How many days?

Tell me it isn't so Please tell me we have more than 8 days left until Christmas! I am so excited what do I want for Christmas, well I would say most of all good health for my family, and for the rest of my family to attend church with us. But if you are asking what do I want in the way of material things well the list pretty much goes on and on but a few would be CTMH stamp pads, Cricut cartridges always want something Cricut, well a Cricut expression would be nice (do I need it no but it would be nice to have one... Some day), the your story book binding system and laminator, stickles, hoodies, clothes, undies, and anything I am a happy girl all the time and I am very appreciative of anything and everything I receive!

I had a CTMH party on Saturday it was a hit! I could not pick what I wanted (I finally did) it should be in sometime this week:o) I had 8 people we made Christmas cards, and we got to try embossing... this was the most fun watching everyone learn something new for the first time(I had already embossed)

I have so much to do, bake cookies, get ready, wrap, finish up on handmade gifts, but I am FINISHED SHOPPING :o) (o: YEAH it has just sneaked up on us really fast. I have some altered Hershey's bar for gifts this Thursday and on Christmas Eve.

No pictures today, we have a new addition to our camera family!!! A canon Xsi very exciting but still trying to learn all the ins and the outs!

countdown CTMH party

I love Close to My Heart and I have a party scheduled on Saturday only 2 more days!!!! YEAH!!!!! :o) I will be back with some details....


Just wanted to say Merry Christmas and show you my tree (one of 8) in my house!!!! This one is in my scrapbook studio!



I will be back tomorrow with Favorite things Friday

Just trying to get my studio cleaned for the party have a happy Thursday

And as always

Happy Crafting!

My Favorite Things Monday!!

Good Monday Morning to you!

Is it winter where you are? It is here, unfortunately :o( but tomorrow it is supposed to be in the 50s so I cant complain for long :o)

Today is Monday and so my favorite thing I want to spotlight today is

My Bind It All

Okay so are you into making your own albums, journals, books, and other crafts

You need the Bind It All, It is so neat, you put your pages into the cutting part and pull the lever and voila you have your holes punched (this can also make a nice border) then pick your o-wires and place your pages on the wires and place book or project into the pressing part of the machine and voila you have a nicely made book or album that you made yourself!

I love my machine I have made 4 or 5 projects with it so far I received it for my birthday in September! My hobby lobby had them and I heard that Archivers sells them and of course online! Be sure to get one they now have a new Bind It All it is Pink, I think it does the same thing as my blue one but not for sure, you could check it out online!

I hope you enjoyed, Have a Happy Monday!

Happy crafting

Cute easy tags

So I am getting my gifts all wrapped up and I decided that I needed to make some tags, I mean I have a box full of tags already but they are purchased tags the ones that are sticky on one side really cute but I wanted some handmade tags!

I went to my cricut to help me!

The Christmas cheer cartridge has just what I needed a tag feature I cut several (30) and still need more but it takes less than 5 minutes so I have plenty of time left!

Here are the tags

See the little image at the bottom of the tag is cut from the cricut and then I glued a piece of holographic wrapping paper to the back to give it a little bling!

here is a close up
until next time Happy Crafting
Tomorrow is My Favorite Things Monday!

A thank you card (made in my new room)

My new room is so inspiring I have been creating more and more especially here lately! My Sunday School class sent me a great package of goodies because I am a college student and it is Finals time, I had to make them a card to show my appreciation! (I like when I have a good excuse to go to my scrapbook studio :o) )

I had these SEI cards Black orchid I think and some new Prima flowers and my Stickles and a new set of stamps from Close to My heart and I decided to sit down and make this card!

I like how it turned out, this is the first time I did not use brads to attach my prima flowers I used mini glue dots and then put pink stickles in the middle! I then highlighted the flower with icicle stickles. You maybe cant see it or it blends in and you can not tell but I used the threading water punch on the edge beneath the flowers!

I gave the card to my teacher last night at our Christmas party so I hope the class likes it. :o)

Thanks for looking

As always Happy Crafting!!!

Favorite thing Friday!!!

It is not long until Christmas now just a few more days left of my favorite things Monday and favorite thing Friday!!!

Today I have picked my favorite trimmer yet

I have had many trimmers some good some bad but this one takes the cake



It is the Fiskar 12X12 Rotary trimmer :o)



Fiskars just came out with (I saw it at ACM last weekend) with the Rock paper trimmer this is also a great trimmer that has built in speakers you plug in your I pod or MP3 player and you can jam while you trim! I do not have one but I do have the rotary trimmer



I would also like to say that I have had this trimmer for nearly 9 months now and I have never changed the blade or the strip it still cuts like it did the day I bought it! And I just love the color and the design!
Happy Crafting!!

Let me introduce you to My Scrapbook Studio!!

There will be pictures of construction, pictures of where I scrapped before and my brand new Scrapbook studio I hope that you enjoy!

For years I did not have a room dedicated to my scrapbooking world! I would just pack up my stuff and carry it to the dinning room table and then pack it back up and put it away! This was not very much fun but I got used to it so it was okay!!!

Here are some pictures of my scrapbooking space before it got finished and how I used to scrapbook!

The unfinished scrapbook studio right now it is just a dream :o)

This is the wall my cricut and die cutting systems will go look at all of those outlets :o)
My cool recessed lighting supposed to be great lighting

Look we now have insulation!!!! Getting there one step at a time:o)

The plumbing for my sink, yeah I actually get a sink!!!! It was my cousins idea he said that he would not want me going up and down the stairs to clean my stamps so he just decided to put a sink in my room! I have the best cousin and Uncle ever they are AWESOME they did this entire room from start to finish, flooring, drywall, plumbing, electrical they did it all!!! I love them <3

The spare bedroom I took it over with most of my scrapbook stuff I actually had stuff in every room of the house 1st floor ;o) My mom did not appreciate it very much LOL

In the middle of a project on the dresser in the spare bedroom/my stuff... I usually moved all of my stuff into the dinning room but sometimes when we had company for dinner I had to work in the small space in the spare bedroom.my storage cubes trying to get things organized the key word here is trying LOL

Yes I even worked in the floor

My poor cricut deserves a nicer space but this is all that I had room for in the spare bedroom better than nothing but wait till you see where she lives now!!!
my cropper hopper paper storage, I love it notice the cropper hopper photo storage box stores neatly below the paper box!

this is where I used to work just a memory now:o)

another view of the dinning room table

another view of the spare bedroom my old scrapbook holding area as I liked to call it!

and one more view of the dinning room table I had a lot of space yes but was it convenient? NO!!!! No more worries now

My AWESOME Scrapbook Studio

neatly organized everything has its space, I still have a couple things to do, put the trimming around the recessed lighting, put up the track lighting along the walls, and put up a message center, and get another set of drawers for the other side of the counter but other than that I am in business I love it... I love it... I love it, It is more than I could have ever dreamed I want to scrapbook and craft all the time now so much inspiration up there! I want to say Thank you to my FAVORITE UNCLE AND MY FAVORITE COUSIN and all of those that helped out you know who you are as for the rest of my family that will read this I still love you and yes you are my favorite too I really do not have one favorite anybody :o) you are all my favorite but this favorite uncle and cousin has really worked hard to give me this wonderful space and for that I am forever grateful!!!

enough blabbing here are the pictures!!! Enjoy!

When you first walk in the door you will see this!

My room you see the island (Love it more than I ever dreamed it is perfect), My counter top against the wall this is AWESOME, my bookshelf for storage and can barely see my paper storage in the corner

closer view of my bookshelf, paper storage, and look that is a small closet(this will come in handy to hide presents or to store things)
Now there is my counter top, I need one more set of drawers for this end(towards boom box) but other than that it is all done(one of my cousins said that she would put a piece of material around the bottom so I could hide things it is a good idea will have to think about it).

The counter top is where my cricut, sizzix, bind~it~all any other tool goes and in the corner near the wall is my stamping corner(not finished still need a message center and some type of shelving on the wall)

My island Oh my what can I say other than this is GREAT my Uncle got me a melamine counter top a great work surface and lots of room you can see 2 people can sit and work (with plenty of room) and see my MM desktop carousel!
Another view of the room I am standing next to the window looking back toward the spare room and dormer
View looking toward sink, standing in front of window

My workspace on my island ready to craft!!!

another view of my counter top see my drawers I still need one more set of drawers the crates are full of stickers and scrap paper and altering material

my sink yeah I didn't think I needed a sink but my cousin insisted and I am glad it makes it easy to clean up my messy jobs:o)

I hope you enjoyed the tour and story of my Scrapbook studio

Happy Crafting!!!

Deck the Halls!!!

I had to decorate my blog too!!! I hope that you all like the new look until next year
and every one has a Very Merry Christmas season and let us remember the reason for the season! Not presents, not fun times, but Jesus Christ being born!!!

What I have done!!!

I saw this on Michelle's Blog: http://faeriedustdreams.blogspot.com/
(I dont know how to get it to where you click on the person's name to go to their blog :o( )

You are supposed to highlight in BOLD what you have done.


1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band if rock band counts :o) (The game)
4.Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6.Given more than you had to a charity
7. Been to Disneyland "Disney World"
8.Climbed a mountain volcano in Hawaii and a glacier in Colorado
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo when I was a child in a Christmas play
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art form from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort tried anyway :o)
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset both
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise if a day cruise to Catalina Island counts
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelos David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business Kind of Etsy shop did not last long :o(
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Read an entire book in one day

My Favorite Things Monday

Only 24 more days until Christmas yeah

Well I went ahead and decided to type this up Sunday evening so it would be ready for Monday morning!

Today's favorite thing is...

Drum roll...

...

....

.....

STICKLES

Yeah you read that right stickles I have looked and looked for stickles forever no one anywhere had them:o(

last weekend at my scrapbook retreat my friend pulled out stickles out of her bag I said oh my where in the world did you find that? She said in Tennessee! Oh I said :o( I was sad but then yesterday I was in ACM and there they were staring at me I thought I was dreaming my brother had to reassure me that I was not dreaming that they were in fact hanging there I was making quite the scene in ACM everyone was looking at the crazy lady saying no it cant be I must be dreaming oh my are you serious oh my this is so awesome!!! Yeah getting teary eyed over glitter glue I have officially gone over the edge :o) LOL

well here is the package I got, it had icicle, Christmas red, and pink

sorry for the blurry picture but I guess I was just so excited that I did not focus the camera correctly but you get the idea!

Oh my these are now on my Christmas list but at $5.00 a package I will have to wait until a coupon comes out:o)

Holiday madness and Birthday party

Oh my this weekend the famous official start of the Holiday shopping season! 2008 shopping season is now in full swing, and I am so excited, I did not have hardly any presents bought before Thanksgiving this year but on Black Friday I was out at 3:40 AM shopping at my local mall, and on Thanksgiving at 6:00 I went to Walmart and Michaels, then on Saturday I went shopping from 9:30 am to 5:30 that evening and then today Sunday went shopping from 4:00 till 6:15 so much fun!!! I did find out that my absolute favorite store in my mall is closing the whole company is closing but we got a lot of great deals! Today was one of my cousins birthday she is 15 or will be this week! Her mom fixed potato soup and we sat around and talked and had fun then I came home and took a test for school then we went shopping!

Yesterday I found something I have been looking for, for what seems like forever "STICKLES" and oh my remember to check out My Favorite Things Monday for my post about stickles

here is the card I made for my cousins birthday you probably cant see it but there is stickles on it on the candle and on the birds feathers on its head!

Look how cute is that bird and you can not really see but used the threading water punch too!!

The inside of the card
I like to decorate the encelope too so I put a cute little cupcake on the front of the envelope!

Happy crafting

My favorite things Monday LATE!!!!

Sorry I am late but yesterday I wanted to recap my scrapbook retreat and Monday, well Monday I was busy trying to get caught up from the weekend!:o)

Today I would like to showcase

I absolutely love stamping I started stamping about 4 years ago and I started with wooden rubber stamping then last year I discovered close to my heart clear stamps and WOW what a difference you can see what you are stamping and where you are stamping I love it, I have had a party and getting ready for another party they are so much fun to use! I still use whatever stamps I have or that I run across that I just have to have but close to my heart is definitely my newest favorite!!!

Have a happy Thanksgiving and happy shopping (Black Friday)

Scrapbook Retreat Details

Oh my goodness!!!! What a weekend, it was almost like a dream 36 hours of scrapbooking!!!

I arrived at the hotel at about 9:00 or shortly there after on Saturday morning, we then left for lunch at 11:00 and came back at 12:30 I started scrapping and the hostess gave away door prizes then it was almost time for dinner and so we went to the hotel restaurant (not very good :o( ) then came back to the room and scrapped some more and then left at around 8:00 PM to go to Starbucks to get some Caffeine!!! There were 25 of us all together and we had a blast. PRIZES PRIZES PRIZES, food, and fun!!!! I set a goal for myself to stay up all night and so I did at 1:30 AM everyone left me I was all alone in the room full of scrapbooking goodness. I got more done in the wee hours of the morning than I thought I would have. The others came down at around 9:00-10:30 we ate breakfast and then scrapped some more. I left at about 1:00 PM I was ready for bed:o)

here are some pictures from the retreat:

Picture of my space I shared with 2 of my scrapping buddies

Close up of my actual workspace (A little messy right now it got better and then it was like this again and then clean and you know it is a cycle)

Tool table with cricut and all the cartridges, and a sizzix and a lot of dies free to use all night and all day long we could also have brought our own and used it!

The stamping table all of those stampin up, close to my heart, and other wooden and clear stamps free for all to use!

The hostess is so generous with prizes, she was all the time giving away prizes each guest got four paper M&M's we put our names on them and then she drew names out for prizes and not just goofy prizes these were GREAT prizes like close to my heart stamp sets, scrapbook kits, paper, eyelets, brads, stickers, M&M's, journals, calendars, stamps, storage things, and more

Close up of My winnings

I won the following:

• close to my heart stamp set Love bug oh how cute is it.
• An M&M Journal
• An M&M Calendar
• set of wooden alphabet stamps
• 8X8 scrapbook kit lazy summer
• 12X12 scrapbook kit (not pictured)

there was a close to my heart consultant there and she had a lot of retired sets for $5.00 and $10.00 and so I bought 2 God bless you set and amore alphabet

close up of goodies!!! check out the BIG M&M the hostess cut these out for each guest at their tables with our names on place cards!! (She thinks of all of the cutest details WE LOVE HER!!!!)

then I stayed up all night and won the grand prize which was a huge scrapbook bucket tote packed full of scrapbooking materials!

More than the excitement of winning all of the prizes it was worth it just to get out to be able to scrapbook with old friends and to be able to make new friends!!! She could have taken all of my prizes away and I would have still had a blast and loved every second of the scrapbook getaway!! Thank you to the hostess she knows who she is for a wonderful time! Cant wait until March to do it all again!!!! (yeah we already booked the hotel for the next getaway)

Favorite things Friday!

Happy Friday
I am excited today just one more day a little more than 24 hours until my Scrapbook getaway! I have to finish packing today and then I will be ready!

Today's favorite thing has to do with Monday's favorite thing
My cricut cartridges!!

These are not my only cartridges but the most used cartridges!

and oh my they are coming out with some new cartridges that are definitely on my Christmas list: Hello Kitty, sesame street, Tinkerbell, and Pixar Cars

The cartridges make it possible for the cricut to do basically anything your imagination can come up with!!!

Have a Happy Friday and a wonderful weekend!!!

A new card

Two peas in a bucket is having their stamp camp and each week they show a new technique that has to do with stamping!

so far we have done marker technique, stamp resist, faux metal technique!

I want to share my faux metal card today

Maybe for a terrific technique thursday I will show a tutorial on how to create a faux metal card!

here is the card!