No Time for Paper Crafting

Loving This Designer

Amanda Mueller — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 03:15:29 +0000

I am so enjoying playing with my Silhouette in my limited free time. I did have some time today and got to play with some designs by Kerri Bradford Studio. I am into the word art which she designs wonderfully.

I am working on project life so here are a couple of things I have done for that. Not everything I have actually put in the book yet. We will see what the 3rd week of the year will bring.

Also this is a Valentines decoration for the house. I am not a big seasonal decorator, but love this look so we will see if I keep it or gift it. Either way it was easy to do. I just had to buy the 8×10 frame, everything else was out of my stash.

WOW, the other thing is appliance came today! The measure for the counter on Wednesday.

Playing with my Silhouette

Amanda Mueller — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 21:38:49 +0000

Late last week I had about an hour for free time to play with my toy. I wanted to try the rhinestones. So this is what I made. Today I was asked by my high schooler to help with a school project, this was a 30 minute project. It is the first time I have cut vinyl. So here is the end result.

This is what has been keeping me busy the last 2 weeks. A lot more progress has been made today but I do not have a picture yet. Maybe later.

Place Cards

Amanda Mueller — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 02:58:58 +0000

I am so excited, I brought my Cameo upstairs because with all the dust and such, I can not work in the basement. I have been wanting to play with it but have not had a chance with it being in the basement. I volunteered to make the place cards for the High School Swim banquet. I was told last week it could be as easy as a piece of paper folded over with names on it. Well, that would not do for me. So this is what I came up with using the print and cut feature of the cameo. Can I just say wow. How easy it was. I started with the sketch pens and just played with an image that I had purchased from the Silhouette library.

From this one I cam up with a 2 pen color one. I like the look of this one but each of the would take about 5 minutes to cut and considering I have more than 100 to make that is too much.

But then I was thinking wait, I remember the cameo can do print and cut. So I found a couple of YouTube videos on how to do it. It only kind of told me so I was off to play. I started with just cutting the images of the Viking head. This image is just off a google search for Fremd Viking image.

So zero cost to me.

Wow that was easy! It was almost to easy. And it cut perfectly on the first try. so know what do I do. I hated to use the sketch pens to do the letters because that is what takes the longest. But it will only print jpegs. So off to figure out how to make text into jpegs. Photoshop elements (which I am also learning how to use) It is a year of begins as you can tell. So here is what I came up with.

This one had to problems, one to page and color of the text does not match.

So I was off to make it smaller and match to text. That is when I came up with the final product. I can fit 4 on a page and less than 5 minutes. I am lobbing for a 12×12 laser color printer so I can get more on a page.

Here is the final results. I am going to take it the swim meet on Friday night and show it to the parent in charge of the banquet and see if it will do. But after all that I would say that the Cameo is easy to use and has great potential.

From Start to Finish

Happy New Year

Amanda Mueller — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 03:36:57 +0000

I find that this day every year makes me think back and look to what is to come. It has been a busy day as we get ready for the kitchen remodel and such. I did start the morning working on one of the Big Picture Classes that I signed up for this year. It is called “Move More, Eat Well 2012. (I also have 2 more classes “Twelve” and “One Little Word 2012″) I am excited to take this class on. I joined Weight Watchers in early December, so I have already started that journey. My challenge will be the construction of the kitchen. But I want this, so I can do it. One of our assignments for this month was to commit to one thing! One thing that is nonnegotiable. I have to name it and claim it. So that is what I am doing.

My 1 commitment for this month is to journal my food. I find that by journaling I become accountable for my choice in foods, I have to measure it, and record it. I will be doing this using the Weight Watchers App. Here is what the print out looks like.

I am looking forward to the start of the kitchen and will keep you posted as it moves on.

Again, Happy Happy New Year

Silhouette Cameo

Amanda Mueller — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 18:33:29 +0000

I have thousands of dollars in Cricut products, from cartridges to machines (I have had 4) to all the extras. I love it and it is easy to use. But what you can no longer design your own designs. I like to be able to do that for teams and such. I have done car logos for Swim team, we have done all designs for my husbands work and other things. So I started doing some research on the new Machine Silhouette Cameo and decided I wanted it so I asked for it for Christmas. I have a great husband so this is what he got me with a couple of extras for it, the heat transfer kit and the rhinestone kit. My first cut experience was not so great. I got about 1″ square cut before I realized I had a bad blade. I did some more research and found out that many of the machines where shipped with bum blades. So I have contacted Silhouette to see what they say. But in the mean time I ordered a new blade from the cheapest place I found. Scrapbook Express, I was thrilled with the service. I ordered it at almost 9:00 PM on Monday night and received it on Thursday. That did the trick, I was able to cut. Love the detail and ease of the machine. I still have a lot to learn. I will keep you you know how I feel about the machine in a few weeks, after the honeymoon is over. Here is what I created the first time out.

Time

Amanda Mueller — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 18:04:07 +0000

Kitchen remodel and Dinning room built in starts Monday. So we are prepping for the it. Christmas is down and put away. Dinning room is packed up as needed and we have started on the kitchen. This is a project that we have been working on for the last 6 weeks getting colors set, appliances pick out, tile picked out, and all the details that goes with it. I hate hardware stores some days. I will keep you updated as we move on.

Dangling Carrot

Amanda Mueller — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 12:30:47 +0000

I am a person who does much better when I have a goal or dangling carrot. I like to have something to work towards. In my efforts to get more organized I thought I would make up a goal sheet for the month. Something to work toward. something to remind me what needs to be done. I am always looking toward what I want, not what I didn’t do. Here is my goal sheet. You can download it by clicking the image below.

Here is what mine looks like so far. I am sure I will come up with more to add as the next couple of days pass.

First pass at December Goals

I am excited to start the new month. I hope you can enjoy your December also.

Amanda

From Planner to List

Amanda Mueller — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 16:34:20 +0000

Well a couple days ago I shared my version of a weekly meal planner. From that I decided to make the weekly shopping list. I think you will find that it looks a lot like the weekly meal planner but makes it easy to track when you run out of staples and then you can add the meal pieces that you need when you do the planning. I will be putting this on my refrigerator. Hope you enjoy it.

click on image to get to the download.

Planning

Amanda Mueller — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 22:33:15 +0000

I like to plan and love tools to make it easier. So today when when we had a day where we had nothing planned (I could not tell you the last time this happened). We did a meal plan and went grocery shopping for the menu. Before we started I spent about 2 minutes online to find a great form that someone had designed and was allowing other to download.

Check it out, this might be just what you need!

Here is what mine looked liked after I was done. Notes the writting in the margin.

Weekly Meal Planner by edaic.wordpress.com

That is when I thought what if I took this fab design and add my own touches.

Redesigned by A.Mueller

The biggest thing I did to the was added a place for activities. I find that we need to start with what is going on for the week and where do we have to be by when. Then we can plan the meals around time issues. Like Friday this week, we have our first High School swim meet and they do a team dinner/fundraiser after the meet. So the kitchen is closed. Got to love that!

I am excited to share my version of Weekly Meal Panner. I would love to hear what you do. Click on the image below to take you to the document.

Enjoy your week!

Thankfulness

Amanda Mueller — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 17:09:06 +0000

Is thankfulness a real word? Spell check seems to like it. When I look it up in dictonary.com and merriam-webster.com it reverts to thankful. In any case what a mouthful.

We are in a season of thankfulness and wow do I have a lot to be thankful for. My husband is such a gem. From the whims I get, to supporting me when I a grumpy (which has been a lot lately for some reason) and just everyday giving to the family. He is off today with Trent to see a movie and letting me go scrapbooking.

I am thankful for my family, rather it is my parents that are 3 hours away or it is the aunts and uncles and cousins that are 3 or more hours away. I miss all of you. I am thankful that the day before my grandmother passed away my step mom help me come up with questions to ask my grandmother about how she made raspberry pie. I will alway cherish that day and the recipe that I have used several times. (Boy was it good, had left overs for breakfast this morning!) I miss my grandmother.

I am thankful for friends. Yesterday when I was doing my little bit of Black Friday Shopping I called a friend to let her know that they had lots of cricut cartridges and she was in the parking lot. Sometimes you just have to laugh.

For a warm home, warm with laughter, warm with family and warm with heat. This time of year I also enjoy the warm glow of the holiday decorations. (that we put up yesterday in the warm weather)

I am sure I could go on for days and days about all that I am thankful for but I have a son starting to pace as he would like to go the game store so I guess I will sign off for now and enjoy my day with my friend scrapbooking!

Be Thankful for what you have!