HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

A very Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there.

Around here it was nice and quite. Actually pretty boring. Thought I would share some photos of my gifts though.

You know how it goes.

Clay pot $3.99
Paints $2.99
Pipe Cleaners $1.97
Tissue Paper $2.49
Styrofoam Ball $2.29
Dried Moss $2.59
Scrapbook paper $.26
Stickers $3.97
Printed photos $.50

A gift from the heart made by my youngest daughter, 12, all by herself.

PRICELESS!


All my kids together with printed quotes for me from each.


My card she made, the little envelopes all have great little notes in them including one giving me the gift of two papers of my choice from her very own stash of scrapbook paper.

Oldest son and his wife came by for a brief visit to tell Mom hello, ask if there was food, then play a video game with his brother before he had to leave to get ready for work.

Youngest son didn't have time for shopping, he is working part time at a near by restaurant and taking the finals for his college classes, so he told me he would buy me dinner this week. His last day of class is Tuesday, Wednesday he starts his full time summer job out where I work, along with working at the restaurant and taking one summer class. He does stay busy.

Oldest daughter texted me to check my email. She sent me photo of my grandson, the kindergarten graduate.
Isn't he handsome? Can't believe he is going to be six this month. I am making him a birthday card, since that is what I do now, make cards and scrapbook pages you know. I had gathered so many supplies and what have you over the past few weeks in order to start this new hobby that I was spending half my time looking for everything and buying some items over again because I couldn't find what I bought the first time. It was time to organize it a bit and if nothing else go through it all to see what I actually have.

This was my corner space when I first started this new obsession. Notice the room on the shelves, the little Cricut all by itself? Thinks have a way of changing. Just look at it now. It has grown a tad bit. Have more papers to play with. Way more stamps and inks as well. Here are some closer views.
As you can see, my little corner is pretty well stocked for a beginner. Notice the addition of the larger Cricut, several dies, all the jars of beads and box of trims was left over from when I did crazy quilting and used them to embellish the embroidery work.

Oh, and my sweet hubby gave me a gift certificate to the local scrapbooking store. Well, I didn't get any projects finished, but I do know where it all is at least.

I am off to bed, took allergy medicine and it has kicked in enough to stop itching. Need to shower and get some sleep. The roofing job is well under way, which is making me break out due to allergies, which has actually been milder than I had anticipated. A helper lost his footing a bit and stepped through the ceiling which has left us a nice hole to repair in the living room.

I will post more when have some on going projects completed.

Christmas in....May?

It has felt a bit like Christmas around here. All my online shopping is starting to arrive...and the bulk of it ahead of the time I was expecting.

Here are some photos of what arrived.
This was from JoAnn's online. Everything was at least 40%, had a special deal for shipping for $2.95 for all of it. I know it is hard to see the detail of everything, but in all of this what I looked forward to the most was the "Once Upon A Time" paper packs (4 x 6 inch) and the punches. The paper is just awesome. The cutter was on sale for less than $5 so figured it would be good enough for my daughter (12) to have so I could keep her out of mine. The punches are working well, have already tested them, which is something I always look for as I have fibro which makes it hard to work the hand some days. If I use it too much at a time it will start to tremor a bit and then draw closed on itself. One time when I had longer nails it was so bad that the nail cut in to the palm of my hand deep enough to draw blood. At any rate, I look for punches that punch completely and easily. The Mickey Mouse punch creates a design of the head about the size of a quarter and will be great in a lay out with some strings drawn on to look like balloons. I also have some really small rubber stamps that is an alphabet and is the perfect size to stamp in the middle of the punched design to spell out what I want. That idea, I must confess, came to me when I priced a set of rubber stamps that were the shape of the head with a letter inside. I already had the small alpha stamps and the punch was way cheaper than the Disney rubber stamps. The Sizzix was all on clearance, so very inexpensive and I really do like my Big Kick. I have learned something new about it lately. I need to purchase some extender blocks and something called a crease pad.

Now, if someone could just tell me how to make my Fiskar embossing plates work a bit better with the Big Kick I am all ears.
Next came my Sizzix box. I came across their site one night and found the clearance section. They were all on sale for about $3 -$4 each several were less than $2. You have to purchase a minimum of $25 though before they will accept your order. I met the minimum...barely.
Last, but never least, is my Stampin Up order. I just can't wait to get these new stamps going. Also, I have a great supply of ink now. The Manhattan Rose stamp coordinates with the Sizzix textured Impressions Manhattan Flower emboss plate. It is back ordered. I bought a roller wheel with snowflakes for Christmas and winter projects. I was unable to order an ink cart in white for the roller, so I ordered and uninked cart and white refill ink. Hope that it works out. One of the items I bought is the Sizzix Bigz Top Note die, an exclusive Stampin Up product, which I am sure will be great for cards. This week end when I play with it I will post some photos of what it looks like. I saw a card somewhere that I knew I wanted to make, watched the You Tube video, and bought the SU supplies I needed to make it. I was disappointed however that even though the packing slip states I received the Window sheets, I did not. Will have to contact SU about that though. Am hoping they can give me some type of time frame for expecting the back ordered emboss plate as well.

Okay, I am heading off to bed. Have had stomach bug for the past few days that has wiped me out. Tomorrow night is a class at the scrapbook store that I was on the waiting list for, so was thrilled to get a call this evening that they had a cancellation and I was now on the list for taking the class if I wanted. I did want. The class is for a mini album. If folds up accordion style and slides in to a small box.

So, for the next few days I won't be posting, will be busy making something and will show it off. I want to just grab a new item and make some project with it, but that will have to wait until at least Friday night. I still have a few more stamps coming in and the Christmas papers I found on Ebay. But...before I work on anything else, I have got to finish my chipboard album for mom, birthday cards for my son and grandson as well.

I have also made a decision, or rather a goal, of making one project featuring one or more of the items I have bought to get started in this obsession with out buying anything else. Like a card using my Cricut or the Sizzix. A card using each of the stamp sets I just purchased. And one other goal, to go through everything, each and every box and case I have in order to just see what I have. I have three containers of stickers and flowers. Have already found out the hard way that there is a special type of glue for vellum paper.

I am off to bed now, will pop in and post as soon as there is anything to show.

Birthday Card

I posted yesterday that I made my oldest daughter a birthday card. Before I download the photo, I just have to elaborate a bit on my late evening mission. The card has a birthday cake, I wanted to put some icing on it, some sparkle at least. Off to the near by Walmart, then decided I pretty much already knew what they had...nothing. That point came up again tonight, looking for magazines and a printer. But, I refuse to stray from the topic. I figured I would go to JoAnn's instead, knowing that they did at least have a small supply of embossing powders. As I headed that way, I passed by a Michael's and thought at least it would be something different to look at. My wallet has told me quite loudly that it was a big mistake. My supply boxes are just giddy with enjoyment.

I bought some punches that were on clearance, some new powders and inks to play with, didn't find the icing, but liked one powder so well that I bought it only to find out that I already had it at home. First reaction was to just take it back, it is called Winter Wonderland Opaque, it is white with silver mixed in. Then I thought about those Christmas cards I want to make, the trees with snow hanging on them, Santa's fur, ornaments, suddenly I am thinking I may be a leg up on the supply list. Any way, I have been totally unable to find an embossing pen, but did find a Versamark Pen. Understand that a scrapbook store I went in to, across town, had a girl working that wasn't to sure how to measure trim off and cut it. Should have been the first clue. She was wearing sweat pants with the legs pulled up mid calf. Like she was on the way to the gym. Should have been the second clue. But no...I think maybe her parents own the store so she must know a little something, by virtue of osmosis if nothing else. So I ask about an embossing pen. They don't have any, but any glue pen would work.

DO NOT USE GLUE TO EMBOSS. The heat makes the glue bubble. Take my word for this and save yourself some aggravation.

The Versamark pen worked great by the way. I highly recommend it as a way to add embossing medium in detailed spots that would just work to ink from the pad. I will be using it a lot more.

I honestly cannot wait to get started playing with my toys again. So many ideas are floating in my head. I thought that the Rock n Crop I am going to on Saturday started at 6 pm and went to midnight. I found out it starts at 10 am. Now, to figure out how to get away from the family that early. It's a challenge but I am up for it. Great thing is about this new crafting adventure is that I am getting so much great positive support. A great lady that I have know for a long time has been scrapping for some time. Even though she lives across the ocean she has been great for advice and suggestions. I also have the greatest staff of the greatest scrapbooking store there ever was. No teens in work out gear, all of these ladies are totally knowledgeable and love to help people make what they like. My daughter in Texas is very artistic, always has been. My youngest daughter is 12 and she has it going too. She has totally gotten obsessed with scrapbooking, not sure if she really likes or just wanting to do something with mom, but I can sure handle that too.

Okay, guess that is enough chit chat for the evening. Here is the birthday card.


I know, still have a ways to go but I really like the final result. The Happy Birthday stamp is from Stampin Up - the Voila set. The cake is die cut using Sizzix, and the candy is from a set of acrylic stickers. There is a story behind the candy, just leave it at that.
So, let me know what you think. Next project is to make a mother's day card for my mom. Will see how that goes.

Easter Card

I am starting to get a little braver with trying new things. I recently acquired this really cool stamp that is a collection of Easter eggs. I knew my mom would like it so I bravely went forward and stamped out three images. Embossed them all, one with a powder called Egyptian blue, one with black, and one with gold.
This one is the Egyptian blue. I really wish I could find the person that gifted me with these embossing powders, I would love to know what brand they are and to properly thank her. It has been great having a little bit to play with with out going broke buying it all to try. But, back to the point.

This is the start of my card. I decided to try out coloring with watercolor pencils. I am not sure they were meant to be used on glossy card stock, I had used white to stamp the image on so I would be able to see the details better. I think there might have been a little better way of doing this, but I will keep working on my techniques. As I said, I decided to use the watercolor pencils since according to the package you just color in the area then mist with water. It said they would not run together, but am thinking that maybe glossy card stock doesn't know this. If you look close enough you can see a couple of places that the colors did bleed together. Am I a bit anal about this? No...never really have been an in the lines kind of person when it came to making things, but the fact that the final result did not match what was in my mind's eye will bother me a bit. I do think the colors came out pretty neat looking. I found that I was looking for more shades and colors to work with, but then I realized that I really had all I needed for a basic color range. That being said, I have this kind of warped since of balance that causes me to really think hard about where I am putting in color as I don't want one spot to be heavy in red and orange while another spot has none.

Realize that I have a limited supply of tools to work with as well, am working on it, but wanted to wait until I learned a bit more about what I want to be doing so I invest accordingly. Therefore, with the choices at hand, I knew I didn't want the sharpness of a zigzag, so opted for the handy scalloped scissors. When the image was dry I cut it out leaving a little bit of the white. I don't think I will do that with the next one.
I ended up attaching it to a dark purple base. Then, I printed out on the computer the words I wanted to say on the front. Of course I would have an equipment malfunction where the scissors seemed to eat the paper more than cut it. All in all I was fairly pleased with the end result. However...I just felt it needed a little something. I got this bright idea (yeah I know, so beginner looking) to stamp the eggs image one more time, color them in, add a little black glitter and then cut a couple of the eggs out attaching them with little mounting squares to give the card a little texture. I like the addition of the cut outs so much better. And even though it will late getting there, I know it will be welcome. I just need to type a few lines for the inside and it will be off to my mom.

I also started on my oldest daughter's birthday card. It too will be late getting there, but last year it was about three months after her birthday when she got her gift. Not this year though. I had no sooner gotten good and started with the card when I decided it needed some extra pizazz. Off to the store I went in search of supplies. Am I hooked or what? I found the dollar bins and bought about twenty or so stamps. Granted two of them were the same penguin, but that was so youngest DD could keep one and give one to her friend. They are constantly playing Club Penguin so in my mind it made since. She liked it though, that is what counts. I am pleased that I have exact plans for almost everyone of those stamps. Shows at least I am starting to understand this new hobby a bit and can see ahead at least in my mind. Most of the stamps are Christmas, but since I am soon getting started on making up all my Christmas cards, they seemed to fit the image in my head really well. I actually know what and how I am going to do with them...which is a switch for me. By the way, it is the lighting difference between a photo and the scanner that makes the color of the white border change.

I am worn out tonight, will post photos of the birthday card tomorrow. It is really awesome. At least I think so. Until then, here is one more image for you.

This is the stamped image that I embossed in black. I used plain markers to color in this one. It seems to be a little bolder. I can't wait to see how the chalk one turns out.

Until next time, happy stamping and cutting.

Look What I Did

Okay, I know it isn't spectacular by any means, but hey, I am a beginner at this. Here are photos of the first two cards I made.

On this first card I used regular card stock, Sizzix Textured Impressions Embossing Folder - the set is called Dots & Flowers, I don't know where the rubber stamp butterfly is from, and the embossing ink is called Distress Embossing Ink, clear with some gold embossing powder. They are Ranger brand. I first stamped the image using brown ink, then inked the stamp, trying to get just the butterfly inked with the clear embossing ink. Now the tricky part that I am amazed I did, I stamped the image on top of the butterfly previously inked. Embossed just that. It came out pretty well. I don't have a heat embossing tool, couldn't find one under $30 offered close to the house so went the alternate route. Tried a blow dryer. It worked a little bit and had I not seen the demonstration video would have thought that it was finished. I however, remembered that my hubby had a heat gun in the garage, somewhere in his tools. He used for applying shrink fit film to the wings of his Radio Control planes when he was in to that. With in seconds that butterfly really popped. I know I will be playing with that again soon. Can't wait to get some of Stampin Up's embossing supplies.

I know it needs a little more bling, but I am just starting out and my supplies are a bit limited. I am so thankful that the lady at my local scrapbooking store was so willing to help me out this evening. They are in the middle of renovating, adding more space to the store for classes and crops, and she went in the back to find her supplies so she could demonstrate how to emboss. I ran across some packets of colored powder that I am sure is embossing powder that was gifted to me which got me wanting to try it out, knew I had to have something for it to stick to, so off I went to the scrapbook store.

Came home with my embossing clear ink pad...a black embossing ink pad, gold embossing powder (can't wait for the copper to come in) a Sizzix embossing folder (mentioned it earlier) a glue stamp pad that was in the clearance bin, two tubes of glitter to go with that, and paid for the beginning scrapbook class, there are three others signed up already so know it will take place this time, oh and signed up for an awesome crop night. They are having a rock n crop, listen to the oldies while you crop, dinner catered from a great restaurant, Italian food, and I saw the make and take project that was just awesome. Not sure what you would call it, but I just loved it. Not to bad on the pocket book either since the store is having 15% off total purchase this weekend.

On the other hand, last night I blew the budget. Bought a new cartridge for my Cricut, it is called Stretch Your Imagination and is just AWESOME. Can't wait to play with it some more tomorrow. I also bought a pound pack of scrap card stock, a scrapbook kit that includes just everything, some pastel colored paper, a big package of multi colors of card stock and some ink pens to place in the Cricut where the blade goes so that it draws the image instead of cutting it. I am thinking that it would be kind of neat to draw each image off, then mark it and put it in a notebook. I would know what I have and what it does in a glance.

Okay, now here is my second card I made tonight.

I really like this one alot. Pretty much used the same supplies, just added a bit to it. Had some flowers that I cut out with the Cricut when I first got it, so used those. I am drifting off as I type so it is time to get a bath and hit the bed.

Feel free to leave a comment.

It has arrived

My Stampin Up start up kit has arrived. I should have taken a photo of everything, but was so excited and so exhausted when I went through it that it just never entered my mind to do that. It is all a learning experience.

I was able to mix and match to a certain degree the stamps that would be in my kit, the inks, and some of the paper and such. I am well pleased with my choice of stamps, feeling that those sets will be used often. I tried to think ahead to what I would be doing with the stamps. I am so new to all of this that I was really not even sure what I would be stamping or how I would use them. I now know however that I made a few really stupid choices in the ink department. What was I thinking to not have at least one of the ink pads be black? And what on earth I thought I would do with Pixie Pink on the rolling wheel stamp? I am anything but a pink person, and my wheel design is called cheers, the bar variety, not at all pink. Oh well, live and learn. I can however see getting a different design wheel and using the pink for something with a baby girl theme.

So here is the saga of my mini journey last night as I started seeing and working with some of what I got in the kit.

I started with the set I wanted to use the most. But, before I could start, I gathered up some supplies to use. The sketchbook: I purchased this inexpensive spiral bound sketchbook at Walmart. I stamp an image of each of my stamps on a page, keeping sets together. I then write a little bit about the stamp, what color ink, and the date. It is very helpful to me, mainly because it is a true image of what the stamped result will look like. Especially when it comes to size. Stamp set: This stamp set is part of my start up kit as I said, so is from Stampin Up and is called From the Kitchen. Mainly meant for making recipe cards. Now, I don't particularly want to take the time to mass produce blank cards to fill in, but for a special request, a new bride, or something similar, this is the way to go to make it a little more special. Card stock: for this project I bought a package of blank 3 x 5 index cards from the dollar store. They are glossy on one side and not so much so on the other side. I stamped the glossy side. I was especially pleased to find that the stamp just fit the index card. I might even get some blank index cards that are a size larger. With the extra size, I could use the "from the kitchen of" stamp and the "Yum Factor" as well. The Yum factor design has 5 stars and you can fill in the amount of stars according to how well you like the dish.

I found out rather quickly, as in with the first attempt, that the normal stamping technique would not work. Trying to center that large stamp on top of the index card was just frustrating. First it would be crooked as in the photo, then it would all to one edge, loosing part of the image, or a double exposure effect when moving the stamp produced a second image, or parts of.

So, I put my thinking cap on a came up with an upside down style. I am sure every one has done this and is not anything new.
As you see in the photo, I inked the stamp, placed it design side up, positioned an index card on top, then pressed down using the package of index cards. I found that the package of invitations that came with my start up kits works a bit better for this purpose. The interesting thing about doing this is that the plastic wrap around the invitations or cards is a bit charged and the index card clings to the package which helped prevent the double stamp effect. Then it was just assembly line style production of the blank recipe cards.
In no time at all I had a small set of the cards as a result. There is a stamp for each type of recipe as well. For example, meats, desserts, breads and such. I think it may be nice to make a set of these cards for a whole meal, then put the cards in a decorative little container or box and give that to a new bride with some cookware. On occasion I take casseroles to various places, like a funeral, some one having surgery, a new birth, or such and this would be a nice way to leave the directions for heating. Beats that piece of masking tape that tells how long at what temp, that is if the tape stays adhered to the dish. If I can get myself organized, there will be a card printed out for each dish in the freezer and then one of the kids or hubby can just pull it out and heat on the those hectic days they need to eat before I can get home from work. That is the goal anyway, is also what led to my scrapbooking/stamping new adventure. I had a lot of fun with this set of stamps, and actually just barely touched the tip of the iceberg with it.

Now, it would have really been nice if some one had told me that these stamps come unmounted. The smaller sets it just wasn't an issue, the details are larger and there are fewer stamps.
But for the larger sets, all those pieces,it was a real chore. Especially for the sets like this one, "Define Your Life", the print is small and reading it backwards no less as you are looking at the reverse image, it was truly frustrating at times. Almost so much to the point as vowing to myself never to buy anything like this again. This is where the journal comes in handy, I can read the stamped image in the journal instead of struggling to see if there even is a stamp with the feeling I am wanting to relay to the recipient.

To get the stamp ready for use, you take one of the die cut stamps, remove it from the sheet, it really is quite easy as it just pretty much pops out. Then peel the paper off the foam backing and then stick the stamp to a piece of wood. I really would strongly recommend that you kind of go over the sizes of stamps and the sizes of the wood blocks before mounting. There are clear stickers that show the stamp's design or letter or such to stick over an end of the wood part to identify the stamp. There is also a sticker to put on the box that shows the name and item number of the stamp set as well.

Then it is all done and you are ready to stamp.

I thought I would show you a couple of pages from my journal as well so you could see how that looks.
I know that for me, it really does help to have a record of the image. It is easier than reading the small print to see what the text is saying, I can see how the image will look printed out as well. This helps with determining proper left to right alignment and in the case of the alphabet I got it shows that the letter does not stamp solid. Not a problem as it it just part of the design, but interesting to note in case I am going for a certain style look in the end.

Next, I am going to attempt to make some cards. I had not intended to this way, but have had a very close family friend pass away this past week and another dear friend is in her last days. Both were awesome women to know and touched my life greatly.

I welcome any comments you care to share about my post.

Pieces filling in

Well, life is like a big jigsaw puzzle. At the moment, I feel like I finally have two of the border edges all in place. You know, those pieces you know will go together and you know that they go along the edge so you build the outer edge border first then start filling in the pieces until you finally get to the middle and it all fits.

That is how I feel about my scrapping and stamping, it is a new adventure.

As I posted earlier, I bought some paper supplies. Although that might have been kind of like trying to put the middle of the puzzle together first. Then, I bought some nice toys like the Cricut and Big Kick, a Xyron as well. Except I don't know what to do with that either. Photos I have in over abundance.

On that note, this last camping trip my camera took like three photos and killed the batteries, then about two more and killed the second set. This is not a good thing. I did some looking around and found a great deal and now have a new camera.

This is an image I snagged from the website. It has all the things I want for the kind of photography I have planned. I'm not going to earn extra income photographing events, just want to save some images of things we do and see as a family to put in to scrapbook pages. After all that is the new adventure.

It takes awesome photos to, will post some of those at the end of the post. But I am going to have some fun with this little baby.

The other news is that I got my confirmation today, I am now officially a Stampin Up demonstrator. They are a rubber stamp and supply company. I should get my start up kit any day and that will be a lot of fun to play with. I love the look of rubber stamped cards and on some scrapbook pages I have seen. I just hope to be able to learn some of the basic techniques. The great thing with Stampin Up is while there isn't a lot of step by step instruction, they do have technique sheets which show some great ideas.

On another road of thought, so to speak, this is some really hectic times and am having to really do some soul searching lately and find some ways to put my very abstract life back in to some type of order. Not necessarily normal or traditional, but maybe what would be normal or ordered for me. Something that works for me. More important makes me work with and for my family. This week end the goal is to clean and organize. Like I haven't planned that before. I need to work on my menu plans and get some written down. I need to do laundry and as well as putting it up instead of the huge pile on the end of the bed, spilling down on the floor. You get the idea. The household is falling apart and I am overwhelmed with it all. Not my best way to work. I is to the point that it is not just a goal, but an essential task, to get organized. Oh that work, organizing, sounds so grand, so hard to achieve. I have to though, it has come to be that I will be busy almost every night of the week and if we are to get fed, clean dishes and clean unders, I have to get my head on straight. Which, between work the new round of physical therapy and my sweet wonderful neighbor being terminal, it is totally so overwhelming. Monday night is First Place at church, a weight management bible study, right after work. Tuesday is physical therapy, having to leave work a half hour early for that which is not going over well with work. Wednesday is daughter's confirmation night, her lessons start almost as soon as I get home from work and get her to the church, no time for supper so the plan is to crock pot it that night, or make ahead dishes from the freezer. Thursday is daughter's ice skating lessons, which hubby thankfully drives her to, and will be the other PT session. Friday is "I just want to sit and think about nothing, do nothing" evening. I know, you get the picture, you can see why I have to get my act together as far as the household goes.

On a lighter note, on Saturday, my daughter was involved in a vintage fashion show. I just have to show her off, the photos are really bad quality, but think you can get the idea.

This my girl in an original 1940's dress. Doesn't she look like she just stepped out of the Walton's? Remember that show? John, Olivia, their children telling each other good night every evening. Granpa getting frisky with granma. Not to mention the Baldwin sisters and their papa's recipe.

I do believe life was simpler then, not so insane. I have ancestors, as do all of us, that lived through those rough times. It made a proud, strong, country.

By the way, the hat was my mom's. Not sure it is correct for the vintage aspect, but my girl J had some fun wearing it.



Now this is the offering for the 50's. I wish my camera had worked a little better. She was so much cuter than this photo shows. Another one of my mom's hats as well, but you know, she does kind of remind you of June Cleaver, Mrs. Anderson, or even Harriet Nelson. If I had worn a 50's outfit, it would have had to be something Aunt Bea would have worn. Well, there was that plump cousin that came to care for the Walton's while Olivia went to get well from TB or such.

I should have lived in the old days, the pioneer days, with the long dresses and aprons. I could have given Mrs. Olsen a run for her money on the "Prairie" to be sure. Of course, I would have looked like Jethereen Bodine (Beverly Hillbillies - Jethro's sister).
More likely, would look like Hoss Cartwright in drag.

Okay, now I am going to leave you with some photos of flowers I took with my new camera.







Guess that is all I can load with blogger, it has stopped playing nice for the evening. I will post a photo from the panorama view next time.

Until next time, I am off to bed.

OH MY GOSH!

Okay, boxed up the little Cricut cutter to take it back to JoAnn's and get the Cricut Expression. Why? I have no idea, it isn't like I have actually figured out how to use the thing. Oh such a wondrous thing it is too. I put it in the car and headed out, thinking about that nagging little one line in the sale ad. Bonus cartridge was only included if you bought it online. Also was thinking about the clerk telling me that they don't carry the Cricut Expression machines or the cartridges in stock, but can order them at any time. But...I want it now. So, suddenly, the car came to a stop and I found myself at Walmart. I had seen the Expression there first, is where the little bug starting biting me to start up scrapbooking, and just Friday had seen that they had two left, one with bonus cartridges, the other with out...and $10 cheaper for everyday price than the sale price at JoAnn's. I had already bought the little tool kit, found that I really needed that when I played with the little one. So, in I went with my head telling me that if I was meant to get the Expression at all it would still be there. It was there.

I know, obviously it was a return. I opened it up with the sales lady looking on to see if it was all there. I found the machine, tape still over door. Power cord, manual, two cartridges, cutting mat which didn't look like it had gone through the machine. So, all was well. One cartridge had been opened. The book and keypad cover was all there, so no worry. I can always bring it back if it doesn't work. So, off I go with my new purchase, in the car and down the street to JoAnn's.

I honestly wanted to take the cheaper little one back. I headed that way. The car just wouldn't make it. Instead, I drove toward the BBQ place to satisfy my craving only to find that they had gone out of business. No I am not pregnant, just fat thank you. At any rate, the weighing of the pros and cons of both machines started up in my head.

Cricut Personal Cutter Pros:
1. Small on space, easy to carry along
2. Inexpensive so to speak
3. Easier to learn for a beginner
4. The same machine the scrapbook store lets customers use for classes and Saturday crops.
5. Smaller cutting capabilities great for quick projects.

Cricut Personal Cutter Cons:
1. Small cutting area

Cricut Expression Pros:
1. Larger work area - opens up more projects
2. Few more design abilities

Cricut Expression Cons:
1. Cost way more
2. Size doesn't lend to easy travel
3. A little more intimidating for a beginner.

The way I see it, kind of like having a table saw and a hand saw. Both get the job done, how long it takes depends on the job. You know, if your are building a house then you want a good table saw. If you are building a fence, the handsaw is just fine.

I came home, promptly set it up, promptly realized I hadn't a clue. First, had a little trouble getting it to feed paper or mat in the proper way. Then, I only had 8 1/2 by 11 cardstock. So right away loaded some up and ruined the first two attempts. Then...I figured this or that out and soon had a page full of flowers. The second page would be a different color and smaller in size. Got one row of flowers cut, the the blade quit going through to cut. I know the machine was a little used, the blade was already set up. But will be looking at getting a new blade now. It came with a little DVD to show me all it can do, but couldn't watch it on the computer, some kind of something to make it run is not available . Oh well, guess You Tube will be my teacher. Of course...could take the brand new blade off the Personal cutter and install it in the Expression. I will be having some fun though figuring out the settings and such.

We will be gone for the weekend again. For this short of trip will not even take much to work on either. We have all been sick, some more than others, that I have just not gotten a thing done that I needed to. I still need to create my menu plans, update that blog, get laundry done, and all the while put in my hours at work.

If you are reading this, feel free to voice your opinion on the Cricut. Good or bad. Tell me your number one stand by book that you would not give up that deals with Scrapbooking.

I am nodding off as I type, need to take some meds, and am freezing so need to take a warm bath. Enjoyed the little visit, please let me know you were here and come back any time.

What am I doing?

Okay, what am I doing? I went shopping and was soon totally overwhelmed by all the different things and the realization I have no clue what to do with it all if I had it.

I bought a scrapbook kit, you can guess it now, there are no directions at all. I am so very hopeful that after the beginner class I am going to take that I will figure out how to do something with all this stuff. Speaking of which, I went to a place called Dollar Tree to pick up some garbage bags. Each and every item in that store is one dollar. They have a little scrapbook section.

This is some of the packages. This has very delicate almost Victorian looking embellishments. The flower shapes to the side are actually little note pads but in person are some really pretty colored paper. To the other side are some vellum like stickers with little sayings and such. Thought that some quotes or sentiments would be safe a addition to any supply stash.

There are some also pretty neat little packs of colored papers that will be great for playing with on the Cricut and Big Kick.



These are some great looking precut shapes of tags and such and some paper page sets that come with co-ordinating papers.


Some other items I picked up at the dollar store were some neat little stamp pads, note cards to decorate, and these really cool looking paper crimps. They kind of emboss the paper with the shape of a teddy bear, hearts, stars and little flowers. There are a couple of little photo albums that I decided needed to come home with me and get dressed up a bit. After all they were only a buck each. The photo doesn't show it very well, but there was these neat wire embellishments. It has some beads on it and is shaped in the word "Celebrate" and at least to a newbie to the craft looks really neat. Bet it would stitch in to a crazy quilt square perfectly. Okay, don't look at this like that. I am not actually crossing hobbies, just making a comment. However, hobbies can be crossed with a world altering catastrophe. It is done all the time.

People tat little shapes to attach to cards, stampers print out images on different mediums, you get the idea. I mean really, did Michael Angelo only paint? I think not.

Speaking of rubber stamps, I have begun my journey to become a Stampin Up demonstrator. I was all excited as Friday came and it was time for the meeting with the demonstrator that will be signing me up. I was all prepared for the cost, eagerly anticipating play with the start up kit while on the camping trip. No kit, as yet, since apparently the kit is ordered from out of town (heck, out of state) so will arrive as soon as my intro letter has been received and a new set sent out to try and curb those actions.

I am posting this while our Internet with "intermittent problems currently being worked on by technicians" is actually working. Then, off to bed for some sleep. Have to get up early in the morning to finish packing the trailer for an overnight camping trip up the mountain. Weather is forecast to be great all day on Saturday with a possibility of breaking a temperature record that has held since the early 20's. Sunday however, a different story, which means that if the storm comes in from that direction may hit there during the night. Hopefully it will come from the other direction and we have some good weather to ride in.

Will be sure to post how it all goes.

The journey begins!

Hold on, here we go. I am off on another soon to be obsession. I look forward to each and every minute of it too.

Okay, hubby thought that my fabric and quilting was taking up too much room. I have now packed away all 5, yes five, sewing machines. As well as all the books and supplies.

Take my word, this is the neatest this closet has ever looked. They are still easily accessible if I should actually find the time to use them. But, I have embarked on a new journey in to a new hobby, which for me will be a new obsession. I throw myself totally into what ever the activity of the moment is. And...at the moment that happens to be the world of scrapbooking. Along with it's friends the rubber stamp family. I am working very hard not go out and buy everything at once, and have been semi-successful.

The plan:

I wanted to learn how to dress up my weekly menu plans which also include the recipes. I have wanted to get in to this hobby for a long time. In fact, when we lived in Texas I was actually about to sign up to be a demonstrator for Creative Moments when we found out we were moving. I was too afraid of moving to a place where I knew no one and trying to hold parties so I held off. Then I found quilting through our church, they offered child care during the meetings which at the time was a huge plus, and off I went down that road. I soon found I had a passion for it, a talent for it, and it took my mind off of the problems at home. We were 1,200 miles from all of our family and my husband had been diagnosed with colon cancer.

Well, long story short, after being home with kids for over twenty years I had a midlife brain fart and sent in some resumes for job postings. I was hired by one of them. Don't get me wrong, I love my job, but am really wishing I was back home. Especially lately, I seem to be getting sick alot. So...scrapbooking, paper craft, rubber stamping, card making, which ever set of words you want to use for this hobby, here I come with both feet. I saved up some money and promptly spent it...all.

However, I did get my sewing corner converted to become my scrapbooking/stamping corner studio.

I think this is the best this area has looked since we moved in. I finally have my whole computer, printer included, all in one spot and still room to write or work. I know, I left my machine embroidery threads hanging in their holders. But hey...they are out of the way at least. That was my last big purchase which has set unused since arriving. The plastic three drawer set to the left of the desk holds all my sewing and quilting supplies. At least what was in the drawers of the desk any way. As you can see, there is a couple of things being stored under the desk. This is one huge desk though so there is still plenty of room for my feet underneath.

Inside all the drawers are now the things I would need for an office space such as pens and pencils, stapler, paper clips and such. This is where I do all my ordering, invoices, and bagging of my Avon products. This will be so much easier on me. This is where I do all my menu planning as well, so it will be very handy to have the printer so close to the computer. If you care to take a look, Ring The Dinner Bell is my cooking blog. You can see what we are eating each week from there. I try to update it each Sunday and post the weeks menu, but am running a little behind at the moment.

These are the shelves at the side of the desk. The plastic drawers at the bottom, you can't see the fourth one for the desk, all have three drawers each just the right size for paper, stickers, dies and such. Above those is the trash can, up where my little buddy Kit can't get in it, and my portable file cabinet. Then above that are my newest purchases, my Cricut and Big Kick. Had a blast playing with them last night, for about 5 minutes, cannot wait to have some time to really play with them. I found out very quickly that I did not have the correct type of paper for the Cricut, but that is completely an easy fix. Oh, next to the Big Shot is my stack of composition books that will be turned in to unpublished romance novels. Up a shelf, is a Xyron machine and little Xyron machine. I think they turn any thing in to a sticker by applying an adhesive backing. Don't look, but my stash of dark chocolate is sitting there as well. Then, two plastic boxes of stamps and inks. This will soon be expanding as with the month I will become a Stampin' Up demonstrator.

Okay, I have to go lay down for a while, then cook supper, go fight with ATT over son's phone, then back to the computer to fill out my menu plan for the week.

Thanks for stopping by and feel free to leave a comment.