HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Again it has happened....almost 2 months since I last posted. Unfortunately, I have not had any time in my craft room. I made NOTHING for Christmas. Working 5 days a week and then every evening and weekend around the house doing some much needed updates. I can FINALLY say we are finished. My whim of telling my husband that I wanted to take out the carpeting upstairs turned into a 3 month CHORE for both of us. We both ripped out the carpet. A nasty job I must say! Then I prepped the floors. Something I never want to do again. My husband layed all new wood flooring upstairs. All new baseboards. I did all the painting. Complete make over of 1 bedroom (a guest room). When we got to the stairs, I realized that laminate would not work so my husband went to Lumber Liquidators and purchased wood to cover the stairs. The part you step on is called a "tread" and the wood that supports it is a "riser". We chose to paint the riser wood and varnish the treads. The straight stairs were not a problem but we have 4 winder stairs and they were a nightmare. My poor husband! The good news is...he finished and it looks fabulous. We both learned so much. I will post pictures another day.

I mostly wanted to wish everyone a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS and hope you are able to spend some fun time with your loved ones. We are hosting our Annual Christmas Eve dinner with a group of about 33. Lots of food, fun and games. Looking forward to seeing everyone.

Until next time....

So Sorry....

I know...I know....I have been HORRIBLE about updating my blog. We have been so busy "doing stuff around the house". My post a few back of the laminate floor opened up a HUGE amount of work for my husband. Talk about things "snowballing" into other things! We are still working on the laminate floor. The bathroom is all that is left to be done. Then we had the issue of what to do with our stairs. We decided to rip out the carpeting. Down to bare ugly wood with lots of nails and staples. Can't do laminate on the stairs, don't want to do carpet. So...now we are doing REAL WOOD and recreating the stairs with new "treads" and "risers". It's a job and half since our stairs curve and we go from straight stairs to triangular shaped stairs. Quite the learning experience for both of us. Oh...did I mention paint? Now we have to repaint which presents the issue of "where do we stop". The stairway shares a common wall with the entry. What we thought would be a small paint job is now huge. We have 16 ft. ceilings in places that make it difficult to get to with the stairs. Every minute of the evening is spent attempting to put our house back together. Why is it that any job you begin starts out as an ant hill and turns into a mountain? We "hope" to be done by Christmas Eve when we have our large family of 26 over for dinner. I know it will all turn out great in the end but I will admit that it has been a ton of work!

I will post some pictures soon. I must do a before and after of the stairs. That may be awhile since we had to custom order some wood steps.

I love the color of my sisters walls in her house so she shared her paint codes with me and we had the paint "copied" at Lowe's. They are great for that! Put a few rolls of it on our wall and thought it was too light. Lo and behold, once dried it looks much better. I always forget that it gets a lot darker after it dries.

Also emptied out our walk in closet in our guest room that has mostly my daughters stuff she didn't want to move. Need her to go through it so we can throw out, give away what she doesn't want and reorganize. I think we could have come up with several Halloween costumes with what we found in that closet. (My kids have always been into dressing up for Halloween. Even now that they are adults!

OK...promises, promises. I will try to at least post some pics and updates on some of my finds at the thrift store. I was at Goodwill the other day and found a "sold" dresser that was EXACTLY what I have been looking for. It sold for $39. I was so ticked. Guess I missed it by a few hours. Oh well.....

Happy Halloween to everyone.

Best Cat Litter Ever!

Kind of a crazy topic but I am  so excited over this. We recently were given a box of cat litter that someone no longer needed. Not my usual brand but I don't think my cats are picky. It's from Petco and it is called Ever Clean. It comes in a blue box. What is special about it? It is scented with lavender. I LOVE IT! I must say the cats do too. The box I tested it in was the most used. It's kind of expensive $20.99 so I decided to mix it with Tidy Cat. It sure makes smelling lavender more appealing than the alternative. I highly recommend it for anyone who gets to clean cat boxes every day like me.

Yesterday, we ripped carpet out of another bedroom in preparation for doing more wood flooring. Unfortunately, we found an area where the builder put in a smaller board in the sub floor than the rest of the area. My husband patched that with some goop from Lowe's. After it sets, we can get going on the next room.

I have realized that I am trying to cram too many activities and chores into 2 fast days. The weekends just fly by for me. I still need my "me" time.

I can't believe it is only 2 more weeks until I go visit my sister and get some rest and relaxation. Oh...did I say rest? That isn't true! Last visit, I remember we were sitting in her spa at 3am. We averaged about 4 hrs. of sleep per night. Regardless, we have such fun. Can't wait!

OH MY!

If you haven't ever tried MOCHI, you must. Available at Trader Joe's. Comes in Strawberry, Mango, Green Tea and Chocolate  (at my local store). They are 105 calories each. Believe it or not, it is ICE CREAM. I gave one to my husband and he said he thought it was like a marshmallow with ice cream in it. My daughter-in-law, Kristin, turned me on to these. Try them. They are so yummy and you eat it with your fingers!

Thank You!

I just want to thank a few of you sweet girls for your kind comments. My sweet sister, Donna, my Mom, Lynn, my niece, Holly Lynn, dianne, Melanie, Theresa and Ginny. I really appreciate the encouragement and support.
There's lots more to come....working on a video and more projects. Stay tuned.

Happy Labor Day

Made a run to the thrift store today for their 50% off sale. Couldn't believe all the people lined up outside! Didn't find anything too thrilling there. Went to Goodwill and found a few goodies. This is an OTT Lite. It actually works and I found it for $4.50. I have one on my craft table and LOVE it.

The other fun thing I found was a Stone & Co. purse. Perfect condition and really soft black leather.

It was $6.50.

The last time my sister was here, we went to the thrift store and I found a couple of shirts for my hubby. They were in perfect condition and were only $3.50 ea. As you can see by the label, they were Tommy Bahama!

I can't believe how fast these past 3 days have flown by! I do feel that I got a lot accomplished!

Back to work tomorrow.

Laying A Laminate Floor (In A Weekend)

OK....so here is what it looked like under the carpet. Sub-floor was LOADED with nails and staples. We had to pound in the nails that were sticking up and pull out every staple. I swear there were 100's! Next came cleaning the wood so it didn't have any specs of any residue on it. Once we did that, we covered the entire floor with plastic. (Not required but felt a need to do it.)

Surprisingly enough...the prep for the floor was much harder than laying it. Here we are, just started into it. My husband made the cuts with his power saw.

The flooring that we bought had the "pad" attached to the back of it. Therefore, all we needed to do was snap the pieces together. You have to leave approx. 1/4" at the wall edge so it doesn't buckle. Small spacers were placed around the edge of the room. They call this "floating a floor" because it is NOT glued down or attached to the sub-floor in any way.
There were times when I had to run downstairs and watch a YOUTUBE video so we would know what to do next. Figuring out how to measure to cut the end pieces was tricky.

After a good majority of the day spent, laying the floor, measuring and cutting. It's DONE! We only took a break for lunch. Off we went to Lowe's to get new molding since the stuff we took off gets ruined when you remove it. I wanted a little bit larger molding anyway. We bought 4" white vinyl. I prefer the look of white next to the floor instead of trying to match the wood color. I like the white accents in the room.
Thanks to my hubby for all his hard work!

   Yeah! One room down, one to go. We also plan to do the hall and bathroom. Kind of ambitious but we aren't in any rush. We will just take our time.
This room is 10 1/2 x 10 1/2. The flooring and supplies cost about $200. 2 Days of labor. This was our first attempt at doing anything like this and I am really happy with the way it came out.
 It was a lot of work but well worth the results.
Looking forward to going to get a yogurt at Yogurtland and kicking back.
I am so glad to have tomorrow off so I can do something a bit more fun! Happy Labor Day!                                                                                                                              

WHAT WAS I THINKING?

I must be crazy! My husband and I ripped out the carpet, pad, tack strip and baseboards. Does anybody out there know that they staple the pad to the sub-floor? Not only did we have various nails but it seemed like 100's of staples that we had to hand pull (with pliers) out of the sub-floor. We are down to the bare wood. Lots of uneven nail heads to pound in. We are both sweating like crazy. When we purchased the wood flooring at Sam's Club, a young girl came up to me and said, "My Dad wants to know if you need an installer". I thanked her and told her we were doing it ourselves. WHAT WAS I THINKING? I should have taken his number. This is not a simple task so far. I will take a few pics tomorrow of the before. Better get on YouTube and see if I can watch an installation video.

Saturday Deals, Cats & Stuff

Today I decided I want to tear out our carpet upstairs and lay wood floor. I moved all the furniture out of the first room and ripped out the carpet. I just need to tear out the tack strips and baseboards next. I will show pics later. It's too hot to do anymore so I am taking a break until it cools off.

I went to a couple of thrift stores and got a few good deals I thought I would share. This is a Brighton coin purse in perfect condition for $1. Next is a travel purse that goes across your body. Brand new, warranty still inside. Had checked these out and they were $40 new. Found it for $7.

Here is a cool mirror that I got for $8. The shelf is a bit loose so I will have to use my wood glue on it.

Last week when my husband got to work, he found a perfectly good cat "tree", a new litter box and a brand new box of Ever Fresh Lavender Scent kitty litter. (We found out later that an elderly woman's elderly cat passed away and she didn't want any reminders left around. Very sad.

One of my cats, Roxy, has decided it is HER tree. She has been living on the top shelf.

She also was quite fond of this little foot stool I found. It opens up for storage inside and is in excellent condition.

Had to show you one of our Beastie Boys taking a siesta on the back of the couch. He is such a great cat!

If there ever was a perfect cat, it is him! I trim the cats nails pretty regularly and he is the only one who sits there with his paw out like he is in a manicure chair and allows me to trim them. The others hate it.

 Here is my sweet boy.

Bargains Galore

My sister gave me a long lecture about not keeping up my blog. Having a full time job (outside the house) keeps me so busy that I find it tough to do. Sometimes I feel like nobody would be interested in my activities which is why I don't do Facebook or Twitter. That seems way too time consuming to me. I work Monday through Friday and then Saturday mornings I usually meet my buddies to chat about life and things. Sometimes we are on our computers, sometimes we are crafting and sometimes we just talk about stuff. Afterwards, I make my routine stop at a few thrift stores and then home for housework. (Blah! Boring!)

Last Saturday I found a bench at my local thrift store. After 30% off, it cost me $4. I am sorry that I didn't take a "before" picture. It had blonde wood legs and a grey leather padded top. The leather was dirty and stained. I cleaned it up and then unscrewed the pad from the top. Sprayed the wood black and recovered the pad with the fabric I have used in my craft room. (Mary Engelbreit black background with tiny red cherries). This is the "after":

I am happy with the way it turned out and it is perfect for my extra craft table where I shoot my videos.

Bargain hunting has also been something my husband does. He usually buys from auctions. Last week he told me he was bidding on some stuff just because it seemed like prices were low. Sure enough.....he told me he bought an exercise bike for $6. He went to pick it up today and it is an older model Lifecycle. Perfect condition but old. There were no cords or anything but an electronic control panel. We searched it for where a cord might plug in but it didn't come with one anyway. My husband noticed a small door on the back of the panel and removed it. Inside was a 9 volt battery. We replaced it and we have a fully functional, heavy duty, gym quality, QUIET, exercise bike. Awesome. Just love to get a deal!

I am really starting to LOVE spray paint. It's my new best friend. I have a few more projects to work on (in my spare time). Can't wait. More later on those....

The heat we have had this past week has put the kabosh on any plans I had for crafting. It was such a relief to have such beautiful, gorgeous weather today. LOVE IT! Clear skies and a nice breeze.

Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend whatever you are doing!

Scotch Pink ATG Gun

I have always wanted one of these adhesive applicators but refused to pay the price. I think I was also hoping that someone would create one that was smaller. No such luck. I haven't seen these less than $59 and when Michael's and JoAnn's announced they would carry the pink ATG gun, I have been on the search. My friend, Nancy, found it at our local Michael's. They were gone by the time I got there. Went to another area Michael's and asked one of the stocking employees about it. (There was no display). She went to the back and got one for me. She said they received only 2. Oh brother! It is $34.99 and I was able to use a 40% off coupon.

Anyway....I have heard that buying the off-brand refills is NOT worth it. The adhesive is very stringy. Stick with the Scotch Gold refills and just look for good prices on-line or use a Michael's coupon. They sell them for $9.99. (I think there are 2 in the box) Believe it or not, sometimes I have a hard time trying to find something to use a coupon on.

This adhesive is very sticky. Once you stick your paper down, there is NO moving it. It's there to stay.

I am very happy with it and highly recommend it for scrapbooking, card making and crafts.

Scotch Pink ATG Gun

My Favorite Things Stamps

I came home today from work to find my very first order from My Favorite Things Rubber Stamps. In case you are interested,  their website is http://www.mftstamps.com/

The sets I received are in order from left to right

Better Get Better

Birthday Princess

Are We There Yet

They were $9 each

They also included a free alpha set with my order. I hope to get some samples made up and posted soon.

I really needed some stamps that I could color with my Copics. So many of mine are solid rubber and not the kind to color in.

I know my sis will read this, but the "Are We There Yet" set reminds me of when I travel to see her. I will be staying 8 days with her in October and I cannot wait! Plan to make her a card. We have so much fun together! Her hubby is going to be out of town so it will be just the two of us being crafty, thrift shopping, staying up late, laughing, blogging and just enjoying each others company.

Tonight is "The Batchelorette" and we enjoy a little "Batchfest" afterwards via computer voicing our opinions on what should have or could happen. Lots of fun. Look forward to our session tonight.

I heard from several of my friends who were able to snag some Cuttlebug dies from Big Lots. What a deal. I love to share!

TFL (Thanks for looking!)

Bargain Day

This morning I decided to get some housework done before it got too hot. While doing laundry, I was washing and folding "rags". Rags for washing cars, rags for dusting, rags for polishing....I decided I had WAY TOO MANY RAGS. I don't know how I collected so many but I filled a 20 gal trash bag with excess rags. That got me started and I went through a bunch of clothes and filled 3 more bags. I donate clothing and other things I no longer need once a month. It's nice to lighten the load.

Today my daughter came for a visit so we decided to go thrift store shopping. She found 2 purses (one of which I had to replace the strap on). They were nice leather purses that just needed a little TLC. I scrubbed them with leather cleaner and then used mink oil on them. I must say, they looked pretty good. Sorry, I didn't take a picture before she left with them.

A week ago, I found a cute summery top at my favorite thrift store for $1.50. Lo and behold, today I found another one in a different color. What a deal. So comfy and cool. A good day! Yesterday, my Mom and I went to a thrift store that was pretty junky. I saw a Sizzix machine (looked brand new) for $4.98. I was glad that I got $25 for mine when I sold it. Found a roll of vinyl for my Cricut for $1 there a few months back.

I don't know why but my car just wants to drive to Target, Michael's and Big Lots EVERY SINGLE Sunday. So off we went. I got a couple of necessities at Target. I also found in the $1 section, a bean bag lap table. (Think is was $2.50) It's been way too hot to have the warmth on me from my lap top. I will say it works perfectly. I keep it stored by my recliner.

Big Lots had sent me an email with a 20% off coupon TODAY ONLY. (Sign up in the store or on line...it's worth your time). We walked in and the manager was just putting out Cuttlebug dies. $1.60 after the 20%. WHAT A DEAL. Several of them were the embossing folder WITH the die for $1.60. Geez! Couldn't pass that up.

For probably the first time ever, I didn't buy anything at Michael's. My daughter bought some beads and things to make a necklace so we each used coupons for what wasn't on sale. Overall, a pretty good day with VERY LITTLE money spent but lots of deals.

I can never figure out why Saturday and Sunday just seem to fly by but the work week drags? Why is that?

Thanks for looking.

Lots Going On.....

Hi Friends,

How come there aren't more hours in each day? Been so busy. Re-organized my craft room and closet. I have a nice walk-in closet where I had my sewing machine set up. I decided to move it into my guest room and set up my table instead as a place where I can make my videos. It's all finished! Yay!

Got up the energy to paint my $3 yard sale chair to match the rest of my craft room. Here's a pic. In an earlier post you could see that it was brown. I made a black fabric with tiny red cherries (Mary Englebreit fabric) seat cushion. Love it!

I also did another video of a card. Wasn't thrilled with the card so haven't posted it. I added a few black stitch marks and some pink to the cat to make it a bit better. What do you think? Should I post the video? It doesn't require much knowledge other than I did cut it out with my Cricut.

Also finally got my 99 cent shelf painted. Plain ol' white to stand out on sage green walls. Figured since I was painting my chair, it was time to finally get this done.

My niece was just accepted into nursing school and we are all so proud of her. It's going to be a lot of work but she is very motivated to pursue this new career for her. Her parents had a fun family barbeque and I wanted to make her a card. Here is the one I decided on. (Just love the pink crocs!) Of course, I used my Cricut. Just love that machine! The cartridge was Everyday Paper Dolls. Used the nurse and some of the doctor accessories. So fun.

Also this month, my son celebrated his 32nd birthday! I found this picture of him on the beach when he was just a wee one and made his card from it. Scanned the picture and printed it in black and white. Stamped a Papertrey Ink message from Signature Greetings and then covered the photo with clear acrylic.

My sweet sister has been pestering me for months to do more on my blog. I have really good intentions but once I am home from a long day at work, I can't seem to find the energy. I absolutely LOVE making cards and doing crafts but only find time on weekends. I never wanted to be one of those people that doesn't keep up their blog. It drives me nuts not having more to post. So....I am going to make an effort to be more consistent. Hope you are all enjoying your summer. I remember the days when I was home with the kids and we spent most of our time camping and going to the beach. The good ol' days.......

Back to reality.

Thanks for looking!

Happy Birthday Mom!

Today is my mom's birthday. She is in Ohio visiting my brother and his family. Talked to her this evening and she is having a wonderful time. Love you MOM!

Cricut Lite Cherry Limeade Bird Card Video

Cricut Lite Cherry Limeade

Today I decided to do a quick card using one of my new cartridges. Here's a picture of the completed card. Supplies used: Cricut Lite Cherry Limeade cartridge, Papertrey Ink Birthday Basics "happy birthday" stamp, Colorbox fresh green ink, My Minds Eye "Mary Mary" paper, White square card.

New Cricut Lite Cartridges Exclusive to WalMart

Hi Friends,

As you probably have already heard, Cricut has released 24 new "Lite" cartridges exclusive to WalMart. They are priced at $39. Very similar to a Solutions cartridge but better packaging. No book but a laminated folder showing all layers. Here's the display at my local WalMart. Sorry it isn't a better picture. I took it with my phone. Here are the cartridges I felt I could NOT live without.

To date, there is an update for the Cricut Design Studio for all 24 cartridges but not yet for the Gypsy. Hopefully, that will be coming soon.

These cartridges come with the keyboard overlay, the cartridge and  the laminated tri-fold that shows all layers. It is a plastic box similar to one sold for VHS tape storage. You also get a REWARDS certificate for 30 pts. If you register this month, you will receive 50 pts.
I think they are a bit high in price and would like to see a $25 price tag (or lower). Some cartridges have an additional alphabet. For those with high schoolers, the Varsity Letter cartridge is adorable! My girlfriend got Slumber Party and it is a must have for little girls.  Both the B for Boy and the Sugar N Spice are great boy/girl cartridges.

This Celebrate With Flourish allows you to cut out the design just like it is shown on the package front. The layers for the different colors are specifically designed for the different color options.

This cartridge has mostly holidays but offers a really cute chocolate covered strawberry that caught my eye since I LOVE to make them (and eat them!)

Provo Craft seems to have an abundance of new products planned for 2010.

Hopefully, I will have some PROJECTS up or a VIDEO or two soon showing some of my creations.

On A Roll...

Wow! Am I on a roll, or what? Now that I have FINALLY figured out this video to blog thing, I have so many ideas in my head. Many more videos to come. Here is a picture of a gift bag that I made out of an envelope. Go to my VIDEO page and check it out. Here is the end result.

Easy Flower Frame

Happy Birthday Nancy!

I gave my sister this frame for Mother's Day. This is her little dog Izzy. She is a sweetheart. Instructions on how to make this flower are on my video #1 (May 31st). Check it out. Got the frame at the thrift store. My sister and I love to frequent yard sales and thrift stores! The flower can be at the top, bottom or side of the frame. Fun.

Flip Video

So....thought I would say how I did my video. I have been wanting to do these and couldn't ever figure it out or find a tutorial on how to do this. I have (and use) a Flip Ultra video camera. It's one of the original ones. Nothing fancy. No HD. Simple and easy to use. After you video, you plug the camera into your USB port. It automatically uploads to your FlipShare Video software and saves it to your computer. It makes it an "avi" file. I don't understand all this stuff but YouTube does NOT accept "avi" files. I then have to use Windows Movie Maker and "import" my video from the computer and then "publish" it in WMM to make it a "wmv" file. I wouldn't have known any of this without the help of my hubby. (Thanks Mark!) In Windows Movie Maker, you can edit,add titles, effects and closing credits. You then need to establish a YouTube account. It's easy to sign up. Go to your account and click on "Upload Video". Find it saved on your computer. Mine is under VIDEOS. I locate my "wmv" file and just click. It takes a while to upload to YouTube depending on the length of your video (10 min. maximum per YouTube) and I believe it has something to do with your router. Sorry I am not more educated on this. Just for reference...both my videos took about 19 min. to upload. Afterwards, YouTube has a button below your video that says "Enbed". Copy that code and then go to your blog and click on EDIT HTML. Paste the code and the video is magically up on your blog! Awesome!

OK....OK....

My sister has been bugging me to post some more things on my blog. Where does the time go?

So here we go....First off, I have scored a few great things lately. Coffee table from thrift store. $16. Figured it will work great for Christmas Eve dinner at our house. A few people can eat around it! It's huge....not sure if I will sand and paint it or just sand it. It's very distressed so no worries with little ones on it.

Next is my $3 stool for my craft room. Got that at our City Wide Yard Sale with my friend, Nancy. Had my daughters little convertible that day so Nancy had to hold it in her lap. Good thing it was a nice day and we had the top down!

I think I will paint it white. But for now, I wanted a cushion for it. Bought a pillow at the thrift store for $1 and covered it.
Here's the cushion.

Not sure if you can tell that it is a Mary Engelbreit tiny cherry print. My valance is a Mary E fabric from the thrift store for $1. All the furniture is white and I use black and red accents. I see you can see a tiny bit of a shelf I got for $1.99 that needs to be painted as well. My knobs are all Mary E cherry pattern. Love her art!


The last thing I need is another trimmer/paper cutter but I found this Fiskars one for 99 cents. It is brand new, has the fold out 12x12 arm. It was just missing the blade. I had extra at home so couldn't let it go.

A few more treasures. Got this little red storage cube at Target. Every time I go in my craft room, one of my cats, Smokey, follows me in. I keep the door closed so they can't get into all my stuff. They LOVE to play with my paint brushes! Smokey LOVES to sit in my chair. I bought this soft fuzzy storage cube and she thinks it is for her. Perfect for all my paper scraps.

OK....next item IS NOT MY IDEA! I received this cute gift

from my friend, dianne. It was made using the ELMO'S PARTY Cricket Cartridge (cupcake wrapper). Just roll up a pair of those fuzzy, cozy socks and then place a red pom pom on top. I was able to fit 3 of the wrappers on my 12 x 12 cutting mat.

Thanks for the idea, d.

Oops. One more thing. Made this frame for a friend at work. The flower is paper. Idea from the creative videos of  http://www.dawnsstampingthoughts.typepad.com/. So fun to make. Got the frame for 49 cents at the thrift and the black iron stand at JoAnn's. Love it!

Guess that's all for now. Are you happy, Jan? I finally posted again. Wish I had more time to keep this up.

Unfortunately, I lost all my pictures on my computer. Fortunately, I had them backed up and I just spent days putting them back on my computer. There always seems to be something more pressing.

Until next time. Thanks for your interest in my blog!

It's Been A Long Time.....

Seems like I just keep complaining about how long it's been since I posted. I can't believe an entire month passed but guess I just need to realize how busy I am.

A friend of mine showed me how to make a super easy pillowcase. The instructions were from a blog that is no longer. Not sure who the originator is and I would hate not to give a person credit where it is due. You can google "easy pillowcase" and find a video that shows you how. Here's a picture of mine. For those who have little ones, or make "holiday" pillowcases, this is a super easy one. You only need to know how to sew 3 straight lines.

Supplies needed are: 3/4 yd for the main pillow case, 1/8 yd for contrasting trim and 1/3 yd for the cuff. Super, super easy and fun!

The other thing I am super excited about is my Copic Cubbies.

 Bought them online at http://www.studio3solutions.com/.

Copic markers can be stored standing up or laying down. Once capped, they are airtight and how you store them does not matter. These cubbie shelves are a bit slanted so they are not sitting flat. I actually ending up laying  my cubbies on their side because it worked out better for my stamp table.

Also...recently returned from a fabulous long weekend in Henderson with my sister, my mom and some friends. We call it Scrapfest but we really just talk, play on our laptops, share ideas, shop, eat, laugh, get very little sleep and have a ton of fun. As a "Thank You" gift for our hostesses, I made these little Nugget Tins.

 All supplies are available at http://www.papertreyink.com/

Lately I Am Addicted to the TV....

For anyone who has been considering buying a Cricut machine, there is a website currently offering the Cricut Create and all current Cricut cartridges for the best deal I have ever seen on line or anywhere. The cartridges are just $29.99. Go to cricutmachine.com and check it out!!!

Also, if you love Copic Sketch Markers like I do....www.carpediem.com has them for $3.95. Compared to most other sites, this is a great deal!

I haven't been able to keep up with anything lately since there is SO MUCH on TV. I am way behind on watching the Olympic coverage. Kinda makes me not so excited when I hear who already has won the medals. Today I am watching the Nascar race from Fontana (drove by it on the freeway today) and I cannot believe it hasn't poured on the race track. The clouds are dark and black right over the mountains north of the racetrack but so far....the track has remained dry. There are only 30 laps to go and I hope they can finish. Nascar will not run in the rain.

Had a great visit with my Dad yesterday. If you don't know me, my Dad is suffering from Altzheimer's disease. A very sad time in our lives. My sister is doing an awesome job journaling about it. Check out her blog at http://www.digifreed.blogspot.com/.

I made a quick trip to JoAnn's today. Everything for papercrafting is 40% off. Everything I purchased was on sale. I now need to get into my craft room and begin my creating! I feel like I have gotten so much done today. Cold and chilly outside so I have tortilla soup cooking in the crockpot. I also updated my Gypsy and updated my Cricut Design Studio software. I am so impressed with Provo Craft for constantly listening to us (the users) and making some awesome improvements to the Gypsy. Simple to update. Just need to log in, hook your Gypsy to your computer and turn your Gypsy on and it updates in minutes.

Also want to say Congratulations to my friend, dianne. She just completed her final of 8 surgeries. She is a breast cancer survivor. So proud of her for enduring it all. Check out her blog at http://www.justmousinaround.blogspot.com/. She makes awesome cards.

Time for me to get busy in my craft room!

CHA Super Show

Attended the CHA Super Show with my friend, dianne. The most excitement seemed to be coming from the Cricut Cake booth (Provo Craft).  They have come out with a new machine that cuts fondant for decorating cakes. The blade cartridge is higher to accommodate thicker material being cut and running through. It's a cute RED machine. I believe all Cricut cartridge work with this machine although it comes with a "special" Cake cartridge.

Slice has a new pink machine and they handed out pink aprons to everyone. Cute.

dianne and I got to meet Robyn (My Pink Stamper). We follow her blog and have purchased her CD. She introduced 2 clear mounted stamp sets which we both bought in support of her for all the ideas she has given us. Robyn encouraged us to enter her drawing and lo and behold...I actually won an Easter cartridge. That's a first!

Our favorite Copic pen store (Carpe Diem) was there and I was able to pick up the new 12 colors. Great price for their Copic's at $3.95!

Found a few good deals on paper packs and clear stamps. Bought a couple of ink pads and a few other goodies.

Ran into Lorene Yost (sales rep) who I haven't seen in years. Great to see her. Also saw so many familiar faces of friends from the past.

Cricut Dan had a booth and good prices on cartridges so I was able to get FOREVER YOUNG. One I have been wanting.

Tomorrow is the CHA (Craft & Hobby Association) show for business owners. I am able to attend thanks to my former employer, Joan Bunte of Stamp Your Heart Out. Anxious to see all the new products and latest techniques. I am going with a group of friends. We usually split up but compare notes at lunch time.

It will be a long day but it usually gives me so much inspiration and energy to be creative! Can't wait.

Welcome 2010

Oh geez. Can't believe this is my first post of the New Year. Happy 2010 to everyone. I have been busy making cards. Got a cute clear bucket at Michael's and made some cards for a friend's birthday.

I have pictures of the cards that are in the bucket but it seems to be taking forever to upload the pics and I am getting frustrated.Started out using a Papertrey set but decided to use a punch for the leaves. The punch is by EK.

These are all Papertrey stamps and chalk ink.