Make + Design Podcast

Who enjoys listening to podcasts? I must admit I have a few favorites. I recently had the opportunity to be a guest on Carina Gardner’s new podcast, “Make and Design.” Carina created this podcast for makers, designers, and other creatives.

Episode 14

I joined her on Episode 14 to discuss paper crafting. You can find the “Make and Design” Podcast wherever you listen to your podcasts, or go straight to the recording (audio and video options) for Episode 14 HERE.

Episode 36

I joined Carina again here on Episode 36 to talk about my favorite paper craft projects. Here’s the framed paper flower project I talked about in this episode.

And here’s the Halloween House I referred to in this episode. From October 2011 — when I got my first Cameo machine!

And the haunted house with vellum windows was another project I mention in Episode 36.

Here’s another project I referred to. This is etched glass with vinyl that I use for wedding or bridal shower gifts.

Or this wedding gift with a heat transfer quote on fabric.

History

I don’t remember exactly when Carina and I first met, but I do know it was at a Silhouette event! The picture above is from Silhouette Summit in Honolulu, HI, in May 2017. Carina’s designs in the Silhouette Design Store are among my most-used designs! She’s a top-5 artist for me.

You can find some of my Carina Gardner projects below, and I hope you enjoy the podcast!

Halloween Village

Quick & Easy Easter Treats

Fabric Pencil Case

3D Layered Star

Cupcake Toppers

3D Printed Stir Sticks

Fairy Box

This post may contain affiliate links. Your price is the same, but I may receive a small commission when you use my links. Thanks for your support!

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It’s my Bloggiversary!

Seven years ago I started this blog, and each year gets better and better! In the past 12 months, I’ve had some unexpected changes that I couldn’t imagine one year ago.

I had no idea, for one thing, that I would develop and launch a Silhouette class on Craftsy.com!

Trips to Hawaii for Silhouette Summit and to Georgia for teaching at All Things Silhouette were a welcome repeat of the prior year. (Along with continuing blogging for Silhouette America.)

And I did not plan a year ago (or even six months ago) on quitting my accounting job to start creating content for Silhouette America’s YouTube channel, but that has been a very satisfying job change.

I’m still working on connecting the YouTube videos I’ve made for Silhouette onto my blog (there are about 40 at this point!), so I hope you keep coming back for more. In the meantime, I’d like to celebrate my bloggiversary by offering a 50% off coupon* for my Get Started With Silhouette class on Craftsy.com! (Expired 10/15/17)

Click the image below to go to my class, then once you add it to your cart you’ll see the discount.

*Get 50% off the full retail price of select Craftsy classes taught by Kelly Wayment. Cannot be combined with any other coupons. Expires October 15, 2017.

I hope you have a great week! I’ll be busy making more tutorials and preparing for my classes for November’s All Things Silhouette Conference. Thanks for all your support and encouragement!

The post Happy Bloggiversary #7 appeared first on Finding Time To Create.

The past few months have been brutal as I balance my part-time accounting job with my real life as a mom, plus blogger, designer, and instructor. But the end is in sight!

Just thought I’d share this bit of info I found (direct quotes) from IRS Pub 525 in the U.S.  The IRS is totally serious about this, but I hope it gives you a chuckle, like it did for me. (Unless you’re a criminal. Then you should worry.)

The post A Little Tax Humor…But They Aren’t Kidding appeared first on Finding Time To Create.

Original post:

I’ve got exciting news if you’re a Silhouette fan and/or have been considering getting a Silhouette CAMEO 3!

Silhouette America is opening up their Black Friday sale for early access on Wednesday, November 23, to select followers (that means you, because you came to my blog). You must use this link to see the CAMEO 3 bundle and use my affiliate code TIME2 to purchase at the early access price (and grant me a little slice of affiliate rewards).

This early-access deal only works from 12:00 a.m. on Wednesday the 23rd to 11:59 p.m. of the 23rd (MST). Are you prepared to stay up late Tuesday night for a bundle deal on the CAMEO 3? 😉

Here’s the link again: Black Friday 2016 Early Access

Use the code: TIME2

This is the bundle deal you will have access to. Keep in mind, the best price I’ve ever seen the CAMEO 3 is $199 (on extreme and short-lived deals), $49.99 for the Mint, and $17-18 for Studio Designer Edition. Even if all the stars are aligned, this deal still beats all those BEST prices put together (before throwing in the download card and dust cover).

If you have questions about any Silhouette machine or product, please let me know (and have a look around my blog and tutorials). I’ve pretty much tried it ALL. Thanks for using my code if purchasing a CAMEO 3 this year!

Disclaimer: My blogger affiliate code is new, so if my code TIME2 does not seem to work, I apologize! Please let me know ASAP (in the comments or email kelly@findingtimetocreate.com) so I can get it fixed with the powers-that-be during this 24-hour window. I believe this is only for US and Canada, as usual. (Sorry I have no control over that!)

Edit 8:05 a.m. MST 11/23/16: It is working now, folks! So sorry for the hiccup. I sent messages to my contacts at Silhouette starting around 1 a.m. and they fixed it about 30 minutes ago so the “buy now” button is working. Remember to sign in and use my TIME2 code. This is early access, so they should not sell out today! You have until 11:59 p.m. MST tonight.

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The post PRE-Black Friday Sale! appeared first on Finding Time To Create.

Cyndy!

Thanks for being one of my blog subscribers since 2014! I’ll be contacting you shortly.

For those of you who didn’t win, I’m sorry. I’d love to give each and every one of you a Mint to play with, if I could. But if you have been thinking how nice it would be to have one of these cute little stamp makers, I have good news.

Through the end of October (2016), the Silhouette Mint is only $49.99 and supplies (stamp kits, stamp refills, inks) are 50% off! This is the best Mint deal I think I’ve seen, and it’s a good one. ? Visit the shop HERE. The discount is automatically applied, so no code is necessary.

The post And the Silhouette Mint™ Winner Is… appeared first on Finding Time To Create.

My blog is officially 6 years old! To celebrate, I’m having a giveaway. Who wants a brand new Silhouette Mint machine for making custom stamps? Read on…

Year 6 Recap

This past year turned out completely different than I thought it would. I knew I would be blogging again for Silhouette America on their design team, which really fills my creative need. (I have a hard time justifying a lot of crafting time without a deadline.)

I thought I would put a lot more video lessons on my blog, but instead I have been given the opportunity to attend conferences and teach in live classrooms again with 30-75 students at a time! I taught several classes at April’s All Things Silhouette Conference in Peachtree City, GA, and am headed back in less than a month to teach several more at the November All Things Silhouette Conference. I love it!

The other exciting event for me this past year was my trip to Hawaii for Silhouette Summit. I’m still sitting on the edge of my seat, waiting for the new products they announced there to actually become available in stores, but I am the proud owner of a new CAMEO 3. It works wonderfully just like all my previous CAMEO machines. (I’m just waiting also for the new cloud Studio software to play nicely with me and my huge design library.)

Big Dreams

As always, I have big plans for the next year. I want to try and get more consistent small content up on my blog so my posts become more regular. I think I use Instagram as my fallback to avoid writing long blog posts, but I think my blog has suffered because of it.

I don’t know why I think I always need extremely informative, detailed tutorials with every post. I do have several of those mostly written and close to publication; I just need to finish them off. It’s that “Finding Time To Create” thing that gets me every time. Wife and mom duties, along with a part-time job, always bump blogging down on the priorities list.

My teen son has been telling me all his suggestions about my social media plan, and will be taking a web design course next semester, so maybe I’ll hire convince him to spend his computer time on my site instead of his games.

In Silhouette news, I will soon have an affiliate code to share with you that you can use any time there is a Silhouette sale on their merchandise website. I’m just waiting to hear when it’s activated, but the code will be “TIME2”. You will be able to get the current Silhouette deal with my code, and I’ll get a small commission. Yay! More information coming on that soon.

Finally, I’ve got something big in the works I can’t tell you about because it’s still in the early planning stage, but I’m really excited it might happen. Sorry I can’t share that one yet.

Giveaway

Finally, on to the giveaway. I have a brand-new Mint machine sitting in a box, ready to be sent to one lucky winner. The machine itself comes with three inks and two stamps. I’m adding refills for those two stamp sizes, along with a few other sizes of stamps and a couple more bottles of ink.

If you don’t know what a Mint machine is, you’ll find these posts helpful:

Silhouette Mint Overview

Step-by-Step Making a Mint Stamp

How to Make a Multi-Color Mint Stamp

Multi-Color Mint Stamps

The giveaway will run for two weeks, starting today. If you have questions, please ask. Good luck everyone, and please spread the word!
The giveaway is closed. Congratulations, Cyndy! (Watch for an email from me.) Thanks everyone for entering!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Visit the Mint shop to purchase the machine or supplies HERE. (Not an affiliate link. Just trying to be helpful.)

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The post It’s My Bloggiversary No. 6! appeared first on Finding Time To Create.

I wasn’t involved in any of this camp again this year, but I have to share the clever Harry Potter ideas the leaders used.

The girls got a nice sendoff with breakfast provided at the church building before heading through Diagon Alley and then boarding Hogwarts Express. I apologize for the photo quality. I did not know they were doing this, so I only had my camera phone with me inside the poorly-lit church building.

Diagon Alley

Here is Diagon Alley. Each doorway had a shop sign and some kind of take-away for the girls to collect as they traveled down the hallways. I thought they were very clever to even include a cobblestone street.

Madam Malkin’s Robes for All Occasions

Madam Malkin’s is where the girls picked up an invisibility cloak (a clear rain poncho).

Ollivander’s

What kind of Harry Potter event would be complete without magic wands? At Ollivander’s, each girl got to choose a personalized wand. The girls had each made her own wand ahead of time and wrote down its magical components, and then the leaders completed the description with a character trait appropriate for the girl. (They asked the mothers on the sly.)

Madam Pimpernelle’s Beautifying Potions

The next stop was Madam Pimpernelle’s…

Quality Quidditch Supplies

After Madam Pimpernelle’s, they headed on to Quality Quidditch Supplies. The girls received a Golden Snitch (a.k.a. Ferrero Rocher chocolates).

Magical Menagerie

They passed by Magical Menagerie to see the magical creatures. (I’m not sure they received anything at this one.)

A few more shops

Among the remaining shops were Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes, Honeyduke’s, and Slug & Jiggers Apothecary.

Platform 9 3/4

And, finally, after visiting all the shops the girls arrived at Platform 9 3/4 to board the Hogwarts Express. They passed through the brick wall and then boarded a caravan of cars, trucks, and minivans to take them to their destination.

I would have loved to be involved in this one, but the pictures will have to do. My next post will show how I incorporated the Harry Potter theme into the secret sister gifts I made for my daughter and my niece to give away.

The post What Happens When Harry Potter goes to Girls Camp? appeared first on Finding Time To Create.

And if you haven’t subscribed already, please do so if you want to be notified of my new posts. Assuming my transfer went well, if you subscribed to my former blog you will be notified of new posts on this site, too.

The post Welcome to my new website! appeared first on Finding Time To Create.

I’ve got quite a few basic Silhouette lessons all ready to go, with more on the way. And quite a backlog of projects to share (with some freebies). This will be good…

Wish me luck!

Update 6/8/15:

Apparently the feed did not transfer, so I will keep working on that if you’ve already subscribed to my former blog. Just to be safe, it wouldn’t hurt to subscribe again now.

Categories and tags didn’t convert properly, either, so I’ll be fixing those for easy searches for you, as well.

Only 433 old posts to review for errors. 

The post Maintenance appeared first on Finding Time To Create.

How do you pop a balloon? It takes 13 steps, if you do it Rube Goldberg style. This was a super-deluxe school project that took 3 hours to set up yesterday afternoon in our garage/driveway, and the result was a very entertaining 17 seconds.

For a 4th grade project, my niece was required to create a Rube Goldberg machine that took at least 10 steps to pop a balloon. She enlisted the help of her grandpa (an engineer), who asked to use our Drenchinator 3000.  (Check out our summertime soaking contraption here.)  A Rube Goldberg machine is a “contraption, invention, device or apparatus that is deliberately over-engineered or overdone to perform a very simple task in a very complicated fashion, usually including a chain reaction.” (Thanks, Wikipedia!)

Here is how to pop a balloon:

(Ignore the child; he was not part of the machine. He just wanted to feel involved during the three hours of setup time.)

A- Car travels down ramp
B- Sets off dominoes
C- Dominoes disrupt lever
D- Lever releases ball down spiral ramp
E- Ball triggers electric car, which drives along track
F- Car bumps into wooden plate
G- Wooden plate triggers ball to go down tube
H- Ball hits another ball at end of tube, which travels on ramp
I- Ball releases spring-loaded cardboard, which flips
J- Cardboard triggers mousetrap, which pulls string
K- String releases balanced chair
L- Falling chair triggers wrench to hit target on Drenchinator
M- Target arm swings to pierce water balloon
N- Added bonus with popped balloon: children below it get soaked!

(I’m sorry I wasn’t able to get good still shots of the chair-wrench combination; by the time they were finishing this up and hadn’t even done a test run yet, I was running late for a meeting and I also didn’t want to make the crowd wait for me to take more pictures.)

We only ran this whole thing twice. Once as a test run to make sure it worked, and once for filming so the video could be submitted to the teacher. We had multiple devices capturing stills and video, and about 17 spectators.  They started right after school around 4 p.m., recorded the video shown above a little after 7 p.m., and when I got home from my meeting at 8 p.m. it was all put away.

We were all pretty excited about the successful balloon-popping Rube Goldberg machine. Thanks for visiting!

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