Spellbinders Series: Butterflies and Brackets

I don't have a Cricut.

I don't have a Cuttlebug.

I don't have a Silhouette.

I don't have a Cameo (yet...like I mentioned, I DO want this)

I don't have a Sizzix Big shot.

I don't have a Gazelle (don't even know what this is, but it popped up when I search cutting systems).

I don't have the Epic (Quickutz)

I DO have a Slice, which you will find me occasionally using. It was the first edition model, no Elite here.

And something else I have been wanting for a long time is the Grand Calibur from Spellbinders...and looky what I just got....

What I loved about this machine was how big it cut...I like my die cuts big. :) I've had a little bit of time to play with it now, and I plan on doing a series of blog posts on what I have created with my Grand Calibur and different ideas for using die cuts. I wanted it to something creative like "Spellbinders Saturday" but I have noticed that not as many people go blog hoppin' on the weekends, so I chose Fridays instead. So every Friday (for 4 or 5 weeks) I will have a Spellbinders post up on my blog. Hope you stop by for each and every one of them. :)

First up...

MY REVIEW of the GRAND CALIBUR machine from Spellbinders:

This machine is very easy to work. It walks you through the few simple steps it has. It can cut very detailed images out perfectly. As I have already mentioned, it is capable of creating large die cuts for your projects as it can cut and emboss up to 8.5 x 11.75. If you don't want to cut that large of die cuts, you can cut several smaller die cuts out at once (even using multiple pieces of paper).

You DO have to crank it to move the plates through the machine.

According to their site, this machine is compatible with Sizzlit™, Cuttlebug™, and Quickutz™ sized dies, as well as Cuttlebug Embossing Folders and Fiskars® Texture Plates when used with the W-025 Raspberry Spacer Plate. I have not tried anything but the Spellbinders dies in mine so far.

Tips for the Grand Calibur (just a couple of things I noticed):

* When embossing a die cut after it has been cut, make sure that the piece of paper has not moved or is snug in the center of the die to emboss correctly.

* When removing a die cut after embossing, if you lift the pink embossing plate first, separating it from the rubber embossing pad (rather then pulling both the plate and the pad up together), you will get less curve in your die cut. However, it is easy to work with curved pieces, simply use a strong adhesive and glue down well or place it under a book to flatten it.

* I was able to cut a butterfly from a piece of canvas. I put it through first and it did not cut all the way through, so I placed a piece of cardstock underneath it (as a shim) and tried again. It still wasn't completely cut so I did this once more (so I now had 2 shims) and this time it worked. It's harder to crank, the more layers you put in though. But if I can do it, you can do it. :)

Now let's take a look at a couple layouts I made. Both of these layouts use papers and embellishments from BasicGrey...mostly from their Indie Bloom collection.

On this layout I used the Grand Labels One die to cut my 6 bracket squares, and the Wonderful Wings die to cut the butterflies.

Here are some close up's:

(See that piece with the flowers and buttons? That is exactly how these BasicGrey buttons came, packaging and all. I thought it was cute that way, so I just cut the packaging and adhered it all on there.)

And then on this next layout, I took it a step further and layered the Grand Labels One die cuts...

Pretty much uses all the same products. :)

Here are the close up's:

I loved how I added the journaling to this page. At first I wasn't sure where to put it...but then I got a bit creative. :)

Ok, well thanks for stopping in today!!! I will be up next Friday with more from my Spellbinder's series. And at the end of my series, there may just be a cool giveaway. ;)

Have a fantastic day!!!

Easy Canvas Prints Round 2

Photos on Canvas

I am back with round 2 of my Easy Canvas Prints review today. If you missed my first post, you can check it out here. Easy Canvas Prints specializes in turning your photos to canvas. So I wasn't thrilled with MY choice of photos for my first canvas (totally my fault) so I tried again. :) I have two canvases to share with you today.

The first...

This one is an 8 x 10. I LOVE the way it turned out! Very crisp and detailed.

I chose to go with a solid color for the side this time, it is a dark red color. I loved that they offer any color, you get to click on the circle spectrum and select the color yourself.

And this next one is a secret! It is a Christmas gift. :) I can't wait to see what he thinks.

Isn't that hilarious! I couldn't resist putting that on a canvas. :) This canvas is 12 x 18. It was a custom size. I think it is awesome that they allow you to make a custom size because when I would crop my photos down to 8 x 10 or another similar size, I didn't like the pictures as well. I wanted to keep it the size it was, so the custom size option was perfect for me.

Here's a close up of the canvas, just so you can get a good look at his face! :)

Oh man, I just love that photo. Once again I chose to go with a solid color on the sides, I chose black.

Turning a photo into a canvas would be a great gift for anyone, with Christmas quickly approaching, it's something to think about. Easy Canvas Prints does a fantastic job with their canvas photos. And you'll want to check out their facebook page, they have great deals going on over there!

Thanks again to Easy Canvas Prints! It has certainly been a pleasure, I WILL be ordering again. :)

Thanks for stopping in today!!!

Easy Canvas Prints

Photos on Canvas

I am back with another product review today. Not too long ago I was contacted by Easy Canvas Prints. They specialize in turning your photos to canvas. They offered me a canvas print in exchange for an honest review on my blog.

Their site and order process was very easy. Here's the canvas I received:

I love how they have several options for the sides of the canvas. You can choose a solid color, wrap the photo around the sides, or choose a mirror image of your photo. I chose to wrap my photo around the sides.

The quality of the actual canvas is fantastic, very sturdy and thick. The quality of the photo on the canvas is pretty good too, better then others I have seen. I do encourage you to pick a photo that is real clear and crisp to begin with, and I think it would be better to have a high contrast photo. I would even go as far as suggesting that you print the photo out as large as you can first because you are going to get exactly what your photo is, and sometimes when you look at a smaller image or a picture on a screen you miss some of the imperfections (like some areas might not be as clear as you thought they were). For myself, the photo I chose actually has the focal point on the kid's jackets rather then their faces, and I didn't realize that when choosing my photo from my computer files. I do believe I will try this again with a different photo and choose a high contrast photo, perhaps even a really good black and white photo. Anyways, so you can see the quality yourselves, I printed my photo on 8.5 x 11 photo paper and put it next to the canvas.

As you can see, the colors translate wonderfully. My canvas is 11 x 14, but they have many different sizes you can choose from. Overall, I am very satisfied with my canvas and I believe that Easy Canvas Prints is honest in their advertising and product description. If you choose your photo wisely, then you will not be disappointed with your canvas from Easy Canvas Prints. I will proudly display my canvas in my house.

Turning a photo into a canvas would be a great gift for someone, with Christmas quickly approaching, it's something to think about. I think I may be ordering some for Christmas. :) Don't worry, I'll share them with you when I do. I need to find the perfect pictures.

Oh, and by the way, you'll want to check out their facebook page, they have great deals going on over there! If you like them on facebook you will automatically receive 50% off your next purchase, and free shipping as well! Isn't that awesome! So head on over! :)

I want to shout out a huge THANK YOU to Easy Canvas Prints! It has certainly been a pleasure, I WILL be ordering again. :)

Thanks for stopping in today!!!

Meet My Memories

I'll just come right out with it...today I am giving away digital scrapbooking software!!! :) My Memories is a wonderful company that sells both software and digital kits for scrapbooking. They also do photobooks. Their My Memories Suite Scrapbook software is an award winning software that is rated #1 by Amazon and TopTen Reviews.

They contacted me a little while ago and asked me to do a giveaway and a review of the product on my blog. My review is honest and my own opinion. You can scroll down to see it. But first...

One lucky person can win this software today!

HOW TO WIN:

1. Check out the My Memories site and browse the digital kits OR look through their gallery, then..

2. Come back and leave me a comment telling me which one is your favorite (kit or layout in gallery).

3. You can get an extra entry by spreading the word...on your own blog, on a message board or on a facebook or twitter page, just post about it then come back and leave me another comment with a link to your post.

Pretty simple. :)

P.S. If you become a fan of My Memories on facebook then you can get exclusive fan freebie kits!

Here is a layout I created using the My Memories Suite Scrapbook software:

It also uses their Empty Nest Pack kit.

MY REVIEW:

I am SO not a digital person. It takes me a long time to figure out how to do things and I often will get frustrated first. Using My Memories Suite Scrapbook software was very simple. It comes with a bunch of papers and embellishments already. And their site has a lot to offer too. I started working on my page and couldn't figure out how to add another paper on top of my paper I was using as a background. So I headed over to their blog and found a whole bunch of tutorials on how to do things, so that's nice. It looks like you can also get the tutorials emailed to you which I thought was cool. They have a bunch of templates and it seems they really push those. It certainly does make digital scrapbook easy! And the templates you can still manipulate and change it up. As with any program it will take a little bit to learn how to do things, but I promise that this program is pretty easy. I sat down in one afternoon and played around and made the layout above. It didn't take too long to learn how to do things, and when you need help, there is help available. :) Before I had my Mac and Photoshop CS3, I had another program that was very similar to this and I think I paid $90 for it. So this program for $39.97 is a great deal (and you can get it for less, just keep reading). The only thing I didn't like was that in order to rearrange your layers (bring some elements forward and move some back in your layers) you had to click on the image (which could sometimes be hard to click on because the computer thought I was clicking on another element) and then bring forward or backwards, which sometimes meant you had to do this with several different elements before you got it where you want it. But I remember having the same problem with my old program. Overall, I really think it is a good, easy program for any digital scrapbooker, but especially for those just starting the hobby. :)

The bottom line: any new software will take time to learn how to do things. This software has a lot of options for digital scrapbookers and makes it pretty easy. And it is certainly A LOT cheaper (less than $40) than Photoshop or similar programs.

Now here's the great part, even if you don't win the giveaway or if you want it right now....I have a special for you! :)

You can get a $10 discount off the purchase of the My Memories Suite Scrapbook software AND a $10 coupon for the MyMemories.com store ($20 value) by using this code:

STMMMS34302

Just copy and paste the code then add it in the promo code section when you check out.

Digital scrapbooking can be fun! Hope you try it out!

Have an AWESOME day! I will draw a winner on Friday. :)