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Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Virtual Cropping!


Hi there!

This past weekend I had the opportunity to do a virtual crop.  What's that, you may ask?  Virtual cropping is where you don't leave your house, but rather set up your your laptop or desktop computer in your craft space and enter Google+ Hangouts to craft with other crafters from around the country.  It. Was. So. Fun!!  We had about 6 people Saturday evening, and four people Sunday.  People could come and go as they please.  We were able to talk, laugh, share our projects, ask for ideas or help, and just have a great time without driving anywhere.  When we had to do dinner, we just left and came back when dinner was over.  I highly recommend doing this!

To do it, all you need is a gmail account, and then to create the Hangout.  There are up to 10 people allowed in a hangout at a time.  Although we had a few technological glitches, it was fun to crop with people from as far as TX, OK, MD and NY.  I definitely recommend it.  I truly think it's the wave of the future.

During a technological malfunction that one of us was having, I was able to snag a picture of what it looks like.  You can see the picture below.


What's nice about it, as you see above there's a large picture and four or so smaller pictures.  When someone is talking, their video is larger and the rest of us stay below in the smaller picture until we are talking.  As you can see above there was a good mix of us.  We had (from Left to Right:  Me, Rebecka (malfunctioning with a frozen screen), Rebecka (coming back in after her other screen froze), Tangee, and Terri.  Good stuff!!  Oh, and I need to shave.  Eek!  

Craft on,
Ian

Digital Scrapbooking?

Hey there,

I was checking my email today and noticed that a friend passed along a steal that I wanted to share with you all.  If you have wanted to get into scrapbooking but haven't had the time to devote to picking out paper, embellishments, printing photos, and piecing everything together, this program is for you!  It looks like a great program.  Plus, until August 4, 2012, it is 96% off!  For $1.99 you download the Digital Scrapbook Artist 2 program to create beautiful digital pages that you can either print, or send to your friends and family!

Check it out!


I hope you are all having a wonderful day!

Craft on,
Ian

Monday, July 30, 2012

Disney Dreaming - Exploring Cricut

Hey there!

As most of you know I'm on the Design Team for Exploring Cricut.  Today we are doing a Disney challenge where we needed to create a card, layout or paper crafting project with at least one Disney character.  For this project, I did two cards (one for a boy, and one for a girl).

I did an A6 card base, with the Yellow and Red cardstock being cut at 6.25" x 9" and scored it at 4.5"  The blue card stock was 6" x 4.25".



I cut Mickey and Minnie out at 4".  I cut the sentiments on the front of the card out at .75".  I used paper from Recollections from Michaels.  I took a white gel pen and added a stitching effect to the card to give it some extra dimension.

I used the Look Who's stamp set from Close To My Heart (D1502) for the inside of the cards.


I also went ahead and placed my own stamp I had ordered online for the back of the card.  Another blog post on that to follow - should have had it up before this.  Whoops!



I didn't press hard enough on one of them so it didn't show up clearly.  Crap.  I'm not going to fix it - I think it adds character, right?  :)  Right.



I hope you enjoyed it!  :)  Check back often for new projects.  Enjoy the rest of your day and have a great week!

Craft on,
Ian

Sunday, July 29, 2012

Campin Critters Doortags - LATE!

Hi there,

As I am writing this, it's 8:22 p.m. on Sunday night.  8:22 p.m., did you catch that?  My original intent was to have this scheduled to post this morning, but let's be honest, I didn't get to it before I went to bed last night (this morning) at 4:00 a.m.  Whoops!  So, I went to bed at 4:00 a.m. and then woke up at 1:45 p.m. again - whoops!  So...I got busy working on another project and realized...I never posted the rest of the doortags!  Uh oh!!

Anyway, my apologies that this is late, don't be mad at me.  I don't like it when you're mad at me.  There is also no video that goes along with this, because this was a very long drawn out process of cutting and piecing these all together.  :(  However, they are done!  I used the Campin' Critters Cricut Cartridge and cut them at 6".  The paper was from my stash, more often than not Recollections from Michaels.  I would have inked the edges but again, with the daunting task of cutting 13 different characters, I didn't do it.  I did go through with my white gel pen and created some dimension on each one.  I like it.  Hopefully the RAs will notice how much time and effort went into them.  Time will tell!  :)




Without further adieu, here they are.  Oh, and the frog was right-side-heavy so I had to use an Allen Wrench I had laying next to me.  Haha.  So, that doortag will not have the Allen Wrench when I hang it on the RAs door.  :)  Enjoy!!














Craft on,
Ian

Friday, July 27, 2012

As Featured on Exploring Cricut

Hi there!

For those of you stopping by from the Exploring Cricut blog, welcome!  I'm so glad you stopped by to check out my project!  For those of you who are following me already, I'm so happy you're here!

Today I have a project instead of a card.  As many of you know, I am a Hall Director (Area Coordinator) with Residence Life at a small private college.  As part of this job, I am required to make a doortag for each of my 13 resident assistants.  Although I haven't started this task yet (that's going to be done this weekend), I created MY doortag for my office door.  :)

I decided that the theme for my staff will start out as Campers or something of that nature.  I'm still coming up with the name, per se.  Anyway, as part of this, I decided to grab my Campin' Critters Cricut Cartridge and create this big guy.  The Park Ranger was cut at 8" and I used papers I had from my stash which include Joann's and Recollections from Michael's.  Once the pieces were cut, I went ahead and inked the edges with Close To My Heart inks:  Honey, New England Ivy, and Cocoa.  I think the inked edges really give him some dimension.  To go a little bit further, I wrote my name and title on the badge.  So cute, right?

Here are the pictures.



I'll be making the 13 other doortags for my RAs this weekend during a virtual crop.  "What's that" you say?  Well, a friend and some of her friends are all gathering around our computers and doing a Google+ Hangout to video chat with one another.  Imagine that!  This may just be the new wave of the future.  All you need is a gmail account.  Pretty cool, eh?  One minor issue, because I will be virtual cropping, there will be no video of me putting the little critters together.  However, on Sunday I will have pictures of the completed doortags.  So come back on Sunday to check them all out!

I hope you are all doing well.  The forecast is calling for rain, which we need desperately.  As long as there are no Severe Thunderstorms, I'm good!  I don't like thunderstorms when I'm alone.  Haha.  I'm 12.  (I'm not really 12, but I feel like it during a thunderstorm).  Anyone else dislike thunderstorms when you are alone?  :)

Craft on,
Ian

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Quick Update

Hi folks!

Just a quick update that I'm still here.  Life caught up with me for a bit.  Later on today I'll be posting a card I made this past weekend (without a video) and this Friday, I'll be featured on Exploring Cricut so be sure to stop back then and see what I've created!  :)  Oh, and I ordered some Close To My Heart goodies from the new Idea Book so once I get that box in, I'll be sure to do a video.  :D  

I hope you are all doing well!

Craft on,
Ian

Monday, July 16, 2012

Exploring Cricut Blog Hop

Hi Everyone!

I am so excited you decided to join on us on the Exploring Cricut Christmas in July Blog Hop!  If you are coming here first, I suggest starting at the beginning at Sharon's blog and hopping along the way.  You can start at Sharon's blog by clicking here!  There are a few that are doing giveaways, so you don't want to miss out on this awesome hop!

So without further adieu, here is my creation for the blog hop.  I decided to do a Christmas card and used the Jolly Holidays Cricut Cartridge to do so.  I picked up the patterned paper from Joann's and the solid paper came from Recollections by Michaels.  I ended up using a gel pen to add stitching to the border of the card.  When all was said and done I used the Black Onyx Liquid Pearls to add a "doorknob" to the front door.  The image was cut at 4.5 inches which fit perfectly on my 4.25" x 5.5" card.

I just LOVE this little house.  From the foot prints on the roof, to Santa sliding down the chimney, and the snow details on the window sill and door.  Check out the pictures below!





For all of you who were sad about not having a video before, you are in LUCK!  I have created a tutorial video on how I put this card together and you can watch it below.  :)  Feels good to be making videos again after a little hiatus.


Now, for the rest of the line up, check it out below.

Sharon - http://meemeescreations.blogspot.com
Annette - http://mymindsdustbunnies.blogspot.com
Jessica - http://craftinandstampin.blogspot.com
Emily - http://emilyqueenofallthingscrafty.blogspot.com
Michelle - http://mumoftwoblog.blogspot.com
Lori - http://scrappinsaints.blogspot.com
Kim - http://littleredshood.blogspot.com
Ian - http://anewbiecrafter.blogspot.com <-----  You are here
Diana - http://craftypeepdb.blogspot.com <-----  Go here next
Georgiana - http://carsonscricutcreations.blogspot.com
Diane - http://happyscrapperdiane.blogspot.com

Craft on,
Ian

Sunday, July 15, 2012

Just another shopping haul

Hey there!

I hope you are all enjoying your day.  It just started raining here in New York and I am trying to hold back from heading out to my front lawn to stand and dance around in the rain.  :)  So far, so good as I am keeping myself busy by writing this blog entry and setting up my blog for a blog hop I'm in tomorrow.

Recently I made some purchases, ok, a small haul, from Close To My Heart.  I am just loving everything that I'm getting!  To me, it's like Christmas everyday.  So, I made a small video to show you my goodies and gave you some product numbers if you were interested in ordering the products too!

So, without further adieu, I give you my latest shopping haul video.  :D  Oh, I also did a small shopping haul at Joann's yesterday, although no video, here's a picture of the haul!


Ok, here's the video!



Craft on,
Ian

Saturday, July 14, 2012

Close To My Heart


Hi folks!

Recently, I got a sneak peak of the NEW Idea Book from Close To My Heart!  It looks fantastic!  There are some new things to share with you and I couldn't be more excited.


The first is that we have a new Consultant Kit - Essential.  It is $49 (down from $99).  Here's a picture of what you can expect if you sign up to be a consultant with Close To My Heart!  For this kit you get $130 worth of product for a low price of $49!  How awesome is that?


The next thing you can do if you want to be a consultant is to grab the Consultant Kit - Master.  With this, you get everything in the Essential Kit as well as what is shown below.  All of THIS can be yours for $99!  This has a total retail value of $280!  Neat!

If that hasn't sparked any interest, I wanted to mention the NEW Cricut Cartridge exclusive to Close To My Heart!  It's the Cricut Artiste Cartridge.  This looks like it's going to be a FANTASTIC new cartridge you will want to add to your collection!  This cartridge is selling for $99 and is available for pre-order right now or if you would rather wait, you can order it on August 1!  It has 700 images on it and is loaded with Themed Images, a font, cards, shapes, and 3D items.  It also comes with 3 D-sized coordinating stamps and 3-12"x9" Dimensional Elements in coordinating shapes!  All of that for $99 is quite a deal!  Or shall I say steal?  :)  This comes with the handbook, overlay, cartridge and another booklet with directions on how to put certain items together.


So as to not overwhelm you, I will stop there for now.  More exciting things to come so stay tuned!  If you have any questions, or are interested in either becoming a consultant or ordering any items let me know or log on to iandreger.ctmh.com!

Blog Hop - Monday!

Hi folks!

I hope you are all doing well and enjoying the weather.  I also hope that it is starting to rain a bit so that we can all try and beat the heat.  The grass over here in New York is no longer green so that's sad.  We are supposed to be getting rain on Sunday so fingers crossed - we do.  If not - I'm heading to a friend's pool so if it isn't raining, I'll be there.  :)

Did you see my blinkie on the right side?  Exploring Cricut will be having a Christmas in July Blog Hop on Monday.  Stay tuned for that as I'm in the process of coming up with the perfect card for the hop.  Did you know that I was so excited for July to do Christmas in July and so far, it's July 14 and there have been NO Christmas cards made.  How horrible!  Hopefully this blog hop gets me in the mood to make some cards.  :D

Looking forward to seeing you hop with us on Monday!

Craft on,
Ian

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Happy Birthday, Sister!


Hi there!

Today I have a post for the Cricut Is Close To My Heart blog.  I have a fun birthday card that I created using the Art Philosophy cartridge.  I am lucky to have both of my sisters birthdays in July.  Knowing that I needed to get on the ball and get some cards made, this is one of the cards I made for one of my sisters.

As mentioned previously, I used the Art Philosophy cartridge.  The card was from button 50, or the last page in the AP cart handbook before the keypad layouts.  I also used the layer from that same page on the inside of the card.  The stamp was from Close To My Heart and came with the AP cartridge.  I used the Pemberley paper pack collection.  On the front of the card, I stamped the two cupcake images.  I cut out the cupcake four times from the AP cart four.  I then was able to stamp in different colors and layer the images appropriately.  I ended up placing the cupcakes on pop dots on the front of the card.  I took some twine and wrapped it around the front cardstock 3 times.  To finish it up, I etched the card with a white gel pen.  I really liked the final outcome of this card!  Here are some pictures.




I cut the card at 8" (but would definitely pair it down for next time.  On the inside of the card I cut the paper at 8" as well to line it up appropriately.  The cupcakes were cut at 2.5".  The twine is from a twine share I was involved in so I'm not sure what brand it is.  The white cardstock is from Michael's Recollection brand.

I hope you like my card.  It's simple yet elegant.  I think it fits my sisters personality perfect.  I do apologize that there is no video to go along with the card, but more videos to come!  :)

Thanks for stopping by to take a look!  Enjoy your day!

Craft on,
Ian

Saturday, July 7, 2012

And the winner is...

Hi Everyone!

First of all I wanted to thank you for all of the nice memories you shared with me.  I wasn't able to make it home this year and was in turn feeling a little nostalgic.  Not wanting to feel this way alone, I'm glad you all described your favorite memories growing up.  Thank you!  Made me feel less alone.  :)  I waited to comment on each one individually - which I will do, but wanted to wait until the giveaway was over.  :)

Ok, enough of the mushy gushy stuff.  On to the winner.  I have officially passed the 125 mark with followers through Google as well as email subscribers.  Woot woot!  There were 28 total comments.  I used Random.org to pick the winner and counted the posts to find out who won.  Random.org picked the number:


And after counting the comments, the winner of the Cri-Kits goes to:


Congratulations D!  I will be emailing you in just a few minutes to get your address.  :)  What a nice memory to have from growing up.  I'm sorry to hear that your parents are both gone, but hopefully this memory boost helped bring comfort on the holiday.  :)  

This was really fun.  I will probably be doing giveaways in the future.  Perhaps at big milestones like 200 followers, 300, 500, etc or even just randomly.  You never know so check back often.  And feel free to share this blog with others!  

Craft on,
Ian

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Cricut is Close To My Heart

Hi there!

If you are looking for Pink E's 4th of July Blog Hop, click HERE!

Welcome to my blog!  I am filling in for Sheila at Cricut is Close To My Heart today and couldn't be more excited at the opportunity.  I am so happy that you are here and I hope you like today's project.  I used the Art Philosophy cartridge and American Celebration stamp set from Close To My Heart to create today's card.  If you are interested in purchasing either the AP cartridge or this stamp set, or others, head to iandreger.ctmh.com/retail!

Today's card, as mentioned above came from the American Celebration stamp set.  I cut three stars from the AP cart at 3" and used the American Celebration stamp set and Holiday Red ink pad to create the stars on the larger star.

I took a white piece of cardstock and cut it at 4.25" x 11" and scored it at 5.5" to create a 4.25" by 5.5" card.  The next layer, blue cardstock, was cut at 4 1/8" by 5 3/8".  The Celebrate banner also came from the same stamp set and was stamped using Holiday Red on white cardstock and cut using the precision scissors from CTMH.  I inked the edges of the blue cardstock with White Daisy ink pads.




I'm not sure about you all, but I'm always thinking about what I could do to the project after I have completed it.  If I were to do this again, I would definitely add some twine to bling it up a bit.  I hope that this has inspired you to create a similar card for friends and family members around the holidays.

I made a quick video and it's posted below.  I hope you can take a couple minutes to watch it so you see how the card came together!


If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask!  Thank you so much for stopping by.  Happy Independence Day!

Craft on,
Ian

Pink E's 4th of July Blog Hop!


Hi there,

I am so excited that you are here and hopping through Pink E's 4th of July Blog Hop!  This is my 2nd blog hop ever, as well as my 2nd with Miss Pink E!  She is wonderful and hopefully you have enjoyed yourself so far.  Only a couple more blogs to go until you're done.  I also hope that you have been inspired by all the red, white, and blue to go make your own creations for friends, family, coworkers, and even strangers!

Here is the line up for the blog hop.  If you did not start at the beginning, why don't you head over to Pink E's blog and start there.

1.)  Creations by PinkE:  http://simplypinke.blogspot.com
2.)  Moe Creations:  http://melissa-moecreations.blogspot.com
3.)  Snappy Scraps:  http://leescraps.blogspot.com
4.)  Sandy from Ukiah:  http://sandyfromukiah.blogspot.com
5.)  Girlia's Cards:  http://www.girliascards.com
6.)  HTB Creations:  http://www.htbcreations.com
7.)  Crafting with Creative M:  http://craftingwithcreativem.blogspot.com
8.)  Life and Mixed Media:  http://lifeandmixedmedia.blogspot.com
9.)  A Newbie Crafter:  http://anewbiecrafter.blogspot.com  <===== You are here!
10.)  Stampin' Voila:  http://melissastampingvoila.blogspot.com  <=====  Next blog!

Now, onto my project.  For this card I used the Art Philosophy Cartridge and Stand and Salute Cartridge by Cricut.  The card base was cut at 5" and the second layer was cut at 4.5" from the Art Philosophy Cartridge and the hat was cut from Stand and Salute at 3".  I layered everything together and at the end added the Liquid Pearls to give it a little pop.  I stamped a sentiment on the inside "Let freedom ring".  I was really pleased with how it turned out.  I hope you like it as much as I do.

Here are some pictures of the card:




I also created a video on the making of the card.  If you have time now, I would love for you to watch it!  If you would rather continue on through the hop and come back, that would be great too!  Here's the video:

Giveaway Time!!
I'm also having a giveaway today, if I reach 125 followers.  The giveaway is a set of Cri-Kits gel pens for the Cricut.  These are a $47.99 value!  The one thing I should mention is that on the Neon plastic box, one of the tabs on the side did snap off, they still stay in the container, but you will notice that one of the flaps is missing from the clear plastic case.  The pens are all in tact.  :)


Here are the rules for the giveaway:

1.)  You must be a follower of my blog
2.)  Tell me below what your favorite memory is from Independence Day growing up.  Please also leave a way for me to contact you.  

The winner will be announced via Random.org.  The contest ends July 7, 2012 at 12:00 noon Eastern Time Zone.  I will then contact the individual to let them know they won and get a shipping address.  The pens will be mailed the week of July 9, 2012.  

Thanks so much for stopping by to check out my card!  I hope you and your family have a great Independence Day and stay cool.  It's hot out there!!

Craft on,
Ian

Monday, July 2, 2012

Exploring Cricut Challege: Red, White, and Blue!

Hi everyone!

As many of you may know I am a designer on the Exploring Cricut blog.  My first task of being on the blog, required me to participate in the challenge.  It was so much fun!  Knowing that I had three separate cards to make for Exploring Cricut, a blog hop on Tuesday as well as filling in for the woman who runs Cricut Is Close To My Heart on the third as well, I was destined to find different cards celebrating Independence Day.

This card came from the Art Philosophy Cartridge available at iandreger.ctmh.com/retail and the Summer Celebrations Cartridge.  The flag came from the Summer Celebrations cartridge and was cut at 6".  The card base was cut at 5.5" and the first layer was cut at 5".  The left part of the flag was raised using pop dots to give it a 3-dimensional look to it.  The papers I used for this cartridge came from Michael's and are of the Recollections brand.  The card base was cut from All About Boys card stack.  This was a fun card to make and I would definitely make it again.  Also, this image was very easy to cut and piece together from the Summer Celebrations cartridge so I highly recommend using the cut as long as it's over 5".  :)  The stamp set is from Close To My Heart and is American Celebration D1458.  You can purchase this stamp set here.

Sadly, there is no video today, but stay tuned for more projects to come, as mentioned above, on the 3rd.  To show what I made, here are the photos of the card!




Now here's a challenge for you all.  Grab some red, white, and blue paper (and for my Canadian friends, some red and white) and create a card, layout, or paper craft project.  Then head over to Exploring Cricut to link it up.  You have until July 7, 2012 at 9:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. 

Happy Independence Day!

Craft on,
Ian