Sweet Summer Time Card

Here is a card that shares both of my loves!

To me summertime reminds brings back childhood memories of the sweet tastes of fresh strawberries and popicles! 

So we created a card sharing our summertime loves!

All you need to create your own sweet treat card is:
1 piece of red cardstock cut 5 x 4 1/2  (fold in half)
1 piece of white cardstock 4 x 2 1/4
1 piece of scrap paper for center scallop punch
your favorite fruit stamp (I used a strawberry)
1 popicle stick
1 piece of ribbon
scallop punch
circle punch


Directions:

1. Punch 1/2 scallop the corner of the red cardstock. (this creates the look of a bit!)
2. use some extra strong adhesive to adhere the Popsicle stick to the inside of the card.
3. adhere your white paper inside card and punch. (over the Popsicle stick)
4. punch your scrap paper  
5. circle punch on white card stock
6. stamp your fruit on the white circle. (for extra sheen, I used a little of Inksseentials Glossy Accents!)
7. adhere your stamped image to the front of your card.  stamped image is adhered on top of complete scallop scrap. 

Another easy breezy card creation!  Remember we would love to see what you create too!  Please feel free to send us your version!

Create a card and ensure that you will turn a crabby into happy!

Free SVG File - Sunglasses

In honor of the unofficial start of summer, here is a pair of sunglasses for everyone.  The sunglasses are part of our "Girls Weekend" SVG pattern set.

Here is a sneak peak and FREE SVG file of the sunglasses from our upcoming collection.

We hope to have this set completed and posted by the end of May.

Let us know what you think of it.. We'd love see how you use the pattern!

To download this pattern, follow this link:

http://www.crabbycakesstudio.com/freebies.html

Product Review - Tonic Studios Guillotine Paper Trimmer 12-Inch by 12-Inch

This is the 2nd of three product reviews on paper cutters.

Product: Tonic Studios Guillotine Paper Trimmer 12-Inch by 12-Inch

Details:

* Stainless steel blade

* Large base allows a full work surface for 12-inch x 12-inch scrapbook pages

* Offers precision cutting performance

Pricing:
List Price 53.99
Archivers Price 49.99 (but Christine used her 30% off coupon)
Amazon Price 41.69



As you know, Recently Christine found herself in dire need of replacing her paper cutter and started on a 2 day odyssey to find a new cutter. After the X-ACTO Heavy Duty 12" Laser Trimmer went back to Office Max, Christine went back into research mode and decided to give the Tonic Studios Guillotine Paper Trimmer 12-Inch by 12-Inch a try. This product had some great reviews on the scrapbooking websites and had 4.5 out of 5 stars on Amazon. So bright and early on Tuesday morning, off to Archivers to buy it.

Highlights:
* Easy to assemble - all you have to do is pull it out of the box and attach the handle
* Handle slides off easily to store under cutter for easy transport
* Accurate cutting
* Cuts multiple sheets of paper and cardstock.
* Blade stays in place when not in use.  No need to attach a lock
* Kushgrip comfort handle
* Paper clamp with integrated finger guard presses down firmly to ensure paper does not move while cutting

Lowlights:
* limitations on amount of paper it can  (up to approx 6 sheets of paper and 3-4 sheets of cardstock depending on weight)
* If you do not apply pressure to the paper clamp and just hold the paper with your hand, sometimes it moves a little (but this could be user error on Christine's part)


Overall, Christine has only had this product for a couple of days, but so far, she LOVES IT!!!!!  This cutter is fantastic!!!  It cuts straight every time!  The blade is sharp, but the cutter feels completely safe when using it.  This cutter would definitely stand up to heavy duty use, is a great value for the price, and would be perfect for all types of users from the occasional user to the heavy duty users.

Out of 5 possible crabs, this one will earn 5 crabs!

Product Review - X-ACTO Heavy Duty 12" Laser Trimmer

This will be the first of 3 product reviews on paper cutters.

Product:  X-ACTO Heavy Duty 12" Laser Trimmer
Details: 
*  Heavy Duty

*  Laser beam lines up paper for precise cut every time
*  X-ACTO Hardened steel blade
*  Self sharpening blade
*  Easy to read grip lines guarantee precision

Pricing:

List Price 70.49

Office Max Price 57.49 

Amazon Price 51.09

Recently Christine found herself in dire need of replacing her paper cutter.   So after a bit of research, she decided to buy the X-ACTO Heavy Duty 12" Laser Trimmer.    This product had some great reviews on the scrapbooking websites and had 4 out of 5 stars on Amazon.  So bright and early on Monday morning, off to Office Max to buy it.  

Highlights:
*  Easy to assemble - all you have to do is pull it out of the box and attach the handle (which is held in place by 2 small screws)
*  Laser easy to adjust

Lowlights:
*  If you want a straight cut on the paper, you can only cut 1 - 2 pieces of paper.  Each time we tried to cut 3 or more pieces of card stock, the blade could not cut the paper and ruined the paper
*  The safety feature to lock the blade in the down position did not lock when the blade was pushed into the closed position.  Each time we had to push the blade to the left to get the part to lock
*  While the laser was easy to adjust (just remove 1 screw, take the cover off, and use a screwdriver to adjust the vertical or horizontal levels), after a couple of cuts, it kept going out of alignment and would become a pain to have to do this after every couple of cuts

Overall, Christine was not happy with this product and returned it about an hour and a half after she pulled it out of the box.   We need a product that is reliable and will cut a straight line on multiple pages.  It was clear that the X-ACTO Heavy Duty 12" Laser Trimmer was NOT the product.

It defintely did not feel like it would stand up to heavy duty use.  Out of 5 possible crabs, this one will earn 1.5 crabs!  If you need it for occasional, light use, this product would work for you.  If you are looking for a product to stand up to heavy, daily use, stay away from this product. 

Free SVG File - There's a New Sheriff In Town!

There seems to be a whole bunch for little girls, but not  enough for little boy themed pages!  Well, we are please to be creating a collection called the "Wild West". 
Here is a sneak peak and FREE SVG file of  the sheriff badge from our upcoming collection. 

We hope to have this set completed and posted by the end of May.



Let us know what you think of it.. We'd love see how you use the pattern!

To download this pattern, follow this link:

http://www.crabbycakesstudio.com/freebies.html

Turning Crabby Into Happy all over the place! UPDATE

Just an update on what Crabby Cakes is currently working on:

• 6 corporate order for 6 baby albums. The company had such great response from its orignal order, they placed another order from us for 2 boy, 2 girl, 2 baby neutral albums!

• 1 custom presentation order for a major interior homes company!

• Our first SVG collection for our Etsy store called "Girls Night Out" (hoping to launch SVG collection by the end of May!)

• Another SVG collection called "The Wild West"

• 160 custom "Save The Date" for a community block party event. They are so cute! Bobbi is creating save the date hangers using the Doodlebug Cricut cart. and making watermelons for the summer block party event!

• We are super excited to be selected and juried into the Pride Fest 2010! This will be the largest event that Crabby Cakes Studio has ever been part of! Our main focus is creating and selling our mini Pride albums. Since the event is less than month away, you can only imagine our feverish pase we are working at! Thank goodness for family and friends' help! We simply have a great team of support behind us! Christine and I are working on creating over 500 albums for this event! We are also working on signage, set up and all the other good things that go along with such a big event!

Here is the link for PrideFest 2010!

http://www.chicagoevents.com/event.cfm?eid=142

Crabby Cakes Studio presents a Rock Lobster Custom Wedding Album

We wanted to take an opportunity to show the customization of a Crabby Cakes Studio Rock Lobster Album. This order was created for two high school sweet hearts marrying on May 16th! As a special gift, the order was placed by one of their bridesmaids! What a treasure piece! Please enjoy and remember, we would LOVE to see your comments!




Congrats to Aly and Jeff!
May you have a lifetime of happiness!
Christine and Bobbi
Turning Crabby Into Happy!

May 2010 6X6 Layout: Wild About You! Inspiration Challenge

Happy May!

As the warmer weather increases so does the family outdoor activities!

This little layout is perfect for capturing those wild moments like zoo visits, playground pictures, and even those simply cute pictures of your wild one (or two)!

Products Used to Create Layout:

• 1 piece of 12 x 12 tan cardstock (these pieces will be the foundation of your layout)
• cut into (2) 6 x 6
• 1 piece of 8 1/2 x 11 black cardstock
• cut (1) 5 x 5
• cut (1) 5 1/2 x 2
• cut (1) 3 1/2 x 4
• 1 piece of scrap white cardstock

• cut (4) squares 1 1/4 x 1 1/4
• Using your EK Success Small Binding Punch
• You can buy this punch at Create for Less website here is the link:  super cheap
• http://www.createforless.com/EK+Paper+Shapers+Punch+Edger+Slim+Binding+Edge/pid156457

• I used Stampin Up "Wild About You", where any wild animal stickers, digi stamps, other rubber stamp set would work just wonderful too!
• Colorful Photo corners

Assemble

1. Use the binding punch to punch on all your black pieces.  The punch will be on all the long length sides.
2. Stamp or sticker your white squares with your animals.
3. Glue your white squares to your 5 1/2 x 2 black piece, this will look like a film strip.
4. Glue photo corners to your 31/2 x 4 black pieces.
5. Adhere your 3 1/2 x 4 black piece first on the right or left side of a piece of your tan 6 x 6.
6. Adhere your completed film strip on an angle to the opposite side of your 3 1/2 x 4 piece, slightly overlaying the pieces.
7. Adhere the last black piece to the other 6 x 6 tan cardstock.
8. Woo hoo!  You are done!  If you like to embell more like I did, simply add some arrows!

Crabby Cakes Studio is "Wild About You" too!  If  this inspires you please send us your pictures and we will post your version!  If we get 10 entries or more we will be giving out a PRIZE to a random winner!  Get your wild on and send  us your 6 x 6 Wild layout today!

Turning Your Crabby Into Happy!
Christine and Bobbi
Crabby Cakes Studio

Sneek Peek - Girls Weekend Paper Piecing Patterns for SCAL

We wanted to give everyone a sneak peek of our "girls weekend" themed paper piecing pattern set. We are working on a couple of additional elements and should be done with the whole set later today. We'll post more information when we are done. Let us know what you think of this set... We can't wait for everyone to see the entire set! It will look great on all of your girls weekend scrapbook pages or even use this set for bachelorette parties or invites!!

Free SVG file - Mug of Beer

We are offering this frosty mug of beer as our SVG pattern! This was the first SVG paper piecing pattern that Bobbi's created! Great job Bobbi!   Let us know how you use this pattern!

To download this file, follow this link:

http://www.crabbycakesstudio.com/freebies.html

May CD Calendar Insert

Ladybugs!  Ladybugs!

This simple calendar insert will ensure that everyday in the month of May begins with a smile!

We used a simple black and white background paper from our scraps.  Add a wide black and white ribbon across the page.  To create the ladybugs use the Doodlecharms Cricut Cartridge.  The size to create these lovely ladies was set a 2 1/2 inches.  Add mini googlie eyes for added demension.  Make sure to use pop dots on your Ladybugs so they pop off your page.  We added black brads and little red flower! 

We would love to hear from you!  Please let us know your thoughts,share with us your creations!