GETTIN' BUSY IN MY SCRAPROOM

Well, last week was one of those weeks that I felt like I accomplished a lot.  I love weeks like those, except that the following week(s) seem to be all down hill from there, but such is life.

One of my resolutions this year was to send cards out more often than I had in the past.  I love making cards, but it can be time consuming.  I am trying to make 2-4 cards a week, plus trying to catch up on some of my scrapbooks.  I worked so hard getting Ty's stuff all done before he graduated in May, that I kind of burned myself out, and have not done much since.  I am over a year behind on Tanner, and with the amount of pictures I take of Levi and Noah. . .  oh well.  Right now, I'm working on Tanner's album.   I've gotten several pages done!

Disorganized - oh no!

Please note:  I am not a "fancy" scrapbooker or card maker - I do basic simple things.  My theory is that pages "done" are better than "fancy" pages, and a card sent is more about the thought than the beauty, right?  Works for me.  I got a couple more cards done last week too!


The golf card is for a dear friend who recently had surgery, but thankfully, seems to be on the mend!  The other card is one I found on Dawn's Stampin' Thoughts.  She has a lot of fun cards on there and tutorials to follow.  The picture of Ty and Emily is not attached, I just used it to show you what the card is supposed to look like.  I have a friend in mind to send this to, but need to get a picture printed for the card :-).

And speaking of Emily. . . . she is here visiting this week.  We really love having her.  She is a sweetheart.  She got Dan and I these beautiful frames for Christmas - I love them - moose, trees and photos - a few of my favorite things!!

 

I know this is all very exciting stuff!  I'm sure you all will leave this blog feeling so fulfilled :-).

DINOSAURS AND BIRTHDAY CARDS

As you know, my baby turns 2 on Saturday.  I've been busy making his scrapbook page/card.  See, I discovered a long time ago that boys don't care about cards in any way, shape or form!  So, I make a scrapbook page in the theme of their birthday, leave space to put a couple of photos, and then we all sign the page like we would a card.  That way, I am one up on the scrapbooking thing, and I don't feel badly that I spent time making a card they did not read!

Noah is very into dinosaurs - especially T-Rex!  I put "Have a T-rexic Birthday" on it - get it ----- terrific birthday.  Corny, I know, but just go with it!

I also decided to send more birthday cards this year.  I've been making a few here and there and got a couple mailed out already for those New Year's birthdays!  Here are a few I made:

THE NAKED TRUTH ABOUT THE BUG

Here are some naked paper dolls.  Why do I have these?  Well, they are the base for a lot of projects that I do on a regular basis. 

These were cut out using a Cricut machine (pronounced like the insect, cricket).  I am absolutely in love with my Cricut machine.  I've owned it now for a few years.  It is the original smaller machine.  I wish I would have known they were coming out with a bigger one.  I would have waited, but anyway. . .

Here is my little baby:
(Please do not look at the creative genius' mess surrounding the Cricut!)

I use it all the time for scrapbooking, but it has many many other uses.  See, I teach the 3-6 year olds Bible class, and this machine has been worth its weight in gold!   Let me explain about the Cricut, in case you don't know.  You buy this machine.  It will not cut anything out without a cartridge.  They have over 50 cartridges on the market now - I think I own about 8.  Each cartridge cuts out a variety of things.  For instance, the "Walk in my Garden" cartridge has a variety of flowers, insects, garden-theme things.  You can cut these out from 1 inch up to 5.5 inches (up to 12 inches on the BIG Cricut).     Here are some of my cartridges (again, ignore the mess -I'm working on a lot of projects right now!)

The cartridges are a bit expensive (around $40), which explains why I own about 8.  I always ask for a new one for holidays/birthdays, so I hope to keep my collection growing.  But even with my small number of cartridges, I can do A LOT!

The naked paper dolls were the base for Adam and Eve, which I made for my friend, Jeri's baby Bible class.   Here is what they look like completed.

The Cricut will cut out paper, chipboard, vinyl, material - imagine the possibilities!   Here is a link to the Cricut messageboards where ladies post their finished crafts.  There are some talented ladies out there!  http://www.cricut.com/messageboard/tt.aspx?forumid=8

As I said before, I mostly use my bug for scrapbooking and for my Bible class.  I am a very simple scrapbooker!  Some ladies spend 2 hours or more on a single page!  Ugh - who has the time???  Plus, the page goes in a scrapbook and gets put on a shelf.  How many people actually see that artwork?  I like to do some cute things on my pages, and sometimes, I take more time on certain pages.  Usually, though, it is a slap together work.  Here is a page I recently did for Noah's book.  This was late at night and I have a whole stack of pictures to scrapbook, so I was in a bit of a hurry!

Not too bad, but nothing fancy.  I know I should cut out the letters for the title, but seriously, I have probably 100 or more pictures just to catch up Noah's book to Feb. 2009!  If I cut out all those letters, it would take me forever.  I have 4 boys to scrapbook!  I usually write in the dates and I don't journal very often.  I feel that my pictures tell the story :-).

So, if you are thinking you might like a Cricut - you probably are wrong - you will LOVE it!  Wait until after Black Friday to buy one - you might get a good deal on the big one like my mom did last year - she spent less on her's than I did for mine!  NOT FAIR!

Well, enjoy your day and don't forget to scrapbook those memories!

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:  If you can't find peace within yourself, it is useless to seek it elsewhere.