Carol's Birthday Card (and my first print-then-cut)

It's Ziva and Leela! The print-then-cut feature on the Explore worked perfectly; I think they turned out great. I can see how this is going to quickly become an ink-sucker. Totally worth it.

I used vinyl for the balloons because vinyl is my new obsession, and it's shiny. Shiiiiiiny. Sorry, what? I got distracted.

Cricut Explore

Yaaaaaay, I got the Cricut Explore! And, I didn't manage to get anything done before my two week free trial of 25,000 images to use in Cricut Design Space expired. But that's okay, the subscription is really reasonable, and you can cut any SVG from anywhere for free... not even only SVGs, I've been using PNGs and they cut just fine. For my first project I did a pennant wall hanging.

Cartridges/images used: Scalloped Edge - Accent Essentials, Floral Lovebirds Pennant - Pretty Pennants, Banner Label - The First Few Years, Font - Don Juan.
Papers used: Best Occasions 8x8 Textured Cardstock - Neutrals, Colorbök 12x12 Cardstock - Neutral, DCWV 8x8 Textured Carstock - Neutrals, Colorbök 12x12 Designer Paper - Joplin, Wausau Paper 8.5x11 Classics Cardstock - Spectrum, Colorbök 6x6 Designer Paper - Light Bright.

Honestly, I don't really know how I feel about it. I'm not sure I like the background color, the scallop color, or if I over/under decorated. I didn't really plan it out very much, so all in all I think it was fairly successful. The cut and write function rocks.

Also, I used the LightGrip Mat for the first time, and it was totally integral for cutting the thin paper (Colorbök 12x12 Designer Paper - Joplin). I would have never got that off the standard grip mat in one piece. (It's the large patterned overlay, lots of small cuts.) The size of the whole thing is 9.5x11.5.

I'm going to put it in the kitchen. :)

Housekeeping

For the past two days I've been uploading my photographs to Photobucket and Flickr. I started on Photobucket because that's the site I've used the longest, but I soon realized that you don't get very much space. I was able to go from 2 GB to 10 GB by downloading the mobile app, but when that filled up I went over to Flickr which gives a whole terabyte without any hoops to jump through. What's up with that? I guess I'm kind of a picture hoarder. I'm not really sure why I'm saving many of them, but they're backed up now! For the next time my hard drive dies... Here are a few random pictures I'm saving, just for fun.

Chunky Crocheted Basket by Elizabeth Trantham

Once again found a pattern on Ravelry that I just had to make. This is the Chunky Crocheted Basket by Elizabeth Trantham, pattern found here. I used Lion Brand Wool-Ease® Thick & Quick in the color Oatmeal, two strands held together for structure. 

The pattern is a bit hard on the hands since it's supposed to be worked tight, but it does come together really quickly. I see more of these baskets in my future. Definitely going to give it a try with t-shirt yarn.

Winter Whites

My mom is a really good present-giver. She got me a bunch of white yarn and dye packets. I haven't been adventurous enough to try the dye yet, but I did go crazy on the yarn.

The first is Lily® Sugar'n Cream® cotton yarn which I used to make a handbag from this pattern found on Ravelry. (Aran Sampler Tote by Ruth Shepherd)

I haven't lined it yet because I still can't decide if I want to dye it - I'm really digging it in white, as impractical as that may be. 

The other yarn I received was Bernat® Tizzy™ which has a really fun texture. Turned it into a soft and fluffy rug, no pattern, just kind of a shell stitch. This I definitely do want to dye.

Carol's Wedding Card

Andrew's sister, Carol, is getting married at Half Moon Cay in the Bahamas in 4 days! Her color theme is based on a beautiful necklace by Color Obsession.

She also has a painting of a tree with empty branches and I was asked to make leaves that everyone who is attending the wedding can write their names on. So I used 6 colors of paper to match the colors of the hummingbird above and sewed the edges by hand with complimenting thread. I think they turned out pretty nice!

So of course I wanted to stick to the theme when making a card.

Used Cricut Stretch Your Imagination cartridge on blue, green and white paper, a little ribbon, some tiny star brads and some darker blue thread. (Now how am I going to make an envelope the right size?)

Catching up - starting with an Owlie Blanket!

Let me start by saying that my intention was to make a granny square blanket using the random skeins of yarn I've been hoarding for too long. Well, you know, the best laid plans... I think I ended up back in the store 2-3 times to buy more yarn.

I was inspired by the pattern from the Repeat Crafter Me blog, pattern found here. But, I wanted to do something in fall colors (my secret goal was to get rid of the yellow yarn) with a little bit of a retro feel. I finished right around Thanksgiving.

It was 10 squares by 10 squares, and I think the hardest thing about it was arranging them - I must done have done at least 12 different color combinations. All of the yarn was worsted weight, most of it Red Heart Super Saver, some Loops & Threads® Impeccable™. 

But eventually it really did come together - I used a chain join described in this pattern.

And finally, four little owls in two opposite corners. It's pretty comfy, too!