Christmas Projects ....

Finally I have some pictures to post! We had our family Christmas yesterday and managed to finish our gifts to pass. I even completed my ornaments for the ornament exchange.


I hadn't planned on doing ornaments for our ornament exchange however I came across this idea on the Cricut MB (sorry! don't remember the poster) and thought they might be quick to put together. These were cut from the Winter Lace Seasonal cart at 2 and 3 inches. I then glued 3 like pieces together for thickness. After putting three together I then applied watered down glue and sprinkled Martha Stewart's flocking to each. After they were dry I then used my I-Rock to apply the colored gem stones to each. It was my first time using the flocking and the I-Rock. I had nothing but problems with my I-Rock. It wouldn't hold and stay powered on. The battery door kept being pushed open. I finally picked up another one at Michael's on Friday.... tried it... loved it! Worked like it was supposed to. I am taking the broken one back to M's tomorrow and returning it as defective.


This was another floating frame that we did. Our first attempts at them were done for Jeff's family using their last name and the year of their marriage. Since we didn't know who would be the recipient of this gift, we decided to go with a nice quote for the home. This was one of my favorites. We cut the phrase using SCAL and the flourish was from Dang! I forget the cart... we were looking at Picturesque, Cindy Loo and Elegant Cakes but I can't find it on those. Eventually I will find it and then edit here. It seemed to be a big hit. My sister-in-law put in a request for one as a housewarming present.

Our second gift to pass was a Glass Block. I bought the glass block from Michael's using a 40% off coupon. If I remember correctly they sell for about $16 regular price. I wasn't sure if this was going to work because there is a big cutout on the side (nice for putting in the lights) but it had a big plastic tab to close it off. It actually worked really well and I think I will buy more when M's has a 50% coupon. Jeff applied glass etching cream to one side to "frost" it. This worked like a charm and nicely diffused the light. We didn't bother with the back side mainly because we didn't have enough etching cream left but I don't think it mattered. The vinyl cutting was a free svg file from Denise's Scrapbooking Room. We originally put in a set of 35 lights but I didn't like how they all sank to the bottom of the block so I swapped it out for a set of 50. Jeff preferred the 35 thinking it was softer but I over-ruled him. I then wrapped the ribbon around the block and tied a double bow up on top. This was our first attempt at the glass block and I definitely think that I will be making more of them.... they were fun, easy and pretty... with the lights off and on...


I think this week I will get back to scrappin'. I love the crafting but need to try to get a layout or two in. We had craft night at work on Friday and I pretty much used the time to organize my cricut cartridge boxes. I hate to even admit it but I have 91 cartridges!! When did that happen??? But at least Jeff is using the cricut with me now and sees its potential. However I think he would prefer I quit altogether with the carts and just use SCAL and svgs. But there's no way I could give up my carts... we will just have to continue with both.
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Vinyl, SCAL and Tickets... oh my!

I am still working on one of our gifts for Saturday and needed to use SCAL since I couldn't find an image I like on one of my cricut carts. Well, actually, there were a few of them but the problem is that I've seen them used in the same way on the Cricut MB so I wanted to try something different. At the start it was nothing but problems... cricut would start cutting and then stop in the middle of the design and just sit.... frustrating! Note to self: Double check the size of the cutting mat listed on SCAL and make sure that it is the same as what you just put into the bug... it makes a difference.

So after I enlisted the aid of Jeff and he got it cutting, I did finally manage to cut two designs (first in paper) to see which I liked best... I picked one, cut the vinyl and now it sits waiting for Jeff to adhere it. Pictures will follow when all is done.

On a side note, I had an awful day yesterday and no one is to blame but myself. My license plates are expired on my car and I was stopped by a cop on my way home from work... result: $88 ticket for expired plates or a February court date (where I was hoping that I could get it reduced or eliminated showing that it is taken care of). Well, I was trying to figure out how to tell Jeff last night when he took my car to go help out my aunt and uncle. He came home and yep... you guessed it... he was pulled over and given an $88 ticket. Two tickets... one day... same violation... is that even possible??? Well getting the sticker is not as easy as I thought... car needs to go for emissions testing first, found out from Jeff that there is a "knock sensor" going off and it won't pass emissions until that is fixed first. Needless to say, he was not happy (and he still doesn't know about my ticket yet). Friday night is craft night at work and honestly, I NEED it. I will hopefully finish my ornaments tomorrow so Friday night I can scrap for fun. I have some sketches picked out... some challenges I am interested in... even some cards... I don't care... I just want to scrap.

Just tired...

Last night I worked some more on the ornaments for this Saturday. Still not sure how they will turn out or if I am even gonna like them but I will finish them.... just not tonight. I also tried finding a nice winter and/or Christmas image to use on our second gift to pass. Found a few svg files since there wasn't anything I wanted that hadn't been done before on my cricut cartridges. The plan was to cut some out on paper tonight before taking them to vinyl but again... not tonight. I really am tired. I think the last 6 weeks of work have caught up to me and now that I am no longer against a deadline, my body is saying... REST! So a little time on the computer and then off to bed for me!

Bugging Away...

After working 60 plus hours a week for the last 6 weeks, throw in Thanksgiving and Christmas plus my husband losing his job, I haven't had much time for crafting (other than the Christmas presents we made). Today I cleared out a spot for my cricut and cartridges in our craft/computer room then I turned it on!!

We still have one more Christmas party to go to next Saturday and it is tradition to have an ornament exchange. I didn't have an ornament last year (and maybe not even the year before) so this year I am determined. I wasn't sure what I was going to make until I found a post on the Cricut MB featuring a snowflake. I should be able to complete 20 of them by Saturday. I will be sure to post pics when I finish plus look for the post so I can give proper credit to the lady I am lifting the idea from.

I also decided that this year I am going to complete a full year scrapbook. What I plan to do is do a calendar page, a journaling page and a layout(s) of pics for each month. I have Designer's Calendar that I used my Cricut rewards points on last year so why not use it and make the calendars, right? I made January's today. It's a little plain right now but towards the end of the month I plan to write details from the month on it.


Completing a full scrapbook... sounds like another goal to add to my list for the year. Speaking of which I went through my overflowing inbox of emails and picked a few to look at challenges. I am contemplating ones featuring song lyrics, sketches and cards. Have to see which I decide to do... maybe all 3?

A New Year.. A New Start

I can't believe that it's been almost a year since I last wrote here. I used to enjoy it so much and then just fell off the wagon. So it's time to start again... if for no other reason than to post my scrappin' projects.

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!

My Craft Weekend

The second weekend of January "the ladies" met for another one of our annual craft weekends. We used to them in late March but ran into Easter so last year we decided we needed to move our weekend. Unfortunately there were not many open weekends and we ended up with the second weekend of January. It meant that I would now miss the large family Christmas but I am not willing to give up my craft weekend... it's my annual shot of sanity!

I had a hard time settling in this year. I was better prepared than I have been the last two years especially emotionally. But still I had distractions to deal with. The biggest of which was my fault... before I left home I sent an order of pictures to Target in the town where I was meeting my sister-in-law. The only problem is... they never received the order and I didn't have those pictures. Now I had other pics to scrap but for some reason I just kept letting that plague me. It got to the point on Saturday where the ladies convinced me to have my daughter at home resend the pics to the Target and I would drive and get them. It was a 45 minute drive one way and shopping time... I spent/wasted 3 hours on it. Maybe wasted isn't the right word for it... I did get 4 layouts done out of those pictures... which was just about half of my production. Nine layouts for a full weekend of scrappin'. It just seems wrong.

There were other minor distractions. We had four cricuts running that weekend and in some ways I am the most knowledgeable about them... which isn't saying a whole lot. And there were questions to be asked and answered. This I honestly didn't mind. These machines do so much more than just cut paper and I have so much to learn about all that they can do. I love sharing what knowledge I have. Plus, I get to share a table with my SIL. I love her to death but she needs to trust her own judgement more on her choices. She's putting together a really cute 8X8 album on Lions Sculptures that her town had out one summer. But she questions and wants opinions on each detail of each page. I've tried telling her that there's no wrong way to scrap and what I might like, she might not. Now this doesn't mean that I don't want to offer any opinions at all... I know when I get stuck it's great to have someone to bounce ideas off of... so I need to keep quiet. But truly her book is looking great!

Here are the layouts that I managed to get done at Craft Weekend '09...

This is my daughter at Halloween when she was in 2nd Grade. I love these pictures of her. The paper is from Once Upon a Time by DCWV. Love those papers and they seemed to be appropriate for this. The title and the frame were cut from Storybook. (Ooops, just realized I didn't put the date in the frame).


This is a layout of my son and his girlfriend from Homecoming this year. I don't know what the pink paper is but it was a slick shiny coated pink (of course, it doesn't show up in the picture). And I have to double check the font it was either Jasmine or Ashylyn's Alphabet (neither of which I own). My SIL, Amy, owns them. I've always liked Jasmine but that weekend AA became a new favorite... trying to convince myself that I don't need to have it.

The next two layouts are of my daughter at her first Homecoming. She's a freshman this year. She did a great job of picking out a dress that completely fit her personality. After looking thru all the local malls, she finally found this one on Ebay. It was a Jessica McClintock and I think it cost us $55 (40 of which she paid). Since I had to convince her to get her hair done I paid for it ($35 plus $15 tip) but we were both extremely pleased with the results. The embossed pink paper on the first layout was really difficult to work with... no adhesive sticks very well to it. I cut the frames from Storybook... the first at fit to page and the second at fit to lenghth. I added Stickles and Jeweled brads to the first page for some bling.

This next page isn't done yet since I never added a title although it's pretty self-explanatory. The pictures I had were really dark but I had bought the Disney Dreams Come True cart before I left that weekend solely because of Ariel (Kaitlyn's absolute favorite). All weekend long I wasn't sure if I was going to keep the cart until finally the last few hours of craft weekend I finally just ripped open the packaging and decided to keep it. (I had already bought and returned the cart once before). Ariel's tail, her top and the seaweed were all from the DCWV Glitter Stack. This was my first attempt at one of the Disney characters. I am pretty pleased with how it turned out.


This one was just a quick, fun one to do. I really liked this picture of my kids with one of their cousins all wearing 3D glasses so I had it blown up to a 5X7. The bacground was a frame from Accent Essentials (I believe) cut at fit to page (that weekend was the first time I had used that function key and I had fun with it). The title and subtitle are from Graphically Speaking.

This is one of my favorite layouts, even though it is so simple. Just before that weekend I had bought some carts at Michael's buy one/get one sale. I needed another cart to even it out and couldn't decide which to get. I finally settled on A Child's Year, not sure if/how/when I would use it. Ha! That turned out to be the most popular cart that weekend. Even though it is primarily silhouettes, just about everyone found something to use on it. This layout is of my daughter and her best friend, Maria. They met in Kindergarten when Maria came up to her and asked Kaitlyn if she would be her best friend... and still are to this day. The two pictures signify there personalities so perfectly as Kaitlyn and Maria and as their alter egos, Gilda and Erma (I have no idea where those came from but it fits).



The next two layouts are from our Agency's anniversary party held at a Brewer's Game at Miller Park (my first time in the new stadium, even though it's been open for quite a few years). We had a blast! Our seats were in the Toyota Tundra area where we got to sit in full recliners with tv screens in front of all the chairs. It was a great time!



And this is a saying that I put together for my husband's grandmother. I had played with a co-worker's Happily Ever After cart a few months ago and made the pumpkins (which really are gorgeous close up). I wasn't sure what to do with them and had plans to put them on a Thanksgiving present for grandma. Well, it didn't get done for this past Thanksgiving but I'm sure she will put it up anytime. I don't know which font I used as it was done using my SCAL, where I welded letters for the first time.

A little Christmas Interlude...

I haven't been around much lately... busy, busy, busy with work for last 6 weeks... but here is my favorite American Idol singing my favorite Christmas song...