Oh man....

I have been craftin' but no bloggin' about it. Shame on me! hehe

Home schooling these three little angels of mine has taken a lot of time. I love it but something has to give. Maybe it in the new year it should be my housework. Wouldn't that be nice if I could really do that?!?!?!

In 2011 I am hoping to keep this updated so please come often. I am also thinking of starting to do some videos. I'll see if I can get that figured out.

Here are some pics of what I have worked on...

A fall treat bag for some young homeschool students I work with:


Some cards I made for Pastor Appreciation Month: (sorry some are sideways, I forgot to edit before I uploaded and I don't want to change it out. :) )








I'll also share the Christmas picture of my kids. (as well as my two dogs and bird)

My Pink Stamper Challenge

Last night, My Pink Stamper hosted a Pink Pajama Party on UStream. She and Karlee challenged the views to make a project in 30 minutes or less using the colors pink, purple, and green. I was feeling quite uninspired but these are the cards I ended up with.

My Fur Babies

Those of you know me, know I love my dogs! Sometimes my kids think I love my dogs more than I love them. Now, this is not true but sometimes I can see why they'd think that. LOL! Just kidding. :) One time I had to put my dog on a diet because I gave him too many treats. And other thinks she should sit up to the table when we sit down for a family meal. If all the chairs are taken, she just shares with someone.

So a little bit about my dogs: They are Cavalier King Charles Spaniels. Teddy (the white one) is older, about 11 years old. Lola (the black one) is only about 2 years old. I have to say, I think CKCS are the best dogs EVER! Erik, my husband, and I were looking into getting a dog when my dog started to get really old. We looked at just about every species imaginable. Erik really liked the Miniature Schnauzer. For some reason I didn't want one. But we kept going back to the Cavaliers. I wanted one so bad. So Erik broke down and we got Teddy. Best choice we could have ever made! When he was about 4, he was diagnosed with Addison's Disease. It has sometimes been a pain to deal with but we just mostly adore him and wouldn't trade him for anything. Since he's getting up there in years. Two years ago we decided to get Lola. She was supposed to be my present for graduating from college but I didn't want to wait. She is such a hoot! I don't know how we could have lived without her! :)

My dogs are a hoot and I pretty much laugh at them all day long. So without further adieu, here are Teddy (the white one) and Lola (the black one)

Wednesday Challenge

Hey... wassup?!?! :) Over on the Cricut Circle message boards one of the members posted a challenge to the other members. It was simply to use a circle in a project. I should have went more exciting but I just wanted to do a simple card using scraps. Sometimes, although I haven't posted anything to prove it, I want to do something extraordinary but I think sometimes the simple things can be beautiful (attractive/cute/sweet/whatever) and I am really trying to embrace that. What I'm trying to say is it is easy for me to go overboard and I'm trying to really contain myself.

As far as the card goes. I used the same products that I used in the butterfly card I made. It has a similar look. I used card stock from Stampin Up, Mini Monograms Cricut cartridge, cheap yellow ribbon from Joann's, a black glaze pen, a Hero Arts stamp set called Happy Hello, white craft stamp pad from Stampin' Up, Spots and Dots Cuddlebug embossing folder, Stampin' Up dimensionals and of course my LOVELY pink ATG! :)

Scraproom

Some of my most favorite posts of all time are when people let me into their space and show me where they create. Mine is a work in progress. It hasn't been very long that I have had my own room so I'm still trying to figure out what works and what doesn't. I have seen some very beautiful rooms and although I wouldn't say mine is ugly or anything it's just more simple and hodge podged together, for now. So welcome into my space...

If after you walk in and look to the right you see this wall of 2 book cases. I know the picture is small but on there I have many of my beloved pictures plus storage for what I have to scrap (on the bottom shelf), project kits (on the top shelf), my old Sizzix dies and machine that I gave to my sister (on the top shelf), my paper scraps and 8.5X11 paper, my albums, and some of my embellishments in the white drawers. Off to the right, you can see the "vanity room" of a Jack and Jill bathroom that the room shares with my boys' room.

Following is the view from my "vanity room". The table I use is our old kitchen room table. I like that it is counter height. It's not what I would have picked if I was were decorating the room but since I didn't have to buy anything special because we were replacing our kitchen room table I figured it was fine. :) Also, if you look closely, on the wall are my stamps. I don't have a lot, but I try to only keep what I use and pass the rest on. I have unmounted all my stamps and put them in clear DVD cases from Stampin' Up. I have used wall DVD storage from IKEA. I have two shown, they were only $6 a piece!

In this picture, to the left I have my Original Cricut machine which is on my 12X12 paper storage unit. Just to the right of that I have 2 3X3 cube storage units. I am in the process of replacing the really red boxes with the burgundy. On these cube units is where I tend to store almost everything. I have my Cuddle bug and supplies, my Sidekick and supplies, I have my radio, I have my Stampin' Up Stamps, embellishments, my ribbons and fibers, my Prima flowers, my circle cutter and much much more.

This is where I sit! I have my light sweatshirt draped over my chair when I get cold. It doesn't happen too often but when I'm crafting in the middle of the night I get chillier as I get more and more tired. I have my trash can to the left. Next to that I have a 3 drawer unit thing -- I love this. I got it at Walmart for $20! In the top drawer I keep miscellaneous supplies. Middle drawer I keep all my adhesives. I haven't assigned anything to the bottom drawer yet. :) On the top I have my two Tote-ally Cool pink and brown totes. I have one of the minis. It is too cute! :) I also have other odds and ends up there and a small sewing machine I got from HSN which I haven't used yet. On top of my table I have two mats, two little garbage cans and two red lights and now another desk light in black. Notice I have two of everything so that I can easily have guest over.

This is the view from where I sit. I get to see all who enter... muhahaha! :) Actually, I adore visitors into my space! My 9 year old son comes to craft and play on my Cricut quite often. And as you can see my beloved companion (my Mac) is never too far away.

From where I sit, if I look to the right I see my cube storage. From the left there is a white drawer storage (want to get black... see a theme here? lol) in there I have my Stampin Up wheels, my embossing tools, extra envelops, stickers and other embellishments, my acrylic blocks for my stamps, and I think that's it. I have already told you what is in the rest of the picture, I think.

So there you have it, a peek into my world. :) I'm glad you could join me! I loved having you! If you have any specific questions, don't be afraid to ask. Can't wait to share more with you next time!!!

Oh, and PS -- sorry about the glare in the photos, I don't know how that happened! I tried to fix it but it wouldn't fix right and I didn't want to retake the pictures because I wanted to get this posted and move on to more crafting. Have a fantastic day!

Finally Creative!

On the Circut Circle Message boards someone posted a Thursday Challenge... The challenge was to use Swirls! So this is what I came up with.

And this was the aftermath:

My crafty weekend...

Since everyone was at CHA I was going to do some different challenges, but I didn't get that far... :(

However, I did get a new toy! :)

I have been waiting for my pink ATG from Custom Crops but since it was backordered I got impatient. I also heard on a blog or something that Michaels was carrying the pink ATG. I decided to go check out yesterday and lo and behold they had one left! IT WAS MINE! :) I have been using it all weekend. I LOVE IT!!! :) I would recommend it to anyone.

When I say I was using my ATG, I have been using it on some invitations that I made for my daughter, I forgot to get pictures of them. I used the Life's a Beach Cricut cartridge and just made the square cards available on there. It was quick and simple since they are invites to a little girl impromptu party I didn't want to go all out on them.

I did also make some of these cute little note cards. I used all Stampin' Up products. It was fun to just play around with what I had lying around. :)