August Blog Schedule

 Hey Y'all!

New month, new blog schedule! I've really set myself up to be busy this month. I'll be blogging my 3 days a week* here, and two over at Outland Adventures, plus still decluttering and packing up the whole house, as well as getting the van ready! I'm excited, but it's a lot of work.

*Monday = Craft

Wednesday = Beauty

Friday = Anything Goes

August Blog Schedule:

31st Mon- Blog Schedule

2nd Wed- Aug Everyday Shelf

4th Fri- What's in my camera roll?

7th Mon- How To: Calibrate Your Cricut, Step by Step

9th Wed- July Makeup Looks, Haircut Reveal

11th Fri- Clean With Me: Looks at this mess, decluttering and packing all our possessions.

14th Mon- Dollar Tree $5 Spot Craft Tools Review

16th Wed- Makeup Brush Clean (and Declutter)

18th Fri- Peek at My Planner

21st Mon- What I've Been Working On (Craft)

23rd Wed- Nail Polish Collection, Declutter & Pack

25th Fri- BOOKS!

28th Mon- How To & Review Hobby Lobby Glow in the Dark Hotel Style Keychains

30th Wed- Skincare & Haircare Declutter & Pack

Sept 1st Fri- Sept Blog Schedule

If you have a blog idea you'd like to see leave it in a comment below!

Have a great day,

Craftin' Wife

Books! What I've Been Reading...

 Hey Y'all!

One thing about running a garage sale every weekend, I have lots of reading time in-between visitors. This past month I've read 7 books, and all the normal magazines that show up...

First I read the Daughters of Lancaster County trilogy:

I enjoyed the series, and didn't know about the musical until looking for a link for this blog. Musicals typically aren't my thing- but I'd at least give this one a try if I came across it.  Each story picks up after the previous so you really get to know all the characters, and care for them.

Time stands still in Pennsylvania Amish Country where the Fisher family struggles to overcome devastating heartache.
 
Follow three young women who are pivotal to bringing faith, hope, love, and—most importantly—forgiveness back into this Amish family’s lives.
 
The Storekeeper’s Daughter
Naomi Fisher’s heart yearns for the love of Caleb Hoffmeir, but her days are plotted for her as surrogate mother to six siblings—until the afternoon her baby brother goes missing from the yard. How can Naomi expect anyone to love and trust her if she couldn’t take care of one small boy?
 
The Quilter’s Daughter
Abby Miller leaves her successful quilt shop and patient fiancé in Ohio to help her pregnant mother in Pennsylvania. While she’s away, Abby’s world is shattered in one fell swoop. How can God make anything good come out of such tragedy?
 
The Bishop’s Daughter
Leona Weaver’s faith wavers after her father’s tragic accident. When outsider Jimmy Scott comes to Pennsylvania in search of his real family, they find themselves irresistibly drawn to each other. . .but can anything good come from the love between an Amish woman and an Englisher?

Next I read... another trilogy, Sweetbriar, Sweetbriar Bride, and Sweetbriar Spring.

I have since learned there are actually 6 books in the series: Sweetbriar Summer, Sweetbriar Autumn, Sweetbriar Hope finish out the series. I have no plans to read the last three.

I enjoyed the first book, the second finished the main story, and the third was more about establishing Seattle and the politics of the time. I found it a bit boring. 

One thing that annoyed me a bit, even though it didn't truly matter, is the cover art is clearly a blonde woman (and a dark haired man on the second book) however she (Louisa) is described several times in each book as dark haired, and David is a blonde, blue eyed man.

The Beginnings of an Empire and the Story of a Remarkable Love. Louisa Boren journeys West to carve out a new way of life. Out of her rugged determination and deep faith comes an enduring love and the founding of one of America's greatest cities--Seattle, Washington.

Lastly, because I had finished the series and had a few hours of garage sale left I picked up this book out of the sale pile, I didn't pay much attention to the title. About two paragraphs in I thought the characters seemed a bit familiar... 

Probably because I'd seen the movie... The book I picked up was fifth in the Princess Diaries Series, Princess in Pink.

It was a cute, quick read. For YA audiences I think it's a nice read. If I had the other books I'd probably read them, but I'm not going to seek them out. 

In her heart of hearts, Mia has but one wish: an evening spent with Michael in a tux and a corsage on her wrist—in other words, the prom. Michael, however, does not seem to share the dream that is the prom. Worse still, a service workers' strike (with Grandmère and Lilly at the heart of it and on opposite sides) threatens the very existence of this year's prom.

Will the strike end in time? Can Mia talk Michael out of his anti-prom views? Most importantly, will Mia get to wear her pink prom dress?

What should I read next? Leave a comment below!

Have a great day,

Craftin' Wife

Lip Products (Makeup) Collection & Declutter

  Hey Y'all!

It's so incredibly hot here, so this is another quick one. Fast decision making was made today!

Here's the video:

Pics:

Reorganized drawer & the declutters.

Reasoning:

Nails- I don't do anymore and my niece is into them.

Anastasia Kit- Still has some life left, may as well pass to my niece and let her use it.

Wet 'n Wild are new and I've not opened them so I'll pass them on.

Everything else was a bit old and "off".

Any questions? Leave them in the comments below!

Have a great day,

Craftin' Wife

Playing Around in Cricut Design Space...

 Hey Y'all!

Now that we know all the basics, and then some, let's play around in Design Space!

Need to catch up? Start here:

http://craftinwifescreations.blogspot.com/2022/12/how-to-cricut-design-space-on-pc-android.html

http://craftinwifescreations.blogspot.com/2023/01/how-to-cricut-design-space-on-pc-part.html

First, let's start with font manipulation, and all the possibilities there-

1) Design Space always defaults to Cricut Sans Text/Font.

2) Once you double click your text, you can type out whatever you'd like. The font box will also come up:

Tab 1 is Cricut Fonts

Tab 2 is the fonts you have installed

Tab 3 is anything you've bookmarked

Tab 4 is any fonts you've used recently

You can resize your text by clicking any of the corners, or mid sections, with your mouse and dragging. You can also resize your text by clicking on it and using the top tool bar: Font Size, Letter Space, and Line Space, as well as size (above the text tools) are all helpful in getting your sizing just right.

3) Next is the "style" either a regular or writing font. Writing fonts are great for use with the markers, or pens!

4) Alignment tools, we covered these in the How To Design Space Blog (linked above).

5) Curve- You can set the curve of the text where ever you'd like by using the slider.

6) Advanced Tools:

Ungroup to Letters, Lines, or Layers.

7) Now each letter, once ungrouped, is it's own image, and can be moved independently.

8) Offset. (We've went over this before too.)

9) In the layers panel, you can see each letter is still independent, so we'll unite them, and then group the (now 2) images. Uniting them will keep the placement and cut out as one, rather than each individual letter cutting out of order. This is especially helpful with script/cursive fonts.

10) Access Members Only- Warp Tool! Mentioned in detail here: https://craftinwifescreations.blogspot.com/2023/05/how-to-cricut-design-space.html

There's so much you can do with fonts! If you have any questions leave them in the comment section below!

Image Editing 101-

There's a lot to cover here, but I'll touch on some basics and feel free to leave a comment on anything you'd like to learn!

In this section of the How To, I'll be editing one image throughout.

Here's the image:

First I'm going to contour out the Hot Air Balloon, it's cute but I just like the stars and clouds...

We've gone over contour in the earlier Design Space blogs, if you need to refer back to them.

Now that the balloon is gone, we have a funky bit of clouds in the center we need to fix...

To do this I added a circle to my canvas, sized in manually to fit in the space, then united the two images.

Here's the aforementioned circle in place:

 

I then decided an offset might look nice, and played around with the scale to get the sizing I wanted.

That open space, where the balloon was, needed something though. A short name, or initials, fit perfectly depending on the sizing and font you choose.

I also added the same size offset to the name as we used on the image, and changed my colors to match.

Then I united my black offsets, and my purple images so they'd cut in 2 pieces, rather than 4.

Centering them, just for the visual.

All finished!! 

What we started with, and what we came up with!

Have fun playing around in Design Space, you can even download it and begin before you purchase your machine!

Have a great day,

Craftin' Wife

How To: Download & Install Fonts in Cricut Design Space (PC)

 Hey Y'all!

This how to is written under the assumption you know the basics of Design Space. Need help? 

Start here:

http://craftinwifescreations.blogspot.com/2022/12/how-to-cricut-design-space-on-pc-android.html

http://craftinwifescreations.blogspot.com/2023/01/how-to-cricut-design-space-on-pc-part.html

In this example I'm using Dafont, which is mostly free for personal use with the option to purchase a commercial license on the majority of fonts offered there. There are many sites to find fonts, but the process is the same. 

Other sites I like:

designbundles.net

fontbundles.net

lovesvg.com

creativefabrica.com

…just to name a few

How To-

I like to use both the default font presentation, and the font preview.

Step 1) Choose a font, and click download.

2) Find your downloads folder, and the downloaded file.

3) Click on aforementioned file. Open it by double clicking the file image, then click on OPEN TYPE FONT FILE.

4) Click Install.

It really is that easy!

5) Open Design Space, if you already had it open you'll need to reload or restart the program.

6) Your downloaded fonts will be found under the SYSTEM tab in the text menu. You can search by name, if you know what you're looking for, or scroll through.

Any questions? Leave them in the comments below and I'll get back to you ASAP!

Have a great day,

Craftin' Wife

Makeup Collection & Declutter- Face Products!

 Hey Y'all!

In the video, I quickly go through my face makeup and declutter a few products.

It was a scorcher y'all, and this old phone doesn't handle it well typically. Today it did better than expected, but whoa was it hot when I finished...

Pics:

Overview of the reorganized drawer-

Declutters-

Lost of blushes, a few highlights, some color correctors, and a primer.

Nothing was bad, these are just the items that I never reach for. 

Did I declutter a favorite of yours? Tell me what I'm missing in the comments section. Kept something you hate? Why didn't it work for you? Let me know!

Have a great day,

Craftin' Wife

How To: Larger than Joy Mat (Mobile Design Space App)

 Hey Y'all!

Today I'm going to share how to cut images that are larger (wider) than the Cricut Joy will allow (4in).

First, if you're new to Design Space, I have a whole series on How To: Design Space starting here:

http://craftinwifescreations.blogspot.com/2022/12/how-to-cricut-design-space-on-pc-android.html

http://craftinwifescreations.blogspot.com/2023/01/how-to-cricut-design-space-on-android.html

http://craftinwifescreations.blogspot.com/2023/01/how-to-cricut-design-space-on-pc-and.html

http://craftinwifescreations.blogspot.com/2023/02/how-to-cricut-design-space-on-android.html

http://craftinwifescreations.blogspot.com/2023/02/how-to-cricut-design-space-on-pc.html

Joy Specific Blogs:

http://craftinwifescreations.blogspot.com/2023/04/i-got-cricut-joy-thoughtsreview.html

http://craftinwifescreations.blogspot.com/2023/04/how-to-easter-basket-tags-w-cricut-joy.html

http://craftinwifescreations.blogspot.com/2023/06/4th-of-july-crafting-with-cricut-joy.html

Design Space Updates:

http://craftinwifescreations.blogspot.com/2023/05/how-to-cricut-design-space.html

http://craftinwifescreations.blogspot.com/2023/05/cricut-design-space-updates-part-2.html

Now onto today's How To:

Larger than Joy Cutting Mat!

Step 1) Open DS and choose your image.

2) Load it on the canvas:

3) Choose a shape, I find the square easiest to work with, and lay it over top of your image.

4) Size the square to the limitations, the Joy will allow. (Less than 4in width.)

5) Slice the square from the image. I could have made this longer, and only had two cuts, but this way we get the practice in.

6) Repeat steps 3-5.

7) Get ready to prep your mats and cut your image(s).

8) Connect your Joy if not already done.

9) Cut all your mats and piece your project back together!

Here's another Larger than Mat How To, which follows the same steps, but in more detail:

https://craftinwifescreations.blogspot.com/2022/08/how-to-cricut-larger-than-mat-cuts-and.html

Any questions? Leave them in the comment section below!

Have a great day,

Craftin' Wife