From Friday through SundayMONDAY*, Craftsy is hosting their Black Friday Sale! All Classes $19.99 or less! Now is a great time to get the classes you've been eyeing all year! Craftsy classes also make a great gift, so do some holiday shopping for the crafter in your life. If you have a free-motion quilter on your list I can highly recommend The Secrets of Free-Motion Quilting, the new class packed with modern, easy, free-motion quilting designs taught by Christina Cameli. By the way, you don't even have to pick the class for the gift certificate - the recipient gets to choose whichever one they want (but you can always suggest it!!)
*Craftsy extended their Black Friday Sale one more day! Through Monday, December 1st, All Classes $19.99 or less!
Ooooooh!! Great FLASH SALE at Craftsy this weekend! Today and tomorrow you can get up to 50% off classes. There are so many good ones to choose from and at half price they are totally worth adding to your 'homeroom' list. You can use the sale link to the right to go straight to Craftsy and see all the sale classes. Don't forget you own the class for life so if you can't watch it straight away, get it cheap and save it for when you can. (I do that all the time and it's great to be able to come back to the lessons any time I need to get a refresher or I get interested in starting a new project.) Have fun (and scroll down for today's other post!)
There are SO many amazing classes at Craftsy and they are having their BIG SUMMER SALE now until Monday. This is the best time to get the classes you want and save (there is no need to ever pay full price!!!). Craftsy has added a bunch of great new selections, including the one I picked: Cut to It: Strategies for Smarter Quilting (w/ Debbie Caffrey). Learning to cut your fabric accurately is one of the most important parts of quilting. While it may not be the most exciting aspect of the craft, it's critical to achieving good results and if you're going to the trouble and expense, you might as well do it right!
The class covers rotary cutting skills, how to cut strips, shapes, deal with fat quarters, squares, bias edges, and so much more. It can be a little hypnotizing watching Debbie cut away and I sure wish I had this class available to me when I started quilting almost three years ago - probably would have saved a lot of fabric by preventing the mistakes I've made!!! She has so many tricks and time-saving techniques - it's quite impressive how she's taken this skill to a whole new level!
I already wrote about the other class I just got, Machine Quilting: Small Changes, Big Variety (w/ Angela Walters) and I love it! I always learn so much from Angela and she certainly gives me the confidence (and inspiration) to quilt new designs. Her small changes to simple motifs help expand your quilting design repertoire with little effort. (I've already pre-ordered her new book coming out in September!).
Have fun checking out the new classes and the awesome ones already available. Of course, I gravitate to all the quilting and embroidery classes first but there are new cooking, photography, painting, and sewing classes too!
Now that I started cutting with my Cricut again I discovered that using my ink brayer works like a charm to really adhere the die-cut layers together.
Once I cut out my decorative embellishments using the Cricut, I used my Zig 2-way glue to adhere them together. Some of the cuts were quite delicate and it was tricky to smooth down the layers without tearing them. I pulled out my brayer, which I use for inking up large stamps, and rolled it over my die-cuts. It applies smooth, even pressure over the cardstock and really binds the layers together! It also helps keep everything flat and forces out any air bubbles or wrinkles! Very useful!
If you've visited my blog on a few occasions you more than likely have hit upon one of my posts about Craftsy. I've been a student since almost the very beginning and as I've said before, it changed my life!
So what is Craftsy? If you don't already know, it's a wonderful crafting community offering on-line classes. The company is made of real people who totally believe in providing the best on-line craft education with world-class instructors. I've never felt so dedicated to a organization and I am a firm supporter of their goal to bring together millions of crafters in an amazing virtual classroom.
I have taken so many fantastic courses and have learned so much more than I ever thought possible in my small town - in the ultimate classroom possible, my home! There is no schedule I have to follow, no deadlines I have to meet, and I don't have to drive in the snow! I still have personal contact with the teacher (and some are really famous - I'd never have the access I do if I had to go to them!) and I can interact with other students by commenting, sharing projects, and joining in 'conversations' for each class. (And I have met some really nice people this way! {cough, Jose!})
My personal interests range from quilting to cooking and there are so many interesting classes to choose from. I can't resist the quilting courses because each one offers something different I want to learn! The cooking classes are so fun because we get to EAT my homework but I also love all the sewing and embroidery classes because that is where I lack skill and really depend on the excellent tutorials to help. I know if I get stuck I can ask for help or re-watch the segment a zillion times (can't do that in a lecture hall!)
So I think you get the idea: I love to learn and Craftsy is the perfect fit with my life right now. I have been thirsty for all this crafting knowledge and now it's right at my keyboard. There's no pressure - I own the classes forever - and I don't have to account to anyone but myself. I'm having a blast and I feel so excited and motivated when I sign up for a new class!
I started with the FREE Block of the Month class from last year and fell in love. There are now so many other Free Craftsy Classes to choose from. They are a great way to test the water and see how you like it. No commitment and you still own the class forever! If you want try out a free class, use the safe link above or to the right of this post and give Craftsy a try. I am so passionate about this company and this format for learning that I want to tell everyone - if you aren't taking a FREE class yet, do it!!! It just might change your life too!
I seriously have had this Mickey Mouse Light Up Drawing table since I was about ten years old. I have used it for art projects ever since and am now finding it useful for quilting.
Originally it came with a pack of Disney characters drawn out for tracing on the light box. When you plug in the table the light bulb inside illuminates whatever you are trying to trace. It works great! I'm so glad I kept it all these years (I still have the traceable designs somewhere!) and it's great for copying templates for quilting. Light boxes/tables are very expensive to buy and although this one is small, it gets the job done. I recently used it for the Craftsy 2013 Block of the Month for April to trace the wedge shapes onto freezer paper.
I actually found one of these Mickey Mouse light tables on e-bay which even included the box! I don't have the box any more but at least I still have my table and it still works!
I'm still filming over the kitchen counter but today's video isn't a recipe. I am SO excited to share my new Smashbook Folio Bundle with you. I have been longing after one of these folios for a while (they've been out for a couple of years now) but resisted because I never thought I'd really use it and because I figured I can make my own journals using my bind-it-all and some cardboard.
However, you may know I'm a sucker for any kind of 'kit' and when I saw this bundle at Michael's I couldn't hold out any longer. The bundle was $29.99, already a great deal for all the stuff you get, BUT of course I used my 50% off coupon and got it for $15 bucks! Now THAT is the deal of the century. Usually a book alone costs more than that here in Canada!
I show you everything you get in the kit on the video but I'll tell you it is a super starting point for this totally fun way of keeping a journal. You get the album and 85 assorted accessories, plus a mini book for your purse!!!
Once I started creating my pages and having such a blast doing it, I was raving to my daughter about it and got her going. She was so disappointed, after visiting 2 Michael's stores in her city, that they were completely sold out! If you want to try this awesome craft and you see the bundles, grab 'em!!!
As a 'serious' scrapbooker (which I still love and hold in the highest regard) the Smashbook was a totally relaxed and creative, fun approach to keep a journal. There is no right or wrong, no rules, and you don't have to worry about neatness, design, photo-safety or spelling! Just 'live it up, glue it down, and SMASH it in"!
P.S. After creating my first pages in the journal late the evening I bought the kit, I couldn't even sleep I was so pumped and excited! This really got my creative mojo into gear!
Update:...since I got such a good deal on the bundle...I ended up ordering another $37 in fun (and so cute!) accessories! (me=sucker!)
Here is the latest addition to the Creative Memories Border Maker system: the Twinkle Chain.
While it looks like a border of snowflakes, I think this is actually a really versatile design that can be changed up depending on the colour of card stock used and the context of the scrapbook page photos and embellishments.
It can be used directly on a white scrapbook page or layered with coloured or patterned paper underneath. You can even use the pieces remaining after punching as little shapes - they are the same size as some of the micro-punches! Really pretty and I can't wait to add it to my next page!
***NOTE: This sale ends at midnight September 17th, 2012***
Ooooh, so exciting! It's time for Craftsy's Endless Summer Sale! All their classes are $19.99 or less!
You already know how much I love Craftsy and I've gushed about all the great classes I've taken, from Classic Croissants to scrapbooking to (my FAVOURITES!) all different types of quilting. I can honestly say Craftsy finds us THE BEST instructors and they each have something different to share. I have learned so much and truly feel a part of the community of students and teachers on this phenomenal platform.
If you've been pondering whether to take a class or two, NOW is the time! This is a great sale and once you purchase a class, it's your forever. Even if you're busy right now you can get the class on sale, enjoy viewing it at your leisure, and then dig in to the meat of the lessons when you have more time. The classes have so much content it's great to know you can preview the lessons, skip ahead to something of particular interest right now, go back to another section later, bookmark an item with a video note, upload pictures, ask questions, get feedback, leave feedback, or hit that awesome 30-second repeat button as many times as you need to!
The sale starts Saturday (9/15) and ends midnight Monday, September 17th so hurry and use the link to the right to go to Craftsy and pick your class! Doing just that was a life-changer for me!!
