Jackie's Craftroom

Covers orders

2010-03-16T08:57:00.001+10:00

Update: I have decided to continue making the gadget covers. See my handmade by Jackie blog, link above.

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Hi everyone, just a few words from me about the covers that I make. I have been giving thought to the idea of no longer making them as life was getting too busy and I let somethings slip and one of them was the covers. I have written to those that placed orders, to those considering making an order please do. But there is a backlog of orders I need to get out first and there is a wait of about a month, so it you can please wait til the end of April before making your orders I would really appreciate it. I don't need anymore orders to stress me out at the moment LOL

Jackie

Thank you Lorraine

2009-09-07T13:18:00.000+10:00

Lorraine gave me this gorgeous frosted glass wall hanging. I love the saying and that it has green dragonflies, I love dragonflies.

Thanks Lorraine, it means so much to me and it made me cry knowing how much you care.

Flowers from Fran P

2009-09-06T22:37:00.001+10:00

Fran gave me these lovely flowers on her last day at the Swarm, they are gorgeous (sadly now all withered and dead) They looked lovely in my craftroom, thank you for them Fran.

Close ups

(oops a little blurry)

Swarm tutorials

2009-09-06T22:12:00.001+10:00

I did two tutorials during the Swarm, one was on how to make a wordbook using the Cricut Design studio software. The design we came up with is Mackay 2009 Swarm. I finally finished my book this afternoon and am very happy with the end result. As with all the wordbook I design I used the George and Basic shapes cartridge for the base of the book and for the lettering I used the Hello Kitty font cartridge.

Here is what I came up with. Hope you like it.

The second tutorial I did was using the Cricut Gelly Pens. Let me tell you these pens are fantastic, a lot finer than the Cricut markers. I used the Home Decor cartridge and the Design Studio Software, which is essential when doing this project. You need to have the drawing shape and the cutout shadow aligned just right or it will not work out at all.

Here is the step by step in pictures.

The Gelly pens

This shows the design that will be drawn with the Gelly pens

This shows the design that will be cut out after it has first been drawn.

The Gelly pen and the pen housing, the pen has a strong magnet in the top that attaches to the inside of the housing.

The Gelly pen housing in the Cricut Expression ( also works in the Cricut and the Create machines)

The first pass is the drawing of the design

The second pass, after changing the pen housing to the blade housing, is to cut out the shadow around the drawing.

The finished drawn and cut out design.

Here are the girls checking out the design (we had a pajama tutorial session)

Chris

Lorraine

The card made using the design

Me showing off the card, yes in my pajamas.

I would like to thank Mandy from http://www.scrappy-go-lucky.com.au/ for the Cricut Gelly pens I used in this tutorial and for the set that she kindly donated as a prize for the Swarm.

"Swarmers gone WILD" .......................

2009-08-30T14:50:00.001+10:00

Saturday night was BBQ and Spa (hot tub) night. My hubby Rob was the chef for the night. He made all the salads and cooked the BBQ. He even made a "HOT DOG" (not really, that's our dog Muttlee LOL)

Spa time, I will just let the pics tell the story, it was lots of fun in the spa.

yes we did do lots of crafting while we were at the Swarm :)

2009-08-30T13:43:00.001+10:00

Here is what we have been up to, some did a lot (like almost doing a WHOLE album) and other did a little (like me LOL)

Fi, this was her first ever scrap page.

Nel's 21st scrapbook, she a lot pages.

Chris's wedding gift card

Chris's card

Chris's mosaic pic page

Lorraine's birthday party page

Michele's wedding albums for her DD

Chris's card

Nel's bucket for friend's 40th

Jackie's card

Jackie's coffee mug this is the first time I tried etching. I really like etching :)

Mel's layouts

I can hear you screaming for Swarm updates so here they are..............

2009-08-30T11:40:00.005+10:00

I would like to thank all of our very kind prize donators. As there were so many prizes I do hope you forgive me for not mentioning below all the pics who donated what. I will mention you all at the top here. So a big thank you to the following.

Craftybird-cindy (Cindy)
Terrikrafts (Terri) http://www.stampsalive.blogspot.com/
LorrainIIles (Lorraine)
KristinaByers (Kristina) http://www.yourmemorieshere.com/
AussieAlli (Alli)
Scrappydoo2 (Debbie)
JC (Jenny)
FranTimme (Fran)
RobinGoens (Robin)
Bijou17 (Sue)
Nelandkids (Janelle)
Boo (Boo )
NurseMel (Mel)
Peachy Keen Stamps (Kathy) http://www.peachykeenstamps.com/
FranPayne (Fran)
Scrappy -Go-Lucky (Mandy) http://www.scrappy.go.lucky.com.au/
Marti - Pezadoodles (Marti) http://www.pezadoodle.com/
FiFi (Fi)
CreativeChris (Chris)
Schillin (Michele)
Jackierussett (me)

It's prize time :)

2009-08-28T18:33:00.001+10:00

We have just had our first lot of prize draws and we had lots of fun with it all. We had a bucket with all the names and one with all the prize numers on them. I printed out 50 numbers thinking that would be tto much, but we ended up having 70 prizes. WOW!

Here are the winners from this round and a big thank you to all the prize donators.

Michel with her prize donated by Fran Timme, thanks Fran.

Jackie with her prizes donated by Terri http://www.stampsalive.blogspot.com/ Thanks Terri

Mel with her prizes donated by Fi, thanks Fi

Jackie (OMG that is a horrible pic LOL) with her prizes donated by Kristina http://www.yourmemorieshere.com/ Thaks Kristina

Michel and her prize donated by Teri, thanks Terri

A very excited Lorraine with her prizes from Mandy http://www.scrapp-go-lucky.com.au/ thanks Mandy

Nel with her prize donated by Fran Timme, Thanks Fran

Chris with her prize donated by jackie, thanks Jackie

Mel with her prize donated by Fran Timme, thanks Fran

Here is a better pic of the prize.

WE DID IT :)

2009-08-28T14:24:00.000+10:00

Yippee we filled up the lolly jar, now to empty it LOL

busy at work?????????????? :)

2009-08-28T12:08:00.000+10:00

Here is everyone hard at work, well I think they are. Some just couldn't help themselves and got stuck into the lolly jar and eating picklets LOL

Frangapani caught with her hand in the lolly jar :)

Michele eating the picklet, yummy.

Look what I woke up to :)

2009-08-28T09:07:00.001+10:00

I had two little fairies doing the dishes for me. Now that's what I like LOL.

Chris & Michele are my dishes fairies, yippee. Don't you love Chris's pajamas??????????????? :)

Chris and Michele arrive at the airport :)

2009-08-27T22:18:00.001+10:00

Lorraine, Fi and I all went to the airport to pick up Chris and Michele from the airport. It was a fun trip on the way home, via the bottle shop LOL

L-R (back) Chris, Michele, Jackie & Lorrain witrh Fi at the front.

Yippee two more Swarmers turned up :)

2009-08-27T17:12:00.002+10:00

Yippee, Fi (aka gigglepot) and Fran (aka Frangapani) turned up this afternoon and we have been in fits of laughter.

Now how silly is Fi, very silly LOL

Waiting for Swarmers to arrive :)

2009-08-27T14:58:00.003+10:00

What do you do while waiting for more Swarmers to arrive, well I cooked up the fried rice and Lorraine is wrapping up the gifts from Fran Timme. Yes that's right they turned up today. I was like a kid getting something from Santa, I squealed when I saw the delivery van. I only got shipping notice last Thursday and was a little worried that they might not turn up on time, but they did.

Then she got a little silly and tried to tape herself up LOL

A very big thank you to Fran for all these goodies, she spoilt us with a very big paypal donation. I went to Custom Crops and put in an order and prayed it got here on time and like I mentioned above it did, so thank you to Custom Crops for quick delivery.

Cooking up a storm :)

2009-08-27T09:51:00.001+10:00

Here are Lorraine and I making the biggest mess in the kitchen. We have the lasagne in the oven cooking, then we are off to the shops for a bit. When we get back I will be making up the fried rice, yummy.

Oh my are we going to have fun at the Aussie Swarm :)

2009-08-26T19:49:00.000+10:00

Lorraine and I are getting up to all sorts of fun. Our mission for the Swarm is to fill up that lolly jar I am hugging, do you think we can do it, yes we can. LOL

Swarm alert the bugs are starting to arrive :)

2009-08-26T15:53:00.004+10:00

Yes that's right folks we have our first Swarmer here at Aussie Swarm central (aka Mackay QLD Australia) Lorraine landed here at 11.30am and guess who was late picking here up, ME. Oops!

Here is me with my sign to let Lorraine know who I was, now any one can have a hand written sign, but being a crafter what else could I do but a crafty sign.

here is a close up of the sign/doll. It is 16" tall and cute as a button.

Here is Lorraine on the computer checking out the Cricut mb.

Thank you Robin

2009-08-24T06:48:00.002+10:00

We received another prize on Friday. It was from Robin Goens and if you know what party plan Robin sells then you might have an idea as to what she sent. But till it is won I will keep on teasing you. Here is the pic.

I do know what is in the box as customs had to open it, I guess they did this due to the description on the customs forms Robin filled out LOL Of course I had to peek in the box to make sure it was all in there ;)

There are only three more sleeps til our first Swarm guest arrives. I am getting very excited as are all the Swarmers. Some are even have small breakdown, "what do I pack, what is my weight limit again, do I really need to wear clothes (more room for scrapping supplies if I don't)"
Oh we are going to have so much fun, keep checking back to see all the pics of the fun.

It has been a while

2009-08-16T18:03:00.003+10:00

Yes I am back to posting. Firstly I was very sick with the worst case of gastro. But I am now 100%. Then I get over that and I have been flat out at work, and too tired to do anything, including keeping up with my Swarm posts. So here are the latest updates.

I would like to thank two very special ladies that made donations to our Swarm.

Mandy from http://www.scrappy-go-lucky.com.au/ who donated a very cool prize, and 10% off vouchers for everyone attending the Swarm. Now don't let the size of the gift fool you. This prize is fantastic, as they say good things come in small parcels. :)

I then received a package from Marti at http://www.pezadoodle.com/
I have some of these products and they are very cool. I saw a video recently showing how you can use them with the Cuttlebug embossing folders. I tried it and it worked, so whoever wins this prize will have lots of ways to use the prize.

Only 11 more days til it is time to Swarm. I am rushing around like a headless chook trying to get the house ready for it, I think I will be still getting it all done when I have to go to the airport to pick up the first Swarmer, Lorraine.

Marti from Pezadoodle has aswered our call for Swarm prizes

2009-07-24T23:18:00.002+10:00

Our good friend and fellow Cricut MB sister Marti from http://www.pezadoodle.com/ has kindly offered to make a prize donation for our Swarm. A big thank you Marti from all the Aussie Swarmers.

We have an Aussie sponsor for our Swarm :)

2009-07-24T17:52:00.004+10:00

That's right we have a sponsor from Australia, I am so happy to introduce Mandy from http://www.scrappy-go-lucky.com.au/ We have a fantastic prize coming from Mandy, something that you might not have seen before, as usual once the Swarm is on you will all know, but it is a product that will be very useful with your Cricut machines.............................. I have to give myself a crash course on how to use it/them so I can show you while you are at the Swarm. I will wrap the prize and post a pic once it arrives. I can tell you that all attending the Swarm will also be receiving a 10% off voucher when you shop at http://www.scrappy-go-lucky.com.au/

As well as the sponsorship by http://www.scrappy-go-lucky.com.au/ I have been asked to join their design team and I am dizzy with excitement and have design ideas going through my head a at a million miles an hour. I will let you all know when I have my designs up for display on their blog.

Pink Expression with a new exclusive cartridge.

2009-07-24T07:23:00.007+10:00

The people at Provo Craft have come up with a new Expression machine, it is pink. It comes with Plantin Schoolbook and Accent Essentials cartridges plus the exclusive cartridge called "Pink Journey" So I guess it is geared towards raising funds for Breast Cancer awareness, what a great idea. These pink Expressions are available from Michael's store in the US.
Lets hope they also let this cartridge become available on it's own for everyone to buy and help raise even more funds for a great cause.

close up of cartridge contents

(permission to post these pics was asked for and granted by the picture taker)

This got me to thinking about what new cartridges are on my wish list and here they are.

EUROPEAN DÉCOR
EVERYDAY PAPER DOLLS
FROM MY KITCHEN
KITCHEN & BATH DÉCOR
PICTURESQUE
PINK JOURNEY
POTPOURRI BASKET
SERENE
SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS
SWEETHEARTS
WINTER WOODLAND

Do you know there are now 101 carts. (99 if you don't count the two international versions of Keystone and Daisychain)

What's on your wish list?

Screen shots of the 6 yet to be released carts now on the Design Studio software

2009-07-19T12:39:00.011+10:00

Here are the screen shots for all 6 of the yet to be released, but rumored for a September release, cartridges. I used both shift and non shift and all features available, with the exception of the shadow and blackout features.

The following carts are featured in the screen shots below.
From my Kitchen
Winter Woodlands
Serendae
Picturesque
Everyday Paper Dolls
Sweethearts

Everyday Paper DollFrom my KitchenPicturesqueSerenadeSweethearts Winter Woodland

WOW 6 new cartridges on Design Studio

2009-07-18T12:27:00.004+10:00

That's right the new update for Design Studio is out and there are 6 new carts on it.

Picturesque
Serenade
Sweethearts
Winter Woodland

Everyday Paper Dolls

From My Kitchen

If you have the Design Studio software here is the upgrade, you will need to save it before installing it.

http://content.cricut.com/b/downloads/software/DesignStudio/FontUpdate_V090716.exe

Happy 50th Rita word book

2009-07-15T22:21:00.005+10:00

Well after seeing the word book I made for my friend Stacey (see posting below) one of the guests at the party commissioned me to make one for her mother's 50Th.
I used the George and Plantin Schoolbook cartridges for this project and the design studio software. Let me know what you think about it.