MPS 12 Days of Christmas Challenge ~ Day 8

Here is my entry for MPS 12 DOCC8 - this is a double duty card as i need a Birthday card for my sister too! In the challenge we were asked to use the following colors: teal or blue, plus green and brown. Got them all here in this cute glittery cupcake b-day card! Enjoy

Christmas Card 1 - MPS 12 Days Challenge

Here is a card i made for the My Pink Stampers - 12 days of Christmas challenge day 6. I will add the details of card later.

Real Customer Service

I have been using Martha Stewart products since way back in the day. For the most part I really enjoy them. This past summer I jumped on the score board wagon and got myself the Martha Steward score board. Love it! I really do. Its now a staple in my craft "room". Very handy and simple to use. I did however have one minor problem with it. The scoring tool that comes with board (and yes I love the handy little compartment so you dont misplace it!) is somewhat flexible? I guess you would call it - so it can fit into the grooves on the board. Well the tip of mine chipped off - I could still use it but it had to be careful not to shred my paper. So a few weeks ago I had written the customer service for the products to ask where i could purchase another tool. To my surprise, I got an email back the very next day. They let me know that they want their customers to be completely satisfied. Do you know that they were so gracious to have sent me TWO FREE REPLACEMENT scoring tools? Yep. Made me happy. But what was even better than just free stuff- was a commitment to standing behind their product. If you have purchased items (anything - not just craft related) and you have problems or defective products, be sure to contact the manufactuers to see if they can help you. Most companies really want their customers to love or try their products and they will send you samples, coupons or replacements if you just ask. So for today, Im happy to say, Martha Stewart/ Wilton Products, "it's a good thing!"

First Holiday card of the Season - Wreath

The holiday season of 2010 is underway - and Christmas will be here before you know it! {{{36 days!  insert screams here!}}} Here is my first holiday card of the year. There were lots of Martha Stewart products used to create this card (thanks Martha!), starting with my score board and then the punch around the page for the beige layer. I wish i could recall the name of this pretty punch, but as usual - i don't - sorry! I got the MS Branch punch last year on clearance @ Walmart. I have loved it and never used it until now. I sprayed some Tsukineko Walnut ink in Willow on half of the branch pieces to give it a little dimension. I am loving my i-rock setter and the new white "pearls" I put the beige layer on pop dots and tied some red & white bakers twine around the bottom layer. I think my bow came out very nicely too. I hope after doing this card, it gets my crafting mojo to flow again, I have just been under a lot of stress recently and my wanting to scrap around has been on hiatus...anyhow - I hope you enjoy this latest creation. 



25 Turkeys comin' up!

Here is my latest class room project for Mrs. A. - 25 of these fine feathered friends for the whole class! I used Home Decor for the 3 1/4 inch "feathers" - its actually the "shift" leaf but it works very well for a feather too. I used a 1.5 inch scallop punch for the body and a 1" circle for the head. I glued the head & body pieces together and then Cuttlebugged them with the Houndstooth folder. The Tear Drop cartridge was used for the parenthesis "gobblers". I added some googly eyes and hand cut the "beaks" in the orange paper. The last little detail was using a tiny snow flake punch to make the feet. These turkeys were to stand up on the "yards" of the Pilgrims homes so I attached a small circle of paper on the back of each one with a glue dot. 

Veterans Day Project

Here is a project I did for Mrs. A's school - for Veterans Day. And let me just say, for whatever reason it was somewhat difficult to get the small white bags for this project! I think we went to 5 different Michaels stores to find them, and each store was out of the bakers dozen packages. We ended up getting 12 single bags. I used Microsoft Pub3 to make the index sized cards on the front, layered them with some red cardstock and lined them with red & blue tissue paper. Each bag contains a mini American flag, a mug, a packet of hot cocoa, some candies and cookies, plus a patriotic pencil and little teddy bear. They were easy to put together. I hope the Veterans enjoy this small token of my appreciation, as they deserve it.

Thank you to all Veterans of the United States Military for providing us with FREEDOM!

God Bless!

Christmas presents & New Stuff...

After weeks of hinting I am so excited - I'm finally got getting a Gypsy?!?!?.
As many of you know, when you purchased or registered a new G by Oct. 31 you could get 5 free cartridge downloads. Well my awesome boyfriend got me one for Christmas and he wanted it to be a surprise. Long story short, I have it now! Ok well - temporarily. If you ask him - dealing with Michaels was a nightmare and he is not too fond of PC at the moment either. It all started when the first G he bought was somehow already open, so he asked to exchange it (and if you may or may not know - Michaels is not supposed to exchange or return any open merchandise - defective or not.) Well they did let him exchange it,  but when he went to register it (the G) for me it only powered on (blue light) but would not load to opening screen. Fast forward to the next day and he now HAS to tell me about my Christmas gift so I can get my "free carts". So I call our local Michaels to see what I can do and got the nicest and very knowledgeable Assistant Manager who kindly lets us exchange the Gypsy for one from their store. (And of course the following day - its now only $129.99 -- and PC also extends the free cart offer to Dec. 31......likely story...) I got to register my little toy and have even got to try her out, but I have a couple of minor issues I would like to find out some opinions.
1) when I power on my G there is a small, quick, white flash of a line that goes across the bottom of the screen just before it gets to the "loading" screen. Is this normal? 2) when I charge it - should there be any lights on it at all to determine "charging" mode? I would like to put up a quick video just to show the white line i am seeing when i power it on - wonder where is the best place to post such a video?
Now onto a little more fun news. Today, while traveling with the Beau, we had to stop at three Michaels stores looking for little white handled bags for his Mom's project, the last store we went to had a very nice surprise.
I found the Cricut Cake cartridges for only 19.99 a piece - clearance already? I got Birthday Cakes and Holiday Cakes. They also had the original Crciut Cake machine for $149.99 and all accessories were 3.99 - 6.49. I am surprised at these prices for being new to the market. While I am happy for my "deals" these two new carts along with my Gypsy will be turned over to my boyfriend, until Christmas Day.....(sad face inserted here....)

Happy Birthday to my Love!

I had such a tough time trying to decide on the theme for my boyfriends birthday card ~ and then it hit me! He really likes scratch tickets and cash (who doesn't LOL) - this years card will be perfect! My first thought was to use something from the new Billionaire cart but since I don't have it yet - I used the Santa sack from PDDU (used DS to take off a couple of lines w. hide contour), layered the bag on a parchment colored paper, then ran it through the Cuttlebug with Forrest Branches, and put a ribbon up the side.  I had first attempted to make a shaped card and that was a no-go - so i used one of the cuts as a mask and spritzed it just a little with the Walnut Ink in Willow.  It worked well & also inked a little bit of the edges with a brown chalk ink from Joanns. Using my favorite i-rock tool, the biggest detail was the $ dollar sign in the green bling. It took a few minutes to get the design perfected but came out just as I had imagined! I put 4 more "pearl" i-rock blings down the side. Inside says Happy Birthday and its stuffed with instant scratch tickets! I have to say I used my Papertrey Ink paper for the first time - and its AWESOME!!! Cuts sooo nice - Like butta! Lol. Enjoy!

Happy Birthday Lovey - hope its a great one!

Trick or Treat!

Halloween is nearly here!!! Luckily I am a little ahead of things and have made up the goody bags for my nieces and nephews!! To decorate the bag toppers, I cut some top note shapes using Story Book and then used my EK ticket punch for the sentiment (done via printer). The last detail is some very tiny Creative Memories Halloween stickers that were in my stash. 

 I used some classic favorites to fill the Wilton brand, pretzel bags - Razzles, Laffy Taffy & Wonka Fun Dips. I'm sure the kids will eat them up as fast as I hand them out on Sunday!

Wishing everyone a fun & safe -

Happy Halloween!

 

Sports Theme TTC #111

This weeks Throwback Thursday Challenge is a sports themed project, using Sports Mania or if you do not own this cart,  feel free to use any older cartridge you have just as long as it's "SPORTS" related.

I don't have the Sports Mania cart and coming up with a sports idea for this week took me a couple of days. I finally figured out what I wanted to do just last night! My cousin Heather plays Volleyball for her girls high school team. She will graduate this June and I wanted to make a commemorative 8x10 layout for a frame that will be a gift for her. It came out pretty nice I think. I used Plantin for the fonts & number and used EDPD for the volleyball. For her name I used Design Studio. The pics are of her - the action shot is one of my favorites and the other pic is one of her team ball with the players initials and school letters on it. Enjoy!



Fun Play Along with Janis ~ Halloween Socks!

What a fun thing to do! Janis over at  Pause, Dream Enjoy (http://pausedreamenjoy.blogspot.com/) has a cute and fun play along this week. Post a picture of yourself wearing your Halloween socks! Easy! Here is my pic for it - and yes, I was having fun "dressing up" my picture with all the creepy bugs! Enjoy!

Two Sympathy Cards

Its been a bummer of a week around here. On the 19th, my boyfriend's good friend Andrew- his Mom, died from breast cancer. And today, my brother in law's sister passed away unexpectedly. Just very sad. So I have put together a couple of cards, same style just different colors. I used Plantin Schoolbook for the ovals and Storybook for the scalloped ovals. I also used Swiss dots on the smaller ovals and my new Sizzix embossing folder, Flower Vine. I ended up using my Creative Memories oval cutter for the mid oval. For the little flowers I punched out white paper, crumpled and spritzed them with Walnut Inking Solutions from Tsukineko in Cherry Blossom (pink) and Willow (green). I added a little clear bling to the middle of each of the flowers. The sentiment is printed (I used the center point feature to do this).

Well, let's hope the weekend gets better. TFL. :-\



Witchy Wishes for my Grandma

I designed this card using Cricut Design Studio. I used George and basic shapes to weld an oval and triangle to make the witches hat- cut out in Colorbok black glitter paper from Target. I used Create a Critter to make a postage stamp shape (sized to 4 1/8 x 5.25) cut out in orange and distressed with a black ink dot. I layered a cute Halloween polka dot paper (The Paper Studio - Spooky Dots) I think I got this at Hobby Lobby? The ribbon is from stash and the square bling is from a die cut that came from an old scrap pack.

Since I have soooo many buttons, I decided to use a a bunch on this card and I love how it turned out. Computer generated - the inside says "Witching" you a very Happy Halloween!" It is times like this when I wish I had the funds to order My Pink Stamper or Scrappy Mom stamps!!! The only thing I would change if i made this card again- would be to use my Swiss Dots folder on the orange layer. I am sending this card out to my Grandma tomorrow, I cant wait for her to get it!

Thank you for all of your comments! I'm so glad you all come by everyday and check out my creations! It really means so much to me! Stay tuned for a crafty announcement! TTFN! :o)

TTC #108 - Animal theme - EDPD

This weeks card for the Throwback Thursday challenge over at www.creativetimeforme.com/ is a welcome, baby giraffe. While he is cute- he is not my favorite card i've ever made. This weeks challenge cart is Everyday Paper Dolls - or if you dont have that one, any older cartridge could be used. I shaded him with some Copic markers, gave him a little bow and added some buttons on the side. The card is a cloud paper on the bottom and then a great pre-embossed white cardstock paper. I added a sheer ribbon to the top and put a bow on that also. Thanks for taking a look at my card. :o)

Fin-tastic Birthday - TT Episode 104

Hi All! Here is my creation for this week's Throwback Thursday with Emma http://www.creativetimeforme.com/. This weeks challenge we were asked to use the Create a Critter cartridge, making a shaped card and to use the color orange. I got my CAC cart a few weeks ago and this has been my first chance to use it. My Aunts birthday is Sat. 10/9 so I decided to make her card to go along with the challenge. Here it is! I cut the fish bowl @ 5 inches in clear vellum and cut the shadow bowl in grey. I used light blue for the water and a great sandy colored paper for the sand, and a patterned green paper for the grass in the bowl. The little fish was cut @ 1.5 inches layered in two shades of orange and yellow shadow. The fish is inked orange on the edges and the bowl and "water" is inked with blue. I also added a blue hot rock for his little eye. Instead of using Design Studio to make the shape - I just cut two shadow pieces of the grey bowl and used three tiny brads to connect them. I had put the layers together with the brads but only scored the grey pieces and not the vellum. I used my Crop-a-dile to punch the holes and center over the holes (I had tried it scoring the vellum but it didnt look as good).

The inside sentiment I used my new EK Journal Plate & bracket punch - I used the computer to print up ~ "Hope you have a Fin-tastic Birthday!" TFL!

2 more Halloween cards

Ok, ok I know - i have just been having way too much fun creating Halloween cards this - should be the last of them - but hmmmm....LoL. I actually made a 2 others that i didnt photograph yet. Anyhoo- these two were so much fun. The Trick or Treat was cut from Pumpkin Carving added some hot bling and a few candy corn stickers accented with some Stickles! The next card was made using a cool vampire fang stamp - im not quite sure who makes it (i put them in cd cases and tossed packages :-( Black card base, dark red mat and white paper stamped with Rhubarb Stalk (Memento) dark red hot bling on top and bottom, popped up the fangs - which i also wet embossed with clear powder - torn edges. I used some Tsukineko Cherry Blossom Walnut staining ink - made a simple mask on the white fang stamp paper and spritz it a couple times - came out perfect! The inside of the card appropriatly says "Wishing you a Fang-tastic Halloween!" TFL!!!

Halloween Pencil holders

I have decided to make some special goodies for Mrs. A's class - Halloween pencil holders. I first saw this project on Momo's Youtube channel, episode 79 - Treats for School http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9YvtepuhXE - only my pencil holders are a little different. I used a 3/4 inch punch to make the hole for the pencils and didnt put the patterned paper on the back. Instead of adding candy, I glued a small Jack-o-lantern eraser on a small scallop circle. Originally, I had wanted to use a glue dot but they wouldnt stay put. They can be easily peeled off the little paper circle. 

They turned out really cute and I know she and her class is going to love them!

Another Halloween card

This card was created using the new seasonal Cricut cart - Pumpkin Carving. I wasnt quite sure what i thought of this cart, but happened to see it at Michaels on Saturday for $19.99 and thought - what the heck, who could'nt use another cart for a decent price. It's got alot of great cuts on it, and most have pretty solid cuts. I used the Happy Haunting phrase with some polka dot paper which is layered over orange card stock. I added some ghost stickers of which the larger ones I added paper to pop them up. The ribbon I got from a local craft/stamp store (The Great American Stamp Store, Westport, CT) and finished the card with some randomly placed i-rock blings. Thanks for checking out my card! 

Swedish Fish Anyone?

I made a sweet little gift for my younger sister, Amy. She is a full time mom (3 kids!!!) with a full time day job, plus she holds a part time job too! Whew!!! We are meeting on her lunch hour tomorrow and I thought that I would bring her a sweet little treat to make her smile. Instead of just handing her a box of Swedish Fish candies, I decided to jazz up the the box with a cute sleeve with cuts made from the Hannah Montana cart. I used my new EK ticket punch- which if you could'nt tell - im obsessed with! lol!-stamped with My Pink Stamper - Family & Friends stamps and the new 5x7 Polka Dots Cuttlebug embossing folder. Finished with a little edge inking with Memento in Rose Bud. Thanks for taking a peek today!

Blog candy arrival!!

 A big thank you to Kel and Laurie from http://serenityscrappers.blogspot.com/ - A couple weeks back I was the 35th follower of their blog. I got my scrapbook album and package of little metal tags in the mail! Thanks Girls!



Throwback Thursday - Challenge 98

This weeks Throwback Thursday is a no Cricut challenge! Not too hard for me. This is how my card making began about 10 years ago. Stamps, paper, stickers and some paper punches, there was no Cricut!

First card is kraft cardstock base with 3 scallop circles (hand punch) the EK tag punch holds the computer generated sentiment, green background put through the Cuttlebug with Traffic Jam folder (love this one!) some orange chalk ink and yellow stickles. The second picture is 3 cards (r) is a 3 x 3 using MS ice cream cone and drippy goo punch. there is also thin strips of glitter paper and pink. On the white background paper i used a pink, yellow and orange dotted stamp from Stampin Up. The middle card - kraft base with some stamping - i dont recall the brand of stamps used here, edge inking and then some pink and green bling was also added. The card to the left is super simple ~ white card, cream color base, with single (studio G) stamp adhered some ribbon across top and bottom and finished with a little blue chalk on the edges and here and there on the sentiment. Enjoy!

Vignettes!!!

While rummaging through the thrift store today I spotted something neat. On the top shelf I found three booklets - Full Color Vignettes. They are Old Time Fruits and Flowers, Floral and Old Time Animal Vignettes. An initial favorite drawing is a dog with cigarette in paw, wearing a hat & glasses reading the paper. The smile on that dog just makes me giggle! Both the animal and fruits & flowers have over 300 images and the larger floral book has 429 images. The best part of all I got each book for only $1 ~ I really hope I will be able to cut these beautiful books apart!

Here are a couple of pics of some of the amazing artwork that is in the 3 books.

(sorry for the glare - they are glossy pages)

The Pumpkin Patch - TTC ~ Ep. 93

Pumpkins cut is from Pooh and Friends - this is the icon image with Owl located on pg. 44. I didnt realize there were so many cute cuts on P&F - glad i have it! This cut was tricky - only because i didnt want to cut multiples of the pumpkins, so i kept on switching papers and stopping machine - but i worked out fine. (Next time I would probably use white paper and my Copic markers!) I used a Glaze pen in dark green ( #830) and a black gelly roll for doodling, D'Vine swirls folder for background paper, orange with black saddle stitch ribbon (stash) and my i-rock (LOVE IT!!) with the tube of orange, blue and pink blings - these are the mirror type - not the sparkling blings. The image is pop dotted over the swirls and then placed on a kraft base. Thanks for checking out my card!  

Halloween Pumpkin

Cute Jack-o-lantern cut and bats (black glitter paper) cut from Paper Doll Dress Up. 

Background Halloween words paper - think that is a Target dollar item. I inked up the pumpkin (and card edges) with a black chalk ink from Joann's and used some Eucalypyus green Stickles on his vines & stems. Under the orange and black stitch ribbon, I used MS Drippy Goo punch. The three images are popped up and there are 4 Recollections pearl stickers in black and orange in the top corner. To outline his mouth, eyes, and lines I used these great little applicators I got from Sarasota Stamp Co. last year while I was at the Big E fair. I will definitly get more than one package this year, think they were $2.00 for 10 of them. Enjoy!

Poly Shrink Dog Tag

I have lost my dogs ID tag. I have had a couple packages of Poly Shrink sitting around for quite some time and attempted to try to make a quick tag from it. I used my Mickey & Friends Cricut cart to get the dog bone shape. Used my Cropadile to make the 3/16 hole at the top. Knowing that the material will get about 45% smaller, I cut my image out at 1 3/4 inches. I used some StazOn ink in Azure blue for the paw prints and a black fine point Sharpie to write his info - then i stuck it in a box and put the heat gun on it. Took only a minute or two to get down to size. Came out pretty good for a quick dog ID tag. It will serve the purpose until I want to spend the money to order one. In trial I cut a couple of sizes of the dog bone - i ended up stamping and writing on them, I will use them in my scrapbook for his pages.

October 31st - Haunted Window....

It's a dark and moonless night and you have lost your way. You run until you see an old house. You peer in to the window looking for someone to help you, but instead you are confronted by dozens of eyes staring back at you!!! Ok - ya my lame attempt at a spooky story to get you to come and see my card! LOL!
Im in love with the new October 31st cartridge. This is my "Haunted Window". I cut the window from grey cardstock @ 4.5 " and inked it with some black and brown chalk ink.  a  I glued a piece of acetate to the back of the window cut - looks so cool! I added a couple of different sized spiders and bats in black glitter paper(cut from Wild Card). Layered with a piece of bright green is the "eyes" paper from old stash of NRN paper, last detail is the purple ribbon with some Halloween wording on it. This card has really got me into the Fall and Halloween mood! Thank you all for stopping by to check out my cards and creations!
Here are a couple of views, with and without the flash.

Two Halloween cards

here are two Halloween cards - one is my attempt at a suspension card that i saw on youtube from The Stamp Goddess, and the candy apple is cut from the new October 31st cart. I have a dual purpose for posting - while i do like to add to my blog page - i for some reason have the most difficult time getting a picture to load onto the Cricut message board - it used to work when i used photobucket but for the last year or so - they just wont work - so the easy way to do it now is just copy & paste my pics from here! oh well ~ hope you enjoy the cards.

Classroom project

My boyfriends mother is a school teacher for third graders. I occasionally help her out with projects for her classroom. Today I worked on apples for her students desks and lockers. She will hand them out tomorrow, the first day of school, and the children will write their names on them and place them accordingly. I made 25 of the 5" apples and 25 of 3" apples. I really enjoy using my Cricut to help Mrs. A. decorate her classroom. Last year I made her leprechans and their matching attire and the kids put them all together. She told me the kids loved making them! I was very happy to have cut them all out - even if there was 50 little pairs of shoes to cut! There are upcoming school projects in the works. As soon as I get the go ahead my Cricut will be getting a work out again!

Throwback Thursday Challenge - Episode 81 ~ Princess theme

Here is my entry for this week's TT from My Creative Time w. Emma. This card was definitly a challenge for me. I dont own the Tinerkbell cart so I had to think of another idea using the princess theme. I started this card on Friday evening and finally finished it today. I ended up using the Hannah Montana cart for the crown and used my Stamping cart for the butterflies. Not sure if you can tell from the pic but i had used a really pretty shimmer paper from TCP Studio called Pink Paradise Shimmer. The shadow is cut from a shade of pale pink non-shimmer paper. The butterflies - cut at 1/4, 1/2 and 3/4 inch are from a Fiskars papers that i have had. The background paper is DCWV Nana's Nursery - baby girl 8 x 8 stack. This is layered  with a light green paper and narrow greenish ribbon. I used a ton of white pearls and little tiny pink stones and one heart shaped bling in the center butterfly. I think I will keep this for my nieces upcoming birthday - since after all ~ she is our little princess!  Hope you like it!

To Japan with love...

My younger brother Ed, lives in Osaka Japan. He works as a teacher and a percussionist in a band. He has been there for 5 years now. I have only seen him two times in the last 3 years and our family misses him alot. My mom sends him care packages occasionally and for his upcoming birthday ~ 29 years!!!! i made him this cool card using Pagoda. I found this great (background) paper in my stash that is made by DCWV - it works so well with the Koi cut. The Kanji cut means : Fun.
I am really proud of this card and I know my brother will love it too. He will be coming home again this Christmas and I cant wait to see him again! Im also adding a pic from Christmas 2009 of my siblings & myslef. Enjoy & thanks for visiting my blog!

                                                    Me (Diane), Brenda, Ed, Amy & Liz

throwback thursday challenge #9 ~ "Back to School" Paisley

Here is a cute little back to school card for Emma's throwback thursday challenge - using Paisley. The pink on pink elephant is cut at 2.5" i used some polka dot ribbon (Target dollar)on the bottom edge above the Fiskars Scallop edge punch - green foil paper is from an un labeled stash- sorry (geez, seems i am pretty bad at not getting product names!? lol) anyhow- i used some cool prism blue paper for the lens on the sunglasses - think that paper was a from a dollar pack at Target long ago- and used some red making memories "chunky red wagon" alpha stickers. The little apple was cut @ 1.75" - a little larger than i wanted but still i went ahead and used it. Put that through the Swiss Dots folder and the edges were inked - Colorbox Warm Red. The little bees are from the new summer line of EK stickers ( Sweet Treats), i found mine at good ol' Walmart - TFL.

Shout-out!!!!!

this is a special shout out to ebay seller - jlovesuso125 - you are fabulous! I orded 2 Cricut carts from her on TUESDAY Aug. 10 and i got them TODAY! I got Pagoda and Paisley (to use for Emma's challenge) Susan is a super seller with super prices too! I got both carts for  under $46 total!!! including the shipping. Check out her other auctions for some great deals. Also a big thank you to the USPS for helping to get my package here so quickly! Thanks again!

Yay!!! and Ney!

Yay for:
http://www.papertreyink.com/

I placed my very first order with Papertrey Ink late Friday night and got my package today at noon! I am not only impressed with how quickly my order was shipped - but such fair prices and super quality paper - now I know why they say - once you try their papers - you will be back! Wow, great stuff! The 3 packages of cardstock are : Stampers Select White, Paper Basics Kraft and the Paper Basics Rustic (off white color with specks) I also got the Bakers Twine in Pure Poppy and New Leaf and also four lovely yards of Leaf Ribbon.  I am looking forward to crafting with my new papers, ribbons and twine. I will definitly be ordering from them again!

On another note.....a big NEY to Custom Crops. I placed an order with them for the Pink Scotch ATG on June 16. Yes, this was pre-order - but it should have originally shipped first week of July. I just got it on August 10th. That is a total of 56 days from order placement to delivery. I sorta feel like i never should have ordered it. Too much money and took forever to get here. Also it was mailed in a bubble envelope in which the corner was smashed in. I also got a few email "updates" claiming warehouse issues and adhesive issues? I wonder about that. This is not my first order with them - i think maybe my fourth? but the last before this also took very long to get. The web page states "orders ship in 3-5 business days". That being said along with the fact it was a pre-order - i figured I would have to wait a little extra for it to ship out, but 56 days? I am not sure how i feel about ordering from them again anytime soon. How do you girls feel about delayed shipping???

Dad's B-day owl

Here is a birthday card i made for my Dad. I used the Cricut Stamping cartridge. (I love this cart ~ so many cute occasions and sayings!) I cut the owl at 2.5'' and the Happy Birthday was cut at 1.75. I used a plain grassy green color for the background and used my "new" MS paper punch (and of course i threw out the package in my excitement of a new toy and forgot to write down the name) on the bottom edge. Ribbon is called Grateful Squared by KI memories - its from a while back - maybe Joanns?? As you can see, I went a little overboard with the gel pen...i had meant to only dot in the corners and messed that up and just went for broke with the dots! oh well ~ still looks cute. For the last little touches - i used some little star blings (Michaels) and some clear blue "rain drop??" dots on his eyes. Edges are done with Colorbox Chestnut Roan. Anyhow,  hope you like it and heres to wishing my Dad a very happy birthday!!!

wow ~ another great deal today!

For any of you who have Keurig coffee makers - today @ Staples i found 18 pk boxes of coffee for only $2.50 each!!! After all the medical expenses I have had to pay out this week, i have been so lucky to have found both of these deals this weekend coffee for only $ 2.50 a box and a Cricut cart for only $2.00 (previous post). I have made one card this weekend for my brother in law who had surgery. ( I will add the pic ASAP.)

No Way!!! Way!!!

So my week had been begun as a crummy, expensive and stressful one. My crafting mojo was in hiding and i was just feeling fried. Fast forward to today, which did began a bit crazy, but unbeknowst to me, ended up being a pretty good night... Ok, so not the most awesome thing a girl could ask for but - a card crafting Cricut crazy girl ~ yes...
I found a Cricut cartridge -while shopping a local thrift store (drumroll please) for get this ~  TWO DOLLARS!!!!! I found Sweethearts -case, overlay, book and cart- mint condition!!! $2..I was so very happy about this find. After my crummy week i decided today that an iced coffee and some retail therapy was just what i needed. I hit the local thrift store first and after that my plan was to head to Walmart for a new Cricut lite cart. You can imagine my thrill of finding the Sweethearts cart for only $2 - saved me from spending $39+ at Wallyworld. I peruse the tag sale type stores a few times a week in search of a great find - most times ending up with some decent bargains - but this one, so far tops them all. i have also found CM 12x12 albums, brand new in the packaging for 3-4 dollars and then resell them for a good profit, but todays treasure will be happily be added to my evergrowing collection of Cricut carts.
Ladies ~ dont forget to check your local thrift stores for craft and scrapbook items - my fave place (Goodwill) gets alot of items from Target- and you know they have a nice scrap isle. Cant wait to make something from my "new" Sweethearts cart! oh wait....I feel it....mojo returning! lol.

recent news...

hello fellow scrappers and card makers - i have been feeling a little under the weather for the last few days and my crafting mojo is on temporary hiatus.
anyhow i was a happy to find out yesterday that two of my cards sold at my sisters bakery. im so happy that she loves my cards and is willing to sell them for me. its the perfect match - cake shoppe and cards! please check out her facebook page, Georgetown Cake Shoppe - her work is awesome.
here is a pic of one of the cards that sold. (sorry for the awful pic!)

Throwback Thursday Challenge #7- Wild Card

Here is my card for this weeks challenge. It is the heart shape card from page 67 in the Wild Card cartridge. I cut it @ 5 inches and used the heart frame as well as the "hugs & kisses" phrase. I jazzed it up with some Diamond Stickles, dotted around it with my white gel pen and also the gold glitter Gelly Roll pen (xpgb#700), a little edge inking with Color Box in Warm Red, and the final touch was adding a few little heart puffy stickers from EK. Cute!

Casey

I have to say - I have the coolest and cutest Godson in the whole world! Casey Sean! (2yrs)

Throwback Thursday - episode 60

Ok so here is my submission for this weeks Throwback Thursday (http://www.creativetimeforme.com/) with Emma. Better late than never on this one. I dont have the Zooballoo cart so i went with the next best thing - Paper Pups. This is a 12x 12 LO of Mason getting a bath. I think i may change out the pics with some better ones this week, but we'll see. Ok - hope you like it.

4x4 Birthday

The other day in my travels, i found a pack of Cuttlebug Kids dies. The pack was missing one of the dies, but i still bought it - was only $1.99. I have been thinking of a way to use these rugged looking die cuts. When the idea came to mind - i also thought of using a couple of MS paper punches too- the tree & the deer. I used kraft cardstock to make the "dirt" path. I tore it in 3 layers and stacked them. The scallop "sun" is also a Matha Stewart punch. The tree background is a paper from an older stack of paper. Instead of a stamp or die cut, i decided to use up the thousands of letter stickers i own, to write the sentiment. On the deer i lightly touched up his antlers with a Prang gold brush pen. For a little more dimension, I tossed the trees though the CB with the Forest Branches folder. I used a mildly sparkling glitter Gelly Roll pen (#549) and a white Gelly Roll pen to outline. I'm not sure who the recipient of this card will be yet - possibly my nephew. thanks for looking.

Robyn's Color Challenge

Using the new Live Simply Cricut Lite cartridge I have made a card for Robyn - My Pink Stamper's (http://www.mypinkstamper.com) June 30th color challenge using pink, green, brown and orange.

This little worm is just super cute! TFL!

"Let Freedom Ring"

A quick card I made using the Independence Day cart. I used the Allegro CB folder for the card base background. The Eagle was cut at 4 inches. The edges were lightly inked with Memento Danube Blue. I aslo distressed the embossed red paper in Versa Magic - Cloud white just to bring out the image. The eagle body was also embossed using the D'vine Swirls folder and finished it with some Silver Ice - Ice Stickles. The last detail was a tiny blue bling for the eye of the Eagle. The sentiment is a Studio G - 4th of July set- stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black. I also spritzed the red paper with Tsukineko Shimmers in Frost.

Happy 4th!

Throwback Thursday Challenge - New Arrival

Here is my submission for a blog challenge (my 2nd) hosted by Emma (http://www.creativetimeforme.com/)
Last week we voted between New Arrival and Zooballoo- and with New Arrival was the winner, I made this darling card. I soooo wish i had some Peachykeen faces to make up my little girly elephant! oh well, hopefully soon! Enjoy!