Craft Store Haul: Paper, Pens and Fabric Oh My!

So I went a little crazy these last two weeks....

I got my Cricut Explore about 2 weeks ago and there are so many projects I wanted to get started on and accessories that I wanted to get a hold of that I visited Joann Fabrics twice in one week as well as frequented the Cricut website (to take advantage of their accessory sale).

Let's begin reviewing the purchases I made this week! (All totally necessary :-))

My first stop was Amazon

They had some pretty awesome deals on some of the Cricut accessories I was itching to get my hands on. I am an Amazon Prime member so I received free two day shipping!

Metallic Pen Set

Antiquity Pen Set

Scoring Stylus

Wireless Blue Tooth Adapter

(Ordered the deep cut blade and housing after the fact, it's on its way!)

My second stop was Cricut

(Sometimes I get on their website and can't help myself)

Cricut is having a sale this week offering 35% off supplies and 50% off clearance items along with free shipping on orders over $35 dollars if you use the code FREESHIP35 ( I took full advantage). I have been pining over the new pen sets Cricut has released in recent weeks so as soon as I saw they were on sale I grabbed them up.

Southwest Pen Set

Color Candy Shop Pen Set

Color Wildflower Pen Set

German Carbide Premium Blade

Bonus Purchase! I got the September mystery box which contained...

12 x 24 Standard Grip Cutting Mat
Southwest Cardstock
Antiquity Cardstock
Tablescapes Fall and Winter Cartridge
Autumn Celebrations

I'm so glad I got the mystery box it was really worth it!

My third and final stop was to Joann Fabric and Craft Store.

If you know me you know I love, love, loooooove Joann's.
Lucky for me they were having their coupon commotion last week. The coupon commotion is over now but Joann's always has coupons online, or you can sign up to receive them in the mail. For a little extra treat text the word COUPON to 56266 to get a 20% off your entire purchase.  I always take advantage of their coupons because usually you can get some pretty fantastic deals (I've linked to the coupons above).

My first trip to Joann's was to look for fancy cardstock to do mock ups of wedding invites for my cousin (blog post to come, Taylor Ink does weddings!). Joann had their single sheets of cardstock 5 for $1, you can't beat that!

Foundations Finish in Oceanic, Cardstock
Gemstone Finish in Pearl, Cardstock
Gemstone Finish in Opal, Cardstock
String of Pearls Glitter Cardstock
Random small sheets of Cardstock
Adhesive Foam Dots
Decorative Twine
Gold Organza

(I got 5 sheets of each color listed plus a few sheets of the smaller sized paper. Can you believe I got all the stuff above for $9!? Believe it)

My second trip was to get supplies for future blog posts and to stock up on basic colored cardstock so whenever I get inspired the supplies I need are right there at my finger tips.

1 yd of Halloween Polka Dot Fabric
1 yd of Halloween Striped Fabric
3 yds of craft bonding
Black Satin Ribbon
4 Sheets of Textured Felt
4 Skeins of  Red Heart Aran Fleck Yarn
9mm [US13] Circular Knitting Needles
Ring Stitch Markers
Detachable Stitch Markers
Stitch Holder
6x6 Burlap Paper Stack
12 x 12 Fall & Halloween Combo Cardstock
8 1/2 x 11 Fall and Halloween Basics Stack
8 1/2 x 11 World Tour Cardstock Stack
Distress Ink Pads in Vintage Photo & Tea Dye

I have tried to link all of the supplies I have bought up above for you to check out.

And make sure you keep an eye out for some of these items being used in future blog posts....(hint, hint)

I want to hear from all of you!

What kinds of projects can you dream up using any of the supplies listed? I'd love to hear your ideas, and maybe try one out myself and feature it on the blog!

As always, Happy Crafting!! ~ T

Tying the Knot

On September 15th I had the pleasure of being in one of my very dear friend's wedding, Danielle Mesich, or should I say Boisvert! Since she is the one who got me into paper crafting it is only fair I give her a shout out and share with you how I made her custom wedding card and coordinating bow/wrapping for her gift.

Danielle's theme was nautical, the wedding was at DiMillo's Restaurant in Portland which is a floating restaurant in the port. The invites included anchors and light houses, seashells adorned the tables as well as chocolate lobster favors. With that I thought it was only fitting that the wedding card I created for Danielle followed that theme as well. 

If you want to create a similar card here is what you will need. ( I used the Cricut Explore for my project but if you want to use any nautical themed paper punches for embellishing your card you can do so as well)

1. Ribbon (I chose a burlap green ribbon and a blue grosgrain ribbon)

2. Green and Navy Cardstock

3. Gold gilded cardstock with Anchors (or any patterned paper you like)

4. Corrugated paper

5. Adhesive

6. Cricut Explore

7. Envelope Punch Board (I linked to it on Joann's website, I love my envelop punch board)

Here's a close up of the paper I used (I swapped the orange out for the green after I took this picture)

~ Step One ~

There are three shape cutouts that we need to make, the card, a large oval, and a slightly smaller over (the smaller oval is where I made my tying the knot cut and rope cut)

Using Cricut Design Space I chose the card format I wanted to use ( I chose the card layout from the Sweet Treats image set). Using the rulers on the top and left hand side of the screen I measured out how big I wanted my card to be. for this card I chose kind of an odd measurement, 5 1/2 in  x  9in.

The image I chose had the main part of the card but also an insert for writing a greeting on. Because I wanted to do a layering affect on the inside the insert that came with the original card image I just duplicated and made slightly smaller than the original.

For the main piece of the card I chose the gold gilded paper and for the two rectangles on the inside I chose green for the large one and navy for the smaller one.

On the navy blue portion of the card I added some text which I used my Cricut silver metallic pen to to have the machine write out for me (my handwriting is terrible when under pressure, same goes for my  spelling :-) )

~ Step 2 ~

Next step is to cut out our ovals for the from of the card along with choosing what the front should say. I found this really great rope writing and rope heart image online I wanted to use. Following the steps from my last blog post on how to upload your own images and cut them, do the same with the image you choose to use for the front of the card. You can also use images you might already own or are subscribed to, the world is your oyster, 

Cute right!

For the large oval I chose the corrugated paper and for the smaller oval I chose a chevron cardstock. 

~ Step 3 ~

Now it is time to put it all together! 

I started with the inside of the card using my Scotch Advanced Tape Glider placed adhesive to the back of each of the rectangles, lined them up and attached them one by one to the card.

For an added touch to the front of the card I added some ribbon to the first Oval so that the colors would peak through the cutouts of my small oval. Again using my tape glider I secured the ovals and ribbon to the front of my card.

And here is the finished product!

I wasn't completely happy with it so I added the cutout piece from the heart and did a shadow effect (Cricut's cuts are so precise!)

~ Step 4 ~

Envelope and Gift Wrap.

I chose the same green cardstock I used on the inside of my card for the envelope. Following the easy instructions on my envelope punch board it was simple to make!

For Danielle's wedding present I got her a personalized Christmas ornament made by a really cool artist I found at the Yarmouth Clam Festival this year. They are called Chart Metalworks, out of Portland, ME. It's a husband and wife team that create handcrafted custom map and nautical chart jewelry. For Danielle's I chose the coordinates where DiMillo's is for the map that appears on one side of the ornament. 

This is how it turned out...

I linked to their website above if you would like to check out some more of their pieces. You won't be disappointed!

The last item of business I needed to take care of was tying it all together. Using my Cricut Explore again I chose a bow cut out that turns into a 3D bow. How cool is that!! I chose a bow from the Something to Celebrate image set.

I kind of just eyeballed the size I would need to make it. I didn't want it too big so that it completely took over the box.

Here is how it turned out....

I chose a neutral chevron cardstock for the bow.

To wrap it all together I took some of the leftover navy blue ribbon I used on the card tied the box and the card together like a present, and stuck the paper bow to the top of the box with some adhesive. I left tails with the navy blue ribbon for that little extra something. 

The finished product turned out beautiful I couldn't be more pleased.

I would love to hear your ideas on what you would do for a nautical themed wedding card. 

Happy Crafting!! ~ T

Vinyl Monogram and Bows

I cannot say it enough, I AM SO EXCITED TO FINALLY HAVE MY CRICUT EXPLORE!! Did I tell you I am excited? :-) 

Cricut really does a great job with it's packaging and little goodies it gives you to begin using it right away. 

I purchased a bundle directly from Cricut that included not just the machine but also 3 of the basic Mats and the tools set. The Cricut Explore (no matter if you buy just the machine or a bundle) also comes with a metallic pen, one 12" x 12" standard grip cutting mat, black and jade cardstock, silver vinyl, white iron-on, and two Duck Tape sheets. That is quite a bit of materials to try out your new machine!

For my first Explore project I thought why not personalize my machine!!! While browsing the Cricut Design Space projects gallery and Pinterest, my love of all things preppy steered me towards monograms and bows (which is probably why I love Kate Spade so much, bows, bows and more bows).

Here is what you will need to get started...

1. Laptop (to create your own monogram)

2. Cricut Explore

3. Vinyl in any color (I'm using the vinyl that came with my machine)

4. Clear contact paper (or vinyl transfer paper)

~ Step One ~

First we need to create a monogram to use. It's super easy to do using Microsoft Word. I found this easy to follow blog post  by In My Own Style (you can also find this link on my Pinterest) with step by step instructions on how to create and edit your own monogram. Your finished product should look something similar to this...

(How cool is this!! I'm going to be a monogramming fool!)

~ Step Two ~

 Next we need to get our monogram into Cricut Design Space. Here's the part where I will insert a little blurb about how awesome the Design Space software is and how you can upload your own images to use on projects. Make sure you take a screen shot of your monogram, open it in paint, crop and clean it up a bit, then save as a .jpg. On the Design Space main screen select Upload Image from the menu on the left hand side of the window.

We are going to do a Basic Upload. From here you can browse the images on your computer. 

Once you have selected your match your upload image. Choose whether it is a Simple Image, Moderately Complex Image or a Complex Image. For the monogram I chose simple. The program will then ask you to clean up the image by making the areas that you don't want in the cut path checkered.

~ Step Three ~

After you have cleaned your image up it's time to re-size the design to fit your canvas. Design Space has this wonderful canvas feature where you can choose a variety of canvases you can work with, t-shirts, aprons, pillows. 

When you choose a canvas it shows up as a shadow on the design window that is true to size, it makes it easy for you to visualize how big or small you want to make your image. Lucky for us their is a Cricut Explore Canvas! Made my life so much easier instead of trying to guess how big I needed to make my monogram.

I sized my monogram so that I left a little bit of room at the bottom to add my bow. For the bow I just searched the image library and selected this cute polka dot one. I sized and arranged the bow along with my monogram to get preview of what it would look like on the Cricut. 

~ Step Four ~

Now it's time to cut! Since I decided to cut both images out on the same colored vinyl I only needed one mat (standard grip). Select the Go button to start the process.

It will give you a preview of how many mats you will need and how the images will cut out on the mat. By selecting next it will take you to the prompt screen where your first step will be to load your mat into the cricket. Next make sure your dial is set to vinyl. Lastly, press go on the machine and watch the magic happen!

~ Step Five ~

(Last Step You're Almost There!)

Once the machine is done cutting unload the mat, I had some excess vinyl that I didn't want to waste so I cut off the parts that I could use for other projects and in the scrap drawer they went. Next start removing the excess vinyl from around your cut, making sure the cut stays stuck to the backing. Once that is completed take your contact paper, cut a piece to the size of your monogram and bow. Stick it on top of your cuts making sure rub on top a bit so that when you lift the contact paper up the image comes with it. 

Center your monogram on the Cricut, gently rub the top with your scrapper tool, and slowly lift up the contact paper. Do the same for the bow....and you're done!!

Now you have a fancy personalized Cricut Explore!

That's it! It's super simple and easy to monogram just about anything, the possibilities are endless. Monogrammed tumblers, notebooks, planners, tech cases, laptops and the list goes on. I hope you enjoyed this post. I know I enjoyed making it!

Are there any other types of fonts you would rather use for a monogram? What would you monogram?

Happy Monogramming!! ~ T

First Blog Post: The Vintage Window Gallery Wall

Welcome to my Blog, Taylor Ink!!

If you are reading this thank you for reading and joining me on my crafting adventures. This first post is about one of my DIY projects that is an absolute labor of love and not quite completed yet. I thought I would share it with you anyways.

I live in a very old mill building that they converted into apartments, which means I have extremely high ceilings and therefore very large walls to decorate. After residing here for a little over a year I thought it was time to decorate (finally) one of the most empty walls in my apartment behind the couch.

My inspiration for this DIY came from seeing a Pin about using vintage windows arranged on a wall to cover the area above a staircase. As soon as I saw this the little light bulb went off in my head, why couldn't I do something similar in my apartment. So the search began for old windows, which is easy here in New Hampshire because many of the homes are very old and many are being fixed up.

My search began on Craigslist. I found a seller in Epping, NH who was fixing up the home that they had recently purchased (a beautiful 1800's home equipped with large barn and all, my dream house). In the large barn that was attached to the house the owners had dozens of old windows and shutters that were left there by the previous inhabitants. 

Shout out to my Mom and Aunt for helping me wade through the dusty and bug ridden piles of windows to find the perfect ones for what I was envisioning. Drum roll please........aaaand here are the winners.

(I ended up not using the shutter, I still have it so I may use it in a future project)

I drew the layout on a piece of paper (very very sloppy) to see how I wanted to arrange the windows on the wall. When the time came to hang them I used 3M Large Picture Hanging Command Strips. For the larger windows I used 10 pairs (20 individual strips) and for the smaller windows I used 8. They are a little bit heavier than a framed picture, the packaging says 4 sets of strips can hold 16lbs.

One of the windows that was just the glass I decided to add a 'T' to it that was just laying around the apartment. You can either do a vinyl cutout or a cardboard letter if you would like, either works. 

Once I added the 'T' and decided on which layout I wanted to pursue it was time to hang the windows. It was not an easy task and I recommend that you have someone there to help if possible. Thankfully my wonderful boyfriend Alex was here for the weekend and helped hang them. Thanks bubs!

Voila! This is what the final outcome looks like. My mom, when she was here visiting, bought me the beautiful wall sconces from a small home decor and country store here in Dover called Back Home Memories. I added some battery operated candles that I purchased from Target to give it some ambiance at night. (couldn't find ones on a timer which would of been better since it's a bit high for me to turn them on and off by hand).

I still want to add a few more things to my window gallery wall so I will be sure to post when I finally decide!

I hope you liked my first post on the blog! look for another post later this week about my new Cricut Explore which is scheduled to be delivered on Wednesday!! This is my first die-cutting machine so I am extremely excited to get my hands on it. 

What ideas do you guys have using vintage windows? Is there another kind of gallery wall you would like to try? I'd love to hear your ideas!

Happy Crafting!!  ~ T