Merry Christmas!

Hope you all have a wonderful heart warming Christmas season. 

Rocky and I wish you a

Merry Merry Christmas!

Busy, Busy, Busy!

Getting ready for Christmas is, and I'm sure you will agree one of the busiest times of the year.  I have been making presents, money this year dictates that I make most of the presents that people will be getting this year. I have enjoyed going through stored yarns and knitting mittens and hats and scarves and fingerless mitts. It is a really nice hobby... Not paper crafting.. but nice none the less~


I have made cards for most of the family that are off already in the mail in hopes that they get there in time for them to have them and be able to put them up and enjoy them. 


Here is one of the cards... I made my own "Flower Soft" and used it for snow.

Cocoa Mugs for folks at work, there are always people that you want to let know that you are thinking of them during the holidays but can't really afford to buy presents... these mugs are great to say Happy Holidays! I saw these on the web and couldn't find the cut file and didn't know how to make one, I asked a friend and she said "Oh, those are so easy!", and she showed me how to create files in Design Studio and I made this mug. I think it came out nicely... 

The mugs were made with George. I hate to admit it but she was right ... It wasn't that hard!


On one of my favorite Yahoo groups "The Frugal Scrapper" a fellow member, Judy made a really cute card of a pyramid of penguins. When I saw it I had to tell her how much I liked the card and that I thought a card with the same idea but with snowmen would be to cute. Judy said that if I made one that she would like to see it. 


Well here it is... I like it, I like it a lot and wish I had thought of it before, because it would have been this years main card.

These little guys are from Doodlecharms and the hat is from Everyday Paperdolls. I tore the what Wal-Mart cards stock and I also cut the snowmen with it. The gold sticker letters are from Creative Memories. Nope,thats not Stickles... its glitter glue from Wal-mart. It looks really nice, even if it's not the pricer Stickles... 

I work in a hospital and in the mornings when patients would like something to eat, we offer them cereal from small individual boxes. I was looking at the boxes and talking to a friend and decided that they would make great gift boxes!  Here is what I came up with... I have more boxes and will be making more for some of the smaller gifts that I have to give. 

The penguin is from Joy of the Season, and the ice cubes are from George. I ran the cubes through the Cuttlebug with the Tiny Bubbles folder. The paper I used to cover the box is from DCWV's Christmas Value Stack.


Phew... I'm not done yet, but I know I will enjoy the entire process, and will post more later!




Please leave a COMMENT ... I'd like to know what you think!



Publish Post

Autum Mini Album

I taught a class on making mini albums and this is the album that the class was based on.

This album is based on all the things that I enjoy most about the autumn season.  Football, changing colors and weather, Halloween and Thanksgiving to name a few. 

There are tags, and swingers and pockets all over the place and room for pictures on the larger tags that are in between each set of layouts.  (the yellow tag there is one of them)


I don't have more pictures, but my favorite pages was the Halloween page. The purple tag sticking out is from that page.  Lots of fun making this album. Most cuts were done with the Cricut and I used Doodlecharms, Wild card Base Camp, George and Basic Shapes and Everyday Paper Dolls.


The goodies added were from my stash - flowers, charms, buttons, and other goodies. I also finished a 2010 album that is small and will hold one or two pictures from each month to highlight what has happened that month. 


I thought this was a good idea because it will force me to get out the camera more often!




Please leave a COMMENT... I'd love to hear what you think! 

Black Friday... Ugh... But I feel like a winner!

Where to begin with my Black Friday Saga? I was so excited about Wal-Mart's advertised Cricut Expression for $188.00 and my cell phone company was going to run a major special where all phones (even SMARTPHONES) were FREE!!! So after working all night, and coming home and cooking all day I turned in for a "disco nap" so that I could be up and ready to shop at 3:30 AM. Wal-Mart was opening at 5 and US Cellualr at 7.  I only wanted 2 things and was confident that my plan was going to be a go!


Little did I know that all stores were opening early to cut down on the number of people standing out in the cold and to prevent a repeat of last years disaster where a poor man lost his life when opening the doors for shoppers and was trampled to death.  So, I head off and notice as I pull up that the doors to Wal-Mart are open.. OH NO..  When did they open?  I had a sinking feeling that all the Cricuts were going to be gone. I walked in and the first thing I saw was a woman with a black Cricut in her cart.. Oh no.. this is not good. I moved down the isle where the scrapbooking supplies are and Nope... nothing. Asked a clerk and was told that I walked past them, that they were ALL GONE.  I asked a manager and was told that there was no more, if weren't any there they were all gone. UGH.....


I was so disapointed that I just walked out of the store and didn't look back. I sat in my car and continplated what to do now. And then it came to me... Go to Brewer, its just over the bridge and if they don't have any there you can honestly say you tried.


So off I go to Brewer and pull into the lot and yes, this store is also open. I park and go in and ask where the Cricuts are. The clerk didn't even know what a Cricut was but directed me to someone that did. He took me to the display and there was  a complete display with only 1 Cricut missing. 

I was able to get the color I wanted and came home very happy!

Oh... as an aside... I just checked Ebay and the colored Cricuts are on there for 250.00 and up!!!

Just learned something new!

I was working on a page and really wanted to get a reverse image done on my Cricut.  Well, for those that have the Expression or Create this is not a problem. But,. those of us (and this includes me) who have the original Cricut this is not possible. 

So I sat and pondered this problem... Now... to most of you I know this is not going to be news but when the light bulb went off for me I was doing the happy dance!  

I put my pattern paper I was using FACE DOWN on the cutting mat and cut the image out!  When I peeled it off the mat there is was in reverse!  I felt so smart!  and I got just what I wanted!

See, both chairs are facing each other!  How cool is that!!!!

Welcome Back Me...

It's been a while since I have been able to post here and a lot has happened. I have finished 2 minis and started on a third!  The third mini is using the great papers and embellishments that came with the November kit from Magpie Kits. I really would like to get an album ready for the new year that would be ready for my newest interest ... Black and White pictures. The colors are muted and are really perfect for B&W photos.

The Theme of the album (I love a good theme!) is "Cherish these Moments" I got it from a tag that was one many in the kit. It was perfect and reflected how I feel about friends and family. We need to cherish every moment as we don't know how many more we will have.

 This is the beginning of the album, pages in a mini are never in the order that I create them but this is what I have so far. I am happy with them and can't wait to get some free time to work on it more.

I am so EXCITED! November Kit is here!!

I just woke up from a nap, before going to bed (I work overnights!) and checked the mail and there on the porch was a package from Magpie Club!  My November full kit is here! I opened it and looked though it and WOW is all I can say. This kit is LOADED!  I will post some pictures later, before I break into it and start working. I think this kit will end up as a mini album It has just the right amount of good stuff to do a really nice one!

Looking for Some Help!

I have been told by a few people that they are not able to post a comment here on my blog (insert pout here). If you are a visitor to my fledgling blog could you please leave a message to let me know that you were here and if you cannot get a comment to post please send me an email at This Address to let me know so that I can get in touch with Blogger and figure out what could be wrong... 




Thanks so much!  

Happy Day After Halloween!

I have been so busy with getting ready for Halloween that I didn't get a chance to post this layout. I made it for my dogs. Rocky and Chloe, a Boston Terrier and a Papillon  respectively. They are going to have a sitting with costumes soon and their pictures will go on this layout. I couldn't help myself. When I thought of the harvest moon, everything else just fell into place.

I used one of the great papers from Tara's kit as the base and yellow Bazzill cardstock for the moon, dog and tree. The grave stones were cut from AC Moore's paper in Lavender.(Yeah, I know Lavender for a gravestone is kind of strange, but I wanted to go over it with a few inks to get just the look I wanted.)

I used Green, Black, Gray, and a little blue from Stamping up, the exact colors I am not sure of because I am downstairs and the ink pads are upstairs. (I will post them later)

I cut everything from the Paper Pups cartridge. It is a really cute cartridge!

Magpie Club Kit

I ordered a kit from the Magpie Club (link is over to the right under my favorite things) and it came in no time at all, I spoke with Tara via Email several times about the kit and she is just the nicest person!  
Her club offers 2 types of kits, the full kit and a budget friendly kit that she calls the Credit Crunch Kit. I wanted to order the full kit but (Yeah for her, Boo for me) it was sold out. So I got the CCK and it had great paper and goodies in it.

Once I got the kit I was so excited to get scrapping and then The Creeping Crud..... grrrr... 

But that is over now and this is the first layout from the kit!

The only things that I added to the page that didn't come with the kit are the 2 little black bats. I cut them with my Cricut using the Wild Card Cartridge. These can be found on page 68 in the booklet.


I was going to add a spider web also from the same page but thought that would be overkill and left it off.


Thanks Tara for making these great kits and I can't wait until the November kit becomes available!

Found Some Great Sites

Well, now that I am over the creeping crud, I have been online and looking for great sites to share.  The first site I found is ScrapDazzle. This site is really great, just about anything you want you can find there and for REALLY good prices. You can do a search by price, which I really like because if you have a limited amount of money to spend you can search within your budget and not get bummed by looking at things you know you cannot afford! 
There are over 25 pages of items Under a DOLLAR!  Yeah, I like this site!


The other site I found is for those of us that have had that moment when we are sitting in front of blank scrapbook pages and have no clue what to do with the pictures and paper and other goodies you have picked out. This site is Stickersnfun.com.  They have layout sketches that go back to April of 2006!  There is also a book that they offer with 500 layout designs if your interested, but I don't know if I will ever get through all the ones that they have generously offered for free!


Another one I just thought of that I check out almost daily to see what they have to offer is ohmycrafts.com I get their newsletter and they have a discount of some sort almost every day!  Check them out and sign up for the newsletter you don't have to buy anything, but its nice to know that if you want something there might be a deal going on that will be just what you are looking for!


For the frugal scrapper these sites will be a great help getting the neat things we want and then helping us do really kewl things with them!

I LOVE SHOPPING!!!!!

I have had this same stinking cold for DAYS now and have not felt like doing much of anything. But today I forced myself to go out for a while and went to AC Moore because they were having a good sale on paper. That was good.. but I was now in the Scrapbook Shopping Mode!  So, off I went to JoAnn's .

Well there I found that they were having an even better sale on paper... but... (okay, I admit it, I am a paper snob) I didn't like the paper they had so, I walked around and found their clearance section. (Insert Angels singing here) There was all kinds of scrapbooking embellishments!  I was so excited... that I had a seat on the floor and went through it all and found the things I wanted. 97 cents for a set of 3 hinges... not bad. 97 cents for velum frames, I can live with that.

I go to the register and the clerk tells me that all the scrapbooking clearance items were 50 cents!!!!!  OH BABY!  I was so happy, but also tired. I am going back tomorrow to look over the bin again. there were a few things that I didn't pick up because I thought a dollar for them was a bit much considering they were kind of beat up... well at 50 cents, they are so mine!

Oh My.... Sorry Santa!

Remember just a few days ago I said that I wanted to get a Big Bite?  Well I was in Wal-Mart and as always I made a quick run through their clearance section... And what to my wandering eyes should appear???  A Big Bite and it was only (get ready for this... you won't believe it!)  $10.00, yes, that's right I said ten dollars.
I was so excited, I bought it and came home and and couldn't wait to show Jess what I bought....

Well all I heard was "TAKE IT BACK!" What? Why?  It was such a good deal...

Then it came to me, I had mentioned that I would like one for Christmas and I think Santa went shopping a little early this year and somewhere in the house is a Big Bite waiting for Christmas morning... Darn...

Now the thing you have to understand is that I wanted the original Crop a Dile ... and that was on the list... and when I bought that at AC Moore for 50% off I thought wow what a great deal... Little did I know if I had only waited, yeah... they had the original Crop a Dile for 10.00 also, in the case with the eyelets.. Sigh... oh well...

So, I have stopped buying things and will let "Santa" know if there is a really good deal out there somewhere!

Paper Pups

I am so excited! I was cursing Craig's List and found someone selling the  Paper Pups cartridge!  I sent an email asking if it was still available, (the post was almost a month old) and a wonderful woman wrote back saying that it was. We made arrangements for me to get it. Smooth transaction!  Craig's List was better than Ebay because I didn't have to wait for it to be shiped and there was no shipping to pay!


What a cute cartridge! Lots of great images and phrases. Puppy Love, Yappy Easter, Hug, Walk... are a few of the melded phrases that come on the cartridge. I can't wait to get started making cards and adding some of these images in cards and scrapbooks!  I have been sick for the past few days and am not really feeling any better, but I have been watching videos on YouTube and have been getting lots of great ideas for when I am feeling better and am ready to get back to work!

Cricut Personal Die Cutting Machine/ To Gypsy or Not to Gypsy???

I bought my Cricut a month ago from HSN. They had such a great combo package that I couldn't refuse. The shipping was much faster than they said it would be, the package arrived with everything they said would be in it. I plugged it in and hours later went to bed happy in knowing that my little Cricut was safe in my office/craft room.
Ok.. so why, you may ask do I sound like I am not so happy? Well, to be honest I love that little thing and I have made some really cute cards and scrapbook pages and I have even made a mini album from scratch using several images from the 9 cartridges I have. (Yeah, I know I've only had it a month and already I have 9 carts!) But when I go to YouTube.com and look at the things others are making and the difference in size... oh how my mouth waters for an Expression... So as you can see to the right, I am saving up for one. I will get it from HSN again because they have the best deals AND they usually have Easy Pay so you can extend your payments over a set number of months. Once I have the Expression I don't know what I am going to do with the little Cricut... but it will be staying with me for a while at least (can't hurt to have a back up in case something goes wrong).

Ok, onto part 2 of this post. I have seen many videos that PC as well as some really talented people have posted on the Gypsy and I have to say that I am not convinced that I need one. I have to say that having the ability to design while waiting for my doctor is not a priority for me! And taking something like the Gypsy to the beach... Yikes!  Do you know what one grain of sand will do to that machine? NOPE that is not another of the wonderful selling points for me. The only thing that might bring me over to the Gypsy side is fact that there are 2 exclusive cartridges built in to the Gypsy. I have discovered that I love having the carts and that EBAY is a poor girls best friend when it comes time to make your dollar stretch and to feed that cartridge habit! So, I will continue saving and buying my one cartridge a month and hold off on the Gypsy for the extended foreseeable future.




A really quick card made for a wonderful co-worker who made zucchini relish for us!  YUMMY is an understatement!

My New Second Favorite Tool

I have a Crop A Dile!  I love this thing. It does all I thought it was going to do and them a few things that I didn't think of.


First, it punches holes in two sizes and that really makes setting your brads and grommets really easy. And that was a hint... it sets grommets. Makes life so much easier when you can set a brad without a hammer... lol... I can't tell you how many strange looks I got when I wanted to do that in a scrapbook or card and I was looking for the hammer. lol..


It is quiet, it is fast and it can be done with one hand. All of this makes using this a real treat. The only drawback that I can see with the original Crop A Dile is the fact that you are limited in how far in you can place a hole. The original Crop A    Dile is really only good in that respect for working on the edges of cards and pages. 


To solve this problem We R Memory Keepers have come out with the Crop A Dile 2 called the "Big Bite". This one is able to reach into a page up to 6 inches. Which is right in the middle of a 12x12 scrapbook page. I am still a hammer girl for the middle of the page. I am not sure I will be getting one any time soon... but one is in the future, because you can never have too many tools!


Back to the original Crop A Dile, I just saw a video on how to use it for embossing!  This is the unexpected extra that you can do with this tool that I didn't even have in my mind that you could do. There appears to be 2 ways to do this. 


First you can make your own template by using chipboard or thin plastic and punching the design you want. Then using that place the card stock over the plastic and using and burnishing tool emboss the paper... Easy enough!


Second, that the one that I tried and found to be a bit tricky is to use the Crop A Dile to lightly press the card stock using the brad setter. I tried this also and I have to tell  you I thought I broke the darn thing because I didn't realize that the buttons on the base recessed. When I saw that circle of paper (yes, I squeezed too hard and made a hole instead of an impression) I was completely upset and when I "not so gently" placed it on the table, the paper popped out and the button returned to normal! PHEW!!!!!

Scrapbook Deal of the Day

I have rediscovered scrapbooking and I am once again addicted! Not just scrapbooking but making my own mini albums from chipbook has really captured my imagination. Things have changed so much in scrapbooking since I was a Creative Memories consultant. Now pages that are interactive, have height and amazing embellishments.
So, when I decided that I was going to start working on albums again I discovered that I needed to restock my stash with up to date goodies. Where to start? Well I went to my local shops (AC Moore, JoAnns) and discovered that yes, they have some of the goodies I wanted but not at the prices I wanted to pay! So off to the net I went and found some amazing sites... They are Deal a Day sites. These sites only sell one item a day for incredible prices. There are lots of them but from the research and from chatting with others I believe these are some of the best.

Scrapbook Steals I like this site because their shipping is only $5.00!


Crafty Steals They have really unique items every day.


Flowers to Flourishes Today's deal has only $3.99 shipping!


Crop Chocolate This site has a blog attached and has information about other deals.


And the first site I found and the one that MANY people rave about is:


Peachy Cheap They have completed samples posted every day with the items offered.


So, this is where I started building my new bigger better stash... Hope you get to check them out, you might get some really neat deals... Not every site has something every day that might interest you but the great thing is that there is always tomorrow and another deal!