Black Belt

I've been working on a few designs for Christmas cards. My son came in my craftroom and really liked one design in particular. Then he told me I have a "black belt degree in Cricuting". LOL He occasionally makes a card and asks me to help with some items. I love it when he comes and spends time with me in my craft room!

So I guess I'm an honorary black belt! Thanks, Lance!

New puppy

We have acquired a new puppy in the last two weeks. My SIL who is a vet in SC brought in up to MD for my MIL, but the new puppy didn't get along well with her other two dogs who are several years old and not interested in romping so much. My husband brought it home with the thought that he could keep it with us unitl his sister the vet could take it back, but one look at that sweet thing and I was hooked. I knew the kids would be also, and even Ressie, our 1year old Chow mix has lots of fun playing with her. We have named her Tootsie (after the Tootsie Roll) Now if we could just get her house trained!!!! I will post pictures later. The ones I have taken so far haven't come out too well-she's always on the move and they tend to be blurry!
Danielle

Reposting a card for a contest.

I posted this card when I made it but I am reposting for a contest. I made this for Rachel's birthday. I used the Storybook cartridge to cut the numbers. I cut them 4 or 5 times in yellow and then added the patterened paper.

Cricut's 100th Cartridge

Provo Craft is celebrating the release of the 100th Cricut cartridge, Winter Wonderland! They are giving away 100 of that cartridge over the next 5 weeks. Here is a link to the description of the new cartridge. http://www.cricut.com/shopping/ProductDetails.aspx?id=361&s=1&sc=2
Take a quick trip over to the Cricut site and see what's going on!
Danielle

I have just discovered that The Cuttlebug Spot is having a contest - "The Journey to 1,000"! They are trying to reach 1,000 followers by the end of July and need your help. To enter all you have to do is go to their site, sign up as follower and complete a few easy steps and you could win a $1,000 gift certificate to Custom Crops (www.CustomCrops.com)! GO NOW and check it out at www.TheCuttlebugSpot.com

Pretty girls in pretty dresses!

Prom was on May 30th for my daughters' school. Amy was a senior and Rachel was a freshman. Rachel wasn't expecting to go at all, being a freshman, but one of her friends who is a junior doesn't have a steady girlfriend and he asked her. She was thrilled. I had to work that afternoon and when I got home from work the girls were just about ready to go. Ron took more photos, but they were on the 35mm camera and the film hasn't been developed. These photos aren't great, they are on my old digital camera that I bought about 13 or 14 years ago. I really need to get a new camera! Amy dress is a medeival style. The underskirt and the bodice insert are gold crep-backed satin, the overskirt and the rest of the bodice is ivory brocade and the sleeves are gold organza. It was such fun to make, but it took me a long time since I worked on it in short blocks of time because of my busy work schedule. Rachel's dress was purchased at a local department store since I didn't have enough time to make her dress also. Maybe next year I wil be able to make a dress for her.

Prom dress

Prom is tomorrow night and I just finished Amy's dress! That is just like me to be finishing up at the last minute! Amy loves how it turned out, and I will get lots of pictures and post them soon.
I can't believe I haven't had time to make a single card in the last month! I didn't get cards made for several birthdays and I wasn't able to get a card made for my mom for mother's day either. I had to settle for calling everyone on their special days. I keep wondering when life is going to slow down a little and it never does. When one thing is over there are always new things coming along to be done. I do have a long weekend coming up in June that I'm not working and have no big plans for yet. I'm hoping I can spend some time making cards then.
Blessings to all!
Danielle

It's really Spring!

I am loving the warmer weather and all the beautiful flowers in my yard. We've had a bunch of rain and those April showers are working to green everything up and make my flowers bloom like crazy. On one of the recent warm days I took a few photos of my flower bed and of the back yard. God has promised that no matter how bitter the winter, Spring will always follow!

Rachel and Reesie

Reesie won't hold still enough for a photo unless someone holds him, so I had Rachel grab him around the neck so I could take a new photo! He's almost as cute as she is in this picture. He is a real sweetie, but he is still apuppy and is in the "chewing" stage. He goes through a rawhide bone in about 15 minutes! He has also nabbed a few shoes that the kids haven't put away. He especially fond of flip flops and has ruined 3 or 4 of them, of course they weren't sets, but the girls have many pairs, so I'm not too worried. He did get a pair of Clark's that were Kristen's, but hopefully the girls will remember to put their shoes in the closet now!

Rachel's Birthday Card

I made a simple card for Rachel's birthday and decided I didn't like it at all, so I decided to start over. She decided to visit my craft room about that time and I let her decide what papers I would use. After she picked the papers I made her leave while I worked on it though! I cut the 15 about 4 or 5 times in yellow cardstock and layered them together, then added the patterened paper. They were cut with the Cricut from Story Book. The butterflies were made with a Martha Stewart punch and are all double layers. All the patterned papers are from the Berry Sweet stack from K & Co. The ribbon is from my stash. The sentiment stamp and the ballons on the inside of the front cover are by A Muse. I liked how this one came out MUCH better than my first attempt at her card. She liked it too!

Birthday Cards

I saw a challenge to use yellow, bright pink, lime green, bright blue and black together for a card. I just got these stamps recently and thought they would be good with these papers I've had for ages. I made the same card twice with different background cardstock. The cupcakes were stamped twice; once on patterened paper and once on white cardstock. I cut just the frosting from the white cardstock and popped it over the patterened paper for depth. The scalloped circles were cut with the Cricut from Mini Monograms. The sentiment is from the cupcake set (by Inkadinkadoo), and the photo corners were cut with the Cricut from Jasmine. I inked a bit and used stickles for the sprinkles on the frosting.

Prom is coming up!

Amy's senior prom is coming up in about 6 weeks. I am making her gown this year. I've made numerous gowns for the girls to wear to dances and they love it that NOBODY else will have a gown like they are wearing! Amy's gown is ivory brocade and gold satin, with sheer gold sleeves. I am just in the process of cutting the material right now, but I will post it when it's finished. I haven't sewn much lately, but I have lots of fabric and patterns and all the girls want a few new summer dresses, so I think I will be busy with that for a while.
I have been working nearly full time the past few weeks and as I work different shifts all the time it really wears me out to work so much. I'm glad to have a job I like! If I didn't enjoy my job it would be so much harder.
I spent the day with my friend Jenny today. We have been friends for 20 years and I so enjoy being with her. We went out to lunch and then she went with me to the fabric store to pick up a few things I needed for Amy's dress. We had a great time.
I've made a few cards recently that I haven't had a chance to post yet. My photo program wasn't working and when I got it fixed, I was too busy to upload the photos. Now I need to find the camera! I think I'll work on that tomorrow....
Danielle

More sad news.

In the past 3 days, 3 young men from our area have died in unrelated accidents. They were all the same age as my oldest daughter. One she went to school with, Ryan. He was engaged to be married and we also know the young lady and her family. The second, Nick, I didn't know, but my daughter had seen the man's family the night before he died. The third, Ben, was a distant cousin of my husband's. We didn't know him, but my husband keeps in touch with his granparents. I grieve for their parents, as my children are the same age and I just can't imagine the pain they are experiencing right now! Please pray for these families, that God will help them in their grief. Make sure you tell the people you love how you feel as often as possible, and give them a hug!
Danielle

I haven't posted lately, but I do have good reasons!

It has been super busy around our house lately and we have had some sad news also.
My Uncle died yesterday. He has been ill for several years, but the last few months he went downhill rapidly and he was hospitalized several times. His wife and children and several of his siblings were able to be with him in his last hours. We grieve, but at the same time we celebrate his life and have joy in knowing he is with his Savior and Lord in Heaven!
My father was hospitalized yesterday. He also has been in poor health for several years, but the past several days he has been very weak. He is already feeling better after receiving treatment for one day in the hospital and we are hopeful that he will be able to return home soon. I spent yesterday evening in the hospital with my mother and dad and when Daddy was finally settled in his room for the night, I took Mother home. My sister was coming to stay the night with Mother and I told Mother I would wait until she came. Mother insisted that she was fine, but a few minutes later she hugged me and said, "I really am fine, but I'm glad Lori is coming to stay!" I know she had a terribly hard day yesterday, losing her brother and having her husband in the hospital. In the past year my father's brother and sister-in -law died and 2 of my mother's brothers died. My mother also lost a cousin that she was close to.
I've been working a lot of night shifts lately, as one of the full time nurses had a week of vacation. I don't like to work nights too often, but I got through the week and next week I am only working day and evening shifts.
I have made a few cards lately, but I haven't gotten them posted due to problems with my photo software. I am going to try to get that fixed this week and hopefully I will able to post my cards soon. Blessings to all!
Danielle

Black and Cream cards

I bought the "La Creme" stack from DCWV not long ago and decided to make a batch of different cards with the same papers. I ended up making 7 cards (3 of them are a set of monogramed note cards.) All of the die cuts are from the Cricut Storybook cartridge. The stamps I used are Studio G and Clearly Wordsworth. 2 of the cards have cuttlebug embossing on them (Thank You and Birthday Girl). Now I think I need to do something really bright!
Danielle

St. Patrick's Day cards

My family ancestory is from a number of different countries but my siblings and I all feel closest to our Irish heritage (we have a bit of English, Scottish, German, Dutch and Native American, too), so St. Patrick's Day celebrations are a must at our house. Here are some cards I made for sister #2 and for my brother (the baby). I posted the card I made for sister #1 a week or so ago.
All the stamps are from Studio G. I used the Cricut for the scalloped circles (Mini Monograms), the bookplate frame (Fabulous Finds), and the gold shamrocks (Paper Doll Dress Up). I found the ribbon at WalMart last year after St. Patrick's Day on sale so I picked up a few rolls. I used a new border punch for the inside of both and the outside bottom of my sister's card. It's by EK Success and it's called "parisian". I had a little trouble getting used to positioning it for the second or third punch and it came out a little crooked, but I like the look of it anyway. On my sister's card I tied the ribbon in a knot before attaching it to the paper. I left it flat on my brother's card, since I have to mail it. I Hope they like them.
Danielle

Basket Tags

Kristen sent Amy to buy inexpensive baskets to organize our mail today. We seem to get a ton of mail and sometimes it sits on the counter and gets lost in the general clutter of the 6 of us coming home and throwing keys, purses or whatever else we are carrying on the kitchen counter. I made these tags for the baskets so we would know which basket was new mail and which one was opened mail to be filed. I cut the mailbox and letters from Doodlecharms and the grass from Zooballoo. The mailbox post is cut by hand and I doodled a little on it and on the letters. "You've Got Mail!" is handwritten with a gel pen. The cute little file folders are cut from Fabulous Finds. I hand wrote the letters on the folders, inked them with Walnut ink and hand wrote "To Be Filed". I hope it helps us keep things a little better organized, but I'm not holding my breath-LOL.
Danielle

Get well-Rose

Made this card tonight and didn't know what to use for the sentiment. I decided on a Get Well card because my daughter Amy liked this stamp. All paper from my scraps, Stamps are Studio G, Rose is cut with the Cricut from the Indie Art cartridge at 4". I cut it 4 times in pink cardstock, once in pink patterned paper and then the shadow in brown to give it dimension. I inked the stem with 3 different green inks and the rose with 2 pinks and a tiny bit of cranberry. Ribbon from my stash. I really like this rose cut. It's one of my favorites from the Indie Art cartridge.
Danielle

Just a Note

I made this card with leftovers from the Birthday card I made last week-it was easier than cleaning up! The sentiment stamp and the inside stamp are Studio G. All the paper was from my scraps, and the ribbon from my stash. I inked with walnut ink, used Martha Stewart butterfly punch and doodled with a gel pen. The paper flowers were a gift and the brads were from my stash. I think I like this one better than the birthday card. It must be the brighter ribbon and the flowers-everything else is about the same.
Danielle

Lance's Birthday card

This isn't quite what he described to me when he was telling me what he wanted on his birthday card, but I decided to take his idea and make it mine! He likes several of the cuts on the "Indie Art" cartridge for the Cricut and told me he wanted the grenade, the biohazard sign, a scull and something else that I can't remember! When I looked at the cuts I decided I didn't like them together. They wasn't a theme-except that Lance liked all of them. Since he is in the U. S. Army I decided to go with just the grenade and added the stars. I bought a U. S. Army stack by K & Co. a few months ago to make a scrapbook for him, but haven't used any of the papers so I got that out and found some patterned papers I liked, then matched those with the green cardstock from Bazzill and some parchment cardstock I got several years ago. The stamps I used on the inside are from Studio G and Inkadinkadoo, and then I hand wrote "to our favorite soldier". I added a lot of inking with gold and walnut inks, and doodled a bit with gel pen. I think it turned out pretty nice, and I hope he likes it too.
Danielle

Busy week!

I haven't had time to do any crafting lately-I've been working extra shifts. There were several call offs at work, and I also picked up a shift for someone, so I worked a double shift on Friday and another on Saturday, and then worked days today (Monday). I don't do doubles very often, mostly because I just get so tired when I do, but when someone calls off, I hate for the other nurses to have to work without the needed help. I certainly am glad to have a job right now, when so many people are unable to find work, and I'm blessed to be in a job I like. Tomorrow I have the day off and I plan on doing some crafting, at least a bit. Wednesday is my son's 21st birthday and he has already told me what he expects me to put on his birthday card, so I already know what I'm going to be doing. Hopefully he likes what I come up with. It seems that as fast as I make my cards lately my children say, "Mom, I need a card for ...", and so we look through my cards and they take a birthday, sympathy or whatever card. My daughter needed a sympathy card for someone she works with and my son wanted a birthday card for his friend's mom this week. That's why I make them! I love it that they think my cards are nice enough to give to their friends.
Danielle

Happy Birthday Butterfly

The butterfly cut on this card is from the Cricut cartridge, Tear Drop. It was cut from the same blue cardstock as the base of the card, then inked with several colors of ink. I also did a bit of doodling on it with a gold gel pen. Both the sentiment and butterfly stamps are from a set by A Muse. The ribbon is Offray and the paper is from my stash. I did a bit of inking on the papers in gold. I like the way this one turned out, but I don't think the pics show it very well. I had trouble with the lighting-too much or too little!
Danielle

This is my first St. Patrick's day card this year. I'm digging in my scraps again and this was the results this afternoon. I worked night shift last night and didn't have much sleep when I made this so it's not the best job. The vellum is a little crooked I think, but I really like this stamp and the background paper. I cut the frame corners with the Cricut from the Jasmine cartridge, used a Fiskars border punch, colored the image with colored pencils and mounted it with eyelets. I think it turned out OK for a card made by someone half asleep!
Danielle

My new puppy!

We went to the local shelter this week and found an adorable puppy. He is about 6 months old, and we think he may be a shepherd/chow mix. We have named him Reesie and he is setlling in nicely. He had 5 accidents in the house on the day we brought him home, but none since them. He goes into his crate at night to sleep with very little problems, stands by the door when he wants to go out and only barks when someone is coming in the house or when he sees someone he doesn't know in our yard. We are all completely in love with our new baby! I tried to get some photos of him, but as soon as I get down to take a picture he thinks I want to play, so my pics aren't very good. I will have to keep trying, but here is the best one I've taken so far.

Bright Birthday

This is totally different from my usual style of card. I usually stay away from putting too many bright colors together, but there was a challenge on the Cricut message board to use blue, orange and red together, so I gave it a whirl. I just bought the Taj Mahal Stack from DCWV and used the blue from that stack for the card base. The orange flourish is glitter cardstock cut with the Cricut from Storybook, and the flower in red and pink was cut from one of the patterned papers in the Taj Mahal stack. I used a Fiskars border punch for the red strip down the left side of the card. Inside I used the same red paper for the background, cut a scal;loped circle in blue and in white with the Cricut, and stamped and doodled the sentiment. I used another smaller flower cut from the Taj Mahal paper too. I like how it came out.
Danielle