Kerri Bradford Studio » Blog

July 19.2011

shhhh . . . don’t tell your kids . . .

School is a month away! At least it is here in our neck of the woods.
Sadly, Jordan is painfully aware of just how quick it’s coming. ;)

Therefore, I’m working on my next This & That kit.
If you hadn’t guessed yet, that would be a school kit.

Ohhhh, it’s just too soon for school, isn’t it???

Here’s a little sneaky-peeky for ya.

Price: $15

The kit will be available at the first of next week!

And on another note? I think I’ve taken our animals to the vet more in the past two months than I have taken my kids to the doctor in two years.

Today’s adventure?

Heard the dog start barking crazy like.

Went to see what was going on . . . and his face was all swollen!!!

Eyes were little slits.

The poor thing!

Took him to the vet, got a couple shots.

I’m thinking he must have gotten stung by a bee or something.

Any bets on whether or not I can go a month without taking one of the animals to the vet? ;)

Ay yi yi!

5 comments

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Scrapthat - July 19, 2011 - 6:11 pm

We haven't even had summer here in BC yet…we had four warm days with some sun but I wouldn't call that a summer and it hasn't even gotten over 80 degrees F yet!
Great looking start to your this and that though! :)

Jan - July 19, 2011 - 6:19 pm

I can't believe how incrediably talented you are! So jealous…..:) PS. You are my favorite1

Rhadonda - July 19, 2011 - 9:22 pm

This kit looks fun. I so love your kits. I just got notice this morning that i am losing one of my jobs, one of my biggest accounts. I sure hope this kit can be worked into the new budget ( :

Becky Handforth - July 20, 2011 - 12:03 am

We had a Boxer that loved to catch bees. The downside was the swollen lip. We just asked the vet to tell us the dosage of benadryl to give him for his weight when it happened, then we didn't have to go to the vet for a shot. Good luck

Kerri - July 20, 2011 - 3:56 am

You know, I'd wondered if we could give him Benadryl…even though we didn't have any. So that's good to know. Thanks for sharing that. I wish our vet would have mentioned that before we spent blankety-blank dollars on two shots and a 10 minute visit. Oy vey.

His face is pretty much normal now, so that's good. We sure felt sorry for him.

And Scrapthat, I know what you mean about summer just barely arriving. We've had a very cool summer up until a little bit ago, but I'm not complaining at all. :) It was like we had 3 Aprils and then went to July.

Rhadonda, sorry to hear about losing your account. I hope things will work out for ya!

And Jan, thanks so much for your sweet words. :)

July 18.2011

life additions for project life

So a couple weeks or so ago I did a Project Life page for our dear Miss Becky Higgins using the Life Additions kit. I shared a little sneak peek, but never did share the whole enchilada (mmmmm…enchiladaaaas….)

I really do just need to jump into doing Project Life. What is wrong with me that I can’t start taking photos. I thought it was really cool when I did it for like a month. Got some great shots that I normally wouldn’t have taken. How many shots–and more important….memories–have I missed out now because I didn’t just jump in?

I think I’ve just gotten photo’d out. Well, not completely. But I don’t seem to take anywhere near the photos that I used to.

Why is that?

Is it because my kids are older? Is it because I don’t scrap for my job anymore?

I’m perplexed.

I’m in a pondering moment right now.

hmmm . . .

3 comments

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Rhadonda - July 18, 2011 - 2:30 pm

I too struggled with taking a photo a day. Especially since kids are gone off to college during most of the year. So don't stress about it. You can do a month at a time, a week here and there. It doesn't have to be daily. Enjoy life and document what you can i say.

caroline - July 18, 2011 - 5:08 pm

I don't have much desire to do Project Life. I respect those who do and I think that Becky is a flipping genius for creating a system to help busy people document the every day and bringing scrapbooking into the lives of so many who might otherwise poo-poo it. But my kids are older, I work full time, go to school and do copious amounts of laundry. It's not a time thing, because I could absolutely squeeze it in, it's just…I'm not really doing anything that I have a desire to document. And for me, scrapbooking has become a nice little artistic release – a way to play with pretty papers and pictures, and I'm not certain I want to make more, quicker, so much as one or two here and there that take a while – because that "take a while" is my playtime.

I hope that makes sense. Oh, and all that said, I do love the products that PL has inspired – yours, CZ's and AE's stuff are all really cool and flexible enough to use on standard layouts. So it's a total win/win. ☺

luvmysilhouette - July 18, 2011 - 11:54 pm

Kerri Quit Stressing You absolutely ROCK no matter what you do… I wish I could take a little smidgin from You and a little smidgin from Nichol and I would be Rockin for sure…LOL SO much Talent hugs xo

July 15.2011

friday freebie: office tag + printables

Got a little freebie for ya today.

It’s a fun little office tag with its reinforecment.

But wait, there’s more! ;)

(I love saying that.)

There’s also a couple of printable phrases that you can
use with it to help decorate it as well as a little number printable.

Sweet.

Looks a little somethin’ like this:

You can download the tag and three printable images HERE.

I decked out the tag using the key, ticket and branch from the This & That Lucky kit. The shapes are also found in the “Shapes Only” version of the Lucky kit. I’d also planned to stamp yellow polka dots or houndstooth under the leaves, but, uhhhhh, I forgot. So there’s that option for ya.

So, you’re probably looking at that tag and thinking,

“How did she get that ledger on there? I swear it’s from the Love: Every Little Thing kit.”

(uhhhh, yeah…suuuure you’re thinkin’ that. but let’s just go with that story anyway.)

Well, what I did was combine the tag with the ledger (budget) in Silhouette Studio to make my own Print & Cut! I love doing this.

If you’ve never tried it, here’s a video to show you just how you can do that.

By the way, I’m lovin’ making the videos except when my dog starts barking! He’s just like a kid that bugs you only when you’re on the telephone. And because my office window is right at ground level . . . guess who hears him when he’s barking at something.

He was quiet all day.

I waited until the kids left for the evening so I could have it quiet in the house. Don’t want you to hear any ~~bickering~~ *ehem* blissful noises of harmonious children either.

Yeah.

Sure.

Two minutes in.

BARK.BARK.BARK!

Had to wait for hubby to come home to take him for a walk.

If anyone has any sure-fire ways on how to get a dog not to bark, I’d sure love to hear it. :)

Have a lovely weekend y’all!

16 comments

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Rhadonda - July 15, 2011 - 3:53 pm

These are awesome. Thanks so much. Except i can't figure out how to download from the screen that comes up in Google. Sorry for my ignorance. Must be something new. Please help and thanks!

Kerri - July 15, 2011 - 4:01 pm

Okay, that is really weird. Not sure why it shows up that way, but click on File in the upper left corner and it will have "Download Original" there.

I'll have to check into that more…

Rhadonda - July 15, 2011 - 4:14 pm

That did it. Thanks. Video was great. I am always learning from you. Can you possibly help me figure out how to do print and cut out a png that you import into Silhouette? I imported a png tag file from Ali Edwards. I did trace outline so it would cut out all around it but it put the yellow, red marks on every little feature within the tag so i didn't attempt to cut it if that makes sense. I contacted Silhouette but they told me to do just what I did. Perhaps you can't cut a png file. Sorry if this was inappropriate to post here. Let me know if you would prefer another way! Since you are the expert of course.

Scrapthat - July 15, 2011 - 4:52 pm

Thanks Kerri! Always nice to have a walk through!! I haven't done this in studio yet as it never really worked for me in the old program (it was very hit or miss giving me error messages) So I'll definitely try again!!
Also I learned something very valuable!! The CNTRL C CNTRL V…the double cut is nice but sometimes I am using various different CS on my carrier sheet at one time and need one image only to double cut because it's sitting on Bazill but everything else is on a slightly thinner CS this way I can cut them all at once without cutting and then cutting again! TFS and Thanks for the tag and reinforcer!

Rhadonda - July 15, 2011 - 7:40 pm

Scrapthat i wanted to help you. It is CNRL F and not V. V doesn't paste it right on top but just doubles it off to the side a bit. I am so glad for this video because i had been using double cut because i couldn't remember the command where it pastes it right on top. Hope that helps. ( :

Anonymous - July 15, 2011 - 10:22 pm

Love the freebies! Thank you so much for those and for the great video. It was so helpful and easy to follow. I'm sure I'll be watching it again and again.
Janet

Anonymous - July 15, 2011 - 10:25 pm

I just noticed your post Rhadonda, and I too would love a tutorial on cutting a png.

luvmysilhouette - July 16, 2011 - 2:08 am

Well Miss Kerri that was a Fabulous Video, You are such a Great Teacher…lol I Thank you soooo much for the coooooooool freebie …I been wondering bout your doggie too mine is soooooooooo spoiled love him so much…I made a little order so thanks for all you do for us …xoxoxoxo

nativetexangirl - July 16, 2011 - 1:33 pm

I am not very familiar with Google Docs and was trying to figure out how to download but saved it to my Google Docs but now it only tells me I don't have permission to view the file and I can't get it to open to print. Thanks for the file and for sharing with us. Can you help me? I can't even view it when I click on your link anymore-same message of no permission.

Kerri - July 16, 2011 - 3:15 pm

Okay, so it appears Google has changed how Google Docs works. It now looks at the ZIP file and expands it so that the user can see what's in the ZIP file.

So I went back through a couple of the links and saw a couple different looks. One has a Download link in the upper left and one you have to click File/Download Original.

While I can see this new feature being helpful for some, it just adds confusion for just those wanting the file.

I just tried uploading the file again and it appears to be the same as before.

So try using the Download or File/Download link and see if that helps.

nativetexangirl - July 16, 2011 - 7:58 pm

Thank you so much, Kerri. I was able to click on it and see all the files and I went to File and Download in the upper left corner. I appreciate you sharing this and taking more time to help little old me retrieve it. :D Have a great summer day!

Dell - July 17, 2011 - 2:20 pm

Thank you. These are cute!

vegetablog - July 18, 2011 - 1:38 pm

This video was so helpful. I have made a few print-and-cuts before, but it was great to see a step-by-step tutorial on video! Plus, I had no idea you could adjust the location of the registration marks! I'm so happy to know that– no more weird wasted paper!
Thank you!
Natalie

Michele Swanberg - July 18, 2011 - 9:19 pm

Thank you, Kerri! This was a very helpful video. I learned a lot! I also want to thank you for the freebies. You are awesome!

Danielle G. - July 19, 2011 - 4:40 am

Hi, Kerri. Thanks for the freebies. As for dogs not barking, I taught my dog the command "no bark". I don't use it often since barking is what dogs do, but in certain circumstances, it's useful. Surprisingly enough, she exactly knows what it means and will stop barking (although, if she sees another dog, I may have to say it more than once). To teach it, I rewarded her every time I said "no bark" and she actually stopped barking. Eventually, she learned what the phrase meant and the rest is history. Lol. On another note, I also taught her to bark on command, which proved to be less useful-I rarely use it:).

Allie.Duckienz - November 26, 2011 - 4:17 pm

Thank you so much for the freebies. I adore your blog, thank you for all your hard work!

July 14.2011

behold . . .

All that is good + glorious + right in this world.

Chocolate ice cream with chocolate chunks on one side.

Creamy vanilla on the other.

Both surrounding a lovely core of caramel right in the center.

Tantalizing the taste buds at every delectable turn.

pure delight.

It’s on sale at our local store.

I feel the need to stock up.

Is that considered food storage???

. . . . . . . . . . . .

And now, after hearing many comments about blog hops and sharing pages with everyone?

I finally did it.

I created a Flickr group where everyone can share their creations

that use shapes purchased from this site!

{RIGHT HERE}

You can still use shapes from other places, but

the project has to at least have something from here in order to post.

So . . . start sharing!

Can’t wait to see what y’all are makin’!!!

And if you may have noticed over on the right there,
I started a Facebook page too.
So be sure to ‘like’ me!
(does that sound conceited or what??)

And be sure to tune in tomorrow for the Friday Freebie.

Got somethin’ a little different goin’ on.

9 comments

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Scrapthat - July 14, 2011 - 7:02 pm

Super cool Kerri! I jumped right in the pool! :)

Kerri - July 14, 2011 - 7:06 pm

Come in on . . . the water's fine! :)

Scrapthat - July 14, 2011 - 7:36 pm

:) Now bring on the pool boys with the cool drinks! LOL

Kerri - July 14, 2011 - 7:38 pm

Where ARE those cabana boys???

Scrapthat - July 14, 2011 - 7:47 pm

LOL!

cutiephinphin - July 14, 2011 - 8:44 pm

I just love this B&J flavor too but it's not always available near my place.

Ellie A. - July 14, 2011 - 11:25 pm

So you know I'll be going to my Local Supermarkets w/a printed pictures of this ice cream saying DO YOU HAVE IT, DO YOU? DO YOU?.. If we weren't so late I would have gone RIGHT now to go find me some for tonight Ha..:)

Kerri - July 14, 2011 - 11:36 pm

it'll be TOTALLY worth it. :)

Andi (RrlScrapGal) - July 16, 2011 - 7:01 pm

Sweet!!!!!!!!

July 13.2011

the ol’ ballgame

‘Alright all you baseball fans out there . . . ‘
(said in my announcer voice)

Ask and ye shall receive!

I’ve had quite a few requests for a baseball kit,
and here she be!

[Comes in SVG/STUDIO/DXF/AIv8/PNG]
Price: $7

As you can see, there’s a softball and tee-ball version of the stacked words because, ya know, we all don’t play ‘base’ball. I’ve got two girls . . . big softball fans & players. :)

Lots of extra layers in the verbiage. Typical ‘bradford’ style, where there’s the whole piece or you can add the complementary colored pieces.

Wow. Before you know it, it’ll be football season!
Summer goes by sooooo fast!

14 comments

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caroline - July 13, 2011 - 3:52 pm

I LOVE IT!
Oh, I'm so excited! I've got such fantastic pictures from this season, now I can hardly wait to dig in!
YAY KERRI! Thank you!

oginger - July 13, 2011 - 4:09 pm

I LOVE THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Beth - July 13, 2011 - 4:29 pm

OH, if you come out with a kit for football I will be SOOOO mad! Why? Because I just finished football albums for both DS and DD (she was a manager)!! Hmmm…aren't there a few more baseball layouts I need to do from, oh, like ten years ago? LOL! Kerri, I just love everything you do!

Teri Berrios - July 13, 2011 - 5:00 pm

OH YEAH BABY!! My pictures are set aside for this :) THANK YOU KERRI!!! Hugs, T

Ellie A. - July 13, 2011 - 5:30 pm

YAY YAY YAY YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYAAY.. hmm YAY… Thank you SO MUCH for this YAY :)

Rhadonda - July 13, 2011 - 7:55 pm

Well of course you hit a homerun with this kit!!! wink wink These will be great as my daughter played high school softball and my husband now coaches softball too (though i haven't taken many pictures of him) Sweet. Thanks.

Kerri - July 13, 2011 - 8:19 pm

You guys are all so cute! And beth…I'm not sayin' nuttin' about any potential football kit. ;)

luvmysilhouette - July 14, 2011 - 1:04 am

OH KERRI ANOTHER GRAND SLAM FOR SURE I CANNOT WAIT TO GET THIS ALONG WITH SEVERAL OTHERS…
I HOPE YOU KNOW HOW WONDERFUL YOU ARE!!!
WE LOVE YOU …HUGS MY FRIEND

Darlene Melvin - July 14, 2011 - 2:17 am

Soccer and Volleyball PLEAZZZEEE. I love this baseball kit but my girlies don't play – but soccer and volleyball would be some KB awesomeness. Thanks for all the cool stuff you create – LOVE it!!

Kerri - July 14, 2011 - 2:46 am

Thanks Terri! And Darlene, I will put those on my list. :)

Courtney - July 14, 2011 - 3:31 am

I would LOVE basketball, volleyball and soccer

Heather Crawford - July 14, 2011 - 1:52 pm

YAY! I have so many softball/baseball pics..in fact, I have a layout that was sitting to the side needing a title for this first homerun! Awesome! Your kits/art are the best!

Heather
jobyx2@yahoo.com

caroline - July 14, 2011 - 2:08 pm

I think we need to organize a Kerri Bradford design blog hop. I am dying to see what everyone creates with these kits. Plus, I love me a deadline. ;)

Lynne - July 15, 2011 - 3:25 pm

Yeah!! I must have this!!

July 12.2011

sad day

So, I just discovered . . .

my Graphically Speaking Cricut cartridge

is being discontinued.

I guess it’s had a nice run.

I believe it’s been four years since it came out.

I guess I just never thought about it being discontinued.
Feels weird.

Man.

Thinking about making that cartridge just brings back

so . many . memories .

That good ol’ laptop of mine . . . we were best buddies

at the kitchen table for a few months.

Summertime’s a killer with young kids that

want to watch tv. ;)

Some reeeaaaalllly long days.

We’re talking, up at 4 or 5 a.m. and pretty much working

until 10 or 11 at night. That included doing my day job too.

I relied on my newly-driving son to do so many errands for me.

Verrrry grateful for that.

I think I put on 20 pounds.

The daily non-diet Dr. Pepper and chocolate donut didn’t help there.

(thanks for enabling me there Zach with driving to get it. ha ha)

That was all my “learning Illustrator” days.

I can never express enough gratitude to Miss Heather Lancaster

for helping me figure things out as needed.

She had so much patience with me.

adore.her.

And I can never express enough gratitude for

Desiree Tanner

and

Heather

for having the confidence in me to take on such a task

as creating a Cricut cartridge.

If it weren’t for them and the serendipitous moment

of us getting to share dinner together at Gibsons (yummm!) in Chicago,

I wouldn’t be where I am today.

Wow.

Just so many thoughts and emotions about those days.

Of course, since I was new to Illustrator,

when I look back on that cartridge?

I admit, I kind of cringe at some things. :)

Especially because the rules for cartridges were one way . . .

but being the defiant and particular person that I am, I’d always try

and sneak my own way in there when possible. (hee hee)

haaated.stenciling.images.

When I think how much time it took me to do both

Printing Press & Graphically Speaking???

I think I could do it in half the time now.

Yowza.

Anyway. Thanks for letting me ramble on so.

Not that you have a choice there, but you do have

a choice on whether or not you keep reading it. lol

So, thanks for sticking through this entire post for today. :)

At least I’m still getting to do what I love in creating more for

all you people in the digital craft cutting world.

Thanks for helping me do what I love to do.

love it.

and love to you all.

Now, as sort of a ‘farewell tribute’, if you will,
here are a few pages using GS that people have shared on my blog.

Loni Stevens

Robyn Werlich

Erin Lincoln

Kristy Banks

me.

me (also uses printing press)

and me.

Goodbye Graphically Speaking.
I will miss you.

13 comments

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Bearylish - July 12, 2011 - 5:06 pm

I love this cartridge. This was one of the first ones that I purchased. I wish that there was a graphically speaking two I would fall head over hills with it! Thank you for creating just an amazing product.

Rhadonda - July 12, 2011 - 8:24 pm

4 years, wow. It was my first purchase too. One of the few things i made with my cricut used that cartridge. Now i never use my Cricut, just my silhouette. Thank YOU for continuing to design for us wee people out here. Keep up the great work. Glad you develop things quicker now for your sanity and for our crafting pleasure!

Anonymous - July 12, 2011 - 8:39 pm

This was one of my first purchases and has remained a favorite of mine. I didn't know you were the artist behind all those great designs and now that I do know it's no wonder I'm always reaching for this cartridge. Love your designs!!

Cynthia B. - July 12, 2011 - 9:25 pm

GS is my favorite Cricut cartridge ever! Thanks for spending so much time on it. I can tell you that it has brought you many many fans!

Sandra - July 12, 2011 - 10:08 pm

Go on and ramble away!!! LOL!
I don't own this cartridge and since I have my Silhouette, my cricut is covered with dust. Oops!

Sandra

Heather Lancaster - July 12, 2011 - 11:38 pm

Gone but not forgotten!!! <3
those were some fun times!!!

Kerri - July 13, 2011 - 12:10 am

OHHHHHH my dear Miss Heather! Those were good times!
When are we going to meet up in Hawaii again? :)

And thanks everyone for your amazing support!

Therese Given - July 13, 2011 - 2:35 am

Wow, that is a shame! Such a great cartridge & certainly glad I have it in my collection. Thanks for sharing the "behind the scenes" story on this. I know I will think of my cartridges in a different light now =)

Jan - July 13, 2011 - 3:12 am

You are amazing.

Carol Ladd - July 13, 2011 - 11:26 pm

I absolutely love the cartridge and have used it at least 10x as much more than any other cartridge. Thanks.

Laura T. - July 15, 2011 - 8:37 pm

Definitely my favorite Cricut cartridge … use it all the time. So sorry it is being discontinued.

jennj42 - July 18, 2011 - 8:50 pm

One of my favorites! I actually used it last week to make a homemade Project Life kit for a wedding shower.

Ruth G - October 26, 2011 - 9:49 pm

I just had a “aha” moment…didn’t realize you were the inspired creator of Graphically Speaking. I knew I really like everything I’ve seen here on your blog so it makes sense since I LOVE Graphically Speaking…Thanks for such an awesome cartridge and for this wonderful page of fantastic ways to use it!!!

July 11.2011

decade: 2000

I’ve had several requests for an addition to the twentyTEN and twentyELEVEN kits . . . for the first decade of this new millennium.

Thus, here is the Decade: 2000 kit.

[Comes in SVG/STUDIO/DXF/AIv8/PNG]

Price: $10

Since this is all 10 years (2000-2009) wrapped up into one kit, I only included the years, excluding the lace paper. So you can use this kit with your month names and such from the other two kits as well. It also has a couple pieces to layer as well, just like the other two kits.

There is one file per year for convenience sake. That way you won’t have 5000 files to sort through (okay, so maybe 5000 is a slightexaggeration ;) ). Just pick the year that you need and pull the style you want.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

By the way, did you ever comprehend that you would be a “turn of the century” person? As a kid I used to think it was so cool when ‘this’ or ‘that’ person was born in the 1800s and lived into the 1900s. It never dawned on me during those years that I would be grouped into a “turn of the century” person as well.

I’m so cool.

We’re all so cool. :)

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Rhadonda - July 11, 2011 - 10:06 pm

well now that is one category that i can be in with my kids. We are all born in the 1900's. Too funny. And i will remind them that when they have kids that their kids will give them a really hard time about being born in another century. Thanks for the newest kits. these are great.