I'm still here!

I need to do a better job with my blog...poor thing! Maybe that'll be one of my resolutions...among many! I'm still having fun crafting when I squeeze in the time (granddaughters come first!). I've been working on "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" quilt for my 3 yr. old granddaughter. Eric Carle is one of my favorite children's authors so I HAD to get this kit a couple years ago. It was a breeze putting it together and the quilting...well, my local quilt shop said, "Have fun with it! Do large colorful running stitch quilt stitches and have fun!" Well, I did. I'll post the finished product as soon as it's complete...it's getting close! :-)

Happy New Year everyone! May peace and plenty fill your households. May the Lord bless you with good fortune and good health and the moments to enjoy them all!

Brenda

Fall Blog Hop

Hop on over to "Cards by CG" to get in on her Fall Blog Hop (lots of give aways!!) and gather new ideas! There are also links there to other great sites for ideas!

God’s gift of summer and fall

It’s August and I’m wondering the same as most people…how can these summer days go by SO fast! While I’m sad about our beautiful summer coming to a close, I’m excited about the crisp fall season ahead. Fall gives me a time to regroup, reminisce of family traditions and settle into a more normal “crafting” time and routine. Summer days are spent outdoors – camping, fishing, time with family in our wonderful surroundings, without the binds of a regular schedule. Colder weather brings us inside…crafting, playing board/card games, playing with grandchildren and back to school. Today my daughter and I worked on note cards-cutting, stamping, ‘cricutting’, coloring, gluing- before she heads off to her PhD residency. A nice intro to God’s gift of the fall season. 

My Cricut's Getting a Break!

My Cricut is jealous! Over the last month I've been spending most of my spare time with a new fishing kayak...a Native Manta Ray 12 I've named "Reel Therapy." (In the winter my Cricut is my "real" therapy!)  My hubby and I have had lots of fun already (him with his fishing kayak and now me with mine) fishing on some small walk in lakes with them!

I did cut out over 200 small boxes (from TBBM) for a wedding reception. Hope to have a picture for you in the near future! My daughter has been using the Cricut to scrapbook and make notecard gifts...so cute...hope to have a pic of those soon as well. And yesterday my granddaughter and I cut out tiny fish and seahorses (from PDDU) then glued them on long toothpicks for cupcake decorations for a beach themed

retirement party.

Answer: A Fishing Rod Leash!

Did you guess correctly?? I'll use it while fishing from my kayak. The velcro band will go around the rod handle and the snap will attach to my vest or in an eye strap on the kayak. I also made a paddle leash.

What Do You Think??

Now what do ya think I might create with these?? Pictured - J Clips, J Clip Clamping Pliers, an old coiled phone cord, a snap, shrink tubing, and industrial strength Velcro. No Cricut Expression involved in this one! Update coming soon...

A Blog Find-Check it out!

Outside my classroom door

I used the rain coat, raindrops, hat and umbrella from pg. 42 of the Everyday Paper Dolls cartridge to dress my "students." When each child finished his/her morning work she could choose which "ensemble" she wanted her doll to wear. I'm hoping to weave in some May flowers soon using the Walk in My Garden cartridge (if May doesn't come too quickly)!!

Too Many Things, Not Enough Time!

It's too bad I can't clone myself - - - that's the only way I'd have enough time to more thoroughly enjoy and experience all the things in my life that make me who I am...church activities, work, grandchildren, children, family activities, vacationing, reading a good book, crafting, crafting, crafting (and there are a lot of categories within crafting!!), camping, fishing, cooking, ... and the list goes on! It's been almost a month since I've posted. Within that month I've been busy with other things...obviously!! BUT...I did run across Tim Holtz's site this morning and he has 4 GREAT videos demonstrating his new Alterations product line! Now I know which things I want...ALL of them! Somehow I have to justify that (but I did order 2 of his new fade away embossing folders)! Check them out...you won't be sorry!

Tim Holtz Alterations

Blog Trip

Seems I start my Saturday mornings visiting others' blogs. It's a nice start to my weekend and gives me inspiration! It's like going on a road trip to different shops but in my craft room and in my pj's! This is the blog I visited this morning and I can't wait to get back to it to check out all her cool videos and projects (like post it note holders, skinny notepads, tying patterned ribbon, altered journals, and how to video/photograph projects)! Want some great ideas? Go check out Kerry's blog! Thanks Kerry!

Kerry's Paper Crafts

Blog Newbie Tip thanks to LadybugLair!

Thanks to the blog newbie tip on the LadybugLair blog I've enabled all comments to be directly sent to my email addy! I also learned that I had to enable the option for anonymous comments. Hope that makes it easier for those of you who might have had trouble commenting in the past...live and learn! And...Thanks to all who've responded to my posts with your lovely comments thus far! Check out LadybugLair's  blog for great organizing and storage ideas (among other ideas)! Thanks Linda!

Do you love mini books and albums?

Mini albums are SO darn cute! My daughters and I have been having SO much fun making Meander books and journaling things in our lives. It's also given us an opportunity to revisit memorable moments together. While traveling online this morning I happened across several exciting sites with mini book/album tutorials! If you like mini albums you must visit those posted below. You'll be inspired!

Let's Book It with Tech'Knowledge'y

Scrapbook-Crazy

Accordian Fold Mini Scrapbooks


Here's a peek at the Meander book I've been working on that I promised to post when completed (I think it was in January...where'd the time go?). You ask...is it complete? I say...No, I keep finding little things to add!

Our first kayaking trip down the river and hubby and I at a campground.

Fishing along the kayak trip and the final approach to our destination...we made it! So much fun on a beautiful day in Michigan's upper peninsula!

Other camping adventures with friends including geocaching!

New Treasures!

So where did the last 16 days go?! I haven't done much crafting BUT I did acquire some craft treasures (which made me clean and reorganize my craft room)! I purchased a 10 drawer roll cart (as you can see I have it full already!) and an adjustable folding table from Sam's. I LOVE them both! I have a very small craft room and both are extremely helpful in providing more storage and work space. The roll cart was $29.72 and the adjustable table (can be at heights of 36", 29" or 24") was $35.34. There was minimal assembly required for the roll cart. The table came ready to go! I'm thinking about getting a second adjustable table for our fifth wheel! I can see REAL potential for this table while camping this summer!

I also received an order from Cutters Creek. I finally ordered a Glue Glider Pro (I love it) and another one of my fav adhesives-Zip Dry Paper glue. Two items new to me are Un-Du Adhesive Remover - Low VOC and Stick & Spray Temporary Adhesive. In the past I've used my wide tip Zig 2 Way Glue to restick my mats but next time I'll try the Stick & Spray to see how I like it. When I emailed Kim Bush at Cutters Creek asking her about a stamp I was looking for, she replied within minutes with an answer! Thus the Stampology Clear Journaling stamps you see in the picture. She is SO willing to get anything you need so if you don't see it on the Cutters Creek site, just email her! I told her what I was looking for and within the next 30 min. we'd emailed back and forth several times, her sending me a pic of the stamps for my approval and me giving her a thumbs up! Thanks again, Kim!

AND...for my birthday..."A Walk in My Garden" Cricut cartridge...yeah! Thanks daughter! Now don't get me wrong, I love my hubby's gift to me (a new lawn chair for camping, fishing lures, fishing lure parts to tie my own harnesses, and neoprene fishing gloves to take my OWN fish off of my OWN line now!) but I'm thinkin'...maybe someone should offer a class to husbands about buying craft gifts for their crafty wives!?

Christmas tags

While watching the Olympic Opening Ceremonies I write this entry. I think of ALL the creativity that has gone into producing this spectacular event! It is so beautiful! I appreciate all of the artistic talent that's evident in every detail!


So now, to change the subject a bit, I'm finally posting a few pics of Christmas tags I made! They're from the Christmas Cheer, When It's cold Outside, and Winter Woodland carts.



You'll see the penguin above is a money holder. He's from the Christmas Cheer cartridge, a front and back cut out, some of the lines were hidden in the back so the tummy wasn't completely cut out (I should have taken a picture!) but some cuts were left in the tummy area to allow slipping in the money (I put a bigger bill in for the recipient at Christmas time!). Acetate covers the front tummy hole. It worked quite well!

New project inspiration!

Wooohoo! Found another project (hopefully in my near future) on the A.Go's Craftomonium blog. I'm gonna keep it a secret 'til done then I'll post! Check out A.Go's blog for great ideas!

Tape Cost Comparison

There's useful information on comparing the price of adhesives at http://www.thedragonflychronicles.blogspot.com/  If you're like me and having a hard time deciding which way to go you might want to check it out! Wish I would've read this before ordering my glue runner!

Valentine Boxes

Thanks to the free box cut file on All Things Crafty and Delicious I spent my day working on Valentine gifts. Carts used were Love Struck (LS), Tags, Bags, Boxes and More (TBBM), and Accent Essentials (AE)for the different hearts and words. I'm "embellish handicapped" but I'm getting better! These boxes have been one of the most FUN Cricut projects I've done! In fact, I think I'll go cut some more!

Correction....free box .cut file is from Denise Hill (paperpastimes.com) with permission to recreate in CDS from Melinda Ford (All Things Crafty and Delicious blog). As per post on the Cricut.com website Denise says...

"Meinda gave me permission to re-create this in ds. Please submit your box to her challenge if you make one. Here is the download link.


http://www.4shared.com/file/215582055/a328b59c/Melinda_Ford_Box.html  " So please click on this link to get the file for Design Studio.


Oh, and...sh-h-h-h...the red/black heart box with the heart shaped Reese's Peanut Butter Cups in it (4 of them fit nicely in the box) are for my "Reese's loving" husband!

This one has a unique closure on it...I fiddled around with sewing a loop on each end of the ribbon and then sewed a button on it to loop the top ribbon around.

You Rock! Valentines

These are the valentines I made for my 24 1st/2nd graders. Using the "rocker" guitar on Everyday Paper Dolls in Cricut Design Studio, I resized and added 4 cut lines for the pencil to slip into. The pencils and maze games were purchased at Walmart. I'm not that great at embellishing but I think the kids will like them (and I'm not sure that the kids will like them any more with additional inking and bling)!

A Little Tip

Using a clothes lint brush helps me clean off those little bits and pieces left over on my mat.You can see how many pieces are on it before I started. Just peel off this layer and start anew!

Like Gramma, Like Granddaughter!

Quinn, 2 yrs. old, crafting with us. She wanted to use my Zip Dry but I suggested the glue stick!

"Now how did THAT happen?"

"Let's see, the paper goes in here..."

"Hm-m-m, I think it'll look nice right here!"

She's paying close attention to how to use Zip Dry on a meander book cover with Aunt Casey.

Modeling her new apron from Aunt Casey!

Multi use box and 2 great blogs!

I found just what I need for a Valentine's candy box! At "Paper Pastime", Denise even provides a link to Melinda Ford's blog "All Things Crafty and Delicious" where it originates in a 'box challenge'.  You can find a free cut file for DS (and svg) at Melinda's site. Check out this cute candy box and these blogs!

More Inspiration!

I feel like I'm on a "road trip" this morning, checking out others' blogs. Scrappin N Style has some beautiful Valentines' Day ideas on it, not to mention others!

New Inspiration!

Just what I need! Just what I love! Check out Simple Stories! Because I'm into mini albums/meander books right now, the ideas on this site were calling my name!

If only...

I just finished watching some youtube videos introducting the new Cricut Cake at CHA...how fun! Just think what I COULD have done with this one if I'd used a Cricut Cake machine!

This was a retirement cake I made for our school custodian. We (my daughters chimed in on the action one Sunday evening) molded the "tools" out of fondant and let dry before applying them to the cake.

Go to http://www.youtube.com/, search for "Cricut Cake" and have fun!

P.S. The Cricut Cake machine is to be released in May 2010 according to the youtube video.

CUTE, NEW Alert!!

Bug Junkie is at it again! She's created a darling "Hiding Spots" Magnetic Shape Album. Check it out with the link below!

Hiding Spots Shape Album

Couldn't Help Myself!

I just HAD to try these Meander Books! After watching the tutorial on Bug Junkie, I whipped up a few. These are not quite finished yet. They are SO easy and fun! Gee maybe I'll stash some away for a quick gift giving idea! I'll repost when covers and insides are complete.

Bug Junkie Meander Book tutorial

Progress

Nativity book progress thus far...

Cutting out chipboard and paper backings...

Working on text (I'm still revising and editing) and gluing layers (front, chipboard, inside page)...

A sneak peek at what it "might" look like!

My First Real Cricut Project

This is the bulletin board I made (and was a winner at Oh My Crafts!) for the beginning of the year for my 1st/2nd grade combination room. I used Paper Doll Dress Up (PDDU), Accent Essentials (cookies and choc. chips-tips of a leaf), and Cuttin' Up (lettering). We cut Halloween costumes at Halloween, all students were "elves" at Christmas time, and are now awaiting "winter clothing" the from Everyday Paper Dolls cartridge (I'd better get busy before spring)! Thanks to my sister, Ronda and daughter, Casey for helping dress the dolls!

eCraft Excitement!

If you haven't heard already, the new eCraft cutting machine will soon be revealed at CHA! Keep up with sneak peeks and info at Kreative Kim's blog (see link on my Link List) and the eCraft yahoo group! It sounds intriguing, exciting and enticing! Geez, I'm wondering if I should start saving more pennies!

UFO Sighting!

A project our quilt group (The Must-Quilteers) is working on (and have been for some time now!!). Even without the borders, it sure is cute up on the design wall, huh?