Snowman Tag

Supplies used:

Paper
Vellum
Snowman Rubber Stamps
Tag
Ink

Comments:

Using rubber stamps, ink, and a little creativity, we created this Snowman Tag.

Day 30 - January 30, 2010

Name Magnet


Supplies used:

Cricut® Expression Personal Electronic Cutter
Platin Schoolbook ® Cartridge
Cricut® Cuttables White Magnet Material
12” x 12” cutting mat
Cricut® Deep Cut Housing and Blade
Cricut® Design Studio Software

Instructions:

Use the Cricut® Design Studio Software and the Platin Schoolbook Cartridge to write “STEFFIE” in capital letters and weld these letters together. Install the Cricut® Deep Cut Housing and Blade in the Cricut®. Take a sheet of Cricut ® Cuttables White Magnet Material, place it on to the cutting mat, and load the mat into the Cricut®. Set the following settings on the Cricut®: Speed 3, Pressure 5, Blade Depth 6, and Multi-cut 4. Cut out STEFFIE. Remove from the sheet of magnet material.

Day 29 - January 29, 2010

Butterfly Tag

Supplies used:

Paper
Mylar
Butterfly Rubber Stamps
Tag
Ink
Butterfly postage stamp

Comments:

Using rubber stamps, ink, postage stamps and a little creativity, we created this Butterfly Tag. These tags make any gift special.

Day 28 - January 28, 2010

Imagination stretcher

Supplies used:

Paper
Colored Pencils
Pencil
One red square block glued to the paper

Comments:

Given a white piece of paper with one red square glued to it, the goal was to create something that incorporates the red square. The solution – building blocks!

Day 27 - January 27, 2010

Valentine’s Day Prototype

Supplies used:

Red and Pink felt
Sizzix Die Cutter
Sizzix Heart Die
Sewing machine
Thread

Comments:

Kids live for treat bags. Five times a school year we create treat bags. Right now we are finalizing a design for Valentine’s Day. Here is a first look. Since we need 23 of them and they all have to be sewn, we will need to finalize soon.

Day 26 - January 26, 2010

Overlooking - a reflection of the sun on a lake


Supplies used:

Strathmoore ® Canvas Paper
Pencils
Crayons


Comments:

The picture was only drawn on one side. A transfer was then made by folding the paper in half and rubbing the image onto the opposite side. Once that was done, everything was then fully colored.

Day 25 - January 25, 2010

Still life sketch


Supplies used:

Strathmoore ® Paper
Pencils
Color Pencils


It may be winter but we are looking forward to spring. This sketch is a practice in drawing flowers and other elements of a still life.

Day 24 - January 24, 2010

La Fleur – a painting


Supplies used:

Strathmoore ® Canvas Paper
Pencils
Reeves ® Acrylic Paint Set


Inspiration:

While watching a show on TV that was set in a tropical location, beautiful flowers were every where. So she drew one or, she says, tried to!

Day 23 - January 23, 2010

Place setting for Dave

Supplies used:

Cricut® Expression Personal Electronic Cutter
Gypsy Wanderings Font® Cartridge
Cricut® Gypsy
Cardstock in purple and blue
Gold spray paint

Instructions:


Step 1. Enter the letters of the person for the place setting and cut them out on the first sheet of card stock.
Step 2. Remove the letters from the Cricut® cutting mat.
Step 3. Arrange the letters on the second sheet of cardstock.
Step 4. In a well ventilated area, we chose out side, spray paint the letters as arranged on the cardstock with gold paint. This will create a “negative image” of the letters arranged in step 3.
Step 5. Allow the Spray paint to dry. Remove the original letters and a quick place setting for “Dave” has been made.
Step 6. Arrange the painted letters and have fun with a creative Dave.

Day 22 - January 22, 2010

Sunset – a painting


Supplies used:

Strathmoore ® Canvas Paper
Pencils
Reeves ® Acrylic Paint Set


Instructions:

Driving home in the evening as the sunsets we gained the inspiration for this painting.

Day 21 - January 21, 2010

HM Butterfly

Supplies used:

Cricut® Expression Personal Electronic Cutter
Hannah Montana® Cartridge
Cricut® Cuttables White Magnet Material
Black vinyl
Blue vinyl
12” x 12” cutting mat
Cricut® Deep Cut Housing and Blade

Instructions:

Install the Cricut® Deep Cut Housing and Blade in the Cricut®. Take a sheet of Cricut ® Cuttables White Magnet Material, place it on to the cutting mat, and load the mat into the Cricut®. Set the following settings on the Cricut®: Speed 3, Pressure 5, Blade Depth 6, and Multi-cut 4. Using Hannah Montana ® cartridge select “Bttrfly-s” with the Daddy's Girl Shadow function. This will be cut out of magnet material first. Set the size to 5 inches and use the “real dial” setting. Cut one. Using blue vinyl, setting the blade at a depth of 2 and the pressure to medium, cut out "Bttrfly-s” with the Daddy's Girl Shadow function. Lastly to cut the outline of the image, use the black vinyl to cut “Bttrfly” with the Daddy's Gril Shadow fuction. Assemble as shown.

Day 20 - January 20, 2010

Grandma's Birthday Card

The Glow in the dark ink dried nicely and today we used the paper as the foundation for the birthday card. Using the Wild Card Cartridge and the features of "Cupcake" we cut the 6 inch card and all the appropriate parts.

I think Grandma will be surprised by the special birthday message in her card!

Day 19 - January 19, 2010

Now you see it?? A work in progress

Supplies:

Yudu
220 Screen
Squeegee
Glow in the dark Yudu Ink
Cardstock in pale yellow, red, purple, and blue

Details:

Grandma will celebrate her 79th birthday in a few days. It would be great to give her a birthday card that has a little extra to it.

First we prepared a transparency with an assortment of sizes and fonts that said "Happy Birthday". We then used the transparency to create a screen. For this project we are trying out the 220 screen as it is advertised for use with paper. Once the screen was prepared and dried, we inserted into the Yudu. Using Glow in the Dark Yudu ink we loaded the screen with ink and made several images on cardstock. We tried a variety of colors and decided the pale yellow will work best for our birthday card.

The photos that follow show the completed screen, the pale yellow cardstock after it has been screened, and the what the cardstock looks like after the lights are out.

Day 18 - January 18, 2010

A Valentines Day card to remind us of the up coming occasion

Supplies:

Xyron Design Runner
Design Runner Occasions Disk
Red, pink, purple cardstock
Hot pink felt
Sizzix Die Cutter
Sizzix Heart Die
Fiskar Crimping Tool
Adhesive

Instructions:

Take the piece of red cardstock and crimp it using the Fiskar Crimping tool. Using the Sizzix system and the Sizzix primitive heart die, cut three large and one inner heart out of red and purple cardstock and hot pink felt. Turn on the Design Runner and using the Occasions Disk, select #19 “Valentines Day”. Print this around the four sides of the pink cardstock. Attach the hearts with adhesive.

Day 17 - January 17, 2010

Supplies:

Hot pink felt
Handmade paper
Pink and yellow cardstock
Sizzix Die Cutter
Sizzix Doodle Tag Uppercase Alphabet Set
Sizzix Tag Die
Sizzix Heart Die
White ribbon
Adhesive

Instructions:

Using the Sizzix system, cut one Tag using the Sizzix Tag die from handmade paper, cut the letters "M" and "O" out of pink and yellow cardstock using Sizzix Doodle Tag Uppercase Alphabet Alphabars. Take a small square of hot pink felt and cut out a heart with the Sizzix heart die. Glue the letters MOM to the tag and place a 10 inch piece of white ribbon through the hole of the tag. Add felt hearts where desired.

Day 16 - January 16, 2010

Om Bunny

Supplies used:

Yudu Screen Printing Machine
Transparency
Speedball Diazo Photo Emulsion Kit
110 Yudu Screen
T-shirt Platen
Squeegee
Fabric Squeegee
Gunmetal Bronze Yudu Ink
Area with a sink or bathtub
Stirrer
5 pounds of weight
Wax paper
White T-shirt
Iron & ironing board

Rating: Cost $$$$ (expensive)

The Yudu is our Christmas present to our daughter. She watched the infomercial endlessly and really wanted to have the Yudu. The infomercial makes it all seem so simple and fast. Truthfully, if you buy the Yudu via the infomercial it will end up costing you $399. I bought hers from Costco for $252 including sales tax and delivery. I compared side-by-side the Yudu offers from the infomercial, Costco, HSN, Michaels, A.C. Moore and several websites. Costco had the best package including bonus items. I then set out to find the best prices for the supplies. Joann.com had the inks on sale at 25% off so I ordered a few 3 packs of ink from them. Overstock.com had a good price on emulsion sheets and emulsion remover. Since it was the time before Christmas, Michael’s had a 40% off coupon every week. Each Sunday I would purchase something Yudu related from Michael’s. Even with the 40% off, the screens still cost $15 and the emulsion sheets-a pack of 2- ranging in price from $14-$19. These prices mean you really have to think about what you want to screen print. I have been searching for a way to bring down the costs and discovered the Speedball Diazo Photo Emulsion Kit. The first kit I purchased from Dick Blick online for about $20 + shipping. The bottle should be good for creating at least 7-10 screens – I have prepared 3 so far. Today I went to Pearl’s Arts & Crafts and found everything in the store was 50% off – I bought two of the Diazo Photo Emulsion Kits for $22. It is pointless to give a gift to my daughter and have her unable to use it. My goal is a per screen price of $2 which would be low enough to let her create what ever she wants, when ever she wants to.

Instructions:

In a dark place I mixed together water and Diazo Sensitizer and added that to Diazo Photo Emulsion mixing well. I poured this onto a screen and spread it evenly on both sides of the screen. This is messy regardless of whether you use the kit as I did or the Yudu emulsion sheets. After the emulsion has been applied to the screen the next step is to dry the emulsion. Load the screen into the Yudu and turn on the fan. The quoted time for drying is a 15-20 minute cycle. In reality it took more like 30 or 40 minutes.

I found an image on the internet of a bunny and printed it onto a transparency. I taped the transparency onto the glass top of the Yudu. Once the screen dried, I put the screen, flush side down, onto the registration posts. The T-shirt platen, felt side down, is placed on top of this. Close the lid and put a 5 pound weight on top of the platen. Press the exposure button. Exposure time may vary but it is roughly 8-10 minutes. Once time is up, remove everything from the top of the Yudu and take the now exposed screen to a sink and wash off the green emulsion. It might take a few minutes to wash away all the unexposed emulsion. After you have it all removed, place the screen into the drying compartment of the Yudu. Drying time will vary according to your design.

Take the dry screen and using painters tape, tape the screen around the edges to prevent ink from going where you don’t want it to be. Place the T-shirt on the T-shirt platen, and place the platen onto the registration posts. Close the lid of the Yudu. Place the screen on the Yudu lid and apply a generous bead of ink on to the screen just above the design. The bead should be as wide as the design. Holding lid up and away from the T-shirt, flood the screen with ink by gently pulling squeegee across the design. Lower the Yudu lid and, holding squeegee with both hands using firm, even pressure, pull the squeegee across the screen. Lift lid, and you will see the image on the T-shirt. Remove the T-shirt platen and hang the shirt to dry. Once the ink has dried it must be heat set using an iron on high heat for 3 to 4 minutes per side.

Over all I would say it took about 2 hours from start to finish. A lot of time is spent waiting for the emulsion and or screen to dry. If you have a design you plan to use a lot, then once you have created the screen it will take just a few moments to pull the design onto sometime new. We are going to explore different ways of creating designs – such as cutting Cricut® images, placing them on the glass and making a screen. In the mean time, I have my 40% off coupon ready for my visit to Michael’s tomorrow. You can’t use the 40% off coupon for the Yudu machine but as long as they will honor the discount for the other Yudu items I will continue to buy screens. I never know when inspiration will strike and I want to be prepared!

Day 16 - We du Yudu! Here are the step-by-step photos!

Do you Yudu? We du! Saturday we will show you step by step how we du Yudu!

Day 15 - January 15, 2010

Lost Petals – a painting


Supplies used:

Strathmoore ® Canvas Paper
Pencils
Reeves ® Acrylic Paint Set


Instructions:

Even though it is Winter we can still remember the flowers of last spring and summer. Our focal point is the daisy in the vase in this painting. From this we build on our scene. Lightly sketch the daisy, its petals, the vase and the other elements on to the canvas paper. Using acrylic paint, paint your elements. Let dry and enjoy.

Day 14 - January 14, 2010

More pups!

Supplies used:

Cricut® Expression Personal Electronic Cutter
Paper Pups® Cartridge
George and Basic Shapes® Cartridge
12” x 12” cutting mat
Yellow, pink, orange, white, and brown cardstock
Scotch® Quick-Dry Adhesive
Pop-Dots

Instructions:

Using Paper Pups ® cartridge, cut one 3” white “-sundog-“ , one 3” brown “-sundog – blackout”, and one 1” orange “relax-shift”. Glue “sundog” on top of “sundog-blackout”. Using the George and Basic Shapes cartridge cut one 9” rectangle. Fold this rectangle in half to create a card and glue a 3” x 4” piece of pink cardstock to the front of the card. Using pop-dots to create a raised effect adhere the sundog to the pink cardstock. Glue “relax” to the card next to the dog.

Day 13 - January 13, 2010

Stickin’ with the Pups!

Supplies used:

Cricut® Expression Personal Electronic Cutter
Paper Pups® Cartridge
Cricut® Cuttables White Magnet Material
Black vinyl
Tan vinyl
12” x 12” cutting mat
Cricut® Deep Cut Housing and Blade

Instructions:

Install the Cricut® Deep Cut Housing and Blade in the Cricut®. Take a sheet of Cricut ® Cuttables White Magnet Material, place it on to the cutting mat, and load the mat into the Cricut®. Set the following settings on the Cricut®: Speed 3, Pressure 5, Blade Depth 6, and Multi-cut 4. Using Paper Pups ® cartridge select “Scotty”. This will be cut out of magnet material first. Set the size to 4 inches and use the “real dial” setting. First to cut is “Scotty – Blackout” followed by “Scotty”. We will overlay vinyl to create the dogs. Using black vinyl, setting the blade at a depth of 2 and the pressure to medium, cut out “Scotty – Solid”, and “Scotty”. To cut the outline of the image, use the tan vinyl to cut “Scotty”. Assemble as shown.

Day 12 - January 12, 2010

Love in a pocket

Supplies used:

Cricut® Expression Personal Electronic Cutter
Wild Card® Cartridge
Cardstock in black and red
Embossed pink heart card stock
Vellum Rose paper
Pink patterned scrapbook paper
Scotch® Quick-Dry Adhesive

Instructions:

Today we are making a card using the Wild Card cartridge. It will have a masculine envelope and a feminine card. Place black card stock onto 12” x 12” mat, load paper in to the Cricut®. Cut “–Porthl-s-“ in the 6” size. Next cut “–Porthl-blackout “ out of red cardstock in the same size. Using the pink heart embossed paper, cut “-Porthl-blackout“ for the card in the 5 ¼” size and cut it once more using the vellum. Lastly, cut “-Porthl-phrase” out of pink patterned scrapbook paper in the 1 ¾” size.

The outside of the envelope is made of the black cardstock and the inside lining is made of the red cardstock. Glue together to make the envelope. Next fold the card and line it with the vellum gluing it in place. On the outside of the card glue the “ I love you” that was cut out of the pink pattern paper.