California Dreamin'

I'm so excited to announce that I've been added to the sweet sassy diva design team. It's a great honor to be chosen to be a part of it. Be sure to check out all the other design team members projects this week and their blogs. I know you'll be inspired with all their work.

My first assignment was a beach theme and it was a lot of fun to go back a few years and scrap some pictures from our first and only trip thus far to the beach.

 Of course I used my cricut and the Life's a Beach cartridge for all the cuts on this layout. I used my gypsy to weld the crab border together. I then inked it up all up. If you don't have the gypsy you could simply cut the border cut 3 times and glue them edge to edge. I cut it at  1 1/2 inches.
The title was cut at 2 inches and again I used my cat eye inks and brown pen to detail the cut. The sun is cut at 3".

 The sand pail was cut at 2 3/4"  I added a button on the handle for some extra pop.

I also created this for the cricut circle blog tic tac toe challenge. I chose the top row which was the sun, gypsy which I used to create the crab border, and a button.

I hope you enjoy my first layout for the sweet sassy design tem and come back to see more. I have 3 more beach layouts I'll be posting this coming week.
Hugz
Tina Gale

Cricut Covers For Sale

My mother is a wonderful seamstress and made me a fabulous cover for my cricut. After so many people inquiring she has made some for sale. 

After all you've invested in your cricuts you want to protect them from dust, dirt, or even spills with a beautiful cover to enhance your scrap space. They are all loving made with a gorgeous cotton fabric, muslin lining, and cotton batting. They have been quilted for added detail and beauty along with an embellished front.

May be machine washed but recommend hand washing.

If you would like to request a color or fabric please contact me and we will work together on getting it for you. Also if you would like a cover for one of your other machines she has them for the Imagine and soon the E2.

All orders will ship first class. $3 shipping and handling apply to all orders

#101 Blue polka dot  Expression cover          $24.99

 #102 Pink Ring around the rosie  Expression Cover            $24.99

#103 Tan with pink Expression Cover            $24.99

 #104 Blue Polka Dot Expression Cover            $24.99

#105 Roses Expression Cover            $22.99   (does not have cotton batting but is quilted)

 #106 Green with birds Expression Cover            $24.99

#107 Green with birds Expression Cover            $24.99

Sweet Sassy Diva New Design Team

I'm so excited to announce I'm now a part of the Sweet Sassy Diva design team. Be watching for some wonderful projects coming up for it. Be sure to go to Sweet Sassy Diva to check out the post introducing all of the designers. I know you'll get some great ideas from all of them.

 If you're not already a follower I'd love for you to become one as well.

Hugz
tina gale

More Cricut covers

Thank you all for you nice comments about my cover. I had many ask about the cricut cover my mother made for me and if she would make them for others. I asked and she would love to. She's a retired school teacher so this would be a blessing to her. I've already got her working on some for my friends. She has a room full of material so I went through and picked several different patterns for her to make up. Here is one. I LOVE the polka dots and the embroidery up the middle. I so wish my room was blue!!

 Here's a close up of the embroidery detail. Love it!

And the end.

Just contact me if you would like info on getting a cover for your Expression. I also have her making me one for my Imagine and next my E2.
Hugz
Tina Gale

Cricut Cover

I come from a very creative family but I thought the gene had skipped me. My mom and sisters are fabulous seamstresses. They quilt and do all sorts of creative things with their sewing machines. When I got married I discovered I could paint and my husband and I ran a little craft store and did shows around the state selling painted items. I loved every minute of it. After my second child was born I put my painting away because of time but discovered scrapbooking. I had finally found my creative gene but unfortunately i've never learned to sew like my family. I've wanted a cover for my expression for a while and my mom made this one for me. I love the soft colors of it. She did a fabulous job as always.

 Here's a close up of the embellishment she did to the front and her quilting.

 And a side pic of more quilting. Isn't it fabulous?!

I hope you enjoyed seeing it. Thanks mom for making it!
Hugz
Tina Gale

Happy Mothers Day

Happy Mothers Day to all you moms out there. I'm so blessed to have both my kids home today. My son finished college on Thursday and came home for the weekend before he moves to his summer job at a kids camp. My daughter will be working there but not going out as soon so I have her for a little longer.

We're all going to my mom's for dinner and to have cake for my birthday as well as celebrate Mothers Day. My brother has wonderful grill and smoke skills so I'm looking forward to a great dinner. LOL

Here's a card I made for my mom. I scrap-lifted the idea from a card in the recent Cricut magazine. If you haven't checked out their new magazine you should. It's fabulous. I just subscribed to 6 months and also won another 3 months in a recent contest. They're adding it on to my current subscription so I'll be getting it for 9 months. Of course I know I'll re-subscribe anyways. LOL

The cut is from A childs Year. I love this cart. Be sure to check it out if you don't own it.

I hope you all have a fabulous day!
Hugz
Tina Gale

Bakers Twine

I recently ran a Bakers Twine share on the cricut message boards and I thought I'd share with everyone how I decided to store mine. I also have some left if anyone is interested in buying a good sample of fantastic Bakers Twine.

I wound all of mine on the old fashion clothes pins. I started the thread through the slit and since it's wood it grabs onto the twine well and doesn't unwind.

 I think it looks yummy like this as well. Here's a picture of all of them in my jar. So colorful and pretty on the shelf.

I have seen others put each color into a little jar or the small metal containers you can find in the bridal section of craft stores. This was more compact for me and I love being able to see my supplies.

Here's a picture of all 13 colors that were offered. The two bottom ones Airmail and Navy are Divine Twine. You can see the big difference in the brightness of the twine of it and the other twine. The navy has a lot more white and not as much color. It's not quite as heavy as the other twine. I'm so glad I went with the better quality for the other colors!

Red, Bright Pink, Lt Pink, Orange, Yellow, Green, Lt Green, Teal, Purple, Black, Brown, Airmail, & Navy

I am sold out of the Navy and only have a little bit of the Airmail left but have the other 11 colors available. It's $15 for 10 yard each of the 11 colors and another $1 for the airmail while it lasts. Feel free to contact me if you would like some.
Hugz
tina gale

Playing with the Imagine

I was so blessed to get the Imagine last month from cricut for a fabulous price. I have been wanting it since launch but it was just too much money for me but when cricut put it on sale plus gave circle members another 20% off and free shipping I knew it wasn't going to get much better unless I won it. LOL

I love how you can design and fill your cuts with patterned paper to print and then cut. I know I'll be using this a lot! I need to do an update and unfortunately my laptop is still in the shop and I'm not about to bring the machine down stairs to do it. It is very heavy!!

The first thing I did when I got it was just start printing and cutting random things. I put a few together in layers and a few I printed all the layers as one. It's fabulous either way. Here are some of the things I've done.

 I love that I can cut a whole sheet of patterned paper if I want to. There are some fabulous papers on the Imagine carts! You can click on any of the photos for a closer look. I want to use the cow, armadillo, and MemMoories for some layouts from the Stampede.

I decided to take some of the cuts and see if I could design a card with them. This is what I came up with. All of the images come from  the Imagine More cart that comes with the machine.

I love my Imagine and can't wait to play with it more. I hope to have some things to share soon.
Hugz
Tina Gale

Thinking of You

My Expression2 Anniversary Edition arrived yesterday on my birthday! How perfect was that? I quickly got it updated without any issues. Yeah! I packed away one of my Expressions and put it in it's place then I just sat and admired it for a minute. LOL 

I decided to try and make a quick card from the Just a Note cartridge that comes preloaded on it before I had to leave for work. I also wanted to make something for the current circle challenge. This is what I came up with.

 It's very simple but I think it has some wow factor still yet. One of them being I made it in under 30 minutes learning how to use the new E2 at the same time.

 The middle flap I used my embossing tool and ran a line down the center of the petals then creased them a bit, inked, and added a button. I used ric rac for the stems. I think the creasing really made them pop as well as the inking.

 A close up of the details on the flowers.

 One think I'm not sure I'm wild about is the lack of detail on the phrases. It's like the shadow feature so it's a little hard to read certain letters. I added a button on the o to get the circle effect.

Last I used some twine from the twine share I just hosted. I LOVE it! It's so heavy and bright. I can see using a lot of twine on coming projects.


I still have some twine left for anyone that is interested in receiving a sample pack of colored twine to play with. I know you'll love it! Just send me a not and I'll send you the price and details.

Hope you enjoyed my quick little card to get me started on the E2. If you just got yours are expecting it I would recommend getting it updated first thing and clearing a space for it. It takes up the same amount of space as the current Expression does. On the 3rd page of the manual is a key to all the buttons, copy it off and laminate it. It will be a huge help as you read through the manual and when you actually get started with your machine. I think there's a bit of a learning curve to the E2 but I don't think it's going to be a difficult one. I am in love already with it. It cuts so smooth and is actually quieter than my Expression. It's so easy to design on but I do have to warn you when you get ready to cut you have to tell  it to cut a ton of times. LOL It has several checks before it cuts. I got used to it quick but it is a bit comical.

Hugz
Tina Gale

Happy Birthday

Today is my birthday and my daughter that is always telling me and everyone else she doesn't scrap made this beautiful card for me using my cricut and some of my fabulous new paper. I'll never let her forget she can scrap (I knew she could all along).

 This is the inside of the card. I love the picture she used. It was snapped in one of those little photo booths a few years ago at her birthday party. Such Fun!!
I'll cherish this card and her forever!

The front of the card was a cut from one of the Martha Stewart cake carts. I'm not sure which one because I just got them and haven't got to play. She has made some wonderful wall art for her room from the MS cake carts that I plan on scraplifting for cards. The sentiment I believe is from Storybook. She couldn't remember what she used but I knew you'd want to know. LOL

I hoped you enjoyed a peak into my family today. I had a wonderful birthday. My E2 arrived today as well so I'm off to play and I'll share tomorrow what I come up with.