25th Anniversary

So right at this very moment, while I am typing this post, I am also cutting the shadow of ’25th Anniversary’ for a scrapbook page I am working on. I’m using the font BlacklightUp with Sure Cuts A Lot. I tried cutting it out using the Cricut cartridges that I own, but I wasn’t overly impressed with any of my options. I just couldn’t get the letters ‘just right.’  I have the original Cricut, and the smallest you can cut the letters using the cartridges is 1 inch. My SCAL can cut 1/2 inch and smaller (although I question the quality when they get too much smaller than 1/2 inch) as well as odd sizes. I could cut at 2.84 if I wanted to! This gives me a lot more versitility with the Cricut.

So why was I trying the use the cartridges instead of the AWESOME Sure Cuts A Lot? Honestly, I was too lazy to walk up the stairs to get the laptop I forgot when I originally came down to my scraproom (a.k.a. the basement). The cartridges were right here next to me. Let’s just say that I learned my lesson. Don’t waste time trying to make the cartridge work when you have SCAL!

The Ribbon Lady

Colleen was one of the women on my scrapbook weekend. She is so funny! All weekend she talked about visiting her friends Michael and JoAnn (get it? Michael’s and JoAnn Fabrics and Crafts) and coming home with all kinds of scrapbooking supplies. One of those supplies was ribbon. You see, Colleen is the Ribbon Lady. She can’t leave a craft store without some type of ribbon. The ribbon container she used to use has now turned into a ribbon tub. She uses ribbon on almost every page. In fact, it was worth announcing when she did a page without ribbon!

Colleen has some very inventive ways to use ribbon. Here is a page that she created using two different types and sizes of ribbon.

Besides the ribbon, check out Colleen’s matting. I use double mats quite often on my pages, but I have never thought to do the second mat just in the opposing corners as she has done here. What a great way to interject a color into the layout when you don’t have enough to do full mats!

Thanks Colleen for letting me photograph and post some of your great work!

More Pages Using Sure Cuts A Lot

These are pages by Kathryn from the scrapbook weekend. Her son’s class had a rocket day where they shot off model rockets. She wanted to cut out a rocket to put on the pages she was doing about the event, but couldn’t find one on any of the Cricut cartridges anyone had along. She asked me if I had a rocket pattern that I could cut out using Sure Cuts A Lot.

I looked in the wingdings and webdings on my computer (they are like fonts, but are pictures – see below) and found a rocket. Using Sure Cuts A Lot, I was able to cut out several rockets for her in different colors. She mixed and matched the colors and even used what would be considered waste paper around the rocket instead of the rocket. I love the way she used the rocket on the cloud paper!

I thought this title was really cool!

This is a screenshot of some of the webdings that I have on my computer.  Most people do not know they are even there. Open a word processing program like Word, and look at the fonts list.  Webdings and Wingdings should be on the list. I have used Sure Cuts A Lot to cut webdings for many pages. On the first scrapbook weekend I went on, I cut a globe for Kathryn for an “It’s a Small World” page.

I Haven’t Forgotten…

I haven’t forgotten about this blog.  While it may not be obvious by the lack of posts, I’ve been doing some things on the blog behind the scenes as well as just learning how to do use WordPress (the site my blog is on).  I did something last night that I’m ashamed to admit – I scrapped instead of working on the blog!  I worked on updating the scrapbook about my dad.  (See About Me for more details on this scrapbook).

Anyway, I promised some layouts from my friends at the scrapbook weekend, I’m finally going to deliver.

This layout comes from my friend Doreen, who, incidentally, commented on my last post.  This page shows the “Wilson” she was referring to in her comment.  She had purchased the sheet of basketball paper.  She put it on a black background with a gold behind that to mimic the lettering on the basketball in the photo which is black with a gold shadow. The white strip across the top of the photo has the name of the school the girl in the photo attends, but I blurred it out for her protection.

Since the basketball in the photo said “Wilson”, Doreen thought it would be cool to have “Wison” in a similar font on the ball in the layout.  I cut the word using my Cricut* and a software program called Sure Cuts A Lot (SCAL).** I used two different fonts, one where the ‘M’ upside down resembled the ‘W’ and one that resembled the cursive style of the ‘ilson’.  I used the welding feature to make ‘ilson’ all one word instead in individual letters. I shadowed the black letters with gold to mimic the real ball’s lettering. (Welding and shadowing are two of the features of SCUT.)

If you already own or use a Cricut, you know how awesome the machine is for cutting out letters and shapes from the cartridges.  SCUT cuts True Type fonts, like the ones you see in your font list in Word (with many more free ones found on the Internet).  You don’t need to buy any cartridges, just the one-time cost for the software with free updates for life.  After installing the software on a computer, you use the USB port on your computer to attach the the port on the Cricut using the same type of USB cable you would use to hook up a printer.  You can cut fonts and webdings (a type of image) and the software allows you to weld the letters to make words.  I will be giving many more examples of projects created using this software in future posts, so either come back to the blog again or check out the Sure Cuts A Lot site for more information.

*Cricut is a registered trademark of Provo Craft.  I am in no way affiliated with Provo Craft, but I do love the Cricut!

** Sure Cuts A Lot (SCUT) a product of Craft Edge, Inc and is in no way affiliated with Cricut or Provo Craft.  More information about SCUT can be obtained here.

Scrapbooking Weekend Retreat

I had an awesome time at a scrapbooking retreat this past weekend!  My friend Cheryl organizes these weekends twice a year, and I can’t wait for the next one!  There were 17 ladies (with 10 Cricuts between us!) all in one large room,  scrapbooking.

All of our meals were prepared for us, so the only effort we had to put in at mealtime was tearing ourselves away from our layouts.  Sleeping was optional, which is why it has taken me until Wednesday to stay awake long enough to write this post!  I saw 4:30 one night and 5:30 another.  And breakfast was at 9:00!

The best part of these weekends is all of the sharing that goes on.  If you need something, ask – someone probably has what you are looking for.  If you get stuck, ask – someone will help you when you can’t see the layout for the paper.  I met some really nice women, renewed acquaintances with some I met at the last retreat, and turned some of those acquaintances into friends.  And best of all, these wonderful women allowed me to take pictures of their work, so I will be posting it soon!

If you get the chance to go on a weekend retreat, here is my advise:  Ask how much table space you will get.  A lot of places only give you 4 feet of space, and if you spread your stuff out like me, that is not enough space.  Cheryl gives us at least a full 8 foot table.  If you do get 4 feet, and you can make that work – GO!  If you get more than 4 feet, GO!  Basically, JUST GO!

Hello all! I’m The Silly Scrapper!

Welcome to my brand new blog!  I am starting this blog because I love to scrapbook and share ideas, tips, tricks, and tool picks with my scrapbooking friends.  I’m starting out small, but I have BIG plans that will be unveiled soon.

I’m not going to reveal too much now, but be prepared to learn about my favorite tools, see my page layouts and those of my friends, submit your own page layouts, and more.

So ladies (and gents, too!), check back often to see what’s new!