I'm back and Alive

Whew!!! I can't believe I survived this year. Things have been so crazy--- crazy--- crazy---I just can not believe I survived it---another holiday---....but I don't know about you, we had a great time with everyone. It was nice to play catch up. And my goodness, our nieces and nephews are just growing like weeds. Our one nephew stands 6'6" or so. My goodness, I have no clue where he got all that height at either. But he's a cutie.

I just posted a tutorial over at Hallmark Ladybug Blog using the Krylon frosted and stained glass spray paints to make a transparency card with matching glass vase. Take a gander over and check it out. And don't forget to stop and check out the other tutorials from the other ladybugs. They are so creative and their tutorials are just the best step by step.

Well, I thought I'd leave you with a project that I made for our soon to be newest grandbaby this coming May. This year I made most of the bags that I gave away with everyone's gifts...which were a gift card and some other little gifts inside. So, for the baby's bag I had to make 2 seperate bags. We didn't know what the baby was going to be until 3 days before Christmas. So I went ahead and made a blue one and a pink one. And depending on what the test turned out to be, was the bag I used...did that make any sense? Anyway, here's a photo of the two bags...now mind you, I don't usually use "normal things" for things that I make...just call me wierd.....oh, and all of the bags were lunch paper sacks....

click on the photos for a better view...

( I added handles to these also after this photo was taken...)

on these bags I used those little plastic snowflakes from the dollar store...3pcs per pk for a buck...love the bank for your bucks kind of deal....lol...Chirstmas picks from craft store and a bag of those little silver pine cones and that wirey stars banner from dollar store....not to mention a glue gun...did I go through some glue these past couple of weeks...anywhooo...which bag do you think I used? I'll let you know which bag I gave them at Christmas....and share some of the gift bags I made for everyone....

I hope everyone has a safe and Happy New Year....I'm just hangin out and relaxing....trying to catch up on some sleep...

Hugs from a wet Charm City

WooHoo...

Don't you just love Monday's..I do...I get to actually play most of the day...Congrats to the winners ( Donna and Becca) over at Bitten by the Bug that won the card contest...I'm glad I didn't have to judge the contest...there were some great cards posted... You have got to go and check out this tutorial over at Hallmark Ladybug blog...Sharon did an awesom job on showing us how to make a cute and inexpensive gift for the holidays...and while you're at it, check out her site as well...she's an awesom designer...I just love all of her creations...

Here's some cards I made for challenges over at Hallmark Scrapbook on the message board...we would love for you to come and join us there and play along...they are soo fun...

the first 2 are the snowman challenge...we were asked to use any snowman from any cricut cart...and this is what I came up with....

This first one I used Tim Holtz's techique he posted on his blog to make it...and I also used photo paper for all of the cute except the bottom layer with was chipboard...

This is just alittle fun one...

Here's a bag set that I made for a challenge over at Hallmark Scrapbook in the challenge message board...we were to use the ice skate from the Joys of the Season or Christmas solutions cart...

If you haven't stopped by the store at Hallmark Scrapbook, you might want to...they are having a huge sale....so go on over and get those goodies at a great price...

As always, thanks for stopping in...I hope everyone has a blessed week...try to stay warm...

Hugs from a very CHILLY Charm City

It can't be December already

Can youbelieve it...December first is already upon us...only 24 more shopping (or is it 23) days left until Christmas...I can't believe it...I am so far behind already...but as I see it, one day at a time...one decoration at a time...lol.... If you're in the market for some deals on Cricut carts you have got to go over to Hallmark Scrapbook's store and check out the deals...they have all of them on sale...and what great little gifts they would make for a friend or even add it to your gift list for dear ol' hubby... Here's a littly ditty I've been working on for the past couple weeks...it's a fun little paper mache house that I picked up at Recollections when they were closing at a awesom deal...I used those little miniature chasing light sets and road sign, some snow, added glittler and Dress it up buttons...the tree is from JOTS cart and added the Martha Stuart punched leaves... here's a bag and card set I made for the challenge over at Hallmark Message board...we were asked to use the holly or the poinsetta cut from the JOTS cart...I cut the poinsetta out onto white cardstock and colored them in with some Prisma pencils, added glitter and some odds and ends...

Here's another set for a different challenge at Hallmark Scrapbook to use the snowflake...the bag is actually a lunch bag cut down to size....

and last but not least, another bag set with the frame from the Storybook cart and stamped images using stamps from the dollar section at the craft store....

Thanks for stopping by...I hope everyone has a great week...

Hugs from a little rainy Charm City

Holy Mackerole--My 10 seconds of Fame

I was just on HGTV's 25 Great Holiday Ideas yesterday...well, one of my projects that is...but it still was really cool to see something that I made from "paper and glue" and see it on my t.v....how cool is that......Here's a link to the video and you can see it on the computer also...Video of project .....just click on the candy trees one and my project comes up in that little segment...that really made my morning when I watched this show....if you get this channel, you have really got to watch this show...there are so many inspiring ideas for decorations in it....I can't wait to try some of them here at our house for Christmas....

I thought I would share the project here and a couple of other ones that I made a couple years back....

The first one is the paper cone people that I made using a birthday party hat as a template...and just filled one of the little mesh thingies that you get fruit in during the holidays with some cinn. sticks and small pine cones and tucked up underneath for a holiday sent on our buffett table...

You can click on the photos for a bigger view to...

Here's some stuffed qt paint cans that I made to tuck some Christmas gifts inside..they all came with a little paint can opener attached so they didn't have to search for something to open the can with...

this little elf ended up being a little dorky...lol..

This was my favorite paint can that I had made that year...I made it for a Christmas swap and I added some scrappin goodies inside...

Well, I thought I'd share my exciting news with everyone...I hope everyone had a glorious Thanksgiving and didn't eat to much...we haven't had much time over here to really enjoy this past week...it's one of the busiest times of the year for us with work...so today is just a relaxing day...and then it's back to our regular scheduled program on Monday...school, more work...need I say more...lol...

Hugs from a Very Exhausted Crabbie

Have I got a SURPRISE for You!!!

You have got to go over and check this video out on the

Hallmark Ladybugs blog...I'm not going to tell you what it is, but run don't walk over there and check out what DeeDee has posted for this weeks tutorial...it's just SPECTACULAR!!!!

After you go and check out the tutorial you have got to go over to Hallmark Scrapbook and check out their SUPER SALE on Cricut cartridges...this is a perfect time to purchase those carts that you have been eyeballing...

Here's my 2nd entry into Regina's Christmas card contest over at Bitten By the Bug Blog... we were to use any cut from any cartridge and make it into a non traditional color Christmas card...here's what I came up with...tell me what you think...

it's a chipboard Santa card with a lighted lantern (flameless tea light) , a little bling and some animal print on his robe. (our little one says he's in his p.j's...lol..) I also used some watch parts for the cutout in the lower left corner, some batting for his beard, a little magnifier in his left hand attached to his belt with a chain so he won't loose it...

on the inside I did some masking with some Tim Holtz grungeboard for the background paper, added a stamped Christmas greeting that I made using the rubber stamp kit for the Pazzles machine (that I purchased in the store at Hallmark Scrapbook), and attached both sections of the card using Tim Holtz grungeboard with some little screw eyelets.

Thanks for stopping in and I hope everyone has a great weekend....

you can click on the photos to get a better view of the card if you would like to....

Hugs from a CHILLY WILLY Charm City

Is it FRIDAY yet?

I love Fridays...normally that means that my weekend starts for me and I can take a break from the working world...although Fridays are one of my hardest days of the week, I still love them. After work, I get to sleep for a couple of hours, get up and get the little one from school and we go get Chinese and some movies...she loves that we get movies together for the weekend...that normally means that she gets to have a friend over, either for the night or just to hang out, watch movies and play games...so what about your weekends? Is there something that you do every Friday like clockwork?

On a lighter side, here's a few projects I forgot to post the other day....the first is the bag set that goes along with the mug that I posted a week ago. It's abit different, but I really like the outcome...

this is a dvd movie that I made from the photos of my brother-in-law's night before the wedding with everyone partying at the club.

this is a 3x3 notepad holder. I need to go and buy some to fill it though...lol..

this is a little gift bag that I made using the cuts from the stuffed snowman posted below...I usually make a few cuts when I'm working on a project to get the right size of something, and this one an extra cut I had made...

and this last project is a stuffed snowman shaker...it was inspired by a couple of ladybugs over at the blog. ...they are jsut soo crafty and I loved it when they had posted a couple projects using material...

I don't know what I'm going to do with this yet, but I'm sure I will figure something out...

Thanks for stopping in...I hope everyone has a great weekend ahead...

Hugs from a brisk Charm City