Publication Review: Creating Keepsake Magazine special issue!

If you are anything like me, you have tons of 4x6 pics just waiting to be made into pages.   There are so many photos I’ve been collecting for the past few years, just waiting to be taken out and worked with.  Yet, the time never came and were finally put back in storage for another later date.
If you find yourself in the same boat,, perhaps you have no idea where to start?  Well, if you need a little nudge on getting those pics out of storage and into beautiful projects, then this book is for you!!

Creating Keepsake Super Fast Pages with 4x6 Photos

I was at the check out yesterday when I noticed this magazine. What drew my attention was the very strong color combo on a relatively very simple layout. With it’s simplicity, I realized I could scraplift this layout very easily with the tools I currently have on hand.  For example, I could use all my Provo Craft Cricut cartridges such as the butterflies, borders, flowers to follow the basic design presented on the cover.  What could be easier??  

After flipping through the magazine quickly,I decided to buy it. I rushed home  to explore the magazine more leisurely and soon realized that a lot of the layouts looked familiar. . . especially the Kelly Purkey and Mou Sasha's projects.

Finally, it dawned on me that most of these projects have been published before in Creating Keepsakes magazine. Now, if you don't have a subscription that's ok. You can catch up. If you do have a subscription, this makes it easy to find layouts that fit your need.  You can easily find project by page separation for 1-2 photos, 3-4 etc.. and so on. 

Before delving into this magazine in length, here's all the things on the cover that drew me in:

• 95 simple quick pages, make 1  tonight
• 27 sketches to create pages in a jiffy
• Scrap more photos with no cropping approach

I was motivated enough to grab my post-its and make notes on different pages.  I noted layouts I liked or the pattern papers, tips and even some sketches I wanted to try. I plan on making 10 lay outs from this book using the sketches and some other great ideas I've found. For example, on page 45, there is a great tip on using a pen in place of that perfect color thread you just cannot find!  

What I liked about this magazine:

• It is very functional and has the photos separated
• Tips at the bottom on how to finish a page faster
• The layout photos are huge. They take up most of the pages so you can see the details better.

What I didn't like about this magazine:

• Price tag was a little too high at 14.99
• 85-90% of the layouts were previously published hence the reason the price is too high
• Not much direction on how to recreate most of the layouts (loved the tips though!)
• Might be a  hard book for a brand new scrapbooker to follow

What do you think? Do you have this magazine? We will be giving away one of these magazines to a lucky reader!.  To win simply:

1. be a follower of this blog
2. leave a comment

That’s it!  What could be easier??  Drawing will held on October 7th and the winner will be chosen by the random.org  tool.  :)

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Don’t forget to participate in the GYPSY GIVEAWAY!!  We are giving away two!!  Deadline is October 3rd.  More details HERE!
GOOD LUCK and have a great day! 

Publication Review: Creating Keepsake Magazine special issue!

Provo Craft Cricut Cartridge Storybook & Cupcake Party &Giveaway?

Hi Everyone,

By now I'm sure you think I've had too much sugar and you would be sooo right!!! :) Well with all the excitement of the Gypsy starting at midnight, I couldn't wait to have a cupcake party while watching the show. Then I started thinking. . . why not involve Cricut in helping me make the cutest looking cupcakes in the neighborhood!

I know , I know you are confused right? Ok I’m going to share a secret with you. I don't really care for frosting much.  That’s right, I know that sounds weird. I never have liked icing.  But my DH adores frosting so I always make 2 batches, one for him one for me..(giggles)

Anywho I'm sure you are wondering who is this crazy person.....who doesn't like frosting? Ok by know you know more about me than you wanted to know right??????

Ok let's move on I want to show you a quick fun recipe..

READY????

BTW we are making hot fudge chocolate cupcakes with a center of white chocolate and off course the Cricut yum...

Here's your list of ingredients. (Oh of course you need cupcake pans)

• Pillsbury chocolate cake mix
• Butter
• Vanilla
• Eggs
• Cinnamon Sugar
• Jello (Fudge, Cheesecake)

Let's begin:

1. Mix the eggs and the 2 tbs butter until smooth then add 1 tsp vanilla and mix.
2. Ad 1 1/2 cups milk.
3. Add the jello fudge chocolate sugar free and the cheesecake sugar free until smooth.  Add the cake mixture
4. Melt chocolate in microwave for 1 mte then stir
5. Preheat over to 350 degrees
6. Spoon the cake mixture onto the cupcake liner.  Add the melted chocolate in the middle.  Spoon another mixture on top, see below.
   
   
   

Bake in the oven!

In the meantime , prepare the Cricut to cut the stencil for the decoration for the cupcake. I chose the Storybook cartridge, accent frame  option#5.

Tip:

For the stencil, I used the clam shell the storybook came in.  Great way to recycle packaging.  I used the multi cut, low speed and high pressure setting with blade #6.

Now, I can use the stencil to help me decorate the cupcake with  powder sugar.
Isn’t that kewl???  I can use the Cricut machine from Provo Craft to decorate my cupcakes?

Here's the stencil at work... I'm so excited.  It's a great thing. . .  90% of this cupcake used Splenda.  If I had used sugar, I would be jumping up and down.....(giggles)



Here's the final cupcake.  Isn't it cute????

Now what do you think? Fun eh. Yes, I did use frosting for my DH and DD. They are in happy cupcake frosting land now:)
On to the best part!  We are going to give away a Provo Craft Cricut Storybook Cartridge to one lucky reader!!  All you have to do is

a) leave a comment telling us what you think about the cupcake and

b) become a follower if you haven’t already done so.  It’s that simple!  You can leave as many comments as you want.  Each comment will be counted as one entry.  GOOD LUCK!  

Drawing will end September 29, 2009 at midnight EST and the winner will be drawn/announced on September 30th. 

PS we are still giving 2 Gypsy away more info here

Provo Craft Cricut Cartridge Storybook & Cupcake Party &Giveaway?

Cutting Above Gypsy Giveaway!!

Oh goodness.......have you heard the news????

Cutting Above is THE new place for industry news, review information, tutorials, videos and just about anything else related to scrapbooking and die cut machines!!

AND

have you also heard that

Provo Craft is helping us celebrate! That's right. They have generously donated 2 Gypsies to be given away for our launch as well as to celebrate their Grand Opening on HSN!! Now that's exciting news!

Have you heard all about the Gypsy and what it can do? Wow . . what a kewl machine. If you haven't heard about it yet, let me run down just a few of the advantage to owning this fascinating tool:

1. Portability . . you can use it anywhere
2. Your cartridge library is now at your fingertips! This is great for scrapbook getaways and crops!
3. Hand held device is lightweight at 11 oz.
4. Ability to store up to 7000 cartridges!!
5. Comes with 2 full cartridges preloaded (sweeeeet!)
6. You can now view all your images without being tied to a manual or keypad
7. Perform a keyword search on all your cartridge images . . even for ones that you haven't uploaded. This is great for cartridge research and planning for that next purchase
8. Allows you to create templates when designing
9. Comes with a 12 month warranty from date of purchase
10. Ability to JAZ up your Gypsy with silicon skins, screen protectors and colored styluses

These are just some of the advantages of purchasing the Gypsy. To read more about this innovative new product and to even take the device for a test drive, visit the Provo Craft Gypsy web site.

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HOW YOU CAN HELP

Because we know you will WANT this wonderful tool and we know you will WANT to help us spread the word about the show on HSN and we also know you will WANT to get the word out about our wonderful blog . . . right????????

Well here's how you can do just that. First watch the HSN/Provo Craft launch on September 24th starting at 12 AM. Be sure to DVR or TIVO the show if you will not be home. While watching see if you can spot our very own Maggie and friends doing a 10 second infomercial using the Gypsy!!

Yay Maggie. We can't wait to see the footage!

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HOW TO WIN

Well let's hurry up and get to the good part about the 2 Brand New Gypsys to give away.

So how can you win? Well it's really easy.

1. On your blog, Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo or email groups and /or forums (where allowed), create/bump an existing post about the show on HSN airing September 24th. Please also post about the Cutting Above blog and its debut. (Note: If you do not have a blog, please get the word out in at least 3 ways to be eligible) 
   
2. Become a follower of this blog
   
3. Put our blinkie on your blog or any other forum/group etc. you belong (again where allowed)
   
4. Comment to this post with your follower information, links of your 3 shout-outs along with a description of where your blinkie is located.
   
5. Comments should be posted by 12:00 midnight EST on October 2nd
   

PLEASE NOTE:  Rules updated to include other forms of shout-outs

It's just that easy!

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DRAWING DEADLINE

We will draw the winners on October 3rd and notify the lucky readers by October 4th.

Seriously . . it couldn't get any easier than that :)

Thank you so much for being a part of our debut and for also helping us celebrate the innovative Gypsy!!!

Good luck!
The Cutting Above Team :)

PS. . . The more you tell your friends and make comments the better chance you have :)

Cutting Above Gypsy Giveaway!!

100 Cartridge giveaway from Provo Craft!

Hi everyone,

This is Maggie with some information on a fun giveaway Provo Craft is doing. Have you seen this?

Provo Craft 100 Celebration!

“Help us celebrate our 100th Cricut cartridge—Winter Woodland! That’s right, we reached 100 cartridges. As a thank you to our great Cricut community members, we want you to celebrate with us. So, we’re giving away 100 cartridges over the next five weeks (20 per week.)

Here’s how it will work. Each week we will be posting a thread. When you respond to the thread you will be entered to win. You can enter once by replying and you can enter a second time by posting on your blog about the celebration and linking back to the cartridge product page. Here is the link to include in your blog. Once you’ve posted on your blog with the link back you can post again to this thread.”

Find more info on the http://www.cricut.com forum HERE

Good Luck,

100 Cartridge giveaway from Provo Craft!

Contest: Cutting Above Blog Blinkie Patrol!

Hi Everyone,

Woo hoo.......I get so excited when I see our blinkie on your blog!!  Thank you so much.  Not only do we love seeing our blinkie around the web, but we truly enjoy meeting new friends along the way!!! 

In honor of  our new friendships, I will be going on  blinkie patrol.  If I find our blinkie on your blog, your name will be put in a drawing to win a fabulous scrappy prize!  I will use Random Org to generate our winner. 
So go out there tell all your friends :)........
Contest details are below:

How can you win?

1. Add our blinkie  to your blog,(It is a must to win)
   
2. Post a comment to this announcement with your blog post information
3. Contest runs, Until further notice

 How can you help spread the word?

Forward any  link of any post to someone you think would be interested

Tweet about us and sign up for our tweet

Become a follower!

Link this blog in your Facebook status update

I really appreciate any help on helping spread the word about this blog :)

Maggie

Contest: Cutting Above Blog Blinkie Patrol!

Cutting Above Tutorial Master List!

Thank you so much for stopping by the blog and helping us spread the word about the wonderful information you can find here. Below is a master list of all the amazing tutorials our Design Team has created to help inspire you on your creative journey.  We hope you find list list helpful in navigating way through the site.  :)

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MASTER LIST: Tutorials 
 

• Stenciling 
•  Sizzix Big Shot Card – 9/11/09
• Cricut Tri-fold Card – 9/05/09
• Cricut: Cutting Images  8/31/09
• Cricut:Christmas Noel Solutions & Wrapping paper card  9/28/09

Thank you,
Maggie

Cutting Above Tutorial Master List!