Nicholas / Train LO with Everyday Paperdolls cart

Boy was this page fun to make! Even better, my 3 yr old came up to me and asked if I made him anything (since I played with my Cricut all weekend and he saw my middle son's LO). When I showed him his LO... he turned to me and said "Mommy, you really made it for ME, I LOVE IT, you are the best mommy ever"! I SWEAR! He is so articulate! Ok, so that was the best part of the LO! NICHOLAS and the blue/ black circles are George Alpha and Basic Shapes and everything else was Everyday Paper Dolls, Crop-a-Dile, Stickles, Creative Memory's ink, chipboard MOMENTS TO REMEMBER, buttons and the red photo corners I made with my Marvy scalloped square punch and cut them to size.
TFL!
And thanks for the compliments!!!!!!
Rachel

Blog Award from Kristy!!!

There were a few stipulations to accepting this award...

1) Thank the person that gave me this award: Thanks kitten ;) Ya'll have to check out Kristy's awesome blog here : http://kitten91303.blogspot.com/2009/08/i-got-award.html

2) Copy the logo and place it on my blog.... check!

3) Link the person who nominated you .... see #1 ;)

4) Name seven interesting things about myself ...

5) Nominate 7 Kreative Bloggers...

* Tracy @ http://thevintagesisterstudio.blogspot.com/, funny story about Tracy, I saw a comment my cousin left on Facebook for a friend of hers from High School about her art work. Lucky me, I was able to see the photograph my cousin commented on and I was in heaven! It was a vintage painting she made! I quickly sent her an email and invited her to me my FB friend!

* Laura @ http://adayinthelifeofthepaperpoppy.blogspot.com/, sadly, I don't know Laura personally, but I drool, I mean, LOVE, her creations!

* Angie @ http://creativeangiepalin.blogspot.com/, I 'meet' Angie on the 2Peas board and WE DID NOT HIT IF OFF in the begining!!! lol! We were like oil and water! But one day we saw eye to eye and have been best palies ever since! I actually LOVE Angie's point of views and her art work is PHENOMENAL... she makes the cutest little makeup bags (she sent me a Hello Kitty one a few months ago and I carry it everyday!) and the best little charms!

* Jeni @ http://pinestreetjct.blogspot.com/ also another virtual friend! I met her through 2Peas as well :) She makes the most unique, creative, lovely felted creatures. Let me rephrase that.... she makes CUSTOM creatures, you can have her make your dachshund from felted wool (right, Angie ;) Jeni also makes SPECTACULAR charms! She also sent me a special little present last week, a vintage style Mickey art doll pin!

* Betsy Veldman @ http://scrapbookgirl.typepad.com/paper_scissors_and_superh/, I don't know Betsy but I admire her blog. In fact, I was at Barnes and Noble last week and browsing through a scrapbook magazine, I knew IMMEDIATELY I was looking at Betsy's work! She truly is unique and that is a commendable feat in our craft world!

* Monique @ http://monkeydoodlecricut.blogspot.com/, I just started browsing the Cricut boards and already found an inspiring blog! Check it out!

* Cathy @ http://cathytomm.blogspot.com/ also another Pea! She is a MASTER QUILTER, a talent I am void of but completely envious of! Cathy also makes fantastic charms! She, too, has sent me a few great charms and button goodies :)

6) Post links to the 7 nominated blogs ...

7) Leave a comment on all 7 blogs letting them know ;)

Thanks Kristy... see ya on Facebook :)

Check these girls OUT!

Night, ya'll!

Rachel

Back To School (Cricut)

I am really enjoying getting to know my new Cricut! I made a bunch of fun projects this weekend! Here is a Back to School LO I made for my middle son. All of the images were from the Everyday Paper Dolls cart except the rounded tabbed file card, that was made with the From My Kitchen cart and the alphas were made with the George cart. I used my Marvy scalloped square punch for the photo corners, 123 and apple buttons, yellow buttons and Yearbook font in Word for the details in red (I blocked out the actual info!). OH and I used my new Crop-A-Dile for the blue tag on the bottom left corner! I have been wanting one and found a kit with eyelets at my Super Walmart for $10 !!!!

TFL!
Rachel

I made a few more Cricut cards (I just love that bug!)

SO I have been a busy little bee, or should I say, Cricut ;) I have been playing with my new "toy"! I think I got my money's worth just in the use I got out of it in the first 3 days!

I used the George and Basic Shapes for the letters and the hearts (the clover leaves) and Home Decor for decorative oval, inks, buttons and organza ribbon.

Zoo sign, monkey and hilly background made with the Everyday Paper Dolls cart, PP by Reminisce, Monkey Business Goin' Bananas, birthday greetings font used is Chiller.
As always, I appreciate your comments!

TFL!
Rachel

I {Heart} My Cricut!!!

So my wonderful hubby gave me the go ahead to purchase my very first Cricut from HSN! It was a Today Special with 4 cartridges PLUS $50 with my employee discount, FREE S&H and 4 flexpay.... who could refuse that offer!
It arrived Tuesday and as soon as my hubby left the house, I ripped that sucker OPEN! OMG! BLISS!!!! I unpacked it, plugged it in, breezed through the set-up and began "experimenting". Talk about User Friendly!

Ok so here are a few goodies I made yesterday....

This is a card I made for my beautiful friend Anna as a thank you for the fabulous box of GA goodness I got as a surprise from her in the mail yesterday! My 'famous' beach glass. I like it to show more glass but I also thought the label came out cutie patootie so I left my crafting comfort zone and glued it down ;)

AND... just some little tid bits I made with the From My Kitchen cartridge ($54.99 from HSN too but I got it for $37 with my employee discount... IT IS TO DIE FOR... I HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT!

Thanks for putting up with my Cricut excitement!!!!

Have a great day!
Rachel

How we spent our last day of summer!

At the most majestic beach I have ever been to in my beautiful state of Florida! It was very spur of the moment and I decided to surprise the kids by telling them to throw their swim suits on and meet me at the door! I always have my pool bag ready, so I grabbed that and off we went to glorious Anna Maria Island! I had never been there before but recalled seeing exit signs

on the highway for it, how hard could it be to find!?!?!? Goodness gracious, it was hard! I over shot the exit by several miles, turned around and headed back the direction I came but via a city road. As I was about to give up, there was a sign, Anna Maria Island, left turn only! I still traveled another 10 miles but it was worth it! They boys enjoyed celebrating their last day playing in the ocean and hunting for shells and digging in the sand! I enjoyed watching them smile :)

Have a great school year, everyone!
Rachel

First Day of School - NOTES TO MY KIDDOS!

Apparently I am predictable and give my kiddos a special note on the first day! They were already searching their stuff last night for the notes! My boys love baseball so I chose this paper instead of something scholarly. I wrote a special note on the backside of their cards :)

I made them special baseball themed bookmarks with their names on the backside.Here are my boys right before we left for their first day of 2nd and 3rd grade!

Now it is time to go make them their special first day of school treat, for when they get home, M&M Cookies!

Have a happy day!
Rachel

Hey, Mom... look what I can do with a cardboard box!

Yesterday, I was tidying the house when I picked up the empty Dasani water package. I was about to throw away the cardboard support and rethought my options! A mini album instantly popped into my head! I could recycle this cardboard rectangle into a Summer Memory album that my family will enjoy for years to come! Genius (if I do say so myself!). So I set forth, finding some of my favorite snapshots of the summer and the perfect papers and embellies. I was actually lucky enough to hit a garage sale by a published scrap design team member and scored the CUTEST green apple polka dotted paper by Serendipity from her for $.35!!!! I don’t know what was more exciting, meeting her by chance or the 6 pieces of fabulous paper I scored for $2!?!?!? Ok, I digress (as I often do!) … I made sure to collect a wide variety of photos that depicted how fun-filled our summer was this year and I let each photo inspire their own mini page!

I am overjoyed with the outcome of this project and encourage you all to recycle some cardboard and scrap with it!!!

Have a great week!

Rachel

Back to School Teacher Gifties!

We start school on Tuesday and I feel guilty but I am more excited than I thought I would be ;) I love making gifts for the teachers so this was a no brainer! I have made tons of teacher’s gifts over the past 3 years since my eldest started school and will probably be doing this for many more years! My boys are only 1 grade apart in school and our Principal relishes in giving my younger school boy the eldest's teacher from the year before. Having a relationship with the 'new' teacher comes in handy when giving gifts!!!!
I used a mini galvanized bucket and several of my scalloped punches. I found the apple in the web and hand cut the pennants (my Cricut is on the way… no more hand cutting!) I included a GC to Subway, a 4 pack of Reece’s, 12 brand new #2 pencils (nothing smells better than brand new pencils in August!), highlighters, colored pens, a ruler, an altered paperclip with her name on it, personalized pennants, a mini composition book and decorative binder clips.
PP is DCWV, Grade School slab.

Have a great Saturday!

Rachel

So we bought a few new things this week....

I got the Cricut Personal Expression for ME and hubby got this .....

A new car! We traded in our gas guzzling Dodge Dakota for this great mileage Nissan Versa :)

I think I am done shopping and eating out for a LONG WHILE! Good thing I a full supply of paper, we will be home playing with my Cricut for date night!!!! lol!

TFL!
Rachel

Re-Purposed DCWV Embellie box

I have this box from a set of glittery chipboard letters, as I am sure we all do! I decided to organize all the letters alphabetically so I was then left with an empty box. An empty box NEVER just sits around in a scrappers studio.... I decided to alter it in one of my favorite color schemes this summer, Aqua and Orange!!!!

I also found a use for some of my Prima's that I forgot about!!!!!!

TFL!
Rachel

Trick-or-Treat, Smell My Feet....

I think I started a tradition of making holiday advent calenders without even knowing it. I mean making them for the same holiday every year, a new one, every year! What a nut! Well, actually I am! I love the holidays. All of them. But Halloween is my very favorite holiday. I believe it is for the simple fact that it is the one holiday that evokes the most powerful childhood memories. The cool crisp Fall weather, the innocence of being able to walk your own neighborhood at dark with just your friends and not worrying about being a target by a predator, the candy, the class parties, dressing up!
So this is the 2009 version! I started with AC Teen PP and whatever Halloween embellishments I had in my Halloween scrap tub (yeah, I actually have a tub FULL of Halloween embellies!). They are all adhered with Velcro for easy removal. And the big black buttons are from my vintage stash that I have been hording!

One little request... post a link to your Halloween crafts or other blogs with great eye candy to get us in the mood for Halloween... HERE :)
As always... THANKS!
Rachel

*** BARGAIN SHOPPING ***

So I popped my head into a few stores over the past 2 weeks and found INCREDIBLE bargains! So incredible... I just had to share them with all of you!



This glass apothecary style jar was $3 in Marshall's!!! $3.99 may not be a huge bargain for 7 oz of candy but Jordan Almonds are my favorites and so hard to find where you commonly buy candy so I snatched them up when I was at Marshall's :)

This class and wooden lantern was $1 in Marshall's ... I am getting a Halloween shadow box vibe from it ... I'll get back to you later on that!

Ah, last weeks Michael's treasures.... all but the notebook paper punch were on clearance but the punch was on sale for 30% off !

Big Lots... who knew they were a scrappers dream. So these are last years supplies... NO ONE BUT YOU KNOWS THAT! Everything was $1 but the Martha Stewart labels, they were $2.

Walmart clearance... MS min scalloped circle punch $4, MS felt varsity letters $2, Baseball themed kit (Walmart brand) $3, note cards $1 and gummy bracelets for $3 (they were regular price but I just had to buy gummy bracelets!!!!!!!!)

Country Barn birdhouse $2.50, Salvation Army, Ft. Lauderdale.

Set of 4 milk glass jars $5, Salvation Army Ft. Lauderdale.

Tiered wire basket $1, Salvation Army. It is pretty small and right now I have my MS mini scalloped circle punch on one level, the note book punch on another and the gummy bracelets on the last one. As you can tell, all my shopping goodies didn't make it very far after I unpacked them!!!

Thanks for sharing my shopping pleasure ;)

Rachel

Breakfast Club Adoration

MY. ALL. TIME. FAVORITE. MOVIE.
It is a classic by the late, GREAT John Hughs.
It is a story about teenage angst, coming of age,
and valuing people for who they really are NOT what
they are. It truly is a laugh out loud, feel good
about your self and learn a little lesson gem from
1985.

Dude, I can not tell a lie... I love John Bender (Judd Nelson), the Criminal! Could this be where my love of bad boys started? When I was 12 ??? And who DID NOT want to be Claire, Molly Ringwold????? I did! Especially in Pretty in Pink and 16 Candles, but I digress! And here is my LO commemorating my love of this 80's film masterpiece. It was a prompt from the scrap challenge blog http://whatisyourfavething.blogspot.com/ . I copied the plot of the film from IMBD and printed it on loose leaf paper for that HS feel and adorned it with teeny bopper writing. I think the AC Teen PP captures the 80's feel of my LO perfectly!

I will leave you with a classic from the film :
Claire Standish: Do you know how popular I am? I am so popular. Everybody loves me so much at this school.
Bender: Poor baby.

TTFN!
Rachel