Thrift Find

Went thrifting today just for the heck of it.  Nothing in mind just needed a morning out with my dad.  I came across this workbench.  It was sturdy and not too big.  It would hold my vice and grinding wheel.  It was solid and would work well with my stamping and cutting metal tools.  The issue will be where to store it while I'll keep working on clear out my garage.  For now it's all about unboxing the house.  I will  find the perfect spot.

 

Sticker crazy!

I used my Cricut machine this week.  I made stickers!  It's been a journey of so many unfortunate events to complete satisfaction!

First, I needed to design the stickers.  I ventured into my stash of inspiration drawings and images.  I came up with a whole set of greenery/floral tiny designs.  First, I sketch.

Once I get the basic designs on paper it gives me a good idea of what I want to use for my stickers.  I kept the designs simple as for my first attempt of making stickers.

From this point I get out my iPad and use the Procreate app to draw up the stickers.  Here's the process in video.

  Once the sticker sheet is done it's time to import it to Cricut Design Space.  Here's where the problems began!   Once I sized up the sheet I made two side by side and attached them.  Set up print/cut option.  I watched a tutorial on what settings to use on the Cricut for stickers.  I was making stickers on white sticker paper and clear glossy sticker paper, both for inkjet printers.  I have a Canon Pro 100 printer.  Once I hit printer I could not get the print settings  box to open.

Last week we had a electrical outage and all my printers were lost since the modem and router were shut down.    I had to add them and the setting just weren't coming up the same.  I added drivers and software updates, geez what a process so I figured this was the reason the Cricut software was not showing the print settings.  After more research I finally got it figured out.  One reason I needed to figure it out was the Cricut could not read the cut markers, what a mess.  Once all this got figured out it was  magic!

I was able to print and cut the stickers out.  I printed some on clear glossy sticker paper and a few sheets of white sticker paper.  The few sheets the Cricut would not read I cut out with scissors and craft knife.  

I put samples of both the clear and white paper stickers on some brown kraft paper to show you how they look.  I'm so pleased with how they turned out!  My brain is on creative overload on new designs, holiday designs, kids sticker designs, bullet journal stickers, planner stickers!  I must admit I'm really liking the clear ones.

New pens

I watched one of my art journaling online courses.  The artist used these pens!  I had to buy some.  I love love love them!!  Chromium green, light cobalt turquoise, dark naples ochre, sky blue, cobalt turquoise, medium flesh, and indanthrene blue.

Faber-Castell PITT artist pen big brush.  

2017 Christmas Cards

It all started with dressing up my vintage camper in her holiday attire.  This was a fun day.  I printed them out two by two.  Inside message, signatures, and logo all printed, what a time saver.

I use a Canon Pro-100 printer on all my print jobs.  I love it except when I have to replace the ink!  It has 8 inks and that shit's expensive...never have I understood the high cost of ink.  We should write letters to our congressman about that, maybe they'll do something about it, NOT.  Anyways, this is a great printer.

I love this paper cutter, accurate and quick.

I've had this tool for many years and I love it.  Scores nicely.  I've learned having the right tools always makes the project go smoother.  I make so many cards, this tool sure saves me time and the cards look so much better.  

I took a on-line class, more of a mini on-line class from one of my favorite artist, Stephanie Lee.  I learned a bit about encastic wax.  I decided to use the wax on my cards and the result was so cool.  I can't wait to use it on my paintings.

I added glitter and some gold glitter stars onto the wax.  I could of added more stuff, but I had over 80 cards to make and I was running out of time

I found these vintage labels and added my "Season's Greeting" and our return address.  Time saver!  I was able to print them directly onto blank label sheets.  Again, what a time saver.
Here's the website I got the template from ....   https://blog.worldlabel.com/2012/vintage-gummed-parcel-post-shipping-labels.html

Addressed and stamped ready to mail!

Cricut Cricut Cricut.....PINK

Several months ago I added this to my studio!  

Can you say PINK

I didn't realize it had so many cutting options!

It's so pretty in PINK!  

I'm on a huge learning curve.  It looks intimidating but overall it's not.

Not only does it cut but it writes!

  One of my learning days.  I used some glitter paper and I can see where you need to be careful removing the designs.  Patience!

I made something simple, the onesies are so cute and easy.  

I have a one year subscription to Cricut Design Space which gives you tons of ideas, images, tutorials, fonts, etc.  I've learned to design from my iPad and iPhone with their app.  I've learned how to add fonts, import images and add my own designs.  I'm in love with my new PINK addition!  I still need to do some iron on vinyl projects.  I'll keep you updated on my progress.