Thursday, June 30, 2011

Don't let these slip away!!

Provo Craft will be retiring these two wonderful cartridges this month.  If you don't already own them, I would suggest you find them and purchase them!!  I use Makin' the Grade for quite a few projects in my classroom and Mini Monograms is perfect when you are looking for scallops and monograms.  These are great cartridges and I would highly recommend having them in your Cricut library of carts.  The new Recess lite cartridge has quite a few images that are similar to Locker Talk which has not been retired as of yet (I think).There are a lot of great deals and sales on cartridges so get these while you can!!

Sunday, June 26, 2011

The Great American Scrapbooking Convention in Chantilly, VA

Well, fun was to be had by all at the Great American Scrapbooking Convention in Chantilly, VA!!  I want to share some of the adventures with you.  Here goes......

From left to right-Me, Kelli, Wendy B., and Carol
I am so lucky to have such wonderful friends in my life who share the same love and passion that I have with scrapbooking, card making, and paper crafting!

This was the total highlight of my day!!!!!!!!!!  I met the one and only Tammy Skinner with Creative Critters Cricut Club.  She is the most sweetest individual I have ever met!!  Tammy was so wonderful-I think I scared her because I stalked her  LOL! ...just kidding...although I could have spent all day talking to her about Cricut cartridges and crafting!  I felt like I have known her all my life-she is very knowledgeable and absolutely an  incredible person!!!  Thank you Tammy for being so sweet!!
Here is Tammy with my buddy Carol!!
The next thing I knew we turned the corner and low and behold we met Jenni Bowlin and her husband!  Come to find out her husband grew up in the same area that I did and Jenni graduated from a local high school in Southern Maryland where we live currently!!  Wow...what a small world.  If you ever get the chance to check our her products you should!!  She has an incredible paper crafting line with endless possibilities for creating everything. 

We caught up with Dan the Cricut Man!  He was demonstrating lots of different things with the Cricut Expression.  I loved his booth because he carried a lot of Bo Bunny products!!  He is a super nice guy. 

One of the first stops we made was at this booth!  We actually met Joanna Campbell Slan, the author of many scrapbook mystery novels!  My friend Carol and I purchased Paper, Scissors, Death which is a top seller on Amazon.  She was autographing my book in this picture!  She even threw in some bookmarks for free!!!  I cannot wait to start reading this novel!!!!  I'll let you know what I think of it.

I took this picture just as we entered the convention-Kelli, Wendy B., and Carol are set and ready to do some major shopping!!!!

We had a blast and I cannot wait until the four of us head to the Creating Keepsakes Convention in Valley Forge, PA.  We have the opportunity to stay two nights and take some very cool classes.
I am headed down to the dungeon to open up all of my wonderful goodies that I purchased.  Have a super great Sunday everyone!

  

Friday, June 24, 2011

New Arrival Cartridge


I made this quick and simple baby card for a friend of mine.  I really love the images on the New Arrival Cartridge.  I used the swiss dots embossing folder to emboss the bottom portion of the card-this is one of my favorite embossing folders!  The saying "sweet baby" is from My Pink Stamper stamp sets.  Well it is off to do some pre-shopping today before I actually do some major shopping tomorrow at the Great American Scrapbooking Convention in Chantilly, VA.  I can't wait!!  I hope everyone is having a wonderful day ;)

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

We have a United We Stand...United We Learn winner!!!!

Thank you everyone for posting your ideas and comments for my upcoming school year theme...United We Stand, United We Learn!!!  I loved how creative some of your ideas were!!  I will be using them in my classroom and am excited to start making them with my Cricut machines!!  Okay...well here is our winner chosen by Random.org:

True Random Number Generator
8     Powered by RANDOM.

kinderdi said...
What a great idea for a classroom theme! I can envision a room done totally in red, white, and blue..."star" helpers, readers, or "Star Spangled Birthdays." Thanks for sharing; can't wait to see what you come up with!

Congrats Kinderdi!!!  I will be sending out your surprise package filled with goodies.  Thank you so much for participating!!!  Please email me with your contact information. 

 I am excited this week because I have been working on a project for the last few months and I feel like it is finally on its way to completion.  As soon as it is, I will share the good news!!  Also I am attending the Great American Scrapbooking Convention in Chantilly, VA this Saturday with some friends and am looking forward to the shopping!!!  I decided to not take any classes at this convention because I am taking 8 classes at the CKC (Creating Keepsakes Convention) at the end of July in Valley Forge, PA.  If you have never gone to a scrapbooking convention-you should really try to attend one!!  They are a blast!!!  Well, have a super great day everyone and thank you again for posting your ideas.  I loved them all!!!!

Friday, June 17, 2011

Gatefold card #5

Well here it is...my last gatefold card of the week.  I have enjoyed working with the Imagine while creating these fun cards.  I truly love my Expression but the Imagine takes your creativity to the next level.  It made it very easy to coordinate colors, patterns and shapes.  I hope you are having a wonderful week.  Please share what you have been making!!!  I will be picking my winner for the "United we Stand, United we Learn" idea later today!!!

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Gatefold card #4

This card was made for another teacher that I work with who is expecting her first baby this summer.  I love how the imagine allows you to print your own cardstock!  I printed the image and the cardstock for the panels of the gatefold from the Nursery Tales cartridge.  I also used the scalloped rectangle spellbinders die cut and added two small brads.  To spice up the card for some bling I used the Sakura glitter pen which is my new found friend!!  Super quick, super simple and super sweet!  Hope everyone is having a great day!!!

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Gatefold card #3


I love this card!  I made it for my teacher co-worker-it was her birthday.  She leads the green school committee at our school and I thought this was appropriate for her!!

Materials used:
Give a Hoot cartridge-for the earth, ribbon, and saying
DCWV paper pack
Spellbinders circle die cut used with the Cuttlebug
ATG gun
Sakura glitter pen

Have a great day!!!!!!

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Gatefold card #2


Well here is card #2-I hope you all like baby cards because I had to make 3 this week!  Three teachers at my school are expecting so I made them a card LOL!  I love how the imagine allows you to print the cardstock which is what I did for this project.  I really like how I can color coordinate everything to match.  I had to add some bling with the I-Rock tool to give it a little something extra.  I also enjoy incorporating the Spellbinders die cuts using the Cuttlebug embossing machine. The third grade team all chipped in for a gift card and signed this sweet pink card. 

Materials:
Nursery Tales cartridge for the Imagine -for the printed cardstock and baby bib
Spellbinders die cut for the looped scallop
I-Rock tool and gems
ATG gun
Sakura glitter pen (which I love!) it gave the butterflies a little sparkle

Stay tuned tomorrow for another gatefold card!!!! ;)

Monday, June 13, 2011

STRAP YOUR SEATBELTS ON!!! It's gonna be a week of Gatefold cards created with the Imagine and the Expression!!!

I totally love making gatefold cards!!  I thought this would be a super cute card for my sons teacher.  I had a great time creating it!  Let me know your thoughts-leave a comment!! 

 Here are the materials used for this project:

Everyday Seasons Imagine cartridge-apple and "What a Year" images
Swiss Dots cuttlebug embossing folder
110 pound white cardstock
DVWV shimmer pack for the green and yellow cardstock
Spellbinders circle die cut
CTMH stamp pad
Sakura glitter pen to add some bling!
green brads
pop dots
ATG gun

Stay tuned each day this week for another gatefold card!!!

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Enter a chance to win-United We Stand, United We Learn!!!


Good Morning!!!  I just wanted to check in today to see what everyone has been up to.  I am finishing a few projects for some of my children's teachers and fellow classmates.  This will be our last week of school.  My youngest son is having his 5th grade promotion ceremony on Thursday.  It is so hard to believe that he will be in middle school next year and my oldest will be a sophomore in high school. -who is already talking about career choices and colleges (gheesshhh I am getting old LOL!!)  I have several card projects and also some very good news to share with you this week!!! (keep your fingers crossed)

Next years school theme will be a patriotic theme -we thought it we would acknowledge and honor those who lost their lives on 9/11 and this coming year will be the 10th year anniversary of this tragic event.  I have so many ideas spinning in my head for classroom decorations.  I already know that I will be using the Stand and Salute cartridge for something in my room!   UNITED WE STAND...UNITED WE LEARN will be the theme logo next school year.  I am looking for some ideas so if you post a comment with a great decorating idea or suggestion, then you have have a chance to enter in the give awayThe prize will be a surprise package stuffed full of a variety of crafting supplies!!!!  hummmmm think stamps, paper, stickers, tools, etcI am looking forward to seeing some creative suggestions and ideas!!!  The winner will be picked this Friday....good luck everyone.  I hope you are having a fun, safe, and relaxing weekend with family and friends!!

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Bon Voyage-a super student send off!!


I was looking for an inexpensive way to send my students off for the summer (besides creating a summer practice book LOL!!)  I thought sending them off with a bottle of water would be a great way for them to cool off!  I purchased a case of 24 water bottles which cost me $3.99 and then I decorated the bottle-super cheap, super fast, and a great gift for all students!  You could add a pack of Kool-Aide, Crystal Light, or Propel but I highly recommend making sure your students do not have any allergies to color dyes.  I used my Gypsy to weld the letters together -if you don't have a Gypsy or you don't have a lot of time to spare, try printing your logo or saying on large mailing address labels.  You can just peel and stick!  I also used a really good ribbon so if you are looking to go very inexpensive you can purchase some wrapping paper ribbon at the dollar store.  It is hard to believe that I only have 8 more days left with my kiddos!  Here are the materials that I used for this project:

Materials:
Create a Critter cartridge-for the sun (cut at 2 inches)
Cricut Classic Font-used for the words and welded on the Gypsy
Peachy Keen stamp set "Snow Cutie Face" Assortment
Memento black ink pad
Copic Markers
White gel pen
pop dots
ATG gun and adhesive

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Peachy Keen Challenge!!!!


I wanted to make something for my younger son's teacher who has been an inspiration not only to him, but to our family as well.  She has traveled on a journey with our son over the past two years!  We will miss her more than words can express.  Ryan will be moving on to middle school and he will be attending a new school, have new teachers, and hopefully make new friendships.  Having a child on the Autism spectrum has brought forth many challenges but I know I wouldn't want my life with him any different.  His teacher has helped him grow and now it is time for him to move on.  I wanted her to know just how much we appreciate what she has done so I made her this jar.  It is not complete-Ryan will be writing his thoughts of her on different pieces of colored paper which we will fold and place into the jar.  So every time she thinks of him she can pull out one of the slips and read what he wrote about her.  Here are the materials I used for the challenge:


Materials:
Peachy Keen Stamp set Snow Cutie Face Assortment (1 3/8 stamp) for the apple
My Creative Time stamp set "My Teacher Rocks" for the sentiment on the tag
Cricut Cartridge-Makin' the grade-page 120 apple cut at 3 inches
Memento Dual-tip marks (colored the stem brown and cheeks dark pink)
Recollections Citron embossing powder for stem on apple and stamp on tag
Memento black ink pad
Gelly Roll white pen
DCWV cardstock
Green ribbon from Michaels (Celebrations)
Twine
1 red button
glue dots
I-Rock tool and gems for the apple leaf and tag
1 green brad
Marvy Tag punch

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