Scrapbox givaway!

I would love to have one of these great storage cases. One of these would allow me to have all my scrap stuff handy but out of reach of little hands! Plus they offer individual storage items like ribbon boxes and etc. Who wouldn't love that! Enter to win your own at the Cristmas with the Cricut blog. Good Luck! Here's a link to the Original Scrapbox store so you can see all the wonderful options. :) Enter this code when you place your order to get $100 off your shipping: 100Writes

The Gypsy!!!

I wanted to be sure everybody knows where they can find the HSN Gypsy offer online. You can see the details and even buy with the 5 FlexPay option at $59.99 payments and free shipping. Two full carts--Gypsy Wanderings and Gypsy Font--as well as Don Juan. Add in the car charger and bag. Very cool! Get it now and you can also get 500 extra points in Cricut Rewards for a total of 700!

All in a day...

I was looking forward to using a kit from one of the deal of the day sites(can't remember which) and so I grabbed these pics of my B from Mothers day at the zoo. It's the My Minds Eye, Laundry Line set of papers and embellishments(Flirty "Embrace"?). The colors are so pretty and the striped cardstock is actually glittery and shiny. :) I had a quite a few papers and embellies, and let me tell you this made it so easy to put together. I used some basic cardstock stash and a cut from my Cricut cart Storybook...also my Martha Stewart border punch. Then stuck on the chipboard shapes and rub-ons. Of course it needs a few finishing touches and journaling but it was great to get stuff done so quickly. This could be an option for taking to crops!

Cricut celebration!

Wow! Cricut is celebrating their 100th cart, Winter Woodlands! I have to say I can't wait to get one of those carts for myself. :) I have had tons of fun in the snow and I love the idea of creating a winter village with my girls that's 3D! DH dug his childhood train set out a few year ago and a village would be a great addition this year. I can even see a gingerbread house not made of cookies this year as well as bunny houses and playthings. Not to mention the beautiful embellishments for the winter season scrapbooks. Way to go Provocraft, it just keeps getting better and better. I love my cricut for getting me back into scrapbooking and crafting. Your company has truly enriched my life, and what more could you ask for? Check out the new cart at their website here.

From this:

To this:and then some! After weeks of pushing paper and pictures around I finally got this one done! I cut out many more extras but ended up with something I am reasonably happy with. The font is Hello Kitty and New Arrival for "love" and the clipboard is from Fabulous Finds. The stamps are from Close to My Heart, two different sets.

I will most likely add some journaling around to fill in a bit but am glad to move on to another project. In fact it's one I can really be excited about. I will be trying a new technique for a challenge RAK my friends are offering and also sending it on to a very special boy. My friend Megan's nephew was recently diagnosed with an brain tumor. I am happy to report the doctors got it all out, but he still has a little ways to go before he is all recovered. I am hoping to cheer him up just a bit. Please add Jackson to your prayers, and tune in soon for the finished product...in a few days! :)

Frogs and Toads

I am so excited to say I finally got some scrapping done! All this in one day! I have continued the idea of challenging myself to add new things to each lo and this one was lots of fun. The toads crown(paper pups) is glossy and glittery with some really cheap Joann's glittered embossing powder ( going to try UTEE and MS glitter next) and several fonts are for a large "title." There's a bit of Spica glitter pens around the large cirlce and the word princess which didn't show on camera, and I layered the lettering with patterned paper. Even if it was a little too conservative with the colors, I am getting better about having more on the page. The greens are a little mixed but not too obvious in person... and I wish I had more imagination for embellishments, but ....Best of all it is complete! (I added more journaling on the back and I think this style suits me.) Thanks for looking!

A Baby boys album

I recently finished up an 8X8 album for a friends baby. One year later I have learned a lot and been able to use up some "boy" papers. :) Thanks so much to my fellow cricut board members who inspired me and whose ideas I have used here with my own interpretations of colors and etc....

more pages...

and more pages...

more pages...

and even more pages...

last pages from baby book...

Ya Buggin' Me: BLOG CANDY! Big Shot Bigz Top Note Die & MORE

Thanks so much for your generosity! Gotta love some blog candy...check this out!
Ya Buggin' Me: BLOG CANDY! Big Shot Bigz Top Note Die & MORE

Wow! Has it really been that long since my last post? I have had a busy week, but no scrapping. Just visiting with some fellow message board friends who each drove about six hours to come see me! Yep, I do feel special!

I am currently working on finishing up an 8X8 baby book for a friend so tune in shortly for tons of pics of the whole thing...mostly scraplifted with a dash of my own creativity...LOL.

Enjoy the rest of your summer...hurry, it's almost over! :)

My first SCAL cut using inkscape!

I am so excited. I finally tried my hand at inkscape and SCAL.(Thanks to Pam and some others who have posted help) I have cut some true type fonts in the past but this is my very first attempt at a file. It was relatively easy but it's also easy to see how it can get challenging. I modified the girl with the blankie and teddy bear from A Child's Year to create a bunny...well sort of. I think I am going to love having the new upgraded SCAL...It has layers and grouping and along with inkscape the possibilities are HUGE! But the basics are still pretty easy to use so if you are on the fence don't worry. Just go step by step! *edited to add that I do not intend to copy any images for use without purchase. This was an exercise only and I used one of the simplest images I could find. I plan on using inkscape for combining text and images I already own with my SCAL program which I feel does not infringe on any copyrights. It would not only be illegal but also unchristian to copy and use any images on carts not owned. Integrity is what you do when no one is watching! Thanks, it's just what I feel I have to do...

Challenge Layout

This layout was fun since it was a challenge to myself to use new ideas. There was even a sticky note list to refer to when considering "what can I do here" It was good to have a written guideline!
Here's my list:

• Do not mat the photos
• Do not match colors exactly
• Do not put watermelon cut outs on the page, nothing too literal
• Put at least one embellishment on the page
• Try one new technique
• Stamp on the page
• Get it done(don't over think it)!

It was pretty sucessful for a challenge. I used grommets and brads thanks to my cropodile big bite, also a watermelon looking background using Plantin Schoolbook mountians, as well as a new technique of paper tearing (I know I'm a little late on trying that) LOL.

Plus I stamped on the page using a combination of my Studio G's as well as a Stampology Sentiments stamp set, using Staz-on Timber Brown ink. I really like clear stamps since I can lay them out to make sure of the placement first.

Also, there are chipboard letters with inked edges(DCVW RAKed to me by Enfys,TY!). The B! was cut from Street Sign font cart and glittered with Martha Stewarts glitter and inked.

My friend Stephanie helped out a lot when she recommended inking using a dauber in a circular motion...Thanks Stephanie!! I just used a q-tip and the small "journaling box" turned out much better than the lettering.

Even though I am not a card maker...

June is the wedding season, especially for my friend Jann. She had two weddings in two weeks time! Her DD was married in a sweet small ceremony, in order to celebrate while her new husbands family was in the US visiting from the UK. While her son was married in a large (350+) wedding in June as well. Their family deserved some sunshine in their lives and these were bittersweet moments since the recent death of Jann's mother and some recent family troubles.

This card was made for her daughter, which was somewhat intimidating since she has quite an artistic flair of her own! I had insider information that the bride's dress had black embroidery and she chose blue with white flowers, one of my favorite color combinations as well, so I tried to make it elegant yet at least a little modern.

I think I made at least five tries at this card! Turns out I used the" love" cut from the wedding solutions cart pop dotted from a blue background with three mats! The blue border on the left is the cardstock punched from the EK Sucess trimline punch while the white was stamped with a border stamp from the Fiskars wedding clear stamp set, with blue Brilliance ink (it shimmers IRL). I also found some sentiments from the Fiskars set to stamp along the one corner.I first lined them up on the card and then just placed the acrylic block on top to make sure it was placed just right. The inside was Corinthians just printed out...I don't know about you but I always get nervous when it comes time to write on my cards! She was a beautiful bride and I hope she enjoyed it!

A Tweet Card

I had great fun creating this thank you card for a friend who very generously sent me a surprise recently. (Thanks again Megan) First of all I love surprises and second of all she sent me a cart!! Yes a real, whole, Home Decor cart arrived in my mail box! So of course I had to do something special for her card. When I recently found this grafix craft plastic at M's I had to get some to play around with. This card then just popped into my head after playing with all the images on Design Studio. I love all birds and wanted to do something a little new so here it was.

The clouds and the green (it was a tree) were from Pooh and Friends. The sun I believe was from Doodlecharms, then of course Home Decor was for the bird and branch. The branch was cut from white cardstock then colored with Copic markers. The bird was all yellow so i added some interest with my Copics again. I added a little shimmer to the sun and the cloud with Copic's Spica glitter pens...such a favorite of mine. The first layer is a blue cardstock on the inside with the sun on the corner. Then the inside of the front has the green tree top on it to hide the adhesive a bit and give the bird something to stand out against. Next the very front of the card has the branch, bird and clouds, with the sentiment clipped to it. I just happened to have that laying out :) and was able to add some ribbon to ti! :) The whole card base was a sheet of Grafix "craft plastic" .007mil. It came in 8.5X11 sheets, 25 to a pack. I found it at Michael's hiding with some stacks off to the side. This card was amazingly simple yet really something a little different. I added a little note inside written on a piece of white cardstock. It was hidden behind the art from the front so it didn't spoil the card!

Happy Birthday to the USA!...Stars & Stripes Forever

I am so pleasantly pleased to see how much my DD's love the USA. My littlest one couldn't wait to celebrate the "Happy Birthday" party! Not quite two and she does have it right! We have several grills burning, food shared, and at least two dozen kids (and a few lighthearted adults) running through the collective backyards, with games, water slides, music and fun going on everywhere. Today is a beautiful day to share and reflect on our many blessing throughout this country.

In celebration I am posting my patriotic creation. My only one...LOL. I created inchies for a swap with my message board friends recently. I planned it all in my head then designed them in Design Studio relatively quickly. I discovered quite by accident that the arrow key will move an item exactly one eighth of an inch each time.

The bases were created by by overlapping one inch strips, then the rest was created with Plantin Schoolbook elements(I used the 's from the first inchie for the third. All the white is glittered and the "stars" and the "stripes" are pop dotted. I used a red-white-blue pattern to create a coordination between them all. For the glitter, I ran the white pieces through my xyron and then put on the colored pieces as well as pop dots for the two raised bits and then glittered with Martha Stewart's glitter. That was the easiest method I found. Once I had that all figured out, they went together fairly quickly! And yes the outside dimension for each of these is one inch! :)

Win the cruise!

Did you know that by law all contests must be "no purchase necessary" Well it's true! So I added the cricut ticket link to my blog just 'cuase! Good Luck to everyone! Click the link for all the details. i am not affiliated with ProvoCraft or Cricut in any way...Except that I use many of their products :)