Needle felted Santa…

I can’t remember where I got the inspiration for this Santa but he sure has been a hit! And I’m tired of making them…I made 10 last weekend and they are all gone. Phew! I also made 10 snowmen and got them shipped on Friday. It has been a busy Christmas Season!!! I’m now working on paper projects. People…I’m making my own SVG’s! (That is the file that my eCraft cuts from). Hopefully I’ll have something to show you next week. I have glue and ink all over my fingers…and floor…and table! I have to break out the shop-vac today and get rid of some paper and dust bunnies! I can’t have random dog hair and dust getting stuck in my glue lol!

If you have time on your hands go read this post about making a simpler Christmas. I agree with her!

And I have to say my heart is broken over the tragedy in Newton. It’s so hard to watch the news coverage…I pray that each and every family finds even a moment of peace and comfort.

Cutting ornaments and cards with eCraft…

There’s a lot of wonderful free cutting files out there and I’ve been having a ball finding them and seeing what my eCraft can do! One of the free files I’ve tried is the “Baubles by Bird” file.

I’ve also purchased a few files from Lettering Delights. One of my favorites is “Season’s Tweetings”. So far I’ve been very happy with my purchases too! Here are a couple birds using the Season’s Tweetings set-

And here are some ornaments using “Baubles by Bird” files-

  

I have just been having waaaaayyyyy too much fun! There is paper EVERYWHERE…little tiny pieces wedged into every crack and crevice of this house lol! Good thing it vacuums up so well…

Happy Crafting!!!

eCraft

Did I ever mention that I got an eCraft digital cutting machine for my 40th birthday…a year and a half ago? I did! I was so excited I went to JoAnn’s and bought 75 sheets of scrapbooking paper to practice with!!! I expected there to be a learning curve with the machine…but I didn’t expect to fail so horribly. I had done a lot of research before I decided which machine to buy. I picked the eCraft because you didn’t need to use a cutting mat and you were only limited by your imagination as to what you could have the machine cut. Well after getting discouraged time and time again by bad cuts and ripped paper I finally realized I received a lemon. Last summer I packed it up and shipped it back for a replacement. I got my replacement and am just now starting to play with it. I approached it like it could bite me – I was scared. The good news is that this machine works much much better than the old one. As you can see in the picture I’ve had it cut some pretty intricate cuts and so far so good. If I really get excited about everything being “just right” I’ll cut off the little tabs with my craft knife. I’ve started to play again. Now I can’t wait to rush through my housework and get back to the eCraft. I want to design my own SVG’s (that’s the file the machine cuts) and that will take more time. Maybe even more time than I can give it…lol. My brain doesn’t accept learning as quickly as it once did. The program has almost gotten the best of me a few times. When I explained to my dad what I was buying he said “Isn’t that cheating?” my dad uses an excavator to dig basements…is it cheating to use the excavator rather than a shovel?

Happy Crafting!!!