Wednesday, November 26, 2008

EXPLOSION BOX #2

Here is a quick explosion box I made for Scott's step mom for Christmas. I am filling it up with pictures of the girls. The paper is the Bella Rose line from Stamping Up. It is the most gorgeous paper!!
The roses in the center are from the Walk in My Garden Cricut cartridge. I cut several of them out and layered them to make them pop a little.




A THANKFUL HEART IS A HAPPY HEART - LO

Isn't it funny how things change over time...not just our appearances but our likes or dislikes? I did this LO of our family's Thanksgiving celebration six years ago. I interviewed all of the family and asked them to tell me all of the things that they are thankful for. It is so funny to go back and read this and compare it to how we may answer it today. Though, I have to say Brittany had very good taste even back then. One of the things she listed as being thankful for is Hugh Jackman. I agree....YUMMY!!!




PILGRIM TIME

I just had to share one of my most favorite Thanksgiving decorations. I tend to go a little crazy decorating for the holidays and have several different decorations but this one is my favorite!


MY SPOOKABLE CUTIES!!

For Halloween this year Caitlin was a corpse bride. She had this vision of exactly what she wanted her costume to look like. We searched several thrift stores looking for a real wedding dress at a decent price. We finally found a gorgeous one and it only cost $20!! To get that fresh from the grave yard look we rubbed "brushed corduroy" distressing ink all over it. We made her veil from all of the material we cut out from underneath the dress (it weighed a TON!!) and made her bouquet. A little dark make up and she is the perfect corpse bride!!
Miss Brittany decided to take the less goth route and dressed as a rag doll. She was absolutely adorable!!




Monday, October 13, 2008

APPLES FOR THE PICKIN' - LO

So how much does a gal get done during a 12 hour Swarm? NOT A WHOLE LOT!!! LOL Anyone who knows me, knows that I am not very productive at the Swarms. I spend my time talking, checking out what others are working on and snacking. You would think that if I could only squeeze out one LO in 12 hours that it would be absolutely fabulous!! It should have lots of details, like some stitching, hand doodling, lots of bling....something. Nope, just 12 hours on a simple LO. I did however use the cricut on the title...that must count for something right? Anyways, the title is cut with the Cuttin' Up cartridge. Next Swarm I swear I am going to get a whole 2 LO's done.


GHOSTLY GUM SLIDERS



I found a wonderful tutorial on Splitcoast Stampers on how to make Hershey Bar Sliders. The directions stated that you could tweak the measurements to put just about anything inside, including gum packets. I would love to give the gal credit who posted the tutorial but I forgot to bookmark her post and now I can not find it. I made 40 of these for the gals that were at the swarm. They were so easy to make. You simply pull the ribbon and out comes the treat. I used paper from the DCWV Halloween Glitter Stack. The adorable ghost is a Penny Black stamp - 1911D Happy Ghost. I added a little ribbon and used a punch from Scott's work. I think SU may have a punch very similar that I need to get and of course I added a little stickles. I just can't seem to make something without putting a little sparkle on it!

NORCAL SWARM WAS A BLAST!!!

This past Saturday I had the privilege of hosting for the third time, a Swarm. What is a Swarm you may ask? It is a gathering of people that are addicted to the Cricut and there are a lot of us that are addicted. We held our event at a LSS that could hold 40 of us. There were 40 of the most fantastic, talented and sweetest ladies there. I want to thank all of the ladies that made the day a absolute blast! I also want to thank everyone that contributed to the day by donating snacks, goodie bag items and door prizes. I appreciate you all more than you can imagine. I also want to thank my dear sweet hubby who not only helped me set up and then came back after the event to clean up, but he watched our 4 year old niece for the day so my SIL could come to the Swarm. He is a definite keeper and I am very aware of the fact that I am spoiled. Here are just a few of the many pics that were taken that day.

This is my sweet daughter Brittany. This was her first time at a Swarm. She was also a very big help that day.
Here is our group photo. What a great bunch of ladies pictured here!!!
The Nuzum gals: me, Caitlin and Brittany.
Jenny's cupcake pops. OMG - they were so yummy. I believe she has a link to the directions on her blog to the right. They were such a hit!
Aren't these just the most adorable cookies you have ever seen? Rachel made 40 of these cuties so that each person at the Swarm would have one. They were absolutely AMAZING!! They also tasted just as good as they looked!!!
Here is a photo of Caitlin. This was her second Swarm. She had a lot of fun and was such a big help. BTW, Peggy if you are reading this...Caitlin just adored you!!



Monday, October 6, 2008

OCTOBER & ALL THINGS SPOOKABLE!

Hooray for October! I love this time of year. I am obsessed with the holidays. The baking, decorating, crafting, entertaining and gift giving of it all. My favorite things about October? Hmmm, I have a few: Apple Hill, pumpkin spice lattes, craft shows, apple cider, candy corn, chocolate, kids in costumes, the phrase "trick-or-treat", Halloween parties, pumpkin seeds, chocolate, carving pumpkins, fall like weather, all things spookable....oh and chocolate. Here are a few of my favorite spookable things!







Monday, September 29, 2008

EXPLOSION BOX

After seeing Monique's adorable Halloween explosion box on her blog, I knew I just had to try making one myself. I made this box for my SIL's birthday. It's pretty simple. I figured I would let her add her own pictures and then embellish it herself. The papers are from Cloud9Design's Finley's Estate Collection. They are so gorgeous and elegant. The box was very simple to make with the exception of the top. I had to use a "life line" and phoned a friend for help. Thank you Monique!!!


HAPPY BIRTHDAY - CARD



This is a quick little birthday card that I made for my SIL. I found the idea in the June issue of Paper Crafts 101 magazine. Their card actually used letter stamps and the masking technique. As I don't own any letter stamps I used my Quick Kutz Venus Dies for the lettering. I just rolled them through the cuttlebug...so easy. I can't believe I considered getting rid of my Quick Kutz dies once I got my Cricut. I love my Cricut but when you just need one letter, or maybe a few letters cut from several different colors, it is so easy to roll them through the cuttlebug. The paper is from the DCWV Glitter Stack and the stamps are Studio G $1 finds from Michael's. I also used the threading water punch, which is my new favorite punch BTW.


TEA PARTY

Here are a few pictures from our Tea Party on Saturday. We had such a blast!! Scott and Brittany worked the event as our servers. They were so adorable and served us flawlessly!! One of the ladies even left Brittany a tip on the table when she left. Here is a picture of one of the place settings. This was the cup and saucer that Caitlin used. A grandmother of one of the girls let us borrow the cups and saucers for the event. They were all absolutely gorgeous. It was hard to choose which one we wanted to use.
Here we are enjoying our luncheon tea. Scott and Brittany served us five courses. We had scones with devonshire cream, tea sandwiches, mini quiches, strawberry salad and elegant little desserts. Oh and the tea was to DIE for!! Pecan pie, amaretto, chocolate mint chip, white chocolate mousse, island coconut, and morning sunshine were just a few of the teas that we offered. It was a lot of work planning and preparing everything but it was well worth it as the girls and their mothers all had a great time.



Friday, September 26, 2008

TEA TIME - PLACE CARDS AND MENU

I don't own the Story Book Cricut cartridge, but it is one that I want SO bad!! How cute are the little butterflies? This cart has so many elegant and graceful images, not to mention the most adorable font. I have this cart on my Christmas wish list...and well I think I have been good...so we will see what is under my tree this year. I hope Santa is reading this. Anyways, here are some place cards and menus that I whipped up for tomorrow. A friend was kind enough to let me borrow her cart...thank you Wendy...and I used the threading water punch to finish them off. I will post pictures tomorrow evening after our party.




I'M A LITTLE TEAPOT

This Saturday I am throwing a tea party for my Girl Scout Troop and their mothers. The tea party is in honor of them "bridging" from Junior level to Cadette level. We had originally planned to have it at a wonderful little tea house in Folsom but two days prior to the event the owner called to tell me that their doors will be closed that day. So what is a gal to do when all of the tea houses in the area are completely booked (we made our reservations 3 months ago) and she doesn't want to disappoint her girls? Well, she throws one for the girls at home. Who says you have to go to a fancy tea house? I was lucky to find several mini teapots, like this one pictured for each girl and her mother to take home, at several different thrift stores in the area. I'm hoping the girls will have a great time and enjoy everything that I am preparing for them.


Thursday, September 18, 2008

HAPPY HALLOWEEN - CARD


I love this time of year, the start of all the holidays!! Here is a Halloween card that I made and yes that is a Bella stamp. I'm sure I have mentioned that I am obsessed with all things Bella right?
The patterned paper is from the DCWV Halloween stack from last year. The Bella stamp is called "Witchybella", which I colored with Prismas and then used the OMS technique. The stamp inside the circle tag is a Studio G $1 stamp that I got from Michael's last year. The border of the card can be done using the Threading Water punch, can I just say that I love this punch!! I also added some Stardust Stickles to the Bella. Hey who says witches can't be cute and sparkly?


Monday, September 15, 2008

TRICK OR TREAT GOODIES

Here are a few treat bags that I threw together for fun. The black cardstock is embossed with the spiderweb A2 cuttlebug folder. I love this folder!! The cute little ghost stamp is a Studio G $1 stamp that I found at Joann's. Of course I added a little bit of Crystal stickles to the ghost. The scalloped circle was cut from the Mini Monograms Cricut cartridge at 2 1/2 inches. I plan on making tons of these for several events that I have coming up.