Project Life: Week 45

Oh My Doodness!  OK, that is NOT a typo.  I am impersonating my granddaughter, Taylor, who just does not quite get "good" out.  Everything is "dood".  The other day she came in the house when I was making soup..."Omie, that smells DOOD!" is the first thing she said.  And then once she was behind me in a chair and hugging me and said "Omie, you smell dood!"  So...there you go..."oh my doodness I am behind on my Project Life!"  I did so well all year to fall behind at the last stretch.  I had foot surgery November 5 and then we went on a cruise the first week in December so just have behind, behind, behind....but I'll get it done...I promise....and all will be "dood".  Again.

Ok...I'm a speech therapist and I KNOW that "dood" is not really good at all....but really she's just fronting her back sounds.  The sounds you make in the back of her mouth (i.e. the k/g sounds) Taylor makes at the front of her mouth...t/d).  Lotsa kids do it at her age so I'm not worried....she will get it straightened out.  And if not....I know a decent speech therapist who can help her.  ;)

But mostly, I just love when she says "dood".   Life is way "dood".

Enough of all that doodness. And onto Project Life.

I actually have a few weeks done I forgot to post....here is Week 45. 
I know I used Thickers for the week card but I really don't recall what other papers I used.  So there. 

Here is the left side:

And yes....you can see my ugly deformed foot in the bottom right picture and my foot post surgery.  It's doing great, by the way!

I love these Scrabble tile letter stickers...

And here is the right side.  Lots of photos of cute little Wade.

And one of me in the hospital after my surgery.  Texting, of course.  LOL!

Well, that's it for Week 45...I'm going to spend some of my New Year's Eve working to finish Project Life for 2013.

Thank "Doodness"!

And Happy New Year to all...may 2014 be the best year ever!

Merry Christmas, Everyone!

For those of you celebrating Christmas, I wish you the merriest day!

We had a really fun day.  I spent the night with the grandkids and it was so much fun to see the excitement on their faces when they saw Santa had visited and must have thought they'd been good little children after all!

We had a wonderful meal with extended family....10 children and 15 adults.  Wonderful fun, good food, lots of noise and chaos! LOL!  Now my husband and I are back home where it's quiet and we are enjoying a glass of wine!

Here are a few more holiday cards I made:

The first is a CASE-ing of a Shari Carroll card (I love her work!) with the Simon Says Stamp Card kit of the month for December.  I cut the little tag out with my Silhouette.  The stamp set included in the card kit had a large XO stamp as well as one that stamped smaller images and both were used on this card.  I thought it was so darned cute!

I made one for each of my kids...they were so much fun to do.

The one below was also made with the same card kit which included Doodlebug papers.  I just liked the colors and printed papers....and I simply embossed the sentiment on red cardstock.

 This card also has a little Washi tape on it...can you spot it?  ;)

Hope your day was a Merry as can be!

Happy Crafting!

The Excitement Begins

My little grandkids are so excited that Santa will be visiting soon.  One wants a "Teenage Mutant ENGINE Turtle Secret Sewer Lair" (LOL!) and another wants "Minnie Mouth Toyth".  Too cute.  I love those kids.

I spend some time playing around with my toys and made a few more cards to get out.
Here is one I did which is a very proud, albeit shameless, CASE-ing of a Darlene DeVries card.  I did change out the printed paper but it is definitely her design.  I used the Simon Says Stamp Card Kit of the Month for December which you can see here:

I love the Doodlebug papers...so happy and festive.  Sadly the kit is sold out! 

Here is my card:

 I stamped the sentiment with Versafine Ink and then embossed it with clear embossing powder.  The little mittens were stamped with Stampin' Up ink and then I used a green Wink of Stella pen to give it a bit of shimmer.  And I used Glossy Accents on the little hearts.

It was a fun card to make....sometimes you just find a design you like and it is so much fun to duplicate and to also put your own touches on it.

Happy Crafting and Happy Holidays!

Santa Will Be Here Soon!

...am I ready for Santa?  Heck, no!  I can't believe Christmas is just a few days away.
Christmas Cards...yeah, I made and sent a few but I still need to get my main card done.  Uh, probably going to be a New Year's card instead!  ...maybe...maybe not....

Presents wrapped?  Uh...no. 

Cookies baked?   Uh...no. 

Decorations up?  Yep...sparse but they are there!

But I am excited because I do love this season....and I will be spending it with the grand angels.  We will spend the night at their house so that we can be sure to see all the Santa fun-ness! ;)

I can't believe it's been about 3 weeks since I've posted but I was gone a whole week on a Caribbean cruise.  See?

Here is our ship and I circled our cabin because I wanted you to know exactly where we were. 
Because that's important.  HAHA.  My friend is actually a cruise consultant/booking person and so I really did this for her as I wanted her to know exactly how it looked.  By the way...her name is Jan Pepe and she is the most thorough travel person we have ever used.  She works tirelessly to find the best rates and answers all questions and more!  She will give great service....I promise.  If you need a cruise or vacation booking person her email address is janp@mei-travel.com or you can check her out HERE.
Anyway, back to my ship and cabin:

 She got us a great deal on a balcony cabin which was not much more than an inside cabin.  That's how good she is!  LOL...that and thank you, AARP discounts.  LOL!!!

So we were gone which coupled with the Christmas season being shorter this year (due to Thanksgiving being so LATE!) has just put me so behind on just about every aspect of my life! LOL!!!  But it's ok!!!

I've been doing more little things with vinyl. I made this chopping board for my fellow wine drinking partner, Christine.

 That's Christine up top there....We celebrated her birthday. 
I did this on my Silhouette.  I found the jpeg on line of the wine openers and then just found a font I liked.  I think it was a very fun gift and she seemed to like it.

 

I also made her this wine tumbler.  You know, on the inside it looks like a wine glass but it's plastic and no spill.  Kind of like a sippy cup for an adult! LOL!

We have special names for each other and hers in "Chore Chick".  Long story....another day maybe.  I am "Crispy Chick" because I am known to burn things when I emboss.  Watch out if you see me with a heat gun!  Protect your carpets!

Well, that's it for today....I think I'll go make a few more cards to send on Monday!

Happy Crafting!

'Tis the Season to Be Busy!

I am sure everyone feels the way I do!  This starts the "oh my gosh, I'm so busy I don't have enough time!"  I know I have the same 24 hours a day that everyone else has but some people definitely seem to manage it better than others.  Me?  I am great at wasting time and then wondering why I am running around like crazy! LOL!

I did get my house decorated.  We bought a new tree this year....I had a 9.5 foot tree that just seemed to grow each year and got more and more difficult for my old man husband and me to put up!  So we gave it to my daughter and put up a pencil tree in our living room.  It looked so dinky for the past two years that I got it in my mind to get a new one this year.  It's smaller... 7.5 feet but wider at the base.  And it's one of that has a bit of snow and berries on it...as well as little "ice" chips and is just so darned pretty I can barely stand it.  And the piece de resistance is a rotating stand.  Too cool.  My tree does a pretty pirouette on its stand.

I haven't had much time for crafting but life is great! :)  I did play around with some additional vinyl this evening because I had a little time.
I made this little snowman ornament which is filled with that plastic snow stuff.  I just pulled the circles into my Silhouette software and cut it.  I didn't have any orange vinyl so I just cut and colored some white with Copics and a bit of Wink of Stella glitter.

I see that I have a top hat file that I may still cut out.  But how easy this was to make...
I also did another block or two.  Here's one I did tonight:

This was from a file in the Silhouette Online store...I just moved things around a bit.

And lastly I saw this great idea on a site devoted to Silhouette cutting machines.  I have always had this dilemma about what fonts to use and what fonts cut well, etc.  I do profess I am a font lover...and addict like many of you out there! LOL!  Anyway I saw an idea to cut some of the favorite fonts in vinyl and attach them to the cover of the Silhouette. 

Like this...

It gives a great visual of how the fonts look cut....so I think this is a nice beginning!

And that's it for today!!!

Tomorrow is another day and hopefully I can get more crafting done!

I hope you do, too!

More Fun with Vinyl!

Here's hoping that all of you celebrating Thanksgiving today have a wonderful day!  And best wishes to  those of you celebrating the start of Hanukkah!

We had our big family dinner on Sunday so my husband and I will be off to celebrate with friends today.  We all have so much to be grateful for!

Anyway, on to crafting.

I bought these small flat glass ornaments at Hobby Lobby a month or so ago (and will make a note to myself to buy lots more next year as these flat babies get sold out early!).  They work well for the vinyl newbie (me!) as you don't have such a curved surface to work on. 

I belong to a Silhouette Cameo group on Facebook and the things that people do with vinyl are just amazing...so many people do the most wonderful things with layering.  I'll get there.  Of course, first I need 483 different colors!  So I will need to start a new collection.

I made these very simple and festive ornaments for the little people in my life.  I love those little people.  They make me so darned happy.  Of course some of these are for my grandchildren but some of my friends have grandchildren and I adore their little people, too.

These were cut with the Oh Photo Shoot font downloaded for free from somewhere.  ;)  I also cut some 1/3 inch circles and slapped them on randomly....and on the back I put the year.

Oh so simple and fast.  And fun.

I simply tied some ribbon around the tops....

Here is a close up of one:

I think they will be cute hanging on a tree, don't you?

Again...Happy Thanksgiving, Happy Happy Hanukkah and Happy Crafting!

Vinyl Ventures

I have stayed away from venturing into vinyl with my crafting. Why? Because I thought it would be difficult and too much trouble.  Last year I made a few ornaments with vinyl but didn't know what the heck I was doing and had no idea what transfer tape was (!) so did it a really difficult way and said..."uh...this is NOT for me!".

Fast forward to Pinterest viewing and lots of videos showing how easy it is to work with.  I also found, through some recommendations, a great source for vinyl which is Expressions Vinyl with great prices, lightning fast shipping and good customer service.  So I placed an order and have been slowly venturing into the world of vinyl.

Here is my first project and I am thrilled with the way it turned out.  The Santa as well as the "Believe" phrase are from the Silhouette store....you just basically cut them out with a die cut machine...mine is the Silhouette Cameo, of course, and then slap it on your surface.  My surface of choice was a glass block from Hobby Lobby.  When finished... you stuff it with lights, tie a bow around and call it FINISHED!  And it does have the wow factor, in my opinion.

:)

I'm happy.

Look how pretty the phrase cut out:

I'm going to give one to my daughter and one to my future daughter in law when they come for our family Thanksgiving meal on Sunday.  I know they will love them!

Happy Crafting!

A Couple of Cards...

I did a little crafting over the weekend which was fun (I AM SO FAR BEHIND!).

I've talked before about how much I enjoy the Simon Says Stamp Card Kit which comes out monthly.  They are fabulous kits which come with SSS exclusive stamps that are so much fun and are generally so versatile.  My wish list at SSS is longer than my grocery list for food for Thanksgiving! LOL!!!

On to my cards....here is the October card kit and was filled with the cutest Lawn Fawn papers:

Looking at it makes me want to go craft right now!  It came with the cutest sequins that I have yet to use...and the paint...and the twine....so much fun!

Here are two versions of a card I made:

And most amazingly....I even mailed these out and did not put them in my personal stash to hoard! :)

Thanks for the emails and messages about my foot.  It's coming along.  I can even get a shoe on it.  Can't walk in it but I can get it on! LOL!!!  That's not true....I did have it on for a few hours yesterday and was able to get around my house pretty easily.  I'm doing great...I head back to the doctor next week and I hope he will be as pleased with my progress as I am!

Happy Crafting, my friends...and thanks for stopping by!

Project Life: Week 44

Well, I am on a roll....back to a bit of crafting as I mentioned in my last post.  I do like a bit of normalcy in my life.  Now I need to get back to some "normal" cleaning! LOL!

I hope everyone had a nice weekend.  It was not so pretty here....we had rain most of yesterday but I went to a friend's...the creative Libby Hickson of Hero Arts fame and had a wonderful afternoon of cropping with her.  You can check out all of Libby's creative wonderfulness at Libby's Little Addiction. She also posts periodically to Hero Arts so you can check that out, too!

I worked on Project Life and made a couple of cards which I will share soon.   I am amazed at how little I can get done! HAHA!

But anyway...back to Project Life...I did complete these pages last week:

All kinds of Halloween goodness!  Again, I seem to be in a trend to do photo heavy pages with just a tad of journaling. I haven't been doing a lot of filler cards and I'm ok with that.  Maybe I'll get a little more creative and "do it myself" in the next few weeks. 

I bought the cards which are by Me and My Big Ideas at Michaels after Halloween and the were less than $1!  Woohoo....I love a bargain like that!  And now the remainder are filed away for future years of Project Life!

The bracketed tag is from Paper Studio (Hobby Lobby's brand) and fits nicely on a 3x4 card.  Great for journaling!

Here is the right side:

The kids had a great time getting in costumes and trick or treating.  They have a great neighborhood that goes all out at Halloween. Lots and lots of trick or treaters....it was so much fun and they enjoyed their candy treasures!

Happy Crafting!

Project Life: Week 43

Well, there you go!  I was able to take my butchered foot and hobble down 14 stairs yesterday to work on my Project Life! Woohoo!  I even got a shoe on today.  Ten days post op and I'm in a shoe.  Ok, I will admit I only had the shoe on for about an hour but it's a start, right?

:)

So on to Project Life and Week 43....
Here is my left side:

 I usually make full "week cards" with no pictures but I like how Donna Gibson at 365 Days of Donna incorporated a picture as her week card.  (If you click on the link you'll see what I mean.)  Donna does her Project Life digitally which we know is a lot easier and less time consuming and less expensive as compared to THE REAL DEAL paper....  Just kidding.  She will slap me for that!  HAHA!  Anyway, she does do the digital version and her pages are always sooooo waaaaay cool.  Check her out if you're thinking about doing Project Life.  Even though she does the easier difficult digital version her pages are such an inspiration to me each week.

Anyway, I added a little flair button to cover an ink spot mistake spruce up my card:

 The papers and flair are from Fancy Pants and the Trendsetter line.  The "week" was stamped with a Hero Arts alpha set and the 43 was stamped with a Memories stamp set I have had for a very long time and is oh-so-versatile!

The journaling card below was done with the Fancy Pants papers...the stamps are from KI and I decided to distress and curl the edges a bit...and use a few little staples to adhere it.  Why?  Because I wanted to! :)

Here is the right side:

Whoopsie...a little glare on the top but you get the idea...look at those cute little feet!
And here is my journaling card...again...same line of papers with the KI stamp "remember this" at the top.

And that's it for Week 43. 

Stay tuned for Week 44....! Halloween WEEK!!!

Happy Crafting!

Project Life: Week 42

My crafting time will be minimal the next week or two.  I've had surgery on my foot and can't motivate the stairs to get to my craftroom just yet!  But I'm making progress and hope to be back in my little haven by the end of the week....maybe even sooner! :)

But before the foot butchering I did get Week 42 done of my beloved Project Life and here is the left side:

Again, I've used a photo heavy way of doing things.  Instead of individual journaling I just stuck numbers on each photo and then did a journaling card that corresponded to said numbers.  The easy way out! LOL!
Here is the "Week" card which I cut out with my Silhouette Cameo and used the negative cut.  The dates were stamped with a Basic Grey stamp (I think!).  I did a little messy stitching across the top.

 

Here is the journaling card...nothing too special except I added an enamel dot to it for a little dimension.

 

And here is the right side:

For the top photo of Wade's first bath I used a Lily Pad template so I could use several of the photos.  For some reason I just love the top left photo with the three images of Taylor reflected in the mirrors.  Too funny!
A few days after Wade was born I got my daughter to snap this photo (I think I already shared it) of the grand kids and me.
For my PL album I had it printed as a 5x7 and put it in one of the Becky Higgins insert pages.

For the reverse of it I had this photo of Taylor and Wade printed in a 5x7 size as well.

Just too cute, to me....and a rare smile from Taylor! 
And I just love her eyebrows!  If you look at the photo of her uncle behind the 5x7 you will see what side of the family she gets those eyebrows from! LOL!

And that's it for today.

Wish me luck in my recovery so that I can hobble to my craft room AND get back out on the tennis court soon!

Project Life: Week 40B

40B....that sounds like an apartment number!  Nope, that isn't what that is!  40B refers to the 2 page addendum I did to week 40.  Week 40, of course, was the miracle week that little Wade was born and joined our lives.  (BTW, I thought it was so smart of my daughter to deliver her full term baby on Week 40.   You know...it corresponds with the whole 40 weeks gestation thing.  I just thought that was so clever!)  Anyway, on the day after Wade was born he had several important people to come to meet him in the hospital and so I decided to make a 2 page spread for that.  A simple insert page would not do...I wanted to give this event it's own thing.  Follow that?

So, my camera battery was dying and even though I have 140 plus cameras all my gear including chargers are up at my daughters!  These pictures are not the greatest but if I don't get them posted they never will be!

Here is the left side:

Two very important people who came to the hospital were Wade's brother and sister.  I loved seeing them check him out.  Too sweet and they were both so in love with him from the first moment they laid eyes on him.
I used preprinted cards by either We R Memory Keepers or Me and My Big Ideas (sorry...the packaging was thrown away a long time ago and I just don't remember!) and some Thickers. 

Here is the right side:

I did some very simple journaling and used a lot of pictures but I got everyone in!

And that's it for today...Week 40B!

Happy Crafting!

Project Life: Week 41

OK, so my blog background has changed. Why is that, you ask? Well, I have been using Leelou Blogs for my free blog templates for quite a while. Periodically I like to change things up and put up something seasonal. I went to Leelou the other day to look for something Halloweeny and read that her blog templates will no longer be free and that after November 5 all existing blog templates will be removed (on a blog that has that template...like mine!). Now I totally get that...her blog designing takes a lot of time and it does cost her something and so now she is going to sell her designs. Really reasonable...$15 a blog template. Her blog templates are really, really cute. But when I read that I had one day to decide to have Leelou create me a customized template (apparently I wasn't getting the memo!) and I just couldn't make a decision! So I switched over to The Cutest Blog on the Block. That site used to have many more templates but just have a few. I quickly grabbed one up and here we are. It'll do....  I have no idea, though, why the text is all centered....I can't seem to figure out how to get it left justified (my preference!). 

(Ok, so now I am able to get each paragraph left justified but it defaults back to center justified if I don't manually change it...if anyone can tell me how to change it so it defaults to left justified let me know! ;)  I mean, this is such a huge first world problem, isn't it? LOL!)

(3rd "addendum"...I've changed it again to a background instead of a template and think I like the look better....at least I can READ my blog! And now I'm left justified again! Must have something to do with my brain!...now I just need a purdy banner....amazing how this stuff can just suck the time out of your life!)

Now onto more fun stuff....Project Life: Week 41! 11 more weeks and we will be at the end of the year (and then can start all over again! LOL!!!)

Here is the left side:

Although most of the week was centered around the new little guy in our lives I wanted to try to make sure I included some of the activities of the rest of the family.

Here is a photo of the whole family getting ready to come home from the hospital.  The hospital worker took a ton of pictures...this was about the best of the lot.  I love the look on Taylor's face...as she looks at Wade screaming...like "What the heck???!!!"

I made the banner with little EK Success punches and some Hero Arts alpha stamps and since my layouts were pretty photo heavy again I just journaled a bit on my Week card.

Below is a journaling card done with Me and My Big Ideas paper and a journaling card.  The little 3D bunny is from some random stickers I picked up recently at Tuesday Morning.

Here is the right side:

with a cute little filler card by Me and My Big Ideas:

More random stickers:

I also had a few of my favorite pictures of the week printed out in a 5x7 size and just put those in Becky Higgins page protectors:

And that's it for today!

Happy Halloween and Happy Crafting!