My Four Favorite Tools

I am so overwhelmingly excited when I am able to go from a blank piece of paper to something that well, just makes me happy.
These are four of my favorite tools that I use the most when I create my layouts, ATCs and other items that I make.
Of course I have to admit that I am not able to use just the items themselves the way that they are, in using them I need to also enlist the assistance of other tools, but these are the most basic; and largest in my crafting repertoire.

Allow me to introduce them.

Of course, some of you are familiar with my Cricut Create die-cut machine. I just love what I can do with it and how I'm able to pull some really wonderful things together.



Then there is the Gypsy, which is my hand held device that I use in relation to the Cricut on some occasions.
Its very nice that it stores all of my cartridges and I am able to manipulate them as needed.




The ATG gun.
I have posted about my excitement for this tool before.
I can't help but gush about it.
Yes, it is a little bulky - but surprisingly easy to use once you get the hang of it.
I like that I can get the equivalent of three snail runners out of one roll of my tape refills, and I get a little giddy over the amount of money I'm saving when I think about it.



The Scotch Quick Dry Adhesive.
Oh I like this glue soooo much.
It adheres faster than regular white glue. It does dry fast. It loves adhering paper to paper so well!
I know that Scotch makes a scrapbooking glue too, which I haven't tired yet, but I have been very satisfied with the results I have with this one.


I was able to use all four of these tools in making some wonderful things, including this layout ~



I just wanted to give a little bit of appreciation for these marvels and how they are a big part of my artistic processes.

Of course I should also acknowledge the other tools that I need to be able to use those to their full abilities:
Cricut mats, blades, and spatulas.
My Cricut Jukeboxes, which I use to keep my most used cartridges in to use when I'm cutting things without manipulating them on the Gypsy.
ATC refill tape.
Bee scissors, I have a yellow pair for cutting paper and a pink pair for cutting ribbon.
And my tool tote with TONS of odds and ends of smaller tools like rulers, stylus, awls, pens, the Crop-o-dile, and more...

All of these things; and so much more that I know I'm forgetting right now, help me to go from ideas to actual creations - and I'm so thankful for them!!

Fun Bit of News

For the month of November I joined 10 scrapbooking challenges online through the Scrapbook.com site. I am happy to admit that I was able to complete all the challenges! I felt very successful.

Each challenge was a little different and required certain criteria that was a specific theme or using suggested techniques. Some of the challenges have voting at the end of the month to choose the best of the submitted layouts and some are just for sharing. For a couple of the layouts I was able to enter them into more than one challenge.

I had joined the following:
{pictures of the layouts are in the slide show on the right}

Use Your Scraps: 85% of the layout was to be made up from scraps of paper, ribbon, etc. and included an added twist to use a border or corner punch or a corner rounder.
I did a page that was about my Mom's visit from Seattle in 2002.

Darker Side: The layout is to be in dark colors with lots of distressing and generally have a dark/twisted sense of whatever the month's theme is. The theme for the month was to do a layout about a fairy tale.
I chose to capture the legend of Sleeping Beauty and tell a little about her dark origins. While doing research I found out, her story IS really dark and twisted!

Ugly Paper: This one was quite an interesting one. I took two pieces of scrapbook paper from my stash that aren't the prettiest things (in my opinion) and sent them off to an unsuspecting participant in the challenge. Then I receive two pieces of paper and an embellishment from someone else in the challenge.
The goal is to make a layout using the papers we receive and the twist is to use the given embellishment.
I was able to create a layout about Geocaching with the papers I received.

Lyric: We were to create a page about a song from the 70's.
I did my layout about my memories of receiving my own portable record player and the first three 45's that I was given with it. I emphasized that one of them was Chicago's "If You Leave Me Now" ballad, which still gets some air play today.

Neutrals: The assignment for this one was to use only neutral shade colors (brown, white, cream, black, grey, ecru,) and one POP of color.
I decided to use Pink as my color accent, and since I was going to use pink then I should make a page dedicated to my niece Heather, since she loves all things pink!

Monochrome: This one was a little different because it required making four layouts, one with different color schemes and twists, broken into week segments. Each page needed to be at least 75% of the specific color and using only neutral colors for the rest if needed.
Week 1 - Red, with the twist of: Just once...
I did something I hardly ever do, I put myself in the spotlight and put a picture of me on it and journaled about things I wish I had a more assertive nature about.
Week 2 - Green, with its twist of: A day in the life...
For this one I did a page about Steve and his schedule for one day and what his life is like

Week 3 - Purple, its twist:I am blessed...
I did a page about my deep love for John!
Week 4 - Blue, and the with the twist of: And then...
I did a page about seeing the Eiffel Tower for the first time during our trip in 2008 to Paris.

Other Challenges -
Scrap Your Pet: I did a different page about Steve, titled: "The Creature at the Top of the Stairs" it was a fun page to do.

Doodle: Use hand doodles within the layout. It also had a twist, this one was to doodle a border around something.
For this one I entered the purple layout I had made for the Monochrome challenge since I made doodled borders around some of the pictures on the page.

And the two other challenges are share groups - you post your items for other people to see and comment on, and you comment on their items.
Its a place to get feedback and inspiration from.
Its always fun to check in and see what other people are making and get some ideas or tips on techniques or new tools/items out in the market.

So when it was all said and done, for the month of November I created a total of 38 layouts (yes, that's right - not all of them are listed on here) and 39 ATCs (Artist Trading Cards).
A very productive month.

And when the voting was finished; for the challenges that have voting, I found out that my layout: "A Day in the Life of Steve" (pictured above) WON!
Whooo Hoooo!!
There isn't any prizes, just recognition - but I'm happy with that!

So now for the month of December I have joined 13 challenges!!
Ten of them are the same as before (with different themes and criteria but the same topics) plus a Holiday theme, a Creative Cricut challenge, and an ATC swap.
Luckily the Cricut and ATC ones aren't due until the end of February - but I'll finish them long before then.
I haven't started on any of this month's yet, I should get going on that in the next day or two.
But I have been working on the Compendium and that's been taking a little more time than I'd like but it will be nice once I get it caught up.

Well, that's all for now.
Have a great week everyone!