Cards for Soldiers "Father's Day and/or Kids" March 16 - April 3

I chose Kids Cards for this challenge. I don't have anything for Father's Day - and I'm not that motivated for "guy" cards... so Kids it is for me!! **Plus, I have lots of kiddie type carts to use. :)

I thought the little girls would LOVE to get these from Mom or Dad.

I promised 30 cards... and made 15 of these Hello Kitty Cards. They turned out cuter than I thought they would... Thanks to Okie for help with the photo corners!!!

When I have the other 15 cards made.. for boys this time, I'll post those as well.

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Baby Book Inchies!

So the Inchie thing has me so fascinated, I've been thinking up all kinds of ways to make and use them. I even found a website that has Inchie Stamps! Amazing.


These rubber duckies were cut from the New Arrival Cart at 1 inch, mounted on a light blue 1 1/4 inch square, and matted onto a 1 1/2 inch square of Debbie Mumm Baby Boy CS. I inked both squares, and used Black Diamond, Yellow, Orange Peel, and Waterfall stickles. I also used a Metallic Blue Gelly Roll pen for the four dots in the bottom left corner.


I made 15 of these in all, and I'm going to use 'em on the bath pages for the baby book... should be VERY cute!!!


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Oklahoma Spring Snow!

Just some pictures from the front and back of the house... 8 hours, and 5 inches of snow later!!!!!

Don't the cardinals just look so awesome on the bird feeder?? I was busy working on my Cricut projects and enjoying looking out the window at the birds all afternoon!

When you click, the pictures will be full size - BIG pics... Enjoy!

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Stampin' Up Club! ~ March Project!

This card used lots of punches, and I LOVE that! The scallop edge punch and the 3 sizes of oval punches in green backgrounds and then after we'd stamped our images.
I've had a Stamp-a-ma-jig for awhile and use it often, but now had a chance to use another of the two-step stamping groups.
I had a heck of a time tying that bow - and needed help! Guess I need to work on free-hand bows. I wish I had my Ultimate Crafter's Companion.. but that's just too big to bring to a group. :)


This card was so fun to make!! We used that label punch 2 or 3 times to punch the window in the card, and two of the sentiment pieces for the inside.
The outside is stamped with Versamark ink, then we used clear embossing powder and a heat gun to bring up the branches in relief.
Stampin' Up had that little flap punch - to keep the card closed - We ran some ribbon through a small punch in the flap to make it so cute!!



Here you can see the inside of the card... lining up the window and the sentiment were pretty easy, and we used a variety of the stamps to finish our project. I'm definitely going to play with this idea some more for cards... it's fun, and so cute!!

I'm enjoying my once-a-month group meetings so much... we made these two great cards Monday night... and this time I ordered from the products we used. I want to order the Love You Much set from our January meeting, but that will be in the future. I just have too many other things on my list!!


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Tracy's Christmas Challenge - March!

Here are my cards - created for Tracy's Christmas Challenge.


This month, our rules were:
1. Create 5 cards (as always).
2. Cards must be black and white, with one color accent.
3. Buttons are allowed as the only embellishment.


These are my cards...





I used the background paper from one of my B/W paper stacks,
2 Martha Stewart punches... the icicle border, and the button punch.

I have to admit, I use that button punch more than I ever thought I would!!

The snowflakes are from the Cricut Cartridge "Christmas Solutions",
and the oval is a Scalloped Nestabilities die, with Merry Christmas
stamped in Stampin' Up Glorious Green Craft ink,
and heat embossed with clear Ranger embossing powder.





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Kitchen Sink Stamps!

So here I am on the Cricut Message board, minding my own business as usual.. LOL "Right!"
There was a post about these Kitchen Sink Stamps.... of course my curiosity got the better of me, and I had to go check them out... well.... FLOWERS! I'm on a flower kick right now - if no one else noticed. LOL

My Dad's favorite flower according to my Mom is the pansy... she always plants lots 'cause he likes them... and I saw that set... I just HAD to have them!

First, it seemed like the price was a little steep... well, for what you get, it's NOT!
Second, I couldn't believe how FAST the shipping was!! WOW! I ordered early Thursday morning, and they were here Saturday!

After looking around the website for some tutorial assistance, I made these!!!

My parents will be traveling during Father's Day, so Mom will take it along for a personal delivery.


I used the new EK success punch for the top border cuts - inked the blue edges with my new Brilliance Sky Blue Opalescent ink... (also used for some of the flower stamps) and popped the pansies with some 3M foam squares. I also inked the largest nestability scalloped oval cut with the same sky blue ink.

You can see the popped flowers better in the 2nd pic. I also added one of the larger flowers on the envelope.


Comments are welcome!!!

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Some of the Latest Card Creations

Click HERE to see my latest card creations!

I promise, you'll LOVE the spring flowers!!

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Preliminary House Hunting in the Dallas Area

Here are some pictures we found of two houses we loved in the N. Dallas area. There were actually 4 we REALLY liked - but one was just absolutely, way too big, and the other one we didn't get pics. :( But we did talk to the family, and got to see inside - the kitchen is GREAT! and the backyard is GREAT!

When will we move? NO IDEA - BUT when the job comes through, we learned 2 very important things.

1. The house size and prices are right for our budget.

2. The areas we wish to live are quiet, and well-kept.

These are the two houses we found.

House 1.

The one big drawback of this house is that the

front of the house faces almost full west. Talk about HOT!

We'd get sun screens or something, but Whew!!

This one also needs some maintenance - paint, shutters

need replacing, and it has some water damage that needs fixing, etc.

House 2.

VERY nice too. I'd be happy with this one

as well.

The best part of this house is that there are only

one or two windows facing west.

This one has a bit of a wonky driveway - will we

have trouble if the neighbors park too close??

Hmmmmm It's in a really nice cul-du-sac though

and won't see too much traffic.

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Houston, Oh Houston!

Oh, the Texas Bluebonnets are a sure sign of spring, and just SO beautiful
along the sides of the road.

Sam Houston, Texas's First Governor, and all

around Statesman - this huge statue stands

just outside Huntsville, TX - about 45 min. to

an hour north of Houston.

These pictures are of the fountain on Main Street

in Houston in the Museum district.

The largest fountain is in the center, with two smaller
fountains on either side make up a roundabout where
Main, Montrose, and Fannin (I think) streets meet.

It's always such a beautiful display.










Our very favorite Vietnamese restauraunt on
Westheimer Rd. in Houston - We used to go once
a week, at least... and just had to go back to enjoy
our Pho. I don't know what my husband sees (tastes)
in those shrimp crackers - but he loves 'em. Oh well!





This is my very dear friend Antonio. While we
lived in Houston, we worked together. Now when
we go back to visit - we try to get together to keep
in touch. Email can be a great thing, but it's just
not the same.





Here's a picture Antonio took of DH and me.
NO, I don't like my picture taken, but Bennie
photographs very well, and I think he's pretty cute!
Here we are after our Le Viet Pho meal - on our
way to the Museum.




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Happy Birthday to my Aunt

This was another card I saw on the Cricut Messageboard. It was so gorgeous, I had to try my hand at it. It really is a cute card! Even my husband liked it, and he is my "most severe critic".

In these pictures, I'm not so happy with the glitter and will fix it before I sent it out.

Click HERE to see the original card.

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Inchies and Twinchies

Did I get bored in the Cricut Chat... was there nothing new? (There's always something interesting to see there.)

I recently participated in my first Swap... so I've been spending some time down in that area of the Cricut Messageboard, and what do I see? Something called Inchies. What the heck are Inchies!!?? One of the swaps there explained what they were, and further along in the thread, there were pictures.. YAY! :)

An 'Inchie' is a one inch square, (decorated on a theme for the swaps) decorated, and has a miriad of uses. You can use them on cards, scrapbook pages, bookmarks, etc. etc. etc.

So after I read through the entire 20+ pages of the thread, I did a little (only a little!) shopping, and made the Inchies you see above. The "Twinchie" is a 2 inch square.

I used Brilliance Sky Blue Pearlescent Ink, Stampin' Up stamps, MS punches - daisy, and monarch butterfly, and skittles! I have a feeling I'm going to be making many of these!

Comments, suggestions, and other ways to use these cute little things are VERY welcome!!

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Cricut Anniversary

Tune: Happy Birthday

Happy Anniversary to Me!
Happy Anniversary to Me!
Happy Anniversary Anniversary, Anniversary to Me!

Today is ONE YEAR to the day that I bought my Cricut!

I remember so clearly making those first cuts and working out
how to put them together... I sure have learned a lot since then!!!

March 10, 2008 I went and got my Cricut E after work, and started
playing!


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Check Out the Difference Inking Makes!

I cut these two telephone cards from the Cricut Wild Card cartridge today, and once I worked out how to get them together - UGH! - they just seemed to 'need' something.


A friend (Thanks, Ali!)taught me how to use the Fluid Chalk Cat Eye inks to add that something to my cards, and I've been using this technique for awhile now. Check out my purple flower card...


Take a look at the difference the inking makes! The card on the left is plain, and the card on the right has been inked with a similar tone. What a difference!


The second card shows the inking on the white inside of the card for a little continuity, and the Stampin' Up sentiment (Brilliant Blue Craft Ink) and holographic embossing powder set with the heat gun.


I hope you enjoy. When I saw the two together, I just had to take a picture!

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ *~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~
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St. Patrick's Day Cards

I had some very cute St. Pat's day paper left from a Cards for Soldiers set, and I thought of these. The spellbinders buckles sure are cute! Gotta love Spellbinders!


DCWV paper from the Spring Stack
Green polka dot ribbon from Hobby Lobby
Skittles colored green with a sharpie
Shapeabilities dies "Fashion Buckles" from Spellbinders
Stampin' Up Glorious Green craft ink
Studio G Series 26 stamps, outside, inside, and on the envelope.



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SWARM!

I attended my 2nd SWARM yesterday, February 28th - and got SO much done!!!
We had the best time - and though there weren't too many people there, we were able to talk, laugh, and get so much done!

I will post pics as soon as I can of all the work I finished. I am currently working on my 100 Butterflies for our Butterfly Project through the Houston Holocaust Museum. I hope you too will join us!

Boy it sure is nice to feel BETTER! Not perfect, 100% yet, but I'm getting there.
YAY!

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