Cricut Solutions Cartridge Storage Box Project!

I've been trying to figure out how to store these stupid cartridges for the longest time. I finally found the binder that Cricut sells to store them at JoAnn, but like a ninny, I didn't buy it. Ever since, I haven't seen it in the store. I just went online about an hour ago to buy one at JoAnn.com, but they were out of stock.

So, necessity being the mother of whining and crying and... Oh, yeah... INVENTION, I came up with a box all by myself. It doesn't store 8 like the Cricut one (mine will do 3 because, well, I have THREE solutions cartridges), but I like it a lot. And it feels really cool because I made it myself.

(Oh, and for anyone reading this who is saying, "Whaaaaa...??": The Cricut Solutions cartridges come without a handy box that will hold the cartridge itself and the keyboard that comes with it.)

Without a big, long tutorial (sorry... if you need extra help, I could post more instructions later), here are the dimensions I cut to fit the cartridges, the papers, and the keyboards. This box ends up being slightly taller than a normal Cricut box because of that paper that comes with the solutions cartridge so that you can see the shapes more clearly than on the keyboard. I like to look at the paper instead of the keyboard, so I store it with my stuff.

Lid:
10 1/4" x 6 3/4"
Score 1 1/4" in from each edge. This leaves you with a section in the lid that is 7 3/4" x 4 1/4". You should see one square in each corner. Cut a line along one of the lines of each square (it doesn't really matter which), but only on the square--don't cut further than that 1 1/4" line. Fold in and score all lines. You'll end up with your box sides and those extra squares sticking out as little tabs that you glue along the sides to hold the box together. If you look closely at my pictures, you can see these extra squares sticking out on my box and lid.

Box bottom:
10 1/8" x 6 5/8"
Score 1 1/4" in from each edge. This leaves you with a section in the box bottom that is 7 5/8" x 4 1/8". Repeat the scoring and cutting described above and glue the tabs to the sides to make your box bottom. The two pieces should fit together.


To make a line of cardstock like the one pictured below to actually hold your cartridges, cut a long strip of 1/2" cardstock. Score 1/4" from edge, 1/2" from first score, 1 3/4" from second score, 1/2" from third score, 1/4" from fourth score... Repeat this along the strip until you have three 1 3/4" sections and one extra 1/2" and 1/4" score. Cut the strip at the edge of the last 1/4" score.

Using a ruler, mark in the top of your box lid: 2 dots 1/4" apart, then another 1 3/4" from second dot. Continue until you've marked three 1 3/4" sections with 1/4" between each one and another 1/4" on the right of the last one. Glue your cardstock strip according to these measurements, looking at the picture below for reference if you need to. I know it sounds complicated, but once you get your strip scored and ready, you should be able to see how it goes together.

The cartridge at the very tip is actually thicker than 1/2". And it's widest point is slightly wider than 1 3/4". The cartridges actually stay very well in the holder. Slip them in by the tip (the cardstock strip will stretch very slightly to allow for the taller area, and once it gets slipped in, it stays).


Here it is in my desk drawer where some of my other cartridges are:


So there it is! I need to just stop trying to buy anything and make it all myself. LoL.

Recycled foil candy wrappers... OH MY!

Okay, okay... So I had a moment last night. An insane, creative rush that lasted for about two hours... I think a lot of you know what I'm talking about.

I was playing Okami on PS2 (a phenomenal game, btw) and eating a few chocolate coin candies. When I finished, I had this lap full of the wrappers and they looked so pretty and sounded so tinkly when they were shaken together, I just couldn't throw them away. I was staring at them for a while and my husband said, "Are you figuring out what you're going to do with them?" I just nodded. He knows me well.

HERE is the result. Glory of glories! I had so much fun!

Tools:
Bone folder
Left over coin candy wrappers (the foil is tougher than normal candies, but you might be able to get away with it with other wrappers, too!)
Paper punches of choice

For embossing... EMBOSSING! (*squeal!*) Okay, sorry. The moment hasn't passed yet. For embossing, you'll ALSO need:
Ball stylus (In clay sculpting or paper embossing tool sections of a craft store)
Rubber stamps
Craft foam, 1/8" is good
Kato Liquid Polyclay, or some other thing to fill the backs with so they don't get smooshed, like resin or Ranger Glossy Accents


Start by using your bone folder to smooth the foil wrapper. I just rubbed the long, horizontal part of the bone folder really hard across the wrapper, from the middle out, until it was nice and smooth.


Once it's all smooth, cut some fun shapes! Yee! I noticed it was sometimes hard to get the foil back out of the punch itself once I was finished punching. I just ran a piece of paper in the punch (without actually punching) to get it loose. If you have to, just keep punching the foil until the rest of it falls out.


Use your ball stylus, the punched shapes, and your craft foam to texture the pieces. It's so fun! It's really easy, to. Don't follow a pattern--just do what you think looks good. Take care that you don't poke through the foil as you do this. If you did ruin your foil, oh, well... just have more chocolate. It will be okay. AND you'll get more foil to work with. Can't beat that, can you?!


I began experimenting with embossing rubber stamps. Here I used this stamp because of its huge open spaces and just pressed the stamp right into the foil while it was resting on the craft foam. I then went around with my stylus and traced the lines. Once I did that, I flipped the foil over and began pushing gently with the stylus on the "right side" of the foil all around my edges and in the insides of the petals, too, to give it more definition.


Then I wanted a Chinese character, since I'm so into Asian things, I could be labeled obsessed. (Chinese writing, usually, and Japanese style crafts and home decor, and Thai art and style of jewelry, really... There is a DISTINCT difference culturally, and I recognize that, so I thought I'd mention it so that no sweet people out there mistake my above statement as a relatively common western ignorance that labels all of Asia as Chinese... But, I digress!) But I realized that to get the character (this one is "Beauty") facing the right way, I'd need to get the image backwards into my foil and then emboss from the back... But I'm not sure I'm making sense.

Basically, I lay my foil piece on top of my rubber stamp and I rubbed with the bone folder to get all of the impressions. Then I lay the foil piece down WITHOUT turning it over, so that I was still looking at the character backwards, and then I proceeded to emboss it, as shown in the picture below... ignore my icky nails... I was in the throws of artistic passion and unable to re-manicure myself before I started snapping these photos.


Here's what I ended up with! I did tear through this one. :( So I had to dump it. But I did notice that all of my tears were happening in these Chinese characters, where I had a long, thin line to emboss. So I suppose you should just keep that in mind, that if you're doing a long, thin area, make sure that you're being gentle.


You can use rubber stamps as a spring-board, too. Here's an awesome stamp from Stampin' Up! out of the One of a Kind stamp set. I went through the same process outlined above (rubbing the foil piece into the rubber stamp, then embossing), only I went ahead and added some of my own little designs, and I didn't do it exactly like the stamp showed. This is the one that made me start doing my happy dance at my desk. I think my husband said something like, "Are you brilliant?" And I said, "YES!" (But I don't mean that in a snobby way... It's more like an exclamation of occasional delighted surprise.)


So that one was too awesome to lose. And I thought about how in the world I could make it so that it wouldn't collapse under the slightest weight. Adam (my husband) suggested two part epoxy which would be nice and hard, but takes too long to mix/prepare/set, and I was into instant gratification last night because by this point, it was late! So I didn't even use my Ranger Glossy Accents (which also probably would have worked), and I pulled out the Kato Liquid Polyclay from my polymer clay supplies and filled the backs of two of my embossed pieces, then cured in my oven for about 20-25 minutes at 275 degrees F. (This is where any candy wrapper that also has just a bit of wax paper on the inside would simply not work. It will burn up in the oven. Make sure you're using pure foil if you're going to bake something.)


And... YEEEEEEEEEE! These pictures were not edited at ALL. That is what color they are. Obviously they're also reacting to the flash, but they turned this glorious 24kt gold color beneath the liquid clay and I think I like it better than the top. (These are views of the "backs" of both pieces... "backs", because they may soon be redefined as "fronts".) I'm not sure what I'm doing with them quite yet. But this was just too cool to not share. So there you go.


So there's another entry into my greenx2 craft world! (Environmentally friendly AND cheap!)

My toolkit.

Pretty much for my entire creative life, I have felt like I wasn't a "true" artist because of how many crafts/hobbies I have/create with. There really does seem to be that general feeling in the art community, doesn't there? That if you have several mediums, then you're not really an artist, because to do something well, you really should do only one thing.

Maybe that's not the way people actually see it, but it certainly feels that way. I was talking with a great lady at my Polymer Clay Guild (Marlene!) about this very thing a few months ago. I do a million things. So does she. She's amazingly brilliant at basically everything she does. She'd probably say the same about me (because she's really nice!), but I can't say it because it makes me look snooty even if it's true. Not that I'm saying it. But I'm not saying I suck, either. I know I'm generally good. Creation is what I was made to do. I don't think you have to be down on yourself in order to be a good artist, but that's a topic for another post!

I mentioned that I like knowing a lot of different things because I get ideas for finished projects completely separate from any specific medium. Only once the idea pops into my head do I figure out how to make it, and I just make it with what makes sense. The impression I got from her was that this is basically her process, too. (Sorry, Marlene, if it's not!) For instance, my latest idea is creating reusable produce bags for the grocery store. You can reuse plastic grocery bags themselves, so I haven't really been too interested in making those, but the produce bags don't strike me as reusable (it's been years since I tied a bag with one of those wire ties because I wanted to save those, too, since they just get thrown away). I saw ideas for sewn ones, but I'm not very skilled at sewing with sheer fabrics (since they have to be see-through), so I've decided to try and create a netted crochet produce bag pattern. Why? Because crochet netting strikes me as much stronger (and easier to make) than knitted netting. I'll add a little drawstring and viola! Reusable produce bags! I'm making them with old acrylic yarn I don't like, too. Acrylic yarn is fully washable and doesn't stretch. So crochet is the craft of choice and acrylic yarn is the medium of choice. "True" crochet artists may sneer at me, but, hey. It's the right tool for the job, so I use it.

This is what I'm talking about. I also want to cover another one of my paperback bibles, but I don't feel like sewing a cover, so I'm making a permanent paper one, so I'm using scrapbooking stuff. I'm also wanting to make myself some lovely post earrings with some leftover fine silver sheet I have. These kinds of things are the real reason I learned to solder, because that's what I'd need to know how to do in order to create the idea in my head.

All of this is basically my way of saying that yes, as a craft polygamist, I do a LOT of things. But I no longer feel guilty about it because I've realized that I still am a real artist. I just don't begin with the medium. I begin with the idea and the medium becomes the tool by which I create the idea. So it's not an excess of hobbies--it's my toolkit! Also, this helps banish the notion that I sit around doing absolutely nothing but several different crafts all of the time. The truth is, I bounce around constantly because I never know what's going to get used to make my next idea.

So, there you have it. If you're a craft polygamist, join the ranks. And stop feeling guilty about it! Celebrate your own rich, multi-medium art!

Repost of Coffee Cup Cozy Knitting Pattern

Edit on 1/1/2012: Changed row number repeat (two row 68's... thanks to an awesome lady on Ravelry for pointing that out to me!).  Also, added the abbrvts from the original pattern post, which you can find HERE if you still feel that this one is missing something.  I'm so excited that people are finding this useful!  I may need to edit even more in the future, or make this all one page or something, but it's New Year's Day and I'm kind of distracted right now...  Hope everyone has a marvelous 2012!

This is the same pattern. I just knitted another one of these things following my pattern and I got mad at myself. So here is the pattern, corrected to not be stupid. (There weren't any actual mistakes in the pattern. Just the lines where it said to repeat were totally stupid, so I'm changing it.)

Materials:
1 skein number 3 light weight yarn (Knitted example is Spa by Caron in Misty Taupe)
US size 6 straight knitting needles (4.0 mm)
Tapestry needle
2 buttons
Sewing needle and thread to match yarn color

CO 24 st.

Rows 1-4: Knit
Rows 5 & 7: k2, p1, k4, p1, k8, p1, k4, p1, k2
Rows 6 & 8: k3, p4, k1, p8, k1, p4, k3
Row 9: k2, p1, work fcc, p1, work fcc, work bcc, p1, work bcc, p1, k2
Row 10: rep. row 6
Row 11: rep. row 5
Row 12: rep. row 6
Row 13: k2, p1, work fcc, p1, k8, p1, work bcc, p1, k2
Row 14: rep. row 6
Row 15: rep. row 5
Row 16: rep. row 6
Row 17: rep. row 9
Rows 18-59: Repeat rows 10-17 five times, then rows 10 and 11 once more.
Rows 60-63: Knit
Row 64: BO 4 st, k1, p12, k6 (20 sts)
Row 65: BO 4 st, k15 (16 sts)
Row 66: k2, p2tog, YO, p8, YO, p2tog, k2 (16 sts)
Row 67: knit across
Row 68: k2, p12, k2
Row 69: knit across
Row 70-78: rep. rows 66-68 three times. (4 total rows of button holes; repeat additional times, if desired, to create more button hole rows)
Rows 79: knit across
BO all stitches.

Finishing: weave in loose ends; sew two buttons on beginning four rows of garter stitch, lining up with button holes. (Really do this part last--make sure your buttons fit through the holes before you sew them on!)

Abbrvts:

Abbrvts: Abbreviations

CO: Cast on

k: knit

p: purl

st: stitch

sts: stitches

fcc: front cross cable (using two stitches to cross over two other stitches--so, a four stitch cable, same for bcc)

bcc: back cross cable

rep.: repeat

p2tog: purl 2 together

BO: body odor, born organized.... but in most knitting patterns, it means "bind off"

Knitted Cable Mug Cozy Pattern

This is the very first time I ever designed and wrote down a knitting pattern!!! I hope other people think it's pretty. It's actually my very first cable project, too. Basically, I knitted it to be a mug cozy for a coffee cup type mug, but with several buttonholes so that it'd be adjustable and you could use it for more than one mug. The mostly stockinette finishing on the thinner part that goes through the handle allows it to curl back on itself so that if you're using a button/buttons before the end, it curls back nicely and you don't have a big flap hanging off of your cup.

Some of you (like my husband) may be asking, "What's the point?" These things are along the same line of thinking as a tea cozy. They keep your drink warm. For me, the most important thing was the fact that they shield your hand from the blazing hot liquid in your cup if, like me, you are a person who has a hard time holding a full mug of something by just the handle, but can't quite put your hand on the cup, either, because it's too hot! Those awkward balancing the bottom corner of the mug on a knuckle while moving quickly from kitchen to computer days are over!

Note: Don't knit this in something that isn't washable. (Duh?)
Note2: Put your cozy on your cup BEFORE filling it.
Note3: Choose buttons small enough to go through your yarn over button holes but big enough to hold them on. Mine are about 5/8" across, but could be as small as 1/2", I think.





And, since I have no hope... NO HOPE of explaining cables adequately, I decided to post this link to my favorite cable video on YouTube. This lady shows better than any other I've seen just how to work a four stitch cable (all of the cables in my pattern are four stitch) front and back (fcc and bcc) WITHOUT a cable needle! There's wind in the background and stuff, but still, this video is the BEST.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ej8guoX9Ffs

So go there to get help with cables, just like I did, and then knit a fun pattern with it!

Coffee Cup Cozy

(Pattern copyright 2009 by Kathy Canuel, all rights reserved, etc, etc, etc... I don't honestly care [for now] if you knit something from this and sell it. All I ask is that you give me credit for designing the pattern. Also, if you want this pattern on your site, feel free to take one of the images above as a PREVIEW of the pattern and credit me as the designer on your site, but please link back to this blog post for the actual pattern. [I hate it when I'm looking for patterns and all I see is a list of names--I wish I could get pictures instead so I know whether I want to click or not.])

Materials:

1 skein number 3 light weight yarn (Knitted example is Spa by Caron in Misty Taupe)

US size 6 straight knitting needles (4.0 mm)

Tapestry needle

2 buttons

Sewing needle and thread to match yarn color

CO 24 st.

Rows 1-4: Knit

Rows 5 & 7: k2, p1, k4, p1, k8, p1, k4, p1, k2

Rows 6 & 8: k3, p4, k1, p8, k1, p4, k3

Row 9: k2, p1, work fcc, p1, work fcc, work bcc, p1, work bcc, p1, k2

Row 10: rep. row 8

Row 11: rep. row 7

Row 12: rep. row 10

Row 13: k2, p1, work fcc, p1, k8, p1, work bcc, p1, k2

Row 14: rep. row 12

Row 15: rep. row 11

Row 16: rep. row 14

Row 17: rep. row 9

Rows 18-59: Repeat rows 10-17 five times, then rows 10 and 11 once more.

Rows 60-63: Knit

Row 64: BO 4 st, k1, p12, k6 (20 sts)

Row 65: BO 4 st, k15 (16 sts)

Row 66: k2, p2tog, YO, p8, YO, p2tog, k2 (16 sts)

Row 67: knit across

Row 68: k2, p12, k2

Row 68: knit across

Row 69-77: rep. rows 66-68 three times. (4 total rows of button holes; repeat additional times, if desired, to create more button hole rows)

Rows 78: knit across

BO all stitches.

Finishing: weave in loose ends; sew two buttons on beginning four rows of garter stitch, lining up with button holes.

Abbrvts:

Abbrvts: Abbreviations

CO: Cast on

k: knit

p: purl

st: stitch

sts: stitches

fcc: front cross cable (using two stitches to cross over two other stitches--so, a four stitch cable, same for bcc)

bcc: back cross cable

rep.: repeat

p2tog: purl 2 together

BO: body odor, born organized.... but in most knitting patterns, it means "bind off"

Designed by: Kathy Canuel, Dec. 16, 2009, in a mad Christmas gift knitting rush that didn’t include time to design, figure out, and write down a pattern. I did it anyway.

Cricut Pagoda Cartridge

I must admit thrills AND disappointments with the new Pagoda cartridge from Cricut. I was so excited that they finally released an Asian themed cartridge! They have not only images, but Kanji characters! Wherein lies my thrill, because we're huge on Kanji characters in my house. They're so beautiful--I love having them everywhere!

Wherein also lies my beef with this cartridge. ProvoCraft saw fit to include characters for "mother" and "daughter", but NOT for "father" or "son". I only have boys, so what the heck am I going to do with the "daughter" character? And wouldn't you think that "father" would be included? Because, come on! That would be a PERFECT Father's Day card. They at least included characters for both "man" and "woman". But I have to say that with this HUGE list of characters they included, they could have gotten rid of, say, "hand", or "wind" and included "father" and "son" instead.

Ah, well. It's still a magnificent cartridge. And, just cause, here's the list (in the order included in the cartridge) of the Kanji characters included:

Autumn
Beauty
Believe
Celebrate
Cold
Prosperity
Star
Strength
Summer
Sun
Daughter
Dream
Friend
Fun
God
Team
Thought
Truth
Warmth
Water
Hand
Happiness
Harmony
Heart
Health
Wind
Winter
Wisdom
Woman
Zen
Journey
Learn
Light
Love
Man
Moon
Mother
Ocean
Laugh
Spring
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine
Ten

It's a pretty extensive list. And the images are GREAT! I especially love the little tea pot and cup and the trees and the lotus blossoms.

Permanent Book Covering

First of all, yes, I have changed my blog AGAIN. This is the last time, though. I was hunting for an unused clever name and finally found it. At least, I think it's clever. Anyway, I'm not moving again, that's for sure. You can find all of my old tutorials and awesomeness at www.kathycanuel.blogspot.com. I have no intention of deleting the blog anytime soon.

Recently, I covered a favorite bible with scrapbook papers to beautify and repair it. Even though this was a cheapo $5 paperback bought close to 5 years that was falling apart at the seams (already mended several times with tape, I might add), I couldn't bear to part with it because we had simply been through too much together. I'm sure any of you who have a favorite, falling apart bible can understand this. I covered it in my glorious Basic Grey papers, which I jokingly call sacred all of the time, and I guess they finally got to live up to their calling.

Quick tips about PERMANENTLY covering a book like this: Measure twice and cut once. You see that all the time in quilting, but seriously! I left about 1/2" around each edge (except the spine edge) on each cover, then clipped the two corners (on the edge of the flap) at an estimated 45 degree angle so that they could fold over nicely. I cut an inside paper to cover the inside cover and those folded edges. This is all for a paperback book, too. I'm not sure you could rescue a hardback book anyway with cardstock.

Part of my issue was the fact that the cover was going to detach from the spine at any moment, which was something I had to deal with. I cut a piece almost the exact size of the spine and glued it in place. I then cut strips from my lining paper to add to the place where the cover actually attaches, gluing along the spine and the cover where the piece folded.

THIS IS IMPORTANT!!! Make sure, make absolutely SURE that you have glued these pieces covering the fold of the spine COMPLETELY. Especially right at the fold. If you don't use a good glue (Scotch Quick Dry Adhesive should give me money for how much I push their glue which is, hands down, the BEST glue I have ever found for nearly any purpose in my paper crafting) and make sure the entire piece is attached, whenever you open your book, this paper will be pulling away from the book because of the fact that it's being pulled away every time the cover opens. If, however, you listen to your paper sensei and glue very, very well, the paper will stay completely attached and you'll have a long, happy life together.

Here are images which outline the project, but not the process. I must admit that when I made this, I was too excited with what I was doing to think of making tutorial type photos.




In the picture above you can see the folded flaps for the spine that I was talking about earlier. I put a ton of glue all along the fold, too. Don't forget the fold! In fact, it may be the most important part.


You can see I stamped the page edges, too, which I think makes it so pretty! If you are a Christian woman itching for one of those new, expensive pretty bibles--consider buying and covering a cheaper paperback. If you're looking to repair an old, beloved paperback book, I hope this has been helpful!