Better Together

As part of another Challenge for the Cricut Circle Blog, we were tasked to create something using inspiration from the Magazine. It was full of amazing projects which made it tough to decide which one inspired me the most, but this project found me....My oldest just turned 13 and wanted a address/memory book for the last few days of school. I loved this projects since it was simple and yet gave me an opportunity to create something together with my daughter...precious times now that she is officially a teen! 

Crafting is even better together and I used the Imagine "Better Together" cartridge for this entire project. The cover was created with scraps (from another album for my younger daughter's teacher which I will add next week). It was a 4X8 scrap so it was easy to use one of the pre-programmed shapes on the Imagine. I used the rectangle with the aspect ratio of 1:2, and then flood fill it with the pattern I wanted. It was a perfect fit.

In order to use the internal shapes, simply navigate from the start up menu by selecting the "print and cut icon" in the upper left, then look on the very lower left corner of the screen...you'll see three icons in a row which represent the standard cartridge, then in the center the internal shapes, and next the imagine cartridge. Selecting the center icon will show a selection of shapes that you can cut or print and cut....if you want to fill it with a pattern, select to edit it then scroll through the patterns of any Imagine cartridge inserted. Or you can just cut it without printing.

I cheated and used my Epson printer to create some fake notebook paper and just trimmed it to fit within the book.  Then, it was ready to embellish.

After filling a 12X12 sheet and then another half sheet full of images with the Beta program of Cricut Craft Room, I printed and cut. Then, my daughter and I simply embellished the inside page by page. Some glue and a few punches with my Cropadile III- big bite, and some binding rings finished it all off...but then of course it needed just a bit of ribbon! :)

If you have an Imagine, you'll love the Cricut Craft Room software when it's released! One thing it can do is break apart an image and then reassemble it for you before you cut! I wanted everything flat since it was going in and out of  my daughters backpack all day, and the CCR was just the thing to make a few edits!

A Whole mat full of cuts from my Imagine!

As you can see on the lower right I have an image from "Better Together" which normally has a spoon and some wording. Instead, after dragging it to the mat, it was easy to select the "edit group" icon that appears with the image. After this, the other images become faded and you only work with the selected image. At the top right you can select to toggle between combine and separate. This comes in handy if you only want a portion of the image (like I did with the red phone)...or even if you'd like to make a change to a layer.

Layers can be deleted and even changed by flood filling a portion. You can select the different elements of the image and either delete or change them. Then after you make any changes you can re-assemble the image by selecting combine. The new image will remain with the changes made.

The final important step is to select "exit" which is at the top left in green so you can move on to editing and adding things to the entire mat....If my flip ever decides to let me download my videos I'd very gladly demonstrate. I can't wait to see if I can change a dress on a figure or something I've wanted to do in the past...looks likely and I am very impressed with the new software, even though it is in Beta mode. It is very promising!!

Thanks for visiting!

Fast and Cute to boot!

OK so I wanted to try to get ahead of "Birthday Season" at our house and also create something for a challenge submission at the same time, so out comes my Imagine and a few cartridges for a super fast project. The pillow bow is cut just right sized for a gift card from an original cricut cart I believe, not sure which one but probably All Wrapped Up,  and flood filled with a pattern from Imagine More Cards as well as the sentiment from the cart and then a cupcake from Better Together. The hey cupcake didn't have as much "personality to me so I separated the layers to just use the sentiment and with a different cupcake with a smile. :) I love you the Imagine can mix and match! And it was so easy to tape the one edge, pop the sides in and then place pop dots under the sentiment, add ribbon and done! Sorry for the lack of sizes but it's super easy to figure them using the preview screen on the I and now even the Expression 2 has one! How cool is that!? Enjoy....

Imagine- Rub-ons!

Both cut pieces together for a finished rub-on.

A clear card with the owl on the front...

 I was daydreaming of Imagine projects a bit when I remembered a Grafix rub-on kit I purchased a while ago. I had been disappointed with my result using stamps and never dared to try it in the printer, but I thought it perfect for the I. And it was!

The set comes with two sheets of material. One to stamp or print on, and the other a thin adhesive sheet. In order to make the rub-on You create an image on a thin film, then place it onto the adhesive sheet. There is a lot of trimming involved and stamping can be tricky so my results were iffy, and lets face it, If I had any skill with scissors I wouldn't have a Cricut. lol

For the owl image, I flipped the image for printing and then print and cut it from the thin film sheet supplied. Next I cut the same image from the adhesive sheet. You could load two mats and use the same image, just reset with with no color and not flipped, but I put it all on one with a space between.

Front elements are rub-ons with paper background frame...inside is a white cut out for personalizing.

Box cut at max size-6.7, Card elements at 2.7 The green frame is the rub-on applied to the back of the card.

For my second project I created a small box for a gift card and then tried out another set of rub-ons. For this set I discovered that it's a good idea to create a wider offset for rub-ons...especially if it's a phrase like this thank you...also the film can be repaired somewhat if it tears by putting it back together and placing it on the adhesive sheet....I'll be happy to give some more details (and even possibly a video tutorial if I can figure that out) if you leave a request in the comments..Thanks for your interest. :)