Christmas Present from my Boys & Kristen too!!

My husband and I received an awesome Christmas present from our boys this year, they always give us such wonderful gifts and this year was such a special one. This is Gustav our newest family member and boy were we so surprised when we opened the box, he wasn't in it, just a dog bed and some toys, my husband and I had such a bewildered looks on our faces and then Willie my youngest comes through the door with this adorable puppy, we were both just so taken back.


Gustav, Black and Tan Piebald Dachshund

 There is a story to this puppy, my husband and I both would stop at Puppy Love from time to time, it's where we bought our other dachshund Freckles, who we totally adore, and this little guy has been there since the summer.  I was telling my son about him and how old he was getting and he really needed a home soon.  A couple of days after Thanksgiving I checked the website and he was gone, I felt sad because I became attached to him but happy that he was bought and had a new home, I told my husband and he was happy that the little guy had a new home now too. Well little did we know that new home would be ours.  Willie and Kristen went over to see the puppy and then told Alfred, Rory and Kevin, and they all agreed to get him as our Christmas gift.   They had him for a couple of weeks at their place and kept the whole thing a secret, what a wonderful present!!  Thank you Alfred, Rory, Kevin, Willie & Kristen, you are the best son's a Mother and Father can ever have and Kristen we are so lucky to have you as part of our family!!!


Freckles, Red Piebald Dachshund
 
 Here's the new brothers together!!

My thoughts on the KNK Zing so far

I've been busy making projects and really getting to know my new Zing. For the most part I love this machine, though there has been some problems with it.  For me the machine is very easy to operate, I love the the whole setup of it, my problem is the blades or the blade holder, not sure yet which it is.  KNK did discontinue the regular standard blades and replace them with a detail standard one with a different offset.  I only used the standard blade in the beginning, I couldn't get a good cut from it so I switched to the deep cut blade which was better but still very inconsistent. My cuts would come out fine and then all of a sudden with the same settings on the same paper, the cut won't join correctly or some of the cuts on the paper would be excellent and then half not, I have ruined a couple of nice projects because of this and it's very frustrating. So I'm kind of thinking it's my blade holder, but I sent back my two standard blades to get the replacement ones from KNK, I'll test these and see if my cuts are better, if not I'll look to have the blade holder replaced.  I did order the Eclips blade holder and that works wonderful in the zing, I'm getting awesome cuts with that, so at least I can use the machine.

 Here are a couple more projects I made with the Zing.

This is a card I made for my son's birthday, I used a mixture of glue and shaving cream to get the ale foam, really comes out great.  One of the features I totally love about the Zing is the draw and cut, I used it to write the Happy Birthday Kevin and then cut it out.

The print n cut is great too, after you calibrate it the laser is very easy to use and I'm very happy with some of the pnc I have done.  I printed out the toy soldier and then cut it out on the zing.

 A pretty little Angel, I used the eclips blade holder on this one.

Here it is with a battery tealight inside.

Enchanted Cardinal

SVGCuts has this really nice kit Enchanted Sparrow, and I thought how pretty to make it into a cardinal for winter. I used the wing from the kit and added it to the cardinal from Christmas Cookie Party. The holly is from the 3D Wintergreens kit. I think I'll make one for all the seasons, it also would be really nice to make as a gift for someone. The paper is Echo Park Wintertime Digital paper pack, love this paper!! Everything was cut using my new Zing in Make the Cut.

Advent Calendar

Hi everyone I bought this Advent Calendar from Silhouette I fell in love with it the moment I saw it on someone's blog, I knew I had to have it. The kit is made up of this wood box which is very nice and sturdy and you get a gift card so you can download 25 boxes and draws for the calendar. I don't have a sihouette so I had to capture each draw from Silhouette Studio so I could bring them into Make the Cut, not a problem just a little time consuming but it all worked out very well. The paper I used is Authentique Wonder and all the embellishments are from SVGCuts.com, except the numbers they are Kingthings Willow font and I did a print and cut on my Zing which saved me some time.

Some of the collections I used from SVGCuts are

CHRISTMAS MORNING

CHRISTMAS COOKIE PARTY

CHRISTMAS IN THE VILLAGE

COMET'S CANDY LAND

HOLIDAY TREATS

ROCKIN AROUND THE CHRISTMAS TREE

SANTA'S NORTH POLE WORKSHOP

WINTER BLISS SVG COLLECTION

First Vinyl Plate

I finally broke out my vinyl that I've had for ages and cut this on my Zing. Some of the letters are so thin in spots I was afraid it wouldn't cut good, but she did awesome!! I used the shepherd and lamb from SVGCuts O Holy Night collection, I assemblied them in Make the Cut and welded together to form the silhouette. The font I used is called Precious, it's very pretty, you can do a search on the web for it.

Zingabella is here!!!

Well I received my Zing last Wednesday and I have been playing every chance I can get. I really love it. It's so much different and greater then my cricut, it's definitely a giant step up, I have the settings down pretty good already and I'm getting fantastic cuts. I just started to align my print n cut, which I'm so thrilled about. First I had some issues with delicate cuts but Andy did an update to Make the Cut and the Zing driver and now I'm getting beautiful cuts and they are working on an intricate blade so I'm pretty excited about that. Here are a couple of projects that I have made so far.

Paper Ornament with a ornament topper

Christmas Rocking Horse Luminary made using SVGCuts Bundle of Joy kit

Christmas tags made from SVGCuts Christmas in the Village Collection

Christmas Tree Luminary made from SVGCuts new kit Spirits of Christmas Past

Christmas No Peeking Boxes

Birdhouse Ornament

For Nutcrackers in November Challenge Ten over at Make the Cut's Forum, you need to decorate the birdhouse that MichelleMyBelle created in MTC, you can find it here. I made my birdhouse into a luminary. I used the lace paper from SVGCut's Robin's Return Kit and put vellum underneath so the light comes through the holes. Except for the birdhouse all cuts are from SVGCuts.com. This would make excellent teacher gifts, it's very quick and easy to make, and very pretty.

I used

Robin's Return for the lace paper and lace trim

Comet's Candyland for the holly on top

Christmas Cookie Party for the cardinal

3D Wintergreen Kit for the ferns

Nutcrackers in November Challenge One

The Nutcrackers in Novermber Challenge over at Make the Cut has started and Challenge one is to create something from the Holiday Paper Pack which you can download from the link on the forum. If you would like to participate head on over to the Make the Cut here.

I decided to use the stocking card from SVGCut's Shaped Christmas Card Kit, I thought it would show off some of the pretty paper from the paper pack. Make the Cut has some really nice new features one being the knife tool and Bezier pen, so with them both I was able to cut the toe and heel out of the stocking and curve it. I also used the holly and berries and the little tag from the half sheet of tags that comes with the Christmas paper kit. I brought the holly into Make the Cut and broke the pieces apart so I could cut them out separately.

Check out this Video from SVG Cuts!!

Fall Birthday Card

I made this birthday card for my Mom using a combo of SVGCut's Chamomile Friendship Cards and Caramel Apple Pie kits. Both kits are really awesome and I definitely recommend buying them. I also used the leave stamp from one of the Punkin' Patch autumn stamp sets, I love their stamp sets!!

Holiday Traditions

I'm starting my Christmas Cards and I really like the panel look with the different pattern paper, so I used the ribbon svgs from SVGCuts Christmas Cookie Party Collection, in fact all the cuts on this card are from that kit, even the buttons. The stamp is from Punkin' Patch Holiday Traditions stamp set.

Candy Cracker Box File

I seen this cracker box die and really loved it so I made my own in Make the Cut. You can fit a mini candy bar with some tootsie rolls, even a tootsie lolipop fits. I bet you can even use it for a single cake pop. The cute stamp saying is from My Thoughts Exactly and the ghost is a Martha Stewart stamp from Michaels. The paper I used is digital Witch's Brew, my printer was low on yellow ink so it printed more brown, but it's actually more orange, I really like this digital set. The twine I made, I colored one white piece of yarn with distress inks and twisted with another white piece. I've uploaded both the MTC & SVG version, the Make the Cut version was done in 4.0.4.

MTC file here

SVG file here

Heirloom Traditions

I'm not sure where I downloaded this tree from, but I just love it. I joined the leaves together in make the cut and made a stencil out of them, so I could use distress inks to create this autumn look. I really like how it came out. The stamp is from Punkin Patch's Heirloom Traditions set, I scanned and brought it into make the cut so I could have a shape of the stamp and also a background shape.

Spooky Spider

SVGCuts has the most adorable set this week, Party on Elm Street and these spider legs and eyes are part of the kit. I didn't have a small pumpkin as the one Mary used so I used the small pumpkin from the Pick a Pumpkin Kit, worked out very good. I used black paper and then sprayed the body pieces with glimmer mist and then embossed.

Welcome Fall

A quick card I made using the leaves and flower from SVGCuts Caramel Apple Pie Kit. I used digital paper for the background paper and inked the bottom part with distress ink. I used glimmer mist on all the cuts.

BOO-tiful Night

This card is a little bit of everything and it all goes. The card itself and the cuts are from SVGCut's Haunted Hemlock Cards kit. The pumpkin stamp is from Punkin' Patch, Autumn Air set, and the Boo-tiful stamp is from My Thoughts Exactly, Fright Night Phrases. The faces on both pumpkins and the ghost are peachy keen face stamps. Background paper is EP Apothecary Add-On digital paper pack, you can get it here, http://www.jessicasprague.com/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.pbv.tabs.tpl&product_id=1602&category_id=69&keyword=Apothecary&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=365. I really love this paper line, I bought the other two packs also, just couldn't resist!!

Sweater Weather

I received my new stamps from Punkin' Patch and wanted to try them out. I'm really not a big stamper, I'm more of a diecut scrapper, but I really love how Mary from SVGCuts is incorporating her svg's and stamps together. Here is a card using stamps from Autumn Air and the little leave from Heirloom Traditions. I created the cutout of the man raking and sweater weather on my scanner and imported it into Make the Cut and made a shadow so I could stamp on the cut and not have to worry about cutting it out. The oval is stamped with the leaves from both sets. I printed the background paper and inked it with Tim Holtz Distress ink.

pun

Believe

I love this card I saw on Pinterest made by Lisa, (Myprincess-peaches) over at scrapbook.com, here is a link of her card, http://www.scrapbook.com/gallery/image/card/2998025.html , just gorgeous!! She made it with all scraps, something most of us have a lot of. I really wanted to make this card, but I didn't have the green and red circle paper, so I punched out 1/2" circles in red and green and glued them to white paper strips, used clear embossing powder and glitter on the green on green one and then ran them all through my cuttlebug with the swiss dots folder, it came out great, you wouldn't even know the dots were added. Here is my version of the card, I used my new Punkin' Patch Stamp Set Gingerbread Kisses for the Believe.

Haunted House

Another Martha Stewart Halloween stamp...

Eerie Owl

No cutter with this card, just a stamp from Martha Stewart's Elegant Witch set. I used a technique from Splitcoaststampers called Stained Mosaic for the bottom strip on the card, for the top I embossed using a cuttlebug folder. I used Martha Stewart drippy goo punch for the top edge. My Tim Holtz Fall distress inks came in the mail so I used them on the background of the owl. I like how this card came out, very eerie, perfect for Halloween!!

Gingerbread Kisses

Here is a cute card I made using the Gingerbread from SVGCuts Christmas Cuddly Friends Collection. Instead of using the face cutouts I used face stamps from Peachy Keen, Winter Faces Assortment. The hats they're both wearing are from the Autumn Cuddly Friends Collection. The stamp is from Punkin' Patch's Gingerbread Kisses set, too cute!! I colored in the pieces with my ProMarkers, I'm getting better!! All pieces were cut using Make the Cut software.

Halloween Words Background

I like the Halloween Word Background on the Cricut cartridge Chic and Scary, so I just had to make my own. Here is my version using Make the Cut, the web, bat, spider, ghost and skull silhouette all came from free halloween fonts. I shadowed the words twice to get the green and orange mats. I then shadowed the orange mat and the ghost to get the card base which I duplicated and welded together. I've uploaded both an svg and an mtc file of the card. The mtc version was done in the beta so if you don't have that installed you will need to use the svg.


MTC file here
SVG file here

Crisp Days of Fall

I love the pumpkins from the SVGCuts kit Crisp Days of Fall and thought they would look so cute with some Peachy Keen Faces. I really need to practice more with my ProMarkers, I'm trying to get the blending right. I guess I really need to just sit down and watch some tutorials on it.

SVGCuts & Punkin' Patch Stamps

I received my new stamp sets from the Punkin' Patch yesterday and what I love about them is how Mary from SVGCuts design some to work with her new collection Kate's Holiday Silhouettes. What a nice collection this is, a couple of cards, silhouettes and extras. Here is one of the cards from the collection and the sentiment at the top is from Punkin' Patch's Holiday Traditions stamp set. I also used the little candy cane in the set for the background paper, so adorable. The card had a scotty but I have a dachshund so I changed it and also added the trees in the back.

Candy Corn from Witches Hat

Dania Welch from Stamp Up A Storm, has this really cute project, a witches hat triangle box, click here for her video. Michelle from Michelle My Belle's Creations made a template in Make the Cut and it came out just perfect, you can find it here. I used it to make this candy corn, it's such a quick and adorable treat box. Make sure you check out both Dania and Michelle's Witches hat, they are just adorable!!

Cuddly Spider Sweet Treat

I've had the Stampin' Up Sweet Treat Cups since last year and have never used them. I thought the Spider from SVGCuts.com Halloween Cuddly Characters would be wonderful to use with them. I joined a 1.75" circle with his body using Make the Cut to get the cutout for the sweet treat cup. I cutout two of the body, head and hat, to make it sturdier and also to create a slide in the back of the body to get the candy out. I glued a string between the two hat pieces so it can be hung as a decoration.

Here is the back with the slider piece that can be pulled to get the candy out.

Punkin Patch Stamps

Check out these new adorable stamps at Punkin Patch!!!

Batty Pop

I seen these cute lollipop butterflies at skiptomylou.org, and I thought they would be so adorable using the Halloween Cuddly Friends from SVGCuts.com for halloween. I used the bat wings, body, feet , ears and fangs from the kit, and put some wiggly eyes on, I think it came out so cute. These are very quick and easy to put together, I used Make the Cut to put two slits in the body but you can use a craft knife. I glued the middle of the body together and stamped Happy Halloween and covered the little piece of the stick, the lollipop slides right out.

Cuddly Candy Corn Box

Here is a candy corn box I made using some of the svg's from SVGCuts.com. I used the pie slice from the Crisp Days of Fall Kit, the candy corn from Vintage Halloween Party Bags and to make the candy corn look like a cuddly character I used cuts from Halloween Cuddly Friends. I think it came out so cute. For the cuddly candy corn I cut everything out on white cardstock and used glimmer mist and ProMarkers to color the pieces.

Here is the front view



Here it is opened with some candy corn inside.

Elmhurst Hollow Haunted House

Hi everyone!

I finally got to put together the haunted house from SVGCuts.com, I have to say Mary is amazing, I love her kits. Her directions and videos are great, so easy putting her kits together. I really enjoyed doing this project, not much to talk about just followed her video and added a couple of mine ideas and it was done. I have to say I love the Martha Stewart's Elegant Witch Designer Paper, it's just awesome, I used it on the center house and as accent pieces. The side trees, fence and one of the ghosts came from the Haunted Hemlock Cards Kit and the moon is from Vintage Halloween Party Bags Kit, the rest is from Cricut's Happy Haunting's Cartridge.

Scrap Time Again!!

Well it's that time again, too many scraps, so I'm making the patchwork cards. I love putting these cards together, I pick random pieces of scraps using a 1" punch and stick them down on a piece of copy paper that I run through my xyron. On this piece I inked the edges of the squares before I placed them down on the paper. When I'm finished with my pieces I place the patchwork down on my mat and cut out the shape, here I used the pumpkin from SVGCuts.com's Pick a Pumpkin Svg Kit. Using a white gel pen I dashed around each piece to give it more of a stitched look. If you have a ton of scraps like I do, try this, I love to see how it comes out, you never know until it's cut out.

Happy Birthday Rory!!

Today is my son Rory's Birthday and I made this card for him. Rory is a hat person, so I thought the Mad Hatter which is a free download right now at SVGCuts.com, would be so fitting for him. I put the pieces together in Make the Cut and shadowed it, made a copy of the shadow and welded the two together to form the card. I cut all the pieces of the character on white cardstock and colored them with my ProMarkers, love those markers. I love making shape cards, it's one of my favorite things to do.

Cuddly Friends Treat Holder

I love the Cuddly Friends Collection over at SVGCuts.com especially the Halloween characters. I already made a popup candy holder card, but I seen this video, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFAIcwstmv0&feature=player_embedded and thought the cuddly friends would look so cute on there so I created this mtc and svg file to use with them and to give out to the kids at Halloween. I resized all the character pieces in Make the Cut to 4.5 high, make sure you lock aspect ratio. If you follow the video you should have no trouble assembling it.

As you can see the head is placed on the top flap.

And the body on the inside.

Click Here for the MTC file

Click Here for the SVG file

Cuddly Crow

I think the crow from SVGCuts.com Autumn's Cuddly Friends kit is just too cute and I thought it would make an adorable birthday card for my Nieces little boy Aiden who will be 1 next week. I assembled the pieces together in Make the Cut and made a shadow, duplicated it and welded it together.

I should add, I cut everything on white paper except for the black and colored it with glimmer mist.