Taking orders TODAY

You still have time to get your order in for the new Cricut Spring Mini cartridges click HERE for the info. I'm pretty sure these are the best prices you'll find out there especially for shipping internationally.

Santa Came Early!

Guess what Kevin and the girls got me for Christmas? Give up? O.K. I'll tell you, a Flip Ultra HD!! I'm so excited. I got it early because tomorrow is Marlee's Christmas program at Pre-school and Kevin wanted to be sure I could use it to record her performance.
May be if I get brave enough I'll even make some videos for my blog, though I'm not sure I have much to show anyone ;)

Hot Cocoa Slider Cards

First let me say I totally scrap-lifted this idea from a My Pink Stamper video (click on it and you can too :)) But of course I put my own personal spin on it. I made a few to give away to people like my mail person and such.

I used 3 different colors of card stock to coordinate with the DCWV patterned paper (Christmas Stack 2008)

I cut the little fancy squares (AKA top notes) on my Cricut with SCAL at 2 inches and the mugs are from the Christmas Cheer cartridge also cut at 2 inches but I left off the paper steam and instead drew it in with some frosted lace Stickles. I also added Stickes to each of the top note back grounds. Thanks for stopping in to look today.

Chalks Giveaway!

You know how I love Pebbles Chalks? (so much so that I sell them in my store) Well, if you visit the Pebbles Blog you have a chance to win 3 sets of the chalks and stencils too! It's so easy just leave 'em a comment about your favorite tradition.

It's begining to look a lot like...

Christmas!

We've got our decorations up outside but we're not going to put our tree up till next weekend. The photos aren't the best because it is hard to take pictures of lights in the dark with out the flash going off (then it doesn't look dark) or without the flash it's kinda blurry because the auto focus doesn't work. Here's the front of our house:

Here is our backyard (taken from an upstairs window):

This one is a bit bright because you really couldn't see Mickey without the flash on.

I just noticed we've got a burned out bulb on our fence! I'll have to get Kevin to fix that :)

Another Snowflake Card

Here's another birthday card with the winter theme. I made this one for the color and card sketch challenges over at From C to Shining C.
The color challenge was to use light blue and white, my favorite colors! I'm a little bummed that the glitter paper doesn't show up in the photos :( But that is what I used for the snowflakes) I cut them out with my Cricut and the When it's Cold Outside mini cartridge. I had to use my deep cut blade and housing to cut through the thick glitter cardstock. The other patterned papers are from the DCWV Christmas stack (2008). The happy birthday stamp is from TAC, I had a little stamping mishap and had to cover my mistake with a snowflake brad, can you tell?

Snowflake Birthday Card

A couple of my family members celebrate their birthdays in December and it's always hard not to give them something Christmas-y. So I made this birthday card trying not to look like a Christmas card but still convey a wintry wish.

I used a card sketch from over at Sketchy Thursdays for the layout of my card. The snowflake cardstock is from the Imaginisce Build-a-Card kit. I cut out the snowflakes on my Cricut with the When it's Cold Outside mini cartridge. I heat embossed the top layer of the snowflake with some cherry red embossing powder. It's way more glossy looking IRL. The sentiment is a stamp from my Scrappy Cat birthday set that a dear friend game me for my last birthday. The crackled paint paper is a scrap from my magnetic memo board project. The ribbon is from my stash and the 3 gold dew drops (golden berry) are from my store.

Handmade Hatpins

I just love things that sparkle (my husband will attest to me being "like a squirrel") so when I saw some hand made hat pins on Bree's blog (along with a video tutorial) I had to give them a try too. If you go in search of some you'll find they're a bit expensive to buy ready made.

I only made a few to start but I'm so addicted, when I get a chance I'll be making loads more. It's really as simple as picking out some of your favorite beads and gluing them on a pin, who couldn't do that? Now I just need to make some cards and things to use this beautiful baubles on :)

Challenges

They're so much fun to play along with. I read my fair share of blogs daily and always want to join in on the challenges that some of them post but usually don't get the time to complete the projects or I forget until it's too late and miss the deadline. Well, recently there have been some good one's that I just couldn't pass up. Here's a couple of projects:

This is something I've had in the works for MONTHS(I know, what took me so long?) It's a cookie sheet that I turned into a magnetic memo board. All I did was paint the edges with some light blue acrylic paint, adhered some patterned paper (the blue floral matches a chair I re-upholstered years ago that lives in my scrap room) I added a pretty velvet ribbon and done! The little round containers have a magnetic backing and they came on my Prima Mini cans (attached to the lids)

The little frames are also painted with the same blue acrylic paint and they are being held on with those Prima flowers that I turned into magnets by first gluing them to over sized brads adding a Prima leaf and a button center and then glued the brad to a craft magnet. I plan on having hubby drill a couple of holes so I can hang it up with some ribbon. So that covers the Practical Scrappers challenge to use acrylic paint on your project.

Next is a layout of Marlee's first day of pre-school for this year (I know, again what has taken me so long?)

This page was based on this weeks Sketchy Thursdays sketch. The background patterned paper is from the Paper Studio (Hobby Lobby) and the circle, cut at 5.75" on my Cricut with George, is from the Scrapbook Wall Papers pack (Gallery Floral). It's kinda hard to read in the photo (bad lighting) but the bottom ribbon, which is pink, has words on it that say: FUN, Happy, laugh, giggle, smile, celebrate, together. I think those are all things that describe Marlee's experiences at school. She just loves it and Lilee can't wait till next year when she gets to go.

The title is store bought flocked stickers (Paper Studio) They weren't quite pink enough for this (they looked almost white on the page) so I got out my Pebbles chalks and dusted them with some darker pink chalk. Worked perfectly, in fact I'm thinking I should go buy a bunch of white ones, cuz they're on sale right now, now that I know I can make them any color I need :) The flowers are Prima and so are the pink rhinestones.

Well that's all of my challenges for today, who knows what tomorrow will inspire?

Deal Alert!

Right NOW there is a sale going on at Your Memories Here. 40% off all Bind-It-All products in stock. This sale will only last for 48 hours (or until the items are sold out) So hurry to get the best selection. No coupon needed, the prices are already marked down.

I'm Honored

Brenda has given me this award

This award is given to blogs that are exceedingly charming. These bloggers are not interested in increasing their own status, but rather aim to find friends and be friends. The hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are born!

The rules are to pass this on to 5 friends. I've got so many great blog friends but I'm going to stick to the rules and pick just 5:

Stephanie an Awesome friend, a genuinely kind and caring person.

Eileen a great person, so kind and encouraging

Leah Always so sweet

Amber Also very sweet

Enfys You always leave a lovely comment and share such wonderful stories on your blog.

I Love Shoes

Any kind of shoes! Here is a shoe I created using a template I got over at Paper Crafting Planet. But since I'm too lazy to re-size, print and cut out a template every time I want to make a different shoe I turned the template into an SVG file so I can cut it out on my Cricut! If you have SCAL you can download my file HERE. If you don't have SCAL(Sure Cuts A Lot), why not get it? It gives you limitless possibilities on cuts including shapes, cut files and ANY true type font! There is a link in my right side bar for Sure Cuts A Lot, click it to find out more and purchase directly from the manufacturer.

Anyway, back to the project. I recommend using double sided paper because you will see both sides. I didn't on this one, but the reverse side was white so it didn't really matter. However some paper companies print a grid or their company information on the back sides of their papers, so you don't want to use one of those :) I do like to have the original template on hand (either a print out or an open window of the pdf) so I can see where the score lines should be. Don't worry, the SVG template has little notches for some of the score points that aren't so obvious. After you've cut and scored next is to fold and glue. It goes together best if you attach the outside of the heel first (long tabs) then toe, then inside of heel and then the sole should just fall into place. Finally, just finish with your favorite embellishments.

On this one I used white fibers (from Your Memories Here) behind some layered Prima flowers, topped with a crystal accent (all available in my store too)

Happy Anniversary

To Me and Kevin! Today is our 6 year wedding anniversary. We got married at our favorite place, Daytona Beach Florida. Since Kevin is a parrot head and we were already in Florida, we had our wedding reception at Margaritaville Orlando. We took our immediate family and close friends for several fun filled days in Florida (We're from Ohio and Pennsylvania).

I Can Still See

I just wanted to share my excitement with you all. I went in for my 3 month post operative check up at the LASIK Plus vision center and Dr. Walsh was super excited to tell me that my eyes are 20/20 and that's how they are going to stay!! See, I had a very very very high prescription (-8 if any of you know what that means) and he expected that my eyes would somewhat revert after the first 3 months(because that is the norm with high prescriptions). Well they didn't, they are healed up great and should remain that way! It was very emotional, all the nurses and assistants in the office were cheering and congratulating me, because they all knew what a big deal it was too. I think that's the first time it really hit me that I will never wear glasses again, I'm getting teary just typing this :)

Candy Wrappers re-visited

Remember these?

I just finished making a .cut file for them in Cricut Design Studio. (click the words .cut file to download)All you need is the George cartridge. I made it so that it will perfectly fit on a 6"x6" piece of paper ;) I think the finished size is just right to fill with some candy treats or to use as a decoration. The cut file for SCAL can still be found on Melinda's blog and it is an SVG file so you can change the size of it.

Halloween Pictures of the Girls

My Aunt Diann just reminded me that I have yet to post my Halloween pictures. So Aunt Di these are for you and your co-workers ;) and anyone else who wants to sneak a peek.

Lilee was a little Devil on Trick or Treat night but dresses as a cheerleader for Marlee's pre-school party. Marlee was Snow White, she loves dressing up as a princess, Halloween isn't the only time she wears this :) The last photo is Marlee and Lilee on the couch with baby Dalenee (she was a little hot dog). Hope these photos gave you a laugh.

Blog Candy Alert!

Just a quick post to let you know about a chance to win a Pebbles paper kit over on my other blog. Head over for the details. Here's the link: http://ymhdesigns.blogspot.com/2009/10/paper-poll.html

Blog-aversary with Candy

Stephanie is celebrating the 1 year anniversary of her blog Where'd All My Money Go? She is graciously offering $100 to a lucky follower. Just click on the link to see for yourself.

Candy Wrappers

These little candy wrappers are a from a free cut file on the All Things Crafty and Delicious blog. I cut them on my Cricut at 6" using the SCAL program. The patterned papers are from the Studio 8 'tis the season collection and are available in my store. I also used some solid card stock and DCWV metallic card stock for the bands around the middle. I enhanced them with some embossing using the Cuttlebug embossing folders and borders (also available in my store). They were so easy to put together, a little adhesive and tie it off with some ribbon (after you've filled it of course) When I showed them to Kevin he asked "are those Christmas decorations?" and a light bulb came on! Yes, they would make great Christmas decorations (or any holiday, just change up the paper). Great idea honey!

Our First Batch

OK, Technically it's not "ours" the wine making is my husband's endeavor. I merely sample and provide the artwork for the bottles :)

The peach is the first variety to be completed. 5 gallons yielded 15 average size bottles and 4 magnums. It's a very crisp white wine similar in flavor and characteristics to a Sauvignon Blanc. The peach flavor is almost undetectable as this is a very dry wine. I'm not a wine connoisseur by any means, in fact I'm actually allergic to it (the sulfites). But I am able to take small taste tests and give Kevin my input. I think he's done fantastic for his first attempt, our friends and family will have to weigh in on their opinions.

Chocolate Box

Melinda trusted me (again) to try out one of her newly designed cut files. I just love that she does all the hard work and I get to have fun making her creations come to life :)




You can get the cut file by going to Melinda's blog All Thing Crafty and Delicious she has the download available there. That's also where the Cafe Box cut file came from.
For this box I used DCWV Sweet Stack card stock. The ribbons are 1" wide pink velvet from Fancy Pants and 1/4" light pink organdy from Hobby Lobby. The "knob" is a fabric covered brad from K&Co. and the chocolate bar is Hershey's ;) you can also fit a regular size Reese's cup pack in this box instead. This file is for SCAL and I used my Cricut Expression with a 12 x12 mat. I made the file as large as possible to fit on the 12 x 12 mat (which was actually about an 8"x12" piece of paper) so if you've got a piece of 8 1/2 x 11 that you just love, it would probably work.

Cafe Box

How is this for a cute way to give some treats? This Cafe Box was so easy to make, if you have a Cricut and SCAL you can make one too. It was designed by the ever so talented Melinda. If you visit her blog All Things Crafty and Delicious you can get the cut file for FREE! Isn't she so awesome for doing that? And that's not the only file she has, there are tons (remember the cookie towers from a couple months ago? Yep, that's Melinda's talent again)

I was lucky enough to get to test a few cut files out for her and let me tell you, they are so easy to put together (I'll post the other one later). For my cafe box I used two different card stocks (for contrast) and just cut it out twice. I also embellished it a little with some ribbon, brads and a rub-on sentiment. The "window" is a piece of transparency that I ran through by Cuttlebug with the Swiss Dots embossing folder. I filled it with some colorful candies because it looks better filled.

Dalenee's Debut

Here's a layout of my darling niece Dalenee and her first visit with my girls (her cousins). These photos were taken when she was just a couple of weeks old. I got permission from her mommy to show her off to you :) Marlee and Lilee just adore their new little cousin. I can see the slumber parties at my house in about 4 more years!

How 'bout that onesie she's wearing? Yep I'm the "auntie" that loves her so.

Now on with the page details:

The background paper is Me and My Big Ideas, the photo mats are Paper studio (pink polka dots) and DCWV mat stack (pink plaid) The chipboard "d" is Heidi Grace and the rest of the title was cut out of DCWV mat stack paper on my Cricut with SCAL in two different fonts. Then I chalked the edges of the letters for some depth. I found that "Dalenee" was a little hard to read in that patterned paper so I added some stickles and it made a huge difference! The little letters that spell out "cousins" is from Queen and Co. along with the little photo tabs on the bottom photo mat. The cute, pink, peek-a-boo tear bear was hand torn by me and embellished with some shimmer chalks and a tiny Prima flower. The ribbon and flower charm on the top photo are from my stash. I think that covers everything, but if you have any questions just let me know.

Marlee's Tea Party

Here's a two page layout I've been working on for about a week. I finally got it finished, thanks to some new beautiful Primas I just got in the store. Marlee decided to host a tea party one weekend when her Grandma, Great Grandma (known as GG) and Aunt Diann came to visit.

It didn't photograph as well as I would have liked it to but I couldn't take the picture outside today because of the super gust of winds. Maybe I'll be able to get a better photo tomorrow. If you click on the picture it will enlarge it.
The details are pretty long so stick with me ;)
The background paper is DCWV Nana's Kitchen, the photo mats are DCWV Sweet Stack cut out with my Cricut and SCAL scalloped ovals. The title is Prima Signs of Spring paper cut on my Cricut with SCAL "Missed Your Exit" font (I also used that font for the computer printed journaling) The cute little tea set was cut on my Cricut with the Everyday Paper Dolls cartridge, I shaded the edges with Pebbles pastel pink chalk and stamped the flower pattern on the larger pieces, then I attached them with pop dots for more dimension. The flowers and leaves are Prima. For the centers of the flowers I used both Dew Drops (island blossom) and the Prima Pearls and Crystals collection(light pink).
Click on the highlighted words for direct links to those products in the store. If you'd like to brows our new Prima products and all the other great goodies visit Your Memories Here. I almost forgot to mention, ANY purchase over $50 gets you free shipping in my store!

Win A Workbox!

There are several blogs offering a giveaway for a chance to win a Workbox!! What is a workbox you ask? This fabulous storage system shown here:

The Original Scrapbox is giving one away.
Just visit one of these blogs for several chances to win the ultimate in Scrapbook storage:
Christmas with the Cricut
http://capadiadesigns.blogspot.com/
http://priscillastyles.blogspot.com/
http://lifeaslou.blogsome.com/
http://themommy-files.com/
http://myorganizedchaos.net/
http://vanillajoy.com/
http://makeitandloveit.blogspot.com/
http://www.rachellewrites.blogspot.com/
http://auntiethesis.blogspot.com/

Blog Candy Alert

On day left to be entered in the drawing to win a Cricut cover or a Jukebox cover from Clare's Etsy store just click HERE. I'm hoping I can get a Jukebox cover, this one is so cute!

Week 3 of the Winter Woodland Give Away

This is the third week Provo Craft is offering the Winter Woodlands cartridge as part of their 100 cartridge celebration. Click this link for more info on the cartridge http://www.cricut.com/shopping/ProductDetails.aspx?id=361&s=1&sc=2 If you'd like to take a chance on the give away visit the Cricut Message board

Happy Birthday Lilee

Today is my baby's birthday. She's 2 years old! We went to the park this morning. Later we'll have some more cake (yesterday was her party)

This picture was from July. I'll try to get some party pictures uploaded today (as soon as I can find my USB cord)

Happy Birthday Lilee Head! (Marlee nicknamed her that)

The Other Blog

Hello all my wonderful followers and new guests! I just wanted to let you all know that there is a give away this weekend on the Your Memories Here Designs blog. All you have to do is become a follower. If you are already a follower, then you're good to go! So head on over there and give the DTs projects some love. I've got a party to prepare for so I'll talk to you all on Sunday when the family clears out!

Card Sketch Challenge #22

Here's my card for the Wednesday challenge over at From C to Shining C. I had it done on time yesterday, but I had to wait for the Stickles to dry before I could take a picture of it, then I forgot. But here it is now :)

I used just regular purple card stock for the background and all the patterned paper is from the DCWV Fall stack (last year's) The candy is an Imaginisce stamp that I colored with my sharpies and then added some Stickles (aren't they pretty?) the "Trick or Treat" is a studio g stamp.
You can get the Imaginisce Candy stamp at Your Memories Here for only $0.75 Now that's a treat!

Win Winter Woodlands Week 2

Cricut is celebrating the release of their 100th cartridge check out this link for more info on Winter Woodlands:
http://www.cricut.com/shopping/ProductDetails.aspx?id=361&s=1&sc=2
If you want a chance at winning the cartridge visit the Cricut MB to enter.

More from Marlee's Birthday

I'm a posting slacker, I know. Marlee's birthday was Monday and if you read Monday's post you know that I was making some treat to take to school for her class.Well here it is, I made the kids dirt cups complete with worms :)

Yes, they tasted as good as they look. Needless to say Mrs. Byers is a BIG hit at Little Shepherd's pre-school. If you want the recipe just email me I'd be glad to share it with you.

I also made Marlee a Snow White birthday card because that's her current, favorite Princess. She'll tell you she loves them all but there's always the on she likes best. It started with Cinderella, then Sleeping Cutie (as she called her) now Snow White. I'll let you know when it changes:)

This card also happens to fit the Just Buggin' challenge for layered diecuts. The Disney characters are a bit elaborate, but I already did the work so I might as well get credit for it?

I use Cricut Design Studio to layout all the pieces so I knew just where to place my colors of card stock. She's cut at 7" and this made a 6"x8" card. Pretty nice size. There was enough room to add some Prima flowers and a swatch of velvet ribbon (got to be extra girly for Marlee). The back ground card stock is DCWV Blossoms and Butterflies Stack 'cuz Marlee LOVES flowers and butterflies. Marlee's name shows up horribly in the photo, I used my Cricut and Cricut markers to "draw" her name then added glittery embossing powder to make it sparkle ( I tried Stickles first, but couldn't get a fine enough line). I also dusted Snow White's dress with some Pebbles shimmer chalk but it doesn't show in the photo.

Cutting Above and the Gypsy

Cricut Gypsy world launch is September 24th. Watch the HSN/Provo Craft launch on September 24th starting at 12 AM. Be sure to DVR or TIVO the show if you will not be home.
Cutting Above is a new blog about all things die cutting related. Click the blinkie on my right side bar to visit.
Cutting Above is giving away 2 gypsies!!! How cool is that?

Happy Birthday Marlee!!

Today is my little princesses 4th Birthday. We've got lots of fun planned for today. She's at pre-school right now and I'm going to be taking in some goody bags and treats for the class. Later she'll have cake with Mom, Dad and Lilee and then on Saturday we're having Marlee and Lilee's birthday party (Lilee's birthday is Sunday, no I didn't plan on them being that close).

Here's the birthday girl:

I love you baby, have a great birhtday!!

Hurry EndsTomorrow!

Jamie is offering this blog candy over at her blog "Bits of Paper"
You should head over and check out her stuff she's so super talented.

Bubbles

This here's an oldie but goodie :) I've had the photos printed for over a year now but just got to finish this page yesterday! The main reason I was able to finish it was inspiration from my new Cricut cartridge Every Day Paper Dolls. I bought the cartridge on a whim, not even sure if I needed it, but when I got to looking at all the "extras" it has (just like the original Paper Dolls) I was sooo glad to have been enable by the Cricut MB :)

The bubbles cut came from this cartridge, as soon as I saw it I remembered those pictures of the girls stashed in my room. The actual title word "Bubbles" was cut using SCAL for the font. I cut the bubbles out of silvery vellum and then I colored them with my Pebbles pearlescent shimmer chalk to give it the iridescent look of soap bubbles. The title and photo mats were cut out of some white iridescent paper from Hobby Lobby. I chalked the title edges with pink and the photo mats with an array of colors for more of that iridescent soap look.

The little bubbles are actually dew drops in an assortment of pale colors (lily pad, orchid and island blossom) The little clip on the photo says "cherish". It's from the ATB inspirational words clip and clipper set. Oh yeah, I almost forgot, the background paper is DCWV metallic stack.

You can get the dew drops, Pebbles chalks, ATB clips and clipper tool and Cricut necessities all in my web store Your Memories Here

Clicking on the photos will make them larger.