Swarm tutorials

I did two tutorials during the Swarm, one was on how to make a wordbook using the Cricut Design studio software. The design we came up with is Mackay 2009 Swarm. I finally finished my book this afternoon and am very happy with the end result. As with all the wordbook I design I used the George and Basic shapes cartridge for the base of the book and for the lettering I used the Hello Kitty font cartridge.

Here is what I came up with. Hope you like it.

The second tutorial I did was using the Cricut Gelly Pens. Let me tell you these pens are fantastic, a lot finer than the Cricut markers. I used the Home Decor cartridge and the Design Studio Software, which is essential when doing this project. You need to have the drawing shape and the cutout shadow aligned just right or it will not work out at all.

Here is the step by step in pictures.

The Gelly pens

This shows the design that will be drawn with the Gelly pens

This shows the design that will be cut out after it has first been drawn.

The Gelly pen and the pen housing, the pen has a strong magnet in the top that attaches to the inside of the housing.

The Gelly pen housing in the Cricut Expression ( also works in the Cricut and the Create machines)

The first pass is the drawing of the design

The second pass, after changing the pen housing to the blade housing, is to cut out the shadow around the drawing.

The finished drawn and cut out design.

Here are the girls checking out the design (we had a pajama tutorial session)

Chris

Lorraine

The card made using the design

Me showing off the card, yes in my pajamas.

I would like to thank Mandy from http://www.scrappy-go-lucky.com.au/  for the Cricut Gelly pens I used in this tutorial and for the set that she kindly donated as a prize for the Swarm.

It has been a while

Yes I am back to posting. Firstly I was very sick with the worst case of gastro. But I am now 100%. Then I get over that and I have been flat out at work, and too tired to do anything, including keeping up with my Swarm posts. So here are the latest updates.

I would like to thank two very special ladies that made donations to our Swarm.

Mandy from http://www.scrappy-go-lucky.com.au/ who donated a very cool prize, and 10% off vouchers for everyone attending the Swarm. Now don't let the size of the gift fool you. This prize is fantastic, as they say good things come in small parcels. :)



I then received a package from Marti at http://www.pezadoodle.com/
I have some of these products and they are very cool. I saw a video recently showing how you can use them with the Cuttlebug embossing folders. I tried it and it worked, so whoever wins this prize will have lots of ways to use the prize.




Only 11 more days til it is time to Swarm. I am rushing around like a headless chook trying to get the house ready for it, I think I will be still getting it all done when I have to go to the airport to pick up the first Swarmer, Lorraine.

We have an Aussie sponsor for our Swarm :)

That's right we have a sponsor from Australia, I am so happy to introduce Mandy from http://www.scrappy-go-lucky.com.au/ We have a fantastic prize coming from Mandy, something that you might not have seen before, as usual once the Swarm is on you will all know, but it is a product that will be very useful with your Cricut machines.............................. I have to give myself a crash course on how to use it/them so I can show you while you are at the Swarm. I will wrap the prize and post a pic once it arrives. I can tell you that all attending the Swarm will also be receiving a 10% off voucher when you shop at http://www.scrappy-go-lucky.com.au/


As well as the sponsorship by http://www.scrappy-go-lucky.com.au/ I have been asked to join their design team and I am dizzy with excitement and have design ideas going through my head a at a million miles an hour. I will let you all know when I have my designs up for display on their blog.