this ribbon. I strung on a pendant and a key and a love charm. I let her pick out the pieces she wanted on the necklace.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Pendant/charm video

This pretty much just shows the products i use to make these. I don't have a hands free camera yet to show hands on how to make them.

Updated scrapspace

I also have some repurposed items. I am so shy when it comes to making videos. I hate how i sound and i am so critical of myself. I hope to overcome this and make more videos.

Completed turtle pendant necklace

I added chunky glitter to the glaze to make it look like waves. I'm not sure how i feel about it. I think i like the look better without the glitter. Jewelry making is my new interest and hobby and i am having so much fun making these necklaces for my family.

Completed scrabble tile necklace

My niece's initials. Mettalic painted tiles. Diamond glazed tiles.

Monday, January 10, 2011

Hello!

It's another Monday. I have been babysitting my friend's little one since October just to have a little extra money for my IPHONE and my scrapbooking. She is just the best little girl ever. I also have my 4 year old girl home too. They get along so well with each other. The baby loves my beagle pup too. He loves her too cause she's always dropping snacks for him. I have been spending most of my craft time making pendants. My sister has my Gypsy so I haven't been using my cricut. I hate dealing with carts and I won't use my cricut without my G. My sister was reluctant to use my Gypsy but I have converted her to a G user. I am looking out for an inexpensive G (under $100) to get her for her birthday cause she will not buy anything for herself. She has three kids and always buys stuff for them and never for herself. I heard M's had a G for $50 but I have yet to make my way there yet. I have till march to find one for her. As soon as I get my G back from her I want to cut out a turtle and make a pendant with it. My niece love turtles and wants a turtle pendant. Maybe I will make a video tutorial of how I make them. They aren't as easy as you might think. The bubbles are terrible and ruin the project. So you gotta chase the dreaded bubbles away.

Peace and Love,

Heather

Thursday, January 6, 2011

My custom photo pendant

Happy new year

Happy new year! I survived the holidays! I have been focused on my new hobby lately--pendant making. I have been making glass and scrabble tile pendants. I have been having so much fun making these. I use photos and embellished scrapbook paper and stickers for them. I put diamond glaze and crystal lacquer on them to make it looked encased in the glass. I will post a picture of one. I made a lot of them with my grandparents picture. My family lost both of them this summer one month apart and it was a big loss for the family. I made the pendant necklaces for xmas presents.