Quick Tip Tuesday: Book and Keypad Cross-Reference

Hi Everyone.  Welccome to another Quick Tip Tuesday.

One thing I love about the newest Cricut cartridge booklets is that there is a small picture of the keypad on each page that shows which button to use for the image.
Even though the Gyspy and the new Expression 2 have each keypad built in, I find I still refer to my booklets
A LOT, especially for the images found on the feature keys. 
Once I decide on an image in the book, I want an easy way to locate that image on the keypad.  And for those of use happily using our senior citizen discounts, those images are often difficult to see on the virtual keypads on the G and E2.
I've read about several ways to cross-reference the books and keypads - here's how I do it:
There are 50 image buttons - 5 rows of 10 buttons.  So, I think of the ROWS as A, B, C, D, E
and the buttons as 1-10 in each row.

When I first get a new cartridge, I label each page in the book A1, A2, etc., B1, B2, etc. matching the keypad buttons to the pages.  For the shape, lite, and seasonal cartridges the buttons are in the order of the pages.

It just makes it so much easier when you've chosen an image in the middle of the book to know that, "oh, that image is D6" (because you've written that in your book) rather than looking at the small, sometimes obscure looking images on the keypad.

This method comes in especially handy with some of the font cartridges because the books are in ABC order, but the keypad is in standard keyboard order (QWERTY).  So, although the first image page in your book is an A, the button you need is CI.  It just makes finding the right buttons so much quicker when you're using your book. 

If you rely on your books like I do, I hope you'll find this system helpful.

Hugs and Happy Crafting,

Larelyn

Challenge Me Monday #62

Paper crafting can be a wonderful way of both preserving and celebrating memories and special times. This week's challenge is "Remember This" and we are challenging you to make something to remember a special person, time or anniversary.

#62 Remember This

Make something to remember a special person, time or anniversary.

~Design Team Inspiration~

Amber
~Guest Designer~
view Amber's FCCB spotlight page -HERE
Create A Critter, Doodlecharms, Locker Talk, Plantin Schoolbook cartridges

Barb
Cricut Decals cartridge
Dana
Lyrical Letters, Paper Lace cartridges
Helen

Elegant Edges cartridge

Jenae

Hello Kitty Font

Kate

George and Basic Shapes, Gypsy Wanderings, Hello Kitty Greetings New Arrival cartridges

Lisa C

Elegant Edges, Hello Kitty Font, Mother's Day Bouquet cartridges

Maquel

George and Basic Shapes, Nursery Rhymes cartridges

Rae

Elegant Edges, Imagine More cartridges
Tanya

Elegant Edges, Heritage, Storybook cartridges

~This Week's Sponsor~

Dragonflies & Daisies Paper Crafts
gift: Superman Cricut cartridge

A great offer for FCCB followers from Dragonflies & Dasies:

A 15% off total purchase (excluding Cricut, Cuttlebug and Slice products) by entering FCCB15 at checkout. View the store -HERE

Spotlight Sunday

Welcome to Spotlight Sunday!Today we have a “fantabulously” talented lady and tomorrow’s Challenge Me Monday Guest Designer! Let me introduce to you to Amber from My 3 E Scrapbooking:

You may recognize this project from Challenge Me Monday challenge #58 Flower shower.

Amber was our winner for the challenge.

Before we show you some of Amber’s other incredible creations we thought you would like to get to know her a little better. We asked her a few crafty questions.

1. When did you start scrapbooking/paper crafting? Why?

I've always loved crafting and I started scrapbooking when I was in high school. My scrapbook pages have evolved over the years. Paper crafting became my hobby of choice when my husband encouraged me to buy my first Cricut in 2008. I had become a SAHM after the birth of my 2nd daughter and he knew I needed something for "Me"! I am still amazed at all the projects that have come out of that machine since then!

2. What is your favorite type of project to make?

Scrapbooking is my favorite craft but I tend to make a lot more cards and 3D items!

3. What is your favorite product to use on your projects?

My Cricut is of course my #1 product! I tend to use a lot of Stampin' Up! cardstock. I have a huge inventory of it leftover from my days as a SU demo! I also love to add Hand Dyed Crinkle Ribbon and Bakers Twine from My Craft Spot to my projects!

4. What is your favorite Cricut cartridge?

This is the hardest question!!! My favorite cartridge changes daily! I think my favorite is Kate's ABCs today, but I do love Create A Critter, Simply Charmed and Country Life! I also really like to use the frames from Once Upon A Princess! How do I choose just one?

5. What do you do in your spare time, when you are not paper crafting?

SPARE TIME???? I'm not sure what that is. I find it hard to take the time to sleep, let alone have spare time! I have 3 girls (1, 3 and 5 years old) who keep me running and playing all day! Most mornings I assist or sub at their church preschool and now that the weather is getting nicer, we'll spend hours poolside! Over the summer we love to go camping and we spend a lot of time at the lakefront beach in our local State Park! I am also in charge of the U-6 AYSO program for our area so I manage/coach 6 teams of 4-6 year olds in the Spring and Fall. It is so much fun and I love to see their skills improve week to week! Occasionally, I meet up with some of my crafty friends to stamp or crop! In between all that, I somehow manage to cook, clean, and craft! I would love to say I read, but there are not enough hours in the day!

6. Any other info you would like us to know about you.

I started my blog in Jan as a way to share my love for the craft with as people as possible and I never dreamed I would meet so many wonderfully talented friends! I'm addicted to all the fun challenges out there and I truly appreciate all the time that goes into every aspect of them! I feel so fortunate to be able to work with my amazing Design Teams...Celebrate the Occasion, Birthday Sundaes, My Craft Spot and Thankful Thursday and hopefully I'll be invited to join some more in the future! I just love the excuse to turn my Cricut on and it makes it so much sweeter if I can inspire just one person to create! I am so excited to have the opportunity to Guest Design this week here at one of my favorite Challenge Blogs, Fantabulous Cricut! Thank you so much for having me!

Here are a few things that you will find on Amber’s blog:

Make sure you visit Amber’s blog to discover all the wonderful things she has to share with you.

Guest designers are chosen from our Winners and Top 5 picks. If you would like to be a guest designer all you have to do is play along in our Challenge Me Monday challenges! You never know when you could be asked.

We also use “Spotlight Sunday” to feature sponsors from time to time. If you are interested in being a Sponsor for Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog and being featured on “Spotlight Sunday,” please contact us via the Contact Me tab.

Now come back tomorrow to see what our Fantabulous Design Team along with Amber, guest designer has designed for you for Challenge Me Monday. I can tell you now, you will not be disappointed!

Happy Crafting!

Saundra

FCCB Spotlight Sunday Hostess

Scrappin Saturday

Hi everyone! It's Scrappin Saturday and Memorial week-end!
I want to share with you my most favorite place to get away and do some serious scrapbooking while being surrounded in luxury! It doesn't get much better than Whispering Winds, a scrapbook retreat! I mean you have got to check this place out...the rooms all have these adorable names and themes to them, claw foot bath tubs, home made bath salts, the scrapbook rooms are nice and roomy , I mean I could go on and on. Let me mention she also has around 40 Cricut cartridges there for you to use plus a Cricut so you don't have to pack up yours and lug it with you! She also hosts scrapbooking week-ends that are full of fun games, free classes and LOTS of eating and chatting with fellow scrappers! Bonnie is one of the sweetest, nicest people I'll ever know and I hope ya'll go check out her website and even better, go stay at Whispering Winds!

Bonnie created this adorable layout of her grand daughters in honor of our Blue Skies theme going on at our Challenge Me Monday.

My granddaughters were looking at the clouds one afternoon and I couldn’t help but remember when I was a little girl and did the very same thing. Here is the scrapbook page I put together for their mom.

Materials Used:

Paper Studio: Lined Flowers
White cardstock for clouds
Paper Studio: Pink coral textured cardstock
Graphically Speaking Cricut Cartridge
Jasmine Cricut Cartridge
Archival Brilliance Pearlescent Sky Blue ink pad
Stampin’ Up Cameo Coral ink pad

1. I developed the cloud photo in an 8 x 10 picture and the photo of my granddaughters in a 4 x 6, which I then cropped down to a 5” x 3 1/2” and mounted it on the pink coral cardstock.

2. I cut out around the flowers so that they could overlap my photos as shown in the picture.

3. The pretty hearts that I found on some random valentine paper matched perfectly, so I cut them out and attached with pop dots to add some interest and to tie in the pink.

4. Cut as many clouds out that you want on white cardstock, using the Graphically Speaking Cricut Cartridge, Mine were: two clouds at 3 1/2”, and three clouds at 2 1/4”. I then inked around 4 clouds with the Pearlescent Sky Blue and 1 cloud with the Cameo Coral ink pads. Attach randomly onto your cloud picture.

5. Do u see what I see? is cut out with the Jasmine Cartridge, 1 1/2” using the shadow feature, on the pink coral cardstock. Note: There are no holes on the “e” so you have to punch them yourself, which makes things a little more interesting. Attach this title, trying to curve it a little.

6. My journaling was added last. It was handwritten with a black #3 drawing pen and I kept it simple.

You have just completed a very simple scrapbook page. If you work in 2-page spreads, simply add a second page of “Lined Flowers” paper, add as many pictures as you can, mounting one or two in the pink coral cardstock, and add a few more hearts with pop dots to add dimension.

If you have little boys, find a cute border paper similar to this one, but with bugs on it, and you can achieve the same results.


I hope everyone has a wonderful Memorial Day week-end with their friends, family and loved ones!Sandee

Fantabulous Friday--Celebrate With a Flourish



Hi everyone! This really is a Fantabulous Friday :) With the holiday on Monday, it makes for a nice, long weekend!

Today I thought I would spotlight Celebrate with a Flourish Lite Cartridge. You can find this at Walmart stores. I LOVE this cartridge! It has so many holidays and everyday cuts on it. You can make it fancy with the swirls or not so fancy.

Now the Lite cartridges don't have extra features. This cartridge just has a layer button. But it still makes some beautiful cuts! Here are some projects I found in blog land:

Here's a wonderful Dad card from Tammy Skinner--I'm sure you all know her. She does the most fabulous projects! Make sure to check out her blog and see all the details she puts into her card. This should give you some ideas for Dad cards since we'll need them in a few short weeks!

Here is an example of using the cartridge without the flourish. I made this one a while ago from this cartridge.

And I also made this scrapbook page. I love the swirly parts to it! All the cuts came from this cartridge. The swirls are in the balloons on those cuts but I kept them solid. My favorite is that Swirly present!!

Now, if you've made something with this cartridge, I'd love to take a look! Please leave a link in the comments so I can come by and visit :) And don't forget that there is still time to join in Challenge Me Monday this week with Blue Skies. Just use the color blue and a cloud shape. There's even on with a sun on Celebrate with a Flourish.

Have a Fantabulous Weekend!!

Thursday Tutorials: Shape Cards on the Gypsy

Happy Thursday!

I hope you all are getting ready for the long weekend ahead. I know I am! I'm very excited to be going back home to see my family and spend some time with them, but I'm having the hardest time trying to figure out what crafting supplies I need to bring. No, I can't go four days without some! LOL Obviously, the Gypsy will be something I take with me and with that, I lead us into today's tutorial...

Once again, lucky girl that I am, this tutorial just happened to fall into my email inbox. :) Today we are learning how to make a shape card by using our Gypsy! I have been meaning to try this for quite some time now and I just didn't have the tips and tricks that are so helpful to make this an easy process. After watching this video, now I have what I need! I hope this helps you all out too. This awesome video comes to us from Creations with Christina. Be sure to check out her site for other fun projects and awesome tutorials. This is a very popular blog, but I know with as many blogs as we each subscribe to we can't catch everything out there so I decided to go ahead and post this with the hopes that this will be new to some of our followers. It was new to me and very helpful!

There ya have it! Isn't that the cutest shaped card you've ever seen? I just love it and it certainly makes me want to get the Freshly Picked cartridge. It's going on my wishlist.

Thank you all for joining us for another Fantabulous Thursday Tutorial and be sure to come back and visit us tomorrow for some more fun FCCB style. ;)

XO ~ Amy Jo



Wednesday Winners #60

All the entries for the "Try This Angle" challenge were amazing and very inspiring, if you missed the challenge entries please take a look -HERE.

~This Weeks Winner~

gift from -The Treasure Box Club
May Kit /Happy Camper

#38 Jessica -Cricut After Dark

Congratulations Jessica!!!

To claim your prize please contact Robin at...
fantabulous cricut @ yahoo .com (remove spaces)

You have two weeks to claim your prize.

Remember to grab your "FCCB Winner" blinky to display on your blog! You can find the blinky code in the right-hand sidebar.

~Design Team Top 5~

#10 Marcia -Marcia's Memories

#11 Sherrie -Sherrie Scraps with Passion

#16 Sonya -Sonya's Paper Trail

#30 Amy -Amy's Designs

#36 Cely -Hawaii Paper Party

Congratulations Ladies!!!

Remember to grab your "FCCB Top 5" blinky to display on your blog! You can find the blinky code on our right-hand sidebar.

Thank you to all those who participated in our challenge!

Come join us for this weeks "Blue Skys" challenge -HERE

Create a card or other item and include the color blue and at least one cloud on your project.

Quick Tip Tuesday: Using Extra Die Cuts

                     Good Morning and welcome to another Quick Tip Tuesday.

If you're like me, you have lots of extra Cricut cuts stored somewhere in your craft area.  Even though I don't use every cut I make (some are the wrong size, or practice cuts, or whatever), I hate to throw them away - ya never know when they'll come in handy.  One thing I've found is that extra cuts make terrific masks.  Just grab some repositionable double-sided tape, place the cuts on your paper, then use ink to dab, or an airbrush or mister to spray over them.

I used a make-up sponge to dab ink over the taped-down images.

                               

And, here's a card using the technique:

I like the way it makes an interesting background for this super-quick card.  I just used paper scraps, then ribbon and an embellishment from my stash.  So, come on, what can you create with your extra die cuts?
                                                    Hugs and Happy Crafting,
                                                                 Larelyn



Challenge Me Monday #61

It seems to have taken a bit longer to arrive for some of us, but it appears that spring has certainly sprung for us all now. This week's challenge is all about blue skies and we are challenging you to create a project containing the colour blue and at least one cloud.

#61 Blue Skies
Make a card or project using the colour blue and at least one cloud

~Design Team Inspiration~

Faith Abigail

~Guest Designer~
view Faith's FCCB spotlight page -HERE

Sugar and Spice, Serenade, Mickey and Friends, Paper Doll Dress Up, American Alphabet

Amy Jo

Imagine More, Country Carnival, Paper Pups

Barb

Just a Note, Once Upon a Princess

Evanna

Create a Critter

Jennie

Cherry Limeade, Simply Charmed, Everyday Paper Dolls

Larelyn

April Showers, Create a Critter, Florals Embellished

Lisa N.

Baby Steps, Create a Critter

Marlene

Create a Critter, Simply Charmed

Rae

Best Friends, Birthday Bash, Create a Critter

Sandee

Paisley, Stretch Your Imagination

Sarah

Create a Critter

Saundra

B is for Boy, Baby Steps

Tanya

Elegant Edges, April Showers, Pack Your Bags

~This Weeks Sponsor~
1 Year Subscription to...

Important Info - Please read:
When entering our challenges, please link directly to your project and not just to your blog as this makes it much easier for others to find your submission. After you publish your post, click view post. Copy the address of the specific post from the address bar and enter it in Inlinkz. You can also click on the title of your post to get the web address of the project you wish to submit.