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City Sidewalks can be a very versatile, Here is a card inspired by a snow globe. Using Cricut Design Space basic shapes to cut the snow globe (circle) and base (triangle). The remaining images are from City Sidewalks. To make the card more dimensional without getting too thick to mail, I used the thin 3D foam tape.

The City Sidewalks cartridge has lots of great Christmas images that mix tradition with whimsy. Over the next few days I’ll be sharing a few more projects using the City Sidewalks Paper Pack and Cricut Digital cartridge on my Facebook Page.  Here’s a look at everything you get on this “virtual” cartridge:

Many of these images can really be used all year long,Also, keep in mind that this “cartridge” is only available through December 31 and you can buy yours here.

**Note that the City Sidewalks is a virtual cartridge and must be downloaded. This means it will only work machines that use Design Space (all variations of the Explore).

Have you wanted to learn to scrapbook but wished you could give it a try before buying a bunch of stuff? Beginning November 29th I will be offering a Basic Scrapbooking Class here at the Creatively Carol Craftroom.  We will go over basic scrapbooking tools and techniques and everyone will make a scrapbook page.   The craft room will seat 12 at a time, so call to reserve your spot today.  I will be hosting the basic class once a month to accomodate anyone that would like to learn the art of scrapbooking. We will also talk about the different ways to scrapbook, including pocket scrapbooking ie: Picture my Life (similar to Project Life), mini-albums and more.

Today will be a busy day here in our little piece of heaven, Veterans Day means many different things to my husband who served during the Vietnam War. Since he didn’t hear thank you’s when he came home (he still thinks about it 40+ years later) his heart swells with gratitude because he is often thanked now. I am so glad the soldiers of today are much more appreciated than back then.

For Gary, today is a day where he can eat free all day long if he wants. So many places offer veterans free meals today in appreciation for their service. I believe his plan this year is to go to Denny’s for breakfast, Sizzler for lunch and Red Robin for dinner! I feel stuffed just thinking about it. There will be aching feet after hours of lines by the end of the day, but then I think about how long soldiers are on their feet all of their military career. Whether it be boot camp marching in formations or raging into battle.

We have many that have served in our family tree going back many generations. I will post pictures on my facebook page today. I honor them today along with all the men and woman who have served this country and made us safe.

Thank you for your service.  Any veteran or military wife active or veteran will receive a free gift when ordering on my website today.   Thank you for your service.  

I for one am very glad this election is over and we can go back to all the other intrusive commercials 🙂 I expect that we will now start seeing all the Christmas ads more frequently now.

This country was very divided in this election and whether you were a supporter of Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton or Gary Johnson it is important that you take time today to journal your feelings. This was a historic election in so many ways and your feelings are important and there will be someone in your family tree that will find your thoughts interesting.

I have a scrapbook that I keep of just my own likes, dislikes, thoughts and feelings. We, as scrapbookers tend to not make the scrapbooks very often because we are usually behind the camera so I think it is important that there is some documentation of my own life as well.

I am going to re-start the “Daily Journaling Question” on my twitter feed every morning. You may not be able to write about it right away, but put the question on the top of your page to write about later, or even a post-it note to write about when you are stuck and don’t know what to write about.

Do you have a scrapbook or journal about you? If you said yes what do you write about or if not, is this something you would be interested in starting? Leave a comment below and you might win a journal to begin your journey with!

Today’s Motivational Monday Sketch will work great for lots of occasions but when I look at the sketch, I think this will work great for holiday photos. You can switch out the two 4 x 6 photos on the right and put a large focal point picture like the Christmas Tree or  Thanksgiving turkey and using the surrounding photo spots for the family that is at the event or the different decoration – you get the idea.

I encourage you to give this sketch of 11 photos a try and send me a picture of your layout so I can post it here. You -an also text it to 801-597-4896. You will be entered into my monthly drawing for a free stamp set when you send me your rendition of this scrapbooking sketch.

Since the birth of social media, we are a much lonelier people. You may have hundreds of friends on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, but while you watch your friends post about their lives, kids and such, we no longer “have time” to get together and it is causing more adult women to feel very alone.   In the case of new mothers, it also increases feelings of isolation as their activities now have to be worked about the baby’s schedule.

Now, if you use to go to scrapbook stores and use their craft room you have seen store after store close and now there is nowhere to go scrapbook with other like minded people.  I know how hard it is to scrapbook at home, alone. There is usually no space, and full of interruptions so much so that you decide it won’t work and give it up. This is why I have converted my basement into the “Creatively Carol Craft Room”.

The Craft Room seats 12-14 people with plenty of space to scrapbook, create cards or your favorite craft.  If you don’t currently scrapbook or make cards I am offering two introductory classes to introduce you to the craft and a semi-free monthly crop (bring $10 in canned food for the food bank).  There will be three monthly clubs, one will simply be a buying club where you spend a minimum of $25 a month with a 6 month commitment and receive $25 in your choice of papers, stamps and more.  There will also be a monthly scrapbook layout and a card class. You will find more information on these programs on my webpage Creatively Carol  in the next few days.

I am also offering a NapTime Open Crop.  There is a room of the classroom where children can take a nap and a room for babies as well. Your children will be within earshot in case they need you, but hopefully this will allow you to meet others and get in some much needed craft time. There is even a space where you can leave your project layed out in a box lid so it is just as you leave it the next time you come to play. There is a large TV in the kid’s space with a variety of cartoons etc for their entertainment.

So whether you want some time to yourself to craft with others or need to bring the kids so you can get that time to craft, there is a time for you!

You will also find the craft room stocked with papercrafting tools, a die-cut machine, a computer and printer for printing journaling as well as cardstock, printed papers and embellishments for sale.

Please share this post on your facebook page so others will know there is a place to go to scrapbook. Sign up for my mailing list to receive free projects and news of what is happening at the Creatively Carol Craft Room

Do you have a Cricut or a Silhouette?  If you are like me you don’t like to have your cutting be limited to a cartridge or things extra you have to buy. When I started with Close to my Heart we didn’t have any connection to a cutting machine.  When the Cricut first came out I bought one and a few cartridges to go with it.  Then Close to my Heart came out with a couple of font discs with fonts to match our stamp sets so you could type your journaling and have them match. I bought a Silhouette and sold my little Cricut.  Discs came out twice and a couple years later Close to my Heart announced they were going to produce exclusive Cricut Cartridges to go with certain stamp sets. I resisted for 2 years, then bought the Cricut Expressions.  Long story short… I now have a Cricut Expressions 2, Cricut Explore Air and a Silhouette!   Some days I think how ridiculous this sounds but I kept the Expressions so my customers here in Utah can use the Close to my Heart cartridges when here in Creatively Carol’s Craft Room.

I don’t like being limited but also don’t want to spend any more money on cartridges and designs than I have to, so I began researching programs to create my own .svg  patterns. The clear choice was Adobe Illustrator but I didn’t want to pay again for another program, after all, I didn’t now if I would even like doing it.

Here are some of the programs the New York Film Academy posted as alternatives to the Adobe Illustrator program.

1. SVG-Edit  (any browser)
   • This can be used on any modern web browser. SVG-Edit is an editing suite that deals solely in SVG (scalable vector graphics) Six Free Alternatives to Adobe Illustrator which may sound like a restriction but is actually quite useful given the versatility of the format. If you’re scared of getting into SVG editing, you’re missing out, and this will break you in gently. Being a web browser platform also sounds limiting, but again, the speed at which it operates as a result is often superior to desktop counterparts.
2. Inkscape  (Windows and Linux)
   • As with SVG-Edit, Inkscape is also geared towards those who want to work primarily in the SVG format. Featuring both a clean and intuitive user interface, but packed with advanced futures (such as alpha blending, object cloning and very accurate bitmap tracing), Inkscape comes as a highly recommended free alternative to Adobe Illustrator.
3. Affinity Designer – for MAC
   • Affinity is a full rasterizing controls, layer management, multiple file format support, infinite zooming and every vector drawing tool you could ever hope for…Affinity Designer could quite possibly become a true illustrator killer. At the moment it’s only available to MAC users as a trial version for free. The full version comes with a price tag of $49.99 with free upgrades for two years, but the free trial is still a remarkably functional and worth a shot if you’re looking for a free editor. It’s even worth it just to play with the infinite zoom function (yes, infinite).
4. GIMP – All browsers
   • This program works on all platforms, GIMP is an acronym for GNU Image Manipulation Program.  GIMP is more of a substitution for Adobe Photoshop Elements rather than Illustrator since it’s vector options are limited but what it can do in terms of image manipulation is second to none. Entirely free, open source, and loved by thousands (which have formed a very active online community since its release).
     • Personally, I found GIMP confusing and downloaded the trial of Adobe Photoshop Elements 15. Last night I received the Costco sales for this next month, and they are offering $40 off so you can buy Elements for $39.99. I will be purchasing this program.
5. OpenOffice Draw – Windows, Linux and MAC
   • While Apache’s flagship vector illustrator looks a little outdated these days, that’s purely a cosmetic concern. Its still packed with features and is especially geared towards diagram and object manipulation. It also comes with the very handy feature of being able to create Flash (.swf) files from your document.
6. Serif DrawPlus – Windows
   • The started edition of Serif’s DrawPlus is aimed towards the amateur illustrator given that A) it’s free software, and B) it’s very much scaled-down version of the fuller release, but don’t let that put you off. It’s not limited in any way, there’s no pressure to shell out for the professional edition DrawPlus16, and it does a good job of emulating its heavy weight cousins.

The New York Film Academy says “you might find you need to use a combination of the above free alternatives to Adobe Illustrator to get the job done, but for many people it’ll be worth the cash it saves and you may even find a new favorite.

I will give these a try and let you know my opinion of the offerings, but hopefully in the meantime these may help you create your own cutting designs.

I ran across this article in my monthly Costco magazine written by Marc Saltzburg and wanted to share it with you.

THE BEST CAMERA, as they say, is the one you have with you.

Oh sure, your digital-SLR-toting friends might get their lanyards all tied in a knot about you hoist­ing your iPhone or Android device. But smartphone cameras have some advantages when it comes to editing and sharing your work. To help you get more out of your summer “phone-ography:’ consider the following tips and tricks.

Turn the phone sideways. Unless you’re taking a picture of the Empire State Building, use the hori­zontal (“landscape”) orientation when taking a photo, as it will look much better on a computer or television later on (that is, no vertical black bars on each side of the photo). Besides, a landscape photo is better for group shots and scenery, as it gets more into the frame. Speaking of scenery, play around with your phone’s panoramic mode for ultra-wide photos.

Get up close and personal. Don’t be shy. Unless it’s a large, growling dog, there’s no reason to be 5 feet away from your subject. Fill the whole frame with your subjects. Going in closer also means you can capture more facial detail, such as light freckling, a charm­ing dimple or soft, pale blues of the iris. Don’t use your phone’s digital zoom, as it might make your photo look pixelated- get closer yourself. Play around with how close is too close, though, as that “macro” shot of a flower petal might look blurry when you look at it later on.

Use the light around you. Avoid using the flash wherever possible; instead, try to use the light that’s accessible, whether it’s overhead  lighting while indoors or, preferably, the sun outside. Cloudy days are great for photos, as they diffuse the sun.

If the sun is out, be sure your back-and not your subject’s-is to the sun or the subject will look like a blacked-out silhouette. The hour before and after sunset creates gorgeous light for photos.

Be a human tripod. If you can help it, don’t hold your phone at arm’s length when taking photos. You’ll probably shake the phone more than you think, which could result in blurry images. Instead, turn yourself into a human tripod by holding the camera with both hands and pulling your arms into

your chest or stomach. You might look a little silly, but you’ll see the difference with your sturdier grip. Position for composition. Instead of placing your subjects in the center of the frame all the time, move them to the left or right to make your photos instantly more powerful and beautiful. Better yet, go in on an angle to add extra energy to the shot. Also, try to match the height of the subject, such as by kneeling on the ground to snap a picture of a toddler, to ensure you’re at eye level instead of angling up or down.

Have fun with filters. Phone cameras usually include filters as part of the software, but there are numerous apps that can help you easily edit and share photos and videos. Some automatically tweak your shots for better color and brightness. Apps like Instagram can add fun filters, such as a sepia finish or a retro ’70s look. Snapchat adds fun animated effects to your pies. Literally thousands of apps are available, for all platforms, so experiment away.

Back up, back up, back up. There’s nothing worse than losing your smartphone and never hav­ing backed up all those photos on it. There are many ways to back them up. One is to plug your phone into your PC or Mac every night to charge it up, and check off the option to back up everything onto the hard drive.

Another option is to take advantage of a free password-protected “cloud” service like OneDrive, Dropbox, iCloud, Google Drive or Google Photos­ and have it upload all of your phone’s photos when­ ever you snap them. To save cellular data, you can select to upload only over Wi-Fi.

Finally, some USB thumb drives are wireless and let you back up photos and videos from a phone. It’s worth safeguarding your memories.

I hope you have enjoyed this article and will try out some of the techniques talked about. Please leave a comment below and tell me what you struggle with.