Winter Tilda and Edwin

That's another swap completed. I made five of these Jumbo ATCs (they measure 3.5x5"). I used Basic Grey paper, and colored my images with Copics. The snowflakes at the top of each of my ATCs are from the QuicKutz Revolution border die. The only requirement for these JATCs is a sparkly snowflake somewhere on them.
Speaking of QuicKutz, I got an Epic Six for Christmas from my mom. It's on my cabinet, next to my Cricut, but I haven't read the book yet, so I haven't tried it out. I have several 2x2 dies, one or two 4x4 dies, and some other brands of dies like SIzzix. I'm saving up for a Nestabilities set.

Sadly, I received no gift cards this year.

I have been such a sloth this week. Sleeping until ten am isn't enough--no, I have not worn makeup since Christmas Day, and have barely poked my nose out the door except to mail out packages for scrapping friends.

Birthday Cards featuring Whiff of Joy mouse

I made these fold-out cards for a birthday card swap. I feel so on top of things. This is a January card swap, and I just finished today. I also feel a little guilty. Instead of cleaning up and cleaning out my craft room, I have been inking and coloring and folding and piecing. But it's just too durn fun to stop!!

I used the Cupcake option on my Hello Kitty Cricut cartridge for the cover of my card, piecing it together so that the colors of the cupcake match the colors of my patterned paper (mostly from a DCWV stack). The sentiment is stamped with SU stamp.

Here's my scrumptious little birthday mouse, snagging his piece of birthday sweets. He's from Whiff of Joy, and I do believe there's a link on the right for WOJ. I colored him with Copics, although the other cards portray his gray siblings-he's the only brown mouse in the lot.

I bought the sentiment stamp from Archiver's, and I think the words of wisdom are apropos to the occasion. The background paper was white until I used Bubblegum and Key Lime Glimmer Mist from Tattered Angels Company.

The pattern for this fold-out card can be found at scor-pal.com under the tutorials link. After folding I looped a piece of coordinating paper around the card to keep it closed and attached my Cricut cupcake to the front. I like the way this turned out--how about you? Thumbs up or thumbs down. Let me know!
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Cards in a Box

This was so much fun, but it took almost the whole day to make them all. Luckily I loaded up on caffeine yesterday, since I was up past midnight whipping these out. This is my new favorite card, along with the trifold shutter card.

And to go along with the sentiment inside, it makes a perfect treat box as well. Which fits into a certain swap I'm signed up for.

So I think instead of the birthday card swap, I'm going to use these in a different swap.

I just love the way Tilda works with these cards. Now all I need is the chocolate to fill them with. Next I need to finish my 24 Days Before Christmas album (got five more pages to go), and then work on a few more swaps due in January.

Tilda Birthday Card in a Box

I love Karen's Tutorial Tuesday Blog. She had this tutorial, and I have this birthday card swap coming up in January, so I discovered the perfect pattern. Above the box is closed, and Tilda sitting unwrapping her present adorns the cover. I used K-I ribbon to go around the cover, which also keeps the cover together. The paper is from My Mind's Eye from their Adventure series, called Sun-Kissed Sweet.

I colored my Tildas with Copics, and used the rubons that matched the paper line for added embellishments. Each inside flap has a "pocket" with a scallop tag inside. Each scallop tag has a birthday sentiment stamped on it. And of course you can't just use one Tilda image on a card, right?! So I colored and cut a few more Tildas to decorate the inside of the card as well.

I can't wait to score, cut and put together the other cards needed for the birthday card swap I'm in with LuckyBug Yahoo group (link on the right).

Looking Up

Christmas wasn't a disaster, though we had a few near misses. But everyone enjoyed themselves in their own way, and we look forward now to a new year. As promised, I've posted some of the pages in my 24 Days Before Christmas.

Although it seemed easy enough, one photo a day up until Christmas, there were a couple days I couldn't remember, or desire, to take a picture, but I did, sometimes on the very mundane parts of my day.

December 17 was easy to take a photo. Our school performed the Nutcracker Suite. The problem was in choosing which of many pictures I took to scrap.

My son's birthday is December 18, and I took off that day to be with him. We went to see the movie Avatar in 3D (awesome movie), and later the whole family went out for Sushi.

More snow fell, and the forest preserves were postcard pretty.

Now that the holiday is behind us, we are homebound couch potatoes this weekend. We have watched the entire first season of Eureka (my Christmas gift), slept late, eaten leftovers and relaxed mightily. Wendy has read ALL her books she received Christmas Day (that's four manga and a novel) and my hubby and son have also watched their respective DVDs.

There's so much more in the works, but I'll save that for later. It's getting late and I'm hoping the Coke I drank this afternoon doesn't keep me up much longer. G'nite.

Bah Humbug

If you want to retain your Christmas spirit, don't read further. Just check back in a few days. I'm going to vent, When did the holidays fall apart? DO adults see Christmas differently than children? I don't remember this much drama when I was growing up.
This Christmas, we have a funeral to look forward to, actually a memorial, as my cousin's wife died earlier this month, much earlier. We won't be seeing my cousing because up until last week, he firmly believed she was going to walk out of the morgue (happily he is now accepting her death and now in full grieving mode and I respect his time to himself).
Meanwhile, his dad, my uncle, is on death's door, dying from a brain tumor/cancer. So his half of the family is keeping a very low profile and that's 11 people missing from my dinner tonight.
Then there's my other uncle, the crazy one (I mean really crazy). After punching my sister and resisting arrest, after the charges (most of them were dropped), after his arrest earlier this month for DUI, He is depressed and thinks every one hates him (we don't, we're just worried about him, and a little scared of him). Sop my gram, the matriarch of the family, without whom CHristmas wouldn't be CHristmas, wants to stay home with him instead of coming over to be with the sane part of the family. Now we're down to nine.
Other than that, I've had a lovely Christmas, got and gave some great presents, thanked God for all we have, and am about to serve the best damn CHristmas turkey dinner this year.
Thank for letting me vent. I promise to put some of my latest work on the next post, and shake off this dismal mood. Everyone have a joy-filled Christmas, and a peaceful and relaxing New Year.

a Visit from Three Spirits

So after I whined on my blog, I spent the last hour and a half of the day scrapping another eight pages in my 24 Days before Christmas album. I felt better, and went to bed, well, not with sugar plums dancing in my head, but feeling more of the Christmas spirit.

Yesterday, I breught down some of my Christmas boxes from the attic and went on a decorating rampage, so the house looks at least respectable.

And today, after coming home from my office Christmas dinner at Appleby's (our tab, not the church's), I finished the Christmas tree. If I do say so myself, it looks beautiful (and about time too).

Although I have to work tomorrow, I have 12/24 off so I can lock myself in my craft room and wrap presents. The turkey is thawing, the kids are cleaning the house (a miracle in itself), and I'm done shopping. I'm on my 4th day of Weight Watchers (does dinner at Appleby count? not right now) and I have crafting goals for 2010. Life is looking much better.

Yummy Blog candy

Just discovered a new blog, and the first post on it is offering blog candy. SO in the spirit of Christmas I wanted to share it with you, so here's the link:
http://crafts-international.blogspot.com/2009/12/judes-birthday-candy.html
Good luck, all!

Confession Time

Being raised Catholic, I have this irresistable urge to confess my wrongdoings. So saying, I have to admit that this is the last page I have scrapped for my 24 Days Before Christmas album. I thought I would have a nice finished album to show off Christmas Day, but Dec. 11-18 is sitting in the computer waiting to be printed, and it's almost time to go to bed and I haven't taken one for today!
Life gets so busy this month. We put so much pressure on ourselves to make and bake treats, shop for that special something for those special someones, make the house shine--I had a day off today and I can't say that I used it wisely. I didn't bake, I didn't buy presents, unless you count the two gift cards I bought while at the grocery store, I managed one load of clothes and one load of dishes and a clean bathroom before I lost interest. My presents are ready to wrap but I haven't brought out my paper yet. And my scrap room is a sty again!!

The tree is up but not lit, and all my Christmas decorations and the fun stuff I adore to play with at this time of year are still up in the attic. I feel like the song title "Where Are You Christmas?" I need a visit from St. Nick to shake me out of this funk. Tomorrow I'm putting on Christmas music and come hell or high water I'm wrapping presents at the very least. Anything to kick the Christmas spirit into gear.

Hope everyone else is faring better than I!!

24 Days Before Christmas pages

I have to admit that it is getting more difficulkt to take photos each day. Here you see I took a pic of our office being decorated with blow-up ornaments. I like that the page has hanging ornaments on it.

My co-worker, Gregg, had a birthday in December, so we brought snacks for lunch: chili cheese dip, artichoke dip, and crab butter. No wonder I've started on Weight Watchers again!!

I often go to Panera on a Wednesday morning before work and pick up half a dozen bagels for my gram. She loves them, and only lives about three blocks from the store, but can't drive and can't walk there any more. I also get a chance to visit with her mid-week.

More Days Before Christmas pages

I love how Daddy and Bella are gazing into each others' eyes--so glad I caught this moment! I am so far behind on printing out and scrapping my photos of the month of December, but I have yet to forget to take a photo each day. Today the school and staff were treated to a performance by the Drama Club of The Nutcracker. We have some very talented students here. The two girls who danced pointe were amazing!! You better beloieve I took plenty of photos of the performance. Now comes the hard part--choosing just one for my album!!

Birthday Card Calendar Box

I started my day early, taking my daughter into school early for a make-up test. So I got into my craft room early today, and finished this birthday card box. Every Christmas I make enough birthday cards to give to my gram for every member of the family. She's 99 years old and has macular degeneration. Usually I just put the cards in a plain, undecorated box, but this year I wanted to decorate the box in a way that she can see what the box holds. The cards are in their envies with members' names written in LARGE letters so she can see who gets which card. I put the cards in the box in calendar order, so throughout the year all she has to do is reach in and pull out the card in the front and she's good to go.
The box is just a plain white coated cardboard one from Michael's, and the pp is from a DCWV stack. The chipboard letters are an assortment of leftovers, and the cover is from a birthday kit swap. The sides of the box (not pictured) are covered with 3D flowers, and I added a pull tab for easier opening. I plan on using this photo in my 24 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS album for today's date, since my life is filled with work hours and this will be something different to scrap.

24 days before Christmas continues

I have been crafting, I promise! I just haven't had much time to take pictures and post my work. I have scrapped the days before Christmas up to December 10, and have the photos taken up thru today. I even have an idea of what I want to take a picture of tomorrow, but that's another day! On December 3rd, the Chicagoland area got its first snow. It wasn't much, but it sure was pretty! I was able to catch the falling snow with my camera (it didn't last long).

To show how busy I've been, and how much of my life is spent at work, I took a shot at the clock as I caught a glimpse of it and, although I was still banging away at my computer, realized quitting time had come and gone. This is a busy month for us (I work at a school). We have classes this week, then at least the kids will be gone for the next two weeks. We get Christmas Eve and Day, as well as New Year's Eve and Day, off as holidays. I put in for vacation days between CHristmas and New Year's, and boy, am I looking forward to that time off!!

On Saturday, I went to another All Day crop, and my sister enjoyed the last one so much she met me there again. She got 13 pages done. I got nine pages done, plus I finished a few Christmas projects as well.

I'm liking the 8x8 pagesfor this layout, especially when I showcase just one photo on each page. The patterned paper, called "Holiday" from Me & My Big Ideas, is so pretty I hate to cover it up with too many embellishments, so I just frame out the photo, add a journaling tag and maybe one or two embellies that aren't too much 3D.

Elf Dance

Check out the bottom of my blog. I and my co-workers have been Elfed!! It is the cutest video of the four of us as elves dancing hip hop! You can also go to Office Max and Elf Yourself. It's too funny--I love it!

Busy Week and Candy Winner

I have been hopping this week at work and at home. Although I have grabbed short moments to scrap, I haven't had the time to take photos of my pages yet! Just got home from helping to coordinate a Christmas party for about 20 Catholic Charities families. We served lunch, had carnival games for the kids, set up a craft corner, played Bingo, and offered a secret Santa shop that the kids could"shop" for Christmas presents for their parents. And of course, Santa came with a present for each child. We fundraised and had enough money to spend $20 on each one of 43 kids! I am so tired I don't want to move! But I feel good about the day.

Meanwhile, my random generator (hubby) has picked a number based on the order of posts, and lucky number 14 is the winner. The would be the Paper Princess, Ramona. Congrats, and I will send out your Christmas goodies this week!

I have already made a plan for my 2010 goals, but I want to refine them before posting. Thanks for playing everybody, keep in touch!

2009 Goals Met - that means Blog Candy!

I have had a wonderfully productive year in my craft room. I have doen a major clean out, made over 365 handmade items, and scrapped over 100 pages! My 2009 goals have been met, and that means BLOG CANDY. Pictured above are a 6x6 cloth-bound scrapbook album, 20 6x6 sheets of patterned paper, a 3x3 cardstock stack, various Christmas stickers, Christmas buttons, bling, ribbons, and homemade "snow" embellishment (like flocking). Added to this holiday pile are various Christmas and winter images for your coloring pleasure! I sure hope this offering interests you!!
If you would like a chance to win my first ever BLOG CANDY, simply post a comment on this post. Want more than one chance to win? Link this post on your blog and let me know. Not only can I check out your creative efforts, but that's a great way to let you know if you've won!!
I will keep the contest open until Friday, December 11, midnight CDST USA, then will pick a random winner. I want to mail the package out so that the winner can use everything for this Christmas.
Meanwhile, hope your weekend was fun. I had a great time at a 12 hour crop hosted By Heidi, owner and moderator of LuckyBug Yahoo Groups. My sister joined us and we had loads of laughs, and got a bunch of pages and projects done as well.
Have a good week!

100th page...SCORE!!

I was up bright and early this morning, in order to catch our Christmas lights just as dawn was breaking. My camera, although good, won't let me change the shutter speed (or it will, I just don't know how to get to that menu...yet). Anyway, I had to have enough light to see the bushes and house, but enough dark to show off the lights.
This is my 100th layout page in 2009, marking this day the day I fulfilled my goal of 100 pages this year, as well as the 365 handmade items (that I have now surpassed!).
Y'all know what that means. I will have a pretty little bundle of blog candy ready for someone to win. I promise to make the time to post a photo of the candy by the end of the weekend. In the meantime, I am basking in the glory of my victory LOL.

25 Days of Christmas

On the first day of December, Pat took a photo of her desktop pen holder...and scrapped it!
I am starting a "25 Days of Christmas" album, taking and scrapping a photo for each day. It may or may not have anything to do with the holiday, but it is still a moment in time leading up to December 25. My own personal Advent calendar of sorts. So here is my first page. I have learned a valuable lesson today. My phone camera is not worthy of my albums. I am going to have to carry my big hunking Canon with me everywhere I go (or not go).

Hello Kitty's Home for the Holidays

I pieced together my first Hello Kitty from my newest Cricut cartridge, Hello Kitty Greetings. She has made herself at home at my daughter's gingerbread house. Hmm, I suppose I should mention to her that her house is very temporary. Do you think she has noticed that some young girl has taken a bite out of the roof?? Oh, well, HK herself is not staying long in my house either. I'll be placing her on a Christmas card front this month. Enjoy it while you can, Kitty!!

Getting Ready for Christmas (Photos)

I just finished a mini album made from one sheet of 12x12 paper, cut and scored so that when folded closed is tied with a ribbon, and when stood open has a multitude of photo frames to fill. I will try to find a tutorial for this, as I made the album awhile ago, and just recovered it for Christmas.
Now for a confession: I did not go out for Black Friday shopping. Which doesn't preclude killer prices on a select few items I bought this weekend:
I hit Michael's on the way home from Thanksgiving dinner at my sister's, and picked up a few 12x12 albums, some photo storage boxes and a Gingerbread house (for my daughter). Total spent: $33.
I let my fingers do the shopping at Amazon on T-Day and picked up two TV series DVD collections, one for each of my boys, for half price. Total spent: $31.
I just got back from Michael's. I used my 50% off coupon, combined with a clearance item and The Hello Kitty Cricut cartridge on sale. Instead of taking 50% off the stamp set I picked up, it took off half of the already reduced price of the Cricut cartridge!!! Total spent: $33.
So this weekend I got killer deals, spent less than $100, and got to spend more time in my craft room than in lines. I call that a very successful Black Friday!

Older photos

I probably mentioned already how a flood destroyed many, many of my old photos. Here are a few that we managed to save, and I finally scrapped at the November crop. That little girl is my now 14 year old, but better late than never, right?

I haven't been scrapping for too long, so I have years and years and years of photos to scrap still. So if I had a year to myself, I would spend each of the next 365 days organizing photos, journaling memories, and recording it all in my scrapbooks.

But I have a life, a family, a job and friends, and there are only 24 hours in a day. So I'll steal my moments to scrap and remember and record when I can.

Girlfriend's Birthday card

I won't be able to give my girlfriend this card until Saturday, when i meet her for breakfast before going to work. She only lives two blocks away, but between our jobs and families, we rarely see each other now. I felt tired but not enough to go to sleep, and I knew if I started making cards, my brain would stay awake for hours, so I just sat in my craft room and colored some stamped images. Although this image is leans more toward Thanksgiving, Chrtistmas or an invitation, I thought Sue would get a kick out of Bella. Sue does not cook, nor does she eat meat! But she will love this card for its play on her talents and passions. Do you like the flower eyelet? It's one of those setter-less eyelets,. You use a pencil to set it-it was very easy to use, and looks great on this card. It's called a QuickLet and it's put out by Eyelet Outlet.

For the sentiment inside, I used a new stamp I bought from Archiver's. Love this, and Sue is always counting calories!!

Hopefully, if you like this card, you will forgive me for the previous card. Oh, my, it looks like I lobbed my pumpkin into the sea, and it sank down to the sandy bottom! Darn that patterned paper. And the ribbon almost looks like seaweed! Oh, well, live and learn.

Besides this card, I made 13 ATC Christmas cards for my co-workers. I made them last year and they were a hit, so of course I need to keep up my standards! Haha! But in doing these cards, I have now SURPASSED MY HANDMADES 2009 GOAL. Whoopee, bells ring, champagne cork popping! All I need now is some time to scrap a couple more pages and I will feel that 2009 was a prosperous year. You can too, since I will offer up some nice Blog Candy when I reach my goal. I haev a crop in December, so unless a miracle happens and I get some much-needed time off, my goal will have to wait until then!

Magnolia-licious Highlites Blog Hop Accessory Challenge Card

Here is my attempt at making a card with just a Magnolia Accessory stamped image. It is the Pumpkin and Leaves stamp, which can be seen/purchased at the Magnoli Store. They have a great new page for viewing and ordering stamps--so easy to lose myself there!
I colored the pumpkin with Copics YR07, 04 & 02. The leaves with E13, 08 & Y11 (for dimension) and the vine with G94 & YG03.
The pp is from the Bohemia collection by My Mind's Eye, the cs from The Paper Company.
I made my own frost/snow by rubbing two white styrofoam balls together over parts of the card that I had dabbed with Stickles and/or Liquid Glass.
The trim is by We R Memory Keepers, "White Off Promenade".
I used kraft paper I has torn to create some dimension in the field of brown, frosted grass?! and a clear acrylic wing inked with white for a cloud.
I also used a metallic gel pen to draw in some subtle gusts of wind, and tiny jewels for snow/sleet.'
I might have made a mistake using the pp--it almost looks like it's underwater instead of out in a field, but (haha) it's too late now!

Birthday pages

Well, at least I am up to date on Bella's layouts. Of course, she's only two, and I've been scrapbooking before she was born. That helps.

I have done a decent job on Wendy's layouts as well. I have all her birthdays, some major milestones, and her own personal bests book. I did all our Christmas pages together as a family since having my first child, and Chase is 24 next month! I also have some of his first school pages when he was in preschool.

So I'm not doing too badly, unless you add in the fact that I've been married for 33 years, been around the world in my travels, headed up girl scouts and cub scouts, chaperoned field trips, was in the Army, and spend some quality time with my sisters and my mom. The amount of photos I have yet to scrap seemsinsurmountable. And yet I managed to scrap almost 100 pages this year, and I organized a bunch of paper photos from eons ago.

All I need is time. And I still have that.

Scrapped Halloween with Bella

I didn't get to edit the photos, but wanted everyone to see what I did with Donna's PIF of the Halloween PBA Kit I received from her. The orange bags really made the bag album easier than ever. They make frames of the patterned paper on each page.

I had a couple Halloween journaling boxes that I incorporated into the album. I'm not showing all the pages, but they all show off a nice photo of our first Halloween with my granddaughter, as well as tags with the journaling to remember in years to come. Thanks again, Donna. It was a great project, wonderfully put together!

My Favorite page

This is one of the pages I made yesterday at Heidi's crop. It is one of my favorites for several reasons. First, I love the Christmas paper. It's by Cloud Nine Design. It is embossed, and so fun to look at. Second, because of the great design, I really only had to frame out my photos, add a title and slip in some journaling. No big decisions on the what and where of added embellishments, just a simple page that says it all. Lastly, I love this photo of my granddaughter. It was her first Christmas, at two months. I just rediscovered the photos and knew I had to scrap them!

Great Crop Day!

Just got home from a fabulous crop. This time it was a no frills day--no goodie bags, no games, no classes, no dinner. Just a bunch of friends getting together in a clean, well-lit room with plenty of table space. Everybody brought a treat to share, our hostess had drinks for all, we order takeout for supper, and we worked our little butts off.
I personally finished 13 pages, 9 of which were 12x12. I also finished two swaps I had participated in, making nine new handmade items as well as the five cards I had brought with me. So my 2009 Scrapping and Crafting Goal is so-o-o close to being met.
Which means BLOG CANDY. I promised Blog Candy to those who visit my blog when I reached my goal, so keep on checking in. It won't be long now.
I'll post photos of my pages, as well as a teaser of some of the Candy I'll be offering up. Have a wonderful weekend!

FALL TILDA CARD

I need to pay more attention to my swap parameters! I made this card as part of a "Stand Up Card" swap in LuckyBug Yahoo Group. I think she's cute with the leaves poking out from underneath her feet. Then I happened to glance at the swap requirements, and the cards are supposed to be Hoiliday Cards!!
Oh, well, I guess some lucky friends will soon be receiveing these cards!
I used DCWV Green Stack patterned paper, ovals cut with Nestabilities (a giftie from a good friend), and the leaves are from CTMH. I colored Tilda with Copics, and although you can't tell from the photo, I glitzed her shoes, patch and hat flower with Liquid Glass, also from CTMH.

Hello Kitty Mini Album

My daughter is crazy for Hello Kitty. For Halloween, she dressed up in everything Hello Kitty. She's 14 years old! So when hubby asked for a desk album of updated photos of Bella and Wendy, I knew what theme I had to use for it. The Cover and back display Hello Kitty from the Cricut cartridge. I don't have it, but I swapped with a good scrapping friend for some of the images.

The album pages are caribou coffee sleeves, bound with a jump ring. Each mini layout display photos of both hubby's girls, although when I took this photo they weren't posted on the pages.

I used Daisy D's paper and DCWV Luxury papers-they are a good match, I was surprised. Each page has a tag for journaling stuck into the top of the pocket made by each sleeve. I now have enough sleeves for three more albums, and I think they will make great Christmas gifts.

Busy weekend

Between Bella spending part of the weekend with us, and my road trip to Wisconsin with my sis, my mom and my daughter, I still managed to squeeze a few moments in the craft room. Bella went to the mall, specifically to Build-a-Bear, to make a bunny. Although I asked for photos, none were taken (grrr). After they came home, we took her to the library, where daddy sat in a forest of bean bag chairs while reading to her. I think she was more interested in crawling over every bean bag they had, but she had fun!
Today I went with the otehr girls in my family on a road trip to Cedar Grove, specifically to the Cedar Creek Winery. We had been invited to a special cellar wine-tasting event. Several swallows of wine and a case later, we were back on the road. Of course, a trip to Wisconsin always starts with breakfast at Cracker Barrel. I was tired when I got home, but not too tired to finish cards for a swap for LuckyBug Yahoo Group and a Hello Kitty Mini Album. I embellished a bunch of 3x3 card bases that had been embossed with various forms of THANKS. Here are my small Thank You cards. I like to include some card or note of thanks to friends who snag my PIFs, or make a trade with me. Now I'm on the hunt for 3x3 envies!! LOL

Chocolate Mountain

I had some leftover Hersheys paper and time to color a Tilda, so I came up with this bright colorful card. I used pop dots on a couple chocolate bars as well as Tilda to give it some dimension, although you can't really tell in the photo. The green polka-dotted paper in the background was a leftover, too. The cherries on Tilda's dress have been red stickled, and I used Liquid Glass on her shoes. The inside of the card is decorated, with the stamped sentiment "All you need in life is a friend who has chocolate". So true!