12 Days of Christmas Blog Hop (Day One)

Welcome to the 12 Days of Christmas Blog Hop (Day One)! This hop will take place  November 24th through December 5th. Each of us will be posting something Christmas related each and every day at 8:00am, Eastern time (so for my Pacific Time Zone peeps... that's 5am... But don't worry, you can sleep in, and we'll all be here waiting for you, too!)... for 12 WHOLE DAYS! Let us inspire you to finish up that layout, make some special Christmas cards, or wrap that gift in a fun and festive way. If you've already started, you probably came from Barbara. She is so awesome, isn't she? While that's just a start... Let's continue this party!

I'm starting my portion of the hop with paper things. Things that are simple and easy to do. Today, I've got a card for you. And... instead of being a foo-foo, elegant Christmas card, I'm doing a more boy-ish masculine card today.

If you are on any of the Cricut groups (usually in Facebook), you may have seen lots of complaints about the print-and-cut feature (on the Explore or Explore Air). Many are frustrated and say it doesn't work, the machine isn't reading the register marks, the printer isn't printing, the cuts are "off", etc. Quite a while ago, I was having issues, too. I was new to it. But I jumped in and wanted to try "all" the feature of this wonderful machine. And things didn't work for me... And then I researched and read the manual (it's online, folks!). I calibrated my machine. I enabled permissions for my printer. I let the Explore Air take it's time and read the register marks because it DOES look like it's not reading them and goes over them several times and you really think the thing isn't working and you push the STOP button and give up. What I learned most? Patience. That was over a year ago. Enter the complaints for the past month...

And so... I thought... "Hmm... maybe the updates have messed it all up? I'll try it all again." And I did. I found a cute little Santa flying in a plane. Threw it on my digital mat, enlarged it to fit an A2 card (usually an invitation size... I like little cards. Don't judge.), hit "send to mat", hit print... and out it came from my printer. Here, I should tell you that I had to do it twice. The first time I forgot to put in a clean sheet of cardstock, because I always have scrap paper in my printer.  I ran to get it, brayered the paper onto my mat because I was too lazy to get a fresh mat out of the packaging and the mat on my table has seen better days and was on it's last leg... set for construction paper, foil or vellum, put it through the Explore Air, hit the little "Cricut" key (it cuts at this point), and watched it work it's magic. Complete and perfect. No problems except my stupidity about changing the paper out in the printer. No glitches. No worries. Patience, people! If it's not working for you... read the materials provided for you. Again. The manual is online.

Ok. Back to my project. So, like I already said... I sized it to fit on an A2 card. Except I didn't.

See?

Um yeah... that didn't exactly work for me. Ok. Hold up. I know what happened. I typed in some numbers into the size field, hit ENTER, and not VOILA! oh... I forgot to check it after. Duh. Oh well. I usually work with my mistakes... And I make a heck of a lot of them!

So I put it on a card that has been cut for a 5x5" card (and I don't know what size-code that is... I'm not THAT fancy). And it worked.

I inked it up a little... (because that's how I roll and that's how I like it...) And stamped a sentiment on it.

and that wasn't enough for me...

Then I clipped the edges with my "angle" Corner Chomper and inked with some white yeah... I know it's a little pink-y... get over it. And that, my friends, is D-O-N-E! I'll have more for you tomorrow! Don't forget to come back and see!

And with that... Don't forget we have sponsors for each day and blog candy. Check with Lisa's Blog the other Lisa, haha! and she'll show you how to be eligible for it.

Here is today's lineup, in case you get lost along the way (or want to repeat):

  1. Lisa P.  - http://honeybearzdesigns2011.blogspot.com <=== The "other" Lisa!!!
**  Julie -  http://www.juliescreativepieces.blogspot.com/ (Guest Designer)
  2. Madge - http://www.thescrappinlounge.com/blog...
  3. Ashley W - http://marinewifesscrappinlife.blogspot.com
  4. Sandy - http://scrapbookblessingsclub.com
  5. Elizabeth - http://CraftsByHappyStamper.com
  6. Angela - www.crazy3monkeys.blogspot.com
  7. Alicia - www.goldengoddessdesigns.blogspot.com
  8. Miranda - www.nanasscrapspot.com
  9. Daphne - http://craftyscrapsofstuff.blogspot.com
10. Rhonda - craftingwithblue.blogspot.com
11. Charmagne - http://www.sanurascraps.blogspot.com
12. Barbara- http://barbarab3.blogspot.com/
13. Lisa F - http://lisaslittlerascals.blogspot.com/ <===== You are HERE!
14. Sharondalyn - Http://www.clippingsbysharondalyn.blogspot.com <===== Next up!
15. Jessi - http://www.mylifeinartsncrafts.co
16. Heather - Http://www.paper-junkie.blogspot.com