This is my August sketch card, well, this one won't go because it has a noticeable flaw in it. However, a similar one is made and ready to be mailed when I know where it is going.
I spent today at a crop. Next Saturday I will also spend cropping. The crop starts at 8 am, classes start at 9. Showroom opens at 9, but I will be in a class so will hit the showroom about noon. I'm not certain why I'm going to go shopping as I have already spent my scrapping budget for this year, and next year, and the year after that...  I bought a Zutter DreamKuts machine today. I have wanted one since I first saw and used one in March. This is the first one that I had seen in a store so I bought it. It also happens that I had a coupon. I used it immediately. It is wonderful. No more 6 x 6 pages that are aren't true 6 x 6. No more 4 x 6 pages that vary in size. Oh, by the way, its pink. Now I have a pink Cricut, a pink Slice, a pink Dreamkuts and a purple cell phone. Just thought I'd throw that in to see if you were still with me. I think its time to close this, its been a long day. Tomorrow I will post the projects I completed today. Thank you for coming by. Take care.

Isn't she pretty? My first Surprise Lilly, Naked Lady or her real name, Amaryllis Belladonna. No mater what you call her she is pretty and smells soooo good. Normally we get them in September, but I have two in bloom and a whole bunch more poking their heads out. I absolutely love these flowers.
When I first saw them, I was 17 or 18. My sister, 3 or 4 yrs, brought my mom a handful of these flowers. Upon investigation, Suzie had gone next door and picked them, without permission. Mom took her next door to let the lady know what she had done. I don't remember if the flowers came back to our home or not.  I guess she really liked them because she had never done anything like that before. And, as far as I know, has never done it since. I fell in love with the flower that summer and have been enjoying them ever since. I didn't find out until today there real name. We always called them Surprise Lilly; this year, they really surprised me.

I finished my baby girl frame element. Now all I need do it get them in the mail. The baby, teddy and duck were cut using the Everyday Paper Doll cartridge. The thing on the baby's head looks really odd in this picture. It is a flower, like the ones at the top and I put a bow in the middle of it. A 4 x 6 photo will fit, the baby, etc. are not glued down at the top so a photo can be slipped in behind them.

This is my Mystery card for July. The mystery item is the numbers. They are grunge board and I painted them gold. Oops! the ink I used wouldn't dry. After two days of waiting, I finally patted it dry with a paper towel. At least it wasn't sticky. I hadn't used grunge before and not sure if I want to in the future. Of course, I could read to find out how to work with it, or go to the Tim Holtz web site for information on it.
I have my August mystery item and have absolutely no idea what I am going to do with it. It is very colorful and I love the colors. An idea is forming...

Its Friday night, the weekend has begun. Everyone have a relaxing and safe weekend. Take care.

Its Sunday night/Monday morning and I hope everyone had a safe and relaxing weekend. It was a nice, quiet one for me; I worked on swaps all weekend. 

I signed up to do an element for a baby boy page. My element is a poem. As you can see, that isn't a baby boy, but I don't think of tiny, fragile, and newborn when I think of baby boys. So, this is what I came up with. My Cricut and I worked for hours, Cricut cutting, me gluing. Ten of everything, hat, hair, face, body, need I go on? I enjoyed the hours I put in creating my work of art. I used the Everyday Paper dolls cartridge, flocking for boy's hair, brad for pup's nose and a piece of hemp for the leash. I also heat embossed the shoes. I assembled ten units with each  requiring 12 pieces to be glued together. 

Now I must go put together a frame for a baby girl page. I'm not too sure what I'm going to do, but I will use a little girl rather than a little baby. Hmmmm, a princess maybe? Will have to check the Paper Doll Dress Up cartridge to see if there is a princess. 

Thank you for stopping by. Take care

I live in the city! My dog was acting (barking) strange the other night. I went to see what was wrong with him and as I passed my open front door, I heard a noise. I looked out on my  4 x 4 porch and saw RACCOONS. Yip, there were six (6) of them. A mom and her five kids. I shooed them off, but they came back. This pix was taken on her third trip down the stairs. The baby at the bottom of the stairs is brown. I had never seen a brown raccoon, but this little guy was a light brown, no black on him. I guess I did a good job of scaring them off as I haven't seen them since. But I am waiting for their return with camera in hand, and I'm ready for them.

I walked into the living room one afternoon and found my then eight year old grandson, Jeffrey, with spoons hanging from his face. I asked him how he had done it. He removed the spoons and I took pictures as he replaced them  on his face. He only has four in this series of pictures, but he is working on adhering eight of them. And, no, he didn't use any glue.
I picked the colors (from a color challenge) and the LO, (from a LO challenge). I was going to make it a two page LO, but he wanted all four pix on one page. He also decide how the pictures should be placed on the page. The next thing was the title. I requested help with the title and got about 10 wonderful suggestions. He chose one, changed one word and I added the My to come up with My Magnetic Personality. Hmmm "Self Entertainment" would have been a good title. Maybe next time.

The two boys and I flew to AZ for a gymnastics clinic last October. While there, we drove to the Casa Grande Ruins. I took these pictures of the boys before we went in to see the Ruins. I was disappointed in the ruins on this trip as I had visited the site about 20 years ago and one could enter the Casa itself. Today you can only view it from the outside. An amazing monument, but the desert heat and sun have taken their toll on the dwelling; its still a wonderful place to visit and there is a Junior Ranger program for the kids.
Jordan on the left turned 9 three weeks after this picture. Jeffrey turned 10 a month later.

Thank you for popping in and looking at the pages I did over the past few days. Take care.

 We went camping this past weekend. The weather was great and the lake water wasn't too cold. I dipped my big toe in to check. The grands went swimming and didn't complain, but then they never do. The deer and quail were well represented in the campground. I took a few pictures, however they aren't clear enough to post. I took three pages to work on and I worked on them! All in all, it was a nice weekend. Wish I could have stayed longer.
 
This mouse image was sent to me to color and make into a card. I was then to send it back. I kept putting off coloring the image cause I just didn't know quite how to do it. I ended up using my water pen together with Color Box Petal Point Classic ink pad for the mouse and the leaves. I still didn't like the mouse, he just didn't look right. I ended up flocking him. I also used glitter pens for outlining in the leaves. I was happy with the card when I sent it off.

The layout on the card to the right was a sketch challenge. I really like doing the sketch challenges. The print paper, of which there is very little, was a scrap. I really like it for the openness of the print and the variety of colors (of which you can only see the green). The colors I used for my card are a perfect match to the colors of the print. I don't have an eye for color and will often use a print to aid me in choosing colors to put together. It doesn't always work out, but if I like it...
 I hope you like my cards and all comments are appreciated. Thank you for stopping by.  Take care

My pink Cricut Expression has arrived!! and it works!!!  Provo did a very good job on this. I sent my injured Cricut back to them last Wed and I have the new replacement today, one week later.  Now I am going to go play with my new toy. 

Thanks for stopping by.  Take care

Three hours ago my new pink Cricut Expression was 100 miles from me. I almost have the tracking number committed to memory. In the morning I will know when it will be at my door. Do I sound excited? I can hardly wait. I won't really have any time to play with it as we are going camping on Friday, however I am so relieved that my machine will be here before we leave.

I made this card for a card swap. I needed a circle, a flower and something sparkly. The layout is from a SCS challenge. However, the original layout has squares not circles. The card I post to the challenge has the same colors, different print and I used the squares. Should I post both cards when I make two alike only different?
I used the George cartridge for the flowers, circles and the "its your day". I have used my "baby bug" more this past month than in the past 2+ years that I have had it.

This card is also from an SCS challenge. Didn't use my Cricut, but did use a Fiskars combo punch. I love the combo punches since I have figured out how to use them. I want to get a couple of Martha Stewart boarder punches and Spellbinders boarder dies so I have a better selection. When I learn how to use my Design Studio, I will also be able to make boarders on my Cricut.

While I have never had much luck putting "kits" together for crops, I am going to attempt to get some scrapbook page and card materials together in kit form to take camping with me. I am not an organized person, never have been and never will be; So getting everything I need together is going to be the real challenge.

Thank you for coming by. Take care

Its Monday eve and I have had a very quiet weekend. Didn't get any cards or pages done, but did get some materials together (like pictures) to make pages. I am going to use the pictures for the Scrapin' Silhouette 1 challenge. And there is another challenge coming tomorrow.

The card above was made for a sketch swap. I used my Bloom cartridge for the flower box and the large flower. I used a button for the flower center and black pearls for the centers on the little flowers. The stamp is from Judith. 

I am so glad I decided to start my blog. While I have a long way to go, I am learning and using what I'm learning. I enjoy visiting blogs and I pick up tips and "how to"s to help me in my paper crafting.  I love that some put their card recipes with their cards. Never again will I be stuck for a design. My big problem is color coordination. Its not one of my better points. I am enjoying myself and will continue this as long as it remains fun.     Thank you for stopping by and Take Care.

A pink Cricut left No. Salt Lake, UT this morning at 6 am on its way home to me. yeaaa. Should be here July 7. Whoopeee!

Thank you Jennipher! This is the first scrapbook page, with a picture, I have made in more months than I can remember.
This page was made using  Scrappin' Silhouettes 2 sketch challenge. The sketch challenge comes out on Tuesdays. This is the first one for July, hence one picture. The second week will have two pictures, 3rd week, 3 pictures, etc. through the month. I don't know how to get a copy of the original sketch into this post, but it can be seen at  jennipherlowery.typepad.com/scrappin_silhouettes
I changed the challenge layout as I didn't think Jordan would appreciate flowers on his gymnastics page. Instead I used the white circles each depicting a men's gymnastic element (pummel horse, high bar and rings), I also used a smaller picture which changed the balance of the page.
The picture on the page speaks for itself, but I will need to put the words "gymnastics season" somewhere near the year dates. The words, numbers and brown circles are from the George cartridge.

For those of you who know of the problem with my Cricut, well, I mailed it Wed, July 30 to Spanish Fork, UT. As of 9:55pm today, it is in No. Salt Lake, UT. Expected delivery to the facility in Spanish Fork is July 2.  Wow! that's fast. Supposedly, one was to go out to me as soon as they got confirmation that I had indeed mailed mine to them. Does anyone want to hazard a guess as to when I will have a new pink Cricut in my hands? 

I have been working on birthday cards. These cards were to be in the mail last Monday at the latest. They are all still sitting here. I was having a problem with them, they just didn't seem right. On June 28, I posted two cards that I was working on that needed something. The pink one with the balloons was definitely not finished and after removing the die cut and adding the word celebrate, the card on the left is what I ended up with.  I took this same design (which was a challenge design) removed the balloons, changed the colors and ended up with what you see on the right. I didn't put any bling on either card. The words and balloons are from the Celebrations cartridge. 

The lavender card that was posted on June 28 went into the recycle bin.

Now that I have the birthday cards for July done, I can relax. Ooops, did I say relax? This is July 1 and July swaps are now due. I will be working on them the rest of this week. 

Thank you for coming by, hope you enjoyed your visit.