Simple Christmas Card

Christmas time is definitely upon us! The fire is going, the stockings are hung, and the tree has been trimmed! I have made/bought a lot of my gifts far, but I still have a few items on my list. One thing that is definitely consuming my time is making Christmas cards. I've made a few very detailed ones, but I also wanted to make something that I could mass produce fairly quickly to fill up the slots on my card list. I opted to put the Cricut away for these cards and just stick with my Cuttlebug (which was actually an early Christmas present for me from Daniel).

I used the basic stamp die and gift box stamp embossing folder that comes with the machine, as well as the Snowflakes embossing folder. I cranked out a bunch of the embossed stamps and embossed snowflakes on some Christmas-patterned paper I picked up from work. After adhering the paper to basic A2 cards, I stuck three present stamps on each card with some pop up dots. The result is not the most intricate card ever, but it takes very little time and still looks very festive.

Save the Date SVG

Today is a big day in wedding planning news: I mailed my Save the Date cards! Unbelievable! Of course I have a few extras for a scrapbook that I am already planning. I have a whole layout for the cards and envelopes in my head, so I decided that I needed a nice "Save the Date" title to put on the top.
It turned out pretty nice, I think... it might even work well if you are adventerous enough to make your own Save the Date cards.
Some of the lines are pretty delicate, so if you do cut this, be careful lifting it off of the mat.
Download Save the Date SVG

Octo Claus Card

Octo Claus is made with the SVG file I posted yesterday. I think he is a adorable!
The Santa hat I used came from My Cricut Scrapbooking.

The background is snowflake patterned vellum over a paper from the Old World stack by DCWV.

Octopus SVG

There are simply not enough octopus SVG files out there. I've been thinking of a cute Christmas card in my head- Octo Claus. My mom is a huge octopus fan, so I plan on making the card for her featuring this guy with some googly eyes and a Santa hat. It sounds crazy, I know.
You can download the strangely un-Christmas-like octopus here:
Octopus SVG

Cricut Demos @ Work

In an attempt to boost our sales at work, we've decided to do Cricut demos the next few weekends. Who gets to do these demos? You guessed it.... me! I've been playing round with some cartridges at home to try to think of easy and fun projects to show off that will stir up some interest in customers. I've decided to try to sell off some of our glass blocks as well, so I made some using the Cricut.

 

The Holiday Cheer SVG used on the smaller of the glass blocks is from SVG Cuts. Everything else is either from Stretch Your Imagination, Christmas Cheer, or Joys of the Season.

If I can sell at least a machine and a cartridge, or several glass blocks, I'll be happy!

Top 10 Reasons to Spay or Neuter Your Pet

Time to get on my soap box a little bit and share this information from the ASPCA:

Top 10 Reasons to Spay or Neuter Your Pet

1. Your female pet will live a longer, healthier life.
   Spaying helps prevent uterine infections and breast cancer, which is fatal in about 50 percent of dogs and 90 percent of cats. Spaying your pet before her first heat offers the best protection from these diseases.
   
   
2. Neutering provides major health benefits for your male.
   Besides preventing unwanted litters, neutering your male companion prevents testicular cancer, if done before six months of age.
   
   
3. Your spayed female won't go into heat.
   While cycles can vary, female felines usually go into heat four to five days every three weeks during breeding season. In an effort to advertise for mates, they'll yowl and urinate more frequently—sometimes all over the house!
   
   
4. Your male dog won't want to roam away from home.
   An intact male will do just about anything to find a mate! That includes digging his way under the fence and making like Houdini to escape from the house. And once he's free to roam, he risks injury in traffic and fights with other males.
   
   
5. Your neutered male will be much better behaved.
   Neutered cats and dogs focus their attention on their human families. On the other hand, unneutered dogs and cats may mark their territory by spraying strong-smelling urine all over the house. Many aggression problems can be avoided by early neutering.
   
   
6. Spaying or neutering will NOT make your pet fat.
   Don’t use that old excuse! Lack of exercise and overfeeding will cause your pet to pack on the extra pounds—not neutering. Your pet will remain fit and trim as long as you continue to provide exercise and monitor food intake.
   
   
7. It is highly cost-effective.
   The cost of your pet's spay/neuter surgery is a lot less than the cost of having and caring for a litter. It also beats the cost of treatment when your unneutered tom escapes and gets into fights with the neighborhood stray!
   
   
8. Spaying and neutering your pet is good for the community.
   Stray animals pose a real problem in many parts of the country. They can prey on wildlife, cause car accidents, damage the local fauna and frighten children. Spaying and neutering packs a powerful punch in reducing the number of animals on the streets.
   
   
9. Your pet doesn't need to have a litter for your children to learn about the miracle of birth.
   Letting your pet produce offspring you have no intention of keeping is not a good lesson for your children—especially when so many unwanted animals end up in shelters. There are tons of books and videos available to teach your children about birth in a more responsible way.
   
   
10. Spaying and neutering helps fight pet overpopulation.
    Every year, millions of cats and dogs of all ages and breeds are euthanized or suffer as strays. These high numbers are the result of unplanned litters that could have been prevented by spaying or neutering.

Source: http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/spayneuter/spay-neuter-top-ten.html

Wedding Planning News

As of this point in wedding planning land:

• The dress is ordered
• The venue is booked (Grant-Humphreys Mansion)
  
• The florist is booked (Plum Sage Flowers)
  
• The wedding party has been selected
• The Save the Dates are in production
• And we have a tasting scheduled with a caterer this weekend.

Only eight million other little things to go.... and eight months!

Christmas Crafts...the Beginning

I guess I started going on about Christmas a little too soon, because we have gotten over this whole fall thing and gone straight into winter. Here in Colorado we got a ton of snow dumped on us on Wednesday and Thursday. Some parts of Golden had two feet, and here in my parking lot there was at least a foot. School has been canceled the past few nights, so I've had some time to get my brand new apartment nice and messy with craft projects. I'm thinking Christmas presents already....
Amazingly, my work was not closed the past couple days. There are those few people who will drive straight into a winter wonderland to get some craft supplies. I picked up some supplies of my own to begin making those glass block lights I have seen all over. There are so many different possibilities! For my first attempt, I decoupaged some Christmas patterened tissue paper I had to the front and back of the block. This was super easy, since the pattern was already there, and super cheap, since I already have boxes of Christmas tissue paper laying around. (I have a problem with buying gift wrap paraphenelia.)
I have plenty of other ideas for the next few ones.... vellum cut with my Cricut in Christmas designs would be pretty, too. I've seen people make these for every season and they always look great. Here's my first attempt:

I got everything from my work, except the tissue paper. We sell the blocks that are pre-drilled, which makes adding the lights a breeze.

Glass Blocks

35 Count White Lights

Floral Ribbon

Snowflake SVG File

I know, I know, Halloween hasn't even passed yet, but I already have Christmas cards on my mind. If there's one thing I'm a sucker for, it's snowflakes, so I'm sure I'll be making several more of them between now and December. Here's the first of many, I'm sure.
Download Snowflake SVG here

Where the Wild Things Are!!!!!

I was lucky enough to go see Where the Wild Things Are on Friday night, and it was definitely worth the wait! While I agree with most critics that the movie is not necessarily for little kids, it makes adults feel like they are a kid again. It also makes you re-think how you treat your fellow adults, especially the ones that you love. I left with such a strong emotional connection to the movie that I knew it had done the book justice. Obviously a screenwriter is forced to embellish a children's book with only ten sentences, but they really went in the right direction.
The book has had a soft spot in my heart for years and years and years. I can't imagine being a kid and not reading it. Maybe that's why I find myself donating to classrooms who are interested in purchasing the book for their students. Here's a whole list of them that need help getting the book.

Of course, immediately after leaving the movie, I started thinking about making Wild Things cards. How cute would it be to send a birthday card that says, "Let the wild rumpus begin!" I went home and starting working on a SVG file. The tree was pretty time conusming. Hopefully this one gets a lot of use, I love it. You can download it here:
Wild Thing SVG File

Teapot SVG File

My love affair with teapots is never ending. I would have dozens of them if I didn't live in a tiny apartment. Maybe the closest thing to having dozens of teapots is making dozens of teapot note cards with this SVG file. Enjoy!

http://rapidshare.com/files/290488189/teapot.svg

Final projects

I have spent the past three days rendering images for my final project. This is a reception area I have been trying to perfect in Revit. I didn't put any trees outside of the window because this is of an existing building, and I am not sure what is on the outside.

I would love to get a job doing Revit, but there are none here in Denver! I guess I'll be hanging out at Hobby Lobby for a while still.

Things on My Plate: A List

Life is always busy, of course, but the next few months are basically a circus. Here's what we have going on:

• Setting the new Hobby Lobby that I will also be transferring to. This is a seven day a week, three week job, from seven in the morning until I leave for class at either five or seven in the evening. Which brings us to...
• Class four nights a week, three different classes. Currently I am finishing one massive project for my Interior Finishes class. This includes rendering a few images at 300 DPI. Like I have free time to do that.
• Planning the wedding!!!!! We only have nine months!!!!! All that is booked so far is the location and the florist. Every vendor wants me to call them instead of e-mail. Unless they want phone calls at ten in the evening, this is not looking so good.
• Moving! We start moving into our new, bigger apartment on the 23rd of this month. Apparently I own a lot of junk that now has to go in boxes. I am trying to give away as much of it as possible.
• Christmas! It is only two months away, roughly, and with this kind of schedule, shopping needs to start RIGHT NOW. 

The good news is, I am being forced to get better at multi-tasking.... ha, ha?

Ducky SVG File

I was forced to make my second SVG file today while searching for a ducky for a friend who just had her baby (Lyla!!).

Apparently duckies are hard to come by, so I made a simple sillouette myself. He worked just fine for a simple card:

You can download the ducky file here: http://rapidshare.com/files/288651054/ducky-sillouette.svg

Elephant SVG File

Hello all! This was my first attemp at making my own cuttable SVG file. I think he turned out pretty cute.

He is made of two layers - one for the outline, and one for the main body. Enjoy!

http://rapidshare.com/files/288382455/elephant.zip