My Latest Obsession

I just realized that if I had waited until MONDAY to post my previous post, I would have had something for Smiling Sally's BLUE MONDAY!   That's what I get for jumping in and posting without my brain in gear!

My sweet hubby bought me a Cricut Create for Christmas.  He totally missed Walmart's Black Frday sale of the Cricut Expression that I really wanted, but...oh, well, it's the thought that counts, right?

However, when I opened the box, there was no cartridge inside!  Apparently, someone had stolen the cartridge.  So, off to Walmart I went.  They had one more Create in stock...and someone had stolen the cartridge out of that box, too!  Finally, Walmart's manager just gave me a cartridge.  The only problem was that it was a "Home Decor" cartridge.  Sure, it had lots of cute stuff on it, and I did play with it for quite a while, but that cartridge had NO FONTS!  It's kind of hard to personalize stuff without any fonts.

Given our financial situation, my hubby didn't see any need for spending money on either a cartridge or the Make The Cut program that I really wanted.  With Make The Cut, I wouldn't need any more cartridges!

So, my Cricut Create sat, mostly unused, until September, when my wonderful mom gave me birthday money!  WooHoo!!!  I promptly sat down and ordered MTC!

It is super simple to use, and I really like that I can take simple images and convert them into die cuts!

All I needed was something to cut...preferably vinyl.  I was out of money, so I asked a friend who owns a printing/sign business if I could buy some of her scrap vinyl.  She GAVE me a whole box full! WooHoo, again!

The very first thing I made was this 4" tile as a gift for my cousin and his wife who were both celebrating their birthdays.  I had planned on making a set of 4 coasters; but, I was running out of time, and this intricate design took quite a bit of time to weed out the unwanted vinyl.  I turned it into a wall decoration, instead.

This is not the finished version.  I had to stop at Walmart on the way to the party to get some ribbon and sticky-back felt to finish it off.  I used E6000 glue to glue a length of 1-1/4" wide sheer black ribbon to the back.  I glued ribbon all the way down the back of the tile for extra security.  I then cut a square of black felt and applied that to the back.  For what it's worth, I do NOT like the sticky-back felt...it's very hard to work with, IMHO!  I was pleased with how well it turned out, and my cousins were delighted.

Then, my hubby came up with a request.  He had just gotten back from a fishing trip to our trailer in Arkansas with his buddies.  His buddy, Daryl, had rotten fishing luck that weekend, and my hubby likes to "rub it in" a little.  He asked me to decorate a coffee cup for Daryl, who was a good enough sport to laugh about it!



 My daugher-in-law likes to decorate for Halloween, so I made her this tile and finished it with the ribbon in the same way that I finished my cousins' tile.

For a more serious gift, I bought this fall charger at Walmart and applied a vinyl monogram.  She said that this was just the kind of thing she likes!

Then, my hubby came back with another request.  Our business phone numbers changed a while back, but we had not yet changed the numbers on our work trucks.  The work trucks got new phone numbers, and then I made new vinyl signs to put in the back windows.  We figure that people might notice those signs better than they might notice the signs on the sides of the trucks.  Maybe my signs will help our business!

I'll be back later with some more pictures of my obsession craft projects! Have a great week!