Weekend Update

Tomorrow is October 1st - it feels like September just flew by.  We have another wedding celebration this weekend - for our nephew and his new wife - at the family apple farm.  I expect to be able to check in and post as usual but things will be pretty busy!

I have just a few things to share today- one of them is my passion for digital and some information that may be helpful to you if you have been thinking about taking the plunge into the digital world.

 I got some exciting news today - the upgrade for the Creative Memories StoryBook Creator program will be available on Monday, October 3rd.  If you have the 3.0 program, you will be able to upgrade to 4.0 for $24.95 and the upgrade will include more than $60 worth of digital artwork.  You will not be able to upgrade from the 2.0 version - you will have to buy the new program for $64.95 or get the upgrade to 3.0 in the next day or two and then upgrade again to 4.0.

If you have the older StoryBook 2.0 version, you can purchase the upgrade to 3.0 for only $9.95 (half price) HERE until the new 4.0 program becomes available on Monday.  This upgrade also includes a digital kit and a set of 12 x 12 predesigned pages.  Then you could purchase the upgrade to 4.0 and be totally up to date (and get the new content included in the upgrade).

If you don't own the program  yet, you could purchase the 3.0 version on sale for half price ($32.98) HERE until the new program becomes available on Monday.  Then you could purchase the upgrade next week for $24.95 for a total of $57.93.  The new 4.0 program will cost $64.95 and it will not include the content that you will receive with the upgrade.  You will get different "starter" content"

The 3.0 program comes with over $80 worth of content:

Discover and Delight Digital Power Palettes

Discover Predesigned Pages: 7x5, 8x8, 11x8.5, 12x12

Delight Predesigned Pages: 7x5, 8x8, 11x8.5, 12x12

Black Predesigned Pages: 7x5, 8x8, 11x8.5, 12x12

White Predesigned Pages: 7x5, 8x8 11x8.5, 12x12

Silver Office Supplies Digital Embellishments

The new 4.0 program will come with:

• Cheerful Digital Power^® Palette
• Cheerful 12x12 Predesigned Pages
• Cheerful 11x8.5 Predesigned Pages
• Black & White Digital Power^® Palette
• Black & White 12x12 Predesigned Pages
• Black & White 11x8.5 Predesigned Pages
• 2012 Calendar 12x18 Digital Predesigned Pages
• 2012 Calendar 8x12 Digital Predesigned Pages

 The upgrade from 3.0 to 4.0 will come with:

• Serene Digital Kit
• Serene Digital Overlays
• Serene Digital Alpha Set
• Just Fun Digital Kit
• Just Fun Digital Overlays
• Just Fun Digital Alpha Set
• 2012 Calendar 12x18 Digital Predesigned Pages
• 2012 Calendar 8x12 Digital Predesigned Pages

You can see PDFs of all of the digital artwork content in the help zone on the website HERE  

I really enjoy digital scrapbooking but I often use the program for other projects.  I know that many of you are dedicated "paper scrappers" but the possibilities when you add digital to your paper scrapping are incredible.  Hybrid pages with some digital manipulation of photos and some paper layering and die cuts is a great option.  The page I did (above) for the Cruise contest last year was partially digital and partially Cricut cuts and paper layers.

Another thing that I find fascinating about digital is the changes that you can make with your digital papers - the paper at the top is one that I recently purchased (Autumn Digital Additions) and I changed it to completely different colors with just one simple adjustment in the program.  (These images are only screen size resolution).  You never run out of paper and you can change your papers to suit your needs.

The StoryBook program also allows you to create your own digital content and to use content that you already have or that you purchase from other sources.  The possibilities are truly endless!

Creative Memories Rewards Club

A couple of weeks ago I told you about the new Rewards Club.  Today is the last day to sign up and get the instant $20 credit.  Beginning in October the instant credit will be $10.  I have copied and pasted the information from that post here.

If you have been reading my blog for a while, you know that I am a Creative Memories Consultant.  I started as a consultant in 2005 to keep myself in supplies and to help friends and relatives with their scrapbooking projects.  I purchased a Cricut in 2007 and soon became totally caught up in the world of digital die cutting.  I started this blog to share my Cricut Design Studio files and tutorials and, more recently, I have been trying to keep my readers up to date on the Creative Memories products that I particularly enjoy using (such as the StoryBook Creative Plus 3.0 software for digital scrapping).

Last year, Creative Memories and Provo Craft began working together.  So far there have been four exclusive Creative Memories Cricut cartridges (Cheerful Seasons, Reminisce Accents, Stork's Delivery and Traveler - just click each name to see more information about each cartridge).  Next month, the Cricut Expression 2 machine will be available through Creative Memories and there will be an exclusive "Best of Times" sampler cartridge included with the Creative Memories E2 machines.  The price will be $299.

The cartridges retail for $55 and they are full of great content and well worth the price.  However...I know that some people find this price to be more than they would like to pay for a cartridge, so I have a few suggestions to help make the cartridges (and other products) more affordable.

Creative Memories is offering a new Rewards Club.  The annual fee is $39 and you get an immediate $10 credit that you can use to purchase Creative Memories products.  If you enroll in September, your immediate club credit will be doubled to $20.

If you join the Rewards Club, you will have access to exclusive products and promotions and every purchase you make will earn you a credit of 15% to be used for future purchases.  You can accumulate these credits to save for a more expensive item (such as the E2).  You could also use the immediate $20 credit to purchase one of the CM Cricut cartridges for $35.

You can read more about the Rewards Club and sign up as a member on my CM personal website HERE. 

If you'd like to earn even more credit, in addition to the Rewards Club, you could host a "party."  If you are located near me in Massachusetts this could be an "in person" get-together.  If you are at a greater distance, you could host a virtual party and earn hostess credit when the people you invite shop on my website.  The details of the host benefits can be seen HERE.

If you want to get even more products and purchase your items at the consultant discount (starts at 27.5% and increases depending on sales volume) you should consider signing up as a consultant.  The cost to start up is only $50.  My good friend and fellow blogger Joy Tracey (of Obsessed with Scrapbooking and Everyday Cricut) just joined Creative Memories through me and we would love to have some more of our online friends join us to create a great team!

There are additional incentives for new consultants who meet certain goals in their first months and if you join in September or October and complete the "Success Plan" you will earn this wonderful "Let's Create Pack" worth over $140.  If you are not a "party person," remember that you can sell through your Creative Memories personal website.  The fee for the first three months for your website is waived - what could be better than a free website to help you sell in the first months.

If you are interested in more details you can find them HERE on my personal website or contact me online by clicking the box on that page or emailing me directly at capadiadesigns@gmail.com

Thank you all for your responses to my question yesterday about your experiences with the world of die cutting - how you got started, which machines you have and use, and what you are interested in doing in the future.  I'd like to hear more of you and to let you know that I am definitely trying lots of new things.

I am very excited about some of the designs I have been able to make using the Silhouette software.  I am so happy to have some of the features that we all have been requesting for years in the Cricut software products with no results.  The intricate cut in the sneak peek above is something that I was able to make very quickly with the Silhouette software.

Tomorrow is World Card Making Day.  If you click HERE you can find out more about this event.  There is a card contest with 20 huge prize packages - to find out more about this click HERE.  Entries must be postmarked by October 11, 2011. You definitely should check out the list of prizes that the creators of the top 20 cards will receive - the total value is over $1,000!

Have a Great Friday - we'll be on the road most of the day...

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Hello Thursday cartridges...and some Christmas fun

Yesterday was "Hello Thursday" and two new Cricut cartridges were announced.  One is a seasonal cartridge called "Scandinavian Christmas Cards"  and the other is an Imagine Art cartridge called "Hey Diddle Diddle."  To see the "look books" for these cartridges click HERE and then click on each of the cartridge boxes at the top left of the screen.  You can also see the cartridge images and some projects on the official Cricut Blog HERE.  There are more projects on the "Hello Thursday" blogs - just click the names to see their posts - Joy, Melanie, Tammy and Mixology.

You can find the Scandinavian Christmas Cards cartridge in the shopping section of the Cricut.com site HERE.  It was showing as "out of stock" when I wrote this post.

There are only 50 image keys on the seasonal cartridges and the Scandinavian Christmas Cards cartridge has ten layered images, six single layer word art titles and two cards with two envelopes.  The images are not particularly Scandinavian - I would have expected more geometric borders and trims (similar to Jan Brett's book illustrations).  The people are in the "pointy toe" style that I find a bit odd.  The seasonal cartridges are less expensive (list price $24.99) and, if you don't already have a selection of Christmas cartridges and you like the images, this could be useful for card making.   I don't think it is a "must have."  If you can find the discontinued "Christmas" Solutions Cartridge, or one of the other full Christmas cartridges on sale, you would have a lot more cuts to work with for a similar cost.

The Hey Diddle Diddle Imagine Art cartridge is on the Cricut.com site HERE.  The list price is $55.99.  This is another Cosmo Cricket cartridge.  I do like most Cosmo Cricket designs but the images in the look book are almost too "cute" for me.  I think the designs will appeal to a lot of people - they just aren't my style.  There have been quite a few baby cartridges released this year so you have a lot of choices.  The papers are nice and, for the most part, they would be good for all sorts of projects since only a few are definitely "childlike" in style.  There are several patterns that are repeated in various colorways and, once again, I wish that we could adjust the colors on the Imagine as you do in a digital scrapping program so more basic designs could be included.  There are six shades of the crosshatch design and four of the gingham pattern and if we could alter the colors, many more designs could have been included.

I'd be curious to hear what you all think of these cartridges - and also would be interested to hear your thoughts on what types of images and styles are missing from your collection.

The image at the top of this post is some word art I put together using the sentiments in the Creative Memories Primary Christmas Digital Kit.  I selected various parts of each word group and copied them to create separate groups to fill with a variety of Christmas papers.

This is a fun thing to do and you can vary the look tremendously by choosing different papers.  I created this at a 12 x 12 size but I will probably print some much smaller versions to use for cards.

I am still trying to catch up from the wedding and my trip to Pennsylvania - I am hoping to tackle my overfull email inbox tomorrow.  If you are waiting for a reply to a message you sent in the past two weeks please don't be shy about resending your note - I do try to answer everything but when I am away there can be a backlog that takes a while to sort through!

Have a great weekend!

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Rehearsal Dinner Tables (and Creative Memories Digital Sale)

I am on the road again - my sister and I are headed to Pennsylvania to help my Dad with his move into a new apartment at his retirement community.  I have more wedding projects to share but today I just wanted to make sure that you know about another digital sale at Creative Memories.  The sale is 50 percent off for a lot of "back to school" content and it ends tonight (September 10th).  You can find the sale HERE on my CM Personal Website.

The StoryBook Creator 3.0 program (PC download version) is also still on sale for half price and will be on sale until the 4.0 upgrade is released sometime this month ("mid-month" was stated so it should be soon...).  If you have the 3.0 version the upgrade to 4.0 will be only $24.95 and it includes $60 in digital artwork.   You can order the 3.0 version for $32.48 HERE until the new version is released.

Here is another quick look at one of the rehearsal dinner tables - I made place cards, table numbers and menus.  The restaurant had nice frosted votive lights so I cut vinyl initials in "the font" and they applied them to the glass.  I'll post more details and photos as soon as I can.  The next few days will be very busy and I do have some new cards for Scrappy-go-Lucky and Creative Charms to post at the beginning of next week.


I hope you have a lovely and peaceful weekend!

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More butterflies and a reminder...

Things will be a little different on the blog for the next week or so.  I'll be sure you have a morning email but I will be taking a "family time" break for the wedding and only occasionally checking email, comments and Facebook messages.  I started this blog in 2008 and I've posted every day since January 1, 2009 so there is a lot of information here!  I'll be linking you back to some posts that you may not have seen - especially if you are a new reader of my blog.

The butterflies above are digital images that I extracted from a photo of a piece of embroidery I found at a rummage sale.  You can read the original post from May, 2010 HERE.  I used the Creative Memories StoryBook Creator Plus 3.0 software and now I have a unique digital element that I can add to my pages and projects.

I wanted to remind you that the Creative Memories "DigiWow" Sale is ending today.  You can save 50% on the software (by download) and 30% on content.  Here is a LINK to the sale page on my CM personal website.  There will be an upgrade to the software later this fall and you will need to have the 3.0 version to be able to upgrade.  To get a really good look at the digital content, click HERE to find the index of PDFs for all of the various options.

I am doing a bit of sewing today - finishing up one of the last wedding projects.  When I get back from the wedding I have a couple of fabric projects in mind to make - I wonder how many of you also sew?


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Digital Sale at Creative Memories

Quite a few people have contacted me with questions about the programs I use to do photo editing and digital pages and projects.  I use the two Creative Memories programs, Memory Manager 3.0 for photo organization and editing and Storybook Creator Plus 3.0 for digital scrapbooking and other projects.  These programs are quite powerful and offer sophisticated options but are quite easy to use with lots of great support on the Creative Memories sites.

The two programs are independent - you do not need to use both if you are happy with your photo organization and editing.  You can easily import your photos into the StoryBook program even if you edit them in another program.  There are also some basic photo editing options in the StoryBook program.

I posted some digital pages a few days ago (HERE) and then I found out that Creative Memories is offering a "Digi WOW" sale for the month of August.  The StoryBook Creator Plus 3.0 (for PC) and the sbcStudio (for Mac) are 50% off (sale price $32.48) for the download version (no shipping costs!).  All of the downloadable digital content for both programs is also on sale at 30% off.  I am a Creative Memories consultant and i would be happy to help you with an order if you do not have a local consultant that you work with.

I did a few quick pages for this post with some photos of another neighborhood friend.  I think little girls in tutus look so cute!

There is a lot of information about these programs on the site HERE. You can find videos about various functions and more help on the training tab HERE.

A new upgrade to StoryBook Creator Plus 3.0 (it will be 4.0) is coming soon.  I don't know all of the details yet but in the past there has been a specially priced offer for the program upgrades when they are introduced.    If you don't have version 3.0 you won't be able to upgrade to 4.0 from 2.0.  There is also a 50% sale discount on the upgrade (sale price $9.98) so people with the older program will be ready for the upgrade to 4.0.  Details about the price and timing of the upgrade will be announced at the Creative Memories Annual Showcase later this month.

You can find more details about the "Digi WOW" sale on my CM personal website HERE.  To get a really good look at the digital content, click HERE to find the index of PDFs for all of the various options.

The sale will run until the end of August so there is plenty of time to contact me for help with any questions you may have.  I will be more available next week - things are chaotic here with the floor resurfacing and I will soon be blocked from entering my craftroom - but I will have a laptop with me!


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A Digital Page or two...

Earlier this month, I took some photos of my little neighbors in our back yard.  They were running down the hill and smelling the flowers and generally having a lot of fun.  It is difficult to capture good photos of small children in action, but I had my camera with me and so I gave it a try!

This was one of the photos I took - she has a cute expression but there is a day lily stem on top of her head and the lighting is not very well balanced.  Thank goodness for digital photography and photo editing software!

 I use the Creative Memories Memory Manager 3.0 program to do most of my photo editing and the StoryBook Creator Plus 3.0 program for my digital pages.  Both of these programs are relatively inexpensive and easy to use but they are capable of producing fairly sophisticated results.  As you can see above, I was able to crop and fix the lighting and other problems to produce a very sweet image (of course - she is adorable so that helps!).

Once I completed my editing and corrections in Memory Manager, I brought the photo into the StoryBook Creator program and applied various effects.  The one I like the most was this "oil painting" effect.  It is amazing what a few clicks of the mouse can produce!

I made the photo as large as possible and layered it on some summery background paper.   One simple word is all it takes to title this page.  I think it would be great on a calendar.

While I was at it, I decided to try a few more pages.  This one started off as a pre-designed page but I eliminated some of the elements and rotated others to get this result.  The items I used are from the Cottage Garden digital collection.  The swirls and butterflies add a feeling of motion that remind me of the children running up and down our small hill.

Here is another page with the same phrase but different papers and another photo that was taken at nearly the same time.  These are papers from the Reminisce spring digital addition.  Both pages have just one photo and the same sentiment but the style is definitely different.

An easy way to work on a layout is to start with a predesigned page from one of the books.  You can then click and fill the various shapes and "tweak" the page to suit your photo and story.  You can also use these digital page designs as inspiration for your paper pages.

This is the page I made using the book blank page as a resource.  The colors are more subdued so the photos really pop out.  I particularly liked this quote.

I hope you are having a nice weekend.  We'll be doing more painting today - we are on the fourth (!) color choice for our bedroom walls - I hope this one works out...  I also need to clear away all of the kitchen counters before the floor sanders come - now that's a job!

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ATCs - Flying

 I haven't posted many ATCs (Artist Trading Cards) lately.  The groups that I was in with a regular monthly commitment ended, however, I still participate in a group where the members sign up on a month to month basis depending on the theme and their schedules.   The theme for June was "Flying" and all sorts of ideas popped into my head when I first heard the theme.

The idea that wouldn't go away was based on the song "Let's Go Fly a Kite" from the movie version of Mary Poppins.  When I was in grade school, I got a "record player" for my birthday (long before mp3s were ever heard of!).  The record album that came with it was the soundtrack from Mary Poppins and I played it over and over again.    I remembered the kite on the "Imagine More" cartridge that came with the Imagine machine and decided that it would be perfect for my cards.

I took this photo of the sky one day when it was particularly beautiful and I have used it as my desktop image on my computer for quite a while now.  So I had the perfect background ready for my kite to fly.

I brought the photo into my Creative Memories StoryBook Creator Plus 3.0 software and dropped it into a photo frame set up at 3 1/4 x 2 1/4 inches.  ATCs are 3 1/2 x 2 1/2 inches and I wanted to layer my image on a background of cardstock.  Then I added the text, using the "Freestyle Script" font.  I put the "Let's Go" at the top and placed the words "fly a kite" on a text path that I drew, repeating the phrase twice.  The words are white to fit in with the clouds in the sky.

I grouped the text and photo and copied and pasted to create a full 8 1/2 x 11 page with nine copies of the top layer for my ATCs.  I printed this on my home printer on matte photo paper and cut up the layers.

Next I printed and cut some kites with the Imagine on textured American Crafts white cardstock (this cardstock works very well in the Imagine).  There is still some "creep" when I print and cut with my Imagine.  Items that are at the top left of the mat print and cut almost perfectly aligned but as you get further to the right and lower on the page the alignment is off.  I think I have to do some more work on the advanced calibration.  In this case, the kites were small enough that they did not print too far down the page so the difference in alignment, while noticeable, was not bad enough to cause a problem for my little cards.

I used the custom setting to eliminate the extra border around the image and here you can see the detailed cut around the kite's tail.  I used my bone folder to help lift it from the mat without tearing.

I used a light green cardstock that coordinated with the color in the kite as the card base (cut at 3 1/2 x 2 1/2 inches).  It looked a bit too plain so I added an additional layer in bright yellow/gold cardstock cut at 3 3/8 x 2 3/8 inches to add a fine line of color and create a frame for the sky.

A couple of foam dots allow the kites to "fly" in the sky.

I let the thin tail just drift over the words.  A little orange gem sticker adds a bit of sparkle in the center of the kite.

The group was small this month so I only needed to make seven cards.  I always print a few extra images to allow for errors in cutting or assembling and I may use the extra pieces on other projects.

ATCs are supposed to be limited editions and are signed and numbered on the back - since the group was small this month I simply hand wrote all of the information (sometimes I create the backs digitally as well - particularly for a larger group).

I hope you have a wonderful weekend - maybe you'll have a chance to fly a kite!

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Wedding Thank You Cards

Every bride and groom will need plenty of thank you cards.  Our son and soon to be daughter-in-law will be leaving tomorrow to visit more friends and family on the East Coast.  They wanted to keep up with thanks yous for the gifts they have received so I designed a thank you note with them using my Creative Memories StoryBook Creator Plus 3.0 software and we had them printed today.

The design is very simple.  I did have to do a few slightly tricky things to make this work out.  The font Will and Kelly have chosen for other wedding items is an Open type font not a True Type font and it would not appear as an option when I wanted to enter the text.  To work around this problem, I printed the two sections of type ("Thank  You" and "Kelly and Will") using another program, scanned them and saved the scan as a jpeg, and then used the magic wand tool to drop out the background and create images of the words to work with for the design.

The design needed a little something to add interest and we chose this type flourish from the Black and White Tie the Knot Digital Additions to use as a corner element in the design.  We changed the color to a shade of blue similar to the color of the dresses the bridesmaids will be wearing.

To add interest to the simple notecard, we used the same flourish on the back of the card, creating a mirror image and changing the color to white on a background of the same shade of blue.

Here is a view from the top so you can see how the printed card back looks.  The option of printing a pattern on the back of a card is something that has become popular on wedding stationery sites.

To give a little more personality and sparkle to the card, a tiny gem sticker can be added to the flourish.

Here is a closer view of the flourish with a gem sticker.  I think they will probably use the note cards without adding the stickers - there is always a risk of the gem rubbing through the envelope in the mail and it adds an extra step to a very busy schedule!

It is very hard to get a photograph that clearly shows the effect of the printed back when the card is inserted into the envelope.  A very subtle damask pattern appears through the envelope.  This would be more pronounced with thinner envelopes.

I actually use my StoryBook program more for this type of project than I do for creating scrapbook pages (but I hope to get back to making more pages soon!).

A few more items of interest...

Letraset is offering a great giveaway to celebrate reaching 1,000 Facebook Fans.  Click HERE to go to the Letra set blog and leave a comment - you could win one of three sets of twelve ProMarkers.  Winners will be chosen  Friday (10th June) at 12 Midday (GMT) - remember, they are in the UK so adjust the time accordingly for your location.  Good luck!


It is getting harder and harder to keep up with all of the message boards, blogs and facebook sources of information from ProvoCraft.  In case you missed it today, I want to pass along the link to the "Cricut Classroom," a video library of online classes that can be viewed for free!  Just click HERE to go to the page.  I haven't been able to watch these yet so I can't really tell you much more about them.


Our son and his fiancee leave for New York today.  It was great to have them home and we really packed a lot into the days that they were here.  Things should get a little more normal around here - at least for a few days.  I am working on finding things to included in a neighborhood yard sale this weekend.  This would be an ideal way to clear up some space around the house so wish me luck!


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