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.

Thank God its Friday

Good Morning, Glory! I just had to share the surprise gift my husband gave me on Saturday. It is a Bromeliad. Gosh I hope I spelled that correctly because I am going to have to google it so that I will know how to care for it. I have to admit, receiving this gift was a shameful moment for me. I woke up early on Saturday for the Revolve Tour, but I was running late. I ran from our room to the bonus room to wake up the girls. I then grumbled at my husband for not waking me up earlier. ( I am deaf in one ear so sometimes I don't hear the alarm.) About 20 minutes into my putting on make up, my daughter comes into my bedroom and says, "Did you see the kitchen?" and I just rolled my eyes. I thought someone had made a mess. But to my surprise, I saw this big beautiful plant, a vase with roses and a card. I didn't have my glasses on earlier so I didn't see them the first time and I have to admit I was taking the time to see things but just do things.

Ever do that? Not take time to take in the scenery but just do the task? I feel that way sometimes when I am trying to capture a moment on camera but not taking time to actually enjoy the experience.

Happy Hump Day!

Ok I have really got to remember to upload in the opposite order of how I want the pictures to be displayed on my blog. This page is a little out of my element. I am doing a Scraplift Challenge at Scrapbook etc. This is a scraplift from the Scrapbooks etc. Page Planner Bookazine. The original is on page 62, You are Beautiful, by Becky Novacek. I did it last night...really late. But I knew I would not have time today to do it because we have a track meet tonight and this past weekend I had the Revolve Tour. I used my Cricut on this one. I used Celebrations Cartridge to make the cake and the "its a party". I used pop dots to raise up certain elements. Oh and I used my Cricut to cut the squares in the pattern paper because it was easier, for me, to use the Center point button and make sure I cut out exactly what I wanted without ruining the rest of the pattern paper. There is more I will probably add because there are these cute puppies with party hats on the Celebrations Cartridge that I want to use.

Happy Valentines Day!

I used a CuttleBug embossing strip to emboss the back of the envelopes.
I used my Cricut and the Celebrations Cartridge to make the scallops and circles for the cards.
Happy Valentines Day! One of my daughters favorite teachers, Mrs. Muzslay, is taking a group of girls to the Revolve Tour. It is a wonderful annual conference that comes to town that is geared for Tweens and Teenage girls. It shares the message of True Love Waits, What guys think and who you are in Christ. But it is done in a manner that is energetic, meaningful and age appropriate. Imagine being in an area with over 20 thousand girls, all worshipping and praising His name. There are four adults going also. But I didn't know the exact number of girls going until yesterday afternoon. We are taking nine girls.
So yesterday evening I ran around Hobby Lobby, Joanns and Walmart getting all the goodies. I used DCWV, All Dressed Up, stack to alter the composition books. They are not typically what I would use but I think the girls like all the black/pink/silver motif. I then went to Joanns and picked up the CuttleBug embossing folder for the trim and some cardstock. At Walmart I got the bags and the candy. I didn't start making anything until 11PM last night. I am tired.

So I spent last night...I mean all night, altering nine composition books, making nine cards and nine goodie bags. I used these fabulous stamps from Clear Dollar Stamps. They are called Sweet Jesus . (Thank you Aimeslee for sharing this company with me.) If you click the hyperlink, you will recognize the cards and the Hershey Kisses bags. They are perfect little stamps that can be used all year long. I even used one on the journal, "Nuggets of Wisdom". I had planned to also make a smaller books that they can carry in their purse as a reminder of this weekend. But it is almost 9 am and I need some sleep before tonight's Revolve Tour.

Happy Valentines Day! I hope you have a wonderful weekend. Single, married, Significant Other... no matter what, we are not alone on Valentines Day. There is One that always loves us.

The Bionic Woman

Do you remember the Bionic Woman ? Jamie Summers almost dies in a sky diving accident but the government saves her and makes her a spy. She has all these bionic parts. Well that is how I feel when I run. Here is my ritual. I strap on my Polar A5 chest band to track my heart rate. I strap to my left wrist, the Polar A5 watch that displays my heart rate, calories burned and minutes in the "zone". I then proceed to put my Nike+ sensor into my home made sensor holder on my left shoe. Then I get my Ipod Nano and place the remote sensor into the jack so that it can record my pace and my distance and give me verbal prompts like, "you have just completed twenty minutes" or "half way point, only 30 minutes to go." and finally "congratulations you just have completed your work out of 45 minutes, x amount of distance, average pace x". (you can see my recent distance and time in my Nike+ tag on the right.

So by the time I finish hooking up to all my gadgets...and yes if you have been reading my earlier blog posts, I have an ITouch and I just upgraded to an IPhone. But alas, while the ITouch, Gen 2, is compatible with the Nike+, the IPhone is not....go figure. Ok, where was I? Oh yes, by the time I hook up all my gadgets, I feel like the Bionic Woman. So when I work out I have to pull out my old Ipod Nano and use it to work out. My husband has my Itouch and I want him to feel like it is his, 100%. He always settles for less and for once I want him to have it all.

My wish, an Iphone that is compatible with Nike+ that is also compatible with a chest band to get precise reading of my average heart rate and total calories burned. Is that asking for too much? I only want to carry around one gadget. Oh, and if it could do the dishes and clean the kitty litter, well then I will divorce my husband and marry it. Just kidding.

SBE Weekly Challenge

Scrapbooks Etc., my favorite magazine, has started a weekly scrapbook challenge that I am enjoying. I try to do a digital and a traditional version of each sketch. My goal this year is to do scrap 10 pages per month, digital or traditional. I have a love for both. By the way, the digital one took about as long to do as the traditional one. Not because of its complexity, but because my limited skills in PSE5. Which is one reason I love the challenge because it will encourage me to work on my PSE5 skills if I keep up my personal goal of perfecting my digital skills.

I would like to thank the Academy....

I am so excited! My blog buddy, Aimeslee gave me two awards. You like me, you really like me! Ok so here is the deal. Once I accept the award, you are to tell five of your addictions and pass the award to five others. Gosh, I hope I have that right. Well here it goes.
My Addictions
1) Scrapbooking
2) Chocolate
3) Singing Mamma Mia out of tune
4) The Girls Next Door
5) Italian Wedding Cake

I would like to share this award with

Lea Sanders-- Her work is beautiful.
Nancy Wyatt--another great crafter. Can't wait to see her finished room.
Life as Lou--I am a voyer for this one...I love her work and take a peek every once and a while.
Leah Fung--Great videos with her scrapping gal pals
Christine--She makes great videos...if you have an Ipod you can subscribe to her podcasts

Check tham all out. They are great gals with this gift for crafting. You won't be disappointed.

So busy

So believe it or not, I have been creating. But between working, finding a new church, working out and creating, blogging has gone to the wayside. It is 11PM and after this I hit the treadmill for 45 minutes. But I am enjoying my new scrap space. The girls at 2peas really helped me reorganize it. I uploaded pics of my how I had things set up and they gave me great advice.

So the bottom picture is a collage of some of my recent creations. And the first picture is the plan I have for scrapping more this year. I really struggle with scrapping. If I am not doing a mini-album then I feel lost and with no direction. I seem to get lost in picking just a few pictures to print and share in an album and journaling all that I want to journal. Well in the July issue of Scrapbooks Etc. they did an article about doing a hybrid album that has both layouts and 4x6 pictures and 4x6 journalling spots for those occasions that you want to journal but don't want to create a whole layout. I had forgotten about the article until recently people started talking about Project 365. So I am doing a digital version of Project 365 and traditional version of a hybrid LO. It has been so freeing and exciting.

The first thing I did was pick out pictures from December that I wanted to print and share. I uploaded them to Walmart and printed them. I then divided them into occasions ( I have many occasions for December) and topics. Then I placed them all in the 12X12 pages that had 4X6 pockets. Once they were in order, I took a post it note and decided what LO's I wanted to do. As I started a layout, I either used the 4x6 pictures I had or I printed them on my own printer at the desired size. Once the layout is complete, I place it in a 12x12 protector in the general area of the 4x6 pockets that are also about that event. It probably sounds confusing but it works for me. I have already completed 7 layouts and 3 cards for 2009. This is far above what I did last year by this time.

On a side note I had a fallout with Sprint and we broke up. So I moved to AT&T and bought an IPhone. I was excited to have one piece of technology that served as my music manager and my phone.....NOT. While Nike+ works with the ITouch. It does not work with the IPhone. So now I am stuck like chuck with two pieces of equipment again, if I want Nike+ to track my progress.

Valentines Card

I did this card for a class at TwoPeas. It is a monthly class that challenges you to make three cards from three different designs. I used my Cricut to cut the hearts and my Cuttlebug to emboss the base of the card and the elements. Since I was trying to stay pretty much with monotones, I added dimension by using different embossing folders and different materials. I wanted my hearts to stand out more so I used Metallic Champagne acrylic paint from Walmart to paint them.

One great tip about die cutting, whether it is with a manual or electrical machine, buy tons of heavy white cardstock and acrylic paints. Your color choices are limitless with the right acrylic paints. Use them straight out of the bottle or mix them to create your own personal color. Then you won't have to worry if you have the right color cardstock for a particular embellishment. I am a very late night scrapper so I can't just get up and drive down to my LSS for the perfect color cardstock. So I buy several paints and I try to get them in different finishes. For example, this paint has a metallic finish to it. I also have a flat Champagne color that I like to use. I use to be an Acryli[c paint snob and just buy Making Memories but I have started to use brands like Folk Art and generic. Don't get me wrong, the Making Memories bottles are so much more attractive and love the way they come in color groups but sometimes I can't find the color I want or another brand is on sale, so I just go for it.