To the Moon, Alice!!!

Believe it or not, I’m not feeling particularly chatty today.  I’ve been working on a rocket for a bulletin board I’m doing, and I’m going to give it to you without a lot of fanfare or conversation.  You could use the files to create a great scrapbook page element/embellishment or use it in your card making.  I’m thinking boy birthday or if you wanted to really get creative you could even do a romantic card for your sweetie…something along the lines of “You Rock(et) My World” or something equally cheesy. 

I found this awesome png file at http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Blue-rocket.svg.  (Ya’ll know I try to give credit where credit’s due!).  I was hoping I could import it into Inkscape and get the program to trace the layers, but there were just too many color variations, and I’m not the most saavy Inkscape user out there. 

So I opened it in Photoshop and did a lot of work on it.  The result turned out pretty cool.

Click on the image to download a zip file containing a SCAL2 SCUT file, SVG files, and a PDF file listing the dimensions for all pieces for SCAL1 users

There are a few things you need to know about these files:

1.)   This was created as a major element on a bulletin board, so the finished rocket is 8.00″W 10.47″ H.  Of course, you can resize all the pieces to suit your needs.

2.)  This is an ambitious paper piecing…seven layers. 

3.)  I usually try to create a SCAL1 SCUT file for those of you still using SCAL1, but I’m short on time today.  However, I didn’t forget you completely.  The zip file contains a PDF listing the exact dimensions of each piece so you can create this for yourself.  Note that these dimensions will create a supersized rocket…8×10.5″. 

4.)  The new layers function in SCAL2 made it very easy to put together a SCAL2 SCUT file, so that’s included in the zip file.  If you don’t know how to cut layers individually, go to my tutorials page and follow the link to Dan’s video tutorials over at My Crafty Life.  It’s worth your time.  Really.

Hope you can find use for this, and, as always, happy Cricut-ing!!!

Payback’s a Witch

iTunes is pissing me off this morning.

There’s an album I need to download (please note my use of the verb NEED…not want), and the software is not cooperating. 

First, it required that I install an update…which took FOR-EV-ER!!!!  Then after many LONG minutes of not-so-patiently waiting, the update did not install properly.  So now in order to download the album I NEED, I have to uninstall the software and reinstall it. 

AAARRRRRGGGGHHHHH!!!

I’m sure you’re wondering why I don’t just use another music service.  I have considered that option.  But I’m afraid that if I take my $9.99 and spend it elsewhere I will bring about the complete financial collapse of Apple. 

Snort….yeah, right.

Anyway…my misery and frustration this morning is all my DD’s fault.

Before I go on to explain how my adorable pre-schooler is completely responsible for this hair-pulling episode, you must know this about me.  I am a complete and total U2 addict.  Shamefully, my addiction to this amazing band from Dublin even surpasses my addiction to my Cricut. 

Back in March I purchased the DELUXE edition of U2’s new album No Line on the Horizon.  I was in U2 heaven…for a while. 

Then a few days ago I made the mistake of taking my CD out of the car and bringing it into the house for the purpose loading it to my portable media player. 

Apparently my DD procured the CD from my desk.  She then proceeded to mar its glorious surface with dirty little girl fingerprints and some sort of sticky slime that I can only assume was gummy infused saliva, which all  moms know has greater adhesive properties than super glue. 

Now…while I am a HUGE U2 fan (perhaps even bordering on the obsessive…which I know is a confession that shocks you because it’s sooooo not like me!), even I have never licked one of their CD’s!!!!  (Fondled one maybe, but that’s another story 🙂 )

To add insult to injury, not only did my DD touch and lick my CD, she also managed to put a very deep and indelible scratch across the entire width of it. 

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I’m going to call my dad tonight and share my agony with him.  And although he’s entirely too much of a prince to say it, he’ll think something along the lines of “Payback’s a witch.”

You see, my dad is a HUGE Barbara Streisand fan.  And when I was little (coincidentally the same age as my DD is now) I got my hands on his prized copy of Hello Dolly.  I then proceeded to lay the LP on the floor, stand on it, and do the twist. 

He’s long forgiven me, but he’s never forgotten. 

Neither apparently have the fates.

Yeah…payback’s a witch.

So…in honor of the witchiness of fates and payback…and of course in honor of the approaching Halloween night, here’s a few files for your entertainment.

Click on the Image to Download a Zip File containing SVG Files for All Three Layers & SCUT Files for SCAL1 and SCAL2

I’m not one to embellish my embellishments…too lazy I suppose.  But this baby got a few extra touches.  First, Cauldron01 (background base) is cut from black cardstock.  I then mixed a bit of silver and black acrylic paint and applied it sparingly using a small sponge. 

I wanted a bit of high light on the cauldron, so I cut Cauldron02 from vellum.  White vellum.  When I removed it from my cutting mat and laid it on top of the black base I got a creation that can only be described as UG-A-LEE!!!!   I glued it down anyway, added a tiny bit more of silver paint to the black/silver mix I used on the background, and then sponged the vellum. 

I then cut my green witches brew (Cauldron03) and added it, running along a yellow Tombo marker along its edges.  I’m sure I’ll mess with that a bit more. 

Anyway…if you’re interested, here’s a zip file containing svg files for all three layers of the cauldron as well as scut files for both SCAL1 and SCAL2. 

I’m going to go try to get my U2 fix, but here’s wishing you all Happy Cricut-ing!!!

Live, Create & Learn

The last few mornings here have been rather crisp.  In an area known for Indian summers, this early onset of cool weather is a bit of a surprise. 

Today my DS announced, “Fall’s here!”  (Probably because it was the fourth day in a row he stepped outside and went “Brrrrrr!”)

I replied, “Not yet, buddy.” 

He (being eight and knowing everything) and I (being quite a bit older but having learned nothing) proceeded to have a discussion about whether or not fall had finally arrived.  Basically the conversation went something like this:

DS:    Fall’s here!
ME:    Not yet, buddy.
DS:    Yes, it is.
ME:    No, it’s not.
DS:    Yes, it is.
ME:    No, it’s not. 
DS:    Yes, it is.
ME:    No, it’s not.
DS:    Yes, it is.
ME:    No, it’s not.

What can I say?  He’s eight, and I hadn’t had my second cup of coffee yet.

Finally he challenged me with the question, “How do you know, Mom?”  I simply replied, “Because I don’t smell it yet.”

At which point he looked at me like I was smoking crack.

I know it sounds weird, but I can smell fall approaching.  Each year there’s that one morning, long before the leaves begin to change, when I step out of the house into air that’s suddenly different.  It’s as though God reached down during the night to lift the weighted veil of summer and reveal the essence of a living and breathing earth. 

When that morning arrives I know that no matter what the calendar may say, summer is finally over. 

So, due to that incredibly intelligent exchange with my DS, I’m thinking of autumn.  I’m thinking of all those things I traditionally associate with that season…falling leaves and pumpkins on the vine and scarecrows.  I’m thinking of our annual visit to the pumpkin patch and those fat gourds whose faces we’ll reveal with our carving tools.

So it’s only natural that I’d design something pumpkin for today.

Click on the Photo to Download a Zip File Containing SVG and SCUT Files for this Project

Sometimes even the best planned design is troublesome.  Today’s design is a perfect example.

First, I decided to create the leafy scroll as a jpg, have SCAL2 trace it, then duplicate it and weld it together.  Never mind that the damn thing was almost twelve inches wide.  (What was I thinking?!?!)

Then I decided to cut it out of scrapbook paper instead of cardstock because I liked the “look” of the paper.  (Never mind functionality or stability!)

Then I thoughtlessly decided to use my most recently “re-stickied” mat, which is very, very sticky.  (I may have gotten a bit carried away with the Zig glue.)

I then discovered the perfect recipe for a migraine headache.  Take an intricate design, add less-than-heavyweight paper, then mix in your stickiest mat. 

AARRGGHHH!!!! 

After I spent an hour trying to pry my beautiful leafy scroll off the mat (which I finally managed to do) I decided to take pity on you and simplify that element of the design.  I divided the scrollwork in half, and it will now cut in two separate pieces.  (You may want to use cardstock or a less sticky mat or both!!!)

I’m very pleased with the shape of the pumpkin layers, but I’m not thrilled with my color choices.  If I had to do it over again (and I’m sure I will because of my perfectionistic tendencies), I’d select some color other than black for the bottom layer of the pumpkin, and I’d definitely stay away from bright orange for the top layer.  My mind was imagining autumn…my eyes and hands chose Halloween.

Once I’d glued everything up, I decided that I’d probably like three pumpkins instead of one.  A small and a medium in the foreground, and a large one in the back.

Oh well…live, create and learn.

One last word of warning before I give you the links for the files.  The elements in the scut files are sized VERY large.  I scrapbook in 12×12 format, and I was attempting to create a bottom border that would extend across the entire page.  In that respect, I was successful.  Of course, you can resize all of the elements to suit your needs.

You can grab a zip file here that contains scut files for both SCAL1 and SCAL2 as well as the svg files for the three pumpkin layers and the leafy scroll.

Best of luck and happy Cricut-ing!!!

Could It Get Any Easier?

Thanks to a discussion with my DS while on the way to school this morning, I’ve got Halloween on my mind.  He can’t decide what what he wants to be this year.

When he got in the car he’d decided he wanted to be something gross…something creepy…something “that bleeds real blood” (quote unquote).  Thirty seconds later he wanted to be a ninja.  Less than a minute later he wanted to be Luigi (of the famed brotherly pair, Mario and Luigi).  

Now I know from past experience that this is a conversation we’ll have over and over and over from now until the end of September when I finally impose a deadline and require his final decision. 

And then it dawned on me…Halloween’s going to be here in about a minute. 

Crap.  Crap squared.  Crap cubed.  Crap to the nth degree.

Once Halloween arrives it’s a downhill hundred-mile-an-hour race to Christmas.

Crap.  Crap squared.  Crap cubed.  Crap to the nth degree.

I’m SOOOOOO not ready for this.

But I suppose I’d better start getting ready.  So in honor of one of my favorite holidays, here’s a quick and easy Frankenstein face for you…perfect for your scrapbooks and Halloween party invites. 

Frankie Goes to Hollywood

It’s so easy to do — the bottom layer is cut from green cardstock, and the black shadow is cut and applied right on top.  The best part about the black shadow is it comes off the cutting mat in a single piece with the exception of the little divet at the top of Frankie’s chin. 

Here’s a zip file containing the svg files for both the green layer, the black shadow, and a scut file to cut both pieces.  As I’ve sized it, you’ll get a head that’s about 3.5″Wx5.75″H.  Of course, you can resize it — just make sure you check the box for Keep Proportions.

Happy Halloween Cricut-ing!!!

I Wanna Do Bad Things With You

Those of you who read my blog on a fairly regular basis (many thanks to both of you!!!) know that I’m a self-confessed obsessive compulsive.

My OCD-ism encompassess several areas of my life…none of which happen to be cooking or housekeeping (much to my husband’s dismay).  Of course, my Cricut is one of those OCD objects.

Another is the HBO series True Blood. 

Every Sunday night, my BFF comes over, and she, my DH, and I spend an hour riveted to the television.  Then my BFF and I spend another hour watching next week’s previews (over and over, in regular and    s  l  o  w    motion) and dissecting the series to death.  My DH, who remains rapt during the show, falls asleep during this portion of the evening.  (Which is all right with us because it allows us to pant over Eric in an unrestrained and often shameful manner.)

Of course, my BFF and I are simply aghast that we have only one episode left before Season 2 comes to an end, and we’re discussing what we’re going to do to provide us with our “Blood” fix while we wait for HBO to unveil Season 3.  (Which of course will take them entirely too long, and we simply can’t understand why those darn actors and directors and producers and other staff can’t work night and day for the next century to provide us with all the Blood that we require for existence.)

So in honor of the show that’s brought so many thrills and chills and yes – even laughter – to our Sunday evenings, here a bit of my favorite Shreveport bar for you.

The Bar With A Bite

After a long and often fruitless Internet search, I finally found a hi-res *.eps file for the Fangtasia logo on www.brandsoftheworld.com.  This provided me with exactly what I needed to create a really good quality  *.svg file and *.scut file for your use. 

As always, happy Cricut-ing!!!

P.S.  If you’re wondering who the smoky and sexy growl in today’s audio selection belongs to, check out http://jaceeverett.com, and, yes, his music is available on iTunes.

Sun Sun Sun Here It Comes

If you wandered here today expecting a humor-filled post to give you a giggle, I’m sorry to report that you’re going to be deeply disappointed.  

Today dawned gray and gloomy, and the sky pissed a fine mist over my disposition all morning.  I couldn’t get revved up, despite nearly an entire pot of coffee, and I was feeling funky. 

I suppose we all have days like these.  Days where nothing’s really wrong but nothing’s really right either.  Days when we just feel out-of-sorts and strange in our own skin. 

So I decided to listen to a bit of music in hopes that it might lift my spirits.  (You can click on the arrow to check out what I chose as my gray-gloomy-day inspiration.)   

My selection turned out to be the inspiration I needed to complete another paper-piecing for my summer scrapbook pages.

Here Comes the Sun

You can dowload a zip file containing three *.svg files (one for each piece) and one *.scut file to cut the entire thing here.  Or, if you happen to be a glutton for punishment you can download the individual files:  (1) Flaming-Sun-Background.svg   (2) Flaming-Sun-Center-Circle.svg   (3)Flaming-Sun-Center-Swirl.svg   (4) Flaming-Sun-All-Pieces.scut.

Many thanks to Paul, John, George and Ringo for making music that can lighten the gloomiest of skies. 

And here’s wishing all of you happy Cricut-ing.

Back to School Bus

I know I’ve been celebrating summer, but yesterday evening reality set in.  The school year has returned and brought with it that nightly demon…homework.

Ya’ll…I hate homework as much as my kid does.  Because his homework agony is my homework agony.  I envy parents whose children sail through their school work with scarely a groan.  The parents who can always read their children’s homework because it’s legible! The parents who don’t have to sequester their children in convent-like silence because their children actually possess powers of concentration!

And I commiserate with those parents who would rather rip out their own molars with rusty pliers than face an afternoon of textbooks and homework assignments.

To add insult to injury, once again this year I was not allowed to take a picture of my DS on his first day of school in his classroom.   Not because of any silly school rule, but because my eight-going-on-eighteen year old is simply too cool to have his mom taking pictures in front of his friends.  After four years of it’s-the-first-day-of-school-but-I-can’t-take-a-picture-for-the-scrapbook-that-rotten-kid-of-mine-will-one-day-treasure, you’d think I’d be so over it.

But I’m not.

It irritates me that every year I am forced to complete a back-to-school layout that hasn’t a single photograph on it.

The first year, the year he entered kindergarten, I made light of it and designed a layout reminiscent of a yearbook page with the blank spaces which read “Photograph Not Available”.

The second year — first grade — I used stickers and journaled my heart out about his classroom and his teacher and my impressions of his first day and my hopes for the year.

The third year I used TONS of stickers, but the most I could muster up was eight lines of journaling.  It’s a good thing I’m good with color and space and that I understand the beauty of “white space” in an artful composition.

This year I’m seriously considering taping a single piece of notebook paper in the scrapbook and writing what I really think.

Of course, I would never, ever do that.  Not really.  But I can, and often do, entertain all sorts of awful thoughts in my head.  And sometimes, on occasion, I share them here.  Lucky you!!!

For those of you who have those oh-so-sweet first-day-of-school photos and are looking for something to include in your layout, I’ve got something here for you.  (And no, I don’t mean my middle finger!)

And for those of you, who like me, have rotten children who are ungrateful for the many daily sacrifices you make as a sainted parent, you can use it to fill up the immense blank space on your layout created by a lack of photographs.

Back to School Bus

I’m providing *.svg files for the following:

Black Bus Background

Yellow Bus Foreground

Hubcaps

White Background for Stop Sign

Red Stop Sign & Blinker

I’m also including a *.scut file with all the pieces on a single 12×12 cutting mat, and all the pieces sized correctly to be pieced together to create a 5″ bus.  You can grab it here.

Please note that I did not include any wording on the side of the bus.  That’s to allow you room to customize your bus with whatever you’d like it to say.  Once you’ve imported the *.svg file (or opened the *.scut file) in SCAL, you can simply position your cursor right on the bus (make sure you do this on what will be the yellow part) and type in whatever you’d like it to read.

I’ll personally refrain from making any disparaging remarks on the bus that I’ll cut for my scrapbook.  But you know I can’t go to jail for what I’m thinking 🙂

Best of luck with the homework, and happy Cricut-ing.

Paper-Pieced Palm Tree

When I think of the beach, I think of sand, surf and sun.  I also think of palm trees.  When we travel southeastward toward the shore, I know exactly where on our route I’ll see the first palm tree, and when we reach that point, I get excited.  It means I’m getting closer to one of my favorite places on earth.

So in my mind, palm trees are part of the whole parcel of summer vacation, and my series of annual beach layouts would not be complete without a palm tree or two (or three!!!). 

I’ve already posted once today, and I should have turned my attention to other pressing matters.  But my bathroom doesn’t really NEED to be cleaned. (Trust me, if my family can pee in those 57-million-kinds-of-nasty bathrooms at South of the Border, they can pee in ours!).  My family really doesn’t need to eat dinner tonight.  I don’t really need to make the beds or vacuum the carpet or mop the kitchen floor or unload the dishwasher.

What I really NEED to do is put together a paper-pieced palm tree for my scrapbook (and yours!)  So here it is — in five parts.  I’d recommend beginning your layers with the dark brown trunk, then the light brown trunk highlight, then the dark green palm leaves, then the middle green leaves, then finally the light green leaf highlights.

Paper Pieced Palm Tree

Of course, each part has its own *.svg file, and you can download them all!  Dark Brown Trunk     Light Brown Trunk Highlight     Dark Green Palm Leaves
Middle Green Palm Leaves      Light Green Palm Leaf Highlights

Well…as much as I hate it, I gotta get cleaning…and cooking…and making beds.  Blech!  I’d much rather be Cricut-ing!!!

Tribal Tats for Your Surfing Layouts

I love tribal tattoos.  Everything from arm bands to ankle bands to the lower back “tramp stamps” (as they’re referred to around here). 

I don’t have any of them on my body.  In fact, I don’t possess a single tattoo, which is amazing considering my rather wild and reckless youth.  And frankly, I won’t get one now because at my age I can’t help but wonder what it might look like in 20 or 30 years.  Shudder!!!

And since I love tribal tattoos, and since I’m decorating surfboards for my summer layouts, I thought I’d put a few tribal tats up for grabs for dressing up the basic surfboard shape I’ve got available for download in yesterday’s post. 

Bear in mind, I have not resized these *.svg files to fit perfectly on the surfboard.  But you can easily do that when you import them in to SCAL.  You can mix and match them to create your own unique board designs.

Tribal Tattoos

 You can download any of these *.svg files by clicking on the links below:

Arrow Dragon
Claws
Curves Heart
Curved Dragon 2
Elegant Curves
Moon Wind
Simetric Shape 5
Eagle Fly

As always, I have to give credit where credit is due, so many thanks go out to www.tribalshapes.com.  This site offers very cool tribal tattoo designs (for FREE!!!  And ya’ll know how I love some free stuff!!).  I simply borrowed their *.jpgs, converted them to *.svg format using Inkscape (another fabulous freebie!), and posted them here for your use.  I hope you enjoy them.

As always, happy Cricut-ing!!!

A Little More Surfin’ in the Sun

Okay…I admit I ripped off my post title…sort of.  How many of you remember that song “Mambo #5”?  My DH loved it so as sort of a gag gift I bought him one of those little zoot suit plushies that played the song every time you squeezed its hand.  And even though I hated it, or maybe because I did, he put that damn thing on the dash of his car and pressed that damn button over and over until I wanted to cut that little plushie’s heart out.

So for some odd reason today, as I was thinking about summer and surfboards and sea and sun and sky, that song popped in my head.  “A little bit of Sandra in the sun”.  So I stole it.  So when you read today’s post title, throw the beat of Mambo #5 to it and throw me under the bus.  Literally.  Cuz now that damn song is going to be stuck in my head the rest of the day.

Crap.  Crap squared.  Crap cubed.  Crap to the nth degree.

I’ve got a couple quick goodies today, more of my celebration of summer and my work on our vacation scrapbook pages.

Fun in the sun

So here’s a basic surfboard shape, in *.svg format of course, which you can download here.  The word art “Fun in the Sun” is also available as an *.svg file here.  I have to give credit to http://www.typenow.net/s.htm who provided me with the totally radical SurfSafari font.  Yep…it’s a freebie!  And ya’ll know how much I LOVE LOVE LOVE a freebie!!!  You’ll have to scroll down to the bottom of their page to get it, but it’s worth the wander.

So here’s a toast to the last days of summer…and to many happy moments Cricut-ing!