Creative Bliss

I Stamped Today…

2012-01-27T15:46:00.001-07:00

Well, hello there! I hope you are doing well and are excited to get to the weekend. Should be interesting around here.

I had several birthday cards that needed to be made for the staff at the girls’ school and I haven’t been able to sit down and make them until today in a marathon session. Thought I’d share them with you.

I didn’t enlarge the photos, just looked at them in the camera screen before I took the cards to be delivered. I’m sorry to say that the pictures are slightly blurry. But I think you can still get a good idea of what they look like. :-s

This one has been sitting on my craft desk for a couple of weeks! I had most of it ready, but it needed to be glued down. The color is Indian Corn Blue (Close To My Heart). I used a Sizzix die for the flourishes (I cut three), a Cuttlebug embossing folder and a Martha Stewart paper “doily.” The sentiment is from Paper Trey Ink’s Birthday Basics. The doily is pop dotted for dimension. I’m pretty tickled with the final result. My inspiration for this card is from Dawn Easton’s Treasure Oiler Designz blog here.

Can you believe I just stamped on this card?! Oh and added a little Doodlebug Twine, hee, hee. The set is Floral Frenzy and it’s an older set from PaperTrey Ink, but it’s definitely still a goodie. My inspiration card is here and was the introduction to the final floral set in the series by Melissa Bickford. I discovered that I didn’t have a straight line stamp for the stem, what’s up with that? So, I opted to just stamp the flowers in Indian Corn Blue, Watermelon and Crystal Blue, with Sunflower centers (CTMH). The PTI birthday sentiment is stamped in Indian Corn Blue as well. I eyeballed the placement of the stamps, so they definitely are not perfectly lined up. If I wasn’t so down to the wire, I might have added some leaves, but I still like the look of this card. I am wishing I had the plaid flower set as shown on the inspiration card, though. *Ü*

On my list were two male staff members. Since guy cards are so hard to come up with usually, I just made two of this card. I’m pretty tickled with how this one looks! My inspiration can be found here on The Paper Landscaper blog. I used the Cricut for this one. The circle and stars specifically are cut using the Ribbons and Rosettes cartridge. The stars are 2 1/2 and 3/4. The circle is three inches, but then I ended cutting it in half. The green piece is hand cut to get the edge. I stamped the blue polka dots using Dutch Blue on a PTI polka dot stamp set. The sentiment is also from PTI. The papers are from DCWV’s Green Tea stack. The twine is from Doodlebug.

I was getting down to the wire by this time and had to come up with one more card and something that wouldn’t take too long. The Paper Landscaper came to the rescue again as I starred this card in my Reader. I chose to use Linen Closet papers (DCWV) and couldn’t be happier with the final result. The swirly pearls are from Michaels Recollections line. The butterfly is a cut from Ribbons and Rosettes and I cut one at 3 inches and the other at 2 1/2. These colors really made me think of the teacher who got this card.

Whew, I got them all done with a little time to eat lunch, snap some pictures (albiet blurry ones) and head out the door to go to the school. Hopefully the recipients will enjoy them!

Thanks for all the happy thoughts about our kitchen re-do. Last night he and his buddy took out the sink and the rest of the cabinets and countertop, while I was at Girl Scouts with Jessica. The bottom half of my kitchen is well and truly gutted! Amy took a ton of pictures. Pretty much a blow by blow pictorial of what the guys did. Love it. Steve took today off and worked on laying some plywood down to fill in the space needed where there used to be old particle board (what apparently was used way back in the day).

Here are a couple of the shots she took, plus a little self portrait. *Ü*

What a happy smile. She just recently got her hair cut short again, but honest, it’s not quite as short as this photo looks.

Thanks for stopping by! Hope to see you again soon!

Jeanne

Changes!

2012-01-21T17:18:00.002-07:00

We've lived in our house since 1996. One of the things we've loved about the house is the kitchen that opens up to the living room. It's bright and looks spacious. One of the things we haven't loved about the kitchen is the tile counter top.

Something that has been in the works for a few months, that I haven't mentioned, is we (well, really, Steve) are changing out our cabinets and in the process, will have to get a new counter top. (darn) While we haven't definitely picked out the counter, Steve has been busy working on the cabinets. Remember when I left for Minnesota? He had just started taking down the upper cabinets. I did help with the first one!

Here's what the new uppers look like:

This used to be a cabinet with a blind corner. Now it's an easy reach.

It seems strange to have a cabinet along the outside of the range hood, there will be one on the outside of the stove, too!

We're very happy with the upper cabinets. Steve did a good job.

The next phase was to get the lower cabinets out along the peninsula, which he did a week or so ago.

The step after that was to get the peninsula counter top off, without wrecking the walls.

I haven't mentioned that the people who put this in, did it as a DIY project. Steve had to figure out where the screws were.

Hence, the strange missing tile pattern. They used a lot of screws, some hefty nails AND a lot of glue.

This is where he had to be careful not to wreck the wall. It was a bugger to try to pull out. That puppy was in there tight!

But, we were persistent. I can say we, because I was helping with this part.

After a lot of wrangling and pounding (it's been really loud around here), it finally gave way and Steve and I lugged that sheet out of the house. Man, was it heavy!

What a difference, huh?! (excuse the messy rest of the kitchen and living room). Those of you who have been to my house, remember the tile went up as the backsplash? Those were gone first!

Now he can put in the lower cabinets that go along this side.

We can't do anything about the counter top until all the lower cabinets are put in. In the meantime, we'll use plywood, I think.

Getting rid of that tile is a good thing!

*Ü*

Thanks for letting me share.

Friendly Lion

2012-01-21T16:46:00.001-07:00

I've been trying to get into my crafty zone for a few weeks and for one reason or another, it hasn't happened. In the meantime, I've been working on a crocheted lion off and on. I finally finished him (her?)last night and thought I'd share. This is the lion I started before Christmas and quickly realized he/she was too big to finish in time to give to Amy's teacher.

See that mane? That's the part that I've been working on off and on. The rest of it was done, but the thought of having to do what needed to be done to make that mane kept putting me off.

I had a couple of rows done, but the remaining space looked so big!

Finally, I decided to bite the bullet and just git 'r done.

YAY!

I used a mulit-colored yarn for the mane, called melonberry, and would crochet a chain of 10 and make the stitch, then another chain of 10 and so and so on.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you are having a great weekend. Amy's basketball team just played and won their first game of this session. They looked and played great! Yay!

Happy New Year and a Little Creative Project

2012-01-06T13:43:00.001-07:00

Well, hello there to any of you who may still be stopping by to see if I am still alive and kicking. I am indeed. Happy New Year to you and I hope 2012 brings you much joy and happiness as well as a little creativity. I’ve been reading blogs, but not commenting and certainly not writing any.

I didn’t intend to drop off the face of the blogosphere, but after my brother died, (still so hard to have to say that) any niggling of desire to blog that I had, disappeared. Thank you so much for the kind thoughts you left on that post and the sweet cards I received in the mail. My time in Minnesota was very difficult, but I’m glad I was able to help my dad and two of my other brothers out in some small way. The service that for Jim was well attended and for a guy who was in no way religious, my dad selected the perfect priest for officiating the memorial. Jim loved to fish(the act of fishing was relaxing to him), but didn’t eat fish. The priest (named Jim as well, if I remember correctly) loved to eat fish, but despised fishing and even went so far as to jump off a boat and swim ashore to avoid it. His manner was very laid back and personable and he did an excellent job. Jim’s lifelong friend also flew in from Las Vegas to attend. I hadn’t seen him since I moved out of my parents home back in 198….well, let’s just say it was a long time ago, shall we?

I was able to do a little crafting for Christmas presents, but didn’t take any photos. I made a crocheted frog for Jessica’s teacher and a crocheted flapper hat for Amy’s. I started a lion for Amy’s teacher, but it was too big to be able to finish in time. Oh and a few days before Christmas, Jessica told me she wanted a new teddy bear for Christmas, with a blue dress. I told her it wouldn’t be done in time, and she was content to wait. I finished the bear by Christmas, but not the dress. The pattern included a basket and flowers. I just finished those the other night. Did I mention this project was a knitted one? Yeah, I’m much slower at knitting than crocheting, but the change of pace was nice.

Steve took the week between Christmas and New Year’s off and one of the days he and his buddy took the girls to the mountains. I didn’t feel like going…the thought of a quiet day to myself was too appealing (mom of the year, I admit, I am not…I do enjoy time away from my kiddos). Anyway, I took some time to work on a project and I thought I’d share it today in an effort to ease back into posting.

I saw the idea on a Cricut newsletter called The Chirp and I followed the project to this blog post. I finagled my way through the project and am pretty pleased with the final result. The flower was made with the Flower Shoppe cartridge, but I cannot remember which cart I used to make the swirlys. I know I cut two and trimmed them…shoot, if I figure it out, I’ll let you know.

Thought this might be a fun winter project for decor. Only, it doesn’t feel like winter right now. It was in the upper 60s yesterday! Thank goodness this guy is paper, or he’d have melted away by now.

Okay, I’ve got to scoot for now. I hope to see you again, soon. Thanks so much for stopping by!

Jeanne

My Brother, Jim

2011-11-04T10:05:00.001-06:00

Sometimes life throws you a curveball that smacks you in the face. I received such a curveball last night when my brother, Mike, called to let me know that my brother, Jim, passed away. Jim was 54. Certainly too young.

Jim was the second of 5 boys in my family. I am the youngest. He was a very unique individual. Growing up, I remember he LOVED the Beatles and baseball. He was huge into music of all kinds. He worked for a music store called Licorice Pizza for years (I don’t think they are even in existence anymore). He then worked for distributing company in their music department until he was let go a few years ago due to downsizing. He also loved trains and history. He could remember things in great detail. He was a collector, both of things and trivia. He was always interesting to talk to because he was knowledgeable about so many things. He wasn’t very sociable, however. He was shy and could have been considered quite grumpy and he made no bones about sharing his opinion about things, popular or not. He never married. After my mom passed away, he and I formed a pretty strong bond. We always called each other on birthdays and holidays and it was like we had just talked last week. Jessica shared his birthday. Unfortunately for me this year, I didn’t get to call him on his birthday. I was caught up in my volunteer commitments and Jessica’s birthday. He understood (I had sent him a card and emailed him), but I will regret not calling him that day or even a couple of days later. I am grateful for the 2 hour conversation we had on my birthday however. It was a great one and I told him in his birthday card how much I appreciated that chat.

I hadn’t seen him in years, but this past summer he got to meet my girls when we took a side trip from South Dakota to Minnesota, where he and Steve’s aunt lived. Steve’s aunt is ill and we wanted to visit her. Of course, we had to stop to see Jim, too. We had a great lunch. I’m so glad now we made that stop, even though it made for an extremely long day.

Jim, I love you and will miss you terribly, but will take comfort in the knowledge that you have met up with Mom and are probably catching up, big time.

My dad seems to be doing okay so far. He’ll be heading out to Minnesota and my brother Jeff (the oldest) will most likely head that way too, to help him. I don’t know for sure anything beyond that.

Thanks for reading, if you got this far. Hug your loved ones tight while you can. Please don’t get too busy to make a call or send an email/card. You just never know.

Jeanne

Halloween Themed Birthday Card

2011-10-30T08:19:00.001-06:00

Well, hello there! How have you been? Good I hope! Do you know where the last several weeks have gone? I seem to have blown right through them and November is right around the corner. It was not intentional to have seemingly disappeared, but I managed to, didn’t I?

I’ve been helping out at school.

Need I say more? LOL

Now that we are at the end of October and we just had our Trunk or Treat on Friday evening, the volunteer commitments should ease off a bit. Jessica had her 9th birthday in amongst all this too!

She got this neat t-shirt from my friend, Kelly. It’s from Kohl’s and it came black and white with markers in a bag. You can color the shirt with the markers. You wash it and the colors wash out, so you can color it again. Very cool. I was so busy with the party, I didn’t get many photos, except her opening her gifts (lots of Barbie stuff). She had fun and that’s what matters most.

On Tuesdays both girls do an after school activity for an hour(at least until December when Jessica’s ends). That means I don’t have to pick them up until an hour later. I don’t know why, but I feel like I have so much more time on those days! And I’ve tried (not very successfully so far) to use that day for crafting. This past Tuesday, I had a ton of projects I wanted to work on. I had one card I had to make for a teacher at the school and once I was done with that, I was going to work on fun ideas for Halloween.

I only managed to finish the card for the teacher. Erggghhh! It’s been a frustrating process for me recently, this trying to make cards gig.

Here’s my version of this card. Only without the broom. Because I was running out of time! I did use the Cricut to make the shoes. I don’t have the Top Note die, but the Storybook cartridge has a very similar shape, so I used it and fiddle-futzed to get the shape similar. I ended up reducing the size of the same shape used on the shoes for the sentiment, which is computer generated. This particular teacher’s birthday is on Halloween, hence the theme of the card. I just put the card in her mailbox, so I don’t know if she liked it. She may be tired of getting birthday cards that are this type of theme. The edge punch is a Martha Stewart border punch. I discovered that Archiver’s carries some twine now. This purple and white is on a card with a few other colors geared for Halloween. It’s put out by Doodlebug. So, I’ve joined the twine wagon, kind of.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you are having a good weekend. Happy Halloween!!

Jeanne

Birthday Card Inspired by Cardmaps Today

2011-10-05T14:17:00.001-06:00

My friend, Becky recently gave me this:

Thanks, Becky! I really like the cards and designs.

And I came upon this card, which I thought was super cute.

And I found out this morning that today is the birthday of a mom friend of mine at our school. Her kids and mine are good friends and we hang out for a bit after school most days, if the weather cooperates. She had never mentioned it was her birthday, a little bird told me. So, I ran out and got a little something, something for her and made this card:

I really wanted to do the accordion fold, well, I DID do the accordion fold piece, but I was running out of time and I couldn’t get the folds to stay down, so I had to come up with Plan B real quick, which was the scallop punch and circle with the button on top. I would have LOVED to have dressed this up more, but Wednesdays are early release days at the school and I literally had like 5 minutes before I had to leave to get to the school after trying to get that accordion piece to stay down.

My friend loved the card, whew! I used papers from DCWV’s Autumn Gathering stack and some kraft cardstock. I punched the butterfly with a Martha Stewart punch and used and a glue dot to put the butterfly onto a Making Memories stick pin. Happy Birthday is from Papertrey Ink.

My friend has been having a bit of a tough time recently and I’m so glad I was able to pull something together to bring a smile to her face.

Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope you are having a great week!

Jeanne

Cupcake Gift Card Holder

2011-10-03T15:25:00.001-06:00

We had a birthday party to go to yesterday for my friend, Becky’s son, Aaron. His gift choices are getting a bit more pricey as he gets older and this year I decided we should give him a gift card so he can use it towards something he’s been saving up for. I also thought it would be fun to put that gift card in a cute container. Enter the Sweet Tooth Boxes Cricut cartridge and Echo Park paper from the Little Boy Collection (picked up at Hobby Lobby, with a coupon).

To me those polka dots almost look like big sprinkles. Yum! Fun cherry on top, too.

I decided to put in the insert for the cupcake, partially to let Becky see what it looked like and partially to give the base a little more stability.

Thought Aaron would also like a little sugar fix, too. *Ü*

Birthday card…used the Wild Card cartridge, Echo Park paper and a bit of Holiday Red cardstock (CTMH).

These were fun to make.

Hope you had a great weekend and are ready for a super week!

See you again sometime soon (I hope!)

Jeanne

Halloween Project…

2011-10-02T07:34:00.001-06:00

Since I’ve grown so enamored of being able to use the Cricut over these past few years and enjoy seeing projects made from it, I subscribed to the digital version of the Cricut magazine. It used to be published every other month, but recently they switched it to a monthly publication. I’d love to have a hard copy version, but honestly, couldn’t afford it. Love that digital is available. And I can print off the pages I want to use when creating a project.

I really like the October issue. There are several neat projects using Happy Hauntings and the recently released project cartridge called Sweet Tooth Boxes. The project cartridges are just that, more geared toward 3-d type things. And now that I have the Expression, I don’t have to fiddle-futz too much in trying to make the 3-d stuff. (squeal).

With all that said, here’s something that I’ve been working on. It was a lot of fun to create. Thanks to the magazine for the inspiration, because that’s where I saw this. I never, ever would have come up with this on my own.

This is the tool box in the Sweet Tooth Boxes. It opens up and there is a little box inside. You could, if you wanted, put cupcakes inside. There are cut-outs to do just that. The only little glitch I found was that I couldn’t cut the inside box parts the same size as the tool box. I thought it would adjust for the fact that you are putting it inside the tool box and would need to be slightly smaller, but it doesn’t. I made a box for inside (to give the entire thing a little more stability) but I didn’t really decorate it because I’m not sure what I want to do with it.

Anyway, I saw this idea in the Cricut magazine (so I can’t link it). It totally gave me the justification I ~~needed~~ wanted to get the DCWV’s Ghosts and Goblins stack (seriously, I picked it up and put it back so many times before caving). The black pattern paper is from Lemon Flower (I thought it looked more interesting). The box itself is made from textured black cardstock from Hobby Lobby. The add ons (poison, caution, spiders) are from Happy Hauntings. You can’t really tell but there is glitter glue on the spiders (Jessica did that). They are put on with pop dots. I grabbed three ribbons from my stash, that worked really well and those stick pins are from Making Memories.

I had it all done a week ago, except for the caution and ribbon. I wasn’t sure just what I wanted to do and got inspired yesterday after letting it percolate for a while. I’m pretty happy with the finished project and hope you enjoy it too.

Maybe one if these days I’ll be inspired to pull out Fall/Halloween decorations. My house is sadly bare. I’ve been on a get rid of stuff kick and not a put out a bunch of decorations kick. Sorry.

Thanks for stopping by! Hope you are having a great weekend.

Jeanne

Birthday Cards

2011-10-01T07:25:00.001-06:00

Hello! Thanks for the great comments about Amy’s new ‘doo. I completely agree that it makes her look a bit older and that makes me sniff, sniff, but it looks so cute, I can’t be too sad, right? She’s getting lots of positive feedback about it around here, too, so it’s all good.

Steve recently updated Internet Explorer for the computer I use and I got to wondering if Live Writer would work better than it did before. So, I’m trying to use it for this post. Fingers crossed.

In my last post I said that I was going to be making the birthday cards for the staff at the girls’ school. It took a bit of time for the secretary to get me a list of when the birthdays are(she was super busy with more important stuff), so I started out needing several to be made in short amount of time. If you know how long it takes me to get one made, this is a little stressful for me! LOL. I decided to use some Cricut cuts I’d made when I got the Florals Embellished cartridge, but never put on cards.

So, here they are:

The card design on the cards is one I found here. I thought it looked really cool and after a few goof ups in cutting, I finally got the hang of it. The papers on the first two are from DCWV, Autumn Gathering and a little Amber Autumn (from last year). The papers on the next ones are from K & Co, Sweet Nectar.

The last card is a diamond fold. I hadn’t printed off where I found it, so I quick searched Splitcoaststampers for diamond fold card. This is what turned up. Then while scrolling my favorites, I found the inspiration for this card here. The Splitcoast tutorial makes a square card, so I just added the pattern paper rectangles on either size to make it more of a standard rectangle card.

I made the cuts several months ago, so I had to figure out the papers that might best showcase them. I hope they translate well.

Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope you have a terrific weekend.

Jeanne

Miss Amy's New 'Doo

2011-09-29T10:03:00.000-06:00

Our neighbor cuts our hair. It's fabulous really. She's from Germany and was a hairdresser there before moving to the States. Anyway, she started wanting to cut our hair as a thank you for my watching their house when they go out of town. Pretty cool deal, huh? Well, for the past month or so, she keeps talking to me about Amy's hair. She wasn't happy about it at all. To her it looked stringy and straggly. The ends were super duper thin. Well, yesterday was the day to finally do something about it. Amy was up for it, so across the street we went.

To give you a refresher, here she is on the first day of school:

And her she is now! Wow, what a difference, huh?!

She is quite happy with it and I think it looks adorable. It really "fits" her personality. I'm not sure how dad feels about it (Guys with their thing for long hair, you know, and I'll never have long hair). Jessica likes it, but says she wouldn't cut her hair like this. I think it looks so much healthier. Oma told me she thinks the super thin hair was baby hair and now it's cut off. Sounds reasonable to me.

I'll have some cards to share soon. I agreed to make the birthday cards for the staff at our school and the first batch is just about done.

Also, Erin G is in town today and should be arriving soon for a quick visit. Yay!

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you are having a great week.

Haunted House WIP

2011-09-20T16:27:00.003-06:00

Wow! Thanks so much for all the great comments you've left on my post yesterday. Gosh, it's great to know that you are still there and willing to encourage me after I've been MIA for so long. Thanks!

The card you all liked so well is one I saw wayyyyyy back in July and you can find it here (yep, I pretty much copied it). The other card is from the Hero Arts blog and I really liked the look of the embossing and then coloring/painting in the Perfect Pearls. It's from June...and you can find it here. Glad to have the credits taken care of for those cards.

I have to share that my hmmmmm....2 year or so wait for a particular tool is finally over and I'm thrilled (although my hubby isn't) to pieces. It went on sale at Hobby Lobby last week for an incredibly good price and I also had a Visa gift card in my wallet for $35, which I applied to my purchase, making the out of pocket cost that much better. What tool is it? Well, if you know me at all, I've mentioned a time or two (or three or four) that I wanted a Cricut Expression. And now I own one! Yippeeeee!

And I finally was able to make a project that is larger than 5.5 inches....in this case, the 3-D Haunted House on the Happy Hauntings cartridge. *Ü* Wanna see? I put in my title that it's a wip (work in progress) because I think I want to add some details to it, but am not sure. In the meantime, here it is put together (cut at 7 inches) I took a bunch of photos....

Jessica made the witch's broom you see on the stoop. Cute, eh?

Really, it wasn't all that hard to do, just took some time and patience. I cut all the pieces out one day & started putting it together and then finished putting it together a second day. I used textured cardstock from Hobby Lobby (black) and some Co'ordinations cardstock (yellow).

I think it needs a little more oomph, and am toying with the idea of adding some detail to it. What do you think?

The girls saw me working on this and wanted to make something, too, so Jessica picked out a witch and Amy the bat and I walked them through how to cut the pieces and put them together.

Fun, huh? They were quite tickled.

Today I had a little extra time that the girls were at school because Amy is in Choir again (92 kids in it this year) and Jessica joined the Jumprope club (61 kids) so they are both at school and extra hour on Tuesdays. I'm working on a few things during that extra time. Hopefully I'll have something to show for it soon.

Thanks ever so much for stopping by! I hope you are having a great week so far.

Hello Out There!

2011-09-19T16:06:00.001-06:00

Well, hello to those who may still be checking in here!

I am still alive and kicking. Yay! I last posted in June...my goodness! Right after summer break started and now the girls are back in school. LOL We had a great summer together.

Amy's in 5th grade this year

Jessica is in 3rd grade.

Both girls are thrilled with their teachers and enjoying being back in school.

I'm trying to work my way back to trying to be creative.

Here are a couple of cards I've done over the past few weeks.

Both cards are pretty much copied from cards I've seen on blogs. Although at the moment, I can't tell you which blog.

Unfortunately for me, I was a bit frustrated after completing each of these. They took longer than I anticipated and the process felt frustrating. I must be really rusty at creating, huh?

I don't know how consistently I will be able to create, but when I have something to share, I'll pop back in.

Thanks for visiting and I hope you have a great day!

Sum, Sum, Summertime...

2011-06-12T07:15:00.000-06:00

Ooooooh weeeee, been just about a month since I last posted. Guess you can tell that blogging hasn't been high on the priority list these days, huh? And, for a while, when I attempted to add comments to the blogs I read, I couldn't for some reason or another, so I've taken to just reading all the blogs I subscribe to. Hopefully, that gives those who may be wondering a heads up on the lack of comments from me.

I have to share that I have absolutely ZERO creative mojo these days. None, nada, zilch. Don't know where it went, but wherever it is, it's hiding real well. As an example, I am trying really hard to crochet a baby blanket for a friend. I've already made a few from this pattern booklet and the patterns aren't hard. My plan was to have it done last week. (I started it around Memorial weekend) No mojo meant I didn't get that goal reached. I didn't even have the body done. So, there went that idea. The edging of this blanket is relatively easy, but I had to evenly space 119 single crochet stitches along the long sides of the blanket and 83 stitches along the short sides. No mojo meant that it was incredibly frustrating to figure out how to evenly space the stitches, and it took wayyyy longer than it should have. And once that was done, no mojo meant that the next few edging rows, which are incredibly easy normally (basically a single crochet and a chain 5), have been pulled out a couple of times now because I made a silly mistake. At this rate, I'll be lucky to have it done by the end of summer break!

Since there are no creative efforts to share, I thought I'd share some pictures...

Playing in a new sprinkler thingamabob.

Our backyard may actually be too small for how far this goofy thing sprays water. Some sprinkles got into the open door to the house!

Summer Break as started.

*Ü*

Jessica helping Daddy with the deck re-do.

The deck pictures were taken on June 1st.

On June 8th...we have a gap!!!

On June 10th, the gap got bigger!

It was the strawberry that created the bigger gap. LOL

The girls and I are enjoying our summer break. So, for now, while the mojo is awol, I'm going to continue to enjoy this time with my girls and not stress about any lack of creating.

So, if you don't see anything from me for a while, you know why. I hope you have a great summer with your family.

Wow...It's Been A While...

2011-05-13T16:34:00.000-06:00

It's definitely been longer than I thought it would be since I last posted. Anyone still out there? I guess I wouldn't blame you if you felt like moving on to other blogs. I have spent a lot of time working on the cross stitching projects and have made good progress. School's almost out and activities have ramped up before the last day which have taken up my time and finally, my computer has had some issues where I couldn't access the internet much. Topping it off, accessing from Steve's computer didn't work well either. Add that all together and I simply haven't been around much. Thankfully, the computer issue wasn't a virus or anything bad like that. I think a security program didn't like playing with the internet.

Thought maybe you'd like to see the project I spent so much time working on.

I hope you are doing well and enjoying your spring (or fall) as the case may be.

Sweet & Sassy Girls

2011-04-17T16:11:00.000-06:00

The girls and I had a Mommy/Daughter Date courtesy of Jessica's Brownie Troop. All I knew going into this was to go to a particular address (a 45 minute drive, give or take). I mistakenly thought it was a deal that included both moms and daughters, but when we got there, I quickly realized this was a place strictly for the younger girls. *Ü* The place is called Sweet & Sassy and must be a wanna-be fashionista's paradise. hee, hee. The girls got glammed up and put on a little fashion show.

The girls were ushered to a back room where they put on a fancy dress of their choosing. They also got to select a nail polish. Here my girls are waiting for whatever will happen next...

The girls started out sitting next to each other and then before I knew it, they were on opposite sides of the stage. LOL I got to do a lot of rushing back and forth to get pictures.

Nails, first. Then hair!

You may or may not be able to tell here, but after they Aqua Netted and teased the heck out of the hair, they sprayed on GLITTER! Then they added a glittery star.

I could NOT resist taking this shot of a brother who was drug into the place. I'm sure it was the very last place HE wanted to be.

(I think he's actually watching a video that was playing on a tv...but seriously, isn't this the funniest look, and oh so typical of a boy in a very girly place?)

Jessica's turn!

Here comes the glitter!

I don't think she minded a bit!

I think Miss Amy is pretty happy, too.

And the fashion show! Watch out Project Runway.

***

The girls also got to dance to a couple of songs and form a human knot that they had to work together to get out of without letting go of each others' hands. (they earned a patch for their vests by doing this)

Such a girly day, but both girls had a blast.

They were going to Olive Garden for lunch, but it was getting late, so we opted to leave and pick up lunch at Wendy's before making the trek back home.

I noticed that they had areas for hair cuts, and getting nails and pedicures done (like the big girls do). As we were leaving there was a party of girls who were just about to start with that. They got to don some pretty cute robes. There were areas for making your own lotion and even lip gloss. Oh my...kind of like Build A Bear, but for girls.

Guess who wants to go back?

*Ü*

Thanks for stopping by. Hope you enjoyed sharing this fun time with us.

Now I gotta get back to cross-stitching.

Hee, hee!

My Cute Alligator

2011-04-13T15:31:00.000-06:00

Hi There!

Long time no see, right? I know...I've not been blogging and while still reading blogs, not always commenting. Nothing is wrong, just not doing much papercrafting these days. I figured I'd better pop in and say hey, just in case anyone was wondering.

Last night, Jessica's grade level did their musical play, A Froggy Day in Lindentown for the parents. It was adorable. It was about a bully and how the critters got the bully to stop being a bully. The songs were very sweet and the kids looked great. I took pictures and a few of them came out okay. I edited out the other kids pretty much.

Jessica had a speaking part and remembered her lines well. She also spoke very clearly so you could understand what she was saying. Yay! The kids were all different animals and the nurse for the school made each of them headbands to wear. They looked great. Anyway, it was fun to watch. Thanks for indulging my proud mama moment.

One of the reasons I've not been papercrafting is because I've started a few new counted cross stitch projects. I used to do a lot of cross stitching in years past, but I kind of dropped it after my mom passed away. She and I used to stitch together or we were planning our next projects together. It was hard to do after she was gone. But, as time has gone on I've done projects here and there (I recently made a birth record for Kathi's granddaughter) and I'm rediscovering how much I enjoy it. I think my mom would be happy to see me pick it up in earnest again (especially since I seem to have lost my mojo for crochet/knitting for the time being).

So, anyway, Amy's teacher is going to have a baby over summer break and Jessica's teacher is going to get married and those events are ripe for fun stitching projects. I've been looking and looking for something to make for each of them and not having a whole lot of luck finding something I like. Well, I came upon my box of cross stitch patterns in our shed and went through them. Yay! I found projects I think would be great for these events. But, school's out next month! So, that means, if I want to get these done, I've got to stitch, stitch, stitch every spare minute I've got. And papercrafting has to take a back seat for the time being.

Here's what I've gotten done so far for Amy's teacher. It's called Recipe for a Happy Child. I started this project last Thursday. And I found an 11 x 14 frame at the thrift store that I hope to use for it. That should give you an idea of the size of this one. Most of the main stitching is done on the bottom half, which is what I'm working on now. Once I get that done, the words/lettering shouldn't take too long. And the project(s) I have in mind for Jessica's teacher aren't quite as large, so I'm hoping I haven't bitten off more than I can chew. I'm also waiting on another teacher to find out her "colors" so I know which will work best for her project. Wish me luck!

So, if you don't see me around much for the next month or so, I hope you'll be patient. I don't think that anyone would be all that interested in progress photos. If there's something I just have to share, I'll pop in and let you know.

Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope you are having a good week!

Spring Happy Birthday Card

2011-04-03T07:06:00.000-06:00

Hello!

I had some time to play in my craft spot yesterday and decided to case a card I'd seen on the Scrapping Cookie blog last Sunday. This card. I loved the colors she used and it was pretty straightforward to recreate, well, mostly.

I used DCWV's Cotton Bloom stack and some Coordinations cardstock. Joann's had a special last weekend 5 sheets for a dollar and I decided to see if I could replace similar colors with some that I'm running low on in my stash. I'm not running low on this color, which reminds me a little of Autumn Terracotta (CTMH), but I felt like this was a better solid to go with the colors in Cotton Bloom. The dark orange color is the smooth version of Coordinations and the lighter orange is their canvas textured. I think the smooth stuff is a smidge thin, but it works decently. I think my blade for my trimmer needs to be replaced though.

I really like how this card turned out. Thanks to my inspiration card. Love the crafty folks who generously share their creations!

I used the Create A Critter cartridge for the cutouts. And that's where my mostly straightforward comment comes into play. There are days when you craft that everything goes smoothly and your project comes together easily. All's right in your crafty world. And then there are days like yesterday for me. I have a pretty new blade in the Cricut and a pretty new mat as well (both new within the last week or so). But, for some reason, the machine was cutting like I didn't. Grrrrr. My paper was shifting on the mat, the blade was dragging a little and pulling the paper at the corners. It even cut through one of the flowers! But, I muddled through and got a good cut on the flowers.

I should have stopped while I was ahead at that point and called it a day, but I had another card idea I wanted to create. And it just wasn't going well. More paper shifting, more messy cutting. And more frustration building for me. So, I quit. I cleaned up (which is somewhat of a feat, as when I'm frustrated, I usually just leave in a huff). There were other things I could have worked on, but in the mood I was in, more projects would have ended up in the trash can, so it was better to just stop. Isn't it funny how sometimes the crafty mojo just up and leaves on a whim? LOL

We'll see if I get a chance to try again sometime today. But, in the end, I really like the card I was able to eek out and hope you do too.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope the crafty mojo works in your favor!

Picket Fence Card

2011-03-30T14:19:00.000-06:00

Hi there,

I've been playing with my Cricut again (in my best sing-song voice). Hee, hee. Well, not just the Cricut, also the Make The Cut program and my Cricut (remember, MTC no longer supports the Cricut, but it still works for me). I heard about a sale at SVG Cuts the other day and remembered there was a file there that I really liked. So, I picked it up and was able to make this card:

The file is a premium collection called Chamomile Friendship Cards. If you click the link you will see that there is a teapot and also a lantern as part of this set. If you read the description, it says that not all the cuts will work on a 12 x 6 mat. That's what deterred me from buying the set at full price when I first saw it. I really liked the fence card, not just the teapot (which will fit on my size mat).

But when I saw there was a sale, I looked at this file again. And thought...hmmmmm, I wonder if I can resize the pieces so that they will fit my mat? And that's what I set out to do.

It took some time, but it wasn't really all that hard to do. Thankfully. And I saved the resized pieces as its own file for when I make the card again.

Isn't that hat so sweet? I don't know, I just got warm fuzzies when I saw this project. You can also make the hat flat if you want.

What I like about these kits is that there is a pdf you can print out that comes with the file, with the sizes of cuts used in the samples as well as color guidelines. While those sizes didn't necessarily pertain to me this time for my project, I like that feature.

I mainly used papers from DCWV's Cotton Bloom stack, but the fence is from Green Tea. The flowers are solid cardstock in my stash. The little pearls are a new color (to me anyway). Michaels did a big reset of their papercrafting dept. and they brought in a bunch of new products from their house brand, Recollections. They had a sale recently where all the Recollection brand products were 40% off. Made it worth it to me to try them. One thing that's neat about these little pearls is that they are self adhesive, but each pearl has a little glue. They don't have a whole line of glue with the pearls stuck on. What that means is I didn't have to try to cut off glue from either side of the pearl. Whoo, hooo! And besides that, the color is awesome in my opinion. I ran the bottom part of the pot through the Cuttlebug, with a newish to me folder. It's the bigger sized one, I think 5x7 sized. I by passed it several times in the store thinking I didn't need it, since I have Swiss Dots. Well, one day I realized these dots are a bit bigger than the ones on Swiss Dots and I like that. I was going to use ribbon on the hat and sign, but when I opened my closet, I saw a strand of burlap hanging from a larger piece and thought it might add a neat texture.

Well, that's it from me today. Thanks for the lovely comments I've received on yesterday's card. I'm glad you liked it as much as I did. Thanks, too, for stopping by! I hope you are having a happy Wednesday!

Lollipop Crafts Challenge 32-Shape Up

2011-03-29T15:35:00.000-06:00

Hi there,

I'm a little late, but there's a new challenge at Lollipop Crafts this week. The challenge is to create a non square/non rectangle card and the sponsor is Just Some Lines. You could win $15 to spend in the store. The images are adorable, and definitely worth the chance to win!

Here's what I came up with for this challenge:

I used two different images for this accordion step card. In the back are Alek And Amber Sit and in the front is Emo Paula Stands. They are colored with Prismacolor pencils and odorless mineral spirits. I wanted to make a little scene and chose this style to be my non square/non rectangle shape.

I would have loved to have added more flowers, but I didn't want to block the two little sweethearts under the tree (from Create a Critter, the grass and flowers are, too).

I haven't ever done 'black' hair before and hope I did it justice.

The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink. I took this photo with the card laying down on the floor, so you can actually see how it would look "straight on."

It was fun to work out of my box on this challenge. I hope you'll try your hand at a non standard shaped card, too!

Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope your week is off to a great start!

CASE-ing Barb

2011-03-24T17:12:00.000-06:00

Hi there,

I loved Barb's card so much, I had to try my hand at the technique of paper piecing. Thanks so much for the inspiration, my friend!

Here's my attempt...

Of course, I don't have the pretty papers Barb used, but I did have this sweet pattern paper from Making Memories' Flower Patch pack. I also decided to try my hand at piecing the overalls instead of the shirt. Then, I colored the image with my Prismas and OMS. All in all, I'm very pleased with the final result. Oh and did you notice the butterflies?? LOL Those are from a Martha Stewart punch. Thanks again, Barb!

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Here's another card I was able to create today:

This one was inspired by this card on September Ninth blog. I don't own the same cartridge(s), but I found similar cuts from what I do own. The pitcher is from Kate's ABCs and the flowers Mother's Day Bouquet. The mats are from Storybook and the paper is from Nana's Kitchen. I added a few pearls to finish the look after I used a white gel pen to add the dots. I really like how this turned out.

Okay, that's it from me for now. Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope your Thursday has treated you well. The girls and I went roller skating for a little while. It was crowded, but we had a good time.

Cricut Cards

2011-03-22T16:01:00.000-06:00

Hi again,

For these cards, I used the Cricut. Two are inspired by cards I've seen around blogland and one is my own idea (such as it is)

This card was inspired by one found on Paper Daydream here. I thought the whole card was fabulous, but I really liked her use of fun foam to make the flowers! Such a neat idea. Unfortunately for me, I don't own a die that I can use to cut the foam. I have punches, but the foam is too thick to insert into the punch(I tried). I don't have a deep cut blade for my Cricut either(which means I can't cut a flower using the machine). So, after being a little bummed that I couldn't replicate her flowers with the foam, I put my big girl panties on and just used cardstock. LOL There's some more of that lace trim I used on the other card I shared here. I cut the frame with the Cricut (Lacy Labels cartridge) and the card ended up sitting on my desk while I tried to figure out a sentiment for it. In the end, I stuck with a pretty traditional looking Happy Birthday from CTMH's For Every Occasion set. I inked the Happy only and stamped it, then I inked just the Birthday and stamped it. I like the cheery look of DCWV's Nana's Kitchen paper.

Next up is a cased card from the September Ninth blog here. I just really liked the whole look of the card. Here's my attempt

Initially I cut out the card and the mats. I didn't have the solids in the Sweet Nectar (K & Co) at the time. I've since picked up the solids pack, so the rest of the owl is cut with those papers. I don't have any face stamps, so I used googly eyes and my pen. The "twine" is orange and white pearl cotton twisted together. Not sure of a sentiment I want to use, so I left it off for now. I like the happy feel of this card. I used Paisley for the owl and Lacy Labels for the card base and mats.

And finally, here is a real fishy card.

Michaels is in the middle of a big reset in their papercrafting area. It appears that they are bringing more and more product with their house brand "Recollections." This week, I believe all of that brand is on sale 40% off. I've been running low on some cardstock colors (from CTMH) and have been trying to find some similar colors to replace with. So, I was interested in seeing if the Recollections brand of paper would work. While there, I wandered around to check out the new stuff. I just loved these fish brads. I thought they were adorable and figured I could find or create a fish tank to have them swim in. The Create A Critter cartridge has a nice fish tank and it became the home for these little guys. The card may require some "surgery" as I don't have any fish sentiments and I tried to handwrite the fishes part. I don't really like it at all, unfortunately. I do like the tank, though! Sweet Nectar paper pack is my go to pack right now. I just love the colors in it.

Well, that's it from me. Several of these cards have been half finished up til now and I had some time to get them completed, so I figured I'd go ahead and share all at once. That's just how I roll, I guess.

Thanks so much for stopping by. I appreciate the visit and hope to have more to share with you soon.

Robyn's Fetish Image Cards

2011-03-22T15:34:00.000-06:00

Hi there,

I thought I'd share a couple of more cards where I used Robyn Fetish images. They don't fit the challenge of butterflies, but hopefully that won't stop you from enjoying them. *Ü*

I colored this (with Prismas and OMS) a couple of weeks ago, but wasn't sure how I'd add a butterfly to it, so it sat on my desk. Barb used the same image and added butterflies perfectly, so it can be done and beautifully. Then, one day last week, I got the idea to try adding lace. This lace was in a tin filled with lace that I have from my mom and I was thrilled to see how the scallops fit the scallops on my mat. I wanted to post it last week, but figured I'd better wait until it was the week where Robyn's sponsorship is involved. The paper is from K & Co's Sweet Nectar paper pack. It's been sitting on my desk waiting to posted. Each of the girls stopped by, at different times, saw it, and commented on how pretty they thought it was, so I think it works.

The image here is called Rain, Rain Go Away and while I thought that was a great sentiment, I kind of liked how the girl looks like she is missing someone and I went with that. Not sure that the papers really go together, but I'm trying to stretch myself a little in that regard. I liked the darker blue to evoke a bluish mood. And the stripes to me mimicked the rain falling. Eh, I tried, anyway. Again, this was colored with Prisma pencils and OMS. The stamp is from CTMH, For Every Occasion. I used a Nestability to cut the images out, no Cricut on these cards.

Thanks for stopping by. I'm going to work on another post with some other cards that have been in the works and I finally got them done. Be back soon.

Lollipop Crafts Challenge 31-Butterflies

2011-03-21T08:27:00.000-06:00

Hi there!

We are just starting Spring Break Week here and the girls are busily playing Barbies. So, I thought I'd take this opportunity to share my take on the latest Lollipop Crafts Challenge, which is to add butterflies. The sponsor is Robyn's Fetish. I really liked the cute little girl images I received.

Like this one, called Christie Angel.

I had a blast coloring her up with my Prismas and OMS. I got all excited when I chose to use two cuts from my Cricut to make a monochromatic frame(I forgot to note the cartridge I used, but I think it's Lacy Labels). I thought it was cute to add the wish sentiment all around the edges. All in all, I was quite pleased with my efforts on this card and sent it off to Alanna. Then I realized there isn't a single butterfly on the card! I completely forgot about that part of the challenge!!! Ooops! I didn't know how I could add one without it looking plunked down. So, I tried again.

I decided to start from scratch using this image called Flowers for Mom. I had a lot of fun again coloring the image with Primas and OMS and I decided this time to make my card a butterfly! Covered myself well on that decision, right? Can't forget the butterfly that way. LOL

Here's how my second attempt turned out.

I had seen a card on a blog somewhere (I made this card a few weeks ago and didn't note the tutorial I used, so sorry!) with a neat shape and thought, ooooh I can do that with a butterfly cut. So, basically, I found a butterfly image on a cartridge (I think I was Paisley....must make notes to myself), cut it out, then traced it onto a cardbase, so that it would be a butterfly shaped card. Then I folded up the bottom edge, basically where I thought it would work to attach the focal shape. Then I cut out my image and made her the "body" of the butterfly. Not extremely clever, but I covered my bases on the butterfly part, right? LOL

It was a lot of fun and Robin's images are very sweet. Head on over to the Lollipop Craft blog and try your hand at this challenge. You could win! Oh and you MUST see Barb's card. I adore it and think you will, too.

In the short time it took to write up this post, one of the girls got annoyed with the other over some part of their Barbie game and stomped off. It looks like my playtime is done for the moment. LOL Could be a long week if that keeps up.

Thanks for stopping by! Hope you have a great start to your first week of Spring!

Lace Trim Cards

2011-03-20T15:58:00.000-06:00

Hi!

I wanted to show you the unique (to me anyway) lace trim I found at the thrift store yesterday. I came up with two super simple cards to show them off. Hope you like!

This is a cut piece to show you one of the trims. I haven't actually measured it, but I'm sure there has to be several yards of this! Lots of happy flowers!

Coming up with a design to show off that pretty trim is kind of hard, I think. But I ended up snipping it so I had a sort of motif. I keep seeing easel cards on various blogs and wanted to make one, so I figured this would be a good way to show off the "motif." If you want to make an easel card for yourself, I found an easy tutorial at Splitcoaststampers here.

I used Bubblegum cardstock (CTMH) and the glittered paper is from DCWV's Blooms and Butterflies matstack. I've had it in my stash for at least a year. I've been using the corner punch from Martha Stewart on recent cards. Today I used the actual border punch that came in the set. *Ü* The flowers on this trim are connected with little threads and are easy to snip apart as you can see on the bottom edge of the card. The 'happy birthday' is from PTI Birthday Basics.

Here's the other lacy trim that was in one of the bags. I have at least a few yards of this, too. I know I got a steal in these bags, for I'm sure these trims alone would cost well over the $7 I spent all totaled on the three bags I picked up yesterday. I love the lattice look, don't you? As you can see, I snipped off the main flower and a few little flowers from the pink trim to make a cluster. These papers are from K&Co's Sweet Nectar paper pack. I picked it up at Michaels.

To adhere these to the paper I decided to use that Scotch tacky glue. I dotted it on the flowers so it wouldn't show through.

If you have any ideas of ways to use these, I'm all ears!

Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope you are having a happy first day of Spring!

Kate's ABCs and Playtime

2011-03-19T16:09:00.002-06:00

I had some creative time today and was able to make a couple of cards. I used my Cricut and Kate's ABCs cartridge as well as the recently released DCWV stack called Playtime. I bought this stack mainly because it's different than any stack out there right now. The designs are printed on kraft cardstock. So, the colors are much more muted. I was thinking the kind of vintage feel of Kate's ABCs cuts would work well with the muted colors.

Here's what I came up with:

This first card was inspired by this card on Sweet Delights Paper n More. I'm not sure what she used to cut the card base as I can't find it on the Kate cartridge. But, I think my idea works okay. I cut this image at 3 1/2 as any smaller and my bug was having trouble with the cuts. I tried finding a frame to put around the vase, but it didn't look right, so I decided to punch the corners with a Martha Stewart corner punch, stamp with a sentiment from Hero Arts' Share Laughter stamp set. My Vineyard Berry pad must be in need of a reinking as it sure didn't show up very well, did it? The pattern paper is from the Playtime stack.

My second effort with the cartridge and Playtime. I'm not sure I'm totally pleased with how it looks. I like the muted colors of the pattern paper, but I don't have the right colored cardstock to keep the muted look going in the girl. Oh well, I tried. It's a little hard to tell, but there is yellow in that plaid. There really isn't any room for a sentiment, so I left it off.

I was hoping to incorporate some lace on these cards, as I came across a great find (well, 3) at the thrift store this morning. My only purchase, actually. They had several bags of lace. The bags weren't on sale, but I had a feeling if I'd waited until next weekend when they'd go on sale, they'd be gone. So I bit the bullet and paid full price(which totaled $7 for the three bags I chose). When I got home and opened up the bags, I was totally happy that I'd "splurged." Those bags were stuffed, and I do mean stuffed, full of all kinds of lace, crochet trim, eyelet lace and ruffly lace that you find at the fabric stores. I didn't take a picture(and really should have), but it looked like a mountain of lace when I pulled it out. Hee, hee. Some of it is very different than I've seen (the cashier even commented on how neat some of it looked) and once I figure out how to use it and show you, you'll understand. Even the ecru colored trims seemed to overpower this pattern paper, which is why I decided against using any lace today.

Thanks so much for stopping by! I hope you are having a great weekend so far.

"Lacy" Spring Banner

2011-03-17T16:29:00.001-06:00

Hello There!

I hope this lucky day finds you well and happy. I was going to make corned beef for supper, but realized I would be out of the house too much to safely bake it in the oven, so it will have to wait until tomorrow or Saturday. My sweet neighbor from across the street brought it over for us last week. Otherwise, I don't think I'd be making it at all.

Those of you who read my blog regularly will no doubt be surprised to hear that I haven't really pulled out any Spring decor as of yet. {gasp!} I just haven't felt like climbing the ladder to our attic and bringing the boxes down. I'm hoping to feel some motivation to do it soon, though, since Spring officially begins this weekend. Today though, I finished a little project I've had rolling around in my head since I made the owl in her house. What I didn't mention in that post is that I actually made two of them! LOL I thought it might look neat to hang them beside a spring banner. You can see if it works or not.

I think the project is pretty self explanatory, but I'll share a few details in case you are interested. The idea and some measurements to create the triangle banner part was found on the Scrapbooks, Etc magazine website here. In case it doesn't work do a search for Craft It Forward Banner Ideas. The one mine is based on is on page 5. There are instructions you can download that include measurements. I cut the letters using my Cricut and Storybook cartridge at 2 inches. I used the Martha Stewart border punch and some other punches from my stash. I decided to add the doilies at the last minute and asked the girls if they liked the look. They did, so I kept it. All the paper is from DCWV's Green Tea stack.

I took some close ups so you can see the details.

To hang the owl houses I used some embroidery floss. First I tied (and knotted) one end of it to a straight pin. I threaded the other end on a needle and through the hole where the owl is, I poked the needle through the center of the roof. I pulled it all the way through and, because the end was knotted on a straight pin, I have no worries that it will come loose. I tied the other end to the loop of ribbon I'm using to hang the banner. They had a tendency to want to turn around too much, so I took a glue dot and put it on the back of the roof where it met up with the doily and stuck them together. Otherwise, one might only see the backside of the house.

Thanks so much for looking. I hope you like it.

Now, I want to mention, I use a program called Make The Cut and my Cricut to cut out the pieces for the owl house. Unfortunately, Provocraft (the makers of the Cricut) sued the creator of Make The Cut regarding one particular feature that was offered on MTC for a very brief period and promptly taken off the program (waaaaay before I even knew about the program). Well, the lawsuit was settled out of court last week. The result of the settlement is that Make The Cut can no longer provide a product to be used in conjunction with the Cricut machine(s). There are other cutters out there that do support Make The Cut.

For me, I can still use the program as I have it installed on my computer, but I can't install any future updates to MTC, (unless I get a different type of cutter-which isn't going to be happening). I only mention this because you all know I use a Cricut and this software and I would hate for you to want the program to use with your Cricut, and now you can't. As I said there are other cutters (Silhouette SD for example) that DO support MTC. If you've heard of SCAL (Sure Cuts a Lot), Provocraft has just started litigation against the creator of that software as well, although any outcome is most likely a year or so down the road. Just wanted to give you a heads up.

Thank you for all the lovely comments on my Lace Happy Birthday card. I'm so glad you liked it!
Have a great day,

Lollipop Crafts Challenge 30-Let's Make It With Lace

2011-03-15T15:49:00.000-06:00

Hi There!

It's time for another Lollipops Crafts challenge. This week it is to use Lace, either real lace or the paper kind. I hope you'll head over there and check out what neat projects the design team came up with.

Here's the card I created for this challenge.

I'm very happy with the final result of this card. As you can see, I gathered up the edge of the lace I had and pulled it tight to form a circle. I added a lovely button from my stach as the center. I thought it looked rather elegant and maybe a bit vintage. My go to paper for this style is DCWV's Linen Closet stack. Of course, I had to use the Cricut again and my Lacy Labels cartridge. (ps I've heard rumors that there will soon be a full cartridge full of shapes with fancy edges-could be announced later this week...just sayin') The corners are a punch from Martha Stewart, but I don't remember the name. It comes with a border and the corner punch. I inked the edges with Desert Sand ink (CTMH) and added some pearls for the flower centers. The sentiment is probably from Papertrey Ink. Anyway, hope you like it! And I hope you'll try the challenge.

Because someone asked or mentioned it, my watermark was made for me by my dear friend Erin G. I love it! I do forget to use it a lot because I need to use PSE to insert it and most of the time I don't edit my pictures before posting (I know, gasp! What can I say? I'm a little lazy about it). LOL By the way, she just posted about a great sale going on at Lettering Delights. Click on her name to see what it's about, if you are interested. The sale is called Dollar Days, if that piques your interest.

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In other news, Amy's team had their last basketball game of this session on Saturday. They won with a score of 38-8. Um, yeah, that's not a typo. I couldn't believe it, the most points they've ever scored. There are a couple of boys on this team that are real firecrackers and they were definitely ON during the game. They were fun to watch, believe me, but I couldn't help but feel bad for the other team. Amy had fun and wants to do another session, so we signed her up. They'll start practice in early April with games starting mid-late April. I'm glad she gets these little breaks in between the sessions.

She started the mandated state testing this week(this is completely different from the district assessments they also take). On Monday. Right after we started Daylight Savings Time. And the week before Spring Break. AND they get to continue testing the Monday after Spring Break. Because this testing session is eleven hours long. I believe they are being tested on Reading, Writing and Math. I know today they actually had two one hour long sessions (and will have them tomorrow and Thursday). One for reading or writing and the other for Math. In third grade they have 2 days of testing. In 4th, I think it takes 7 or 8 days. Big difference huh? Add to this, my sweetie was selected to help with the morning announcement program. It's called ***TV (the symbols are for the initials of our school). The kids broadcast announcements and the pledge via the tvs in the classrooms. Amy was a broadcaster yesterday and today flipped the cue cards. She does this for a 3 week period. So, lots of excitement for her this week! LOL So far, she is handling everything like a trooper. Of course, she's most excited about the fact that during this testing period she has no homework, other than to get to bed early, eat a good breakfast and be at school on time. hee, hee.

Jessica got to do World Thinking Day for her scout troop and go to a super fun (for her) birthday party this weekend...lest you think she is being left out of fun stuff. She had a great time at both.

Well, thanks so much for stopping by! I sure appreciate the visit and hope your week has gotten off to a great start!

Cute Owl in Her House...

2011-03-10T13:19:00.000-07:00

Oh my gosh, the other day Jin at Under a Cherry Tree posted the cutest project from Lettering Delights. I thought it was so cute and it got my mind to spinning about a project idea. Well, you know me, I don't like to pay full price if I can help it, so I've been waiting for a sale. Then she posted about a buy one get one free SVG sale (I think it ends today). Yes! I'm an impulsive dork sometimes, and completely forgot that my pal, Erin is now an affiliate for them and I bought the files directly from the website. Sorry, Erin, and most likely Jin (who I'm sure is also an affiliate). Sheesh.

Anyway, I set up my Cricut and Make The Cut program, pulled out some paper and got to cutting and gluing.
Here's the result...

Sorry, you can see the pop dot I used to attach the owl. Or maybe, not sorry, an idea for you on how to attach.

I decided for this project to use all papers from DCWV's Green Tea Stack. I started off with the brown, and then thought it might be a nice challenge for myself (and less running to and from my craft space to the computer). I'm really happy with how it turned out. Now, you must go see Jin's version and my inspiration here. You know, for someone who thought she wasn't all that enamored with owls, I gotta admit they are starting to grow on me. LOL Now watch, owls are going to be less popular soon. Oh shoot, who cares, right? I'm having a blast.

Thanks for stopping by! Don't you just love how I create in fits and spurts? I can go a week or more without posting and then, blammo, you get two in one day! Thanks for sticking around when I'm not feeling so creative.

Another Meljen's Designs Card or Two...

2011-03-10T12:54:00.000-07:00

I can't help myself, I just think her images are adorable.

Add to that, I picked up some new Prismacolor pencils, thanks to a Michaels coupon and a non chain craft store I sometimes frequent. Oh, and I had a 50% off coupon for being an email subscriber to Michaels. I picked up a paper pack from K&Co called Sweet Nectar. Yeah, I so don't need more paper, but the colors in this paper pack are soooooo pretty. Well, add those together and I just had to make another card. hee, hee.

All the patterned paper is from this new 96 sheet mat stack (which equals several sheets of the same pattern, yay) and I tried to mimic some of the colors in my image, rather than color first and search for paper that would go with it. LOL I then used my Cricut and Lacy Labels cartridge for the mats around the image. I cut the oval with my Nestabilities. I think this would be a sweet card for a young girl or a gal who is young at heart.

I colored another image that Alanna posted on the Lollipops Crafts blog here. It's the Sponsor Spotlight post. I hope you'll check out the other ladies' great cards. Thought I'd share it here though, because I'm nice like that.

I don't generally make feel better cards, but with this poor sweetie, how could I resist? Everybody all together now....awwwww. The pattern paper is Making Memories, Chloe's Closet. The rest is pretty self explanatory, I think.

Now don't forget, if you try the challenge and win, you'll be able to select four Meljen's Designs images. She's got freebies, too. You can find them here. Just in case you want to try before you buy. So, go check out the Sponsor Spotlight post and hopefully, you'll be inspired enough to enter the challenge.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Lollipop Crafts Challenge 29

2011-03-07T09:13:00.000-07:00

Hi there! I hope this Monday finds you well and happy. The weather here is reminding us that winter isn't quite over just yet. We've got some drizzly rain with the "promise" of snow later today and tomorrow and temps in the 30s. But, on the positive side, later in the week, we may hit 60. I can be patient for that. *Ü*

The challenge this week at Lollipop Crafts is to use a critter on our project and we got to use images from Meljen's Designs. Oh gosh, color me happy about that! Love her images! Sure makes me wish I was eligible for the prize of 4 digital images. hee, hee.

If you've never worked with digital images, you really ought to try them. You can resize them to any size you need and pretend you are a kid again when coloring them. So much fun!

Here's the card I created using the super cute Garden Bun Bun Fairy. I thought with Easter coming up soon, this would be a great image to have fun with. This little bunny fairy just makes me smile!

For my image, I did my usual routine...printed out on Georgia Pacific cardstock that I got at Walmart and started coloring with my Prismacolor pencils &/or Kooh-i-Noor woodless pencils. I blended the colors using a stump dipped in Odorless Mineral Spirits. Of course, you've gotta have a little bling, so I added a few rhinestones on the flowers and used Lace Stickles on the lacy part of the dress. I wanted to add something for a little more texture, so I thought using a little bit of ribbon on the stripes would be fun. I really like the look of penstitching, so I pulled out my Signo White Uniball pen and went to town. The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink's Mixed Messages set. The striped paper is from DCWV's spring matstack from a few years ago and the cardstock (Honey and Petal) are Close To My Heart and are inked on the edges with the same color.

Now, you really should pop over to Lollipop Crafts and check out what the team members created. Such a talented group of ladies.

Thanks so much for stopping by and have fun creating!

I'm Alive, I Promise...

2011-03-03T16:41:00.000-07:00

Hi there!

I figured I would check in with you to let you know that I am still alive. Things got a little more hectic than usual and I've not been able to come up with projects to share with you.

I have been working on some things "behind the scenes," but you'll have to wait a bit to see them. My friend Alanna surprised the heck out of me a few weeks ago by asking me if I'd like to be a guest designer for the month of March at Lollipop Crafts. After I recovered from the surprise that she would even want me (who is in no way a designer of anything....a copier, yes, a designer, no) to participate, I decided to stretch myself and accept the challenge. So, I've been busy creating some cards for her to share at Lollipop Crafts. She posted a spotlight the other day and I'm thrilled to say, she also asked another good friend of mine, Barb, to participate as well! You can read our introductions here, if you'd like. Thanks so much for your faith in me, Alanna! I've had a lot of fun creating for you. *Ü*

Then, on Friday, Steve tells me that his car, a 98 Saturn with over 177,000 miles on it, needed a new clutch. He had it at the repair shop waiting for an estimate. This car was mine, first. We got it just before Amy was born because the little ~~beer can~~ Geo Metro I was driving wasn't going to work real well with a baby and all their paraphernalia. LOL Anyway, we've had it a long time and it's served us well, but dropping a bunch of money into this car was not really a smart investment. So, we spent the weekend ~~car~~ truck shopping. Part of the time I was researching on the internet for the type of truck he wanted, part of the time (Saturday night) was spent checking out a few options, then wandering several dealerships while they were closed on Sunday (great for not getting hounded, but not so great when you want to get it over with, you know?). On Monday, Steve took half a day off work (the girls were already off school, I know...again) and we bought his new to him truck. At first he didn't want a red one, but as the weekend went on, he kept thinking about it and decided it was too good a deal to pass up. The girls are thrilled, too. Mostly because it's something new to us. LOL I'm happy to know he'll be driving a more reliable vehicle.

(picture taken by hubby)

So, all this, plus a little early spring cleaning (the weather's been so nice lately, it awakened the urge to fling off the dust and a bit of the excess around here), has been what's been keeping me hopping these days.

Thanks for your patience. I hope to have something fun to share in the not too distant future. Until then, thanks so much for stopping by! Hope you are doing well in your neck of the woods!

Happy Spring!

2011-02-20T16:55:00.000-07:00

Well, I know it isn't spring yet (although it sort of feels like it lately), but I've made something that will help celebrate spring when it does arrive. The idea is NOT mine at all. I found it on a blog yesterday and fell in love with the whole idea. That I own the main Cricut cartridge that was used to create the scene made me giddy. The mastermind behind this idea is a super creative gal named Tamara and she blogs at Happy Life. Crafy Wife. When you click on the link, you'll see her Summer version of the same idea (and yes, I totally want to try my hand at that one, too). My jaw dropped when I saw it and I think I said, "Oh. My. Gosh." In the post she references her first effort here. I clicked over and my jaw dropped again! This is the one I have copied. Take a look around her blog...oh boy, I love what she creates and I've added yet another blog to my reader. This type of papercraft project just makes my heart sing. I love cutesy and I'm not going to ever deny it.

I used the Create a Critter cartridge for just about everything you see here, with the exception of the flower and the words. The flower is from Lacy Labels and the letters are from Tear Drop. While I adored the papers Tamara used, I don't own any of that line of paper. I do have that DCWV's Cotton Bloom stack and that's primarily what I used. I added a few pieces of solid cardstock here and there where needed. Oh and a couple of pieces of polka dot paper from Nana's Nursery stack. When the girls wandered in to see what I was up to and I showed them the pictures I'd printed off her blog, they both told me it was the most adorable thing they'd ever seen and were very excited that I was going to try to create it. I took LOTS of pictures. Hope you don't mind. Enjoy!

Amy's favorite is Mr. Sun. hee, hee. I thought I'd curl the wire around a pen to make it a little more interesting, since I can't hide it. Tamara used grass from a cartridge I don't own. And I wasn't about to go out and buy it (even though it IS on sale) just for the grass. I was pretty tickled to see something in CAC that I could use.

I just loved the way she made the flower. Jessica thinks the little dragonfly is her favorite.

You could definitely fly a kite here today, it's kind of windy.

Hello, happy little turtle.

This little worm is so cute. Please forgive the bad gluing job I did on the grass.

I added the ladybug on my own. I just thought she was adorable. She's cut at one inch and is still pretty big, but I thought she'd look cute tucked in the grass.

Hello sweet snail and happy frog!

It wasn't until I started putting this together that I realized I made the butterfly the same color as the flower. Oopsie. It still looks okay, right?

Sigh...I'm just tickled to have found and been able to create such a happy little scene. Thanks for looking! And thank you, Tamara for sharing this wonderful idea!!

Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope you've had a lovely weekend and are ready to start another week.

Feels Like Spring...

2011-02-18T13:43:00.000-07:00

Hello and Happy Friday to you! I hope you've had a great week and are ready for a fun and relaxing weekend. Boy, the week definitely flew by for me. I've been tackling a few not so fun, but much needed projects around the house this week. Our bathtub surround got a good scrub and the pantry got a much needed purge and straightening up.

Today I was able to head into the craft space and work on a couple of cards. The weather has been very spring like this week and I do believe that has influenced what I decided to work on today. Well, that and a very cool card idea I discovered on a blog I discovered this morning called Creations With Christina. Specifically this video showcasing a card/tab feature on the Paisley Cricut cartridge. Yes, I'm still having lots of fun with the Cricut. So, if you were hoping for a stamped project, I'm sorry, this doesn't have any. I am hoping you will like it anyway. *Ü*

Here's what I created:

What I learned is that there is a card/tab feature on this cartridge. And this cut I can actually DO on the baby Cricut. I had to cut it at 4 1/2, because any larger and it would be too long for my mat. I thought the fold and closure was fun and different:

I'll bet you could use this as the front of the card, but Christina's video showed how you could cut the card and the cutout of the butterfly that would fit perfectly. I never paid much attention to this in the booklet as I know cards are tough to cut the right size on my size bug. Isn't this a fun card? I used Berry Sweet(K & Co) for the pattern paper and Kiwi and Bubblegum (CTMH) cardstock. I ran the Bubblegum through the Cuttlebug and sanded the dots to get the white. Gosh, I haven't done that for a long time! The flowers are Prima (from Alanna...thanks again sweetie). The glittered brad is from Paper Studio at Hobby Lobby (If I remember right) and the ribbon is CTMH. I pop dotted the circular piece and varied from my inspiration card by adding the Kiwi as the background. I just didn't like the white. Then I added some pen stitching. I had a blast creating this.

But wait! I had fun on the inside, too!

This cartridge also has a "button" feature. I felt like dressing up the inside (being inspired by Christina's card), but I didn't want to add more bulk with a flower/brad combo. So, I cut the same butterfly shape as a button at one inch, then at 1 1/4 inch using Kiwi. I love how it turned out. A nice, finishing touch, I think. And this would still fit in a standard envelope. Whoo, hooo!

I had the cutout butterfly from the window and wanted to use it. Christina showed another cut that is actually a nice envelope, but the cut (to allow the card to fit into) is too large for my Cricut. So, I set out to create a standard sized card.

Here is what I ended up with:

I used the button feature again and cut the pink butterfly at 3 inches. So, I layered the pattern butterfly on top to see if it would look good and I really liked it. After cutting the mats, I felt like it needed something. Then I remembered some doilies I purchased a while back and keep forgetting I own. I'm very happy with the final look. The butterfly probably could use some more bling, but sometimes keeping is super simple works, too, right?

So, that's it from me for today. I thank you so much for stopping by and I hope you have a wonderful start to your weekend.

Cinderella Ball

2011-02-11T16:39:00.000-07:00

Thought you might like to see some pictures from the Cinderella Ball the 2nd graders had today. I was one of the parents who went in to help decorate the gym. I have to admit, the place looked really magical when it was all said and done. The music teacher bought lots of boxes of white light strands and we parents were able to use them to transform the gym. She also bought lots of sparkly foil snowflakes and streamer type things. She has a lighted arbor that was set up at the opening of the gym and each "couple" were announced as Prince and Princess and their first names. It was so adorable. They librarian for the school was Cinderella and the boyfriend of one of the 2nd grade teachers was her prince. They were announced after all the junior princes and princesses. In a lot of the pictures you can see that Jessica is trying to watch the lovely Cinderella. (so sweet).

There are a bunch of pictures because even though I KNOW the lighting is terrible, I cannot help myself from thinking I just might get a decent shot indoors at the school. I did the best I could with editing in PSE.

A couple of shots of the gym

I didn't get a shot of the lit arbor they walked through, darn.

Jess and her partner were announced

Trying to sneak a peek at Cinderella

Ready to dance and waiting for the music.

A lovely couple indeed.

They look like they were having fun, too.

Still trying to sneak a peek at Cinderella

The second dance was a line dance.

The kids did a great job.

I liked how I caught the twirling of Jessica's dress.

And at the end, the clock (gong) struck midnight. Cinderella and all the princesses ran off so as not to get caught by the final stroke.

The Prince and young princes were perplexed.

Then we headed to the cafeteria and the princes and princesses were served Royal Sundaes.

So cute and a lot of fun!

It was a magical afternoon.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you have a lovely weekend.

(the kids were so happy with the Valentine's I made them...yay)

Valentine Treat Boxes...

2011-02-10T16:32:00.000-07:00

Oh my gosh! I've been having a blast these past few days making up some super cute Valentine gifties for the girls, some of their friends, and their teachers. I've been chomping at the bit to share them, but wanted to get all of them done first. The kids are celebrating Valentine's Day tomorrow instead of on Monday. There is some big-wig coordinator for the academic program they've started this year coming in on Monday to see how the school is implementing the new program. So, the fun has happen earlier.

A little back story before I show you what I made. If you have read my blog for a while, you know how much I've enjoyed using my Cricut lately and that I've been pining for an Expression (the 12 inch wide version, versus the Baby Bug I have). Well, last month, I came across a really good sale on a program for the Cricut called Cricut Design Studio. You install the program onto your computer and you then hook up the Cricut to the computer via a USB cord. When running the program, you can do all sorts of designing of the images that come on the cartridges. You can resize the images, weld them together and as long as you own the cartridge, you can cut out what you create. This program has been out for years, but I never paid much attention to it, not realizing just what you can do with it. I've been playing with it for a few weeks and it's been fun. Then at CHA, Provocraft announced that they are going to be releasing an online version of the Design Studio, that will be free to use. At first I was a bit miffed that I just bought the program, but after thinking about it, it may be nice to NOT have to be online to design or use the software, so it's all good.

Then, I started thinking about a program I've heard about called Sure Cuts A Lot. It's a third party software that you can use to design images NOT on Cricut cartridges, but you can still cut them out on your Cricut. (not endorsed by Provocraft at all, and it will void the warranty if your machine is less than a year old-mine is 4-5 years old, so I'm good). I was chatting with my friend Erin and she recommended a similar program called Make The Cut. They are similar in concept, but she told me with SCAL you have to pay for upgrades and with MTC, upgrades are free for life. Plus the owner is constantly improving the program based on customer feedback. Based on Erin's recommendation, I bought MTC. I haven't figured out all the ins and outs of what all it can do, but I have been playing with it. Then I came across a blog called Under A Cherry Tree. Oh goodness, this gal does adorable things with svg files (a type of file used in the program) from Lettering Delights.

These two programs have helped me feel better about not having the Expression and the cost for both is considerably less than the bigger machine. I have all the functionality I want. Yes, it would be lovely to be able to create larger projects, but I'm quite content now. *Ü*

All that to share how I came about creating these super cut treat boxes for Valentine's Day. I used Animal Boxes and Bags from Lettering Delights and was completely inspired by this post. If you have some time, you should check out other posts by this gal. She is super creative!

Aren't they cute?? I realize I didn't take any side shots, but these are little boxes that have a flap that folds over the front. The faces are attached to the flap. Inside the boxes are 5 chocolate heart candies. I tried to choose critters that fit the personality of the recipient, or was something the recipient liked. The lion (I made two) is for one of the teachers. Our school mascot is a lion. The bunny is for Jessica and the owl is for Amy. They are tucked away in a cupboard so the girls don't have a clue that I've done this. I can't wait to surprise them tomorrow. I'll be handing them out after school.

In other news, Jessica's grade level is having a Cinderella Ball tomorrow. The kids have been practicing a dance and the parents are invited to come and watch. Afterward, they will be having Royal Sundaes (in lieu of a Valentine's Party). I can't wait. Jessica is really excited about the program.

Okay, that's it from my neck of the woods. It's supposed to warm up very nicely this weekend and I hope to enjoy as much of the nice weather as I can. Hope you're having a good day wherever you are.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

I Stamped Today!

2011-02-06T15:12:00.000-07:00

Hope you didn't faint when you read my post title. LOL And I did use the Cricut a little bit.

I totally cased Dawn McVey's beautiful card seen here. I love the crisp, clean lines of her card. And I totally didn't do it justice, if I'm being completely honest. In fact, I don't like my stamping at all. Specifically, I don't like the ink coverage. I don't have a good deep brown color in my stash of inks. The inks I have are all CTMH and I don't know if after a while they just don't cover well anymore or what. They are juicy stamp pads, but when I inked up my clean stamps, the ink is all gloopy and splotchy on the stamp. Completely frustrating, if you ask me. Now I'm wondering if I need to look into some new ink pads. Sigh...

I used Honey and Cocoa ink (and the Cocoa only because the Chocolate brown looked worse than the Cocoa).

I cut the mats with my Lacy Labels cartridge. Everything else is pretty obvious, I think. The stamping on the white piece is actually a couple of different stamps in the PTI Sweet Love set.

In other news, we've survived the deep freeze and the girls are heading back to school tomorrow. The break was actually a good thing for Jessica, who ended up waking up with a fever on Thursday. I worried she might have strep, but I don't think so. Some ibuprofen took care of the fever and I made her rest all day. She complained about being bored, so I knew she wasn't all that bad. We watched tv together and played some board games. By evening she was feeling pretty chipper. Whew.

Amy survived a hugely busy day yesterday. She had to go to basketball early for picture day, then had the game (they lost by ONE point, darn). She was home for a little less than half an hour before I had to take her to the venue for the Me and My Guy Dance her Girl Scout troop was hosting last night(I believe they were expecting over 300 attendees). She had to help set up. I stayed to help and we were there for three hours. We headed home for some quiet time, then she, Jessica and Steve headed out to help finish up the set up and attend the 3 hour dance. They also had to stay after it was over for a little bit to help clean up. She handled it like a real trooper, but probably fell asleep before I turned out the lights after tucking them in. And my usually early bird waker slept in this morning. By all accounts it was a fun evening for them. The troop has been working on this dance pretty much since they started the year back in September. I'm sure they are all relieved it's behind them. I don't have any pictures of them before they left because they were running a tad late and they needed to get out the door. There was a photographer at the dance who took pictures. Hopefully it will come out nice. Otherwise, their memories of their time together will have to suffice. {wink}.

That's the latest from my neck of the woods. Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope you have a great start to your week. Now I'm off to watch the Super Bowl. I honestly don't care who wins. I just hope it's a good game, not a lopsided or boring one. Hopefully the commercials are good, too. *Ü*

A Little More Decor...

2011-02-02T16:20:00.000-07:00

It's a balmy 9 degrees outside today. Still pretty dang cold, but better than below zero right? Not sure what the windchill is though. The girls and I hung out this morning, then I took them to McDonald's for lunch so they could run off some energy in the play area. When we got home, they wanted to go to a friend's house to play. While they've been gone, I took the opportunity to create some more decor items for Valentine's Day. All you need are some (okay, a lot of) circles of felt, pins and a styrofoam ball. I got the felt and styrofoam at the thrift store (not all at the same time). Pins are from Walmart. You fold the circles in half and then in half again and pin them to the styrofoam. And you end up with these:

Oh, you might want to get some ribbon from the Dollar Tree, too. I also added a couple of packages of Red Hots to the vase to "ground" it.

This little vignette is the bottom shelf of the tea cart I bought at the thrift store last year. And I've added a few more thrift store finds. *Ü* I really like the dark gray thing. It came without a tray (and cost me $1.50), so I hunted around and found a cookie pan at Home Goods that fit pretty near perfectly.

Here you can see them separated.

And how nicely it fits.

Add a little thrift store tray and it's the perfect spot for some felted decor.

I can't take credit for the decor idea. I've seen them popping up all over the crafty blogs I read.

This is a pretty easy craft idea, but a little tip or two for you might help. The middle red one above, I made last weekend. I used a Nestability circle and my Cuttlebug to cut the felt. I realized after I was done, I had felt dust everywhere! I knew I wanted to make at least three more, so I figured that wasn't going to be the best idea. Today I cut a paper circle and used it to trace circles onto the felt and cut them out by hand. I still have some felt dust, but not nearly as much. My hand it a little tired, but if you make just one, it shouldn't be too bad. I didn't even count how many circles I cut. I just traced a bunch, cut them out and stuck them on. Then cut some more. I started around 1:30 or so and finished them about 3:45 with a few breaks in there to rest my hand. Not bad, I don't think.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you are having a wonderful Wednesday!

Taco Soup Night...

2011-02-01T16:14:00.000-07:00

Well, I checked our school district website and they've closed schools for tomorrow as well, due to the anticipated snow (even though there is none predicted) and the subzero temperatures. It's currently 1 degree outside with some sunshine. The breezes though are keeping the windchill pretty cold (-27 at the moment). So, the girls had one day of school this week and are now off for the remainder of the week as Thursday and Friday were already scheduled off for teacher in-service days. Today, they were fine staying indoors, but I suspect tomorrow they'll get antsy to do something. I may get antsy, too.

In the meantime, they requested Taco Soup for dinner.

I made it for the first time a couple of weeks ago, following the recipe linked above, and it was a big hit. So, it's simmering on the stove as we speak. I like chili just fine, but this stuff, omg, tastes way better than chili to me.

We played some games, Bonkers, Toss Up and the Wii (Race-o-rama {the Cars game}) and the girls played Barbies for a good chunk of the day. I also worked on a new puzzle. Nice and quiet and warm.

Baby, It's COLD Outside!

2011-02-01T08:57:00.001-07:00

This number doesn't tell the whole story...according to the news, there's a windchill factor to consider. -32. That's 32 degrees below zero. Baby, I don't care who you are, that's flippin' cold.

Guess what? There's no school today! Steve snorted when the girls told him last night. He thought "they" (the powers that be) were wimps. LOL The roads aren't bad. But then, he grew up in Sioux Falls, SD. Where it gets pretty darn cold, pretty darn regularly. And I wonder if Kathi is snickering a little, too, up there in the frozen tundra. Me, I'm happy not to have to be out and about today. Yeah, this born and raised Southern California transplant, who actually enjoys snow, doesn't like so much this type of cold. No school means no parent teacher conferences today and no Girl Scout meeting tonight.

So we can hunker down and do a little of this:

and a little of that:

and maybe bake, play some games and generally just keep warm.

No word yet on school tomorrow, when it's supposed to be 9 above zero as a high, not sure on the wind chill. A peek into the forecast shows 40s by the end of the week. Gotta love the extremes of Colorado.

Thought I'd share a little of the Valentine's decor I've put out:

Red Hots and Roses

*Ü*

Marshmallows, licorice, mints and you've gotta have conversation hearts.

Oooooh, I have Cupid Corn tucked away...maybe I'll switch the mints out.

A little love on the mantle. Those red and pink balls in the hurricane lamps are two packages from Hobby Lobby (by the floral department) 1 red, 1 pink, mixed together. Those pink suckers were chock full of static electricity! LOL Dollar Tree wooden frame with a glittery puffy heart. Loved the color of the wood in the frame.

More Dollar Tree heart picks.

I wanted to fill this large container and the little balls seemed to work well. The heart wire thingies are from Joann's.

As you walk in the door, this is what you see.

A Dollar Tree plastic plate decorated with paper. Hard to see, but the word love on the heart and the arrow through it are glitterized with Stickles. Next to the plate on the left, a thrift store candlestick and to the right and apothecary jar filled with Hot Tamales, Valentine colored.

I saw this at the thrift store for a couple of weeks in a row and passed it up thinking, I could stitch that up for sure. The reality is, I probably won't get to that, so this past weekend, I found it again and bought it, for all of a dollar. I'm so glad I did!

I thought some extra heart ornaments looked good on this wire piece hanging over the bench.

I still have a few more things I want to work on. I would like to hang a garland and create a few more decor items. Maybe today? Most likely not. But soon!

Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope you are staying safe and warm in your neck of the woods.

More Cuts from the Florals Embellished Cartridge

2011-01-30T15:34:00.000-07:00

Just to show you some other designs besides the butterflies. *Ü*

There are several flowers and medallions as well as some pretty birds. I didn't get to a bird one today. Again, no cards made with these yet, I'm just playing to see what they look like in real life. On that top left one, I think I angled it wrong, so tilt your head to see it as the rectangle shape I think it really is, as I'm feeling too lazy to take another picture. I'm still using the colors shown in the booklet, but I'll bet it would be fun to play with colors to see these in other combinations. I also think some of them are just itching for some bling, too. That will have to wait until another day.

I'm not sure if you are aware, but it's CHA weekend (Craft and Hobby Association conference) in Los Angeles. I've been kind of following some of the announcements, especially in regards to the Cricut. Apparently this is the 5th anniversary year for Cricut and they've come up with a limited issue anniversary version of the Expression and an Expression 2. It appears the new Expression kind of combines the technology used in the new Imagine machine (minus the printing aspect). And I hear you can use Imagine cartridges in the new Expression for the cuts on those cartridges. They are also developing a new online feature called the Craftroom, where you can design using the online program and then cut the images out (if you own the cartridge, that is). It's an online version of the software called Cricut Design Studio. This new Craftroom is supposed to be free. So some interesting developments with regard to the Cricut this year. DCWV has some fabulous looking paper dresses (life sized from the pictures I've seen) that are pretty incredible. It will be fun to hear what else new is coming down the pike. *Ü*

We've been enjoying some unusually mild weather here in CO recently. Friday it was in the 60s!! But, winter is definitely poised to make a comeback as there is a system on the horizon which will have our temperatures tumbling down into the single digits and possibly below zero. I keep joking though, they are making such a fuss over this system that it may just stay in the 40s! (wishful thinking, I'm sure). Tuesday is the day it's supposed to hover around 0 and that's the day where we have parent teacher conferences and Amy has a Girl Scout meeting. So we'll be able to fully "enjoy" whatever comes our way. LOL

I hope you are having a lovely weekend and a great start to your week. Stay warm, wherever you are.

Oh Man, I Shouldn't Have But...

2011-01-27T15:46:00.000-07:00

I am SO glad I did! LOL Because I don't know when the cartridges will be on sale again and I simply couldn't wait. Provocraft came out with several new Cricut cartridges last week and the minute I laid eyes on the cover of one, I knew it was a must have for me. Joann's sale on the cartridges ends on Saturday, so I've been on the lookout for these new cartridges. Today I checked the Michaels in Brighton. Nope, they weren't out. Thought I was out of luck for sure. But a salesperson (I thought) walked passed me, said good morning and asked if I was finding what I was looking for. I said no, actually, and explained what I wanted. She said she had one (they only got the one in, and they ordered 10) in the back room. Then I asked if she'd honor Joann's sale price. She said she'd have to double-check with the other manager (ohhh, how lucky, a manager stopped me). I always have the latest ads tucked in my purse and when she asked to see it, I was able to whip that baby right out. So, yes, they did honor Joann's sale price! I was giddy!

Wanna see why I was so gosh darn happy? Here you go:

Squeeeeeeeeeeal! Sorry, I just couldn't help myself. Now you see why this is a must have for me (and there are other butterflies, flowers, medallions and lots of cool stuff). LOL These are from the new Florals Embellished cartridge. I had SO much fun cutting and putting these together. And they are big. These are cut at 3 inches but the wing span on that first one is around 5 inches. I didn't even get to the point of putting them onto a card, I just wanted so see what they looked like. For the most part, I followed the colors shown in the booklet with CTMH cardstock. Usually I try to ink the edges before I put them together. Today I was just too darn impatient for that step and I think they still look pretty good. Fun, fun, fun.

I noticed there was a silhouette function. Hmmmm...they looked cool in the booklet, so I cut each one to see what they looked like in real life. Sigh...love, love, love them!

I am a super happy camper!

So, Valentine's stuff got put on the back burner for the moment. Hope you forgive the delay. *Ü*

A Couple of Valentine Goodies

2011-01-26T15:41:00.000-07:00

Hello! I hope you are doing well this wonderful Wednesday.

Just yesterday I tucked away the last of the winter type decorations (for going up to the attic) and have been thinking about things to create for Valentine's Day this year. I haven't actually made it up into the attic to pull out what I already have(or to put away the bag I just packed up, shhhhh). That would probably be a good idea, huh? Tomorrow will probably be the day. Today I was working on this card:

I was completely smitten with this card I saw on Courtney Lane Designs. This is a fun blog to read if you are interested in seeing projects made with the Cricut.

Anyway, I thought it would be cute to make this card (well 2 of them) to tuck into the girls' lunch boxes for Valentine's Day. The only thing is, I really, really liked the look with the polka dot paper. Only, I don't have any polka dot paper like that. And neither do the local stores apparently, I looked. But I DO have PSE and lots of digi supplies. So, I searched and found this overlay by Katie the Scrapbook Lady (she doesn't sell her designs anymore, though). She has a great blog if you are interested in checking it out. So, I printed off a sheet of the dotted paper. Yay! The cut is from Paper Lace and is cut at 3 1/2. Then I tried to pen-stitch with a white Signo pen. Um, I'm pretty rusty at it, so please forgive if it doesn't look all that great. I cut little bits of Holiday Red cardstock to glue behind the open hearts and snipped away the excess. There were solid black hearts and I decided to fill them with red Stickles. I added a bit of pink Stickles to the small open heart after I glued the pieces together. And I popped the heart with pop dots, although you can't tell in the picture. All in all, I'm pleased with this little project. I hope the girls will be pleasantly surprised (and not embarrassed).

Last week I worked on this little project. Very simple, but I like how it turned out. I and U are from Storybook and the fancy heart is from my new Lacy Labels cartridge. The frames are from the Dollar Tree. I just bought new ones, since I tucked the JOY ones away with the Christmas decorations. It's hard to see, but there is a rose on the heart and a little bitty piece gets cut out to be the rose. I put glue on it and sprinkled some Martha Stewart glue onto it and stuck in place. Since I don't really have any Valentine themed paper (that I could find) I just used white cardstock run through the Cuttlebug with the heart shapes. Works for me to add a little texture and interest.

I have more ideas that I want to try, the trick is to actually get to them. I hope to do so very soon!

Thanks so much for stopping by! Have a great day!

Love Card

2011-01-20T16:24:00.001-07:00

Hi There!

What's this? Another card? You betcha!

Why is it that the "simple" cards take so much time to finish? I know...because I'm never sure what to leave off, so I fiddle and futz with it for way too long. LOL I still think this one needs "something," but cannot figure out what will look good. I ran out of time, so I thought I'd share and get your take.

I got myself a new Cricut Cartridge today. It's the Lacy Labels Cricut Lite that is available at Walmart. I've had my eye on it for a little while and got a little cash from a friend for doing something nice for her. I didn't want to take the cash, but she insisted and she specifically said to get something just for me.I didn't want to upset/offend her by not accepting her "donation." So, I did. And I just love the cuts on this cart. All the pieces you see in the focal image are from that cartridge. No, they weren't all shown together, they are a mix and match of different cuts. I ran the glittery piece through my Xyron and added Martha Stewart glitter for a bit of bling. I think I will get some good use out of this cartridge. It seems like a good one for card making and for well, labels. LOL

Thanks for stopping by. I sure appreciate the visit and hope you are having a terrific day.

Pretty In Pink

2011-01-19T15:47:00.000-07:00

Hello there!

I made it into my craft space today and was able to pull together this card using another one of those cute images Alanna sent me.

I actually colored the image yesterday, but this time I just used my Prismacolor pencils and odorless mineral spirits. I feel like I have a little better control when I do. LOL I added the Frosted Lace Stickles again, but not to cover up any boo boos, just because I like the look.

The rest of the card is pretty self explanatory, but if you have a question, feel free to ask. The paper is from Making Memories (I've had the pack in my stash for at least a couple of years), as is the heart pin.

Thanks for stopping by! I appreciate the visit! Have a great rest of your Wednesday.

Be Mine...

2011-01-18T15:37:00.001-07:00

Happy Tuesday to you! I hope you've had a great start to your week. The girls were off school yesterday due to MLK day and we went to Amy's friend, Hattie's, 10th birthday party. Oh my, she's in double digits now! And it seems like yesterday the girls were in Kindergarten. The time sure is flying by.

Today I worked on cleaning up around the house after the weekend tornado that is my family blew through. But, I made sure to have enough time to wander into my craft space. I even got a card made. Whoo hooo! And this is after I cleaned up in there first, too. I had scraps of paper every where from my last crafty efforts. So, I spent some time putting those away and neatening things up before I sat down to mess it all up again. LOL

Last month I received the sweetest of surprises from my blogging buddy Alanna. She sent me some fun embellishments for my crafting including some fun ribbon and a jar of flowers. She also included some stamped images for me to color! She is so sweet to have done this. Thanks so much Alanna! Anyway, I have been itching to get some coloring time. Last week, or maybe the week before, I did sit down to try my hand at coloring an image she sent with markers.

To be honest, I really thought I screwed up my first attempt. I only have a couple of Copics (for coloring faces), but after trying to color the sweet image with my Sharpies and Bics, I am understanding more and more the appeal of the Copics. If only they weren't so darn expensive. The face came out fine, I think, but the Sharpie pen nib makes it really hard to not have the ink bleed into other spaces, which is what was happening. The image looked really sloppy and I almost pitched it. But I set it aside instead and came back to it later. I got the idea to cover up those areas with Stickles. So, I used Frosted Lace to add some bling and cover up. I think it worked pretty well.

I also practiced my sewing a bit and after a couple of messed up attempts, came away with a card I'm pretty happy with.

I was completely inspired by this card on the Playing With Paper blog. Andrea creates awesome cards using digital images all the time. She is on the creative team for Mary Fran (among other design teams) at NitwitCollections, which is how I came across Andrea's blog. You're in for a real treat if you check it out.

My card ended up taking a slightly different path than Andrea's, but not for lack of effort on my part. I wanted to CASE it, but the image of my little girl was a bit too large for that layered look. I discovered via Andrea's blog, that there is a digital file of my image(and the one Andrea used), so I may have to buy a few as I sure think they are adorable. They are By Lori designs called Lollipops and you can find them here. Their names are Gracie and Ella and you'll have to scroll down to find them. As you can see, I sewed on the card and that silly sewing machine foot I found made it way easier for me to get in fairly close to the edge of the paper. Yay.

The white flower "ribbon" is also from Alanna and I thought they added some fun texture. The pin is a Making Memories one I've had for along time. The twine is the DMC floss twisted together. The sentiment is from PTI. The organdy ribbon is CTMH. I ran the sewed piece of cardstock through the Cuttlebug after I stitched on it and attached it to my card base.

Whew, that's an awful lot of explanation for one fairly simple card. Like I said, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. Hope you like it, too.

Tomorrow is Wednesday already. Hope it's a good one.

Thanks so much for stopping by. I sure appreciate the visit. Hope to see you again soon.

Long Time No See...

2011-01-16T08:28:00.000-07:00

Yikes! I didn't mean to be quiet for so long. In fact, I've had good intentions to get into my crafty space just about every single day and for some reason or another it simply hasn't happened. So, I don't have much in the way of crafty goodness to share.

I made this card to send to Kathi to celebrate the birth of her granddaughter, Marla Jean. I'm really happy with how this version turned out. The owl is cut from the Paisley cartridge on my Cricut. The papers are from Nana's Nursery.

I said this version because I attempted to sew on my first version and that attempt ended up in the garbage. Aside from the sewing being just plain bad, I realized that I was seeing mostly the holes in the stitching and not the stitching itself. My needle was too big and was making the holes too large. Ugh. I changed the needle and I think my stitching will look much better. Another problem I had was that I couldn't get close enough to the edge of the paper while stitching with the sewing machine foot I was using. I looked for one I knew I owned that would make it easier to get closer to the edge, but I couldn't find it. THAT led me on a quest to replace it. After spending way too much time looking for the foot I wanted(apparently they don't sell it anymore), I gave up and decided I'd just practice. Well, a thought popped into my head that I had a little box of sewing tools tucked away in the machine cabinet I have (but don't use as a sewing machine cabinet due to space). Lo and behold...there was that silly foot. Wish I'd have thought of it first, would have saved me some time and frustration. Oh well, I have the foot on the machine. Now I just have to get into the craft space and start practicing.

One thing I have been doing is playing this fishing game on the Wii. I never would have thought I'd enjoy it so much, but I do. There are 10 lakes to fish and you open up the next one by placing in the top 3 of a tournament. You get to play the tournament only after you earn enough reputation points(catching fish earns you points). I've not been playing constantly, but regularly. I have opened up each lake and earned the "privilege" of participating in the invitational tournament. Which apparently is fishing for specific fish on five of the lakes. Yeah, I started it and am getting completely skunked! LOL It's a pretty cool game (obviously) and I've learned a lot of how to play through trial and error. Just yesterday I realized I have also caught all but one species of fish in the game. I'm gonna have to hunt down the one I haven't caught yet. LOL I don't play during the day, but more in the evenings after the girls go to bed. I've also played the Cars game, but keep driving into walls, so I don't feel like I've gotten the trick of that game yet. I know, I'll have to practice more. LOL

Let's see what else? Amy had her choir performance the other night. It was really neat. There are 72 kids in the choir and they sound fantastic. The theme of this one was songs from around the world. I am so completely impressed that the kids learned all the words to these songs which were all so very different from the songs we are used to. Amy even had a small speaking part and did a great job. I took pictures, but they came out pretty bad. You know the whole bad lighting at night deal. I might be able to fix them in PSE, but haven't done it yet.

Other than that, not a whole heckuvalot going on that's worth sharing. I just wanted to pop in and let you know that I am indeed still alive and will do my best to get into my crafty space soon so I have more to share.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you have a great day!

Letting the Cricut and Paper Do The Work...

2011-01-02T21:12:00.000-07:00

Thanks so much for the encouraging comments about my cards and my chattiness. I'm glad I'm not too annoying with all the chit chat I engage in. When I type, I feel as though I am chatting with you, that's for sure!

We just got home from dinner and a quick visit with Dave and Tracy. Steve is trying to figure out his new Wii game, so I thought I'd post the cards I was able to make today when Steve and the girls went to the Museum of Nature and Science for a bit.

Since I was able to use my new cartridge, I guess I'd better reveal which one I got. It's a Martha Stewart version called Elegant Cake Art. Yes, it's designed for use with the Cricut Cake machine, but you can use the cartridge in any machine! I had never really looked at the Cake cartridges, not realizing you can still use them in the regular Cricut. Martha Stewart punches are really great and this cartridge has a ton of great designs you can use for papercrafting. So, without further delay, here are the FOUR cards I made today! {If I was smart, I'd space them out, but I can never do that so you get to see them all in the same post.) They aren't super complicated, but I'm pleased with how they turned out. Also, I didn't stamp at all, I just used paper from Cotton Bloom and Green Tea. I did ink a lot of the edges to cut down on the white you can see in the cuts. Hope you like!

This first card uses a part of a sheet of the Green Tea paper with that design in the corner. I cut the butterfly with the cartridge at 2 1/2 inches. You can probably guess when I saw that butterfly, I had to have the cartridge, right? This card is 5 x 7 in size and I just added a few pearls to "finish" the card. Wasn't sure what sentiment I wanted to use on it, so I left it blank.

This next card is my version of the design of one of the tiers on the cake on the cover of the box/booklet the cartridge comes in. I like that you can cut the borders either 1 x 6, 1 x 9 or 2 x 6 (or 9). They fit together really nicely. The paper is from Green Tea. And the pearls got quite the work out today. *Ü*

Another tier on the cover cake has this similar design. I liked the border running across the accent piece. I cut two sizes of the "square" because I wasn't sure which would fit better. I really liked how they looked stacked, so I kept them after inking them with Honey ink. The flourish is what I chose to use rather than a monogram on my inspiration picture.

And finally, there are doilies on this cartridge too!

This paper is from Cotton Bloom. This doily is cut at 4 inches and I almost put it on a 5 x 7 card. But when I was punching out the pieces I realized the one scallop area didn't cut all the way through (not sure why, could be my mat or maybe the blade I just changed didn't seat itself at first), so rather than trash the piece, I cut off the errant part and decided I liked how it looked on the smaller card. I almost added some ribbon, but in the end decided I liked the look of the doily too much to hide part of it with ribbon.

And there you have it. I think this cartridge is going to be a go to one for lots of cards. Yay! I can tell you I never used my Cricut all that much prior to the past few months. Why? Well, some (okay, a lot) of the images on the first cartridges are a little goofy, and I bought several font carts thinking I'd use them for paper scrapbooking. Those carts don't have much beyond the letters. But in the past few years, the designers have been putting together some really fun stuff. And it helps to get inspiration from blogs that showcase projects using the Cricut and now they have the magazine. Lots of inspiration around nowadays, which is what I definitely need to get my juices flowing.

Thanks so much for stopping by.

I'm a little bummed that the Broncos ended the season with a loss, but I'm relieved the season is over so that they can work on rebuilding the team to be one worthy of cheering about. Tim Tebow (the rookie quarterback) has flashes of great skill and he sure gets the crowd into the game, which is good, but he's still pretty raw. Even when I get bummed, I remember it's just a game and there's always next season, right?

(and aren't you glad you won't have to listen to me talk about the Broncos for a while?...LOL...)

Have a great start to your week!

The girls don't go back to school until Tuesday as tomorrow is a Teacher Work Day (not sure the smarts in planning that right after they've had two weeks off, but I'm not on the calendar creating committee, so I guess I shouldn't complain, right?)

Happy New Year and a Couple of Cards

2011-01-01T16:02:00.001-07:00

Happy New Year to each of you! I hope you are looking forward to a wonderful New Year, one with no mistakes in it yet (to paraphrase Anne Shirley from Anne of Green Gables).

I've managed to create a couple more cards to share. I might have gotten more made if we hadn't cleaned up and put away Christmas today. Things look a little bare at the moment, but that's okay. It gives the eyes a chance to rest after the fullness of holiday decorations. (At least, that is what I am telling myself). If nothing else, it does feel good to have that chore done with.

This is my version of this one on Lea's Cupcakes and Sunshine blog. Mine doesn't have quite so many pearls, mainly because I don't own any of the flourish-y pearls, but I rather like my plain and simple version.

Hmmmm, wondering if the butterfly needs some antennae? I cut these butterflies with the Cricut and I'm going to guess and say from my new Paisley cartridge. It had a head and antennae, but I cut them off thinking I didn't need them for the look I was going for. The larger butterfly was cut from vellum and then I searched for my Prisma glitter (out in the garage). I ran it through the Xyron and sprinkled it with the glitter. The papers are from Cotton Bloom (DCWV). The ribbon is from Michaels and I like how it picks up the subtle green. I'd have tried yellow, but I didn't have any wide yellow ribbon. Thinking of You is from a Verve set, Grateful Elegance I believe. (gonna have to start taking notes, I'm thinking, for I am having a harder time remembering just what I used).

I've not been as frugal lately as I usually am with regards to papercrafting purchases. I'm going to blame it on the holidays. I got the Paisley cartridge for a steal at Michaels a week or so ago. You are not going to believe me when I tell you that I bought it for...$19.99! I kid you not! Please tell me how I could ever pass that up. It was some clearance deal and maybe this particular store wasn't supposed to put it out, but they did and it rang up for that low price. I was eyeing another one, but then frugality won out and I am happily content with this cartridge. And just today, I picked up another cartridge, but I am going to be a tease and not say which one just yet. Joann's is having a New Year's sale and the price, while not as good as $19.99, made my purchase less than half price. I don't think they'll go on sale again for awhile and I figured I'd get while the gettin' was good. I'm giddy over it, but didn't get to play with it as much as I wanted to today (remember, we cleaned up Christmas). Maybe tomorrow? I made one other purchase today that I'm quite happy with. Michaels has their paper packs on sale for 40% off. Well, the other day I got an email from them that had a 25% off coupon you could use even on sale items, good for today only. So, I picked up the other new DCWV stack called Green Tea for a bit more than 50% off. Love the colors in this stack, too.

Yea, I'm chatty today. I've thought about limiting my posts to just the cards, but I don't think I can do that. Sorry to those who feel like I talk too much. I guess they can just look at the pictures and move on, right?

Okay, here's my second card

Another uber simple one, but I like it. This brown pattern paper is in Green Tea. The label is cut from the Storybook cartridge. The star....George and Basic Shapes (I think, I cut them the other day and I put all the stuff away). You can't quite tell in the picture, but the star pops up a little. I scored those lines (obviously) and then folded them so the star would be more dimensional. The lines are inked with Chocolate. The sentiment is from Birthday Brackets (Stampendous).

Tomorrow is Steve's birthday and I thought I might give this to him. I think he'll like it. He honestly doesn't say much about what I create, so I'm not sure if he will or not. Although today I was going to toss a Christmas decoration that I didn't like anymore (remember that wild and crazy pompom covered ball I made...let's just say it didn't grow on me) HE say he liked it and wanted to keep it. Well, okay then.

I have to share this with you because I'm tickled about it. For Christmas this year, several new Wii games ended up under our tree. One being a fishing game (that came with the fishing pole) and another being a Cars (as in Lightning McQueen) game. I was thinking maybe Steve might enjoy the fishing game and it might get him started on playing the Wii. Well, he tried the fishing game, but hasn't figured out how to cast all that well yet, so he's not as eager to play that one, although he'll watch us. No, the game that he really likes to play is the Cars one! And let me tell you, he's good at it, too! Much better than the rest of us (maybe that's why he likes it so well, huh?) He even played it for awhile after the girls went to bed. LOL So, for his birthday, I got him another game, this one is a flying one, where he can fly airplanes. It's a Tom Clancy version game. Tom Clancy is an author who's books Steve really likes to read. I'm told the storyline in the game is similar to his books and the guy who sold it to me has his own game at home. I hope he'll like it.

And about that fishing game? I am really enjoying it myself. I'm figuring out how to cast and have earned enough reputation points to participate in tournaments. So far I've unlocked two new lakes because I placed well enough or won those tourneys. Not too shabby for a gal who won't even bait her own hook when she goes fishing "in real life." LOL Don't ask me how I did it, but the biggest fish I've caught so far weighed 40 lbs! I can cast almost as well as Amy now. hee, hee.

Okay, I think that's enough blather for one day.

Hope your first day of 2011 has been terrific!

Cricut Magazine!

2010-12-29T16:45:00.000-07:00

Did you know that the people who bring you Scrapbook Trends magazine, Cards magazine, etc. is releasing a new magazine just for the Cricut? I've been getting newsletters about it for a few months. Well, I just got a newsletter letting me know that you can get this magazine online as a digital issue!! Check it out here. You can buy individual issues or get an online subscription. I've gone ahead and bought an issue and am looking forward to being even more inspired with ways to use the machine.

I'm not affiliated with the company in any way, just passing along the info in case anyone would be interested.

I'm off to check out the magazine...

How About Some Cards?

2010-12-29T16:34:00.000-07:00

I've managed to sneak into my craft space the past few days and created some cards for your viewing pleasure (at least I'm hoping they'll please you...lol). I like them pretty well myself. The inspiration for the cards comes from various blogs, but not necessarily any specific one. I also made pretty good use of my Cricut. Yes, the love affair continues and I'm going to embrace having my baby bug and the joy that it has been bringing me.

The first three cards use snowflakes from the Winter Lace Seasonal cartridge. Did you know, the more snowflakes you have to choose from means it's that much harder to actually select one???

I like the simplicity of this card and, until I looked at the photo, liked the black ink. Shoot, now I think it should have been dark brown. May have to do some corrective card surgery on this one! That's kraft cardstock and the brad...got that at Michaels...in the bridal section...before these types of brads were all the rage. LOL

Love, love, LOVE how this one turned out. Baby Pink cardstock (CTMH) and a bit of Cotton Bloom, a brand spanking new DCWV cardstock stack available at Michaels exclusively. Gotta love those 50% off coupons during the holidays! Oh the colors in this stack are so pretty!

Okay, this card was cased from one I saw in this post at iStamp waaaay back in November. Here's the direct link to the creator's beautiful card. The super pretty snowflake on top of the glittered one is from Hobby Lobby. I've only had it in my stash since last year. It's a Spare Parts brand (and I do believe they are on sale 50% off this week)...There are four in the package, 2 like this and 2 that are more white. The glitter is some cheapo stuff from....wait for it....Hobby Lobby! hee, hee I used the Cuttlebug and Desert Sand cardstock and ink. The sentiment is from a Hero Arts set Frames and Messages, I think.

And this final one....ohhhhh, makes me smile...I wonder why?

Here you can see some more of the colors from that new DCWV Cotton Bloom. Gosh, aren't they pretty? I searched my cartridges for a pretty butterfly and found this little gem on Home Accents. It's a layered cut. I like how the white pops against the blue. The edge punch is from Martha Stewart. The sentiment is stamped in Twilight ink and is a CTMH set called Birthday Script.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

As the year winds to a close, I hope you are looking forward to a creative 2011.

And Then There Were Two...

2010-12-27T16:04:00.000-07:00

Hamsters, that is...

The front cage is Pam's and the back house is for Jessica's new friend, Mallory.

Steve bought this hamster house from a co-worker.

The initial idea was to give it to Amy for Christmas as a new home for Pam.

The pictures we saw of it made the rooms look a bit larger than they actually are.

When Steve brought it home, I knew immediately Pam would become claustrophobic. Can't have that!

Soooooo, we decided to give it to Jessica on Christmas

and yesterday they went out and picked up

a dwarf Russian hamster that Jessica named Mallory...

She is pretty darn small, but pretty darn cute, too.

For most of yesterday, she stayed on the middle level (where the food and water is). She would start to go down the tube, then backtracked because she just wasn't sure.

Apparently overnight she figured out the tube because she was on the bottom level this morning.

And this afternoon Jessica tried holding her. Very sweet and thankfully she didn't bite.

This capped off a very nice Christmas for the girls

Pictures Amy drew for Santa, along with the baggie she used for carrots for the reindeer. Too cute

Obligatory shot in front of the tree (decorated by the girls). We had gone to a party on Christmas Eve and when we got home the girls were more interested in going to bed to get to sleep than in opening one gift (jammies). Who was I to argue? LOL So Jess is wearing jammies from a couple of years ago which are obviously too small, but she loves them.

And this is something I pulled together after seeing this idea at my friend Becky's house. She'd received the decorated rootbeer bottles from a friend.

On the way home from Becky's, the girls and I slipped into Walmart to buy the rootbeer and I put this together for the hosts of the party we went to. They were a hit. *Ü*

Christmas for the girls was fabulous.

I, on the other hand caught a pretty bad cold, so I wasn't quite myself. It's much better now, thank goodness.

While I won't deny that not getting the Expression I was so hoping for was pretty disappointing, it was kind of nice watching the Broncos finally win a game on the 32 inch flat screen I did receive.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope your holiday was fabulous!

Lily, The Christmas Elf...

2010-12-22T15:46:00.001-07:00

Hello again!

My second post for today...I'm on a roll. LOL

You may remember the ornaments I made last week to give to our friends who are moving soon.

If you clicked over to the Lily Sugar 'n Cream site, you might have seen the other pattern that arrived in my inbox. And if you saw it, you might have wondered if I was going to make it. Well, wonder no more, for I did indeed make Lily, The Christmas Elf.

Enjoy...

I followed the pattern throughout the project, except for the hair. I added the bangs, using the same technique as for the hair. I think it looks a tad more "natural" (as if yarn hair can ever look natural). And I didn't even attempt to put the hair up into ponytails. Not that it was suggested, I just remembered the futzing I did for Lily Witch around Halloween.

I love the addition of the jingle bells. hee, hee.

There are a lot of fun details on this project, I think.

She's ready to join her spool elf friends, I think.

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Only 3 more sleeps until Christmas. Wheeee...

Deck The Rails With Crocheted Balls and Snowflakes...

2010-12-22T07:42:00.000-07:00

Fa la la la...la la la la!

Sorry, just couldn't resist!

Guess who is pretty much d o n e and ready for Christmas?

That would be me.

Yay!

Well, except for the baking (which we'll do today or tomorrow depending)

and the gift card I have to buy because someone (not me) forgot to make a phone call to check on any gift ideas until I asked (again) last night.

I'm usually a last minute Lucy when it comes to wrapping gifts. I have visions of dolled up fancy wrapped gifts, but the reality is, the people in my house don't care about that, so they remain just visions in my head. I bit the bullet the other night and wrapped up a storm.

I had to wait until my bedtime to even start because Jessica, who has only lost two teeth so far, has one loose tooth right now and it had been bugging her all day. She consistently refused ibuprofen the entire day (she kept saying it hurt) until well after she went to bed, when she came out and said she couldn't sleep because it hurt. THEN she said okay to ibuprofen. I tried sending her to bed then, but she wanted to "watch a show" with Daddy (kid's show-her delay tactic). After that, I had to wait to be sure she was really asleep, you know? I almost nixed even trying to wrap, but decided to throw caution to the wind and get ready a little bit early. LOL Got those done. I had a few more gifts tucked here and there that I didn't get to. So yesterday, while the girls were playing with a neighbor friend at his house, I took a chance that they wouldn't come home for awhile and finished the rest off. What a relief!

So, with gifts and Christmas cards sent off, presents wrapped and most everything done, I had some time to finish off a project I've been working on in fits and spurts for a couple of weeks now.

I totally copied it.

From a garland I saw at Joann's.

The garland was $20 full price.

I could have gotten it for half off.

But even $10 seemed too much to pay for something I could make myself.

So, I took a few notes and studied it real well and

came up with this.

And now I know why it was $20 in the store.

It was a lot of work and tweaking to get it finished.

The crochet part was easy.

The put together part took more time and patience than I anticipated.

But, I like it.

It's too short to put on the tree (guess I should have made it longer) and too heavy to put on the mantel, too light in color to hang on a curtain. So, the porch it is. I like how it nestles in the garland.

Let Christmas come...I'm pretty much ready!

Hope you are too, or are enjoying the getting ready for it part.

This Elf Keeps Hoppin'...

2010-12-17T15:41:00.000-07:00

We made it to the last day of school and now are off for 2 weeks and a day. The teachers have a work day on Monday, so the kids don't go back until Tuesday. One thing that will be really nice is not having to get out of the house early in the morning...unless we want to, that is. *Ü*

The choir performance went off without a hitch the other night. Yay! The snow that had been predicted moved farther south, so the skies were clear, but it was cold! I didn't know this, but the kids performed by Santa's house. Santa and an elf came out to listen to the choir perform. How very sweet. Unfortunately, my camera doesn't like night shots, even on the appropriate setting, so all the pictures I took are very, very blurry. Oh well. The kids did a fantastic job and it was wonderful listening to them.

I was very excited yesterday when I took a shot and went by the post office to hopefully get the packages I needed in the mail. I must have hit it at the exact right time, as there were only a few people ahead of me and they added a 3rd clerk. Took me maybe ten minutes max. The line was out the door as I walked out. whew! Getting packages out is always a huge weight off my shoulders. Of course, the Christmas cards aren't out yet, but they will be soon, I hope!

I thought I'd share a few more little gifts I've made this season. Enjoy!

My friend Susi told a month or so ago that she was on the look-out for a chain to hold her glasses. She also asked if I'd keep my eyes opened while I was thrifting. I thought it might be a smidge nicer to make one for her. {wink, wink} Those colors are so Susi colors!

It's a quick and easy project. Well, quick and easy if you don't drop the strand after you've strung it and before you finish it off. Sigh...don't ask me how I know that. LOL

Another beaded necklace. I really like making these. The beads are fun and you can pick colors to suit the personality of the person you are making it for.

Again, a quick and easy project, in theory! I must have gotten a renegade spool of wire in this gold stuff. It kept tangling up on me and getting kinks. So, what should not have taken very long took about three times longer because I was fighting those issues. It might be wasteful, but I threw the remainder of that spool away because I was so frustrated with it by the time I got done. LOL

But, I'm glad I stuck with it, because I love how it turned out.

I hope you have a wonderful start to your weekend. Don't stress and enjoy the season!

Hugs!

Been A Busy Elf...

2010-12-15T14:03:00.000-07:00

Lest you think I dropped off the face of the planet after that string of posting last week to almost none this week, I thought I'd pop in and say a quick hello. I also thought I'd share part of the reason I've been so quiet.

Our swim buddy friends, Heidi, Ray (well, I don't know him as well), Annabelle and Ryan are moving to Oregon right after Christmas. Sniff, sniff. (I'll be good Heidi) While I'm completely excited for them and this new opportunity, selfishly, I wish they'd stay in Colorado for they are a wonderful family and so much fun to spend time with. Since life moves forward, whether you want it to or not, we had a fun playdate yesterday to spend some final time together. I think I talked Heidi's ear off. She's such a good listener. *Ü* You know this means I had to get a little gift together, right? Wanna see? I couldn't post this any earlier because Heidi would look, even if I told her not to. LOL

The patterns for these adorable ornaments arrived in my inbox a few days ago and I couldn't resist making them up for Annabelle and Ryan. The pattern is from the Lily website. They are kind of big for ornaments, I think, but Heidi told me since they are moving right after Christmas the house isn't being decorated, so these will add a little festive atmosphere. Yay!

And for Heidi

I crocheted her a bead necklace. Those colors reminded me of Heidi and I had a wonderful time crocheting and remembering all the fun times we've had together.

I have a mile long list of things left to do, so I'd best get to them. I hope to post again soon.

Wish Amy luck this evening as her choir has a performance scheduled outside in a local shopping center. Last night would have been ideal weather for the event. Today, there is a storm slated to move in and bring the white stuff. We're hoping it holds off until much later this evening.

Until next time, thanks so much for stopping by!

I do so appreciate your visits and wonderful encouraging comments.

*Ü*

Winter Scene Using Jolly Holidays

2010-12-10T15:51:00.000-07:00

Weeee, I'm having so much crafting these days. I just love this time of year when I am feeling really inspired. The project I'm sharing today is what came to my mind when I saw a Cricut Lite cartridge called Jolly Holidays at Walmart on Black Friday. The cartridge was on sale and that was my only reason for stepping foot into that store on Black Friday. Hee, hee. Actually, I lucked out as I went in later in the day and there was no line! Anyway, one of the cuts is the snowman on ice-skates. That little guy got my mind to whirling and what I'm sharing today is the result. I'm thrilled to pieces with the final project. Hope you like it, too. All the cuts you see are from this one cartridge. I think I got my money's worth, and there are lots more fun cuts I would love to try!

*Ü*

I found the great frame at the thrift store for $1. {score}Of course, there was no back and no glass, but that should be easily remedied.

I love the houses and the lamp posts.

The houses are cut at 3 inches and the lamp posts are cut at 2 inches.

That little guy on the left is what started it all! Both are cut at 3 inches.The little girl's outfit just makes me smile. The frozen pond has a layer of vellum over the blue cardstock. I ran the vellum through my xyron so I wouldn't have issues with adhesive showing.

This little guy just had to have a hill to ride his sled. Wheeeeeee....

Amy told me he was gonna slide right into the skaters, but I think they'll be safe.

This one is cut at 2 inches

There are a few different tree cuts, but I thought this one would work best. At the last minute I added the stickles to the branches and really like how it looks.

Most of the papers I used are from DCWV, with the exception of the blue. Those are from Martha Stewart. I used felt for the snow.

Thanks so very much for stopping by!

I hope you have a great start to your weekend.

Amy's final game of this session is tomorrow.

Hopefully, they'll end with a win.

*Ü*

SnowFamily {giggle}

2010-12-09T16:18:00.000-07:00

The project I am sharing today was mostly completed yesterday, and is partially the reason I was so bummed to have run out of crafting time.

Isn't it adorable?! I like surprising the girls with the crafts I work on and this is one of those projects.

Jessica walked by as I was taking this picture and saw it. She was so cute in her enthusiasm for this. Ahhhh, feels good when that happens.

Anyway, this is another project I've been itching to work on since before Thanksgiving. I saw the idea on a blog (but I can't remember which one) that led me to the tutorial on Childmade. You should check out the tutorials on this site. SO many ideas, so little time! LOL

I didn't have any white gloves, so Dollar Tree to the rescue. That's where the frame comes from as well. I got a fleece scarf there too, because we don't own any patterned fleece. You could easily use stuff from around the house, but I got it in my head I wanted a fleece scarf. Oh and the fabric on the daddy is from some I picked up at the thrift store. The pattern paper is DCWV winter stack. I had as much fun creating this as I did the elves yesterday. Although getting the finished piece into the frame just right took a few tries. LOL

I got a later start on creating today than I wanted, so I had to stop mid-project again today. Ah well. I was having a blast listening to Christmas music and getting more into the spirit of the season.

Thanks so much for stopping by and thanks so much for your enthusiasm for what I create, it makes is even more fun for me.

Got To Create Today...Finally!

2010-12-08T15:45:00.000-07:00

It's been two weeks since I've been able to wander into my craft space and I'm excited to be able to share these projects with you today.

Well, what do you know? Another Christmas Tree! LOL I actually finished crocheting this a couple of weeks ago and it's been sitting on my end table waiting for me to find something to decorate it. The pattern for this neat tree is from Amy Gaines and you can find it here. I enjoyed crocheting the tree, I just wasn't thrilled about putting felt circles on it. I found these miniature lights on sale at Joann's as well as the star. The star had a wire attached in a spiral so you could use it as a tree topper. The wire spiral didn't look right, so I pulled it out and just hot glued the star to the top of the tree. The tree skirt is attached, so it's all one piece. I really like those tiny lights. *Ü*

These little elves are sure making me smile and giggle. I'm so happy at how they turned out!

The idea for these isn't mine. I saw it in the 2010 Gooseberry Patch Christmas book several weeks ago. I saw the book at Joann's and was thumbing through it trying to decide if it needed to jump in my basket. Overall, I didn't think so as I've picked up two older versions of Gooseberry Patch holiday books at the thrift store, but when I saw these guys, I made sure to soak in all the details for recreating later. I've been itching to work on them since before Thanksgiving!

In case it's not obvious in the photo, I used wooden thread spools found at Joann's. I picked up some large wooden balls at Michaels (on a different shopping trip) and the rest of the items I had. That's scrapbook paper around the body and a heart punch for feet. I used DMC floss for the hair and green felt, red fleece and green burlap for the hats. They are completely finagled. I just cut a square, heated up the glue gun and winged it to get the square cut down for the shape I wanted. I liked the idea of ribbon scarves and pom poms on the end of the pipe cleaners. Those sort of "finish" the arms for me (that idea is all mine). I used a micro pen for the eyes and mouth and pink chalk for the cheeks.

Another project that's kept me busy is this:

What is it, you might be wondering.

Maybe this photo of my cheesy model will make it clear

I originally saw the idea here on MaryJanes and Galoshes and fell in love with the idea.( That blog is pretty awesome, too, I must add. I love that Taylor is taking up crochet! She's shares oodles of great ideas, too. Be sure to take a few minutes to look around).

I'm making the cowls for the girls' teachers. How funny that Amy's top coordinates with her teacher's gift. LOL

You can find the pattern at The Plum Giraffe and it's very reasonably priced too. The pattern is very easy to pick up and it works up pretty quickly. I'm now working on the second one in a dark olive green for Jessica's teacher.

I was so bummed when my creative time ended today, it flew by. I have more ideas I want to work on. Hopefully tomorrow I can get back at it.

Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope your week is happily busy and productive.

Awwwwww....

2010-11-30T16:06:00.000-07:00

Just snapped these photos of Jessica reading out loud to Grandpa...so sweet!

They need to be edited a bit, but just couldn't resist capturing the moment.

Dad and I have been having fun during the day doing some shopping while the girls are in school. Yesterday we also stopped at Gunther Toody's for lunch. After Steve gets home from work tonight, we'll be heading out to Texas Roadhouse for dinner. Yum!

While the girls were entertaining Grandpa yesterday afternoon, I popped onto the computer to catch up on emails. I started chatting with my good friend Erin and got her advice on something I wanted to do.

This past weekend I found the most beautiful cardigan/sweater that I will give to my friend Kelly for Christmas.

The detail in the sleeve and at the bottom of the piece thrills me to pieces.

I also picked up a sleeveless top to go with it.

It's hard to see, but there is a striped texture in the black sweater.

So, I wanted to add to this ensemble by making a necklace. But I couldn't figure out what to do. So, I asked Erin, who has made some really pretty jewelry, what she thought. She immediately came up with beaded crochet, but not the ropes that I have done before. She crochets with beads and wire! She referred me to her blog here and to Auntie's Beads for the how to video. She's so right, it was easy peasy to do! Thanks Erin.

Here's the result of my efforts (after a quick trip to Joann's this morning with my dad)

I still need to add the clasp/closure but I think this goes well with the set.

Thanks again for the inspiration, Erin!

Thank you for stopping by! I hope your week is going well.

*Ü*

Feeling a bit Festive...

2010-11-28T11:20:00.000-07:00

Hi There!

With Thanksgiving behind us, I thought it would be okay to share a few projects I've been working on this past week or so to help get things in the festive holiday spirit. I haven't pulled out any decorations or anything. I've just been inspired by some crafts I've seen on various blogs and in the craft stores.

Remember that pumpkin I cut in half and stuck in an open frame? Well, I discovered that ProvoCraft put out a seasonal cartridge called Winter Lace and it is just snowflakes! I lurve it and had to have it (on sale)! I took the idea and cut out two of the flakes. I glittered them, folded one and stuck them together. Although the cartridge has some cuts with a slit in them to make 3-D snowflakes, I chose not to do this for my project. I found this bare wood frame at the Dollar Tree. I might be painting it, or I might now as I kind of like the look of it ~~plain~~ bare.

And I knew I wanted to do a word in frames for the winter, so I did! Originally I was just going to use the same frames, but I found these at the Dollar Tree and really liked the idea of using silver instead of the gold. Kind of fits a winter them better, don't you think?

The papers on these two projects is from Martha Stewart. The letters are paper from DCWV and I used the Storybook cartridge again for the letters. What can I say? I love those letters! The paper, although it doesn't come across in the photo, is shimmery!

When I was roaming Joann's the other day, I came across an ornament that was basically pom-poms glued all over a ball. I really liked the look and how easy peasy. I've been trying to think of a ball design for the holiday (that I've had on my coffee table for the past several months) and thought this idea would work. I didn't like the pom-poms they had left at Joann's so I stopped at Hobby Lobby and found these sparkly ones on sale. I broke open the packages and just had fun hot gluing the pom poms. The look is a bit different than the one I saw in the store, but I like that it's eclectic (a fun way to say weird, right). And yes, I'll be changing the ribbon, I was just eager to share. It actually looks better in person than this photo shows.

On the blogs (and in the craft stores) I've been seeing ribbon covered cones and wanted to try my hand at it. I picked up the cones from the Dollar Tree and the ribbon from Hobby Lobby and Michaels. I found some thread spools and finials there, too. I painted the spool a Barn Red and so far have left the finial bare. I'm not sure just what color would be best actually. Here's a link to one of the projects that inspired me for the first tree. I was actually going to make the ruffle like she did, but found this wire ribbon at Michaels. Only, at first I didn't realize it was wired. I just liked the print. I was going to gather one edge on the sewing machine, but this was easier I think. I just crimped one edge and hot glued it to the styrofoam. I was working on this on Thanksgiving morning, actually. I'm thinking of adding the hemp and a bell to it. This is the partially finished project as those wood pieces aren't glued on yet.

This next tree was a bit of an exercise in patience, but I am thrilled with how it turned out. I started this one first earlier in the week. The ribbon was on sale at Hobby Lobby for a dollar a spool. I really like the gingham look, so those were a no brainer, but I wanted a third "color" and hit the jackpot, I think when I found the twill ribbon for the same price. I used just about a complete roll each of the gingham colors and a full roll, plus a little bit of a second roll of the twill. Each roll has 5 yards on it.

The patience came in from having to cut the bits of ribbon into two inch pieces, folding them and pinning them onto the cone. I thought about hot gluing, but figured I'd end up with too many glue strands. FYI, if you need straight pins, head to Wal Mart as a box of them is only $1.67 as opposed to over $3 at the craft stores! I needed a little patience for Jessica who really wanted to help pin the ribbon. I was happy to have her help, but the tv was on in the living room where I was working and, well, sometimes she'd stop to watch it. I'd have to get her attention to keep pinning. She was so proud to help me and said it was a lot of fun. So some extra love went into this project.

And finally, after seeing this post, I was inspired to create yet another tree:

How fun! It's just white glue and glitter, but what a sparkly look! I might need to find a fancier stand for this one. Hee, hee.

And that's what I've been doing lately. I have another idea I'm working on based on something I saw at Joann's. If I get it completed, I'll share.

My dad arrives this afternoon for his visit. He'll be here until Friday morning, so I probably won't have much crafty time this week. Just to let you know what's going on if I'm not posting much this next week.

Hope you have a great Sunday!

One Gift Done...

2010-11-25T19:00:00.000-07:00

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you've had a wonderful day with your loved ones and didn't eat so much that you are uncomfortable. Ours was quiet, but nice. The turkey was yummy and the girls are healthy and happy. There's not much more that one can ask for. *Ü*

As my title indicates, I can check off one gift as being done for this holiday season. I have a mom friend whom I hang out with after school (not Susi) who really likes to wear newsboy style caps. I thought it might be fun to make one for her as I really enjoy her company while our kids are playing for a bit before heading home. I tried making a freebie pattern and got it done to the brim part and thought it looked a bit small. I had Jessica try to put it on and it didn't even fit her eight year old head, so I knew it wouldn't fit my friend(kind of frustrating when you know your gauge is right, but it was free, so I can't really complain too much). I decided to go ahead and buy the pattern I had been eyeing for a few days. It's on Ravelry and you need to be a member to access it (although it's free to register). It's called Swirls Cap created by Sophia Kessinger (if you decide to take a peek on Ravelry you can look it up by that information).
Here's how it turned out:

I'm a little worried this one might be a teensy bit big (although it fits my head comfortably, if a bit floppy). If it is, I can always make her another one and adjust the size. This worked up really quickly as it is double crochets (my favorite crochet stitch). The pattern didn't call for a button on the flower, but I thought it would look neat with one. I found the vintage button in my stash and am really pleased with how it looks.

As this Thanksgiving comes to a close, I'd like to thank you all for your visits and comments. I truly appreciate your time and generosity. If I've managed to make you smile, I'm thrilled. I hope the rest of your holiday weekend is wonderful!

Happy Thanksgiving Banner

2010-11-22T16:28:00.000-07:00

This project has been waiting patiently for me to finish it for about a week now.I was going to gussy it up a bit more, but, since Thanksgiving is just a few days away, I decided to call it done without any extra bling. Otherwise, it just might not get done at all. I used the Cricut for all the cutting. Storybook cartridge and Amber Autumn (DCWV) cardstock. The leaves are from Doodlecharms. So far the girls haven't noticed it. Big surprise, huh? They are sitting at the computer right next to the fireplace where this is hanging, too, as I type this. LOL

Thanks so much for stopping by.

I hope your week is off to a good start!

*Ü*

Impromptu Field Trip on Saturday

2010-11-22T16:21:00.000-07:00

Steve got an email late last week about an exhibit that was going to be open for Saturday only at the Museum of Nature and Science. The subject of the exhibit? Fossils that were found just a few weeks ago in Snowmass Colorado! Fossils of mammoths, mastadons and a giant sloth. How cool is that?! Here is an article I found online about the discovery. History in the making is something you just don't want to miss out on. So, we went. I didn't bring my camera, thinking they wouldn't allow photos. Um, I was wrong. Steve pulled out his phone and took some pictures. And I thought you might like to take a peek. I tried to edit the pictures so you could see the detail better.

This is the inside of the horn core. The horn core is the inside of the tusk. The tusk is actually a sheath over the horn core.

These animals had huge teeth. And they get 4 sets over their lifetime.

When one tooth is ground down too far, another set moves in to take its place.

Here you can kind of see the other set getting ready to move.

They think this is from an 18 year old female.

Here is the tusk, the horn core is from inside this.

Another shot of the horn core.

They had a few activities for the kids to participate in.

They also had these life size banner posters so you could get a feel for just how large these animals were.

Jessica loves to get her face painted!

Cute mastadon, eh?

Amy liked her hat.

This is the leg bone of something, I don't remember what.

They had some other fossils on display that weren't from the recent findings.

If you look by that lady in the green sweater, you can see the pelvis they had hung up. It's at the height it would have actually been for that animal (I think it was a mastadon...it was huge!)

Anyway, it was a fascinating exhibit.

After we were done, we had to go into the Gems and Minerals exhibit and then the Mummies exhibit.

Amy wanted to go to others, but we'd been there a few hours by this point and the place was packed.

Good thing we have a membership and can go back whenever we want. Except to see these fossils they just found. It was so worth the trip over, I think.

*Ü*

Thankful Cards

2010-11-19T16:41:00.000-07:00

Hi There and Happy Friday to you!

This week somehow got away from me and I didn't get to create nearly as much as I wanted to. I was able to finish up some cards today, though, and thought I'd share them with you.

This first card is pretty much a complete case of this one on Just4Fun2. I saw it way back in September. I really liked the wreath, but thought (foolishly) that I could recreate the wreath with stamps I own, or digital stamps. Um, not so. I didn't have any leaf images that I thought would work well (what's up with that?), so I put in on the back burner. But I couldn't get the card out of my mind, so I caved and bought the digital image here.(big cave, it's all of $2)There are some really neat images in this shop, but I just bought the one. I could so do some damage to my wallet, but with the holidays coming up, I am being good (sort of. If I was really good, I'd not be getting anything, ha, ha)

Anyway, I really, really liked Pat's card and didn't change it up much. I just used colored pencils and odorless mineral spirits instead of markers. It was kind of fun trying to blend the colors. My intention was to have the cross stitching the same as Pat's too, but I poked the holes on the leaf paper on the wrong side! Had I kept it, the little acorns would have been upside down. Oops. So, maybe that is my different take on the card. LOL It's harder to see than I thought it would be, but the sentiment is stamped right onto the Amber Autumn (DCWV) cardstock. I used that Hero Arts Happy Thanksgiving set for the sentiment.

I wanted to use the same Hero Arts set for another card and this is what I came up with. My inspiration was this card on Lea's Cupcakes and Sunshine blog (yes, I am stretching, it doesn't look much like my inspiration). I really liked the design. But again, I don't have leaf stamps that I felt would work(I'm surprised that I don't own smallish leaf images) But, I didn't cave and get the stamp set she used (again, trying to be good). I think it came out pretty nice for a clean and simple card.

Did you notice I put my name on the pictures? It's been a long time since I've done that. Maybe I'm a lazy blogger, but I don't edit my pictures (maybe I should, but I think my camera takes pretty decent shots). I don't always feel like opening up my PSE 7 to just put on a watermark. And Windows Live Writer no longer works for me. But I have this program that I got a long time ago for editing videos (when I thought I'd be creating more of them-hardy har har). It used to open up every time I stuck my photo card in the reader. I would just hit cancel when the pop up came up. Then it quit opening up. Just this week it started opening up again(sometimes computers are so hit and miss). And I hit cancel. But then....I wondered (for some bizarre random reason) if I could open up the pictures in this program to add my name to the picture. Lo and behold, it worked! Yay, I can put my name on my creations again, and it is fairly quick and painless.

That font is called Kathleen, and I honestly don't remember where I got it. I liked how it looks like that script typewriter font from when I was a lot younger...anyone remember those? Yes, I realize I'm totally dating myself now, but I loved the look of reports typed with that font...always wished we owned one like it. LOL Yes, I used to type up school reports on a manual, then an electric typewriter. I was in high school when my dad brought home our first computer. It used DOS. Ugh, I hated it. I had so much trouble getting it to work. It was faster for me to type on the typewriter, so I preferred to do my reports that way. Ahhhh, you youngsters (and my kids) have it so much easier now, in terms of technology.

And just so you know, I walked to school, uphill, both ways, in the snow. LOL (never mind that I grew up in Southern California...phffffft

Geez, that was quite a tangent...forgive my skip down memory lane and

I hope you have a great start to your weekend.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

JungleQuest Fun!

2010-11-15T15:49:00.000-07:00

The pictures aren't the best, but Amy and her friends sure had fun zipping along again, and again.

The workers there were fun, too. They'd pull ropes to get the kids swinging higher or spinning them or even stealing their shoes! One guy would "ride" along with them. Crazy.

Amy impressed the heck out of me when she climbed the rock wall just like a pro. I don't even think she slowed down. Up, up up she went straight to the top to ring the bell.

One last ride with her friend Hattie.

Hattie was talking like she wouldn't do the zip lines because they intimidated her.

Thankfully, she was willing to give it a shot and discovered how fun it was.

I was really proud of her.

And, although I missed a majority of the Broncos terrific win against the Chiefs, it was SO worth it to watch the girls have the time of their life.

Of course, now Amy wants to go again....

LOL

Thanks for stopping by!

I hope your week is off to a great start.

Birthday Gifts for a Friend...

2010-11-13T14:19:00.000-07:00

Okay, since the party is in just a few hours, I can pretty safely share these projects without the recipient (Hi Becky) seeing them. If I had posted earlier and said, don't look, I'm pretty confident she'd go ahead and look! When I said I was busy earlier, with not much to show for it, these are the reasons why.

Becky is a big fan of owls and, even before I asked her for ideas for a birthday gift she might like, I already had a plan in mind. She just confirmed what I was already thinking. Don't you love it when that happens?

Since I'm currently having a love fest with my Cricut I looked for owl images and wasn't disappointed. This owl is from the Cindy Loo cartridge.

Not much to explain as it is pretty straightforward. The only thing I might change, if I could, is the background paper. Unfortunately, I didn't have any other paper that would work well.

I loved this foil accented paper in the Amber Autumn stack.

I'm really pleased with the end result of this little project.

*Ü*

Here is another owl, a squishier kind.

His name is Rupert.

(or whatever name Becky decides)

The pictures don't really do him justice.

He is rather cute, dare I say a smidge elegant, in real life.

That's a really royal looking purple yarn. And a bit of dark green and tan.

What I really liked about this pattern is its unique design.

I hadn't done an amigurumi piece using double crochets before.

And the "ears" are adorable!

I found the pattern here on Etsy.

If the link doesn't work, type in Rupert the Owl and the listing will show up.

He came out larger than the sample shows, mostly likely because I used worsted weight yarn, and possibly, a larger crochet hook. That just means there's more to love, right?

I also asked Becky what ideas she had for her daughter, Julia, whose party we are attending.

Julia loves Hello Kitty.

Well, kitties of any persuasion, but Hello Kitty in particular.

So, I looked for a kitty image to use in my Cricut.

The one I found is not quite there, but close enough, think.

Somehow, I don't think Julia will object.

And I lucked out when I searched for Hello Kitty crochet patterns. I found one here, that turned into this:

Bumblebee Hello Kitty!

Complete with wings!

Isn't she a cutie bee?

The blogger translated the pattern from a Japanese one. She did okay, but hadn't tested it before posting. Luckily for me, I have enough crochet experience under my belt that I was able to adjust for a few errors in the translation.

And, the pattern called for a crocheted ladybug, which I made,

But the consensus was it was too big!

I had a some ladybug buttons in my stash that I was able to use instead.

I didn't realize when I started that Hello Kitty has a yellow nose. I thought it was black. But, thankfully I learned the real nose color before I used that color. LOL I'm hoping Julia will be happy with her kitty.

So, this is what I was busy with earlier this week!

Amy's team won their game today...yay!

Hope your weekend is going well.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

A Couple of Cards to Share (yay!)

2010-11-12T15:46:00.000-07:00

Hi There,

I was able to actually get some cards made today. Yay, me! LOL Actually, the first one I was able to finish as I started it earlier this week. One of Amy's school friends is having a birthday party this weekend at a place called JungleQuest. We've not been there before, but apparently there is rock climbing and riding zip lines involved. Should be fun for Amy. And loving mom that I am, I will miss watching the Broncos ~~lose~~ play as the party is at the same time as the game (watch, they'll actually win this week...LOL). So anyway, here's the card I created:

I had fun with my Cricut and Doodlecharms (for the cupcake) cartridge. I can't remember which cartridge had the word celebrate though. I was thumbing through all my booklets and my mind is coming up blank. Maybe it was Wild Card as I found the cake plate on that one. The paper is DCWV's Nana's Nursery. I liked how the dotted paper sort of looks like sprinkles on the icing. I inked the icing edges with CTMH's Crystal Blue ink and the bottom of the cupcake with Sweet Leaf. Should be glittery enough for Amy's friend, I think.

This next card was completely inspired by the one I saw here on Istamp's ipicks posting of ideas that appealed to her. The direct link to the card is here.

Again, I used my Cricut and George & Basic Shapes cartridge to cut 5 ovals for each pumpkin. Then I ran them through embossing folders in the Cuttlebug. A little inking with Autumn Terracotta finished the look (oh and some gluing of course). The sentiment is from a Hero Arts set called Happy Thanksgiving. The background paper is DCWV Fall (from last year) and the ribbon is CTMH Goldrush. I'm really pleased at how this one (well, how both of them) turned out.

I hope you have a wonderful start to your weekend!

Amy's bb team plays tomorrow and we have another birthday party tomorrow evening.

Then, Amy's friend's party on Sunday. Looks like Mom is going to be busy driving over the hills and through the woods again this weekend (okay, maybe not that far, but driving a bunch nonetheless).

Hope to be able to get some creating in, as well.

*Ü*

Crochet Stocking "Ornament"

2010-11-10T14:48:00.002-07:00

Does it feel like I've dropped off the face of the blogosphere? It does to me! I've been busy, but don't have much to show for it, I'm afraid. Hopefully, I'll have more to share soon.

In the meantime, I have been trying to think of creative ideas for Christmas gifts and came across this idea last weekend. I thought it would be neat to work up and stick in a gift card or something, and then the recipient could have an ornament for their tree. I found some neat holiday yarn at Walmart and decided to create with it.
It wasn't hard at all, but the result is a bit unexpected:

That's one big ornament, isn't it?! LOL It actually fits Jessica's hand! Then I looked at the size on the pattern (which I neglected to notice when I started-selective vision, possibly)...it's supposed to be big 6 1/2 inches long. Guess I'm doing pretty well with gauge, then. So, this could still work as a gift card holder, as long as there is something else (like candy maybe) included so the gift card doesn't get lost in that thing. Then maybe the recipient could hang it up as a unique stocking or something. LOL The picture shows it nestled in a tree (close up), and I'm thinking, that must be one big tree, too. The thumb looks all wonky in the picture, not sure why.

Might have to put that thinking cap back on and get my fingers flexed to do some more searching for ideas.

We've sure been enjoying some lovely fall weather. Up until yesterday, that is. A storm blew in and dropped the temps about 30 degrees from the day before. We got some rain, and then our first snow and something I don't remember seeing before, snow pellets! I was working on something and could hear a loud banging type noise. I couldn't figure it out at first, so I went to look. I was hearing them fall. It was kind of wild. Not used to seeing hail in a snow storm. It was louder because we have a metal carport. It didn't last too long and today the snow is melted. We could get another, more significant, snowfall tomorrow. We'll see!

Seeing as I'm talking about the weather now, I'll sign off with thanks for stopping by! Hope your week is going well.

I Tried Stamping Today...

2010-11-05T16:25:00.001-06:00

And I must be pretty darn rusty as I had the dickens of a time trying to create what is supposed to be a simple card. LOL I was inspired by this one from clean & simple.

Here's the card:

Would you believe it took me at least four tries to get this? Sheesh. The reason it's not finished is because after I finally got it lined up right, etc, I moved the card to think on the sentiment I wanted to use and it fell or hit the edge of an open stamp pad! It's not real dark, but I know it's there and so I quit stamping for the day. We just weren't getting along too well.

On to the next!

This card was inspired by this one I saw on Just Dandy. I am loving all the doilies I am seeing on cards these days. Well, I was pretty sure I had some doilies in my stash in the garage room. But, could I find them? NO! Remember when I moved stuff into the house? I set up the rest of my stash for storage in the garage room. And after the weight bench and treadmill were moved into the same room, someone decided to rearrange what I had set up. In rearranging, my whole storage system went...poof...Sigh. If I want something in particular, I have to go digging and moving and possibly saying some not so very nice words. (who me??) Yeah, so I was pawing through stuff and I couldn't find the darn doilies. This was right after the stamping fiasco, so I was just about to cut my losses and quit for the day, but I looked through my cartridge stash and decided to try a doily on the Cindy Loo cartridge. Well, the image is called a doily anyway. I guess that's as close as I'm going to get until I can pick up some more (at the dollar store, hopefully). The butterflies are from Paper Lace. I adhered two different ribbons together and they coordinate better than the photo show. The flower is one from a package of three bunches I picked up at Michaels several months (possibly almost a year) ago. I think they are Prima brand, but the packaging is long gone, so I can't say for sure. I like the idea of what I created, but not so much the execution. Ah well, such is life.

And here's an idea (not mine, I saw it here) for those of you who are collecting cartridges....

I tried putting the keypads in that notebook awhile back, but didn't keep the booklets in the house. It was a bit of a pain to pull out and reinsert the keypads. Then I started worrying that the cartridges themselves might get messed up being out in the open and subject to dust. When I started playing with Paper Lace, I noticed I need the booklet to show me what each cut can do. That got me to thinking having the booklets handy would be a good idea. So, I picked up a photo storage box and put all my carts in it. I was able to fit the basket right in there for now. I still need to put some dividers with labeled tabs in, so I can see at a glance what the carts are. I like this much better (at least for now).

Thanks so much for stopping by! I hope your weekend is off to a great start. It's supposed to be gorgeous and warm here (almost 80 tomorrow!). Ooooohhhh, I keep thinking at some point we will be paying for this lovely fall weather. And I won't be able to complain at all. LOL