BBTB2 Celebrations Cake

This week's cut at BBTB2 was chosen by our fabulous DT member Carole.  She's fantastic and I get so much inspiration from her designs.  Carole asked us to use the cake on page 99 of the Celebrations cartridge manual.  I used my Gypsy to attach the cake cut to a rectangle for a stand up shape card.  I cut the base from kraft cardstock, used a darker brown for the cake stand and the patterned cake paper was printed with my Cricut Imagine Best Friends cartridge.  I loved the stripes on the paper and thought it looked like cake layers. Making this card reminded me of when I used to decorate cakes years ago and making the sugar roses to go on the top of the cake.  In this case, I used paper roses.  I cut the word celebrate using the Wild card cartridge.

Honoring the Military

This post will stay at the top until after Memorial Day in honor of my military son and all the wonderful men and women serving our country in the military.  God Bless them All and their Families.

I came across a new challenge blog today called Creative Cutter Room.  They have a challenge just posted for a Memorial Day project to honor our vets.  It was just the incentive I needed to get a layout done for my son's Marine Corp album.  I'm very proud of my son's duty to his country and his choice to enter the Marines.  These photos were taken at his graduation from boot camp on Parris Island, South Carolina in 2004.  The pomp and circumstance was awe inspiring and a true time to reflect on his honor, citizenship, courage, bravery and commitment.  He is my HERO. 

This page has a photo of my son in his uniform in front of the memorial for Marine Corp members who have given their lives for our country since 1775.  It is a place for great reflection of the freedoms we enjoy at the expense of all the brave men and women who have served and lost their lives.

The element I'm most proud of on this second page is the picture of my son that I edited in Photoshop to place atop the American flag that I cut from the Stand and Salute cartridge. 

 I've had Photoshop for a couple of years and have yet to learn much about it.  To get this look I took a photo and selected Filter, then Sketch, then Stamp and printed it on vellum.  I was quite proud of myself when it was finished.  Here is a close up shot of the element.  That's MY BOY.

My American flag was cut at 6" and the My Hero cut at 2.75". As you enjoy the Memorial Day weekend this year I hope that you'll take a few moments to reflect on the sacrifices of the men and woman of our country's great military and their families. 

I'm also entering this layout in The Kraft Journal Stand and Salute challenge and Crazy About Cricut Thankful Thursday challenge.  You can click on the links to check out their challenges.

Flower Pot Card

 I was dying to make something using my new DCWV paper stack called Lemon Flower. It seems to be popular with quite a few people because I've seen it on lots of blogs.  In fact, I made this card for a challenge going on over at My Creative Time and Emma used the same stack for her cute little snail card.  The challenge calls for use of an older cartridge and the colors green and yellow.  I used my Gypsy and the Walk In My Garden cartridge for the flower pot and flowers.  I used two flower pot shadows, flipping one and welding it at the bottom.  I folded it in the center and stitched around the edges leaving the top open.  Then I used the border feature for the bottom row of flowers and welded two single flowers to the top to make a cluster of five.  I then welded a rectangle from the Plantin' Schoolbook cartridge so I could slide it into the flower pot.  I cut the welded flowers and rectangle from white cardstock and then I deleted the rectangle and cut the flowers again from yellow and then cut five individual flowers so I could do some layering with pop dots.

I added small green buttons to the center of each flower and embellished the pot with a gingham checked ribbon and a punched tag.  My inside sentiment was done on my computer.

Paper Cutz Challenge #93 Banner

Geez, Friday's seem to roll around so quickly lately.  It's time for this week's Paper Cutz Challenge and Mary asked the design team to use a banner on their card, project or scrapbook page.  I just happened to need a birthday card for my daughter-in-law so went with that theme.  This bird and banner were cut with my Cricut Birthday Bash cartridge.  I used all soft pastel scraps from my bin.  My sentiment is a Penny Black stamp and I mounted it onto a label cut from Cricuts Fabulous Finds and attached with a couple brads.  I was very excited to get my sewing machine back from repairs so I could do some stitching on this card.  Back in the day I used to do a ton of sewing.  I used to make matching hand smocked dresses for my four daughters when they were little.  They grew up and I hadn't used my machine in years until I decided to get it out one day for paper.  I was a little worried to use it on paper because it's a really nice and expensive machine.  Then it started making bad noises as I was stitching on my paper and I thought I ruined it.  I took it to the repair shop and thought I should mention what I used it for.  I was so happy when I was told sewing on paper wouldn't hurt it at all.  In fact, they told me that's how they teach kids in school now to use machines.  It's cheaper than giving kids fabric.  Who would have thought?

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a wonderful holiday weekend!

Cricut Cardz Challenge #76

This week at Cricut Cardz the challenge is for a graduation card.  Everybody gets their inspiration for design from somewhere.  My inspiration for this card came from a TV commercial.  I have no idea what the commercial was for or what company was being advertised, but as soon as I saw it my mind went to a card design.  I used a few cartridges to put this card together and come together it did, I think.  The graduation hat came from Wrap It Up, the running man came from Going Places and the parachute harness came from Everyday Paper Dolls.  My background paper was printed with my Cricut Imagine Best Friends cartridge and the grass came from the Plantin' Schoolbook cartridge.  The sentiments were done with my computer.

BBTB2 Florals Embellished Flying Bird

Happy Monday!  It's time for a new challenge at BBTB2.  This week is being hosted by our super incredibly talented DT member Donna.  She asked us to use the flying bird from the Florals Embellished cartridge.  I don't have this cartridge so I used the flying bird from the Simply Charmed cartridge and made a little wall art.  Since we will be leaving soon to travel extensively in our fifth wheel RV I decided I would make a few things to hang on the walls inside.  Since it is an RV and we'll be moving around we don't want anything heavy and my husband has issues with putting holes in the walls to hang things.  What could be more perfect than lightweight paper?  I thought the TAKE FLIGHT sentiment was just perfect because it signifies our journey that we are really looking forward to.  Our goal is to travel to all 50 states.  We've already got the majority of them under our belt but we'll definitely be hitting the ones we haven't been to yet.  I used several cartridges to put this picture together.  The background scalloped square came from the Storybook cartridge, the polka dot frame was cut from Don Juan, the bird from Simply Charmed and the sentiment from Wall Decor.  All of my patterned papers are Cosmo Cricket Gal Friday collection except for the background sky which I printed using my Cricut Imagine Best Friends cartridge.  The scalloped square is cut at 8.25" from kraft cardstock, the frame at 6", the bird and layers at 4", and the sentiment at .75".  I made the flowers to embellish the frame quickly by cutting spirals from the Mickey and Friends cartridge at 1", 2" and 3" and then rolling them up and adding pearls for the center.  The leaves were cut from the Plantin' Schoolbook cartridge folded down the center and then accordian folded to add dimension.  I also added some pop dots to the bird's layers for dimension.  Can I just say it's so exciting to have a hobby that I can take on the road with me.  I have a dedicated area in the RV for storage and working on projects and my Cricut will be going with me.  I am sad that my Cricut Imagine is too big and heavy to travel with, but my Expression has become a seasoned traveler at the ripe old age of 3 years.  Now with the ease of WI-FI around the country I still have access to the internet and will be able to post my designs.  LIFE IS GOOD!!!

Challenges:

• Fantabulous Cricut- Blue Skies and Cloud
• Our Creative Corner-Frame It
• Papertake Weekly-Something Floral (handmade flowers and floral paper on bird)
• A Spoon Full of Sugar-Anything Goes
• Crafts and Me-Anything Goes, Kraft

Paper Cutz Challenge #92 Teacher Appreciation

Happy Friday!  The weekend is on the way.  For this week's Paper Cutz Challenge Mary asked us to make Teacher Appreciation cards.  I was excited for this challenge being a retired educator.  I would have loved to receive a handmade card like this from a student.  I did receive some handmade cards from students, but they never looked like this.  They were dear to me anyway.  I used the Cricut Locker Talk cartridge for an assist on this card for my banner and the A+ cut.  My base card is A2 size cut from black cardstock.  My background notebook lined paper is from The Cutting Cafe and the edge is punched with an EK Success border punch.  The word teacher was printed right onto the notebook background with my computer.  I was so excited when I found this font called Stencil in my font library.  I thought it was absolutely perfect for this card.  My handwriting patterned paper is from October afternoon and is double-sided with the red polka dot paper on the back.  I used a Fiskars punch on the edge of the red paper.  I still have supplies leftover from when I was working and I have a whole container of red and blue paper clips.  I thought one would be perfect on the edge of my paper with a red gingham ribbon tied around it.  I'm going to give this card to my granddaughter Payton to give to her preschool teacher.

Florals Embellished Card and another baby photo

I just got the Florals Embellished cartridge the other day and wanted to try out a cut.  I wish I had it a couple weeks ago when I got a future assignment for a BBTB2 design, but I didn't and used another cartridge for next week's challenge.  If you have this cartridge you'll want to make sure you check out next week's challenge at BBTB2.  I won't give away which cut is being used on the cartridge, but it's a fun one.  Since I was trying out this cartridge for the first time and there are a lot of layers involved I stuck to the colors shown in the cartridge manual to make it easier to put together.  I wouldn't say this is a normal color pallette for me (pastels) but I had a Best Occasions pastel paper pack sitting around that I had purchased awhile back on clearance from Walmart.  The colors are bright and cheerful, I think.  My background scalloped rectangle is cut from the Elegant Edges cartridge.  Love, love, love this cartridge.  Since the holes were already there I decided to run a matching green ribbon through for a little embellishment.  I will probably added a stamped sentiment of some sort under the ribbon, but since I didn't have a theme in mind yet for this card I left it blank.  I'm going to enter this card in the Easy Craft Projects challenge for pastel colors.

This posting gives me a chance to add another photo of my brand new grandson born Monday.  It's nice to see him "unwrapped" with an outfit on.  As you can see my son is a huge University of Michigan fan and will transfer that love to his new little extension.  I think he's a gorgeous baby (of course, I'm a little biased) and can't wait to meet him in person.  For now all we have is pictures to go on until we are able to travel to Virginia, hopefully within the next month.

BBTB2 Sunglasses challenge and BABY NEWS

Before we talk about my design for this week's BBTB2 challenge I have to announce that my son and daughter-in-law had their baby boy this morning.  We're so very excited.  Everything went well and Kameron came in weighing 6 lbs. 5 oz. and is 19" long.  Here's the long awaited first photo.  My daughter-in-law looks pretty darn good for just giving birth, don't you think?  We can't wait to travel down to Virginia to meet him for the first time.  Not sure when that will be with this house sale and packing to move going on, but we'll get there as soon as we can.

Just received second photo

Now onto this week's design challenge for BBTB2

This week our fearless leader at BBTB2, Heather, asked us to use the sunglasses from the Forever Young cartridge.  As with all the challenges at BBTB2, if you don't have the Forever Young cartridge you can use sunglasses from another cartridge.  I used Simply Charmed for my card.  My base is A2 size white cardstock with a turquoise mat and a background paper I made with my Imagine Best Friends cartridge.  My sunglasses sunshine is cut at 2.75" from a scrap of yellow polka dot paper and matted with another piece of turquoise cardstock.  My sentiment tag is cut from the Fabulous Finds cartridge and my sentiment is computer generated.  I used my colored twine I made using my Copics.  You can see the post telling you how I made it from plain ecru colored twine here.  This card was pretty quick and simple to put together and that's all I have time for at the moment because our house is sold and we are packing up.  Everything will be going in storage and we'll be hitting the trail for some serious traveling in our RV.  I don't know how long we'll travel--I guess until we get tired of it.  We're really looking forward to having our retirement plans finally come to pass.  We retired a couple years ago now but had to wait for the housing market to pick up.  The house sold pretty fast and we're excited to be leaving it in the hands of a wonderful family with three children.  We raised our five children here and it will be a bittersweet day handing over those keys but we have wonderful memories of our time here raising our family.

Camping Critters Layout

I was so excited to get some new Cricut cartridges this week.  A couple of my kids gave me gift cards to Michael's for Mother's Day.  I got three new cartridges so I could take advantage of the buy 3 get one free offer that Michael's has going with ProvoCraft.  I was especially excited to get the Camping Critters cartridge.  As you may know, my husband and I spend a lot of time camping in our fifth wheel.  In fact, hopefully very soon, we will be full timers.  We are waiting for our house sale to go through so we can sign papers and hit the road.  I will probably be making more camping layouts as we travel.  This layout is for a couple pictures I happen to have from last summer when my daughter, son-in-law and two grandsons met us at our summer campground we usually stay in.  They just came for the weekend and we had a great time.  We're hoping to do the same thing again this year.  Only this time, we'll hope that they don't arrive to set up camp late at night in the middle of a downpour.  My favorite part of this layout is the title.  It's cut at 4".  The background sky paper is printed with my Imagine Best Friends cartridge.  I have gotten more use out of this sky paper.  I use it all the time.  I cut my hills freehand from kraft cardstock.  The porcupine roasting the marshmallow is cut at 3.25", the squirrel at 3", the forest trees at 6", the bird at 2', and the campfire at 2.5".  I added brown mats for my photos and journaling with simple grosgrain ribbon.

Paper Cutz Challenge #91 Graduation

Do you know anyone having a graduation this year?  If so, this is your week to check out the challenge at Paper Cutz.  Mary asked the design team to come up with graduation cards.  I don't have anyone in my family graduating this year but starting next year and for the next few years after that we will have grandchildren that will be graduating from high school.  Oh my gosh, how did I get so old to have grandkids graduating.  It doesn't seem that long ago we went to our own kids granduations.  I used a standard A2 card from black cardstock for my base.  I added a piece of Cosmo Cricket grid paper on top that I stitched on two sides for a little texture.  Then I used a note paper background digital stamp from The Cutting Cafe that I trimmed down for my sentiment and edged with an EK Success note paper punch on one edge and added a border with black cardstock punched with a Fiskars punch.  My sentiment is computer generated.  Next I cut a star with my Cricut Plantin' Schoolbook cartridge and a graduation cap from the Locker Talk cartridge.  I added a pop dot under the cap for a little dimension.  Make sure you check out the rest of the fabulous design team graduation inspiration at Paper Cutz and I hope you can join the challenge.

Cricut Cardz Challenge #74

This week we're doing a New Baby card theme for Cricut Cardz Challenge #74.  If you follow my blog you may know I have a grandson due within the next couple weeks.  This is the card I've made to welcome him to the family.  I cut my card from the Wild Card cartridge at 5" from white cardstock with the blackout feature on.  This cardstock had some swirls already embossed on it.  For the front of the card I pop dotted a second white star that I cut at 3.75" then another star that I cut from red polka cardstock at 2.25".  I used my computer to type up the sentiment and word strips then printed them  in red. 

On the inside of the card I added three mats I stitched with my sewing machine before attaching them adding the computer generated Welcome sentiment between the top and middle mat.  Then I added another star cut at 2.75" then cut my printed word "Star" with a Nestie.  I'm really getting anxious to see the new arrival and hope for his mom and dad's sake he's on time.  All five of my kids were born exactly on their due dates or early.  I'm so glad I was never overdue with any of them.  I hope you can join our new baby challenge at Cricut Cardz this week.

BBTB2 Simply Charmed Strawberry

I'm so excited that it's my week to pick the cut for the BBTB2 challenge.  I chose this cute little strawberry from the Simply Charmed cartridge.  It's the time of year when strawberry blossoms are turning into juicy red berries in my part of the country and it's National Strawberry Month, I just had to pick a strawberry.  If you don't have the Simply Charmed cartridge and you want to play along you can use a strawberry from any cartridge.  I used my Gypsy to make a shaped card by welding two strawberry shadows together at the top stem.  I used a scrap of red polka dot paper for my top strawberry layer.  I glittered the little pink cheeks for a little sparkle and added a red gingham bow to the top stem.  My sentiment is computer generated and placed atop a scalloped circle cut from Mini Monograms. I hope you'll have the opportunity to participate in our strawberry challenge this week at BBTB2.  I'll look forward to visiting your blog to see your creations.

My Pink Stamper NSD Challenge #12

Last but not least, the final challenge for the My Pink Stamper NSD event.  I can't believe I actually finished them all.  Hooray for me!!!  This challenge was for a kid's theme.  This layout will go in my grandchildren album and will be for my brand new grandson that is due in just a couple weeks now.  We are so excited to finally see him.  This will be grandchild number nine for us.  I used the New Arrival cartridge for my title, Mickey and Friends for the banner and B is for Boy for the airplane and journaling block.  My patterned papers are from the DCWV Nana's Kids stack.

My Pink Stamper NSD Challenge #11

All the way to My Pink Stamper's NSD Challenge #11...one more to go.  This is a color challenge for pink, green and black.  I used the Lacy Labels cartridge and decided to do a Hello card.  This will go in my stash to send to someone while we're traveling.  Allo the elements were cut at 4".  My background paper was a scrap from my bin.

My Pink Stamper NSD Challenge #10

It's challenge #10 for the My Pink Stamper NSD event.  Okay, now I'm exhausted and thinking I'm not going to be able to finish.  Thanks goodness Robyn gave everyone until Monday to finish all twelve challenges.  I'm determined.  For this challenge you had to make a project with a pet.  Of course, I went to the Create A Critter cartridge and used the poodle cut.  I had to use my favorite color combo of pink and black.

My Pink Stamper NSD Challenge #9

Whew!  I'm officially getting tired.  This is challenge #9 for the My Pink Stamper NSD event.  The challenge calls for glitz and glam.  Well, sadly, I'm not much of a glitz and glam kind of girl.  My card is rather boring I think.  The photo doesn't show all the sparkle of the paper I used for the sentiment and the dress which came from the DCWV All About Girls Stack.  Since it's night time now my craft room is rather dark so it's difficult to get good photos and I apologize for that.  I used Forever Young to cut my girl and the title.  I added small pearls to her neck for the necklace rather than use the cut from the cartridge.

My Pink Stamper NSD Challenge #8

Well, if nothing else these challenges at My Pink Stamper for NSD have forced me to get some long overdue pictures into a scrapbook.  I took these pictures last year when my granddaughters Paige and Payton came to visit us at our "camping house".  That's what Payton calls our fifth wheel RV.  Every summer for the past few years have been spent in our camper on the shores of Lake Huron in East Tawas, Michigan.  We absolutely love it there and have made so many friends.  Selling our house and packing up may interfere with the first part of our summer but hopefully we'll get back up there at some point this year.  All the paper for this layout was printed with my Cricut Imagine Best Friend cartridge.  That's my favorite thing about the Imagine is printing paper and knowing everything will coordinate.  I used my Gypsy Font to cut my title and the ladybug is from the Paisley cartridge.

My Pink Stamper NSD Challenge #7

Challenge #7 for NSD at My Pink Stamper is for a scrapbook page.  I've had this picture of my very photogenic granddaughter Paige sitting on my bulletin board to scrap for about a month now.  This was the perfect challenge to use it.  I used the Sugar and Spice cartridge for the elements on this page.  As you can see in the picture Paige's two favorite things are her thumb and her teddy bear.  Isn't she a beauty?

My Pink Stamper NSD Challenge #6

I'm halfway through the NSD challenges at My Pink Stamper with Challenge #6 which is to incorporate a tag on a project.  This is the title page for an album I decided to start to document the journey we will be starting soon.  My husband and I are soon to be full time RVers.  We sold our house and we're putting all our belongings into storage while we travel for awhile.  The album I've started is an 8x8 album because I thought it would be easier to travel with.  My Cricut machine, cartridges and some other supplies will be going with me.  I used Bazzill Basics dotted paper for my background shape.  I used Gypsy font and Graphically Speaking for the title.

My Pink Stamper NSD Challenge #5

The National Scrapbook Day event at My Pink Stamper has 12 different challenges and Challenge #5 is for any 3D item.  I originally made this for Challenge #3 for a breast cancer project, but then I forced myself to make the Breast Cancer scrapbook page.  So this became my entry for the 3D item.  This little bag was made using the Tags, Bags, Boxes and More cartridge.  My sentiment is computer generated and says Early Detection Saves Lives.  I know that to be a fact from a personal vantage point.

My Pink Stamper NSD Challenge #4

Challenge #4 for My Pink Stamper's NSD event is to feature a project  for Mother's Day.  Some of us no longer have mothers with us to honor on this special day, but I have two very special aunts.  I made this paperback book holder for my aunt who is a voracious reader.  The front has a detachable bookmark I made with my Gypsy and the Storybook cartridge.  The pattern for the book holder is a file from The Cutting Cafe called Book Box Holder

My Pink Stamper NSD Challenge #3

Challenge #3 for My Pink Stamper's NSD event was absolutely the hardest page I've ever had to put together.  Yes, it's a simple page without much substance, but it's the personal hardship it caused me.  I really had to force myself to do this.  As you may guess by the title I'd like to call myself a SURVIVOR, but technically it's still too soon to say.  I had my first scan yesterday since being diagnosed with breast cancer and I'm still awaiting the results.  The physical and emotional scars are still very raw for me.  I was not able to add the journaling yet because I couldn't force myself to do that part.  The day will come, perhaps after I get the results of the test.

All the elements and papers on this page are Melissa Francis' Breast Cancer line of products except for the flowers and buttons.  There are some breast cancer patients that find scrapbooking their journey to be beneficial.  I didn't find it so, but it will go into my personal scrapbook and I hope I didn't depress anybody too much with this post.

My Pink Stamper NSD Challenge #2

This card is for Challenge #2 of National Scrapbook day at My Pink Stamper.  The challenge was to use kraft cardstock.  My base card is kraft cardstock with a brown cardstock mat and a polka dot kraft cardstock made by Canvas Corp.  My flower is cut from the Cindy Loo cartridge.  My mat that I placed my sentiment on is cut from the Sugar and Spice cartridge.  I've never had this happen before and I'd love to hear from anyone that's ever had this happen to them.  This cut did not come off the cartridge like the picture.  I think the cartridge has an error on it.  It's the very last cut on the cartridge and the picture shows a mat with a curved scallop cut edge on the bottom edge.  This is what I got when I cut it.  As you can see there is no scallop on the bottom edge.  It's the strangest thing.  So I tried cutting it a second time and the same thing happened.  How weird is that?  So either the picture is wrong on the back of the cartridge or the cartridge has some kind of flaw.  My sentiment stamp is Hampton Art.

My Pink Stamper NSD Challenge #1

In honor of National Scrapbooking Day Robyn at My Pink Stamper has challenges going all day Saturday.  I've decided to try and make as many of the twelve projects as I can get done.  This cupcake card is for Challenge #1...anything cupcake.  I used the Sweet Treats cartridge to make my cupcake.  My blue patterned paper and the banner is from DCWV Celebration stack, the red polka dot is just a scrap from my bin.  I cut the bottom from brown shimmery card a half inch larger than the cupcak so I could run it through my paper crimper for texture and dimension.  It looks like the real thing in person.  My base card was cut from the Just Because Cards cartridge.

Paper Cutz Challenge #90

It's another Friday and another challenge for Paper Cutz.  This week Mary asked us to make a Mother's Day card.  I have two aunts that I wanted to honor for Mother's Day.  Both of them each had a son and sadly each son has passed away so I always like to make sure that I let them know how much they mean to me and how important they are in my life. For my first card I used the Cricut Heritage cartridge to cut my silhouette and my sentiment from dark brown cardstock.  My patterned papers are K&Company. 

For the second card I used the Cricut Storybook cartridge to cut the frames and the letters from black cardstock.  I placed them onto white cardstock that I embossed with the Cuttlebug Floral Fantasy embossing folder.  The red patterened paper is a scrap from my bin.  I added a dark gray grosgrain ribbon and a flower that I made using the Cricut Bloom cartridge.  I was fortunate to be able to spend my day yesterday with my aunts and take them out to lunch.  They live quite a distance away so it was nice to meet up at a halfway point and have time to visit with them.  We attended a scrapbooking expo, saw lots of wonderful stuff and had a great time.  I hope that everyone has a Happy Mother's Day.

Thank you card

This is a simple thank you card that I made for our real estate agent.  If you've visited my blog lately you may have heard me mention putting our house up for sale.  Our real estate agent is really fantastic and we knew her before putting our house up for sale because she's married to one of the guys my husband used to work with.  We've been pleasantly surprised with the journey so far and have accepted a wonderful offer.  If everything goes without a glitch closing should be around June 10th.  Of course, we're aware that nothing ever goes without some oddities but she's prepared us well.  I used K&Company designer papers for this card.  I used a Martha Stewart Thanks border edge punch and a lacy border punch.  My sentiment box was cut with my Cricut and my sentiment was computer generated.  I embossed the sentiment after I printed it with the Cuttlebug Japanese Scales embossing folder.  A big Stampin' Up ribbon bow, buttons and a couple of stick pins finish it off. 

An unusual post

This is a little bit of a different post for me, but there's a first for everything.  I just had to share this little tidbit with everyone.  One of the hottest design trends going at the moment is colored twine.  I've been trying so hard to contain my spending so I don't have to listen to my husband whine about how much I spend on my hobby.  I've really been wanting some of this twine and I've discovered a way to make some myself.  I took ecru colored twine and turned it into what you see in the picture above using my Copics.  I took a three inch wide plastic ruler and covered it with a paper towel to protect it from staining.  Then I wrapped the twine around the ruler and colored diagonal stripes onto it.  Instant colored twine and so much cheaper.  You could make it match just about any paper you had with the right color markers.  I was happy with how it turned out.  I've used my Copics to color flowers, pearls and brads so figured it was worth a try.  It's a darn good thing I saved money on this project because on Thursday I'm going to a scrapbooking expo and I'm spending.  I'm going to enjoy some time with my favorite aunt who is attending with me.  We always have so much fun together.  I'm also celebrating.  The first step of our house selling journey is over.  We got an offer on the house and accepted it.  Now we just have to worry about appraisals, inspections, packing and whatever else comes along.

Glitterbabe Hot Air Balloon

Well, I managed to make it into my craft room late last night for the first time all week.  It is unbelievable how many times we have shown our house this week because it's up for sale.  We showed it twice today.  All total this week we showed it eight times.  I've got my fingers crossed for an offer soon.  I hope we sell it soon because I'm totally tied of cleaning it for showings and not be able to make cards.  Anyway, this is a quickie I got done using an image from Glitterbabe's Digis.  Since this image was precolored it was quick and easy to put together.  I printed it twice so I could fussy cut the balloon for layering.  I placed the image on a base card (A2) size made of black cardstock.  I couldn't use a Glitterbabe image without adding some glitter so I used MS fine crystal glitter on the yellow stripes.  Then I simply added a bow and button to the balloon basket, a sentiment I made with my Cricut Lacy Labels cartridge and little doodling with a white gel pen. Voila!  Quick and easy.