Beautiful Cricut .cut files!

As I was skimming through the Cricut Messageboards this morning, I came across a post from a member sharing her cut files for "Edgy Albums" This is a direct link to her blog post, where you can see what she created and download the files. I believe they are created in the Design Studio, but they can be modified easily to be used on the Gypsy. Take some time to explore her blog, she has some fabulous files and designs.

Organizing my Cricut Items

This is how I "currently" organize my Cricut Items. I want my stash to be easily portable if I need to take them with me. I also hate to waste desk space. The wooden shelf was made for me to protect a printer I used to travel with, but I no longer have that printer, so since it was perfect for my needs, I repurposed it. The Expression needs at least 12 inches behind it for a 12x12 mat and that is a lot of room, so to keep that space, I went vertical.

First, you can see that I labeled each area. I didn't get a picture of my cords and blades and such in the container, but I figured you didn't really need to see that mess. lol It is a container from Walmart that snaps together.

Next - I used photo boxes and tab dividers to store my handbooks, with the corresponding overlay in the front, in alphabetical order.

The individual cartridges are stored in an ArtBin that I found at Tuesday Morning (I got this idea from someone on the Cricut Messageboard, but I sure can't remember who it was - however, I loved it!!). The cartridges are separated by Fonts and Shapes, and of course, they are in alphabetical order in each section.

I really like this because I can see the front of each cartridge with a glance. The way I stored them before, I had to pull various carts out to read the front until I found the one for which I was looking. Also, there is a face cover that snaps on and a handle on top, so I can carry these anywhere with me. An added bonus is that they are stackable.

Here, you can see the clearance behind my Expression. I also store my extra 12x12 mats there. This makes it easy to grab an extra one when I'm doing a large project. Especially since I don't have any drawers that are 12x12 and I don't truly have the wall space to hang them.

Additionally, I normally keep my Gypsy on the side of all of this, but at the time of the picture I had been using it, so I grabbed a shot or two. This is a mesh bag from Creative Memories, it has a divider so I can keep the cords separate (you can see I don't always use it). But I love it because I can just grab it and go. Everything I need for my Gypsy is in there.

Hope you enjoyed this. Maybe it will give you an idea or two for you organizing.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

This layout is being entered into the Cricut Circle Blog Monthly Contest. In honor of Earth Day (April 22nd) we would like you to recycle, reuse or repurpose 3 items on your project. For example, cut a shape from junk mail found in your trash can. Reuse something found in a junk drawer, or whatever! Use your creativity! Create a layout, card, altered project, etc. The choice is yours ! I had to use at least 3 items that were "recycled" so I went digging in my trash can! I had just thrown some items out from a previous few cuts. The blue border around the page was left over from a design I created on my Gypsy. The title cut was being discarded by another scrapper at a crop and I rescued it, plus 3 more, from the waste bin. Also, the two curls behind the title were pulled from my trash can. The light blue paper I used to mat the photo was 100% recycled paper that I got at an expo. I "think" it was ele-poo paper. The silver medallion was cut from my Everyday Cricut cartridge (a Circle exclusive). Can you guess what I recycled that from? The packaging of a bag of Fig Newtons!!! Once the yummy-ness was gone, I cut the bag open and washed it. Then cut it to fit on my mat for my Cricut. After cutting the image out, I ran it through my Cuttlebug machine with the Morroccan Screen folder. The picture is our Christmas Picture from 2010 with my THREE children - lol. Yes, I have become one of those whose pet is their child. To make the page pop more, I used a silver paint sharpie to outline all the edges, then added bling on the Prima flowers and here and there around the page. Hope you enjoyed and Thanks for looking!

Off to Scrapbook!

Yes, you heard me correctly. I am off to scrapbook today. All day. I hope to finish several pages to be posted later. Fingers crossed I will have some MOJO!