Friday, December 31, 2010

Starting out 2011 with a Checkbook Cover for Dad!



I sent Mom a checkbook cover for Christmas, but thought Dad wouldn't be too excited about one... until I found out that she changed hers over for the new one, and Dad's is now all taped and barely holding together.

This will fix that problem!!
It's already in the mail, Dad!!
:)

Here are the color recipes for the stamped items:
Light Brown boots:
Step #1: Desert Sand off 1x
Step #2: Desert Sand
Step #3: Potter's Clay
Step #4: Rich Cocoa off 1x
Step #5: Rich Cocoa
I then re-stamped step 5 with Tuxedo Black.

Dark Brown Boots: I used an unusual recipe for these since Dad's got a pair of boots that aren't black... aren't gray... Hmmmmm :)
Step #1: London Fog off 1x
Step #2: London Fog
Step #3: Potter's Clay
Step #4: Tuxedo Black off 1x
Step #5: Tuxedo Black stamped twice, full strength.

Longhorn Steer:
Step #1: Desert Sand off 1x
Step #2: Desert Sand
Step #3: Rich Cocoa off 1x
Step #4: Rich Cocoa
Step #5: Tuxedo Black

Cowboy Hat: I used Stampin' Up inks for the hat...
Step #1: Crumb Cake
Step #2: Soft Suede off 1x
Step #3: Soft Suede
Step #4: Close to Cocoa
Step #5: Chocolate Chip

Your comments are always appreciated!
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Thursday, December 30, 2010

Blog Hop Winners Announced!

Click on the Lime Light link at the right
to see the winners for our Blog Hop!!

It took awhile, but it was worth the wait..
2 grand prizes, and 7 runners-up!

Watch in January for our first project of 2011!

Your comments are always appreciated!
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Christmas Gifts - Checkbook Covers and Bookmarks

A few months ago for our Stampin' Up Card Club, our Demo Kathy had these checkbook covers for us to decorate. She also had some samples of the bookmarks she'd made for us to look at.
My first though (along with some of the other girls) was 'What GREAT gifts!!'
So this is what I came up with:

This set is for my cousin's new wife Olga.


This set went to my nephew's wife Alex... she LOVES
daisies, and the color turquoise!


This set is for my sister Gail. She loves flowers and
always has cardinals out her door where she feeds them.


Sunflowers?? Has to be for Mom!!! She also sews constantly
so I thought the buttons would be lots of fun.


This set went to my Aunt Nancy... she loves kitties too!!!
and I also know how she loves purple.


I sure hoped they like the checkbook covers and bookmarks!!!

Your comments are always appreciated!

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Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Our Christmas Mantle

I just wanted to show the mantle in our living room all decorated for Christmas!

I love Christmas so much! It is far and away my very favorite time of the year.



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Sympathy Card

I got notification from Mom that my aunt's sister-in-law had just passed on this last Saturday, so I set out to make a sympathy card for her.

I used the new Build-a-Blossom set and punch from Stampin' Up as well as a stamp set called Close as a Memory.



inside view - I used Concord Crush to color the Organza ribbon, and added a line of pearls at the bottom of the satin strip. The bottom paper is from the In Color 6x6 stack in Blushing Bride. The accents on the flower are stamped in Poppy Parade on the Blushing Bride paper. I curled the edges of the flowers in a fan type shape to add some dimension.


Your comments are always appreciated!

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Saturday, December 18, 2010

Extended Blog Hop!

WONDERFUL news!

I just heard from our fearless leader Gracie, that our blog hop is being extended until midnight on Sunday! (December 19, 2010).

Keep on hopping!!! I am thoroughly enjoying all your comments, and compliments on my work, and I'm looking forward to stopping by all your sites as well!

Two posts down you'll see the directions, and link to the next stop on the hop!


Your comments are always appreciated!

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A Proud member of The Lime Light. Click on over to see what we are doing.

Friday, December 17, 2010

THANK YOU!

Thank you for participating in our Lime Light Charitable Design Team Blog Hop!

I loved reading every single comment, and as Gracie posted over on the team blog, our winners will be announced on Monday!

I'm so excited to hear more of your comments on my blog and projects... and in time, to check out all your blogs!

THANK you again!


Your comments are always appreciated!

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A Proud member of The Lime Light. Click on over to see what we are doing.

Lime Light Charitable Design Team OFFICIAL Blog Hop!

Greetings to those hopping from the Lime Light Charitable Design Team blog.

Welcome to Sue's Cricut and Crafts blog. My name is Sue and for the past 2 1/2 years I've been posting my Cricut creations and other crafts on this blog. Early on in my time with my Cricut, Gracie from the Imagine That blog asked me to write some articles for beginning Cricut users, and it took off from there!!!

I do love my Cricut, and when my husband and I bought our house last year, one of the rooms HAD to be my Cricut room! It was an absolute requirement.


I wanted to join in on a Design Team, and Gracie asked if I would be a member of the Lime Light Design Team. I started as a regular member that first year, and have been so honored to stay on since and take on some extra duties (training director, etc.) In Oct. 2008 we completed our first project as a team: cards & bookmarks for soldiers. We have gone on to do many things, as you saw on our team blog. I'm always excited to get to visit our new team members blogs and get to know them every year... what amazing talents they ALL possess! I hope you can get a good glimpse of some of their best work on this hop.

The team members are contributing product & some absolutely gorgeous creations to the winners of this blog hop. Some of those products were donated from their LSS and other sources. I want to thank Making Memories for the gorgeous paper (it's all two sided or specialty paper), embellishments and kits.

I am donating a stamp set from a company I love SO much, Kitchen Sink Stamps. I use them along with my Cricut to create some projects that get WOW's when I show them!

That's not even the tip of the iceberg if you've watched the slide show in the announcement post. The ladies on this team are so selfless, and you'll get a good taste of that as you hop through the blogs.


You will be continuing on to
Tropic Luv, Cards in Paradise -- and you are in for a treat!

SO, take a peek at my Cricut and Craft creations, leave a comment on this post, and become a follower on this blog (and each blog you visit tonight) to be eligible for our awesome prizes!

There is a time limit, so don't wait too long!!

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A Proud member of The Lime Light. Click on over to see what we are doing.

Cased Card Challenge! KSS # 30

The latest Kitchen Sink Challenge is to 'case' a card, and make it your own.

My card (below) is dated December 2010, but I actually made it this past summer when I first received this stamp set... (I could have Christmas all day, every day - I love it that much!)

I liked this card from the second I saw it, and used a few more colors. I LOVE red and green for Christmas, but I want colored lights!!!


Here is my cased card. I hope you like it!! Click HERE for a tutorial I wrote on all the different colors of lights using Stampin' Up inks!!



Your comments are always appreciated!
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A Proud member of The Lime Light. Click on over to see what we are doing.

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

2011 Calendars; Part 3 of 3 - and an AWESOME Blog Hop!!

So here are the last 4 calendars for 2011! I hope you've enjoyed the previews as much as Mom and I had making them!!


It took me a long time to decide what to use for the September calendar... Labor Day, school starting,... and I already had a patriotic theme for July, so I went back to my ever favorite Hello Kitty cart, and found this adorable cheerleader. Why is she in purple and white?? Kiel Raiders, of course!! Purple and white were our colors, and they were GREAT school colors!


I have absolutely no idea why, but October, which isn't really my most favorite month always turns out so elaborate... I really loved the idea... the black iron gate with a path going up to the castle in the background, with a craggy old tree near the entrance. Martha Stewart's web punch works perfectly behind October!!

Three cartridges to complete November's calendar... Designer's Calendar, of course, Celebrate with Flourish, and the Thanksgiving cartridge... That Harvest Blessing at the top was not so much fun... so many small, teeny tiny, itty bitty, teeny tiny pieces!


Doesn't the December calendar look like it was a TON of work?? Not so much!! The actual difficult piece on the entire calendar was the Merry Christmas! We've got the trees down to a science now, and they went together lickety-split! I added snow this year to the trees.... know what it is?? Flower Soft! That's the greatest stuff!! We also die-cut the stars, and they pop up since it's two pieces together.

BLOG HOP NEWS.....
See the next post below this one for details on our coming blog hop... just 2 days away!!
OR, click on the link below to check out how the hop is going to work.


Your comments are always appreciated!
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A Proud member of The Lime Light. Click on over to see what we are doing.

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

December 17th Blog Hop, with AWESOME Blog Candy!!

As you can see by the title, the Lime Light Charitable Design Team (of which I am a card-carrying member since the very beginning!) is having a blog hop this Friday at 8PM.

We want you to get to know us and what we do as a team, so we are having a blog hop so that you can visit the various team members' sites.

We also have a couple of the top Cricut bloggers on the net -- Everyday Cricut and Pink Cricut, that will be stops along the way. The team came together a few years ago because of our love of Cricut, and we wanted to give you a couple of bonus's as these sites are top notch when it comes to Cricut creative inspiration.

At 8 PM CST on Friday, we'll be posting the instructions on how you get from blog to blog and what you need to do when you get to each blog (COME TO THE LIME LIGHT BLOG FIRST FOR INSTRUCTIONS).

All simple stuff. Now, here's the fun part. We'll be giving away some very nifty prizes, including a grand prize stash worth over $150. And because I can't wait, I'm giving you a peek at the prizes. So sit down, take a look at the goodies, and then join us Friday at 8 CST for a fun time!

Your comments are always appreciated!
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A Proud member of The Lime Light. Click on over to see what we are doing.

2011 Calendars; Part 2 of 3 - and a Blog Hop!!

Here are the next 4 months...

I actually struggled with May the most! It's my very favorite month, but the 'page' just didn't look right. After adding some details, it ended up looking just fine!!!


The Happy Mother's Day Cut is from the Mother's Day cart, and Designer's Calendar cart for the May cut... We used the Martha Stewart Butterfly punch and a double bow to tie all the colors together. Can you see the daffodils in the background?


June definitely means Father's Day!! Three carts used on this page! Designer's Calendar, Wild Card, and Handy Man from the Cricut Lites. I didn't use my white pen as I meant to on the Happy Father's Day - there just wasn't time. Next time!!!


The July calendar used only 2 carts, but LOTS of techniques!! I used Designer's Calendar and Independence Day carts for the cuts, a double bow, and the color spritzer from Stampin' Up to spray red and blue speckles on the Freedom cut. We also used red stickles to highlight some of the hearts on the USA cut. Can you see the stars on the background??


August... Ah, summer!! How we look forward to the summer, and the swimming pool! As a kid we LIVED in our neighbor's swimming pool... what great memories!!
The August cut came from Designer's Calendar. The pool and Splish Splash came from the H2O Lite cart. I also used my Spellbinders Nesties to cut the background out of blue sparkle cardstock. No holidays in August to highlight, so a sun stamp right at the beginning!! Can you see the 'waves' in the background?

More info. on our Blog Hop on the 17th! It's COMING!

Click below on the Lime Light blog link to see Gracie's post about our upcoming event!!

Your comments are always appreciated!

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A Proud member of The Lime Light. Click on over to see what we are doing.

Monday, December 13, 2010

2011 Calendars; Part 1 of 3 - and a Blog Hop!!

Here are the first 4 months of 2011; Jan., Feb., Mar., and April - These calendars have become an annual project for Mom and me. It takes us about a week to get all 20 of these calendars assembled though I start cutting and organizing in October. I've even got an awesome organizational system to keep everything straight.

We used lots of techniques with these calendars! Each calendar page (except October) uses a stamp wheel based on the theme of the month.

January's calendar consists of cuts from 3 cartridges: Designer's Calendar, Wild Card, and Celebrate with Flourish. We used Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist, Nestabilities, and Martha Stewart's newest snowflake punch. January includes snowflakes with Versamark ink on the background.


February's Calendar has cuts from 2 cartridges, Designer's Calendar, and Love Struck. The double heart punch is a Martha Stewart edge punch, and the background is inked in Versamark with the Candy Hearts wheel. When we had this finished, it just seemed to need something, so we added a bow to each calendar... then it was just right!


March's calendar page is cut with Designer's Calendar. The medallion is edged with a Martha Stewart PATP punch set. Since the bluebonnets bloom in Texas in March, I just has to use one of my newest Kitchen Sink Stamp sets - Bluebonnets! The background Versamarked image is a Stampin' Up wheel; called Field of Daisies.


April's calendar uses 2 catridges; Designer's Calendar, and Celebrate with Flourish. Isn't that the cutest Easter Basket? I stamped the Chocolate Bunnies with my Stampin' Up stamp in Chocolate Chip ink, and took a bite out of his ear with my Nestabilities scalloped punch. The background is inked with an Easter Egg wheel. Can you see them?

BLOG HOP!!!
Stay tuned for a very special Blog Hop - coming soon! More information as it becomes available.

Your comments are always appreciated!

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A Proud member of The Lime Light. Click on over to see what we are doing.

Friday, December 10, 2010

Two Birthday Cards...December Birthdays!!

In October, my cousin Jon married a girl who was in the process of finishing her Ph.D in music!
When the Cricut cartridge 'Quarter Note' was announced, I knew I had to have it!!! When I actually saw the images, I decided we'd be there on Thanksgiving to get it! SO, after our Thanksgiving lunch, we got ready to hit Michael's. There wasn't as big of a line this year, because they announced on Facebook they were opening at 4:30... so we could beat the rush.
We got in, and even though I'd called a few days earlier, the Quarter Note carts were nowhere to be found!!!! After asking around, they brought them out, and I grabbed the first one!

Here is my first card using this new cart... the background note paper comes from a Christmas stack I got at Hobby Lobby.



Here's the inside of the card, the treble clef cut from the Quarter Note cart, and the Top Note die from Stampin' Up works perfectly for the sentiment, and space to write!!


The two stamp sets used here I received from Kitchen Sink stamps at the Houston event, and since our nephew lives in Oklahoma, and has ridden for the rodeos, this presented itself as the perfect birthday card for him.


Gotta love that Top Note die for the inside area of the cards!! I fussy-cut the hat, and popped it with the SU dimensionals.


Your comments are always appreciated!

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A Proud member of The Lime Light. Click on over to see what we are doing.

Five Question Friday!! - December 10, 2010




1. Do you open presents on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day?
We open our gifts Christmas Eve... When I was a kid, we always opened gifts on Christmas Eve at Grandma Smasal's house, Christmas Day (early) when Santa came at our house and then at Grandma Wagner's house. When our out-of-town relatives came around the 29th or 30th, we had gift opening again!

2. What is your favorite Christmas cookie (or candy)? I love 2... Haystacks which I make every year are to die for!!! YUMMMM and my Mom's Angelfood candy. She makes the best, melt-in-your-mouth angelfood candy ever!!

3. What's the worst Christmas gift you've ever received?
I don't know.... I know I've gotten some stinkers, but I block them, and don't remember... I only remember the BEST ones! :)

4. Christmas song that you love? Andy Williams - A Song and a Christmas Tree (12 days of Christmas) from the red album is my very newest favorite found on an old album (CD) I had from a kid... but also, I love the Christmas Holiday song from his green album.

5. How many trees do you put up?
This year, no big trees, BUT I have a Precious Moments tree figurine from Mom, a large lighted Precious Moments tree, a Christmas Tree with a Santa, and a new LED tree for the coffee table, and a big tree in the yard with Santa popping out!! SO, how many is that?? 5 trees!!! * I collect, and LOVE Christmas trees! :)

Your comments are always appreciated!

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A Proud member of The Lime Light. Click on over to see what we are doing.

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Stampin' Up Club Cards - October 2010

YES, I know I'm posting these later than I should, but I wanted to post these since they're SO gorgeous!!!

No, this card is NOT leather!! It's actually the Peach Parfait cardstock, embossed, and inked. When I got home, I got out my copper brilliance ink, and added some of that for some shimmer on the card.

Isn't it so SO pretty?




This is a VERY cool project - it's a checkbook cover!! It comes as a clear plastic piece with all the flaps and pockets you need for holding your checkbook register and duplicate checks, and can be decorated any way you wish!!


Your comments are always appreciated!

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A Proud member of The Lime Light. Click on over to see what we are doing.

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

November Stamp - a - Stack!

We had our November Stamp - a - Stack to make Christmas Cards - YAY!!! Kathy came up with some awesome designs and color combinations (as always!!).


The wreath for this card is from the Hostess Set punched with the 1/2 inch punch, and the scalloped edge punch. The bow is made from two hearts punched from red paper, and a brad in the center.


I LOVE purple!!! This card with the purple, green, and gold accents is SO perfect!


We had fun watercoloring the scene for this card! I bet the snowmen want to come in and warm up with some hot chocolate!!


This simple but elegant card is so pretty and sparkly up close! We sprayed the cardstock with the shimmer paints, and added sparkly rhinestones for even more bling!


Gorgeous!!!!! Can you see the white snowflakes in the background?


This is the Dasher stamp... I never looked at before, but I'm paying attention to it now!!

I hope you've enjoyed our Stack! We made 2 of each card for a total of 12 cards.

Your comments are always appreciated!

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A Proud member of The Lime Light. Click on over to see what we are doing.

Monday, December 6, 2010

They are FINISHED!!!

With Mom and Dad visiting this past week, we were able to get the 2011 calendars FINISHED!!

They are better than the 2009 and 2010 calendars. I'll be posting them starting soon.

I used lots of the new cartridges released this past year!! Thank goodness Provo Craft had their designers create lots of great designs for the seasons and celebrations throughout the calendar year!!

Each page is full of designs and cuts from my Cricut Expression!!
Check back soon to see the new year's calendars!
It's become quite a consuming yearly project.


Your comments are always appreciated!

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A Proud member of The Lime Light. Click on over to see what we are doing.

Friday, December 3, 2010

Five Question Friday!! - December 3, 2010




1.
What's on the top of your holiday wish list and why?!

Electric Fry Pan - so I can again cook our favorite fish recipe. The cooktop I have at this house doesn't keep a constant temperature.

AeroGarden - so I can keep growing my own herbs for cooking; my first one died. :(

I also want another Salad Shooter. The one I received many years ago from my favorite Uncle is on its last legs.


2. What is your favorite Christmas gift from the past?

I can't choose just one-there are so many wonderful Christmas memories!

3. If you had life to do over, what would you be when you grow up?

A pharmacist

4. When do you put up your tree?

No tree this year :( - new baby kitty in the house, and he's quite rambunctious! Maybe next year. It usually goes up 2 1/2 to 3 weeks before Christmas.

5. What is your favorite Holiday?

Christmas!!! I have fond childhood memories of Christmas, and I do so love all the Christmas light displays.


Your comments are always appreciated!

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