Wall-E Birthday Party

My son ABSOLUTELY had to have a Wall-E themed birthday party this year. In my hunt for invitation ideas, this is what I came up with.

I took a Wall-E colouring page from the internet and saved it as a .jpg file:

I then converted it to an .svg file using Inkscape and cut it on my Big Bugger (Expression) using Sure Cuts A Lot software. I drew the details on the grey "neck" piece with a black gel pen.  I punched the stars with a little Fiskars Country Star punch, and decorated the envelope to match.

The inside of the card was created on my computer, using Word and the Pop Star font. 

I know it's not made with the Cricut or the Cricut cake, but I also made the matching Wall-E cake.  I used a standard Wilton Wall-E cake pan that I rented from our local Bulk store.

The party was a hit!  Sure Cuts A Lot, a colouring page, and a little imagination and I have one very happy almost-five year old! :)

Happy buggin'!

Clothespin Magnets

These cool little things are clothespins, belive it or not!  What a great idea for a year-end teacher gift or for Mother's Day to help mom keep her family organized, or maybe dad can use them at the office or on his toolbox at work. 

I painted regular clothespins in coordinating colours to my cardstock.  I cut the days of the week, one in each colour to match the clothespins, from the Designer's calendar cartridge, at .75" which made them approximately 2.75" long.  Everything was then spray-varnished for added durability, and I finished it off by gluing magnet sheets onto the back.

Happy buggin'!

You've Gotta Have Faith

This is a super quick and easy card that I made and used as an invitation to my son's Baptism.  It is a standard A2 card, measuring 4.25" x 5.5".  The main card is light blue, as are the shadow features of the cuts.  I embossed the dark blue background using the Cuttlebug and the Swiss Dots embossing folder.  "Faith" was cut from the Home Accents Solutions cartridge, and the cross is cut from the Wedding Solutions cartridge.  I hung a little angel charm (that I purchased at the dollar store in a pack of 12) on a white ribbon and glued it around the corner of the dark blue background.  I merely printed the wording for the inside on my computer, using Word, and glued it to the inside of the card.

Happy Buggin'!

Olivia the Pig Update

Here is the final finished project of Olivia the Pig, complete with matching envelope.  I stretched the "5" a bit, using my Bitty Bugger (Gypsy) to make the entire card a standard A2 size (4.25" x 5.5") and added a bit of bling, by way of 5 little half-beads in the top left corner.  You also can't really see from the photo, but I added some Champagne stickles to her toes for a bit of sass.  I used pop-dots to give her a bit of dimension and with Versamark, created some watermarks on the "5" with the Collage Alphabet Numbers stamp set from Stampin' Up!

Happy Buggin'!

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!!

"Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind." -Dr. Seuss.

In honour of Dr. Seuss Day, I am posting a Seuss-themed birthday card with Thing 1 and Thing 2.  Thank you to Mardenz for her wonderful Cat in the Hat .svg files!  I cut Thing 1 and Thing 2 on the Lil' Bugger at 4", using the SCAL software.  The Cat in the Hat's hat, was cut at 3.5" and I used it to accent the envelope.  The card is a standard A2, measuring 4.25" x 5.5"

Happy Birthday, Theodor Geisel (a.k.a. Dr. Seuss)!

Happy buggin'!

Daily Bread Kitchen Wall Vinyl

Vinyl wall art. This piece was cut with my Big Bugger (Cricut Expression).  I used SCAL software, and the P22 Cezanne and Times New Roman fonts.  The "wheat" is from a colouring page I found online, I copied and flipped it to make the full circle.  The colour is Peanut Butter. The entire project measures 12" high by 24" wide, the largest availabe cut on the Expression.

 

Happy buggin'!

 

Olivia the Pig Birthday Invite



Phew, who knew this adorable little pig would be such a labour of love!!!  I was asked to create some birthday party invitations for a 5-year old little girl, who was obsessed with Olivia the Pig.  Incidentally, her name is Olivia as well.  There are obviously no images on any of the cartridges with her on it, so I set about a mission to find one that I could use with my SCAL.  Not as easy a task as I first thought.  There's not much you can't find on the internet these days, but an .svg file of Olivia the Pig was few and far between.



This is the .jpg that I used



Colours separated and "simplified" in PhotoShop










So I set about making one.  (gulp!).  I don't know if this is the way it's to be done, or if I was way off base and took the long way around.  I "dissected" a .jpg in PhotoShop and separated the main colours, and then made each colour its own layer.  I took most of the detail out, such as shading and patterns and simplified it into colour blocks.  I then saved that as a new .jpg file and as well a .psd (PhotoShop) file in case I needed to make changes later.  When saving as a .psd file, I am able to maintain all the separate layers. 

I then converted my .jpg into an .svg using Inkscape: 

 And then imported my new .svg into SCAL.

I then cut it with my Big Bugger.  The "5" is cut from the Sweet Treats cartridge.  I used the five with the candle flame on top, I just cut it off.  The background is the Shadow/Blackout feature.  Using the Bitty Bugger (Gypsy), I made one, then copied it and flipped the second one and nudged it until they just barely overlapped, then welded them together.  When you weld, it does not cut any common areas or areas that overlap.  Here's how I laid it out on my mat, according to their placement in SCAL:

I then taped the red "5" onto a regular sheet of paper and ran it through my printer to print 'Olivia'.  I used the Gill Sans MT Ext Condensed Bold font.  When taping cardstock to run through your printer, be sure to use one solid piece of tape right across the entire top of the cardstock.  No need to worry about taping the bottom.  It will run through just fine.  Then just gently pull the cardstock from under the tape.  I will post a more indepth tutorial about that at a later date.

The eyes, nostrils, and smile were added with a black gel pen.  The stitches on the front pocket of her dress were added with a white gel pen.

You gotta love that cute little pig.  I'm so embarrassed that I didn't even know this pig existed until this order came in!  Even my son was able to sing me the theme song from the show.

Happy Buggin'!

Cartridges, Cartridges, Cartridges!!

Provocraft has released 254 cartridges to date (oh my!), how many of them do YOU have?? 

I have compiled a full list of the cartridges, complete with release date, item number, type of cartridge (Solutions, Font, etc.), special release details such as the package they were bundled in, and which ones have been retired.  If you'd like a copy of that Word document, click HERE. 

It can also be found on our 'Cartridges' page:  http://lilbuggerblog.blogspot.com/p/cartridges_25.html or by clicking on the link at the top of this page.

Enjoy!
Happy Buggin'!

Thank You Scouts and Beavers!

At the end of last season, we gave our Scout and Beaver leaders some Thank You cards for all they did.  This year I was approached to make some Thank You cards that they could give out to sponsors, guest speakers, and outing hosts as thanks from the kids.  These are what I came up with, and both are based on their respective logos, which I've included below, for those of you that are not familiar with Canadian Scouting. 

I converted a .jpg into a .svg file in Inkscape (free download here), and imported it into my SCAL software and cut.  Each card is a standard A2 size.  I bundled up a dozen of each with some matching ribbon and gave them to the leaders at the beginning of the year. 

 

The campfire and tri-pod are pop-dotted and raised on the Scouts card to add dimension. The background is scanned from an old camping/Scouting page I had in my stash (my bad for not taking down the info first) and printed on white Bazzill for effect. Simply says "Thanks" on the inside.  The letters were also cut using SCAL, with the Mickey Font.  Not the Mickey Font cartridge, but Mickey Font, the True Type Font downloaded to my computer.  I arranged and welded the letters in SCAL and cut to fit on the card vertically.



I raised the beaver on the front of the Beavers card with pop-dots. Inside says "Merci".  (I had to PhotoShop out some personal information on the inside of the Beaver card, so there's a smudge in the middle of the photo.)  "Merci" was cut with the Beyond Birthdays cartridge.



Add caption

And here are the logos that I worked with to create the .svg that I cut with:



Happy buggin'!

Happy Family Day!

I spent most of the day enjoying my family, and extended family.  I don't need a holiday to remind me how truly blessed I am to have such a wonderful, healthy, and happy family, but it's cool to have a day that I don't have to worry about packing lunches, gathering knapsacks, dragging butts out of bed, and making it to the bus stop on time.  Today was just a good ol' fashioned down-home PJ day, goofing around with my husband and my kids.  I'd have it that way every day if I could!

So, needless to say, there was no crafting going on in my house today.  What I thought I would do is share with you some vinyl wall art that I made a few months back.  It hangs in my kitchen, on a wall that you can see when you enter the front door.  It sums up, quite nicely, what I hope for my home and for my family.  I also use it as a faith-booster and pick-me-up when I'm having a bad day.

"May this home be blessed with the laughter of children, the warmth of a close family, hope for the future, and fond memories of the past."

It was cut on my Big Bugger (Cricut Expression) with the Windlass (2.4") and Scriptina (5") fonts using the SCAL software.  The entire work measures 2' by 5 1/2'.

Happy Family Day!

Happy buggin'!