Words On Walls

Hi All,
I have been decorating for Halloween all week.  I started on Saturday and now that it is Thursday the primping has begun. Tonight I just wanted a little something above the picture by the front door and now that we all know I am totally in LOVE with the BOO on the cricut Happy Haunting cart, I just could not resist making a BOO for the wall. I know ... I know its a bit redundant using the same graphic here, there and everywhere .... but com'on that BOO! is so pretty.  I just can't get enough of it.  I think provocraft did a great job with this cart and I need to mention that the bats are from the Oct 31 cart.  I have been having a blast with both.  Thanks to you all for letting me share my love for Halloween.  I have 1 more goodie I hope to finish this weekend and post.  And then I have to settle in to making my favors.Wishing all of you a crafty Halloween and thanks for stopping by.
Lysa

Does Paper Last????

Look at this people ... this is my proof that paper can last. A goblin just like this was sitting at each place setting at my daughters 1st birthday party.  Yes ... that event was celebrated in 1988!  I have three of these paper twist goblins that remained with me after the party.  He is made from paper capers paper twist.  The bow tie was made from black pipe cleaner stems and the eyes were cut from scrap fabric that I had kicking around at the time.  So maybe these simple paper decorations are not the most artistic and even though they look weathered and worn, as they get unpacked each year they remind Paul and myself of happy times.  To be honest the more worn they look, the more ghostly they appear.  Thanks for visiting and hope you all are getting your crafty Halloween mojo going!
Lysa

Halloween Is In The House!

HALLOWEEN ... yes it is my favorite holiday.  Every year I sadly pack up all the summer things.  The dishes, the seashells, all the patriotic treasures. I say good bye to the swimming pool and all the bathing suits get put away.  And then down from the attic comes Halloween.  In all is orange glory. This year I was thinking as I unwrapped all my Halloween decorations which Halloween icon do I like best.  Was it the goblins, the witches, the black cats, or the pumpkins?  I just could not decide which it was that made me love Halloween so much.  Than I started to look around at things I had made over the years, and believe me there is a lot.  From wood shapes to paper and everything in between. You know all of us crafters are like that.  We toggle from craft to craft showing off any skill we learned along the way.  While I was standing in the center of the living room my eyes fell on this ribbon witch that I had made sometime back in 2000 or maybe 2001.  I just love her!  She is made from a bow. Yes a bow.  and two of the bow loops make her arms!  The rest of the bow is glued to a foam cone and a purchased doll head is glued to the top.  I made her broom from a twig from the yard and sisal fibers that were cut from a pre-made broom.  She has my favorite spiders in her hair and on her broom.  A pumpkin and goblin bell hang from her ribbon belt.  And can you see the goblin confetti hanging in her hair.  I smile when I see her.  I hope you all like her as much as I do. Thanks for stopping by and letting me share her with you.  Have a great night.
Lysa

Still Love'n The I

People, you should see my house, my laundry and oh my, the kitchen.  I am obsessed with the Imagine.  I have been running home from work each day to play with it.  I am laughing to myself that it is the last week of September and I still have the whole house decorated in summer mode.  I usually have Halloween going up by now.  At least Paul got the boxes down from the attic so maybe I can get summer packed away and all the fall and Halloween stuff put up this week end.  I think that just may be wishful thinking on my part as I cannot tear myself away from the Imagine.  I am glad I bought it.  I can play around with the carts until the updates arrive.  I will not focus on what it can't do. I will figure a way to use what it can do.  Here is a little word book I made using my grand daughters name. I used the country carnival cartridge. I can't wait to fill it with some pictures and a bit of writing.  I didn't change a thing.  It is all their (Provo's) clip art and I think it is really cute.  I so love the font and I am pretty sure I will use this cartridge a lot.  I hope you like it too.  Have a great night and thanks for visiting.
Lysa

A Halloween Tag

WOW .... I really am having a blast with the Imagine.  I am in love with this oh so swirly BOO from the Happy Haunting cartridge. I just could not resist using it again.  This tag will look great attached to a candy box or just sitting on my mantel next to my jack-o-lantern.  So sorry the picture does not show the dimension. The goblin, the BOO, the pumpkin and bat are all popped up but you cant see it. I really love how it came out.  Hope you like it too!  Thanks for visiting.
Lysa

And Here It Is ....

So there it is.  The first card I made using the Imagine.  I did like using it.  It did go quickly. But I really only used it to print the dotted orange square and the word Boo.  The current work around for that (until the gypsy update) was provided by Scrappyjess from the cricut message board (Here's a shout out to Thank Jessie) Here is her link: http://scrappyjess.blogspot.com I also cut the Gobblin and Bat from Happy Hauntings. OK so the fact is that I did not need the Imagine for any of it.  I had everything I needed right here in the Craftspace already.  I have loads of digi papers happily living inside of Huey and I certainly could have cut the Gobblin and Bat with my Expression. So than why did I need to purchase the Imagine?  Well the fact is I am hoping Provocraft comes through with some great updates.  I have always liked their products.  I love a lot of what they produce.  I am mostly a favor and tag maker and I have used my cricuts for many things along the way.  I Know ... I know the nay sayers think because they don't have an open source attitude we should not use their products.  People seem to think they are limited products that then limit their (the crafters) creativity.  I really don't think that.  If you buy a rubber stamp you get that 1 stamp in 1 size.  Your options are based on how you use that 1 stamp.  See that little bat up there.  Well I can make many changes to him. Fact is I can make him as you see him at 1 inch, cut from paper to hang out on a card or 12 inches cut from vinyl so that he can hang out on the back door at Halloween.  So that being said I will fully admit I knew going in that the Imagine would not be the end all, be all for my crafting needs.  I saw this as an opportunity to grow along with a currently new released printer/plotter combo unit.  Really people if I had $30,000.00 I just would have gotten a Roland.  But this is where we are at this point in time and ya know my Expression is in pretty bad shape.  Keep in mind, I am the nut who tried to cut a record album with it. My "E" will still be my main box cutter along with my KnK (cause nothing beats that studio software, really I mean NOTHING)  I am glad I got my Imagine (soon to have a name of it's own), I totally enjoyed the release hoopla and I can't wait to see how this product grows.

The Imagine is in the craft space

Well... There it is.  What can it do? What can't it do?  Am I glad that I bought it?
First and foremost I just got it about 18 hours ago.  I'll say right from the start it sure is pretty.  Just the kind of machine I have a tendency to fall for. People... it has a plug and one thing for sure if I can plug into an outlet I'm half way to heaven.  I was on board with this new cricut from the start.  Yup, from the first rumor that magically appeared along with a patten application right through the HSN release.  Following the Facebook and blogging updates and even the JustinTV interviews with the engineering dudes.  I knew going in this was going to be a machine that was being released without being it full glorious self.  Meaning I knew that I would be waiting for updates and "possible" software packages to be released. The fact is I knew going in that it would not be able to do what I wanted (needed) it to do.  So of course I bought it.  I plan on naming it some cute cleaver name as soon as I can think of one. Here are a few first thoughts I have about the imagine:
It was easy to use right out of the box.
The new mat adhesive is horrible (I did all the quick fix it tips like the warm water and the scrapper rub but it won't be long before I hit it up with some zig glue)
You can't easily tape down odd types of media as if you cover the black registration lines it won't read the mat.
It did a great job printing on and cutting fabric! (Cool)
I will need to buy a gypsy so that I can use it to make the kind of things I make.
Provo will really needs to introduce a software package for this or it won't hold a crafters interest for a long period of time as crafters need more than prefab-ed images.  They already have that on their regular computers. (com'on Provo we want to use our own art!!)
I won't be happy till I can import some form of graphic files like a jpeg or png file.  I have great digi files and papers of my own that I want to use.
The screen was bigger than I thought.  I can see it!
Love the RGB ability. That is something I will use.
Enough said for now.  You may have noticed that I did not post a picture of something that I made. Know why.  Well that would be because I haven't made a completed project yet.  But I have been printing and cutting stuff out for hours.  Hope to make something soon.  Have a great day!!
Lysa