Catching up.....Again!

Again, Sorry I have been so bad at blogging during the last year.  I have changed jobs, my husband retired, my son got married and we have a new Grandson in the family.  Time has been occupied with family coming together in different parts of the country.

 

Okay, with that out of the way, here is what I have been up to in the crafting world.  I have attended a few retreats at a friend's place in Strawberry, Arizona.  It is a beautiful house in the forest about 100 miles northeast of Phoenix.  Just far enough to get out of the desert heat in the summer and it even gets snow in the winter.  A very quiet and perfect place for getting yourself into a creative mood.

 

I purchased the newest Cricut Explore machine and am TOTALLY in love with it.  I purchased the one year subscription to most of the images in their library.  Oh my, have I been going to town with these.  I made 97 Christmas cards, have made numerous vinyl projects for myself and for friends (although, do you think I remembered to take a picture of them?).  I have started to try and come up with my own designs.  I will show more when I think that a design is worthy.

 

More later when I get some of my craft pictures downloaded so I can load them here.

Happy Crafting!!!

 

Catching up!

Okay, I have been really bad at posting lately.  I really don't have an excuse other than life has gotten in the way and I have not taken time to keep you all updated.  I left my job at the home builder about a week ago and started a new position at a doctors office.  Now, I have done a lot in my life, but I have never work within the medical field.  What a culture shock my first week has been.  It is getting better as I pick up the verbiage of the office, but it will be quite a learning curve.  I do think I will like it though because I have the best boss and awesome co-workers and that always makes that learning curve WAY easier to survive.

I will be going to another weekend crop soon.  A couple of weeks ago, I was in Sedona, Arizona with another group of ladies for the weekend.  Believe it or not, I didn't take a camera with me up there and didn't even take any pictures with my cell phone.  I guess I am slipping a bit!!  For the retreat coming up, a group of 7 of us will be going up to the mountains of Strawberry, Arizona for a weekend of scrapping, eating and fun!!  Hopefully at least one of us will accomplish something other than catching up with friends!! Will post more about the weekend after I get back.  

 

In the meantime, have a great week!!

Sorry I haven't posted

I didn't realize that it had been 6 months since the last time I posted.  I  have no excuse other than I have just not taken the time out of the day to update here.  You know how life can get in the way of the best of intentions.   I have been super busy at work, for which I am very grateful.  Then with the holidays coming upon us before we will know it, I thought I better get a small update on here.

The wedding went off without a hitch in October and it was awesome having the whole family in for a visit.  My son was here from Wisconsin and my Step-daughter and granddaughter were here from Texas.  It was the first time since my husband and I have been married that we have had all four kids in the same place at the same time.  It was great and of course, we had some family pictures taken along with the wedding pictures.  And we had my husband's Sister and brother in law visiting from North Dakota as well.

I have been attending a few crops here and there, and also taking in a few classes along the way.  I did the 12 Tags of Christmas with Dana Edwards, and that was AWESOME!!  I even sold a couple of my tags to a friend at work.  And I have been keeping up with my Scrapbook Club once a month.  We just had our final night of the year and it was a blast as usual. I have made all my handmade cards (80 of them) and got them all sent out.  Of course, there were a few that I missed and will have to make a few more, but that happens every year.  Now I need to get some gift tags made for the presents under the tree.

I hope everyone has a blessed Christmas and a very Happy New Year.

It's almost July!!

Okay, so it is almost July and I haven't posted in months!  I have no excuse other than I have been so busy that I haven't stopped long enough to do it!  With working again, planning the October wedding and other life drama, I just haven't actually taken the time to post.  Sorry!!

I have been working on designing/printing the invitations for my step-daughters wedding coming up in mid-October.  Next on the list is making the favors....oh, about 100 of them!!  I think I have come up with a design that the bride and groom like.  Now I just need to get the candies for the inside and get to making them. It's a lot of work, but I am more than happy to do it for them.  I have already made/sent out the Save the date cards.  Those turned out great if I must say so myself.  Once I get permission from the bride and groom to post their picture, I will post a picture of the card.

I am hoping to get caught up on downloading pictures from my camera to the computer and can get some pictures uploaded here.  That is #1 on my things to get done over the Independence Day holiday.  I am one of the few in our office that is actually working every day next week except for Wednesday.  So that is my day to get these things done.  Be on the lookout for another post soon!

Happy 4th!!

It's been a long time since my last post.

I didn't realize how long it has been since I last posted. I haven't been crafting much lately. Since starting my new job back in November, I have been mentally exhausted when I got home from work. Our company just merged with another, larger company. Just when I was getting the hang of the computer systems and the jargon used, they changed it on me. And I will be working in both systems for at least the next 4 months. It's a lot of work, but I am loving it. I am very lucky to have found a great job in this economy and I thank God that I did.

I went to a book binding class today and learned a new technique. I can wait to make another one of these books. I attend a scrapbook club with my friend Dana once a month and that was last Friday. That's the most crafting I have done in 3 months. Since I am working so much, I have stepped down from the design team for the Paper Vineyard scrapbook store. I wasn't able to give it 100 percent of my attention and I didn't think that was fair to the rest of the design team. Please continue to check out the blog for their designs.

Talk to all soon. I will try and get some crafting done and post pictures again soon. I hope everyone has a great week.

Thank you Card

Hello Everyone,

Sorry I have been MIA for a while, but have been extremely busy working at my new job. I love it and am glad to have found work with such a wonderful company.

This week the challange at Paper Vineyard was to use a Thank You stamp from Impression Obsession. I also used paper from the Graphic 45 Tropical Traveloque line, Tim Holtz Tattered Florals Die and Tea Dye Distress Stain, Versamark Ink and clear embossing powder.
Hope you like it. If you are in the area, stop in to Paper Vineyard to check out the store. They are always getting new things in. See you soon!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

First off, I want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Joyous and Prosperous New Year!

I know that I have not been very good at updating my blog lately, but I have found it especially challenging to find time to craft or even enough time to check my email. I started back to work full time on November 1st, after being unemployed since Christmas 2010. In trying to learn all the new things at my new job, I come home totally exhausted. And with no time during the week to get my errands done, I now have to try and fit them into the weekend. I thank God that my husband took some extra time off of his job to get the Christmas shopping done and the gifts wrapped while I was working. He is such a wonderful man and I love him dearly.

I hope to be better at updating the blog during the new year. I am finally starting to fall into a routine of sorts, learning to get things done during my time off. I am fortunate enough to have the entire week between Christmas and New Years off, so I hope to get some crafting done and get some projects posted here.

Again, I hope everyone had a great Christmas with family and friends and that all will have an even better New Year!

Grapevine Designs word book

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving with family and friends. Did everyone get a chance to get some Christmas shopping done on Black Friday? I did and I didn't even have to stay out all night to do it!

This week, we got to request a word that we wanted to be cut by Grapevine Design from Paper Vineyard. I chose Violet since it is my Granddaughter's name. So far, I have all the pages in the book covered in Bazzill cardstock. I added some ribbon from my stash along the binding. I used my Cinch to bind the book. I am collecting violet-inspired embellishments to decorate the book. I only have a few right now, so will add them when I collect a bunch of them. And do you believe it.....no Cricut used, so far!
Hope you like it. I will post more pictures after I embellish the book. Have a great week!

New Stickles

Hello All,

Our challenge for the Paper Vineyard Design Team this week was to use showcase some finishing touches. I used the new Glam Pink Stickles. I made this card from 2 Craft Tags from Inksentials and book-bound them. I then covered them with scraps from my stash. I used the Phrases cartridge from Cricut to cut "You Go Girl" and Stickled the "Girl" only. I added a Sparklet from KaiserKraft and some glittered tulle, again from my stash.
Hope you like it. I am going to send this to my Granddaughter who made honor roll for the quarter at her grade school. You Go Girl!!!
Have a great week and an awesome Thanksgiving. Oh, and shop till you drop on Friday! I know I will!

Quick post for Paper Vineyard Design Team

Hello all,

Sorry I haven't posted in such a long time. I started a new job on November 1st and my brain is bursting at the seams trying to learn all the new stuff!! I am grateful for the job but am exhausted by the time I get home from work. But it is a good exhaustion!
On to the post for today. We were challenged to use a piece from Vintaq. Mine was the Mod Flower and I decided to make it into a piece of jewelry. I little bit of a step away from paper crafting I know, but wanted to try something outside of my comfort zone. I ran the Vintaq piece through my Big Shot using the Cuttlebug Script embossing folder and then sanded the embossed side to highlight it. I then used some Tim Holtz jump rings and a large Tim Holtz Fragment. I added a round disc that I had laying around. I hung the piece on a piece of velvet ribbon.

Hope you like it. I will be back later in the week (hopefully) with more. Have a great day!

Another project for Paper Vineyard

Hello all, hope you are having a great week. This weeks project was to utilize a word that was custom cut by Grapevine Designs at Paper Vineyard. I had them cut "Swartz" and I made a sign for my house with it.I used Tim Holtz Distress Coredinations paper, a dollar store frame, and black vinyl that I cut with my Cricut Expression. I have always wanted one of these signs in our house and this was just the excuse to make one. Let me know what you think. I love reading your comments.

Oh yeah, on another note.............I got a job!! I start today and it is only 10 minutes from my house! It has been a LONG 10 months of being unemployed. I got a lot of crafting done, but it's time to get back to work. I need a job to support my crafting habit!!!

Hope you all have a great week. I know I will!

The Joy of the Journey

Hello all,

This weeks challenge was to use the Joy of the Journey stamp from Stampendous. And to use some of the Reminisce Autumn paper. I loved the stamp and thought it would be a nice saying to have on display all year long. I used a frame that I had in my stash, covered the mat with the Reminisce paper and distressed the stamp image (which was stamped on white cardstock). I then pulled out my new Cricut Flower Shoppe cartridge and tried my hand at making some of the cute flowers that are on that cartridge. To say they were challenging to make would be an understatement. I went out and bought a quilling tool which made the process a whole lot easier. I think after some more practice, this will become one of my favorite cartridges.

Here is a close-up of the flower.

Hope you like my frame. I love to read your comments so when you stop by, leave me a note. Have a great week!

This weeks project for Paper Vineyard Design Team

This week's challenge for the Paper Vineyard design team was to showcase our "go to" tool. Mine, of course, is my Cricut Expression. We also had to utilize Authentique products. I made this gift bag (actually, I made 18 of them!) for the Cricut Swarm I went to over the weekend. The background paper is from Authentique's halloween line. All the solid paper is from Bazzill. I cut the "Trick or Treat" from the Cricut Martha Stewart Seasonal Cake Art cartridge and used some Orange Peel Stickles on the work "or". The ghosts were cut from the Cricut Happy Hauntings cartridge and the faces were stamped using Peachy Keen Stamps. The bags were from my stash of bags.

I hope you enjoyed this project. Please visit the Paper Vineyard blog to see the projects that my fellow team members have come up with. They always have great projects.

Thanks for visiting and I hope everyone has a great week.

Cricut Swarm 10-15-11

I attended a Cricut Swarm at my local scrapbook store, Paper Vineyard, yesterday and had the BEST time. It is always great to get together with other people who share your passion. It was a 12-hour marathon of games, drawings, and all around fun. Oh yeah, and we worked on projects using our Cricuts! Here is a picture of our mascot! He is guarding my bottle of root beer! And this picture is one of me and my good friend Kim.Everyone had such a good time. Adriana (the owner of Paper Vineyard), Danielle and Krista put on an awesome day and we really appreciate everything. We are all looking forward to more Swarms next year!

Hope you enjoy my pictures and have a great week!

Cards using Stampendous Stamps

Our challenge this week was to make a card using a Stampendous stamp of our choice. I chose the Angel Kisses Set (CRS2065). This set is available at Paper Vineyard. I colored the images with my Copic Markers. I am still very new at coloring with the Copics, and I only have a few of them, but I used what I had to do this card. I used a Snow Marker pen from Marvy Uchida and used my heat gun when the ink was wet to puff it up. I like the texture it added to the card.

Hope you like it. It's finally feeling like Christmas may eventually come. Our high temps here in Arizona have only been in the 70s for most of the last week. Have a great week!