It's No Fun To Browse The Internet!

It's really no fun anymore. It use to be fun back when you could browse the internet while seeing and reading cool things. But now...it's just a pain in the arse!

For instance, you go to look at some kitchen makeover stories on the Better Homes and Gardens website and you lose the whole picture of the kitchen makeover because of all the ads and pop ups. I'm not sure if I was looking at a kitchen here or if I was trying to buy a house, a truck, drink some whiskey, watch a video or decorate for Christmas. Do the folks who design this chit not know how this interrupts our sensory abilities to focus on the subject?

When I tried to read an article about some unusually marked dog the page was full of ads and then it wanted me to click "NEXT" to continue reading, which I did not since I have found that those kind of websites make you click through like 284 pages *okie knows she is exaggerating but it doesn't feel like much of an exaggeration* to read a 3 paragraph article. Not only that but there are all these annoying suggested reading's below the photo that most just lead to...YES! ADS!! And of course there is more ads in the side column that want me to book travel, cook a gourmet meal, hang my Christmas stockings or learn how to get beautiful. Why does the internet not think I am already beautiful! Are they spying on me, oddly enough I keep a little piece of Washi Tape over my camera eye on my laptop because while I am not a paranoid type I do know that people will hack into your computer for fun and see what you are doing by taking control of your webcam *okie won't mention that she would totally do that to others if she knew how* . It's all so distracting from what I am actually trying to see and read.

If you want to see 31 Hilarious Baby Photos you have to go through a slideshow, clicking 62 times *okie didn't go through and check to see if it was 62* because there is actually 2 photos for each photo and they are on separate pages. IT'S FREAKING ANNOYING! I JUST WANTED TO SEE CUTE BABIES!! Why can't they just put it all on one page and let you scroll through instead of wasting time clicking and clicking and clicking and clicking annnnndddd clicking!! Not to mention that other pages pop up and you have to find out how to get past it in order to get back to the dang cute babies!!


Didn't the internet use to be a lot more fun and simple? Now it's just a maze, or web if you will, of just making us see ads, accidentally click on them where we lose our original subject and then giving up all together. I've decided it's just no fun to browse the internet anymore!

Christmas Themed Acrylic Mini Album

I tried to get all fancy and edit the video I made but that just didn't work out too well. I hate that we are forced to change things that we know how to use and then can't find somthing similar, such as the Windows Movie Maker. Oh I could use it but it won't recognize the type of file my camera uses and well it was just one headache after another so I just uploaded the dang thing to Youtube "as is". Ya'll are gonna have to excuse my poor video skills...I know I really do suck at it.

The paper I used for the album is Basic Grey Wassail and was one of the first BG collections I purchased. Oh how I did use to love my Basic Grey! At least until they started getting some really funky patterns and by then I had started my love affair with Graphic 45.

Anyway here is video of the mini album and by golly someone better watch it because it a dang hour and a half to upload! I seriously went to Walmart and came back and the thing was still uploading so....

WATCH THE DANG VIDEO PLEASE!!!

Cricut Explore Air2 Review - Haunted Mansion Project

I was sent the Explore Air2 to review and I did a pretty complicated project for my first project with the machine and instead of writing a bunch of stuff and taking a ton of pictures I did a video instead. Actually my friend Carmen suggested a video as it would be easier for people to see the detail. I hate video's because I hate my voice and I am not very good at making the dang things but here it is!!

Here is a picture of the house in case you don't want to watch the video. The house is the Haunted Mansion from the Happy Hauntings cartridge and I did have to do some editing *okie thinks saying "some" is the understatement of the year* to the images to get the patterned paper to cut like I wanted so I could apply it to the house it's self.

I am really pleased with how well the Explore Air2 cut all the images and I had some pretty tough ones in there after I got done with my edits of the house. I really liked the ability to speed up the cuts on the regular cardstock. The machine settings won't let you speed up cuts for things that would likely tear up if it did, such as the chipboard setting. One thing I did find annoying was that the Air2 is quite a bit louder than the other Explore machines I reviewed but it is still more quiet than the other Cricuts, Pazzles or the Cameo's I have heard cutting. I think the quietness of the original Explore just has me spoiled 

The house is open at the bottom so you can add lighting if you wish. In the video I used battery operated tea lights and they work okay but for maximized lighting I think I would find something with a few more lumens so the windows really light up. 

I am super glad I chose this as my first project as Graphic45 was having contests all last week on their Facebook page and my little Haunted Mansion won the really nice prize package in the picture to the left!

This was just a win win situation for me!

My Daughter's Shadow Box - Graphic 45 Steampunk Spells

When you are using the same papers and embellishments it is hard to make things look differently but I was able to find a few things to help my daughter's shadow box look different than the one I did for myself.

Here is the full view of my daughter's shadowbox and when I finished and sent her the picture she said she loved it! Which she sure dang better as much time and effort as I put in the dang thang! BBWWAAHHHAHHAAA

This was what my daughter said was her favorite part of the shadowbox and I really think I love this lady as well. I used some Perfect Pearls on her feathers. I cut out one of the little flowers and layered it up to add on the hat and it covers a rose that was in that area. I didn't want to cut up a full sheet of paper so I could make the rose dimensional. The crow was on the handlebar and since I couldn't make the bird fit and it looked silly for him to be cut in half I layered him up and then made him go on the edge of the shadow box. 

She did actually look a little plain until the gears, moth, cat banner and little gold embellishment at her waist was added. Oh yes and Glossy Accents on her glasses of course!

The clock square was easy enough to do but there is a lot of fussy cutting on those images. As you can see I also used a lot of pop dots in the project. 

I think Dr. Dreadful shows up better in this picture than he did in the one I posted yesterday and Carmen said he was her favorite and she thought it was because of his glasses. 

This little Miss Ima Fraid is the lady that was in the memory slide on my shadow box but for my daughter's box I decided to layer her up and make her pop. Once again some Perfect Pearls on the feathers add some glitz and I even did her hair with them. 

See the little bats in the hot air balloon rectangle? Some of them are printed on the paper and others are fussy cut. Yes I said they were fussy cut and YES I needed my reading glasses and was trying to figure out how to tape a magnifying glass to them so it would be easier to see the little things. The banners were "waved" so they would fit in the rectangle, just like I did a sign on my shadow box. 

I loved this image and I knew I had to make a sign out of it somehow but I did have to take up two rectangles to make it work. The little bottles at the bottom have lime green flock and black diamond embossing powder in them to make them potion bottles. I filled in with "charms", okay actually buttons but we will call them charms so they tie in with the sign since it says potions and charms. The little banner is from some cardstock embellies that go with the collection. I used some chain to make the sign look like it was hanging and it would have not been possible without the use of some Sobo glue. I tell ya'll that stuff is like a miracle!

I did the skeleton on this one like I did for mine but I did do a different one with using the "Love Potion" image. My daughter said she loved this rectangle because of the little bottle with the "potion" in it. I just poured a little glimmer mist in the bottle. I added some Sobo glue to the cork and then pushed it in the bottle so I could make sure the cork wouldn't come out and the potion spill out on everything. 

There isn't really much to say about the last two squares since they are like the others but just different images. That and I'm tired of typing now and can't think of anything else to say!

Shadow Box - Graphic 45 Steampunk Spells

One of the Graphic45 collections that Carmen was able to pick up was Steampunk Spells. When she got it I'm not sure either one of us realized it was Halloween which was silliness on both our parts since it did say "Spells". And the crazy part is that neither of us do a lot of Halloween!

Carmen had given me two shadow boxes when I was last in Houston and my daughter had been asking about making something for Halloween so I told her we could do the shadow boxes and while she seemed excited about the whole prospect she didn't show up on the day we were suppose to make them because she had one too many shots the night before. The girl just can't handle her liquor! *okie crack up laughing*.

Since I had already planned on making mine I moved ahead without her and started mine. It took me almost a full week to finish the dang thing! I think because of all the fussy cutting and trying to figure out what would work in the little rectangles. 

Here is the picture of the whole shadow box and you might need to click on the picture and make it bigger to see it better.

I think you can tell a little better in this picture how much fussy cutting was really involved. I used Glossy Accents on Dr. Dreadful's glasses to make them look like glass. I loved the Potions and Charms image and to get it to fit correctly I had to "wave" it a little. The little fence behind the crow was some border that my friend Amy sent me years ago.

See that tiny little flower on Madam Macabre's hat? Well it's about the size of my pinky nail. I thought I was going to go blind cutting that little thing out! I went through my "antique" button jar for embellishments on the project and added those here and there. The spider web in the cat rectangle was another border that my friend Amy sent me and I have been hanging on to for just the right project...and it only took like 5 years to find the right project!

It's hard to see the little beads in the memory frame but I wanted them to resemble something like pills since I couldn't figure out how to add little bone looking embellies in such a small space. The key and owl were some charms I had in stash. I picked up the little bottles the LSS and I added embossing powders in them. 

I think a lot of people stopped using Ranger Inkssentials Memory Frames a few years ago since I don't see them around much anymore but I still love using them on projects and that is what image of the lady is in. All the flowers around her were fussy cut and layered. The little butterfly in the square to the left is layered as well. 

I'm not sure what airballoons have to do with Halloween other than they are orange but I really liked them and wanted to incorporate them into the shadow box and since there is a full sheet of them in the collection I knew they had to match. The clock on the skeleton's hat was cut out again and then pop dotted and Glossy Accents added and all that work was worth the end result.

The banner was from a package of banner's that goes with the collection and these worked out great for the space. The metal gears are some embellies I bought off a Facebook group probably last year and I did have Graphic45 paper in mind when I purchased them and they were perfect as embellishment on the shadow box.

I did end up making the shadow box for my daughter as well and I will post it tomorrow. I did try to make it look different but they do look quite a bit a like. 

ECU Homecoming T-Shirts

A few years ago when my son-in-law played football I made a lot of shirts for my family and his so we could show our support during the games and since then I haven't worked with HTV much but when my friend Andrea and her girls, which are my Goddaughter's, all decided to make it for homecoming this year I thought we needed to wear some matching shirts.

My oldest and youngest Goddaughters, Ashley and Amber, are both Alumni from ECU, as am I and my daughter is a student at the University so I got busy designing some shirts that we could show off at the parade and game. I was able to add our alumni years on the sleeves and my daughter has "Class of" on one of her sleeves. The shirt you see here is my shirt. I of course decided we needed a little bling on the shirts as well.

Andrea brought me a white shirt to do the design on and she just wanted East Central Univeristy on hers. I at first had designed "Proud Mom of ECU Alumni" but I did as she requested and I think it turned out great! This is Andrea and I at the parade.

Before we headed out to the game I had someone snap a picture of all of us in our shirts. I actually think this is the first picture I have of all of us together which is a bit sad since Andrea and I have been friends for 30 years and the girls have all known each other since birth! 

From left to right: Ashley, Eboni (she went to OSU instead of ECU), Amber, Andrea, me and my daughter Porsche or Shiane if that is what you would prefer to call her. 

Now that Ashley is a mommy and her son was coming as well I had to make him a little shirt as well. I don't think I have written anything about this little guy but let me tell you something...he has stolen my heart! Since he is my Godgrandson I might be biased about how cute and smart he is but I really just don't think I am. And the best part is that he seems to adore his Nana, which by the way is me!

While our team did lose the game at last we were lookin fly sportin our glitzy t-shirts and the best part was all of us spending the day together!

Santa Bag, Santa Sack, Whatever You Want To Call It

A lot of you know the whole rage about the personalized Santa Bags or Santa Sack, which ever you wish to call them and I have been wanting to make some but didn't really have a purpose for them until recently. When I was in Houston back in August my friend Carmen gave me two that she had purchased that only needed names and I did one for my Godgrandson Carter and my great nephew Lane.

I had ordered 6 bags off of Amazon months ago because I want to do a few for some children I know and since I had the heat press out for the T-Shirts I decided to try the bags then. 

After checking out several images on Google I came up with my own design that I really liked. What I did notice is that I have to turn up the temperature a little more and press a few seconds longer than on a t-shirt and I think it is because of the canvas texture. 

While I would love to share this file I won't because I know people will be using it to make the bags and sell their own so I figure they can make their own file instead of profiting off of mine. I know that is not my normal feelings about sharing my files but sometimes I gotta just keep some things to myself. 

Dust Cover Patterns - Cricut Explore, Cuttlebug, Cameo

I had a few people ask about the patterns for the dust covers I made and I do have the Cameo, Cricut Explore and Cuttlebug dust cover patterns available in Make the Cut and SVG formats.

*in her best used car salesman's voice okie puts on a cheesy grin and does a sing song cadence* For a low low price you can purchase dust cover patterns for the Silhouette Cameo, Cricut Explore and the Cuttlebug (original version only).

Before you decide to buy you need to understand that I am not a professional pattern maker, nor do I know how to write directions and the directions you see below will be the only directions you will receive so you will need to understand the basics of putting pieces together and sewing, such as clipping at curves or clipping points so material lays flat.

To purchase please go to DUST COVER PATTERNS FOR SALE at the top of the page or click HERE. 

And My Dust Covers

My house is dusty. Not just a little dusty but it's one of those deals where I can dust of a morning and by night time I could dust again and it irritates me that things in my craftroom get dusty. 

The fabric for the covers I made for myself had a different purpose when I purchased it. I was actually going to make curtains for my French Doors in the dining room but since I went the whole "Stainglass" French Doors route I was left with the fabric. The fabric matched well in the craftroom and I opted to use it to make my dust covers. 

I had originally thought I would make a cover for my Explore and my Cuttlebug but then I thought about my laser printer and my Canon Pixma Pro-100 printers and figured they needed covers too. And while I was at it why not make one for my laminator as well. 

Somehow the whole sewing project just blew up and I ended up with covers for my Cinch and my Janome Sew Mini. I also made covers for my Xyron 5" creative station, Xyron 2.5" and even my little Xyron X. When my daughter saw the cover on the Xyron X she just looked at me and said "Really Mom? REALLYYYY?" and I told her "I had some scraps I needed to use".

The hardest part about it all was making all the patterns for the different shapes but once I started I knew I had to finish. Maybe I did got overboard but I have to say that I really love all my dust covers!

Cameo and Cuttlebug Dustcovers for Karen

When I get busy with projects I swear time just gets away from me and I am quickly moving on to the next project and I don't want to take the time to post the project I just finished and that is what has happened the last few weeks.

If you remember I made my friend Carmen some covers for her Cameo and her Explore and since I made her covers I thought I should make my friend Karen some covers for her Cameo and Cuttlebug. I was able to find some fabric that I thought might work for her craftroom.

After I bought the material I sent Karen a picture and she asked if there was enough to make a valance for her window in the craftroom and I told her I thought there should be so I got the measurements from her and came up with what you see in the picture. I added the beige pieces to match the flaps on her covers. 

Karen didn't have a preference of what kind of decoration I did for her flaps so I went with a doily looking design with her intitials in the middle using HTV. I also added a rhinestone ring between the two. I went through my button stash and found two large buttons to add at the bottom. If I would have had one more I would have added them to the valance as well but I only had 4!

For the Cuttlebug Cover I made the pattern to where the flap covers the opening at the top but the flap can be flipped back and the handle of the Cuttlebug can be grabbed easy for moving around.

One of the sides has a slit so the handle can be slipped through and not covered. The only reason I did this was because I thought it looked a little more neat and clean when covered and didn't have a big bulge under the cover. 

Karen was thrilled with the covers and valance and she said they colors matched perfectly!