School Is In Session

The sounds of our neighborhood is now filled with the sounds of children in the early morn as they make their way to the bus stop. I hear that old familiar sound of the breaks on the bus and know the neighborhood will be so quiet until that end of school bell rings. I love listening to the sound of children outside playing but atlas, the sounds of happy, playing children won't fill the neighborhood until late afternoon.

To welcome back the school season, Barb Dersken from Lalalime Blogspot and I are collaborating on some back to school treats. These will be for students, all of those wonderful teachers out there, and of course those whom love to craft the day away and want to make something for that special educator or educated one n their lives.

Stay tuned, we will be sharing all of these goodies on Monday, September 3, 2012. Let's celebrate our students and all of those amazing teachers whom dedicate their lives to educating and inspiring our youth. Wooohoo!! for teachers!! 

Brochure Box Freebie Silhouette Cutting File

Good day everyone! I've been down for the count battling one mean illness. Today is the best I've felt in many days. I'm glad to be feeling better and getting back to work play, on making and sharing some fun cutting files.

Once I saw this brochure box. I couldn't wait to open Silhouette Studio and start designing away. This cutting file is designed for 12 x 12 paper which sadly it can only be used with the Silhouette Cameo unless you want to make a really small brochure box by re-sizing it on a letter size format.

You can download this cutting file here ------> Brochure Box Studio File I hope this little box comes in handy around your home or office. Have a fun and crafty day.

Faux Embossing

Hello friends of the crafting community. I've been a bit under the weather and not seeing things too clearly by having a bit of blurred vision but I did want to share with you a wonderful Photoshop technique. When I get back to feeling chirpy I'll  make a video tutorial on this technique.

 Faux embossing is one of my favorite techniques using Photoshop. I've used this technique for some time now. I love to design Christmas seals for the backs of my card envelopes. They really look like you place an embossed seal on them and add that little extra nice touch to special cards.

I've been honored by an invitation to be a designer on The Bugbytes team. Once a month I'll be posting and sharing over there. So instead of posting here and there with the same thing I'm going to leave you all with a link and an invitation to come visit. If you would like to get all of the creative details, learn more about this technique,grab a little faux fun freebie, and check out some inspiring posts from the other designers please stop by here-------> The Bugbytes

Below is the picture of the "Dare to Dream" faux embossed card. So what do you all think? Does it look embossed?

Thanks for stopping by. I hope to be feeling better real soon so I can get back to crafting, card making, and sharing. Wishing you all many blessings. xxx - Debbie

Photo Corners

Another little cutting file share.Who can't use some photo corners every now and then. These two sets of photo corners I designed to go on an A4 card size but they can be re-sized in Studio to fit whatever corner you would like to use them on. I hope they come in handy for one of your card or scrapbooking projects. Have a happy crafty day. xxx - Debbie

You can download these photo corners here --------> Photo Corner Download

I'm editing this post to add the actual card I made using the image and the photo corners. I just love vintage!

Card Makers Unite for Those Battling Cancer

Card Care Connection is spreading the word about how all of us card makers can help out in a big way. There are so many of us whom lives have been affected by Cancer. If you remember some of my past post here, many of you will remember how my step-dad Tommie battled a long hard battle with cancer and sadly, he lost this battle. Many of you don't know this; recently our family has been hit with two more family members whom are now battling their cancers.

This organization has given all of us crafty little card makers a delightful way to share our card crafts. I'm thrilled to be a small part of it. So come on all of you creative card makers, let's unite to come together and help out this great organization. If any of you are like me; you already have a card stash ready to be mailed. I plan on doing this at least once a month. One little card made with love will spread some love, show those whom are battling cancer that they are not alone. Doing things like this is good for the soul.

Below is the information on where you can send your card treasures. I would love to see your card creations so please feel free to email me a picture. Okay, card makers let's all start spreading the love and create smiles for those who could use some smiles at such a difficult time in their lives.

Krafting Kelly whom many of you know from the Silhouette Plus forum or her blog Finding Time to Create started this ball rolling. If all of us bloggers would post about Card Care Connection, just imagine how many cards this wonderful organization will receive. If you have a blog, please help spread the word.The more the merrier. xxx- Debbie

Cards, cards, and more cards ...plus a little freebie

Hi everyone! I've been a busy little card maker these past couple of hours playing around with my favorite cutting machine, the Silhouette Cameo. It can get too quiet around here at times and being able to get crafty sure makes the day go by fast.

The first card I would like to share is made from a very nice template on Paper Crafts Magazine . When I saw this template, I couldn't resit downloading it.It was easy to make a nice cutting file from the template. All I had to do is an auto trace from the shared template.

I would like to leave a thank you here for Heidi Van Laar. She is the designer of this fun fan card. It's always nice to find little treasures on the web.

The second card is another freebie cutting file shared by the always sweet and generous Barb (lalalime) from over at her blog The Life of Mrs. Miles. I wanted to do something like these"Under the Sea" birthday invitations I made years ago for my youngest daughter's "Little Mermaid" party and using Barb's cutting file sure mad it easy.Instead of an invitation it is a card for another dear person in my life but it sure would make a nice invitation card too. To give the shell card a look of shell luster and shimmer I used a white Pearlescent for the cover of the shell. Thanks again Barb for this really nice cutting file.

This last card is one I designed and sort of named it "House On a Hill". Now isn't this original...lol. It's a silhouetted card. with a shimmery silver paper place behind it for the background. You can download this card file here ------> House on a Hill Card Download

Silhouette Studio Tutorial -Wrapping a Paragraph Around a Shape

The other day, one of the Silhouette Plus forum members asked how she could go about having a shape in the middle of her text and then to be able to get the shape cut out. Using three programs made this easy to do. You will need Microsoft Word, the Free Bullzip program and of course the Silhouette Studio software.

You can download the free Bullzip program here ----> http://www.bullzip.com/products/pdf/info.php

To learn more about the Bullzip program please check out Krafting Kelling blog Finding Time to Create

Here's the video. You can enlarge it by clicking on the 4 squared arrows. I hope you find this fun and helpful.

File Box Freebie

As I looked around my craft room, I noticed a basket of cut pieces I've saved over time. I hate throwing things away when I think they can be used. The problem is, when I stash them away in this little basket, they end up being forgotten or I just don't feel like sorting through them. I always seem to want o cut extra pieces of whatever I'm making if there is space on the card stock.

When I sorted through the basket of all the extra pieces I cut I found lots of nice little cuts. I had everything from Print and Cut extras, to borders, frames, tags, and more. After doing all of this sorting, I decided to make a little  file box for all of the left over cut out treasures.

This cutting file has instructions typed up when you open the file. I wanted to make the bottom extra sturdy but thought it would need some instructions to help explain how I made it.You can always un-group the cutting file and delete the instruction. The instructions are set to "NoCut" but if you want them out of the way you can delete them or move them off the cutting page.

 I also wanted to make sure letter size card stock could be used so all of those with the Silhouette SD or the original Silhouette could use this cutting file. I love my Cameo and the ability to cut on a larger format but I have lots of letter size card stock so, as many cutting files as I share it's important to me to make as many as I can so all Silhouette cutting machine users can use them.

The embellishment on the front is a sprocket shape. I added a pop-dot to the back of it to make it stand out, a scalloped shaped as the background and a clear rhinestone for bling. I love that bling. :-) The sprocket shape is included in the cutting file.

If you would like to have this cutting file, you can download it here ----> File Box

Happy crafting and cutting everyone!

An Early Christmas from Patricia Zapata

Hi everyone! I'm so excited to have this wonderful and fun cutting file designed by Patricia Zapata. If you want to make your very own Nutcracker and get a bit ahead of the holidays please visit Patricia Zapata's store A Little Hut.

I won this awesome cutting file from Linda K. over at her delightful blog The Paper Boutique . I am addicted to visiting there almost every day. She has loads of information, tutorials, reviews, and soooo.... much more. It's one of my favorite places to hang out and get inspired. She gets me running to the craft store a lot...lol.

Both of the Nutcrackers were cut out with my Silhouette Cameo. The first one I wasn't as happy with because I didn't add some of my kind of Christmas flare. As you all know by now; I'm not the greatest photographer so after photographing the adorable Nutcrackers they sort of looked washed out. Oh how I need a light box or something to get better photos.Perhaps I should take photography classes again. :-)

Even though I hesitate to do this; I am going to share photos of both Nutcrackers. The second one (Gittered up hat Nutcracker) I used Mulberry paper for the hair, mustache, and beard. I wanted the hair elements to be a bit dimensional with a  fuzzy look. The glittered up gold bands were painted with Mod Podge, sprinkled with ultra-fine glitter, then sealed with Mod Podge after the glitter completely dried. This really helps to stop all of that glitter from falling all over the place. It's hard to see in the pictures but the blushed cheeks are chalked on.

Speaking of glitter! If you like glitter and sparkles, you will want to check out Linda's video on glitter and glitter techniques. It will save you some crafting dollars and add to your glittering fun. Like I said; her blog The Paper Boutique is a great place to learn about all sorts of things. I love to go there and listen to her reviews of new products. I'm a thrift crafter so I hate to waste crafting dollars on bad purchases. I've made a few of those over the years...lol.

I would like to add a great big thank you to Patricia Zapata for donating this amazing cutting file and to Linda K. for hosting this fabulous give away. THANK YOU LADIES! :-)

My second Nutcracker

Mustache, Beard, Hair and Glittery Bands

My first try at the Nutcracker

A Crabby Pocket Envelope Card

Thanks to two generous and talented ladies in the crafting world I was able to make this fun card. Barb Dersken is a lady who is always generously sharing some great cutting files. She is also a member of the Silhouette Plus forum where  she recently posted about this terrific file she is sharing. You really should check out her blog Lalalime blogspot . You can download this adorable crab and find so many other terrific cutting files.

The other wonderfully talented lady whom recently shared this awesome tutorial on how to make the pocket envelope card is Audrey from Cute and Some blog. She has many inspirational projecs on her blog. I totally recommend her blog as another blog hot spot to check out.

I asked Audrey if it would be okay for me to make a Studio cutting file for this card. She so kindly granter her permission. The cutting file I am sharing is one with her tutorial. Shamefully, I have to admit I had problems. I know it's something I did wrong so I modified it by cutting off two of the tabs and tucking and glued in the longer tab at the bottom to close the bottom. Please check out Audrey's blog I linked above for her instructions. I love the way her Pocket Envelope Card stands up. The one I made is more flat.

Posted below is the card I made through the generosity of two talented ladies.I hope you all get the chance to stop by both Barb's and Audrey's blogs. You'll be happy you did. I'm sure glad I visit them.

I don't want to end this post without adding a few details and giving credit to the artists of the graphics I used to make this card. The top shell portion of the crab I used one of my faves,Glossy Accents which impatient me didn't wait for it to completely dry before I took the picture. It has such a nice glassy look when it completely dries. To give this cutie crabs eyes a dimension, I used Inkessentials Enamel accents.To add even more dimension, the crab is layered. The background is behind the crab is from PCCrafter's Artist. The graphic set is from the set "Sail Away". Sadly, PCCrafter is no longer open to purchase graphic sets. The inside of the card is also a graphic set from PCCrafter. The name of the graphic set is from the collection: "Mitzi the Duck" and the artist is: Beth Yarbrough. Mitzi makes me smile.

Both the background and the Mitzi Duck was a Print and Cut. I love this feature of the Silhouette cutting machines. The Print and Cut feature gives me the opportunity to easily cut out all of the thousands of graphic set I've purchased over the years.

Here is the link to download the cutting file for my version of Audrey's card. She is trying to get her 4Shared account to work so she can share her cutting file so stay tuned :-) ---->  Pocket Envelope Card Download

This card cutting file is a Studio cutting file and is on a 12 x 12 format so a Silhouette Cameo cutting machine will be needed to cut the file as it is. Remember, if you own a Silhouette SD you will need to re-size it. Hugs and best wishes, Debbie

Oops, when I first posted this, as usual, I forgot something. I forgot to add the link to the font I used for the word Crabby. The other font is Times Roman. Here is the link to download the font ----> Old Printing Press Font

Front of Pocket Envelope Card

Inside of card filled with chocolate terats. Yum!

Two Envelope Pocket for goodies

Close-up of crab

Showing the Actual Disney Dingbat Cut

I'm never too great about explaining things in words. I guess this is what made me want to make video tutorials....lol. Some have been confused by the Disney coloring pages and Disney Dingbats I've show here. Many thought they were done as Print and Cuts. To explain this better I took a photo of the actual cut. After I cut out the Dalmation coloring book page and the Disney dingbats I then glued them down and filled with some color by using markers. I hope this picture helps to clear thing up. :)

Disney Delights Continued

On the site shared below. The one with the Disney Fonts; there were some other fun surprises. They have oodles of Disney coloring pages. I grabbed one of the coloring pages to see if I could do an Auto Trace with the Studio software and then cut it. I was a bit concerned about the lines being a little too thing. To my delight! It cut out pretty darn nice. The only problems I had were small ones. It was the parts between the Dalmation puppies feet. I could/should have colored the area that was suppose to cut out with a white gel pen but, it was too late.I already took the picture to share here. The eyes and some of the spots were colored with a black Micron pen.

I wanted to make sure to let everyone know that this is not a Print and Cut. This coloring sheet is more like a cut we would do with vinyl. All of the black lines in this are cut from a piece of black card stock. They are pretty thin but easily glued with those wonderful glue pens. I hope I explained this technique well enough. I'm terrible with words.

The font portion of this card was done to show, how lovely the Disney Script Font cut. I'm so happy to have found these sites last night and plan on having a lot more fun with the Mickey dingbats, coloring pages, and fonts. I hope you have lots of fun with them too.

Disney Dingbat Sample Projects and Disney Fonts!

I fell in love with the Disney dingbat. One of my dear friends is probably one of the biggest Mickey fans I know. Of course, who doesn't love Mickey and all of the Disney characters.

These two pictures are examples of what can be done with these Disney dingbats. This is what I did to bring them to life. The Mickey whom is standing is only about 2 inches tall. The other Mickey (break out, is what I call this Mickey dingbat) is about 3 x 3 inches. After I cut these out, I used a glue pen to adhere them to a white piece of card stock then I grabbed my markers to fill in the color. The teeny tiny parts could have been glued on but I preferred to use a Micron pen and draw in the pieces like the eyebrows and the little lines on the gloves.

I hope all of you get the chance to try out this fun and free font. I would love to see what you do with them. If you email me and attach a picture, I can share it here.

This is the best! Now you can have some free Disney fonts to match. You can find them here ----->Disney Fonts

Have fun!
xxx- Debbie

Fontastic Fonts!

Who doesn't love a nice font. You can design with them, emphasize that special sentiment and make things pop with word art. Here are some Fontastic sites I've discovered and couldn't wait to share them with my blog buddies.

The first link I'll be sharing is to a site where you can download some awesome fonts. Here is the link ---->
Lost Type Co-op

Here's a couple of the fonts this site shares. They are wonderful!

Now for one of my faves. These adorable Mickeymousebats will make some Mickey cute projects.

You can download these adorable Mickey's here -----> Chris Pirillo Mickey Digbats Don't you think these are adorable!

Princess Fonts! This is a great site! You pick the letter and it takes you to a fontastic world of fonts. I don't have a preview for this site because they are too numerous. You won't want to miss checking this place out.

Here is the link -------> Princess Fonts

Loads and loads of fabulous fonts can be found here.--------> Scrapping Table Font Shares You will love them!

Adding to the Lace Floral Frenzy

Hello crafters and cutting machine users. I sort of got on a roll when I made the first two below. I really enjoyed designing these so here is one more if you would like to add it to your cutting file collections

Studio Butterfly Floral Cutting File Download

Floral Frenzy of Freebie Cutting Files

One of the members on the Silhouette Plus Forum asked for a lace floral cutting file. Many of the wonderful members jumped in to see how they could help. We didn't have a picture yet so we took a guess. I decided to make a "lace floral cutting file" to ask if this was something she was looking for. A little bit later she shared a picture of the file she wanted so I went to work and made it for her.

She really liked both files. Whenever I design a new cutting file; I always look forward to the opportunity to share them with my blog family. I hope these files are useful for one of your crafting adventures.

Click here to download the Silhouette Studio Lace Magnolia Cutting File

Click here to download the Silhouette Studio Lacey Floral Flower

Here are pictures of these cutting files. The black one is how the Lacey Floral Flower looked after it was cut.   I never like to share any cutting files I've made until I test cut them.

The Lacey Floral Flower was a large cut. I don't like cutting intricate files on a small scale. Yuck! to all of the clean up....lol.