Happy New Year

 Well, I can't believe that 2010 is over...where did it go?

Looking back, I have mixed feelings...Some of the highlights, (briefly)...My oldest moved back from across the country. I went on a (much needed) vacation to Disney World with my husband and 3 sons. (I hadn't been on vacation since 2005). My middle son graduated College and my youngest graduated High School.  My husband's father and uncle passed away. I (finally) started this blog. My youngest started College. I took a couple trips up to New York and saw some good shows.  Our baby girl, (an Australian Shepard/Husky) Lady passed away. We adopted a new baby girl, (an Australian Shepard/Pointer) Niki.

Now it's time to think about resolutions...not sure if I'll make any this year...most of them never happen anyway. So maybe I'll just hope and pray for the best and I guess I'll see where 2011 takes me.

Wishing everyone a Happy New Year. May it be everything you want and need....just imagine what you could do....

Pillow Boxes

One of the presents I received for Christmas was the Cricut Cartridge Wrap It Up.  It has the new handbook which, in my opinion since I am use to the old handbook, I think is harder to understand. I am sure that it will be fine once I get use to it. I do like that it shows you the location of the image on the overlay.

One of the images that I liked was the pillow box, found on several different pages. I cut the poinsettia one and thought it turned out really nice. (I don't have a photo of it, as I used it already). However, I thought that the pillow box would make a great gift card or money box even without the special image cuts on it. So I put it in Cricut Design Studio and used the hide selected contour to hide the inside cut design and then I also resized the box. I was able to get two (2) on a 12" x 12" mat. This is several of the boxes that I cut:

I thought that these would be great to keep on hand for birthdays.  I like the way they turned out either with "birthday" paper or with the solid cardstock and embossing. (I used Cuttlebug Embossing Folder Happy Birthday). Now all I have to do is make some coordinating tags.

Hope you like these pillow boxes...just imagine what you could do...

Trying To Recover...

I hope everyone had a safe and healthy Christmas. Did Santa bring you everything you wanted? I must have been a good girl, cause I did get some new crafting stuff...
The past week seems like a whirlwind to me. Last Tuesday, my husband, Joe, and I went to see "White Christmas" in Philadelphia. It was really good.
On Wednesday, we headed up to New York to see an off-Broadway show. Our youngest son gave us the tickets for Christmas. It was called "My Sinatra A Musical About Obsession". It was very entertaining. Before the show, we walked in Central Park for a little, then had dinner at this little Irish pub called Malachy's Donagal Inn. I had a cheeseburger and my husband had a peppers and sausage sandwich. We both thought the food was excellent.
On Thursday, my husband's family came over (his mother...she was visiting from Florida, his niece, and two of his sisters and their husbands) to celebrate the holidays. I decided to make pork roast for dinner and put three of them in the oven. Now can anyone please explain to me how one of them was cooked, yet the other two were pretty much still raw after cooking it longer than it said? In the end, I sliced them up and threw them in the microwave and cooked them that way. I was, to say the least, a little flustered. However, they ended up fine.
On Friday, Christmas Eve, we celebrated Christmas with our immediate family. My husband had to work out of town on Christmas Day, so we decided to celebrate it early so everyone was there.
On Saturday, Christmas Day, the boys, my husband's aunt and I went over to my cousin's house for Christmas dinner. Lots of laughs...always!
This brings us to yesterday where it snowed all day....it was just one of those lazy days. I did play a little with one of my new Cricut Cartridges (Wrap It Up). However, in reality, not much got done.
Today....well, the first thing is digging out of the snow...guess I better get that done...then maybe some crafting time. We'll see...
Hope to be back soon with some projects. Til then, imagine what you could do...

Merry Christmas

 

We wish you a Merry Christmas

and 

A Happy New Year!

                                                          ...imagine what you could do......

Two Mini-Albums

Hope everything is going well for everyone. Are you ready for Christmas yet? I'm getting there. Spent the last two days wrapping presents. I also made some chocolate covered pretzels yesterday. I make them every year but didn't think I was going to have time this year. I still have to get stocking stufffers...hopefully later today.

I haven't had much time for crafting, I hope that is not the case for all of you. I did want to share a couple mini-albums that I made a couple of weeks ago. I was inspired a while ago by an album that was on Cardz TV. Who knew what you could make with flattened toilet paper rolls, paper and ribbon.

This is the first one I made. It says "XMAS". The letters are cut from Cricut Cartridge George and Basic Shapes. The tags are from Cricut Cartridge Tags, Bags, Boxes and More in Cricut Design Studio.

The tags you pull out say "Wishing You a Very Merry Christmas!" and the last tag holds a gift card as their gift.

This is the second one I made.  It says "4 YOU". (It's hard to read in the picture).

The tags in this one say " A Gift For You. Merry Christmas". Again, the last tag holds the gift card.

I plan on making more of these. I think they would be great for birthdays. I'm always looking for different and creative ways to give gifts.

Until next time, keep crafting and get inspired cause imagine what you could do.......

Cookie Exchange, Banner, Mice, Ornaments and Cards

Seems like it has been forever since I posted anything. I had been busy getting ready for the cookie exchange and trying to get some Christmas shopping done. I think the week I was sick in November really put me behind.

I hosted the cookie exchange on Sun the 12th. It turned out to be really nice. Here are a couple of pictures of the table with the packages of cookies...

(It looked much better in person)....

I had made a banner for the wall in the kitchen...

and a close-up...

I used Cricut Cartridge Celebrate with Flourish for the ornaments (cut at 7") and Cindy Loo for the letters (cut at 3"). They were all cut with AC Specialty Paper, Foil.

After everyone arrived, we played a game...you introduce yourself, then tell a story that has to do with the cookie you made/brought. There were so many funny and interesting stories. Unfortunately there were a few stories about fires in the microwaves also, thank goodness nothing serious. I think everyone felt better after hearing all the other problems that the others had. We played a couple other games, had plenty of laughs and ate way too much.

In addition to my cookies I was exchanging, I made these mice...

They are made with an Oreo Double Stuff Cookie, Hershey Kiss, A chocolate dipped Maraschino Cherry, Almond Slices and Cookie Gel. They are not only cute, but they taste good too.

As a thank you gift, I made Ornaments with the Future Floor Wax and Glitter...

 I made them in gold, silver, red, green and blue. I also made cards to go with the gifts...

and two close-ups...

I used Cricut Cartridge Gingerbread (cut at 3 1/4") and Martha Stewart Punch Around the Page String Lace. The finished cards were 4" x 4". Don't you think they look like sugared cookies?

Well, this year's exchange is over...time to start thinking of ideas for next...ok, maybe not quite yet...I have shopping, wrapping and cards to get done. How about you?

Get inspired to have friends over and have some fun, cause imagine what you could do.........

Happy Chanukah...and a Christmas Wreath

Quick card for my friends that celebrate Chanukah.

Finished Card: 5 1/2" x 4 1/4"

Materials:
Cardstock: Silver and Royal Foil
DCWV The Winter Card Stack with Glitter
Cricut Lite Cartridge Inspired Heart Star David Base and Base Shift

I forgot to take a picture of the inside, however, it says "Happy Chanukah".

Here is a wreath that I made as a request after they had seen the last wreath I made.

 

The little black box that you see in the middle is a solar panel for the lights on the wreath. It looks really pretty when the lights go on. (I also added lights to the other wreath and garland after I had taken the photos).

Hope the holidays preparations are going well for everyone. We cut and decorated our Christmas tree this past weekend. Had a nice time with friends on Saturday and family time on Sunday. It gets harder and harder with all of our schedules. I'm just glad that we were able to work something out.

Trying to get alittle time for crafting, but until I get a handle on the shopping, wrapping and cookie exchange prep (just to name a couple of things), I think that it will be limited. Hope you can take some time for yourself cause imagine what you could do...

Dashing Through the Snow...

Can't believe it's December already. Where has this year gone? I feel like I am so far behind for the holidays... I am usually just about done Christmas shopping by now, and this year I don't feel like I have even started. Nothing is wrapped (of the small amount that I do have). Even the crafting, I don't feel like I have had time for that either...however, with that said, I don't know what I have been doing......guess I better get organized or something....Anyway, I did make this card awhile ago. I hope you like it...

Finished card: 5 1/2" x 4 1/4"

Materials:
Cardstock: White and Black
Cricut Cartridge Christmas Cards
Sizzix Embossing Folder, Phrases, Merry Christmas #2
Sentiment printed from my computer

Pretty simple card, but looks elegant, I think. You know, I bet this would look nice with either the Sizziz OR Cuttlebug Embossing folder "Snowflakes" also. Maybe I'll have to give it a try...


Happy Hanukah! (to those of you who celebrate...)

Try not to stress over the holidays...I think I'm starting to do that enough for everyone! Relax with a little crafting...(I'm going to try and take my own advice too...lol). Until next time, imagine what you could do...