Quilt Patchwork Patterns

Fun With Scrapbooking

Just a while ago I was thinking about doing some scrapbooking. But just when I wanted to start, thinking about the process gave me the creeps.

It sounds strange but every time I start to scrapbook something goes wrong. There was nothing I could have done about it. Most of the time I can’t find all of the tools that I need. Or I was about to finish my session and then ruined the most important cut because I couldn’t lift it of the cutting map properly.

If you have similar experiences I want to share with you my three golden rules for scrapbooking fun. They helped me big time to get over my frustration and have a lot more fun.

Golden Rule 1: Organize Your Workplace

In the past I often had a problem: My workplace wasn’t a real workplace. It was no real workplace. More like a place where I stored all the stuff when I didn’t need it… and sometimes not even that.

That’s why I couldn’t find a lot of stuff and often the place was still messy from my last session.

I recommend you to design your workplace like an office. Have a place for everything. Have a place where you want to store your tools. And the most important thing is to clean up your workplace carefully after every session.

Golden Rule 2: Good Tools Make Great Projects

Nothing is worse than ruining a great cut because your scissors is not sharp enough. You can not scrapbook if you haven’t got a complete set of high quality tools. Probably the best of all Cricut tools is the Cricut cutting machine.

Golden Rule 3: Write Down Your Thoughts

At the end of the day you will want your ideas and thoughts well organized and written down. Why? Because we forget most of our best scrapbooking ideas when we don’t write them down immediately.

Have a plan, maybe even a process to organize your ideas and thoughts so you never forget them and you will have a great time scrapbooking!

Is This The Way To Get The Most Out Of Your Creative Time

If you’re like me, you’re probably always looking forward to the special time of the week where you get to do your creative work. The whole week ideas popped into your head but as soon as you sit down to get to it, your mind goes blank.

How frustrating!

Everything is in place, your Cricut essentials are ready, the materials and tools are waiting neatly organized on your desk, the machine is fired up… but your mind is blank!

I’ve struggled with those issues myself and I’ve found that there are some things you can do to avoid this.

I am going to share my three best tips with you right now on how to maximize your creative time:

Tip #1 – Create Project Files

Take a journal, book or just a piece of paper and start writing down all of your great ideas as soon as they come up. This is an important part of the creative process. It actually taps into the power of your unconscious mind that’s seeking expression.

Get yourself a journal that’s going to hold your Cricut ideas from now on.

Tip #2 – Don’t Try To Be Original

In the past I was always thinking I had to come up with brilliant ideas every time I practice my creative hobby. But this is counterproductive. It freezes you.

Instead, focus on just the craft and the creation, and the gems will come. Sooner or later they always come. Every designer knows that you have to do lots of creative work - because to get one gem you also produce a bunch of crap. Of course you don’t have to show that crap around. And I recommend you do not because their fake compliments can discourage you from going on with the work.

Tip #3 – Immerse Yourself

Hit forums and social groups with other Cricut designers and talk to them. Not only will you get a tremendous amount of inspiration, you’ll also get the encouragement you need. Crafting with Cricut is fun for you, but it’s also work. You sit down and spend time on something you normally don’t do.

Now, grab your Cricut essentials and get to work! If you keep it inside of you and let it bottle up, it will only lead to frustration.

7 Top Tips On The Cricut Essentials - Beyond Birthdays Cartridge

Celebrate all of life’s great pleasures - birthdays and more - with the Beyond Birthdays Cricut Cartridge. I want to share my 7 top tips on using Beyond Birthdays to craft your personalized, unique cards and gifts that your friends and family will always remember:

1. Sometimes less is more. The Bexond Birthdays Cartridge has much to offer, and I know we all want to craft only the most beautiful art, but the Cartridge also has a simpler purpose. Go ahead and use the easy-to-follow instructions to craft pretty, personalized birthday cards.

2. You can also use Cricut for your own birthday – have you thought about inviting guests with your special, personalized Cricut invitation cards?

3. Express your feelings with Cricut. No need to wait for a special occasion like birthdays or Christmas. Craft heart-warming cards full of love and affection that say “I Love You” or “My Friend”. Your loved-ones and friends will be surprised and touched by your unexpected gifts.

4. “It’s a girl” – Is there a better way to announce that you are pregnant than sending these cute and personalized cards to your loved-ones?

5. Next time you want to buy Cricut tools, think about getting a Cricut software or a great manual for it. A good software - for example - is the Cricut Design Studio and it can save you hours of your time: Combine different cartridges by incorporating their shapes, fonts and graphics.

6. Use the software to manipulate all the shapes and letters. Often we already know what the card should look like but something is just not right about our results. There’s always something too small, big, wide or thin… With the Design Studio you can stretch, shrink and freely manipulate every shape and all the letters.

7. You can save time and lots of paper by connecting the letters and do all in one cutting. That’s also possible using the Cricut software I mentioned above. There’s no reason to cut one letter after another when you can just connect them and do it much faster, right? And you can even save quite a bit of paper this way.

Well, those are my top 7 tips and tricks on using Bexond Birthdays and a good Cricut software to make your artwork even more beautiful. It’s definitely one of my favorite Cricut essentials.