I managed to do a few layouts last year (maybe 30 or 40). I posted the ones from last year's craft weekend but will slowly pull the ones together that I have done and take pics of those as well and post them when I have nothing else to share.
I also took on a few new projects last year. I organized a few card making sessions with the ladies from work and we made 225 cards to send to the Cards for Soldiers group on the Cricut Messageboard. I've made some cards in the past but never like that before. There may be more cardmaking in my future.
I also made some Christmas presents this year. This year one of the fantastic blogs I discovered was Scrap~A~Doodle~Dee (Papercrafts by Candace). She is really talented. One of her projects was a set of flash cards that I thought would be perfect for the triplets. Thank goodness I started early in November because it took me right up until Christmas to finish them. I think I spent about 40 hours working on them. But I have to say that they turned out absolutely adorable. I didn't get pictures of them but I plan to when we go to visit in 2 weeks.
And another Christmas project was floating frames. These are all the rage on the Cricut MB and look pretty darn awesome. Plus this was a project Jeff and I could work on together. I bought ugly pictures at Goodwill strictly for the frames. Jeff sanded and painted them black. We then cut last names and the years of marriages out of black vinyl (bought from Expressions Vinyl) for Jeff's parents and two sisters. We then cut out the names and years using Sure Cuts Alot and my cricut and placed them onto a glass for each frame. One of the frames already came with 2 pieces of glass so we had 2 more pieces cut to match the other two frames. The vinyl names and years were then "sandwiched" in between the two pieces of glass and placed into the frames (with no other backing). Again didn't get pictures...yet. Another thing to do when we next visit.
Since I don't have any pics of the presents we made, I will share two layouts that I did this last year.
Whoooo's Crying - This one I am actually making a companion page to in order to focus on the journaling. Poor Kendra was so devastated when she didn't get to go to school with her brother and sister. This was my first time using the Create a Critter cricut cartridge and I loved it! Isn't that owl adorable? I ended up using this cartridge many more times on the flash cards.
Bee Happy - And here was another simple layout (my style of late) of Kaitlyn picking apples. Not sure why I went with the whole "BEE" theme except that I had the bee patterned paper (words) and had fallen in love with the Bee on the Sentimentals Cartridge and had desperately wanted to use it. The title is cut from the Pooh Font cartridge.So I'm not very good at making New Year's Resolutions and one blog I read today mentioned setting goals rather than resolutions. That sounds like a great idea. The following are my goals for my crafting this year...
1) Keep this blog fairly current - I won't pressure myself to blog everyday but a couple times a week would be nice.
2) 50 Layouts - This should be a manageable goal. I still have my craft weekend in April plus we are trying to schedule 2 craft nights and 1 craft day at the office each month.
3) Submit my Work - Doesn't necessarily have to be for a magazine submission but even for a challenge blog. I have a hard time sharing my work and this will help me to overcome that.
4) Make Cards - Send homemade cards to loved ones this year instead of buying them (or even worse sending none). I have the ability, the materials, I just need to plan ahead and make the time.
5) Try Something New - A new product... a new technique... a new style... or even a new craft... who knows? Maybe that something new will become my something usual.
Okay, those aren't too bad... they shouldn't be too difficult to manage. And since I am posting them here publicly it will help hold me accountable to them.
Here's to a great 2011!
