Anyone for Tea?

So this week, as it has still been too hot for me, I have been hiding in my craft room and playing with some more of my Cricut Cartridges.  I had recently purchased the digital version of the Tags Bags Boxes & More 2 cartridge to use with the Cricut Craft Room but not experimented with it as yet so thought I would give that a go.

I bought the scoring tip, recommended for use with this cartridge quite a while ago whilst on a trip to the US, thinking "that will be useful" and then promptly put it away in a drawer, never to see the light of day again ... until now.    There were several moments of utter frustration **not to mention a string of expletives**  as it kept leaving raggedy edges and ripping the paper and I couldn't work out why.  I tried adjusting the pressure and blade depth but the result was still the same.   After several ruined pieces of paper and much searching on t'Interweb I discovered that I had I had in fact ... erm ... fitted it upside down ... ahem.  **In my defence m'Lord ... er ...nope ... I got nothing ..**  Once that was sorted it worked like a dream!

After experimenting with a couple of small basic boxes, I decided to give the tea cup and saucer a whirl. I used some double sided card stock that I have had in my stash for ages (think it may have been from a kit that I bought at Costco several years ago) and added a border from the Elegant Edges cartridge and a doily from the Cricut Alphabet cartridge.  I finished it off with some flowers that I had made previously with some leftover paper from  LOTV's Paper Pad- Always and Forever and a scrap of checked ribbon from American Crafts (also from my 'leftover bits' box).

This was the result.

I thought this would make a nice gift for a friend with perhaps a couple of those individually wrapped specialist tea bags inside, and maybe a cup cake to go with it?  **hmmm.. will have to dig out the Sweet Tooth Boxes cart next and try one of those **.  What do you think?

I also got round to using one of the little deer characters that I shared in last week's blog.  I decided that he needed some woodland friends and so made him a few companions (again using the Create a Critter cartridge) and created another of the pop up box cards which seem to be all the rage at the moment.

Thanks for stopping by and hope you can join me again next time!  (There are lots of ways you can follow my blog ... check out the various options above over in the right hand column).

TTFN

Bev x



 

It's been a while ... But I'm back!

Hello Bloggers .... I'm baaaaaack!

Well, what can I say? I have seriously neglected my blog over the last 18 months or so with hardly a crafty project in site!  In my defence, I did rather have my hands full with a project of a different kind, having returned to the workplace to fulfil a full time Project Management contract.  Add in the usual juggling of home & family commitments in between  ... supervising homework, music practice etc., whipping up imaginative culinary delights* for dinner (*ahem .. read bag of pasta and a pot of ready made sauce); shoving washing in machine;  hunting down one lost football sock and missing tracksuit bottoms (which you know will both appear the minute you have purchased replacements!) plus a 2.5 hr round trip to visit elderly parent at the weekends ... I'm sure you get the picture (and I am sure I am not alone!).

Still, I am pleased to report that having fulfilled contract obligations I am now happily back in the full time 'home management' business (phew!) and now that harmony and tranquility is restored to the Crafty Cow household (well, ok, that might be stretching it a bit...) I have been able to claim back some 'me' time and spend a few happy hours indulging in the things I love ... reading, baking and even creating a crafty project or two.  I have even made a start on a few... *WARNING! 'C' word coming up ...Christmas ... yes, Christmas ... projects (sorry).  But more about those in future blog posts.

The first thing I wanted to have a go at, having a bit more time on my hands now, was one of the pop up/box cards that I seemed to be seeing everywhere.  Now, I am by no means an expert crafter and largely just make for my own enjoyment (apart from the odd card request from friends), but I love to learn something new and these days you can teach yourself how to do pretty much anything between Pinterest and You Tube!  After a few clicks, I found this excellent tutorial from Clare Charvill at MyCreativeSpirit.blogspot.co.uk  Link here and used inspiration from Tina at Sparklygirl-Tina.blogspot.co.uk as I wanted to use the lovely Kitsch papers from Craftwork Cards Link here. Thanks Ladies!

I was really pleased with how it turned out - not bad for a first attempt!

The possibilities for these are endless and I will definitely be making a few more as have loads of ideas already ... maybe a cupcake themed one for a friend who loves to bake ... Musical instruments for another friend who plays in an orchestra, ... etc. etc. ... you get the picture.  Why don't you have a go?  All it takes is a bit of patience and some paper/card.  Go on ... you might surprise yourself!

So, if you're still there, thanks for sticking with me and look forward to sharing a cuppa and a chat in what I hope to be more regular posts (or maybe that should be 'ramblings'!) going forward.

TTFN!

Bev x