My How She Has Grown!

Good morning! Happy New Year's Eve to you! I have had a lovely weekend away with my little family. It was an unexpected Christmas gift from my in-laws.  We stayed at a hotel in downtown Chicago, shopped, ate like kings, saw a Christmas musical, ate some more, and swam! With the kids getting older, it seems we fly in 800 different directions....so it was nice to reconnect once more. I took a few pics of our day together....

I have a love for photography and I am striving to get better at it.  I have been taking the camera off of auto and trying my hand at the manual settings. It has been a learning curve for sure, and sometimes frustrating.  But once in awhile the stars align and you get a shot like this one.  And especially when it is a shot of Cortney......

I am sure you didn't come here to see pics of my kids, so I will get on to business......scrapbooking! 

I created this layout over a year ago for the Cricut Circle of my little gal, Myla.  She was rescued from a mill and was 3 pounds of mischievous love! I used my Cricut, Kate's ABC's, Pretty Pennants, and the Cricut Font and Basic Shapes cartridges. 

I used a few stickers (SRM), some rub-ons, burlap, and rhinestones....

I love the Pretty Pennants Cartridge....such fun cuts!

Here's the little gal all grown up and a whopping 23 pounds! She has been a wonderful addition to our family, and I am so glad we were able to rescue her. 

I have one last thing to share with you!  I received an e-mail yesterday telling me that my card, Elegant Tiled Greeting Card, that was featured on All Free Papercrafts, was voted one of the most popular papercrafts in 2013. 

I was pretty excited! :)

May you and your family have a happy, healthy, blessed New Year!!

Brr!

Good morning friends! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! It seems that as fast as it came this year, it also was over in the blink of an eye. Yesterday I spent the day cleaning and organizing.  I haven't gotten in my craft room in quite a bit of time.  I have bee enjoying the time I have spending it with family.  Sometimes the crafting just has to take a back seat. 

Since I haven't made anything new that I can show you, I thought I'd pull out a layout I did for last year's issue of Cricut magazine.  It uses the Winter Woodland and Winter Lace cartridges.

I used a Tattered Angels stencil to create the swirls in the background.  I then sprayed it with a spray adhesive and quickly sprinkled it with silver glitter. 

The snowflakes were done with Winter Lace. I stacked them and added a white pom pom to the center of each. 

The bird and title were cut using the Winter Woodland cartridge. 

Lots of glitter........ 

Here is a quick recap of my Christmas......

Family, presents, good food, laughs....... :)

As always, thank you for taking the time to pay me a visit.

I appreciate it so very much!

Christmas Eve.....

Shopping completed, presents wrapped, food prepared.......we are ready (I am ready) to begin celebrating Christmas with my family. This is the time of year that I truly count my blessings.  And they are quite abundant. I am a very lucky gal. 

I have a card today using this beautiful vintage image of St. Nick. It is from Crafty Secrets and is part of their digital Creating with Vintage Christmas CD.  

The image was cut into a circle using a Spellbinder's die.  I backed it with a doily cut from Papertrey Ink.  The flower is Provo Craft's quilling kit.  It makes a gorgeous poinsettia! I added lots of glitter to it.....because I like to be consistent! ;)

I also added a bit of ribbon and rustic twine to pull it all together. 

I just wanted to share with you my kitchen tree.  I just love it!  It brightens up the corner by my sink and makes washing dishes just a bit less painful! 

From my family to yours....... 

Pastel Christmas

I am up bright and early today. Want to know why? Because I haven't finished my shopping! I am so behind with everything this year that I will have to fight the crowds, keep my patience, and hope I find everything I'm looking for.  

So before I head out the door, I wanted to share a card that was published in last years December Cricut Cards Magazine.  I used the Creative Memories, Tis' the Season cartridge to cut the card and the tree.

I added a bit of lace to the bottom of the tree, and glitter. Lot's of glitter.  The sentiment is from My Craft Spot. I added a bit of texture paste to the "hills" and sprinkled them with glitter as well. 

I added silver glitter to the star and adhered a rhinestone to the center.  

Wish me luck at the mall......I think I'm gonna need it! ;)

Almost the 25th

Good morning!  It's snowing a bit here and I am cozied up in my house today.

Time to get caught up with neglected laundry, long overdue crafting time, mountains of presents to wrap, and a Sunday meal with my little family. 

I have an ornament that was published in last year's December issue of Cricut Magazine.

It uses a little tart tin from Bed, Bath & Beyond and the Teresa Collins' Christmas Holly cartridge. 

I cut several circles and adhered them inside the tin with dimensional foam circles. This took up some of the space in the ornament. I added glitter and bling to the top layer. 

The jingle bells were given a swipe of glossy accents and sprinkled with glitter.  I hot glued them to the top of the ornament.  

I am off to grab my cup of coffee and head to my craft room for awhile!

Time to make something pretty! ;)

Have a wonderful, relaxing Sunday. 

One Ornament Two Ways!

Whew!  We are in the final lap before Christmas!  I was up late wrapping gifts for Cort's teachers, therapists, and bus drivers.  I also got my gifts ready for my 5th grade team and my students. I am such a last minute procrastinator!

Before chaos ensued in this household of mine, I actually managed to make several ornaments that I will be sharing over the next few days.  

I purchased two paper mache stars, but decided to go in two completely different directions with them. 

The first one is for my downstairs tree, which is done in bright colors.

I spray painted it with a lime green paint.  I brushed the entire star with glossy accents and sprinkled clear glass glitter over it.  I cut a snowflake using a Spellbinder's die.  I covered it with hot pink Stickles. 

I added a satin ribbon, lime green jingle bells, and some fun "sprigs."  

The second star was painted in a soft silver.  And believe it or not....don't faint.....I did NOT use glitter! GASP!

I used the Festive Poinsettia set from JustRite. It was stamped on vellum and cut out.  The pieces were layered and glued to the top of the star.  I added a bit of seam binding, and another glittery "sprig."  

I love how color choices can affect the overall mood of a project. 

Cort has her first choir concert today.  I can't attend, but her two grandma's will be there to cheer her on. 

Darn work. ;)

Tomorrow I am hosting a Christmas get together. 

So a bit of grocery shopping is in order....as well as a clean house.....and wrapped gifts......

Off I go!

Have a great weekend!

Winter Greetings!

The weather lately seems to be so unpredictable, and no parts of the country seem to be safe from Mother's Nature's wrath! Here in the Windy City we've had a lot of snow that suddenly changes to wet soggy rain. (Not pleasant when you have two dogs who seems to always find mud!);)

My card seems to depict that snowy, windy winter weather that Chicago is known for.  

This sweet image is from Crafty Secret's Winter Wishes digital set.  

I colored it with Copic markers.  I added a glitter frame around the perimeter.  

It kind of reminds me of a window....

I created a stick pin with "snowballs" on it.  I just threaded took 3 pom poms, swiped a bit of glue around them, and rolled them in glitter. I added a bit of lace, string, and 2 gold jingle bells to finish my card. 

And totally off subject here....but cheer leading season has begun!  

The girls have new uniforms this year....so at least my zillion pictures of her will be with a different color on!

Can you tell she is excited to get out there and cheer again? ;)

Her team is up to 8 girls and hopefully after the holidays I will get a decent picture of the group together.  

That's all for now!

Off to do a bit of last minute Christmas shopping tonight!

Have a great day!

Bath and Body Wallflower to a Holiday Ornament Tutorial!

I hope you all had a great weekend!  I had a busy one  to start and then came down with a touch of the flu.  Nothing too major but some icky stomach thing and feeling extremely tired.  I am feeling better today, and am so glad, because my "to-do" list is a mile long!

I have a tutorial today on something I created because my brain works in strange and mysterious ways. ;)  One day I was changing out the bulb from a Bath And Body room diffuser and thought to myself, "Hey! This looks  a lot like a Christmas bulb!"  One thing led to another and I decided to create ornaments out of them!  This is recycling at its finest! ;)

I did my ornaments in several ways.  Here is my first one....all pretty in frosty white and blue.

A bit of ribbon, felt snowflakes, glitter, and coordinating jingle bells. 

My second one is a soft pastel pink.  I added some acrylic gems, twine, and of course loads of glitter!

This silver ornament uses German glass glitter, a silver Prima poinsettia, pink pom pom trim, and a few leaves. 

This last one used Modge Podge and music paper and then rolled in glitter.  I added a red Prima Poinsettia and leaves. 

So here is what you start with.  Of course you may want to wait until all of the oil has diffused.  Why be wasteful? ;)

Once empty, take the cap and insert out.  Wash it thoroughly. 

For my first ornament (The blue one) I skipped the paint step.  But if you want a color, like the pastel pink ornament above then these are the steps you want to follow. 

Pour a few drops of paint inside and shake until completely covered.  Turn upside down and let the paint drip and dry. 

You will need Mod Podge, a foam brush, and glitter of your choice.  

Brush the outside of the bulb and then sprinkle with glitter.

I wasn't sure where to dry it, so I just plopped it right in the glitter container. (And yes, "plopped" is an official crafty term!) ;)

Once dry, I added an ornament topper that fit the top and added a few drops to secure it.  

Add your pretty decorations and a ribbon to hang it.

Here's one more peek.....

I hope I've inspired you to save those lil' Wallflower buggers!  ;)

Have a great day!