Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Big News

I recently got the news that my application was accepted, and I am going to be a Close To My Heart consultant.  I can't wait to get my starter kit and get going!
I love Close To My Heart products!  They have great scrapbooking paper products, and I can't wait to learn more about the new Studio J online design software.

Stay tuned for more info.  Meanwhile, I've put a link to the Spring 2010 Idea Book in my sidebar to look through.

Have a great day!

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Kinda Crafty

Okay, I didn't get as much accomplished over the weekend as I had hoped.  As it turned out, my hubby wanted to paint the basement.  We have a full basement that has never had anything done with it since the builder left other than us painting the cement floor and cement blocks to waterproof them.  The part that is drywall has been plastered drywall with all the seams still showing since we moved in.

Mind you, we have over 700 square feet of wall space to paint, so this wasn't an easy job.  Since it was still drywall, we had to prime it first (one coat right off the bat).  Then, just to make things difficult (and the fact that we're big Buckeye fans and it's a must for the basement in Ohio), we wanted to paint it red (at least two more coats). 

We did get it primed over the weekend, and I went home and painted one area red last night.  This is the worst section to paint as it has the windows, doors and fireplace.  Everything left is plain wall, so shouldn't take nearly as long.  Don't mind my painter's tape around the fireplace, and it still needs another coat.  Once we're done painting, we want to "box in" the windows and paint the trim white.

Now, on to the "kinda crafty" part.  A few days ago I posted that my 16-year old son interrupted my crafting wanting to make the biggest Mater possible.  I did finally help him get Mater finished.  He ended up being cut at 7" with the Disney Cars Cricut cartridge.  We used various papers depending on what he liked.

Hope you have a great day.  After work, I'm off to paint some more basement. 

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Easter Card

Here is an Easter card I made for my grandparents.  It qualifies for the following challenges:

Cricut Cardz Challenge #18 ~ make an Easter card, any cartridge or color
Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog #2 ~ make an Easter themed project with a pastel color palette
Paper Cutz Challenge #34 ~ make an Easter project, but no bunnies or chicks


This is an A2 sized card.  The papers used were: DCWV's Nana's Kitchen Stack (the pink plaid and the green dotted) and The Paper Studio's 180 Paper Pack II (yellow).  The edges are inked with pastel pink Color Box fluid chalk.  The flowers are from Close To My Heart and have been stickled with frosted lace in the centers and on the edges.  I'm not sure where the ribbon is from.  The cross was cut from the Easter 2010 Cricut cartridge at 4".  It was also inked and pop-dotted onto the card.

For the inside "Happy Easter" was cut using the fit to length feature at 4".

I have another Easter card I'm working on.  My son sidetracked me last night, because he wanted to make the largest Mater (from Cars) that we could make.  Yes, he's 16, so when he wants to spend time crafting with his mom, how can I turn him down.  Have a great Sunday!

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Mickey Mouse Birthday Card

My niece is turning two next week - the same one who I made invitations and thank you notes for earlier this month.  She LOVES Mickey Mouse; her parents can't figure out why she knows him.  I told them that every little kid knows "the mouse".  Her party isn't for a couple of weeks yet, but I made this for her actual birthday, and I'll make her another for the party.

This card is for the Day 25 DIY Challenge over at 365 Cards.  The challenge was to create a do-it-yourself, glittered brad and/or pearl.  I didn't have a brad I liked, so I covered a green one in black diamond stickles by Ranger.


The papers for this project come from DCWV except the black and white.  The DCWV stacks I used were Neutrals and Fun in the Sun Summer.  All the cuts on this card came from the Mickey Font Cricut cartridge.  Mickey was cut at 3-1/2".  The "Oh Boy!" charm was cut at 1-3/4".  The inside sentiment was cut at 1".


The colors didn't turn out as "true" as I had hoped in the photo.  They are really much brighter in person.  The photo at the left is a close-up of the charm and brad I stickled.
Have a great day!  I'm off to my craft room for some Easter creations.

Blog Hop

The Lovebug Scrapbooking's Blog is holding it's monthly blog hop.  If you're having trouble with Easter inspiration, head on over and check it out.  There are some great Easter projects this month and some great blog candy.

Baking Cookies Scrapbook Layout

For my niece's upcoming birthday, I have been putting together some blank scrapbook pages (isn't that what every two-year-old wants?) for her mom to put pictures in.  Some of the pages were purchased and just have embellishments to add, some of the pages are from a Close To My Heart kit that just needed embellishments added, and a few of the pages I've created on my own.

My sister-in-law made Christmas cookies with my niece and took the most adorable pictures.  Some of them made their Christmas card this year, so I wanted to make a special page for actual pictures of the adventure.  This layout is based on a sketch in the Cherish book by Close To My Heart.



The base pages are Close To My Heart cocoa cardstock.  The accent pieces are from DCWV's Nana's Kitchen Stack.  All the accent pieces are inked with Close To My Heart cocoa ink.  The "cookies" is cut using the From My Kitchen Cricut cartridge.  The embellishments are some stickers I found at a LSS (local scrapbook shop).

Have a great day!

Friday, March 26, 2010

Busted....

Okay, I got busted "surfing the net" at work the other day.  Now, I do work for my parents, so the reaction was a bit different than on most jobs.  My mom said, "Oooo, I really like those, can you make me some?" LOL

Here is my take on America's great baskets.  She has GREAT directions over on the Cuttlebug Challenge Blog.  My baskets aren't exactly like hers.  I didn't have an embossing folder I liked, so left out the embossed strip.  I also couldn't find any embellishments like her great butterflies, so I didn't add those either.  My mom wants to fill them and give them to my grandparents for Easter and then again for May Day to cheer them up.  She may also want more to give to all the "little girls" at our Easter get-together.


Hope you have a great crafting day!

Thursday, March 25, 2010

62nd Anniversary Card

My grandparents 62nd anniversary is coming up soon.  This is the card I created for them. 

This card qualifies for the Frosted Designs challenge this week which was to use flowers on your project.

The paper is from DCWV, the Indian Summer Cardstock stack and the Indian Summer Mat Stack.  The sentiment is stamped with a Close To My Heart stamp from the Say It In Style set on a tag cut at 1/2" using the Tags, Bags, Boxes and More Cricut cartridge.  The flowers and brads come from the Earth's Palette Creative Kit by Hot Off the Press.  The orange ribbon and brads are things that I had just laying around.

The inside of the card is very simple.  I simply added a small section of the striped paper to the bottom.

Thanks for stopping by!

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Blog Candy from Wennie in Wonderland

There is some great blog candy being given away over at the Wennie in Wonderland blog.  Stop by and check it out.  The drawing will be April 1st.

Sweet Blogger Award

Thanks again to Fern at Fern's Creations From the Heart for another fabulous award.  I love this award; it's so pretty!  I love visiting Fern's blog.  She is always posting a fabulous layout that I wish I had the time to recreate.

For this award, I need to pass it along to 5 people and say something about each recipient.  I am passing this award on to the following people:

Val at Crafty Go Lucky ~ I love the comments she has left me on my blog.  She makes gorgeous layouts and even more gorgeous cakes.  I am glad I was finally able to find her blog.

Fi at My Crafty Spot ~ I just recently found her blog.  Her cards are beautiful.  Her cards are wonderful and very creative.

Enfys at Going Buggy ~ I love her cards.  I love her stories.  I love her comments.  Need I say more?

Amber at Staying Crafty ~ she is one crafty lady.  She dabbles in a bit of everything, and I love to see what she comes up with.

Lisa at Scrappin in NJ ~ I love the comments Lisa leaves for me.  She also does some beautiful cards.  I love the series she is working on right now showing cards from the Wild Card cart.

I hope you take some time to visit these wonderful ladies and check out their great creations.  I'm off to my craft room now; hope you get to do the same.  Have a fabulous day!

Ms Bright Side Award

I am the lucky recipient of this great blog award.  This award came from Fern over at Fern's Creations From the Heart.  I love Fern's blog; she puts great details in her scrapbooking layouts.

There are some rules for accepting this award.  The rules are:
  1. Give a top ten list of things that make you happy
  2. Give a top five list of trivia about myself
  3. Share the award with five people and ask them to do the same
  4. Link the blogs you choose and link the blog of the person who gave it to you
10 things that make me happy (in no particular order):
  1. My family
  2. Singing silly songs with my kids (or to them ~ they think it's a little weird now that they're older)
  3. Making cards for people
  4. Receiving comments on my blog
  5. The girls in my scout troop
  6. Cheesecake (and how that's my son's favorite thing I make)
  7. Seeing my children succeed
  8. Spring flowers
  9. Quiet dinner out with my husband
  10. Noisy dinners in with the whole family at the table (so hard to do with active kids and their schedules)
Trivia about me:
  1. I married my high school sweetheart.
  2. I'm a closet computer game addict.
  3. I don't facebook or tweet.
  4. I graduated college with a degree in music education, but most people don't know that because I haven't taught for over a decade now.
I would like to pass this award on to the following wonderful bloggers who always inspire me, have great words of wisdom, and who simply share fabulous tips to make me a better crafter.
  1. Cindy at Crazy for Crafting
  2. Leanne at Created by Leanne
  3. Deanna at Deanna's Papercrafts
  4. Greenbean at Greenbean's Crafterole
  5. Katherine at Shimmy Bean Creations
Hope you take a minute to stop by some of these great blogs.  Thanks Fern for the award!  Have a great day.

Monday, March 22, 2010

Hoppin' By

This card was something I whipped up for my husband's cousin's son who recently had surgery to remove a plate from his hip. 
Papers used on this project were: pastel yellow cardstock by ANW Crestwood (words and inside), DCWV's The Sorbet Stack (background), DCWV's Fun in the Sun Summer Cardstock Stack (greens on the grasshopper), and plain white cardstock from Wal-Mart.

The grasshopper was cut using Stretch Your Imagination Cricut cartridge.  The words were cut with the Cuttin' Up cartridge.  I put some eucalyptus stickles from Ranger on the tips of his antennae.  The background paper and inside paper were inked with stone gray StazOn ink pad.
I doodled on the title and handwrote the sentiment on the inside.  Thanks for looking!  Have a great day.

Friday, March 19, 2010

Butterfly Birthday Card

Here is a birthday card I've made for my mom (even though her birthday isn't until next week).  This is an A2 sized card.  The base is made from green cardstock from the Fun in the Sun Summer Cardstock Stack by DCWV.  The rest of the paper is from the 180 Paper Pack II by The Paper Studio.  The organdy ribbon is from Jo-Ann's.
The butterfly is cut at 3" (I think) from the Hannah Montana Cricut cartridge.  This is the butterfly on page 75 of the handbook using the Pop Princess feature as well as the blackout.  I embellished the butterfly with some crystal stickles by Ranger and pop-dotted it onto the card for dimension.  The edges of the card and the striped paper are inked with Close To My Heart's citrus inkpad.  The Happy Birthday is from a stamp set I picked up on clearance somewhere.

Have a great day - it's starting to feel like spring here!

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Birthday Card

I've had some time to get some crafting in this week.  I've completed one birthday card and have another almost done.  This card is for my nephew who's turning 8 very soon.

This card qualifies for this week's challenge over at the new Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog.  This is their first-ever challenge, and I am excited to participate.  The challenge for the week was to create a project that includes the word "birthday" and a balloon shape.  It also has to include at least one Cricut cut somewhere.  It also qualifies for the challenge this week on the Cricut Cardz Challenge which was to make a child's birthday card.

This is a 5x7 card.  All papers came from DCWV's Fun in the Sun stack except the white cardstock.  The balloons were cut on the Cricut using the Stretch Your Imagination cartridge.  They were cut at 5", 5-1/2" (and flipped), and 5-3/4".  I also cut the shadow for each of these.  I used a black inkpad to ink in the balloon strings before I adhered them to the shadows.  I also used a black pen to outline the balloons.  The balloons were attached with foam tape to make them seem like they are floating right off the card.

The sentiment is a Close To My Heart stamp from the Say It In Style set.  It is stamped using Close To My Heart's outdoor denim ink.  The edges of the card and red block are also inked in this color.

The green satin ribbon is something I picked up at one of those great sales one of the craft stores seems to have every so often.  I don't know what brand it is.

I forgot to snap a picture of the inside of the card.  It is white and has the "shift version" of this ballon cut at 5-3/4" in the dark blue paper.  Because this balloon has a longer string on it, the balloon itself is much smaller.  It worked nicely for an inside accent.  If I remember, I'll try to get a photo before I send out the card.

Thanks for stopping by!  I'll be posting another card soon.

Monday, March 15, 2010

Busy....

We all have them....those weeks where we're so busy we turn around and the whole week is gone.  That was my week last week.  I didn't get any crafting done at all (unless you count sewing elastic in ballet shoes, sewing elastic in hats for the tap group, and making alterations to costumes that didn't quite fit).

Anyway, I need to get some crafting done this week.  I'll be back later this week with some posts.

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Thank You Cards

Yesterday I showed you the invitations, today I'll show you the thank you notes.  I made 20 of these for the birthday girl.  This was actually a very simple card.  I wanted to leave the inside plain, to leave them plenty of room for writing.
This is an A2 sized card.  It is made from white cardstock (from Wal-Mart).  The edges are inked using a pastel pink Color Box fluid chalk.  The top layer is a 4x5-1/4" piece of Black Magic Collection Lost Ruby cardstock by Core'dinations.  It was run through the Cuttlebug using the Thanks embossing folder.  I then sanded the cardstock to bring out the embossing.

That's all there is to it.  A very simple card.  Thanks for looking!

Monday, March 8, 2010

Birthday Invitation

I am making the invitations for my niece's upcoming birthday party.  She will be turning 2, and her favorite thing in the world right now is the movie Happy Feet (you know, dancing penguins).  Here is what I came up with.  I am making 15 invitations, so I wanted to make something I could easily duplicate.
This is an A2-sized card.  The black cardstock (from Wal-Mart) is cut at 5-1/2x8-1/2" and scored down the middle to make is a 5-1/2x4-1/4" card.  The "tie-dye" paper is Morning in the Garden by Carolyn Holt Designs cut at 5-1/4x4".  The yellow cardstock is Pastel Yellow Cardstock by ANW Crestwood cut at 5-1/2x1-1/2".  Both the tie-dye and yellow cardstock pieces are inked using a pastel pink Color Box fluid chalk.

The penguin is cut on the Cricut using the Animal Kingdom cartridge at 3".  I had to "doctor him up" a bit as the penguin on the cart has a smaller penguin sitting in front of it.  I cut the smaller penguin off of the layers.  I used Martha Stewart flocking powder in pewter to cover the penguin's belly (this also covered up the cutting outline of the baby penguin).  I also had to extend the black portion on his head down to his beak using a black sharpie.

The "2" is cut using the Sans Serif cartridge at 2-1/2".  The edges of it are inked using Close To My Heart's goldrush stamp pad.  The words are stamped using Close To My Heart's hollyhock stamp pad.

I am not going to post the inside of the card due to the personal nature of the info.  I used another piece of the tie-dye cardstock with the party details printed on the computer on the inside.

Thanks for looking.  I'll be posting the thank you notes I made for her to send out later this week.

Thursday, March 4, 2010

5th Place Sucks Bouquet

My heart is breaking for my poor son.  He placed 5th at the wrestling tournament last weekend and the top four places get to move on to the state tournament.  He is the alternate, meaning he had to practice all week, cut weight again this week, and hope someone wouldn't be able to wrestle.  The state tournament started today, so off he went to sit and wait.

I got a text message from him around lunchtime saying he was "officially a spectator".  It made my heart break all over again for him.  I know today has been hard for him, so I decided to make him something.  I bought him some cookies and cream ice cream; he loves ice cream and hasn't had it for MONTHS due to watching his weight.  I also made him this bouquet.
I found the bucket at Jo-Ann's.  I put orange rick-rack around the top and bottom edge of the bucket.  The wrestling stickers are from my stash and are from EK Success, I believe.  It then has a styrofoam ball covered in orange tissue paper on top.  The words were cut on the Cricut machine using the Mickey Font cartridge at 1" and 1-1/2".  They have some curling ribbon tied around the sticks.

Thanks for stopping by.  Enjoy National Crafting Month!

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Look What I Got

Lori from Scrappin' My Stress Away sent me some blog candy just for becoming her 100th follower.  Isn't she sweet???  Stop by her blog and check out some of her great creations.  Thanks Lori!

Monday, March 1, 2010

Sunshine Award

When I checked on my blog this morning, I was quite surprised to find that I have been given a Sunshine Award.  Sheila leaves such wonderful comments on my blog!  You should check out her blog, She's A Sassy Lady.  Please take a minute to visit her, and see what she's been up to.  Thank you so much Sheila!!


Here are the rules:
  1. You must pass this award on to six (6) other bloggers/followers.
  2. Link your nominees within your post.
  3. Let your bloggers/followers know you are passing this award to them by leaving a comment on their blog.
  4. Add a link to the blog of the person from whom you received this award.
I would like to present this award to:
A Place For My Cards - Jeannie creates the most inspirational cards
Crop4Ever - Susie does some amazing paper piecing
Deanna's Papercrafts - Deanna makes beautiful cards
Kraft Korner - Vickie does all kinds of crafts ~ I especially liked the picture frames she altered
My Pink Paris Studio - Patsy makes beautiful cards
Snowman Lover's Paperie - Barb always has something fun going on at her site

Thanks for visiting.  Please visit some of the blogs I nominated and check out their work as well. 

Cookies

Aren't cases of cookies pretty?  All the colors, stacked neatly, the good treats inside?  This is what I spent part of my weekend with - cases and cases of cookies ~ 85 cases to be exact.  They are finally sorted and have begun to leave my house and make their way into pantries around Ohio.  Great job girls!

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