It's a Girl Thing...

I have always loved everyone's take on the gift card holder purse and decided to make one myself. I wasn't quite sure about the dimensions but wanted to utilize as much as I could of the paper. I ended up with 4 different sizes and overall I was happy with the end results.
Paper is from Stampin' Up "Junior Varsity"
Stamps are from Paper Trey Ink "Mega Mixed Messages"
Scalloped & Circle punches are from Stampin' Up
Ribbon & Velcro are from JoAnn's
I also used one of the marquees from the Storybook Cricut cartridge for the flap on the purse and used a small piece of velcro to keep it fastened.

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful week!

OMG...has it been this long?!?

Just a quick little note to my "blogging buddies"...The month of October has come and gone and not one single post from me, it's definitely been a crazy-craft-free month!! My father had a terrible fall on October 3rd and was in the trauma unit at one of the local hospitals. He had some bleeding in the brain, fractures on his neck and spine, broken bones on his face and a broken arm. He is home now and doing much better but still has a long road to a full recovery. We are very thankful for the many prayers and well wishes we have received...the power of prayer is truly amazing!

I have missed visiting everyone's blogs and plan on catching up ASAP! Can't wait to see what you "crafty" gals have been up to. Hope yall are having a great week! =)

Birthdays & Chocolate

Who doesn't LOVE a good old fashion Hershey Bar?! Definitely NOT anyone I know...lol. I thought it would be cute to "dress-up" a candy bar to match the homemade birthday card. And my sock monkey stamp set from Stampin Up was perfect for this.
Modern Label & Word Window punches are from Stampin Up. Ribbon is "Organdy Autumn Garden" from Close to My Heart. Thanks for stopping by and hope everyone has a great week! =)

Quick n Easy Birthday Card

Papertrey Ink has this cute little stamp set called, "Everyday Button Bits." Instead of using a button on the topiary, I used my scallop circle from Stampin Up to make a flower. Then I added a couple of dimensionals to pop it up. The "Birthday Wishes" is also a stamp from Papertrey Ink. Ribbon is from Michaels.

Thanks for stoping by...

My Halloween Cards

I enjoyed working on my Halloween cards over the weekend. Although my scraproom is still under construction, I'm happy to say that Hubby has completed and hung my second shelving unit! I will post pictures once I get everything organized.

So, back to my cards...lol. I used the sweet treat cups and made each card refillable. Since Halloween is still over a month away, I wanted to be able to fill the cups with M&Ms just before I hand them out. I also saw the cutest 3D pumpkin card on the Cricut MB the other day and had to give it a try...not too bad for my 1st try...lol. Definitely check out Jennifer's site (HERE) to see where this idea originated...plus she has some awesome crafts to view!
Used Stampin Up! "Twick or Tweet" - "Little Boo" - "Holiday Best" stamps and Martha Stewart drippy goo punch

Added Pumpkin Pie striped ribbon, also from StampinUp!

"Cast a Spell" paper from StampinUp!, "Twick or Tweet" stamp set

Thanks for looking and hope everyone has a great week!! =)

Who needs Ty Pennington when you have a DH like mine...

We made a decision this past spring that we were going to turn one of our guest rooms into a Scrap Room. What is the point of having two guest rooms when there are some nice hotels nearby...lol. (I'm sure my guests will appreciate that comment) Plus, my crafting supplies have been multiplying like crazy, so it was definitely time! I just never thought it was going to take us this long to get started with the painting. Oh well, what better time to start, than a holiday weekend.

REAL men will paint PINK...lol or was it because it's actually called "Strawberry Splash" and not PINK?! :)

Poor hubby definitely had an interesting challenge to complete. I knew in my mind what I wanted...sturdy shelving that would hold LOTS of 12x12 paper!! Well, after a few weeks of measuring, a few trips to the lumber store and a whole lotta saw dust...hubby completed the unit of my dreams...lol. And since he did such a wonderful job, we've decided that a second unit would be even better! Here he is installing the first unit to my newly painted wall. The second unit will hold 12x12 AND 8 1/2 x11 paper. Can't wait to see how that one will turn out!

Installing the dividers that will hold the 12x12 paper

The second shelf that DH is building will fit to the left of this cabinet. It will also have 12 slots for more 12x12 cardstock along with 12 slots for 8 1/2x11 paper. Although my craft space is not complete...I'm happy to say,at least part of it is functional! Thanks for looking :)

Sweet Treats Workshop

I had some Happy Halloween Fun today at Barb's...aka Snowmanlover. She hosted a Sweet Treats workshop at her home and showed us how to make some Halloween goodies. The newest and "hottest" thing out there right now are these sweet treat cups! Aren't they just adorable?! We made Halloween cards using these cups and put candy corn inside. Barb even showed us a cute little technique to allow access to the candy without tearing up the card...how cleaver is that!

You HAVE got to visit her blog (click here) to see all the wonderful cards she has made using the sweet treat cups. This is definitely a MUST HAVE!! And for those of you who are new to card making...you can't go wrong with this...simple and fun to make! Barb is such a joy to know, extremely helpful, very knowledgeable and just the sweetest person ever!

Close up of stamped image & sweet treats cup

Side view of sweet treats cup

Decorated Candy Bar Treat

Close up of stamped Halloween images

We also made these cute little "Lollipops"

It was such a pleasure getting to meet a few more MB ladies today. It's always fun to chat with others who share the same hobby and I look forward to seeing them again. Thank you Barb for the FUN day! =)

"Googlie Eyes"...my Sock Monkey can see now...

I have some birthdays coming up and thought I would continue "practicing" my card making skills...or lack of...lol. I added some "googlie eyes" to this monkey and I'm really liking the new look. I also used my Cuttlebug and the D'vine swirl folder, SU punches, stickles, ribbon and dimensionals.
I've had the Martha Stewart drippy goo punch for quite sometime now and finally got a chance to use it. While surfing the MB, I noticed a post with everyone's creations using this punch...gotta say, the CREATIVITY in this post is amazing! So thanks everyone for showing us your "drippy goo" ideas and giving us tons of inspiration!

Thanks for taking the time to look and hope you all have a wonderful Holiday weekend!

Crafting Cards For Dummies...

Seriously, does anyone know if this book exists? I was so excited to get my goodies and start my card making that I failed to realize I still need MAJOR help! I will definitely be counting down the days to Barb's workshop on Saturday. I need all the help and tips I can get!!

So my plan was to make a set of 3 cards to give my Mom. Then make another sock monkey card for a MB friend. Of course the SM card was the easiest since I pretty much copied my previous one that Barb helped me with. But as you can see, I struggled with the other 3...PLEASE, any advice or tips would be greatly appreciated! :)

Sock Monkey + Snowmanlover = Super Fun Time

I had a fabulous time with Cricut MB member Snowmanlover! I knew there were quite a few MB girls in the area, but today I finally got to meet Barb in person...what a JOY! Barb was kind enough to invite me over to teach me how to make this cute sock monkey card...and I had a BLAST!! Those of you who know me, know I am NOT a card maker, I have attempted to make a few cards here and there but nothing has ever turned out as cute as this. (if I do say so myself...lol) Thank you so much Barb, I enjoyed meeting you and spending the afternoon with you and thanks for letting me play with your stamps! I definitely look forward to attending your next workshop and meeting a few of the other MB girls.

**Be sure to visit Snowmanlover's blog by clicking HERE to check out all of her AMAZING work...you are gonna just LOVE her cards!! =)

Look what I got in the mail...

My wonderfully talented blog-friend Lindsey sent me a fabulous gift. My very own Cricut Head magnet! As if that wasn't enough...she even personalized a magnet with my name on it...what a sweetheart!! She also enclosed this super cute card and as you can see, they are PROUDLY hanging on my refrigerator. Thank you so much Lindsey, your friendship means the world to me! =)

Road Trip 2009

I'm still excited about using my scrapbook convention "stuff" and the Rusty Pickle goody bag was perfect for this layout. The letters for Road Trip were in an Alpha Coupon booklet from Rusty Pickle that I cut out and inked all sides. The background paper is from Cosmo Cricket and called Halfway Cafe: Amarillo. It has a beautiful distressed look about it, that I just love! I also used Lyrical Letters cricut cartridge for Summer and 2009 along with some dimensionals for the 2 photos with the gold border.

We tried to snap a photo of each state we visited, but as you can see, we did not get all 8 states! I think it's still a perfect cover page for the remainder of our vacation pictures.

Thanks so much for looking! =)

The Circle of Friends Award

How exciting to receive this award from such a sweet and talented lady...Sandy. She is 100% encouraging and such an inspiration to us all. I am absolutely honored to have Sandy in my "circle of friends!" Be sure to check out her beautiful work by hopping over to her blog (HERE)...it's definitely AMAZING!!

The 5 people I will pass this forward to, are:

1. Linzie

2. Magoo

3. Meg

4. Melissa

5. Jeannie

Go ahead, check out their blogs and be inspired by their fabulous designs.

Now, for the rules to this award: To pick up the Circle of Friends Blog Award cut and paste the award logo and use it on your own blog. Nominate 5 other bloggers you feel have become part of your circle of friends. Link to your nominees within your blog post. Include these instructions on how to pick up the award in your blog post. Link back to the person who gave you the award in your blog post, to show your appreciation. Comment on their blogs to let them know they've received the award.

8 States in 14 Days...

...and 3,500 miles later...it's great to be back home!! We had a wonderful time on our vacation and the weather was fantastic. White water rafting in Colorado, Kenny Chesney in Cheyenne, Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Sturgis in South Dakota, and a detour with family and good friends in Iowa and Kansas.

I have missed all my scrapbooking friends and can't wait to get caught up on everyone's blogs. =)

Slowly But Surely...

With vacation just around the corner, I was able to squeeze in a tiny bit of scrapbook time. This is Irelyn (my youngest niece) with Grandma at her 3rd birthday party. Just a little information, for those interested...Abuela is Spanish for Grandmother and the kiddos call her Buela for short.

The glittery letters are actually chipboard from Melissa Frances, which I purchased at the scrapbook convention last month and the rest is from the Pooh Font Cricut Cartridge. I also used Walk in My Garden for the flowers at the bottom of the page.

Thanks so much for looking! :)

Irelyn's 3rd Birthday

I was able to complete another layout of my niece's 3rd birthday party. It's definitely been a slow going scrapbook summer thus far, as I have not had much time to scrapbook lately. I still have a few more photos from the PARTY that I plan to get done before we go on vacation next month...wish me luck!! (lol)

Used: Lyrical Letters (loop dee loo), Accent Essentials, Doodlecharms, stickles & bling!

Happy Graduation Christian!!

I had a request from one of my best friends to make a "tin" for her niece's graduation. Can you believe it made it to Houston in one piece?!? :) I was definitely happy to hear that she LOVED it!!

Cartridges used: Locker Talk, Hello Kitty Greetings & Pooh Font

SWEET

I was able to use some of the NEW paper I purchased at the Scrapbook Convention along with some stickles. As you can see, I am still in the process of completeing the layouts from Irelyn's 3rd birthday party and hopefully they will be done soon.

Thanks to DH for capturing her SWEET lil face as she opened her presents...priceless!!

Used Lyrical Letters & Accent Essentials...thanks for looking! :)

Great American Scrapbook Convention

What an adventure!! I finally made it to a Scrapbook Convention (in Arlington) and I had a GREAT time! I had no idea what to expect but as you can see, I definitely found some things I just HAD to have...lol. Good thing they only come to town once a year!

Check out this black bag ($29.99). The bag was sealed with zip ties, to conceal what was inside and we were told that each bag contained $125.00 worth of goodies. All these Heidi Swapp items were in the bag...

ScrapN T-shirts