Leah's Card Designs

K-Love 30 Day Challenge

2012-01-29T19:09:00.000-05:00

The challenge is to only listen to Christian music for the next 30 days and see how it changes your life. I am going to do this challenge along with friends of mine. I can't wait to see what everyone brings back to the table of how it has changed their lives. This will be a great time of fellowship with friends. I am looking forward to it.

Grace & Peace,

Thankful Thursday Valentine Hop

2012-01-26T00:00:00.000-05:00

Welcome Everyone!!! I am so glad that you decided to come along on our hop! I am excited about what I have in store for you. I have pictures of a wonderful fun project I made. I want to share this with you. I must say that something special happened between when I made it and now when I am able to share this with you.

Let's now get the formalities in place. If you have just stumbled upon my site because you're a follower; I am happy to have you here. I wouldn't want you to miss out on the fun that we have been having putting this together for you. I'd like you to start with Jenny, our wonderful hostess at CrazyAboutCricut. If you have been hopping along with us and have come from Bobbi's at Rock Girl Custom Designs then you are in the right place. Thank you for coming...now on to the fun!!! Are you excited?? Ok!!!

Here we go! I was working with son on some lollipop flowers. We were having fun with different things. I then had him help with an arrangement we have now on our hutch in the kitchen for Valentine's Day!

I had gone into Cricut Craft Room to make the designs to duplicate something we had seen online in a kit. I didn't want to pay the price they were asking for the kit so I looked again ~ saw that I could do this so I went on to do it. Son and I had fun putting them together. He didn't want the flowers to be just white so he asked me to ink them up so I did that. He isn't able to do this part.

Here is the end result hope you like.

Supplies:
Cardstock your choice of colors; in this case we used white and pink
Favorite adhesive
Ink if you choose to ink edges
Favorite Lollipops to use
Floral (color of choice)
Glitter hearts
Ribbon (curling - color of choice)
Terra Cotta Pot
Styrofoam ball
Ribbon around the pot
Acrylic Craft Paint (color of choice)
Cricut Essentials Cartridge (Flower in cardstock)
Home Accents Cricut Cartridge

Directions:
Cut your flower center at 2" plus depending upon the size of your lollipop you plan to insert into the center of the flower. Then use Home Accents Cartridge to cut your hearts at 1.4" These will be placed at the back of your flower off center so the lollipop can still be inserted through the center hole. The hearts are your leaves for your flower.

Here is a surprise that I was surprised with. My Mom and Step Dad came over for a visit they brought this after seeing our arrangement. This is a painting that my Gram Gigi did before she passed away. They thought it looked alot like our arrangement. The elements in her painting are incorporated in our arrangement or very similar. Funny how God does that. I had been thinking of my Gram this week and the happy memories with her. This just tied it all together for me. Going to leave you with the picture of the lollipop screen shot then two pictures; one of our arrangement next to my Gram's picture and her picture alone. Thank you for staying. After the pictures I will give you direction to where you hop next.

Thank you for stopping!!! Here you go now hop onto our talented Amber at My 3 E Scrapbooking. Enjoy the rest of the hop. Hope we have given you some inspiration for Valentine's Day!
Grace & Peace,

Hello Thursday

2012-01-19T20:01:00.000-05:00

Here are the two that I promised. Enjoy looking!!

These are not my projects, but they are projects made with the cartridge Giant Flowers. I really like this one. I could see many projects coming from this one. Thank you for stopping. I will post a project soon. I promise now that things are settling down.

Grace & Peace,

Hello Thursday

2012-01-19T18:50:00.000-05:00

Welcome Everyone!!! Hope you're having a super week! I have been busy here on the home front. My family has kept me quite busy. I always look forward to what Cricut has in store for us. They always have new and exciting things.

I hope to get some of these. I will have a new project for you to see real soon. One I can reveal a little earlier than the other so I will do that. I cannot believe that we are almost through the winter season already.

Here is the new exciting things that Cricut has for us.

These are some of the projects that can be made with this cartridge. These were samples contained at Cricut. I did not make them so I am not taking credit for them.

There are two more to come as well. I will put them in the next posting. Thank you for stopping by.
Grace & Peace,

Sugar : The Bitter Truth

2012-01-12T17:01:00.001-05:00

I wanted to share this video with all of my viewers. I have watched this from beginning to end. I must first of all thank the anesthesiologist that I spoke with this morning from one of our local hospitals. He was very informative with information and suggested I watch this. I have an online class that I'm doing and this was one of our videos to watch. Hmmm....do you see any relation there??? I do ... When I get something like this from someone then I get it yet again from another resource I take it very seriously...why because I feel that it is something that I need to take information away from and incorporate in my life. I also being a Christian when God allows something like this in my life from something I have read or something that someone says and it is the same I take it seriously, praying about it ...then incorporating in my life. This isn't the first time this has happened this week. I was doing my daily walking; stepping up my activity levels to increase my activity points....a gentleman approached me telling me he had noticed that I have been walking there for a while now. I said yes I have been now. He then told me things he noticed about my walking and how he has seen improvement. While you may not always see differences on the scale do take notice of your body. Do you feel different?? Are your clothes fitting differently?? Are your shoes fitting differently??? Is your endurance level increasing or decreasing??? These are all important things to take notice of. When he said how he had seen improvement it took me back abit... I even asked him what did you see? He told me all that he had seen then he closed with the Lord blessing me for taking care of His creation ~ after all God did design me. I was thankful for what he expressed to me. I close with this take what others tell you and be thankful for what they tell you there are lessons to be learned things to see.

I hope that you will watch this and please comment below what you were able to take away from it. I mentioned earlier I had done my daily walk. I walked more miles today in a shorter time. I got over 3 miles in this morning and earned some great activity points of which I will not return as food. I have been writing my meal plan for this upcoming week. I will be looking even closer to my food choices. I hope you will too. Thank you so much for watching this and taking time out of your day for it. Thanks for stopping by!
Grace & Peace,

Cricut Mini!!!

2012-01-04T16:30:00.001-05:00

Hi, Everyone!! I love all of this great stuff that Cricut keeps coming out with. I love how little this is ~ so wonderful for all those small crafting places. Hehe, oh another small crafting space would be up to camp in the 1,000 Islands. This would be awesome. Bring the laptop for CCR ~ Then the other supplies ~ oh I'd be set. Let the crafting begin and the fun of camping begin. Ok, now winter must go and camping season has to start, LOL.

The Cricut Mini is compatible with Cricut Craft Room which is an awesome tool!!! I have heard others say it is difficult to use. I have helped many get used to Cricut Craft Room and have given tips on it's use. What I love about Cricut Craft Room is that you don't have to own all of the cartridges to design with them; only when you cut the project do you have to own the cartridges that are used in that design. I like this feature because it allows me to play with the various cartridges before purchasing them. I like to try things or see things how they would be before buying. This allows me to see what they could look like before I purchase that cartridge that I am playing with. I also am able to see all the "hidden surprises". What do I mean by "hidden surprises"? Well, I mean the fun little features and cuts that you do not see on the box before purchasing. I like to check them out through Cricut Craft Room or I go to Cricut.com and go under shopping then I look at the digital handbook that is available for that cartridge I'm thinking of. These are just a couple ways that I find those hidden surprises and make my decision on the cartridge.

Thanks for Stopping By!
Grace & Peace,

Kitchen Decor

2011-12-30T17:41:00.001-05:00

I wanted to do something in my kitchen, but just couldn't figure exactly what I wanted. I then had this idea. I wanted to make it inviting and cozy all at the same time. I searched online for the perfect saying and this is the one I settled on. "Coffee tastes better with a friend". How true that is. Sometimes we may take a friend for granted because they're just there, but when you truly need a friend to be there for you, you know there's that one friend that will do just that for you. That will be there no matter what. Then to enjoy a cup of coffee or tea with them just makes it all the better.

Now on to my project that I bring to you from my cozy home. I used Cricut Craft Room to design my project and get the sizes just right. If you do not have Cricut Craft Room then you can just click the words there on either one and you'll be taken right to where you can get Cricut Craft Room. You can get the PC or Mac edition or you can use the web based one; mind you with the web based you can design, but will not be able to cut.

For right now this is with a heavy cardstock that I used to put it up there, but will be replacing it with the Cricut Vinyl to make this more of a permanent fixture for my kitchen. I wanted to do a test run first to see how I'd like it before using all my vinyl stock to make this. I am really liking it. Now to get to work on the vinyl side of things.

I cut the letters at 3" I used the Cricut Alphabet Cartridge in Fonts 1 and 3 for the lettering... there was just something catchy about the style of lettering that I liked. I then cut the coffee pot at 7.75" I really like the size of it and the coloring for the peachy kitchen that my Grandmother Gigi painted it. The coffee pot I'm sorry I didn't mention it, but it is from the From My Kitchen Cricut Cartridge. I really love my peach kitchen. Will have more projects for you soon. Have a wonderful evening everyone!!

Thanks for stopping By!!!

Grace & Peace,

New Cricut Craft Room Exclusives

2011-12-23T18:39:00.000-05:00

I was looking on Cricut and saw these and thought I'd share with you. I love how so many are coming out! So exciting!!!

First one is Cricut Craft Room Exclusive, Crash! Boom! Pow!

Next up is Cricut Craft Room Exclusive, Movie Night!

Next one we have is Cricut Craft Room Exclusive, Digital Numbers!

Next one we have is Cricut Craft Room Exclusive, Chemistry Icons!

Next one we have is Cricut Craft Room Exclusive, Bicycling!

These are the ones that are listed on Cricut. Go and check them out. If you want to see any of them click on the picture for that digital cartridge and it will take you right to the cartridge you want to see. Thanks for stopping by.

Hope everyone is ready for Christmas. I know we're getting all our fun traditions in place and ready for action between Saturday, Christmas Eve and Sunday, Christmas Day. We at Leah's Card Designs want to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year!!!

Grace & Peace,

Secure Daughters Confident Sons

2011-12-22T18:29:00.002-05:00

I enjoyed this book although I found it to be more appropriate for parents of teens rather than parents of younger children. I found this great that the author touched on our divine natures of male and female. God made us each differently and that's a good thing. We each have different tendencies. God has a plan for each of us.

I walked away from this book with a point that I thought was great. We must look at our children as future men and women. I believe they must be taught and allowed to explore. Along with this there must be boundaries in place as well. I have found with my son that at different ages of his life he begins what I call "button pushing" if you will. This being said my meaning is this; when I feel he's pushing buttons it is again that he's searching for the break in his boundaries with me as his Mom. He knows I won't fall from him. He knows I'll be there. He pushes and pushes, putting me through the testing of this at different points of his life. I find this a touchy time sort of because it can play a bit with your emotions, but at the same time it is very important to make those boundaries strong. I do that and he stops pushing. I make sure I'm there for him even if he isn't seeking me out and those times he needs me I'm there even more.

The author laid the foundation that parenting styles are different from the Mother's style of parenting and the Father's style of parenting. Each are important that they create that balance for our children. While I haven't always agreed with some things that my husband does with our son; when I look at it with a different perspective I can see the value and end result our son is happy. I am thankful for a Wonderful Christian Husband, who is also my high school sweetheart. I know my husband can say the same with some of my parenting approaches with our son ~ he may not always agree or see the point. Our son has Sensory Processing Disorder, Dyspraxia and Hypotonia ~ so our approach with parenting can be challenging. I see it as an adventure daily and all through each day.

I would recommend this book to anyone with children or anyone thinking of having children.

I received a copy of the book: Secure Daughters Confident Sons by Glenn T. Stanton from Waterbrook Multnomah Publishing Group for review.

Grace & Peace,

Three Cups Book Review

2011-12-22T13:09:00.002-05:00

This book was nicely written. I like the way they taught about Saving, Spending, and Giving. The tea cups were the perfect place to give a symbol of what they were teaching. I mean that using the cups for a visual focal point. You could see things as they were progressing along. Then the adventure along the way; lessons learned.

Our son is a visual person; which this really put the lesson of money in perspective for him. I thought it was great. While we use the Dave Ramsey method; we have also done this for him with the cups for him to see visually what is going on with his money. He is always wanting to help others which is very nice. We really like to see this quality in him. Sometimes he loses perspective when he wants to take all his money and get something with it. We tell him no, that is why there are three categories, spending, saving and giving.

I would highly recommend this book. I say this with young children it is a great visual tool. Thanks for letting me share.

Disclaimer: To comply with regulations by the Federal Trade Commission 16 CFR Part 255, I am disclosing that BookSneeze® provided me a complimentary copy of this book. I was not required to write a positive review and the opinions I have expressed are my own.

Grace & Peace,

Thankful Thursday Design Team Post

2011-12-22T11:27:00.001-05:00

I want to welcome everyone to our Thankful Thursday! Hope everyone is having a great week. I know my son is so looking forward to Christmas recess. He has been counting the days. He had his play yesterday at school and it was awesome!!!!! I'm not sure if I can upload that video or not. I'd really like to share it with you my viewers. I will get on that right away.

I wanted to share with you the project that we made this time together. Our challenge was to have Christmas Theme. I thought what better than the goodie bags that he and I made for his class for after the play.

Supplies:
Green, Red, White, Orange, Black Cardstock
White fine tip gel pen
favorite adhesive
Sentiment for front
Goodie bags - Of course we can't forget these LOL

Directions: Cut topper from any cartridge of your choosing; in this case we used Christmas Cards - cutting it at 4"x 4". Then scored it in half. Then we made our snowmen, put them together then embellished them. I then used the stapler to close the goodie bags after we filled them with candy. Then son put the sentiments on and helped with snowmen as well. He really enjoyed this project.

I have a feeling on Christmas recess we'll be doing many more things together. I really love my time with him. Thanks for stopping by. Now before I let you go please stop over to our Design Team Leader Jenny at Crazy About Cricut that you may participate as well in our challenge or visit our Facebook Page Thankful Thursday Challenge. Merry Christmas all!!

Grace & Peace,

Family Tradition Update

2011-12-22T09:48:00.001-05:00

I can't believe I forgot to add these for this. My Step Dad had never had Snickerdoodles. Yes, can you believe it!! Oh, my! I just had to step up and make a special batch of these wonderful, awesome cookies! You know you can't just make the cookies and stick them in a ziploc baggie and give it to someone who's never had these cookies. Hehe, I had to make a special goodie bag.

Here are the little goodie bags I made. I used my Campin' Critters Cricut Cartridge. I cut the topper then I layered with the deer and added the sign by welding them together. Enjoy!

Grace & Peace,

Special Family Tradition!

2011-12-20T20:44:00.002-05:00

Each year as a family we would go to Lights on the Lake and see many different light displays. My parents car would be packed with usually five or six of us in the car. My Aunt Betty, Uncle Sonny, My Mom & Dad, Hubby & I. Then sometimes would just be five of us because of work obligations that would keep my hubby from attending with us. After the light show my Aunt would speak up and say, " Hot Cocoa and Ice Cream at our house." This was always great and would always hit the spot. I always looked forward to them coming to our house for Christmas. We have many great memories of them. Later on when we had our son he would come with us; then hubby would still be called away with work obligations or would opt to not go. We would then go separately as a family the now three of us. One year it was hubby, myself, our son, Grandma Roli and Aunt Betty. Our son was not that old and he just didn't understand that in order to go home you had to drive through the Lights on the Lake to get there. My Aunt was trying to explain this to him as we all had our own versions of how we were heading home. When Aunt Betty spoke to him everyone was quiet in the car; son after she was finished folded arms, sat straight up, looked forward, didn't move or speak another word until we were back to Aunt Betty's house. We laughed when we got there because of the look on his face. We know it was serious to him, but now we laugh about it today. When we play the video you can hear Aunt Betty speak to him ~ our son laughs about it today though. Thought I'd share a few with you this evening. Hope you enjoy.

I hope to get a video up but we'll see. I did video some of the lights while we drove through. I will see what I can do to get that transferred if I can possibly. Hope you enjoyed these though.
Grace & Peace,

Shhh!!, Secret Christmas Gift!!!!

2011-12-20T16:14:00.000-05:00

The wonderful person that sent this to our son this is what it looks like now. Tag is not on there yet with your names, but will be. It's in process of being cut right now. I will add it to the package. I wanted to show you this wrapped. I added a bow to the package as well. The bow was cut at 5" from Cricut Craft Room Exclusives, 3D Bows.

Thanks for stopping by!!!

Grace & Peace,

Question from a viewer

2011-12-18T08:57:00.001-05:00

Hi, Everyone! I had a viewer ask me a thought provoking question. To be quite honest I hadn't really thought much about it. I love the Cricut! I love the versatility with their machines; meaning the various products you can cut with them (chipboard, scrapbook paper, cardstock (various weights of that), vinyl, fabric, make embossing folders, cut magnet sheets Cricut has, food (cookie dough and fondant or gum paste). These are just a few things, but what I love too is what you see is what you get. I hate when there's a product that shows you one thing and when you follow their instructions it's nothing like what they showed; materials inside are not as nice as what is shown on the outside. I don't find this with Cricut. The instruction books that come with each cartridge not only show you what you're cut is going to look like, but you also find there are bonus items in there. Let me clarify that. I purchased Paper Doll Dress Up Cricut Cartridge quite a while ago now, but when I did I hesitated and thought what am I going to do with a cartridge full of paper dolls?? I don't have a little girl at home that would appreciate these if I made them for her. I do have a son and I've used various cuts of these to make teaching games from alphabet to numbers and other fun learning things for him. I also found there are many, many little fun bonuses in this cartridge as well. I am so happy that I have added this one to my cartridge library.

Thank you so much for asking me your question Cricut Critter. I appreciate you taking the time. I really don't know if I could put just one thing that I like most about the Cricut. I put a few things above here; the list could go on for a super long post because there is so much more I could add in here that I like about the Cricut. I'd write it all out, but I would be afraid my family would miss me, lol.

Time for me to get my Sunday rolling! Hope you're all having a wonderful weekend!
Thank you for stopping by!

Grace & Peace,

Questions from Viewers Answered

2011-12-17T13:34:00.001-05:00

Craftaholic asked " Was the stamp set from faithful creations? What is the name of the stamp company?"

Yes, the stamp set was from Faithfule Creations. The name of the stamp company is Verve and the stamp set is "Starstruck"; which you can find here Verve Shop.

Millie asked "How do you load the paper in the Cricut?"

There are a few steps that you must take depending on which machine you are currently using. If you are using a Cricut machine with the mat size of 6 x 12 then first you must take care in measuring your cardstock to this size. (A recommendation is not to use construction paper as this is a very fibrous paper and will leave your mat mostly non sticky after it's use. ) After you have cut your stock to the correct size then you must line it up onto the mat then gently take it and place it up to the rollers while applying little pressure press load mat then the machine will take your mat in and you'll be ready for cutting.

If you are using a mat that is 12 x 12 then you can use a larger piece of cardstock for your mat. You may use scrapbook paper, but then you must adjust your settings as the settings for regular cardstock is different than that of scrapbook paper. I use the following for my cardstock Speed 2 or low if you're in CCR (Cricut Craft Room) and the pressure set at 5 or high. This setting seems to do best for me for the cuts. I will use the same setting for scrapbook paper, but depending on the paper I may choose to lower the pressure.

I recommend having a few mats on hand and rotating them so that they last a bit longer. Another tip is when your Cricut mat becomes less sticky. What I like to do is take a baby wipe that is "no-alcohol" and wipe over the mat. I then wait for it to dry then my mat is sticky again. I find this to be helpful if I cannot get to the store right away to purchase a replacement.

Now if the paper you have is not the same size then you need to tell the Cricut by loading the mat as usual then use your directional arrows to guide your cutting blade to the top corner of your paper then press the set paper size button. Then the Cricut will know what size your paper is. Hope this helps.

These are some of the other settings that come right from the Cricut Chirp Newsletter:

Settings guide for favorite materials
Scrapbook Paper and Cardstock - Standard Blade Machine Settings: Speed 2 (Low), Pressure 5 (High), Blade Depth 5, Multi Cut 1

Bazzill, textured paper/cardstock - Standard Blade Machine Settings: Speed 1 (Min), Pressure 5 (Max), Blade Depth 6, Multi Cut 1

Fabric (0.023"/0.58mm thick) - Deep Blade Machine Settings: Speed 3 (Med), Pressure 4 (High), Blade Depth 5, Multi Cut 1
Note: Use a thin iron-on interfacing with the fabric, set the iron at its highest temperature setting. Apply direct heat and pressure to flocking for approximately 30 seconds. Peel protective liner when cool. Wash and dry garment inside out.

Magnet (0.035"/0.080mm thick) - Deep Blade Machine Settings: Speed 2 (Med), Pressure 5 (Max), Blade Depth 6, Multi Cut 4

Stencil (0.0155"/0.40mm thick) - Standard Blade Machine Settings: Speed 2 (Med), Pressure 5 (Max), Blade Depth 6, Multi Cut 2

Chipboard (0.059"/1.50mm thick) - Deep Blade Machine Settings: Speed 3 (Med), Pressure 4 (High), Blade Depth 6, Multi Cut 5
Note: A fresh mat is needed to hold material. Small pieces of chipboard may require tape to stay in place.

Emboss (0.0160"/0.41mm thick) - Standard Blade Machine Settings: Speed 3 (Med), Pressure 5 (Max), Blade Depth 6, Multi Cut 2

Stamp (0.0415"/1.05mm thick) - Deep Blade Machine Settings: Speed 3 (Med), Pressure 4 (High), Blade Depth 5, Multi Cut 1
Note: Use a fresh mat to keep material firmly in place.

*** NOTE**** The adhesive on the mat is repositionable so your paper can be moved around, but also it is important to place your clear protective liner over the mat to protect it in storage.

Thank you so much for stopping by! I will try to answer some more questions as they come up. I have some great Cricut projects in the works as well. I will get those posted as soon as I can. I also want to talk with you about the new releases that came out this week. I hope to be getting some of the cartridges to work with that I may post some great projects for you.

I am also working on the video portion of my new camera. When I get that figured out I will have more how to videos for you. Meanwhile, I will post snapshots in how to's as they're requested or as I get them made. I will as well work on some slide shows with long delay between so when doing a how to you'll be able to follow along.

Have a wonderful weekend ~ Happy Crafting!!

Grace & Peace,

Moo-ey Christmas!!

2011-12-15T15:13:00.002-05:00

Hi Everyone!!! Hehe, now that I have your attention right? Are you wondering what "Moo-ey Christmas" is all about. Well, I had a request last night for a Christmas Card with a cow on it. I said "Sure I can do that ~ I'm on it!" Then in a few minutes I had the layout of the card and sent off a screen shot ~ it was perfect. They really liked it.

Here is the card done up complete. I sent this off to them as well so they could approve the final. They did!!! I'm real happy. Now, the next task is to get it out in the mail ASAP for them to get it out.

Now I have 9 more Christmas Cards to get done for the ones that came in the mail! :) So excited to see cards....and I love to send them off to friends and family. Now here is the "Moo-ey Christmas" card.

The card is an A2 sized card. I cut the 8.5 x 11" piece of cardstock in half to get the A2 sized card. I then cut the "Moo-ey Christmas" from CCR at 1.3" and welded them together. I then cut the cow and layered him. I used the hat from Christmas Cheer Cricut Cartridge.

Thanks so much for stopping by!
Grace & Peace,

Hello Thursday!!!

2011-12-15T09:21:00.000-05:00

These are the new releases at Cricut.com. Go over and check them out. The first one up is Creative Memories This & That Cartridge. Here is a photo of the cartridge and a few of the cuts on this one.

The next release up is Cricut Imagine, Colors & Patterns Cartridge, Notebook Doodles. This one is really cute to use on all your school projects and things. I know this would be fun for our school as well.

The next release up is Cricut Victorian Rose Seasonal Cartridge. This one has many great cuts on it as well. I can see using this one for various occasions not just the season that it is intended for.

The next release up is Cricut Imagine Art Cartridge, The Good Old Days. This one looks great. Really makes me want to get the imagine now..LOL. Who knew Cricut could be such an enabler...ok....don't answer that. I know because I keep adding to my library even when I shouldn't but still do. Hey, what can I say I love to use my Cricut everyday!!

Thanks for stopping by!! Have a wonderful day!!

Grace & Peace,

Sweet Tooth Boxes Cartridge

2011-12-14T20:09:00.000-05:00

I received this cartridge and I am now going to experiment with it and see what fun things I can make with this cartridge. With Christmas coming soon I'm sure I can have so much fun with this one. Make great little treat boxes for all the goodies I have baking in my kitchen. I'll be lucky if some of them make it to the boxes.

Here is a photo of the items that you can make with this wonderful Cricut cartridge.

Gift Box:

Supplies:

2 pieces cardstock of choice (I used a linen type cardstock)

Scrapbook paper coordinating color

Adhesive

Bone Folder

Sweet Tooth Boxes Cricut Cartridge

Cricut Craft Room Exclusives, 3D Bows

Directions:

Cut box from page 21; the cube box at 7" then the coordinating lid as well. Use your bone folder to score your lines for folding then apply your adhesive to create your box. Then do the same for your lid. I then wanted to make it appear as a Christmas box as this is a gift for my neighbor. I then used scrap pieces of my scrapbook paper to appear as the ribbon around the box. I cut these at 1.25". I then cut my bow at and topped the box. I know the box may appear as small, but she doesn't like a lot of sweets around so this is perfect size for her.

I thought I'd put a special little treat in there for my sweet neighbor Bobbi. She's a wonderful neighbor. We've become great friends from when we first moved into our home. She and I talked and she knew my Grandparents as well. They not only built my home (which was their's first), but they also built hers with the help of other family members and some contractors that my Grandparents hired. We'd stop by Dunkin' Donuts and pick up a Chai for each of us then we'd sit at her picnic table and chat. Love the visits. Now that it's cooler weather we still get together when we can to chat, but we're inside instead of out on the picnic bench. That's put away for the winter. This spring and summer we'll probably sit on the bench that my favorite Uncle made. I love that bench!! I've enjoyed it so much this season. Now that it's gotten colder I don't get to sit out much.

Thanks for stopping by!!
Grace & Peace,

Christmas 2011

2011-12-12T23:02:00.000-05:00

Hi Everyone!! Thought I'd pop in before turning in for the night of which I should have done an hour and a half ago. No, I'm not there yet. I'm looking at some pictures that I took of our real tree. We haven't had a real tree in years. Let's put it this way since before our son was born and he's now seven years old.

I took quite a few pictures of the ornaments and things so enjoy. There is also a hidden Christmas Pickle in there as well. No, not revealing where it is yet. That comes after Christmas ~ the revealing. LOL! While there are a few variations of the "Christmas Pickle" ~ ours is a little different. As I said in one of the stories about the Christmas pickle the one who finds it receives an extra gift. We have it that who finds it receives the gift of sharing. Now no one in the family, but myself ~ hubby hasn't volunteered yet to do it. That's ok, because I have so much fun in hiding the pickle and coming up with the gift of sharing. Now, son and hubby do not have any idea what the gift is going to be. I don't reveal it to them ~ I don't even tell them if I've gotten it yet. Why??? or Oh, you're mean!!! LOL no, no hear me out. I don't because they like to go on a "Peeking Hunt" to see where Mama has hidden the gift of sharing.

Time for the fun!!! Here are the pictures! Enjoy!!!

Grace & Peace,

Guest Photographer!

2011-12-12T08:59:00.000-05:00

Hi Everyone! Hope you all have had a wonderful weekend. We had an eventful weekend ~ we chose our live tree. We hadn't had one for quite a while; why we didn't do it all these years I don't know. I will have pictures of the tree and some of our special ornaments as well.

Now on to this special post. I want to introduce you to my Guest Photographer, Robert Peluso. He takes so many beautiful photos ~ I have told him before looking at some of them I get inspiration for my cards. This one I wanted to share with you. Here is his photo first then a card that was inspired. I will also post a few others.

Robert Peluso, Guest Photographer

These here make me think of the festivities there in NYC.

Now here is the card and few that were inspired from this photo. Thank you for stopping and please leave some love for Robert for his photo please. Hope to have him as a guest photographer here again. Thank you!

Grace & Peace,

DT Project

2011-12-12T07:15:00.000-05:00

For my Design Team Project I decided to submit with my smash album that I made for Christmas.

This is the front of the album as well as a photo of the inside.

Supplies:
2 pieces of Chipboard cut 5" x 5"
2 pieces of Cardstock cut at 5 1/2" x 5 1/2"
2 pieces of coordinating stock 4 3/4" x 4 3/4"
Ten squares cut 4"x 4"
3 Sheets of Cardstock 8 1/2" x 8 1/2"
Favorite adhesive and embellishments

Special Ribbon for closure

Directions:
Take your 2 pieces of chipboard and your pieces of cardstock that are cut at 5 1/2"x 5 1/2" and adhere to chipboard. Cut the corners at an angle to have nice corners. Then may ink edges if desired at this point. Now take your three sheets of cardstock that are cut at 8 1/2" x 8 1/2" and first fold in half, then turn and fold in 1/2 the other way; then take and fold a third time, but this time on the angle. This way forming a triangle. Now to make them a square you will see that the points want to go inward push them in toward the middle to form a square. Do this to the other two then adhere them together first one points wanting to come upward. The second with the points wanting to go downward; finally the third again like the first one. Now when you fold it correctly your album should close with all the pages in. Now take the ten squares and cut six of them in half. Then the four you did not cut place on your four center squares. Have fun embellishing then enjoy. Take your ribbon and adhere to back of album so that you can tie it closed. I used Glossy Accents to adhere this ribbon. I found this to dry quickly and hold strong.

You may go to US Art Quest by clicking the logo at the top or to see their blog you may go US Art Quest Blog. Thanks for stopping by.

Grace & Peace,

Winter Holiday Blog Hop

2011-12-10T14:37:00.001-05:00

Welcome Everyone!!!! I am so pleased that you decided to join us for our Winter Holiday Blog Hop. I am happy to be a part of it. I have been making so many things that I had a difficult time choosing which to put on this post. I hope you like what I'm putting up.

Now for the formalities. If you're just stopping by....I welcome you!! I am happy you stopped by, but I wouldn't want you to miss out on the fun either soo without further ado .... please stop by our wonderful Hostess... Denise at VinDeeLoo's This n That. If you have arrived here from Martha at A Scrapping Time then you're in the right place. Enjoy!!! I hope you like what you see.

SPOIL ALERT!!! SPOIL ALERT!! MILLIE NO PEEKING!!!

I had a difficult time choosing so...for the fun I will post a few cards that I had made this weekend. I then will have a Guest Photographer on Monday. I'm pleased with his work.

These cards are able to fit the A2 Envelopes. I used an awesome set of stamps from some blog candy that I had won quite a while ago and just received ~ let me tell you these are AWESOME stamps!!!! Thank you Faith!!! :)

Now this was just three of the twenty-six that I had made. They were all a variety!! Ok, here's another four that I really liked that I will share with you before I send you off on your hopping experience ... hehe. That just sounded so funny.

Ok...now that I have kept you soo long; I will now let you hop onto Lissa at So Many Crafts. Have a wonderful day everyone and have a Blessed Christmas!!

Grace & Peace,

Soooo Sorry!!!

2011-12-09T09:19:00.001-05:00

Hi Everyone!!!! I have been so swamped with lots of fun things around here. I have many cards to share with you. I feel so bad ~ as I said I have been super busy around here. I was to make a posting for yesterday for a layout. That didn't happen, but I do have the layout. I have a special guest that will appear on my next post. Here is the layout.

Grace & Peace,

Thanksgiving Blessings!!

2011-11-24T08:20:00.001-05:00

Blessings Everyone!! Thanksgiving is a wonderful time of the year. Family gatherings, family traditions being celebrated and passed from generation to generation. We also remember those that passed on before us ~ those that protect our nation so we can have our freedom. There are so many things to be thankful for.

I am thankful that God loves me completely ~ that he cares even about the tiniest thing in my life when others probably don't care about those tiny things. I am thankful for the family I have, the memories we've had over the years that come to mind as the holidays approach us. I remember thanksgiving and family dinners over to my Grandmother's with the cousin's. We'd have fun and there was a table just for the "kids" as Gram would say.

I am thankful that I can celebrate with family. Thankful that I'm able to host our Thanksgiving Dinner here in our home. I am thankful that I have my son ~ when our dream to have a little one seemed so far off ~ 14 1/2 years of faithfully trusting our LORD he blessed us with the news "Congratulations you're going to be a Mom!" I was so overjoyed ~ I gave the LORD our son ~ We are raising him, but he's the LORD's child. I am blessed with how our son loves family and is concerned about their needs before his own. He will go out of his way to please them, help them. I am the same in that respect. I care for friends and family needs before my own. I'm learning to slow down to take care of my needs as well as theirs. If I don't do this then I cannot be of help to them. I am thankful for my son's teachers and how they have helped him in all of his schooling years since he started at age of 2 years old. Our son's Grandmother asked him who his favorite teacher is this year. He missed the "this year" when she spoke to him. He answered without hesitation "Mrs. Kindon" because I love her. She is my friend and she helps me. While she isn't his teacher this year she is a blessing to both of us. I am thankful for our friendship with her. She and I attended school together. When our son learned that I knew his teacher while growing up he said "Oh, no! Not another one ~ I'm in trouble!" No, you're not I'd say ~ I tell him I know them yes ~ this just makes it easier for me to express your needs and concerns as well as mine. I am also thankful for our new Principal. He has been a blessing to both my son and I. He has listened to both our concerns and thankful for the decisions that have come from them. Thank you Tom Colabufo.

I am thankful for many other things from friends on Facebook ~ although this may not seem large it is. I say this because when you need to talk to someone or you see a need from a family member or a dear friend you're just a stroke on the keyboard away from them. If you have their phone number then you can call and speak with them. I'm thank ful for my Design Team Members from One By One as well as Thankful Thursday Design Team Members. I am thankful for the recommended friends from others ~ while I didn't always know the person ~ I have developed friendships with many.

I am very thankful for my husband, my best friend, love of my life. I am thankful that we met in High School and developed a wonderful relationship. I'm thankful that I could stand by him as a NAVY wife during his enlistments, be by his side during all deployments ~ while not physically, but through letters and when he could make a phone call I'd support him. I'm thankful that we have the relationship we do ~ we have had our rough times ~ a time when our relationship almost came to an end. When that time came I am grateful that we both have the LORD in our lives and had wisdom from HIM to step back look at the situation from each other's perspective. I'm thankful that we came back to each other talked at great length to work through our "issues" we had with both sides. Now we don't have all that "intense fellowship" ~ yes we still disagree, but we have a new refreshed way of handling it when those moments arise. Our relationship is stronger because we have been through this and some other things during our time together.

I am also thankful for my Cricut family ~ you all mean so much to me. I'm thankful for the friendships that have been built just with this gift of crafting. I am thankful that we can inspire each other to be creative and think "outside the box"; do something we haven't done before. I am so thankful for that. I have tried different things and thought oh I can't do that ~ then when it's completed I'm pleased with the result.

I am thankful for my Weight Watchers family as well. They're a great encouragement to me in this new lifestyle journey. I have been blessed by many in our group ~ many have encouraged me to go beyond what I thought I could. This came when we had our 5k which then turned into a 10k. Then when I got home I couldn't stop walking ... lol. I had to walk some more. I thought when I went for this that I couldn't do it ~ they encouraged me ~ believed in me and I believed in myself and saw the results and was proud. I can say I have plans for my 5k's in the future!! Thank you Weight Watchers!!!

Thanksgiving Blessings to you all!!! Enjoy your time with family and friends! I hope when you can that you would take a moment to comment here about your Thanksgiving traditions and things you're thankful for. God Bless!! Now to get my Thankful Album out for us to write in and get the special things on the table.

Have a Blessed Day,

Update on Thanksgiving Decorations

2011-11-22T13:09:00.001-05:00

Hi Everyone!!! Hope you're having a wonderful day!! I am taking in all of God's wonderful creations ~ enjoying the season. Now if these turkey's would stop fighting it would be better. No I'm not going to grab one for Turkey Dinner....they can stay out there. The fun will be coming up later this winter when they roost in the trees and about fall out or actually fall out. I'm hoping to get some more video of that. Hoping the baby deer will be up later this afternoon as well.

I wanted to thank those that came out for our hop that we had this weekend. I had fun participating in it and sharing some fun stuff with you. I have some more things to share with you. I first have to share with you an update with my "Thankful" banner ~ there is a little turkey friend above ~ my little one had fun helping me to put him together. Then to hang him was a challenge. I didn't want to use double sided tape because I was afraid of him falling down. Then my son says "Mama, use thumbtacks for his eyes then he will hang up there" ~ after my laughter ~ you can see I did it. I have to still laugh at it because it just looks funny. You know the turkey who sees it's hunter and wants to run or fly whichever will get them out of there fast enough.

Now for even more fun! Yes, I have something else to share with you. I made these for my table ~ I always have to do something special to my table at the holiday's. I like to have fun with the guests and or family that will be present. I like to see their faces when they see what is in front of them ~ the little things they get to play with at the table. While these don't have toys in them this time; there is a few nice treats in there. I must say a quick thank you to my StepSister Cindy for the heads up on the Reese's Peanut Butter Cups for my StepDad ~ his favorite. I always like to spoil my guests and family. I like to find out special things they like and add them to the table in some fun way. Here are the pictures for you that I'd like to share.

Here's the updated banner for you. As you can see the eyes of the turkey. Enjoy!

This is a card for our son's bus driver ~ we must spoil them with treats through the holiday's as always. This driver was his last year and she was AWESOME!!! She really paid attention to him and his needs as well as all the children on her bus. One thing that really stuck for me with her is that she said in the winter when the weather was bad ~ I drive this bus as if I have my children on here. She also said she loves each one of these children and they're special to her. She really cares and watches out for all of them. Thank you Allison!!!!

These are the fun little treat boxes that will be sitting at my table along with the other fun things I have planned. I need or want to make this as special as I can for my StepDad / Grandpa Steve. We love him very much. The last picture is just a little bonus game that I play with our son. This is one I made him when he was in preschool and we play it each year around Thanksgiving ~ we make it a challenge now. We have to dance and walk like the turkey ~ we hold our color up that we're singing about. I just love making memories.

I say this as I close ~ don't put off being with someone because you never know when that day will come when they're no longer there. I had that when we had a family event we planned ~ a family member came over dropped something off ~ said "See you tomorrow at the party!" Who knew only a few short hours later I would receive that dreaded call "Get to the hospital" then only short time of being there again more news "I'm sorry, we did all we could, there was nothing more, he's gone" ~ that's when I lost my Dad. While I miss him ~ I now celebrate his birthday's in Heaven. We send a balloon off to him ~ we added flowers to his grave that is very close to our home. I thank God for the relationship that I had with my Father ~ I'm blessed with all the values and things he taught me that I am now passing to my son. At this Thanksgiving and how it's been since he passed in 2009. His picture will be on my hutch on the middle shelf instead of where it is now ~ along with the other family members that have passed on ahead of us so we can remember them at this time ~ not the sadness, no. Remember the blessing they were to our family ~ the happy times ~ the times they shared with us ~ the times they made us laugh until our sides split from laughter. Cherish those memories you have with your family ~ make new ones ~ remember the ones you've made.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you!!! Thanksgiving Blessings to all you and your families!

Have a Blessed Day,

Give Thanks Blog Hop ~ Nov 19th & 20th ~ Day 2

2011-11-19T21:58:00.001-05:00

Welcome back to our Give Thanks Blog Hop!! I'm so pleased that you're joining us for our second day. I have another project for you to see. This is hanging in my house. Our guests that are coming Thanksgiving Day haven't seen it yet.

Spoiler Alert!!!! Gramma & Grandpa Steve Spoiler Alert!!
Do not read on!

Ok, not that they're going to listen to that...hint hint... Gramma is probably peeking now. I am glad that many of you left me comments on my album and the tradition we'll have in our family. I know this will bring many fun memories.

Now for the formalities ~ If you've stopped in to say hello and see what fun I'm up to ... great having you!!! I would love for you to see the fun of our hop as well. I'd love it if you went to our Hostess, Denise at VinDeeLoo's This 'n That. This way you don't miss anything from the beginning. If you've been hopping along with us and have arrived here from Carley at The Real iCarley you're in the right place. WELCOME!!!!

Now for the fun!!! I decided to make a banner that says "Thankful". I used B is for Boy Cricut Cartridge for the banner pieces which are cut at 6.5" and the lettering came from Blackletter Cricut Cartridge which was cut at 4.5" for each letter then centered on the banner pieces. The ribbon was from my ribbon stash. I just love it because it has leaves on it. I almost fed it through to the back, but when I actually started to do it I goofed lol ... and put it through the front. I looked and thought this looked rather neat. I also liked that the letters stayed in place more when I moved them along the ribbon. I'll be storing this away and using it in years to come.

I apologize for the lighting in the picture. We had a good sunny day and I asked my husband to help if he wouldn't mind with the picture. He said he'd do what he could. I wish you could see just how vibrant the colors are. I used the linen paper stack Mango, Berry, Banana. I just love how it looks in my kitchen. I will be adding a few more elements then will get another photograph of that as well. Here is the banner pardon the stones in the background ~ comes with the location of our home ~ yes, in the middle of a cemetery.

Now before you go ~ I do want to thank you for stopping by. I hope you all have a wonderful week and wonderful Thanksgiving with your families. Now I will let you hop off to Ashley at Made Especially For You. Thank you again for your wonderful comments. I really appreciate them.

Have a Blessed Day,

Give Thanks Blog Hop November 19th & 20th

2011-11-19T00:00:00.000-05:00

Greetings Everyone!!! I am so happy that you decided to stop by. You are going to see many great projects along the way. Our theme is on Giving Thanks. I am thankful for so many things, but I'll get to that after I go through all the formality stuff.

Now if you're just stopping by I'm so happy that you stopped by. I want to share this hop with you so if you feel like hopping and seeing some great things from our talented ladies then you'll want to start at the beginning with our Host, Denise at VinDeeLoo's This 'n That. If you're hopping with us then you should have arrived here from Carley at The Real iCarley.

I am thankful for my freedom. Thankful for my husband, my high school sweetheart and my Sailor ~ Veteran. I'm thankful for Family. Our family has had a rough few years with death's and other things. We have had some celebrations along the way. We had lost my Father In Law in 2008 then in 2009 my Father passed away so by the age of 5 our son had lost both of his Grandfather's. This was difficult for him. These men were both part of his life and good Christian men. My Father In Law lived further away from us so visits were farther apart, but the impact he had on our son ~ left memories in his heart. My Father being just two doors away from our home was able to be around our son more and they had many more memories together. When my Father passed it was very difficult for him. Enough on this, but as I said we had some celebrations ~ my Mother in Law married again and her husband is a great Christian man and he is a very caring family man. He has stepped up to be a special Grandfather to our son. Then my Mother has since remarried. She married my Father's brother, my Uncle. He's now my StepDad and he's been great with our son. He plays with him like my Father did and now and then I'll hear our son say " 'nough Pa" .... and the belly laugh that comes from him is one like my Father used to get. I just love the smile that comes over our son when my StepDad ~ his Grandpa Steve is around.

Now on to my fun things. I have an album that I made. Now this is a little different. You typically see an album on someone's table and you expect to see pictures. This is different in that there are only a few squares stamped; "grateful, Live today remember it tomorrow" are the two sayings. The other blank places are for us to write what we're thankful for. We won't read them after we've written them. That will be for next year. Then we will write more next year then the following year we will read them. I hope to get the book filled front and back then it will become a treasure that sits out each year and another album will fill it's place until that one is full.

I thank you for taking time out of your busy schedules to stop by. Now for more fun I will send you on to our talented Ashley at Made Especially For You. Thank you again for hopping with us. May you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!

Have a Blessed Day,

Just In Case You Ever Wonder Book Review

2011-11-17T14:07:00.001-05:00

I wanted to get another book for my son and I to enjoy. I came across this book Just In Case You Ever Wonder by Max Lucado and I knew I just had to have it. I really like Max Lucado; I like how he writes fun things for children. We have some other things here at the house written by him as well.

As I was reading this book myself I thought this sounds like me when I speak with my son. I want him to have that affirmation that I love him and his Father does as well. We both tell him often. When we had our family reading time as we do each night. I brought this book out to our son. He was anxious for us to read it. He loves books; I can say I'm very pleased with that. He sat and was listening then not before long he said "Mama, I already know that. When are you going to read the book?" I then said I am reading the book. He just said oh and quietly was listening. He said I like the book, because it is like you are talking to me and not reading it. I found that to be true when I was reading it to him. Just sounded like I was talking with him in a conversation. I found this book to be very good. I think it's important for children young and older to know just how much their parents love them. I know one parent that never heard those words "I love you" until her Mother was close to passing away. I can tell you that meant the world to her and she holds that close to her heart.

This book is now one that we read each night before we do our other reading. Thank you so much for stopping by to see what I have been up to.

Disclaimer: To comply with regulations by the Federal Trade Commission 16 CFR Part 255, I am disclosing that BookSneeze® provided me a complimentary copy of this book. I was not required to write a positive review and the opinions I have expressed are my own.

Have a Blessed Day,

Because of the Brave Blog Hop

2011-11-11T00:05:00.001-05:00

I thank Nicolette for having me in this hop. I am honored to be a part of it as I am married to my NAVY Sailor. He is now a Veteran. He began his Naval career in '84. He then ended his tour of duty two years after the Persian Gulf War. We went through many deployments. I will say the life wasn't easy, but I always stood by my Sailor. I was there when it came time for re-enlistment. I stood by him during all deployments. I was there to write letters to him; receive his calls. I did not go home to family, because I didn't want to miss his calls and or letters. I was a Naval Ombudsman for a while when we were stationed at the Portsmouth Naval Hospital in Va. I was happy to do all that I could for the families of the service members that were deployed. Prior to this he was stationed on the IWO JIMA LPH2 here is a picture of the ship. This is an amphibious assault ship.

I know this was a tough time for us. We weren't married long then he was deployed. Seemed like he was away more than he was home ~ I just stood strong and waited on my sailor to come home. This layout is not quite complete. I have been piecing his pictures together from various deployments and want to place them in the right place for his scrapbook. This is his scrapbook from the front. I will continue putting things in this and hope to get more photos up as I complete it for him.

I hope you've been enjoying the hop so far and all the great projects you've seen to honor our Veterans. If you just stopped by to see what I've been up to thanks for stopping by. I'd really like if you'd join us on the hop and start with our lovely hostess Nicolette at Beyond Scrapin'. If you've been hopping along and arrived here from Michelle at Peanut Butter & Jelly Designs then you're in the right place.

On this layout I have the rosette surrounding the Naval Symbol I have since changed it to just touch around it instead of the symbol sitting on the top it's at the center point of the rosette. I have been hiding this from hubby ~ it's a gift for him. Will be giving it to him soon.

I'll also leave you with a picture of my "Mighty Sailor" hehe. I just love him so much!! Honey, Thank you for serving our country and protecting us. I know you're so proud to be a Veteran as I am proud to be your wife. Now, Sweetie one more thing.... "Amen, Praise the LORD, hallelujah & pass the ammunition!"

Now I will send you on to Anita at Anita & Bugs....again thank you for stopping. If while you're out and about today or any day; you see one of our military men or women ~ do something great ~ tell them "Thank You" ~ those two words go a long ways! More than you know ~ they mean so much to them. I know it means a lot to my husband when someone says it to him for his service to our country.

Thank you to all our Veteran's, Service Members in all branches of Military! Happy Veteran's Day to you all!!

Have a Blessed Day,

Thankful Thursday Design Team Post

2011-11-10T08:22:00.001-05:00

Good Morning Everyone!!! Hope you're all having a good Thursday! I so look forward to these times. I love the challenges that we have before us. Our challenge this week was to make something that "Falls" ...hehe can you see where our theme is coming from? Tis the season of Fall so we wanted something that fell open. We were challenged with the Jacob's Ladder or something like it. You'll have to check out all our design team projects at Crazy About Cricut with Jenny.

Here is my project. I made a Jacob's Ladder. I had fun with this. I cut my papers then placed my ribbon between and kept it going throughout the project. The fun came with the testing. I found that if you put anything on your ribbon going through it will not flip like it is supposed to. Once I made sure that was all clear ~ test, test and it was off and flipping. I love the way it came out. I have added a few other embellishments on here since these photos, but wanted to share this with you.

So do check the ones our wonderful Design Team has created on Crazy About Cricut. Do please join us for our challenge at Thankful Thursday Challenge on Facebook. There is so much fun to be had!!!

Thank you for stopping by. I hope you all have a wonderful day. Today is a difficult day for me as it was a year ago today I learned of my Aunt Lynn's death. I had been searching for something on the internet to see the headlines "Chittenango Woman Killed By Car"....I thought oh no!! I immediately felt bad for that family ~ mind you I hadn't read the article yet. I pulled up the article to see the name of my now Step Father and my Aunt Lynn. I thought when I read it that they had seen something there at the scene, but then when I read to the end it said that my Aunt Lynn was struck by the car! I was thrown, upset, I cried so hard. I called my Mother and told her. There another family member said no it can't be ... they don't have a dog. I said but it's on the internet and it's our local news channel that reported it ~ then it was on the news. Telephone calls were made ~ it was verified. That is a day I'll never forget. I'll never forget Aunt Lynn. I pray for her daughter, Stephanie daily ~ I know this is not something easy to live with. Losing a parent is very difficult. I lost my Father two years ago now and it still feels like yesterday to me. Having him buried out here near the house in the cemetery ~ some days it's a comfort having him close ~ other days it is just overwhelmingly difficult to deal with.

Aunt Lynn .... Remembering you and Missing you..

Have a Blessed Day,

Baby Boy Card

2011-11-04T19:00:00.000-04:00

I decided since I have a special event coming up for a dear friend of mine. I would do a color challenge. I had this package of cardstock in front of me with the following colors seen here in this photograph.

I wish that the picture could have come out better, but the lighting in my room is such so it didn't. I will be working on that issue as I have been. I've been looking into various types of lighting ~ I want something bright that would work in here,but doesn't cast shadows. That is my main problem now. Not enough light and there are so many shadows it makes it a challenge just putting projects together. Any tips or suggestions on lighting would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for stopping by!

Have a Blessed Day,

Diaper Shaped Card

2011-11-02T17:35:00.002-04:00

I had a request come in for a diaper shaped card. I thought I might have something already on hand ~ no not that easy. I had to design something. I am hoping that this will work for her. I am posting it here. If any of you have suggestions please let me know. This was done just from a description of what she said she wanted. Thank you for taking time to stop by today.

Have a Blessed Day,

School Photo Album ~ Smash Album

2011-10-31T09:04:00.000-04:00

I made another smash album; this being for a local school here. I used the colors for the school. I cut the album covers at 5 1/2" x 5 1/2" . I then covered it with decorative paper in school colors. I then inside cut the squares at 4"x 4" for the main ones then cut the rest in half. I thought when I generally see these albums they're only done up on one side. This one I decided to follow the pattern to the other side as well. I thought you could get double the pictures and embellishments on it. The outside I placed two ribbons in the school colors then tied them. I really enjoyed putting this together. Now to decide what goes inside. Here are pictures of the album.

Album Front

Album Inside

Album Outside

Thanks for stopping by.

Have a Blessed Day,

Baby Brag Book ~ Smash Album

2011-10-27T10:06:00.000-04:00

Here is the Baby Brag Book ~ Smash Album that I created. This one is the larger one of the two. This one is embellished and there there two places for pictures. I then made a smaller one that I will add a few embellishments to and leave more space for pictures. I am working on a Baby Girl one too that I will post when that one is completed.

This is the smaller album and the inside of it before embellishment.

Have a Blessed Day,

Fabulous Fall

2011-10-27T09:43:00.001-04:00

I just wanted to include another picture up close of the sign...thanks for stopping by. Look for my baby book today as well. I will have the larger one and a smaller one that I'm still embellishing, but wanted to show to a dear friend of mine, Sister of mine; that is pregnant with a special boy...one they have been praying for. She faced other complications and delays along the way to now carrying Zion Judah.

Thanks for stopping in.

Have a Blessed Day,

Thankful Thursday Design Team Post

2011-10-27T07:30:00.000-04:00

Good Morning Everyone!!! Hope everyone is doing well. I've had a buy morning ~ generally is and starts early at 5am. I love a busy morning, but when they're gone for the day I also enjoy my quiet so I can do my Bible reading and have my quiet time. OH and of course my crafting time ~ got to have that.

This week we were challenged with Halloween Decor. Our family doesn't celebrate Halloween, but we do celebrate Harvest. I love the fall it is one of my favorite seasons of the year. I enjoy the colors of the leaves changing, the animals scurrying around gathering what they need for winter. I enjoy watching the turkey's coming up through the backyard (average 20-40) ~ love seeing the little ones as they come up; how much they've grown. I am looking forward to seeing the deer soon.

As I mentioned we had the challenge of Halloween Decor. Since we do not celebrate Halloween I wanted to share with you what I created for Harvest.

The first I want to share with you is a sign I made with the sentiment of "Fabulous Fall" and embellished with a scarecrow. You'll have to see what I do with it after this. I decorated the other side as well. You'll see that on Friday. I made this using some chipboard to keep it stiff. I cut the chipboard at 5 1/2" x 11"; decorated the outer part with a decorative piece of scrapbook paper cut at 6" x 12". I then trimmed the edges then folded them over and adhered them to the back. I made two of these so I could then bond them together. I put a ribbon between them and made it so I could flip it one way for one sign then flip it the other way for the other sign. That will be revealed on Friday ~ be sure to come back. I will add the other pictures after the sign. Thanks for stopping by today.

Have a Blessed Day,

Fall ~ Halloween Blog Hop Oct 22 - 23rd Day 2

2011-10-22T19:55:00.000-04:00

Welcome to day 2 of our hop. I'm so happy that you were able to join us again. Thank you for stopping by. If you're just popping in to say hello thanks for stopping. If you'd like to join us then please start with our hostess Nicolette at Beyond Scrappin. There you will find the line up and the next one to go to.

Now if you are on the hop with us ~ so happy you've joined us. If you've come from Brynn; at Flair and Frills Creativity then you're in the right place.

I have a cute little card that I made for my second project. I also used Simply Charmed for this one. I just love that cute little pumpkin. The face is stamped with Peachy Keen Stamps. The sentiment is a stamp that I found in the $1.00 bin at AC Moore. I just thought it was cute. The leaves at the bottom is from a stamp that I purchased years ago. I hope that you like the card and have enjoyed the hop! I want to thank our hostess Nicolette for having the hop, thank you to all the talented ladies that participated as well.

Have a Blessed Day,

Fall ~ Halloween Blog Hop October 22 ~ 23

2011-10-22T07:54:00.000-04:00

Happy Fall Everyone!!! Happy Halloween to those that celebrate it. I want to welcome you to our Fall & Halloween Blog Hop!!! I'm so happy that you could join us. I want to thank our hostess Nicolette for putting this together. If you've just popped in to see what I'm up to ~ welcome! Have a peek around, but please don't miss out on our hop! There's so much fun going on in it with wonderful projects of inspiration! If you'd like to join us then please start with our hostess Nicolette at Beyond Scrappin. There you will find the line up and the next one to go to.

Now if you are on the hop with us ~ so happy you've joined us. If you've come from Brynn; at Flair and Frills Creativity then you're in the right place. I have a fun project to share with you.

We used Simply Charmed Cricut Cartridge for our cuts. This is one that my son and I put together for our front door. We have it there to welcome all that come to visit us. We used standard 12x12 cardstock in the following colors: Green, Orange, White and a touch of black. We cut the pumpkins at 10.4w x 11.15h , then we cut the face of the pumpkin at 9.1 x 9.1”. The ghost was cut at 4.4 x5.4”. I then went around the edge with canary , versa color stamp to give a glowing effect to the ghost also added some glistening writer to give some sparkle to the ghost. Then we cut all the embellishments according to size of the ghost and pumpkin.

Have a Blessed Day,

Penguin Thank You Card

2011-10-18T21:45:00.000-04:00

I had seen this penguin online and just had to create him in Cricut Craft Room. I have been having fun with CCR. I have been part of the Beta Testing Team for a while now. I am really liking it. I hope to be able to post soon some of the tutorials of things I have been making in there. Learning my camera and the video function on it; how to edit them as well. This penguin is a thank you note for a special family member. I will be giving it to them when they come over. I used George and Basic Shapes Cricut Cartridge for the design of the penguin and I used the sentiment "so thankful" from a stamp that I purchased from AC Moore, the inside sentiment " A huge Thanks " is from My Pink Stamper stamp set.The ribbon is from my stash that I have. I used pop dots on the beak of the penguin and on the feet to give dimension. My son wanted me to add this little poem that he made up for this card; he's my wonderful seven year old. Penguin in,Penguin out,Which one is the season Penguin?Thanks for stopping by.

Have a Blessed Day,

Thank You, God, for Blessing Me, by Max Lucado

2011-10-17T19:47:00.002-04:00

I chose this book because my 7 year old loves Hermie the Wormie. I just couldn't resist this book for him. He loves me to read it over and over to him. I have him read to me then I to him. I have been working on prayer with him and how meaningful praying is. I like how Hermie thanked God for blessing him with leaves to sleep on, food to eat. He then touched on being the best he can and being kind and obeying. I have been working on the importance of these. I have also spoken to my little one about the importance of being respectful of others. I feel this book really opens up prayer for little ones. I feel the book shows the children that God really cares about the little things ~ that we really appreciate all that he's designed and made for us.

My son liked the pictures in the book; one that he commented on was the one where they were all helping one another get the food, holding each other up. He commented also that we can pray anytime and God will listen. He said he really liked that he prayed for his friends, family and food.

I would recommend this to families with children that are learning about praying and the various things that we can pray about or for. Thank you BookSneeze for letting me review this book.

Disclaimer: To comply with regulations by the Federal Trade Commission 16 CFR Part 255, I am disclosing that BookSneeze® provided me a complimentary copy of this book. I was not required to write a positive review and the opinions I have expressed are my own.

Have a Blessed Day,

Halloween Trick or Treat Blog Hop!

2011-10-16T00:15:00.001-04:00

Welcome back to day two of our wonderful hop!! I hope that you've enjoyed the projects that we've brought to you. I know I have enjoyed seeing all the projects along the hop. What were some of your favorite projects that you saw??

We first need to get the formalities out of the way. If you have popped in to say hello or read what I've been up to lately...welcome, welcome!! I would really hate for you to miss out on all the fun with this hop that I'm in. I would really love it if you'd go to our wonderful hostess first to start there then hop on back ~leave me a message I love to read all your comments. Now without further ado I present to you Kathryn from Creations With Kathryn. Now if you have come from our talented Patricia at Short N Scrappy then you're in the right place.

I promised to have a new project for you and the only hint if you remember was "Never Ending" .......have you figured it out yet?? If you figured out that it's a never ending card you're right!!!! I saw the tutorial online and thought why not try something different. I think I'll have some fun with these for some of my holiday cards. This one isn't really a Halloween one but more for Harvest or Thanksgiving. I hope you enjoy watching the video that I prepared for you. I will first post the pictures of the card at each stage then the video at the end.

Card from the front

Card after opening the card

This is the top view of that same part of the card so you get the idea of how it opens and looks at the same time. I will try and get the tutorial up for you. I may make one on my own or find the one that I looked at.

Now to get to this point you fold down the top part so your middle 3x3's; one goes up and behind while the other goes down and behind leaving you with this next set of 3x3's. I just love how these leaves are smiling. Now for the video I promised to show you with the card opening. You can keep opening this card until you don't want to do it anymore. I will say however they are fun to make. Now enjoy the video!

Thank you for stopping by to see me ~ now I'll send you on to our talented Sigrid at Love Scrap Reflect.

Have a Blessed Day,

Halloween Trick or Treat Blog Hop!

2011-10-14T22:43:00.000-04:00

I have the privilege to be part of this hop. Although this is different for me as we don't celebrate Halloween in our family. We do however celebrate Harvest. We have a family tradition that we do each year. If you follow my blog you know we go to the Harvest Festival each year. We love doing this as a family. I must begin with the formalities before I continue on.

I want to welcome you all to the hop!!! I am so excited to be a part of it. Now if you just popped in to see what I've been up to; thank you for stopping! You're always welcome! I wouldn't want you to miss out on any of the fun that our wonderful hostess Kathryn, from Creations With Kathryn has for all that join in the hop. If you'd like to join in the hop then by all means please do. Please begin at the beginning at Creations With Kathryn; otherwise if you have come to me from our talented Patricia at Short N Scrappy, then you are in the right place. Thank you for coming by.

Now to get to the fun part. I just love getting right into making things with the Cricut. I find the crafting and scrapping endless. The only limitation there is, is your imagination. Where it stops you stop creating, but then you have to find ways to get that inspiration back so that you can be designing and creating again.

Now to the fun projects I have in store for you. I have one for today, but you'll have to come back on Sunday for the second one. I felt that with this being a two day hop that be only fair....hehe have two projects for the two day hop. Ok, I'm tired and running on little sleep ~ what can I say I love designing and creating things with my Cricut. This first one I want to present to you today is a little treat bag that I made for a special friend of mine. She loves bats and I thought with this hop this is a perfect one to do. I cut the bat bag 10.3 by 5.6" and I used the Mini Monsters Cricut Cartridge. I love this cartridge even more each time I use it. I'm sure I'll have more projects with that one even past Halloween. I like to find uses for cartridges that are based off of a holiday season outside that season; will have to see what I can come up with. Here is the bag that I created with Mini Monsters.

I hope you like the little bag and our decorated hutch. I love how the pumpkin looks next to the bag. Now to send you to your next stop in the hop ~ before I do I want to remind you I have a special project in store for tomorrow and hope to have a video as well. Your next stop is to see our talented Sigrid at Love Scrap Reflect I'm sure you'll love what she has for you. Thanks again for stopping by....remember I have something special for tomorrow ~ one hint "never ending" Have fun on the rest of the hop!!!

2011-10-13T18:44:00.000-04:00

Would you like a nice book to read. I found this book to be one to keep your attention, but heart wrenching at other times. I found myself relating to some of the life trials that she had faced. I found the poems nice as I also will express things I'm going through with poetry. I have written poems to the ones in my life that have passed on as like a final farewell to them. There was one beautiful family member that was able to hear the poems that I wrote for her. She wanted me to read them to her as she found my poetry uplifting and enlightening. I did that for her and when she passed I placed them with her. While difficult to do that; I left knowing that we shared a special day when I read them to her. I will never forget that day.

I found when reading that some of my experiences in life didn't seem so bad when I read some of what she went through. I found when something more difficult came up that she was facing I found that I could relate with some of the more difficult things I've faced. One being told to go home plan the funeral of my baby that I had been trying for, for fourteen years due to complications. I did go home however I did not plan the funeral. I planned on having the baby; although the pregnancy was difficult the blessing of him arriving two months early was all I needed. He's my joy my life. I found that through this book Nancy Maggio leans on Christ for her strength to get through all that life brings to her. She seeks Him, asks Him for help ~ I found this to be comforting. I too leaned on Christ for my son. He brought us through what could have been bad, but thanking Him daily for letting me carry him one more day was more than enough. I find when we lean on Christ for all that we face in our lives our days, weeks, months, years are much better, more joy filled.

I hope you find this book enlightening and helpful as I did. I loved how she tied this to a rosebud. You picture the bud just being there then one after another the petals begin to open. Then she writes of a full bouquet of rosebuds dying on the vine. She mentions how God's unfailing love allowed the bouquet to come out of the darkness and the petals to unfold and blossom. I just think of us as a child in the Lord we're like that rosebud....just starting to open as we learn and read the word of the Lord. As we grow in the Lord we become more like that blooming rosebud; we're beautiful ~

I would recommend this book to you if you need healing or just to see and feel some of her pain and life experiences that may help you through your own.

Disclaimer: To comply with regulations by the Federal Trade Commission 16 CFR Part 255, I am disclosing that BookSneeze® provided me a complimentary copy of this book. I was not required to write a positive review and the opinions I have expressed are my own.

Have a Blessed Day,

Mini Monsters Treat Bag ~Thankful Thursday DT Post

2011-10-07T13:33:00.002-04:00

I started making some treat bags. This is just one that I cut from the Mini Monsters Cartridge from Cricut. I am starting to like this cartridge more each time I use it. This little treat bag as you can see is empty; I promised that I would not reveal what goes inside until it has been shipped. I can say this package has quite a distance to go from me to the one that will be receiving it. I hope they enjoy what's inside as much as we do in putting it together.

I made this using Cricut Craft Room to make sure sizes matched up the way I wanted them to. I then cut it from bright pink cardstock 8 1/2" x 11"; making the end box 5.25 x 10.5. I love the size it's perfect. I added the rhinestones to the eyes to give a little glitz to them. I like the look it gives to the little treat bag. Almost gives it life. I embossed the bag using my Cuttlebug and the following folders Tiny Bubbles and Distress Stripes. I really like the way these two complimented one another on the treat bag.

Here's the little treat bag ~ thank you for looking. Have a wonderful day!!!

Have a Happy Cricut Day,

G is for Girl Card

2011-10-07T12:34:00.000-04:00

I had some cute embellishments in my stash and I wanted to do something with them. I just didn't know what exactly I wanted. I wasn't sure if I wanted to do a layout using some of these embellishments or make a card. I decided to go with a card as I only have a son so no need for a girl layout. I hope you like it as much as I like the way it turned out.

Thank you for stopping by.

Have a Happy Cricut Day,

Pure in Heart

2011-10-02T20:10:00.001-04:00

This I got from a wonderful blog I happened to hop on when I was just thinking about something. I was searching and this came across so I had to check into it. I really was touched by what this says so much that I wanted to share with you.

In Matthew 5:3-12 we find the well known Beatitudes. This portion of Scripture is very peculiar because every statement begins with “Blessed are those…” and yet the attribute that is mentioned right after is NOT something desirable before the eyes of the world.

Look at the list of attributes along with the blessed reward:
Poor in spirit: Kingdom of Heaven
Mourn: comfort
Meek: inherit the earth
Hunger and thirst for righteousness: will be filled
Merciful: will be shown mercy to
Pure in heart: will see God
Peacemakers: called children of God
Persecuted because of righteousness: kingdom of heaven
“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you

If we were to be honest, we would all say that none of us would like to be considered poor in spirit, or be caught in the midst of mourning. Meekness is considered a sign of weakness and in America Hunger and Thirst for righteousness is replaced by hunger and thirst for worldly acceptance. It is very difficult to be merciful and pure in heart because our hearts are always seeking to satisfy our own needs; and we are not willing to make peace if that peace requires that we would submit to someone else’s authority. We do not want to be made fun of, or persecuted, or bad mouthed… Yet all of these things the LORD calls blessed!

The reason why they are Blessed is because only when we have these attitudes can we truly see ourselves for who we are and God for who He is. Only when we see the depravity of our being and the sin that enslaves us, can we be set free by the only ONE that is Pure and Holy! May He grant us the privilege of being called BLESSED by Him because in us are found the Be-Attitudes.

I decided to do a layout of my son when he was born. The doctor's told me to go home that this pregnancy would terminate. I had been trusting the Lord for 14 years to give us a child. My vision was finally coming to be. I relied on Habakkuk 2:3 for this. The Lord showed me so many things during my time of carrying my son. I experienced many complications along the way; although they were scary I still trusted the Lord for strength to get through that day and into the next until the baby was born. I met each complication head on with the Lord at my side and learned many lessons throughout my pregnancy. I then had the experience of my lifetime when my son came two months premature. The delivery was not easy, very traumatic for both and very scary. Even then I thought I had lost our son as he stopped breathing, but then God let me know HE was in control. He was because our son although had a rough first night, mostly touch and go, was still able to greet me when I went to see him. I thanked the Lord for him and allowing me to be his Mother. I say Pure in Heart with this layout because of all that he and I went through. He is pure in heart just being little and now he's a young boy of seven years old. He still holds that pure disposition. He cares for others; he places them before his needs. He plans things for people he loves to bless them ~ not for his benefit, but theirs. He did this with my Step Dad. At our son's birthday last year he decided then he was going to give my Step Dad a present at his birthday (our son's birthday). I thought why would he do this; why did he choose him out of all of our relatives. I will never know because I will never ask him. I know that my Step Dad has been through a lot from our son's last birthday to this one. I know the LORD knows our needs before we even know them. I feel that the LORD planned this using our son as the tool for him. I know he was blessed to receive the gift from him. I'm so pleased that I could be there with him when he gave this gift to him. This is just one of the things that our son has done. He has such a large heart, he is like me in many ways. He cares about what's going on with others; if someone is sad he will try and cheer them. When my Aunt was in Hospice he was with me and wanted to care for her. He did all that he was capable of and made her smile every chance he had. She was so blessed to have him there. She looked forward to the days he'd be able to be there; she'd plan things that this little one could do for her. She knew he loved her so as she did him. The two of them were so sweet together. He has given toys and clothes to other children when he learns that they don't have as much as him. He wants to make everyone smile. He has been giving a friend of mine many toys and things for her baby that she's expecting. He finds things and says this is for baby Zion Mama. I watch as he puts it in the box he has for him. I am so blessed to have him. I lost my Grandmother his Great Grandmother "Gigi" when he was just 2. I was crying he said "Mama, don't cry Gigi is in Heaven playing with Jesus" ~ how sweet of him. When my Father passed away that too was difficult for me as was for him. He was only 5 when he passed away; he has his difficult days. He sees when I'm sad. He says Mama, please don't cry Pa is in Heaven he's on his boat with Gigi and Jesus. They're having fun Mama. I am glad we have so much to be thankful for. Thank you for stopping by. Now here's the layout that I made.

Have a Happy Cricut Day,

School Pride

2011-09-30T16:04:00.000-04:00

I must say I love it when a school makes a lot of effort to make sure school pride is at it's highest level and keeps it there. I can say that about our local school here. I made something for school in honor of their school pride day of Orange and Blue Day! I hope you enjoy looking at these as I did in making them.

The dolls are cut from Everyday Paper Dolls Cricut Cartridge cut at 10 1/2" then clothes are cut at 4". The megaphone is cut at 4.8", the poms are cut at 3.4", the letters are cut at 3", the squares surrounding the letters are cut at 3.5", the hair bows are cut at 3", the shoes are cut at 1.5", the hair is cut at 2.5".

I enjoy the enthusiasm from the children. They really keep things going in the school. I love how they want to participate in what's going on as well. That shows their peers that they're excited about their school.

Now as promised here are the photos of what I made to help them celebrate their Orange and Blue Day.

I also received this message back from the principal of the school.

"Everyoneappreciates the hard work you put into our Woodland Pride Cheerleaders. Theyare amazing! Thank you!!!

TomColabufo"

Have a Happy Cricut Day,

Fall ~ Halloween Blog Hop presented by Thankful Thursday Design Team

2011-09-29T12:00:00.000-04:00

Welcome to the Fall/Halloween Blog Hop featuring the Thankful Thursday Design Team! We're so happy that you've decided to join us. Hope you're enjoying all the fun things that you're seeing along the way. I know I'll be hopping just to see the wonderful projects that all these talented ladies have made.

Now to get the formalities out of the way. Hopefully you have just come from our very talented Ruby at Paper ~Junkie, if not then you must hop over to our lovely hostess Jenny at Crazy About Cricut . We wouldn't want you to miss anything so if you just stumbled here I love that you came to visit, but if you'd like to hop along then start with Jenny at the beginning and hop along!!! Love to have ya!!

Here is what I've created for this hop. I must say that our family doesn't celebrate Halloween; we celebrate Harvest. Each year we attend a Harvest Party at a local church here near us as well as attend the Golden Harvest Festival at our Nature Center. I wasn't sure which to present you with here so enjoy these.

This one here is a Fall Bulletin Board idea that I had. I love how this went together. The letters were cut 4" using the Pooh Font in the board selection. The scarecrow is from Simply Charmed. I just love him, he's so cute!!

This is another Bulletin Board. I love the saying "Watch Us Grow in 2nd Grade". The children just grow so fast. I tell ya, ya blink and they've grown even more. I just love to cuddle and squeeze my little one. He's such a peanut! I love him so much and so happy that we have so much fun together.

This next card is a tri-fold. I do love how it turned out, however I do not like the way the camera took the photos. I have been having issues with the camera. I really need to get another one. The apple I inked then did some embellishing on it to make it appear stitched. The card is total of 11" in width then I scored it to make three panels. I designed the base in Cricut Craft Room. I just love that program. I know it has it's kinks in it at the moment, but it's still in Beta Testing. I do enjoy it so much!!

Hope you're enjoying your Fall Season. What fun family things do you do during the fall?? Do you have any traditions as we do?? OH, and before I forget there is an AWESOME GIVEAWAY!!!!! Yes, yes there is...now here is what the prize is it is the beautiful Celebrate with Flourish Cricut Cartridge. To have a chance to win this wonderful cartridge you must leave a comment on each blog in this hop.

Thank you so much for joining us in this hop. Now I must have you hop along to see more wonderful things from our talented group. I am now sending you off to Tanya at Scrappin' Ky Momma! Enjoy the rest of the hop and have a great season!!!!

Have a Happy Cricut Day,

Craft Studio Makeover

2011-09-27T19:12:00.002-04:00

I have been working on my studio, office whatever you want to call it for a long time. I have been trying to get this in a better organized way, but I'm still wanting to change a few things. Just not sure what else it needs. I do know I need a better way to organize my paper. Here's what it looks like so far. Let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions.

This chest was made by a special Uncle of mine. I love this and will always cherish it. I put my extra scrapbooking and card making things in here along with projects that are in the works. That way my desk can stay cleared for a little while anyway lol. As if that'd ever happen. You ask my son or my hubby they'd tell you there's always paper on my desk and the Cricut is always running.

Thanks for taking a tour of my room.

Have a Happy Cricut Day,

Too Cute To Spook

2011-09-27T17:38:00.000-04:00

Hi Everyone!!! I just wanted to tell you I've had a wonderful day. I can't believe the weather we have here; this time of year is generally cooler. Today though it's really warm ~ summer weather like. I enjoy it though because I know that colder weather is coming too.

Anyway, with Halloween coming and Harvest Time coming I thought I'd start making some fun stuff. We celebrate Harvest. I really enjoy the fall season, the changing of the leaves, the colors of Autumn.

This cute little card I added the sentiment, "Too cute to spook" from My Pink Stampers stamp set, but I wrote it instead of stamping as I do not have her Halloween stamp set. I just loved the sentiment and thought it was perfect for this card.

Card Recipe:
Black Cardstock cut for the base of our Candy Corn
Green Cardstock cut at 5 1/2" folded to make an A2 Card
Pink Cardstock cut for the body of our cute Candy Corn Character
Yellow Cardstock cut for the bottom part of our Candy Corn
Orange Cardstock cut for the top of our Candy Corn
Gray Cardstock cut for the base of our Candy Corn
Favorite Adhesive ATG and Zig 2 way
Buttons and Ribbon for embellishment

I used the green to cut the grass 3.5 x 0.5 to put under the feet of our cute little candy corn. Then I cut the black at 3" to make the base of our candy corn. I then used the pink cardstock to make for the face, hands and legs of the candy corn which was cut at 1.8". Then I used the orange cardstock for the top of the candy corn which I cut at 0.6", then I cut the yellow cardstock at 1.25" for the bottom of the candy corn. The gray cardstock was cut at 3.1" then the little white hat part of our candy corn was cut at 1.45".

Thank you so much for stopping by!!!

Have a Happy Cricut Day,

Color your world with Paint Matching Game

2011-09-26T15:00:00.000-04:00

Hello Everyone!!! Hope you're all having a great day!!! I know I am. I have been having some fun as well as been watching the debut of the Expression 2 by Provo Craft!! What an amazing machine!!!!!!

There are so many features to this machine and what I love is it is upgradeable. Check out the awesome cartridges that are preloaded on the machine as well. The first one that I want to introduce is Cricut Essentials Cartridge that is loaded on the machine.

The second cartridge that is preloaded on the machine is Cricut Alphabet Cartridge. Check the artwork on these cartridges. Aren't they the greatest!!!!!

Now to what my post is about. This is just a cute little matching game to find the paint brush to match the paint can with the same design. Thank you for stopping by!

Have a Happy Cricut Day,

Cricut Buddies

2011-09-25T21:05:00.000-04:00

This picture I just couldn't resist. My little one did this. He put my Donald Duck next to the little Cricut Bug. I thought it was so cute. Thanks for peeking...lol.

Have a Happy Cricut Day,

New card and another pic of Otto Orange

2011-09-25T18:10:00.000-04:00

I had a request for an up close pic of my little Otto Orange mascot. I can say that this cake was fun to do. I plan on using the Cricut Cake for many other things too. I will post those right along as I make them. Here is the photo that was requested.

This is a card I made today. I had extra of my green cardstock and thought why not make another. I did, but then added the sentiment of "so thankful". I just love that sentiment; really says so much in just those two words. Thanks for stopping by. Hope you have a wonderful Sunday and great week ahead.

Have a Happy Cricut Day,

Happy Saturday Morning Everyone!!!

2011-09-24T13:11:00.001-04:00

Hope everyone is having a good weekend. We're getting some rain here otherwise not too bad. I had some stamps sitting on my desk that I hadn't used in a while thought I'd try them out and see what I could come up with. Well, I was able to come up with two cards. One being a birthday theme and the other I thought could be a good general use card.

I hope you like them. Thanks for stopping by. I am working on my album today. I hope to get some pictures up of that. There is another album that I'm working on, but have to get all the photographs in place first. The second album I'll have to post after the recipients receive it. I may put a partial picture or page up for you to see, but can't reveal it all.

Here are the two cards. I hope you like them. Have a great weekend everyone!! Blessings to you!!!

Have a Happy Cricut Day,

Baby Card

2011-09-23T17:57:00.001-04:00

This card was just something on spur the moment. The carriage is cut at 3.25 then the "congratluations" is cut at 3.0. I made it from the American Alphabet Cartridge and Sweethearts Cartridge. I am now making a special album. This will be a long project, but will get some photos posted as I progress through this.

I hope to get some up this weekend along with some other projects that I have in the works. Hope you all have a great weekend.

Have a Happy Cricut Day,

Special Birthday Blessings going out to Someone Special

2011-09-20T13:44:00.001-04:00

I needed to get this on here today. I need to send special birthday blessings to a special man in my life. He first was my Uncle while I was growing up. He held a special place in my heart. He would make me laugh, smile and he had a way to make you feel special whenever you were in his presence.

I have now grown and have a family of my own; he is still part of our lives. He has now changed his status from Uncle to Step Dad. My Father as many of you know who follow my blog know that he has passed on.
That was a difficult time in our family. My Uncle at the time of my Father's passing was there at the hospital. I had gone in the room to say my final farewell to my Father and give the message that our son wanted his "Pa" (short for Grandpa - My Father wanted to be called Pa)to know from him. I did that then as I came out of the room I of course was broken from losing my Father. My Uncle was there and gave me comfort and held me while I cried because my Father was now in Heaven. I thank the Lord that he was there. My Uncle faced a very tragic time as well. I pray for him daily. Hugs to you!! He and my Mother grew close then were married. Not long after my anniversary hmmmm....guess he won't forget that one LOL. (my anniversary then his and my Mother's is 3 days later)

As I said he and my Mom married. They're special to me and my family. My little one as many of you know him by Robbie is very fond of him. He loves it when he comes to our home because that means fun in his eyes. I must say a few times he got to playing with him and I've heard Robbie say " 'nough Pa" What can I say he was my Father's brother so yes, they do some things similar. I was happy that my Step Dad could get that belly laugh back in Robbie. A long time it was silent because his Pa is no longer with us. He misses him of course, but he does love it when Grandpa Steve, to him comes over.

Last night we celebrated with Grandpa Steve ~ today is his birthday. His daughter and family came over we hid them because he didn't know they were coming. (mind you I've been planning this since least the end of July beginning of August) We wanted to give him and my Mother the day of his birthday to celebrate together. I made some pulled pork in the crockpot (yummy), Mom brought coleslaw, beans and some fruit, Grandpa Steve's daughter brought three yummy pizza's for the children and adults that wanted it. I made a special card and cake for him. That was something that I wanted to do...hey, what can I say.....he gave me excuse to use my new Cricut Cake Mini. If I hadn't used it then probably would have used the holiday to be my excuse to use it. I got into Cricut Craft Room and began designing the mascot for our local team here. He loves our team here so what better than to put the mascot on his cake. Then to have a card matching as well. Oh, the fun begins...LOL.

I first started by taking the gum paste and coloring it with the wilton colors orange and blue. When I finally got the shades that I wanted then I rolled it out and placed it on the mat and pressed the cut and was amazed at the results ~ I'll let you take a look for yourself. This is before the candles were placed on it... of course the candles had to match too... orange and blue.

This is the card that I made to match. He said he was going to save this one. I figured he would. I'm just glad he had a good night here and was pleasantly surprised with his little party that we put together for him.

Have a great day everyone!! Thanks for stopping by to share in the Birthday Blessings for my Step Dad.

Have a Happy Cricut Day,

Cricut Overlay Organization

2011-09-16T23:48:00.000-04:00

Welcome!!! Hope you're having a great start to your weekend. I am even though I'm up late. I have been working on something special for a contest that I'm planning on entering so we'll see how it goes with that. I am really pleased with the way it looks and I know someone really wants it in his classroom. I told him we will see if we can do that. I will be able to add on the way this is so would be interesting to see how this goes. I plan on adding as I get more to add to it.

As I mentioned in the title that I have been working on a Cricut Overlay Organization project. This is using one of the standard photo boxes and the From My Kitchen Cricut Cartridge. I used the recipe card with the tabs and cut them at 3.5 x 7.5" then it fits perfect and the tabs are great size for writing. Now you might ask what if you get another one in between what you have that's okay, just add another file folder with the tab. You can also move some out of the box and put them into the next one when they get a little overfilled. I have a plastic storage box within my other photo box because I don't have enough overlays to fill the entire box. This works so they don't slide around or the tabs get messed up from the overlay's moving around. Thank you for taking a look. Here are the photos before I get going.

Note in the second photograph that I placed the overlay upside down so the name of it was at the top. I did this because when you look at the tabs you still might question whether that overlay was in the front of it or behind. I thought this way there would be less confusion because you can see the tab, then the overlay is placed behind it in my case here. I am really enjoying this system.

I have been showing Robbie more how to use the Cricut. I can tell you he really enjoys it very much. He loves what he creates and he is so gentle with the machine. I really love how he respects the machine and cares how he uses it. He is cautious and listens very well to what I tell him that he can and cannot or should not rather do with the machine. He just loves that he can do so much. I laugh sometimes because I hear him giggle then look and he's stuck something together then I can't figure it out what it is. He makes me play a guessing game. I think I may have to pull my jukebox down though so he can use it. He doesn't like to swap the cartridges out. I tend to use my Gypsy so I don't have to flip flop the cartridges. Although with this project I just used From My Kitchen so I didn't worry about using the Gypsy.

Have a great weekend everyone!!!

Have a Happy Cricut Day,

Special Book

2011-09-15T18:32:00.000-04:00

I was looking through my postings here and discovered there was something that I did not post. I was surprised. I know it was published in the Cricut Chirp so I thought I would have posted it, but I didn't.
This was in the Chirp a while ago now. I am sorry I never posted this. I made this a while ago as I mentioned. This was for my son's class when he was in pre-school. I showed the teachers what I had been doing with him and why he could count so high. He's always loved numbers so my making this little "book/game" was perfect.

Here are the pictures of it. Now the object of the game is to one tell me the number that is on the shirt, then tell me the number that comes before that number, then the number that comes after it. You get the point. He loves this. I have his and made 10 for the school. I have made other things as well. The teachers loved the project and asked for it and other things from me.

I have many other learning projects in the works. I will be sharing them here with you and will be taking them in for my son's class as well. I'm excited to share. This is also featured in a press release with Cricut. Thanks for stopping by.

Have a Happy Cricut Day,

Thankful Thursday DT Post

2011-09-15T08:00:00.000-04:00

Hello, everyone!! Hope you're having a great Thursday!! I am; I can't believe more than half of the week is over already.

Now this challenge was a bit different for me. I saw that we had to do a pirate theme. I had to think long and hard on this. Why you may ask, well my son is afraid of pirates. Let me tell you why.

We went to see the Veggie Tales Movie, "The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything". My husband was working so it was just my son and I. I wanted to treat him to the movie because he has always been a Veggie Tale fan. He loves Larry the Cucumber. (side note....when he was little and I couldn't get him to open to eat his food - I'd sing "GOD is bigger than the boogie man"... that was all it took then belly laugh ... insert food and he was happy) Where to begin. We were sitting in the theater area waiting on the movie everything was fine. He did start to get a little impatient while waiting, but mind you he was only three years old. Have to give him credit though, just the time he got a little impatient they came out and announced that the movie would be starting. He got excited and people laughed - the ones around us. Then it started to get dark and he was a little nervous, but then settled right in when he saw Larry the Cucumber. What can I say I had a huge Veggie Tale Fan on my hands. LOL.

Now we're really into the movie; things are going great. Mom is happy, little one is happy; just perfect. I'm getting into the movie. Hey, Mom can be a Veggie Fan too!!! I love the Veggie Tales they have good morals to their stories and they make their movies fun for adults to watch and they're obviously fun for the children too. Anyway, we're watching and everything is going smooth.......well..........until the pirate comes out. You know they have to show the pirate, because after all this movie is "The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything". I bet you can only imagine what's coming up right?? OH yes.... my son screamed and jumped when that pirate came out. Well, in the process of his scream he proceeded to make the row in front of us jump in their seats, the row behind us and of course our row. Let me tell you I had a difficult time with my jump lol. He screamed; made me jump and as I was in the air from jumping he was jumping as well but in different direction from me. He jumped on me which in turn put me right back in my seat. The ones behind us saw this and just laughed. They said if you could have seen that you'd be laughing too. They were sweet though because they obviously could tell how frightened he was and they helped me to calm him down. Once we got him calmed down he was fine through the rest of the movie.

Now, on to this project. I didn't want to make something that would scare my son so this took some thinking and time. I thought what a good twist this would be "Treasure in Heaven". We have been talking about this and this just gives him a visual. Here is my project hope you enjoy and I hope I've made you laugh. Please leave any comments I really enjoy reading them. If you'd like to leave one for my son I will read them to him as well. He loves it when he gets messages. Thanks for stopping by. Check out our Facebook Page Thankful Thursday Challenge.

Now stop over and see Jenny at Crazy about Cricut and see what wonderful things she has in store over there. Click the button below.

Have a Happy Cricut Day,

Bulletin Board for the classroom

2011-09-14T15:06:00.000-04:00

I had an idea for a bulletin board and this is what I came up with. I just love how it came together. I used Cricut Craft Room with the following cartridges: Walk In My Garden, Sans Serif, Wild Card and George and Basic Shapes.

The leaves I used from Wild Card Cartridge are 3.75 and welded to the letter "I" from George and Basic Shapes which is 10.01. The flower top is cut at 6.0 and the center of the flower is cut at 2.1. I also added another layer to the flower which is difficult to see from the photo. I wanted to add dimension to the flower. I just love that phrase "Watch Us Grow In 2nd Grade"

This bulletin board will be going to a very special room. I am very excited to share. Thank you so much for stopping by. Have a wonderful day, be sure to stop back I will have a few other projects to share with you.

Have a Happy Cricut Day,

Autumn Is Here Blog Hop! Day 2

2011-09-10T23:15:00.000-04:00

Ok, now I'm playing with the colors of the font. I hope you don't mind. I just thought I'd get a little more festive with the posting.
If you're here for our Autumn Is Here Blog Hop, Welcome!!! I'm so happy that you decided to join us again. I have so much to add here. I wanted to add another special item, but I fear that I may not be able to. If I do get it done then I'll add it to the bottom of this posting and share with you; otherwise it will be posted by Monday. I have so much I want to add and make.
Now for the formalities....you know we must get them out of the way. Let's see now, if you happened to see my posting because you're a follower glad to have you!! I'd like you to join us in the hop and see all the wonderful projects that have been made by many creative women. I have so much to share. I just can't type fast enough to get there, LOL. If you are just stumbling on me than you must start at the beginning with Kathryn at Creations with Kathryn ~ she's our lovely hostess!!! If you have been hopping right along with us then you have probably come from Krista at Scrapaleupagus she has some wonderful ideas.
Here is what I have to share with you. Our family every year has a tradition that we must do. We attend the Harvest Festival at our local nature center. We have a great time together and participate in many of the activities. I hope to be able to show that to you in the following pictures.

Soy Candles - Autumn Magic and Mountain Retreat (smell wonderful!!!)

Shirts that Robbie and I made together while there. The bottle is his as well. He wanted to model his shirt for all to see. He was so proud of it as was I. He is a bit tired in the picture *shhh! don't tell that I told you he fell asleep on the ride home.

This is for a bulletin board. The letters are cut at 4" and the scarecrow is 7". This looks beautiful all laid out. The scarecrow face I used my new Peachy Keen Stamp Set. I was finally able to get it. I'm really happy. The card below I used some leaves and fanned them out then placed chipboard letters to the front and the apples are chipboard as well. Thank you for taking the time to look and get through the long post...sorry about it being long.

Now to send you off hopping again for more exciting things to see....hop on over to Monica at Scraps2Treasure.....enjoy the rest of your hop. Come on back tomorrow for more fall fun.

Have a Happy Cricut Day,

Autumn Is Here Blog Hop!!!

2011-09-10T00:09:00.000-04:00

Welcome!!! Welcome to the hop!! I hope you're enjoying all that everyone has made for this wonderful hop. I must say that our wonderful hostess has done a great job! Make sure you leave a post for Kathryn at Creations With Kathryn. Ok now on for the fun!!! Are you ready???? Hmmm, didn't hear you......Are you ready??? Ok, ok.... here we go.

Now if you're just stopping by to see what crazy stuff I've been up to .... welcome!!! I hope you like what you see, but I'd like you to be able to join in the fun as well. Without further ado; head to Creations With Kathryn to start at the beginning and hop right along with us. We love to hop and hope you would hop with us. If you've been hopping along then you should have arrived from Krista at Scrapaleupagus; if you have then you're in the right place. So happy that you have decided to join us.

Here is what I have made for the hop. I hope that you enjoy; be sure to come back for Sunday to see what other project I have made. Here are my two scrapbook pages. The second is on 12x12 cardstock and embellished. One is a digital scrapbook page that I decided to just play around with for fun. I really like how it turned out. The second one is a fall one with our son and my Father. This was taken when our son was younger, but I just love the look on his face and the way he's hugging my Father. They always had great times together. Sorry for the glare on the photo. I wish it didn't do that.

Thank you so much for stopping by ... now you must hop on to our next stop to see what Monica at Scrap2Treasure has in store for you. Thank you again and thank you for seeing what we have created for Autumn.

Have a Happy Cricut Day,

Greetings!!!!

2011-09-09T11:08:00.000-04:00

I think I should say welcome back...LOL. Ok, just kidding. I have been busy with last minute things before school started. I have to say my son was so adorable on his first day. He was pleasant and very ready for school. The bus comes quite early so that was a concern for me with him; would he be ready?? Oh yea he was ~ let's just say up and ready to head out the door at 6:15am!!! He was ready long before the bus was to be there, but he wanted to go outside. What was I to do, but go outside with him. I said the bus won't be here for a while so we played a little in the yard. Then he said "Mama take my picture!" I did and I looked at the face and thought how cute, but it looks like he's up to something. Yes, us Mother's have that intuition lol. I let it go, but watched him. We said our good day's at the bus stop then he was off on the bus.

Here you can see his look...yea he's adorable. You see why I knew he was up to something. That's ok ~ he doesn't always tell me right away, but he does in the end. Then will tell me whether he did what he was thinking or not. He's too cute!!

I have some fun things to post about a couple will be on tomorrow for our Blog Hop "Autumn Is Here". So be sure to stop back and check out all the wonderful things that these talented ladies have created. I know it will be a beautiful hop. I love the fall ~ just love the colors. I have been busy in my craft office here; so excited to be back in again. I am having fun creating many things. I have a bulletin board idea that I'll be sharing. I hope that you like it. There are other things that I'll be sharing in the hop, but I thought I'd just give one.

There is a birthday coming up.......shhhh!! I can't reveal all the information. You'll just have to wait and see how it turns out. I hope they'll be as surprised as I will if this all goes as planned. I'm hoping to get a lot done. We'll see how it goes. I am trying something new and my Mother says you never try anything new when you have guests over. Little does she know that whenever I have guests over unless it's special request of something I've done already.....I always do something new. You know what it works just right. I have to say that I'm going to miss my cute little notes that I'd receive from my Aunt Betty who's now passed on Nov. 26, 2010. She'd write cute notes thanking me for the wonderful gatherings we'd have. I'd read about the event and she could put words to music for a hostess I tell you. She'd write "You're the Hostess with the Most-est" I'd love it ... she'd then go on about the decorations that I had made. There was one that she sent me a copy of a photo that my Mother took of them blowing bubbles at one another. I must tell you that was a great time. Hehehe, they blew bubbles at one another ~ then they found the party blowers and those two (she and my Uncle Sonny)would hit them together when they blew them...then the other would get the bubbles going. So cute, like two children playing lol. We laughed, but loved it. That same event she caught her foot on the leg of the table and down she went. We all jumped to grab her to check her to make sure she was ok ~ she couldn't talk to us right away. We thought she was crying ~ when she finally could she said, "I couldn't stop laughing - I was crying I was laughing so hard - (then without missing a beat) what are you all doing down here looking at me?" We said you fell and we had to make sure you were alright. She said of course I am now let's get on with this party!!!! Can you say we laughed a good long time after that.

Have a Happy Cricut Day,

Thankful Thursday DT Post

2011-09-01T05:00:00.000-04:00

Welcome!!! So glad that you stopped by to see what we have been up to in the Thankful Thursday Design Team. Our challenge was to make a card for Grandparent's Day. I know most would say not so challenging, but our family has been through many changes recently. We lost my Father in Law to cancer in June of 2008 then August of 2009 my Father passed away suddenly and quite unexpected. Then April 2010 I lost my Grandad. These three had a great impact on my life and members of my family's lives. Our son who was born in 2004 did not get to know them as well as us as parents. In the time that he had with each one of them I know they each hold a special place.

His Grandpa Roli who passed June of 2008; our son remembers the trip we did as family to Michigan to Henry Ford Museum. This was a great trip, but had some challenges. I loved it that I was able to capture many photos and create a video for him before he passed away.

My Father as my son would call him "Pa" passed August of 2009. Our son took this very hard ~ they were so close. Most would say the two were attached at the hip. There is a very special picture that I will share with you. I just love the way the two of them were in this. They were having so much fun. When my Father would come and take him for walks sometimes my Father would place him up on his shoulders and take off for the walk. Yes, my son would walk with him, but he does have some issues with his muscles. He is diagnosed with Hypotonia. He also has other issues, sensory integration dysfunction and Dyspraxia. The main one I wanted to hit on was that Hypotonia because he would fatigue so quickly my Father would do this put him up on his shoulders or find a way to carry him back. I loved seeing the two of them together.

Now his Grandad was in a nursing care center close to our home; Wednesday's they would let families of the residents come and have breakfast with them. My Grandad would light up when he saw our son come because he knew breakfast would be different and our son would find a way to make him laugh. I loved to see him smile when we'd come in. He'd light up when I'd come to see him as well. I looked forward to these times. When my Grandad passed our son asked to see his room just one more time. I told him that the room was not like we saw it when Grandad was there. He said he understood and just wanted to see the room. I asked them if we could; they said that we could and explained to him that the family had already come and took his things. He said that's ok ~ I just need to see the room. Then we went and he looked and stopped at first then he went to the window and said "Mama, this is the window that I told Grandad about all the birds.... " then he explained more about the room. Then we left for home and he said he felt better.

I know this is long, but this challenge was difficult as I said our family has been through many changes. My Mother In Law is now remarried to a wonderful Christian man and they are very happy together. We are very happy for them as well. My Mom is also remarried to a wonderful Christian man who also happens to be my Uncle first as he was my Father's brother, but now he's my Step Dad. He's wonderful with our son and is learning his challenges and how to deal with him. I'm glad that God put these two in our family. I had a hard time because things are so different now and as a family we are all adjusting and I know it will come in time. Now I'm just enjoying the journey and taking things as they come.

Now these cards that we made for the challenge are special as I said. So enjoy. The bear on the front is cut at 3.5 and is from the Sesame Street Friends Cricut Cartridge . I layered the bear using the Cricut Craft Room. I just love that program. I had fun and son did too he chose the colors and the borders on the front. Then he chose the sentiment for the front. I just got a kick out of the one he chose which is from My Pink Stamper's collection Even More Punny-licious. I had won them in a blog candy and I just love them soo much!!! I really need to get more. They're just so fun!

Thanks for stopping by!! Have a great day!!! Now to close out with the picture I promised...enjoy...

Have a Happy Cricut Day,

UPDATE!!! Missing Fulton Man Found!!!!!

2011-08-26T16:18:00.000-04:00

I know this is fast, but wanted to let everyone know ...... first off thank you for being there and responding to my post.

Here is the update as reported......

Fulton (WSYR-TV) – Fulton Police say that a man who went missing on Tuesday, Aug. 23 has been found. They added that he is "okay."

According to police, Richard LeDuc, 59, went missing from his residence at 360 Park St.

They were particularly concerned because LeDuc is a diabetic and he left the residence without his medication.

Have a Happy Cricut Day,

Police looking for missing Fulton man

2011-08-26T15:27:00.000-04:00

Richard LeDuc

Fulton (WSYR-TV) – Fulton Police are looking for a man they say went missing on Tuesday, Aug. 23.

They say Richard LeDuc, 59, was last seen walking away from his residence at 360 Park St. A diabetic, he left without his medication.

LeDuc is 5-foot-8 and weighs 250 pounds. His hair is brown and his eyes are blue.

Anyone with information on the man should call the City of Fulton Police Department at (315) 598-2007.

This is the write up on him. He is our cousin's husband please pray along with us that he returns home safely. His wife our cousin is very worried about him. We pray for his safe return as it mentions above that he is diabetic and he has left without his medication. Please if you hear anything or know of anything please contact the number above or write to me here. Thank you so much!

Have a Happy Cricut Day,

2011-08-23T09:45:00.000-04:00

I had to try something different with Picasa and this is what I came up with, with some camp photos that I had taken while there. I thought this was neat. I like how it tells of the events but it's all one picture. Well a collage of pictures, but it made them into one. I hope to get some crafting done today.

I have to scoot to the store to do a special picture for someone special that will be leaving us soon. I'm sad that they're leaving, but I know it's for the best. I know they have to what they need to do and they need to take advantage of their time. I will miss them both as we did quite a lot together. I wish them well on their travels. I know they'll enjoy themselves. We'll have to make plans to come and visit. I hope we can do that once they're settled. Will be a nice family trip. We need a good family vacation.

I have some cute stamps that came in. I can't wait to use them. I finally have my first set of Peachy Keen Stamps. I have always wanted them, but when I asked for them never received them. Hubby said in his travels to the city near us that carries them he'd stop and get them, but that never worked out. He would forget or just not be able to stop. I hope to be able to get another set. I'm excited!!!! I'll have to keep you posted.

School is up and coming soon. Robbie is looking forward to starting. We've had a fun filled summer. We've had a lot of outdoor play. As many of you know he also did the 5k with me over the summer. What a great family time. He asks all the time when we're going to do another one. I am going to make that a priority to do another. I love the energry from it; the feeling of accomplishment. I just love the all around rush from completing it, but most of all I love the time with family. In my weight loss journey I received my 10% keychain. I was really proud to receive that. I'm going for many other goals, but they're going to take time only because I set little ones along the way. I know there are things to strive for in weight watchers - the sinker, the other gifts they give when you achieve a certain point in your weight loss. I set little goals as I mentioned; I set 5 pound goals. The reason I do this is that it doesn't make the weight loss journey such an overwhelming task. I want this to be an easy journey for me, meaning that I set those five pound goals. I know any weight loss journey isn't easy; takes time; accountability; dedication - I could go on, but you get the point.

Thank you for stopping by. Hope to get some things up today or tomorrow for you to see. Have a great day everyone!!

Have a Happy Cricut Day,

Thankful Thursday! DT Post

2011-08-18T07:45:00.004-04:00

We were asked for our design team challenge to make a note for our child for the first day of school. Since our schools don't start until later and my son receives benefits from school for breakfast and lunches; this challenge was a bit different for me. So I decided that when I pack that special snack that I'll put this card with it. As I mentioned our schools start later. I will have special gummy type snack for him with these colors if I can possibly do it or pack a fruit and veggies with these colors. He loves his fruits and veggies. I love him so much.

Here is the inside of the card. This reads as follows "Red, Yellow, Green, and Blue....I love you two hands behind the back! Have a great day! Love Mama" We have this special saying that we say to one another "love you two hands behind the back!" It's special because it has great meaning for both of us.....meaning our love is unending, cannot be broken. It's as a circle unbroken. I will miss him when he finally does start school. We have so much fun together. We've done so much this summer. I love spending time with him. This summer was different for both of us to get used to with no therapy over the summer. We are both so used to routines. I made a routine for us and we just did things over the summer; keeping busy. We had many adventures over the summer.

Thank you for stopping by. Will have more to post soon. I have some projects in the works. I also need to write about the little Cricut swarm we had at our local library. There are a few pictures to come with that. Keep an eye out and have a wonderful day!!!

Have a Happy Cricut Day,

So Sorry

2011-08-02T09:51:00.000-04:00

I am sorry for not posting in quite some time. I had company come in from Maine. What a great time we had. I really enjoy when they come to visit. I just wish there was more time to do things. Time flies when company comes -- why is that??? I have re done my office I am liking it so much better. I can find things easier and it just makes creating much faster and easier. I will be adding a few things to my desk to organize even more. I'm excited.

I have been fulfilling my obligations to our local library. I am doing some crafting with them for their summer reading program. I am putting it together as a Cricut Swarm for them so that if we win we could get supplies for the library. It would be great since there have been so many cuts throughout the system. I know they would appreciate it very much.

I have had some down time considering I broke my toe and that slowed me down in getting some things done around the house. Least the pain isn't as bad today. Although it is still quite tender. So happy for flip flops (speedo flip flops - they have support to them; they're not your typical flip flop). Here these are the ones I have. Check this link here Women's Flip Flops. Mine are light blue and I also have a pink pair. I can say these are the greatest. I haven't had blisters or anything like that with these. I can say though they have great support - I have back issues and these don't bother my back....mind you I don't wear them all day though.

Hmm, ten minutes to ten and my little one is still sleeping. I love these quiet mornings. I know school is right around the corner though. The quiet mornings will be no longer. Will be the 5am wake up call then getting hubby and little one off to start their days. Me, oh I don't just sit back or go back to bed. No, no....I get myself busy crafting or doing the errands that need to be done. I also keep myself very busy in the house as well.

I must get busy with the cleaning in the house and crafting that needs to be done. I have some posting to get to. I need to track my points before my WW app pops up to remind me whether I tracked breakfast or not. Got to just love those apps with the reminders. LOL

Have a Happy Cricut Day,

House House House.......

2011-07-14T18:15:00.000-04:00

I have been wanting to be creative and design something, but I haven't been able to. I have been cleaning the house and going through things to get rid of. At this point I don't care what it is it goes. I won't get rid of my crafting stuff or if I find stuff that I can use with the Cricut. I just mean things that I don't need or want to store anymore it has to go. I just want a cleared out house. I want to be able to see stuff and use what I want when I want it. Pssst!!! Hubby I am keeping little one's high chair. I know he's too big for it, but with friends at church and other friends they have little ones and we need one for when they come over. I don't want to give it up.

I hope to have a break soon. I just can't wait until things get set for me. Will be really nice. I will have to update you as I go and how it feels to have this big change. I will have big changes coming for my crafting space. I can't wait for them to take place. I'm excited.... oh did I say that already???? No, I didn't so here I'll say it again..... "I'm Excited!!!!""

Thanks for dropping by. I have a guest coming soon maybe we can record something for you and I can get it posted here we'll see if camera behaves.

Have a Happy Cricut Day,

Ripple Effect on Photos

2011-07-01T09:30:00.000-04:00

I know a few of you asked how I got the ripple effect on my card. I just wanted to share the program that I used and how I did it. Just know that you have to manipulate the effect yourself until you get it the way you want. It is fun to do though. The program I used was Jasc Paint Shop Pro 8. I love that program.

Now here is another card that I played around with. This card was "Wave Your Fingers at Your Neighbor Day".... I know silly holiday right, but hey what can I say.... I just had to play along. I love doing silly cards. Here is the card the way it should look then I will have a picture after I've played with the wave feature from the Jasc Paint Shop Pro 8 program.

Just a note you can play with it as much as you want to get the wave length down and the amplitude. Once you get these things like you like them then you're set to go. I hope this helps those that have asked. I have many things in the works...should get them posted soon.

Have a Happy Cricut Day,

All American Blog Hop!!!

2011-06-30T16:55:00.000-04:00

I am so happy to have you hopping with us. I hope you have enjoyed what you've seen so far. We have all been busy working on our projects and we will continue to have more things to show you. If you just stumbled here or you came for a visit ~ welcome!! I would hate for you to miss out on so much. You should stop over to Jenny at CrazyAboutCricut to start at the beginning then work your way back here. I love visitors!

If you have just come from Ruby Rose at Paper Junkie then you are in the right place. I know Ruby has some wonderful projects on her blog. She is so inspiring.

Here is the project that I made for this hop. I hope you like what you see. I made a card with the word Freedom on it. I didn't have Graphically Speaking Cartridge that had this on it so I used Plantin School Book Cricut Cartridge to get the same word. I love playing with the Gypsy or Design Studio. Recently I have been playing in the Cricut Craft Room. I have been having lots of fun with all three of these. Now on to the pictures for you.

Hehehe! Now the first one I have to tell you I had fun with my editing software. I thought this looked cool either way. This way it looks like a flag, but my card is all rippled...lol.

I used an 8 1/2" x 11" piece of standard cardstock in the navy blue. I then scored that at the 5 1/2" mark. Then I layered the inside with the paper choices I had. I then cut the word Freedom from Plantin School Book as I said. I layered it and put small pop dots to give some dimension to it. Thank you for looking. I hope that you have enjoyed our hop so far.

Now before I let you go I must tell you that there are some GREAT prizes to win today! You can win a Scrap-N-Tote! You can also enter to win this AWESOME prize pack from Post-it or a set of Pink by Design Stamps. Before you follow these instructions please stop by to see what Amber has in store for you at My 3 E Scrapbooking! Thanks and hope you stop by again.

Scrap-n-Tote!

Post-it Pack

Pink By Design Stamps

Details on how to win these wonderful items!

1. You must leave a comment on each blog in the hop.

2. Please be a follower of CrazyAboutCricut.

Winners to be Announced July 7th!!!

Now Here is the line up in case you get lost along the way or you get called away and need to stop. You can pick up where you left off.

Jenny our host at CrazyAboutCricut

Cheryl at Cards By CG

Sharon at Simply Sweet By Sharon

Tanya at Scrappin' Ky Momma

Bobbi at Rock Girl Custom Designs

Angie at Sit, Rest, Down, Play and Create

Paula at Owl Be Scrappin'

Jen at Scrapping at the McCalley House

Sandra at Sweet Peas Cards

Lola at Purple Peeps Techniques

Ruby at Paper Junkie

Leah at Leah's Card Designs

Amber at My 3 E Scrapbooking

Have a Happy Cricut Day,

Guest Designer

2011-06-16T10:12:00.002-04:00

If you have been talking with me you'd know I have been swamped with gathering things for our son's party. Making the decorations the invitations, the decorations for the cake etc. I just love planning his party. Some of you have heard me express how difficult this time is for me. My Father passed away August 2009; our son's birthday is this month, but that year we did it in August because he had broken his leg and that's when the doctor had given him clearance to play so we did the party then. My Father passed away the day before the party. This made things difficult then. We still held the party because Dad wouldn't have wanted me to take that from our son. I will let you see the birthday things in an upcoming post because they fit with a theme for that time and will fill you in more on details.

Now on to our project for this posting. Our theme was that the children are out of school. I wasn't exactly sure what to post, but I had this tucked away and hadn't really had the opportunity to use it quite yet. This is our son and a friend he made up to camp. We go to the 1,000 Islands; trust me it's beautiful beyond words there. They had a blast playing together and this was taken his first week out of school last year. I thought how fitting..... he's not my "little monster" he's my "little peanut". I love him and today is his special day. Thank you for looking.

Card base is 8 1/2 x 11" cardstock cut at 5 1/2" then folded in half. I then trimmed the picture to fit and the sentiment was from a little vacation stash that I had. I just thought this was adorable. Thanks for stopping by. *Note he has his Pa's sandals on (my Dad's )*

Happy Birthday Sweetie!

Have a Happy Cricut Day,

Summer Begins Blog Hop

2011-06-11T00:00:00.003-04:00

I want to say that I have been overwhelmed with things with my son. He's special needs and I had his meeting this week. There were some things that I didn't appreciate that the district did prior to the meeting. I have stepped things up to protect my son. I'll hopefully be able to get back into designing and creating again. I have my son's birthday coming up this next week so I'm trying to prepare for that as well. Let's get happier now.

Welcome to the Summer Begins Blog Hop. I am happy to be a part of this one as this is one of my Design Team Sisters. Kathryn is great. I'm happy that she decided to do this hop. I may have to do a hop myself now. Hmmm, let's see I'll have to come up with a theme. That ought to be interesting.

We haven't started summer here yet with our schools, but some are out already. We don't get out until the end of the month. I have already begun planning our summer with my son. He has many things to look forward to. I can't wait to get started on them. Right now though I'll be doing things on weekends with him and hubby.

Now for the formal stuff hehe...ready? Ok, Welcome again. If you've stumbled upon my blog thanks for coming by; cookies, healthy snacks, juice and coffee over there. Enjoy your read. If you'd like to join us for the hop then by all means please do. You'll need to start at Kathryn's Blog here at Creations with Kathryn. If you're already hopping along with us wonderful. I hope that you're enjoying all that you've seen along the way. I know we have some great crafters in on this hop. Now if you've come from Lissa's Blog at So Many Crafts then you're in the right place. Thanks for hopping with us. I have something to show you then I will give you your next direction of where to hop off to.

This was a great challenge for me. I wasn't sure if it was something I could ever do. I set out to do the training schedule; thought maybe I can do it. I kept up with the training then on the last day of training it said "Go walk a 5k". I did that and that little guy you see there has been my inspiration through it all. He went with me and I pushed him along when he didn't want to walk. Let me just say the day was awesome!!!! We walked the 5k, but then continued to walk on so we ended up doing a 10K!!! I know you were probably expecting something different for the start of summer. This is how my family started ours. I'll have more projects coming up summer related and a fun one for July ~ not revealing that one just yet.

Now to let you hop on. Your next stop is to Jen at Roxybonds Scrappin' . Enjoy your hopping; remember what you set your mind to or set as a goal long as you stick to it you can accomplish and go far. Have a wonderful day!!!

Have a Happy Cricut Day,

Thankful Thursday!!

2011-06-02T08:08:00.000-04:00

Welcome again to Thankful Thursday!! I hope you're having a great day so far. I have been trying to come up with something with my family to fit the theme Man/Boy. I didn't know what to try for hubby and son to do. I had a difficult time with hubby's schedule. Then I thought of something that they did together with Grandpa and that was build a play yard together. Son says it's Dad's and his hangout. Then he added Grandpa can use it anytime. He did add in there however that he must hang out in the little house at the top. We have had challenges with bees around it and are in process of getting rid of them. We have some traps set so we'll see how the progress goes with that being said.

I must show you the final picture of the play yard. Then will go into details about it. Here is the play yard final picture.

I must say that Grandpa Steve had a great deal into this. We were given this play yard from a neighbor of ours. Her children had played with it and have since grown and don't use it now; she offered it to us. We had to get it out of there and get it set up. When we finally had the time to get it we discovered that it was gone already. I must say that it didn't take us too long to figure out where it had gone to when we figured out what it looked like apart. Grandpa Steve had taken it to his house and painted it and replaced the wood that needed replacing. He even added on a swing that wasn't on here. He put the tarp on with Gramma. I was watching son climb and slide on the slide at that time. He also was swinging on the swing too. He needed some help, but I think with practice he'll get the hang of the swing. I have a video to show the progress of the play yard being built. I have to say thank you so much to Grandpa Steve!!!!

You must stop on by to Thankful Thursday Challenge Group on Facebook to get details on the challenge. We'd love for you to participate. There is a great prize to be won as well.

Here's the prize that we have to offer to you. Stop on by our Thankful Thursday Challenge Group on Facebook to enter. Submit a challenge with us. I find it great and lots of fun!!! Come join the fun!!!!

Hope you will join us. I love being a part of the the Thankful Thursday Design Team. I enjoy doing things with my family. In fact I have been planning our summer out already with activities. If you need further information you can go to Crazy About Cricut by clicking the button below.

Have a Happy Cricut Day,

Blog Awards!

2011-05-20T14:09:00.000-04:00

I have been blessed by a special blogger. She has decided to award me with some blog awards. I am so excited to share them with all of you. Thank you Julieta. Stop by to see her wonderful blog at 4 Goofballs Ahh, life, and stuff.

I was pleasantly surprised to see all these awards. What a way to brighten a day. Now to figure out what I have to do now that I have all these...LOL. When I finally can figure it out will do what I'm supposed to. Thank you again Julieta!!!! Thank you!!

Have a Happy Cricut Day,