Rainy Day Fun!

It is currently snowing in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, and we're under a heavy snowfall advisory for April 2nd, 2011. Crazy!!! So, it seems a bit ironic to work on a LO that has spring in mind, since I have no real idea of when spring's going to arrive here!



The main die cuts on the LO feature two of my new designs, that will be available in svg packs. I'm really excited about these, especially the tags and borders!

The left side:



and right:



Tag close-up, but take a look at the "ribbon": it's hard to see in the photo, but it's actually a stripe of micro-beads. Looks great in person!



One of my favorite fonts, and cuts so nicely:



Supplies
Paper: K&Co Susan Winget "Nature"
Fonts: 2Peas Cherub
Tag: fancy shapes3 book.svg ***this is a soon to be released svg pack, available April 23, 2011 from Die Cut Designer***
Border: border raindrops.svg ***this is a soon to be released svg pack, available April 23, 2011 from Die Cut Designer***
"Ribbon": Martha Stewart Microbeads in Blue Topaz

Creative Team Call!

I've decided to start selling SVG kits! Don't worry, I'll still maintain my freebies here and continue to give away designs, but I'm beginning to assemble more specific svg kits and want to distribute them at a reasonable cost. So, I'm looking for two or three creative people who would like to receive each month's designs for free, then post their creations! Here's a sneak peak of one of the first svg kits, called "Fancy Shapes":



Creative Team Requirements:

1. You will receive all my month's designs for free, and in return you will be expected to create at least two projects. These can be layouts, cards, minibooks, or any other paper project.

2. If you have a blog, I'd like you to post on your blog with a link to my online store and blog, as well as post to any messageboard you are a member of. You will be asked to post to one particular MB, to be determined later. If you don't have a blog, that's okay: just post on more messageboards!

3. High quality photos are important!

4. Please don't share the files. They are for your own personal use.

5. If you would like something in particular designed, I'll do my best to accomodate you.

6. This is a 6 month term, to last end-April to end-October.

To apply:
Please email me at lesleyanne_b@hotmail.com with your name, blog address, messageboards you follow, any other DTs you are a part of, and attach or link to 3-4 of your favorite projects.

I am considering all types of paper artists who love svgs! All experience levels are encouraged to apply!

Chinese New Year!

This week's challenge at My Sheri Crafts is Chinese New Year! I had fun making this kanji and a Hello Kitty, and think they go together very nicely! The download for the character, which means "good luck" or "good fortune" follows at the end of this post, and I just used up scraps for the card. Happy Chinese New Year to you all, on February 3rd!

Breast Cancer Card

Run for the Cure

This week's My Sheri Crafts challenge is Think Pink for Breast Cancer. I made this card:



Instructions: Download and cut card sneaker.svg from the download box at the bottom of this post. Cut card base at 10.5" wide on dark pink. Cut proportional top layer in light pink. Chalk all edges with Pebbles Inc chalk. Layer and adhere. For most of my paper product, I use an ATG gun, especially with cards where I want it to stick and not move!

To make the awareness paper ribbon: cut a strip of paper 3/8" wide. Fold twice to create the ribbon shape, then trim ends on a sharp angle. Adhere together, then add a gem to the middle.



The following download box has access to all the cards I've made SVGs for. This one is the "card sneaker.svg" Enjoy!





Please make sure to enter your creation at My Sheri Crafts to have a chance at a great prize!

Duplo fun!

A simple LO, but a cute svg for the LO -- Duplo!





Supplies:

Duplo.svg (see below)
Martha Stewart Playground paper pad
Yellow ribbon

Happy Labor Day!

For My Sheri Crafts Labor Day Challenge , I made a gift for some of the hardest workers I know: my aides! I've also always loved those little cupcake wrappers, but since Canadian Walmart only carries four of the Cricut Lite cartridges (and at $50!!! Crazy!!!), I made my own svg to share with you! You can cut this with SCAL, SCAL2 and MTC, and if you don't want the "thank you" text to show, choose "blackout". You'll also need a pair of fuzzy socks to roll into a "cupcake". Enjoy!







So, hop over to My Sheri Crafts blog and enter the challenge for a chance to win!

Puddle jumper

My husband refers to these photos as Hannah's escaped mental-illness patient days. That child always wanted to wear what SHE wanted to wear. This was the standard outfit -- raincoat, favorite pink boots and jammies underneath! Fortunately, it fits the day here, where she's off to jump in puddles behind our fence.

This picture was perfect for something I like to do: cut elements into photos. If you look carefully, you'll see I've cut raindrops into the photo, then replaced them on the mat. I also enjoyed using Create A Critter for something different (the title) and one of my all-time favorite cartridges (I love silhouettes!), Nursery Rhyme. Thanks for visiting!






Supplies:

Font: Teardrop
Paper: K&Co Wild Saffron
Blue and cream cardstock
Blue and brown cricut markers
Teardrop.svg (follows post)
Nursery Rhyme and Create a Critter cricut cartridges
Glitter
Glue

Instructions:

1. Crop photos to size, then create a cardstock piece the same size for testing cut on. Arrange teardrop shapes on virtual mat, copy/paste and resize to create double cut lines, then run test cut to ensure proper placement. Adjust if necessary, then cut photo. Back photo with mat, then place teardrop cuts.

2. Cut "Rainaway" (Nursery Rhyme) at 5" on blue. Cut blackout on cream, trim off duck with scissors. Ink edges, or use a cricut marker. Adhere together.

3. Cut "Splash" (Create a Critter) at 5" in cream. Draw with blue cricut marker. Use glitter on the water splash.

4. Arrange all on base cardstock. Adhere. Enjoy!

A Matchbox!

I love cute litte boxes. This is my first box svg I've made, and it's for a mother's day present. You can also see it on My Sheri Crafts Callenge week 3. I cut it on a 12x12 sheet for the example, but the svg is made for 8.5x11" paper. If you do resize, make sure you keep the proportions! This box won't work if you skew it!









And the download:

Spinner card

I'm not normally a card maker, but I do like these cute Spinner cards. Here's my take on this fun little card, along with a SVG for download and a mini-tutorial!



Supplies:
Monarch stamp set by Inque Boutique ("flutter")
Gemstone Insects stamp set by Inkadinkado (butterfly)
Dotted Wave punch by EKSuccess
Wild Raspberry cardstock K&Co
White, cream and light green cardstock
Brown and orange ink pads by Versacolor
Pebbles chalk
2 pennies
3D Dots double-sided adhesive foam
Glossy Accents
spinner card overlay.svg
Plantin Cricut Cartridge

Instructions:


1. Cut the cream cardstock 5.5" by 8.5", score at 4.25" and fold in half, making an A2 card. Set aside.

2. Cut the Spinner card overlay using "card spinner overlay.svg", or create a spinner opening with punches and scissors. Ink edges in brown. Trim bottom of overlay with Dotted Wave punch. Line up on cream card base (but do not attach!), then stamp sentiment on the cream showing through window.



3. Cut grass border from Plantin cricut cartridge, size 5.5" x 1.2" in light green. Cut grass/flower border size 5.5" x 2.2" in white. Ink edges. Using chalk, colour flowers. Glue grass on top of grass/flower border. Punch bottom edge with Dotted Wave punch. Glue on spinner card overlay. Set aside.

4. Stamp butterfly in orange ink on white cardstock. Trim. Cover in Glossy Accents. Allow to dry.



5. Assemble spinner assembly: Using a square foam dot, stick two pennies together in the middle. Using another foam dot, stick butterfly to pennies.






6. Using 9 foam dots, attach spinner card overlay on cream card base.

7. Gently bend spinner card base slightly and insert spinner assembly. Overlay opening should be between the two pennies.



8. Slide and enjoy!

Challenge week 1

Our first challenge is posted over on My Sheri Crafts and they look great. Here's a preview of mine, and a freebie svg flourish!

Mice

Another layout of my girl's fairy book. "Mice," you might say, "in a fairy book?" Why yes. Here they are:




This is the 2nd to last of the pages for this book. I should have the whole thing online by the weekend. Hope you're enjoying seeing the sneak-peeks of the cuts I'm using! My cuts were shadowed with chalk, penciled in accent lines on legs, ears, eyes and nose, and chalked pink ears; all on sparkly paper! File download follows:

More Celtic Knots

Still working on the fairy album, and I needed a nice big long knot for this layout:



I created it in inkscape to be 20" by 3", and spread it on a 24" mat with center matching a center joint where I placed my two letter sized papers. Then I drew with a marker and cut.

While working on this knot I created it in a smaller version, a small round-end version, and a shamrock knot. Here's what they look like, and all are available for download following the post. Hope you enjoy them!


knot long.svg


knot round end.svg


knot shamrock.svg


knot short.svg

DRAGON!

My littlest person, Teagan, loves her dragon!


She also likes paper! So, I've made this little dragon for her (and for my fairy theme book, a work-in-progress) in the Webkinz style:







I have a few versions of this dragon that you can download: The webkinz-style one above, the dragon with paws in front, and another with paws and no horns. I hope you'll let me know if you use one of them! Thanks for visiting!

Stretch the Dragon!

Here's a sneak peak at a layout I'm working on, and the dragon that goes with it!



I'm doing up my girls' fairy pictures from last year, and the whole album has a fairy tale type theme. Lots of Tinker Bell used, but Hannah Montana too -- but no suitable dragon! So, here's Stretch! She's based on a Teresa Wentzler design, which is a freebie available here. While TW's design is freely reproducible, I would appreciate it you do not share my svg, but direct others who want it to my blog instead.

Anyhow, Stretch is also painted on my front hallway arch. I love her :-) I'm pretty happy with how she fits in with the Hannah Montana icons, too. Enjoy!

Here's the sneak peak of the companion side, with HM cuts.



I think Stretch the dragon matches the pegasus nicely! Download her before but be warned: she's LONG! I cut her at 10" by 1.25". Also, she does not shadow well except at 1 and 1.5; she does blackout nicely though! More dragons later, and the completed Fairy scrapbook in a couple weeks! Thanks for dropping by!

Nestabilities Look-a-Like Font!

April 24, 2010 Update: I`ve added a direct downlink box for nesties lookalike font. Here it is:



I've spent a good week on this one: a set of Nestabilities look-a-likes. These are based on most of the nesties basic shapes and labels, although I might have missed some. At first I was creating SVGs, then I found a most awesome blog with tutorial on how to create fonts with inkscape. Well, if you've seen my blog, you know I'm a technophile who really loves inkscape (now that I've gotten the hang of it!). So this was the perfect opportunity. Here's the result:



and a cut sample:





Side by side with a real Nestie (nestie cut is white)



This TTF dingbat font has 6 cirlces, 4 flower, 5 ovals, 2 octogons, 2 paisleys, 4 regular rectangles, 2 long rectangles, 4 squares and 14 labels. Interspersed and to keep the font organized, there's a cute ladybug ding too!




When you use this file, you'll need to save the font on your computer then install the font -- the fastest way is to find the file and right click on it, select "install". It will then appear in fonts in your cutting software. I would highly suggest you keep the proportions when working with the dings, especially the scallops! Here's a tag I made with the look-a-like rounded rectangle:



To request this file, I'm doing something I don't do: I'm making you comment if you want it! LOL. Anyone who wants the file is welcome to it, but I'm asking you to leave me a comment with a way to email you the file. Further, if you ask for and receive the file, please do not distribute it in any way, but direct people to my blog instead. My other cuts are fun and I like making them, but this one is special to me :-)

Finally, if you find you like the shapes, I encourage you to buy the nesties. I have a half dozen sets that I just love, and the embossing is so pretty! Also, make sure you grab my button, and if you make anything with this ttf, I'd love to see it! Thanks for the visit!