Cricut cards to go with my new Cricut Explore One

My Cricut Explore One is now here.  I even set it up last night.  I am too rushed to blog about it tonight-- maybe later this week.  In the meantime, here are 4 cards I made with my (old, tiny) cricut.

Source- CAS(E) this sketch

I found this card sketch challenge.  It looks pretty simple so I decided to play along.  You know I can't follow directions but here is how it came out!

This is my closest card to the original. . . not quite there.  This is my daughter's favorite as she thinks the cupcake looks yummy. 

Sorry this one is so blurry-- really cute in real life!  I am too busy to retake pictures (or at least, I don't want to get the card out again when it is put away).  I like how "celebrate" is deliberately vague.  Can be used for birthday, anniversary, wedding, etc.

When planning out this card, I thought that the bow at the bottom could be the start of the stripes at the bottom of the layout.  I couldn't figure out what to do with it though so I abandoned that idea.  This is my husband's favorite card and again, party could be for lots of occasions. 

If you can't figure out, this one doesn't really follow the sketch at all.  It was late. . . my daughter needed to go to bed.  I did cut out 4 butterflies and fluffed them out.  Then I took a picture at an angle so you can see the flutter of them.  

I won a new Cricut Explore!

Yay!  It is not here yet but here are some links to inspire me in the meantime!  (Some of these are only able to be done with the newer, bigger Cricut-- some I probably could have done already. . . but I haven't) 

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I need to decorate my school laptop-- just so I can easily tell it is mine and not another teacher's or for students.  I am excited about being able to lay out projects online before cutting them.  I am also excited about the 12 X 12 size-- I know most Cricuts are this size but my Cricut was only 6 X 12. 

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 I am not sure that I will do this exact project but I am super, duper excited that I will be able to cut my own fonts like this "Pass the Chex" font from Kevin and Amanda. 

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This new Cricut is also supposed to be super intricate-- it can cut stuff like the  banner above.  I don't plan on making that banner but I think that the cuts would make cute cards. 

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This is not really a Cricut project at all but it would go great with my newly decorated laptop.  Plus, it lets me highlight a new Cricut feature-- print then cut.  Basically you can print cutesy designs like above and then cut them out with your Cricut.  So pumped for this feature! 

So stay tuned for my wonderful posts about all the things I cut out with my new Cricut! 

"Tot School" this week

I am not one to do too much in the way of cutesy themes-- either for school or at home.  This is mostly because I'm lazy, but also that I think part of life is the randomness.  Since school has started though, I have may a conscious effort to play with my daughter, to give her experiences that I may otherwise skip because they are a pain.  

Here are 5 experiences we experienced in the last week or so-- All with the "Creativity" theme:

Playdough

Here is my Amazon affiliate link

We found this set at Kohl's about a month ago.  It was on sale and then I had a 30% off coupon.  As a bonus, if I spent $50, I got $10 Kohl's cash.  (I LOVE Kohl's!)

I really like this set.  It gives some scissors experience and is really good for "process" art with playdough.  (If you don't know about process art, it's basically where it's just playtime).

I think playdough is a great sensory toy with lots of squishiness.  Plus, we can decompose objects to try to build them.  We talk about how faces have eyes, ears, noses, etc. and try to build a face. 

Cards

I've written before about how I like to use my Cricut to make cards with my daughter.  We made a couple more cards this week.  We push the buttons together and then she "writes" in the inside.  Great pre-literacy skills.   

Beads

 

Our current fascination is beads.  We like to generally make a mess with them while occasionally putting them on a "necklace".  It's about 90% mess and 10% necklace making.  We talk about the shapes, the colors, and the sound they make when they go all over.  Plus, it's great for fine motor skills. 


Clothespin Decorations

 I bought some clothespins for a project a couple of years ago, used the 2-3 I needed and then put the rest of the bag in the craft closet.  The little girl found them while we were making cards and decided we needed to "decorate" them.  We used mod podge on them.  Great experience with a paintbrush.

Yoga

See the Youtube Channel here

I know this doesn't really "fit" with the rest but we found this yoga series on Youtube.  It tells a story while doing yoga poses.  It's good for winding down before bedtime.  I also think it's good for listening comprehension as we have to follow a storyline.

Speaking of winding down, that's it' for me.  I'm linking up to a couple of parties-- Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday and #TeacherMom for her TotSchool link-up (she is much more organized than me!).

I can't follow directions!

I feel like my standard disclaimer for crafts needs to be that I can't follow directions.  I know I'm a teacher.  I emphasize (to the kids) how important it is to follow directions.   The truth is. . . it's a real struggle for me!

I saw this card on Pinterest. 

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 I thought,  

"That's cute and simple."

"I can do that." 

"I even have that embossing folder".  

"I don't know know that I have those same colors."  

"I think I will just stick with yellows and oranges."

"Hmmm. . . maybe a pink background?"

 "Or this brown kraft paper?  It looks good with everything!"

"Now, how can I make this look less feminine?  How about striped ribbon?"

"Or how about this cute little chick?  He looks so sweet with the yellow!"  

"Should I add some flowers?"

I ended up with five birthday cards.  They all look quite different than the "inspiration" card and from each other.

 Friday night I went with 9 co-workers to a painting party.  Have you heard of these?  You basically get step-by-step directions to a painting and paint along while listening to music and drinking.  Here was the assigned painting for the night.  It's called Chevron Chic.

You know I REALLY can't follow directions when my painting turns out like this.

It's a bit more Seussical than whimsical. . . A bit more Nightmare before Christmas than Chic.  Oh well, I like it.

You know I'm linking up with 4th Grade Frolics.  I like seeing how projects come out when you do follow directions.  #mondaymadeit

I am starting a series tomorrow about the International Literacy Association Conference I went to last week.  Come back tomorrow to check it out!  #ILA15
Update:  Find posts here and here.  

Creating cards with a 2 year old

Yesterday I told you how I made a candy bar card for my father-in-law's 70th birthday.  I also worked with my daughter to make a card for him.  Maybe you remember that my daughter is 2 1/2 and are wondering what kind of card we made.  A very cute one (in my not-so-humble opinion)! 

I am a fan of having kid projects be very hands-on.  I did however, want this to look nicer than my daughter can do independently.  So we worked together on this one. 

Here is what we did:  

 

1) I chose the Cricut cartridge Create-A-Critter.   This cartridge has lots of animals that my daughter likes.  Also, while it has lots of layers, the layers are still bigger pieces.  I asked my daughter which animal she wanted to make. She looked at the pictures and chose the bear. I gave her some scrapbook paper scraps and she picked out a green plaid, a blue, and an orange polka dotted (that we didn't use).  I set the size and settings on the cricut machine but she pushed all the buttons and took the paper off the mat.  

Picture Source

 2)  She did the first glue with a glue stick.  I went back over it with a liquid glue.  This made her a little more involved but still had the teddy bear stick together.  

3) We assembled the card.  I did a little different fold (gatefold) just to make it more interesting.  My daughter wanted some washi tape stripes so she did that with some help.  I added some googly eyes and a Yippee stamp just for cuteness. 

4)My daughter "wrote a message" to grandpa on the inside and added more Washi Tape.  We called it finished!