Winter Fun--Circle Journal Layout

Happy Tuesday...Just a quick post today...I just wanted to share this layout I made for the circle journal I'm in. The theme is Seasons...And with snow being our favorite, then I just had to make this. Our little one and us just love to play once it snows. And our dog (even the neighbors dog) likes to play...I used Cosmo Cricket's Wonderland Holiday Cheer paper set for this....Enjoy!!!

This layout has been featured in the Scrapbooking Magazine January's issue

this is an 8x8 double page layout

this is the left side

this is the right side All the things I used Winter Woodland Cricut Cart snowman--6 1/2" winter fun--2" trees--2" snowflakes--4" and 2 1/2" flake circle--(this is what I used to make the cut out circle on the left side) 5 1/2" and 5" Well have a happy day...hugs from Charm City

Who says black is only for Halloween and C4C9 Challenge

heehee...Happy belated Halloween. I didn't get a chance to post yesterday so I just wanted to wish everyone a belated one. I hope it was a spooky day for you and your families. We had a great time here. We got our first "dog" trick or treater....and I loved it... she was just the cutest little thing you've ever seen. She was dressed up in a little t-shirt for her costume...Come back tomorrow and I'll post some photos from our little one, our little grandbaby and even our poochie in their costumes. And I have to tell you a story of our poochie...it's just too cute...

The card below I made for a challenge over at Crazy 4 Challenges. It was to just create a Halloween card of your choice. I have to say that I really like how this one turned out. Simple and easy. If you get a chance hop on over and play along this week.

This card below is one I just made this morning using Tim Holtz' somewhat idea...you know how it goes. You get inspired by someone else and make it your own. This is my season's postage stamp...at which I cut that from my cricut using the wedding cartridge at 4.5" and the square at 4". Seasons greeting was cut at 1.5" from the Winter Woodland cartridge.

There is so much going on and so many techniques that I used that this really took me all day long to make. I tried to make it so it looked like Mr. Snowman was coming out of a blizzard. He kind of gets lost with all of the embossing and such. I cut everything out of a file folder and used distress inks with a water bottle to color all of it in. The stamp frame I used black fine glitter with just some cheap liquid white glue. The snow flake was colored in with black soot ink then used white ink on top of that then embossed with white puff embossing powder. I did the same thing to the Holtz' sprocket brad and clock hand in the center of the flake. The inside I kept simple using the Martha Stewert icecicle punch with the inking technique. I haven't added the inside greeting yet. Haven't decided what I want....oh, I also used some Magic Scraps shaved ice to make the snow at the bottom. I first put a layer of that snow stuff then added the shaved ice, and hit it with the heat gun. I loved how the heat gun kind of melted the shaved ice. It keeps it on the card instead of it flaking off like it normally does.

here you can see the shaved ice....

here you can see that I changed the color of the sprocket brad clock hand and snowflakes using the white puffy embossing powder. I covered the hand with black glitter glue also..

this is what the inside looks like. Just a super simple one...

I thought I would post a photo of the products that I used in case you were interested.

Well have a happy Sunday and I'll post more tomorrow...hugs from Charm City

The Pink Elephant Sketch Challenge

Happy Thursday..well as happy as we can be here in our house. DH just got back from the doctors and he's been diagnosed with the flu. But not the H1N1 flu. Thank goodness. But nonetheless, the flu. The dr gave him meds for our little one and myself cuz' he said we are going to get it also. What a bummer. I am not up for this flu season crap. On a lighter note, here is the project I made for The Pink Elephant sketch challenge over at their site. You should hop on over and play along. I was playing with the Tags Bags Boxes and More Cricut cartridge and made the matchbox. I had one hell of a time trying to get this cut right to. I went through so many sheets of cardstock it isn't even funny. But I ended up figuring it out and I have so many extra cuts that I need to figure out what to do with them. I received my first book today in the mail from the circle journal swap. I love it, and I can't wait to do my pages in this book for her. I have so many things swarming in my head I just don't know which way I want to go with it. Her theme is Season's. And we all know I love Fall but I also love winter as much. Both seasons are very fun and nature is so beautiful. So we'll see... Here's this week's challenge

This is the set I made..I used the sketch on both the card and candy box

The witch and quote stamps are from Staving Artist

the tree and crooked path are from Stamp Scapes

and the bat is one of those foamies that come in a pack from the craft store

I colored them in with Prisma pencils

I used the TBB cricut cart --match1 cut at 6 1/4" and match2 cut at 6"

the witches leg stamp and spider sticker are from Recollections

the happy halloween stamps are from Inkadinkado

buttons are from Basic Grey and those little circle mirrors are from the craft store

the shell that the witches leg stamp is in are 2 2" circles, made slits into them and rolled the corners up. Turned the bottom one upside down. You can see a better view in the next photo..

here's what it looks like when the drawer is pulled open

Well that's it for now. I have to run for now. It's bedding day and the dryer has shut off. Gotta keep it running...lol...have a great day..Hugs from a very Sunny Fall Day!!!!

Another Beautiful Fall Day

Happy Monday blog land. I have so much to show you today. I have been really busy working on my circle journal book to get it off and into the mail, that-that's all I really have been doing. I did however find some time to make a couple of cards that I wanted to share. I wasn't able to do any challenges, but I will be able to participate again here this week ( I have missed them). Everyone is back to school/work and I get to play some during the day. Have you heard about the H1N1 virus going around? I forgot what they call it, but it's not good. It's a form of the flu but really bad. I know 3 people (1 adult and 2 children) that have it. And the 2 little ones are friends of our little one. Playmates. So needless to say, I really am scared about this thing. They showed on the news about 3 weeks ago that a 14 yr old girl died from it. She just thought she had the flu. When they finally went to the hospital, they admitted her and the next day she passed away. It's a real epidemic here. I hope that everyone is healthy in your little part of the world. I know we are trying to stay that way here. My first cards are one for Halloween and one for Thanksgiving. They both turned out abit busy for me. I hope you enjoy... You can click on the photos for a better view if you would like... here's the deets for this card camp out --outhouse at 5" storybook--marquee1 at 6 1/2" --boo at 2" --crew at 3/4" I actually cut the letters out onto yellow cardstock and used Distress ink (Marmelade) to shade and color. The monsters on the inside are from Recollection/Mike's Here's one I made for Aunt Rene to send her in the mail. I can't remember where the squirrell cut came from but I'm thinking it was from Dreams come true. Sorry...I made the tree using MS leaf punch. The greass was from Paper Dolls and the Marquee1 was from Storybook... I'm participating in a circle journal swap that Betty (the scrap happy witch) put together. I am so thrilled with this as I have always wanted to do a journal swap for the longest time. My theme for my book I chose sketches. I thought this would be great inspiration to have here on my desk and be able to flip through it. I posted my book below. I just hope that it's ok and not to lame. I kind of took it to a travel book. Across the miles kind of thing. I have an elastic closure that will keep it closed that I forgot to show. It goes over top of the door knob on the right side. I wanted to make my own book so I cut up manilla folders and made the book.

here's the welcome page. I used Going Places Cricut cart to cut all of the cards out at 2" for everyone to add a photo and name to corrispond with their numered page. I also used the possitive and negitive numbers from Plantin Schoolbook to number the pages and little cards. Nothing like using up both, huh...lol..

just a view of the sign in...

here's the sketch that I made for the book. It's really lame though. Each page has a smaller page one to add your sketch photo and web address where you got it from. I thought this would be great to see the sketch and how you made you card/layout.

the first fold out of the card

view of it open. I left the side one blank at to use it for journaling. Then a DUH light went off. I'm not sending this card. Hello Nancy, what were you thinking....lol...

This is how I did the web address. It was longer than the page was, so I added a fold and a little rhinestone to be able to open it.

here's the back page. I thought it would be kind of cool for everyone to sign their name in the location of where the book traveled in the order that it traveled in. Kind of a second sign in location. I hope they don't mind. I used Going Places Cricut cart again for the North America cut at 6".

and the back of the book. Another N.America cut at 2"

here's what it looks like standing. It's a warped book, but that's what I really like. I use liquid glue to hold my pages down since there are no protectors on my book. That's where the warpedness comes in.

Well I hope the others will like my book. I so can't wait for us to get this going. Mine will be going postal here in abit and I can't wait to get my first book to work on. Well that's it for now. DH just walked back in the door feeling lousy and our little one just text me saying she's not feeling well either. Looks like my day has changed already. Have a great week ahead bloggers. I have a feeling we are in for a sickness storm here. Wish us well.

Hugs from a beautiful sunny day in Charm City!!!!

Here's some cards from WCMD (weekend)

Happy belated WCMD everyone. I have tried to post a couple doifferent times here but got side tracked with family things. I was able to hang out at the Classroom over at Ellen Hutson's site. They had some really great tutorials and challenges. I wasn't able to make all of them but I did love the tutorials for the ones that I wasn't able to make. Thank you so much Ellen and your team for such inspiration. The first five cards posted below are what I made for the challenges. The last 2 cards I jsut made to use up some older supplies. If you get a second take a gander over to the CLASSROOM and check out the tutorials. You won't be disappointed. I am so sorry for the colors. I just could not get a good photo of the cards. I tried a few different things and still no good. You can also click on the photos to get a better view of each card if you would like. This is for EHWCMD2-sketch from Susan Roberts ---I used some shaved ice on the star and glitter glue. EHWCMD3--This was, I have to say my favorite tutorial from Becky Olsen. It was so right up my alley. She used the sticky back canvas and did a transfer technique with paper. I ammm so getting me some of that stuff. I did however use muslin to hand cut the scallop and made it into a flower. I just picked this stamp up and realy like it. I thought this would be kind of cute for a secret admirer card ...what do you think? EHWCMD4--puttin on the Glitz from Julia Stainton---another new stamp that I thought was just the cutest. I really wish you could see this in real life. She just sparkles and has such attitude.

EHWCMD6--color challenge by Sharon Harnist--here is used some Tim Holtz grungeboard stars and added some diamond dust with a couple of silver bells to make a little jingle.

EHWCMD7--Holiday card challenge by Debbie Olsen--and yet another new stamp that I thought was just to cute to pass up. I used some rhinestones for the halo and some flower soft on top of the grungeboard wing.

This was just a throw together. And wouldn't you know, this is our little one's fav. card...lol..

Have you ever wondered how to use those 12X12 sheets of paper that has pre-printed designs on it without cutting it all up? This was from the Martha Stewart pack. It's not the best, but I think it turned out ok. Alot of black glitter glue and some fabric dots along with the border punch from Martha's collection to.

Well that's it for now. I hope everyone was able to take some time out this past weekend to play and make some cards. Until next time have a great sunny fall day from Charm City

What a Beautiful Day

It is such a beautiful fall day here in Charm City. I have my windows open and am feeling the fall breeze rolling through our home. I just love this time of year. My feet, fingers, hell my whole body doesn't swell up...lol...anyone else feel like this? This is the time of year that I can actually go shopping for clothes and get the size that I really need and not have to worry about what size I need if it's so hot outside and my body swells. I just LOVE FALL!!!! Not to mention all of the beautiful colors that fall brings. With Halloween just around the corner, then Thanksgiving and then Christmas it means that this year is almost over. Can you believe that. Where has this year gone already. We only have a few weeks left before Christmas and I haven't even started my shopping, not to mention cards. Well, I just made one card but that's it for now that I posted below. I have been missing in action for a little while. I have to say, I have been on this audio book kick right now. I took our little one to the library a few weeks back and have fallen in love all over again with it. Normally, I don't go to the library. Our little one normally goes with her older sister or a friend. But on this day I took her. While I was there, I signed up for my own library card (at which I haven't had one in like forever). But then I decided to go and take a gander at the audio books since I'm in my truck quite abit. The first book I took off the shelf I just had to have. It's called Lethal Legacy by Linda Fairstein. It's the last one in the series of about 10 books. It was awesom. Take a gander over to her site. She does a video about this book and see if you like it. What I like about her series is that she brings history about New York City into her books. So you're getting a history lesson as well. Here's her addy Linda Fairstein Legal Legacy . I have since taken out all of the rest of the series except for the first 3 books. The library doesn't have these. So I need to find these so I can complete her series. If you have any audio books that you are fond of I'd love to hear about them. I'll be on the look out for some more soon. Now onto my crafting...the layout posted below is one I did one morning. It's a modpodge of products that have no rime or reason. I also posted a couple of cards and even a book. You can click on the photos for a better view...

I made the above card using the new Winter Wonderland Cricut cart. I left the greeting blank for now. Sorry for the coloring to. I just couldn't get this right this morning.

I made this card a few months back but never posted it here. I had made a card box that used this same card design but this is just a little different from those.

here is the book I made back in 2005 for CK's contest to be on their team. Heck, I don't even remember what it's called anymore or if they still have the contest. I don't think I have publicly shared this book and thought I would here on my blog. I have to say I am very fond of this book. It was the last time I made a trip back home to Michigan and I am feeling the itch to go. It's so me. Just what ever I thought the photos were saying to me at the time is how I decorated the pages. Each one is numbered and at the end of the book I have tags for each page that has my journaling to corirspond to each.

Thanks for hangin out with me this morning. I hope everyone has a lovely day. Hugs from a very beautiful Charm City.....

A Recipe Challenge

Good morning everyone. It's another challenge from The Pink Elephant. This one is a recipe challenge. We were to use 1 ribbon, 2 squares and something that sparkles. I eneded up making 3 cards with this challenge. Can you tell I had alot of fun with it. There are still some days left to play along. So hop on over and hang out with everyone. You can click on the photos to get a better view.

I really like how this card turned out. I have been wanting to use this felt flower border ever since I purchased it a few years ago. I just never really knew how to use it. So I covered one of the squares with it. Simple, but I love the contrast up against the white background. I am also determined to use up more of my "older" supplies. I'm planning on sending this card to DH. We are in a little rut right now, so I thought this would pick him up abit. I hope he'll like it.

This card is soo me....lol...anything rustic and old looking. Here, I used some stamps that I purchased last year and I think I have only used once. The snow flakes at the bottom are actually embossed cardstock from the Cuttlebug and I cut each piece out by hand. I used the Distress stickles for the red and some regular star dust stickles for the clear. The paper is KI Memories and some craft cardstock that I added Distress ink to the top.

Just a simple Halloween card that I used some of those Sandylion Essentials stickers. I have a ton of these little packs and I want to use them up. The trick or treat is a gel thingy from Karen Foster. And the ribbon has these bats and cats sewn into it. I have had this ribbon for years to.

Well I hope everyone has a wonderful day. It's a very beautiful day here in Charm City. We've turned the air off this week and have opened up the windows. Nothing better than fresh air flowing through the house. It's starting to feel abit like fall. I LOVE IT!!!! No more swelling...lol... Hugs from Charm City