Word/Shape Mini Scrapbooks

I am really having fun expanding my horizons. With my Gypsy I designed and completed 2 Word or Shape Mini Scrapbooks for gifts at Christmas. The first was a GARDEN Word Book for a wonderful young lady who is dating our best friends' son. The two of them spent a great deal of time last spring and summer helping our friend clean up and replant a beautiful garden, complete with flowers, paths, and veggies. So I thought a small album to collect a few of her memories would be an appropriate gift. Here are several pictures of the album as it was being made. This book is 5" x 11". I used Storybook for the letters.


Cardboard scraps cut out for the pages of the book.




Pages covered with thin, colored cardstock.




Finished product.



The second one I made for the same familys' youngest son, who ventured in to playing football this fall. So, he got a 11 x 11 Football shaped mini scrapbook. He was so tickled to get this. I am sure he will have fun reliving his memories for years to come.

I had a so much fun making these that I am working on a new one. I can not tell you about it yet since it is a surprise for someone, who might be reading this post...But I will share it soon.

Feeling Frosty - Cricut Circle Challenge

Each week the Cricut Circle Blog holds a weekly challenge for its members. This week the challenge is Feeling Frosty - use a snowflake cut from a Cricut cartridge, something metal, and white paint. I chose to combine this challenge with the need to make some thank you cards.

I used cards from a winter seasonal pack of card bases by DCWV. I wish I still had the box to tell you the name of the set. I cut the winter bird from 3 Birds on Parade at 3.5 ", and funky snowflake cuts from DoodleCharms, at 3". Most of the cardstock is from Creative Memories, or scraps from other projects.



A close-up of one card.



I added some silver snowflake brads (very old, don't know the make) and some white puffy paint dots and details to the cards. The sentiment inside is "Warmest Thanks for your thoughtfulness."

Check One Item Off My List

I am happy to say that I have completed one item on my January goals. I had prepaid prints at Shutterfly I had not used yet. They were about to expire, so I ordered over 2,000 prints of pictures I had taken sometime in the past 2 1/2 years. This is the box that arrived at my house on Friday.

It weighed 19 lbs. and had 26 full packages of photos. I wish I could say that these are all the pictures I have taken in that time frame, and now I don't have to worry about printing anymore. Sadly, this is only 8 days of a 15 day Panama Canal Cruise, 6 Christmas' and a few other small events. I have many more to print.

Today I spent the day a crop. I did not actually crop anything but I did sort, organize and cull photos that were not as nice as I thought they would be or duplicates I accidentally printed. This is what my box of photos looks like now.

I love these Creative Memories Power Sort boxes. Each large box holds 12 smaller boxes. The small boxes will hold about 100 photos. The system comes with photo safe file tabs to be labeled with pencil. And it all gets topped off with a secure lid. These sure beat the old shoe boxes I am sure most of us have used in the past. They are safe for storage and will keep photos dry and protected. My husband and I have used several of these to organize and store old family photos that we keep getting from various family members.

Now that these are organized and sorted it will take me much less time to get pages done. I feel much better now. Take a few hours to tackle one of your shoe boxes. I know you will feel less pressured after you do.

Happy New Year and Resolutions for me!

It is January 1, 2011. A day of relaxation in our household. We have had the Christmas decorating and celebrations. Then we had the New Year's revelry last night. In our case this includes a day of car crashes and hillarity. No not our real cars...My hubby loves toys, so he has collectd an aray of slot cars, and trains to play with. So with friends and family we set up a large 8 lane track. The races are hillarious. But it is no fun until there are spectacular crashes and parts flying... This morning we woke up to our other holiday tradition, Rose Parade, cozy fire, and cinnomon rolls. Every year we start a fire, put the cinnomon rolls on and watch the Rose Parade. Usually we have to watch some of the rebroadcast because we fall asleep on the couch but that is part of the tradition too.

Now it is time to reflect and regroup. I spent 2 days this week cleaning and reorganizing my paper crafting and sewing areas, materials, and unfinished projects. So now I am ready to tackle those resolutions or goals for 2011.

I have decided to divide my "public" goals into two categories, crafting and other.
For Crafting Goals:
1. I will make a minimum of one Blog post a week, consistancy counts.
2. I will enter the Cricut Circle Weekly Blog Challenges, at least once a month.
3. I will enter the Cricut Circle Monthly Blog or Cricut Circle Magazine Challenges 6 times within 2011
4. I will complete the 3 albums I have in the works at the moment.
5. I will complete at least 4 quilt tops and one of my art quilts this year.
Because of these,
6. I will find time weekly to do something craft related, and will get together at least 10 times this year with friends for a crop day!

On the Cricut Circle Message Boards, I have set these goals for the month of January, for the Use What You Have (don't buy anything) challenge:

• Order about 2000 prints before the 3rd
• - I have not printed photos for 2 years minus my daughter's wedding in April
• - I am NOT spending money. I have a bunch of prepaid prints that all expire on the 3rd
• Make at least 15 of 30 needed Valentine Cards for my students
• Use 2 previously unused carts for cards or layouts
• - Hello Kitty, Greetings
• - Beyond Birthdays
• Make at least one blog post a week- showing off my work...
• Enter one of the weekly blog challenges - using something from above

Other Goals:
1. Begin FLYing around my house again! Yep, you have read this right. A few years ago a friend introduced me to the FlyLady and here Shiny Sink concept. I really don't like house work as it seems to get piled into one day a week or two...The FlyLady has a great way of breaking down the chore of house cleaning into manageble daily, weekly, and monthly tasks. You can learn more at http://www.flylady.net/ . Will you be FLYing this year?
2. The second big household issue is stated in a question heard almost everywhere, "What's for Dinner?" I plan to subscribe to Leanne Ely's "Saving Dinner" Menus. Leanne is a nutritionalist that creates great recipes for a weeks worth of dinners. You can subscribe to menues for a variety of sized families from 2, to 4, to large family. She also makes menues for those who are trying to lose weight... You can find her at http://www.savingdinner.com/