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

National Cat Day Blog Hop

Welcome to the National Cat Day Blog Hop! If you came from Barbara's Blog you are in right spot. But you may want to start the fun at Haidee's Blog if you happened to come over to my blog!!!

I am excited to have you hop with us! Each blogger participating in this hop is featuring a crafty project having to do with "Cat". You'll find unique ideas that have to do with Cats. We hope you'll enjoy each and every project along the way.

Be sure to leave a comment at each hop to show some Bloggie Love and to qualify to win a Prize. (Check it out!!! I spy some Wobbles in there... In case you didn't get it... I love Wobbles!)

Now onto my project...

Guess what? If you know what or you know me I was originally going to go with a Black Cat. You know... of the Halloween sort. And then I thought... Nah... Haidee (pronounced like Heidi... don't go pronouncing her name all wrong... at least not on MY blog!) probably didn't think up her blog hop all like that. I mean... if she did, it would be a Halloween Hop, right? Right. And so... I went a totally 'nother direction. And here we are.

Enter my Cricut Explore Air. (Yes... I have one of those, too.) I did a search for Cat. Kitten. Lion. Tiger. And Bear! (Oops! We are NOT following the Yellow Brick Road, are we?). And so I went back to the Cat and Kitten. Nope didn't find anything I wanted... Nothing was calling my name. I kinda felt like coloring.

So, while digi stamps are all the rage (and yes, I do love those, too...!), I felt like getting a free coloring page. And I found one I loved. It's totally not in any of the "season" that is now. It's not Halloween, it's not "Fall" at all, and no... It's not even Christmas. It kind of reminds me of Easter. And so I went with that. Afterall... Easter cards or Spring cards can always come in handy, and why not get a jump on that! Huh?

I found a cute little kitty with an Easter Bonnet on it... I threw her into Photoshop and cropped out the lettering... ended like this:

I adjusted the size to 4x5", then saved it as a JPG. I then opened up a Word doc, and copied her in there 4 times.

 

Then printed on white cardstock and colored her in. But I didn't color her in with just ANYTHING... I colored her with the fabulous lacquer pens that I just bought at the Scrapbook Exp... Shhhh... don't tell my husband! *See my "Lessons Learned" at the bottom of my entry*

 

 

And then... I cut them into 4 equal parts, with a band of white to throw in my stash because I'm a hoarder I always use my good scraps. And my bad ones sometimes, too. You never know what your mess-ups can deliver!

 

 

I haven't done anything with my "her's" yet, but, they are waiting in my card bin, ready for when I am. Even though "Fall" hasn't really hit it here in Southern California (it's still in the 80's, people...), I know Spring or whatever the occasion is that called for these pretty little kitties will arrive very quickly. It always does.

 

I hope you enjoyed my National Cat Day post! and on to... Uh...

 

Whelp, I'm the Cat's Tail-End of the hop... But, if you missed someone, here's the lineup:

 

Haidee - http://created2bunique.blogspot.com
Kim - http://katydidcards.com
Connie - http://conniecancrop.blogspot.com
Sarah - http://www.sarahbiswabic.blogspot.com
Lori - http://savingmine.blogspot.com
Nan a- http://www.nanasscrapspot.com
Gina - http://www.californiascrappin.com
Jearise - http://www.lorbysworld.blogspot.com
Barbara - http://barbarab3.blogspot.com/
Lisa - http://lisaslittlerascals.blogspot.com <======= YOU ARE HERE!

Come back to Haidee's Blog Friday October 30th to see IF you are the WINNER.

HAVE A SUPER FANTASTIC HOP!!!

** LESSONS LEARNED**

 

• Always, always, fully look at the picture, stamp, photo, etc. before you ASSUME it is something. I thought this was a kitty in a basket with a "Easter" or other type of Bonnet on... It's not. It's a kitty in a hat box.
• Be sure to TOTALLY let the lacquer dry between colors.
• Cut your card tops apart FIRST. You might smudge color into your whitespace, just like I did.
• Only use small color portions for lacquer-type coloring. If you don't, then you'll totally get streaks in it, like I did.  Otherwise, if doing a larger area, color with pen, watercolors, etc. let dry, then apply CLEAR lacquer for even tones.
• Put the pens back in the boxes as you go. They could role all over into your coloring, like mine did.
• Keep a pin nearby to prick any air bubbles when coloring with lacquer. Air bubbles, especially those in yellow or light green tend to look like boogers and snot.