Gingerbread House - Card or Gift Card Holder - .gypsy or .cut files available - George Cartridge Used

Hello.  Hope everyone in the US had a great Thanksgiving.  We did.  We had 28-30 people to our house to eat on Thanksgiving.  That means I spent all the earlier part of the week cleaning my house!  LOL  Then about half of them were back on Friday for leftovers!!  So - I just finally got around to posting this today!

Here is the "GingerBread" House Card that I made last week.  I found it while perusing an old copy of  a PaperCrafts magazine. It was in the November, 2007 edition on page 45 entitled, "So Good You Could Eat It" and was designed by Valerie Pingree.  When I saw it I thought - "hmm . . . . that is cute and would be very easy to do in Design Studio and/or the Gypsy."  I designed my original file on my Gypsy with the George cartridge.  I used the Gypsy so I could "group" and easily resize if needed.  I used the George cartridge for two reasons.  First, like BugBytes - I think my Gypsy Wanderings shapes are wonky for some reason - at least they look that way on my screeen!!  Then, I wanted to be able to share this file with people who didn't have the Gypsy but did have Design Studio so I went with George.  If you don't have George, you can use the template option on the Gypsy to recreate the file using another cartridge with basic shapes you do have. DS doesn't have the "template" option but you can still recreate it in DS with another cartridge simply by using another "page" and the preview mode to allow you to do the same thing like the template mode on the Gypsy. You can also leave me a comment if you need help recreating this file with another cartridge on either the Gypsy or DS and can't do it yourself and I will be happy to try and help you.

Both files, the .gypsy and the .cut, have 2 pages.  The first page is the house card base.  Cut it out in any brown or tan cardstock that you want.  You will want it to be fairly heavy cardstock.  Once cut, fold the left and right "flaps" in to overlap the card base.The 2nd page is the "snow scallop" for the bottom of the card and then the 2 roof scallops.  Note that the circles are welded together but the rectangles are not welded to the circles.  This is correct as you simply want the rectangle to cut the circles so that they are "flat" on that side for placement on the roof line or the base of the card.  The first scallop is only 4 circles - this is for the "snow" on the base of the card.  Once you have it - cut it in half to put half on the bottom of one "flap" of the card and the other half on the other flap of the card so that you can still open the card. The other two longer "scallops" are for the roof "shingles".  They overlap on the peak of the rooftop.  I used stickles for the red "dots" on the roof line.  You could also add small circle cuts to each circle (without welding) and they would cut the "dots" out.  You cold then add paper to the back to get a different color "dot".

The file doesn't include any other "decorations".  The candy "circles" in the middle of my roof is cut from paper I had and then stickled.  I also stickled the snow and roof shingles.  I used my crop-a-dile to add two eyelets on the "flaps" to run the ribbon through.  The ribbon is some I had in my stash.  Create and decorate as you would any Gingerbread house - the limits are your imagination.

To simply use this as a card, write your greeting inside. You could add a small piece of colored cardstock inside to write on if you wanted a little more color inside.  If you want to use it as a "gift card" holder, you can either simply add a little repostitionable glue to the back of your gift card and place it inside on the card base or cut some "slits" for the corners of the gift card to slide into.  I think I am going to use it for my niece who is moving to NC to her first real job and apt. just before Christmas.  As always, I love to read comments and see what people do with my files.  I'm happy to answer any questions as well.  Hope everyone has a Joyous Holiday Season!

You can download the .cut file using George for Design Studio or you can download the .gypsy file using George on the Gypsy.

DazyCutr's Corner - Pagoda Cart Taking Flight

This card was created using my new cartridge Pagoda and my Gypsy.

I chose this stork because I liked the layer cut that went with it.

In the end I wasn't able to use the layer. I used the "slant" feature on Gypsy for the bird and could not get the layer to fit.

Let me tell you what I did.
I used a rectangle from George and using width and length I made it 6 x 9. that's my card base. I selected the stork and and sized it at 3 1/2", flipped it, moved it to the right edge of my card, slanted it and then welded.......it all worked !!!!!
I copied and pasted the bird to another spot on the mat so I could cut another layer, the black bird.

Melanie guided me through this, she's so good with Gypsy and DS.

The tree I cut @ 3" just using Cricut. Kangi cut @ 2".

On the inside I will put....May your dreams take flight.

I think it would make a good graduation card.

Thanks for looking

Sweet Treats Cricut Cartridge - Couple of Sample Cuts

Hello.  I got several of the new cartridges in the past week or so.  One of those I picked up was the "Sweet Treats" cartridge from our local Michaels.  I was excited about this cart because I like to make bags, boxes, containers.  I tried a couple of them.  I cut out 2 "cupcake holders" and 1 "Party Favor Boxes".  I cut 2 of the cupcake holders trying  to figure out the sizing for a cupcake.  You would "think" that they would give the basic sizes to cut to get the correct size for something like this!!!

My biggest issue with this cart is what I feel like was deceptiveness on PC's part with this cartridge. At first glance you would think you had 50 cupcake holders.  However, in fact, there is only 1 "cupcake holder" and 49 more IDENTICAL cuts.  There is NOTHING DIFFERENT on any of those cuts.   The shift function gives you "emblishments" to add to the cupcake holders that make them "different". Then there are a large number of identical cuts on the Party Favor Boxes.  There are 3 of 1 and 5 of another that are identical on the word cuts.  They are actually the same boxes but just 2 different sizes, 3 one size and 5 of  another. Then there are 10 identical cuts for the "candle" party favor boxes.  So you don't have 50 different "Party Favor Boxes" you get far fewer. Again, the shfit feature for each gives you "emblishments" that make them different.  However, I don't need 10 or 50 of the same cut for that.  Just give me one cut and then the different embelishments.

At first glance, I thought hey, these look identical - then I thought no they wouldn't do that.  So, before I accused them I decided to make sure that I was correct and I cut them all out to verify they were in fact identical as I suspected.  Sad to say, I was right.  :(  Then there are a number of "not available" spaces (23 or more based on my account!!!)  Plus, this I didn't verify, but I believe that some of the cards and the tags may be the same as well.  Again, just with a different emblishment with the shift feature.   :(  So when you start adding it up, there are probably well over 100 that are blank or identical.  Compared to the newly released Old West and Pagoda that has no identical cuts or N/A's on them so they have a full 700 images!  Sorry PC but I don't see that as acceptable.  If you can't do a fully loaded cart with different images, then make it a soulutions cart!

With that said, here are the 3 items that I made with the Sweet Treats cartridge.  The first 2 are the cupcake holders.  The first one the purple one with the crown I loaded the mat with a 12x12 piece of paper and told it to "fit to size"  (at the moment, Sweet Treats and Paisley are not avialable on the Gypsy or DS software - maybe tommorrow or soon!).  With fit to size, it said it was cutting at 11".  When the cut is completed and the holder is folded up and glued together, you get a completed holder that is fairly large.  It gives you a 4"x4" square bottom and its width is 4" wide at the bottom, 4 1/2" wide at the top.  It's height is 3 1/2".  To get the "crowns" you use the shift function.  It cuts out 2 side panels leaving 2 sides undecorated.  You can do all 4 sides by cutting it again. I think this size is probably even still too big for a jumbo cupcake.  However, it would make a nice size box for other treats.

The second cuupcake holder I "guestimated" the size to cut based on my results from the first one.  I cut it at 7".  This gives you a 2 1/2" x 2 1/2" square bottom. It is 2 1/2" wide at the base and 3" wide at the top.  It is 2 1/4" in height.  I used the shift function to cut the scalloped border.  This cuts 4, one for each side.  This is probably the right size to hold a regular size cupcake or muffin.

Finally, I tried one of the Party Favor Boxes.  I cut the number 6 ice cream cone.  Again, since for some unexplainable reason, PC does NOT provide sizing guidelines, I had to "guesstimate" or try a "fit to page" and just see what he end result was.  I put in the 12"x12" paper and told it to "fit to page".  It then cut this Party Favor Box at 5 3/4".  As a result, it only uses 1/2 the page of paper but it takes the full 12" width to cut it out.  If you could use DS or the Gypsy.  You could manipulate this a little to get more height if you wanted.  The "favor" part of the box ends up being approx. 3 x 2 3/4" in width and a little less then 2 1/2" in height.  Not a huge box by any means!  You then need to cut the layers of the ice cream out.  Since you will need "2" of them, you will need to "flip" some of them for one side.  Not a problem if you use plain one color paper, but an issue if you use a print (as I did for the strawberry ice cream).  If you do that you will need to "flip" the ones for that side.  I found it easier to mark mine as I cut L for left and R for right.  I then embossed with the Cuttlebug "swirl folder" so I had to make sure I was embossing the "correct" sides as well!! They also have added the "holes" for adding a handle.  I don't know that I would have added a handle, but without it being loaded on DS, I couldn't do a hide/contour feature on it to prevent those holes from cutting, and the Gypsy doesn't have that feature so I wouldn't have been able to do it on there at all.

End result, I like a lot of the things on this cartridge. However, I do feel that PC "short changed" us by giving so many identical cuts!  I would not pay full price for this less then complete cartridge!!  Glad I got mine on a sales price match!!  Please let me know if you have any questions or want to see a particular item cut out from this cartridge. There is of course no .cut or .gypsy files for this since the are direct cuts from the cartridge and they are not yet avilable on on the DS or Gypsy cartridge listings for use.  Have a great day!

Gas Pump Money or Gift Card Holder for 16th Birthday

Here is the money or gift card holder I made for my Nephew's 16th Birthday a couple of weeks ago.  Since he was turning 16 and getting his license soon and they prefer money at this age as a gift anyway, I decided to make a money holder around the "driving" theme.  I used the gas pump from the Cars cartridge.  I created this on my Gypsy now that they have finally fixed the welding a flipped image issue!  Thanks for that PC!  I was also able to use the grouping feature with it to resize it to make it smaller.  Once I had it made and cut the first one out, I decided it needed to be a little smaller in size, with being able to group it all as one object on the Gypsy it was a snap to make smaller! Thans for that too PC.  However, you still can't group in DS.  Please PC, can you give us the grouping feature in DS tooooooooo. We have been asking for that since it was first released.  I don't see why that is difficult to do, especially since it is now on the Gypsy!!!!

To create this money holder, I used the Disney Cars cartridge for the gas pump, created a 2nd one and flipped it and welded them together on one side.  I then created the pocket on the bottom by adding a square from another cartridge (I probably used George) and welding it to the bottom of the right side of the money holder, created rectangles and welded them on the sides of the square to fold in and adhere pocket with when folded up.  I cut the base money holder out of a cream color cardstock.  Then I cut one of the pump in a silver cardstock and applied it to the front of the money holder.  I then cut off the front pump handle so that there was only the one on the back of the card. I used markers to color the pump handle.  After I had already adhered the front silver pump, I thought, dang, I should have embossed Happy Birthday on the front of it first.  So, I cut a small square to fit, embossed the happy birthday with a sizzix embossing folder and adhered it to the bottom front.  I then sanded it and inked it. Please leave me a comment if you have any further questions about how I did this or what either a .gypsy or .cut file of this project.  I have not yet saved it to my computer so I don't yet have it available to share.  I will probably only do that if someone asks for it. It should be fairly easy to recreate on your own however.

Volleyball Gift Card Holder

Here is a volleyball gift card holder I created a month or so ago. I used the Sports Mania cartridge (and maybe George for the square for the pocket). I used the volleyball shadow to create the front at I  and back black base and welded them together in DS.  I then added a "pocket" to the back base to hold the gift card.  This is done by welding a square to the bottom of the back circle base and then rectangles to the left and right of the square to fold in and glue to the base to form the pocket. The font volleyball shape was then cut out in white and added to the front.  I created this to give to my DD's Volleyball Coach for her end of the season gift from the team.  It could also be used to give a gift to your favorite volleyball player!

It could easily be adapted to be a basketball, baseball, tennis ball, etc.  Any "round" ball sport.   Just simply cut the front to be the ball shape that you need. I don't recall what cartridge the "Thanks" word came from off the top of my head!  You could also use congrats, You Did It, Way to Go, etc.  LOL




If you are interested in the .cut file for this leave me a comment and I will try to get it posted in the next couple of days.  It would be fairly easy to recreate without a file from me but I'll be happy to share if anyone wants my file, just let me know.  My comments are setup to be done anonymously so leaving a comment shouldn't be a problem!  I haven't had time to work on cleaning up the file and making it ready to post and its on a different computer which is why I'm not posting it right now!  LOL  Plus, this way I see who really wants the file! LOL

DazyCutr's Corner - Cards made with MS Punches

Welcome to DazyCutr's Corner! Rheba a.k.a. DazyCutr on the Cricut MB is going to share my blog. She will post her beautiful card creations here as often as she wants. I'll encourage her to post other things too!! Here is her first sharing with us. They are cards made with MS Punches. She learned this technique from Becca at AmazingGrace. You can find Becca's website here http://www.amazingpapergrace.com/. Becca refers to these as "circle frames". This first card was created using a MS around the page punch, fall leaves. To create this frame I cut a circle 3 3/4", and using Becca's directions I marked the back of the card stock in 1/8th sections. I used the corner punch from the set and went around the circle. I really like the look of this.

The cornucopia is cut from Speaking of Fall @ 1 3/4". The pumpkins, apple and cherry are part of the cut. I added glaze to them

"Give Thanks" is cut from Don Juan @ 1/2".

I used the border and corner punch for the background paper.

This is a real fun technique with endless possibilities. I have created a few more.

This second card was made using the MS cupcake punch. I had to make the circle a little bigger for this one, 4" The cupcakes around the circle are punched out and what you are seeing is the background paper through the cupcake cut out. In the center is the actual punch. I added a little glaze to them and doodled the edges.

The scalloped circle is from Mini Monos.

Happy Birthday is a stamp.

Here are some additional cards made with this technique. One has deer and one has snowmen. The "winter" is from Stretch Your Imagination, "Season's Greetinngs is from Don Juan. The tree is a cricut cut but can't recall which cartridge! Anyone care to guess?!! The snowman head and hat are from Speaking of Winter.

These last two pictures are not very clear, but you can click on all of the pictures for a larger image.

Transfering my DS .cut files to .gypsy files

I hope to start transferring my DS .cut files to .gypsy files soon.  If there is anyone out there who would like one of these files converted sooner then later, leave me a comment here and I would be happy to do that as time permits.  Some of my files have multiple pages in DS and will need some work to recreate them with multiple pages for the Gypsy since multiple pages do not transfer that way but get transferred all on one page!  I really have to go back and see what files I do have and where to start!  Thanks for stopping in!

Hello Again!

Just wanted to say hello. I knew it had been a while since I had added anything to my Blog, but I hadn't realized that it had been more then a month.  I'm sorry if you are a "follower" who has been looking for new projects.  I haven't had a lot to share lately and didn't seem like anybody was missing me any way!  LOL

My last post said that my cervical vertabrae issues had reared their ugly head again.  I was having lots of pain issues at that time, they have abated some what.  Surgery is probably coming BUT I hope later then sooner.  We are doing the wait and see for now.  Right now I am doing okay with it all.

Anyway, in addition to that, I then went out of town to Disney World with my Family for a mini Fall Break  (getting used to not being able to ride the roller coasters and other rides anymore!) :(, then we returned to host an exchange student from El Salvador for 10 days including over Halloween.  We are now getting ready for DD to cheer for her MS Baseketball teams and to play on a competitive traveling Volleyball team while DS is playing league Basketball and getting ready for MS baseball team tryouts next week.  DS left today for a school trip to Barrier Island, SC for the week.  So, as you can see I haven't had much time to create.

I did get the Gypsy as noted in my last post.  I was somewhat disappointed in it and its lack of some of its basic features initially.  However, I was willing to have faith in PC to fix the problems.  The biggest problems that I saw was the flipping/welding issue and the inability to swap files between DS and the Gypsy.  Even with those major concerns, I did decide to keep it and uploaded ALL of my carts to it.  However, after my initial playing with it, I hadn't done a lot with it because of the issues it had and little time on my part. However, last week PC finally released a new update to the DS software and the Gypsy Synch software that seems to have fixed the major concerns/problems.  That has made me happy and I have done some new projects with the Gypsy.  I will post them later this week along with some other projects I had done previously but hadn't gotten posted.  I would suggest that if you have the Gypsy that you get the most recent updates - they will make things run much more smoothly.

Finally - DazyCutr (Rheba) from the Cricut MB may share my blog to post some of her beautiful card creations.  I have mentioned it to her before, I'm hoping we can start to do that soon.  If you haven't seen her work on the MB before, you are in for a treat.  If you are familiar with Rheba's work, you know how wonderful her creations are.

If anyone's out there reading this - thanks for checking in and I hope to have more projects to share with you soon.  If you have any ideas/suggestions that you would like to see or have created leave me a comment and I'll see what I can do!