Mrs. Geek

Episode 25: Magical Story Hour | Capturing Magic

via capturingmagic.me

I had such a blast recording this episode of Capturing Magic. Have a listen.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Just some quick ramblings this morning. Yesterday I spent the day at the Scrapbook Expo. I took a class on the Latest & Greatest from CHA and got some very cool things in the class materials. I also purchased the newest boy lines from My Minds Eye & Echo Park. I'm looking forward to more scrapping of Baby Geek's cuteness with these supplies! There weren't any must haves at the show, although it is always a great place to get adhesive refills.

The one thing that stood out for me was a store with tons of Disneyland page kits. They were incredible!It got me to thinking that I need to play some more with my Sure Cuts A Lot software and some coloring pages I have from on-line and as well as a coloring book I got in Disneyland a few years back. I'm now in search of a more recent coloring book from the revamped California Adventure.The images from the coloring pages make great templates for cutting files.

I'll be sure to post any new creations.

Jumping Back on the Project Life Bandwagon

I attempted Project life in 2011. I used the basic kit from Becky Higgins and didn't really do any outside embellishing. I kept it rather simple and it worked out pretty well as a place to keep track of the weekly pix of Baby Geek. I did a fairly good job of "keeping up" I'd say I did about 80-85% complete. Not bad.

Last year I was so impressed with the examples I saw from the likes of Elise Blaha, Nichol Magourick, Amy Tangerine, Ali Edwards and Cathy Zielske that I've decided to give it a go again. I've been stalking the Becky Higgins site in anticipation of the Seafoam kit being available for sale. In the mean time I've been browsing Etsy, Pinterest and all other creative places on-line in search of great project life printables, and boy have I found some wonders!

There are tons of great options out there, and so far I've used FREEBIES! There are a few paid kits I have my eye on, and I'm still planning on buying a Seafoam kit to sprinkle through out because there are going to be many times when I won't have, time, energy and or creative mojo to whip up an awesome layout!

One thing that I've done differently right from the start is to look at the week as an overview not 7 individual days. That was one of the things that I'd get hung up on the last time and end up "staging" a photo to fill in the missing spot.

Another great resource was this tutorial on how to create multi-photo collages that I can print at home or at Costco. This technique lets me print 2 3x4 images on a 4x6 or have more fun with Instagram, or other square images, by printing 1 4x4 and 2 2x2's. The one problem I've run into is if there are any borders on the images when I print them at home or upload them to Costco the borders get cropped oddly. If anyone has a fix for that I'd be glad to hear it.

So far these are the items I've used in my project life album:

Live Free Love Free Project Life Printables	Facebook Journaling Cards	Project Life Layout D
Small Variety Pack	Project Life Layout A Pages	Amy Tangerine Album

InLinkz.com

When a geek paper crafts

In a previous life I was a computer teacher at an elementary school. I've always been a gadget girl and I love to be crafty. I've never jumped fully into digital scrapping, I'm more of a hybrid girl -- using the digital tools to enhance my scrapbooking, photoshop brushes and masks, to add some pizzaz to pictures -- that sort of thing.

The one area where I've really unleashed the power of my digital, gadget geekery is my Cricut machine. Shortly after getting my Baby Bug I heard about Sure Cuts A Lot. I downloaded the trial and I was hooked! The ability to cut any font installed on my computer as well as SVG files made me giddy. I discovered all sorts of nifty places on the web to get files, for a small fee or even free! Some of my favorite hang outs are

• SVGcuts.com
• KerriBradford.com
• LetteringDelights.com

Thanks to some great tutorials on YouTube I've learned how to really customize my own designs and work with files from others.

For instance I watched this video to learn how to create a layered SVG file from a PNG file. IT has been a real life saver as I start on the invites and decorations for my son's birthday party. We are having a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse theme and I wanted to have the clubhouse on the front. So I was able to find a file from this Etsy seller and then convert the image. She also created a file of Toodles for me as well.

My most recent creation was after watching this tutorial on the Lettering Delights blog showing how to create Belle from their Happily Ever After set. The video shows how to use Make the Cut, but I also watched this video to see how to do the same thing with Sure Cuts A Lot. It took a bit of trial and error but I got it! I'm pretty happy with how she turned out.

This type of thing makes me happy. The computer teacher in me loves when you can solve a problem using your network of online resources!

I don't really have a need for a Belle piecing right now, so I thought I'd give her away to a reader. Post a comment and I'll choose a random winner on Sunday afternoon.

 

I approve all comments before they post so don't fear if yours doesn't turn up right away! :-)

Another re-design

This was my first major attempt at designing a paper piecing with SCAL. In the past I've taught a few variations of this design as a mini book at a local scrapbooking store. This was before I had my Cricut and SCAL so I used CM cutting templates, punches and QuicKutz dies to create the pieces and then showed the students how to put it all together. I printed out clear Avery labels with the letters so they could have the correct font. Most often the studnets would ask me to hand write "The Happiest Place on Earth" and "Est. 1955 because they liked my handwriting.

Once I had SCAL I sat down and designed the piece using the basic shapes and a few fonts. Now I have some Cri-Kit pens and used them so I no longer need to hand write "The Happiest Place on Earth" and Est. 1955. I've also merged the font with the boxes to utilize the negative space and not have to worry about small pieces getting lost.

Finally to add some dimension I used foam squares to raise the letters off the sign. I'm really happy with how it looks and am seriously considering adding it to my Etsy store.

On my scrap table

This past weekend I had lots of fun with my Cricut and SCAL! I created 3 paper piecings.

Two were reworkings of my own designs and one was using an adorable set from Lettering Delights.

First up is the re-work of my Retro Disney World sign. The first version had a much bigger base and the letters were lost and looked to be floating in air. I'm much happier with this design. I think it really makes the design much tighter and gives a better sense of dimension. Oh who am I kidding with this fancy talk.... it just looks better!

And the winners are...

Congrats to Cindy, you have the 4 Parks page topper coming your way and Taylor the Vintage Signage is all yours! Thanks all who stopped by my litte blog. I'm thinking about listing these page toppers on my Etsy store, any thoughts?

 

A big user error for this post. I thought I published this last evening, it helps if I have the status set to publish now instead of draft. My apologies.

Give-a-way!

Since I've gotten such positive feedback for the Disney World paper pieces I've decided to have a little give-a-way. I haven't been to DisneyWorld yet (hint, hint Dr. Geek) so I thought I should share the page titles with those that could use them. To enter leave a comment letting me know which title you want, Vintage Signage or Four Parks. I'll draw the winners Sunday afternoon.

Vintage Signage

Four Parks

Good Luck!

oh and yes you may enter twice if you want a chance at both titles

Creative afternoon

As I was researching logos to create a Retro Disneyworld paperpiecing I came across this image and remembered I had a font that had the same icons. Ah ha! Another idea was born. I got my geeky crafter hat on and started playing with fonts today. One of the main things I realized right from the start....

THERE ARE A TON OF TINY PIECES IN THIS LOGO!!!!!

I knew I did not want to be cutting and gluing minuscule pieces of paper, because they always tear, or get lost or don't cut completely. I made as much use of the negative space as I could. I did have to cut out a few tiny pieces in the blue and red but that was a small price to pay for peace while crafting. I also had to save four tiny pieces of white on the Epcot logo but I used the larger piece as a "gluing mask" and that was pretty easy to glue down.  Overall I'm pretty happy with the results. What do you think?

 

Colorful layout

Ever since our return from Disneyland in January the idea for this layout has been forming in my brain. I used this sketch from Sketchsupport.com. I love thier sketches, awesome ideas, and examples AND detailed instructions including cutting sizes and placement. Love that!

Dr. Geek returned from a trip to home depot one day with a stack of paint chips from the Disney paint line. I have him well trained! I used one of those as an embellishment and used the title I cut from Sure Cuts A Lot and sprayed with Glimmer Mist.

I love how it all came together!