A Basketball Party

My how time flies when you're having fun...almost 9 years ago, our family was blessed with a beautiful baby boy, and this April, he will be 9 years old! In 9 years, a lot has changed. We even watched him learn to walk and talk and watched him welcome his little sister into the world 6 years ago.  Our Cubby has been interested in many things. He tried baseball and soccer, hip hop and gymnastics and finally...basketball.

Although he still enjoys hip hop, basketball has consumed most of his time. Between two travel teams and a couple of recreational leagues, it seems we are at some game or another almost every day!  So, it came as no surprise that he has chosen to have a Basketball themed Birthday Party!!  I am excited to create all of the extras for this party (and even more excited that it will NOT be at my house!).

The first step in the party prep process is the invitation. I decided to break out my Cricut, Gypsy and Cuttlebug to create the perfect basketball invitations!!

Recipe

Card Base

I used the Gypsy to weld two circle bases together. I used the Cricut Best of 2008 cartridge for the basketball image. I used <Basktbal> on Layer 1 with the shift selected (at 5" width, 10.93" height) to create the circles and then the square (1.04" width x 1" height) welding them together is from the Cricut Classic Font cartridge (but you can use George or any other cartridge with basic shapes on it).  After cutting out the two welded circles with the square in the middle, I scored the middle of the square to make sure it folded more easily.

Next, I closed the card and ran it through my Cuttlebug Swiss Dots Folder to create the basketball texture.

The black basketball lines are also from the same <Basktbal> button, but on the regular shift button. I attached the lines to the circle with monoadhesive.  Finally, I used a white Galaxy gel pen to create the stitching on the black lines.

Invitation wording and circle

To create the message inside, I used my laser printer. I used a piece of green Recollections card stock and ran it through the printer. I typed out my message in Word and made sure it only went to the 4.5" mark on the document. This will let you make sure it doesn't go beyond the size of the circle. The circle is another 10" <Basktbal> cut.  I used the Center point function to create the circle around the words. You just push the center point button and position the blade right in the middle of the card. I experimented to see exactly where the best place to cut would be.  Finally, I attached the circle to the inside using monoadhesive.

Here is the Gypsy cut file for the basketball invitation - Enjoy!

I am entering this card into the following challenges:

She's a Sassy Lady - Gypsy Created Shape Card Challenge
Little Scrap Pieces: Anything Your Heart Desires Challenge

You Rock - Tiny Valentine

Today's post is super quick.  As happy as I am, sometimes cyberlife is a nice escape from the craziness that is real life.  I have been trying to get in as many Valentines as I can to make sure the kids have cards to give to everyone special in their lives. My daughter is a total diva (even at 6 years old), and I love to make super cute things for her. So, I saw a couple of challenges this week that inspired me to create this teeny tiny Valentine. Also, I just got my new Rock Princess cartridge and HAD to use it right away...I hope you like it!!

Side view to show the wing dimension

Recipe

All layers are Recollections cardstock

Card Base

I used the Gypsy with Cricut Just Because Cards - I took the second card on the cartridge and changed the dimensions to 6" width and 3" height to come up with a 3" X 3" card

I used the square on the Cricut Classic Font cartridge for the yellow layer and changed the dimensions to 2.25" X 2.25"

Sentiment

The "You" is cut from the Cricut Rock Princess Cartridge at .75" - It is the heart font on the cartridge

I welded it to create one solid word piece

Winged Heart

Cricut Rock Princess Cartridge - Regular cut, shift cut, layer 1, layer 1 shift and layer 2 all at 1.5"

I bent up the top layer of the wings to give it a more 3D look

Attached it to the card using dimensionals and then added Stickles to the wings and a few other areas for some extra shimmer

I am entering this card into the following challenges:

Scrappy Moms Stamps - Terrific Tuesday Challenge - Rock Princess!
Fantabulous Cricut - Challenge #96 - Valentiny Cards

How to Use Your Cricut Gypsy

I am finally the proud owner of a brand new Cricut Gypsy. I am VERY excited about this wonderful birthday present and can not wait to get started. I thought I would post to keep track of my progress with this fabulous new toy.

The day I got the box in the mail, I should not have been shocked when it was not as "plug and play" as I expected.  I quickly figured out how to apply the screen protector and put it into the nifty new sleeve it came with, but after that, things got a little more complicated.

I tried to load my first cartridge and the screen informed me that I needed an update to get the cartridge to link properly. So, a word to the wise...when you get the Gypsy, the first thing you will want to do is to use the USB cord provided and connect it to your computer. I have a Mac and was able to connect and access the provocraft.com/gypsy site and download the syncing application.

After running the install for the application, I had to update the firmware for the Gypsy. On the screen, there is a message that says, "Updating Your Gypsy" and a warning that says not to "power off, disconnect or unplug (my) Gypsy."  The Gypsy is supposed to power off when the update has completed and then it must be restarted after the shutdown is complete.

Next, The screen turned black and it was unclear whether it was "sleeping" or actually shut off. The screen still said to restart the Gypsy after it was shut down and that is why I was slightly confused. (I the blue light to the right of the Gypsy indicates that it is turned on, so if that does dark you can safely assume it is off) I pressed and held the power button and that turned the Gypsy back on with the message "connected" on the screen. The message on the computer screen indicated that it was "downloading data file." It also said, "inactive" while the percentage went from from 0-100%.

After quite a while longer of waiting, I did get it working and have already started using it ;)