Scrapping Day!!!!

No pictures today, but I did spend the day scrapping with two wonderful young women, Amy and Kali. They spent about 5 hours at my house playing with my cricut, making cards, playing with my cricut, eating, playing with my cricut. I think you can tell the cricut was the highlight of the day! Ashley, we missed seeing you today - I hope your kiddo is feeling lots better. Kali and I each made a wonderful shoe using a template by Ellen Hutson - I gave mine away so I'll post a picture when I make another one (you can check out her website: www.ellenhutson.com or click here for the template itself. I spend a lot of time crafting which is playing to me, but not enough time crafting with others; so today was a treat. It also forces me to deal with the mess my scraproom has become! I have stacks of paper, templates, tools, etc. everywhere, but since I had to bring a lot into the dining room today it will all get put back where it belongs.

I hope I'm not setting myself up for failure, but I think I'm going to make another new year's resolution and that is to scrap with others at least once a month. It is so easy to get into a rut of going to work and coming home and working on projects by myself, I need to break out. Since the kids are all off on their own or in college, I have plenty of time.

I think that is it for today. Tomorrow is my birthday - it's hard to believe I'll be 48! I plan to spend the day in my craft room and then going out to dinner - no dishes makes it my kind of day.

Christmas time

Well, Christmas is fast approaching - after 47 of them, you would think I would catch on that it happens every year at this time! I have been busy making cards and some gifts. This first card was for the monthly swap at the Paper Wishes message board. These papers are from their Christmas Busy Scrapper's solution book. I love the oomph teabag folding gives to a card. It is a fun card because of the gate folding and the top flap.





I made these two star boxes -the first shaped objects I've worked on. They were easy in my mind while I was planning them, but not so easy to actually make. However, I do think the finished products are cute. Again the papers are from Paper Wishes.


I'm behind on my scrap booking, I haven't done a page in months. Scrapping came before card making, but cards are definitely quicker! I'm going to make a New Year's resolution to do at least 5 pages a month. I don't want it to become a chore, but I think I need to build the time into my schedule so I'll be able to work on those projects. One of my boy's brought his girlfriend home from college for Thanksgiving and it was really fun to pull out one of the completed albums and show her (and embarrass him - but that's what moms are for :)).

Life has been challenging in general the last month as well. My father died on "black Friday" and his passing brought up a lot of family issues to work through. My husband recently lost his job and with it our health insurance! So, I'm trying to add more time to my work as a clinical social worker, but that is pretty tough due to some physical limitations. I keep on telling myself we'll get through all of this - and I know my family and me will. All of life's challenges give me a great reason to work on my crafts though because it is such a great stress reliever

It's been awhile

I didn't think it would take me two months between posts, but life has a way of changing the best plans...work, kids, husband have all been needing my attention lately, but I think things are settling down. One of my boys graduated college last Spring and is still not able to find a job. I have been struggling to be supportive while setting clear expectations for him, but it has been a challenge. I would have thought the world needed more engineers (at least that's what the job sites all say), but the reality is something different.

I have been focusing a lot of my crafting time on Christmas cards and a few fall kinds of cards. Cheryl Horton, the wonderful owner of Inspire Me has had some wonderful classes using alcohol inks and different stamps for cards. Here are a few of my favorites. The Fall card (above) was done using alcohol inks (actually they are the refills for copic markers). The background came out a rich wonderful combination of red, yellow and orange. The leaves were cut from the Cricut Wild Card cartridge.

These cards are also designs of Cheryl's. They are very simple, but stunning. The embossing is done with a Cuttlebug folder and the stamp is from a wonderful set called Deck the Halls by Sassafras Lass. The colors are definitely not your typical colors, but that's one of the reasons I like them so much. And finally:
This card is a twist on the tri-fold. I saw a demo on You Tube and adapted it for Christmas cards. It is definitely a fresh idea (at least to me LOL) and something different to send to the folks on my list. Hopefully it won't take another two months before I'm back here again! But just in case, I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Cards, cards and more cards!

I am leaving my current position with my company to work closer to home. The hard part is saying goodbye to my staff - they are a wonderful group of hard-working dedicated individuals who do wonderful work with the mentally ill. I have made each of them a thank-you card - here are some of them:

This card uses Dazzles and papers from Hot Off The Press

This card is from a template from Hot Off The Press (HOTP). I have all their giant card templates - they make quick, fun cards that always get a "wow".

This card I "scraplifted" from the HOTP message board (can you tell I like HOTP?) the original was created by one of their designers Susan Cobb. The papers are various shades of purple which my camera doesn't seem to show very well. The stamps are from HOTP Sweet Blossoms and Matching Borders and Focals. The original is here:
http://forum.paperwishes.com/showthread.php?t=765

This is a very simple card made with my Cricut Expressions and the Wild Card cartridge. The shimmery papers came from a pack I got at WalMart.









This card is a joy fold card with a tea bag folding medallion as the focal. They are fun to make with great results.

Cricut's 100!

Cricut is celebrating the release of its 100th cartridge with a give-away of 100 cartridges over five weeks. The cartridge is Winter Woodland (just in time for the snow to fly here in Maine). Here's how they describe it:

"Winter never looked so pretty! This collection is a fresh take and different style, distinctly youthful and feminine. The elegant images look great layered, but are magnificent silhouettes as well. Though a Shape cartridge, it also contains a stylish font perfect for embellishing. With this cartridge, the woodland is a wonderland! "

Check it out and then add a post to the giveaway thread on their message board and maybe you can win the cartridge!

http://www.cricut.com/shopping/ProductDetails.aspx?id=361&s=1&sc=2

Challenges this week

This week I'm working on a card for 2 challenges. One is the papercutz challenge and the other is Fab's Christmas card challenge - you can find it here: fabsbigchristmascardschallenge.blogspot.com/

Both are calling for a Christmas card with lots of bling. I found the link to the poinsettias on Fab's blog ( crafterskitchen.blogspot.com/2009/08/christmas-poinsettia.html here is the direct link) and printed them on photo paper, cut them out and got out the stickles! The paper and card quote come from Hot Off the Press, my favorite scrapbooking company. Hope you like it




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I've been having visits from various of the kids coming home from college. One came home to do laundry, one to pick up a tv and the laundry kiddo is coming back tomorrow for a home cooked meal and bringing his roommate. I made a cake today - the first one in a couple of years, but the kids said I haven't lost my touch.

My first post

So, here I am posting for the very first time on my blog. I didn't start tonight expecting to have a blog, but here it is. I was clicking through various crafting blogs and came upon this site. I have been busy all day working on a swap project from the Paper Wishes message board. I am doing a page based on a verse from Frosty the Snowman. I need to make 8 copies of the page, so I am up to my elbows in flocking, glitter and glue! Of course, this is my idea of a good time, so no complaints here. I'll post a picture when I have it finished.