New Toy...Cricut Explore

For years I have had a Cricut. I bought it off of Ebay back in 2009. This is exactly like mine:

In all honesty, I have not used it all that much. I quickly found that having to buy cartridges and having a cutting surface only 9" wide where limitations. In the end, I only ever bought three cartridges. I just couldn't convince myself to spend $30-$50 dollars buying images I wasn't even sure how often I would use.

The main use for my cricut was for party decorations. My last cartridge was for my son's dinosaur birthday. I made these to decorate his cake. They turned out so cute, my sister still has one of these saved.

For my son's Pooh party, I used my cricut to cut letters for a banner.

With Mother's Day around the corner...I ordered this:

I am SO HAPPY with my new machine. I WISH I had upgraded a long time ago. I can't stop looking for projects to make. So far:

I am having a love affair with vinyl. The tumblers are for my childrens' teachers. Sorry for the poor lighting in the pictures, it was late when I finished them.

I am so glad that you no longer have to buy cartridges for the new cricuts. There is a whole database you can use from with both free and membership images.

My old cricut sat in it's box until I needed it. Now I want to find a place for my new cricut where I can use it all the time...like my printer.

Now to find a great online vinyl store so I don't go broke at the hobby store. We all know that while they hobby stores are great for getting items quickly, they don't always have the lowest prices.

Happy cutting!!!

Fun With Shrinky Dink

I remember playing with Shrinky Dink as a child. We would draw a design, color it, cut it out and then watch the oven mesmerized by the plastic as it would wrap up then flatten out. Of course times have changed, and so has Shrinky Dink.

I picked some up at the craft store the other day. This specific kind of shrink paper is able to go through the ink jet printer. The background is white, not clear.

I decided that it might be a cute idea to make some My Little Pony necklaces for the girls at my daughter's party. Then I realized I could use them as tags for the goodie lunch boxes.

I found images of each pony and put them onto a word document. I made sure to lighten them a bit, as directed on the Shrinky Dink instructions. At 50% lightened, the shrunken finished product was light. I really liked them since the colors where true. My daughter and husband liked the ones I made with the image lightened to 80%. Either way, I made a bunch.

My favorite part was still watching them shrink. There is a moment of panic when the picture curls up tight and I kept thinking it wouldn't lay flat. I know that very cheap shrinking paper will get stuck curled and be ruined.

I can't wait to buy another package of paper. The 40% off coupon will come in handy.

Here are some pictures of what I made.

Here are the tags I made.

Tags/ necklaces.

The top one was 80% lightened while the bottom was 50%.

My Little Pony cuteness. 

My Little Pony Party

Originally my soon to be 7 year old wanted to have  her party at home. She picked My Little Pony as her theme. Having a party at home puts me into create mode. I started looking on Pintrest for ideas and buying things as I came across them.

Then she dropped a bombshell on me...she wants her party at the rollerskating ring. WHAT?!?! How could she do that to me? I was already on a roll with tons of ideas planned. I was crushed.

Of course that only lasted until I realized I don't really have to do anything for this party then. I can just make the goody bags, order the cake and go!

One day at Micheal's they where having an awesome clearance sale. They had MLP lunch boxes for under $4.00. I counted out how many girls will be at the party and picked them up. The goodies for inside the box that where under a $1.00 where: MLP stickers, notebook, press on nails, and mini pens. I was able to get other items for under $2.00. Each girl gets one of these. I have to say, I want one for myself!!! They are way too cute and so much fun. I am going to use my Cricut to cut out their names in vinyl and label each one so there is no confusion.

Front and back of the lunch box.

These goodies where about $1.50 each.

Found these at Walgreens for $1.50.

All these goodies where under $1.00.

For the boys I am just going to give them candy and a few trinkets. Maybe even a character cup...thinking minions...which I can pick up at the Dollar Tree.

So I am left with the want to do a MLP party and a great Pintrest board of ideas. Have your kids ever done this to you??

(Update: Added pictures on 5/18/15.)