Cricut Explore Air for Mother's Day

Cricut Explore Air™ for Mother's Day

**This post contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking through my links. 

Looking for the perfect gift for a crafty mom for Mother's Day? Well look no further than Cricut! Their incredible Explore Air™ machine takes cutting, writing, and scoring to a whole new level. It'll be the Mother's Day gift that keeps on giving!

For starters, it has built-in Bluetooth technology, which makes it wireless. That means that mom can take her projects wherever she goes and save her projects to the cloud. It's also compatible with Cricut's Design Space iPad app, so mom can lay all of her cuts in the Design Space and see everything she's cutting all at once on her iPad. Adios paper-based handbooks! 

Here are a few other neat notables of the Explore Air™ machine:

• It can cut over 60 different materials, including leather, balsa wood, fabric, vinyl, tissue paper, craft foam, and even silk! Mom just sets the dial to the material that she needs to cut and the machine keeps track of the settings.
• For cutting layers, mom can just print them on her printer and have the Explore Air™ cut it out.
• Fonts and images can be uploaded for free so projects can have writing on them that looks just like handwriting.

The Cricut Explore Air™ machine has an unbelievable amount of helpful, time-saving features. And if that weren't impressive enough, Cricut is taking $50 off their Explore Air™, officially making this one of the best gifts to give crafty Mom's this Mother's Day!

Colouring Book SVG 201 with Crafts By Two

Today I cut the svg cutting file that I made following the How Two: Coloring Book SVG 201 Tutorial by Crafts By Two.  I used the same image as the 101 Tutorial.   

In the 101 tutorial you cut every layer. I had a lot of small pieces with the eyes, brows, nostrils & mouth all cutting separately and needing to be layered.  The 201 tutorial goes over additional steps to eliminate some of those extra cuts.   I was able to have the smaller pieces cut out of the face and have the black layer underneath show through.

There are the pieces all cut out. Notice the layer with the face.

Here I have it mostly glued together. So much easier than trying to place every piece on the face in proportion to each other.  

This shows the face from the second over top of the first - I wanted to see how close I was in guessing where all the pieces went in the 101 piece.  Not too bad I was off just a little bit. 

Here are both cuts side by side, the 101 piece is on the left and the 201 piece is on the right.  I didn't have a coloured image in front of me when I used Inkscape for the 201 so I didn't notice that I had changed the hair to the side of the face in the second cut.  The finished product isn't much different but was way easier to cut and assemble by eliminating all those extra pieces.  I will definitely be using this tutorial again to make more cutting files for my personal scrapbook pages. 

Find the Tutorials on the Craft By Two Site.

See my original post here

If using a licensed image to make a cutting file remember personal use only.

This image will be used in my Walt Disney World scrapbook. 

Colouring Book SVG 101 with Crafts By Two

About a month ago I bookmarked the Crafts By Two Colouring Book Series and printed off the reference sheets that go along with the videos.   Yesterday I decided I would follow along with the first tutorial - I didn't watch any of the videos, just used the written instructions.

I've used Inkscape in the past for converting images to svg for using with My Memories Digital Scrapbook Software.   And that was only to import as solid image after using trace bitmap.

I found the written tutorial very easy to follow.  I had watched a video that someone else had done and it didn't work.  The Crafts By Two didn't leave out any steps and I was able to save my svg and cut it out with my Cricut Explore last night.

I found this image online.  I was looking for an image with larger pieces and everything connected for filling in with colour.  I do have a few Disney cartridges that I bought in the United States so I had a good idea of what I wanted when piecing together of all the cuts.  

I imported the picture into Inkscape and followed the instructions by 

Crafts By Two - How To: Coloring Book SVG 101

Here is my svg uploaded into Cricut Design Space.

Each piece cut out with my Cricut Explore.  Even the teeny, tiny pieces for the nostrils cut out. 

Here's my finished image all glued together.  

The only piece that didn't work well for me was the highlight on the nose.  

I ended up removing it and using a black pen instead.  

I like how it turned out even with having to put the face together like that.  

I watched all the videos this morning and using the same image I am going to follow 

Crafts By Two: How To Coloring Book Svg 201.  

I will post that as soon as I have it cut and pieced together and will show a side by side comparison with this first image. 

To see the video tutorials and download the pdf instructions visit:

Crafts By Two - How To: Coloring Book SVGs - The Complete Series

If using a licensed image to make a cutting file remember personal use only.

This image will be used in my Walt Disney World scrapbook. 

CTMH Paper Bird Hostess Rewards Stamp Set

Here's a card I made using the new CTMH Paper Bird Hostess Rewards Stamp Set.

I was inspired by a card made by Margi Gilbertson. I loved the colour combo that she used with this stamp set so I had to do one myself.  I changed it a bit, using the CTMH Glacier patterned cardstock from the Whimsy Fundamentals paper pack. I tied a little knot in the Glacier twine instead of a bow.

I would have loved to have done similar to hers but both of my hands are sore right now so I had to be happy with just a little bit of stamping and no bow tying.

I used my CTMH Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge to cut the circle, scallop circle and branch.

This stamp set is available as Hostess Rewards when your CTMH Gathering reaches $150 or more.  If you are in Canada and would like to be Hostess contact me at nshelmer@icloud.com for more information.   Online Gathering option is available via my CTMH website. 

Frozen Fever Has Arrived

Frozen Fever has Arrived!

**This post contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking through my links. 

Forget spring fever ... Disney® Frozen Fever is heating things up at Cricut! Elsa, Anna, Olaf, and friends can all be printed in 50 beautiful, full-color images! You simply print the colorful, fun Disney® images that you want, and then cut them with Cricut Explore®.

You can also try out the images in Cricut Design Space™ before you buy! Design Space® gives you access to all of your images and projects from any compatible computer or iPad so you have the creative freedom to design just about anything! You can use the new Disney® Frozen Fever images to make party invitations, decorations, and favors -- even embellishments to your favorite photo memories!

With the Cut What You Want® tool in Design Space®, you can easily convert your Disney® Frozen Fever images -- or even your own design -- into a cuttable image in just a few clicks! Upload and cut .svg, .jpg, .png, .bmp, .gif, and .dxf files absolutely FREE. You can even use fonts already installed on your computer.

Print full color images, such as the new Frozen Fever images, with Cricut Design Space™ and your printer; then cut with your Cricut Explore® machine! Print then Cut gives you flawless results with color bleed, precision cutting and over 50,000 printables. 

With Cricut, you'll be able to design your favorite Frozen-themed crafts in less time than it takes to sing "Let It Go!"

CTMH Blossom WOTG Kit

Here are the cards from the new CTMH Blossom Workshop on the Go Kit.

The Kit is available on my Close To My Heart Website for $27.50 CAD.

It comes with everything needed to create 15 cards (5 each of 3 designs). 

It also includes a full-sized stamp set valued at $19.75,  

full sheets of cardstock and full packages of embellishments. 

Get Your Cricut Explore Air and Get 50% Any Starter Set

Now is the time to Get your Circuit Explore Air®

**This post contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking through my links. 

Did you buy your Circuit Explore Air yet? If not, don’t delay, NOW is the time to do it! Right now, you can buy a Cricut Explore Air and get 50% off any Starter Set! That’s right – and there are three starter sets to choose from – Deluxe Starter Set, Basic Starter Set and the Complete Starter Set. All designed to help you do even more with your Cricut Explore Air® machine! Just use code STARTER at checkout to get your savings.

And the April Mystery box is now available! $100 worth of goodies for only $29.99. The contents are a mystery, but this box includes cartridges and craft supplies for spring creating! You can get all these wonderful crafting supplies AND get free shipping this month too – just use code APRILSHIP. But supplies are limited, so get yours now before they run out! 

Shutterfly Free 101 Prints April 5th - 7th

This post contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking through my links




ALL customers qualify for 101 free 4x6 prints with promo code CARROT


Don't miss out on this great offer from Shutterfly.  New customers also get 50 free prints for joining Shutterfly.

I've taken advantage of this type of offer twice this year and have only had to pay for shipping.  Very cost effective way to catch up on my pocket scrapbooking.  

Free Svg files for cutting machines at Daily Art Hub

I just joined Daily Art Hub - they give away free svg files each day. Files are available for download for 24 hours.

Here's what I got today:

Very cute - lots of good images on the site for scrapbooking. 

April Mystery Box at Cricut.com

This post contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking through my links

Get Your April Mystery Box Now!

It's here! The Cricut April Mystery Box has arrived and it is only $29.99! The contents are a mystery, but this fun packed box includes cartridges and craft supplies and has a retail value of $100 

Supplies are limited, so get it before it's gone! 


 
Plus, get free shipping! Just use the code APRILSHIP at checkout. Get your box now and don't forget to check out all the other fun cartridges and images they have.

New Washi Sheets at Cricut.com

Check out new Washi Sheets at Cricut.com

 Cricut Washi Sheets are sized at 12x12 and these translucent sheets have stylish, useable patterns perfect for layering and creating semi-opaque decorative accents.

**this post contains affiliate links. I will be compensated for any purchases made through these links.  Help support my blog by making a purchase at Cricut.com.  

CTMH Seasonal Expressions 2 Catalogue Now Available!

It's here! The new Close To My Heart Seasonal Expressions 2 Catalogue is now available!

 

It's full of great new products! I love the new paper packs, and the Blossom Workshop on the Go Card Kit is one of my favourites!  

Love the colours and what a fun stamp set!  This kit includes enough supplies to make 15 cards (5 cards in 3 different designs) along with a full sized stamp set.  

This is a great kit for hostessing a CTMH Gathering:  

Simply select a date for your Gathering & you and 5 friends purchase this kit to assemble at your Gathering.  A fun night out with friends and you also earn FREE product with 

CTMH Hostess Rewards. 

 Contact me for more information & available dates.  

Online Gathering option also available.

Visit my CTMH website today to see all the new products in the Seasonal Expressions 2!