Christmas Countdown

 As I was refilling this Christmas Countdown Advent Calendar  that I did a few years ago, I decided to post

it here for any that hasn't seen it. Made with a cookie sheet from the dollar store, the little 3D cardstock Trees hold little surprises for each day of the Christmas countdown. Spakling pipecleaners hold the textured trees together. A small magnetic on the back of each lets it stick to the board and makes for firm hold, but easy removal. It hangs from ribbon which is attached to sticky picture hooks adhered to the back.

First time using Design Studio and first Shape/Word book

Well I've been a cricut owner for a number of years, a cricut occasional user for some time and now with the addition of CTMH Art Philosophy I started using my cricut almost everyday for almost everything I create. I got a great deal on an Expression a few months ago, which opened up still another level of creativity with the cricut and I have discovered more of the AP cartridge potential with the large flowers, frame mats, and all the rest of the nearly 700 images available. A couple of days ago I finally got my Design studio software up and working (computer incapability issues) and found word (shape) books on youtube. Well here is my first attempt at using my Design Studio, along with the Base Camp cartridge and some CTMH cardstock. I haven't finished decorating this for JOSHUA yet, but couldn't wait to show you my first, but I can tell you, not my last Shape/Word book. I hope you love it, by the way don't tell Joshua about it (it's a present).

These could get addictive.

Chistmas Album 9x9

We had the most fun last week at my hostess club. My wonderful friends had seen the album that I put together after seeing the wonderful one Tracey did http://gr8scraps.blogspot.com/2011/11/9x9-dimensional-christmas-album.html,  and wanted to make one too.  I copied hers with some modifications mostly adding my poinsettia to the front raher than to a band to go around. This is a 9x9 memory album just perfect for those holiday photos. How about taking all those great photo cards you get at Christmas showing how the friends kids have grown, that we all love, and putting them in their own little album to look at and watch them grow.

The album folds out and has the cutest little pop out rolling white winter hills, with sparkling glitter glistening like snow. The trees are also covered in glitter and the christmas trees have red glitter balls. Sorry that the glitter is not showing up real well, but if you click on the pic, you should be able to see some of the detail.

Fully opened you can see both pages of pop out. I did not cover the back of the two middle pages, but you could for more pictures or leave it white to add your journaling or your pictures or your stories about this Christmas. The back cover of the album is te same olive cardstock with the red plaid. For the pop outs I found that the CTMH White 12" x 12" TRUE FIT™ FOLIOS https://janeo.myctmh.com/Retail/Product.aspx?ItemID=2901&CatalogID=171 works wonderful. They are a great weight and long enough to span the album pages and are truly white, so the trees cut in white daisy look terrific. I did find some lightweight poster board which I cut for my hostess club to use, since I didn't have enough folios for all the hills.
Again thank to Tracey Sanders for her ideas.

I've been creating, just not posting, sorry

This has been a really crazy month for me. I went to visit my DD's family over Halloween, We had a great time, with the weather turning crisp and the leaves changing into a burst of autumn glory. She lives in a area that is totally natural and in the summer it is hard to find the sunshine, but oh how glorious it is in the fall. Had fun helping with Halloween costumes, attended both school and neighborhood festivials and did some shopping.

What I also did was come home with a nasty cold which flared up my COPD and my chronic broncities and landed me in bed for over a week when I got home.

So now to show you some of the projects that I've done with my crafting ladies that meet here once a month.

Love the easel cards and using Art Philosophy for all the cuts is so simple and easy. I told you I love red plaid and poinsettia, so you will see a theme to my Christmas creations this year. The Believe paper pack is just perfect and of course this is my favorite one in the pack.

Gold embossing the words, just as a pop of glam, don't you think?

Used my silver metallic cardstock and some outdoor denim cardstock and of course my favorite cartridge, AP fir te cuts. Then embossed some of the same silver cardstock with a cuttlebug folder that looked like swirly snow to complete the outside. I've got more to post and will try and get to them later today to try and get caught up. I've just started playing with my design studio software that I was unable to use due to computer conflict and I've been having a great time. Hope you all are having as much fun as I am.

Masterpieces

Spent the week with my daughter Shannon, her hubby and my two beautiful grandboys. We had fun craving pumpkins, attending fall festivals with the 2 year old, going to the movies with the 5 year old to see Dolphin Tales (which was terrific) and working on some projects.

We found this idea at Oh So ShAbBy By Debbie Reynolds and just had to give it a try. We cut the letters out of Oh my crafts Vinyl using the cricut expression at 6 inches. Then made a trip to Home Depot for some 1x3 cut to length, some black paint and some epoxy glue. Walmarts had the clips that we needed to epoxy on the painted lumber for our gallery.

Then Shannon added a few pieces of artwork, the Masterpieces of a 2 and 5 year old, now with their own space to exhibit those special pieces. It was fun, inexpensive, and fairly quick (watching paint dry). It adds a special touch to their new home. Now the boys have a whole wall to display their Masterpieces.

Special Thanks

It has been a busy couple of weeks. A special thanks to all who helped make our Walk to cure Diabetes a huge success. Here we are on walk day.

It was a beautiful day, the weather couldn't have been nicer and the walk along the boardwalk with the ocean waves was great fun. It was so nice to see so many friends sporting Joshua's Rock Stars t-shirts and he won the best t-shirt contest. Shannon and Brian's goal was to raise $2,000 and to date they have raised over $3800 with the final totals not in yet. So wonderful job and thanks to all of you, dear friends and family. The two that will benefit from a cure in our family are Brian and Joshua and I hope that day is tomorrow. If you would like to learn more about Type I Diabetes and how you can help in the fight to find a cure, just email me and I'll be happy to send you some very good links. November is Diabetes Awareness Month and November 14 is World Diabetes Day, please wear Blue to show you care.
Craft wise, I made some thank you cards for Shannon to send out to those that attended the walk, sent a donation and helped with so many things, but I'll wait to post a picture until she has a chance to send them out. I did do a Christmas Album which I'll post to raffle off at a crop she was holding later that same day with all the profit from the raffle tickets going towards the walk fund.