It's been a while.

Hello. It has been a long time. Sorry that I don't have anything new to post. I just wanted to give an update. First of all, I want to thank you. Even tho I haven't posted since 2015 (really, I just looked it up), you have still have been stopping by the website. And I have new viewers daily, so that means you guys are sending people here. By share on Facebook and Pinterest, I have not gone down in views. Which is incredible.

We have finally moved back to Michigan, permanently. I finished school and I have a full time job (not school related). We have an old new house that has been taking all of the time that I am not at work. We have a huge "barn" that has a loft were my craft room will be. We moved stuff around the other day. I got see all my goodies in the boxes. I have a lot to do before it will be able to work as a functioning craft room. I have to install a window, put up walls and lighting and finish the electrical. Doesn't stop me from going on Pinterest and drooling over ideas have how to do my room. I'm thinking a mix of gothic and steampunk.

I have been doing some crafting. I have been doing some leather crafts. And I will be teaming up with my mom to help her upgrade her graveyard this year for Halloween. I will try to do some quick posts of projects when I use my Cricut. I have many ideas of how to use my Cricut in these projects. I might not be able to do my normal crafting, but it doesn't stop me from creating.

So thank you for still stopping by. I wish I had more to share with you. I miss just crafting all day and helping you guys out. But I will be back.

Twinkle

Splat! over at Heart 2 Heart

Welcome to this weeks challenge over at {Heart 2 Heart}

Splat is our challenge this week. 

 

I have been in a black hole with crafting lately. Between starting a new job, trying to get college up and running, and my hubby having surgery, life has been crazy. And it has been taxing on my crafting brain. My first idea fell flat. I had this watercolor piece for the {Hello Life Blog Hop} that never made it in the post.

This was supposed to be part of a scrapbook, and maybe will be added to one, but this is what I have done. This was also my third attempt of the watercolor. I was having a hard time getting it to look right. I love adding the black splats to watercolor.

The title is from one of our new products, clear overlay. This pack is gold and silver. They go over pictures to add a quick title. This one is actually a 4 x 6. I cut it down and rounded the edges. Because it is clear, it is hard to glue down. I used liquid glass under the gold title to hid the glue.

I hope you enjoyed this post. We would love for you to play along with us at {Heart 2 Heart}

You do need to use some Close To My Heart product to play along. 

You can order the materials at {nikkageers.ctmh.com}, then come back to play with all of Septembers challenges.

To make sure you don't miss out on any new tutorials, artwork, videos or members only specials, as it is easy to miss posts on Facebook and I don't post to all of them, join my {Facebook group}.

Follow me on {Instagram}

Subscribe to my {Youtube Channel} for updates on new Create Your Card videos.

I offer one on one classes for Cricut Design Space. Stop by for more {details}.

Recipe:

Stamps -

   CC1040   Hello Life Scrapbooking

 Paper -
   X5774  Eggplant Cardstock
   Watercolor Paper (non-ctmh)

Ink -
   Z2105  Black Ink Pad
   Z2270  Ruby Reinker
   Z2290  Gypsy Reinker
   Z2292  Pacifica  Reinker
   Z2297  Pear  Reinker
   Z2291  Sunset Reinker
   Z2262  Honey Reinker

Other -
  Z3144  Picture My Life Overlay Gold And Silver
  Z679  Liquid Glass

Hello Life - National Stamping Month Blog Hop

Welcome to this months special blog hop.

We should be coming from {Michelle Battitori}
Next in the blog hop is {Lori Brown}

This special for National Stamping month features 3 exclusive stamps. You can buy them for $13.95 each or buy all 3 for $34.95. They are only available during the month of September, so don't miss out.

Now each stamp set is featured for specific type; cardmaking, scrapbooking and pocket scrapbooking, but you do not have to follow that. They will work perfectly for any project you will have.

I have made 3 projects using the camera from the Scrapbooking set and from the matching project stamp sets.

I made some of my own background paper using the camera stamp. I also stole the brush mark stamp from the pocket scrapbooking set. Hello is from the cardmaking set. I stamped on vellum using the archival ink. This ink is being discontinued and being replaced with a even better ink for coloring with markers and watercolors. Can't wait.
Stamping on vellum can be pretty tricky since it is slick. I didn't get it perfect, but I really liked how it turned out. Goes more with the artistic background I made. I finally used my stapler again to adhere the vellum to the card.

My next project was using the camera stamp to make a pocket scrapbooking card. I used peacock ink to color the camera. I messed up when I colored this. It was supposed to be just a swipe of color with the brush, leaving white spots. But I goofed and it ended up coloring the whole camera. So I went over with just a swipe of the darker version of the same ink.
Can I say that I love this color? Pomegranate is great as well. I love almost all of the new colors. Was not sad to see any of the old colors go.
I used 2 Cricut cuts for this card. First was the camera (#M412279). I made my own notebook paper by cutting out image #M44A21 from Artbooking and had my Explore draw on the lines by turning the score line into a write line.


I know I said 3 projects. I started my scrapbooking layout using the camera and watercoloring, but I just started a job and haven't had time to finish it. It took 3 tries to get it to look how I wanted it to.

I hope you enjoyed this special blog hop for the special National Stamping Month. Please keep hopping to see more beautiful artwork. Next in this hop is {Lori Brown}

 If you would to like to recreate any of my projects, you can order the materials at {nikkageers.ctmh.com}.

To make sure you don't miss out on any new tutorials, artwork, videos or members only specials, as it is easy to miss posts on Facebook and I don't post to all of them, join my {Facebook group}.

Follow me on {Instagram}

Subscribe to my {Youtube Channel} for updates on new Create Your Card videos.

I offer one on one classes for Cricut Design Space. Stop by for more {details}.

Recipe: 

Hello Card

Stamps -

   CC1040  Hello Life Scrapbooking

   CC1042  Hello Life Pocket Scrapbooking

   CC1041  Hello Life Cardmaking

Paper -

   X254  Cards And Envelopes

   X5776  Peacock Cardstock

   1385  White Daisy Cardstock

   Vellum (non-ctmh)

Ink -

   Z2643  Canary Ink Pad

   Z2649  Peacock Ink Pad

   Z2164  Sorbet Ink Pad

   Archival Black Ink Pad (retired)

Other -

   Z2027  Stapler

Life Pocket Card

Stamps -

   CC1040  Hello Life Scrapbooking

   CC1042  Hello Life Pocket Scrapbooking

Paper -

   1385  White Daisy Cardstock

   X5780  Pomegranate Cardstock

Ink -

   Z2649  Peacock Ink Pad

   Z2105  Black Ink Pad

   Pilot V5 Pen (non-ctmh)

Other -

   Z3169  Artbooking Cricut Cartridge

   Z3167  Artistry Cricut Cartridge / Z3190 Digital

Paper Garden sotm

Welcome.  This was supposed to be part of the blog hop that I participate in, but somehow I didn't sign up. If you would like to go with that blog hop, you can start at {Melinda's blog}

So here is my project that I made for the hop.

I use the same stamp for both of the flowers. That is how I got the smaller stamp to be full without a border.

 This is how I did the card. I sized the flowers the same size as the stamp set. That is posted on the stamp carrier sheet. Make sure to use the number as your height in Design Space. Sized the card to be shorter that a folded A2. Have the flowers overlap the edge and weld. 

You will need to use some Close To My Heart product to play along. If you do not have any, you can buy some at {nikkageers.ctmh.com}

To make sure you don't miss out on any new tutorials, artwork, videos or members only specials, as it is easy to miss posts on Facebook and I don't post to all of them, join my {Facebook group}.

Follow me on {Instagram}

Subscribe to my {Youtube Channel} for updates on new Create Your Card videos.

I offer one on one classes for Cricut Design Space. Stop by for more {details}.

Recipe:

Stamps -

   S1509  Paper Garden

   CC1040  Hello Life - Scrapbooking

Paper -

   1385  White Daisy Cardstock

   X5760  Cotton Candy Cardstock

Ink -

   Z2170  Ruby Ink Pad

   Z2193  Cotton Candy Ink Pad

Other -

   Z3170  Artiste Cricut Cartridge

Color Challenge At Heart 2 Heart

Welcome to this weeks challenge at {Heart 2 Heart}. We have a color challenge for you.

This beautiful photo is our inspiration. We want you to use Cranberry, Sunset, Glacier, Lagoon and Topiary.

I used all but Topiary for this project. I was going to do a spotlight technique but it didn't quite turn out. So take 2. I have seen donuts around for a while, and we have one in our new Artistry cartridge. It would be fun with all different colored icing. Ended up only using one donut. Came across a pin that used embossing paste for frosting, which is just perfect. 

I know the frosting looks yellow, but it is made with Sunset reinker. I only used a drop, that is why it is so pale. I do wish I would have done a few more drops to make it orange.

I hope you enjoyed this weeks project. We would love for you to join us for this challenge at {Heart 2 Heart}. You have all month to play along with this and every other challenge for the month of August.

You will need to use some Close To My Heart product to play along. If you do not have any, you can buy some at {nikkageers.ctmh.com} 

To make sure you don't miss out on any new tutorials, artwork, videos or members only specials, as it is easy to miss posts on Facebook and I don't post to all of them, join my {Facebook group}.

Follow me on {Instagram}

Subscribe to my {Youtube Channel} for updates on new Create Your Card videos.

I offer one on one classes for Cricut Design Space. Stop by for more {details}.

Recipe:

Paper-

   X5770  Glacier Cardstock

   1272  Cranberry Cardstock

   Z1375  Kraft Cardstock

   1385  White Daisy Cardstock

   X5762  Lagoon Cardstock

Ink -

   Z2291  Sunset Reinker

Other -

   Z3036  Flaxen Extra Thick Twine

   Z3171  Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge 

   

How To Make Your Own Blog

Blogs are big in the crafting world. Everyone wants to show off their artwork. I would like to share what I have learned over the years.

You can have different option of blogs. I use blogger but there is also wordpress. Some things will be different, templates and so on. So I won't get into those parts of the blogs. Google how to do templates and all the technical stuff on the blog host you chose. 

At first, I used a background that I liked. It was dark. Dark was not good to showcase cards. So go a brighter color. Headers are important. You want people to know that they came to right blog and if they happen across your blog, what it is about. You can use {picmonkey} to make a header. There are different styles. You can show your best projects, like I do. Or you can do an artist style header. Check out blogs to see what style you like the most.

Add any info onto the side bar. Link to your website, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter ect. Post specials on the side too. This will stay the same, so even if you don't add these links in the blog itself, they can still go to those.

People come to your blog to see pictures, so you got to make them shine. Edit your photos. Picmonkey is easy to use. You can crop, change the color and brightness and even size. Just keep playing with color and saturation until it looks great. You can always undo. Always watermark your pictures. Included your blog address so if people just see the photo, they can still stop by your blog. It will also stop people from using your pics as theirs. Sadly it does happen.  I came across this blog post on {How to make a watermark} and I use this all the time. So easy to make a professional looking watermark. And something that I came across was that you can use your own fonts.
 
Stage your photos. Whether it is paper or props or just outside on the fence. The only ones that you really shouldn't stage are your scrapbook layouts. This works best with a white background. Staging makes your project pop. I know it sounds weird but it is true.

 Here is my photo box. You need cardboard or foamboard to make the sides. Cut out centers of the sides and the top. Cover the holes with tissue paper. I made this one foldable to store next to my desk.  Direct light to all the tissue to diffuse to make a softer image.

Here is the photo before the editing.

 And here it is with all the editing. Sometimes the color will photo weird. Sometimes all you need to do is play with the setting to make the colors true.

 

Here is the same card without staging. You see the card, but it sorta gets lost with all the white. Like I said, its weird but it works.

You can find all the details for my {sun card} here on this post.

I have two watermarks. I had to redo them since I had them saved on my laptop which died. I still don't have my own computer to work with. Just have to use my hubbies. Which has a 32 inch tv as a monitor so I can't complain. But I digress. I had very simple ones like the bottom one. Just had one in white and one in black. I suggest doing the two colors. Not everything will show up if you have just one color. This time I made a fancier one for my artwork. I use the bottom for my tutorials.

Size is important. If it is too small, they can't look at your project. You don't want them to have to click on the picture just to see it. If you do detailed shot, you can make those smaller. Don't just do detailed shot with no full shot of the project. This will not go over well with the viewers, unless you are doing sneak peeks.

I used to just change the size in blogger. It has the size option of small,  medium, large and xlarge. I always used xlarge. But I came across a post. They said that if you upload the original size, it will take a slower time to load your blog. Even if you change the size in blogger, it will load as the original size. So I started editing the size when I was doing all my stuff in picmonkey.

  650 is a perfect size for blogger. Just big enough, but not too big that won't fit. If you have two sidebars, this will be a little too big.

 

 

 If you want it slightly smaller, 500 or 550 works nice. This is also a perfect size for two sidecars.

I like using 350 or 400 for any detailed shots. It keeps the focus on the main picture. But still large enough to see the details. Make sure to switch over to original size in blogger. They always upload as medium.

Sharing you projects outside the blog is a great way to get viewers to view your blog. You can make it easier by {adding a Pinterest button}. They can just click and add it to their boards. I have my own board for my art so I get more interest. If you are doing tutorials or posts with a lot of details, {add a printfriendly button}. This will allow your viewers to either print out the post or save it to pdf.  Add a follow by email button so you can get viewers who don't have a feed viewer. You can also share on instagram, twitter and facebook. Make sure to add a link back to your blog.

I love how easy it is to do these style blogs. Back in the day, you had to do everything with html codes. You can still do this if you know all the codes. You can google to find these. Sometimes you will need to use html codes, like for adding the buttons. In blogger, you can just switch over with a tab. Not sure about wordpress. 

Add links on the bottom of your post. Like what I do on mine. It's a great way to get your extras across. Do a recipe for your artwork. Even if you don't sell any products, people like to know how to make it themselves. If you do sell, it is important to list so people will go to your website and buy what you are selling.




To make sure you don't miss out on any new tutorials, artwork, videos or members only specials, as it is easy to miss posts on Facebook and I don't post to all of them, join my {Facebook group}.

Follow me on {Instagram}

Subscribe to my {Youtube Channel} for updates on new Create Your Card videos.

I offer one on one classes for Cricut Design Space. Stop by for more {details}.

If you would to like to recreate any of my projects, you can order the materials at {nikkageers.ctmh.com}.