2nd post of the day (yeah me!)

This is my second post of the day and it's only 5:19am here. But I just had to stop in and say I got my new Expression up and running! And now I can't wait to get started on pages. I can't really cut anything just yet because I promised Vele that I would wait until my birthday before I got the program just in case he wanted to get it for me. I am so glad that I have been keeping him in the loop about the machine because he told me yesterday that he was planning on getting me cartridges for my birthday. And of course I told him that he could, but what I would really want is some alone time with him and the MTC program. But my birthday is just 2 short weeks away (Jan 9th).

But I also wanted to come and show the page that I completed for LeiLani's birthday. I have been back and forth on this layout because I didn't like the photos (they turned out bad) but I really wanted her birthday photos not to be scrapbooked because they weren't perfect. So I did the layout anyway! I am really hoping to get all the kids 2010 birthday pages done and in both the family album and each one of their albums. So that is 6 layouts to complete in 2 days...I think I can get it done if I don't sleep at all! But seriously I am going to try to get some of the pages done. I can't have birthday pages from 2010 not finished when 2011 birthdays come around and LeiLani's birthday is also in January so here is her page...

Supplies

American Crafts- rub-on words and letter stickers

MME-plaid, star embossed, and dot embossed patterned papers (from the Costco pack from years ago),green dot

Fancy Pants- pink pp

Creative Cafe- pink lined paper

Maya Road-felt cupcake

MM-ruler paper, paperclip

Misc-Brads, bakers twine

Quickutz-label die, star embossing folder, name plate

Cuttlebug-embossing folders swiss dots, 3/4 in stars,1 1/4 in circle

Spellbinders-pinking circle

Tim Holtz distress inks-Spun Sugar

Thanks Z!!!

I was so super duper excited (and yes I occasionally say super duper, usually not in public lol) when I logged on today and say that there was a message on MTC forum thread I had saying that I was looking for a digital label cutting file.

This label has been on my mind forever and it is the only reason that I have purchased some of the October Afternoon label stickers that I did. The only thing is I didn't have digital cutter until now and I had planned on ordering the spellbinders labels 14 and was excited about it. But then after getting the Cricut for Christmas, I thought wow it would be awesome to have the file to cut from on the Expression then I could resize and use it over and over again and do tons of things with it.

Well last night I just asked if anyone knew if there was a file that looked like that out there...and one super duper awesome scrapbooker made me one. I think that was the coolest thing ever! I mean wow. Now I am new to electronic cutting and I still haven't figured out how to make my Cricut roll over and speak just yet, but I think it would take alot of work to make a digital file.
And even if it didn't, it was the nicest thing. It brightened my day because yesterday I had to return the Cricket 3xs and hopefully this one will work just fine once I figure out what I need to do next. But I just had to come on here and rave about the scrapbooker that is truly awesome because it just doesn't seem right not to! I mean she did after all make an awesome cutting label and then so that everyone could use it....here is the link http://scrappinwithz.blogspot.com/2010/12/label-for-you.html

if you want to download it and if you visit my blog and leave her a message cause it would just be nice to have a bunch of scrapbookers telling her that she is awesome! Thanks Z!!! Smiles

Hello everyone! I know that I didn't post my usual posts this last week but that mostly was because I was sick. I don't know why but we all got really sick these couple of days and have been battling sore throats and coughs. But being sick didn't stop us from having a truly amazing holiday. Everyone has been so happy playing with their new toys. And honestly I am proud of us because we didn't break the bank to get everyone what they wanted. And this year I was surprised with an amazing gift....I am now the owner of a Cricut Expression.

I had no idea that he was going to get one for me and even though at first I only wanted a QK/Life Crafter Silhoutte, I am now glad to have the Expression. I have been up for hours on the computer (on and off cause I still have to take care of the little ones) getting free fonts to add to the many that I already have, looking at other programs to add to the expression. I want more than ever to have it connected to a nice new computer (hint hint Vele, my birthday is in a few weeks...lol) but I am not a cartridges kinda girl.

I need to be able to do much more than what's in a little box and I can't even imagine the cost of each diecut set, most of those are more than QK fonts that I have purchased in the past. But anyways I had been reading about Make the cut and Sure Cuts A lot programs for awhile and since I am now an owner of the expression I thought I better download a free trial and test it out. And first off can I say I was going to download the free trials of both programs and then test each out. But I am not now. I have the program that I am going to get in a little bit. Make the cut is amazing. It is so easy to use! And I have been doing all kinds of things all day on and off welding words, making journaling boxes and not to mention the tons of you tube videos about the expression and MTC.

So before I go on and on about that I just want to say I am very impressed with the Cricut machine and now I can see now why there is such a huge loyal following of Cricuts. I just am really glad to be one of the few that has been won over! So hopefully sooner than latter I will get a chance to sit down and really work on some pages and cards. I can't wait to share those!

I just wanted to check in and share a page that I created for the scrap your stash blog. The challenge is to make a birthday creation and that was perfect for me to get some of the pages that I need to get done for the kids. So here is the completed page.

I used a ton of items from my stash. I haven't diecut a title in awhile and it was nice to do that. And even just a touch of stamping. Really only the date is stamped but it still was nice to pull out the supplies. I did do a lot of inking (as always) around most of the edges.

Here is the list of supplies that I used
dies/punches

Fiskars-triangle punch, decorative edge scissors

EK success-border punch

Cuttlebug-harmony letters

Quickutz-Chocolate unicase alphabet

Sizzix-doodlebug block letters

Spellbinders-star

Embellishments
Unknown-letter stickers

Maya Road-felt cupcake

Little yellow bicycle-journaling tag

Heidi Swap-fat cat pink letters

Making Memories/Joanns essentials-mini brads

Paper/cardstock

Echo Park-stripe-Life is good

MME-Bloom and Grow eye candy, Tres Jolie Bonjour, Abbey Road Lucky me sisters rings, Kaleidoscape baby girl light pink,

Elsie-Jack and Abby cupcakes

Ink/Markers

CTMH-ocean marker and ink pad

TH distress ink-shabby shutters, spun sugar

Zig-Chocolate marker

Stamps
Office supply date stamp

So absolutely excited!! I have some really great news...I made it! I applied for a design team spot on http://www.scrapourstash.blogspot.com/ and I made it! I am so excited to be part of a design team and it is the first that I have ever applied for. So I am patiently (not really ) awaiting my email to tell me where and what's next and I can't wait to get started (February 2011).

I also have a project to share that I completed that I have been waiting to get done for a little while. I love the 7gyspies printer tray displays but I haven't purchased one. But while garage sale shopping this past summer I came across a printer tray look alike. It actually was one of those very old wooden wall displays for knick knacks and such. I could tell it was handmade, because one side of it was made with a yard stick. So I got it. I originally was going to use it in the girls' room to make a mini open doll house kinda thing. And since it was only 10 cents I figured I could find something else to use it for if I didn't use it for the girls. But after spray painting it, red and then white, I realized that I wanted to use it for a mini wall display for our Christmas photos.

And here is the end result!

I love it!! It is so cute hanging on the wall. And the Christmas ball thing I picked up to originally go over the door to our apartment, but I decided to hang it above the shocking instead and then that's when I realized that above the balls was the perfect place for the tray. I purchased the ball thingie at a garage sale also! I got it and a mini snowman, a mini wirer Christmas tree with bells and something else? I forgot for $5. I still have to spray paint the mini wire tree a pewter color (to match my room decor) and then I will take a photo of that too. The plan was to have it on the table all Christmas season but that isn't the case. I can't find the right pewter spray paint yet.

Another quick post...I completely forgot to upload a photo of these cards that I made a long while ago. Actually this is one of the cards that I was going to make with my class in August before we moved.
The buttons came from the 1.99 section at Archiver's. I loved having that section to go through every few months or so cause you could really get some awesome stuff there. I think the company was Buttons Galore? The jute is May Arts as well as the ribbon. And I used the notebook border punch and a Sizzix mini tag that I had from a loonnnggg time ago as well. I love pulling things out of my stash to use for projects. I especially love rediscovering things that I couldn't live without and then somehow they get lost in the stash never to be used until that perfect time. And that is what happened with those Fiskars stamps. I had them and I just had to get them...they sat and sat and sat...and then finally I was able to create a really cute card. Love it when that happens.

I love this patterned paper! I also love this little tea cup.

I am excited to share photos of my now 14yr old son! I can't believe that he is actually 14 now. I really do love that he is getting older and somewhat more independent. His birthday was last week and I thought about uploading the photos all weekend but never really had the time to do it. But here is one of my favorites of him. I hate that is seems kinda blurry but it is an amazing photo of him still...

I swear that he is getting more and more handsome by the day. And yes if you can make it out...he has a mustache! Scary! At 13!!!! I joke that he will have a beard before high school. He thinks that would be awesome but I so hope not!

But besides that I have also completed my journal pages photos for several pages and I took photos of those also this last week. I am actually completely caught up on photos, it's just having the time to add them to the pages. Between the journaling and everyday life I need to add a few more hours to the clock so that I can get some other things done.

These are the few pages that I actually photographed to add to the blog before I forgot to get them done.

This first page is for November 26th. This was another day of Christmas shopping and also I created our labels for our presents. I have done this for years, but I journaled a little about how the labels have changed over the years and how now I have two little ones to keep my company while making them this year. And here is a close up of the label example that I made for the page accent. I kept these pages simple but added alot of my own handwritting.

This is November 27th's page.

The actual page is a transparency that was sold as a set on QVC yearrrsss ago! I mean a really long long time ago. I have all of them actually still and decided that I might as well get them out and use the if I could throughout this book.

A couple days later than planned

Is exactly the way things goes sometimes. I had planned to upload pictures of my completed pages for Thanksgiving and I had so many other photos that I wanted to share as well but what I learned is that Tracy without a broken foot can do so much more in a days time than Tracy with one. And so that means some things that I had planned on doing get pushed forward to the next day's to-do list. I was thinking today that this is just the wrong time of the year to have a broken anything. I mean I have my son's birthday, then the holidays and then my birthday the first part of January and then Ani's birthday shortly after that. This is just the wrong time, but sometimes you just have to do what you can when you can.

But I can say that although I still haven't printed the photos for the album that I have edited most of the ones that I want to use. And that I have really gotta keep my camera battery charged. That sometimes is the hardest thing to remember to do. Because unlike my old Sony cybershot (DSC??) this cybershot (DSC-H55) it doesn't take good pictures when the battery is low. And so I am seeing a lot of blurry looking pictures for Thanksgiving and our shopping adventure that Vele and I went on.

I am excited to share the Thanksgiving page which the journaling and the what you are thankful cards are completed. I think I will be taking photos of everyone solo again so that I can get some great photos.

so here is the layout....

and here is page one closer. I really can say that the flowers were not my original idea but I can't find my pumpkin Quickutz die. I love that die and have no idea where it is, I plan on unpacking my XXXL navigator bag, but I can't do that just yet since I need some more storage options for the stuff in there and it is possible that it is in there. And so that is why there are flowers there instead of a pumpkin. Page two is actually a 8.5x11inch baseball card sleeve sheet protector that I cut the first row of sleeves off so that it could fit into my book. On my previous posts you can see that there are a couple of these sheets throughout the book. I and I plan to use this one to put the 2.3x3inch photos of the family in there to match the card on the backside that tells what they stated that they were thankful for on Thanksgiving day.

Today was a really cold day and it was a perfect day to actually hand out cupcakes to the neighbors. So the girls and I made cupcakes (I made them, and they ate the M&Ms that were on top) and when both boys got home we knocked on several neighbors doors to hand out cupcakes. They were all surprised and there weren't many that we actually got to give out but the kids are happy cause that meant that they had extras. They want to do the same thing again but with my sugar cookies or chocolate chip cookies. I think that I can try to make some in a couple of weeks or so and do that again with them.

We got to meet a couple of the neighbors that we seem to always not see. But that was much fun and it surely will be the topic of my journal page for December 30th. Well I think I better head off to bed because it is like 2:30am here...