I got a blogger award!



Thank you Stephanie 

I would love to say a big thank you to my fellow Circlet Stephanie for this wonderful blog award. A long time ago,  when I was first new to blogs another wonderful blogger Girlia sent me an award, but silly me, I couldn't figure out what to do! LOL! So this is my second award, but the first one I actually know how to post!
You have to check out Stephanie's blog, she just makes the cutest pages for her incredibly adorable children. I am always impressed by how great she is with the Imagine and Cricut Expression machines.

One of the provisions of the award is to share 7 random things about myself and pass the award on to 8 blogger friends. Here are some facts about me:

1. I still like to listen to heavy metal music from the 80's, I just don't fit in leather pants anymore!
2. I drink too much coffee.
3. I love to watch Sci-Fi movies and my two favorite shows are Smallville and Supernatural.
4. I watch Zeke & Luther and Phineas & Ferb with my son and actually laugh out loud at them.
5. I still love to play video games.
6. Although I signed up for Online Copic Classes, I never actually took the class! I am still kicking myself for wasting the money.
7. I took up paper crafting to keep busy after quitting smoking.

I would like to pass this blog along to these wonderful crafters, please visit their blogs and see what I mean!

1. Karan at http://scrapbooksandpapercrafts.blogspot.com/
2. Melissa at http://createdbymissie.blogspot.com/
3. Scarlet at http://thescarletsquirrel.blogspot.com/
4.  Belinda at http://queenbeesmusings.blogspot.com/
5.  Diane at http://horsebunny.blogspot.com/
6.  Mel at  http://doxiemeldesigns.blogspot.com/
7. Jodie at    http://jodiesscraplab.blogspot.com/
8. Carolyn at http://cccscraproom.blogspot.com/

These bloggers so some amazing creating! I am so happy to pass this award along to them because while I may not always post comments, I am always inspired by their art!

Thanks for stopping by today! I really hope you get the chance to check out my fellow bloggers!

Happy Crafting!

Colleen

 

Bring It On!!!

Hi friends and fellow crafters!
This is an exciting day here in our household. My son is gong to have a whole summer off starting today! I know this is may be a strange announcement to many of you, but those who know my son or have children that are differently abled, you know what I mean. Most of you know my son is Autistic and he has attended Extended School Year programs since I worked with other parents and one amazing teacher in Bayonne to get them started in 1994/1995. Up until this summer, he has always had some type schooling throughout the month of July and half of August. Last year was not a good school year for him, so when the new year rolled out, I was hopeful that he would have a better year. He was doing OK, until his bus driver had to leave her position in February. She drove him for almost 9 and a 1/2 years, so this was a monumental change for him. Sadly, the bus company that provides his transportation is uneducated or inept, to say the least, about providing a stable bus ride for him and the other students on the route, and the school year began to crumble. My DH and I made many attempts to drive him in, but that also was not part of his routine, so some attempts were successful, others,   not  so  much ....
We decided that this year, we would cut our son and our fellow tax payers a break, and give him a full Summer Vacation. My school board was not happy about his absences anyway, so this is my way of saying that I understand that our economy is completely messed up and I don't want to see anymore of our taxpayer money being wasted. So here we are, This may be one of the craziest decisions we have ever made or one of the best. I am not even going to consider what may happen come September and just take one day at a time. Things are sure going to be different here and I hope that I won't end up totally neglecting my crafting, but between my Son and my Mom, I may not be around too much, or who knows, I may be around more! Well life, let's do this! Bring the summer of 2011 on!

Happy Crafting!

Colleen



Cricut Weekly Challenge/ A Father's Day Card

Hi Friends and fellow crafters! Thanks for stopping by the blog today. With the end of school, Father's Day, several graduations and birthdays this month, June is exceptionally busy for me this year.  I have been neglecting my blog terribly. I have also been neglecting my paper challenge, so that K&Company paper collection is STILL not finished. I was in Michael's the other day and was drooling at the sight of the paper, but I still have paper left, so no paper for me!!! :(
I couldn't use it on any Father's Day cards, and the graduates are both young men, so the paper challenge waits as well as any paper that I may have been admiring in Michael's! I decided to participate in the Cricut Circle Challenge this week so here are the details:

Weekly Challenge #34: Father’s Day Card Sketch Challenge!

The Challenge: Get a head start on Father’s Day and create a greeting card using the sketch provided below. Have fun!

Rules and Guidelines: Circle Blog Challenges are open to Cricut Circle Members only. Your project must be newly created for this challenge and include at least 2 Cricut Image Cuts. You must submit a project to be entered into the Challenge Prize Drawing. One entry per person, please.

How to Enter: Submit your entry using the InLinkz tool found at the bottom of this post. Please post your full name along with your entry. Entries are due by 9:00 pm MST on Thursday, June 23rd, 2011.

Prize: This week the winner may choose to have $25 added to their Cricut.com. Please allow 4 to 6 weeks for delivery from winner announcement.

Winner: The winner will be selected randomly from qualifying entries using www.random.org and will be announced on the Cricut Circle Blog on Friday, June 24th, 2011.

Here is my entry

The three cartridges I used for the card are Ornamental Iron for the gate background, Elegant Edges for the shape I stamped on, then on the inside I used a Pen Work cut from French Manor to add some interest to the sentiment inside. It's a very simple card because my DH is the clean and simple type!

The stamp sentiment on the front is from Verses Rubber Stamps and it's called Love and Magic. It's a very pretty sentiment and describes how I still feel about my DH after 30 years. It's a little blurry, but here is a close up of the stamped image.

 I used Basic Grey paper for the background color and Tim Holtz Lost and Found Paper for the base and the embellishment papers. I cut the shape from Elegant Edges and then stamped the sentiment on it. I printed For My Husband from my computer and then trimmed it to fit with a paper trimmer. I used American Crafts Metallic cardstock for the fence then slightly distressed it. I used Viva Decor to add the black accents to the saying and sentiment. On the inside of the card, I added the  Pen Works cut from French Manor cut in Black Velvet paper from SEI on the bottom of the sentiment. To give it a finished look, I used more Viva Decor to add the black accents on the corners.

My DH is a wonderful husband and father. He does not have it easy, with a disabled child, and he has his ailing Mother In Law living with him, yet he tells us everyday that he loves us and always is quick to be supportive of my crafty endeavors and everything I do. I try to express my gratitude  about how much I love and appreciate him, but I don't think there will ever be enough words for that. We have been together for 30 years now and I pray every day that we will be blessed with another 30 years to enjoy our life together.

Happy Father's Day to all the Husband's and Dad's out there!

Happy Crafting!

Colleen

A Card for Finley

Hi friends and fellow crafters! I have been so busy lately that my crafting time has taken a big hit. I usually keep my blog about my cards or crafts, so I haven't updated it recently. I've finally had the chance to sit down a create something.
I am a member of the Cricut Circle, and sometimes a fellow member requests cards for special reasons.  This is a card for Finley,  a fellow Circlet's neighbor's 3 year old child. The child had an accident that resulted in cutting her thumb off. Surgeons reattached it, and were treating it using leeches. Hopefully Finley is on the road to recovery.
I wanted to make something fun for Finley, so I used my favorite High Hopes Stamp, Dudley the Dragon blowing bubbles. I am still using that never ending supply of K & Company's Berry Sweet Paper! :) I also used DCWV Glitter Cardstock for the base of the card. Using my Cricut, I cut the background from Recollections cardstock that I had sitting on the shelves for at least a year! The smaller mat is that blasted K&Company Paper and I cut some circles to use for bubbles from white cardstock. I found out two days after the card was made that I did have a bubbles cut on a cartridge after all! I am beginning to think I have way too many Cricut Cartridges! For the inside of the card, I used more K & Company Berry Sweet paper and wrote a little poem that I printed on cardstock.

I know, I am not a poet, but lucky for me, Finley is only 3 and should enjoy it simply because it rhymes! I added some Jolee's crystals with my I-rock for some sparkle.

I colored Dudley with pretty much all the YG copic markers I have! He looks much brighter in person. I suppose I need to check the settings on my camera. The mushroom is colored with RV's and I added some stickles. The bubbles are BG0000, B000 and RV000.

I used Diamond Glaze and sprinkled MS Glitter on it before it dried to add lots of sparkle on the front of the card. I popped the "bubbles" with pop dots and added some little flowers I had hanging around on my table for more bright colors and sparkle. I printed out the words on the computer and added them on two small tags I cut on a some scraps of ---you guessed it---K & Company Berry Sweet Paper!
I finished the front with some bright Prima Flowers.
Hopefully this card will brighten a sweet little girl's day. It made me very happy to create it for her!

Happy Crafting!

Colleen

Why won't this paper pack ever end!!!!

Hi Friends and fellow crafters! I wanted to share a new easel card/tissue holder that I made using  K&Company Berry Special Paper, one of my favorite Lili Of the Valley Stamps, my circut machine and my copic markers.
I followed the same pattern that I did for my Frog Tissue Holder from KarelJ's last blog hop. My poor mother almost had a fit when she saw me pack it up to mail to my BFF! I'm not quite sure, but she seems to think that each card I make is for her to keep! She adores all the Lili Of The Valley stamps I have so I went with this one because she loves dogs. I colored her with my Copics and added some sparkle to her swing with my I-Rock and Jolees Crystals. I used Stickles on her pony tail bows for some shiny goodness!  I cut two branches from my Cricut Cindy Loo Cartridge for the swing's anchor. The ribbons and embellies were on the craft table, so I just grabbed them! The stick pins are from Chloe's Closet, they were also found on the craft table!

On a final note, about the title of this post. If anyone remembers back a few posts ago, I said I am on a paper ban. I have way too much paper and I really need to use up what I have before buying anymore. I challenged myself to use an entire paper pack up. Well, I chose  K&Company Berry Special Paper mostly because I was planning on making a couple of cards using my Kraftin Kimmie stamps featuring Lily Lemon and Stella Strawberry. I thought, it's bright and pretty. I obviously had many plans for this paper and that was why I bought it last year, or maybe it was the year before?  ;-)
Big Mistake....this paper pack NEVER ends! Seriously, I think my DH is playing tricks on me, as soon as I think I am a couple pages away from finishing it, I find more paper from the collection. Not just little scraps that I can discard, claiming they are too small, either. These are over the 3 inch limit I set for what I should throw out. Yes, I have size limits. I used to save all the smaller scraps, then one day realized I had a jar filled with curled up scraps, not to mention the basket filled with pieces that were too small for me use with my Cricut or even use punches with. So I set the size limit. So far it has worked on keeping the scrap factor down to a minimum. Anyway, I am glad that I didn't choose one of the monster paper stacks, you know, the ones with 100 or more pages of paper that I had to have for that one design...
Stay tuned for at least another project, maybe even two featuring the lovely Berry Special Paper! I still have that page left that has the sock monkeys on it!!!!!!

Thanks for coming by today!

Happy Crafting!

Colleen