I'VE BEEN SO BUSY MAKING BABY STUFF "UPDATED w/ PHOTOS & A SUPRPISE

I just haven't been getting much done on here lately. I've been very busy making things for the new arrivals that are expected in the near future. Not only am I expecting my first grandchild, Elle, my sister is also expecting her first grandchild, another girl. I just haven't been taking much time to play on my blog. I know I promised some blog candy for my anniversary, I just haven't taken time to gather the goodies from my stash. Hang in there with me....It'll be sure to pack a "punch" when it's done. Here are the invites. I used so many things for this, Cricut DS for the double pocket card using GBS (designed in 3 sizes), cuttlebug for "it's a girl" on front, NA for the monkeys & ACY for the book. I sanded, inked, chalked, printed on clear labels and made very "tiny" little pink bows. It was fun! It's a bit difficult to actually see the card pockets, but they are done on an angle for more visual interest. The two small cards include the shower info with a poem (close up) and baby registry info. Yes I realize now that Babies R Us is misspelled. I just thought that it was how spelled. Oh well. I did hand tie all those little bows and for the first person to comment on this post with what common item that I used to tie those with I have a "little" suprpise!!! Don't forget that you can click on the photo to see it larger.

OMG!! IT'S BEEN ONE YEAR TODAY!!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO MY BLOG!!!!!

I almost missed it! I've got something in mind for a RAK, but don't have it ready yet. Check back during the next week and I'll get it figured out and posted.

"FRINGE" BENEFITS FOR YOU

I've been busy working on a project, that still isn't finished. Anyway, I decided to take a bit of time off to create this fringe that MarshaVance was wanting. I had to use GBS and PS, because the rectangle in GBS started giving me fits. And I don't like having fits! For those who don't have PS you can always try to replace the long rectangle with one from another cartridge. There are 2 sizes and 2 lengths. I'm showing the 12" length in both sizes with a close up. Ther smaller size in 6" long.

AUGUST IS FULL OF BIRTHDAYS AROUND HERE

Here's some of the cards I've been making.


This one is for my Dad. He mimics a variety of animals with apes being one of them. I used DS to make the vine with HD & HA, AK for the gorilla & "OOH" and PF for the words inside.


I used Tink to make the sunflower for this card. My brother gave me assorted sunflower seeds and he and I have grown some beautiful sunflowers. I wanted to give him a card that would remind him of some of those lovely flowers.


Here is the inspiration for the sunflower card.

I'M FLATTERED

C90 nominated me for this award. Please check her blog. It's amazing. Now I have to nominate 15 others for the award. That will be tough to do. Here we go....

Capadia Designs
Christmas with the Cricut
Cofessions of a Scrapaholic
Glenda's Creative Place
LadyJacq
It's just me, Heather
The Cuttlebug Spot
Tricia's Treasures
Tammy's Place

Okay, I didn't come up with 15, but I did add lots of fun places for you to visit.

WHO ME?

Christy sent me the Kreativ Blogger award. How nice of you, thanks.

Rules:
1. Thank the person who nominated you for this award.
2. Copy the logo and place it on your blog.
3. Link the person's blog who nominated you for this award.
4. Name 7 things about yourself that people might find interesting.
5. Nominate 7 Kreative Bloggers.
6. Post a link to the 7 you nominated.
7. Leave a comment on each of the blogs to let them know they have been nominated.

7 Interesting Things About Me.

1. I live less than 1 mile from the home I grew up in.
2. I have always loved photograhy and even worked as a portrait photographer.
3. I love animals and nature.
4. I find this difficult.
5. I'm going to be a Grandma soon.
6. 2 more.....My family is my biggest strength and my biggest weakness.
7. I love to craft.

Now I'd like to nominate some other talented people that I've come to know through these craft boards.

Here are some of the my newest finds. I'm just not able to come up with 7 who have not already been nominated for this award.

LadyJacq
Loopy Lou's Loopy Thoughts!
Ya Buggin' Me
Christmas with the Cricut
The Cuttlebug Spot

CATCHING UP....TOOL BOX CARD

It's been awhile since I've posted. It's been quite busy. It seems like I'm running around like a chicken without a head. Nothing gets done.....no work, no crafting....nothing. I have been getting some walking in though. I find it hard to force myself to go by myself. I think next week I'll start a new "exercise" plan along with my walking and tai chi, belly dancing. I think that just might help tone up some things. Last week was a wild trip to Grand Junction, CO so Dad could see Aunt Marion. She had fallen and broke her hip. Surgery went well and we were quickly headed back home. Way too much driving, but no problems, so all was well. We spent the night at Tonya's in Ft. Collins and then off we went with Tonya also. Marion is continuing to do well and is up walking in the rehab. Pat & Kat popped in for the weekend during his birthday. Didn't see much of them, but had lunch and celebrated his birthday. Next will be a trip to Lake of the Ozarks with Mom. We're going to the Waetzig women's weekend at Jill's on the last weekend of the month. The only crafting I've really done was a card for Pat's bday. Here's a pic and the .cut file for those who would like to create their own tool box card. This box has 2 pull out "drawers". I used WC & GBS. I also designed the chevy bowtie (not included). It's covered in Crystal Laquer to give it a shiny finish.

TRI-FOLD "SHUTTER" CARD

I've been playing again and here's what I did. I used GBS to create this tri-fold card. It cuts in two steps. First the "cut" then the "scorelines". You have to cut both for it to fold.

Yo-Yo

Here's a yo yo with string. It's designed with a base, the yo yo's two sides and string that all cut seperately. I haven't cut it. I used GBS and HA. It will work with either machine.

CHICKEN ON NEST CARD

I have two versions of the chicken card on one file. The smaller is simply a chicken and the larger is a chicken on a nest with eggs. I used GBS, PSB, DC and PDDU for the large one and GBS & PSB for the smaller. I just threw the large one together so I could get a photo and post this for those that have been waiting patiently. I'll post another shot when I complete it with all the details. I plan to redo the wing in white for this one.

PREGNANCY JOURNAL

Thanks to LT6982 from the Cricut MB for this wonderful idea. I love this book and it's been so much fun to make. Here's her original post.

I made this one for my DIL. I went with a less traditional color scheme and I think she'll love it, except that she does actually have to do some journaling. I kept it to the bare minimum because I know she doesn't like to write. The blank pages are for photos as the pregnancy progresses. I used a bit of Cricut's NA, but most is just cut or printed with computer. I included stickers for "boy" or "girl" and black photo corners to mount additional photos.

FLAMINGO CARD

I created this flamingo file in April 2008. It uses GBS, J, WIMG & DC. I have 2 sizes. The large one is about 7" tall. The small one, was "shrunk" & had parts replaced to work with her carts by KathyPem. I then reworked that file to match my large one and it is 3 1/2". So there are 2 seperate files for the 2 sizes. Download either or both, if you please. A little art work with water color pens and voila! This card is the large flamingo on an 8 1/2" x 5 1/2" card.

SCALLOP CIRCLE DRESS CUTS & SALT SHAKER

This has been a very productive day. I designed a pickle/cucmber, holding hands, salt shaker and now the cuts for the scallop dress. Sure glad my shoulder's doing better. I'll add the cut file for the shaker at the very bottom of this post. Here's a cut file to make the dress using the 35 bump scallop from Home Decor & GBS. If you have another scallop circle you can try replacing the Home Decor one with yours, but the cut lines probably won't line up. You will, however, get the shape. The scallop dress is cut in two stages. First the circle then cut the lines for the dress.

CHILD HOLDING PARENT'S HAND

Here's another file that was requested by a Cricut MB member. I really enjoyed making this one and love the way it turned out. I'll need to improve on my "sketching" skills, though. It's made with GBS only. It's sized to work on an A2 card. It's cut in two pieces. You will have to make a cut along the thumb of the child's hand to interlink the two hands.

PICKLE OR CUCUMBER

I created this file for a Cricut MB member. She needed a pickle. It'll be great for summer garden or recipe files. There are 2 versions. One is all GBS and the second is GBS & AK.

I'm getting impatient!!

I'm am tired of having to baby my shoulder. I just want it to work right! I go see the doc tomorrow and I hope he'll get me on some PT so I can get this worked out. It's been popping like crazy the last few days. Don't know if that's good or bad. It seems that's one of the things that they were trying to fix, so I hope it's just that there's still some swelling. I still can't lift it up much and can't put any pressure on it. The only thing they will let me do is shoulder shrugs and circles with my arm hanging down.

I was working in the garden earlier trying to get the weeds out. Jim used the tiller and I used a small shovel around the edges. After the tilling was done the dirt needed raked, so I decided to see if I could rake with one hand. I didn't do too bad at all. It sure took a lot of effort though. I had to put some hip into it, but I have plenty of help there.

Even typing is a bit of a hassle, because I can't keep the arm to type very long without causing pain. I am off the heavy pain killers and just using advil & tylenol.

I guess I shouldn't complain, but I'm just not a patient person. Having arthroscopic surgery rather than traditional certainly has to have made things so much better for recovery.

FUN SPIDER BORDER

Here's my newest border. It just came to me. I don't why I have to get ideas about spiders. I just HATE them. At least this one is kinda cute. I used OA, WC & PDDU. I just love the ones that look like they are bungee jumping! I think this will work great for summer garden, kids with bugs or, of course, Halloween.

FIRST POP UP/SPINNER CARD

This one was done for my DIL to send to a friend who is serving in Iraq. She wanted something that would pop up and had fireworks on it. I used SYI, SB & WC for the "fireworks" and the spinner base that I created in DS. I also used some Crayola holographic paper & stickles for added sparkle.

BY "GEORGE" I'VE GOT IT...SPINNER CARD!!!

opened up with flower closing up The "base" for this spinner card is made with GBS. It will work in a card 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" or larger. This is my mock up just to check everything out. Below, I've marked the score lines with red and blue ink and added measurements to help get the placement right. IT WORKS THOUGH...YIPPEE! I'm adding links here to the assembly instructions. I used these instructions, but found it more helpful to adhere the right side and then fold everything up. It allowed me to make sure it's all in place. Then I adhered the left side by closing the open card over the folded base. You really need powerful adhesive. Mine wasn't quite strong enough, but I'll get something tomorrow. You also should use heavyweight cardstock for the card. I used a lighter weight for the base and it works fine, but light weight on the card just isn't quite strong enough. http://karenburniston.typepad.com/.a/6a00d834524f1f69e2011168ccc991970c-popup http://www.sizzix.com/images/docs/656029_Plat_Spin_3D.pdf REMEMBER TO CLICK ON THE PHOTO FOR A LARGER VIEW. scorlines and measurements how it folds up...it's hard to show how it looks when it's folded

COOKING UP ANOTHER DESIGN

Here's an apron that would be great for BBQ, picnic or recipe layout. I used GBS & PSB. It is about 8 1/2" long. Now for those who would like it a bit smaller. I just added another smaller version with this file.