Cricut & Distress Markers

I like to color!  Sometimes, I like my Cricut to draw, especially on watercolor paper. Using my Gypsy to do this is preferred. I create a file on my gypsy--one mat for drawing and the other mat for cutting. A micro tip Sharpie is used in my Cricut when I watercolor as the ink needs to be permanent, so it won't bleed. Then I use the Cricut to cut out the outlined images. This, to me, looks a lot like a stamp-and-cut type of image. A waterbrush is used with my distress markers on a craft mat to color my images. The cartridge used for these images was Art Philosophy.

Mixed 4 Media Canvas Cards

With some of the scraps leftover from the Farm Day Mini I made last week, I put them to good use in the cards below.  The scraps were just too beautiful not to use! 

Digital Supplies:  Mixed 4 Mixed Media Canvas by Nancie Rowe Janitz available at jessicasprague.com. 

Hope you’re having a good week!

Amador County Farm Day

Recently I had the honor of chaperoning my daughter and her class at our county’s first Farm Day--what a treat!  Gwen was so taken with the chickens that we might just have to get a couple for our backyard next spring.  I think it will be a great learning experience for the kids and maybe we’ll get a few eggs a week out of it.  By the way, you DO NOT need a rooster if you just want eggs.  I’m sure if you think about it, you’ll understand why.  The reason I’m bringing this up is that initially, after explaining to more than a few people that I just wanted to have some backyard chickens for eggs, they kept explaining I needed a rooster.  Being the understanding person that I am, I just nodded my head and walked away.  Trust me, I don’t want to BREED the hens, I just want their EGGS.

That day, instead of lugging around my big DSLR, I decided to just use my iPhone to take pictures. I couldn’t help but take the pictures and combine them in an album for her as a keepsake of our day together.  The Spellbinder’s Snapshot set came in handy as well as Cricut’s new Mini Books cartridge.

Hopefully I will have the opportunity to go with my son, Raiden, next year.  Maybe after that trip, we’ll plant a vegetable garden, too—Lol!    

The tag above lists all the children that were in our group during the Farm Day tour at the Fairgrounds.

The children were given a swag bag at the event.  Gwen gave me permission to use the ruler she received in the bag as an embellishment in her album.  You’ll see the rest of it at the end.

The tag on the right side includes the folded itinerary for the day that we received at school before leaving on the trip.  Each activity was given a letter on the itinerary which explained the nature of the activity.  Most of the pictures I included in the book after this page will have a letter on the tab which refers back to this itinerary.   The picture below shows the itinerary unfolded.

The picture above shows the other side of the tag with attached itinerary.  Below, you will see how this side will unfold and show a map we used that day of the Fairgrounds to get to each activity.

In the above picture and in the picture below, you see that ruler again!

This entire album, almost every page (except for the manila tags) was constructed with chipboard.  By the time I was done assembling my pages, I noticed it was quite bulky.  With that said, I did have to remove some pages (not pictured above) from the album.  One of the things I had removed was a cardstock folder assembled using that new Cricut cartridge called Mini Books.  Our name tags from the day were going to be nestled in that pocket.  I just loved it but it had to go. In the future, I think most of my pages will be constructed with cardstock instead.  Also, the spine originally was closed---another cut from Cricut’s Mini Books cartridge, but it was just too bulky, so I had to cut it in half.   

All in all I am very proud of it, but most of all, so is Gwen.  It’s hers after all is said and done.  This did take quite a bit of time but we just had Fall Break and Gwen helped me in the planning of her album while we were off. 

Below will be a list of items and tools used to assemble the album.  If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at cammie1971@yahoo.com.  TFL!

Supplies

All patterned paper and some doodle elements by Nancie Rowe Janitz available at  jessicasprague.com items:

My Doodle Book

Mixed 4:  Mixed Media Canvas

Mixed 3: Backgrounds

Die Cutters, Tools, Inks, and Stamps

Cricut Mini Books and CTMH Art Philosophy Cartridges used with Cricut Expression 2 and Gypsy for album structure

Spellbinders Grand Calibur and following dies for frames, etc:  Snapshot, Nested Lacy Pennants, and Labels Two, Twenty, and Twenty-Five.

Jenni Bowlin For Fiskars Tab Punch and Butterfly Punch

WRMK Crop-a-dile 2 and large eyelets on binding of book and pages

I-Rock and crystals by Imaginisce

Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher

Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pens and Pads:  Black Soot, Vintage Photo, Mustard Seed, Wild Honey, China Blue, Faded Jeans, Barn Door

K&Company Smash Tape and Smash Clips

Stamps by Unity Stamp Company:  Summers Best by Simple Stories, Travel Notes, Slow & Steady, and 1/12 and 9/12 Kits of the Month