I started this as a shaker, but decided it was too bulky to mail to my sick friend. Since she lives in another state, I dismantled it and took out the shaker parts. I used the Cat's Meow kit from Queen & Co. I think the video that inspired me was one by Jennifer McGuire.
When you pull the tab, the flap opens to reveal the sentiment. She's a cat lover, so she will love it.
I can't believe how much time has passed since I made or posted a project. Our youngest son who lives with us started a business in the spring, and suddenly my craft room was overtaken by the wares he is selling at conventions. After a year of not seeing our daughter, she came for a short visit. We went to visit family, and family came to visit us for a quiet, laid back family reunion. Our third youngest son and his wife are getting ready to move. Doctor visits continue for my DH, and I still need to do all the driving. Crafting has had to be put on hold the last few months. However, I recently managed to get to a scrapbook convention. It's been at least 3 years, but even though the GASC event was small, I found some fabulous Disney dies at the Tall Mouse Cre8ates booth. I'm still working on the Disney album for our 2017 trip. I did buy a few dies that may or may not be useful for the album, but I knew would be great for cards. Since my son's inventory is finally out of my craft room, I finally managed to make a card for the first time in a long time:
The cupcake die and background die came from the Tall Mouse booth. The banner stamp and die are from Queen & Co. (but who were not at the convention). It doesn't show in the photo, but I used clear Wink of Stella on the tiny Mickey Head sprinkles of the cupcake.
I made this for someone who'd had a "terrible, horrible no good, very bad day" at work. It's one of the little Target $1 mailboxes that I have had in my stash for a long time. I was saving it for something special, and this seemed the perfect use for it, especially once I filled it with chocolates. I used Silhouette designs, cut from vinyl. I put her name on the side with the flag.
I often throw away the smaller scraps left over from projects. I keep the larger ones, but today as I was cleaning my craft room, I had a lot of leftover papers to sort from projects. I hadn't realized just how big the pile had gotten. Once I sorted out the bigger pieces, I looked at the various bits left, and thought, not for the first time, that I could easily get some die cut banners and other shapes from them. I hate to waste pretty papers, especially since I no longer live near a scrapbook store. Even if I did, inflation is driving prices up everywhere, and I was raised by a mom who didn't like anything to go to waste. I didn't take a photo before I began, but this is the pile of die cuts that I now have after die cutting the smaller scraps into something more practical, that I can hopefully use on a card or other project. In the future, I should die cut the leftover bits promptly, so that I don't end up with an overwhelming mountain of paper scraps again. These took a few evenings to cut.
I love Heartfelt Creations stamps, dies, and papers. I especially love their stamps for flower making, but adding them to a card can mean adding a lot of postage due to their bulk. This weekend, I focused on using papers and cut out designs from a couple of their paper pads to make quicker and easier cards. Using cut outs allows you to die cut already colored designs, which is a great time saver. I have agonized over cutting up their beautiful papers, but if I never use them, it's just money wasted.
This first card was made using one of the 12x12 sheets that is divided into 6x6 sections, with one of the sections being an ivy covered wall. It is from the Wildwood Cottage collection, which was discontinued at least a year ago. I wish I could buy that brick and ivy paper in bulk. I used the Cottage Window from one of the cut apart sheets of the Cottage Garden Collection, which is still available. The floral spray is from one of the cut apart sheets of the Climbing Clematis Collection, also currently available. I popped the window and floral spray with foam tape, and although it doesn't show in the photo, used Wink of Stella to add a bit of shimmer.
In this second card, I used only the Climbing Clematis cut aparts, a phrase stamp from My Favorite Things, and die cut it with a Queen & Company Foundation die. I used foam tape and Wink of Stella on this card, too.
I don't do pocket scrapbooking, but I have bought a variety of the cut-apart sheets that are intended for pocket scrapbooking. I figured they could be used at least for card making. Do I actually use them for card making? Rarely. Today, however, I got out a sheet of BoBunny Petal Lane Love Notes cut-aparts. I have leftovers that will hopefully be used later to make additional cards, but today I needed 5 cards, all the same, and I had an entire pack of the already mentioned Bo Bunny cut-aparts that I'd bought from Tuesday Morning long ago. It's pretty simple, but I got my 5 identical cards made. I thought about adding some bling, but these need to go through the mail, and I didn't want them returned for insufficient postage. I used Queen & Company Foundation dies to make the card base, and the Hello sentiment. I love it when a card is quick and easy, but still looks decent.
One of the reasons that I love my Silhouette is for tracing images, which I can then use for crafting. You can trace a photo and turn it into a cutting file, but for those who aren't as familiar with tracing images, it's easiest to start with free clip art, coloring pages, etc. Some fully colored images can also be used.
As anyone who has followed my blog probably knows, my DH had a widow maker heart attack almost a year ago, which he thankfully survived. His recovery has been slow, and we spend a lot of time every week going to two different types of physical therapy. He is improving, though, and one of the things that gives him hope and encourages him to work on his recovery, is the hope of going to Disney World when he is well enough. He watches a lot of Disney YouTube videos, and I spend time designing what shirts we want to wear.
In 2017, we took a family trip to Disney World. I made 27 different t-shirt designs for various family members, each one a unique creation according to their preferences. I started with free clip art from the internet for some, and bought Cricut Disney designs for others. The ones that I made with the Cricut designs were definitely the nicest.
What do you do, though, if you want to do a specific kind of design, but it's not available as a cutting file? This is where the trace feature of the Silhouette software comes in handy.
The Silhouette video on tracing specifically states that you shouldn't use it on proprietary designs. I'm sure their lawyers were thinking that they didn't want Disney lawyers to come after them, and they have a good point. You will see Disney cutting files online for sale by individuals, who have essentially created unauthorized cutting files for sale using internet clip art. Before long, the Disney lawyers usually shut those entrepreneurs down. However, when we went to Disney with our very unique home made Disney shirts, no one at Disney gave us a bad time about it, and a few of the shirts were really well done. They were home made, but the last ones that I did looked professional. The more shirts that I made with heat transfer vinyl, the better I got. I assumed that since it was for personal use, it was legally acceptable.
Apparently, it's not legal. Will the Disney lawyers go after home crafters who just make their own t-shirts but don't sell them? Probably not, since there are a lot of people trying to sell the products which is a truly blatant copyright issue. However, technically you are supposed to get permission from Disney to even make a shirt only for you, unless it is one of the licensed Cricut designs, and I kind of doubt that Disney will grant permission, even if you go through the hassle.
Will you actually get into trouble? Will Disney folks deny you entrance to the parks or throw you out for a home made but professional looking t-shirt, with their lawyers in hot pursuit? Probably not, but I wish I knew the answer to that. Some of the Cricut designs are great, and would certainly be legal to use if you've bought the cutting file. I've bought quite a few. But I've also found Disney designs that I like better, which aren't available, so I have to decide if I am willing to take the time to make them if wearing them to the Disney parks could land me in legal trouble or get kicked out.
