Cricut Explore!

Good afternoon!

This is a long post but an exciting one for me as I get to show you the new Cricut Explore. 

I attended the exclusive Cricut Explore launch in London on the 24th April 2014. We got a chance to meet the CEO of Cricut and some of his team and designers, plus the wonderful gals from Ranieri Communications who organised the event. 

The venue was held at Altitude on the 28th floor of Millbank Tower in Westminster. The venue and the views were breathtaking. Drinks, cupcakes and lunch were provided along with a photo booth and two manicurists! 

After presentations from the Cricut team, we had a chance to make and take. It was a fantastic day.

It is available to buy for the first time tomorrow (Fri 16th May) from 8.00am on Create and Craft. If you are not a great fan of Create and Craft, the Explore will be available to purchase from Crafts U Love on 26th May 2014 and from Hobbycraft, Amazon and other craft retailers from June 2014. At the moment you can pre-order from Crafts U Love and Amazon.

Here are a few shots of this gorgeous machine....

Cricut Explore - Closed

Cricut Explore - Dial

Cricut Explore - Open With Cutting Mat

Cricut Explore - Open Angled

Cricut Explore - Open Angled 

Cricut Explore - Marker

Cricut Explore - Cutting

It comes in a beautiful shiny box...

Gorgeous box!

What do you get for your money?

What you get in the box

In the box...

1 x Cricut Explore

1 x storage bag

1 x power cord

1 x USB cord

1 x quick start pack

1 project materials pack (Black and Jade Cricut Cardstock, Silver Cricut Vinyl, White Cricut Iron-on, 2 Duck Tape sheets (colours may vary), Instructions on how to use the Vinyl, Iron-on and Duck Tape)

1 x Standard Grip cutting mat

1 x blade and housing (pre-installed)

1 x pen and accessory adapter (adapter pre-installed)

From opening the box to creating a card using some of the materials from the pack it took about 25 minutes. You need to set up and configure the Explore to your computer and update the firmware. All this is simple and straightforward with easy to follow stages.

So what can you do with the Explore?

You connect to the free online software called Cricut Design Space. This is what you use to create your projects. There are more than 50,000 images and hundreds of ready-to-make projects for you to get started right away.

There are also blank canvases for items such as t-shirts, so you can visualise what you are creating. You can even change the colour of the t-shirt on screen. Another bonus is that now you can upload and use your own images, designs and fonts.

You can now cut and write at the same time which is a great idea if you are making lots of invites. The Explore will cut a wide range of materials from leather to wood veneer!

For those of you who have the Cricut Mini, any digital images/cartridges you have in your Cricut Craft Room will automatically be transferred to the Design Space. A slot is incorporated into the machine so you can use existing cartridges.

Price? 

The machine will retail at £249.99 including VAT. As well as thousands of free images in the Design Space, there are no-commitment subscriptions are available - £7.49 for a month (25,000+ images) or £79.99 for a year. single images will also be available to purchase starting at 79p per image. Pen sets, replacement blades, mats etc. are also available.

In the future Cricut will unveil an app for the iPad, so users can sync and cut with the Explore using Bluetooth.

This machine isn't just for scrap booking or card making. Interior design, clothing, jewellery, household items and furniture can be created or decorated; the only limitation is your imagination.

Here is the card I whipped up using the material pack and one of the ready-to make projects.

If you want more information about Cricut...

Visit - http://uk.cricut.com.intl

Purchase Cricut products - http://uk.cricut.com/shopping/ProductLanding.aspx

View project ideas - http://uk.cricut.com/project

Become a fan or follow - www.facebook.com/CricutEU, www.twitter.com/CricutEU, 

www.pinterest.com/Cricut

I'll be back soon with another post to show you another card I created with the help of the Cricut Explore.

Until then take care and thanks for persevering with such a long post xxx

                                     

Cosmic Colours Challenge #1

Good afternoon my lovely followers!

I'm excited to launch the Cosmic Colours Challenge!

Instead of the blog candy giveaway, I thought it would be nice for you all to get involved, plus it lets me see what gorgeous creations you all come up with.

Here's the first colour swatch...

Design Seeds®

 And my sample...

The creator of the winning card will receive a craft goody and also a code to display the Challenge Winner badge on their blog.

Three runner up cards will be chosen and they will get a code to display the Challenge Top 3! badge on their blog.

  

There is also a 'play along' badge that you can display on your blog. The code is in the sidebar.

This challenge will run until 31st May 2014 23:55 GMT. Afterwards it will run from the 1st of each month.

Good luck everyone!

An InLinkz Link-up

April Candy Winner!

Hello my lovelies!

 

Hope you are all well and looking forward to the weekend.

 

I have for you the winner for the April candy and the two runners up. As I always do, I gave you all a number and then used Random.Org to select the winning number.

 

So, without further ado do.....

 

1. Nikki C
2. KT (Fit Kitty)
3. Paperpapier
4. Berina
5. Vinita
6. Iris
7. Elly
8. Lucretia
9. Suman
10. Robin
11. Rebecca
12. La Vikinga
13. Carmen
14. Somdeepa
15. Anjali
16. Dawn
17. Mags
18. Bev
19. UT
20. Jaya
21. Leanne
22. Laila
23. Radhika
24. El
25. Olenkaja
26. Glo
27. Jennyfer
28. Cebelica
29. Neha
30. Jenn
31. Kiranmayee

...and the winner is - #17 Mags!!!! Wa-hey! Well done Mags! Email me your postal address and I will get your goodies posted to you asap.

 

Now for the two runners up who will each receive a little something.

 

Congratulations to Elly #7 and UT #19! As with the winner, if you email me your postal address I will get the goodies sent out to you.

 

Many thanks to you all for entering the blog candy. I have something a little different in the pipeline for the future (just sorting out a few things), so watch this space. Ooh! Mysterious!

 

Take care all. Thanks for dropping by and have a great weekend. xxx

Easter Chickens!

Hello chums!

What a glorious day it is today! The sun is shining, the birds are singing.....wonderful.

I know I haven't really been posting much this year because of with everything happening with my dad; but I am getting back on track now and hope to be posting a lot more makes. I also have something exciting in the pipeline that you will all be able to join in (watch this space).

I would also like to get back to doing a regular spot showcasing makes using the Cricut Mini. You never know, it might tempt you to pop one on your birthday or Christmas wish list (just make sure you leave it so it can be seen/found/read.

Anyhoo! Talking of makes; I know Easter has been and gone (there are still some choccy eggs left - yummy) but I have another little card to show you.

What you need...

Patterned papers: TV Dinner 8"x8" Mini Deck - Cosmo Cricket

Card stock: white

Stamps: Picoti Picota - Artemio

Ink pad: Onyx Black - Versafine

Promarkers: Apple cider, Cocktail Pink, Pineapple Crush

Ribbon: dusky pink

Gems: clear

Adhesives

What you do...

Stamp three chickens and the eggs across a piece of white card 12.5cm wide. Colour in and mat onto the bottom of a 12.5cm square blank, trim any excess.

Cover the top two thirds with the quirky squares paper. Tie a loose knot in a length of ribbon and attach across the bottom edge of the paper.

Print out a sentiment, trim and fix to the right of the blank just above the ribbon and finish off with a few gems.

This paper pad from Cosmo Cricket is so me :o) it's very retro with lots of quirky images and wonky lines. The colours are muted tones of pinks, greens, yellows and creams. Reminds me of some of those 1950's cartoons. Love it!

Tomorrow I'm in London for the launch of the new Cricut Explore, hosted by the fab Cricut EU and Ranieri Communications. So looking forward to it. I went to the Cricut Mini event last year and it was a fantastic day, with lots of demos, makes and goodies. Why not check out their website? http:/uk.cricut.com/intl

For now though, back to the commissions for Crafts Beautiful and PaperCrafter magazines.

Take care and thanks for stopping by xxxx 

Easter Wishes (and a huge egg of ginormous proportions)...

Aft'noon peeps!

Are you looking forward to the Easter holidays? I am. It will be nice to have Simon around over the four days. Hopefully the weather will stay lovely and I'll get more gardening done.

I'd like to show you a little card I whipped up for Easter. I sent it to my mum and the gang up in Yorkshire. Here it is...

What you need...

Papers: Cotton Tail 6x6 Paper Pad - WRMK

Card: white

Stamps: Picoti Picota - Artemio

Promarkers: Baby Pink, Oasis, Pressed Leaf

Ink pad: Onyx Black - Versafine

Punches: circle 1.5"; 2"

Gems: clear

Adhesives

Mat a piece of blue spotty paper at the top of a 12.5cm white blank and a narrow strip of plaid paper underneath, leaving a small gap between the two.

Stamp a chicken onto white card, colour in and punch out with the 1.5" punch. Mount onto a punched 2" circle of pink paper. Mat to the left of the blank, over the gap.

Print out the sentiment, trim and fix to the lower right. Finish with a few gems.

The layout was based on this sketch, rs#82 by Retrosketches...

Click here or on the link in the sidebar to discover this and more fab layouts.

Okay, so you are probably wondering about the ginormous egg mentioned in the title. Well....the other day I found an egg in the nest box and no kidding it is massive! I think an ostrich laid it (I suspect it is Dolly).

No wonder she struts around with a wide eyed look on her face. I've taken a picture (sad, I know) with another egg (of average size) with a ruler to give you a general idea. The size of the thing! There is an omelette for two just in that one egg.

How did she push it out? The mind boggles.

The eye watering evidence......

I think I might blow it and save it to compare with any other rugby balls laid in the future.

I am going to go now, but I'll be back soon. Thanks for dropping by. xxx

A Krafty Thank You!

Aft'noon peeps!

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. I've been busy making a rag dolly. I made several of them a few years ago and my mum always said she would like one. Well, I've finally got round to doing her one.

When she's finished I'll take a few photos and will post them for you to see. I can't give too much away or post the photo's until I've given to mum (my mum reads this blog).

As the posts regarding the projects I did for the March 2012 issue of Crafts Beautiful have gone down so well, I thought I would share another with you all (I did seven for the Card School - floral cards using one paper pad).

What you need...

Paper: Cara Marie 12" x 12" Paper Pad - K and Company

Card stock: Kraft, white

Punch: scallop border

Stamps: Big Sentiments - Personal Impressions

Ink pad: Olympia Green - Versafine

Gems

Adhesives

What you do...

Make a Kraft card blank 8.5cm x 13.5cm and cover the top two thirds with the Kraft floral paper. Punch a scallop border along a piece of white card and fix to the blank under the patterned paper. Arrange and attach some die cut flowers so they overlap the border.

Finish with a sentiment stamped in the lower right corner and add a few gems to embellish.

There you have it! A quick and simple card that can be rustled up in next to no time. I'm not sure how available this paper pad by K and Company is now, you might find the odd one out there in Internet land. You could use any floral paper collection that you have in your stash (or maybe see somewhere, which is a good excuse to purchase).

The Cara Marie pad did come with sheets of pop out die cuts; if you choose a floral paper that has quite big blooms, you could cut a few of them out an use in place of the die cut flowers. There are some gorgeous papers out there that just scream to be cut up, plus it makes the paper go further!!

Okey dokey.....back on with the dolly. Thanks for dropping by and I'll be back soon :o)

April Blog Candy

Good evening chums!

 

Well I'm here with the candy for April. As I mentioned in my last post, this one is a little bit different.

 

The thing is, this month I'm not going to tell you what the candy is. So it's a mystery giveaway. Plus the good news is that there will be two small runner up prizes as well.

 

Ooh! The intrigue. I can assure you that the candy will be as good as previous giveaways and the rules for entering are exactly the same as before. The only difference is that you post the above image instead of the usual candy image.

 

Now the technical stuff...

To have a chance of winning this fab candy:-

1. Be a follower either through, Bloglovin, Google, Facebook, Twitter, Networked Blogs or email (see sidebar)

2. Post a piccy of the candy with a link to this post in your sidebar (if you have a blog)

3. Leave me a comment (with your blog address if you have one) ta da! You are entered!

If you do have a blog, it will be great to have a look and see what you are up to :)

This candy will close on 30th April 2014, I will then use RANDOM.ORG to choose the winner!

The candy is open to all, nationally, internationally, those in outer space and previous winners. However, anyone who has a blog that does not show or appear to have any crafty makes, will not be entered.

Thanks for stopping by and good luck. xxx

March Candy Winner!

Whatcha peeps!

Hope you are all well :o) I've been busy with commissions for PaperCrafter and Crafts Beautiful. They are all finished and sent off so I have a bit of 'me' time.

Before I do the honours, I would like to say a big hello to all my new followers - HELLO!!!!! I will have a peep at all your blogs (if you have one). I can't miss out all my loyal, faithful and lovely existing followers...so a big hello to you too - HELLO!

Now onto the important stuff. The candy!!!

Here is the list of names in comment order and as I always do I've allocated each of a number. I then use Random.Org to generate a winning number.

1. Divya
2. Paperpapier
3. Sindhu
4. Aggie
5. Ardilla
6. Kelly-Anne
7. Eemeli
8. UT
9. Berina
10. Vinita
11. Paperkate
12. Olenkaja
13. Kiranmayee
14. Nikki C
15. Phi
16. Anjali
17. Meredith
18. Rajlakshmi
19. Suman
20. Dzej nej
21. Lucretia
22. Iris
23. Dawn
24. Justyna
25. Robin
26. Rebecca
27. Kelly
28. Doris
29. Somdeepa
30. Mags
31. KT Fit Kitty
32. Susan
33. Elly
34. La Vikinga
35. Jaya
36. Agnieszka
37. Bad Kitty
38. Catherine
39. Gunjan
40. Cebelica
41. Jennyfer
42. Misiowa
43. Neha

And this month's winner is.....#6 Kelly-Anne! Congrats to you! If you email me your address Kelly-Anne I will get your lovely candy posted to you asap.

I wish I could send you all a candy, but imagine the postage costs?!!!!

Anyhoo.. the candy for April is going to be a bit different. I'm not saying anymore, you'll just have to keep an eye out for the post.

Before I sign off I just want to say thanks to you all for entering my giveaways and following my blog. I also appreciate the lovely comments you leave.

Take care xxx

Hello

Hi peeps!

Ooh! This is a late one. I'm not going to bed just yet, I'm wide awake and I'll only toss & turn if I do go and then I will get frustrated and have to get up again anyway. The best thing to do is to say hello to all my lovely followers out there in blog land (or wherever you wonderful peeps follow me from).

This is another card I did as part of the seven card set for the March 2012 issue of Crafts Beautiful, using some beautiful papers from K and Company.

What you need...

Papers: Cara Marie 12" x 12" Paper Pad - K and Company

Card: white

Stamp: Big Sentiments - Personal Impressions

Ink pad: Vintage Sepia - Versafine

Adhesives

What you do...

Create a white blank 8.5cm x 13.5cm and cover the top with a piece of the tulip paper 8cm x 10cm. Attach a length of the large die-cut card frame over the join.

Layer up a few of the matching flowers, then cut some extra leaves and a stem. Arrange on the patterned paper making sure one of the flowers lies over the border. Finish with the sentiment stamped in the bottom right corner.

Pop on over to the Crafts Beautiful website to download free, papers, templates, patterns, ideas and inspiration. You need to sign up to be able to download, but it is free and easy to do. The web address is http://www.craftsbeautiful.com.

I hope you like this simple little card. It just goes to show you don't need a load of stamps or dies to create a card; one lovely patterned paper pad can work miracles.

Just before I go, don't forget to get your comments in before the end of 31st March to win the blog candy (click on image in the sidebar for details).

I'm off now to make a cup of tea. Thanks for visiting and sleep tight! xx

Happy St Patrick's Day #2

Happy 1st day of spring all!

Yippee! There's no going back now (hopefully).

As I promised in my last post here is the second of the St Patrick's Day cards I created. This is the one I gave to Liam & Alan. It's a bit crazy, but hey ho!

What you need...

Stamps: A Little Lovin - Paper Smooches; Picture It - Avery Elle

Paper: Country Drive 12 x 12 Collection 'Just Dandy' - Echo Park

Promarkers: Bright Green, Green, Lime Twist, Lime Zest

Card: lime, white, green

Ink pad: Onyx Black - Versafine

Baker's twine: green

Gems: green

Adhesives

What you do...

Cover the top three quarters of a 12.5 cm square blank with lime card. Wrap twine around the edge a few time and knot at the right side. Stamp the photo frame (with the comment part), the bunny and pieces of tape. Colour in a and cut out.

Fix the bunny at an angle to the reverse of the frame and trim the excess, then mat a piece of the Just Dandy paper behind. Attach to the blank at an angle, so it cover the knot.

Create a sentiment and adhere to the blank above the bunny. Create a mad pair of specs from green card and attach to the bunny. Embellish with the stamped tape pieces and a few gems.

The font I used to print out the sentiment is called Homegirl Sweet Barista and it was completely free! I downloaded it from Fonts101. There are some great sites out there that offer free fonts for you to download, check out the sidebar for links to some of the font sites. There are hundreds to choose from, you'll end up spending hours just browsing and downloading - I betcha!

Well, that's me for the nonce. Enjoy the rest of the 1st day of spring! xxx