An "Island Update"

This may look like a gigantic monstrosity but to me it is a thing of beauty! The "island" has made it to my basement (or should I say "lower level"!) crafting space. I have been surprised to see how many people are interested in this project so I have a few more photos to post for you.



After finishing the platform in the garage and painting it to match the bookcases, it was time to bring it into my space. We decided it would be easier (and gentler to our interior walls!) to bring the platform around the back of the house. I work in our finished, walkout basement with a large sliding glass door and the island's destination was right inside that door.



The platform is very heavy so my very handy husband and helpful son had to be careful getting it through the door.



The island platform has arrived! You can see the large locking wheels - there are six of them to support the platform and make it moveable in my space.



I did not want to actually attach the bookcases to the platform - this gives me the flexibility to reuse them in a different configuration someday. To be sure they would not shift on the platform, we rolled out some of this shelf liner - it is a thin ribbed plastic and will create a cushion and a non-slip surface on the top of the platform.



First one of the larger 4 x 2 IKEA Expedit bookcases was settled into position...



then the 2 x 2 bookcase on the end...



There was a brief delay to check on the tennis (Men's Finals at Wimbledon)



But eventually the third bookcase arrived! (please ignore the mess in the background - you know how it goes when you reorganize - first you have to make an even bigger mess to get everything shifted into the new "right place").



So there it is - a big beautiful island with 20 cubby holes for me to store all sort of things - mostly paper and albums but some tools as well.



The platform and wheels makes the finished height about 39 inches, which is perfect for me since I am a tall person. I think my back will be happier too since I have been cutting on the pool table (with a cover on it) and it is much lower. If I can get away in the next few days, I will head to IKEA for some more of these plastic bins that fit the openings precisely and will hold a LOT of paper and other goodies. We also still need to add the top counter which is cut and sanded but hasn't been painted and finished yet.

Today was an absolutely hectic day - I didn't have a chance to do even a single Cricut cut - I am feeling the withdrawal symptoms! Jen and I had two classes to teach and we had some internet issues that gave us big headaches with the screen sharing! We all wondered if there were too many people watching the Michael Jackson Memorial online and gobbling up all of the bandwidth. Thanks again to our lovely and patient students for bearing with all the glitches - in the end we did manage to cover everything but it usually is much, much smoother! The Word Book class for Thursday is completely full but we will be posting the next group of classes by the end of the week.

So tomorrow is another crafting day - I have several swaps to finish up so they can get to their destinations by the 15th. I plan to have something to share here too. Thanks for taking in another chapter in the "island saga!"

Another way to use "A Child's Year"

When I first opened the "A Child's Year" cartridge I could feel the wheels start turning as I imagined all sorts of projects I could make in addition to the usual cards and scrapbook layouts. When I was growing up we had some beautiful cut and pierced lampshades in our home. There was a woman in town who created them for a local shop and they were just beautiful (but also expensive!).

I thought that I could make a really pretty lampshade with some vinyl and my Cricut using the silhouettes from this cartridge. You could actually do this with almost any of the designs and any cartridge - just use your imagination. I wanted to try it right away but didn't have time to shop for a suitable lampshade on the holiday weekend.

Last night I noticed a spare lamp in my older son's bedroom (it is the place lots of things end up now that he is out of college and living and working in San Francisco). While it was not the ideal choice and the lampshade doesn't even fit the lamp it is on (!) I decided to give it a try. This was so much fun to do and I wanted to share the results even though it isn't quite up to what I had envisioned. I will definitely work on an upgraded version - I need to go to IKEA for more boxes and containers for my new craft island and I am sure I can find a reasonably priced lamp there.



I cut a variety of images in white vinyl. It is tricky to figure out the sizing to get the figures to be proportional - this is one thing that will be easier to do once this cartridge is added to Design Studio and you can work with the images on the screen. I went through a lot of trial and error, but eventually I got sizes that worked (even though they are still not strictly to scale).

When I cut vinyl, I set my blade depth at 4 and speed and pressure at medium. This works perfectly to "kiss cut" the vinyl and leaves the paper backing intact so I can easily peel off my images. The vinyl goes on the mat with the paper backing side on the mat - be sure to smooth the vinyl down and eliminate any air bubbles before cutting.

Below you can see the inside of the shade. When the lamp is turned off the images are not obvious - if my shade was a bit heavier, I don't think they would show at all.



I used the "flip" key on the Expression for most of the designs when I cut them - remember the sticky side of the vinyl adheres to the inside of the lampshade, so if you want the image to look like the one in the booklet you have to flip it. This is particularly important if you use words since they will be backwards if you don't use "flip." For the images, the choice of flipping or not flipping just gives you more design options.



Here is another view of the inside. My lampshade was rather small so I had to be careful to smooth the designs along the curves. The vinyl adheres very well to the shade and does not seem to get any hotter than the shade itself. I am more comfortable using vinyl for this project than I would be using paper, which could come loose and touch the bulb. The vinyl is also very easy to work with, it has some "give" so you can fit it to the shade and the adhesive is already applied which saves time. The tiny little details cut more smoothly in vinyl than they would in paper.



I found it difficult to get good photographs when I had the lamp turned on due to the nature of the incandescent bulb (which gives such a yellow light) and the concentrated brightness of the bulb.

I took some more photos with the lamp turned off and my sunlight lamp shining down through the top of the shade - here are close views of the all of the sides of the shade as I rotated it...



Starting from the seam - I added the cat but I think maybe I should try trimming the grass a bit to avoid the double layers which make the image darker (or maybe that just emphasizes the cat lurking in the grass looking at those birds!).



Don't you just love the flying ponytail on the girl pushing the wheelbarrow!



This boy digging and the girl with the watering can are out of scale but I just decided he must be a very tall boy!



The end of the rotation - the boy with the large sunflower is positioned at the seam again.

I hope I have inspired you to try this - you could do a very simple shade for a nightlight or a large elaborate design. I'd love to see what you come up with if you make a custom shade - imagine how nice this would be for a baby gift and you could even personalize the shade with the name, date, etc.

A quick update on the island project - the platform is done and everything has been moved to the craftroom. I am in the middle of a big mess with things out everywhere as I try to reorganize and move into the island. The top is not done yet but I will try to share some progress photos later today or tomorrow. My birthday isn't until Friday so there is still time to get everything done (well...I hope it is enough time!).

Another update - so many of you have told me that you really like this project and several have suggested I submit it for the Cricut/Today's Mama contest. I hadn't considered doing that since I have the four cartridges - but I sure would like to find a "golden ticket" and go on a cruise! Here is a LINK to the Cricut site and a LINK to the Today's Mama site. The badge in my blog side column will take you to the page that tells you all about the "Cricut Ticket" which could be in any of the four new cartridges (Stand and Salute, Jubilee, Home Decor and Simply Sweet) sold between July 1 and August 15, 2009. There are twenty out there to be found and I've only heard that one has been found so far.....

Winter in July - A Child's Year again!

All of the items you see in this photo were made using a single key on the "A Child's Year" cartridge (with the exception of one phrase cut from another key). This cartridge could keep you busy for weeks if you just chose one key each day and tried making an assortment of items from that key.



First I cut the snowman (I guess it is actually a "snowwoman"!) silhouette in solid blue and the shadow in a "snowy" patterned paper.



I added Stickles glitter glue to give some sparkle to the snow and some white pen lines to add some definition to the image of the child. The lines are a freehand "interpretation" and you can use your imagination about the placement. To see a super example of this you should click HERE to see a wonderful layout on Monique's blog (Monique is also previewing this cartridge for Provo Craft and she does fantastic work).



I added a dark blue "snowy" layer to a basic white A2 card and then used foam squares to adhere my silhouetted figure for some more dimension.



Next, I cut this card design. I used a patterned paper for the top layer and set the size at 5 1/2 inches for a standard A2 card. There are dozens of fabulous card designs on this cartridge - all ready to cut with the touch of a button! The snowflake cut outs can be used for another project.



The cartridge will cut the card base as well, but I have plenty of blank A2 cards so I used one of these for the base. I simply adhered the two layers and added Stickles to the small holes and to accent the snowflakes.



Here is a closer view showing the Stickles. This card would also be beautiful cut in white and embossed with the Cuttlebug (I'll have to try that next!).



One more view of the first two cards I made.



I used the "icon" feature to cut the two large snowflakes in this photo. These are lovely designs once again and add to the collection of snowflakes available on all of the Cricut cartridges (I think there are about 24 different snowflakes at this point - enough for a fine blizzard!).



The next cut I tried was the Tag feature. These tags cut in two layers - the top with the snowflake cutouts and a base layer. Quick, simple and charming!



Here is the collection of snowflakes and tags - just to remind those of you who live in hot areas that winter can be fun too!



I was curious to see how one of the silhouettes would look cut in a patterned paper so I cut the pair of skaters in my dark blue snowy paper. You have to remember to adjust your settings but the shape cut nicely with no tearing at the fine details. I didn't cut the shadow for these figures - I didn't think I needed it for the card I had planned.



I layered dark blue and then some patterned paper with swirls that reminded me of figure skating designs. I added the snowflakes that were cut from the tags and the phrase "best friends" from the font feature on the first toy page.



I have gotten a lot of comments and emails telling me that I am being an "enabler" - I have no defense.... I think anyone who uses a Cricut would find dozens of ways to use this cartridge and you would never get bored with all of the possibilities. So I don't apologize for "enabling" - I know you will thank me in the end when you get your hands on this cartridge and start creating!

Just wait 'til you see what I have in mind to try next!

Fourth of July - a beautiful day!

I have been telling you about our rainy summer for weeks now - it really has been an unusual year. Today was the first "perfect" day of the summer - just in time for the Fourth of July.



We have a traditional "Picnic in the Park" here in Concord and there was a great turnout to celebrate the holiday and the nice weather.



Lots of local clubs and non-profit groups have booths where they sell food, promote their causes, hand out information and offer items for sale. I am a member of the local quilt guild, the "Concord Piecemakers" and we usually display a quilt that has been made by many members contributing squares. We raffle the quilt to raise money to help cover costs of making quilts for donation for people in need and to support the quilt museum.



I had to laugh this year when I saw that we were in a slightly different location than usual (due to a big mud puddle) and our spot was right next to a silhouette artist! Quite a coincidence since I have spent the last day or so totally wrapped up in working with the new "A Child's Year" cartridge - I can't get enough silhouettes! (I made a lot more things this afternoon and will post them tomorrow morning - this is an amazing cartridge!).



Here is a close up view of this year's raffle quilt - it is so bright and colorful and a very talented member did the fantastic machine quilting.




Our younger son and his girlfriend stopped by on their bikes - I guess they have outgrown the "decorated bikes and baby carriages" parade that happens each year.



Several musical groups perform and everyone has a great time. There are lots of activities for the kids, bouncy castles, the police radar sign set up to time their baseball pitches, face painting and cotton candy and a chance to put out a "fire" using a real fire hose!

It is always a lot of fun and I am so glad the weather was cooperative. We didn't venture into Boston for the Boston Pops and the fireworks - we just watched them on TV from the comfort of our couch!

So Happy 4th of July! I hope you had a great day wherever you are.



One more photo - my very handy husband has the "platform" for my craftroom island done! Here he is attaching the super heavy duty wheels - this structure will handle a lot of weight (we all know how heavy paper can be - and I have a lot of paper!).

You can see my car with the "flipped" Cricut head in the background. I made it from Wall Pops and forgot that they have color only on one side so when I flipped it the sticky side was white ( I originally planned to put it on the inside of the glass). I couldn't waste it - so I put it on this way and it has been on the car nearly a year and still looks great! (I even go through the car wash with it).

Cards made with A Child's Year

We had a lovely dinner out but I could hardly wait to get home and try some more carts from this cartridge. This one cartridge could keep a crafter busy for days or weeks!



Here is the baby carriage cut - look at the tiny blades of grass and the delicate trim on the carriage.



I cut the top layer in pink and the shadow in pale green.



This lovely mat is on the shift function of the card feature on the school cut. When cut at five inches it makes a perfectly proportioned layer for an A2 card.



My baby carriage cut was a little larger so I cut the mat again at six inches to suit the carriage.



Then I layered everything on a 5 x 7 card but decided to trim 1/2 inch from the card to make it 5 x 6 1/2. The proportions worked better this way but you can plan the cuts to suit your card size (and, once again, when this cartridge is added to Design Studio you will be able to be sure about the sizing). I will probably add some more details to this card and stamp a sentiment in the grass border - tomorrow...



I am fascinated by the cards and the layers for the cards - there are dozens of interesting shapes and cuts for both the cards and also for the tags. Here is the heart card from the Valentine's Day set of images.



This photo shows the other side of the Valentine paper - I had planned to use the polka dots but I liked this side better in the end.



A bit of serendipity - the cut was random and done with this side of the paper face down on the mat and I couldn't have planned a better placement. The point of the heart has the darker red pattern and glittered border and the little bird ends up in the perfect spot. The word "Love" is pre-welded on the cartridge and is cut at 1 inch.



I think the heart is meant to be affixed to the card base on both sides but I liked the effect of the loose top flap - you could add an extra message here.



Here is the final card with some white pen dots added in the scallops.



Finally, I couldn't resist cutting out a few Halloween images - here is one pumpkin...



Here are the two layers of the pumpkin tag.



They fit together perfectly and I like the expressions on the pumpkin faces!



Last photo for today - just look at the details on this witch - don't you love her shoes!

(If you are one of the feed subscribers who gets a morning email this is a very long one - three posts in one day! Here is a LINK to the first post with all of the cartridge handbook pages and overlays.)