Winner of the $15 Amazon GC

Good Morning All

I wanted to let you know that Bonnie (mellocello1) won the $15 Amazon GC.  Bonnie has 48 hours to email me back to claim her GC!

Thank you all very much for all your support.  My hopes are to clean my scrapbook room this weekend and get back to crafting! It has been a really tough fall and I need some creative time!

Here are a few photos of the disaster in my craft room.

This fall one of my kids was in the hospital for about 3 weeks and out of school for 6 weeks. Between being at the hospital, other kids, home, etc. I didn't have a lot of time of anything else.  My other kids took over my craft room (suppose to be off limits unless I am in there) making cards for all the kids in the hospital on their sister's wing. How can I get upset that, right? Since I have had no time to clean up the mess, I just have the door shut. Amazing how when I don't see my craft room and all the exciting projects awaiting for me, how I don't wonder in there.

Again, hoping to attack it this weekend. I have so many ideas in my head! Have a great day and weekend!

Gift Card Giveaway Hop!

The Gift Card Giveaway Hop will run from Dec. 9th to 13th.  Thanks to I Am A Reader, Not A Writer and  Attack of the Book for co-hosting this amazing blog hop. 
The Gift Card Giveaway Hop is just in time to help with with last minute holiday shopping!! 
Over 100 Blogs are each hosting a giveaway for a gift card.

MY GIVEAWAY!
$15 Amazon.com Gift Card!
One lucky winner will be emailed a $15 gift card from Amazon.com.  Open to anyone who can use a gift card sent from Amazon.com.


Alternately if you win and can't use an amazon.com gift card you my choose a book of your choice from The Book Depository (Up to $15).

Thanks for all your support.


Check out the other $15 Amazon Gift Card I am giving away at Seaside Book Nook!

My Memories - Digital Scrapbooking

Imagine how excited I was when asked to try the #1 rated scrapbook software, My Memories!!!! I have ALWAYS wanted to try digital scrapbooking.  I have bought magazines, books, etc. but NEVER have I taken the final step.....purchasing software. Let me tell you this, My Memories Suite software is so amazingly,easy to use and I created two layouts in a matter of minutes. You read it correctly - minutes. It took me longer to decide on which photos to use than it did to create the layout. Picking which photos to use is going to be a problem no matter the method used for scrapbooking!

My Memories is the #1 rated scrapbook software that is affordable, fun, and extremely easy to use. 

There are so many things I could tell you about this terrific digital scapbooking software, but I don't want to keep you from getting started now, so I will just mention a few other items, like the Design Club. Design Club membership includes 5 digital packs every month, plus discounts on all other downloads, for only $5.99 per month. That’s less than $1.25 per pack! Discounts start at 5% and get bigger the longer you are a member. Let's discuss this...a piece of designer paper at a scrapbook store will easily cost a $1.25 and you get a "pack" (several different designer sheets per pack) for less than a $1.25. Amazing, right?

I wanted to share with you two layouts I did in 5 minutes each. No joke.

I like to have printed albums for my kids, so I took my layouts (on a memory stick) to Kinko's and had them print out my layouts, since I don't have a quality color printer. If you have a good color printer, you can just print directly to your own printer! Easy-peasy!

You can make page layout outs to fill a scrapbook, a complete photo book, cards and videos too!

Here is some wonderful things to keep in mind:

• Over 1,500 papers 
• Over 1,000 page elements 
• Over 30 album templates 
• Free downloads 
• Compatible with Windows and Mac computers 
• Dollar section 
• Blog and giveaways 
• Inspirational gallery 
• Free tutorials 
• Online photobook creator 
• Weekly challenges 
• Gift certificates

Don’t put off your important memories any longer (like I did), go to MyMemories.com and add My Memories Suite to your shopping cart now. Keep in mind - no long checkout lines to wait either! Stay in your pj's and create all day (and night) long! Think of all the gifts you can create too (more lines you cab skip!).

As a special for all of our readers, we are giving you a My Memories promotion code that provides a $10 discount off the purchase of the My Memories Suite Scrapbook software and a $10 coupon for the MyMemories.com store - $20 value!) 

PROMOTION CODE:  STMMMS77101

Connect: You can connect with My Memories on Facebook, on Twitter and/or the My Memories blog!

Buy It! You can buy the My Memories Suite Scrapbook software for $39.97 (or only $29.97 with promotion code above!).

Back to School Crayon Wreath!

This was so amazingly easy to make.  We took it to the school office for them to hang on the door yesterday and they were so excited to have a new decoration to kick the school year off!

Supplies Used:

• 12 inch Styrofoam wreath 
• 3 packs of crayons (24 ct)
• Red Ribbon 1 5/8 inches wide (needed 2 spools)
• Back to School Stickers - your choice
• Glue Gun

Start by securing the red ribbon on the back of the wreath and wrap around and around, covering the green wreath.

Arrange your crayons in the order you want them glued to wreath as this part will go fast.  On the wreath (for a section as big as you want) add glue and crayons right away.  Remember when using a glue gun, the glue is HOT and dries very quickly.

Once crayons are glued on, use the glue gun to adhere your stickers randomly around the wreath.

Once the stickers are glued on, I made a single bow (like tying a shoe) out of the Red Ribbon and glued to the bottom of the wreath.

That is it - all done and ready to go.  I wish I had time to make one for each teacher too, but with school starting Tuesday and my "to do" way too long....it's not going to happen!

I am so thankful school is starting soon!  Fall is coming soon....my favorite time of year!

Flip-Flop Card

I threw this card together in about 20 minutes. One of my girls had a birthday party - swim party - to attend.  I, of course, forgot to make a card.  So, with no time to spare.......

Supplies Used:
Card Stock: White 5.5 x 8.5 (scored at 4.25 to make the card 5.5 x 4.25).  Scrap of pattern paper (that I bought at least 4 years ago) 5.25 x 4.  Strip of white 2.5 x 4.  Pink 4 x 5 and lime green 4 x 5.
Pink Gem - Michael's dollar aisle.
Adhesive
Cricut Cartridge: Life is a Beach: Flip Flops cut at 2.5 inches
Stamp Set: StampinUP! Happy Moments
Ink: Paper Trey Ink, Snow

Adhere the pattern paper to the white card. Adhere the white strip to the pattern paper.   Stamp "happy birthday" on each flip flop in snow ink.  Adhere the green strip to each flip flop and top with a gem.  Adhere the flip flops to the strip of white.

Done!  There you have a quick and super easy card.  You could replace the "happy birthday" with any other saying or greeting.

Remember I love comments....please let me know if you like the card (or not)!  Feel free to become a follower on my craft blog....Peace Love and Scrapbooking.

A FIN-Tastic Birthday Card

Materials Used:

• Paper - StampinUP! Pumpkin Pie, Kiwi Kiss, Chocolate Chip, Tempting Turquoise; Bazzill orange, dotted swiss brown; K & Company Halloween pack; Michael's blue glitter
• Stamps: My Pink Stamper Even More Punny-licious, Everyday Life; Peachy Keen Stamps PK-753 Critter Faces Set A small
• Cuttlebug Embossing Folder - Swirls
• Ink - Paper Trey Ink True Black
• Pen - Uni-ball white
• Adhesive - Xyron (1.5 and 250), StampinUP pop dots
• Cricut Cartridge - Create A Critter

Create A Citter Cricut Cuts:

• Base of fish (Chocolate Chip) 2 x 1.26
• Fish (Pumpkin Pie) 2 x 1.26
• Fish body (K & Company) 1.52 x 1.26
• Fish head (Bazzill orange) 0.9 x 1.26
• Fish bowl (Tempting Turquoise) 4 x 3.28
• Water in bowl (Blue glitter) 3.5 x 3.38
• Sand in bowl (Bazzill spotted swiss brown) 3.24 x 3.38
• Plant in bowl (Kiwi Kiss) 0.81 x 2.43

Other: Kiwi Kiss to emboss was cut at 3.75 x 5.25

Given I have a gypsy, I am able to cut every layer at one time.  Here is the paper place on the cutting mat.

After the Cricut has cut the layers out, it is time to assemble.  Given that the "water" layer is glitter paper, I decided use my Xyrons to apply the adhesive. 

For bigger cuts I use my larger Xyron (250).

For smaller or narrow pieces I use my small hand-held Xyron (1.5).

For all the fish pieces, I used the same small Xyron.

Now it is time to put the fishbowl together. 

1. Blue glitter is applied to the fish bowl.

2. The Bazzill spotted brown paper is applied to the glitter.

3. The Kiwi Kiss plant is applied to the brown paper.

Now it is time to assemble the fish.  Again, I used the smaller Xyron.  Assemble the fish as follows:

1. The Pumpkin Pie fish is applied to the Chocolate Brown fish.
2. The K&Company paper is applied to Pumpkin Pie paper fish.
3. The light orange is applied to the K&Company.
4. The fish is applied to the fish bowl.

I used Peachy Keen Stamps - to stamp the eye.  I colored in the eye area with an Uni-ball white gel pen.

I used Paper Trey Ink - Perfect Match in True Black (the best ink out there).

Very carefully I combined two of My Pink Stamper stamps to create the saying on the card - Have a FIN-TASTIC Birthday!  I used my StampinUP black marker and "colored" over the words Have a (My Pink Stamper Everyday Life Stamp set) and stamped it at the top of the fish bowl. 

Next I used My Pink Stamper Even More Punny-licious set and "colored in FIN-TASTIC (did not color the exclamation point) with the black marker and stamped it above the water.  I did the same thing with Birthday! (from the same stamp as Have a) and stamped it at the bottom of the bowl. 

Assembling the card is the last part - I ran the 3.75 x 5.25 Kiwi Kiss paper through my Cuttlebug using Swirls embossing folder.  I adhered it to a white card measuring 4 x 5.5.  Using pop dots, I adhered the fish bowl to the Kiwi Kiss.

Mr. and Mrs. Wedding Card

As you all probably know by now, I was on vacation last week.  We spent a wonderful week in Grand Haven, Michigan (on Lake Michigan) and attended my cousin's wedding.  Here is the card that I made to go with their gift.

The wedding invitation was purple and cream.  I used a 5 x 12 piece of StampinUP Vanilla paper, scored at 6 inches, making the card 5 x 6 inches. The purple cardstock was taken from their invitation (great way to ensure the color is a perfect match and recycling!).  The cake was cut using Cricut cartridge Simply Charms at 4 x 5 inches. 

Photo courtsey of Cricut.com

Next, I used two embossing folders to create the texture on the cake.  I used swiss dots by Cuttlebug on the bottom layer.  To separate the layers in the cake, I used the Frills by Cuttlebug embossing folder.  The purple gems and flowers were purchased from Michael's in their clearance aisle.

Photo courtsey of Papertreyink.com

The stamp set Big & Bold Wishes from Paper Trey Ink was used for both the outside and inside of the card.  I used True Black ink by Paper Trey Ink.

For inside the card, all materials are described above.  On the back of the card (which is not pictured) I cut down their invitation and adhered it to the back of the card for a keepsake.

This card was so, so easy to make and my cousin and his wife (!!!!) loved it.

Fin-Tastic Birthday Card

I made this card for the My Pink Stamper Design Team Call!



Challenge: Make a card, scrapbook page, or other Cricut project with your favorite Cricut cartridge using the following colors......

• Orange
• Turquoise
• Green
• Brown
• (other optional color of your choice)

Here is the card I made for the challenge.

Materials Used:

• Paper - StampinUP! Pumpkin Pie, Kiwi Kiss, Chocolate Chip, Tempting Turquoise; Bazzill orange, dotted swiss brown; K & Company Halloween pack; Michael's blue glitter
• Stamps: My Pink Stamper Even More Punny-licious, Everyday Life; Peachy Keen Stamps PK-753 Critter Faces Set A small
• Cuttlebug Embossing Folder - Swirls
• Ink - Paper Trey Ink True Black
• Pen - Uni-ball white
• Adhesive - Xyron (1.5 and 250), StampinUP pop dots
• Cricut Cartridge - Create A Critter

Create A Citter Cricut Cuts:

• Base of fish (Chocolate Chip) 2 x 1.26
• Fish (Pumpkin Pie) 2 x 1.26
• Fish body (K & Company) 1.52 x 1.26
• Fish head (Bazzill orange) 0.9 x 1.26
• Fish bowl (Tempting Turquoise) 4 x 3.28
• Water in bowl (Blue glitter) 3.5 x 3.38
• Sand in bowl (Bazzill spotted swiss brown) 3.24 x 3.38
• Plant in bowl (Kiwi Kiss) 0.81 x 2.43

Other: Kiwi Kiss to emboss was cut at 3.75 x 5.25

Given I have a gypsy, I am able to cut every layer at one time.  Here is the paper place on the cutting mat.

After the Cricut has cut the layers out, it is time to assemble.  Given that the "water" layer is glitter paper, I decided use my Xyrons to apply the adhesive. 

For bigger cuts I use my larger Xyron (250).

For smaller or narrow pieces I use my small hand-held Xyron (1.5).

For all the fish pieces, I used the same small Xyron.

Now it is time to put the fishbowl together. 

1. Blue glitter is applied to the fish bowl.

2. The Bazzill spotted brown paper is applied to the glitter.

3. The Kiwi Kiss plant is applied to the brown paper.

Now it is time to assemble the fish.  Again, I used the smaller Xyron.  Assemble the fish as follows:

1. The Pumpkin Pie fish is applied to the Chocolate Brown fish.
2. The K&Company paper is applied to Pumpkin Pie paper fish.
3. The light orange is applied to the K&Company.
4. The fish is applied to the fish bowl.

I used Peachy Keen Stamps - to stamp the eye.  I colored in the eye area with an Uni-ball white gel pen.

I used Paper Trey Ink - Perfect Match in True Black (the best ink out there).

Very carefully I combined two of My Pink Stamper stamps to create the saying on the card - Have a FIN-TASTIC Birthday!  I used my StampinUP black marker and "colored" over the words Have a (My Pink Stamper Everyday Life Stamp set) and stamped it at the top of the fish bowl. 

Next I used My Pink Stamper Even More Punny-licious set and "colored in FIN-TASTIC (did not color the exclamation point) with the black marker and stamped it above the water.  I did the same thing with Birthday! (from the same stamp as Have a) and stamped it at the bottom of the bowl. 

Assembling the card is the last part - I ran the 3.75 x 5.25 Kiwi Kiss paper through my Cuttlebug using Swirls embossing folder.  I adhered it to a white card measuring 4 x 5.5.  Using pop dots, I adhered the fish bowl to the Kiwi Kiss.