Create Your Heart Out

So I got quite a few last minute entries in my gift tag contest. Since the contest ends today, I’ll just post them all today.

The files are available for all of these, if you’d like them, please use the contact form and let me know which ones you’d like and I’ll happy to email it to you.

The first two are from Joe who just got started with Cricut and Design Studio. (He also made the Santa tag.)

The next one is from Angela in Florida, who says that while she is pretty new to scrapbooking and card making it has become a stress reliever for her. She says she is amazed at all the products and is quickly building an inventory of her must have materials. Her Cricut is at the top of the list and she can’t wait to try all her new cartridges she got for Christmas.

Next comes a tag from Betty in Ohio, who has always enjoyed crafting. After being a florist for 40 years, she moved to Ohio and her brother introduced her to paper crafting. Now she says she is hooked on word books and cards. She says she added cotton for the smoke and some glitter on her train because a little bling never hurts around Christmas.

Next up comes an entry from Katie in Georgia. A stay at home mom of 2 boys she started scrapping to make books for the kids. She quickly fell in love with it and now makes all her own cards, party favors and has even done some home decor with her Cricut.

And the last one comes from a second Joe who’s been scrapping for about a year. He loves to make cards as well as stamping. Here’s his Holly tag.

Those are the last of the entries. If you would like a file of one or all of these tags, contact me and I will send them to you.

Due to a family situation that has had me out of town and back over the holidays, I was a little preoccupied and did not get a chance to post the winners from the previous weeks, so tomorrow I will post all of the winners, including the big winner at the end.

Thanks to everyone who entered the gift tag contest, as well as all the readers who paid compliments. This was a fun contest for me as you know that as much as I love making stuff myself, it’s fun to see all the wonderful things others can make.

I’d like to wish each and every one of you a Happy New Year. I hope 2010 is everything you hope it it will be and more!

Until next year, If you can think it…You can Cri-cut!

This tag comes from Mary in Alabama who says she she began scrapping to make pages for her grandchildren. She got into it so much that she started doing other things and now she does all her cards, and makes her gift tags at Christmas. This is the one she did this year. What does everyone think?

She also included the file.

To download the file, you’ll first need to register and login.

Thanks to Mary for this cute tag! I have a few more entries that I will be posting over the next couple days so be sure to check back to see them all!

Remember, if you can think it… You can Cri-cut!

Check out the latest tag from one of our readers!

This nativity tag comes from Kate, a crafter from Canada. Kate collects nativity scenes, and used the first Christmas as her inspiration for this tag which was designed using George and Basic Shapes. Images were cut from two papers – black and white. The white paper for the background shadow and star were coloured with a shimmery gold ink, and the inner star was then glittered and then glued onto the black silhouette. The silhouette was attached to the background and ribbon was added to finish things off.

The file is included as well.

To download the file, you’ll first need to register and login.


Kate would like you to know that the file does not seem to save hidden contours. Before cutting, please make certain that the inner star of the silhouette portion of the tag and the outer portion of the individual star in the upper left corner of the cut file are hidden. Sorry for any inconvenience.

To download the file, click here.

Thanks Kate for your tag! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and I wish you all the best in 2010!

If you can think it… you can Cri-cut!

This entry comes from Joe in Columbus who made this using Design Studio for the first time.

Pretty good job huh?

He used Plantin Schoolbooks, the only cart he owns! He used colored pencils to color his cheeks, drew the eyes on with a marker and ran the face, beard, mustache, and hat trim through the Cuddlebug.

He included the file as well.

Thanks Joe for your entry, and remember if you can think it… you can Cri-cut!

So I’ve finally had time to take a moment and tell you all about my Winter Cricut Workshop in Flushing, Ohio.

I have to be honest here, when I first thought of the idea to do something like this, I was super excited, but once I started planning it I became nervous. There were so many questions that could only be answered by doing it, and until it was over my stomach was in butterflies.

As it turns out, there was nothing to worry about. It went fabulously well. So well, that I’m definitely going to be doing it again.

There were five ladies who attended, and although they didn’t all know each other, by the second day it was as if they were old friends.

Each one had their own scrap table all to themselves to scrap all day and night, and then we had a dining area set up so that if they wanted to take a break from scrapping (can you imaging??) they could do so.

The house is located in Flushing, Ohio. For those of you not familiar, Flushing is about 20 miles away from Wheeling WV. It’s a small town, rich in history and one step in the Stratton House Inn will prove it. Stratton House Inn was the home of two generations of Quaker millers — and today their famous Whole-Wheat Self-Rising Pancake Flour is a special treat for all guests of Stratton House Inn. We enjoyed them while were there and in the words of one of the ladies they were the “best pancakes I’ve ever had”. Can’t beat that can ya?

The event started with everyone’s leisurely arrival on Wed night where they were welcomed with my buckeye cake (a chocolate cake topped with peanut butter fudge, followed by chocolate icing, not usually decorated with a Cricut, but it may become a tradition!), and a light meal. Once everyone got settled in, there was no stopping the scrapping. We even got some snow while we were there, and we could just sit in our pajamas and watch!

We did Christmas cards, gift tags, and even learned about SCAL, in addition to the projects everyone chose to learn on their own.

We ate delicious home cooked meals (the highlights were chicken tortilla soup, baked oatmeal, and an ever so tender braised all day pot roast), and just sat around in our pajamas doing what we loved best. It was an awesome time, and I encourage everyone to keep an eye out because we are going to do it again. Keep checking back for more details, or if you are in the area and have a group that’s interested in doing a private crop, contact me and I’ll be glad to set something up!

If you can think it… you can Cri-cut!

This tag comes from Debbie Ross who designed her tag using George and Basic Shapes.

She said she liked the trees in Winter Woodlands, so she made a few slight changes and made some using George. She also used Cricut color inks for the words and a Snow Marker-Puffs
pen for the snow.

She also attached the file so you can make it yourself!

To download the file you’ll need to register and login.

Thanks to Debbie for sharing her tag!

Don’t forget, there is still time to enter your tag for lots of prizes! For more information on how you can
enter click here.
If you can think it… you can Cri-cut!

This tag comes from Sue Summers who designed her tag using George and Basic Shapes.
She hand drew the dots for the eyes, nose, mouth, and buttons.

Don’t forget, there is still time to enter your tag for lots of prizes! For more information on how you can
enter click here.

You can download the file also.

Thanks to Sue, and remember, if you can think it… you can Cri-cut!

Okay card makers, here is your chance to shine!

I received an email today and it totally breaks my heart. It has been checked out and is absolutely and unfortunately very true. You can read more about the story here.

Nate Elfrink an 8 year old from West Jeff, was diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor approximately 4 or 5 years ago. He has had an up and down journey with this illness. A couple of years ago Nate spent approximately 6 months or more at ST. Jude’s hospital where the doctors successfully removed the tumor. Everyone was excited because once he was released he returned to school and all was well.

About 2 to 3 months ago, he went back for another visit to the doctor to find out that the cancer was back. His parents found out that there was nothing that the doctors could do at this point since the cancer was a very aggressive type. The last few weeks his parents have been trying to make him as comfortable as possible and trying to make the best of his last few days. Over the weekend Nate’s parents called Hospice in to help out with his care.

One request that Nate had made was that he would like to receive a thousand christmas cards before he died. This is where all of you come into play. If you would, please take a couple of minutes this week and send Nate a Christmas card. This would mean so much to the little guy and help in his request. He especially likes really sparkly ones.

This is the card I’m going to send:

I know this is the busiest time of the year for most of us, but this doesn’t require any money, not that much time and it will put smiles on the face of a boy who probably has a hard time finding reasons to smile. Your card doesn’t have to be handmade, but I know that a lot of you make so many cards this time of year that one more won’t matter.

If you would like to send a card, please mail it to:

Nate Elfrink
2415 Taylor Blair Road
West Jefferson, OH  43162

Thanks so much everyone!

This entry comes from Anabel who used a green gel pens for the wording and a Cricut marker for the outline. To see some more of Anabel’s work, click here.

Anabel also sent the file which was made from the Plantin Schoolbooks cartridge.

Thanks Anabel!

Don’t forget, there is still time to enter your tag for lots of prizes! For more information on how you can
enter click here.
If you can think it… you can Cri-cut!

So this is going to be a shorter contest, but it’s going to be lots of fun!

Every year at Christmas, you’ll find me making gift tags, and greeting cards and Paper Dolls (well, only this year so far!), so I thought it would be fun to let you share what you make for the holidays, and then I’ll share it with everyone else on here! We’re going to do gift tags to start.

The picture above are the tags we made at my Winter Cricut Workshop in Flushing, Ohio. I’ll post more about that soon!

The rules:

• You must design a gift tag file on Design Studio using either the George and Basic Shapes or Plantin Schoolbooks cartridge.
• You need to cut the tag and create a finished product, then send a picture of the finished tag, along with the cut file to: contests@createyourheartout.com. You also must include a name so you can get credit for your work!
• You can also include any other info you’d like to share about yourself, (where your from, how long you’ve been scrapping, anything you’d like to share) including a blog if you have one, and I’ll happily include that with your tag.
• I will post each picture along with the cut file and the name of the person who made it. The files will be available to anyone who wants them, so please don’t submit something you’d like to keep for yourself. Every submission will be posted, unless you don’t follow the rules above.

Every Friday from now until Dec 31, I will choose a winner, who will receive a gift basket filled with all kinds of goodies. On Dec 31, one winner will receive a Green Totes bag filled with all kinds of goodies. The winners will be chosen at random, but don’t let that stop you from letting your creativity shine!

Well here we are at my Winter Cricut Workshop in Flushing, Ohio.

It’s just us girls and we’re spending the weekend making our Christmas cards, doing tags and whatever else we can make!

What can be better than spending a few days doing nothing but scrapping?

We’re having a blast! We’ll be doing it again, so if you are interested, let me know, we’ll be glad to have ya!

Also, don’t forget to check my daily deals on the right side. Get yourself some great deals on holiday gifts or just buy yourself something nice!

If you can think it… you can Cri-cut!

So after a month long Paper Doll frenzy, it’s time to announce the winners of my monthly contest.

The winner of the set of all 30 Christmas Paper Dolls is:

• Cassandra VanSyckle

The winner of the Paper Doll Dress Up Cartridge is:

• Kimblerly Wilkinson

The winner of the Everyday Paper Doll Cartridge:

• Donna Cloud

For those who missed yesterday’s post or were unable to guess the doll, it was Where’s Waldo?

I got a lot of questions this month about my dolls, so I thought today would be a good day to answer.

The most common ones:

• Where do you get your face stamps?

I rarely use stamps. I don’t have anything against them, but I like to draw my faces by hand. I find it gives my dolls my own unique touch that you can’t achieve from a stamp.

• How long does each doll take to make?

Since I designed a lot of the pieces from each doll using Design Studio, it took roughly 4-5 hours for each doll from start to finish, including designing, cutting, putting together and embellishing. The longest one was my African American Santa which took about 8 hours to complete.

• Which one is your favorite?

I really enjoyed making them all, I don’t think I could pick a favorite.

• Which doll has been the most popular?

The Grinch. I didn’t expect it, but it most definitely has been. I also got quite the feedback on the Charlie Brown. I guess everyone really enjoys their Christmas on TV each year!

• Are you going to put the Design Studio files for the dolls up?

I have not yet decided what to do about that. Keep checking for more info.

• Are the dolls for sale?

Yes. You can purchase the dolls individually or a whole set by clicking here.

Thanks for looking at my dolls everyday! I had tons of fun and couldn’t have done it without all the kind words everyday!

If you can think it… you can Cri-cut!