Make-the-Cut Blog Hop: Day 18!

Hello and welcome to my little corner of the internet. Today is May 18 which means it is the 18th day of the Make-the-Cut (MTC) blog hop and my day! If you are just joining us please go to Christy's blog, (http://everdaylittlethings.blogspot.com/), to catch up.

I'd like to start off by introducing myself. I am a graduate student studying bio-based composite materials. In short I spend my days creating new composite materials using agricultural by-products (like the shells from sunflower seeds) that will hopefully someday be in all your vehicles, in particular under the hood in your engine bay. As I work in a lab, I don't get to be very girly at work...my outlet is crafting and baking. Lucky for me I work with mostly guys who will eat anything I make :-) As for the crafting, that's what I have a blog and the MTC forum for. Although I have just recently entered the both the MTC and blogging world please look around at my previous posts, everything you see has been created using MTC!

If you have been following along with the hop you know by now how wonderful MTC is. If not, please go to the MTC website for more information regarding what machines it works with and to download a free trial. Or if you'd like to see more of what can be done with MTC take a gander at the forum, I warn you though it is very addicting.

Now on to what you really came here to see, some projects!

First I have a shaped chipboard book. It is a Mother's day gift for my mother who spent Mother's Day in Germany (she just got back on Monday), so if you are reading this mom...Happy Mother's Day, I love you very much!

The owl is from the Lettering Delights' Felt Owl Right SVG set and the MOM text is Lettering Delights' Kracken font.

Next I have a word book for you.

One of the best things about MTC is the ability to cut fonts that are installed on your computer. The letters of this book are from the Berlin Sans font, one that comes installed with Windows or Microsoft office. The book part is made by welding a rectangle to each of the letters. Each letter has a second page that is blacked out, another awesome feature of MTC. Another great thing about MTC, if it doesn't do something that you'd like it to...just ask nicely and Andy will do his best to implement it.

Finally I have two cards. The first is an envelope card, a tutorial can be found here. The card base itself does not require MTC, but the decorations and the insert were made with MTC. The insert also features another great feature (I know I think they are all great) print and cut. The celebrate text at the top was printed onto the cardstock and then a rectangle was cut around it! How cool is that!?! By the way the title can be found at Dana's blog.

The last card is a tent card, a tutorial can be found here, and a cut file can be found on the MTC forum here. The chrysanthemum was a freebie file I got form SVGCuts. These cards are really fun to make and hold endless possibilities.

If you are still reading, thank you for staying with me. As you can see I truly love my MTC! I am going to offer some BLOG CANDY (who doesn't love blog candy). I have decided that the winner will get to choose their prize from a short list of hand made items, you have until Sunday May 22 at midnight central time to enter.

To enter please:
1. Become a follower on the right hand side near the top of the page
2. Leave me a comment, it can be about anything you'd like
3. Leave me a way to contact you, MTC forum ID is just fine
For an extra entry:
4. Leave me a second (there must be two comments to be entered twice) comment with your guess as to who Darja is...there is a hint within one of the photographs

I will pick a winner on Monday May 23, good luck!

Until next time, happy crafting!
Jessica

P.S. Just in case you were wondering, we were at the park for the 'photo shoot'