More fun

The Cricut software is SO cool. I think I've mentioned that before, but it sincerely continues to amaze me. I really love it and all of the options that it opens up for us.




Jaydin had a party to attend yesterday, so I put together a simple card (sorry that the picture isn't very good - I didn't take the picture until after it was attached to the bag). I designed the card with Sophia's name cut out (from Zooballoo) and a party hat (from Celebrations) on top. I stamped the flower and crown from the Pretty Princess (I think??) set on the front and used the "Happy Birthday" from the same set on the inside. A piece of taffeta ribbon was tied and put below her name. I put the celery behind the pink to show off the cut outs a little better. She was thrilled to see her name on the card!!



Yep, my little social butterfly has another party to attend tomorrow, so I had another card to make for that. Again, I put her name on the card (using Printing 101), but I designed this one a little differently. I used the shadow function and welded each letter to the card (cut from Zooballoo). I, then, cut the letters out individually without a function enabled. That gives the letters the shadow look on the card with a cut out edge. Again, the party hat is from Celebrations. The scalloped circle is from Mini Monograms. I cut a piece of the darker pink to use as the layer on the card, and I ran it through the Cuttlebug to emboss the paper with the Happy Birthday folder. The brads were added to the corner of the embossed piece to add some interest to the top. The ribbon adds a little fru fru for a special little girl. The white circle was punched using the SU 1 3/8" circle punch. The flower from Pretty Princess (I think - again) was used to stamp on the lighter pink as a bit of a background. OH yeah .... When I pulled the card off of the fairly new mat, it curled quite a bit. I decided that I really didn't want to start over or waste the paper, so I kept it. While I was embossing the dark pink layer, I thought about running the card through the Cuttlebug without a die or folder. I did that, and it flattened that sucker out!!! Yippeee!!!!! Another use for the Cuttlebug and a card saved. :) I think Madeline will like her special card!


If you have a Cricut, and you haven't tried the software - you really need to!! It is truly awesome!!!


Have a great, big, beautiful tomorrow!!! (I'm hoping for SNOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

My Stamping Haven

Hi there! Happy New Year!!!! Hopefully, this new year finds you happy, healthy, and hopeful. We've been busy here. Jaydin has had pneumonia and ear infections (not what you want for your 2 year old, for sure!), and the boys have been on a winter retreat (and had a blast!!!). Mark and I have been reorganizing and restructuring my Haven (stamp room) for the last 2 weeks. With the exception of some decorating that I plan to do, we're finally DONE!!! Yippee!!!! So .... without further adieu ... I'd like to introduce you to the Haven.


The room is approximately 21'x13'.

This picture is looking at my work space from the door to the room. Towards the right of this picture, I have my blue storage bin unit and Jaydin's space to play.


To the immediate right of the door, are my stamp shelves. Mark put lips on all of the shelves so that the sets won't slide off when I'm organizing them or searching for something. The top shelf is a little high for stamps, so I have other storage boxes up there.



This is Jonah's work space. He has a 4 foot table, some stacking baskets, several craft tote organizers, and a small folding table to use in his area. At some point, we may be putting some shelves up for him over his table .




This picture shows the start of my U-shaped workspace and where my stamp pads live. You can see Jonah's area to the left of this. My stamp pads are in an *AWESOME* set of organizers that I purchased a few years ago from Dzyntec. The acrylic holders hold one color family of pads, reinkers, markers and daubers in one box. I have 4 boxes on an acrylic turntable (also purchased from Dzyntec), so all 4 color families are on the turntable. My neutrals and retired colors are on the right of my work space.


My stamp area is actually right under my peg board. I keep my SU punches on the peg board in easy reach. My scissors are up there, as well. Watercolor crayons, watercolor pencils, chalks, and such are right in front of me below the peg board. Grid paper stays right under the stamping area, and the table is covered in plastic sheeting. Adhesive lives in the little drawer holder near the stamp pads, and 12x12 paper lives on the shelves on the right.


The right side of my U houses my electronic goodies. There is a power strip under one of the bottom shelves to plug in the laptop, printer, scanner, and both Cricuts. The printer is on the shelves to the left of the laptop with the scanner above it. Cricut cartridges are on the small shelves (created *just* for those boxes :) ), and the mats and blades hang on the wall between the shelves (as well as some packages of "can't-wait-to-be-used" Wall Pops). The Cricuts have nice places on the table, and I move them out and around depending on how I need to use them. Both can reach the laptop when I'm using the Design Studio Software (which makes Cricut creativity absolutely *limitless*) via the USB cable. You can also see the Xyron 900 in this picture. Great tool, especially when using it in combination with the Cricuts.



My paper cutters and temporary containers for scrap papers are on the final side of the U. The scrap paper lives here until I get enough that I feel guilty for not separating it by color families and putting it in my scrap paper files.





So, that's my whole work space. I feel so much more organized with a space for everything. This is looking at my area from Jaydin's play space.





Jaydin's area is clean and fun for her. She's got 2 chairs that also have desk attachments (they were the boys' chairs!), a big box of dress-up items, and a DVD player to use while she's up there with me. This is a view of her whole space. As you can see on the shelves, I am using the higher shelves for some of my less-often used items. What this picture doesn't show you (shame on me for not getting it in there) is the awesome shelf *over* the window!! I have several baskets of things up there, as well. My stereo is very happy to have this new home and to have the speakers separated so that I can actually *hear* the "stereo" part of the music. LOL!!


So ... that's my space. I'd LOVE to hear what you think about it. Just shoot me a comment and let me know.


OH! Wanna see what I made in my nice, clean, reorganized space?????


This card was made using Night of Navy and Real Red paper. I used the Cricut DSS to put 2 Mickey heads together (from the Mickey font cart) to make a card. The K and J were cut using the DSS, too, also using the Mickey font cart. I welded the K and J together on the DSS. It was first 'cut' with a marker in the blade assembly and then, reloaded (without unloading) and cut again with the blade in place.


Kelsey LOVES Disney, so I cut her name with the Mickey font cart using the DSS to weld the letters together. I cut some scalloped rectangles (stretched with DSS) in yellow and black from Mini Monograms. The Mickey heads were cut using the Mickey font cart, too, and little Mickey embellishements were added. Her name has large pop dots behind it to bring it out and give it some dimension. The frame was 10 1/2 x 6 1/2, and the colors used were Yo Yo Yellow, Basic Black, Whisper White, and Real Red.


Ok! Until next time - when I will NOT type so much - Have an awesome day and a great, big, beautiful tomorrow!!!

Merry Christmas!!

Wow! Was your holiday as crazy, hectic, and wonderful as ours was? I sure hope so. The kids had so much fun and got so many wonderful things. Jaydin was really into presents and lights this year. She loved Santa, even. I was a little surprised at how much she loved him.

Anyway, here's a paint can that I made for my mil and fil for Christmas. It was filled to the rim with lots of chocolate! What do you think? I used patterned paper behind the snowflake and a great snowflake brad for the center. The snowflake was cut using the new Cricut Design Studio Software and my Cricut. It's about 5.5 inches tall and cut from the Doodlecharms cart. I was able to not cut the other 3 snowflakes on that keystroke by enlarging the one to take up all of the space. I love that software!!!



Here's the top of the can ....



A couple of other pictures from the holidays .....

My family on Christmas Eve. Mark's family on Christmas Eve.




Jonah is helping Jaydin hold baby Caitlyn. Caitlyn looks like a little doll, doesn't she???? :)

Jared holding baby Caitlyn.

And Jonah holding baby Caitlyn, too.







One last picture .... The spirit of Christmas captured in a child's eyes.

Merry Christmas. May God bless each of you with a great, big, beautiful tomorrow. :)

Christmas Cards and Graduation ....

I've been working hard today. We have a graduation party to go to on Saturday. A friend is graduating and will be a 2nd grade teacher very soon!!! How exciting for her!! Anyway, here is her card .....
I used some designer paper from The Slab that I bought the other day. The image was gotten at Michael's (Big Idea, I think) and the Congrats was in one of the Studio G $1 stamp sets. It was stamped in Stazon and colored with Watercolor Wonder Crayons and the Aquapainter.


I won't get cards made for all of my friends and family, but I did get them done for the active Quackers and my Cricuteers. I sure hope they like them. They aren't very fancy, but I thought they turned out kind of neat. The vellum behind the image is embossed through the Cuttlebug (yeah, Robyn ..... I *AM* enjoying it .... :) ) with the snowflake folder. The image is stamped with Going Gray and Brillant Blue. I used stamps from 3 different sets - Solemn Stillness, City of David, and .... the one where you can make your own snowman. I can't remember the name. Sorry. The card base is the new Basic Gray.



And last, but definitely NOT least ... my elfee gift!!!!!! This is from Joan B. Such WONDERFUL goodies!!!!! Thank you SO much Joan. I can't wait to use all of the great things you sent. This picture doesn't show the cute little cards and envies that she sent, but they are in there. Everything is so cool.

I Apologize!!

It's been quite a while since I've blogged. I apologize!! Things have been a little nuts around here - along with a little drama on SCS. The drama is over, but the nutty life goes on. LOL!!

Sooooooo ... last week, we had our Quacker Secret Sister reveal night. Woohoo!! My QSS was Yami, and she did a great job! Here's my 'loot!' LOL!!


She made an awesome book box ..... opens like a book, but is box-like on the inside.


Great stuff, huh??? Yep. I totally agree.



Last Friday, my family went to Stone Mountain for their Christmas celebration. We had a great time .... see .......
Jaydin just marched herself right up to Santa and sat on his lap. We were really quite shocked.


Then, she told him she wanted a butterfly for Christmas. Can you see me rolling my eyes?????








Soooooo, who can resist this face????? She had a great time seeing all of the fun Christmas things. I'm LOVING these earmuffs on her. No, we did NOT buy them. We're in Georgia, people! How often would she wear *earmuffs*????






Yep ... 4D movie time. The Polar Express .... and she LOVED it. She kept her glasses on most of the time. She really enjoyed seeing Santa, but wasn't thrilled with them spitting water on us ....... *several* times.





The family gathered for a picture with Santa. As we did, the decorations on the mantle at Santa's house came tumbling down. At least we all smiled! LOL!! It was good to have Rachel in there with us. :)






Some time ago, I posted a card that I made for a friend having a birthday in November. I kept asking, but she never received the card. Well .... I found out why.
I guess she doesn't want it now. :(


Christmas is coming. More pictures, more cards, more fun! Will check in later. Have an awesome week.