New Video Updating your Cricut

I bought a new Babybug in the Pink Tuesday at Custom Crops. I thought I would share with everyone how to update your Cricut.

Another Scraplift from CWTC gals

The gals from Christmas with the Cricut did this layout a couple of weeks ago. I think they used From my Kitchen cartridge. I used Christmas Cheers and Christmas Noel for mine. I think this is the first time I ever utilized the all the layers of an image. It came out really nice. I did this while at a crop and one of the gals there mentioned the die cuts looked so professional. After the crop, I think she said she wanted an E for Christmas.

I just finished decorating my tree at home. So the foyer is decorated, except the art niche. Most of my cards have been completed. My walkway is decorated. All I have left is to finish the trees I am making from cones and pattern paper, a tree topper for my tree and the vinyl wall art for the fireplace. I should be done by New Years. hee hee

They are done!

I finally finished the ornaments for my Bible Study group. It feels odd calling them by that description. We have been meeting for 8 months and we really are friends now, that happen to do Bible Study together. I have been truly blessed.

Last year I bought tons of vinyl when I realized you can cut it on the Cricut. I rarely used it but since I bought it after Christmas, it was on clearance. I love these two vinyls, Coarse Brushed Gold and Coarse Brushed Cherry Red. I read the directions that came with the vinyl and it said to cut at blade depth of 6 with pressure of 2 but I found it did not cut deep enough. So I increased the depth to 3 and it was perfect. But you may want to test it first. My blade was not new but I don't think it was ready to be changed.

Now on to the shadow box. I got the ideas from both of the projects from Christmas with the Cricut gals. If you haven't visited their site, run now. It is full of ideas and they have give aways each week.

Merry Birthday to me!

So today is my birthday. I turned 40 today. wuu huu!! So to celebrate, I decided to start making my gifts to my Bible Study group. SHHHHH! Thank goodness they don't read my blog. We did the balls today from Christmas with the Cricut.

I didn't know how the Pledge works but apparently it comes very tacky and the glitter adheres to the sides of ball in the Pledge. I discover that you have to shake the ball really hard so that the glitter gets all over ball. Otherwise, it becomes a clump at the bottom of the ball. I also made a funnel to guide the glitter to the sides of the ball. I just took a piece of paper and made a cone and taped it. My bottles of glitter had really big tops so I couldn't pout them into the top of the ball as easily as they did on the video.

Now it is time to get my G out and make the initials

Happy Thanksgiving!

Can you believe it is the most wonderful time of the year again? I love this time of year. I am reminded of the precious gift that was given to mankind over 2000 years ago. I see it in the lights that decorate the night...because light always penetrates the dark. I hear it in the songs we sing about Ole Saint Nick and Deck the Halls. Yes, I even feel it in the hustle and bustle of gift buying...giving to others because we love them.

So this year, thanks to the gals from Christmas with the Cricut, I am making all my gifts. They inspired me so much that I also made my own Christmas wreath. I went to Joann's and went crazy on their sale but if I budget correctly, I believe I will spend less than $200.00 on 13 great gifts, a huge Christmas wreath with lights and my Christmas cards. Can you believe it? Here is a picture of my buy and the finished wreath.

Over the next few weeks I will show some of the gifts I created and some of the decor I created with my Gypsy and my Cricut. I think I am going to buy two more wreaths (at 9.99 each at Joanns...I feel like I am stealing them) and decorate them using my G, my Cricut and my YourStory.

Gypsy Goodie Bags

I went to a retreat this weekend called the Winds of the Revolution. By the way, God was there and he said to say, "Hi". I used a white gift bag from Walmart and included the following items:

• Prayer Journal (altered composition book)



• bag of chocolate (Angel Kisses)
• bottle of water (Living Water)
• Purse Card
• tissues
• pen
• gum
• mints
• small bottle of shampoo
• small bottle of cleansing gel
• disposable razor

I used composition books from Walmart and covered the inside, outside and front and back of each journal. I was a Valentine paper pack that I already had but never used. The candy bag was made with small candy bags from Walmart and I cut off about 3 inches from the top. Then I stapled it at the top. I then cut two circles from the same Valentine pack (one at 5.75 inches and one and 5.25 inches) and glued them together. I punched two holes across from eachother and pulled the ribbon through it and tied knots so that they couldn't be pulled out. I then stamped a sentiment from CDstamps.com and created a border around it with two pieces of cardstock from my scrap stash. I then, used my ATG gun and taped the folded circle over the top of the goodie bag. I created a purse card that is a tri-fold from GBS cartridge, using my Gypsy. I then borrowed an idea of wrapping the water bottle from Tammy with Christmas with a Cricut. She was a guest designer at Hallmark Scrapbook Blog. You can view the video here on how to make it. I made the goodie bag with things us gals normally forget when we go to a weekend retreat.

I have to tell you a little story about the prayer journal. As I was going over ideas in my head about how to decorate the journal, I couldn't make up my mind. I look through all my existing paper pads (you know the ones we all have) and just couldn't make up my mind. I went to stores and nothing stood out. So I decided to pray about it and ask God what He had envisioned. And He told me to make Love Journals. He said we are His Beloved and He wanted us to write to Him all our desires, hopes, dreams, joys, pains, and losses. So I took out a Valentines pack I purchased in January and never used (now I know why) and started to make the books. I knew He said "Love Letters" but when I went to the retreat website, I saw it was called "The Winds of Revolution". It didn't sound like anything to do with Love Letters and I started to doubt the word I heard. But in obedience I did it just like He asked. Well, on Saturday, after the morning a session, they gave us an assignment for the afternoon that we are to do in quietness with just us and God. And they said, "I want you to get out your journals that you brought to take notes and I want you to pen LOVE LETTERS to our Beloved. He has told me that He wants love letters from all of you. I just turned to all the women I made journals and my mouth just dropped open. We all had journals that said "Love Letters." Can I get an amen?

My first blog award!

I am so excited. I received my first blog award. Thank you Jeannelee! Check out her blog MyTinHairMusings. Ok so here are the rules. I am to answer a few questions with one word and share the award with five fabulous people. And then go to their blog and share the love.

So here is who I want to share with:

Loves to Create-she has the cutest craftroom and does some great crafting

Bug Junkie--the most amazing shape books made with the Cricut

These girls I call the Gypsy Chics...everything you want to know about the Gypsy

TheBugBytes

Myamagoo

Alicia Garcia

So here I go:

1. Where is your cell phone? couch


2. Your hair? short


3. Your mother? Home


4. Your father? Home


5. Your favorite food? Menudo


6. Your dream last night? funny


7. Your favorite drink? cherry Limeade


8. Your dream/goal? famous


9. What room are you in? living room


10. Your hobby? Studying


11. Your fear? failing


12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Happy


13. Where were you last night? Bible Study


14. Something that you aren't? fashionista


15. Muffins? Banana Nut


16. Wish list item? creativity


17. Where did you grow up? Texas


18. Last thing you did? drive


19. What are you wearing? shorts


20. Your TV? on


21. Your Pets? 5


22. Friends? amazing


23. Your life? joyful


24. Your mood? bliss


25. Missing Someone? Stepson


26. vehicle? Pacifica


27. Something your not wearing? shoes


28. Your favorite store?By Design Scrapbook Boutique


29. Your favorite color? green


30. When was the last time you laughed? hour


31. Last time you cried?month


32. Your best friend? husband


33. One place that I go to over and over? cricut.com


34. Facebook? yes


35. Favorite place to eat? Spanish Flower

Shape Book Video

I have a three part series on how to create a shape book on your Gypsy. There are so many things going on in my life that it is hard to take a moment to make them. I may have follow up videos on how to complete your project. But right now, the main goal of these videos is to get you started on brainstorming your own shape books.

I have Bible Study tonight so I will get parts one and two uploaded before I leave, however, part three will come after Bible Study. They were really quick so kind of raw but you will get the idea. Hopefully in the coming weeks I will get to hone in on my video skills and produce better videos. I am new at this, so be gentle. :)

Happy Gypsying!

There is an update today!

Here is a list of the items that were updated today on the Gypsy. I did the update and I am in the process of testing them. Here is what the update offers. I put my notes next to update if I tested it.

Cricut App Version 1.2 Build 0142: 11/04/2009
Added Features:

You can now share files between Cricut® DesignStudio and the Cricut App on your Gypsy™. Yes it works.

The Cricut App now supports multi-page design. Sort of. It will bring all images over to the Gypsy but they are all on one mat. I stand corrected. There is a little plus sign to the left of the mat that allows you to add pages. YEAH!!

By holding down the Zoom button and selecting an image on the keypad, Gypsy will now display a full screen preview of the image so that you can see the details of the image without having to go to the mat screen. Yes it works. You have to go to the keypad, hold the zoom button down, tap the image you want to see full screen (just tap, don't keep your stylus on the screen) the full screen image will appear, tap it to make it go away

The name of the cartridge displayed on the keypad window now shows in non-bolded red text if you do not own the cartridge. If you own the cartridge it shows in bolded dark green. This works. However, in order to see green, you have to tilt your Gypsy just so and tilt your head like this. However, the ones I don't own are in red.***this is on the Keypad screen

On the keypad screen, if you tap and hold an image in the image queue, the cartridge name to which that image belongs will be displayed. Clicking the cartridge name switches the keypad to that cartridge. This works...this is what you do. If you are on your mat and you forget where you got an image, highlight that image (make it blue), hit the keypad, put your stylus on the image on the top bar and hold it there until the name of the cart comes up in a little box, if you want to go to that cartridge, then tap the box, if you don't want to then just tap anywere in the white bar at top

Enhancements:

Welding preview is now faster and shows a progress bar. Yes it is faster and yes, love the progress bar...yeah

Welding preview no longer has to be redrawn when you zoom in or out (you can now enter preview mode and zoom without having to wait each time you zoom). This works.

Dragging large groups on your mat is now faster. OMG yes it is so much faster....yeah.

Load and Unload button on the cutting menu is now smart. If you have a mat loaded in the Cricut machine the Cricut App will only display the "Unload Mat" button. If you do not have a mat loaded it will only display the "Load Mat" button.

Updated keyword database. I tested "pumpkin" it did not use to show Gypsy Wandering Pumpkin and now it does...still may need further testing.

Updated the warranty to expand the warranty coverage form 6 months to 12 months (please read the warranty for details). I will wait until someone else reads. I didn't read the first one.

New firmware for the Cricut machine that enables some of the features above and improves the reliability of cutting.

You can now use the zoom and pan buttons to scroll up and down through your file lists when opening and deleting files. Yes that works.
Fixes

Reported welding issues have been fixed. I have not cut yet but it looks better on my preview

Selection boxes that appear around images and groups have been improved so that the show correctly even when they spill over the edge of the mat. The boxes display while they are being dragged. They do not show when at rest. Yes it works, you don't get a big black box around when you run off the page.

The Cricut machine remembers if you are in mm or inches after you shutdown and then restart. Yes this works.

Designs that contain templates, where the template contains images you don’t have the rights to cut, can now be cut*.
*Note: Previous to this Circut App release, if you attempted to cut a design based on a template containing an image you don’t have the rights to cut (even though the template does not cut) the entire design would not cut.

Gypsy Sync Software (MAC/WIN): 11/04/2009
Added Features:

• Add the ability to transfer files to and from your Gypsy. Files that can be transferred are *.gypsy files. Yes this works.

Know Issues:

• Skewing/SlantingWe are aware of an issue with Skewing/Slanting. This capability does not function properly when transferring files from Cricut DesignStudio and Gypsy. Files that have Skewing/Slanting in them may not have the same Skewing/Slanting or in some cases the Skewing/Slanting is completely removed. This only happens when transferring files. You can transfer files and then add Skewing/Slanting. This is known issue that we are still working to resolve. Images that have skewing/slanting that are transferred might not cut properly until this issue is resolved.
• Multi-page FilesTransferring designs with multiple pages from Cricut DesignStudio to Gypsy is available. You will also be able to create new multi-page designs on your Gypsy and cut them on your Gypsy. When transferring any multi-page design from Gypsy to Cricut DesignStudio the pages will all be combined into one page. This includes designs that were created in Cricut DesignStudio, transferred to Gypsy and then transferred back to Cricut DesignStudio. We recommend that you keep a copy of the original Cricut DesignStudio files when transferring them to the Gypsy and vice versa.
• Gypsy Sync (Mac)The installer does not automatically close the old version when installing the new version. You must close the old version when installing the new version.
• Gypsy Synch (Windows)The file list does not automatically refresh. You must refresh in order to see the updated file list.
• Gypsy HelpThe help files have not been updated since the previous version.
• Cricut Firmware Upgrades When Gypsy recognizes that the Cricut firmware needs to be upgraded the Gypsy will not tell you this until you hit the exit button. You can upgrade your Cricut firmware manually by pressing the menu button and selecting Upgrade Cricut.

I have a family to attend so I will be back later with a video of the updates and to test cutting. Off to church.

Updating Cricut Firmware after CDS Update

It has come to my attention that when you update CDS, when you try to cut, CDS says you need to update firmware. So you do and guess what? It says to do it again and again and again. Well I hobbled upstairs to my craft room to test this myself and yup, you can't cut.

Fortunately, a Cricut Board member graciously called customer support and wrote down exactly what she needed to do to get her Cricut back up and running. So I did a brief video on doing the following steps:

1. First thing is to go to your start menu click on my computer click on local disk c:
2. click on program files click on cricut software
3. click on cricut design studio click on firmware releases There will be about 5 or so files that come up -
4. look for two files that say cricut v2_34.enc and cricut v2.benc
5. For the one labeled cricut v2_34.enc right click and select rename.
6. What you will do is add an a right after the 4 so it will look like this now cricut v2_34a.enc
7. click away from that and right click on the next folder labeled cricut v2_34b.enc.
8. right click and choose rename.
9. What you do here is only REMOVE the b.
10. Once you have done this open design studio and update your firmware and then all should be good to go.

I did a short video about me actually doing the steps above. My laptop runs on Vista 64bit.

I also opened up my SCAL2 and I was still able to cut files with it. wuu huu

Man going upstairs was such a tease. I wanted to stay up there and just craft away but alas, I had to come down stairs and sit on the couch and elevate my ankle.

Updates to Gypsy and Design Studio

I have a new video up about the updates for Design Studio and Gypsy. Very exciting. You can now transfer files between the two. Now I have played with it just a bit more. If you have a multipage DS file and transfer it to Gypsy, when you view your file on the Gypsy, all the cut files will show on one page.

My Youtube name is MuchAdoAboutInking....will change soon but that is what it is for now.


Happy Gypsying!

OMG I did the Gypsy contest! Please vote

I can't believe I did the challenge. I entered two items into the challenge. After running my first 10K yesterday and being dog tired and injured ankle (I woke up with it swollen and not being able to put weight on it. Then I remember at noon today....the contest. I pulled myself up the stairs to my scraproom and got to work. It was good. I was able to work through more ideas for videos and I learned how to do other things on my Gypsy. On this layout I used Gypsy Wandering, Gypsy font and Joys of the Season.

Please vote for my layout CLICK HERE to vote. Thanks for all you kind words on my videos. I planned to do some this weekend but the 10K kicked my boody and then I spent all day today on the contest.

Oh and if you played in the contest, let me know.

First Video Grouping with Gypsy

Hi Everyone. I have decided to start making Gypsy for Dummies Videos. My first ones are very basic. I am trying to keep them under 6 minutes because I know we are all busy and besides...too much information at once just means more information to forget. LOL So my first video is about Grouping. I hope you like it. I currently have 5 videos and you can see them by clicking them on the right.

Race for the Cure thank you cards

Did I mention I love my Gypsy? I made this card using my Gypsy and the George and Basic Shapes cartridge. I cannot take the credit for the shape. JenC, a wonderful member of the Cricut forum, created this cut. She did it on Design Studio. Because DS is not compatible with the Gypsy, I had to recreate the cut in my Gypsy. It took a while but it I like it and I learned a lot about my Gypsy. I used paper from Basic Grey's Valentine line from 2009. The ribbon is from Michael's and the beads are from Paper Studio.

If you want the cut file for Design Studio, go to Jen's blog. If you leave her a comment, she will email you the file. She has some really nice cut files. So grab a coffee, sit back and enjoy her blog.

On a side note: I am in the process of recording Gypsy videos for beginners. I should have them edit ted and up by this weekend.

LAST WEEK TO WIN WINTER WOODLAND

Winter Woodland is ProvoCrafts 100th cartridge. To celebrate they are giving away 100 of this fabulous cartridge. All you have to do is go to the Cricut message board and reply to the "Cricut Celebrates Cartridge #100" in the Cricut chat forum. So go sign up and good luck!

I love my Gypsy

I am so in love with my Gypsy! I am an SCAL user and I still love my SCAL. I had to use it this weekend to make my sign for the Race for the Cure board I made for our team. We had a fabulous time. If you want to know more about the race, go to SeeFluffyRun to get more details.

But at the end of Saturday I started to play with my Gypsy. I decided the best way to learn how to use my Gspot was to go to the Design Studio form at Cricut.com and see if I could recreate some of their designs. The above one is from LOLOGRL. She converted the Sizzix Scallop Favor Bag into a Design Studio cut. I then made it into a Gypsy cut. Eventually, you will be able to take DS cut files and convert them to Gypsy and vice versa. But until then I will play with them. Here is LOLOGRL's Blog. Thank you LOLOGRL!!!!

You have got to visit Bug Junkie

You have to drop by BugJunkie's Blog. She makes the most amazing shape albums with her Cricut and Design Studio. I haven't scrapped in months and she has me going. Not to mention, I bought into the Gypsy. I bought mine at HSN on flex pay and received additional goodies. Okay, back to what I was saying. Bug Junkie's shape books tell a story by themselves. The one she is demoing on her blog is a Halloween Album. Now if you go to her blog, she will tell you the Cricut cartridges she used. I don't have many carts so I had to use SCAL to make my book.

I know, I know. Why did you buy a Gypsy if you don't have a many carts, or go to crops and you have SCAL 1 and 2? I don't know but I do know that I am on a quest to buy carts. Because I spent alot of time searching the Internet looking for free SVG files and finally had to create my own for the haunted house. I spent all day looking for them. As soon as I remember where I got them, I will come back and add the links for SVG files. As for the haunted house, leave me a comment and I will send you a copy of the SCUT file. Or I can send you the whole SCUT file for the book. I DID NOT ORIGINATE THIS BOOK. GO TO BUGJUNKIE AND LOOK AT HER GREAT VIDEO. I AM MERELY TAKING THE ONLINE FREE CLASS AND LEARNING AS I GO.

Not only am I making a great book but I am learning so much about Design Studio. We are about 75-80% done on the book. I'll put up more pictures when I finish.

Happy Scrappin'

It is here at HSN!!! Come get it!!!

Can you believe it! Todays Special Value at HSN is the Gypsy. You can't buy it yet at retail stores and even if you could, why would you pay full price and get just the Gypsy. I ordered mine at HSN and I can't wait until I get. For 299.99 and 5 flex pays of 59.99 I get the following:

• Gypsy
• Battery charger
• 2 preloaded carts (Gypsy font and wanderling)
• Don Juan Cartridge (previously exclusive to the Create)
• Battery charger
• travel sleeve
• Traveling case for Gypsy and battery charger (cute pink and black exclusive to HSN)
• Car charger

You don't want to miss this. Here is the link.

http://tinyurl.com/cmm2tw

Don't miss out.

I've been on a Journey

So I have been MIA on my scrapbooking blog. Not because I have been busy making projects. I have been MIA because I was busy starting a new habit, running. And I love running. But before I start scrapping again, I had to establish a strong foundation in my running world. If you want to read about it, check out SeeFuffyRun.

I am excited about my next scrapping project: Race for the Cure. I am running in the Houston Komen Race for the Cure in October. I am an 11 year survivor and one of 18 women in my family that have heard those scary words, "you have breast cancer." I started a team: Team Boob Troop and I want to do a mini album about our run. I can't wait.

But even more exciting is the Gypsy by Provocraft. It is a handheld version of Design Studio that will hold all your cartridges in one device that you can take to any crop and hook to any Cricut and cut to your heart's desire. Here is a picture of it.



It is amazing and HSN will have it as their Daily Special on September 24th at 12:01 am. So for all us Central time gals, that is 11:00 PM on September 23rd.

Here is what it will include:
- Gypsy
- Preloaded Gypsy Font
- Preloaded Gypsy shape card
- black and pink carrying case
- black an dpink skin cover
- car charger
- USB cord
- ac adapter
- stylus
- Don Juan cartrige and overlay

$299.99 $59.99 flex pay with $11.20 for 4 day shipping!

Long time no see

So I have been MIA for a couple of months. Well, I have been MIA on my scrapbooking blog but my running blog is pretty active. That is why I haven't posted to this one. I had to take a break from scrapping. It was consuming my time and my health. I needed to get healthy and I wasn't going to do it scrapping. Not that I think scrapping is bad, I just needed to step back and get some balance in my life. So I have devoted 10 weeks to a running program. Since then, I have become a runner and ran my first 5K. Once I graduate from my training program, I will start adding scrapping back to my life...hey a mini album about my running.

If you want to know more about my running, vist me at SeeFluffyRun. Meanwhile, my father's 80th birthday is coming up and we are throwing him a party. So I thought I would share the invitation I made for him. My sister sent me a picture of him that I have never seen, so I used it. I used Photoshop elements to change the size and bought an element..darn...I forgot where...and I used it. Enjoy!

Cupcakes....For Real!!

My daughter turned thirteen last week. I can't believe it. We did not do the cake thing but she wanted to take cupcakes to her 6th period class. So about 11 am, I started to make her cupcakes and I realized, "Yikes!! I don't have any toppers for the cupcakes." So I ran upstairs to my craftroom and die cut some butterflies with my Cuttlebug. I cut 36 to be exact. One was for the base and the other folded and hot glued on top of the other. Twenty five minutes is all it took. Thank goodness because I finished just in time to get the cupcakes to school.

Mini Album of Favorite Things

I started this mini album in Canada, during Spring Break. I didn't even know what I was going to use it for. I just started making it. Well last week I decided to put my favorite things in there.

I am in love the the Basic Grey Valentines paper. I can't remember the name to save my life. I used three mirrors in the mini album. See if you can spot them.

Happy Mothers Day!

I just wanted to pop in and wish all you a Happy Mother's Day and share my mini album I made for my mom. It was inspired by Teachnpea at 2peas website. Somethings to look for:

• I cut the Voila Felt strips to mimick the antenna and tail of the butterfly.
  
• I also used "Thanks" Ribbon to tie a hidden picture to a page.
  
• I used Ephemera digital element from PCLayers.com to do all my journaling.
  
• The "Thank You" on the journaling is the font "Albemarle Swash" (the same font used for some journaling stickers from Making Memories Love Notes Tiny Alpha stickers
  
• I aged and distressed my jounalling tags with Tim Holtz Distress ink so that they matched the paper from My Minds Eye, "Out and About"
  
• Distressed Wild Saffron embellishments so that they weren't so bright.

Glass Mermaid

I just had to share a wonderful little shop I found recently, The Glass Mermaid. It is right here in Seabrook. This is actually their second location. The original was destroyed in Ike. But it is scrumptious. Every time I go in there, my head just spends and I feel drunk. There are just so many beautiful things to see. She has colorful chandeliers hanging from the ceiling and I absolutely love chandeliers. She has unique jewelry and what nots. Oh, and if you love all the girly stuff, she has pink rubber cleaning gloves that are trimmed in a faux fur and bling. There is a matching apron with leopard trim and a laundry bag with trim and a beautiful crystal belt. You just have to go in to see all the beauty in this place. It really lives up to its name "Glass Mermaid". It is all blinged out and full of fantasy.

They even have classes and parties in glass mosaic making. More on that later. I plan to have a girls night out at the Glass Mermaid. We will start out with wine and appetizers, move on to glass mosaics then travel five minutes over to Kemah Boardwalk for a nice dinner and to listen to live bands.

Card Candy

I thought I would share a picture of the Card Candy I made for a swap. I am a member of Cricutscraplifters yahoo group. I had so much fun making these. I hope everyone will enjoy them!

Happy National Scrapping Day!

I love this day. Scrappers around the world unite. Well, I have some plans with the family but I plan to scrap tonight. Enjoy!

One of my favorite gifts

I thought I would share one of my prized possessions. Years ago my sister made me this church out of a birdhouse. I have moved about eight times since she gave me this church. It always gets a prominent place in my home. It currently sits in my scrapbook room on a bookshelf. It is one of the inspiration pieces of my decor in my scrap area. Every Monday, for the next few weeks, I'll either share an inspiration piece or how I incorporated it in my room. Thanks for stopping by.

Expressions, Yudu and Your Story...OH MY!!!

I just had to share about this great give away from 225 Cards & Gifts. Ok, here is how you play. It is a blog hop. Click on the magazine above and it on will take you to the starting point. Answer their question on their blog and then hop over to the other 11 blogs and answer their questions. When you are done, you will have visited 12 great blogs and enter 12 times for a chance to win either a Cricut Expression, a Yudu or Your Story. CAN YOU BELIEVE IT! So hop over to the first blog and get to it. YOU HAVE UNTIL MIDNIGHT (MST) ON SUNDAY APRIL 26TH. They will draw the winner on April 28th. Good luck!!

Keychain

We bought a new car last month and I have been in search of the perfect keychain. I decided that I am going to try to make my own. This is the first attempt. I didn't realize there were so many details to beading. I originally thought of making some kind of picture charm jewelry from Lea Sanders. You have to check out her blog because she has some amazing work on her site. have watched hours of youtube videos about beading. I have been to several stores to look a their beads and key chains. I still have two more picture frame charms to add but I think I am going rethink the design of this one.

I have to add an addendum to my blog entry today. I want to thank Nancy W. for helping me with my blog couture. Check out her blog...she is dripping with creative juices. And her scraproom is to die for. Maybe I can get her to come to my place and help me get my scraproom in order.

Sure Cuts Alot

I have received some questions regarding Sure Cuts Alot (SCAL) but I don't know how to respond individually so I thought I would respond here in a post. SCAL is a third party software (very similar to Design Studio from Provo Craft) but it allows you to cut any TTF (most fonts are TTF) that you have on your PC or Mac. Yes, unlike Design Studio, SCAL can be used on a Mac.

You can get it here. Craft Edge is the original company that created SCAL but I understand you can get it cheaper from other people. Just google SCAL and I am sure you will find some good deals on it.

But even more exciting is that you can also cut shapes with SCAL. It comes with some basic shapes but you can cut SVG files with it also. If you google SVG and scrapbooking you will see there are many people out there that are gracious enough to create SVG files and share them for free. THere is also a yahoo group for SCAL that gives you more information and file sharing. But be warned the yahoo group is very active and will fill your inbox very quickly.

So to recap:

SCAL is a third party software that allows you to cut any TTF font on your computer and any SVG file. SVG files can be found online by googling for them and you can download more fonts by going to www.dafont.com .

My 15 Seconds!

I can't believe it!!! I was looking through my May/June Scrapbooks etc. magazine when my name just popped off the page. What the?!?!??!!? And then I realized why. They quoted one of my forum posts at the Scrapbooks etc. site. Eeee gads!!! I am such a dork but this made my day. Heck, it made my week!!

Tax Time

Happy Tax Day! Kinda funny actually. Sunday we celebrated the day Jesus paid all our debts, then the government asks us to pay them. I guess even our government is too big for Him. I'm kidding. This is what happens when you let me go wild with sugar. Yes...Lent is over and on Sunday morning at 12:01 AM, I attempted to eat some banana cream pie. I say attempted because when I got it home from Krogers, that is a grocery store, it was completely frozen. I knew I had to be up early for church because I was greeting this weekend, so I just went to bed.

By the time I got around to having my sugar rush, a piece of a rabbit shaped coconut cake, I was tired and disappointed. I would upload a picture of my failed attempt of a cute Easter Bunny cake but it looked like a mad crazed evil rabbit. Okay, maybe black frosting should not be used for the eyes, the nose, the whiskers and the crooked smile. He looked more like Heath Ledger as the Joker, than a cute Easter Bunny. I tried to save a step by adding the coconut to the frosting before frosting the cake, so he looked like he had the mumps. Are you getting a visual? Okay, whatever you are seeing in your head, it was scarier.

Sunday is Coming

I am kinda going off on a personal note here. For the past two years I have been absent from my faith. Don't get me wrong, I knew I was saved, I picked up my Bible every once and a while. I did some Bible studies, but I felt dry. I felt empty and honestly, I didn't center my life around Him. But about four months ago, we began attending church again and did a great study, Starting Point. It was perfect for me and my husband. I needed to renew or rekindle my faith and my husband wanted to understand more. In those short ten weeks, we both grew.

Which is why I am going off topic today. I am reminded about what Good Friday is all about. It isn't about all the great sales or the day off of work. It is about my Saviour being judged, ridiculed, beaten and abandoned by almost everyone who knew Him and loved Him. Only three stayed near. Peter denied Him three times and wasn't there for his final breath. It was this day, over two thousand years ago, that my Saviour was abandoned by everyone, including his Father. In Matthew 27:46 "Jesus cried out "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Can you imagine being a believer back then? All the doubt, all the confusion about what was going on around you? You have seen this man perform miracles. You have heard him speak about love and forgiveness and you watched as he did nothing to save himself. I get an awful feeling in the pit of my stomach as I think about what was going through their minds. What now?

So Good Friday is a somber day for me. It is a day of reflection and prayer. It is a day when I review my faith. Were there times in my walk that I felt I had been forsaken and ran? Were there times that I denied him as I turned my head to things said that were unjust or when I heard others judging. Are their times that I past judgement...because I should never past judgement but love with His love.

The good news for me, unlike the disciples on that Friday, I know the rest of the story. I know what happens next. I know that Sunday is Coming!!!

NOT Enjoying the Process

So I spent money on a background that won't even work on my blog. I have tried emailing, commenting on blog of House of 3 and no one has responded. My advice, don't buy it unless you know HTML and know how to tweak it for your blog.

I might as well been asked to dance naked in public

So, I am laying in bed at home about 7ish last night thinking I should log into 2peas online crop. It was a chance for me to crop with others in a virtual world which meant no packing or unpacking on my part. As I lie there, my phone rings with a loud obnoxious ring, of my choosing, that says, "I've gotta woman as big as house, yes sir,.." from the movie Igor. I totally love that movie and that song, but when you are in public...well, people just look at you weird. So, I answer the call and it is my best friend in the whole world, hounding me to go out a Wine Bar with her. OK, I envision this place with snobby uppity people talking about things that I nothing about and paying outrageous prices for something that I could get from a box and feel just as drunk. And the idea of going to a yuppie place was just as uncomfortable as someone asking me to dance naked in public. After a few minutes of trying to argue my way out of going, I gave in. You see, she is smarter than me and I am just never going to be able to win a debate against her.

So I get up and get dressed up and we head out to Sonoma, an uppity wine bar off of Kirby and Richmond. It felt so old world, because the lighting was so poor that I could not even read the menu. And well, we happen to choose a seat next to a rowdy bunch. Who knew uppity people could get rowdy?!?!?! But we ordered to flights. If you have never ordered a flight or you don't know much about wine, flights are a good place to start. You get 3 or 4 miniature glasses of wine from a certain family. For example, you can get a flight of reds, ice wines, whites, bubbly...you get the point. You get a small sample of each. I have to say I really enjoyed it. And I found that I do have a place in the wine world....ice wines. Apparently they are made from frozen grapes and they are really sweet. And yes, at first I felt naked but as the night wore on, I felt the wine warm me up and naked wasn't so bad after all.

Updating my look and cupcakes

OK, call me crazy but I gave up sweets for Lent. Now, I must admit, I am not Catholic but I thought I would join the fast. I think that is why I have become obsessed with paper cupcakes. Don't they look yummy? I made them using my Cricut, Design Studio, Glitter paper and DCWV pattern paper from the Sweet collection. Oh yeah and Robins Nest pebbles. I used my Cuddle Bug to make the swirls on the glitter paper to make it look like frosting. I made some into cupcake shaped cards and others I just made into cupcakes that I could place on a card. Ok, I have a confession, I forgot to hit the "weld" button on design studio so my first ones did not come out like cards, so I just made individual ones with those. They still look great on the front of cards. But you know what I thought about? What if they made scratch and sniff pattern paper? I would so use those on cards. Scratch and sniff chocolate paper or wedding cake flavor...yummy!! Ok, I can't wait for Easter, as Queen Antoinette said, "Let them eat cake!!"

On a side note, this may be difficult to read but I am working on my changing up my blog. I bought some Blog Couture from House of 3 but I can't seem to get it right. I have emailed them and they are going to help me. I can't wait. So again, I apologize, but it will change soon.

I am officially a Fiskateer #4175

Aren't they beautiful? I received them in the mail the other day from Fiskars. They have my Fiskar number engraved on them. I feel so special.

McGiver and a tip about a giveaway!

Have I ever mentioned that I hate crops? Well I don't hate crops, I just hate packing for them. I don't really pre-plan pages very well so I always forget half of what I want to use and bring the other half that I won't use. I also use my Cricut alot and my laptop and I don't want to lug them around. But I had no choice when it came to my MIL gift. I knew I wanted to use the Basic Grey Valentines line and pearls but beyond that....no clue. I knew what I wanted this to be a hybrid project because I didn't want it to get to bulky. Oh, and did I mention we already had tons of stuff to pack for the trip so I was limited to one small bag for scrapping supplies . So I packed my paper, my tin, my pearls, my whatever that felt thing is that I used, my ATG gun (which by the way was almost empty...I forgot to check before packing it), some liquid adhesive, ruler and pen. I was doing to do the inner pages while in Canada and print them at Walmart. Well my ATG gun ran out and I had to buy some a red stamp but I was able to do the outside in traditional scrapbooking and the accordion portion of the inside. I then created digital layouts that were sized 3" by 4" and had them printed. I added bling to the girls pages.

So what is it? It is a tin that is meant to be kept open and stretched out. All of her children and grandchildren are displayed in the order of where their birthday falls in a calendar year. Inside the circles on each page is the actual birthday. I got the idea when my dad made a comment to me last year that it is my job to call him a couple of weeks before my daughter's birthday so that he can buy her card. He also said the same thing about my brother's birthday and my sisters. So I am going to make one for him. But since my MIL birthday came first, I did hers first. I used great digital paper from PCLAYERS. It is called Sushi from Tinkering Ink. I used a Rhonna Farrer Circles from Twopeasinabucket.

TIP: Nancy from LovestoCreate is giving away some fancy schmancy mirrors. Check them out and check out her blog. Her craft room is really coming together. I may have to recruit her to do mine.

Just a layout

Sorry for the bad cropping but I seem to be so busy lately. Taking a week off, when you are your business, can really put you behind. I did this layout at a Saturday crop with my Meetup group. I have so many projects to upload but I just don't have time. I have one more layout to do tonight for the SBE challenge. Gotta run.

This is how we do it in Texas

Ok, it looks so much worse than it really is. I went to the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo before leaving to Canada and caught this great picture. They have an event for 4-6 year olds. They ride a sheep. Don't worry, they are geared up with padding and helmets. I happen to get this picture. The sheep is not over the boy but it looks like it. I just had to share it.

Home Sweet Home

We have been in Canada for over a week and it is good to be home. We love it up there but sometimes you just want to run around in your underwear. Not literally,but you get the idea.
I now have over 2000 pictures to go through and figure out which ones I want to blog about, which ones I want to share on facebook, which ones I want to print and which ones I want to scrap. I have a huge task ahead of me.

On a different note, someone asked how I made my Nike+ pouch. Here is the link for the gal who put up great instructions. I cannot sew but this was so easy. Look at my previous blog tagged Nike+ and you can see what I am talking about.

It is late and I have to get some rest. Bye for now.

My Prize

I can't believe my prize is already here. Doesn't it look yummy? I received 7 pieces of Noteworthy paper, Thickers and Noteworthy ribbon. I can't wait to use it!

I won! I won!

I entered a Scrapbooks etc. Page Planner challenge and I won in a random drawing. I am gonna get a whole bunch of goodies in the mail. I am so excited. I'll post them as soon as I get them. I am so excited. Did I say that already? This is a weekly challenge, come join the fun.

Hello Monday

This is my digital version of the Page Planner Challenge from Scrapbooks etc. Page Planner challenge. I really enjoyed doing this one.