In preparation for my class at the Cricut Mountain Make-a-thon, I figured I’d make a few Box Cards to show everyone what Box Cards are all about. Well, of course, I got on a roll and just couldn’t stop!
I’m posting a gallery of all the cards I made in the past two weeks, but will be backtracking later to discuss making Box Cards with your Cricut.
I hope you enjoy the gallery! Let me know which ones are your favorite!
Hello Box Card from All Occasion Box Cards in Cricut Design Space
I was recently asked about my favorite sites for SVGs on Quora. Since my answer was pretty extensive, I thought I would also share it with all of my Miss Rita blog followers.
I buy a LOT of SVG files for crafting with my Cricut. Yes, I realize I could do a Google search and replicate many different things, but I also understand that designers, too, need to eat, so I’d rather do my part to support an artist than to try to cheat the system.
Do note, I have always used a Cricut machine for crafting with SVGs, so I am coming from the perspective of a Cricut user. And while I don’t have any issue with other machines, I *know* and trust Team Cricut. Your mileage may vary, of course, and if you have any other sites I might want to consider for future posts, please contact me!
Okay…here we go!
My top places to buy quality, beautiful and well designed SVGs are as follows:
A Mega Monarch Butterfly from an SVG Cuts file
SVG Cuts (SVGCuts.com):
SVG Cuts designer, Mary, is a master designer. She won a Martha Stewart award for her massive 3D Ferris Wheel in 2013. Mary’s SVGs tend to be large and very finely detailed. She specializes in 3D structures and unique box card designs. Mary’s designs are well thought out and show attention to detail and she often gives specific information about what paper she uses for each design, which I find helpful.
Mary generally sells her SVGs as part of a set that has a theme. She launches a new set once a month or so and often has introductory specials for new sets, specifically she offers new sets for free with a purchase of about $15 from her large backlist of SVGs. Mary offers very detailed instructions in PDF format with each set purchased and she also creates complete video instructions for all her SVGs, which she conveniently posts on her site along with the product. No searching for videos on YouTube or struggling with paper sheets, if that’s not your thing.
In addition, I have found Mary to be very responsive to email inquiries and is very friendly and helpful. She could probably use a bit more help with social media connections, but I get that. This is by far the best site I know for SVGs.
This small potted hydrangea was created from a Dreaming Tree file
Dreaming Tree (3DSVG.com):
Dreaming Tree is the brainchild of Leo Kowal, who was once in partnership with Mary of SVG Cuts (see above), so it’s no wonder that many of the wonderful features Mary offers, Leo also offers. However, I appreciate that Leo and his team (which includes Ron Guttman and an adorable kitty named Pumpkin) have made an effort to differentiate themselves from SVG Cuts.
As with SVG Cuts, every purchase you make includes a complete list of instructions (with color coding to AC Cardstock colors) and very detailed video guides. But you can also see the difference between Mary’s and Leo’s design styles. Dreaming Tree specializes in 3D designs and are usually centered around a theme. Leo has some lovely Christmas, Spring and Halloween SVG sets and also allows you to purchase individual files, too. He offers a similar “free with purchase” program that SVG Cuts offers. Leo often using LED tea lights to create beautiful “table-scapes” and offers many beautiful home decor designs.
Leo is very personable and is great to email or chat with on Facebook. Furthermore Dreaming Tree offers a many free SVG designs that I’ve found exceptionally beautiful!
Leo is great to follow on Facebook and often offers giveaways and contests. The Dreaming Tree site is technologically head and shoulders above all other SVG sites; it is clear that Leo and his team “get” social media and is a real player in the online SVG space. Dreaming Tree even has an app to help corral all his SVGs, videos and content in one place. Be sure to sign up for Dreaming Tree’s newsletter and you will get updates on all their new designs.
Z Fold Heart Card from Lori Whitlock
Lori Whitlock’s SVG shop (shop.loriwhitlock.com):
Lori Whitlock is, for all intents and purposes, the mother of the modern day box cards—by this I mean digital cuttable box card designs. Lori is the designer of two Cricut cartridges, which were designed exclusively for use with Cricut machines. I, of course, own both sets and I do love them. But, in addition, Lori offers an extensive catalog of all of her SVG files, which is quite literally hundreds of different SVG files. Lori’s email tutorials are excellent and offer all kinds of variations for using her designs; she also offers quite a few video tutorials on YouTube. I like it when Lori bundles her designs for extra savings and she also has some specials such as the FREE Kit of the Month and a Friday $5 Bundle. About once a month, Lori has a sale on her entire catalog so it is a good idea to sign up for her email newsletters; her sales are usually 30% off all the designs in her shop, which also includes a handful of other designers such as SAS Creative. Most SVGs are only $1.50–$3 each before any discounts, which makes it reasonable to collect quite an inventory of files. As I mentioned, Lori has been the leader in box cards and variations on the box card theme and her backlist reflects that. She does have a huge inventory that is not always easy to navigate.. Sometimes, too, I’ve found a few SVGs that are improperly formatted, but I’ve found Lori to be super responsive to email inquiries email about file issues. But aside from those small issues, I find Lori to be super friendly and I’ve had frequent chats with her via email; she is responsive and interested in her customers and their purchases. As a designer for Echo Park, she coordinates her SVG designs with the EP paper and embellishments, which I love. Although not as detailed as Mary/SVG Cuts, her designs are clean and cute and she also offers Doodlebug and other designer SVGs for sale on her site. I fell in love with SVGs through Lori’s designs and I think I now own almost every file in her inventory…my only issue is with storing and organizing them, which I am hoping the team at Cricut could somehow assist with or Lori can figure out something to accommodate her growing inventory!
Paper Peonies by Lia Griffith
Lia Griffith (liagriffith.com) is the hands down leader in exquisite paper flower designs. She offers a subscription model for her files, which is very reasonable if you like to download lots of files and don’t want to pay for them individually. Lia’s tutorials are beautiful with lots of gorgeous pictures along with the step-by-step instruction sheets.
Lia also sells her own paper products—such as fine crepe paper—which are a bit on the high side, but still a nice selection.
My only issue with Lia’s site is the way she formats her files. When I was a member and downloaded files, I found that there was no consistency with their naming profile. As a bit of a glutton for SVG files, I find it easier to organize and sort all my files when the files were coded first by the designer’s name. For example, Lori Whitlock always begins her file names with “LW” and Leo from Dreaming Tree starts his files with “3DSVG”. This makes organizing hundreds of files so much easier. So, I suppose if Lia can get that part figured out, I would enjoy her content more.
Either way though, if you like creating paper flowers, Lia’s site is the master paper flower crafter and you won’t go wrong perusing her site and possibly becoming a member. I would suggest you check out her free files before you sign up for a membership, but I don’t think you will be disappointed.
Star Wars C-3PO Iron On from Cricut Design Space
Cricut Design Space:
You might be surprised to find this one on here, but I have been consistently surprised with the designers that Team Cricut continues to offer. I’ve been especially impressed with their partnership with Anna Griffin, with whom they also coordinate special content on HSN.
Cricut has made a huge effort to build up their file library’s depth and breath in the last year. They now have about two dozen designers that include those I’ve listed above (except for SVG Cuts), but also from newer or less prolific designers like Kim Byers, Teresa Collins, Rob & Bob, TomKat Studio, tatertots & jello and LoveSVG.
Cricut has also taken on the big franchises for marvelous and legally re-produceable files. Those include partnerships with Disney, Marvel, the Star Wars franchise and Sesame Street.
Martha Stewart:
I would be remiss to leave out my all time favorite home-keeper and virtual matriarch, Martha Stewart. A long time ago, Martha came out with a couple of Cricut cartridges for use in the Cricut Cake machine. If you were lucky enough to own the Cake or buy the cartridges, you will know she already has some beautiful Cricut files out there. But it seems Martha has regrouped as of late and has just launched her own version of a Cricut, so I feel she is just getting re-started in this genre. Knowing Martha and her vast background in all things crafty, I expect great things. Be sure to watch both her site and Cricut Design Space for more stuff from her in the near future. I personally can’t wait!
So that’s my very extensive list of sites that offer both free and purchasable SVG files for use with your Cricut. Want to know more? Please join one of my Facebook groups or follow me on Instagram, Pinterest or Facebook!
The Peabody Pop Up Market “Kids Day” was yesterday, July 10, 2018 at the Leather City Commons off of Lowell Street in Peabody.
It could have been the heat or something, but there were about half the vendors there. But–no harm!–more shoppers for the rest of us! Haha! It sort of worked out for me, because I got to set up at one of the park’s entrances, which allowed for more attention. I abutted two great new vendors.
It was hot, but there was a lot of shade and I got my NEW tent up with a little help from my neighbors. I was also able to give my “old” tent to a local artist named Lauren, whom I met through a GreenPeabody friend. She was so excited to have a tent and the old one wasn’t any worse for wear, so that was a real “win win”! My tent weights–which are compact, horseshoe style square weights–have been ordered, but didn’t come in time, but the tent stayed put.
One of my abutters was Reni (pronounced Ree-Knee) Wilson from Tumbled By Time. Reni has been collecting sea glass only from the beaches of Marblehead (birthplace of the American Navy and famous pirates, too!) for the last 28 years. Recently she decided to figure out how to make her found treasures into unique jewelry pieces. She doesn’t use clasps, but slip knots to make the necklaces and bracelets and she uses black fishing twine, so you know you can never wear her pieces out!
I got a little sea glass lesson from her, too, and told her all about my glass collecting friend from Canada. I chuckled when she told me the beaches in Canada aren’t good for sea glass! What beaches were she talking about, Deb Reid? Reni is able to tell exactly what type of bottle the glass originated from on most of her pieces and she was a font of knowledge about all thinks sea glass. She was originally from Ohio, but got lured here to our Atlantic Ocean beaches in her early years. They really DO lure you, don’t they?
To my right was a curious man named Adam who was wearing a fruit-adorned shrubbery on his head and handing out samples of “shrubs”. I was curious so I just had to ask what a shrub was…it’s flavored vinegars that have healthy/probiotic and culinary uses. Go figure!! Very keen hipster dude, who helped me out in the end when a certain someone whom I avoid IRL sauntered by.
I got back in touch with my friend, Michael Lucas from back in my days as CSM and VP of a local catalog company. Michael is retired from most of his other jobs, but he is still doing his Justice of the Peace gig, but also is selling the most unbelievably tasty flavored olive oils and vinegars–real authentic Greek oils! His son-in-law and he have a store at the North Shore Shopping Center (we old “locals” still call it that!) called The Branch Olive Oil Company. After trying his Fig Flavored Balsamic Vinegar yesterday, I can tell you he can keep his JP skills and just hand me over a bottle of that Fig Flavored Balsamic Vinegar for my salads!!
P.S. I guess there is life after working at a certain local catalog company! Go figure!
I also ran into several GreenPeabody members, including Sheila D’Ambrosio back from Maine, Pam Paine and, of course, Janette, who also runs the Tillie’s Community Herb Project over on Tillie’s Farm on Lynn Street.
Pam was headed to the Salem “No Place For Hate” Meeting…sure do wish we had one of those committees in Peabody, but she said she was turned down when she proposed it to the mayor. It may be something to revisit, Peabody? What do you think?
Not that many produce/farmers, which I think was the reason why the original farmers market outside of City Hall didn’t do well. Lisa from Bella & Harvey–the event coordinator–has done an outstanding job of getting and keeping interesting vendors and activities. For clarification, this is Peabody’s version of the traditional farmers market, which I think is great, because it allows people like me with natural and/or handmade products to have a booth. Anyone have any ideas? Are you a vendor and want to show your wares? I can point you in the direction of the woman with all the knowledge!
Because it was Kids Day at the market, I gave away some coloring sheets that I did using my Cricut, of course! Full sized pages were also for sale and in about a dozen FREE designs from Cricut’s Design Space.
FREE Coloring Pages
FREE Coloring Pages
FREE Coloring Pages
FREE Coloring Pages
FREE Coloring Pages
FREE Coloring Pages
Sample coloring page drawn and cut using my Cricut Maker
And because I use the creamiest, thickest white card stock, it elevates your coloring experience all the more.
This was the first market that I had some soaps for sale and I did sell a few bars. Lip Balms were the other purchases. I had a load of really fun market bags, but I think I have to display them better. Oh! And it didn’t help that the DJ was giving away free market bags around the corner.
Of course, I’d like to have sold more, but the benefits still far outweigh the difficulties! ❤
The NEXT Peabody Pop Up Market will be on Tuesday, July 24th from 3-7pm. I *think* the them is Crafty stuff…so I won’t need to make anything “special” for that….cuz everything I have is crafty! BOL!
Here are the vendor details from this post. If you visit any of them, be sure to tell them you heard about them from my blog! Thanks, loves!
The Branch Olive Oil Co.
North Shore Shopping Center, 210 Andover St., Peabody, MA
Miss Rita to the Rescue! 