A Lovely Blog Award!

I was truly honored to receive a blog award....Thanks so much Denise! She has a great Project 365 blog. I see this as a wonderful opportunity to share some of my newest favorite blogs with all of you in turn.There are some talented ladies out there! Here are my 15 new favs! Well they're all new since I'm new to this!

If you see your blog here, collect your own award, post it, and send out the same award to 15 new blogs. Also post a link back to the blogger who gave you the award...me :)

And now, in no particular order:

Scrappingklo- the Bwahahaha got me!
Margaret's lovely blog - with a tutorial...
Brandilynn's- beautiful blog...
Miss Bliss'- nice work!
My Life's Simple Pleasures- a pleasure indeed...
Big Mamas Craft Room -nuf said :)
Cheryl's Spot- a lovely place to visit
Confessions of a Bling Princess- has a great bling to it
Dreamofscrappin- just dreamy!
Just-a-scrappin- WOW!
Just The Scraps- always something new and great
Scrapping Melissa- bold and beautiful
A place to BE HAPPY- a happy place
Crazy About My Cricut- Niiiice
LA's Cricut and SCAL Creations- one word SCAL files...ok more then one word! :) ~

Thanks so much to all these lovely ladies for sharing their wonderful talents!

Eeyore, Rabbit and Tigger

I had fun making these for a message board friend recently...and I learned a few things too of course. These cuts were from the Disney Pooh and Friends cart cut at 4". Since Rabbit is only on the cart once and doesn't have his name icon, I cut him one from the Hello Kitty Font cart. After the fact I realized there might be something for SCAL!

They turned out pretty well for a small disney cut and I learned that that paper changes and stretches when you cut it, and pull it from the mat. I ended up laying all the pieces on the black base cut and then glueing them one at a time so that I could make sure they were fitting just right. The piece that gives you the most trouble isn't always the one you think! I usually squeeze some glue onto my Splat Mat and dredge the pieces through but sometimes I just put dots all along the piece. My CutterBee reverse action tweezers are a life saver for this! They have a fine tip and are nonstick as well. Plus, they hold without having to squeeze. If you have never used a "reverse action" tweezer it can take some getting used to, but when you do, you'll love them! The glue I use is Scotch fast drying glue with the fine tip. I have really loved this glue. :)

My Best Work...

Not too long ago, a friend from the cricut message board(Hi Sock!) offered a RAK (random act of kindness, AKA scrap goodies). Her conditions were that we post our best work. Well, that got me to thinking...my girls really are my best work. A photo I just printed had turned out great, even though it wasn't planned. The girls all had on matching outfits that day, just to go out to play, and they stood still for a fraction of a second for me to get one of the best pictures! So, I immediately got to work on this layout.

I started with a few matching papers and tried to use the Close To My Heart "Cherish" book (which I love, more on that later). But as luck would have it, I ended up with my own thing...The journaling box is one of my favorite quotes by Mother Theresa, "You can do no great thing, only small things with great love." I also tucked a tag under the picture for more private journaling. A new thing I am loving!

Summer has begun

So, the summer solstice has come and gone and the kids are already bored, despite VBS last week and tennis starting this week for G! Since I might not have as much time to create as I would like, I was inspired to dig through my "websharing" file for things I have created in the past...one of which is my very first layout. For a good laugh!

I am lucky to have a wonderful friend and former neighbor in Grove City, PA who is a Creative Memories consultant. She was so excited about teaching how to preserve memories and get me off to a running start! I still hear her say "done is better than perfect" every time I am stuck on a layout. I still try to remember that, except for a few special layouts, I need to get it down to the page! I love the creativity that scrapbooking and papercrafting allows me. I hope to post some old crafts and some new tips and tricks coming soon! I learn through my mistakes, and since I've made many of them, I should have a few things to share! :)

Another Birthday!

Another June birthday....another card. The best part about my crafting is when I give it away! I love that my daughter felt special getting a custom made toad card. Even if it wasn't perfect, it was just for her. She had a great party day on Sunday and so did I. For a change, we had her party at the local pool instead of trying to do it at home. It was one of the best parties ever! No stress! I just enjoyed making the goodie bags as requested by my silly spicy DD G! Frogs, toads, snakes, and at least a cute penguin! She requested a skunk but it didn't make it home with anyone! LOL (For my Cricut friends: all animals from Animal Kingdom except for squirrel from Disney's Happily Ever After, tag welded from a circle tag and a scalloped circle on DS using Mini Momograms )

2009- Year To Shine

The gym never looked better than for the graduation ceremony for our 5th graders this year! My neighbor and friend masterminded a Hollywood theme and created decorations for the "2009-year to shine" class. We worked together on the star sign and thanks to her mom's company who donated the cardboard, she was able to make giant Molly statues like oscars. Molly is the much loved Golden Retriever mascot for the school. We even had a red carpet with the students names on stars lining the edges. It was such a nice part of my job to write their names and remember some of the students that my daughter shared classes with over the years. It really started to sink in today that she is no longer such a littl girl. (For all my cricut friends the lettering for the sign was done with SCAL...the Hollywood font stretched a bit)

Teachers Gifts

It was such a relief that I purchased these note cards and journals a few months ago at Michael's in the dollar section. With some matching ribbon and my trusty scallop circle punch from Stampin Up I turned out 22 teachers gifts for my girls to take to school! It is amazing what a little ribbon and some basic embellishments will do! Unfortunately I was working on so many other projects I wasn't able to make anything special for the teachers. I would have loved to do that. But, I have two birthday girls this month and I am working on my oldest girls graduation ceremony decorations. A gold star banner and some small stars for their "red carpet" The class of 2009 year to shine! More pics of that since the ceremony is tomorrow...

A Happy Birthday wish for my Daughter...

My DD K was eleven yesterday. A crafty mom has to make a card for her own girl , right! Well, I was more than glad to have a few things already out to make this for her. The same glitter rub-ons that were still on my scrap desk from the weekend, and some DCWV spring card blanks that were nearby made a quick card! So glad I have all those stamps(from Penny Black Bubbly set) and mini pads from Studio G too! And of course the ribbon stash(Target dollar spot find). I am getting faster thankfully!

Cheating and Stealing!

I don't know about you, but in the past I have been reluctant to use exact ideas from others. I always felt like it was "cheating" to take an idea and copy exactly. I felt like if I didn't change a few things I was stealing and wasn't being truely creative. Well, not anymore! I have run out of time for true creativity! LOL. I shamelessly stole this idea from a fellow cricut message board member...down to almost the last detail! Thank you so much scrapalette! Since mine was just filled with smarties and kisses and a gift card you might want to check out her "2 liter teacher appreciation" post in the cricut crafts section of the board. As usual I had some trouble following exactly! For one thing my printer was out of ink and for another I forgot to drink a soda that matched the school colors. LOL. But...the teacher loved it, and I was glad we were able to give her something a little more special, since other teachers got some terrific gifts as well...a personalized rocking chair for one and a mini scrapbook of all the kids for another! Phew, stiff competition.

Quickies...

Just gotta love the cricut! I made these as holders for gift cards using the pillow box from the Wedding Solutions cartridge on the shadow feature. I love that the cartridges have so many uses! I used DS to help size them to fit the cards, and used the frog from Paper Doll Dress Ups. For the second girly one I used a rub on with a tag (cut from Plantin School Book) and made both of these in just a few minutes each! Of course it helps to have a large ribbon stash! I recommend something to hold the pillow boxes together. Happy Scrappin!

Crop Project...

Recently I was able to go to an all day crop....My first ever if you can believe it! As everyone has told me before, I ended up taking way too much stuff and not getting enough done! LOL. I chatted with some wonderful ladies, got some great tips and tricks, and best of all I helped a friend with her goal of raising money towards her three day walk for breast cancer. She is walking with her good friend who recently finished up her chemotherapy treatments. I really admire their dedication. Hopefully I can post a link for you to help support them too! They need $43,000 by October!

Back to the project.....I made these little books for my Daisy Girls Scouts which I filled in later with pictures from the year. It's a little chipboard accordion style book (from www.discountschoolsupply.com ) that I covered with paper from stash. I used two different cuttlebug embossing folders, run through twice for each solid color paper, since each "page" was about 5X7. I found some sticker sets from the girl scout web site and this paper matched perfectly. Unfortunately I didn't have time to crop the pictures of the girls to leave space for journaling and more. Just stuck the prints right in...the stickers were the only embellishments, which made it super fast. It all came together so easily! Someone at the crop was impressed that I had cuttlebug folders and everything to match, but it is easy when you follow your tastes...eventually things start to co-ordinate! Just one more way to justify my collecting habit!

I had a great group of girls and moms and I wanted to give them something more than a certificate for the year. Hopefully they will dig this out years from now, and possibly show their own daughters. One of the moms from our troop was able to show us a tote bag that she had as a keepsake form her Scouting days. She had won a contest, and her artwork was featured on the bag. What a wonderful memory! My greatest hope for the girls is to not only help them learn the Girl Scout principals, but to make some wonderful memories along the way!

Teacher Appreciation!

Here are some old projects I wanted to share, since I have just started the whole blog thing!
I was lucky to work with a great committee this year for the teacher appreciation week. We had a "spring-like" and "thank you" theme, and we made a lots of goodies for the teachers. (You can bet my cricut expression got a work out.)

We made sour cream containers filled with mints and chocolate, sets of four cards each for approx 85 teachers and staff members. And we also made some chocolate bar wraps which I don't have pictures of. It seems like I am missing something since I was so busy for a few weeks but I guess that's it. I did use the "thank you" key on the new Lyrical Letters cartridge form cricut to make four signs for the front of the school...I just cut them on fit to page and put them onto a background of 12X12 cardstock. I felt like I was cheating since it was so easy! Oh and I used the Beyond Birthdays cart to make some cut outs which hung from a sign for the teachers lounge. Thank you in three languages!

It was great to use the DCWV spring packs since I was able to use one pad of paper and two of cardstock for all the items, with everything coordinating. Everything was matching from the signs, to the favors and cards...gotta love that! I was even able to make some cards for the guys that weren't so girly! Plus when I was able to get the stacks on sale at Joann's it was double bonus. I think we were able to give some quality gifts to the teachers this year! I hope they liked them!

I am finished!

In more ways than one! It seems so nice to work on projects without distractions or interruptions, but it's the middle of the night. And, there are only so many hours in the day. So, since some must be spent on sleep, I have to wait to post pics and details of my projects tommorow. See you then!

Welcome to my blog!

So...this is my first ever post with many more to come...Welcome to my blog. Hope you find inspiration and fun here!