My First Projects with the Cricut Expression, and Some Packages Arrive

I have been having a blast with my new pink Cricut Expression Machine. It is just incredible! I made a journal using the Plantin' Schoolbook which came with the machine. The other two cartridges that came with the machine won't arrive till tomorrow. I bound the journal together, and then I used the wonderful K and Company Specialty paper that arrived in the mail. Joe took a pic of the cover, which has a beautiful lady on the front ,and then took pics of each of the inside pages, two at a time and the back cover is last in the pics above. I have the pics in the order that the pages are in the journal. I don't know if you can tell, but each page has a pocket, and I already put in a tag ( on page 1) where I journalled something special. On page three, there is a castle with the word Ireland on it, and on page 7, which has Friends on the top, I added in colorful grass on the bottom, which may be hard to see. Anyways, there is a lot of detail on each page. I enjoyed adding the embellisments, including ribbon, glitter, and paints that I used.I will be including journal tags in each pocket during this year all representing special events. I dedicated most of the journal to us as a couple, and Joe, needless to say loved it all. I really enjoyed making the journal, and the Cricut was a great help. I loved doing the project, and I will be doing many more journals in the future.

The videos at The Pink Stamper really helped me so much to learn how to use my machine, and I thank Robin for all of those. She is a wonder!

I also got a Mind's Eye paper pad which had 180 sheets, and they are all very nice too, and as you can see lots of ribbon.You can see the specialty paper from K and Company which I used for the journal. I also made Joe a wee card, which is one of those "Just Because" cards that says "For Joe", and he was chuffed with it all. I am so happy to have gotten the CricutExpression!

I will be ordering tons of Tim Holtz products, as I want to make another journal for my family's really old pictures that were taken in Europe of my parents and grandparents. I will be distressing those pages and also using Rock Candy Distress Crackle paints to create lovely colours and cracks , and just using all kinds of techniques to make the journal look very old.

Also, I got the Jerusalem print that I won in the OWOH giveaway. Isn't it wonderful? Robin from Around the Island Photography sent it to me, and she is quite the photographer. I wish that my parents were alive to see this one. We were all in Israel a few times, and we all loved Jerusalem, and as I said, I did my third year of college at the University of Jerusalem, and this print does mean a lot to me.

It has been a fun last few days, and I was thrilled to get into my projects again. Hope your week has been a good one so far.