December Challenge for Scrappers' Cove

I have been so busy & have neglected my blog! Also have neglected my scrapbooking! I fell behind in my Christmas card making & also shopping. Finished & mailed all the cards but the shopping .... well, that will get done eventually!

Small town living is always great but at this time of year it is even more special. Love the "Light Up" ceremony we attend in Invermere every year. Radium held their very first ever "Light Up" last night. The village looks so festive. The big horn sheep headed over to see what the fuss was about but decided there were too many people so opted for heading up the hill instead.

 

I took some time last night to relax & create a page for the December Challenge at Scrapper' Cove, Invermere. I used my newest Lucky 8 punch to create the background. Yes, I got another one! :) I can't believe I didn't use my Cricut on this page!! And, yes, the year is 1988 ... I am that far behind as I don't go in any order when I create pages.

Thanks for visiting today & hope you like the layout.

Austin's First Tooth!

I finished the "First Tooth" page yesterday & had planned to write a post then but ran out of time. Went out for a "Girl's Night Out" at Meet on Higher Ground coffee shop here in Radium Hot Springs. What a fun night! Lots of refreshments, appetizers & sweets. The martini I had was fantastic but then I thought I better just have some wine after that potent drink! :) Venders had set up tables of their wares & it was so nice to see new things from Epicure, Scentsy, Lia Sophia & Bare Hands Spa. Lots of door prizes were handed out. Our table proved to be very lucky with 3 winners. I won a beautiful pair of Lia Sophia earrings! :) Also, we all made wreaths thanks to Shandrea of The Stem in Invermere. They turned out beautifully & since they are real & fresh they smell fantastic as well!

I love the photos in this layout! Such a cutie ... says a totally unbiased gramma! :)

I've had the Cosmo Cricket paper pack (Lil' Man) for years so am definitely using my stash! The pack has 2009 on it!! I didn't do a sketch ahead but I knew in my mind how I wanted this layout to look. It turned out to be a very difficult page to do! I just couldn't decide on the paper from the pack! It was either too busy or too blah! Anyway, I like the final product. :)

Cricut Cartridges:

Baby Steps - "First Tooth" with shadow @ 4" high. I added Glossy Accents to the top layer cut of the tooth. I added paprika Stickles to "First Tooth" as well.

Accent Essentials - straight arrows @ 1.25" high & squiggly arrow @ 1" high

I added some embellishments from my stash (using old stuff again, wow!) as well as a tag from the paper pack.

Thanks for stopping by! Jeff just informed me that 1 month from today is Christmas Eve! :)

Have a wonderful day!

Free Cuts in Cricut Craft Room

When I saw Provo Craft had some free cuts for Christmas cards in the Craft Room I decided to give it a try. I was really pleased at how well these cut but for some reason I had to use multi-cut 2 to get a completely clean cut & that was with a new blade on Bazzill cardstock - blade at 6 & pressure on max.

Both cards are standard size - 4.25" x 5.5". Glitter paper was used behind the Merry & Bright with some Stickles added for the holly. Final touch was some more of the gold glitter paper for the top & bottom trim.

 

 

The Happy Holidays has silver holigraph paper behind the cut. Again green & red Stickles & then some silver Peel Off trim.

 



 

 

For free cuts they turned out pretty nice. I think I will be  visiting the Cricut Craft Room a bit more in the future. I already have one of my Expressions designated as the Craft Room machine. :)

 

Thanks for visiting my blog & have a wonderful day! 





Remembrance Day

Things are very quiet here since Nancey & Mike left yesterday. The puppies are missing their cousin Zoe too.

Jeff (hubby) is a retired military man as well as a current volunteer fireman so he always participates in the Remembrance Day Parade & Service. This year Mike, also ex-military, attended with him. For such a small town there is always a huge crowd for Remembrance Day - both in Invermere & Edgewater. Nice to see. It was difficult to get pictures during the parade & service so I took photos when we got back home as well.

This was a very simple & easy layout to put together. The only Cricut Cartridge on this was Go Canada for the title & shadow. The poppies are felt flowers from my stash (they might be Making Memories) The poppy centers are also from my stash (Dollar Store purchase) & they worked great!

Thanks for stopping by. Appreciate the visit. :) Feel free to comment or ask any questions.

Monthly Challenge Page for Scrappers' Cove

My sister & her husband are still with us so I haven't been writing on my blog at all as we have constantly been on the go or busy creating! :) Having a great time! I will miss them & our puppies will miss their cousin Zoe when they leave this coming weekend. They are anxious to move into their new home in Langley so it will also be a happy departure until next time.

Our LSS (local scrapbook store) in Invermere BC, Scrappers' Cove has started a monthly challenge. This particular kit sold for $6.99 & included a 4"x4" QuicKutz die as well as a glitter pen, brads, 2 patterned papers & 2 pieces of cardstock. Rules are simple, use at least a part of everything in the kit. I picked up a kit for each of us to do.

Nancey's kit had a die which was an ear of corn. She had no use for the corn but needed to use the die so created the word "FALLS" with the pieces of corn. Very creative & it worked! She used a Cricut Cartridge for the title but I didn't save it on my Gypsy & am not sure which one it is.

My kit had a pumpkin die & I had the perfect pictures for the scarecrow patterned paper in the kit. I also used my Expression for the title but again, have no idea which cartridge. :( I used one of my Lucky 8 punches for the background. I love those punches! The little sign brads in the kit said "no hunting" but that didn't work for me so I used Smooch to paint over the brads, used my heat gun to dry it as it was taking forever & then printed "Fall" & "Fun" on clear tape in my label maker. They turned out great!

Thanks for stopping by! I will try to post a bit more regularly in the future. :)

I'm Back!

I have been so busy! No time for blogging :(

My sister & her husband arrived on Sunday for an extended visit to Radium Hot Springs while they wait for the possession date for their home in Langley. Possession date is the end of November so we have loads of crafting days ahead of us.

Our daughter-in-law arrived from Calgary with our Grandson on Monday for a quick visit. They will be leaving for home today. It always makes me sad to see them go.

So, the 3 of us gals have had lots of late nights making Christmas cards. Christina plans on selling cards at a craft fair in her community in about 3 weeks. She needs lots of cards so that has been the major focus of all the crafting.

I have managed to complete Austin's lion page though. :) What a sweetie!

This was a fun layout to do.

Cricut Cartridges used:

Animal Kingdom - lion head @ 3"
                            - "ROAR" @ 2" & 1.25" & then I created the shadow by hand as there is no shadow cut for this on the cartridge.
                            - lion border; 4 @ 1.5" & 2 @ 1.75"; the faces were stamped on using 2 small Peachy Keen stamps.
Zooballoo - grass border cut 3 @ 1"; I welded 5 of the grass cuts together to create a border. Then a cut them to place them along the bottom of the page. The 3rd border was cut in 4 places & popped up on the spots that were missing grass. The border was inked & the grass curled forward a bit.

I created the tag by hand & it says "Pick of the Pride". So true!

 

 

 

Thanks for stopping by! I appreciate your comments.

 

 

Barb :)

Had a visitor this week.

I am getting a cold & feel blah so didn't get the pages done that I had planned. :(

Here is a shot of my visitor from earlier in the week. He stood & stared at me while I was scrapbooking. By the time I grabbed my camera he decided scrapbooking wasn't his thing & it was time to move along.

 

 



 

 

 

Have a great day & thanks for stopping by.

 

 

Barb :)

Monster Mash!

Obviously Austin needed more than 1 outfit for all the events he had to attend for his very first Halloween. LOL! His Mom just had to buy this monster outfit for him & I had the perfect cartridge to use for scrapping it. :)

These pages started off with the background pattern paper being cut with a We R Memory Keepers Lucky 8 Punch. I used the outside cut from Classic Wreath. Once I had the background glued on I pierced around it by hand so I could add blue stitching. I used craft floss as it is thicker & shows up better.

The title is foam letters from a big bucket I got at either Michaels or a $ Store.

Created a tag & added some glossy stickers from my stash.

Finally I used a We R Memory Keepers Crop-A-Dile Corner Chomper (Scallop) on the photos & mats & of course I used some Tim Holtz distress inks here & there. :)

Cricut Cartridge Used: Mini Monsters

Green monster @ 4" high
Blue monsters @ 3" high
Pumpkin monster @ 4" high

The monsters cut out & went together so easily. I did opt for googly eyes for them all though. :) Much cuter!  I used Stickles on the eye patch & a glitter pen on the green monsters tongue.

Would you believe our little "monster" is only 4 1/2 months old?! Pretty strong little guy. :)

Thanks for stopping by. I have 1 more Halloween costume to scrap. Hopefully I will get it done today. Check back tomorrow to see if I managed to get it done.

Enjoy your weekend! ... Barb

Austin's First Halloween!

I bought this "Tigger" outfit for Austin back in September so was glad it still fit him 6 weeks later! He is growing so fast! I had such fun creating this layout. :)

The pages are very simple but look very nice in real life. There is bling & glitter that doesn't show in the photos.

Circut Cartridges used are:

Pooh Font - "Austin" welded with a shadow to about 7" wide
Pooh & Friends - "Tigger" with shadow 6" wide
                           - Bouncing Tigger 5" high
                           - Resting Tigger 2" high
                           - Laughing Tigger 3" high

All of the Cricut cuts were attached to the layout with foam tape. I tend to go through a lot of that stuff!! :) I also decided to use google eyes for all the Tiggers to make them cuter.

I used Stickles for the year on the tag and for some lights in the windows of the houses. I cut the house border from a sheet of pattern paper. Then I cut out some additional houses and used foam tape to pop them on top of their matching house. 

I used my I-Rock to add some jewels to bling up the starry night pattern paper.

Such a happy baby!

Austin didn't appreciate it when I covered his face for the picture. Gramma is mean! LOL!

Hope you like the pages. Thanks for stopping by. Please feel free to comment before you leave.

Have a wonderful day! ... Barb :)

What is all this stuff???

Casting Call



Poor Austin did not enjoy having his hands & feet in that *cold* gucky stuff for the 3D castings!

**Had a text from Brenda & apparently the yucky stuff is warm not cold! LOL! Still yucky!**

My friend Brenda came to the house to get the castings done & then she created beautiful shadow boxes for them. I love how they turned out. The foot on it's own is a fridge magnet bonus & the hand is also a bonus. :) Contact Brenda at:http://firstimpressionscastings.com/cu.php if you are interested in having castings done locally & she also travels to Calgary & area. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I used the following Cricut Cartridges :

Fancy Frames - for the large tag photo mat; I hid the inside cut & then cut the frame at 7" high x 10" wide. I used the outside border of the cut for page 2.

 Tags, Bags, Boxes & More - tag at 4"

Base Camp - title at 2"

 

I inked with Tim Holtz Stormy Sky distress ink. I usually use Tim's distress ink somewhere in my projects. :) I also used some Ice Stickles on the stars found in my stash. The rest of the embellishments are also from my stash but I specifically bought the Jolee's hand & feet castings for this layout.

 

Thanks once again for stopping by. Enjoy your day!

 

Barb :)

 

Finally Some Time to Blog!!

Hi everyone! I haven't been too good at posting but on the bright side, I have lots of layouts completed! I was at a 3 day crop/retreat this past weekend. I was joined there by my wonderful daughter-in-law, Christina. The men folk stayed at our home to look after baby Austin. I think it was a learning experience for them! LOL!

Christina & I had a great time at the crop which was put on by Scrappers' Cove in Invermere, BC & held at the Best Western. We both got loads accomplished for a change! We have attended this fall crop for the past 3 years & normally don't manage to get much done. Christina worked on Christmas cards while I did layouts.

This layout shows how confused poor Austin will be in a few years. Ryan is a die-hard Oiler Fan & Christina is Flames all the way! To top that off Grampa Jeff is a Canuck fan & wants his own page of Austin in his newly ordered Canuck jersey!! LOL!

As usual for me there are lots of Cricut cuts on this layout. I always use my Gypsy as well. :)

Cartridges used:

Dude - for the flame; cut twice @ 11" high
Robotz - for the title "Flames" @ 1" plus shadow & question marks plus shadow @ 1 1/2"

I used lots of Stickles on this page. The base cardstock is black on this side of the double layout & navy blue (looks black in the pic) for the right side so I stitched with white floss to bring the pages together. Used foam tape to pop the "?" marks as well as the pennents. Also used a Crop-A-Dile Corner Chomper from We R Memory Keepers to round the corners on the main picture & mats - used the "cloud" shape.

I think I like this side better. :) I'm pleased how good the Oiler symbol turned out even though it was so simple to create.

Cartridges used:

George - for the circles - cut all inside each other @ 8" 9" & 10" - used the 8" & 10" cuts
A Child's Year - for the oil drop (actual cut is a rain drop) cut 1 each at 2" 2 1/2" & 3"
Robotz - for the title "Oilers" (plus shadow) starting at 1" for "O"; 1 1/4" "I"; 1 1/2" "L & E"; 1 1/2" "R" & 1 1/4" "S"

The picture of my son & daughter-in-law squaring off here fit perfect with the page. :)

Thanks for stopping by & feel free to leave any comments & suggestions you may have. Have a great day ... Barb :)

Enfys at Going Buggy is giving away a set of 148 ProMarkers. Visit her blog for a chance to win this awesome prize!

http://going-buggy.blogspot.ca/

I've spent a few hours attempting to put the "Pinterest Button" here somewhere but nothing I do pleases the computer gods so will leave that for a while. Something to do with the URL having things that it shouldn't but I just copied & pasted from Pinterest Goodies.


Here is a layout I did recently as I am a new gramma (June 17/12 on Father's Day). The LO was actually done as a kit for the LSS to sell. I made kits for about 18 months (42 kits in all!) but when my friend sold the store I decided it was a good time to get out of the kit making business. It was a lot of fun but very time consuming. Also, I had to use things in the LO's that were going in the kit & nothing else. Some of the kits, like this one, were done with older papers & products to get them moving out of the store inventory.

This kit included the following:

12”x12” Bazzill Cardstock – 2 White & 1 Blue, 1 12”x6” Bazzill Cardstock - Lilac, 7 Pre-Punched Border Strips in Various Patterns from DCWV Papers, Package of Flora Doodles Brads, Package of Flora Doodles Glittered Daisy Flowers, Package of Flora Doodles Glittered Butterflies & Dragonflies, Packet of Green Floss, Ribbon, Computer Generated Quote, Stitching Template, Large Die-Cut Heart, Small Die-Cut Heart with Shadow & Die-Cut Title with Shadow.

 

The photo mats are for 4"x6" pictures

For this layout I used:

Cursive 101 was welded together for the title - "B" & "G" were cut @ 2.5" high & not welded with the other letters. The remaining letters cut at 1.5" high. I then cut a shadow to match.

Doodlecharms for all the hearts. Large background heart cut @ 10" high, small heart tag @ 3.5" high & a shadow for the tag @ 4.00" high.

 

Day 2 of blogging & I'm still trying to build my page & make it pretty. :) I'm going to attempt to add a photo now. Shudder!

 

 

Wow! That was easy ... just like the Staples Easy button. :)

 

This is a Layout I did for the 2nd Annual Canadian Gals On-Line Cricut Swarm. The challenges in the swarm are also what got me thinking I should start a blog as everyone seems to have one.

 

I used Graphically Speaking for the title - Precious @ 7" & Treasure @ 6". I cut the words about 5 times to create a chipboard effect as none of my cricuts like to cut chipboard. Then I used gold, copper & lime green Inka Gold to color the title & make it shine. The photo doesn't show all the colors but in real life it is so pretty. This was my first attempt at using this product even though it has been sitting on my shelf for about a year. I will definitely be using it more now.

 

Info on Inka Gold can be found here: http://viva-decor.us/inka-gold

 

I also used a Lucky 8 punch (Classic Wreath) to create the die cut for the background. I love the We R Memory Keeper Lucky 8 punches & have a collection of 6 now. I think that is probably enough!

 

Next I added flowers from Prima & Petaloo, a rhinestone & voila! Done!

 

Thanks for visiting. ... Barb

 



And so It Begins ...

Wow! I can't believe I am starting a blog! I thought I'd be the last person on the planet to have a blog. Just like I was going to be the last person to have a smart phone. I gave in and got an IPhone last month & now look at me blogging! :)