More sharing...

These are two of my favorite ornaments I have painted to sell. They are up in my Etsy store right now.

Sharing My Creations

I want to share a few more of the things I made and sold at the craft fair last weekend. I have a few left of the gourd painted snowmen (my absolute favorites) & the tabletop fireplaces. If you look at the photo on my Header you will see a finished fireplace with our names and the names of our 2 dogs - Annie & Kilo, and our cat - Poodums. Cute huh? Rod made them & I painted them all up. I love the way they turned out also.

The snowmen above are gourds my DH grew in the garden in 2008. It takes a year for the gourds to dry. Then they have to be scrubbed real good and then they are ready to use. I painted them, fashioned the little hat out of fleece I found at Joann's & the scarfs were hand knitted by me. Yes, I even knit. As soon as I verify my new Paypal account I will be posting items in my Etsy Shop.

More later!

Douglas County Fairgrounds Christmas Craft Fair

BEFORE /AFTER

BEFORE/AFTER

Days 2 - 8

Days 2 - 8 were set-up days. Getting all of us started and some great digital downloads. Now, I know there is no way I can do every day in Dec., but I am going to try to take a photo or two a day of the journey and holiday fun in Dec. Some days will definitely more fun than others, like when we go cut down our Christmas tree.

So that being said, I know it has been awhile since I have blogged. Well in two days we are setting up for our largest Christmas Craft Fair this year at Douglas County Fairgrounds. We have two corner booths in the Community Building. Love that building.

I will post photos of our booth as we set it up and after it is set up. Lots of new things this year especially made with the Cricut. I hope to take photos tomorrow and I will post...I promise.

Thanksgiving was so fun just with Rod and Me. We cooked a 16 pound turkey which we will actually finish up tonight. We also had dressing, cranberry sauce, green beans, olives, rolls, lots of gravy & pumpkin pie. I also tried my hand at making yams from scratch & they turned out pretty good.

Rod asked if it was worth all the trouble cooking just for two if us and I have to say it was more than worth it.

Day 1 - Family Holiday Values and Goals

I was lucky enough to enroll in Jessica Sprague's Free "Holidays in Hand - 2009" class online.

Day 1 assignment was to reflect in a journal or on your blog about what matters the most and to describe your family's values.

Since this holiday season finds my immediate family back in the "drama" mode with only a few of us talking to each other and being threatened with not showing up for Christmas there will be "no presence, no presents" I really don't have any hope let alone family values & goals for that side of the family.

So I turn to my other family or should I say my REAL family - my wonderful husband & friends (even though that other family say I only have 1 friend).

Jessica gave us some words to think about like:

peace
family
tradition
togetherness
friends
warmth
welcome
magic
glow
spirit
rest
laughter
friendship
food
sweets
stockings
lights
ornaments
gratitude
sharing
sparkle
merry
quiet
wonder
giving
savoring
appreciating
connecting
reflecting
memorable
joyful

OK so which of these words really matter to me? Savoring, appreciating, giving, friendship (Oh, I forgot I only have one friend LOL), laughter, togetherness.

Now I have to make some goals based on those words:

1. I want to savor the holidays this year by appreciating all my friendships & my DH.
2. I want people that I like to be around and like being around me to sit down and laugh (even if it is at me) and to just be together.
3. I want the holidays to be simple but holidayish. You know simple decorations on a tree we will go into the mountains to cut down, playing lots of Christmas music, saying MERRY CHRISTMAS" to everyone I meet.
4. I want to savor the moment with friends and DH.
5. I want togetherness and share the moment with friends, my DH & others.

Now I have to make goals based on my values:

GOALS:
1. Cookie Exchange with friends.
2. Homemade gifts for friends made just for them with them in mind.
3. Buy gifts for 8 kids from the Salvation Army tree as I do every year because those kids need it more than my 8 nieces and nephews.
4. Annual dinner with friends with lots of laughter, good food and kinship.
5. Getting more involved with Christmasy stuff with my DH. I will help decorate the tree. I will wrap more packages. I will watch more Christmas movies. I will not be a Bah Humbug. I really am never a true Bah Humbug, but I really want to savor the moment more than I usually do.
6. I want to make and encourage more people to make Christmas cards for our Vets in the VA Hospital so they will know people do care about them...a LOT!

PS If anyone cares - a Wii would be pretty cool too!

More Creations

These 3 things I call Favors/Ornaments. The plastic cups are from Stampin Up. You fill them with goodies. I bought packages of Halloween candy to fill the cups. Since we are not a licenced kitchen in Oregon we can't prefill the cups to sell. The individual packages of candy are perfect to be included with the favor/ornament and the buyer can fill them before giving them away.

I have designed a Gingerbread man with a hole in his middle to be filled with candy. The Stickles are drying now, but when I finish the sample I will post.

The Cricut cartridges I used for the turkey was Mini Monograms. The Snowman is Doodlecharms, Stretch Your Imagination, Mini Monograms & Paper Doll Dress Up, and the Ornament used Mini Monograms & Joys of the Season. They were all designed using the Design Studio. I am having so much fun playing & designing.

Wait until you see the Gingerbread House Christmas Album I designed.

Sharing

I have been BUSY! The BPW (Business Professional Women's Craft Fair starts tomorrow and I have been designing and making new stuff.

It's funny, I have been doing craft fairs since 1992 & I love coming up with new stuff every year.

So without further ado I will start with one of my new faves. It was inspired by a card The Pink Stamper had done ( www.mypinkstamper.com/2008/10/episode-67-apple-cider-slider.html) and I took it from there:

1. Stamp (Stampin Up) on SU white cardstock. Matted on Clove cardstock (Paper Accents)

2. Leaf wreath printed on acetate and attached with red brads. The wreath is clip art from Print Shop 21.

3. I made mine a card on the slider card.

I have lots more to share over the next couple days. The Hot Cocoa slider card I made using the Cricut's Winter Wonderland cartridge and the Design Studio is my absolute favorite!

Craft Show Mode

Yes, one show down, two to go! Scrapbook Fun Fest was amazing! Fun time was had by all. We have presold 75 tickets to our next event in May, 2010 at Seven Feathers in Canyonville, OR. I can't believe I didn't take any photos. I always take photos. I bad.

Less than three weeks to the Roseburg Business & Professional Women's 48th Annual Craft Show at Douglas County Fairgrounds in Roseburg, OR. I love this fair. This is my 8th year.

I started making some new things to sell this year. As soon as I finish the details I will post these new products.

I couldn't resist posting this photo of my cat, Poodums. Not only does she love paper, and I can show you a lot of paper with little cat teeth marks, but she loves to be near DH & me when we are on the computer. I think she wants to learn, don't you?

New Cards

This week is crazy! Scrapbook Fun Fest is Saturday and I have been a bad girl & let a lot of everything that has to be completed until the last minute. BUT, it is getting finished!

I do want to share a couple of cards I did at Roseburg Book & Stationery on World Card Making Day.

New Projects

We have been so busy lately that we decided to take a quick trip to the coast. Rod is now trying to catch crab for dinner.

Here is my next class at Roseburg Book & Stationery, Tuesday, Oct. 27 at 10 am. Let me first tell you the story behind this mini album.

I LOVE MINI-ALBUMS! Can I say it any louder. Since I bought my first Bind-It All I have not bought one scrapbook album. I make & bind my own. Why? I am so glad you asked. The reason is because you can make them any size and as thick as you want. Also, if you know me I LOVE to use unconventional things to make mini-albums or even on scrapbook pages. Napkins are by far my favorite things to use for the covers of my mini-albums. So when Roseburg Book and Stationery brought in a new line of napkins the first thing I saw was a new mini-album.

The napkin is shaped exactly as it looks. Kind of like a little shirt. It is a very heavy two-ply napkin that can stand-up in place. Does it not scream mini-album? I think the hardest part of working with napkins is taking the plys apart, but you can only work with one-ply or it will fall apart when you decoupage.

I have also been making cards like crazy. Cards for Soldiers which will all go to our National Guard Unit from Roseburg stationed in Iraq is taking on a life of its own. So many people, from the Lime Light group I design for and local cardmakers, I will be really surprised if I send out less than 70 pounds of cards .

Scrapbook Fun Fest is in 10 days & is shaping up to be one of our best. That is until May 31. We are partnering with Seven Feathers Casino in Douglas County & their convention center is where our biggest Scrapbook Fun Fest will be held. We are still putting it on, it's just changing venues. We loved the fairgrounds, but in May we can't take a chance with weather. One year it was so cold we had to turn on the heat and last May it was so hot we couldn't bring enough fans in to cool everyone off. There was no air conditioning. It is so sad to leave DCFG because they have been so good to us.

I will be posting more soon about all the details for the May 31, 2010 Scrapbook Fun Fest!

Mini-Album with Envelope

Tomorrow I am teaching this class at Roseburg Book & Stationery. I love how it turned out.

Disneyland Autograph Pages

These two 8" x 8" pages were for a swap on the Cricut Messageboard.

Everyone is making autograph pages. Now from experience, Chip & Dale always wanted to sign their own page so that's what I did.

The copper tabs you see pull up and there is a mat for your photo with each of the boys.

I can't wait to see everyone's pages!

New Contest

I checked out Capadia's Blog and found out about this contest. from Cricut. I am entering (see below) and here's how you can enter too.

"According to the rules you must copy the bold text below and answer the questions on your blog and then send a link to your post via email to info@todaysmama.com with "Cricut Meme" in the subject line. If you win you can choose a Cricut Machine or all four of the newly released cartridges - what a great prize. You have to copy all of the text below and answer the questions - so here goes!!"

"This is contest entry for those crazy folks at TodaysMama and Cricut. Be sure to check out Cricut's cool new cartridges and the chance at $30,000 in travel for you and your friends at the Great Gypsy Escape site!"

Cut and paste these questions to your blog:
Great Escape Meme
1. If you could escape to anywhere in the world where would it be?
2. What song do you play when you are by yourself in the car?
3. If you had a night to yourself, and money was no object, what would you do?
4. What is your guilty pleasure?
5. What is the farthest place you have traveled away from your home?
6. Last book that you couldn't put down?
7. When you want to escape into another time, what movie do you watch?
8. What is your favorite local escape?
9. How do you escape on a budget?
10.Best food you've ever had while on vacation.

NOW ME:

Great Escape Meme
1. If you could escape to anywhere in the world where would it be?
ALASKA
2. What song do you play when you are by yourself in the car?
"DON'T STOP BELIEVIN'" JOURNEY
3. If you had a night to yourself, and money was no object, what would you do?
GET A FULL SPA TREATMENT
4. What is your guilty pleasure?
FROZEN SNICKERS
5. What is the farthest place you have traveled away from your home?
WASHINGTON DC
6. Last book that you couldn't put down?
TRIAL BY JURY by JA JANCE
7. When you want to escape into another time, what movie do you watch?
PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN
8. What is your favorite local escape?
FLORENCE, OR
9. How do you escape on a budget?
CAMP
10. Best food you've ever had while on vacation.
SEAFOOD BUFFET

How much fun!

Cricut Finds

This is a "quilt card. The shape was cut using the Big Shotz Sizzex diecut. I don't have the Big Sizzex, but I do have a Cricut.

I try to buy cartridges that are multi-useful. Accent Essentials has this shape as a frame. You need the Design Studio to size the shape. If you click on the line inside the shape, right click & click on "Hide Contour" you can cut the same shape using Cricut & the Design Studio.

Pretty slick huh?

Another Favorite...

The technique I used to make this card was shaving cream & reinkers. This was another of Krista's classes. Now I have done this technique for years, mostly with kids. I have them make the covers of Fold Out Albums. I have always taken the shaving cream off with paper towels. Lots and lots and lots of paper towels. Well, in class I learned a new easy way to take off the shaving cream...with a metal pancake turner. Who knew? No more paper towels for me.

Lime Light Cards for Troops

Yesterday I uploaded 5 out of 20 cards that I have made for the Cards for Troops as a member of the Lime Light. (Green button on right)

The card above is my latest favorite technique I learned at Krista Thomas Technique class. In fact I have an entire book full of great techniques she has taught - 22 in all.

Here's how we did it: RUBBER CEMENT RESIST -Drizzle rubber cement over glossy cardstock in a crazy pattern or a decidedly thunk out pattern. (Like that? Thunk?) Anyway let the rubber cement dry then ink the brayer and quickly brayer over the cardstock. Let the ink on the cardstock dry. It won't really dry on the rubber cement, so blot & wipe the wet ink off the rubber cement before you rub it off the cardstock. The effect is so cool.

Check out Krista's blog (button on the right). Her classes are great & I learn so much every time I go. Sometimes the techniques she uses I have used in the past, but even those I get new tips to make the techniques even better.

What I have been doing this week...

It doesn't look like much, BUT I blanched & skinned 12 pounds of Roma tomatoes to make 6 pint jars of Marinara sauce. So worth it.

The other jars are pickles, pickled jalapeno pepper, & the fresh tuna we brought back from the coast. That had to be done in the pressure cooker.

Add this to the 15 jars of pickles & the season has just begun. Next I am freezing our corn OFF the cob.

I also finished & uploaded the Scrapbook Fun Fest website this week. It's getting easier, & I redid the class page to show all classes on one page. The photos of all the projects are on the next page. I am pretty happy with how it turned out. Check it out. Just click on Scrapbook Fun Fest button on the right.

Off to the claim for today & tonight. Keep your fingers crossed we find a lot of gold!

Slowly getting back into creating projects other than cards. I decided to do the House of Mouse class at Scrapbook Fun Fest in Oct. I have two more sample to make.

PS - Went to see "Time Travelers Wife" yesterday. It was good, and a lot of naked bottom shots, but I am still contemplating if it is a must see. However the butt shots are really nice!

Back Up & Running

Fair is over & we are getting our lives back. I want to share a photo of my favorite thing I created for the fair.

This is the giant Birthday Cake I made for the centerpiece of the building. A lot of great minds came together to come up with all the parts, like making it 3 tiers, how to decorate, Dougie, our mascot coming out of the top of the cake, etc. I had so much fun taking all the ideas and actually executing it.

Now I need to get back to doing things for me. I am madly making cards for our adopted troop for Limelighters. This month we are all making cards so our soldiers can in turn send them home to their loved ones with a message inside. I love doing anything for our guys & gals in the military.

Dredge Season

Here is the long ago promised photo of our gold dredge in the river. It is like a giant vacuum that sucks up the (hopefully) gold from the river and forces it on a sluice box. Since gold is heavy it stays on the carpet in the sluice box and is then panned out.

We have only been able to go once so far this season because of me being sick for the past two weeks & then our partner's wife got sick and company visiting, etc. Fair is next week and both Rod & I will be working during the fair. Today was my last day to get up at 6:15am!!!! Friday & Saturday we take in entries for the Exhibit building. I am in charge of crafts & Rod is taking in Food Preservation entries. Sunday everything is judged. Monday it's over to the Floral building where I am also in charge & we take in entries for cut flowers, potted plants & arrangements. Afterwards we have 4 judges coming in.

What is so funny is I know nothing about flowers or plants. I told them at the fairgrounds when they hired me. I can do a lot with flowers AFTER they have blossomed, but if I touch a plant or flower it will probably die. Good thing Rod has such a green thumb. He plants a stick and it grows into a tree. Really!

FINISHED!

Twinchies are completed & will be sent off tomorrow. I am please with how they turned out & I can't wait to use them on cards. I made 100 of 5 designs. There are 50 people in my Group and each person receives 10. With my Twinchies they receive 2 of each design.

Here is the final product:

MIA, I know!

Yes, I have been MIA - Missing in Action. Who knew that working 4 - 5 hours a day at the county fairgrounds would be, well, so much work? It's fun work, but work. I have also been Cricut-ing lots & lots of stuff to decorate the Exhibit building & I still have to cut things for the floral building.

I have also been working like mad to finish 500 Twinchies for a Swap due Aug. 1. What was I thinking?

Anyway enough, boo hoo, I thrive on this much chaos! Rod has started designing his scrapbook pages he will enter in the County Fair this year. I am not looking because I want to be surprised. He is also going to enter his plants, produce & our canned tomatoes, tuna, pickles, apple pie filling, apple butter & pickled jalapenos. Did I mention he loves to can with me & this year he planted an even bigger garden. Usually we give a lot to the assisted living residence where his Mom lives, but they just informed him that they can't take anything that isn't USDA approved. So, he is looking in to donating stuff from the garden to UCAN which is our local food distribution outlet for people who are in need.

What's really sad is he can't bring to the residents at the assisted living facility tomatoes from the garden either. At least once or twice a week he would make up several small bags of tomatoes for his "girlfriends" & his Mom. They are going to be so disappointed.

Off to twinchie!

Fun Weekend

DH & I went to the coast this weekend for a fun, relaxing 2 days. Great seafood buffet at Three Rivers Casino. Did a little "Ka-ching" and came out just about even. Rod went crabbing & caught a lot, BUT they were too small. He had to throw them all back. Boo Hoo.

This working thing at the fairgrounds getting ready for the County Fair is fun, but cuts into personal playtime. Haven't been able to do too much. I do have my Twinchie Swap due at the end of the month.

The theme I chose is Fall since I love that time of year. I used Krista's Stampin' Up Fall stamps and stamped 5 different designs. I hand-painted 5 x 5 stamped images plus a few extra. Since I have to do 500 Twinchies, I then made color copies of the hand-painted images. Now I have to cut out the mats for each image on the Cricut, mount them, & embellish. They will be cute when finished.

Another Swap I signed up for are two autograph pages for a Disney Book. I am doing pages for Chip and Dale. When I went to Disneyland years ago & went for the autograph, they insisted that they each get their own page. Too cute!

Photos soon. We just bought a new camera & I have to download the photos I've been trying to take.

Lime-Lighters

I have been given the extreme honor to be named to the Lime Light Charitable Design Team for 2009 - 2010. I will also be the Publicity Director. Is this the coolest thing in the world? Here is a little bit about this great team from the blog...

"We are a design team with a unique purpose. We use our crafting skills to help and bring light to others. We invite you to visit the site often to find out whom we are crafting for and what we are planning in the months to come. We have exciting plans that include making cards and bookmarks for our men and women in uniform, making journals for families whose children are in the hospital, making cards for baskets that help raise money for playground equipment....and that's just the beginning. Come back soon for pictures and blog entries giving you even deeper insight in to how the team is bringing light to those in need."

To be chosen, I had to submit 4 projects and a little ditty about myself. They do so much good for very worthy organizations. To be a part of this organization with incredibly talented ladies is AMAZING! I have been following a lot of their blogs for a long time & now my little old name is listed along with them! Thank you so much for this new adventure!

Happy Fourth of July

Well, July 1 was the first day of the Dredging season. Dredging as in Gold dredging. Let me explain. My DH & a friend bought a 3" gold dredge to use on our gold claim. Yes, you read correctly. We have a 20 acre gold claim on the river near here. From July 1 - Sept. 15 you can use this mechanized machine to help find gold. I will post photos next week of the dredge working on the river.



I am off to finish packing the trailer. We are going to camp right by the river. I am chief cook & bottle washer. I am not a go in the river and shovel and pan, etc. kind of gal. I am a sit by the river in the shade and read my books and nap and relax.



Hope you all have a great 4th of July!

The Prom Dress Story

Thank You Card Box & my Thank You Card





The story started a couple months ago when my brother called to tell me Planet Hope, a charity that works with homeless Mom's & kids in the LA area, wanted to donate designer dresses for girls at a high school of my choice. Planet Hope is the brain-child of Sharon Stone & her amazing sister, Kelly Stone.

I volunteered at 3 - 4 Camp Planet Hope sessions doing scrapbook projects with the Moms & kids. Planet Hope has been donating brand new prom dresses to high school since Hurricane Katrina and this year they expanded to more states. Since I have volunteered, Kelly wanted a high school from my area to also benefit. The county where I live in Oregon, Douglas County, is 2nd in the country for unemployment.

Since I live in Roseburg, I choose Roseburg High School and the game was on. I had the privilege of going to the high school and helping the girls pick out their prom dresses from the 80 gorgeous designer dresses (all brand new) snet to them.

What really impressed me is the high school is known for having kids that benefit from anything done for them in the community to write Thank You Notes. Prom dresses were no exception. I made a card holder for Planet Hope from the same template I made my Mom's Mother Day present. It is the template Lauren Meador designed and sells at Paper Trey Ink.

Since the theme was a "Starry Night" or something like that, I designed a cut file with the Design Studio with different shaped stars and made a card using the Wild Card cartridge to match. I used Versamark, my favorite ink to use, to stamp stars on the box & card. Silver vellum backed up the cut stars. Add silver ink, Stickles and shimmery ribbon &... well, the results are in the photos up top. I loved the way it turned out.

New Header

Like my new header? Gracie from "Imagine That" designed it for me. Check out her blog which is amazing! You can just click on it to the right.

I won this header and I love it soooooooooooooo much. Thank you Gracie.

JCI

Finally learned what JCI means on the message boards. So I decided I should JCI - Just checking in!

My Ma flew up from Scottsdale & we have been GO GO GO and having fun. Soooooooooooooo I have to put off photos until next week. Taking a break from creating paper stuff & knitting ma a scarf for her brown coat. So cute.

At Last

Yipee!!! All projects I committed to are complete & delivered. All on time. So proud of myself!

BUT...now I have to really get down & do laundry, clean & cook since my DH pointed out to me the other day that "I cooked dinner 2 nights in a row." Which I replied, "No, it was 3 nights in a row."

He is a really good cook, though.

Thunderstorms have been really intense. The other night the rain was so bad it was coming off the roof like a waterfall. It destroyed the Half Shell in the Park where there are Friday Night movies in the park & concerts in the park all Summer. It also destroyed the transformer that provides electricity. It is getting repaired.

Less than a month until gold dredge season begins. We will be at the river as much as we can this Summer dredging the all elusive gold at our claim.

More later...

Scrapbook Fun Fest

Today is Monday and Scrapbook Fun Fest is over & out for May. It was amazing. We had over 215 people cropping all day or just in to Walk & Shop.

The only down side to the day was it was probably the hottest day of the year - 92 degrees - & the building we were in has no air conditioning, not even during the County Fair. Yeah, lots of complaints, some ticked off peeps, but I think on the whole 95% of everyone had a good time and appreciated all our effort.

I even had time to take a class with Krista Thomas. She did a class on Exploding Box album. I love how it turned out & I was lucky to reserve the paper I wanted ahead of time. She ran out of the Baja Breeze early on in the day.

We raised 278 pounds of food for UCAN Food Pantry here in Roseburg & they said it was a really good amount for a fundraiser. Whoo Hoo!

We presold 36 tickets for our next event, Oct. 17. That's 4 times more presales than the last time we did it. 5 of our vendors have committed to the October event also.

As soon as I download photos we took, I will post them here.

2 Days to Go

Scrapbook Fun Fest is 2 days away. Great group of women (& men...our DH) have put together a fun day for over 100 croppers and Walk & Shoppers to peruse our 14 vendors (like that big word?) & spend money!!!

Today is completing a lot of little details & putting together all the tickets for Will Call. I promise to take photos & post next week.

No rest for the wicked after SFF. I have 3 high school word books & another "Teacher We Love You" scrapbook to make next week. Whew! LOVING IT!

I need more days in a week...

Where have all the days gone? Scrapbook Fun Fest is one and half weeks away. Then, it's June.

This is a photo of one of the classes I will be teaching at SFF. The smaller matchbook "album" contains samples of "6 Ways to Use Versamark". Versamark has to be one of my most favorite products to use. The larger matchbook "album" is a bonus project.

If you want to come & crop and shop & play & more check out the link to the Scrapbook Fun Fest on the right. We still have a few $20 tickets left. If you don't want to come for the entire day, for $1 or two cans of food benefiting UCAN Food Bank in Roseburg, you can shop, and/or sign-up for classes. Classes range in price from $8 - $15.

Mother's Day Present

I have been taking some incredible classes at Krista Thomas' house. (I have a link to her blog to the right.)

I don't send cards but I love to make them. My Mom sends cards all the time, so I decided all the cards I make will go to her. I made the cards either Thank You or Birthday Greetings.

Lauren Meador (another link to her blog is on the right) designs some really cool templates to hold gifts, cards, or whatever. I purchased her "All Boxed Up" template.

BIRTHDAY CARD HOLDER

THANK YOU CARD HOLDER

I was able to include 8 cards in each box. I probably could have included more cards, but these cards have some popped up embellishments.

I love how the turned out. All the paper and embellishments for the boxes were from Hot Off the Press.

Just about finished with the preschool scrapbooks. They turned out so cute. All I have to do is some of the kid's journaling they dictated to their teachers.

My next project is a Thank You scrapbook to Kelly & Sharon Stone for the beautiful prom dresses they provided Roseburg High School. It was an amazing experience!

Forgot to ask...

Do you like the new look of my blog? It is crazy how the colors I picked match perfectly with the photo I took of my gardener friend, Linda's flowers.

Speaking of crazy, I have now finished 22 high school Letter Memory Books. Here are some photos of what the finished product looks like:

I have made the Roseburg High School, RHS, books both with just the mascot name & the mascot name with the year.

In addition, the 15 preschool books are almost completed. I will show you some of the pages before I put the kids photos in them. The Cricut has been a blessing. I have been able to make multiples of die cuts in a flash (well a little longer than a flash) to decorate the pages. They should be ready for delivery on Monday.

Later.

I'm Back

It's been a long time since my last entry, but I do have a good excuse.

1. 21 - High School memory Albums - DONE!!!!
2. 15 preschool scrapbooks due before May 16.
3. Scrapbook Fun Fest - 2 classes to be kitted - DONE!!!!
4. Classes - I have taken & taught

OK does that earn me some forgiveness? Anyway I love the way the Memory books turned out. I will post photos tomorrow. I still have to photoshop them because I am also going to offer them on Etsy.

The first Cricut Swarm was a huge success. I hosted 5 women in my living room & it was just enough space. Our next Swarm is Friday, May 15 at Velda's house. She has a huge studio for all of us to work in. I registered the May Swarm with Provo & anyone who comes for the Swarm will be eligible for any prizes we are awarded from Provo.

The swap theme for May is a tag or something similar for Mother's Day. You can do something for a friend if you would rather.

The project I will be teaching in May at the Swarm deals with vinyl and glass etching. If you plan on attending you need to bring a clear glass object (plate, cup, glass, vase, etc.) to etch. I will provide all the supplies except the glass object.

Cricut Swarm

This Friday I am hosting my first Cricut Swarm. Here is the tag I created for the swap. The theme this month...wait for it...Spring! How original!

I used the Wild Card & Stretch Your Imagination Cricut Cartridges. I had a butterfly stamp which I cut out. Can you see the dots on the frame? My favorite Cuttlebug embossing folder is Swiss Dots. It just adds a little something. Next, a little bling & stickles & it makes a simple but cute tag.

The one thing I am having so much fun doing is discovering all the things that are included on each cartridge that isn't readily visible. You really have to use the handbook to see all the cool things you can make.

Cuttlebug Challenge

Go over to http://cuttlebugchallenge.blogspot.com/2009/04/announcing-cuttlebug-challenge-spa.html and read all about the fun they are having and incredible prizes May 1 - 3.

I Bad

I know, I know it's been awhile since I posted. I really don't know where the time goes. Right now I am working on High School Memory letter books (for lack of a better name right now). There are 5 high schools in the area & I am making them in the school colors. Below is an example of Roseburg High School.

I was able to do set up the files using the Cricut Design Studio. The first time around I really didn't know what I was doing. Since we got a speedier Internet I have been learning how to use the Cricut & Design Studio a whole lot better. Our laptop was repaired & they put a new hard drive in it. Even though I saved the original designs I thought I would put my new found info to good use. The new & improved letter book designs for the 5 high schools was competed in an hour. Knowledge is very powerful!

I am making 3 books for each high school to sell. Hopefully they will sell & I will make many more!

Wild Card - "I Love You"

There was a challenge to use an "I Love You" Crossword box at:

365cards.blogspot.com/2009/03/day-23-crossword-connection.htmlSo I changed the color to red and here is the card and matching envelope I made using the Cricut Wild Card cartridge.

My Anniversary! and a New Card!

Today is my Anniversary with the most wonderful man on Earth! 24 amazing years!!!!

• I ordered and received the Wild Card Cartridge for my Cricut from scrapbookpal.com within two days. The best part is their shipping is FREE!
• I love, love. love this cartridge. Here is one of the cards available. Also one of my favorites, oh who am I kidding, I love them all.

I will post more cards as I make them. I am now three weeks behind in making my tags for 52Q so I will have to get caught up on that too. I have something going on everyday this week but I am going to create something each day so that is good too!

Cricuteers of Roseburg Swarm, April 17, 6 - 11pm. Email me for more info. We have a few seats left.

Quick Hello!

I can't believe it is Friday and I haven't posted since Monday. What have I been doing? Where has the time gone? Anyway took a great all day class today. Click on the link to Krista Thomas' Stampin Up Blog on the left. The 8 cards we did were so much cuter (if they could be) in person.

Tonight I am going to a card club. I am doing two cards. The penguin card I posted last month & the owl card from the Wild Card Cricut cartridge. I will post the photo of it tomorrow. I finally ordered the cartridge & can not wait until it comes. The cheapest price I found for that particular cartridge was at scrapbookpal.com It was $44.95 and shipping is FREE for orders over $25.00. Check them out. They shipped it within an hour after I ordered it!

House of Mouse

I call this the "House of Mouse". It's a class I put together to teach in the future. I love the way it turned out.

Lucky Irish

• My Ma is Irish and so this year I made her a St. Patrick's Day Card. I used Plantin' Schoolhouse to make the card. I cut the shamrock & pot of gold from the Paper Doll Dress Up cartridge. I love the accessories they have for the different dolls. I am not much a paper doll gal but there is a lot more on the cartridge to use for cards and LOs.

• The "gold" I cut out of gold vellum. I did a couple coats of UTEE on the pot to make it shiny.

• For the "Happy St. Patrick's Day" I printed it in green ink on gold vellum and while the ink was still wet I sprinkled Opalescent embossing powder over the title & heat set it. I haven't used this technique in a long time, but I love the way it turned out.

• The ribbon is actually gold,but it looks silver in the photo.

• Some gold brads, gold stickles inside the brads and on the "gold" in the pot, a little gold pen stitching & that about wraps it up.