I as I was preparing to purchase my Cricut Imagine, I purchased some of the original Cricut cartridges that appealed to me. Since receiving my Imagine in September, I've decided to buy only Imagine cartridges and then only the ones that really catch my eye. It seems that am awful lot of the artwork on the cartridges is "cute" in nature and I am not a person that is drawn to the that sort of thing. Not that there is any thing wrong with that but it is just not my taste. That is one of the reasons I was reluctant to buy the Better Together cartridge. It just looked so "cute"! What turned me around was seeing some of the patterns on the cartridge. I saw the cartridge for a good price on sale so I decided to take a chance and buy it. I'm glad I did as it has turned out to be my go-to cartridge lately.
If you look at the digital handbook http://www.cricut.com/res/handbooks/BetterTogether.pdf you will be able to get a good idea of the quality of the patterns. For me, they make great backgrounds for my cards. Even some of the pieces of art and phrases have come in handy. My last batch of cards for OWH was made entirely from this cartridge. Sure made my life easier! I think this cartridge is especially useful to card makers. If you are looking for card shapes, look elsewhere. But if you are looking for a nice assortment of cheerful backgrounds, with coordinating artwork, the Imagine Better Together cartridge is a great choice.
Showing posts with label operation write home. Show all posts
Showing posts with label operation write home. Show all posts
2.10.2011
My Experiences in Making Cards for Operation Write Home
I thought I might share some of my experiences and lessons learned while making cards for OWH. I have set a goal of making 100 cards a month and keeping to that schedule has allowed me to understand some simple truths for myself. In not particular order I will talk about budget, the creative process, the assembly process, and keeping up with needed stock items (papers, adhesives, inks, etc.).
How much money one chooses to spend making cards is is highly personal. Since my own goal is for 100 cards per month, I have decided to forgo lots of little bits and adornments and stay with cleaner, simpler layouts. That means I don't have to buy lots of buttons, flowers, ribbon, and bling. $$$ Savings! With the Cricut Imagine, my primary expenses are paper, cutting mats, blades, and ink (it prints and cuts). Other than my Cricut, expenses include tape, glue and envelopes. Secondary expenses include enhancements like stick-on jewels and pearls, ink pads, some rubber stamps, paper punches, corner rounders, and ribbon. Throw in craft knife blades, paper trimmer blades, markers, and a bone folder or two and you have the bare bones of what is needed.
In one months time I will go through a minimum of 80 8.5x11 sheets of paper, 100 sheets of 12x12 paper, 2 36yd rolls of 3M ATG tape, 3 cassettes of Mono tape, 2 Zig 2 Way glue pens, 15 yards of 3M foam tape, 2 Cricut cutting blades, 2 Xacto #11 blades, 2 Cricut cutting mats, 100 envelopes, and 2 paper trimmer blades.
However, money is not the only item that must be budgeted. Creating, printing, assembling, stamping, gluing, taping, and wrapping all take time. A simple card might look like it took no time at all, but it can include elements that have 4-5 small paper layers that had to be individually cut, glued, taped, and assembled. Some of these can take much more time than anticipated. If I can find a general layout that works with three or four different elements using the same color scheme, then I can produce three or four sets of ten or twelve cards without too much trouble. When I really get a rush on, like when I made a quick batch of cards for kids, I spent 4 10-12 hour days getting it all done. You wouldn't think it took that long by looking at them, but those cards had more bits and pieces and layers than my usual cards. I usually do cards several days at a time in batches and I can get twenty or thirty done in about 3 8-10 hour days.
I really enjoy that sense of satisfaction when I package up the cards for shipment. After that box goes out, I tidy up my crafting table and get ready for the month's batch of cards.
How much money one chooses to spend making cards is is highly personal. Since my own goal is for 100 cards per month, I have decided to forgo lots of little bits and adornments and stay with cleaner, simpler layouts. That means I don't have to buy lots of buttons, flowers, ribbon, and bling. $$$ Savings! With the Cricut Imagine, my primary expenses are paper, cutting mats, blades, and ink (it prints and cuts). Other than my Cricut, expenses include tape, glue and envelopes. Secondary expenses include enhancements like stick-on jewels and pearls, ink pads, some rubber stamps, paper punches, corner rounders, and ribbon. Throw in craft knife blades, paper trimmer blades, markers, and a bone folder or two and you have the bare bones of what is needed.
In one months time I will go through a minimum of 80 8.5x11 sheets of paper, 100 sheets of 12x12 paper, 2 36yd rolls of 3M ATG tape, 3 cassettes of Mono tape, 2 Zig 2 Way glue pens, 15 yards of 3M foam tape, 2 Cricut cutting blades, 2 Xacto #11 blades, 2 Cricut cutting mats, 100 envelopes, and 2 paper trimmer blades.
However, money is not the only item that must be budgeted. Creating, printing, assembling, stamping, gluing, taping, and wrapping all take time. A simple card might look like it took no time at all, but it can include elements that have 4-5 small paper layers that had to be individually cut, glued, taped, and assembled. Some of these can take much more time than anticipated. If I can find a general layout that works with three or four different elements using the same color scheme, then I can produce three or four sets of ten or twelve cards without too much trouble. When I really get a rush on, like when I made a quick batch of cards for kids, I spent 4 10-12 hour days getting it all done. You wouldn't think it took that long by looking at them, but those cards had more bits and pieces and layers than my usual cards. I usually do cards several days at a time in batches and I can get twenty or thirty done in about 3 8-10 hour days.
I really enjoy that sense of satisfaction when I package up the cards for shipment. After that box goes out, I tidy up my crafting table and get ready for the month's batch of cards.
1.17.2011
Operation Write Home - Cards for Kids
I was reading on the Operation Write Home web site that parents serving abroad were looking for cards they could send their young children. In response, I quickly put together these four, in groups of 10. I hope the parents and kids enjoy!
1.09.2011
Why I Love Making Cards for Operation Write Home
I have always enjoyed making cards to give as gifts and once I found Operation Write Home, I had a mission and set some goals for myself. At first, I thought I'd like to ship 100 cards. OK. I did that. I didn't think my next shipment would add up to much but it turned out I made 50 cards in only 3-4 days. So now my goal is to make and mail 50 or more cards per month.
The Operation Write Home web site provides the card makers an area where we can read feedback from service members who receive the cards. Tonight, after reading some particularly touching messages, I am happier than ever that OWH serves as a clearing house so that heroes serving overseas have handmade cards to send home to family and friends.
Several parents mentioned how much their kids enjoy getting cards from them, so I am going to focus my energies on creating a number of child friendly cards in addition to my usual thank you, miss you, and thinking of you cards.
If you want to learn more about Operation Write Home, click here or click on the OWH icon below.
The Operation Write Home web site provides the card makers an area where we can read feedback from service members who receive the cards. Tonight, after reading some particularly touching messages, I am happier than ever that OWH serves as a clearing house so that heroes serving overseas have handmade cards to send home to family and friends.
Several parents mentioned how much their kids enjoy getting cards from them, so I am going to focus my energies on creating a number of child friendly cards in addition to my usual thank you, miss you, and thinking of you cards.
If you want to learn more about Operation Write Home, click here or click on the OWH icon below.
1.02.2011
More Cards for Operation Write Home
I read on the Operation Write Home site that they really needed more Thank You, Miss You, and Thinking of You cards, so I put a few together rather quickly. I also was able to make two different layouts for Valentine's Day cards. Those needed to be post marked by January 7, but I got a hustle on and got them done in 2 days. Most images and layouts are taken directly from the Cricut Imagine cartridges Imagine More, Imagine More Cards, and Best Friends. You'll find photos below. Forgot to take a photo of the second V-day card. It was of an owl standing on a mushroom and I stamped "Owl Always Love You". It ended up pretty cute because I left most of the leafy pieces loose to give the card more dimension. My first time using glue dots. I thought a box of three hundred would last a while, but I made 24 V-day cards and used most of the dots. Go figure. It did save me time over cutting the 3M foam tape I usually use. These cards photoed very flat but they are somewhat dimensional. I'll use better lighting next time.
10.12.2010
More Card Samples for Operation Write Home
Here are some more card samples I made with my Cricut Imagine that I am shipping to the OWH reshipper. I feel a real sense of accomplishment that I was able to reach my personal goal of 100 cards for this shipment.
10.10.2010
Cricut Imagine and Operation Write Home
When I first became aware of Operation Write Home, I was a handcrafted card maker. Nothing was automated, although I did use a Cuttlebug to help with dry embossing. I thought long and hard about how I wanted to proceed with OWH and knew that I would never be able to make a great number of cards with how I was set up. My cards were no works of art, certainly not compared to what I had seen in magazines. So my mind started to work on this issue of limited numbers and mostly handmade vs machine assisted and the ability to increase my card production by quite a bit. As my past posts indicate, I decided to purchase a Cricut Imagine and I believe it is one of the best crafting investments I have ever made. It has revolutionized my card making similar to how the Cuttlebug enhanced my use of dry embossing. As long as I have white paper, I have access to libraries of printed and solid cardstock. In the past 3 days, I have made over 100 A2 sized cards to send to our troops overseas. This will be my first shipment, but I wanted that shipment to be over 100 cards and the Imagine helped me reach my goal. I LOVE my Imagine. Here are a couple of examples. Nothing fancy, but I hope you and the troops like them!
10.06.2010
I'm in Cricut Heaven
My replacement Cricut Imagine arrived yesterday but it had a bum power supply. I called Provo Craft and the customer rep I talked to - wish I could remember his name - sent me a replacement over night - at no charge!! WOW! It came in today around 11am, and by golly, that bad boy worked like a charm. I've been printing and cutting all day. As a matter of fact, my original cutting mat cracked in 3 places. Thank goodness I had a replacement! Anyway, I really felt behind in getting my cards together for Operation Write Home operationwritehome.org so I've put my effort in that direction. I was planning on using the new Cricut Christmas Cards cartridge to make a ton of holiday cards, but it isn't compatible with the Imagine right now. Word has it that the fix is in the next update slated for next week. The deadline for mailing the cards for Christmas is October 30. If I am brave and decide to install the next update - and it works - I just might make it under the wire for that mailing deadline. I knew I wouldn't make the Oct. 15 deadline for Thanksgiving and I'd hate to miss ALL the holidays this year. Fingers and eyes crossed!
Now I need to get to a local craft store to buy more cutting mats and another color cartridge. Stand back, I'm getting serious here people. <smile>
Now I need to get to a local craft store to buy more cutting mats and another color cartridge. Stand back, I'm getting serious here people. <smile>
9.11.2010
September 11 - In Rememberance
September 11, 2010
Today most of us will think back to the morning of September 11, 2001 when unimaginable acts of terrorism changed our sense of security. This simple post is in honor of the 2,752 innocent civilians and public service members who died that day. You are remembered.
My Pink Stamper Challenge
Robyn over on My Pink Stamper mypinkstamper.com issued a lovely challenge today. Make a card for a service member (any type of service from which you benefit) or teacher. This worked out great for me as I have been working on cards to send to troops serving overseas. Operation Write Home helps heroes keep in touch with home. How appropriate that I should receive my self inking OWH stamp today!
This is a card I am sending to the troops as a thank you. I don't know who will read the note, but I hope they know how much their sacrifice means to us all.
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