A little book of notes - Bitten By the Bug Challenge

This weeks challenge over at Bitten By the Bug was to use the pencil cut from the My Community cartridge. I decided I wanted to do a little shaped notebook! The whole thing was just put together with a conglomeration of different cardstocks.

For the "metal" part of the penci, I embossed it with bridal silver. The two scalloped strips were done with my Fiskars Threading water punch. The flowers are Prima, and the brads in the flowes are Basic Grey. NOTES is cut with the Cuttin Up cartridge covered with pink stickles.

I put the whole thing together using my Bind it All and then tied some ribbon around the wire. Please be sure and pop over to Bitten By The Bug to see the rest of he designers projects using this cut!!! What a talented bunch of ladies!!!! Thanks for stopping by today! I made it through my first day back to work just fine! LOL! But wow, was it ever hard when that alarm went off at 4:30 this morning. YUCK! Thanks again and talk to you soon!!

Owl always love you

This is a quick little card I made tonight for cards 4 kids Ultimate Valentines Challenge. You can read all about it here. I think it's a great cause. I just found out about it tonight, and I'm excited to be able to help. Don't you just love this owl image???? It's from a Valentines set over at The Cutting Cafe! Oh how I'm loving these sets for Valentines day! It makes creating cards SO EASY!!!

I just printed it on white cardstock and colored it in with my Copic markers. I also used a couple different border punches. One is a Martha Stewart Cornice border punch. The heart border punch is by Fiskars.

Threw on some pink ribbon and voila! A cute, very quick card! Pleae be sure and check out all these Valentine printable stamps over at The Cutting Cafe! The new one she just released, the lip shaped card is FANTASTIC! I'm hoping to create a card with that tomorrow! Thanks for stopping by today! Have a wonderful Monday tomorrow! It's my first day back to work since Christmas, so I'm kind of sulking tonight. LOL! Have a good one! HUGS!

Thank You card with Cricut and Hello Kitty cartridge and an award from some friends!

Oh my goodness, I've had this Hello Kitty cartridge for a while, but this is the first time I 've used it. I am now in love with this kitty! LOL! I've got quite a few thank you cards I need to get done, so that's what I've been working on today.

I used Basic Grey for the pattern paper, and the buttons are by Basic Grey as well. The font is the Mickey Font cut with my Cricut Expression. The big U is home made chipboard. I cut it out six times and just glued them on top of each other.

I used just a touch of chalk ink around the edges to help define the cuts. Hello Kitty is popped up off the card too. I don't think I can make a card without using pop dots! This card was actually quite quick to make and went together rather easily!

I don't know if I've told you yet, but my computer crashed right after Christmas, and of course the new computer now has Vista instead of XP. And none of my photo editing software worked with it! I was up until 2:30 am one night just trying to figure out how to resize a photo! I have the Canon Rebel XTI camera, so the photo's I take are at a very high resolution. I HAVE to resize before I post anything or it will be so big that you wouldn't be able to look at any of my pics without having to scroll your way through them. Anyway, it was all just so frustrating. So my fabulous hubby brought me home Photoshop elements 7 last night! Of course I've never used it, but it didn't take me too long to figure out how to do the basics! I LOVE it already! And I'm just skimming the surface of the possibilities.

AWARD TIME! I have been the recipient of this award from some awesome and very talented friends! Donna, Jeannie, Nikki, and DeeDee all nominated me for this award. Please be sure and visit their blogs! They are all fantastically, wickedly talented ladies. I LOVE visiting their blogs and they are all on my follow list. Now here's what you're supposed to do . I'm supposed to list five of my favorite blogs. Oh my is this one gonna be HARD!!! And I'm also supposed to list five addictions. Ok...so here are the addictions:

A GOOD cup of coffee in the morning. I am currently into this wood roasted coffee. Got some smoked with applewood for the holidays. It was soooooo good!!

Anything to do with papercrafting. I'm a junkie with any and all things!

The TV show Ghost Hunters. LOVE that show and will do whatever I have to on Wednesday evenings to watch it in peace. Even if I have to lock myself in my bedroom!

Orville Redenbacher (sp) tender white microwave popcorn. If you haven't tried it, I would highly recommend it! Made with real butter, and the kernals (sp again?) are so tender it just melts in your mouth!

And last but not least, my hand dipped pretzels in white chocolate and sprinkled with peppermint. Thats why I only make them once a year at Christmas. If I made them all year, I wouldn't fit through the door!

Now for my five favorite bloggers. I visit so many blogs, this one is really impossible. If I could list my top 50, I would be much closer to feeling better. So anyway, here's five of the many blogs I visit on a regular basis:

DeeDee - what a wonderful friend! She is so awesomely talented and such an inspiration to me. Who knew that a little cut like a Quail from a Cricut cartridge would forge such an awesome friendship!

TeriBeri - what a beautiful woman and friend she is! And wickedly talented! Her work has been featured in some awesome publications! Do yourself a favor and check out her blog!

Regina - What can I say about Regina that hasn't already been said. She is such an amazing woman and friend of mine. She has supported me and guided me through so many things. I can't even begin to tell you everything I have learned from her. She is published on a regular basis, and with good reason. What talent! She's awesome!

Nancy - Nancy, I have been such a fan of yours from the first card I ever saw of yours. You could touch doggy doo and turn it into art! You know I love ya girl, and I would truly love to tap into your brain and harness some of those creative juices you've always got flowing.

Tracy - WOW! Everything you create makes that word come out of my mouth. You're unbelievable.

Anywho, thanks for listening to me ramble, and for stopping by to visit! I love it when you come to see me and take the time to say hello! Hope you're having a wonderful weekend! It's back to work and the real world for me on Monday. Enjoy your Sunday!

Be my honey lamb Valentines Day card made with Cricut Doodlecharms and vintage image

I guess you can tell I'm working on Valentines Day cards now! LOL! This one is for my precious little grandson Benjamin that is 5 1/2 months old right now. That precious little lamb was printed off a vintage Valentine card cd that is available at Peggy Loves Vintage (just click on the name and it will take you to her etsy shop). I just printed it on white card stock and cut it out. Then pop dotted it for dimension. Those scalloped hearts were cut with my Cricut Expression machine using the Doodlecharms cartridge. I love those scalloped hearts just as much today as I did the day I bought that cartridge! The polka dotted paper is from Nana's kids stack, and I used red and white Bazzill cardstock. I also used one of my Martha Stewart border punches. Thanks for stopping by to take a peek! Tomorrow is New Year's Eve! I can't believe we're already at 2009! It seems like only yesterday we were running around thinking everything was going to stop working when the clock struck midnight in the year 2000!! I wish you a very happy, healthy, prosperous, and creative new year! God Bless!!!

Love is the heart of the home

This is a card I made with a new set of printable Valentine stamps by Regina Easter over at The Cutting Cafe. I just thought this was the cutest little house. I printed it on my background cardstock, and then on a couple different pieces of printed paper which I cut out and pieced together. Also popped it up just a tad for some added dimension. The trees are cut with my Cricut Expression using the Pooh and Friends cartridge, and the clouds were cut with the Hello Kitty cartridge. The scalloped frame was cut from the Storybook cartridge. Please be sure and check out The Cutting Cafe! Regina has some really awesome printable stamps, and don't forget that Hallmark Scrapbook is having an AWESOME sale on Cricut cartridges! Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

BBTB Challenge for this week

Hi everyone! I actually was able to spend a little time crafting tonight. But only after I had to deal with my computer crashing on me with a fried mother board! UGH! So now I'm dealing with trying to learn how to manuever around this new computer without all the software I'm so used to using for my pics. It took me a grand total of two hours to figure out how to even resize a pic tonight. I was ready to give it up for a lost cause. I finally just managed to do it in paint! UGH! I want my software back! LOL!!! Anyway, Regina's challenge to us this week was to use the cut out circle cut from the Mini Monograms cartridge. I just HAD to use my new stamps from Our Craft Lounge and make a Valentines Day Card with a matching gift tag. The papers are left over scraps from last year, the hearts are Melissa Frances, and the tag is a stamp from Stampin Up that I got last year. That heart border punch is by Fiskars and I've had it for about six years. Hope you like it! It was really nice to do something besides Christmas projects! LOL! Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!! Be sure and pop over to Bitten By The Bug to check out the rest of the designers takes on this weeks challenge, and to check out the contest Regina has going on right now!!

Christmas card with Cricut New Arrivals cartridge Bitten By The Bug challenge

Well, this will probably be my last Christmas card for this season! I'm a lot closer to being ready than I was before the weekend started! I got quite a bit accomplished! My hubby Randy and I went shopping and took care of the grandkids! I was suprised we had enough room in the car to put everything in. LOL! We ALWAYS tend to go overboard with them. Oh well....what are Gramma's and PaPa's for??? LOL! And today, I made sugar cookies, several different kinds of chocolate candies, and canned some caramel sauce for ice cream tonight!! WHEW! I'm tired!!! :) Anyway, this week over at BBTB, Regina asked us to use the presents cuts from the New Arrival cartridge. I used some yummy sparkly paper a really good friend of mine sent me (thank you DeeDee!!!) *smile*

For the tag, I used my Nestabilities and a printable stamp I got from The Cutting Cafe!! LOVE those printable stamps!! I glittered the cardstock under the printable stamp with MS glitter. I just put my tag in my little xyron sticker maker upside down and then sprinkled the glitter on top. Works like a charm as it gives a very even coating of adhesive for the glitter!

The pearls are actually dew drops, and I added red stickles to the ribbons on the presents. The scalloped circle under the presents was cut with my Mini Monograms cartridge and then I used some chalk ink around the edges. I couldn't help but add some red rain dots into the scallops!

Please be sure and check out the rest of the designers projects with these presents over at Bitten By The Bug. And don't forget that Regina has a contest going on with a FABULOUS PRIZE from Sweet Arts Paperie!!!! Krista and Penny have the most awesome kits for sale!! If you haven't checked them out yet, do yourself a favor and head on over there! You won't be disappointed!!

That's all I've got for today! Hope you had a wonderful weekend and I will be back to blog hopping by the end of the week! I've actually got some much needed vacation coming up after the holiday!! Hugs to all of you and thank you so much for stopping by! Merry Christmas to each and every one of you!!

Vintage Santa Christmas card

This is yet another adorable Santa from the cd of vintage Santas by my sister Peggy! I totally LOVE this cd!!! I've had so much fun making cards with all the great Santas!! I just printed it out on Bazzill cardstock and then used my nesties to cut it out along with the scalloped mat.

I used Basic Grey paper, added some ribbon, a cute sentiment charm and some buttons from my stash. Oh, I also used one of my MS border punches as well!

I'm so sorry I've been such a bad blogger the past couple weeks. I've tried to make it around to your blogs, but I just haven't done a very good job of it! I hope you're all getting close to being ready for the holiday!! Thanks so much for stopping by today!! Have a wonderful day!

Another B-day getting you down?

Here's another birthday card I squeezed inbetween my Christmas cards! LOL! This was a fun one to make. I just love this stamp! Sorry...I'll post the maker of the stamp at a later time. I'm pretty sure it's Penny Black, but not 100% sure.

I colored the image with my Copics. Th paper is some scraps I grabbed out of my pile and I used my Martha Stewart border punch. The cutout that the stamp image is on was cut with my Cricut Expression from Plantin Schoolbook.

The circle tag and star with shadow were cut with my George cartrdige. Used some Basic Grey buttons and some chalk ink, and that pretty much is it for this one. Thanks for dropping by to visit me today! I hope you're getting close to being done with all your holiday presparations!!! HUGS!!

celebrate your birthday!

I hadsome birthday cards to make, so it's been a little bit of a break from all the Christmas cards and projects I've been doing! I've been diligently working on my caramels today. I just decided to take a little break and let my arm muscles recoup before I start on the next batch! LOL!

This adorable little elephant is from Our Craft Lounge. Isn't it cute??!! I used the elephant from Dr Peanut that is splayed out on the ground. When I first got this stamp set, I was looking through all the wonderful images and notice that if I turned Peanut around, it looked like he was doing a handstand! So how cute is he for a big CELEBRATE card! I used the elephant and the grass from Dr Peanut and the balloons, birthday hat, and Happy Birthday are from Lil Peanut. The elephant footprints on the ribbon are also from Lil Peanut. I layered on cardstock with my nesties, and the tag is from my Tags, Bags, Boxes, and More cartridge that I cut with my Cricut Expression machine.

Oh, the little present on the tag is from Lil Peanut too! Paper is Basic Grey and I used my Martha Stewart border punch for some layering. Celebrate is a stamp from Cornish Heritage Farms by Kim Hughes! I LOVE her stamps! She's amazing! I colored all the stamped images with my Copic markers.

That's about it! Thanks for dropping by and visiting me today! I sure do appreciate you! It's back to work tomorrow, but for right now...I'm headed back to the kitchen. I hear some sugar and pecans calling my name!! HUGS!!

Looking for economical Christmas gifts that are still nice and home made too?

Hop on over to the Hallmark Ladybug blog! It was my turn to post, and I chose to do a yummy cookie mix in a jar. It makes a wonderful gift, is really easy and quick to put together, and is an economical gift to give! Hope it's able to help you finish your holiday preparations! Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful weekend! HUGS!

Christmas card with Cricut and Martha Stewart Branch Punch

Oh how I love that branch punch from Martha Stewart! For this Christmas card, I cut out the base wreath shape with my Cricut Expression machine from the Joys of the Season cartridge. I covered it in adhesive with my ATG gun and then started punching, and punching, and punching, and punching! LOL! I have no idea how many branches I punched, but I will tell you that it was a BUNCH! Then I just started laying the tip end into the adhesive, keeping the bottom part of the brach up so they wouldn't lay flat. And I just kept layering and layering. This one looks really cool in person. It really does look like a real wreath. The snowflake is cut from a Sizzix Sizzlets die set and the Merry and Bright stamp is by Autumn Leaves. The pp is Basic Grey and the cardstock is Bazzill. I used some white acrylic paint around the edges of the green strips. I just really wanted the focus of this on to be that big full wreath. Click on the picture to get a nice up close view of it.

Hope you guys are doing ok in your preparation for the holidays! I won't get much crafting done this weekend. I love to make candy for the holidays. My favorites? I make pretty good home made caramels, and then I LOVE to make filled chocolates. My favorites are made with Kahlua. YUMMY! Move over Ethel M!!! LOL! So anyway, that is what I'm planning on doing this weekend. Making caramels and filled chocolates. By the time it's all over, I'll have blisters on my fingers from trying to cut caramels to portion pieces, and I'll be sick of forming and filling chocolates. But come next year, I'll be ready to do it all over again! Hope you all are having a wonderful week!

Some LONG overdue thank you's to some friends that have issued me awards!!!!

I have been issued some awards and have been TERRIBLE about not getting them posted. I apologize to these wonderful artists for me taking so long to get these posted here!

First, from one of my newest blogging friends, the talented Diana from Diana's AUsome Creations Etc! Thank you soooo much Diana for nominating me for this lovely award and for all your sweet comments and your support of me and my blog! You're amazing! Please be sure and visit her blog and check out her AUsome work!!! :)

Next award is from my friend Krista from Bella and Aidees Mom's blog with the You've Been Tagged award. Krista is so sweet and so talented! I'm tickled PINK (smile) to be able to work with Krista on the design team Bitten By The Bug. She's a true inspiration. She sells some amazingly beautiful kits along with her mom too! Be sure and visit her blog and check out all her wonderful work! Thank you so much Krista for thinking of me! The rules to this one is I'm supposed to list 7 random/weird facts about myself.

Ok, so here we go

1. When I was five years old and everyone asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, my answer was a Nun. I remember telling them that.

2. Also when I was about five years old, (same time I was planning on being a Nun) me and the next door neighbor boy (who is the exact same age as me) would sneak behind the house and kiss. LOL!

3. My idea of a wonderful vacation is to sit at home in my comfy clothes for a solid week of isolation and do nothing but craft and chat with my friends.

4. I cry at EVERYTHING! I'm pitiful I tell you! I cry at Christmas songs, I cry at movies, I cry at television shows, I tear up at any hint of emotion. I have tried to beat it my entire life, and have finally given up and given in. Now I just try and hide it. LOL!

5. I'm a night owl! Which is NOT good as I have to get up at 4:30am to get ready for my day job. UGH! Any time I'm off, I migrate to the evening hours. I am a happy camper to sit and craft until 3am and then to sleep until 11!

6. I've got a fear about having bad breath. I suck on Altoids like crazy. I constantly have one in my mouth when I'm awake.

7. And on that note, my last weird fact is that the peppermint in the Altoids makes me sneeze! I can put one in my mouth, and sometimes I'll sneeze as many as three times from the peppermint! LOL!!

Ok, that's it for my 7 facts....Hope you still want to come back and visit me! LOL! Krista...thank you so much for the fun, my friend! You're amazing!

This next award I received from two different people whom I admire very much. I got one from the very talented Nikki from Two Bugs and a Crafting Junkie! It never ceases to amaze me that someone that gives me so much inspiration could look at me the same way. I have been a huge fan of Nikki's for quite some time. I drink up her work like I would a vodka cranberry! My second nomination for this wonderful award came from my sweet and VERY talented friend, Michelle (BCR8IV). Michelle is amazing and is such an inspiration to me! We go quite a ways back and became friends in a card club from the Cricut MB. I loved her work then, and love it even more now! I am very honored and consider myself very lucky to be able to work with BOTH of these ladies on design teams. Please be sure and do yourself a favor by visiting their blogs and checking out their work!

I know I'm supposed to nominate other people to receive these awards, but it's just soooo danged hard to pick just a couple when I love and admire so many people. Honestly, I truly believe that everyone that takes time out of their day to pay me a visit deserves to post these awards on their blogs. Every one of you inspires me tremendously. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all your friendships and support. Without you, this blog would not even exist. Thank you once again ladies, by honoring me with these awards! You've made me feel very special! Big hugs!!!

Tree Box challenge from Bitten By The Bug

Regina's challenge for us this past week was to use the tree box from Tags, Bags, Boxes and More cartridge. I decided to use one of Regina's downloadable stamps from her store The Cutting Cafe on it. Just printed it out on cardstock, colored it and cut it out with my oval Nesties. Cut the Ho Ho from the Cuttin Up cartridge and put it all together. The paper is from Bo Bunny and the cardstock is Bazzill. I thought this would be really cute to put a gift card in it for my daughter and just hang it on the tree. It was a little tricky to get the box to stay shut, but other than that, I think it makes an adorable gift card box!!!

Please be sure and visit Bitten By the Bug to see all the amazing projects the design team came up with this week!

Thanks for peeking in on me today!

Christmas card with Cricut and Vintage Santa

Here's another one of those amazing Santa's off my sister's cd! If you visit her site by clicking on the link, it's the 240 Vintage Santa Claus cd. I printed him out on Bazzill cardstock and then used an oval nestie to cut him out. This is one of the most beautiful Santa's I think I've ever seen. I really love how he turned out.

The paper and buttons are Basic Grey and the crdstock is Bazzill. I used the Plantin Schoolbook cartridge for the large scalloped edge across the bottom, and my Spellbinder dies for the scalloped ovals.

For the tag, I used the Cricut Tags Bags Boxes and More cartridge. Accented things with some chalk ink and that's about it.

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and didn't OD on pumpkin pie! And if you're looking for any of the Cricut cartridges or the Expression, be sure and visit Hallmark Scrapbook. They're having an AWESOME CARTRIDGE SALE going on right now! Be sure and let your loved ones know which ones you have on your wish list! Have a great day! Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!